Acorn Sprouts

today

2011-08-24T22:53:00.000-04:00

Things that happened today, in chronological order:
-I rode my bike to class in optimal weather.
-I took a quiz.
-I ate a veggieburger with roomie in the lameness paddock and we biked home together.
-Took a pre-anatomy lab nap with the roomie.
-Biked back to class with roomie.
-Picked out my dog for dissection; he's a big, black, fat pitbull I'm calling Brutus.
-Skinned Brutus.
-Rode home.
-Bought a cake.
-Ate said cake while watching documentaries with roomie.
-Impulsively adopted a kitten advertised on the vet listerv with roomie.
-May or may not have acquired ringworm from the kitten.
-Sleeps or minecraft time.

This day was a solid 8.5/10. It would have been a 9/10 but Chris didn't end up staying the night due to our out-of-sync sleepiness and I never picked up my freezer pizzas from my sister. This has been a solidly pointless post. Goodnight!

popping bears

2011-08-17T19:25:00.000-04:00

No photos, no art, just me sitting in a classroom from 9-5 learning about animals. Vet school is cooler than anything I've experience academically, so far. Today I was thinking, as you do, and I think I may add one more year onto the 4 I've committed to so far and snag a masters in public health while I'm here at the CVM. Public health would piggy-back well with my focus, wildlife and zoo med, as there are many zoonotic pathogens in those fields. I don't know...but the prospect of spending all day every day performing necropsies on wildlife, both locally and abroad, to determine cause of death and if that cause of death is relevant to human health is utterly magical-sounding. My undergrad professor for wildlife diseases once told me a story about a necropsy he performed on a bloated black bear. Because he didn't know what killed the bear, he had to stand on the far side of the room and attempt to "pop" the bear by throwing scalpels at the abdomen; his job is amazing and I want it.

I have things to think about...while making cookies.

I'm a CVM candidate.

2011-08-11T10:01:00.000-04:00

Yes, yes. I'm in vet school now. I'm learnin' about animal doctoring and talking companion avians with anyone who will lend an ear. It's wonderful and grand and absolutely draining me with how incredibly social I need to be every day. Things will get lovely and, despite what people keep saying, I love memorizing countless latin-based words and can't wait to get shoulder-deep in my horse cadaver.

The last couple weeks leading up to school were spent with my family in the UP of MI and caring for small, fluffy animals at the animal clinic; one of my favourite patients was a little fawn who I secretly and fondly referred to as "Flower".

Flower had a broken leg and would return to us from the deer rehabber every few weeks for new splints. I eventually began to take advantage of her sedation and give her little cast decorations.

I really miss my cat up here. He's at home with my family right now. I raised him from the tender age of 8 days old and I never thought that he would wiggle into my heart at hard as he has. He's also obviously a huge supporter of Netflix, another reason why we click so well.

Then I went to the UP. Anyone who has never been is missing out in a serious way.

The UP is a beautifully rugged wonderland where it's not uncommon to find a sketchy petting farm attached to an illegal fireworks warehouse. I loved the bird portion of the farm; it was literally just a fenced-in barn filled with tons of species of semi-domesticated avians that would never encounter one another in the wild--basically, it is what I imagine a heaven would be like. I went in, hoping I would be able to pet the emu or at least handle a chicken, but I was almost immediately chased out by a territorial, hormonal rooster.

Piebald and leucistic peafowl? Check.

I'm not lying when I say this place is gorgeous.

I caught a very wee yellow perch [and promptly released him/her].

Wow, okay I'm just dumping random pictures now.

My dead thing collection before packing it to move.

Tinier dead things.

And lastly, a small art dump.

(Toes for scale)

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I'm hoping to finish this soon.

Freehanding is such an awkward gift because people can either choose to believe that you actually freehanded the image or not. For what it's worth, I freehanded this parrot at 2 AM with a gel pen and went to bed so satisfied.

Tangrowth

This fuzzy Corvid-man has been growing on me (obviously...there are 2 pictures here) recently. He's so easy to draw and really plays on my love of drawing lanky, sinewy bodies, butts, and awkward genitalia (not seen here).

Now I need to head out into the world and buy a new router, amongst other equally exciting things.

changes

2011-07-07T13:40:00.001-04:00

In case it isn't completely apparent, I decided to integrate my other blog, Toadstools and Taxonomy (blog about my adventures on this planet), with this one. I didn't really see the point in operating 2 separate blogs...plus I tended to focus on one while neglecting the other. I'd like to have my photos and artwork in the same spot. My art is usually derivative of my adventures and thoughts, and sometimes it feels strange to post pictures without a big long story about the crazy day that prompted me to sit down and draw the thing.

Anyways, tl;dr this blog will now contain photos and more words and, hopefully, more art! I'm drawing more...but I've been pretty lazy with scanning.

I really haven't posted anywhere on the internet (save reblogging on tumblr) in the last 6-7 months. A lot has happened in my tiny reality sphere! I graduated college magna cum with a degree in wildlife, was accepted to vet school, where I'll be studying zoo/exotic/wildlife medicine, I started working my old job at the vet clinic again, I adopted an 8 day old kitten and nursed him into the behemoth feline that he is today, and...actually I think those 4 are the big hilights here. My job. MY JOB. Anybody who reads old posts will understand the UNADULTERATED JOY that my job brings to my life! I get to wake up at the asscrack of dawn and wrestle dogs, draw tubes and tubes of blood, feed mouse pieces to raptors, mix vaccines, learn bitchin' things, play with kittens, bottle feed fawns, etc etc etc. Animal adventures. I've been pretty anal about photographing my wildlife patients so, without further ado, photo dump ahoy. I bring the internets the last 7 months of my life in picture. Pictures say more than words, I hear.

Starting with winter, snow in the southeast.

No herps in my herping pond that day.

