Do you believe in Destiny? was we born with an agenda?

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

I've had a lot to think about recently, im on the verge of a few things and ever since our Mr Humphries asked me this question " what influenced you to take your current path/interests?" I have been pondering EXACTLY what has been driving this insatiable quest.

 

Its taken me a few years to pin the answers down, but recently Ive been backtracking through my years as I ponder a book, and a while ago I went to visit a tree that always fascinated me as a child as a young man and now as i return to it the man I've become, and I find that tree to be a key example in a PHD study I am working on!

 

I find it rather interesting that this tree, an old oak which filled my mind so many times as a boy should become one of those that in part completes my lifes ambitions and makes me wonder, is our path in our earliest influences, are we almost set from day one?

 

I always knew I was going to be a naturalist of sorts, I was glued to Sir David Attenboroughs programs and as a child it was nature that fascinated me, my bedroom was a zoo, fish tanks full of great diving beetles and crested newts.

 

I never set out to be an arboriculturist, I was working with father as an industrial engineer, then one day, my father realising I was not the indoor type told me of a job going with a family friend, and now here I am contemplating a book and a PHD project that will be unlike anything thats been done before, i know because I've been told so!

 

I have always struggled with a lack of confidence and insecurity, but I am beginning to feel like i have nothing to prove, that i was born to do THIS, I think I have found my centre, the next ten years are going to be a lot of work, and the steepest learning curve I've ever known, but do you know what, i was born for this challenge, and nothing can prepare me better than that!

 

So, what influenced YOU, why are you HERE at THIS point, is there some obvious link that drove you to the here and now?

 

Are we destined to do what we do, does life push us in the direction we was meant to go in, or do we go in a direction we find ourselves in, randomly and without purpose?

[Andy Collins]

I messed about in school, a job on the bins needed an E grade CSE.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

I messed about in school, a job on the bins needed an E grade CSE.

 

I messed up school too, but that doesnt stop us becoming something does it?

 

what is it about tree work thats kept you in it, and made you miss it in recent months?

[HCR]

I don't believe in destiny in the religious/supernatural sense, but in a way we are bound to make the decisions we do. What separates this from destiny is the set of events beyond our control that occurs along the way.

 

What's the topic for the PhD? I started one about 10 years ago on relatedness as a function of distance within tree populations but sadly the money ran out so it was never finished. I'd love to go back to it one day...

 

So why am I where I am? A lot like your story really - I grew up with a love for the natural environment; collecting things, identifying things, reading as many books as I could. Ultimately my military career was cut short following an injury, so with little idea what to do I found a career centre that had one of these new-fangled computers with a package that asked you lots of questions the told you what you ought to be good at...and here I am nearly 20 years on.

[gibbon]

Dunno. I never went in for all that spiritual mumbo jumbo until I had my mind and my future read by a vodoo "witch doctor". After that experience, I believe you would be a fool to discount or try to explain away many of the experiences you have, or paths you end up walking in life.

 

Now I just like to think that theres stuff in life you'll never understand. Its best just to except things as they come, without trying to find a reason for it all.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

I don't believe in destiny in the religious/supernatural sense, but in a way we are bound to make the decisions we do. What separates this from destiny is the set of events beyond our control that occurs along the way.

 

What's the topic for the PhD? I started one about 10 years ago on relatedness as a function of distance within tree populations but sadly the money ran out so it was never finished. I'd love to go back to it one day...

 

So why am I where I am? A lot like your story really - I grew up with a love for the natural environment; collecting things, identifying things, reading as many books as I could. Ultimately my military career was cut short following an injury, so with little idea what to do I found a career centre that had one of these new-fangled computers with a package that asked you lots of questions the told you what you ought to be good at...and here I am nearly 20 years on.

 

Its about a certain fungi and a certain tree and the nature of the relationship, especially the expressions of the body language/morphological changes in the tree.

 

Its unique aspect is going to open a tin of worms!

 

what was your injury?

[tuttle]

Pullies, levers and rope......

 

Mechanical advantage techniques to move, remove and dismantle things.

 

are the only things on mind....

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Pullies, levers and rope......

 

Mechanical advantage techniques to move, remove and dismantle things.

 

are the only things on mind....

 

 

yes thats what I am talking about, thats YOUR buzz, but what made it so?

[TimberCutterDartmoor]

Absolutely yes..........................................................................

[tuttle]

yes thats what I am talking about, thats YOUR buzz, but what made it so?

 

The fulcrum of life