this one is pretty pointless.

how the heck are my cheeks still this big if i've been eating solid foods for 2 days and haven't felt pain since 2pm on tuesday-- no pain killers?! someone research if this is normal. wait, i'm the unemployed and bored-out-of-my-mind one, so i guess i can just do it instead.

i've decided to avoid blanche, rose, sophia and dorothy at all costs today. they wipe away any hope of me being mildly productive because they're on tv for a total of 6 hours every weekday. they also make me laugh, which hurts my cheeks. darn you, genius writers behind golden girls!

i'm having a slumber party with really cool people tomorrow night. counting down the hours...and crossing my fingers that i can actually sleep on one of my cheeks because i'm getting really tired of not being able to move much in my sleep.

pointless? a little. don't say i didn't warn you. :)
quick shoutout to my girl KATHLEEN GLACKIN for cowgirling up yesterday! I have no idea what she did to earn my shoutout, but i'm anticipating a great story and i'm so glad my phrase is spreading to memphis, TN. 8-)

g'bye! :) happy FRIDAY! and for all my former sh2ers, a little peace and love sent your way. ;)

Wise Update.

Heyooo!

I got the partially-impacted quartet removed yesterday around 9:45am, leaving my awesome supernumerary at peace in the top-left corner of my jaw. While I made a little joke about the anesthetic in my last post, it was seriously the only thing about the procedure that freaked me out because I've never been put under before. I considered requesting just a local instead, and decided to look up a few testimonials. The funniest one I found involved someone who requested local from a surgeon who was not used to operating on people who were awake, and thus was also not used to paying any attention to the gag reflex of a patient. Long story short, the patient "ended up barfing blood on [the surgeon], which was a joy for all involved." I seriously almost died of laughter and secretly hoped that I would be able to walk away from my procedure with a hilarious story like that. Alas, I didn't go with the local and everything turned out fine.

I am also not loopy in the least from any of the drugs. I woke up around 1 yesterday and was BORED out of my mind because I felt too weak to get out of bed but too awake to just lay around and act sick. My sis was cool enough to come up and play cards with me, but we laugh too much when we're together so that obviously brought about a little pain for my stitched gums.

I woke up today looking like a blowfish, which was surprising because yesterday I was barely even swollen. Contrary to what a really special person told me, I am not the cutest chipmunk you've ever seen. And I will not send any of you pictures of my hibernation sacks. No exceptions.

Today has been full of 3 things I love: back-to-back Golden Girls episodes, the Scrubs "roof toilet" episode, and pudding (sadly, sans Bailey's). Hopefully the healing process is already on its way out.

Bye, blog friends. And welcome back into the country, Sir Austin Fast! :)

Slacker McGees & My Lack of Blogtime.

The first half of the title is dedicated to everyone else who is part of this blog, which has unofficially (in an unintended way) become my own personal blog.

The second half of the title is the starting point of my blog. Now, we all know I suck at using fewer rather than more words on this thing, as I'm a little keyboard happy, but also keep in mind that I've had no TRUE internet access in almost 2 weeks. Does that count for nothing?!

1) Oxford. Many of our followers follow apt212, which has fully documented pretty much every moment of our night, either through the blogtastic description of events or through picture/vid posting on facebook. For those of you who don't follow (you definitely SHOULD), the night pretty much involved intense games that resulted in me being called a whore by my childhood soccer buddy because he was losing. Another highlight of the trip was me beating Nathan in a game of beer pong that was TOTALLY not captivating to me; I somehow pulled off a lucky/aimless shot that went into the cup Nathan was drinking out of, thus resulting in his immediate defeat. ::Virtual high five:: goes out to my teammate and good friend, MU Student Body Vice President, Adam Harris!

2) OASC Senior High Summer Workshop 2. UGHHHH! It was such an incredible week. We had 28 absolutely beautiful delegates who were way too clever and were able to discuss what they learned from every activity without us having to guide them very far. They grew so, so much as a group and learned so much about themselves and each other. I ended up saying at the end of the week that it is people/groups like that who make me feel so proud and blessed to have my "job" as a camp counselor. My "day" that I am in charge of is Tuesday (for reasons I will not speak in the off-chance that future potential delegates tune into this), and it was literally a flawless day in so many ways...This year proved more than EVER that I am a Tuesday person, through and through. Anyone with me on that? I was so sad to leave my wittle babies, but so thrilled with the way every single delegate walked out of that week as a more open, compassionate, thoughtful and constructive individual than s/he had walked in as. I also got to a) wear my butterfly pumps (any day involving those babies is a phenom day in my book) and b) have an indoor water fight during Thursday morning energizers with my "boss": him & a bottle of water vs. me & the tsunami x-blaster. It was invigorating, to say the least.

