Alright ladies and gentlemen ...
I really have no idea what to update about right now. It's been so long since I've really updated with anything that there's almost TOO much to update about. But I'm going to try anyway, and you'll have to forgive me.
This semester has been exhausting, but very educational. I really think I get better and better at managing my time every semester. I'm still a bit of a procrastinator (but not quite as bad as what I used to be like), but the big difference now is that I feel like I have taken on so much that, even when I'm procrastinating, I am often doing work (just not maybe the work I really SHOULD be doing).
The semester has also been good in that I'm involved in a couple of projects that are all very different but are a lot of fun. I have a semester-long group project for animal behaviour, in which we are trying to figure out whether Black-capped chickadees respond differently to calls from familiar vs. novel predators. So that gets us out a little after dawn a couple of times a week to harass chickadees with owl playback. As much as I would love to sleep in, it's still a fun project, and I really like my group members.
I also have a semester-long group project for my ecological methods class. For this one, we're looking at whether the abundance and species richness of epiphytic lichen (lichens that grow on trees rather than rocks) vary with the size of the forest fragment that they're located it. It has a whole bunch of relevance when it comes to landscape planning and the consequences of habitat fragmentation ... which by the way is obviously happening EVERYWHERE. So this project gets us out into the woods three times a week (Tues, Thurs and Sat) counting lichens on trees. It doesn't sound very exciting, but just think of five girls stomping around in the woods in all kinds of weather and ... moods. We have a good time. I really love my group members for this project too. We're all so different, but they're all awesome.
Now ... I'm also doing an undergraduate research project, in which we're investigating the effect of species richness on ecosystem response to carbon dioxide enrichment. Basically, I'm growing little turfgrass (golf-course grass, basically) communities with different numbers of species in them and then putting them all at different levels of CO2 to see if they function differently. This project, I hate to say it, is less fun than my other ones. It's my undergrad project so I should be saying that it's awesome and I love it and ... all that enthusiastic stuff. But let's face it, it's the project that I spend a crap-load of time on, and that time is almost ALWAYS spend alone. I'm pretty much always just doing my work in the greenhouse completely alone. It's kinda sad. It's also really intimidating/frustrating because I get the feeling my adviser might want us to publish this project, but I just don't feel like I'm capable of producing publishable material.
Ah well.
We've got two weeks of classes left in the semester. This upcoming one shouldn't be that bad, but the one after it is likely going to be a nightmare. Then finals. Then home.
That was a really long school rant. Gotta say Guelph just doesn't seem as cool this year as it did in past years. The bus system now seems to suck a lot, and ... well let's face it, I'm pretty sure I think it sucks because most of my friends graduated and left last year. But luckily I really like my roommates this year and I have gotten to spend a lot of time with some new awesome people. But still, I miss old friends. And Jeff's not around anymore so ... yeah. I get lonely sometimes.
Let's see ... what else?
Oh yes! A life crisis. Not really a crisis, just the old standard "what the hell am I doing with my life?!" crisis. Really, among other things, I decided to stick around for an extra semester at Guelph to buy myself time to figure out what I wanted to do afterwards. I was certain I wanted to go to grad school, but I had no idea where/under whom/how. I told myself I would spend this semester looking for a potential supervisor and program that would fit, but I was so busy all the time with the project that I DO have, that I haven't made one bit of progress in that respect.
At the same time, this project kinda made me question whether grad school was right for me at all. Let's face it, science is tedious and hard. You have to have a certain kind of mind to do it, I think ... a scientific intuition. I really don't think I have it. But my adviser for my current project basically told me that I wouldn't get it unless I went to grad school. So I'm torn again. Also, this project has been so much tedious work, I'm not sure I want to commit myself to at least two more years of something similar to it. But as Geraldine, a grad student friend of mine pointed out, grad school is different from an undergrad project. Your grad project is the main focus of your time; it's why you're there. Whereas an undergrad project consumes a shitload of time, but you're still expected to stay on top of things in all of your other undergrad courses. So, I guess she was implying that grad school wouldn't be as maddening as an undergrad project.
Still no idea what's going to happen after I graduate.
I keep telling myself I'll apply to some colleges for a GIS program. GIS is a useful skill, right? From what I understand, it definitely is. Sure, you can do cool biology stuff with GIS like habitat analysis and migration patterns, but do I really want to spend my life looking at a computer screen? That's not why I became a biologist.
So I really don't know what's going on. I know that I'm coming home mid-December ... the 19th or so, I think. And I know that I'm REALLY looking forward to that. But what's going to happen after that? No fucking clue.
There is something lingering on the horizon, but until I know more for sure I hesitate to say anything about it. Some of you may already know.
I'll update with news as soon as I have more ... if I do.
There you go, Keith. An obscenely long update written in no time. That's a sure sign that it makes no sense! Sorry for the rambling, but I just needed to process some thoughts before I remembered how much other stuff I have to do and abandoned the update endeavor.
Hope everyone is well at home. Glad Greg's healthy again. What's going on with everyone? Are you having a good time or are you being ... lame? Can't wait to see you all again. Even after all these years in Guelph, you are still where my heart is.
