PROPOSAL IS DUE TOMORROW!
Today was another day of mammal sampling. Just when you think you have things figured out, nature loves to add some spice to your life. Today while we were sampling, the sky decided to rain. I got completely drenched. But hey, now my shirt matches my pants, and not only can I urinate without people noticing, I can also lactate! [side note: while the pregnancy test says that I'm not positive, I think I know my body a little bit better than some silly stick; the baby shower will be in July. I'm sending out invitiations]
The rest of the sampling went normal... well as normal as walking through a field dominated by non-native grasses and a secondary oak-hickory forest looking for mice with ticks on them can me. Not just the catching mouse part either... the walking in tick infested lands could be seen as insane to some. But we call it biology.
It must have looked hilarious to the lady checking us out for breakfast before we processed mice. I mean, we were 3 completely drenched researchers, covered with local flora and fauna, and unable to form coherent sentences due to sleep deprivation. The same status can be said about drug-addicted homeless people; I'm still trying to prove the difference between researcher and drug-addicted homeless person. I'll put it in the results portion of my paper.
Mammal analysis goes fine except that Alex and I were doing it still drenched (Betsey changed into other clothes)... or as fine as grooming mice for ticks, taking measurements of doppy mice, and cutting the occasional toe goes. MathBio has a way of changing what is "normal." I say this for both the Math and the Bio part. The Bio part is explanatory. For the Math part, go talk to a set theorist. You'll see why it's hard to distinguish us from the drug-addicted crazies.
After mammal analysis, we get a revision of our proposal from Dr. Kim who was nice enough to met us in the tick lab. Leaving to take a break before working on the proposal in order to shower, change clothes, etc, Betsey decides to let me hold her wet pants. Now, as I am not [read: am] judgemental, I carried them for her. In the results section of our paper, you'll find me addressing a small but often wondered question:
Result 1) Wet clothes are hard to set on fire and takes more time than Betsey's perception will allow.
We then went to Lunch. Alex got the usual order to feed a small village while Betsey got a huge salad. She also got moldy grapes that she didn't eat, but she ate cheese: see they irony? Kara and Nathan joined us for Lunch as they usually do. Poor Kara, I think they forgot to tell her that in plant physiology that plants have the ability to enslave researchers. I mean, why else would she return there every hour during sunlight hours to measure CO2 levels? One could read her proposal and see it's strictly business, but I know something more sinister is happening. Don't worry Kara, I'll save you someday when the ticks stop enslaving me.
We then went to work on our proposal: PROPOSAL IS DUE TOMORROW OMG FREAK OUT!
The edits we had to do weren't big, so it didn't take long, but we are all still freaking out. Our proposal has seemed to fluctuate in weight these past couple days. We managed to cut it in half one day to 12 pages. Now it's back up to 18. Then I realized... it's single spaced. So it's a magical 26 page proposal double spaced. But it's my baby. And Dr. Fore will be giving it last minute plastic surgery as we patch it up and tell it it's still beautiful before we send it in tomorrow before 5. Oh godz
We disbanded until dinner. We (Me, Betsey, Alex, Nathan, Kara, and new edition: Ben who is part of Truman scholarz not MathBio but is so much cooler than the Spectres that just moved in [more info where need later]) ate a Chinese restaurant. It was delicious. I got chocolate ice cream and a saucey fortune cookie about good personal affairs. Betsey's cookie doomed our proposal stating "Set time for something tomorrow... you'll need it" or something. I almost left her at the restaurant to save the baby. MathBio: more dramatic than a soap opera.
After dinner we decided to make door decorations aka door decs. After much strategic planning, Alex made ones of our names in different languages, Betsey used a mixed media of wood and construction paper to make great alliterations of what we are (I'm Judging Justin, girl knows I judge and watch more Judge Judy than a pregnant house wife), and Kara is making tree-themed door decs. I'm making people into cool metaphors of what they are doing. I finished Betsey's: she's a vampire hunter in a cool victorian outfit. I mean... her name is really Elisabeth York (you couldn't get more British than that if you drank tea through bad teeth in Northinger Abbey with the Queen herself) and she catches ticks, blood sucking parasites (and after Twilight, vampires have really just become parasites on society, sucking out its intelligence). Kara will be some cool plant lady, and Alex is going to have to wait as statistical pictures are limited to distributions which is kinda boring. So I have to brain storm something for that.
Things I've learned today:
1. I'm judgemental
2. Betsey is more judgemental
3. If Alex makes a mistake, it will get judged fo' sure
4. Rain makes things more fun
5. Ticks
That is all
Stay itchy,
~Justin
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