Wednesday, December 30, 2009

"I need a place that's hidden in the deep where lonely angels sing you to your sleep though all the world is broken."

Sarah needs to be packing. There is so much. My bed has already been re-located to it's current resting place: the basement. And so I sit on the floor. I wonder when I learned to sit cross-legged? I had to be pretty young because they make you do that all through elementary school.

In other words I am taking this opportunity to procrastinate.

Thank you for sharing it with me.

This is the last night that I will spend in Columbia for 10 months. How do I feel about that? You would think I would be excited. The truth is, these knots refuse to leave. There are stretched of time where I am s distracted that I hardly notice. Then I come home again and realize just how big a step this is in my humble existence. There are no parties. Nothing exciting. No big bang. I simply drift away from the home that has been my mainland for the past 22.5 years.

Somebody tell me that I am doing the right thing.

No, don't. Because the only one that can know if this is right is me. It may turn out that this is all wrong. But I will endure because I need to grow up. No more crutch. No more pretending that I'm not really an adult. Not yet. I still feel like a child but with none of the innocence and simplicity. I'm in the worst kind of limbo.

I have two more nights to spend in blissful familiarity. I suppose I should be glad that I'm not going oversees into some harsh country where I don't even speak the language.

Enough of this. I just needed to put some thoughts down. As I said before I went into Rhode Island, who knows how many opportunities I will have to blog out there (Of course I had plenty in Rhode Island but the office I spent time in had internet.).

Happy snowy Wednesday everybody.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

"All I wanns do is *bang*, *bang*, *bang*, *bang*, and a *Cha-ching*, and take your money."

The verdict is in. Here are the results.

Behavioral Biology: B

Human Dimensions in Fisheries and Wildlife Conservation: A-

Behavioral Ecology: B+

Geography of Cemeteries: A

Natural Resource Biometrics: A-

Semester GPA: 3.5

Cumulative GPA: 2.985

Status on my Ichthyology grade: Still a D+. No grade change out of him.

I am SO close to that 3.0 GPA I can taste it. If only he would read my paper and say, "Man, that was one of the best written research proposals from an undergrad that I have ever read. And this girl did SO much for this project, I am going to bump her grade up to a B."

I do not hold much hope for that scenario.

On a less happy note, I spent $1083.75 on my car today. I sent it in on Tuesday morning to get them to look it over and tell me what needed to be done to get it to New Hampshire and not die withing the first week. I told him to fix everything that needed it. He did. Now I am praying that it makes it all the way there. I would probably stand in traffic if my car died halfway to New Hampshire.

I guess it's better to spend the money to get it fixed now rather than have to worry about it in a strange location where I don't know anybody. I also get to spend another $80 to make Sadie genderless.

So all in all I am of the opinion that money is horrible, as is spending it. But I do have faith that it will all work out.

That's all really. Just wanted to give you all a little update.

Also, I leave in T minus 8.5 days and counting. I am not ready. Give me another month, please?

Monday, December 14, 2009

"We believe in the sum of ourselves and that's the way we get by."

And so the epic tale of Pimephales promelas and the scholar comes to a dreary and anticlimactic end. Not ending in triumph in any sense of the word. Letters were scrawled across a paper, yes. But there was nothing of real merit in those words. They were empty and lacking of any real results.

Why was the end so tragic, you may ask? It is simply this. That 10 months passed and all that results is a sad excuse for a paper. No eggs. Never eggs. No real experimentation. Just a handful of attempts and a spawning surface lying bare like white bone picked clean of all it's intentions. 10 months of hopes (like tiny sparrows), worries (like writhing snakes), and disappointments (like murdered puppies). And in the end it came to this. Writing a paper of what could have been. This scholar, soon to graduate, putting all her sweat and blood into something that will later be used by another. Will he/she have to do work? Not as much as I have done because it is now completed and all he/she will have to do is sit back, wait, and observe the fruits of her non-labors as they develop and hatch.

But as I said. This epic is at an end. There is no use dwelling on what is past. The words are written and sent the the man who, after all these months, will finally decide my fate.

And this scholar asks herself: Why on earth would you want to do this for the rest of your life?

Because it gives back what I take every day from the world.

In other words, I wrote my 10 pages, I did the research, I turned it in and now I am waiting for my professor to read it and tell me what he thinks and if I got my C or not. (A on the paper hopefully, C in the class).

I wish I could say that I was really done. I still have one other paper and a test looming over me. The paper is no worry. It practically writes itself. I just have to sit down and do it. The test is no real sweat. I can fail it and still get a B in the class. I would much rather get a B on the test and get an A in the class...but you know. We'll see. I have no idea ho hard it is going to be.

So that is what I have left. That and a mound of things growing ever higher of things I need to do before I leave. Among them is spend time with the people I will miss the most (My friends and family).

So there is your little update of my status in life right now.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

"I'm feelin' rough I'm feelin' raw, I'm in the prime of my life."

Believe it or not, I miss the day where I didn't have to worry about my nails bending backwards or possibly chipping.

I want to go back to those days.

Not so long ago.

I would love to go back even further. To the days where I could just sit and talk with a person and feel no pressure. Where time really didn't matter. There was plenty of it and no reason to wish you had more because you had a world's worth.

More than anything, I am wishing for the future. Days from now when Finals are behind me and I have a piece of paper that says I got my BS in Fisheries and Wildlife. Then I will have two glorious weeks where I will scramble to prepare for the next frightening adventure in my life.

Then I'm gone. Far away from all things familiar and I am stretching my comfort zone. No swagger with a degree under my belt because, really, what can I do with it at this point? Replacing said swagger will be an unattractive cowering. Perhaps a reclusive withdraw from the the world. That's usually what I do.

But the little part of ambitious Sarah says that in New Hampshire, I will have a chance to be a whole new person. There is not a single being out there that knows me(If there are, I think I might just choke on my gum). I don't have to be the timid wallflower. I can be the girl who goes out of her way to know everyone (well, not everyone. Despite what I insist, there are sure to be SOME hippies out there. And not the kind you love to know, either).

Aw hash potatoes! Nuts to just realizing that I have a paper due Monday that has to be reviewed by two people before then. Time to abruptly end this post and get to it!

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

"My baby's fun had gone and left my baby blue, nobody knew what kind of magic spell to use."

You know what one of my favorite things in the whole world is? Wet feet. It's right up there along with toothaches, food poisoning, and a pencil in the eye.

And wet feet seems to be the theme of the week.

Give me a spring or summer rain any day. The warmth, the rolling clouds, the mighty thunder and spectacular lightening. And then the lingering smell of clean.

Fall rains are the complete opposite. They are cold, you get nothing but stony gray skies, no thunder or lightening, and all you have in the end is a ground that never seems to become properly dry before the next rain comes.

I would gladly take a pencil in my left eye to have this rain stop. Well, maybe not a pencil. Maybe I would rather have one of those annoying eyelashes that never seem to come out no matter how much you flush and rub.

Now, I WOULD take a pencil in the eye, a month of wet feet, a week of food poisoning, and three toothaches to have my notebook back.

Last week I was going about my normal business. On Tuesday I thought that I would start working on one of my projects (the birds in the cemeteries one) by entering the raw data into Excel. I go to my backpack, where I had put the notebook containing the data and....

...it's not there.

At the time I was CERTAIN that I had put it in my backpack right after my Human Dimensions class and hadn't taken it out since. Apparently I was wrong in thinking this because it was nowhere to be found in that backpack.

I searched my room.

Nothing.

I searched my car.

Nothing.

I have gone to every office in Arts and Science, Natural Resources, and CAFNR to see if ANYONE, a janitor, a student, a bum off the street, had turned in my notebook. No one had seen it.

I checked and re-checked my backpack and my messenger bag three times each.

I even called in a favor with NASA and had them check the far reaches of space.

Apparently no one has jettisoned my notebook to the stars. But who knows? There is no air resistance stopping it out there. If they shot it fast enough it could have traveled back in time or something. If it has, I really hope that the people in ancient Mesopotamia enjoy my bird data and story ideas.

So the conclusion that I have come to is that the notorious campus notebook thief has made yet another ingenues heist. There is no record of this master thief existing. In fact there have been no other documented accounts of his thievery. But I KNOW that he is out there somewhere, reading my aimless writings and laughing his face off.

To come to the real and serious point of it, I think a janitor must have found it and thrown it away. Or a student found it and gave it to a lost and found and someone else collected it thinking it was theirs or said lost and found have tossed it since it was lost a week ago. So I have no bird data and I spent a good amount of time and (in the case is Indiana) money collecting. I also have no information on the cemetery mapping project we are also doing for this class. The mapping assignment is due Tomorrow.

I have e-mailed my professor, and my team members. I have spent a good amount of the last 1/2 hour feeling foolish and even a small part of it feeling thoroughly depressed.

What am I going to do without that data?

What about the stories that I had started in there?

So much is now lost in that notebook and it EXISTS somewhere. There is no way that it vanished into oblivion. So it has to be somewhere. Whether it be in some strangers backpack, in a recycling bin or dumpster, or in the far reaches of space (perhaps being read by Shakespeare right now) it is out there. And I have a feeling that I will never see it again.

This fact has put a real damper on my day. Along with that, I still have a million things to do before I graduate.

On a happier note, Happy second birthday to my one and only nephew Noah. I'm sure that his day will be much better than mine has been.

In other news I am kind of freaking out about the whole going to New Hampshire thing in 6 weeks. That's right folks. My last day of work is December 26th and the days before I leave on the 31st will be filled with packing and preparing.

Also, I am finally going to try this fish experiment ONE MORE TIME. Over Thanksgiving break.

Of course that's the one thing I want to do over my Thanksgiving break. In fact, observing fish eggs is another one of my favorite things to do, though I think I would put it in the category of of being forced to watch the CW for 24 hours straight while getting my appendix cut out (I'm fully conscious, mind you) and being forced to listen to Hannah Montana and Hillary Duff during commercial breaks.

I think I've found a new for of torture for Jack Bauer.

Thank you and good day.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

"Gentle leaves, gentles leave, please array a path for me. The woods are growing thick and fast around."

It is a gray day.

A rainy day.

And I wouldn't mind if I weren't stuck on campus all day. If I were at home curled up in my quilt then I would feel better. Maybe add a little hot chocolate in the mix. Perfect.

As it is, I am sitting at a cold, hard table with a mediocre lunch waiting for me in my damp backpack and my feet are cold and wet. I am awaiting the time for my 3 hour class to arrive and dreading it.