3)Columbus. I stopped on my way home from Dayton for an OASC reunion which was absolutely incredible. I love seeing old friends! :) Unfortunately for me, everyone I was with wanted to have breakfast together the next morning, so I ate at Bob Evans for the THIRD time in SIX days just before departure. I don't even like that place. Only during summer workshop season do I even consider dining there...We decided we're converting to First Watch next year, in case anyone cares. Anyway, I got to see the OSU Oval for the first time, and I also got a new pet alligator (Bianca) out of the deal, so I'd say it was well worth it!

4) Today. We (as in the el senors & senoritas) had a wine party at Shepka's (for those of you who don't know him, he's our former band director/stuco advisor/mentor in life). It was good company, as always, but I am an absolute and utter oenophile, so the wine was absolutely GLORIOUS. 2 bottles from Italy, 2 from Oregon, 1 from Napa Valley...As said a trillion times in my previous posts, red is by far my fave, but we had a delectable proseco (look it up) that made me more open to what white has to offer. Regardless, it was deLISH and we ended up chatting for more than 6 hours. I love my best friends so very much.

Tomorrow is the last day I can eat. Big decisions have to be made on what food items I should choose. I am having my wisdom teeth (not the supernumerary one, don't worry) out Tuesday, so there are a few scenarios that could result from the surgery: a) I will be out of commission on this blog for a short while, b) I will be bored out of my mind and will do nothing but blog while slightly hopped up on some sort of painkiller, or c) I will die from the anesthesia they give me because I don't know how I'll react to it until I'm exposed to it, and this will be my last blog entry EVER. ::nervous laughter:: Don't you think you should go tell the people you care about how much you love them right about now?

Oh, a direct result of me spending a week at an OASC event is an uncontrollable use of overly affectionate and endearing terms when referring to everyone/thing I encounter. Therefore, GOODBYE FOR NOW, MY LOVELY CUTIE BABY DARLING SWEET BEAUTIES!

Why lab work really knocks my flip flops off... WHAT I HAVE BEEN DOING FOR A LIVING!

  I do not care what this page looks like, because I really think the educational value will be far beyond belief when you have the pictures to follow along with.  I think you'll find this blog interesting enough-- I mean it's a story much bigger than ourselves, which was the initial appeal to myself.  

Lake Victoria (pictured above) is the 2nd largest freshwater lake in the world, bordering Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya.  The lake is relatively young; around 14,500 years ago there actually was no lake but just a big ditch.  The diversification of the species is really interesting to think about when you have such a short amount of time and over 400+ species to date.   Anyways, to boost fisheries, the NILE PERCH was introduced to the lake in the 1950s.  The population stayed at a low rate until a boom in mid 1980s.  NILE PERCH, pictured below.  Also, look at man in middle, yes it's okay to laugh.  Okay, so this fish is huge.

  When initially introduced, this fish was smaller--but it started eating everything.  So a group of scientists in 1984 teamed with the Kenyan government and built sampling stations in different types of waters, tracking native cichlid species.  Of the 123+ species originally caught at sampling stations, 80 had disappeared from the catches after 1986.  And to make matters more murky, 75% of the Nile Perch caught are exported to different parts of Europe, North/South America, and parts of East Asia.  And the perch are eating everything the fishermen used to catch for themselves to eat, so this situation didn't go as well as planned.

Typically three factors reduce populations to sizes where they are susceptible to stochastic (random) events: 1) genetic diversity 2) species diversity and 3) ecosystem diversity.  In my lab we are considering all three, but genetic diversity is easy to evaluate when you have samples that are worth considering.  

So the Toledo Zoo contacted my professor to look at the genetic diversity of a species of cichlid that is extinct in the wild, but they have 9 generations in the zoo.  COOL!  I'd love to help!  If the younger generations continue to mate with themselves, this obviously is bad for many self explanatory reasons.  There are four other zoos/aquariums that have this fish--3 are sending us samples to check out.

