life's a lot to think about sometimes

2 things i forgot to mention:

one: stephen came to visit me! we had so much fun. (stephen is my cousin who was home on a 10-day break from training for the marines - yikes!) it was so good to see him! i showed him around hopkins and was suddenly aware of how often i use the word "marine" at the marine lab. it's interesting how it has such a pleasant connotation here, but scares me when i think of it in his way...

we ate lunch at the restaurant at the aquarium. we had no idea how fancy it was! white table clothes and too many forks. i ordered the cheese ravioli appetizer thinking that would be safe. it was a fancy plate with lots of stripes of sauce and green garnishes... and three pieces of ravioli. fortunately we went to ghirardeli afterwards so i filled up there :) it was really fun just hanging out, but it was so weird to do so without the rest of our families. i don't think we've ever hung out without our families in the 20 years we've known each other. it was kind of a strange experience. i wish him well with the rest of his training and his service.


two: last night i learned to drive a stick! and by learned i mean attempted to somewhat understand what was going on while stalling the car at least 10 times. and when i could get into first, the car would lurch forward. fortunately cara was very patient with me. i'm working on it...

for the beauty of the earth

wow. ok, so much has happened. we had lab reports and midterms these past couple weeks, so i have been really busy. then this past week was terribly stressful for other reasons that i won't taint this blog post with...

but now i am feeling much happier. and i have been keeping a list of things to tell you all about, so here i go!

a few weeks ago my roommate, cara, had to go back to campus one tuesday night to teach a class. i accompanied her on the drive and got to visit some friends while she was teaching. my friends are so awesome! even though they were all swamped with work, they took time out of their busy schedules to hang out with me on one crazy tuesday night. it made me feel so special :) if only i had had more than a couple hours to visit with them.

speaking of awesome friends, that weekend alex and anthony came to visit me! we toured around hopkins (i think they liked the lamps in the library the best... of all the things we have at the marine station?) but wading in the water with the seals was pretty fun too. we had dinner in a nice italian seafood restaurant with a lovely view. while i was washing my hands in the bathroom, there was a little girl waiting for her mom to finish changing her brother. she stood by the sinks, staring at me. i looked at her and she squeezed some soap into her hands then looked back at me. i said "rub them together" as i motioned with my hands. she followed then looked at the sink. i turned on the water for her as she tiptoed to reach the faucet. i grabbed her a paper towel and smiled at her as i left. she never said a word to me, but she totally made my day. last night i was really missing jessica, danny, and francisco (the kids i tutor). i love working with kids so much and i think missing out on that is the hardest part about this quarter. but hanging out with alex and anthony was so much fun! after dinner we went to ghirardelli and had delicious chocolately ice cream treats. yum!

sunday and monday mom and dad came to visit! we went to the carmel mission - it was fun to see the history. since it's an active parish they were having mass while we were then. instead of shutting it off to the public, they worshiped with the doors open so tourist could observe. it thought that was kind of strange. as we were wandering around the courtyard out side, dad ran into their "please be quite while we are worshiping" sign and knocked it over creating quite a clatter! haha, i love you dad :)

later i gave them a tour of hopkins. we were watching some seals and their pups on a beach when suddenly one rather large seal started squirming and out popped a seal pup! it was so cool! they same into the ocean to rinse off, then came back up on the beach to nurse. the wildlife here is so cool!

the next weekend i had an orthodontist appointment so i went back to the bay area. i stayed at school thursday night and went to the library to study with alice! just like old times :) we had fun catching up by passing notes the old fashioned way. friday i went to bio and sapolsky's class. both were good. it was kind of fun to be back in the huge bio lecture hall - especially since i didn't have to pay attention this time :) sapolsky's class was fantastic! even though we were sitting in the last row of kresge and he lectured for two hours straight, i was never bored! i can't wait to take it senior year. (it's on behavioral biology - only like my favorite subject)

friday afternoon i got to see sophia even though she was really swamped with millie. it was fun to just hang out. she said it was the first time she's been to manz all quarter - wow! she practically lived with us last quarter (which was really fun). i miss swimming. julie went to stanford's intramural swim meet - i can't wait to do that next year! then friday night was castaño's screw your roommate. it was really fun just hanging out with all of my friends from the dorm. my date and i were both terrible at minigolf, which made for a hilarious round of golf in the dark. i did get one hole-in-one! i think i ended up about 18 over par in the end, but that's because you couldn't get more than 5 on any hole...