This semester has been exhausting, but very educational. I really think I get better and better at managing my time every semester. I'm still a bit of a procrastinator (but not quite as bad as what I used to be like), but the big difference now is that I feel like I have taken on so much that, even when I'm procrastinating, I am often doing work (just not maybe the work I really SHOULD be doing).
The semester has also been good in that I'm involved in a couple of projects that are all very different but are a lot of fun. I have a semester-long group project for animal behaviour, in which we are trying to figure out whether Black-capped chickadees respond differently to calls from familiar vs. novel predators. So that gets us out a little after dawn a couple of times a week to harass chickadees with owl playback. As much as I would love to sleep in, it's still a fun project, and I really like my group members.
I also have a semester-long group project for my ecological methods class. For this one, we're looking at whether the abundance and species richness of epiphytic lichen (lichens that grow on trees rather than rocks) vary with the size of the forest fragment that they're located it. It has a whole bunch of relevance when it comes to landscape planning and the consequences of habitat fragmentation ... which by the way is obviously happening EVERYWHERE. So this project gets us out into the woods three times a week (Tues, Thurs and Sat) counting lichens on trees. It doesn't sound very exciting, but just think of five girls stomping around in the woods in all kinds of weather and ... moods. We have a good time. I really love my group members for this project too. We're all so different, but they're all awesome.
Now ... I'm also doing an undergraduate research project, in which we're investigating the effect of species richness on ecosystem response to carbon dioxide enrichment. Basically, I'm growing little turfgrass (golf-course grass, basically) communities with different numbers of species in them and then putting them all at different levels of CO2 to see if they function differently. This project, I hate to say it, is less fun than my other ones. It's my undergrad project so I should be saying that it's awesome and I love it and ... all that enthusiastic stuff. But let's face it, it's the project that I spend a crap-load of time on, and that time is almost ALWAYS spend alone. I'm pretty much always just doing my work in the greenhouse completely alone. It's kinda sad. It's also really intimidating/frustrating because I get the feeling my adviser might want us to publish this project, but I just don't feel like I'm capable of producing publishable material.
Ah well.
We've got two weeks of classes left in the semester. This upcoming one shouldn't be that bad, but the one after it is likely going to be a nightmare. Then finals. Then home.
That was a really long school rant. Gotta say Guelph just doesn't seem as cool this year as it did in past years. The bus system now seems to suck a lot, and ... well let's face it, I'm pretty sure I think it sucks because most of my friends graduated and left last year. But luckily I really like my roommates this year and I have gotten to spend a lot of time with some new awesome people. But still, I miss old friends. And Jeff's not around anymore so ... yeah. I get lonely sometimes.
Let's see ... what else?
Oh yes! A life crisis. Not really a crisis, just the old standard "what the hell am I doing with my life?!" crisis. Really, among other things, I decided to stick around for an extra semester at Guelph to buy myself time to figure out what I wanted to do afterwards. I was certain I wanted to go to grad school, but I had no idea where/under whom/how. I told myself I would spend this semester looking for a potential supervisor and program that would fit, but I was so busy all the time with the project that I DO have, that I haven't made one bit of progress in that respect.
At the same time, this project kinda made me question whether grad school was right for me at all. Let's face it, science is tedious and hard. You have to have a certain kind of mind to do it, I think ... a scientific intuition. I really don't think I have it. But my adviser for my current project basically told me that I wouldn't get it unless I went to grad school. So I'm torn again. Also, this project has been so much tedious work, I'm not sure I want to commit myself to at least two more years of something similar to it. But as Geraldine, a grad student friend of mine pointed out, grad school is different from an undergrad project. Your grad project is the main focus of your time; it's why you're there. Whereas an undergrad project consumes a shitload of time, but you're still expected to stay on top of things in all of your other undergrad courses. So, I guess she was implying that grad school wouldn't be as maddening as an undergrad project.
Still no idea what's going to happen after I graduate.
I keep telling myself I'll apply to some colleges for a GIS program. GIS is a useful skill, right? From what I understand, it definitely is. Sure, you can do cool biology stuff with GIS like habitat analysis and migration patterns, but do I really want to spend my life looking at a computer screen? That's not why I became a biologist.
So I really don't know what's going on. I know that I'm coming home mid-December ... the 19th or so, I think. And I know that I'm REALLY looking forward to that. But what's going to happen after that? No fucking clue.
There is something lingering on the horizon, but until I know more for sure I hesitate to say anything about it. Some of you may already know.
I'll update with news as soon as I have more ... if I do.
There you go, Keith. An obscenely long update written in no time. That's a sure sign that it makes no sense! Sorry for the rambling, but I just needed to process some thoughts before I remembered how much other stuff I have to do and abandoned the update endeavor.
Hope everyone is well at home. Glad Greg's healthy again. What's going on with everyone? Are you having a good time or are you being ... lame? Can't wait to see you all again. Even after all these years in Guelph, you are still where my heart is.