Climbing Update!

              Climbing--it requires skill, athleticism, coordination and motivation, all things that I'm pretty generally lacking. . .
              So why do I enjoy it? I'm certainly not naturally good at it.

Climbing Classic Crack

       Deep, philosophical answer: because it's fun! Such a thrill rush. I've been making tons of time for it lately. Out of the last three days, I climbed . . . uh, all three days. Whoops. Well I found myself some climber friends with the know-how and willingness to instruct me in it, so I'm taking advantage of it while the getting's good (I'm such a good person).

Lead climbing: means you can't hang around like this.

        I bring this up now because yesterday I did my first lead climb! A few months ago lead climbing was inconceivable to me, so it means quite a lot. (Lead climbing, as opposed to top roping, means that as you climb you're attaching yourself to bolts on the rock as you go, leaving a lot more space in between draws to fall if you do slip). There's a lot more possibility of getting hurt . . . and you don't have the rope to lean your weight on and take a rest partway up if you need it. You just gotta go, go, go for it.
      And now I can say I've done my first one! Ah, life. And my "instructor" cooked me a steak dinner afterward in congratulations. (Seems a little backward to me but I'm not complaining). It's not just the climbing of course, but the company that comes along with it . . .
     So I guess the moral here is, even if you suck at something, the real question is whether you enjoy it. And if you do enjoy it, then damn, go for it. Go on and cheerfully, bravely, suck at it until you don't anymore.

Mooooose! (And boys)

           Okay, I'll start off by disappointing you and saying those two things aren't related. I'm just excited because I had a moosemeat casserole with the siblings yesterday.
                                                        Moose + casserole = awesome.

www.sardinereport.com

www.simplyrecipes.com

                          +            







 Anyways, yeah. I'm writing this from the laundromat as my clothes tumble around in the dryer, just having finished my Stats homework. I'm beginning to (sickly) enjoy this sort of thing. Sitting in coffee shops, laundromats, working on assignments. In particular, I'm beginning to enjoy laundry days, despite the fact that they slowly drain my hard-earned cash, because you feel accomplished just for sitting there while a machine does the hard labor. Oh yeah.
       All right--the dudes. I never figured I'd do a blog post relating to this. But lately I am fighting my womanly guilt for not wanting to find a hand-holding partner with whom to hold hands with forever until we die (that's the way it works right?).
     I know that's entirely ridiculous, but you must admit, growing up watching Sleeping Beauty over and over doesn't exactly instill modern, progressive values in a girl. Although the societal pressures that have led to this guilt of mine is a different rant entirely.
      But the truth? The truth is I want the freedom to go wherever I want, do whatever I want, WITH whoever I want. No matter what anyone says, having a serious partner will change that. Everyone says my attitude is fine because of my age, and yet most everyone that I know (who is roughly my age) proclaims they don't want to date, and then start dating someone a week later.
    I think the answer to all this, as it has been from the start, is: cat lady. I better start buying ugly sweaters and smelling like kitty litter (despite not having a cat). It is, after all, my destiny. 

  :P

Weekend Photo

Here's a quick photo from my volunteer backpack trip of the weekend--Heart Lake near Superior, Montana.

                  Next time the Great Burn area comes up for a vote, make sure this proposed wilderness becomes a reality, because it's worth it.

Hitchhikin' Through Life

          The summer may be over, and the drudge of school has begun, but the adventures continue! For the second time, I went rock climbing outdoors (not to mention, somehow found myself walking out of the Trailhead with a new climbing harness. Oops.)
         If ever you reach a point of incredible stress in your life and just need a release, take up climbing. There is nothing quite like it. All your buzzing thoughts and worries vanish when you're high up in the sky clinging to a rock, needing to focus on your every move. Not to mention, I've made some new climber friends (making friends yay!) which is of course, always awesome.
        I also managed to kick a few things off the bucket list this weekend, including:
        1) Backpacking! Crazily enough, I spent all summer out in the woods but never did go backpacking. I went with three very good friends, in Glacier National Park of all places. We swam in the chilly waters of Gunsight Lake, danced with mountain goats in the sunset, and threw snowballs at each other on the high talus slopes. It was an amazing, breathtaking (sometimes literally, as we climbed over a mountain pass) experience.