Things to look forward to...Watching Glee with Kirsti while skypeing in about two hours. Pot Roast Stroganoff after class. Pumpkin carving. A new episode of Supernatural. That maybe makes it worth it.

One of my favorite things in the world is discovering new and wonderful music. There is nothing I love better than purchasing a CD on a whim and then falling in love with it and listening to it over and over again.

This has happened recently with me and The Decemberists. I recently bought their 2009 album for really cheap and I am in love. Their lyrics are deep and melancholy. Their themes epic. Their songs often follow the story telling theme, which I LOVE. It makes it so much more interesting to listen to. And they fill their music with an emotion that is devoid in most musicians these days.

Okay, I will stop now.

There are so many things to do right now. Not RIGHT NOW. But before a certain time. And I just keep putting them off and do the more urgent things first. Then when I have TIME to do the things I need to, I do something else.

I wish I could say that I can't help it, but I can.

I just don't.

And now all the worrying starts. I've started telling people about how I'm leaving in January for 10 months. It makes it more real and scary. There are so many things to worry about. What if my car isn't fit to make it out there? What then? How am I going to pay for all the things that I need to, with the $200 a week that I make at work? And that amount is going to go down now that it is the slow season.

Now I find out that we are going to have to pay for the expensive flea treatment for the pets. I can't afford that every three months. I can't afford to pay all the extra money that I suddenly owe.

I hate money.

Despite all that I need to look forward to the things that I can.

It's almost Halloween. That something, right?

Sigh.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

"Just beyond the far horizon lies a waiting world unknown "

I'm doing it.

Sometime today.

That is the plan.

Going to call. Probably around 2:00. Tell that that I am coming.

Okay. Call made. A little later than I was going to do at first. But I didn't want to wake up from my nap.

How do I feel?

Excited. Pretty scared. Not sure what is going going to happen.

I get to fill out some paperwork.

I have to buy some things. Things for when I'm out there. But I'm going.

It's official.

I also have "vacation" dates. In the summer. This way if there is anyone who wants to come and say hi, they can during those dates.

And I have to be there earlier than I thought. Sunday January 3rd. That probably means that I will be spending New Years day traveling. Maybe I could spend New Years in Indiana.

I don't know. I'll figure it out.

The point is you all know now.

In January, I am going to New Hampshire for 10 months. Exactly a year from today will be my last day there.

Yes, I am planing on driving up there in my own old run-down car. No, I don't know if it will make it all the way up there.

I cannot believe how soon that is. In fact, I'm kind of freaking out about it.

There is so much I need to do, to buy, to arrange, before I get there.

But I'm doing it.

And that is that.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

"That's all very well, but what are we going to do about the Italian?"

Trying out Google Chrome. Lots of people rave about it. So far it isn't horrible, but I'm not sure what is so much better than Firefox. Not that it's worse or anything. I'll give it a few days.

It's very grey outside. A bit chilly too. I just can't wait for my 3 hour class to be over with so that I can get on with my weekend. I am looking forward to not working tomorrow even if it means that I only made about $100 dollars total this week.

3 hours. Who does that?

In the class right now.

Not anymore.

I just time traveled to after class and now I am in Bob Evans, eating my heart out. I have to admit, it tastes kinda bloody. Ew.

But really I am eating wonderful food. And drinking wonderful hot chocolate. And now eating some amazing Coconut cream pie. You should all be very jealous.

And now I am home. Going to get my Supernatural on. Maybe watch an episode or two of Heroes (now that I'm caught up) before I go to bed.

Not a bad day overall. Here's hopein' the weekend is as fun as it promises to be.

Thanks for listening.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

"Just because it's the end of the beginning doesn't mean it's the beginning of the end..."

So.

Enjoy this random, no purpose post.

Most if not all of you readers know the story behind this weekend. So I am not going to re-relate it here.

Brief Summary: Due to needed car repairs (costing $272) and bad planning and a huge (though beautiful) cemetery and me locking my keys in my car, I ended up spending way more than I planned on this trip and didn't even get to go anywhere I planned.

So blah.

To do, or not to do?

A good question, my friends. And one of the hardest to answer.

In my dream I was in the TV show Dollhouse. I didn't want to wake up.

The guy sitting next to me smells really good.

Mother Superior jumped the gun.

I've never shot a gun in my life. I wonder if I will ever have to.

This gum is getting a little old, and my jaw hurts. But I don't want to waste another piece.

Guess what? I haven't bitten my nails in days! I haven't been counting, but they are getting longer and I am so glad that I think I might be close to breaking the habit! Yes! Now all I need to do is eat better and lose some weight.

Gotta go to class.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

"I have an audience with the Pope and I'm saving the world at 8..."

So.

The interview.

It was long.

2 hours and 5 minutes to be exact. She was prompt. She called right at 2:00. I think that maybe some of my answers to her questions were too long. So maybe the length of the interview was my fault. But what is better? A short interview where the answers are brief and meaningless or a longer interview with complete and meaningful answers?

Most of the questions were things like "how would you handle this" and "What do you think the challenges and rewards are of this thing" and the like. Questions on leadership, work ethic, keeping morale in tough situations.

The result is this. She will contact me in two weeks to let me know if I got it or not.

Here are some details.

It's 10 months long. The first 4 months (winter) will be spent in groups of three working to complete lesson plans that we will teach to schools 4 days a week. Then we get 10 days of break. The 6 months following will be spent doing conservation projects. 24 days camping in the field in tents (4 days of that we are allowed to do whatever we want) and then 4 days off. Then on to another 24 day project. Thats the basics of it.

What else? I am excited for Indiana and Ohio this weekend. Unless it rains the whole time. That would make it horrible.

Sadie has been groomed. And I did in fact buy her some clothes. I told myself that I would never do that. But it's fall and it gets chilly and she it just so small. So I had to, right? As much as I hate to admit it, she does look really cute.

I am feeling less stressed about things and not so worried. Mom tells me to keep my options open, but in two weeks I will need to decide. So I am going to work on making that decision.

I just hope that when I do, it's the right one. TO be honest I really wish some of these other internships would call me. That way I would have options.

Thats all the new I have.

I am going to take a nap now because that is the best thing to do when it rains.

Monday, October 5, 2009

"Come down from your crystal fortress Strong Bad."

Oh Monday. Why do you hate me so?

Everything was going perfect. And then my car didn't start. If it had been any other Monday, Mom could have just given me a jump and everything would have been fine. But no. This particular Monday, she is filling in for a sick teacher at CIS. So I'm stuck with no other solution but to call Steven and ask him for his help. First, he had to drive all the way over and pick me up, then all the way back so we could open the locked truck and get the jumper cables. Then back home AGAIN to jump my car and finally all the way back to his place.

Steven, I am so sorry you had to deal with that. I owe you big time.

So I missed my first class and was a little late getting Sadie to her appointment at the groomers. The lady is really nice and if the cut turns out okay, I will be taking Sadie there more often.

I finished my take home test. So that is out of the way. Now I have an hour before my next class.

What to do? Blog of course.

Actually, I really don't have much else to say except to list the things that I am nervous about so that they get out there and I feel slightly less anxious about them.

1. Fathead minnow experiment-I still have to find that paper about their development so I can work out a schedule and call the fish breeder and then get this going.

2. Phone interview on Wednesday. I can't decide what I want more. To get the internship or to NOT get the internship. The more I think about it the more things there are to be worried about. Especially money.

3. Finances. I have been spending a lot of money on a lot of needed things and have not ballanced things in a while. I'm sure I'm fine...but it still makes me anxious.

4. Starting projects that are due at the end of the semester.

5. Will my car make it to Indiana this weekend? Especially with it being this cold?

6. Will I even encounter any birds this weekend with the frost coming and all that?

7. Then there is that one thing.

I think that's it right now. I feel better. Though I am wondering if this shirt is bad luck. I was going to wear one shirt and went with another and my car didn't start. If I were a suspicious person I would be burning this shirt. But it's brand new and I like it...so no.

Enya. Love her.

Thirsty. And I forgot a water bottle because of all the hubbub this morning.

Bye now.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

"You're rubbing elbows with the moon..."

So, I know that at least ONE of you noticed the post that I posted last night and then deleted this morning.

I was REALLY stressing last night. But some sleep and before sleep thinking led me to the conclusion that it was not as much of a crisis as I was making it out to be.

I had one of the most vivid and real dreams I think I have had in my life. To make it brief, I will just skip to the part that involved all the emotion.

Before you get all curious, this dream is about Muse.

I was sitting at a table with the three band members. We were at a fancy dinner of some kind watching a video of the band in their early years (man...Chris's hair!). I was sitting next to the main singer Matthew Bellamy. He took the cap off a pen and started trying to poke me with it and mess with me. Joking around. He accidentally scratched me on the forehead with it. Apologizes. We continue to flirt a little. At some point he leans over to me and whispers (in his cute British voice), "You are perfect tonight." I turn away blushing. And I start thinking to myself..."I am awake. There is no way that I am dreaming this. This is real!" My heart is hammering and my face warm. My hand is resting on the table and his is resting only a few inches from mine. My arm is shaking a little. Slowly he moves his hand from the table onto mine. My heart explodes and in that EXACT second, I wake up.

I wake up with the feeling of his hand still on mine. My heart is hammering and my hand is actually shaking. I have never wanted a dream to be real so much in my life! I think that my mind just couldn't cope with the impossibility of the dream and forced me to wake up.

Sad.

So anyway, about my "crisis". I have recently been freaking out a little concerning the e-mail I got from the New Hampshire Conservation Corps last Friday. They want a phone interview. I set one up.

Now I am having second thoughts. They are mostly centering around my anxiety of being there for 10 months and the thought that as I continue to further my career and education I am not trying very hard to start that other part of my life. A family.

If you would like to call me and talk more about it I would love to have input.

But I am mostly figuring this out.

I don't know why I am freaking out so much especially since I don't even know if I've been accepted yet. When Rhode Island interviewed me over the phone, they said they wanted me at the end. I don't know how many applicants there are for this one, but they accept 30. So I have no idea how likely it is that I will be accepted.

A note on the fathead minnow experiment. There will be another attempt. Probably in November sometime. We will try to spawn the fish at the place we got them from. Then we will transport them back. From there...I am supposed to be working up a specific and set schedule for checking up on them. The theory is that I can work it around my work and class schedule as much as possible.

