Parallel Universe

So I must be living in a parallel universe where people are allowed to destroy a city without any consequences. I was on my way to meet up with some friends to go to dinner and a movie last night. A couple of blocks before reaching my department, I had to stop in the middle of the street as a mob of 100s of toga-clad students just came running across the street in-front of traffic. I sat there mildly amused watching them pass while I missed a couple green lights. I get to the street my office is on and the road is closed so I can only go straight. I end up in the cross fire of an egg-throwing war between a couple groups. Haha, my truck is getting pelted with eggs as a couple are taking refuge from fire behind my truck. Then one of them opened up my back door and as I start swearing another came running by, hears me swearing and shuts it. I turn the corner and get to the next stop light and across from me another group is trying to rock a city bus back and forth at a stop light...like they're really going to tip it. And further up the street I see another 100 or so run across the town center octagon. I tell my friends that it's not safe to walk to the movie so we decide to meet at my house and get pizza. I headed home to wash the truck...which I figured out tonight that I didn't get it all cause there is egg in-between my door seals...my door was "egged" shut!

Thankfully, all I got was eggs. Students were throwing vomit and feces out their windows at other students and onto cars. Other cars were smashed up, store windows broken and garbage bins upheaved. Click here for the news story and photos. Only 3 people arrested!!! No one will be expelled...they want to act like this doesn't ever happen here, but it does every year...it just was a bit worse than normal. Any other civilized city in the world would not allow this shit! But this town just cleans up the damn mess! I am flabbergasted that the students can run over this town, be aggressive and destructive in such shear force of numbers that other residents can't even go to a damn movie cause it isn't safe! It's disgusting!

Getting my sanity back...maybe

The field course was fun. And very relaxed. The students choose very low-identification projects and thus didn't need much assistance in the lab...mostly just designing their projects and driving the different pairs to their study sites and I checked out the equipment. We were practically fighting over the chance to drop off or pick up a group of students. So I read a lot, went on some walks, went birding a couple times. After working so much for the last couple of months I didn't bother bringing any work with me so read a lot! I can't say enough about the phenomenal food we had while there...homemade soups, desserts galore, scones, lasagna, chicken, steak and mushroom pie...oh my! I've posted an album.

I've decided that I will absolutely not work on weekends for the rest of February (the last of summer). So for the first weekend, I went hog-wild at the farmer's market and then I tried out the physio pool on Saturday with a friend. It's 95F! It felt great on a cool day. I went to a barbie (bbq) at Rachel's on Sat night. Sunday I went to tunnel beach, this beach were some rich dude had a tunnel blown/carved out of the rock/cliff down to this tiny beach. A bunch of us went out for Mexican last night. Oh how I miss it! There's one place to go in this city and it's expensive. I had a plate of nachos with beef for $25! And that's without guacamole! Then we tried to go to "He's just not that in to you" but it was sold out! Crap. That was disappointing but we'll try again next Tuesday night (cheap night).

Not much else happening in my life but fish dissections, fish dissections, fish, dissections.

A day off!

So yesterday was my first day off since the beginning of Dec.  Now I didn't work all day every day for that couple of months...there were some days where I just came in to feed my fish and walked back out the door.  The last week was like hell.  I had a 2-day workshop, was training someone on helping dissect fish, field work, ended my experiment, euthanized fish and revised my first manuscript!  So my first paper on my Master's research will be published in the Journal of Parasitology.  It feels great to have that done.  One more to go from my Master's work...

Ahhh, but yesterday was fabulous.  I didn't do much of anything.  Slept in (until Wayne came knocking on the door for his mail, damn him!), then watched a movie in bed, took a nap, did some gardening and watched some tv.  All in all it was the best day I've had in a very long time.  If the wind hadn't been so horrendous, I would have also headed to the beach, but getting hit by sand hurts.  Oh, and yesterday was my quitting-smoking anniversary...6 YEARS!!  I can hardly believe it!  And in the last couple of months I've had more cravings than I've had in the last couple of years!  It must be the stress.  

I'm off to go pack for a week-long field course that I'm helping out with and we leave tomorrow.  We head to a camp in the Catlins, an area of native forest and beautiful rugged coastline with great beaches.  Too bad the forecast isn't great so those beaches won't be as enjoyed as they could be.  4 professors, 3 demonstrators (same thing as a teaching assistant...that's what I'll be doing), 2 cooks and 30 students.  They have lectures for a day and a half and then have to do their own projects...so basically I help them with equipment and experimental design and critical thinking...I'm so looking forward to it!