on saturday i went to davis with my family to see jenny and go to picnic day! the past week i had been in monterey, jen in davis, em in hawaii, kat in dc, and mom and dad in utah. so it was really nice to have all 6 of us in the same place for a few hours! we were all pretty tired and the wind wrecked havoc on our allergies, so we sort of just chilled all day. we saw some cows and i hung out with my friends in the band for a little while. (they were there for the battle of the bands). then mom and i feel asleep on jen's bed as em, kat, and jen's friends played rock band. the tv is above the bed, so we must have been really tired...

sunday morning i went to church with mom and dad. that was nice: not going to church by myself for once. plus they sang john rutter's for the beauty of the earth, a song our choir in louisville used to do :) it was so sweet. then i drove back to monterey and switched back into school mode. and yes, i am driving on the highway all the way from monterey to stanford and back by myself! i'm so proud! tomorrow night i will be driving to and from the cachagua store, so i'm glad my driving confidence is growing. the cachagua store is mike, our chef from soco's, store/bar/restaurant. we're going to monday night dinner for a soco reunion. although i think we are bringing equal amounts of non-soco friends from here, too. i can't wait!

last week of classes was exciting. we did another lab on snails (did i mention i really don't like them!) this time we picked the smaller snails off the rocks, measured and weighed them, painted them with nail polish, and threw them back into the water just below where we found them. we were simulating being knocked off the rock by a wave. two days later we went back to collect the ones we could find. we measured those again, then compared before and after to look at how natural selection acts on them. it was pretty cool. i just don't like snails. mine had the prettiest shells though - silver with green sparkles!

tuesday was earth day. in that spirit, dani, cara, and i decided to bike to the farmers market downtown. it was awesome! we tried their delicious food - i had a crepe for dinner - and bought some fresh produce for future dinners. we got artichokes, potatoes, broccoli, gratefruits, and oranges. it was all really yummy! we will definitely be returning their on future tuesdays.

this weekend rachel came to visit! we went to see 21. it was so much fun to see a movie just cuz i haven't done that in so long. plus 21 was really good! and it was fun to see with my stanford friends because we totally discussed the math problem over ice cream after the show. then we went home and i taught them how to play blackjack and count cards. i love being a dork! yesterday we took rachel downtown for brunch and shopping. after a really rough week, it was nice for me to take a break. i got this really cool jacket - handmade cotton from nepal. we also got some really neat earrings. i miss shopping. i also miss working --> having an income...

this summer will be fun though. i'm going to the rockies for 10 weeks to study butterflies. i get to be outside playing with nature, studying science, and getting paid. all i could want, right? i will miss working with kids, but i'm sure this will be a really good experience. i know i will be lonely since i won't have cell phone service or (much) internet access, but at least i'll get a chance to catch up on all the books i've wanted to read for years. this is the first summer i haven't had required summer reading since 5th grade!

i guess i should end my vacation weekend and switch back to school mode now. i have to try to figure out about 4 weeks of statistics... but i'm already excited about next weekend when alice comes to visit!

and i'm running out of days...

so i really wanted to update my blog tonight, but it's already 12:30 and i really need to get some sleep. but don't worry - i am keeping a list of exciting things that have happened in the last few weeks. an update will come soon! (hopefully tomorrow)

and to aunt sharon (+thom, beckii, and kylee), gma and gpa, stephen, rachel, alice, and everyone else planning visits here soon - i'm so excited and i can't wait to see you!