I have one thing to say about all this. I had better get an awesome letter of recommendation from this guy when I ask for it. Of course...I DID get a D in the class (that was without the project, but I still think that I am looking at a C. Still not good, so would he be the best person to trust with saying what a hard worker I am?).

To those it concerns: I Am now covered the weekend of the 10th. The game plan is this. I will either leave Thursday night and crash somewhere in St. Louis (Em, I know that you are going through a bit of a crisis. I am fine with bringing a sleeping bag and crashing on the floor somewhere) or leave SUPER EARLY Friday morning. The intent is to be in St. Louis early. Like 6:00 ish. Do that I cam do bird counts in the Bellefontaine cemetery and then in the surrounding area around it. (Em, if you feel like you are able you can come along. I don't NEED you too, but I hear it is a fantastic cemetery.) Then I will leave St. Louis and make my way to Carmel where I will meet Elise and hopefully Juli? We will do something. Then I will sleep and early Saturday (6:00am-ish again) I will go to a cemetery in Indianapolis. And then the surrounding area. More bird counts. Then we will drive to Ohio to go to the Bob Evans farm festival. Home that night and church on Sunday and I will be home on Sunday.

Also I now have the next weekend off if there is still a trip being made to the Renn. Fest this year. Last I head the 17th was the weekend we were trying for. Anyway, there's that.

So that is my life right now. Sadie will hopefully be groomed this week. Thursday, I am getting my brand spanking new stereo installed. Lets hope that for the money investment, my car lasts me at least another year or two.

My phone interview is a week from today. Wish me luck, whether that means getting the internship or not.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

"Glaciers melting in the dea of night superstar sucked into the supermassive..."

Muse. Flying.

They are going to be performing on floating pillars on stage.

I am increasingly envious of those lucky jerks in Europe who get to see Muse in all their stage glory. Here in Missouri they aren't popular enough to get a stadium large enough to do the amazing things they do in Europe.

No.Fair.

Whatever.

So my first class was canceled today. That made things more fun.

This space bar is annoying me.

Why do I continue to sit at this computer? It is next to two air vents. I get cold.

Okay. This is me giving in just this once and giving Glee a try. Episode 1, here we go.

So far. Not digging the voice overs. And I think I'm going to have the brunette.

I do hope that the ridiculousness of this show is on purpose.

Drug dealer?

"This looks like barf!" Ha.

"I'll pee!" Ha.

I don't know if this show is good enough to watch each week.

Wow.

Anyway, moving on with life.

I got two new tires on my car.

That makes me feel better about the vehicle I am driving.

Now I just need to figure out why it's making strange noises and get a stereo installed.

I do like the background music in this show.

Okay, bye.

Monday, September 21, 2009

"No ones gonna take me alive..."

This morning, the day decided to start off by ruining my breakfast.

I was carrying a pop-tart and a bowl of Kixs to the car. I managed to spill the bowl of cereal all over me and my pop-tart. I was already cutting it close.

I had to get a new bowl of cereal, a new not soggy pop-tart, and a new shirt.

This made me late for class.

Later, I got a call form work. They need someone to work tonight at 5:00. I was really excited to go to FHE. So do I take the shift or not? Now that is going to be bothering me all day.

I can only guess what the rest of the day holds for me.

I am currently beginning my preliminary search for colleges that have Graduate programs in Behavioral biology/ecology or animal behavior.

I have not gotten many promising results. But I don't really know the best way to begin searching.

Okay, evil teddy bears. If you like Muse at all, click this link. It's a little strange, but what can you say? They're British.

Kirsti (or if you like to play guitar hero), if you are reading this, click this link. WTC?!? There is no way I could do that.

Okay. Enough of that. I am wasting too much time. I have an exam tomorrow I should be studying for.

Gosh, my hands are cold.

Actually, I have just a few more things.

If you like Dr. horrible or NPH you need to check out this link and this one.

Done and done.

Happy Monday everyone.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

"United States of Eurasia"

I cannot stop listening to the new Muse album The Resistance.

It's got groovy beats, fantastic bass licks, and vocals...don't even get me started on that slice of awesomeness.

You are all just going to have to register at Muse.mu (it's free!) and listen to the album online. Better yet, just save yourself some times and go buy it from the store right now.

Best purchase of music you will ever make. I am 100% serious.

Listening to this album is like falling in love with Muse all over again like I did in 2004. There is nothing better than discovering new and wonderful music.

Along those lines, I have also recently re-joined eMusic. Just because they gave me 75 free downloads. Hey, who can say no to free music when you can just cancel your membership and get another 75 free songs when they invite you to join again in 6 months? Anyway, I downloaded Audioslave (who I already loved and am excited to become a huge fan of.) I also downloaded a bunch of music by The Decemberists. Thanks to Kirsti for that. The there is that Brad Paisley guitar album, the Keith soundtrack, and the Coraline soundtrack.

I have all this new music and all I find myself listening to is Muse. I can't stop.

Today is beautiful by the way. And I am finding it hard to think of anything not great about the next couple days.

Once I get out of my so-long-it-causes-leg muscle-deterioration class I am going to Target to buy clothes. Then if there is time, I will enjoy me some Bob Evans, as is tradition these days. If not, it is straight home to watch Supernatural and then sleep in!

Friday, I have my one class then some good times with Steven and Wii. Work may not be the greatest but it's money.

Saturday, I GET TO GO APPLE PICKING!!! YAY!!

It's downhill from there, though. We will probably be pretty dang busy because of the game on Saturday, and there it a bus of 50 people coming in Saturday night. Oh boy. Kill me now.

But before that, it's going to be awesome. I am excited. I love Thursday and Friday!

And JUST in case I didn't mention it before, I LOVE MUSE!

Alright. I have some things I could be doing right now. I'm going to get to that.

Ta-ta!

Monday, September 14, 2009

"Everybody loves a potato monkey."

Quote of the day above.

First things first

NEVER DOWNLOAD A VIRUS SCANNER CALLED GREEN AV!!! I will explain why in a little bit. First, a short story.

So I just embarrassed myself.

I got out of my last class 10 minutes early. For some reason I thought that my next class was at 10:00 (because it IS on Wednesday. So went into the dark classroom, turned on the lights and waited for class to start. A few other students trickled in. It wasn't until the FEMALE professor walked in (mine is a MALE) that I realized I was in the wrong class. I had gone to class 1 hour early.

I tried to act all casual and leave like I did all this on purpose.

Awkward.

So now I am blogging about it and wishing that there was a new Psych episode to watch on Hulu.

Now about the Green AV thing. I was surfing the net. Looking up something on google. I was trying to find the script to a rather obscure movie. I clicked on a link that looked promising and all of a sudden this pop-up came up saying that my computer was now being attacked by a bunch of viruses.

I freaked. I remembered that my anti-virus had recently expired and knew that getting a bunch of viruses was possible. A site came up on the internet browser suggesting I download a free virus scanner called Green AV to find the viruses on my computer. I allowed it. Still freaking out.

The scan told me that I had 41 viruses and looked legit. Pop-ups on my desktop kept telling me about all the harmful things trying to damage my computer. Even a Windows alert came up and told me I was in danger. This Green AV thing looked real and kept telling me to purchase the software in order to remove all the viruses on my computer. The software was $99. I was tempted but not stupid. I tried to look up info on Green AV. None of the sites "reviewing" it worked.

I shut down my computer and decided to deal with the problem later.

I looked up Green AV on mom and dads computer. Guess what? Green AV is a hoax. I can't believe I fell for it. It makes bogus scans of you computer and lies to you telling you that you have viruses and that your computer it being attacked. It constantly asks you if you want to fix the problem with all these realistic looking but annoying desk top pop-ups. I tried to get rid of it in the way that was suggested by an online article.

I also downloaded the free trial of AVG. Neither of these things have worked. It is still there. I'm not sure what to do.

The good news: my computer has no viruses. The bad news: these pop-ups are relentless and get in the way of the normal work I try to do.

I'll work it out at some point. A curse horrible people who do illegal and dishonest things!

I love Chris Cornell by the way.

AHHHH!! I just remembered! The Resistance come out TOMORROW! I don't get it until Thursday the 17th. BUT THAT IS STILL REALLY EXCITING!

Okay, I'm done.

Happy Monday.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

"Some were born to sing the blues..."

So I just got finished watching the film adaptation of The Scarlet Letter with Demi Moore and Gary Oldman.

It's been a while since I have read the book, but I KNOW that's not how the book ended.

I just saw the best shirt ever. It said: "Trust me. I'm a Jedi."

I wish I were best friends with that guy.

Also, I went to the web-site "howmanyofme.com" and found that there are two people in the United States with the name Sarah Lambson. Also the first name that comes up under "similar names" is the name Sadie. How perfect is it that I chose the name Sadie for my dog?

Moving on. We are losing one of the managers at Bobs to the Lees Summit store. Part of me will be glad to have new blood and see him go. There were times when he wasn't the best manager. But I will also miss all the good times that we had together. He was a funny guy and our two years together was basically two years of trying to come up with a cooler "your face" comeback and prove to the other who is the superior being.

Of course he is a classic one-upper and has to be right all the time so our battles were often "won" by him.

Oh well. Time for life to move on. I just hope that this new guy is not worse.

Today has been a quiz day. In fact, it's been a quiz week. One yesterday, two today.

Who makes a 5 question quiz equal 100 points?

what to do with the next 1/2 an hour?

I wish I had a lot to update. Classes are rolling along. Mom asked me today which class was my favorite. I don't LOVE any of them, but Behavioral Biology is the most interesting. Behavioral Ecology would be great if not for the professor. Biometrics is just boring. Human Dimensions also. Geography of Cemeteries would be my favorite if it weren't such a LOOOONG class.'

It's nice to be appreciated for your hard work every once in a while. Sadly this doesn't happen enough at work, though it did on Saturday. Thanks Shawn.

This apple tastes horrible. That makes me sad. I can't wait for awesome not winter apples. Mmmm. I want to go apple picking.

Who's with me?

Oh, and Juli gets a treat for being the only one to tell me she knew the reference from my last post.

Oh yeah. Sadie still has fleas. No matter what we do. I'm just trying to get through until the first frost that will kill all of them. I am sick of flea bites on her and on ME!


Monday, August 31, 2009

"Hungry...I hope there's pudding..."

Guess who decided to call the landlord and have him send HER the check instead of having him send it to ME?

No you don't get to guess.

But I am also not going to tell you.

