I am already counting the days until Winter Break and I have only had one class so far and that was a PE class.

For Winter Break, I have decided I want to do some volunteer work somewhere in the DC area since it's very unlikely I will be able to find such a job for such a short time that would be worth the time.

If you have any ideas, certainly let me know.

I posed this question on Facebook, but this LJ post is much longer.

So I know New Moon is supposed to premiere tomorrow at midnight. And one of my roommates is all excited to go see it. But I do wonder at what's the appeal of Twilight to us, who are in college, who are nearly 5 years older than these characters? That brings up a broader question of why do us, as 20-something adults, are attracted to watching shows like Glee or Gossip Girl, which all involve high school students that are sexually mature, and act more than mature than their age they may as well be in college. Why are some of us watching shows about people who younger than us? Why are we not involved in watching shows about those that are more in our age range?

The only answer I can come up is the following

I guess you could say that even at our "advanced age" we wish for something. We watch those highschoolers on TV and think, "I wish I was like that in high school." The high school on TV is the dream world we wish we could have had. It's like Disney, it's a wondrous place where everything you can think of comes true. And maybe, I am being harsh on my sex, but this seems primarily pertinent to females. We still enjoy Disney and all it's fantasy. So, why shouldn't we dream about "could beens" by watching television shows and movies that have people that we wish we could have been.

Also I wonder at the choice of a high school setting as compared to a college setting for most of these shows. Is it because you have just as much independence and freedom yet you don't have all the necessary responsibilities as compared to college? Or are we just advertising the sexual appeal to younger and younger age groups that by the time another decade goes around, the appeal of being a college student will have worn off and you would be considered middle aged? And of course that brings up the topic of how the entertainment industry is sexualizing our society at a younger and younger age in order to bring up numbers.

Woohoo done with midterms!

I think I did okay that I passed on my midterms. And that's a good feeling. Definitely am amazed I got through 3 exams in the time constraints I had. I mean I finished the fluvial midterm in an hour less time than I did the initial test from two weeks ago, which is amazing. And to add to that, I think I answered the questions pretty well. The same goes for animal behavior.

The pollution prevention take-home was weird. I felt that most of the test had nothing to do what we were learning in class, but I think I answered the questions well enough. 

And now all those midterms are in the hands of the professors.

It seems that whenever I post here I am always  stressing. I just noticed that lately.

This post is going to be no difference. I have to complain, whine, bemoan, and whatever synonyms that are associated with feeling stressed about this week. I should totally be excited that fall break is only a few days away, which I am even though I have skip out on a trip to VA Beach with my parents and instead work on several long term projects, so I don't get behind and start feeling even more stressed before finals. But that is besides the point.

Before I can even have a fall break, I have 3 hurdles to jump over and they're all on Thursday. I have to complete a take home test for Pollution Prevention Planning, which although she extended the deadline to 8PM that night, I have to worry about it. I can't decide whether I should just complete it tonight or do it Thursday night because I still have two in-class exams in fluvial and animal behavior on Thursday. It really sucks that fluvial and animal behavior are back to back, I sort of want to shoot myself -- metaphorically speaking. Thinking about it know, I may just dedicate my time to the pollution test on Thursday night, that would give me time now to focus on the in-class exams. 

Once I get home Friday, I am so not doing anything academic. Like I said, I have several long term projects I need to complete.

1. Ethogram for Animal Behavior: Meaning I am going to be visiting the zoo quite frequently for just a few hours over a 3-4 day period and take notes on the behavior of probably the golden lion tamarins, so that when I write the paper, it's done before November.

2. Pollution issue presentation: Based on a picture, prepare a presentation about the pollution problems addressed by the image as well as research any laws or regulations. I have to do a written portion as well.

3. My second bio seminar presentation: This presentation is supposed to be 16-20 minutes, and I am doing Lyme disease. I don't know if I am feeling just as excited about it as I did for my first topic, but it has to be done.