Too much downtime causes my inner birder to come out full force and do things like take pictures through binoculars. Seen here: female Towhee, Dark-eyed Junco, White-throated Sparrow.

Thrasher

Driving to Gatlingburg, TN.

IN Gatlinburg, TN.

Appalachians

Found tracks from a small herd of wild turkey passing through while hiking in the Appalachians.

Spring is coming; he buckeye are erupting from their crazy buds.

My parrot turned 4!!! I made him a tiny parrot cake filled with his favourite nibbly treats.

Sanddollars where everywhere.

I got a job at the clinic! My first x-ray; done on a Red-tailed hawk with an injured wing. The wing had been broken weeks before and was in the final stages of healing.

Released a Black Vulture.

Released the Red-tailed Hawk.

This goose laid an egg in her run while staying with us. I candled it (infertile), stole it, blew it, and added it to my deadthings collection.

Coopers Hawk ready to go back to the wild

Perigean moon as seen through my telescope.

Female opossum, complete with a pouchful of young.

I love herpetofauna patients! This was one lucky toad...I recommended that the woman not bring it in and rather leave it for some lucky predator to snack on; my coworker, however, insisted that the toad be treated. It made a full recovery, save for a non-life-altering hernia.

Great Horned Owl in for an injured wing

Eastern Screech Owl (red morph) in for spinal problems

Juv. Great Horned

Went to SC for my birthday; porpoises porpoises porpoises.

Found some strange amphipods on the beach.

Tosses the dead crab from the before picture to this seagull who was watching me photograph the dead jellyfish. He appreciated the gesture.

Random nudibranch

Atlantic sea stars everywhere

Best birthday gift ever: I got to catch some baby gators.

American dog tick pulled off my stomach! I am a veritable tick magnet.

My big man torts

And then the earth erupted with cicadas.

Molts everywhere!

Common Yellowthroat

Mississippi Kite

Chicks on a stick

Coopers hawklet

Mississippi Kite on release day.

Thrasher chick

Bye Kite!

My bby cat, Owl, exploring the deadthings.

Green Heron chick

Another fawn arrived with a pretty severely broken leg....

...luckily these things are easily fixed.

Crowlet-child

Visiting the bf in Athens...strange, tailed insects....

Visited the Warnell boneyard while in Athens....

...I found a beaver hand.

Which brings me to the present! I'm on lunch break at work. I have a fawn who most likely wants a bottle waiting for me back at the clinic. Life is grand.

a wild ghastly appeared

2011-02-01T10:38:00.001-05:00

I've been getting my draw on now that I've graduated. There are not a lot of finished products floating around, but my right brain needs some serious exercise before I even pick up a paintbrush. Here's some little things I've made in the last month....LOTS of Pokemon...you've been warned.

Deertree. I freehanded this with pen while waiting in the doc's office.

Done while listening to In Our Talons, by the talented Bowerbirds.

I watched The Crimson Wing, and it was stunning. Flamingos followed, of course.

I stopped caring about this in photoshop...looks like shit.

Find the owl.

2011-01-14T10:30:00.000-05:00

The graduated life is so so dull; all I want to do is move back to Athens and learn again. Augusta is most definitely not my home. Athens, I miss you, my sweet sweet bohemian paradise! I also miss my Chris. We've been talking about moving in together once things become more set in stone regarding vet school; this will make both Ember and me very very happy c: I'm heading to the animal hospital today to see if they need any work; that would be sure to make things better!

In other news, I love my parrot. He's becoming...so strange.

2010-12-26T11:11:00.000-05:00

I can't believe Christmas is over :c I feel like I never really got into the spirit of it all, unlike prior years. Yesterday was a pretty typical Christmas day for my house--Blair acting like a bitch and Haley and I trying to lighten the mood. I got a new chia pet (appropriate since everyone in this house puts chia seeds in food), an owl hat and scarf, and a big Saw-whet Owl paperweight, which I promptly put to use as a bookend. Additionally, Haley bought me Where the Wild Things Are on dvd and my mom got me a giftcard to PetSmart so that I can spoil my parrot-friend C: Dad bought Ember a little learning toy also! Whether he realizes it or not, Ember received a lot of gifts this year!

Happy Christmas parrot!

I ended the day with a surprisingly easy 5K run; slept very hard afterwards c: This morning I went downstairs to find my dad with his doppler sensor...I don't know what the official name for this machine is. We were listening to everybody's heartbeat, larynx, and major arteries. We found out the dog has an irregular heartbeat which may be the reason for her chronic sleepiness. I don't want to be a douche, but I may take her in to the clinic with the doppler and ask the vet about what we can do to improve the problem. I'm sure he'll appreciate that....

Today it's snowing pretty hard; uncommon for Augusta, which is located on the border of the coastal plain. The snow isn't sticking, but it looks awfully pretty coming down in big clumps from the sky. After writing this, I'm going to toss on my new owl hat and explore my forest; I've never seen it like this before!

rainbows

2010-12-22T11:10:00.000-05:00

I'm all moved in back home! I'm working on unpacking and it has occurred to me that I have a lot of...stuff. Mostly books and art supplies, but I really need to work on paring this down. The only things I really even need anymore are some field guides, my laptop, a couple gaming consoles, my parrot, a sketchbook, and my MtG to play with Chris. There's too much in this room :c My chores for the day are to go through everything and pitch/donate what I don't need anymore.

The only thing I need is you, buddy <3

Fin

2010-12-20T17:53:00.000-05:00

I'm done with school. Applied to vet school, took general and bio GREs, assembled a thesis and presented it to the professors of Warnell, slugged through the last finals of my undergraduate career, graduated Magna Cum and I'm done. Now I'm sitting in my room with a parrot lying in my lap listening to the oh-so golden Tron: Legacy soundtrack. The feeling of no academic obligations? Heavenly. Heavenly. I head back to Augusta tomorrow; I'm hoping to get my job at the animal hospital back C:

I'm going to miss Chris. Badly. I'm trying not to think about it too much. If/when I return to Athens, we'll begin the next chapter; until then, I have to work on getting better and making some $$. Weekly commutes between Athens and Augusta is it, then!