Oh. My. Gosh. What is she WEARING! I can't stop glancing quickly at the girl next to me. Wow.

So she later informed me that she only intended for the landlord to send her the portion that was HERS because she thought I wasn't going to send her anything even though I assured her I would. I am not sure how true this is. Oh well. she told me I would get my portion.

Whatever.

The second week of classes. Nothing special. I'm just trying to get into my pattern. Some homework done. 1 quiz taken. Some notes transcribed. Nothing consistent. This means I need to try harder.

I work a double this weekend. I realize now that working doubles on weekends won't be as fun because I have classes to worry about.

I am so hungry. Thank goodness I remembered to pack a bit of food. Yum.

I am feeling many things these days.

Hopeful towards the coming semester.

Frustrated at work because they are not cooperating.

Worried about what is going to happen after I graduate.

Excited about all the new people in the University Ward and making new friends.

A little sad that I really have no social life (not to make an awkward "my life is sad" statement bit it's true)

Missing my Music, Movie, TV, Work, Life buddy Kirsten. You are just so far away!

Anxious about money.

Ecstatic about the beautiful weather.

Sympathetic to all those suffering through difficult trials.

Wanting to rip my hair out over this stupid flea thing.

Oh! I got yet another Beta fish. His name it Moist. Those of you who get this reference get a free candy bar the next time I see you.

It is the middle of the week. My two favorite days are approaching. They are in sight. I hope everyone else survives the week okay.

End Transmission.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Dusty

Note to readers, this entry was started on Thursday and I finally finished it.

My computer is dusty. I need to clean it. Not now.

This is not the most comfortable seat. But it has an outlet. So I can sit here are charge my computer.

Also watch a movie.

As excited as I am for my cemeteries class, I hope that it does not last the whole 2 hours and 45 minutes. Just this once. If we go out into the field today, it will surely last that long. If not, I hope that it is all the introductory junk I've had to go through all week. Just because I am feeling a little lazy today.

I am watching Knowing on a very tiny screen while I type. This is mainly for the consideration of those around me. This way, me watching a movie on a larger screen wont distract those who are trying to study or do other things. I feel like I am being considerate.

Nicolas Cages hair is so horrible.

I was using StumbleUpon and it sent me to this site

I started laughing silently.

What are the odds?

So I was on this random website and it had a list of things to blog about. Most of them were about social media and technology and such. But there was one that I thought was interesting.

Books I Want To Write

Now you all know that I have several stories floating around in my head. If you visit my other blog you might be aware that none of these have gotten very far.

Well, here is a list. A list of the books I would LOVE to write and create. Maybe someday they will be a reality.

1. Spero-Spero is the Latin word for Hope. It is one of the major themes of the story. I It is the story of a America after a cataclysmic event. As of right now, that event is destructive seismic events in Yellowstone National park. The short of it is, all of the country is effected. Much of the land around Yellowstone is destroyed. Much of the land surrounding is rendered useless and desolate due to ash clouds and the like. IN disasters such as these, there are going to be survivors looking for a new place to live. So those cities and town unaffected are now overrun. The government quickly used all military personnel that they could to control things. After all the survivors are accounted for, a wall is built to separate the destructed portion of the country. There is minimal usable farm land and oil land left. Those who now own these lands are the the richest people in the country. Everyone else lives mostly in poverty. The story centers around the life of one girl in particular. Her name is Keera

2. Bus Stories-I think that many of you have heard of this story idea. This one was going well and then I realized that although the idea was good, the stuff coming out of my brain was mediocre. A woman loses her husband and unborn child in a car accident. It leaver her torn and half the person she used to be. There almost seems to be two different version of herself. The one that wants to give up life and the one that wants to continue it. Seven years later, she is involved in another car accident. She injures her head and her consciousness is in a constant state of flux. She keeps going from a world where she is on a bus with a collection of people who saved her after her accident and a world where she is in a hospital with her family and the man who caused the accident looking after her. It becomes impossible for her to determine which world is reality and in the end she has to make a choice hoping that she chooses the life she can really live.

3. Cancer Cafe-The Thrasher Doobian Files. (The following is taken from my other blog). A collection of short stories. All about a human who works at The Cancer Cafe as a cook and moonlights as something. I haven't decided yet. Perhaps a private detective. Or maybe a bounty hunter. Or both. The point is, You'd be surprised at how much information can be gleaned from the customers at a restaurant like The Cancer Cafe.

Thrasher is a tall and fairly gangly man (but don't let that fool you. He fights like rabid ferret protecting its territory. But don't think that he LOOKS like a ferret. It was just a personality comparison). He has bright red hair and blue eyes. More often than not clean shaven, though he did sport a good looking goatee years ago when he
was still on the intergalactic police force. Yeah, he used to be a cop. But there was an incident. He was on an undercover case with three other officers trying to take down one of the biggest drug cartels in the Milky Way galaxy. According to his account, he got cocky and careless. Long story short, the bust was a failure and the other three officers lost their lives. Because of this and other PLANTED evidence, Doobian was wrongly accused of working with the cartel and kicked off the force. He was shamed into hiding from all he knew and moved out of the Milky Way and eventually ended up working at The Cancer Cafe.

Through chance he had the opportunity to keep some of his detective skills sharpened. He couldn't help it. Those cases were begging to be solved. And you hear a lot about shady dealings in a place like The Cancer Cafe. Doobian solved a few of these cases and found that it helped him cope. Now, through word of mouth, you can hear of the amazing skills of Thrasher Doobian and call upon him if you want a case solved under the radar or just don't trust the proper authorities.

In an attempt to stick it to those who ruined his life, Doobian also works as a small transporter. Smuggler is another term for it. Small things. Nothing huge. And all very hush, hush. He found he was good at it since he intimately knows the inner working of the intergalactic police. He was able to transport things quite easily. This was his petty and self pitying revenge. But it brought in extra cash.

Thrasher Doobian has enough money to live pretty, but instead spends a lot of it on high tech equipment to make his dealings easier. The rest he saves up for a time he will leave and go some place far away where he never has to hear about the intergalactic police again and where no one knows his name.


This was the general idea might change a little bit.

4. Untitled-There was a story idea that I started a while ago. It involved a creation story of the world. When earth was created, there were two other worlds also created. Alternated worlds. These worlds were overseen by three siblings. Two of these siblings were selfish and hungry for power. So their worlds were taken away from them and given to the third sibling. He was to watch over all three worlds. In a number of years, the two other siblings would be granted freedom and allowed to try and gain power over their worlds again. If they succeeded they could keep their freedom and rule their worlds as they would. If they failed, they would be forever imprisoned.

5. Some kind of realistic fiction story. Not sure what about yet.

There are many more. Sometimes I read old scratchings of stories from years ago and wonder what happened? Why did I stop? I want to continue. Others, I laugh at because they are so comical or so stereotypical.

Anyway, there you have it. If any of you are writers (and I know many of you are) I would LOVE to hear about your story ideas. What tales do you wish to tell?

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Who Remembers Yanni?

Did you know that he came out with a new CD this year? Yanni Vioces.

It may be new age and you can sneer if you want, but he's got some nice relaxing themes.

Anyway.

I just need to say that the log in background for the university this fall is horrible. It is a lovely fall scene. It wouldn't be so bad except for the tiger that has been to obviously photo-shopped in. He looks really awkward and lost amongst all the fall colors.

Poor tiger.

Where is my flash drive? I can't remember and that makes me sad because it had a lot of important things on it. Note to self, look for flash drive.

On this, the third day of classes, I have discovered the following.

-Behavioral biology and Behavioral Ecology may in fact be the same class with different teachers and different names. I may end up dropping one to save myself the frustration. On the other hand, if I decided that grad school is what I want to do, I would get my masters in Behavioral Biology.

-Dr. Nilon who teaches Human Dimensions talks really, really fast. I had him several semesters ago and I forgot just HOW fast he talks. Sometimes it sounds like someone pressed a fast forward button on his voice. You have to listen really hard to get what he's talking about because he remembers everyone's name and calls on students randomly to answer questions. At least I won't be able to fall asleep because I am trying so hard to catch the fast-balls flying out of his mouth.

-Biometrics will be just as boring as I thought since it is a pre-requisite for Animal Population dynamics which I took last semester. Class today was going over how to create and format a table and figure. I spent hours and HOURS formatting figures and tables for our project in Practicum last semester. So I think I have that down.

-I really don't want to go to Behavioral Ecology. If I were to choose, I would drop that one. No offense, but I REALLY don't prefer Dr. Morris. Plus, I wasn't able to purchase the textbook yesterday and that makes me unhappy. Maybe it's a sign.

-It is so funny to have teachers teach computer techniques to students who are more computer literate than they.

Those are my conclusions. I can't wait to see how interesting or not interesting my Geography of Cemeteries class is.

Bob Evans has some new pasta dishes and one of them is Pot Roast Stroganoff. It is one of the most amazing things I have ever tasted.

Juli, I can't find this NCIS trailer. Oh well.

I have recently been frustrated that my iPod wont hold the capacity it is supposed to. This has forced me to be more choosy about the music I put on it. I am no longer annoyed because I no longer skip over song after song because all the songs are ones I love and would listen to over and over again.

I didn't exercise today and I don't know if it was a good choice or bad. I got 8 hours of sleep. If I had exercised I would have gotten 7. I can survive off of 7, but isn't it healthier to get 8? So would I be healthier exercising or getting 1 more hour of sleep?

It is a dilemma.

I am finally going to bite the bullet and pay to have Sadie groomed. Hopefully this will happen soon.

I am however excited to get off the computer soon and go read The Road (which is actually EW's top book right now according to the bookmark they sent me in the mail the other day.).

I am reading an article about cemeteries and necrogeography. It is actually very interesting. It's true that you can discover a lot about the cultural make-up of a region from it's graveyards. Huh. Maybe this class will be good.

I can't tell you enough how much I love Slumdog Millionaire. I also love the soundtrack. Check it out. I think you will love it too.

The Allen and Craig Show.

I go to watch it. Then I go to read. Then class. Then home. To so some things. I am really hoping that The Ptetender 2000/ Island of the Haunted comes today.

Bye.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Newborn

Elbow.

Listen, discover, love.

Welcome back students. You may or may not find knowledge in your pursuits.

Thank goodness it is a beautiful day.

So lets see. Tuesday-5 hours, Wednesday-4.5 hours, Friday-5 hours, Saturday-8 hours. Give or take. That is a total of 22.5. Hm. I wonder if it will be enough. Because I am really thinking of not working on Mondays anymore since I am not closing. Then I could go to FHE. I miss FHE. That would also mean 3 days off. I don't know if I like that idea.