3. Fluvial project: I think my presentation with Margaret, the topic has changed. And has to do with the selenium content/contamination in the Ohio and Mud Rivers. I haven't really done much with this compared to her, so I better make it up to her.

Though that fluvial project reminds me that, Margaret (who also happens to be one of my roommates) has been lately cold around me. I can't tell if it's just her being stressed or if I did something that I don't know about that offends her. I sort of noticed this on Monday during lab where she was doing a portion of the lab and although I asked her to let me know what I can do to finish it, she gives me this sort of blase agreement. I don't really want to worry about it, but since we see each other so often, I feel like it could be an elephant in a room and no one notices it. *sighs*

Ugh, I think I have cast myself into a realm where only GIS exists this weekend. I have a GIS hw project for Spatial due Sunday and its first test on Monday as well as a GIS lab to do for fluvial. *sighs* Some weekend

Bio seminar today = 'not really' epic fail, but it may as well be close to it.

I totally miscalculated the amount of information I had to the time limit. I am used to having presentations where I am always below the minimum limit, but today I was told I was 3-4 minutes over the max. >.< All the research put to waste. *sighs* At least the professor won't take too much off at least, I don't think. She really is a nice lady and I like her. At least I know what not to do for my Lyme disease presentation which is next month. I don't really look forward to watching my taped presentation either, but Dr. Killian says I have to, though I don't really want to. I hate watching myself on video. Just how I don't really like having my picture taken unless I want to.

Ugh, fluvial test was hard no matter what anybody else says. And that's just a "test", not a midterm. I hear that the midterm is twice as long. And today it took me 3 hours to get through 7 essay questions. Yes, essay questions. I think I wrote about 3 and half pages front-back of plain white printer paper. My wrist is still a little sore from all that writing. It's too bad you can't BS your way out of a science test that resembles an english test. >.<

I have my formal presentation on Chikungunya fever for my bio seminar project tomorrow afternoon. Surprisingly, I am not that nervous. I think fluvial took away all the butterflies. I am actually looking forward to speaking about this disease, which no one has even heard of. It's probably because there have been no outbreaks here in the U.S. Of course the moment I finish this presentation, I have to work on my second presentation which is in about a month and it's on Lyme disease.

In other news, I got my first Animal Behavior exam back: 87%. Quite proud of that, though I am disappointed I fell short of an A because of some point deductions for some stupid answers on the short answer. Oh well. Better luck next time.

I have so much work to do this week. After this presentation, I have to work on my group GIS hw, which is due Sunday night. My first GIS exam is next Monday. I have to work on that stupid fluvial lab from yesterday, which didn't really work during the lab period since the data wasn't accessible at the time, and he sort of expects us to finish it by next lab. So yeah, not going home this weekend, which just happens to be Family Weekend.

Please kill me....begging you...

(okay not literally)


I don't know how to study for this test in fluvial.

He says study the notes from lecture, only this guy just talks and talks about stuff. Whether it's pertinent or not I don't know, but it seems like I just have to write everything he has to say.

And in return he expects us to spout word for word what he says when writing our essays. Gah, I am so nervous and frustrated since I have to conceptualize everything.

*desk banging*

For the weekend, I always hope for something. Well this weekend I have a lot of wishes, but not much hope for those wishes coming true.

I want this:





Only I am going to be doing:

Right off the bat. THE BREAKFAST CLUB!!!!

So I got to travel around by myself since my dad had to go into work. I actually got to drive the rental car. Let me tell you about this amazing keyless car. There is no key to put into the ignition; instead there's only a single button that turns the car's engine on. Of course you have to remember to press the button again to turn the button off or else you could inadvertantly leave the engine running and run out the battery. I got sort of lost in some beautiful farm country looking for a state park. I saw a lot of pretty houses, making me wish I could buy one of those adobe designed houses. I eventually did reach the state park only to find a lot of the pathways really muddy from some of the rain earlier in the week. Also there were a lot of ant hills, and unfortunately the ants here bite viciously whatever color they are. And I am covered in bug bites thanks to these ants and some other insects.