In no particular order, photos of my last undergraduate semester.

On the road to North Carolina for salamander sampling.

Grey rat snake from the bot gardens.

I took a walk with the family dog when I was visiting Augusta and managed to catch the vulture migration.

Walking along the river....

Ocoee salamander (Desmognathus ocoee) caught in Otto, NC for my thesis.

I loved researching in the Blue Ridge Mtns.

With the dog again; same place, Savannah River!

Salamander blood from my thesis

At the lake with Butter

Puffball

Sporophytes

White oak carpet

Winged elm on steroids

Butter and I watched the sunset on the lake; I managed to snag this picture, which is now my favourite picture of her in the history of ever.

Dad brought me breakfast in bed over Thanksgiving break; I got key lime yogurt with chia seeds, which he tells me allowed Aztecs to run for hundreds of miles at a time...I call bullshit. The seeds were pretty though.

Ember came with the family to SC to Thanksgiving.

Parrot in the window!

My new, dead baby squirrel that I found in a skim pot. He had drowned and is now my new wet specimen.

That's all for now.

yogurt

2010-11-24T09:48:00.000-05:00

Dad just brought me breakfast in bed. I went to the bathroom and came back to find that Ember had flown into bed and walked through the bowl of yogurt. He know has yogurt all over his tail and has tracked little yogurt bird-prints on the comforter. Life with a parrot.

little-parrot-gourd-sorrel

2010-10-19T15:47:00.001-04:00

Holy crap, this semester has been absolutely insane. I'm (NOTE: THE UPS GUY JUST DELIVERED MY FALLOUT GAME) graduating in December and I have been scrambling to balance vet school applications, salamander collection/research, and a ridiculous course load; as a result, art has only occurred while I've been doing other things. I'll put up some stuff in chronological order along with what I was doing...because that seems fun enough.

Countour sketches done during my GRE prep course. Two on the right are blind (water bottle and chair, I think) and the two on the left are [obviously] from my head.

Done during a group therapy session during which I was about to fall asleep in a very serious way. This was my attempt to remain conscious and somewhat attentive.

Goddamn, I loved this until I mysteriously bled on it's back at some point! I did this over the course of several vet school application breaks.

Little fern-owl was done while timing Chris' laps in preparation for the police force's physical exam.

Doodlepage contents: one Urspelerpes, two parrots, one vulture-me. The sally was done while driving in NC surveying leaf litter traps for, of course, Urspelerpes 'manders.

At this point, I acquired free time again! Avocados and mutant tadpoles it is, then!

Idea for carving a gourd...done while slipping jasmine tea in the absolutely delightful autumn weather. This was one little doodle on a larger doodlepage Chris and I were doing.

Needless to say, I'm going to go play me some New Vegas....in a serious serious way.

2010-10-13T08:18:00.000-04:00

I love free time, I can wallow in the delight of boredom! From LJ's writer's block: "What are your three most and least favorite foods?"

Current faves:
1. Plain rice (brown, white, I don't care)
2. Fresh fruit, especially strawberries, granny smith apples, white grapes, and peaches
3. Avocados

Current ew's:
1. Mint leaves
2. Pizza
3. Meats (so boring!)

orange sycamores and teeny chickadees

2010-10-10T17:52:00.000-04:00

I went on my woodland walk and it was intensely refreshing.

A Carolina Wren parked itself about 4 feet from where I was standing and started calling loudly. I love these little birds!

I found this cool rock with lots of big, reflective chunks of muscovite.

Squirrels....

I found a patch of wild ginger! I grabbed a few roots to suck on while walking. They were really tasty.

Beaver wetland.

Red-headed Woodpecker

Cardinal

Red-bellied Woodpecker

The end.

and then it fell silent

2010-10-10T13:59:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, at noon, the intense academic storm that had been brewing for the last 3 weeks came to and end. I have been working my tail off filling out vet school applications, collecting Desmognathus ocoee in the North Caroline mountains, writing applications essays, doing test after test after test after test...(no joke, 5 last week), calling old colleges to get transcripts expedited to vet schools...just...lots and lots of work. Yesterday morning I took the GRE Biology subject test and promptly came home and fell ~~into a coma~~ asleep. I can officially say now that I am a vet school applicant! And now I'll play that dirty little waiting game until March-April.

I can't really say that anything interesting has happened recently. I worked so hard sampling in NC that I didn't really have time to take photos. There were 92 traps that I check and, while the area was gorgeous, I just couldn't rip myself away from my work to take pictures. I'm going up again for some leisurely sampling soon, and I will document the montane beauty then.

Oh free time, you're here again at last, and just in time for autumn! I dropped my little camera in a stream while in NC, but I'm hoping it's still functioning well enough to come with me on some local woodland trips during my most favourite time of the year! And on that note, I'm going to head into the trees for some much-needed time to commune with nature.

30k ft

2010-10-02T10:04:00.000-04:00

Occasionally this song pops up while iTunes is shuffling its way around my playlist. It pretty much always makes me cry and immediately call my mom or dad.

I guess it's a very powerful song even though the subject matter is so incredibly sad. I love my family.

times are changin'

2010-09-29T07:42:00.000-04:00

I talked to SCAD yesterday for the first time since my exit interview in 2006; I needed them to send a transcript to the UGA Vet School. Who'd have thought?!

Sometimes I wish I could time travel for moments like this. Go back in time and visit myself in art school and say what would happen in 4 years; see the disbelief on my face. Laugh. Return satisfied. I am proud of myself.