Sorry. I was just thinking about work. And I decided that I needed to think about it out loud in writing. Hm. That doesn't make much sense, does it?

Really, I am just killing time between this class and the next. I still have an hour. I was going to read, but I guess the prospect of going to the A&S computer lab like old times was far too inviting.

"Controlling my feelings far too long."

Muse.

Listen, discover, love.

Funnily enough, Newborn is both Muse and Elbow. Now THAT would be a tour to die for. I already missed the Coldplay/Elbow tour because I had no idea. I will forever shoot myself in the foot for that.

So. Are you wondering what I thought of my first class? Becuase I am.

Dr. Nilon is, well. He is not one of my favorites. He is nice enough, sure. He talks too fast. He tends to de-rail. (Boy, I remember those world history classes with Mrs. (or was it miss?) Jones). He is not all that interesting either. But my classmates might just make it worth it. Welcome back Joe. Molly. Daniel. The first thing I hear as I walk into the class is "Uh-oh" from Joe.

He let us out early. I don't forsee this class being horribly difficult. Just a lot of reading.

Not in the mood for Death Cab For Cutie right now.

I think I will do some other things.

Be prepared for more posts. It is an eventful week.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

My Life = Average

If you have not been to MyLifeIsAverage.com you need to go there right now.

Stop reading.

I mean it.

Go there.

Then come back.

Or not.

First of all, I am feeling much better after my doldrums a couple days ago. I am still frustrated, but I will not let it ruin my last week before classes. I am hoping to never hear from her again, but I am pretty sure that my hopes will be fruitless.

I am happy to report that I have have NOTHING exciting to report.

I have spent most of the day watching the BBC pride and prejudice. How I love it.

My room is now starting to feel lived in again.

While you are reading the mundane and hilarious stories on MyLifeIsAverage.com, go check out Pride and Prejudice and Zombies from the library. In fact, just go and buy it. You will not regret it.

I am of course not speaking to those of you who dislike Jane Austen. Don't even bother. You don't deserve to read so clever a book.

Um...so...

Goodnight!

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

As it turns out, everyone was right.

So we weren't friends, eh? What were all those times that we sat together and laughed about random things? What about when we would talk together about things we wouldn't talk about to others? Isn't that confiding?

Don't get me wrong. I really never needed your friendship. But it is nice to know that you never considered us friends.

Enough already!

Get over yourself!

I fee like a complete idiot because of the things I said. I have already told you that.

I'm glad that you only ever considered us mutual acquaintances. That makes this a lot easier. I thought that MAYBE I should be a little careful about what I said to you because we had some sort of friendship between us.

So here is what I WANT to say.

I should never have trusted you from the start. My whole family said that I should NOT move in with you. I should have listened to them. They were right. You are over-dramatic, manipulative, and horrid. You delight in saying things that hurt others feelings. You are a constant one-upper. You always insist on having the last word. You cheat people out of their money. You are very good at making others think that they are in the wrong when in a bad situation created by you. I can hardly stand you.

I am not a dishonest person. I did not try to take your money in any malicious way. You are getting your way so just leave me alone!

Now that I have vented I will admit that I feel a measure of sympathy for you because of your hard situation. But that is all.

Thank goodness I did not put this in an e-mail and send it to you. I think I would have regretted it.



*******


Sorry to those of you who had to read this. It is not a pretty side of me. There are many more things that I would like to say to the person that these words are aimed at but I think I should stop there.

Some horrible part of me wishes that she came to thins blog and read all that was said previous. But really, all I want it to never hear from her again.

Okay. This has been my life for the last couple days. It is funny that the first e-mail in the horrible thread between us ended in a smiley face. Ha.

Oh, and guess what? I am no longer taking Russian History. I am taking Geography of Cemeteries. I am excited.

Also, my car stereo got stolen for those of you who don't know.

What else?

Um, there is an unexplained $600 surplus in my checking account. I am so bad about crosschecking my record keeping with the statements the bank sends that I have over a years worth of crosschecking to do. With incomplete records. I got some of it done, but I don't want to continue because it seems pointless since I am missing some crucial information. I will not continue until I have online banking which I am working on.

I feel so unproductive today. And yet, I am going to take a nap.

Blah. How do I get rid of this awful feeling of emptiness that I have today? Sleep will not rid me of it, and yet I have no desire to do anything productive.

Hello again everyone. Glad to have me back in the blog world? (Sarcastic scoff)

Oh, life. How you torture sometimes.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Not Packing

That is exactly what I am doing right now. Not packing. I had all these great intentions of getting all my books or clothes put neatly into boxes. I failed. What I did instead was wake up at 10:00am, take a shower, finish a book I have already read (I am failing at reading new books this summer) while eating popcorn and M&M's (strawberry peanut butter, mmm...). I then decided tolay down for 15 minutes. That turned into a 1.5 hour unneeded nap. Now I spent the last 45 minutes checking e-mail, catching up on blogs, and other assorted internet activities.

Here I am blogging.

I feel like I have completely wasted my day. The worst part is, I can't catch up on packing tomorrow because I am working a double shift at work. And even though I don't work tonight, I am babysitting for 4 hours. I also have to go into work at 4:00 to work on training the new hire Andy. I have one hour to cram a bunch of info into his head because I forgot that Kirsti was working for me tonight because I worked for her last night.

To put it simply, this day had great potential. And I wasted it all.

But enough of that. It's been a few weeks since I blogged.

Here are a few things I have done since then.

I went to Florida with Elise where we stayed at a resort and went to Disney World. It was a lot of fun, but if you want to know more you are just gonna have to call me and ask.

I saw Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and was astounded. What a fantastic film! If you want to know more about my opinion and hear about the few things I thought could be improved, you gonna have to call me and ask me.

I took Sadie to the vet. She hated the shots and freaked out just a tad. She is healthy, but I still need to get her spayed and get her teeth cleaned.

I dodged a bullet concerning rent and other roommate things. Thank goodness. I didn't want to have to use threats like a mob boss.

I have done a little straightening of my room. Not enough to make it look remotely clean. But enough that it should make packing a little easier.

I have this fear that once I graduate I am going to have a very hard time finding a job. Mom and Dad seem to think that I will probably find one shortly after December. I have this sinking feeling that it will take much longer. Especially since I don't have my masters.

I don't know.

So there is my little update. I wish the weekend looked promising.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

A movie review

Warning. If you have any intention of seeing the new Transformers movie no matter what I say here, please do not read any further.

The following is a very negative review of the film and if you don't want to be tainted by my opinion before you see the film, feel free to skip over this entry.

If, however, you wish to spare yourself from 2.5 hours of some of the worst film making ever seen, please read on. This entry may be enlightening to you.

***

Okay, worst film making ever seen might be a little harsh. There ARE worse movies out there. But this one comes pretty close to the worst movie I spent money to see in theaters.

Here is a brief list of what was wrong with this film. There are spoiler so I will say again, if you plan on seeing it, don't read further.

1. First off was the voice over in the beginning. Not only was it unnecessary (they could have covered all the important info with some good scripting), it kind of made me want to laugh, it was so cheesy. It doesn't help that Peter Cullen (Optimus Prime) has always sounded like a movie trailer announcer. Anyway, voice over. They began with it, they ended with it, and it was not effective.

2. Next we have unnecessary sexual references. We have humping dogs, leg humping little decepticons, way too many crotch references. All unnecessary, all caused the whole audience to laugh...all except me and Kirsti. I hate people who find that kind of stuff funny.

3. Along with this horrible sex humor we just have horrid humor in general. Nothing that was supposed to be funny in that movie was funny. The only times that me and Kirsti laughed, we were the only ones laughing. And we would laugh at all the random things like "I have wet wipes! I have wet wipes!" Which is frantically shouted by Sam (Shia) at a girl who Bumble Bee shoots yellow fluid all over. Under this category is the stupid random humor of the Mom. It happened far too frequently and was NOT FUNNY!

4. Unnecessary characters. Under this category we have the roommate that adds NOTHING to the plot but annoying side comments and "comic relief" though nothing that he says is funny. He provided nothing useful to move the plot forward. The same can be said about the girlfriend. The only reason Megan Fox is in the movie is to increase the sex appeal. She hot-wires a car once that helps in a getaway and she charms a little decepticon into joining the good side. Other than that she is useless baggage and annoying baggage at that. The whole time it just seems that she is more in the way and things would go smoother if she weren't there. Not only were there several unnecessary characters but there were many that just dropped out of the plot completly partway through the movie. They served their purpose and then they are gone. 24 season 6 anyone?

5. Unnecessary language. Especially in the Autobots. I know that it sort of makes sense that the Autobots wold start using language that humans use because they have lived on earth for two years now, but it is still stupid. And the rest of the foul language is ver unneeded and does NOTHING for the film or the plot. I can admit that sometimes, language is important in a character or for the period or culture being represented. It can also be effective in showing emotion. Not the case for this film.

6. Way too much destruction. needless destruction. Not effective. Also, the fights between the transformers made you want to gouge your eyes out. There was too much going on. Sometimes it was cool, but most of the time it was just overwheling and unplesant to watch.

7. The twins. I'm sure that they were effective comic relief in the cartoon, but in this movie you just wanted them to die. They are represented as "gangsta" like Autobots. And it is almost like having someone tapping sharply on your head incessantly. SO anoying.

8. One of the worst scripts ever. 80% of the lines were so cliche it was painful. And the rest was just dumb. There were only a few good lines and most of them were delievered by Shia.

9. Ineffective use of emotion and emotional timing. There were many instances where I normally would have been crying. But no tears came because the timing was all off. Emotional scenes were to involved and rushed.

I was telling Kirsti right before the movie started that sometimes I really like going to midnight showings because of the excitement and the group mentality. You all cheer and laugh and groan together. Not the case with this movie. I wanted to shout "really?" every time the whole crowd laughed at things like the word "scrotum".

Anyway, I basically paid $7 to see a REALLY good Harry Potter trailer on the big screen.

Other trailers that I saw that looked good

-M. Nights newest film, The Last Airbender
-Nine
-Peter Jacksons District 9

Okay, I am done ranting.

I HATE wasting money.

Again, you don't have to take my word for it (tee-hee, LeVar Burton). Go see it if you still want to. But don't say I didn't warn you.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

"...dude, thanks for spritzin' my watch!"

