Changes

Sometimes when we feel we need a change in our lives and we can't really do anything about it without making a drastic difference in the way we normally go about things, it helps to do something small (but effective) like cleaning your room, reorganizing books or movies, repositioning furniture, or changing bedsheets (I have many sets for just such a reason).  I tend to do the last one the most often, especially since with my currently tiny room I can't really rearrange furniture.

Maybe you don't really need a new job or really want to quit school or get new friends or anything, maybe you just need new sheets.  At least for a while.

Note:  Yes, I did do a photoshoot with my bedsheets.  Shush.

Bonneville Seabase

On Saturday Adrien and I braved the snow, freezing winds, and ill-fitting rental equipment to spend the day SCUBA diving at Bonneville Seabase up in Grantsville (very near the Great Salt Lake).
When we arrived, there were several snorkelers already on the premises kicking up silt and screaming and being generally irritating. They left around lunch time, however, and a beginning SCUBA course arrived, who were also loud, but not quite as irritating. Adrien and I were there until closing. What I loved most about this place was that since they don't get tons of customers, especially in the winter, the customer service was excellent. From the time we arrived we were barraged by equipment help, dive trip information, jokes, recommendations on everything, inquiries as to our well-being, assistance in weighting, and orders to holler no matter where we were on the base if we needed anything at all. It sort of felt like they were our personal team of dive helpers.

On the base, there are three "bays" to dive (or snorkel) in: White Rocks Bay, Habitat Bay, and the Abyss. White Rocks Bay is where we did three of our five dives. White Rocks was a covered pool with tons of fish and fabled nurse sharks (which we spent two dives searching for but never found, sadly). We bought lettuce for $2 and fed the fish with it. It was fun to hear them munching and feel the strong pull of fish beaks on soggy lettuce (fun to watch too, but visibility was so bad that most of the time they caught me by surprise). In Habitat Bay (called so because of a sort of diving bell "habitat" area under the water somewhere...we couldn't find it) there was a boat "wreck" for divers to investigate on clearer days. We did poke around there for a bit, but since it was unsheltered, it was considerably colder and we didn't stay long. The Abyss is about 65 feet deep and the deepest spot on the base. We originally intended to only descend to about 40 feet, but after local light failure and my neglecting to take my flashlight into the Abyss, we ended up going to 50 feet, which was all well and good except that it took a little longer to ascend and we ran out of air faster than we'd planned for so we couldn't do a sixth dive to look for the sharks (again). I plan on returning in warmer weather for a better look for the sharks and the boat.

The entrance to White Rocks Bay

Habitat BayThe Abyss-- under that white thing

This picture is funny for 3 reasons: our faces, since the guy gave us no warning as to when he was taking the picture; the fact that we can't put our arms against our body; and that it documents the aftermath of putting on the wetsuits-- we considered making a video of us trying to get them on because it was quite a hilarious endeavor and people had to ask through the dressing room door if we were okay.

How to Look Creepy

I don't even know how I found this. This is me as a shrunken head:

You can customize your hair/head style, decorations, skin and hair color, background, and even soundtrack! What fun!

Update (Boring)

Currently I'm working on a few projects and I seem to be not doing very well on many/all of them. I need help and inspiration!

For instance, my "50 books by the end of the year" (which started at 100 if you recall) is going very slowly. I noticed in reviewing my list that nearly two-thirds of the books I've read were within the first four or five months of the year. There are only about 50 days left until the start of 2010 and I still need about twelve more books (however, I must say that the one I just finished-- in three days I might add-- The Wild Trees, was a very interesting, informational, and inspiring book-- especially for non-fiction-- and I will readily recommend it to anyone). The main problem here is that I'm trying to work through Founding Brothers, which is probably the dullest book I've ever been required to read (after Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics I had to read for my Greek Literature class a year ago).

This obstacle brings me to my next suffering goal which was to finish all three of my Independent Study courses by January first. I have to get through F. B. and another required novel and I must point out my online instructor claimed about these two books, "you will enjoy them so much that you'll soon forget that you are reading for a class." Ha. Clearly this person has never met me. Anyway, so I might be able to complete the courses by January first if I become a temporary hermit for a while and speed through as many lessons as I can, but I'm afraid the quality of my work would greatly suffer. I've determined that I'm a better student in a physical, rather than cyber, classroom.

This month I'm supposed to be participating in the NaNoWriMo challenge alongside my mom and sister Megan, but it's nearly two weeks in and I still only have one sentence and a lot of ideas, but no clue how to put them onto paper.

Also, I'm rather sad to say that my third day in the food challenge I'm working on did not go very well at all. I'll write about it more tomorrow over on the Hungry Thing so I can combine it with day 4, but I'm really quite disappointed in myself. At least it isn't a real, health-threatening situation.

Tomorrow we have a cleaning check, and for some reason the management gave me the longest list of things to clean out of the rest of my roommates. And the most difficult tasks...like the fridge. Wish me luck for tomorrow (yes, I have yet to clean) and hope that I come out of the sticky, drippy, smelly mess of the fridge alive and on-time!