I have a compass and pacing test today and it bothers me so so much because there is no good way to study for this. I take 28 steps to cover one chain.

caudatan friends

2010-09-24T10:37:00.000-04:00

My life blog turned animal-adventures blog turned back to life blog is going to get another animal-adventure update soon! My life has taken a turn for the less-interesting these last couple months; I'm winding down on my undergraduate career, I've filled out my vet school applications, I've scrambled to take all the GRE's I need, and I think I finally have some time to steal away again...this time to work on my senior thesis in the mountains of North Carolina; I leave in 2.5 hours with the Maerz Herpetology Lab here at UGA! I'm so pumped! I will, no doubt, come home with many photos of wonderful Caudatan friends and probably a bunch of ectoparasites and poison ivy...I seem to have an affinity for them these days. This place (Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory) is gorgeous; I've seen pictures! You can only go with a research permit, as well, so this is a rare opportunity! The herpetofauna diversity at Coweeta is incredibly rich...I can't wait!

Packing List:
~~-woodland/water-friendly clothes~~
~~-warm clothes~~
~~-Chacos~~
~~-stompin boots~~
~~-superduper bug spray~~
~~-towel~~
~~-GRE Biology prep book~~
~~-moleskine and pens/hilighters/pencil~~
~~-meds, toiletries, first aid kit~~
~~-electronics: iPod touch for internet access, iPod, camera, phone~~
~~-food~~
~~-wallet~~
~~-garbage bag~~

Done.

cloudy

2010-09-17T11:43:00.000-04:00

Morning sky.

pokeypokey

2010-09-16T20:49:00.000-04:00

I think I need to take a moment after seeing the new Pokemon...some are hardcore lame (ice cream cone Pokemon? karate-thing Pokemon? construction-worker Pokemon?! GROSS a YORKIE POKEMON.) and others I'm in LOVE with. My favourites...I will share them now :B

Little firepig will totally be my starter. His final evolution is badass, but I think I like the middle one more.

I really like this one for some reason.

Cute.

CUTE.

SO MANY ARCHOSAURIAN POKEMON. LOVE LOVE LOVE!

Archaeopteryx Pokemon!!!

I'm not even going to say anything here...

Herp-a-derp lerp.

Nautilus...good idea!

YES.

VULTURES AHHHHHHHHHH!

I'M IN LOVE!!!

The rest of the new Pokemon can be found here. I'm really REALLY excited right now.

future feathers

2010-09-16T08:19:00.000-04:00

From LJ's Writer's Block: "Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?"

If there's one thing I've learned in the last 6 years, it's that things happen that you'd never believe; it makes answering this seem a little weird. Who knows where the current will take me next?

I'll say, at this very moment my dream for myself in 10 years: I'd like to be settled down somewhere. I'd be done with vet school and I'd like to be working in exotic animal medicine in a clinic somewhere. I'm not sure what part of the country or world I'll be animal-doctoring in, but I hope it will be within driving distance of my family. In 10 years I'll have my own house with Ember and hopefully someone I love a whole lot <3 I'd like to have another parrot-companion added to the mix, also--African Gray. Big garden, chicken coop, creepy curio library, morning tea with birds before taking them to work with me, done with school, loving life and everything that comes with it, finally healthy and free from my personal demons, adventures. It will be completely awesome and wonderful.

No matter what happens, I'm excited and optimistic about what the future holds; I've got some awesome buddies who have my back and will share it with me <3

I just finished 3 tests in 3 days...2 were on Monday. It was nuts, but I did completely awesome on everything. I'm so proud of myself! The next couple days will be spent doing practically nothing, I hope.

nerdy stories

2010-08-28T09:20:00.000-04:00

There are few things that I keep far under wraps, like I do with my Magic: the Gathering hobby. Chris and I have been [very nerdily] indulging in this game for almost 2 years now. Every Friday we head over to the local card shop and play in Friday Night Magic (FNM). Historically, I've had a pretty bitchin' record at FNM. I've gone 4-0 a couple times (maybe just once? I forget.) but 3-1 is probably average. The last 6 months have been awful. I've sucked it up SO badly. My usual deck is a mono black vampire deck, and it saw a lot of wins. Something must have happened in the meta, or maybe the whole meta just sped, because the last several months have just been terrible for me. I dabbled in a couple other decks, much to my demise, but none seemed to dominate as well as my vampire deck.

Okay, this nerdy entry has a point--here it is: last night I chose to play with my mono green deck. The last time I played with one of my green decks at FNM, it was brutal; I lost so badly. The deck I used last night was basically the very definition of why I got in to Magic in the first place: big stompy beasts, beautiful art, and lots of trees. I essentially pulled out every appealing and/or stompin' creature I could find (all green, of course) and tossed them in a deck along with Eldrazi Monument and a pile of forests. I ended up going 3-1! I was literally 1 game away from 4-0, and maybe with some smarter playing I could've done it, but I'm so proud of that stompy homebrew deck!

Super Flying Monsters
Creatures:
4x Master of the Wild Hunt
3x Khalni Hydra
4x Omnath, Locus of Mana
4x Elvish Archdruid
4x Arbor Elf
4x Llanowar Elves
3x Joraga Warcaller

Planeswalkers/Spells/Artifacts:
2x Garruk Wildspeaker
3x Howl of the Night Pack
4x Eldrazi Monument

Land:
3x Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
22x Forest

I am so sick today; my throat hurts, my nose is stuffy, my eyes itch, and I don't have any of that delightful medicine that alleviates symptoms + makes me sleepy (which I want badly). I'm going to try my hardest to fall asleep while watching The Office now. I am so physically exhausted. Also, this has been the nerdiest thing I have ever written.

things

2010-08-26T08:31:00.000-04:00

→ What song are you currently addicted to?
I'm in a period where I don't have a particular song I like. I've been vegging out on the Super Mario RPG soundtrack (and all its remixed derivatives) recently, though. I blame Scott Pilgrim for the chiptunes resurgence in my life.