Using a PCR machine (polymerase chain reaction) [BELOW, but mine are way more trendy] you can amplify microsatellite loci.  Meaning you can tag certain alleles that label the animals as homozygotes, heterzygotes, but wait more specifically: you can actually put florescent markers on these alleles so when analyzed in a really trendy machine.... you can specifically identify what allele you are looking at.  This is extremely helpful in estimating relatedness of individuals.  To amplify the specific region on the DNA however, you need to know the sequence of the DNA pretty close to exact.  So for the first few months I worked here, I was running primers against the DNA to check and see if they even amplified anything at all.  (We are using 14, which is quite a few.  This is good)

So after a cycle is run in a PCR machine, I use my imagination and look at the clear liquid in the tubes.  To see if something actually happened, we are able to use GEL ELECTROPHORESIS.  When learning what I was doing in lab, I thought this part was the coolest but really I have to do a whole lot of waiting after I load the gel.  And one more side note: if you're looking for a profession, harvest seaweed.  When purified properly and used in agar, this shit goes for $400 bucks a pound.  I'm clearly going into the wrong field.  But after you have amplified a certain region of DNA, you can run the sample in what looks like a pretty clear-light-purplish color of jello (which you would NEVER eat, because I have to wear gloves when handling), and with a positive current, the negatively charged DNA will travel down the gel and you can take a picture using UV light! I run like 80 samples at a time.  That person clearly has a lot of waiting to do if they are only loading 3 samples at a time.

Then I take pictures!  We are just getting to the part where we can look at the alleles, and see which samples I need to re-run because the PCR didn't work for that individual, for whatever reason.  i.e., I hate fish #7 from the 7th generation, because I have to re-do that one for EIGHT primers.  That's a lot of re-doing.

I hope this has shed light on what the Toledo zoo saw fit to apply for a grant and hire me to see if we can reintroduce fish that helped the quality of Lake Victoria remain diverse and beautiful!  I want to go there some day!

Mad love, and more to come about our amazing wine party!!!

I was on the road for 3x as long as I slept...

This is my epic moving story from floor 3 1062 W. Columbia and into my mother's champagne-colored minivan.

This year, I formed a new life philosophy about putting my energy into people above all else, and this week was me living that out. Instead of packing, I opted to do awesome things like spend 6 hours at Brookfield Zoo with an LUC chaplain and his little girls, or have a delicious dinner party with friends, or go to Big Chicks and stay out until close. Such episodes are why my summer has been absolutely outrageous, but it also sets the stage for the most ridiculous moving scenario EVER.

After having ONLY fun on Monday and Tuesday, I get a call from my roommate Andi, whose boyfriend was supposed to help move the heavy things (my desk, pseudo-closet and unnecessarily dense kitchen table); Nima is no longer coming. Time: 9:30pm. At that point, I figure what's another half-hour, so I stay at the dinner party to help a friend finish her crossword until 10. Returning home, I have no idea how little me is going to get big furniture into the back of the van. I text my friend Aaron, asking how much free beer it would take for he and his roommates to help. No response. Time: 10:45pm.

We put it off for as long as we can, but come 11:15, we realize we just need to cowgirl up and move things ourselves down the treacherous spiral wooden stairs from our 3rd floor unit. The armoire is twice as wide as me and probably 50% taller than me, but we make it happen. It is definitely amusing for neighbors, if any of them are still awake. But we do it. In order to fit the desk, my stuff needs to go inside the armoire that's already in the van, so we stock it full.

Aaron calls.
He's at my front door.

We are ecstatic! He is with Spence, one of his roomies that I love, and they make moving the desk look so graceful that Kristi Yamaguchi resembles a child learning to walk. They go to slide the desk in and IT DOES NOT FIT. (Matt Forrest, I was screaming FML at 30 second intervals.) I had measured to make sure both would fit, but I measured INSIDE the van, not the doorway of the trunk, which is only slightly smaller. We have to remove the armoire and ALL of its contents in order to tilt the desk and put it in first.

Time: 1:35am. The van is loaded. All big things are in, including my mattresses/bedframe, which the boys went to work on without even being instructed to do so. All that's left are odds and ends, so I leave it for the morning and hand Aaron $14 to run to Isam's and grab some Goose Island. They return at 2am, and we proceed to relax on my roof until 4am, sipping, chatting about Loyola, and watching an almost-gang war happen across the street (3 cop cars!). I'm still scheduled to depart at 7:30am.

After the boys leave, Andi and I do the obvious thing that buzzed people do after 3 hours of moving-- we Sporcle. Once she retires, I gather items until 4:45am. I wake up at 8am, leave at 10:30, and stop in BG for a brownie. I also stop in Elyria to go SCOOTIN' on Rhonda the Honda scooter with my best friend Chrissa (who is supposed to be blogging on here...) and FALL IN LOVE WITH SCOOTER RIDING. I thank them in bottles of Goose Island not consumed the night before and finally make it home after 9 hours of being located SOMEWHERE between Chicago and Grafton.

Now time for unpacking/repacking for camp...Oxford tomorrow. You probably won't be hearing from me until next weekend because WORKSHOP IS ALMOST ALMOST HERE!!!!!!!!

Brownies!!!