Just a small moment of your time to give an update.

No dice with the fish. Again.

They were given three days! I guess three days isn't enough time for them to get to know one another. No one night stands for these fatheads.

Oh well. Somehow this will all work out. He will give me a chance to get my grade up from a D. I'm not sure how, but I'm not too worried about it.

Things with Sadie are going swell. She is a very fast learner which is good for me. She already knows that she has to stay in the foot well of the passenger side during car rides. She hasn't had an accident in the house in a while. She is still needy, but getting better. She likes going outside for short spurts of time. She loves the family. She isn't a very consistent eater which worries me. I also hardly ever see her drink water. I still need to taker her to the vet. But she is daring and can charm the socks off anyone.

Work is moving right along. I am trying my best to pick up as many shifts as possible. So is everyone else so its tough. I snapped at my manager the other night. The banana bread was so soft that we were getting complaints. So he popped it in the oven for 5 minutes. It came out a little crusty on the outside. He got annoyed when I told him that I wouldn't serve the crusty bread to any of my tables. I follow the philosophy that if I wouldn't eat it I won't serve it. I got annoyed that he got annoyed at me. I try my best to get along with all my co-workers. No matter how much they annoy me. Every once in a while the angry person in me jumps out.

Did I mention that I am now a certified trainer at work? All that really means is this:

-I get a gold name tag with my full name stamped on it. Not stuck on there with a label maker

-I should get a TAD more respect

-I get to train new servers

-I think there is also something in there that says I can suggest that people get written up for something bad that they are doing. Maybe, maybe not.

I know that I have said this many times before, but I love Psych. It is fresh, funny, and clever. It is also surprisingly clean. I know that the whole family would love it if they would just give it a chance.

That's all I have to say about that.

I am tired now, so I am going to "surrender unto sleep". 5 monopoly dollars if you choir people can name what song that is from. It's not hard.

Goodnight room, goodnight moon. Goodnight cow jumping over the moon.

Monday, June 1, 2009

You've got a nice fat head, Fathead...

I guess having a nice fat head still doesn't attract the females. Neither does having sexy stripes.

Yes, I am back at it as most of you know. This is my week to try and get some eggs out of these fathead minnows. So far, no good.

I put a second male in the breeding tank at 2:00 yesterday. He is all dark and stripedy, and good looking. I wanted to give him some time to get used to the tank and the presence of the other male.

At 10:00pm last night, I came back and put the three plumpest females into the tank and left. The theory is that if I just leave them alone, they will get over their shyness and spawn.

This was the theory. It has proven to be false so far. 17 hours into it and there are still no eggs.

This is my second check up on the fish. I came over at 9:00am thinking that 11 hours might be enough time. No. At 3:00 (20 minutes ago) I came back. Apparently another 5 hours is not enough time either.

On the upside, I got a bank deposit made and watched The Empire Strikes Back with Kirsti. On the down side, I am running out of time again. I think that if this goes much past Wednesday I am going to have call it quits. I can't miss another week of work this month.

Which has me wondering...

I am going to be gone a week to go to Utah when Kirsti goes for school. I am also now (thanks to wonderful sisters) trying to plan in Disney World in July. Not to mention the two days that I am missing for Johnson Shut-ins.

It may not seem like much, but that is already a lot of work to miss.

Plus I have this little dog now who is much more needy that I previously thought.

We think that she was neglected during her two years with the previous owners and maybe even moderately abused. This means that she needs extra care which means less picking up shifts.

This also means that I need money for grooming, spaying, shots, more food, etc.

Also, two of my three roommates are pretty much no longer living at home. Is it fair to have them pay electricity and water? One of them spends SOME time at home. So should we charge her partial? They will both pay rent. No doubt about that. And we have another girl moving in this week so that takes care of some of it.

But will I have enough money to cover all my expenses and can I afford to take off another whole week? (Of course if these fish don't spawn by Wednesday, I am going to finish off the rest of the week and work on Thursday, Friday, Saturday).

I don't know. It's something to think about.

Maybe if it doesn't work this time I will have to tell my professor that I can't try again until the fall. (I would much rather get this over with).

Sigh.

I'm here is the fish lab cooling off because there is hardly any breeze today and walking to the Natural Resources building got me all sweaty.

I will leave soon and come back again at around 8:00 or 9:00. If there is still nothing I will sleep and wait until tomorrow morning.

That is all I have to update.

Time to go home and do something...what? I don't know.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Another addition to my managerie

Her name is Sadie. She's two years old and feeling just a bit needy and abandoned.

She is my new little Yorkie. She doesn't like to be separated from people. She despises her kennel. She barks a little when left alone. She also poos on the floor in order to tell me just how much I have offended her.

She is a little bit lazy. She isn't very active on her leash.

But she is sweet and adorable and lovable. For such a tiny dog, she is a little bit of a bed hog. She doesn't bark unless she is left alone.

She isn't house trained.

She isn't spayed.

She needs some shot updates.

Overall, I am very happy to have her.

It will take time to get her trained up a bit. But I am confident that I can do it.

I feel horrible every time I have to leave her alone. I'm sure that's normal. In time, I will get over it.

I you have not seen The Painted Veil, you NEED to. It is a fantastic movie. I own it, so if anyone want's to borrow it, let me know.

I am officially going to go to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert on June 20th. Me and Ben. I was really hoping to get a few more friends involved. But I guess $37.00 was too pricey. Now it will just be me and Ben which might be a little awkward. He said he wanted to go, but when I talked to him last, he didn't sound all that excited. Perhaps he was distracted by other things. I don't know.

I just know that this is going to be one of those friendships that won't last much longer.

It is always sad to grow further and further away from someone you were so sure was going to be your best friend forever.

Anyway, time for a nap.

I hope to make some phone calls to apartment complexes to see if there are any worth moving into in August.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Wednesday.

Monday, May 25, 2009

A few changes

Now that the semester has ended, I find myself making some decisions and accepting new challenges.

The terrifying unknown of the rent/money situation seems to have alleviated itself for the time being.

I have been picking up shifts at work. Mostly in the morning. Because I work most nights, this means that I have been working a few doubles. They may be exhausting, but my checking account is starting to recover from the drain it experienced last month.

I have a new potential roommate. Rachel. She is a really sweet sister from the University ward. We are currently looking for apartments/duplexes that are on ground levels, $500 and under per month and pet friendly. There are a few options. Some with really pricey pet deposits though. I am hopeful.

Speaking of pets, as of tomorrow, I will be the proud new owner of a young female Yorkie. One of my co-workers needs someone to take her little dog off her hands and I, being the sometimes spontaneous (especially when it comes to pets) person that I am, jumped at the opportunity. I'm getting her for free. I get to keep all the leftover dog food as well as the leash and other things that this co-worker purchased for her. Most pf you will think that this is a bad idea and tell me that I haven't thought this through.

All I have to say to you is...to late!

Maybe it will be a horrible mistake, but I have ALWAYS wanted a Yorkie and up pops an opportunity to have one. I am taking it.

End of the semester grades:

-British Literature: A
-Folklore: A
-Animal Population Dynamics: B
-Practicum: B-
-Ichthyology: D+

Current GPA-2.9 (I was really hoping to get it to a 3.0 this semester. I'll keep my fingers crossed for the next.)

There is obviously something horribly wrong with this picture. Sarah Lambson does not get a D+ as her final grade in anything. But not all hope is lost. As you all know, I have yet to complete this fish experiment. The next (and hopefully successful) trial will be next week. The first week in June. I am very hopeful. I just want to get this over with. With the completion of this project, the paper, and the poster, I hope to bring that D+ to at least a C. A nice round C. Sarah Lambson can get a C and live with it. I REFUSE to take Ichthyology over again because I got a D+.

Next semester schedule:

-Biometrics
-Behavioral Biology
-Behavioral Ecology
-Human Dimensions in Natural Resources
-Russian Literature.

Hm...Maybe I shouldn't have made it so hard on myself. I should have taken easier classes huh? Made it easier to get a 3.0? Yeah. Oh well. I'll get over it.

I'm a bit sleepy.

Zzzzzzzz.......

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Breathing

In, out.

It feels good.

But I don't feel the complete sense of freedom that usually accompanies the end of a semester.

I am 100% sure that this has to do with the following things:

1.I still have a project on the effects of low oxygen on fathead minnow egg development to complete, write a paper, and make a poster for.

2. I was so sure that I would be participating in another internship this year, but mis-communication and lack of money has forced my to stay home.

3.I want to be doing something with my life and I'm just not there yet.

It doesn't help that this seems to be engagement season for everyone single and Mormon. It's always exciting for those parties getting engaged, but a bit of a downer to those of us not so lucky. I can only blame myself, really, but it does make you very aware of your single status when people are prepping to be eternally bound to their companion.

Enough of that rant.

Gloria is cooking something with octopus downstairs. My door is open so I can hear my home teachers when they arrive and the smell is rather pungent.

Not horrible, just...strong.

*****

Home teachers just left. It was good to have them here. I don't get that enough. Too bad one of them is leaving for the summer.

"Are you doing an internship this summer?"

No. No I am not. The more I think about that the more I regret it. I wish I had tried harder. Still, volunteering is also a good thing. Sometimes when you volunteer and do a great job, they take that into account and even try to get you to stay by offering you a job. I'm not counting on it, but you never know.

Sigh.

What is this feeling? I don't understand it. A pressure on my heart and my soul. Not bad, not good...restless? Not even that. I don't have a word for it and that means I don't know how to go about figuring it out.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

"Children should listen"

I have to admit that I saw this coming from a mile away. EVERYONE told me that this would happen.

I thought that since things had been okay so far that maybe they would continue to be okay until the end.

This is all referring to my living situation. One of the individuals living with me is unable to pay rent or electricity. I don't know if she is going to be able to pay her portion of the water bill either.

So, now what? Do I call the landlord or the water company or the electricity company and tell them all that we cannot pay on time this month? Should that be MY job? Why am I the one who has to step up?

I have a headache. I slept too long this afternoon.

Why does this have to happen now? Right before finals week? Why didn't I prepare better for this?

I knew that she didn't have a steady job that was bringing in any significant income. Why didn't I just talk to her about it? It's uncomfortable. WHY!!

I don't want to think about it. I have a simulation on common pipistrelle bats figure out.

Not to mention a bison culling simulation to run and write a report on.

Then there is the paper on vulgar humor. And the studying for my last fish test which I have to get a 70% or better on this time in order to get a C for the semester.

