Hello October!

Sorry for two totally inane posts in one day. I PROMISE I will try my best to actually update this site with worthwhile posts.

First, please let me rant! I believe I can say with all honesty that the past seven days have been the most busy ones of my undergraduate academic career. Missing two days of class is detrimental when taking 21 credit hours... Put on top of that two lab reports, a presentation to the department on research I haven't considered in two months, a huge grad class project, 4 hours of the general GRE, completely boring 18th century Italian texts, last-minute making of a cardboat boat and yes FINALLY I can breathe thankyouverymuch.

Phew. Ok, now that I'm done whining. I expect the rest of the semester to go a bit better. I have been away every weekend since school started, and taking two days of the week off is difficult to catch up on. No more traveling, more studying and sleeping!

Anyway. Fall is in the air and the crisp smell of autumn leaves makes my heart happy! Soon to be- apple cider, orchard visits, Riley Festival, pumpkin carving, demo shows, and Halloween! :) Don't forget about the annual "This is what I did in October post"- keep a keen eye out for it.... 

Quote of The Day

me:  Here's a poem I just wrote

Cheetos

I can tell
you've been eating them
from the orange stain
on your fingers
I can smell the cheese
on your breath
I can see the feral
Chester look
in your eyes

 Elaine:  omg

omg

yesssssss

yes

yes

 me:  I love you

Elaine, will you marry me?

holds cheeto out

 Elaine:  I've been waiting for this moment my whole life! YES! I will!!

puts cheeto in mouth

 me:  

You've made me a happy woman today

PS- I'm logging this chat

 Elaine:  hahaha

I might put that poem somewhere...

 me:  do it

How Many Special People Change?

"How many special people change?
How many lives are living strange?
Where were you while we were getting high?
Slowly walking down the hall
Faster than a cannonball
Where were you while we were getting high?"

As I become increasingly busy this semester and begin having crises regarding my completely undecided future, I keep coming back to this song. The mantra I have been repeating for the past three years keeps popping up in my head: "I am a highly motivated student. I am a highly motivated student. I am a highly motivated student..."

Takes me back to Tucson summer. Lying on my apartment floor blasting Oasis while a perfect powerpoint sunset gradient faded into the background.

Ready or not, Real Life, here I come!

Dio Mio....

It's only the third week of class and I'm already pulling my first late-nighter... Turns out that graduate classes are pretty tough (who would have thunk it?!). It's 4AM the night before my first assignment is due and I'm just now realizing this...

The Dragon's Tail

Wow!

I haven't posted anything new here in quite a while. Due to my incredibly busy life/schedule/constant state of being, I've neglected this blog once again... I have lots of exciting things to update you on. Just to give you a glimpse of what is to come, some topics we'll cover in class soon are:
-Epic road trip from Boulder, CO to Tucson, AZ
-Observing on Mt. Lemmon
-Start of new semester and Things
-My completely intimidating future (or lack thereof)

But for now... another crazy adventure of mine! Last semester me and some friends took an Ice Climbing class through IU's Outdoor Adventures (OA) program. It was ridiculously fun, so this year I looked for another class along the same vein and found... whitewater rafting!

For this class, we took a weekend trip to the Nantahala River in North Carolina. It was very close to the border of Tennessee so was only about an ~8 hour drive. We left Friday afternoon and arrived by about 11pm at our bunkhouse/cabin. The next morning we woke up bright and early, and after a quick breakfast, we headed the short 5 minutes to the river put-in (where you put rafts/boats in!). We had 18 students and 4 instructors, so we split into 4 groups and headed out!

We were barely down the river at all when before you knew it, we had a swimmer! Aka someone who falls out of the boat :P The river was lots of fun- it was mostly class 2 rapids (class 1 is easiest, like a still lake, while class 6 is absolutely insane and probably impossible) with one class 3 at the end. The class 2 was mostly pretty easy, but the real challenge was having to dodge all the rocks! The Nantahala River is regulated each day by being emptied at night, and then refilled in the morning the next day. They do this to use the water for hydroelectricity so there's no way around it. As a result, the water is low in the morning and it's much easier to get stuck on a rock since the water is shallower. Later in the day the river fills up and you get much more exciting rapids and faster water!

Anyway, it was a ton of fun! All the students got to guide the boat, which means you sit in the back and steer with a longer oar (like a rudder) while the others in the front paddle and do the hard work! :P It was a bit challenging but easy once you got the hang of it.

I never even fell out of the boat too! Woohoo! None of the boats I was in ever had any swimmers. For once I'm a good luck charm.

So we ran the river twice on Saturday- one run was an 8.5 mile stretch that took us about 2 hours (plus lunch, and stopping on the river to wait for other boats stuck on rocks, water fights, etc...). We headed back to the cabin, made lunch, played cards, and made a fire and smores. Woke up early again the next morning and did one run down the river (this time with no instructors! eek!) and packed up for the long ride back home.

All in all- an incredibly fun weekend and a much-needed break from academia (even though I am far behind now...) Now some pictures! :)

In our awesome wetsuits and splashjackets!

The rapids at Lesser Wesser, the class 3 rapid at the end of the river.

The view for most of the trip- pretty NC hills during the sunrise!

Lesser Wesser rapids! Woohoo rocks!