I have this totally newfound obsession with baking.  Ever since I learned that things taste better when they are not burnt (I'm not sure why I used to burn things and then think I was totally original for eating it "crispy") I have really opened up the genre of people willing to eat my food.  Take for example Shawn.  He would eat anything, crispy or undercooked, and probably comment the same amount about the disaster.  Take for example, my roommate Andrea.  She would equally eat anything, but when she is actually enjoying it she would affirm you beyond belief and make you feel excellent about your creation.  So I'm going to make brownies tonight to sneak into HARRY POTTER so I can be the happiest person there.  

Yesterday was a rather uneventful day, but the sun was beautiful.  So I finished all my lab work early, called my good friend Rachel Csonka up, and suggested that was go to "The Enclave" (a mid-level apartment complex) to go swimming and lay out poolside.  Rachel agrees and we head over to meet Shawn, Netti, Emily Jones, and her friend (I think) Melissa.  This is a private pool, but we have walked through the gate a couple of times before without question.  Well, this unfortunate Enclave-employee (I would also hate my life if I worked there) came around and was asking people there apartment numbers, names, etc. and kicked out about half of the people at the pool.  No one was causing any trouble!  There is no certified life guard on duty, swim at your own risk!!  So Shawn coaxes me into saying my name is "Rosie" (Who happens to be Netti's girlfriend) and I live in apt. 523.  Rachel says she won't do it, and I do have blonde hair like Rosie, so here I go on the road to becoming a liar:

ME: "Hi, I'm Rosie.  I live in apartment 523."

SNOTTY EMPLOYEE: "What is your last name?"

ME: "umm...my last name is-- D'Riussario" (That is spelled phonetically correct, she is 100% Italian)

RUDE, SNOTTY EMPLOYEE: "Spell. That."

ME: "D U-R-I-S-A-R-I-O"

BITCH: "Again."

ME: "D'R-A-S-I-R-I-O. Do you see my name?"

BITCH: "Hmm. We have a Roseitta living in apartment 523 that actually spells her last name as D-I-R-U-G-G-I-E-R-O"

ME: "Hmm. Well perhaps your office can check that out."

Needless to say, Rachel and I drove off before she came back from checking things out.  And now because I'm a liar that is not very tan, I have to find a new option to become a bronze goddess, because I am no longer welcome at The Enclave.  No matter.  HARRY POTTER IS TONIGHT, and I have 100 more pages left in re-reading the book!  So this evening Andrea and I are going to bicycle to the Dollar Store, get some candy, bake some brownies, and have the best evening of cinema to date in the HARRY POTTER SAGA!!!!  The book is so so so good though.  Good luck, Rupert Grint.  I hope you're feeling better after your quick battle with The Swine.

Ride Slow... 

Do 1 Thing Every Day that Scares You

5 points (which can be redeemed in drink-of-choice form at a local Chicago establishment) go to the first person who can name what that line is from. Cheaters suck, so no Googling that. It's an easy one...

So have I mentioned in my previous posts how thankful I am for the incredible life I am living and for the best summer I've ever experienced? If I haven't, I would like this to be noted as a consistent feeling during the last 2 months.

This week only added to the fun. I was babysitting my best friend/boyfriend, a 7-month old toothless little creature named Michael, who happens to live in the neighborhood of Mike "Chitown" Johnson. So Thursday, I ventured out for dinner and drinks with Chitown and crew. (Side note: suburb mosquitos are much more persistent than city 'skeeters.) While out, I met someone who went to college with someone I went to camp with after freshman year of high school. Small world, big OASC network-- what's new. ;)

Friday was low-key. I spent my evening in Joann Fabric buying workshop supplies and a used bookstore browsing to my heart's content. I think used books are so powerfully cool-- they have a story beyond the words on the page, because they used to sit on the shelves of someone else's house, and they probably traveled places where they would be read. Have you been to more countries than I have, used book? C'est possible. Anyway, I had really great conversation with former campers of mine, which put me in the perfect mood to start gearing up for workshop (countdown: 6 days!). I miss so many of those "kids," but one of my very favorite parts of being a camp counselor is seeing what all of them have evolved into after all these years I haven't been able to see them. It is humbling and really speaks to the passion I have for youth development.

Saturday, ohhh Saturday. MEAG CAME BACK! Meag, one of my roomies, was in Mallorca (Spain) for the first half of summer. But this Saturday, she came into the city to hang out with me. We went to lunch at Heartland, popped a squat on the new quad in front of the IC and did wonders for the image of Loyola's student life as hoardes of prospectives shuffled by on giant weekend tours, and then we went to the beach, which has really turned into my second home since the weather took a turn for the better. If I was tan before, I am now sepia, or at least copper. Thing #1 that I did that day that I was afraid of? Swam in the depths of Lake Michigan. I'm not afraid of water, and I'm not really THAT afraid of water I can't see the bottom of, but I am terrified of the undertoe stories we heard during our "lake safety" lectures when I was a child. BOOYA, undertoe...you do not rule my life.

