Wanderlust

   Call it jealousy, nostalgia, retlessness, or thinking the grass is always greener, but I am suffering from a bad case of wanderlust. This time last year I was just wrapping up my adventures in the Bahamas and about to begin my new life in Charleston. The past year has been wonderful, but now that I have seen the outside, I can’t get enough. 

   Many days when I am bored and need to waste some time I find myself, like many others, scouring the pages of pinterest looking for craft ideas, solutions to common problems, decor ideas, etc. Of course many people (women) have their “One Day” board that is filled with future travel destinations that they one day hope to visit. Take a moment and think about everyone that you know. How many people actually travel that much? How many people do you know that have been to more than 10 countries? How about 5? 2? The reality is that most people never visit the places they’ve been dying to see since childhood. Why is that? 

   My solution to this problem is simple: escape the American work ethic. Of course, I love my job. I actually get to see a lot of the things I’d want to see on vacation while working:

However, biodiversity is limited here and there is a great big world out there. Anyway, as I was saying, I plan to escape the American work ethic. Compared to most other countries, Americans work themselves to death. We work from early into the morning through short lunch breaks and into the evening. Even then we often bring work home with us only to collapse at the end of the day and have to be powered up the next morning by caffeine. It’s a vicious cycle. I won’t even mention how much this damages our relationships with family and friends. Many other countries begin work mid-morning, have long lunches or siestas, and relationships are a huge part of their lives. And they have way more vacation days that we do. All of that is to say, I don’t want to spend the majority of my adult life and my best years working 8 to 6 and never getting to spend time with anyone or see what else is out there.

The Solution:

Currently, the plan is to complete my thesis (hopefully with some tropical vacations thrown in-Florida Keys, Bahamas, Spain?) then take a year to travel around the world and work odd marine-related jobs.  Its the perfect time as I will not yet be tied down to a full-time job and can take a substantial amount of time to myself.  If this does not work out, I plan to visit another country at least once a year for the rest of my life.  From what I can tell, once you get past the cost of airfare, travelling abroad can really be as cheap as you want it to be (even cheaper than living in the States). To complete this post, I will leave you with some pictures of my Bahamian adventures:

Maps, Locks, and Thesis

Link

 

Hello dear Reader,

I know it’s been a while and I apologize for my absence. I shall take the following moments to bring you up to speed on some parts of my life whilst pleading that you will forgive my poor committment to blogging.

First off, I will begin with my thesis project: the first real opportunity for me to prove my mettle, so to speak. You may not be able to relate to this, but I found it quite difficult to choose said project for some time. I blame a combination of my desire to choose something positively groundbreaking, my wide breadth of interests, and my general indecisiveness. In the end, I went for a project that pulls pieces of many of my prior interests. I will be examining patterns of mercury (MeHg) uptake along two river systems within individuals of the species Longnose Gar (Lepisosteus osseus). What does this mean, says you? It means that I am using this species as a model for how edible fish take up toxic mercury in order to better understand human health risks of fish based on their physiology, diet, and environment. Still confused? Eh, I’ll explain more later.

Since my thesis project contains several different components and it is often difficult to keep track of these things in one’s mind all at once, I have decided to create a concept map to visually portray the many aspects. If you are unfamiliar with concept maps, I direct you to Prison Break, The Next Three Days, or basically any other tv show or movie in which someone plans something extremely epic. Picture a wall collage of connected ideas which culminate to form a complete, cohesive, coherent idea, no matter how complex. Mine shall be located in my office cubicle. Stay tuned for pics. While I am on the subject of maps, my sister was kind enough to bestow a large, world map upon me for my birthday. This map will soon be covered with pushpins indicating places where I have lived, where I have travelled, and where I hope to travel. Epic.

Finally, I ask your opinion, good fellow. I am considering something of a major life change. Something that may alter the very way I see myself. This change is so great, I hesitate to even speak of it. For further information, click here: http://www.stylebistro.com/Celebrity+Hair/articles/TSOKXSj3bej/Ginnifer+Goodwin+Brings+Edge+Pixie+Cut

Well, good friend, until next time.