     2) Hitchhiking. We got down to the end of the trail and discovered that the park shuttle was no longer running, and stuck our thumbs out. I felt a little ridiculous at first, but I didn't think it would be a problem--my friend Jeremy and I looked like pretty harmless youths, our giant packs giving us an air of legitimacy, so I thought. It was only 20-30 minutes before we got picked up, but that time span felt like forever, as we knew that if we didn't get picked up it was another 11 miles of walking to go. At last, we were saved by a lovely Canadian woman doctor.
          So much for helping out your fellow Americans, you entitled, wealthy white assholes. (Not that I'm bitter). Jody, thank you so much, wherever you are. I learned a good lesson from this one though--you never know when you're going to be the one stranded at the side of the road. Do a person a good turn whenever you can.

    3) Riding a motorcycle over Going to the Sun road. I've wanted to do this ever since I first went up Going to the Sun in a car. Let me tell you. It absolutely cannot compare to doing it on a bike. I rode pillion behind Jeremy on his bike, so I was free to just look. And I did. My eyes were bloodshot from the wildfire smoke afterward, and I was sore as hell from hiking 22 miles and then sitting in one cramped position on the back of the bike. But it was soooo worth it.

         The real adventure of the trip? Getting to do all this with good friends at my side. We signed the hiker register at Sperry Chalet "Happiness is only real when shared."

                                                        
                     

Have more life in your years than years in your life. . .

. . . is my new life motto!
      Okay, so I've been away a while. Make that a really long while, a whole summer's worth, and boy does life look different from the other side.

It looks. . . higher. . .

       This summer undeniably was a life-changer. Working on the grizzly bear research project is one of the hardest things I've ever done, and yet so valuable. I know what I want my life to be about now. And that's getting the hell out there and just LIVING it. For instance, skydiving is something I always dreamed about and said I'd do growing up, but never thought I'd actually do it.

Walk of triumph

The summer was certainly an experience. I got lost in the woods for hours, every inch of me beaten, bug bitten and bruised from hiking through the underbrush. I shivered at night in my tent, got soaking wet all day long in the springtime, and sweated buckets in the hazy heat of midsummer. I hiked hundreds of miles of beautiful trail, and bushwhacked through territory no human would ever want to go. I went on road trips with people I'd just met, partied with crewmembers, and floated the Clark Fork for the first time.

         It was the first time in my life I've been truly living on my own. And I loved it.
        How can I be afraid of anything in life now, when I've been hurtled out of a plane at 9,000 feet in the air?

       One day you will. . . and I'm beginning to be able to say that I am.
                                       
                        

Update: The 5K!

I got so worked up I forgot to talk about the 5K I ran last weekend! Actually the real reason I forgot is because I became so immediately sick afterward that I was immobilized for. . . oh, the entire week, and still have yet to entirely recover.
     But that's beside the point! 5K's are hardly serious races. . . not for "real" runners anyway, I suppose, but it was nonetheless the first and only race of my life so far. Due to a scheduling mishap, I happened to be out dancing at a rave the night before until 3 am. Stupidly.
     Anyway, so I dragged my aching butt out of bed (this seems to be how most of my stories start, doesn't it?) and got myself to the starting line, where my friends and I helped pin on each other's numbers and nervously stretch. I was so tired that I laid down on the grass and zoned out until about ten minutes before the race. I still hold to it that I would've gotten a better time if I hadn't been exhausted/getting sick. But, excuses, excuses. . .
     We were off by 11:00 sharpish, and I took off at a good steady pace. I ran the rest to the best of my (at the time) ability. When I neared the finish line, I tried to pour on extra speed and it sort of worked, but my reserves were sapped and there wasn't much left to draw on, I quickly figured out. Nonetheless, I dashed across the finish line. . .