Cue arrival of big sister Kelly. First, let me preclude this entry by saying that my sister and I have been introduced by Shawn as being "exactly alike." Our friend James also told us earlier this summer that we were "the white version of Sister, Sister, only not twins." We laugh the same, say the same comments and usually think what the other one is thinking at any given moment. AWESOME.

We headed to the Ben concert, which was actually a 21+ church fundraiser in the West Loop. On the way, the only exciting thing that happened was a sighting of a little boy (seriously, age 5 probably) who had the most killer calves I have ever seen. They were like Dong Song's, only on a pre-kindergardener. At the event, all of the volunteers who were "working" were also boozing as hard (nope, definitely harder) than all of the non-volunteers. We found out shortly after seeing Mike-the-worker so drunk that he was doing MJ's "anti-gravity" move (kudos to my sister for that colorful imagery) that volunteers drink for free. Sounds like they got the winning deal out of that one! We also won in that department, because our first drink was poured by volunteer Phil, who had also clearly been drinking, and he told us his beer line was "the line to be in all night," which we wholeheartedly agreed to when we walked away with all of our beverage tickets still in hand.

Our second drink costs were footed by my newfound fleeting boyfriend, Lance, or as I like to call him, Lancepants. Let me clarify that we did not flirt for or ask for drinks from them, but they offered to refill ours and wouldn't take reimbursement afterwards. Fear #2 that was faced? I drank out of a cup that potentially not just my lips had been on. The cups got may or may not have gotten mixed up in the refill process, and me being the germophobe that I am, I would not usually tolerate such potentially careless switching of mouth juices. However, they were being nice and I was watching a badass concert in sweltering heat, so I cleared those thoughts from my head and enjoyed a delicious (free) brewski. Ben played an excellent set list of new songs and classic sing-alongs from his previous albums. He played "Army," which allowed for a sisterly-twin moment because the line, "My redneck past is nipping at my heels" made both of us shout out, "ELYRIA!"

On our way to meet up with our friend Mike (not to be confused with drunk-worker-Mike) and his hat Aristotle (see image at paragraph break), we saw the King of Mullets ride by on a bike, and I am a hardcore mullet lover so that was a for sure highlight. We encountered drunken Ben fans who were singing on the street, so naturally we indulged their behavior and sang in harmony with them. We also rode the train home with Walker, Texas Ranger, which was cool because I've never met a celebrity in Chicago before.

Sporcle was my main finals week pastime, but it is also a tradition to play every mildly interesting game with my sister when she's here, and today's Sporcling led us to realize that Michael Richards is being featured on one of the the newly-released 2009 US pennies. Check that shit out-- Seinfeld really IS a cultural icon!

Zucchini Muffins and Marley

Good morning y'all! I am currently enjoying a cup of coffee and zucchini muffins (arguably my favorite part of every day). Who'd a thought zucchini and muffins could bring their powers together to form a wonderful breakfast delight, right? Add a Bob Marley play list to that mix and you've recreated my current state!

Well it is Thursday and I am yet to blog about the Chi-city. While I realize I may be overdue, I couldn't let such a poetic weekend (reference to the artistic works of Becky Hammer) pass by with no explanation. I would like to first pay some homage to the Song Family (no this is not a collection of musical pieces). Not only did Mrs. Song's presence and generous nature make Friday night everything that it was, but I watched her share a 30 oz beer with her son! I would also like to throw some love to Mr. Song who, despite our 30 sec. attempt at a conversation via cellular phone with the absence of a translator, told Mrs. Song to be sure to show Dong and his friends (and family) a good time in the Chi. However nothing was more priceless in that night than watching Dong pull his tiny little mother through a Chicago crowd of thousands, especially when he took off running with her after he mistakenly heard a 2 guys taunting each other into fighting (which actually turned out to be an officer yelling at some hoodlums). Oh yea, and then there was a young man by the name of Michael Johnson who after cursing at a Taxi driver for his incompetence (most likely this was not the case but rather Johnson's inability to communicate when intoxicated) was dropped off no where near what he had been told over 20 times. No worries, we found him...well kind of.