Sea Pansies

    Some of you nerdier folk may have, at some point or another, been called a pansy due to your comparatively wimpy stature and, of course, superior brain power. As you read this, I can tell that your anger at the outrageous stereotyping I have just committed is welling up inside you and that you are ready to burst with the words, “Pansies are the toughest flowers!” Spoken like a true dweeb 🙂 

  My reason for bringing this up is that the name pansy may elicit frustration in some, but wonder in others. In fact, the word pansy comes from the Latin meaning to think or consider.  I will explain what I mean by all of this:

First, as I previously stated, pansy can be taken as a derrogatory name for nerds, geeks, dweebs, wimps, or any other non-meatheads out there.

Second, the flower named pansy is indeed one of the toughest garden flowers because of its above-average ability to survive the harsh cold of winter months.  As such, it is a banner plant for those of us who are horticulturally-inclined.

Third, to a marine biologist (such as myself) the sea pansy is the name of one of nature’s most fascinating invertebrates. If you ever have the pleasure of stumbling across one on the beach, you may notice its vibrant purple color, kidney shape, and, depending on the water level, the presence of polyps used for gathering food from the water. It is a Gorgonian soft coral meaning it is colonial and made up of a collection of tiny animals.  Together they form this unit known as a sea pansy. The best part is that these animals bioluminesce when touched in the dark! Imagine that you are casually beachcombing at midnight and you happen upon a strech of beach covered with these little guys. Literally every step that you take is disrupting them and causing them to fluoresce in collection of bright green specks. For any James Cameron fans out there, picture how the ground lights up where they step in Avatar and you get the idea.

  Sea pansies are just one of many examples of bioluminescence but they definitely live up to their name. They have driven me to think about things like what causes them to bioluminesce? How does this benefit them? What does anyone know about sea pansies? What I have found out is that very little research has been done to understand sea pansies. This is just one example of how science is still far from a comprehensive knowledge of all that the world has to offer and a reason why I love that I have the job of adding to that knowledge!  

Collections

  Some of you readers may be familiar with Myers-Briggs Typology. If you are not, this is basically a system that categorizes people into personality types based on four criteria. I mean not to bog you down with psychological jargon, but basically, you can be one of 16 personality types based on this system and I happen to find it eerily accurate based on my personal observations of people (including myself) and their MB type. I am an INTJ, what are you?

  My reason for bringing this up is that the description of an INTJ includes a knack for collecting things.  Ever since I was a wee little lass, I have been collecting anything from cicada molts to starburst wrappers. Today my collections include hats, books, stone aquatic animal figurines, seashells, rocks, bouncy balls, bumper stickers, mini spoons, and my personal favorite: fossil shark teeth. I may not have mentioned this before, but Charleston has several local beaches that are notorious for housing shark teeth. Lately, due to inclement (chilly) weather conditions, my days of body surfing have been put on hold and replaced by beachcombing for local goodies. The other day I broke my personal best record and replaced it with a whopping 78 teeth in 2.5 hours! Needless to say, my collection has grown quite profoundly since I moved here :). Also, my patio is becoming cluttered with other beach treasures such as driftwood, whelk shells, sea whips, and sponges. I need to buy a beach house so I can decorate it.. 

  In other news, I have recently discovered pinterest: a website that shows me creative ways to turn my collections into masterpieces. Aside from the many recipes I am anxious to try, my first craft project will be making a windchime out of driftwood, hemp, and seashells. Pics will accompany its completion :). 

Kleptoplasty

   I am currently on the quest to choose a thesis advisor for my Masters project and so far it has proved to be more challenging than anticipated. Not only do I have to decide what I am interested in, but I have to find a Ph.D who is also interested in that, currently is doing research, has space in their lab to take on a student, and isn’t difficult to get along with. The good news is that I met with the first of several potential advisors today and things went really well! She works with mangroves which I have also worked with before and studies population and community ecology and conservation. A winning combination in my opinion! Anyway, I have many more meetings to go to so we shall see where I end up. Who knows, maybe I’ll end up back in Bimini!