and to alex, anthony, mom and dad - thanks so much for visiting! i had a really great time with you guys :)

a song for your heart, but when it is quiet i know what it means

i woke up early today. no reason, although i did go to sleep at like 11 last night, so that probably helped. i laid in bed and listened to the guys above me playing guitar and singing. i couldn't quite make out what they were playing, but it was nice. then i enjoyed the view of the ocean as i walked down to the station with my homemade latte (thank you chris!) class was interesting - bio 43 is totally my area.

i think i had the best lunch break anyone could possibly request. i went to the library to do some reading and sat down in one of the big comfy chairs in front of the huge windows. before i could pull out my papers, the waves entranced me. i decided to write about it instead. now i'm not much of a journal keeper, but something inspired me. here is what i came up with:

As Pooh Bear would say, it's a rather blustery day. I'm sitting in the library staring out the huge window. The waves keep tumbling over the rocks. It should be loud and windy, but this room is silent. It's as if I'm staring at the most beautiful landscape painting I've ever seen, but it's in motion. The rocks hold their ground, unwavering. The deep blue water approaches but the brown sculptures stand strong. They seem to have stopped the waves in their tracks when suddenly white foam leaps up and encases the rock, only to roll off as if gliding down a frictionless surface.

And to think this happens every day and even at night when no one is here to see it. It's not a piece of art, hanging in a museum, with a steep admission price. It's Nature. It's God's art. Yet we are all sculpting it.

Out the next window is a fence. Beyond that fence is a street with cars whirring by. Then a row of colorful houses marks a new coastline. The meeting place of new forces. The wind doesn't sway them, and the water doesn't reach them. But people and their bikes and their dogs swim all around them and inside them.

...

I just stood up to try to capture a picture of the waves - of course they eluded me - and I found a family of three sea otters just offshore. I caught them in the telescope. A mom with her pup and the father! Usually the father doesn't stick around but the mother's nose was bright red, suggesting a very recent mating. They were so neat to watch, riding on the waves and tumbling over each other.

and that was my lunch break. after lunch we had lab. i spent the rest of the afternoon playing with snails. my favorite. (that's sarcasm - for those of you who don't know i have been afraid of snails pretty much since kindergarden. i know they are harmless, slow creatures, but they just kind of gross me out.) anyway, i had to pick them up, hold them, poke them, and examine them. we were doing an ecology lab on behavior, specifically predator-prey interactions. we took 4 species of snails (our group had Tegula brunnea - the little brown ones) and poked them with 4 different species of sea stars. some of the sea stars (the ones that often eat snails) made them jump around and scurry away. at least as fast as a snail can scurry. my hands were freezing after all of the snail and sea star handling in the cold water, but it was kind of cool. then i came home and cooked dinner for me and my roommates - grilled cheese and tomato soup! perfect for a chilly evening. now i've got to seriously get some work done because i'm going to campus tomorrow night! i can't wait to see all my friends there :)

oh, and as if enough isn't going my way, i'm really happy because i found a good radio station here. i discovered it when i walked into a shop on cannery row yesterday and they were playing matchbox twenty. so now i have good music to wake up to!

here i stand, 6 feet small

i'm living on vacation! yesterday chris and i woke up early and walked down to the wharf. she worked as a naturalist on a boat this summer so we found her old friends and our way onto a free whale watching tour. on the top deck with the staff we had a nice view of the spouting whales. we saw some humpbacks swimming along, but no one was jumping for us. it's ok though. I SAW A WHALE! i've always wanted to do that. then we wandered around downtown, ate some good mandarin food, and made our way back to belden (our apartment). the afternoon was supposed to be for studying, but i somehow that didn't happen. we just relaxed instead.

we decided to order a pizza from gianni's, the place across the street. half an hour later we walked over to pick it up only to discover they didn't have our order! when we couldn't find the pizza we had ordered on the menu, chris decided to call the gianni's number that was still in her cellphone. she asked where they were located, then after a pause, "what city and state is that in?" turns out google gave us a gianni's in oceanside. the manager said it would probably be cold by the time we drove the 7 hours to pick it up, so we could let it go. we were so out of it, neither of us even noticed the area code was way off. good job team.