As Saturday approached, I anticipated the feeling of being dumped Into the Wild, surviving on only Dasani water bottles and 5 dollar foot-longs. I did much research on what to wear to void off predators (Hulk Rules bandanna) and how to entertain oneself to fight off insanity (songs that take 1,482 seconds to sing. Refer to calculations at bottom of page). The hiking excursion turned out to be a 5 mile nature walk with the discovery of 3 things: rain, baby frogs, and 99 bottles of beer (or one water bottle). For the confused mind, these are all items for which we could have located in Ohio. However, beyond the frequent silent whining of my fellow hikers (body language speaks louder than words), I enjoyed the hiking experience simply because I got to use my boyscout hiking pack (that's right, Smola) and I truly survived the Wilderness...of a paved State Trail.

All in all, the Bear-Grylls-of-a-weekend taught me to never trust Ohio's Thursday's perception of Chicago's Saturday's weather, I may postpone my Alaskan adventure until a later date (never), if camping is your sole priority for a weekend, find someone you know that lives close, and I would like to make a move for Subway to advertise "5 dollar, 5 dollar, 5 dollar waterproof foot-looongs."

How long does 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall take to sing?:

-Verse 1 is 4 measures long (4 beats a measure) comprising a verse of 16 beats or counts.
-Given that there are 99 verses in the song (assuming each bottle is a verse), it takes 396 measures to complete the song (or 1,584 beats/counts). Let's call this number "1584".
-How long will it take to complete the song while hiking 2.5 miles? Let's call the equation "1,584X."
-The average singer of this tune may allocate 1 second for every count (X=1 second). One with a simple mind would then say that it takes 1,584 seconds to complete the song.
-However with frequent on/off jogging and the additional factor of tossing a water bottle, this number does not accredit the exhaustion that sets in.
-A fluctuation of +/- 2 seconds for every measure must be added depending on the pace and condition of the singers.
-Since the singers in this case began with a normal pace, but became tired near 49 bottles remaining (or 16 measures x 49 seconds = 784 seconds), we may subtract 2 seconds for every measure after and including the 49th bottle verse. [784 seconds - (2 seconds x 49 verses)] = 686 seconds for 49th and under.
-We may then add this to the time of the first 50 bottles (800 seconds + 686 seconds = 1,486 seconds).
-But Wait!! At some point in the last 30 verses, due to slippery conditions, Miss Molly Dull dropped the participating water bottle, causing her to back track on the trail and delaying the entire operation by 4 seconds (1,486-4 = 1,482 seconds).
-1,584 - X = 1,482 seconds, where X = -102 seconds
- We may conclude then, that it takes approximately 1,482 seconds to complete the singing of 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall on a 2.5 mile hike in the raining conditions of Waterfall Glen trail!

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST

As of 7:11pm CST on Wednesday, July 8, 2009, book #11 of my summer has been overtaken. Somebody stop me!

And for the record, I'm really disheartened that my two efforts to get people to interact with my DGCW posts have been absolute flops. Whaaa whaaa

Enlightenment.

I have been preoccupied with very important beach time, as the past 3 days in Chicago have been GLORIOUS weather-- quite different from the last 2 months. I'm back to my brown bear self after some much-needed alone time with me, the waves and loads of reading material. Fun fact #1: I'm currently on books #11, 12 and 13 of the summer. (!!!!!!) What have y'all been reading?

I've also been busy packing. Tomorrow starts the 1-week countdown of my move from 1062 (the lovely apartment Miss Katelyn mentioned). As for my next humble abode, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a real closet, but I won't go too crazy with my dreaming! Fun Fact #2: If you keep your food in a refrigerator and your clothes in a closet, if you have a roof over your head and have a bed to sleep in, you are richer than 75% of the entire world population. ;)

This weekend was superb. Shabizz really needs to tell the good stories, but I had an excellent time with the BG crew here. I tend to believe that getting rained on is cathartic, so I have no need to complain about our hike. I loved singing (screaming?) "99 bottles of beer on the wall,"(Fun Fact #3: This song is derived from the British song, "Ten Green Bottles.") re-visiting the Terrace 2 days in a row (though they probably think I'm a lush), Mrs. Song treating us to $5 margaritas, and getting my hands on a delish jar of lingonberry preserves from IKEA (mmmm!). Fun Fact #4: Lingonberries are rich in many nutrients, including vitamin C, potassium, magnesium and those highly valued Omega-3s that are all the rage these days. I temporary lost my voice (again) because of the amount of jamming we did-- totally worth it. The el (there's your answer, Kate. Fun Fact #5: "El" actually stands for "ELevated train.") was NOT our friend on the 3rd; it stopped at every stop north of downtown with its doors open for 3-10 minutes (I resorted to timing it on my phone) while Johnson and I both suffered from extremely full bladders (Fun Fact #6: That's 10 stops before Loyola's on the Red Line.). I cite Matt Forrest as I say, "FML." All in all, it was a truly refreshing outdoor camping excursion, though it ended up being neither of those things. Becky's fam was awesome to us! :)

This weekend, my beautiful big sis is driving in so we can see Ben Folds for the 3rd time together. Fun Fact #7: Those 3 shows have all been in different cities that start with "c." Until I move, I'm enjoying a dinner date each night with different really cool people who are willing to oblige me with their company before I desert them for the Buckeye state. ;) Fun Fact #8: The buckeye is a poisonous nut, which also translates into being a really non-intimidating school mascot.

