Sad day..

Today, I came into my apartment, and saw a gecko...under my clear shoe mat... where I come in the door...and he is dead. It's not Jeffrey, he's a different color. But he is so small! And he's not moving, even when I lifted the mat off of him and tried to get him to run away. Sad...

I've discovered that the labs I teach take up at least half of my work week--whether it it preparing for the lab, teaching the lab, grading the homework, preparing quizzes and homework, or answering inane questions about the lab. Today we were preparing for the Osmosis and Diffusion lab we have for tomorrow. First of all, this is a lame lab. I need to make it exciting somehow! There is a ton of time where you are sitting around, waiting for something to happen. Ugh. Last week there was some down time and I talked about the life cycle of malaria, and parasites that live in the sand, and African sleeping sickness for a while and terrified all my students... But I think those things are cool! They seemed interested...but also frightened. This week I have to think of something cute and fuzzy to talk about... tardigrades maybe? Oh inverts. I love you. None of that charismatic megafauna for me. Only the little spineless creatures wiggle their way into my heart.

Anyway, it took three hours today to figure out that the lab we were going to be doing for tomorrow is terrible and doesn't even work! Because someone forgot to read the instructions! WHAT?! Hasn't this been taught before? Where's the professor? What was he thinking? Oh well, we fixed it--but really, every week, I only get through lab on a hope and a prayer because EVERYTHING could go wrong. I hope the students can't see how tenuous my hold is on any type of order or understanding of things. Last week in my second lab, all the paramecium were dead! I had to scramble to find some live ones for them to look at! Thankfully I found some and regained some composure, but it was close. I don't want to let my students down. Also, I have one student who refused to kill her paramecium because she felt bad--she wants to be a marine biologist. Nu-uh. Lady, you better reconsider. Science is about looking at dead things. Seriously. You can't be a scientist if you can't kill a paramecium. Now I know that sounds callous, but seriously, they're gonna die anyway and you kill them everyday without knowing it! And yes, it is different when they have eyes that are looking at you, and of course there needs to be a reason to kill it that will lead to some beneficial research, but we all learn to do it. And you need to if you're going to study this stuff. When something dies needlessly (like my gecko friend) I'm sad, but for the sake of research, I understand. Whoa, this is getting into a whole controversial area I wasn't planning to talk about. I need to go to bed soon anyway so I can prepare for tomorrow's fiasco of a lab.

Also, I've been watching "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia"--Hilarious. And super offensive. I love it.

ANT!

What?! This is awesome!

Girls Night

Last night, I spent some time with my friends and we made baked clams and watched Top Gun and drank wine. Yay girls night! We're going to try to do girls night at least twice a month. It's important to release some stress every once and a while.

This weekend was crazy busy. I made a list of things I needed to do, and I got two things done...out of about ten. But, most important thing, I got wireless internet! Now I can skype and watch t.v. online--the two main reasons to have wireless.

I had to go to the mall to pick everything up for wireless and I was overwhelmed by the things they have there. There is a Tiffany's, Harry Winston's, Coach, Fendi, Prada, Chanel, you know, all the important stores that I shop at all the time. Who are these stores for? My guess is rich Japanese tourists... But, maybe I'm being too narrow minded.

There was a parade this weekend in Waikiki. I saw Hula dancers, Ms. Hawaii in a Morris Mini, people on horses, a few marching bands, kids dancing, naval officers--all very exciting. I guess there is a festival every year called "Aloha," and that was what was happening this weekend. Also, there is this thing every month called First Friday's where artists in Chinatown put out all their artwork and there is music. I need to go to that! I guess I'll go next month. So much to do...work and play.

Alright, I need to get ready for class.

Friend

I have a new friend. I found him last night. His name is Jeffrey. I am going to try not to step on him...or vacuum him up. I vacuum all the time and I hope he gets out of the way.

Paramecium Lab

Today we had the animal cell lab and I think it went well. My students still seem pretty clueless, but now that I am really holding their hands through the whole thing and they seem to appreciate it. I drew a lot of elaborate pictures on the chalk board with all different colors and I think that helped. I love chalk!