so my alarm clock automatically updates itself for daylight savings, but since daylight savings was recently changed to a few weeks ago, i have to change it myself. that doesn't stop it from changing when it thinks it's supposed to anyway. so it woke me up an hour early for church today, but i didn't realized this until i was at church, standing in an empty parking lot. i thought i was going crazy. but i went to el estero park (dennis the menace playground!) and took a walk along the water. i saw lots of geese - and their fuzzy little black goslings! it was some nice time to myself.

when i got back to my room my roommate, cara, was back and she brought her friend kate with her. we decided to show kate around cannery row. we went to the aquarium and practically convinced her to join us here. she's still thinking about it actually... the pinnacle of our adventures was the ghirardeli shop. we got the earthquake. it's 8 scoops of ice cream and 8 toppings smothered in whipped cream, cherries, and bananas. and i only split it with 4 other people. it was really fun. hard to taste the flavors because there were so many (each scoop was different) but it was still delicious! something everyone should try once in their lives.

so that has been my weekend. now i'm going to do some work - for real. but really, i'm totally on vacation. it's ridiculous!

like whales beneath me diving down

i'm in monterey once again! it is amazing here. tuesday we had orientation at hopkins from breakfast on the point to a seafood (minestrone for me) soup dinner. and they had brie cheese, which just makes me happy. as we were eating breakfast, a couple of dolphins swam by. then during bio i was trying so hard to focus, but the seals playing on the rocks out my window were quite distracting.

i live in the beautiful blue victorian on belden, in the exact same apartment i was in for soco! i haven't gotten to spend much time there yet because we've been so busy, but it's still really nice. a little cramped - my room has bunk beds and only one desk - but i suppose i am spoiled from my room in castano. alex is living there by herself, hopefully enjoying the single. she may get a new roommate, but if not i'll have a bed to stay in when i come to visit!

tuesday we had fun meeting all of the professors and getting acquainted with the station. everyone is very friendly. they're all on a first name basis, and they really just want us to have a good time here. i was going to take like 13 units this quarter and enjoy my vacation-esque lifestyle, but i am currently signed up for 19 plus an extra class i plan to audit. i was talking to stuart about my classes yesterday and he asked what i was doing for fun, then suggested i come work in his lab just so i can have a hands on project. i'll be working with chris (one of my roommates) on monitoring the calcium influx of contraction on tuna heart muscles. it's really interesting because they are the gray area between hot and cold fish, so monitoring their circulation patterns may yield insights into how endotherms evolved. good thing i paid attention in bio 42...

wednesday was ridiculous. we had a few hours of lecture, then our bio lab went out during low tide to explore the intertidal zone. we saw so many creatures! see photo album (on the left)

i know it's kinda dorky to put my research photos on facebook, but it's the quickest way of documenting them for now, plus you all get to see them if you wish. it was a little cold and rainy, but the wind and waves were very calm so we could really get close to all of the animals. if anyone feels like a visit i can totally take you out during low tide.

today after class i went to the aquarium with dani, another of my roommates. it was amazing, as usual. i especially enjoyed the jellies. i'm hoping to get to visit them at least once a week. while i'm here i might as well! so much has happened and we've only been here a few days. it's nice to have the weekend finally here. tonight there is the weekly tg on the beach - short for tgif - it's a barbecue and social hour to celebrate the weekend. tomorrow chris and i are going down to the wharf to do some touring and go whale watching!

my life here is ridiculously amazing! the classes are fascinating, and the rest of the time i feel like i'm on vacation. my roommates are awesome. we hang out, we study, and we go to sleep fairly early - which is good because classes start really early here. we are also good cooks :)

so now that i have convinced you how amazing Monterey is, please come visit! i'll keep posting, but i would love to see you all in person!

p.s. brownie points if you can name the tune in the title!