This is actually a simulated reconstruction of the event afterward.Just for the sake of bein' real!

. . . with 27:23 as my time. That averages to about 8.5 minutes per mile. Considering my condition that's not terrible, so I was pretty happy with it. I was 40th out of 102 runners. It was my first race okay?
    But I know what to work on for the next one--my pacing, and my prep leading up to the event. Hint: don't take a nap on the grass immediately prior.

Afterward I was just happy with myself for finishing out well and having a good time with my friends. And doing a 5K for a good cause, which was to send medical supplies to foreign countries. (By the way, I don't prefer to post photos of just myself, but I do not have permission from said friends to spread their images about on the internet. Ya know, cuz this blog is so famous and all).
     Anyway, they had some delicious bagels and bananas for us at the end. So altogether it was a great experience. . . and I promptly staggered home afterward and became horrendously ill for the next week. My lungs are still suffering (seriously, pneumonia??) and it was altogether pretty dumb of me, but . . everybody's gotta be dumb once or twice.
      :)

Cakes and Campouts

Operation dormcake went off. I won't say smoothly. But it did go off. On the other hand, I went to a campout party last night that was ridiculously awesome and hilarious. I hope it becomes a tradition with my friends and me.

     I spent all day agonizing over my attempt to make two cakes, completely fumbled with one cake and ended up with only one to show for it. And it did NOT turn out the way it was supposed to, but it ended up like this.
<-----------


Yes, it's sitting on a pine-needle encrusted picnic table. And I must say it was delicious. Everyone said that you couldn't tell at all that it was gluten and dairy free, so it was just universally good.

So. . . in the end it matters more that it's tasty than beautiful (which it was not), and much more important that it was a cake my gluten-and-dairy-free friend could actually have. She figured she had to give up on birthday cakes, so my mission was to prove she could have a normal, lovely cake just like anyone else. And she did, so I will call it a success.

Just like the campout! Because no one else is crazy enough to camp by a lake this early in spring, we had the campground to ourselves and didn't even pay a fee for it. 'Course there was no running water or trash either, but, it was worth the price!

 Once it got dark four of us succumbed to that wild, youthful impulse to go jump in the lake while it was so cold we could see our breaths, and we did. Then we ran back to the campfire and dried off around it, laughing our asses off.

It was a chilly night, to be perfectly honest, and I might've frozen my toes off just a little. But we were young and impulsive and free, and even though I may have pneumonia now, you know what? It was very much needed.

Practically invites a swim. The ducks are doing it.

Screw it!

Sometimes, you just gotta put your hands up and say, screw it! I've got school/work/shitty stuff going on, but I don't give a damn right now! Throw caution to the winds. Be young (or be young again), strut your stuff. And remember--for every low that you sink to, there will just as surely be an up. I have spent so long being unhappy and just settling for it.
      Don't do that.

Take pictures of flowers. Works every time.

Grizzly Bear Crew

Well, "one day you will" all right--one day you will join the bear crew! I shall proudly be counting myself among the grizzly bear project team this summer. Scares the absolute poop outta me, but this blog isn't about "one day you will chicken out." It's about getting out there and just doing stuff, damn the consequences and damn your worries. It'll be the most frightening thing I've done with my life so far, but it also has the potential to stretch me into a completely different, capable person. I mean, the first couple days alone I get to learn wilderness first aid, stream crossing and proper grizzly bear etiquette. What more could a girl ask for?
    In the meantime, I can't let my thoughts about the bear crew distract me from the now. So I was sitting around with my friends as we complained about being bored this evening, nothing to really do (gotta be a first). We packed up and drove in a mini-road trip to a gorgeous lake, where we goofed around and filmed ridiculous horror movies. The place did lend a creepy overtone with the picnic tables and campfires desolately empty, the wind whistling through the trees and the waters of the lake lapping softly at the shore. The mood carried over into our filming,which was about innocent people in the woods being senselessly bashed to death with pinecones. Sure to be a winner.