Speaking of which, OASC SENIOR HIGH II SUMMER WORKSHOP IS IN LESS THAN 2 WEEKS!!!!!! Tuesday is the day I lead, so exactly 2 weeks from now I'll be making magic with 20-something lovely darlings from all over Ohio. My Oxford trip is the night before, and I'm wreaking havoc in Dayton and Columbus for 2 consecutive nights after camp. My body/mind will be exhausted, but I figure I'll have plenty of time to sleep after my wisdom teeth removal, scheduled to go down on 28 July. (Fun Fact #9: I have an EXTRA wisdom tooth-- yes, like 5-- and the fifth one is called a "supernumerary tooth.")

To wrap up this incredibly informative post (you know you liked the colors AND the wisdom), I shall enlighten you a bit on my favorite animal, the butterfly, for Fun Fact #10: Butterflies can see ultraviolet light. Radical! 8-)

Tall House Blend

Judging by the title of this article, yes I'm becoming a little homesick. I think it's mostly because I keep getting teased when I see all of my excellent friends from home and then I mosey on back to my college house where the only thing to eat is noodles and some sort of deli-sandwich and I instantly feel nostalgic.

But to recap the very exciting weekend in chi-city! Molly's apartment/flat/top-floor-of-a-huge-house was AMAZING! Looked a lot like her: long white walls, bedrooms were all painted a different color, wooden flooring, bright flowers, I don't know if "Molly" is an adjective but I'm going to end with "Molly." [And just so I feel better about my house, my bedroom is NOT plain for the record.] But we went to a very trendy restaurant Friday evening after an obnoxious ride on the "L" or "EL" or whatever the written abbrev. is for "Elevated Train." The restaurant was called "Feast" (http://www.feastrestaurant.com/)---I do not know how to post links like you guys do---and our waiter was an asshole because we didn't want to order a $17 glass of wine. I like wine, but I usually buy a box and end up slapping the bag by the end of the night. Food was premium, however. We went to The Terrace that Molly recently blogged about; to her dismay the exact same host was working as the night before that she took her friends there--kind of funny.

I will let Shawn post about Johnson or our hiking excursion, it may be funnier coming from him because all of have to say about hiking in the rain is: Wait for the rain to stop before you start a nine mile hike.

On Saturday after hiking we went (sopping wet) to an IKEA!!! This is one of my favorite stores EVER!!! You can eat, furnish an entire house, and get lost in a warehouse all in one trip!!! Becky was less excited about this stop (but still she did not complain once) because she lives a mere ten minutes away from the heaven we visited. The closest Ikea we have in Cleveland (or the one my Dad seems to jump to is in Pittsburgh and that's a long drive in my little brother's truck). I got the coolest wall sticker to spruce up my plain room, a knife (because we do not have one knife in my whole house), and a toilet brush scrubber for 99 cents. I also got cake. See what I mean?!? Cake AND decorative items. You can't beat that shit.

Quite a bit more happened over the weekend, but it's time for me to go check out my drying gel. I will blog soon about what I actually do in lab, because I sound like all I do is wait for things to dry at work. Much love from afar...

Gossip.

So I know I just posted but there have been so many "rumors" and "words on the street" flying about this that I feel it deserves a post of it's own.

I'M COMING TO OXFORD IN TWO WEEKS.

Just for the night. I have to be in Dayton by 11am the next morning, so there will be no breakfast scramble like last time Adam Harris, but I will be there and I will be ready for Oxfun. And I owe Matt Forrest a Chicago-brewed beer whilst I am there.

And also, Nathan and I are going to dominate all of you. "In what," you say. Well, that's irrelevant. We will dominate in everything, so just don't get your hopes up is what I'm trying to say.

So it's confirmed. Now please stop putting my name and the word rumor in the same sentence. :-P

I'm Caught in Suspension.

Eli just left an hour ago and I am waiting for a carful of falcons to arrive in 2.5 hours-- I'm literally suspended in a fairly useless amount of time waiting for the best summer of my life to continue (shoutout to Loyolacappella for the title of this post, yeah?). Lucky for me (and all of you-- our THIRTEEN followers!!), blogging is a great filler for that "fairly useless" amount of time. ;)

I babysat Tuesday, and the 2 siblings (in 7th and 5th grade) filmed an entire commercial for a cleaning company called the DustBusters, inspired by them having to vacuum the cookie crumbs they decorated my backseat of my car with on our way home from the library. After watching it, I wondered why kids don't actually control the world-- they are still in touch with their imaginations so they are SO creative, they aren't afraid of looking silly and they are all interested in learning. I say we nominate an adolescent as president in the next election.