P.S. Perhaps this will cheer you up (the first two minutes are the most important part...and also the part at 5:40):

Looking Forward

The New Moon premiere is coming up in a couple of weeks. Unlike my sisters, I will not be attending the midnight showing. No, I'm setting my sights on a different midnight showing...a year from now. That's right kids, I'm already counting down to Deathly Hallows pt 1 on November 19th! Don't get me wrong, it's not like I've put up a paper chain or anything, but there it is. I'm just a little miffed that Germany gets to see it two whole days before we do. Harumph.

Harry and Hermione bury Dobby at Shell Cottage

Also, part two comes out July 15th, 2011.

Other things I'm looking forward to?
-dive trip to Bonneville Seabase next weekend
-Christmas, a time to see family and an excuse to make tons of sweets (and eat them of course)
-SCUBA stress and rescue course starting Feb 25th
-St Patrick's Day (a favorite holiday because I get to show what pride I have for a place that contributes, however minimally, to my ancestry...and who doesn't love corned beef and cabbage?)
-two weeks in England at the end of April/beginning of May (oh gosh. I just said it. Now I'm excited.)
-sailing lessons if I can raise the money and find someone to take it with me
-probably starting culinary school next August (read what I think)

Puggles and Fingerlings and Squeakers, Oh My!

I found this list of baby names for various animals and thought it was both interesting and sort of hilarious:

Alligator = hatchling

Alpaca = cria

Ant = antling

Antelope = calf

Ape = baby

Armadillo = pup

Badger = kit, cub

Bat = pup

Bear = cub

Beaver = pup, kitten

Bee = larva

Bird = hatchling, chick

Bison, Buffalo = calf

Boar = piglet, shoat, farrow

Bobcat = kitten or cub

Butterfly = caterpillar, larva, pupa, chrysalis

Camel = calf

Caribou = calf or fawn

Cat = kitten

Cattle = calf

Cheetah = cub

Chicken = chick, pullet (young hen), cockrell (young rooster)

Cicada = nymph

Clam = larva

Cockroach = nymph

Codfish = codling, hake, sprag, sprat

Coyote = pup, whelp

Crane = chick

Crocodile = hatchling

Crow = chick

Deer = fawn

Dinosaur = hatchling, juvenile

Dog = pup

Dolphin = pup, calf

Donkey = colt, foal

Dove = squab, chick

Duck = duckling

Eagle = fledgling, eaglet

Echidna = puggle

Eel = leptocephalus (larva), elver (juvenile)

Elephant = calf

Elk = calf

Emu = chick, hatchling

Falcon = chick

Ferret = kit

Finch = chick

Fish = fry, fingerling

Fly = maggot

Fox = kit, cub, pup

Frog = tadpole, polliwog, froglet

Gerbil = pup

Giraffe = calf

Gnat = larva

Gnu = calf

Goat = kid, billy

Goose = gosling

Gorilla = infant

Grasshopper = nymph

Grouse = chick, poult, squealer or cheeper

Guinea pig = pig, pup

Gull = chick

Hamster = pup

Hare = leveret

Hawk = eyas

Hedgehog = piglet, pup

Heron = chick

Hippopotamus = calf

Hog = shoat, farrow

Hornet = larva

Horse = foal, colt (m), filly (f), stat, stag, hog-colt, youngster, yearling or hogget

Hound = pup

Human = baby, infant, toddler

Hummingbird = chick

Hyena = cub

Jay = chick

Jellyfish = ephyna

Kangaroo = joey

Koala = joey

Lark = chick

Leopard = cub

Lion = cub

Llama = cria

Louse = nit, nymph

Magpie = chick

Mallard = duckling

Manatee = calf

Mole = pup

Monkey = infant

Moose = calf

Mosquito = nymph, wriggler, tumbler

Mouse = pup, pinkie, kitten

Mule = foal

Muskrat = kit

Nightingale = chick

Opossum = joey

Ostrich = chick

Otter = whelp, pup

Owl = owlet, fledgling

Ox = stot, calf

Oyster = spat

Panda = cub

Parrot = chick

Partridge = cheeper

Peacock = peachick

Penguin = chick

Pheasant = chick

Pig = piglet, shoat, farrow

Pigeon = squab, squeaker

Platypus = puggle

Porcupine = porcupette

Porpoise = calf

Possum = joey

Prairie dog = pup

Pronghorn = fawn

Quail = chick

Rabbit = kitten, bunny, kit

Raccoon = cub

Rat = pup, pinkie, kitten

Reindeer = calf

Rhinoceros = calf

Sand Dollar = larva, pluteus, juvenile

Sea Urchin = larva, pluteus, juvenile

Seal = pup

Serval = kitten

Shark = pup

Sheep = lamb, lambkin, cosset

Skunk = kit

Snake = Snakelet, neonate, hatchling snake)

Spider = spiderling

Squirrel = pup, kit, kitten

Swan = cygnet, flapper

Termite = larva

Tiger = cub, whelp

Toad = tadpole

Trout = fry, fingerling

Turkey = poult

Turtle = hatchling

Wallaby = joey

Walrus = cub, pup

Wasp = larva

Weasel = kit

Whale = calf

Wolf = pup, whelp

Wombat = joey

Woodchuck = kit, cub

Woodpecker = chick

Wren = chick

Yak = calf

Yellow Jacket = larva

Zebra = colt, foal

Color

A rainbow of color...in vegetables!
Check out my new post on l'autre blog.