   Another thing I would like to mention is the future direction of this blog. If there is one thing I have learned during my time as a masters student in science it is that there is a huge lack of communication between the scientific “silos of knowledge” and the rest of the world. Our job as scientists is to learn new things about our world AND to share them with everyone else. It seems we are only doing half of our job. My point is that it appears that someone should step up to the plate and start sharing the knowledge with everyone else, and I’m thinking, “Why not me?” Clearly, tons of people are reached by this blog so its the perfect outlet to spread the word about scientific discoveries. Some of you may be thinking that you want no part of science because in the 8th grade you had to sit through Mrs. Jenkins’ most boring biology class and it was the worst thing EVER. I have to argue, however, that if presented in the proper manner, science can be totally awesome. I’ll prove it to you:

  I recently attended a scientific conference where there was an entire lecture series presented on sea slugs. Sounds gross, right? Wrong. These guys are awesome. Some specific sea slugs such as Elysia clarki and Elysia chlorotica eat algae. But they don’t just eat algae, they steal their chloroplasts. You may remember from said 8th grade biology class that chloroplasts are the structures in plants that allow them to photosynthesize or make food. It’s what makes plants green and able to live. These sea slugs STEAL the chloroplasts in a process called kleptoplasy. I kid you not. Klepto slugs are sucking the life force out of algae. They then use these chloroplasts to act like a leaf and make their own food from the sun without having to eat anything!! Imagine if you could eat a salad, turn green, go outside, and be fully energized for the rest of the day. It’s basically like becoming the Incredible Hulk. So, there is your fun science fact for the day. I’ll now give you some eye candy:

To learn more, visit http://www.thefeaturedcreature.com/2010/11/new-week-nudi-elysia-chlorotica.html#axzz1j1Xok3ec

 

Blood

Although I do not generally consider myself to be accident prone, since my time in South Carolina first began, I have managed to sustain a laundry list of injuries. Below I have included a timeline of said injuries: 

Timeline of injuries:

raft burn (August 17, 18, 19)

Jellyfish sting (August 19)

stab foot on nail (August 22)

spontaneous hair loss (September 10)

corneal abrasion (October 10)

Glow stick juice in eye (October 13)

burr viciously attacks foot(October 28)

leg scrape on algae rocks (October 29)

blood donation fail (November 3)

mysterious branch falls on head (November 4)

marshmallow food poisoning (November 5)

 

I did manage to get an epic scar both on my cornea and on my leg from the algae rocks! I am now determined to make it a whole month injury free. 5 more days!!

Sprinkles

It appears that at the given moment I have virtually no readers. This fact does not upset me; instead, I shall take this opportunity to dispatch some obscure thoughts into the sweet void that is the internet. If you are reading this, relax and enjoy the ride!

For starters, some of you may not be aware that I recently lost a dear family pet: my dog, Pepper. To celebrate her life well-lived, I have decided to write a short poem in her honor:

We once had a Shih Tzu named Pepper,

and often, she smelled like a leper.

Her skin was so flaky,

and her body so shaky,

I don’t even know why we kept her!

I hope you all enjoyed that little Limerick!

Upcoming adventures:

Though none of the adventures I am about to describe to you are set in stone, I am currently quite sedentary and it suffices to occupy my thoughts to plan future escapades to be enjoyed! In the not so distant future, I hope to visit the Grand Canyon, the Mariana Trench, the Amazon River basin, the Great Pyramid, the Great Barrier Reef, and the entire continent of Australia. Unfortunately, these ventures are much too expensive to be satiated by my Teaching Assistantship stipend, so they must wait. In the meantime, however, I am doing my best to find mini-adventures right here in Charleston! Some of these include kayaking, ghost-touring, biking, swimming, surfing, skimboarding, rafting, hand-balling, tennis-playing, swinging, Heelying, and enoing! I am loving life these days and I hope you are making the most of yours as well!

In other news, I can almost feel myself becoming more adult-like. Not so much in my actions or attitude toward life (in those respects I fear that I am a child forever!), but in my level of responsibility in work and school as well as to society. Part of this may be as a result of most of the adults around me preferring to be addressed by first name rather than Mister or Miss. Admittedly, being an adult is not as bad as I thought. Even though I am hundreds of miles from anyone that I have known for more than a month and a half, must pinch my pennies most fervently, and have to juggle both work and school, being an adult is quite a bit more liberating than I anticipated! I have all of the freedom of an undergrad, but with a paycheck that covers the bills and an arsenal of friends that speak Nerd! I must say, though, I do pay a bit more attention to the news, to coupons, to recycling, and the community as a whole. Between trips to the beach, that is.. 🙂

I hope that my random musings were not too scatterbrained for you to enjoy!