→ What's your favorite season?
Autumn, though I don't really want summer to end just yet.

→ What’s the latest movie you watched?
Scott Pilgrim

→ What is your favorite hang-out?
Probably Jittery Joe's...? Especially the ones at 5 Points, Baxter St., and the SLC. I also love Chris' house; it has that homey feel that I miss so much. And HAH. I guess that's not really a hangout....more like a workplace, but I love it. Blahblahblah I always talk about amazing HAH.

→ What's your favorite musical instrument?
Uilleann pipes and deep, reverbrating, toney drums

→ What web sites do you always visit when you go online?
In order: gmail, twitter, facebook, Tetrapod Zoology, flickr, LJ, and occasionally FA. DA rarely makes the cut anymore!

→ What was the last thing you bought?
Toilet paper, jello, and face wipes.

→ If you won 10,000 bucks today, what would you do with it?
Put it in my bank account and pay my rent. And buy parrot food.

→ Favourite time of day?
Twilight and the dark hours.

→ What's the last thing that made you happy?
I had fun at my grueling forestry lab last night. It was hot and sticky, I think there's a tick on me somewhere, but we had a good time and did phenomenally.

→ Do you want to learn another language?
I'd like to learn Finnish; I wish I had, as a kid.

→ Five things you can’t live without.
My parrot
My loved ones
A place to go to be alone for a while (seriously...I need alone time)
Nature
Colorful music

→ What’s the question you don't like to be asked?
I don't really mind any questions, though I have trouble answering questions about my eating to people unaware of my ED; it's pretty shame-related, I suppose.

saved by science

2010-08-24T14:30:00.000-04:00

Amazing.

2010-08-22T11:15:00.000-04:00

I just finished my first week of my last undergraduate semester. I'm taking 19 hours, so it will be slightly frenetic...thank goodness for my new happy pills--they make things much more bearable and make me much less apt to anxiety attacks. My schedule is:
-Comparative vertebrate anatomy w/lab
-Biochemistry
-Forestry sampling and techniques w/two labs
-Senior thesis (working on intraerythrocytic bacterial inclusion bodies in Desmognathus salamanders)
-Public speaking :|
At least there isn't any organic chemistry or physics! Also, I took the GRE at 8:00am yesterday, so it has been a very academic week for me. I need some lazy chilling time. Although I really need to work on that vet school application too.... :| Busy busy.

Dad got me a microscope last week and I just got around to getting some slides and slip covers. I am in loooove.

One of Ember's tertiary coverts.

Same feather, but focused more on the rachis.

Some type of large, indigenous ant.

Bumble bee fuzzies!

Damselfly eye
Rest of the damselfly.
On the agenda for today:-fold fucking laundry...-do forestry lab -work on biochem homework-do some more vet school app. work?-play Monster Hunter TriI guess I should get started.

insomnia

2010-08-22T04:30:00.000-04:00

I can't sleep. STILL.

trees

2010-08-19T08:30:00.000-04:00

I miss the days of summer already.
Tromping through the woods by my house collecting things and snapping photos.
Wrestling with Butter.
Rescuing narrow-mouthed toads from the pool skim pots.
Hanging out with my sisters for hours and hours and hours, making hilarious movies and laughing until my abs ached.
$1 ice cream night with everybody.

Maybe I just miss my family and my home. This room doesn't feel like home yet...more like a base of operations.

wunderwunder

2010-08-10T15:22:00.000-04:00

Wunderkammer [German, ‘collection of curiosities’ or ‘cabinet of wonder’] A wunderkammer was an encyclopedic collection in Renaissance Europe of types of objects whose categorical boundaries were yet to be defined. A wunderkammer collection contained objects belonging to natural history (sometimes faked), geology, ethnography, archaeology, religious or historical relics, works of art (including cabinet paintings) and antiquities. The curios were displayed in a study or series of rooms, were not governed by any strict criteria, and were intended to reflect the owner's encyclopedic knowledge.

Every room I live slowly turns into my own personal wunderkammer. It starts off as a practical college living space but, over the course of my stay, slowly accumulates more and more of the natural curios that I pick up on my various walks and adventures. This trend seems to be holding true to my new room as well. On my way back from the mail room I saw a pile of wood debris that was exploding with destroying angel. I've always wanted a dried destroying angel. I picked several "big white 'shrooms" at my last place, thinking they were D.A.'s (turns out none were); looks like I'll finally get the chance here. I'm planning on waiting until it's less crowded. I don't want to be the "girl who picks mushrooms".

I don't have any fascinating pictures today. But I collected these from the deep recesses of the internet. Enjoy my digital wunderkammer.

Dead sea creatures displayed in large blocks of ice.

Moa skeleton

Desmognathus quadramaculaus still in egg

ALL are real human bones

"Male Narwhal or Unicorn"

The End.

bluescale

2010-08-06T10:25:00.001-04:00

For the first time in 5 years, I allowed a parent (my dad, in this case) to peek in my sketchbook; it was my little moleskine that I carry with me these days. He would ask me about the parts of the animal skulls I drew and make generally lovely comments as he turned each page. He would ask me why I drew suchandsuch on suchandsuch beast and I would babble a little bit of the made-up lore at him. I haven't let them see a book since high school, and my art has developed a lot since then, both stylistically and in terms of subject matter. My favourite part was when he would stumble across a page with a huge cock on it! He would hurriedly flip to the next page; I guess he'd rather not know that I draw such things!

I did not give two shits while scanning these. They look so terrible.

The little Strathmore artist cards are my new favourite. I grabbed some vellum bristol and watercolor ones the other day.

harsh shadows

2010-08-05T14:14:00.000-04:00

This morning I went for a walk down my trail by the river. The sun was coming out brightly and casting crazy-harsh shadows on everything; it's neat seeing everything [literally] in a different light. Additionally, it was so very very quiet in the woods-perfect for bird watching/listening.