Nothing like a little murder for your lake vacation

It was an unbeatable way to spend a Saturday night, and I forgot to be tired even after tramping around all morning through a bog. Oh, the places wildlife biology will take you. .

How to show a girl a good time

     For yet another biology lab project, I got my hands on stuff again today. Okay, so it was disgusting creepy-crawly stuff. Good thing I'm not squeamish. It was pretty freaking cool actually, once I got past the part where I fell in the water and got my sweatshirt soaking wet. And got over that delightful boggy smell.
     My partner's and my project involved netting tiny macroinvertebrates kicked up from the river bottom. They're basically larvae stage insects, most of them, but different species indicate different things about the water--mostly its quality. So I got myself up at hell o'thirty this morning to tramp around in the brush and collect samples of these ugly characters:

Now you'll think twice about going barefoot in the river

   Fascinating little creatures they were. Fascinating enough to distract me from my soggy, soggy arms. Sadly, the results are that the types we found indicate poor water quality. Bummer. On the plus side, I have lots of stuff to talk about for a 6-10 page paper. (6-10? I mean, who are they kidding? Could've just said 6; we're college students.) Or at least, I hope. It'll be more interesting than talking about plants growing at least, which was one of our only other options. I can think of worse ways to spend a morning. And the day as a whole, well, it was fine as they come.

It was worth it for this moment right here.

                                     
                                                     

Oh yeah, the rest of spring break

I realize my last post turned into another cake rant post, but I did other things this spring break (just barely--that cake took me a shockingly long time). I explored nearby national monuments with my trusty travel companion, i.e. my brother, and had some pretty hilarious moments.  I'm starting to think we are going to travel the world together, he and I. I think it's in our blood somehow because we equally share this enthusiasm to see everything, be it outside our front porch or thousands of miles away. Not only see it, but get our darn picture taken beside it. Must be kind of like the way dogs have to pee on everything--we need a picture with everything.

Must. . . take. ..  fake teepee picture!

It's more than that though, I think. I'm not sure why, but we are both hungry to experience everything life has to offer. Whether that's snowshoeing in ten degree weather or surviving in the Alaskan bush for two weeks.So far we've been protected on our little adventures, whether by divine intervention or simple beginner's luck. For me, I never know if I'll wake up the next morning with all joy and happiness stripped from my life. So I take it while the getting is good--perhaps it's a blessing in disguise that way.

Anyway, spring break! Gosh I get sidetracked. After our trip to Pompey's Pillar (Lewis and Clark's rest stop) we traveled out to Little Bighorn Battlefield, the famous place of Custer's Last Stand. I've thought the place was creepy before as a youth, and I can't say this trip changed my mind. "It's kind of eerie here," I told my brother.

"Maybe it's the tombstones," he said.
  Point taken. Still, I usually find cemeteries to be quiet in a peaceful way, not a creepy way. . . Little Bighorn Battlefield does not feel peaceful, even though it's dead quiet other than birds chirping. There's a stifling silence that's probably just my imagination working overtime. But my brother and I both agreed that this was not a soothing place to stop and have a picnic.
      Since I will be running a 5K later in April, I attempted to get ready for it this break. Turns out I've lost some (or all. . .) of my stamina over the winter. My running condition is pathetic right now. I went for a jog today and staggered home with the worst migraine of my life. Yeah, that was a fail.
     But you know, it was a good break. I had some really good times with old friends I had lost touch with. I rode my motorcycle nearly every day (and will have to drag myself away from it kicking and screaming). I made a little money babysitting for some of my favorite people.But the break is over, and it's time to go kick some ass, take names, and not let anything get me down. No matter what comes my way. I can whine, maybe even cry a bit, but no matter how hard it gets, I will not quit. Hear me, world? There is too much to see and do and live. Bring it on.

Spring break? Where?