Following Your Dreams

Since my last post I have had a little over two weeks to settle into my new home here in sunny South Carolina.  In the short time that I have been here, it has become abundantly clear to me that I am, in fact, following God’s will for my life. I could not have asked for better room mates. Both of them are very easy going, clean, respectful, share food (yeah!), and have basically the same sense of humor and thoughts on life that I do! Out of all of the possible people in the world that I could have been stuck with by getting two potluck room mates that I see twenty-four hours per day, these two are the best I could have asked for! In addition, I live a mere fifteen minutes from the beach which makes having an active and adventurous lifestyle very very easy! School is tough, but its going well and I have already learned so much about the ocean! I am loving every day that I am here and am so excited that I will be here for at least three years!

The reason why I am telling you all of this is because I am truly following my dreams and I want to encourage you all to do the same. When we are children, adults often tell us to find what we love and chase after it but how many of us ever truly find something we are passionate about and follow it? It seems to me that so many people do not know what they want out of life or are too afraid to try to get it. God puts these desires in our hearts for a reason (as long as they are righteous desires) and, having been made for his purposes, it is our job to follow them! Some of you may be thinking that following your dreams is all very exciting and wonderful but I must warn you: the moment you step out of your house with a foreign destination in sight and nothing for certain, it is scary. In that moment, you may be taking the biggest risk of your life. What if you fail? What if you are not accepted? What if you were wrong about what you should do with your life? Tons of similar questions may swarm your mind, but you must grab hold of the security in knowing that you are following the path set before you and that there is a certain destination waiting for you. I hope all of you readers will take some time to find out what your life is meant for and start chasing it today! I am SO glad I did!!!

Goodbye, Bahamas, Hello, Charleston!

Since my last post, I have been a marathon traveler! It took me 5 flights over 3 days to get back to the US, go home, and finally move to South Carolina! I’m getting tired just thinking about it all.. Since my arrival things have been pretty busy with getting settled, getting to know my room mates, getting used to the area, going to orientation meetings, and of course chilling at the beach! It has been so much fun finally living in an area that supports an adventurous lifestyle. Especially one that involves the ocean! While the water is not the crystal clear water of Bimini, it has some great waves and we’ve seen some critters surface (turtle, dolphin, little fish)! I cannot wait to see what sorts of shenanigans me and my two awesome potluck room mates can get ourselves into! I really don’t think I could have been matched up with two better people. We mesh very well and its only been 2 days! So far the list of future endeavors includes learning to surf, sail, speak Spanish, wakeboard, and slackline! I am super pumped!! Things I have learned through this experience already: don’t worry too much about the future; moving far away isn’t as scary as it sounds; you can find friends anywhere you go. I highly recommend doing some traveling on your own!

Tropical Depression

In the last week, my Sharklab friends and I have braved a Tropical Depression named Emily and successfully completed a Mini-PIT project. The Tropical Depression ended up being a cluster of scattered thunderstorms followed by swarms of mosquitoes, but nothing we couldn’t handle! Mini-PIT is a shorter version of the annual PIT project so it is made up of 3 consecutive nights of 12 straight hours of gillnetting. Pretty much the daily schedule went as follows: Eat breakfast at 8 in the morning, sleep til 5 or 6, wake up, eat a “snack” meal, load up the gear and head out to the field, eat dinner around midnight or 1, haul the line at 7 am, and repeat! It was kind of fun being nocturnal for a few days. I thought it was going to make us really tired with such a strange sleep schedule but we actually got plenty of sleep because all we did was eat, sleep, and gillnet! It ended up being lots of fun and this place is just as beautiful at night as it is during the daytime. The Perseids meteor shower was in full swing while we were laying on boats all night so I saw plenty of meteors! The sunsets were also beautiful as were the many rays, bonefish, sea turtles, and sharks that we saw in or near our nets! One crew even accidentallyt caught a dolphin!! Mini- PIT turned out being quite successful and resulted in 28 Lemon shark captures, work ups, and eversions.

Unfortunately my time here at the Bimini Shark Lab is coming to a close and my adventures in the crystal clear waters will be put on hold. For now. I am hoping to come back here as soon as I possibly can! One of my friends here just finished her masters thesis work here so I am considering trying to do the same thing with my research. If nothing else, I hope to come back next summer as a volunteer and help out with the big PIT project that is a full 12 nights! In the meantime, my adventures in South Carolina begin next Tuesday so very soon I will be updating you on my new apartment, room mates, school, and job! I cannot wait to see what the next chapter of my life holds for me!