And yet, here I am feeling sorry for myself because I didn't listen to my instincts and all my friends and family concerning this roommate situation.

Sorry I didn't listen to you all.

I am unhappy.

On the plus side, Elder Bednar gave a good talk. I don't think that blogging takes me away from the spirit. Often it invites it. Not if I am writing bad things about people.

So I will do my best to be charitable towards this roommate. Try to help her as much as I am able.

I wish that my headache would go away.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Dressed up and no where to go...

I'm in nice slacks, a blue button down shirt, and heels. I don't even get to present and I have to get all dressed up for professionalism's sake.

I am not very happy about it. Especially since I SOMEHOW got 3 sooty colored stains on my white tank that I'm wearing under the blue shirt. All between the half hour it took me to get to campus and the hour I spent in class. I have NO idea how they got there. But they were glaring at me as I was washing my hands in the bathroom.

Have I mentioned just how much I love The Fountain?

So, um...

I spent three hours with alcohol soaked dead fish yesterday. The forst 1.5 hours was taking my lab exam. I know I did better on this one than the last one, but is it good enough?

The rest of the time was spent identifying fish for one of the last projects of the semester. rubbing alcohol may not do any immediate damage to your skin, but after a while it starts to wear down on your fingers.

I'm just glad that's over. Now I just need to figure out how to do this fish experiment. I think what I will have to do is this.

dump some males and females together in the evening. Go home. Sleep. Give them some time. Then check back in the morning to see if they have spawned. If not, check periodically throughout the day. None of this sitting and waiting. Just pop in when my classes are done.

Once they spawn, I will check the eggs to determine what stage they are at and go from there. It's not as accurate as getting the eggs from the second they are spawned, but according to this expert that I e-mailed, it may take a DAY OR TWO for these fish to spawn. There is NO WAY I am going to sit there for 48 hours at a time waiting for these fish to get a clue.

I blame myself for all the failed attempts. Maybe if I had read more papers on the spawning habits of fathead minnows, I might have read that it takes DAYS not HOURS for them to be comfortable enough with each other to spawn. I don't know.

Anyway, I have to run this by my professor and then I can try again. I don't know when. I almost just want to tell him that I want to wait until after Finals. I REALLY don't want to go into the summer with this, but with this new tactic the schedule is unpredictable. I wont KNOW if I will miss classes or not. You can't predict anything based on unpredictable critters.

So I think my best bet would be to wait until finals are over. Heck, I am even okay with waiting until SUMMER is over and trying it next semester since I will be here. Plus I my be forced into taking another class from him. Ew. I would rather swallow 10 fathead minnows whole that take Fisheries Management.

I don't think being dressed up is worth pizza. It depends on how they give the pizza to us. It they give a few pizzas to each group, I'm sure we will all get our fill. If they just put all the pizzas in all 100+ of us students, I don't know if I will get any and that would make me cry.

If you have time and don't shy away from a little language (There are a few F bombs, in there) then go on over to Youtube and type in "32 songs in 8 minutes". Quite entertaining. The transitions are pretty good. The way he sings some of those songs in such a mellow way is great. Also he plays MUSE!! Which is great.

I discovered a fellow Muse lover in my class the other day. Soon they will be the best loved band in the world...or not.

Hm. I have three papers to write and another test to study for. Maybe I should get to doing that.

Happy Wednesday everyone.

By the way, if any of you are interested, there is a section of my story on my other blog. Shameless plug, I know. Nothing new form the one you have already read, mom.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Post Birthday

Thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes and gifts.

Even though I hate those stupid fish for their lack of spawning, I am kinda happy that I got to relax a little on my Birthday. Had they laid eggs, I would have had to worry about checking eggs on my birthday. Instead, I got to have a great day and eat my dinner with no worries.

Just so it's clear to everyone that DIDN'T know. I now have a laptop on which I do pretty much everything.

I just discovered that there is a musical of Lord of the Rings. HA! Funny. I can get it free off of emusic.

I think I might just get it. It kind of makes me smile.

I'm watching Ben-Hur right now. What a great movie in many ways.

"You're a Roman, I'm a Jew..." I always want to finish that line with "Whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you!"

I am pretty sure that I have found my next Favorite Band. Elbow. And, of course, they are British! I think I would place them somewhere between Muse and Keane. Near Coldplay perhaps. Pretty fantastic stuff.

Someday, I will have an aquarium. Guess what I will not have in there? Fathead minnows.

Oh, those crazy guys and their leopard hats.

I wonder how much those people got paid to just stand there and glare at the Roman procession. It's the only time we see them.

Judah looks like he is going to vomit.

I am done commenting on this movie.

Just a few more weeks. That's all that is left of this semester. I think I have missed more work because of classes this semester than any other.

I like how in this movie, you never see Christs face. It shows respect. And how Judah looks at him in awe and then just reaches out and touches his hand ever so slightly. I know I said that I would stop. So this is me stopping.

Anyway, it looks like I will probably have to do this dumb fish experiment into the summer. I have one more try before the semester is over. Then I have to either go into the summer or try again in the fall and hope it works before I have to graduate. I am not taking complete failure as an option. This experiment will work. One way or another.

There are ants in my room...

I lied. I wonder how they have cymbals and drums in the parade since there are non marching.

This movie makes me think of The Count of Monte Cristo. A man who is betrayed. So completely down in out and then by some miracle becomes even greater than he was and uses that power to exact his revenge. But in the end he tries to learn to forgive.

I cannot WAIT for this semester to be over.

Judah is becoming the lord of the rings. He has Esther's and now he has the ring of Quintus.


Tee-hee. He LOOKS like a roman. With the curly bangs and everything.

This was a random, pointless entry. Sorry.

I'm done. Time for a nap.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

The Re-re-try

Third times a charm, or so THEY say. Who do they think they are anyway? My third go around has not started promising.

I got an e-mail from my professor saying that most of the fish had died. His best guess was that it was an aeration problem. Great. So all I had left in the tank were three overstressed and smallish females. There was no way I was going to get great results from them.

So I spent the first part of this morning driving down to the CERC to pick up more fathead minnows. At 10:00 I introduced TWO females from the new batch right off. I checked the O2 levels. They are lower than last time. Significantly. That worries me. I wonder if there is something in the air in the lab that is causing O2 in the apparatus to be low and 02 in the tanks to be low. That wold explain all the fish deaths.

I am waiting again. I have until 2:00 this afternoon before it becomes a problem to do this with my schedule. After that, I am going to have to go for round 4 on the Thursday before finals week. Joy. In the meantime I am going to try to identify some dead fish in jars. If nothing happens, this play-by-ply will be very dull.

11:17am- I really hate the smell of fish preserved in alcohol in the morning. Stupid darters. They are SO hard to identify. You know, as much as I would hate to put this off, if nothing happens today, I will be able to enjoy my birthday. But then I would have to postpone this so that would be doing it into the Monday of Finals week. That is not a very happy thought.

-iTunes: "Friend is a 4 Letter Word-CAKE-Fashion Nugget

12:54 pm-4 of the 5 brand new males that I got this morning are dead. What on earth is going on here? I'm 75% sure that we can rule out an aeration problem. But I don't know what is. So I get to bale out most of the water in the tank and we will put new water in. In the meantime I am Still, still, STILL having no luck with these fish. I plan on e-mailing the guy we got the fish from and ask what suggestions he has. Okay. Gotta go bale water.

-iTunes-"Can't Stop the World"- Gavin Rossdale-Wanderlust

1:46pm-I've been kicked out. Out of the classroom that is next to the lab room where the fish are. There is a class meeting in there and I guess they can't share space. There is new water in the tank. We'll see if the fish survive. The male and one of the females are getting frisky. My professor says that this is a good sign. But they have 15 minutes to decide whether they are just fooling around or they are going to get serious. I REALLY can't go much past 2:00. If I go to 2:00, based on the development schedule, I will already be late for work on Saturday. If I go to 3:00 I will be even MORE late for work. Not a good thing. Anyway, of COURSE that would wait until the last minute to get it into their heard to spawn. I want to rip my hair out.

On top of all that, I am stuck in this noisy room. It is a small cramped lab room that is kept at constant temp. and the air kept clean. So there is this really loud fan coming from the very low ceiling. I am not pleased. Thank goodness I still get internet in this room or I think I would cry.

iTunes-I'm not playing it right now because they kicked me out and I turned it off.

2:01pm- There is still nothing going on other than the male keeps bashing the females head with his own head. Looks painful. I guess it's good that he has a fathead. Anyway, is it horrible of me that I want to just separate them, wait 20 minutes and then go to my professor and tell him it didn't work? Yes, that WOULD be dishonest. That is why I am not going to do that. However, if by 2:30 they STILL have not produced any eggs, I am going to tell him that even though things LOOKED promising, I can't wait around forever. Seriously. I could just call work and say that I won't be there on Saturday. But then what if all this head butting comes to nothing? What if she decides that his head butting is not good enough for her? Then I would have told work I would be absent for nothing.

2:06pm-Oooooookkkkkaaaaayyyyy, now she left. What did I say? He doesn't have the little bumps on his head that make all the other guys cool. He's cleaning the spawning surface like a good little male and trying to chase her back in. But I think she's not going for it.

2:16pm-Still not in the spawning area anymore. He keeps pushing her in there. Is it because I'm here? I'm sitting where they can't really see me and something tells me that fish don't really care about privacy. I'm going to go eat some of my lunch. You fish have 15 more minutes to do your thing or you can forget it!

2:21pm-There is something not right about eating food in the same place you are doing lab work. Not that I'm dealing with pathogens or anything. It's just...unsanitary, I guess? Doesn't matter. I'm hungry.

I have to wonder. I pray over these fish every day (crazy, I know). But I know that if anyone can help them spawn it's God. I can't help but wonder that there is some learning experience in this or some strange reason why now is not a good time. Maybe I am supposed to be showing my professor the perseverance that I have and then I can get a good recommendation from him when I want a job or to go to grad school. Who knows. Maybe my patience is just being tested. I don't know. Or maybe I don't have enough faith. All I know is I keep prepping myself for 5 days of unhappiness and then nothing happens. So I have this constant knot in my stomach.

Aaannnnddddd...