In the afternoon, I took a little shopping break at the mall nearby. It would seem a lot of stores are having some great sales. I hope that when I get back those same stores I visited today are having such great sales as the ones I saw today. Who knows, maybe I will find some great stuff. I just didn't want to overload my luggage for tomorrow's flight. And that leads to tomorrow's plan to travel back to the East Coast. New Mexico was an excellent vacation and now it means I am back to work for another 2 weeks before I have to move back onto campus.

Today was supposed to be packing day if the rocket had been launched. But no rocket launch occurred, so my dad went to work and I got travel with the 2 Italian astronomers that had come with a large Italian congregation to work on a piece of the payload. Our long day included a very long drive to Roswell, NM. I don't think I need to explain the significance of the town. It was surprising to see the rundown look of the town. We did visit the alien museum. But what really showed the significance of the town was the number of alien oriented shops, displays and advertisements. I found it amusing that the New Mexico Military Institute is also out there. The trip along the way was quite scenic. We passed through the valleys of the mountains where we must have gone through at least 3 small mountain towns. A lot of them looked to be on a Indian reservation since we passed many casinos and one big one which had its own racetrack.

Italians are really nice and amazing efficient drivers. Marizzio told me that the roads in Italy are way curvier than the straight roads of New Mexico. I also found out that it is illegal to drive in sandals there as well. Ice cream costs 4 times as much compared to us. Most Italians like to buy their computer products in the US because it is cheaper to buy them here and take them back. Guillemo was the other Italian and was a decent bloke, did most of the driving and is quite the car expert. I found out that he and Marizzio really love pistachios. We did happen to stop by a pistachio farm, each of them buying a lot of pistachios and some chile seasoning. Lunch for Italians tends to be late, therefore making dinner even later, about 8PM'

Italians have quite the playful nature. When we were playing in the sand dunes in White Sands National Monument, they were running up and down the dunes. Guillemo took a video of all of the antics we did. Did you know that you can buy saucer sleds at the gift store to use and slide down the dunes? Oh and they also have a sand buckets and shovels. We took the sunset tour and it was gorgeous to watch the sun set from atop a white sand dune despite the cloud cover. We happen to meet up with Frederico, another Italian scientist, who had brought most of his family with him, at the sunset walk as well. Europeans are quite the drinkers. They seem to have some sort of alcohol during meals. It was a long day and I didn't get back to the hotel room around 11PM

So I am sitting at desk in the Engineering complex, also known as N200, facing the 30 foot payload that was supposedly going to be launched today, but was scrubbed since there was a fear of failure due to an equipment problem. Today was chosen as the launch date due to the fact that today the longest solar eclipse ever seen is supposed to occur (you will see it either on TV or in the southern hemisphere). It was unfortunate that such a momentous event was not to be matched with a successful rocket launch. The head honchos of the project had been in meeting for at least an hour when we came in, and remained so for another 30 minutes before the abortion of the mission was officially announced. Several foreign nationals as well as several family members had arrived here just to see this thing launch only to find out of the abortion. I did get my picture standing next to the rocket in its launcher, which put together payload and all was about a total of 80 feet long. Repairs on the rocket will take at least another 2 weeks, maybe more before there is to be another set rocket launch, meaning I probably won't be able to come out here again to see if it will be launched.

I instead explored the WSMR museum, which tells of the range's history as a missile testing site starting in the late 40s. The first official tested rocket is the V-2, which was a missile taken from the German after WWII and now officially has its own building dedicated to it. It's quite the impressive thing, and really does resemble the idealized image of what most people thing of as a rocket. Outside the V-2 dedication building, there is an array of missiles, missile launchers, and their like displayed to show the varying missiles that have been tested here at WSMR. I think there are at least 20 or more such real missiles here, each with its own little description and scientific facts. Some of these things are just amazing in their height and weight. I didn't take any individual missile pictures, but I think I will definitely try to take a picture of the whole missile park, which is the only place within the range pictures are allowed unofficially other than outside the gate. I did take some pictures of some flowering cacti I found. The flowers are quite pretty and were the center of a lot of insect activity.