Tulip poplar. Liriodendron tulipifera.

Fresh, ripe elderberries (Sambuchus canadensis)! If I new how to make jam, I would have collected a bunch of them!

The recent storms did some renovations around the area.

Mantis eyes are incredible. This little guy was so curious about the lens, following it with his head as I moved it around him to shoot.

Hiding under a muskadine (Vitis rotundifolia) leaf c: I lovelove the latin name of that plant....

I would like to note that no flash or additional lighting was used for this. The light coming through the trees onto the duckweed looked fascinating.

Luna moth casualty.

A sycamore tree was downed in the storm. Some christmas ferns (Polystichum acrostichoides) were peeking out of a little nest along the side of the trunk. You can even see the sorus on the fronds.

The ladybits of a pignut hickory. Carya glabra.

Artfulseeds.

The view to the canal was so shrouded by the trees. It was really spectacular. I hate piecing together images for panoramas, but I made an exception here. Full-view looks better.

On my walk, I collected some St. John's Wort, sycamore leaves and achenes, various hickory seeds (none edible though. boo.), some type of sedge, smooth sumac leaves and fruit, American elderberry leaves and berries, christmas fern fronds, and HUGE tulip poplar shade leaves. It was a fruitful walk...literally.

I managed to spot a bunch of goslings and a hawk of some kind. Honestly, the fact that I never got to ID the hawk is bugging the shit out of me. I heard it screaming LOUDLY for the longest time, but it flew into some trees right as I was approaching the tree where it was perched. I've never heard a raptor scream like that before (aside from on television). I felt so murrypurryhawklove for the rest of the walk; I don't think I even stopped to collect or photograph anything...I'm so lamely in love with my big meat-eatin' burds <3

...and my parrot, of course.

back home

2010-08-04T19:05:00.000-04:00

I came back to Augusta for a few days. It's so nice to come home and poke around the yard; things are always changing. I lovelovelove collecting and observing the world around here. It always surprises me how uninteresting it is to everyone else, though! For instance, I took 5 minutes to poke around the backyard. Here's what was living under everyone's noses:

I always check the filter pots in the pool first. That's where the best stuff it. Nothing out of the ordinary here, just a common Bufo terrestris. The salty pool water had irritated the sensitive skin on his legs, which is why he's standing on all fours. Frogs and toads have specialized "pads" of highly vascularized skin on their upper thighs and bum; they use it for water absorption while sitting. It doesn't agree with pool water.

Mama wolf spider and babies. Also from the filter pot.

Senna obtusifolia aka sicklepod aka javabean

It's the cutest, most deadly little invasive weed you will ever see. The rounded leaflets are adorable to me. The seeds are highly toxic. It's said that one seed will kill an adult bobwhite. I've never seen so many growing in one spot before.

More sicklepod.

I have no clue what species this is. I love the urticating hairs though. Urticating hairs are used for sensory perception and can also be shot out at threats. They're very itchy if they become inbedded in your skin! A Chilean Rosehair nailed me with her urticating hairs once. It sucked.

Not pictured are the crazy mosquito larvae I found...then disposed of. There were SO many!

vitis rotundifolia

2010-08-03T20:39:00.000-04:00

I just moved into a new space. I've been feeling a little bitter about it, because I loved my old space so so much. It really felt like it was my very own territory. When I moved, I kind of felt like a stranger infringing on someone else's territory. My roommate is a completely awesome person, which is a bummer because she's transferring to another apartment tomorrow :C I'll be assigned 3 new girls in her place and they'll be moving in on the 15th. In the meantime, I plan on trying to make this space more "my own". We'll see how that goes.

Today I explored the apartment complex-mostly to scout out what kinds of plants live here. My last home was, for all intents and purposes, a kudzu monoculture; it was a fascinating little ecosystem, but it left me yearning for the variety that only the oak/hickory/pine forests of the Georgia Piedmont can provide. I made a catalogue of the local flora for the old space, now it's time to expand it to include this new one! I went for a little walk and found some new plants to add (black locust, duckweed, muskadine seeds for the seed collection, and HUGE arrow-arum...what it was doing here, I have no clue). ALSO, I found a dead mockingbird! It's skull was in the process of being cleaned by some ants. Hopefully they'll be done in the next day or so....it was looking pretty clean. So...all in all, this place seems nice C: Plus, they have a workout room, BIG pool (with a speaker system you can plug your iPod into), and a *~hot tub~*. Haaaaaaappy!

This was my old room. It was full of my natural curios. I'm still working on creating the same atmosphere in my new space.

I love making windowsill gardens. My new window goes from floor to ceiling, and is wider than my old one. I can comfortably fit all my plants now AND my fetal shark!

New desk space....it's big and wide, which is lovely.

They provided me with a queen-sized bed, a definite improvement over my old twin. There's my plant catalogue, as well.

This is my new favourite part: the tv in my room with Wii, Xbox 360, cable, and access to my Netflix instant queue! I'm so spoiled!

Speaking of spoiled, I talked to my dad on the phone today, asking him if he had any old microscopes laying around at his office. He didn't have any, but said he was going to "make it his mission" today to find me a microscope. Awwww c: He called me back 15 minutes later explaining how he found an old trinocular microscope: two ocular pieces for the eyes and a third for a digital camera! It hooks up to the computer so that you can take photos and movies! I totally didn't expect him to actually get me a microscope, let alone a fancy thing like that! I feel like such a spoiled kid!

mgh

2010-07-29T17:21:00.000-04:00

I think today is rather poignant; not because I just finished a physics final and not because I just finished my last physics class of my life, but because organic chemistry and physics were the two things that scared me away from perusing what I really wanted to do. Today I proved to myself that Allie can do it.

bird pile

2010-07-24T10:05:00.000-04:00

There are lots of birds happening in my moleskine!

My little parrot<3.