Maybe if I go back to bed and refuse to get up, spring break will start over. Seems plausible. However, looking back on it, I actually have managed to accomplish rather a lot (of goofing off that is). And of course, as promised, I put together a cake for my mom. It was trickier than anticipated to bake and decorate it for her secretly, when we live in the same house (for some reason). I ended up taking lots of suspicious trips to my room and back with secret packages.

No fondant here!

     This might've affected the end result a bit, but overall I'm still pretty happy with it. Especially the technique that I've been contemplating doing for so long--frozen buttercream transfer. As I've said, my grappling with fondant hasn't always turned out for the best, so I looked into some alternative techniques. This one is a pretty simple idea.
1) Print out a design/picture (they can be as complicated or simple as you like). Unless it's a symmetrical design like mine, flip the image before you print it.
2) Tape a piece of wax paper over the printout. On a flat surface like a cutting board, pipe a buttercream icing outline over it.
3) Fill in whatever colors you need. Start with whichever colors you want on top once you flip it over.
4) Spread the back of the transfer gently to smooth the colors together. Finally, pipe on one last layer of frosting the same color as the rest of your cake.
        After that, you'll have a fairly thick wad of icing, which you keep in the freezer at least overnight. The neat trick about this? When you're ready to pop it on the cake, just overturn it and peel the wax paper off. It worked perfectly for me and didn't stick at all. It was firm in my hands while frozen, so I could pick it up and move it around (carefully) without breaking it, but once it thaws it will be soft, so don't poke it out of curiosity like I did.
       I was highly impressed that 1) it worked and 2) it has a lovely 3-D quality that I wasn't expecting. I thought the transfer would be pretty flat, but it pops out at you due to the thick layers of frosting. Also, it is MUCH easier than fondant, at least for me. I think I've found my niche with this--I can work with this technique. All I need is to practice my piping skills. This would also be awesome for decorating cupcakes, since I also made tiny little fleur de lis designs to stick on the sides of the cake.  

      Sigh. Speaking of the cake itself, it didn't go quite as well. My frosting was too thick, I think, and I was unable to spread it perfectly smooth, so I patted it with coconut to hide the frosting mistakes. It's a bit messier than I would like, but I'm still pretty proud of how it turned out. Especially considering it's been a good six months since I last decorated a cake, so I'm rusty.

     All I need is more practice! In the meantime, this wasn't bad. And I'm downright excited over the transfer technique. We shall become good friends, it and I.
     .
         

Have your cake and eat it too

     Spring break will arrive in about two weeks for me, which means it's time to start planning. A trip to the Bahamas? Hahaha! Right. Yeah.
     Something better, I promise! My mother's birthday is is just after I return from spring break, so I've decided to surprise her with a cake so we can celebrate early while I am home. I love cake decorating. It is one of those things in life that get me even more fired up than I usually am, which is quite a lot (ask my sometimes-exasperated friends). Baking a cake may not seem like much of an adventure, but there's nothing quite like rolling up your sleeves and diving into a project that walks the thin line between success and utter ruin (said overdramatically). For an example of what I'm talking about just swing by www.cakewrecks.com . Anyway, I need my grandest, most awesome cake yet, so if anyone out there has ideas for me let me know. I'm still just a beginner at it as you'll see, but here are a few recent examples:

Practiced my piping skills on this one--can you identify the songs?

This cake I made for my brother's birthday. He is a music performance major, so I thought I'd make him an open book of sheet music. With fantasies of perfectly gorgeous cakes in mind, I rolled up my sleeves to attempt fondant. My arch-nemesis, I was to find out. Long story short, fondant is difficult, and I didn't get the consistency right. Even from the picture you can tell that the fondant melted right off the cake. Fortunately, we didn't give it much of a chance to, as my family ate it swiftly. But still, I was disappointed, and only some delicate piping work (which took hours, leading me to stay up until 2 AM I do believe) was able to rescue it. Which led to. . .