...what if the fish DO lay their eggs and it comes time to separate them. I do the rubbing in a circle thing and them I accidentally kill them all. I've read the procedures on how to separate fish eggs but that is very different from the application process. I will have waited all this time for fish eggs and then I ruin it. I can just see that happening. Or maybe, I'm doing the nitrogen wrong and the experiment it botched. Any number of things can go wrong and I just have o remind myself not to worry about it because I STILL don't have eggs.

Okay, it is now 2:30. I am calling it quits for the day.

You are all probably sick of these play-by plays. Let mew know if you are and I will not do one for any of the following experiment days.

I can't believe it didn't work. I was so sure about today. I guess the bad omen of fish dying should have been my tip off.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

If at first you don't succeed...

I did try, try again. Guess what I got? I whole bunch of nothing again.

Now I have to Re-try and re-try again. On Thursday. That means that I will potentially be observing fish from 10:00am Thursday to 10:00 am Friday and then go to all my classes and such. Then go back and observe the fish again throughout the day. I will be one very tired and cranky birthday girl.

If Thursday doesn't work out (knocks on the wood desk she is working at) then I don't know what I will do. The rest of the semester is filled with tests and projects and work for my other classes. Please, please, PLEASE pray for me and my fish on Thursday. I REALLY don't want to have to go into the summer with this. I think I would probably cry.

So there's the update for that. On top of the fact that I am wasting time waiting for them to do their thing, I am also missing a lot of work. All for NOTHING! That means, of course, less money in the bank for me.

On Monday, I survived my first ever real All-nighter. I'm talking NO SLEEP whatsoever. From 8:00am Sunday morning to 7:00 pm Monday night.

I stayed up all night trying to get all my homework done. I had...

...2 papers, 2 powerpoints (one I had to present Monday), 1 test and 1 130pg complied paper to copy and paste together from the various group members and then edit the best I could (which was NOT very good).

This was all due on Monday. There was no time for sleep. Mostly because this 130 pg paper took longer that I thought it would.

So on Monday at 8:00am I presented my findings on humor and it's uses in todays society. Particularly Vulgar humor. I was dead tired and it was really late when I made the powerpoint. So is was HORRID. No visuals. Just a bunch of boring facts. I never told a single joke the whole time, which didn't so much for my supporting arguments. It was abysmal and I am pretty sure I put people to sleep.

-I kept misspelling words during my test the next class I had

-I kept nodding off during my Brit Lit class

-I was pretty much incoherent during my Practicum class

-When I finally got home and ate food and went to sleep at 7:00pm I slept right through my 8:00pm "24" alarm and missed my show. I also slept through an 8:03 call from Juli. I am such a light sleeper, I NEVER sleep through my phone. I must have been dead tired. I slept from 7:00pm to 7:00am the following morning. I don't think I have ever slept 12 hours straight through.

The horrible thing is, I will be doing the same thing on Thursday for these fish. 10:00 am-10:00 am. Then to class and at 12:00 I am checking them again. I get three hours (Where I will probably nap in my car or work on identifying dead fish in jars). Then at 4:00 I'm at it again. Then it's my birthday, so I will be eating yummy food and having SOME family time for most of the evening. I have to check them again at 9:20pm. Then I have to check AGAIN at 2am. So I am looking at (counting) almost 42 hours of almost no sleep.

Can I do it? Well, I may have to invest in lots of sugar since I don't drink caffeine.

I'm done for now. That is the update on my life. I'm sure I'll gt through it though I will not be happy and my body will hate me. Wish me luck.

Have a happy EARTH DAY!!!!

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Play by Play

5:19am-Released the female into the males tank. Nothing all that interesting happened.
-iTunes:Chris Cornell-You know my name.

5:40am-Already off to a frustrating start. The 02 meter is on he fritz. They have not yet spawned. I guess I can't expect them to hit it off this early in the relationship (tee-hee). I can't find and DI water.
-iTunes: Nicklecreek-Jealous of the moon

6:12am-Still nothing. Trying a new method with the 02 meter. Starting in high 02 and going down. Why didn't I think of that before. I'm hungry.
-iTunes: Jack Johnson-If I Had Eyes

6:28am-Okay, I have a half an hour before I REALLY start to get impatient. She's being very standoffish. And the 02 meter is not working any better. That is what really makes me want to yell.
-iTunes: Billy Joel-My Downeaster "Alexa"

6:45am-You know what's funny? I have 3 different versions of "You Know My Name" by Chris Cornell. The single, the one on the "Best of James Bond" CD, and the one on "Carry On". Nada. C'mon fish! If you spawn any later than 8:00am I am pretty much stuck out of luck when it comes to my schedule. I guess I could tweak it a bit. I cannot tell you how much this 02 meter is frustrating me. It was not meant for use in tiny little cup sized pools. It's for use in lakes! Where there is SOME flow going on. I am getting ridiculous readings.

-iTunes: Some random African song that iTunes gave me for free.

7:15am-Got all my 02 readings. I don't care that they are stupid and don't make much sense. I'll get over it. I know I took them right. So when Dr. Noltie sees them and says "What?" I'll tell him the sampling method is flawed. I am SO not supposed to eat in this classroom (the room next to the lab with the fish. This is where I am going to record the data.). But I am starving and I will eat anyway. No one else is here. I really want to go outside, but I have to stay near the fishes.

-iTunes: Secret Garden-Duo

7:20am-I've decided that at 8:00, if there is no spawning, I am going to put another female there. If I am really lucky, I will get eggs from BOTH the females then. The more eggs, the more accurate the results. Eating, reading Cakewrecks.

-iTunes: Copeland (not the composer)-The Grey Man

7:50am-The fish growth lab light is on. Is someone else here? It could be automatic. I just put another female in the tank. I wonder if that is advisable. I know that the guy I got them from said it might be good to have a few females per male. Or was it a few males per female? That wouldn't make much sense. Anyway, I don't care. I just want some eggs, dang it!

-iTunes: The Fountain-Tree of Life

8:18am. I'm not sure what I am going to do if these fish don't spawn. The later it gets, the less likely it is that I will be able to check up on them at every stage change. I've already asked off for Saturday and Tuesday. I may have to add Wednesday to that list. I am not very happy about this. Dr. Noltie said we may have to try another run. I have NO TIME for another run this semester. I am really peeved.

-iTunes: I turned it off.

8:35am-I've been here for 3.5 hours. I hoped to have been well underway by now. The longer they take to spawn, the longer I am here. I have to check on the eggs each hour for 24 hours from the time of fertilization. If that's not until 10:00, I have to stay here until 10:00am tomorrow. Shoot me now please. Let me see if I have another time that I can do this experiment. NO! Never mind. I just want to get this done. No matter what it takes. Just get it done. I can do this, right?

-iTunes: still off.

9:15am-What the heck am I supposed to do? The new female won't come out of the corner of the tank. She's bloated with eggs. You can tell! You'd think she would want to lighten the load! But NOOOOOO. She has to be all nervous and stressed and uncomfortable. So what the heck am I supposed to do? Try yet another female? I think that if I keep putting a new one in there they will take longer to get used to the new tank. I think I should have just kept with the first female. Why did I agree to do this? What now, what now, what now? I'm too frustrated and stressed to do any homework. ARGH! I just want to yell real loud and throw something. I'm cooped up on a beautiful day and for WHAT? A couple of spawn shy fish.

-iTunes: John Mayer-In Repair

9:45am-Eating my yogurt. Feeling tired. Already. Frustration growing. Trying to look for papers on the stage distribution of the common pipistrel bat. Having no success. This only adds to my frustration. So much to do and I can hardly do any of it right now. I kind of want to cry. Thank goodness there in no one else here. Is this really worth it?

-iTunes: Foo Fighters-Still

10:03am-Options?

-iTunes: Blue Man Group-Shadows Part 2

10:06am-Time for The Office.

-iTunes: nada, because I am watching The Office

11:55am-(whispers) there are other people here! I can hear them talking. I hope they don't think that I'm not supposed to be here. I am really hungry, but I don't want to eat because I'm afraid he fish will get on with it without me! There are now 3 females in the tank! More to chose from! (But it might mean that there are TOO MANY to chose from and they still wont spawn. ARGH! I DON'T KNOW!!).

-iTunes:OK Go-Do What you Want

12:36pm- Dr. Nylon is one of the people here. I wonder why? I cannot believe that I've been here over 7 hours. STILL NOTHING!!! I can't believe this. I have no other choice. THIS HAS TO HAPPEN TODAY! I have no time before the semester ends. I guess if I have to I will MAKE the time. But I would much rather just GET THIS DONE. I really hate my life right now. ARRRRGGGGHHHHHHH!

-iTunes: Rufus Wainwright-Poses

1:10pm. Okay. I am THIS CLOSE to calling it quits. What else can I do? I can't just sit here all day waiting! I mean, seriously! 8 hours! I can't believe it. Why was I cursed with the shy ones? Just lay your freakin eggs already! 2:00 I am going to call Dr. Noltie and tell him that today was a dud.

-iTunes: Billy Joel-Allentown

1:39pm-Just figured that I CAN do this on the week of he 20th. It would be from a Tuesday to a Saturday. I would have to worry about fish on my Birthday. But assuming hat I can get them to spawn at the proper time this time I should be good! I would just need to cover a few shifts. As in Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. Part of me still wishes that I will go into that room and find fish eggs. That way I can get it over with and I wouldn't have wasted 9 HOURS OF MY LIFE!

2:01pm-I just called Dr. Noltie. Told him nothing yet. I said I would stay a couple more hours. Until 4. Then I'm calling it quits. I also told him that I could do it another week. He told me he was even willing to give me time past the end of the semester if needs be! That's pretty nice of him. Remember when I was having problems with the 02 readings? I was taking them under the assumption that there was already Nitrogen in the water. It didn't make sense that they were all the same. But guess what? There ISN'T any Nitrogen in the water. Great. I hate today.

-iTunes: Silence

3:16pm-45 more minutes and then I'm for real packing it up. NO turning back. Part of me would really like to not have to worry about this experiment until after the 20th. I have 5 things due that day. Also, I get to have a better Easter Sunday. With my luck, they will spawn in the next 1/2 hour. I will not be going to work tonight.

-iTunes:Twisted Sister-We're Not Gonna Take It.

3:50pm-After nearly 11 hours, I am packing it up. Calling it quits. At least for today. I am going home and sleeping. I'm going to enjoy my Easter Sunday and actually get to go to church. I am going to re-schedule this for the 21st. The fish better cooperate or I am going to fry them up and eat them. I am quite disappointed. Sorry about the anti-climactic ending folks.

Stupid Ichthyology.

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