I remember drawing this on the way home from Augusta...in the rain...when I needed to be studying wildlife diseases. Bad evening, but it produced a pretty owl.

glass animalets

2010-07-22T22:03:00.000-04:00

Waaaaaant.

Little rattie.

Little piglet.

Ahh...to study with a parrot....

2010-07-21T09:28:00.000-04:00

new pokemon

2010-07-11T23:47:00.000-04:00

(Koromori, the middle bat-thing)
=

That is all.

things

2010-07-01T09:48:00.000-04:00

Things have been happening:
-I picked my first container-garden tomato and it was the perfect blend of sweet, tart, juicy, and meaty
-I have been having lots and lots of nightmares
-I bought a bandeau and think I'm in love with it
-My hair is getting so long...I think I need to invest in a hairdryer or shave it off again
-I'm wearing my new Cthulhu shirt today
-My love for video games has been rekindled x398402
-Making little draws
-Eating adventurous new foods has lead me to developing a deadly nut addiction
-Biking to class and nearby locations everyday

I'm going to prattle about a geek thing now. The new MtG spoilers and news has me so so so excited for M11. Ahhh. AHH! FFFFFFFFF. I'm excited :x At the BoP that you get for pre-ordering a box is so gorgeous it's NUTS. I'd have to say life is pretty splendid for Allie right now.

cabbageanimals

2010-07-01T08:11:00.000-04:00

Wee little cabbage-fellow! Inspired by my owl cabbage plants and the boredom that hits before physics.

I have been hopelessly addicted to playing Monster Hunter FU recently....Kut-kus remind me of Ember a little.

Ooooold archeopteryx-thing with big graspy hands.

Older Lanturn. I used to really dig this guy as a kid when I was playing through Silver.

And more Pokemon! At first I thought Munna was weird...now it's kind of growing on me.

Another "I'm bored at school" baby moleskine draw.

I was hesitant to finish this...I shouldn't have touched the lineart. I kind of don't like this....

Derpy tentacle-bird.

there and back

2010-06-27T09:58:00.000-04:00

That road trip I was talking on about? We actually did it last weekend! On Friday Chris and I drove up to Gatlinburg, TN: armpit of the Southeast, but hilarious to visit. We spent the night tooling around the town before crashing in preparation for Carowinds the next day. In retrospect, planning two consecutive early-morning-walking-intensive days wasn't the best plan, but it was a lot of fun. I was completely drained by the end of it all.

On the way there we spotted a mountain in the distance that was shaped like a boob.

Another mountain gem in the Cherokee reservation. Now with color television!!!

I look so derpy; I can only imagine it is the direct result of having such a cute animal smoosh his face against mine.

The drive was SO fun. Chris did about 80% of the mountain driving and managed it all so well! The stretch of road that took us to Gatlinburg apparently has over 350 turns in a span of 100 miles. Good thing we have iron stomachs.

Sunset on Gatlinburg. Tired feet and sleepiness.

The next morning was even more breathtaking. The mountains sat around steaming and smoking while the sun warmed them up.

Driving to Carowinds on a curvy road through the mountain mist...ahhhhhh.

I think the lower Appalachians is my favourite place to be.
Carowinds was a lot of fun, as one would expect. NO lines (save for the long one for the Vortex)! I think we got to ride Afterburn three times in a row (that is, we never even left the ride...just kept sitting). We rode everything "worth riding", including managing to hit up the new coaster twice.

I think my favourite part of the trip was the car ride up to Gatlinburg though. It was so so pretty. I'm already kind of thinking about the next place to go...maybe Asheville.... We'll see!

little animals

2010-06-25T11:53:00.000-04:00

I just saw a poll for "What's the coolest job ever?" and I had to laugh because none of the options were it! I've had the coolest job ever, and I can't wait to go back one day.

Just thought I'd throw that out there to the universe.

My job at the clinic is/was like my other lover. Everything makes me think about it when I'm not with it. I dream about it. I love waking up to go there, and I return at the end of the day full of stories and happiness and hopefulness for the next day. I'm totally crying now. I love that place....

summertime steal-away

2010-06-13T11:25:00.000-04:00

Looks like it will be another terrifyingly hot day. First time cracking into the triple digits this year! I hope to spend at least a portion of today submerged in water...which will have to wait until physics studies are done. I don't know about you, summer school. I was really enjoying my abundance of free time, and now I have to pick up the physics book again.

It's all good though because I'm making a plan for next weekend. OoooOOoooooOO *plotting fingers* So far, it's looking something like this:

View Directions to 101 Davis St, Athens, GA 30606 in a larger map

Last weekend Chris and I managed to make it to the Georgia Ren Fest on its last day open for the year! It was completely wonderful, and definitely the best time I've had in SO long! We managed to see/experience everything we set out to do there, notably: watch the falconry show, see the parrot exhibit (and talk to birds, of course), eat a smoked turkey leg (it was huge and intimidating, so I just took a bite of Chris' for the sake of a hilarious photo), watch Tartanic perform, see a joust, marvel and poke at the various livestock and fowl everywhere, try on a corset and become bummed after seeing the price, and just walking around looking at everything (the people-watching was great). I took photos, of course, as it's my embarrassing addiciton to capture just about everything in photo.

I was surprised I could catch the lance breaking apart!

carpe diem

2010-06-11T09:19:00.000-04:00

LJ's daily writer's block:
"How often do you think about, and plan for, the future? Do you think it ever interferes with your ability to live in the moment?"