Yesterday I talked with Les about maybe doing cephalopod research and he is all for it :) He said that if that is what I want to do, I can! I'm so happy. He is a great guy and an excellent resource. I am probably going to do coral work with him too (which I am excited about because I got to see some of it and they are amazing!) but my research will probably focus on cephalopods. I've gotten a bunch of information from a few people here and Roger. Everyone is so open with their information and helpful with project ideas. Yay!!!

Now that I am thinking I want to study cephalopods all the time, I am getting a little obsessed with reading everything I can about them and I have come across some cool sites. Here is a site with gift ideas :) And here is another! I need to stop procrastinating and get my work done...

Bobtail Squid!

So, I'm going to talk about squid, but first, I need to discuss something disturbing that just happened to me. I decided to go buy myself a toaster oven. I was planning on waiting until people came to visit me to buy me a toaster oven, but I couldn't wait any longer! Anyway, I went to my favorite store (Don Quixote) and bought myself a toaster oven. Since I had no way to get home other than the bus, I got on the bus with my big box and sat in the only available seat with space next to me to put my purchase. What I didn't realize was there seemed to be a reason that seat was empty. The people behind me were singing and seemed to be intoxicated and...if they were cartoons, stink lines would have been emanating from their bodies. Of course, they decided to talk to me... The first man said he was hungry and wondered what I was going to be making in my toaster oven--I said I didn't know yet. Then, the gentleman next to him said "She's so beautiful, I could live off her dead skin." ............um.....WHAT?!!!? What the hell does that mean!? Ugh! I was so creeped out. Especially because they both started cackling and then continued talking to me about goose poop, God, and guns in Washington DC. I tried to think if I could get off the bus early, but I had this cumbersome box that I had to walk with, so I just smiled grotesquely until I was able to escape. But I can't get over how weird that was. What kind of a thing is that to say to somebody? Is that supposed to be a compliment??! If it hadn't been broad daylight, I would have been more frightened though...

Alright, now to squid. Yesterday, I checked out the Zoology Department van so that I could see if I could find some bobtail squid to observe in the wild. Since no one else wanted the van yesterday, I went with my friends to do some grocery shopping at the commissary before hand (which I can't normally go to because I don't have a military i.d.). My friend has a military i.d. and told me that groceries are cheaper there so we decided to go. It was amazing!!! It was huge!! It's a giant mall with cheap stuff for military people. They had tea for less than 7 dollars!! They had bagels for 4 dollars cheaper than any other store in the islands!! We filled our cart to the brim with cheap goods from the mainland. My friends kept making fun of me because I was freaking out about how inexpensive everything was. It was because of this trip that I decided to buy my toaster oven. I found mini pizza crusts to make home made pizza on :) I'm very excited.

After our grocery excursion, we went to the beach to see if we could find bobtail squid. It was super windy and very low tide, so we actually didn't see any at all...but we still had fun. We sat on the beautiful deserted beach and drank some wine under the moon and stars.

This past week was super busy, but productive. I got my Hawaiian driver's license (and I wish it said McLovin' on it instead of my name). I had my first real lab sections where I was a REAL teacher!! They asked lots of questions...and I realized I will need to hold their hands much more than I thought. Undergrads are not too bright.... I look at them and think, "was I like that?"

Ok, I need to do all of my work now. I'm going to the beach to read :)

Manoa Falls

On Saturday I went with some friends to Manoa Falls. It was beautiful. Apparently that is where they filmed some of "Lost" and I could definitely tell. The trees were dripping with orchids. The banyan trees were enormous and intimidating.

Yesterday and today I went to the beach to study. I think I am going to try to go there more often for studying. I need to take advantage of living so close to the beach :)

Also, I tried out some surfing today! I wasn't great and will need to practice, but it is fun. I'm not sure if I will ever be great at it because I think my body is the wrong shape.

Tomorrow I have a lab to teach about microscopes. Yay! Playing with microscopes! I hope they enjoy it as much as I do... Apparently my friend told her students during their introductions that they should be happy that she didn't make them make animal noises--because she knew someone who did.