When Benadryl Stops Working

I went camping a couple weekends ago and had an allergic reaction to something on the spoil islands in the Indian River Lagoon. It wasn't fun, and resulted in a butt shot, prescription sleepy pills, and oatmeal baths. (oh, and well over $100 from my bank account.)
Last weekend Joshua and I ventured to the great state of Minnesota. We encountered beautiful fall weather, cold winter weather, my brother (surprise!), manute (surprise!), meggin' (surprise!), bubba, comet, the whole ripple gang, and plenty of snow.
In the academic world, I'm starting to try to think about what I'm interested in... like what I really want to study. I think I want to study tsunamis. Or ocean-type disasters. maybe? maybe not. Technically I'm a "physical oceanography" major, but I'm working in a "biological oceanography" lab right now. It makes life interesting. I'm going to be in charge of all the Walton Smith trip plankton tow sampling next week, so maybe that will help me get excited about something as well.

-September "Lab Worker of the Month"

cyprids and surfing

Dear Ocean,

This week in lab we've started a chart that we're supposed to fill out whenever we work. There's columns that read "name, hours worked, description of work, etc." to help the grad student and Dr. Johnson decide on who will be Lab Worker of the Month. I hope I win. As I was writing down that I helped Holly and saved some barnacles from death, I saw Aaron's latest entry which read "Killed the rain forest to save the oceans." It also said in parentheses, (cleaned the floor with papertowels). At least someone else has a sense of humor about the whole working-in-the-lab thing.

Last weekend I was at the beach when I got a text from Holly proclaiming that her Nauplii had turned into Cyprids and she needed help transferring them all to sanded petri dishes. I eventually went to the lab to help her, but first I surfed some waves. Awesome. I always thought surfing was something I would never really be into, but after Joshua let me float on his surfboard and then try catching some waves I got hooked!! I have already added surfboards to one of my daily searches on craigslist.

The Nauplius is the one with the blue background, and then the Cyprid is the one with the orange/red background

WOoo!

College life. So cool. I'm so trendy right now.

I thought I would hate my schedule, and I do still complain about it on a regular basis. But I have grown to LOVE my schedule. Yeah, so I have to wake up for 8am Calc3 every day, so? It gives me an excuse to drink a cup of coffee (or bring a travel mug of water..), and I get to see Alex every morning. Tuesdays and Thursdays I have from 9:15am-3pm open, and I usually go to the gym from 9:15-11:00 to work out and do yoga, and then I go swim laps in the pool and enjoy the sunshine. Joshua picks me up at the pool and we have lunch. Then I do some homework, or just nap until (or through) physics. Life is good.
Fridays I spend the day at the lab because I like to hang out with those people. Holly is always working on something cool, and I love feeling an equal amount of inspiration and intimidation when I'm in the lab. Hopefully this year I'll start a research project on my own so that I can maybe get published some day. For now though I'll be cleaning dishes and feeding fishes and scrubbing aquariums for awhile.

Goodbyes

This past week at Tuesday night dinner (with all my 4th floor family from last year) we were eating Alex's cooking creations when Andrew walked in. He announced that he had just filled out the paperwork and would be dropping out of school as of Thursday. Shock. So Wednesday night we got some ice cream and brought it to the beach. It was maybe 10:30pm and the moon was just rising over the ocean. There is something about the sea that brings incredible energy to whatever you are feeling at the time. Such a magical place. But anyways, he's gone. So is Jonathan. And Armando. I feel like by the time I graduate I won't have any friends left.

Tuesday Beach Day

Last night I witnessed such amaaazing lightning (it should be noted that I typed fireworks before I erased it and typed lightning). After my insane Monday (meeting at 7am, class at 8, 11, 1, 2, 3, and then lab at 4) Joshua rescued me and took me to dinner at Sakura House.. where I ordered pork wontons by accident, but was -thankgoodness- followed up by a 711 doughnut of the Manute style (raised with white frosting/sprinkles). On our way "home" we saw the sky turn colors and super crazy awesome storms in the distance. I got to my room and positioned my bed so that I could lie up facing the window. So good.

Tuesday I have from 9:15am to 3pm wide open for adventures. Around 11am, after yoga, I took Teal Steel to the beach. The ocean was so gorgeous. It was the clearest I've seen the water here, and even saw a couple schools of fish swimming by me. The water was just cold enough to be refreshing but so gloriously warm that I didn't want to leave.

I love the ocean.

Swell

Dear ocean,

I went to the beach last week and witnessed something I have never seen here in Florida... crazy swell! Here's a news article, I'm not making it up! There were tons of surfers annd it was super fun to body surf as well. While we haven't been hit by a hurricane, we are definitely getting the good waves from Bill and Danny.

Love,

Whitney!

Cafe con Leche

I'm back! And instead of catching up I'm just starting with now. It's Saturday, I'm in Florida, it's humid, it's hot, it just rained, I'm alone in the apartment, and it's been an exciting day already. I woke up and walk/jogged to the top of the causeway. After showering I decided to take my new bike, Teal Steel, (name in progress, any other ideas are welcomed) to Publix to get some food for the fridge. A beautiful bike ride there, and then at the check-out counter I heard thunder. Awesome. I biked home in the rain trying to balance too many groceries, but I didn't even crack an egg!

Classes are going alright; my physics/geology/calculus is being nicely balanced by The Fundamentals of Color, weather briefing is more intense than I thought, and my civilization class is a lot more interesting than I had ever hoped it to be. Lab meetings have moved to 7am Monday mornings, Latin dance class has moved to Thursdays and Sundays, Sailing club is turning into annoying freshman club, and the coffee shop has closed. Change is fine, but it's going to take me another week or two to get in the rhythm.

Pictures and anecdotes to come. I'm tired.