Eli's visit was absolutely awesome. Not only was it great spending time with him, but it was motivation for me to pay $2.25 to take the CTA places, which is something I don't usually feel like splurging on when I'm flying solo. I showed him RoPo, Andersonville, Wrigleyville, Lakeview, Lincoln Park and literally the entirety of downtown, from Pearson Ave all the way to the S. Loop. We talked politics (can you imagine-- people are able to do this in a civil manner!), our childhoods, our futures, and things that set us on fire (in a good way). All of this conversation happened over great food and drink: my homemade black bean burgers, the wine from Italy (which was deLISH!), buffalo tofu, yummy beers from Hopleaf and Uncommon...the list goes on forever, since this is the best food city in the country.

I think my favorite meal of the visit, though, was last night's dinner. A fellow OASCer, Chris, who is one of my close friends despite the fact that we don't ever see each other, is actually in Chi city for the summer, so he met us for a late dinner. I found an outdoor terrace in the heart of the city with great food, a spectacular view and lots of open air. We sat for 2+ hours and enjoyed the reunion (and some bomb-awesome falafel)...I loved the catch-up time! Special guest appearance of the week goes to Steve Zeisler from NC. He put up with our obnoxious late-night phone call.

Anyway, I was able to be confirmed in a lot of the things I've been thinking and feeling about myself/my life path lately, which is one of the reasons I enjoy getting back to my roots and reconnecting with people who have watched me grow and understand what is important to me. Thanks for the clarity, E! :)

So now, Katelyn, Becky and Shawn are en route for another excellent couple of days. Of course we're headed downtown to check out Taste of Chicago, but I am not a fan of dawdling crowds who stand where you're supposed to walk and don't realize that there are 100,000 other people around them, so I am much more anticipatory of our camping expedition. Apparently, our back-up plan if we don't get a campsite is a camping trip in Becky's backyard in the 'burbs. I won't complain-- how many times have we camped in backyards?! As long as I get to put my awesome tent to use, you can count me in!

Until they arrive, I'll be calling all of the lovely first-years I get to hang out with in the Social Justice Learning Community next year and polishing Rhianna's "Take a Bow," which I just taught myself to play on the guitar. I know you're jealous.

Question of the day: Is chivalry dead, is chivalry sexist or has chivalry evolved into a way of treating people that ANY gender can act out toward ANY OTHER gender? I'm interested in everyone's thoughts. Play nice, though, friends! :)

Venti Awake tea with honey

Today is rather ordinary, but I woke up with a cool scratchy voice (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INQX2E3Nrbs) and I really have been owning it.

Went into the lab a little late because I busied myself with lots of things going on around campus--Chris Grigrella (an orientation leader) found the ONE family from Elyria that is visiting Bowling Green today and literally shouted across the entire union to tell me where they were. I answered all the questions that you have as an 18 year old girl and are un-embarassed enough to ask an acquaintance: Am I going to run out of meal plan, did you? (Just eat when you're hungry, but yes I did gain 15 pounds freshman year so tread with caution) Does my dorm have air conditioning? (Do you count a box fan as central air?) I'm only taking 14 credit hours, should I take more? (Well if you want to graduate on time, think about another class. Or just jump on the five year plan like the majority of the students at BGSU and get comfortable here)

But jumping ahead to the good news--my samples finally worked today!! For the past THREE days I have been moving a clear liquid around into different tubes, running gels, and then looking at nothing when I'd go to take a picture of the image. BUT (insert drum roll here)--I figured out what I did wrong! I just diluted the primers I was using ten times too much!! Silly Katelyn--if someone handed me coffee that was diluted ten times and expected me to work a full day, I wouldn't work either! So now I just need to repeat everything I did over the past three days over again, which seems to be what scientists always do anyways so its whatever.

So I ran some errands after work: went to the library to try and renew Arrested Development Season 2 (someone had reserved it after me, to my misfortune) and went to walmart to grab a few things. Found out the hard way that buying the cheapest toothpaste is not always your best option. Things like fresh breath really are worth splurging for. So I bought NEW toothpaste, a $5 movie, etc and came home. I'm blogging about toothpaste, it may be time to sign off for now. This was not my best work and the dontgochasin' site is pretty new, so please don't judge pre-maturely what type of an impact I can have on the world.

For now, friends...