I forgot to mention in my last post that the hour long drive to WSMR is so beautiful in the morning. We travel just as the sun starts rising over the Organ Mountains, and it really is a gorgeous site. By the time we arrive at the WSMR gate, the sun is creating shadows on the mountain faces and you can see the contrasting light and dark on these tall, magnificent colossals. I took a few pictures outside the gate before we entered the range, I am only allowed to take pictures in the missile park/museum, so I am sorry no rocket pictures. These rocket launches are considered top secret missions and only official photographers are allowed to blatantly take pictures of the equipment. If I were allowed, I would take pictures of the baby quails running around some of the buildings or the jack rabbits with the giant sized ears. There really is some amazing things over here that I wish I could memorialize in a photograph, but can only describe in words and hope could you can see the beauty I view here.

Ooh so hard to answer since I love mysteries of all genres.

Lets see books, it would have to be Nancy Drew, Ms. Marple, and Temperence Brennan

As for TV, again Temperence Brennan, Olivia Benson from SVU, and Catherine Willows from CSI

Movies: Hmm, probably Clarise from Silence of the Lambs.

Its not every day you can watch your father at work when his career is that of a rocket scientist. Rocket science is a career in which there is more preparation than actual action. You could say that today in New Mexico is actually the first time I have seen my dad at work. At the White Sands Missile Range (WSMR), rockets are launched. You may imagine the work spaces are that of Mission Control in Houston, but I can assure it is nothing as organized as that space. In between the Engineering Room (Building 35) and the Block House (Building 36)(both of which seem a mile apart, meaning you have to drive between the buildings), the rooms are basically open spaces crammed with computer monitors, cables, papers, and lots of empty drink cups and bottles. With any rocket launch, a lot of time and effort is put into its success. Tirelessly, each team works on its own part of the rocket to ensure that there are no kinks on the day of the launch. In this case, the launch is scheduled for tomorrow if all the preparation and test launches go well and as planned.You can compare all this preparedness to that of a play. With a play, there are months of rehearsals, one tech week (Hell week to those working on the project) and then finally the opening night, where you pray that everything and everybody works together smoothly so that by the end the audience is giving you a thunderous applause. The difference between a play and a launch is that you don't see the applause, you only see the words and numbers on the computer monitor telling you if the program software you put together is functioning properly.

It is only 9 AM here, and yet everybody has been working since 7 AM. I observed one succesful horizontal test run, where all the sequence of steps that would launch the rocket vertically are done where the rocket is positioned horizontally and not launched. The mission control room is in the engineering building, but today those mission control people are in the block house checking on the rocket itself, and making sure that the numbers are right, and that everything is secure for tomorrow's launch. Every number has to be read correctly. Each increment of seconds has to be perfectly set to guarentee that the duties set are done in an orderly manner. Each station has to be able to report back that their software is working correctly and reporting positive feedback. When it comes to a launch, these little things are essential over all else. I hope there is a launch tomorrow. Unfortunately, that means I need to wake up at 530AM to be able to get to the range by 7AM.

If I had twitter, this would be how I described my experience

Perfect departure from DCA
Thunderstorms
Waylaid OK
Ojala!
200 m sprint Dallas
Thank god! Lucky!
Damn, it's hot
The END

I moved out my dorm this morning in an amazingly efficient amount of time. It sort of helped I woke up at 7 to do most of the packing and cleaning before my dad came down to pick up. Now I have to worry about the summer. Pretty much I have flopped on all my summer plans. Maybe shouldn't have been so optimistic about the two research internships (Got rejected by both of them) and maybe shouldn't have shooed the earlier ones. But that's life, and I just have high expectations, but in this economy anything is better than nothing, and right now I have nothing. Which is bad, and I am feeling more frustrated with it. To add to that frustration, I can't find a mailing address for the internship program with Department of Housing and Urban Development to send my paperwork to. Stupid, unhelpful website. 