This was my next cake, made for my sister, who loves knitting. I was excited but terrified to start this cake, since it very well could have ended disastrously. The yarn is my second attempt at fondant (if at first you don't succeed, try again right?) but it was leftover from the last attempt, so it was still a bit on the gooey side but it got the job done. The yarn balls are actually rice crispy balls wrapped with rolled fondant (definitely not purely fondant). I practiced the basket weave with as steady a hand as I could manage--you can see a few slips of hand on this side, which of course upsets my perfectionist self. But the idea comes across, I think. My sister seemed quite pleased at least. And, finally:

Quite besides the decoration of this cake, made for my mom's birthday, I have to note that this is the BEST CAKE EVER. I am not exaggerating. My favorite cake was previously lemon cake followed by chocolate, but this one has knocked out all other competitors.

Anyone still here with me? I did warn you this topic gets me fired up. So having seen these, what shall I do for my mom's upcoming birthday? I must surpass last year's :)

Spring

Here in Montana, the weather can't decide if it wants to be spring or winter. Thus it's decided to give us the best of both worlds by snowing every other hour and then melting into a muddy mess in between. Montanans grumble about the bipolar weather, but honestly I find it invigorating. I like not knowing what to expect every time I step out the door, even if I've only been in for twenty minutes.

Okay, so this is Coeur D'Alene, but you get the point.

Yesterday my roommate and I took a belaying test at our university rock climbing wall. Today I am a certified climber! Rock climbing is a very interesting experience. Unlike other sports, it tests your physical skills but also tests your nerve even more. When I find myself clinging up high for dear life, straining to reach for the next hold with my legs trembling, I can give up and let the rope take me down. I can let the wall beat me instead of taking that next iffy reach. But I know if I do that I will have to climb it again because I won't give up until I've made it to the top at least once.

The life metaphors make themselves, so feel free. But that's my thought for today, anyway. Climb on.

Keep your friends close and your frenemies closer

Oh, college. You and I have such a love/hate relationship. Some days I adore being in college, and others. . . not as much. Today was a mixture of both! To fulfill my promise to fill you in on the skulls, I finally got my hands on something wildlife-biology related and did a lab comparing the skulls of dogs, coyotes, wolves, Tasmanian wolves, opossums, and kangaroos! Super cool, by the way. Turns out I'm not so good at counting teeth, so I guess dentistry as a profession is out for me. . . excuse me a moment while I wring a tear from my handkerchief.

Or not. Anyway, I would've snapped a picture if I didn't think I would get some pretty odd looks for taking pictures of the skulls. . . or possibly get committed or something. At any rate, it was awesome to get my hands on something for once. (That's where the college love part comes in.)

I really do need to do a recipe post if only because I spent all weekend cooking with some best buds, which is pretty much how I'd spend all my weekends if you'd let me. We made pretzels from scratch, hummus-deviled eggs, and egg drop vegetable soup, among other things. It all ended up being a bit much for my stomach, but I don't regret it, being as it was such a good time.

It's back to business again today, however! And my order of business this week--or perhaps more accurately this semester--is to dive right in and envelope myself in the world of organic and inorganic biochemistry. If that name doesn't strike fear into your heart. . . well, you're not me, clearly. The only way I'm going to make it through is to cozy up to it, make it my buddy (or frenemy at the very least), and make it some hot chocolate, because we're in it together for the long haul. I would do the same for calculus, which I am also taking, except. . . math and I will never be friends. Not even in a semi-creepy figurative sense.

Hi, I'm a conformational isomer! Let's be friends! *secret handshake*

                   (from www.image.tutorvista.com)

You know chemistry has taken over your life when you start making friends with conformational isomers. So--figure out your mission for the week, and then make it yours! Good luck! (I know I will need it!)

Brownies, Skulls, and Other Awesomeness

Happy Tuesday everyone! Anyone else have the extreme blahs that come from not-quite-halfway through the week? Or possibly from the dreaded inorganic biochemistry, my arch nemesis of the semester? Well fortunately I do have a cure, or at the very least a treatment. A passion of mine, shared by many, is cooking and baking. Which unfortunately, dorm life is not very amenable to, since we are required to buy the meal plan at the college cafeteria, the Food Zoo.

