...Aaaaaand back again.

This blog has seen a lot of different faces, with only a few posts each. Honestly, it's freakin' hard to find the time to write for fun in graduate school, much less find the time to think about what to write. There's so much writing (and reading) that goes along with school anyways, that by the end of the day when all the work is done (hah! The work is NEVER done) there aren't any more words to put to paper. Frankly, there just isn't anything I wanted to share with the world, let alone with my own fiance. Graduate school is tiring. Those of you out there who are thinking of going back to school, heed this warning: You reap what you sow. Graduate school is a very unique experience, and you truly get out of it what you put in. Take it from someone who is very used to working 11-14 hour days, 6-7 days a week. The work pays off, though, because I'm one of only a handful of people that I know that finished a thesis-based Masters program in 2 years + 1 semester, let alone a hard science thesis-based program. Oh, and we set up a lab, and started our projects from scratch. Damn straight. It can be done, but keep in mind the sacrifices you will have to make.... like hobbies. And sleep.

OK, enough of THAT rant. The reason I'm here writing today is that yesterday, I officially submitted my thesis to the graduate school. YAY! What does that mean? Well, that means 2 years of sweat, blood and tears (literally on all three accounts) and 86 pages later, I am mostly done with my degree. Yes, mostly. There's still a bit of paperwork, and editing the 2 chapters that will be submitted for publication in scientific journals, but it's still mostly done! Now I can sit back, relax, and enjoy a bit of peace and quiet before heading back out into the world.... Yeah, right.

I'm not going to say anything like "I vow to write everyday", because we all know how well that works as a motivator, but I am going to try my VERY BEST to write more often. I miss writing. I miss writing for the fun of it, for expressing my views and opinions with others. I spend most (all) days alone in the house in a new city now, or outside running errands, but when PB comes home from work, all I want to do is TALK to him. I know he doesn't always want to talk after working all day, so I need a new outlet. And so I return to blogging.

I know I have like, zero followers at this point, and I wouldn't follow me either based on my track record of writing, but it would be great to talk to someone (anyone!) again, and here's where I start. :)

OK, now it's off to the gym and grocery shopping to find things to put in our new KitchenAid blender. :) After our GE kicked the bucket the other day ($35 piece of crap), we opted to spend a little more and get some that will (hopefully) last. At least, something that will last long enough that they will make replacement parts for it!

Cheers!

Pizza and beer - nectar of the gods

So now I remember why I don't blog all that often. School is Hellas crazy! Like, this crazy:





Sometimes, we all just need a brain break.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Phone posting - now I never have an excuse again!

Well... I guess I'll learn to post from my phone when I need to. I have to say, though, that I despise the iPhone keyboard. You see, I have very small hands. It is difficult for me to hold he phone sideways to type. The iPhone is just a hair too bid for my hands, and they have to stretch out very far when typing sideways. I find it's easier for me sometimes to just use my pointer fingers to type :(. I know that's wrong and bad etiquette and all that jazz, but it's hard to type like this when you have tiny hands!!

On a side note, I got my oil changed this morning and I was super awake and thoroughly enjoying the day so far.

Ive been dying to use instagram more, but I don't have a whole lot to take pictures of. Here's me in the car on the way to valvoline:


I love instagram. It instantly makes you look more girly and feminine, somehow. :) I've been experimenting with some darker eye makeup lately. What's the word?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Lubbock, TX

So yeah..... about that blog....

Firstly, excuse the randomness of this post. I've been typing numbers all day, and sometimes words just need to come out of my fingertips instead of math.

OK, let me level with you. I know I have no readership. No one out there in the real world gives a damn what I say, so I can do or say whatever, right? And I can abandon my blog for months at a time and no one will care, right? Absolutely. Except that I miss writing. Since I've started grad school, I feel like I've done nothing but write. But I write about all of the science-y things that, frankly, no one cares about. I care, maybe a handful of other people care, but realistically, who really cares how cane toads behave? Why should be care about how animals behave at all?

Because. It's. Awesome.

Animal behavior is one of those things that is just so intricate, so complicated and so complex, that it's a little like looking in a broken, colored mirror. Learning about why animals do the things they do makes you (or at least me) think a little more about why we humans do the things we do. What is the motivation? Why bother to move or think or act at all? Why not just lie there and wait for something to happen?

I love to study learning. I really do study learning in all capacities. From teacher to scientist and back to teacher again, learning embodies everything I am and everything I do. Learning in every capacity is exactly what I'm good at, exactly what I'm passionate about. Being able to learn about life, our life, the Earth's life, is what I try to do at every instance of my life. It's the passion that drives us to work crazy long hours, and to spend too much time staring at a computer screen. The passion to know more about a particular topic, a particular brand of identity. Everyone has something that defines them, some ability or goal or achievement that defines them as a person, or by which they have defined themselves to others. Mine is learning. Definitely learning.

I'm at an impasse of my current life. I am nearly done with my Master's degree, about to make a large purchase with my fiance, and later this year, marry that man and call him my husband. 2012 is a big year for me, for us, and it holds many achievements and large life events. Well, at least if the world does end in December, I'll have a graduate degree, own property, and be married. Not too bad for my 27th year on this planet, huh?