But I am going to try and be relatively optimistic. A friend and I are planning out a relatively light preliminary research in a riparian area in WV concerning water quality and plant life that could turn into something much larger in the fall. And if all else fails, I figured I could do something completely  new like learn Korean or something. Would rather not do that, but c'est la vie. In addition, I have to unload and sort through all my load of crap which is crowding my bedroom.

And thus the torturous week  starts. *crosses fingers* *prays to every known god being* And then freedom, SUMMER! Hopefully I will have something lined up for the summer

I don't know how to describe the last few weeks. I can say it's been mostly busy. I just can't believe that I am almost over the bend. Less than 10 days until I am done with my junior year. In this month alone, I have done so much, and many of them being fun and exciting things.

1. Multicultural Fair (April 4th)
-Had so much fun trying to fold origami with a strong wind blowing
-Found the cutest snail sculptures that are to be graduation gifts for Kemi and Nelly
-Am inspired to do Bhangra next year possibly, will have to see if I can even put it in my schedule
-Getting a feeling of deja-vu because like my last year at Madeira, I basically am inspired to do more things. It's like one of those moments where you want to do everything before you leave some place

I was in Chincoteague Island most of Easter weekend. There are some pictures on Facebook. If it isn't obvious, I was out there for my Ornithology class. I think the whole highlight of our trip was witnessing the mating of a bald eagle pair on the last day of the trip. It's not everyday you see mating birds.

And last weekend, I had the best time with some friends from ASA. On Saturday, I had an amazing trip to an international supermarket with my friend Lauren. It was amazing because I didn't think there was an Asian supermarket near Fredericksburg, I mean it was just last year we got a Korean restaurant. With my two little sisters, I made an Asian verison of potato salad for the ASA picnic. The potato dish was absolutely amazing, but I have to say that Kevin and Danny made a really good spicy stewed beef dish which definitely beat out anything any of the other officers donated foodwise to the picnic last Sunday.

Monday was Research and Creativity Day, and my group had a poster set up that afternoon. I don't know how to explain that day, except that it made me feel accomplished. I will continue the research next year, possibly with some other students. I certainly am enjoying the work, though I think I find some of the other environmental research I saw looked just as interesting, especially the one about the effects of stormwater from the relatively recent commercial development effecting two wetland areas, one of which was man-made.

Monday also welcomed the final week of classes before finals. I can't believe I have finals next Monday, and I have to still worry about my crazy  outdoor lab quiz for ornithology this Thursday. I hate how professors are allowed to give us graded assignments the week before finals. How do we get any time to start studying for finals when we have to worry about things that are due sooner? I don't get that train of thought whatsoever. And yes, I am stressing because I really want to do well in ornithology and hydrogeology, two major classes. And I would like an A in early modern philosophy, but with it being culmulative I don't know how much I will be able to retain for the final on the last day of exams. *sighs*

Thanks everyone for the luck this afternoon.

So the ballots were counted, for three people who all ran for two positions technically. But when it came down to the numbers we were all pretty close. Ann had one vote over Ruth and I. And since it was decided that doing a revote would be difficult to instigate, it was decided that there will be 3 co-presidents. So I guess yay? Of course!

When the new board meets, we will probably discuss distribution of duties among the 3 presidents, maybe have two VPs since we don't have any VPs, and one official "CEO" That is up in the air.

Wish me luck!

Elections for ASA Exec Board are this afternoon, and I am running for Co-President.

I have to make my mother's sent recommendation true since she thought I was already elected Co-President.