But wait! (Says the cheesy infomercial.) For Christmas, my mother gave me the inspired gift of a mini slow cooker, one of the few things I can have in the dorms since nothing with an open flame or heating element is allowed. Actually I may be pushing the rules a little even with my crock, but if you don't say anything I won't. I've used it to make my morning oatmeal, cream of wheat, poached eggs (disaster), hard-boiled eggs (success!) and now, brownies! Nothing better than ending your kinda crappy night with a few spoonfuls of chocolatey goodness with a friend by your side.

My slow cooker and ingredients, assembled here in my "kitchen"

 Not to pitch for Silex Proctor or anything, but $14.99 for something this awesome, I mean really? How can you pass that up? Ahem. Anyway.

Recipe? I'd love to say it was entirely homemade but dorm cooking does have its limitations, so my cooking partner and I used a package mix which only called for the addition of oil and water. Lacking oil, we used applesauce as a substitute. Wanting extra chocolateyness, we also added some chocolate pudding. I will add that all our ingredients were also gluten, egg, and milk-free due to my partner's requirements, in case you were wondering if that's doable, which it surprisingly is!

After mixing all that up, really just eyeballing the amounts since we were making 1/12th of the full brownie mix package, I placed the mixture in a Pyrex custard-size bowl in a water bath in the cooker, cranked the heat up to high and let her go. Biggest problem with slow cooking is that I can't lift the lid to peek in on how it's doing, as I normally obsessively do. I left it on high for 2 full hours before we couldn't resist any longer and pulled it out to eat it. It was good--definitely chocolatey--but we added far too much pudding, so it was more of a pudding than anything. There's always a next time, though! That's what I love about cooking-always room for do-overs.

Difficult to take a good picture of, but here's the finished product

So if this isn't inspiration that you can cook just about anything anywhere, I don't know what is! Now wait, you say-where does the skull part come in?

The skull part comes in where I tell you that I get to do morphology on skulls in the lab tomorrow! But-gasp! What kind of skulls? I'll come back for an update tomorrow and see how it goes. Until then, happy cooking, and. . . skull-morphing. Or whatever.
                          :)

Darker Days

There are a lot of good days. But there are a lot of bad ones too. Days when the shadows just won't go away. For that reason, I try to live every day to its fullest while the living's good.

Some days I feel cursed. And other days I feel like I've been given more than any one human being should be able to claim. Part of why I'm doing this blog is to explore that a little bit. I think it's an idea that anyone, depressed or not, can identify with. I'm not big on poetry--it's just not usually my cup of tea. (Though chamomile is.) This one, however, is the exception, so I will leave you with it, because William Henley is much better at it than I am--the famous "Invictus".

OUT of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance	5
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,	10
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:	15
I am the captain of my soul.

 
                                                   --William Henley

One Day at a Time

The title of this blog is "One Day You Will" . . .and it's true, one day we will, but it's also one day at a time. I'm a freshman college student just figuring out that I pretty much still don't know up from down. . . but I'm getting there!

Speaking of which, why am I here? (And no, I'm not questioning human existence. That's a whole different post entirely). Seems like we give up on dreaming about stuff as we get older. We get so much more weight to carry that there just isn't room for anything else. Years can flicker by before you can even pause a second to think about where you're heading and what you want to see and do along the way. So. The way I see it, life is an adventure, and it starts today. It's Adventure 2012, so let's get going!
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First off, I am a college student in the beautiful state of Montana. I'm currently studying wildlife biology, though God only knows why, because I've never been terribly good at science, math, or anything too logical. (Hey, I'm a dreamer here, remember?) So you'll hear me complaining about studying a lot, no doubt. Comes with the territory. However, you'll also hear me talk about the things I love, like cooking, riding my Yamaha motorcycle, getting into arguments over the environment and sexism, skiing, getting lost in the wilderness--check that, getting lost just about anywhere actually, and plenty more! So buckle up, grab your lucky stuffed animal (what?? You don't have one? Get one right away!) and head right in.