I feel like I'm chronically thinking about my "future plans"-several times throughout the day. My only set future goal is vet school at the moment. It's a such a huge source of anxiety for me and, on that note, it completely interferes with my ability to just enjoy things one day at a time. It's a strange dilemma, because if I get there it will be absolutely amazing, but until then I'm kind of trapped in this pit of stress, anxiety, and uncertainty. I get so focused on the big goal, I forget to enjoy the little things that occur on the way. It will all be over in December...6 more months of this, I suppose.

a bike named pig

2010-06-08T10:18:00.000-04:00

The ride to physics today was super great. On the way to campus, I have to cycle up a looong, gradual hill -right- after turning out of the apartments. It's completely draining since I have almost no time to warmup. Today I tried doing some really deep, heavy breathing on the way to the road. I was lightheaded by the time I started the climb but it made all the difference! I never got winded! I made it all the way to 5 Points, the top of the hill, and was perfectly fine! Conclusion: saturating my tissues with delicious O2 prior to the uphill makes morning travel wonderful.

Going in to physics now.

2010-06-07T08:48:00.000-04:00

From LJ's daily writer's block:
"Do you like your birth name? If you had the opportunity to change it, would you? What new name would you choose?"

No, I don't like my birth name at all. I also don't want to go through a messy name change and deal with everyone still calling me by my birth name, so I will just stick with what I've got. I don't -hate- my name, but if I could go back to when I was a kid and change it to something different, I probably would! I really like the name Clovis and Owl; they are goofy and nontraditional, but I'm really groovin' on them.

a choosy parrot

2010-06-04T08:02:00.000-04:00

Physics starts in 2.75 hours. So long, summertime break.... I have to keep telling myself, "don't worry, Allie, the o chem beast is nowhere to be seen." I can feel my morale ebbing away :C Come back! I'm sure it's just a pre-class thing...once I sit through the lecture and see that this won't be all bad, I'll be fine. Gosh though, I sure did love all that free time.

And now, I will talk about my bird and our morning rituals. We spent the last week sleeping together in bed; dangerous, I know (especially considering he like to "burrow" under the sheets and cuddle next to me). It was a good thing though, because we were definitely in need of some hardcore lockdown bonding time! He's right now standing on my trackpad (right between my hands!) and making it near-impossible to navigate the internet; contrary to popular belief, bird feet can in fact activate a trackpad and move your mouse pointer. Also, he's taking great offense to my liberal spacebar use, so I get a light "stop that this instant" nip on my thumbs whenever I reach down to hit it. I loooove my little friend <3 Every morning at around 8-9 he gets his food changed; if it doesn't happen according to this time frame, he makes sure to let everyone know by impatiently jingling toys and bells and whipping his head around while stomping across his cage. He used to slam his sliding doors up and down really fast in his old cage when food was not on time, leading to their eventual permanent fixation to the cage. I digress, this morning I was making his food: one cup filled with pellets and a pinch of seeds, the other cup with a piece of dried mango, pineapple, and 2 raisins. I always hand him a piece of dried food to eat while I'm putting the cups back in. These last couple of days I've been offering him the pineapple and he will refuse! I have been putting it back in the cup and letting him choose what he wants first and it's always the mango. For three days now I've been testing this: pineapple is refused, wants the mango first instead. Once the mango is eaten, he then goes and eats the pineapple. This just struck me as really funny...only now am I scrolling up the page to see just how much text I wrote on my parrot's desire to eat mango before pineapple in the morning...whoops.

I'm sure there's 6478234 more productive things I could be using my time for hours before my first class...but here I am writing about Ember.

bloated spiracles

2010-06-02T08:40:00.000-04:00

I love not being in school; I have time for drawing again, just like in the olden days of yore! I've been busy laying in bed with chipmunk cheeks in an opiate-induced stupor these last couple days, leaving me with lots of nice drawing time on my hands. It was hard to think of things to draw, but every now and then a weird idea would pop into my head like "tadpole" or "fetus" or "raw meat" and I would feel very inclined to draw it (most of the time I really did). Here are a couple little diddies I slopped out with some ~~high quality~~ dollar store water colours!

It's a tadpole with 2 spiracles oozing clouds and clouds and clouds of fragrant blue mist that is cool to the touch and leaves little beads of fresh water clinging to your arm hairs...or that's what I have written here. Sounds nice enough! Spiracles/siphons are such a lovely excuse to make a creature steam.

Cyndaquil: the only fire starter that I have actually liked from Pokemon. I imagine he would be slightly smaller than a cat and have very short, smooth hair, kind of like a cow or horse; you know, if you pet it in the direction it grows it soooo smooth, but if you go against the grain it's very prickly? And he would be very very warm and make a good heating blanket. I think his nose would be wiggly and movable like an elephant shrew.

meeeeeeeeeep

2010-06-01T21:54:00.000-04:00

When me and Haley go out, there seems to be no end to the creatures we find! We went on a small hike and found a pond FULL of chorusing narrowmouth toads!

...and a rough green snake.

happy hylids

2010-06-01T17:52:00.000-04:00

My teeth holes are, I'd say, about 68% all better. Today I ate a piece of bread successfully, but still decided that I "wasn't well enough to drive back to Athens" (mostly because I didn't want to make the drive). I spent a good chunk of the day with Haley. We went swimming. I found animals.

These weird little amphibians are eastern narrowmouthed toads, Gastrophryne carolinensis. They are specialist ant-eaters that have a little roll of skin (I call it chub) behind their head that they can use to push the ants off their face while they're eating. It's visible on the one to the left.

always sleeping

2010-05-30T17:48:00.000-04:00

I think I've only spent 4 hours today being conscious. I've never slept so much ever! I distinctly remember waking up around 9am with a parrot on my chest. I'm not sure how long that animal was with me while I slept. We've been having thunderstorms throughout the day. During one particularly loud thunderclap, Ember jumped in bed with me and we proceeded to nap together again.

I can't eat ANYTHING and it's making me so frustrated. My sisters can do a lot more than me eating-wise because they only have holes in the back of their mouth. I had an extra "shark tooth" hanging out in the roof of my mouth that was extracted, so I can't chew AT ALL. The skin from the roof of my mouth was peeled back to pull the hidden tooth out, then stitched back in place, so I'm limited to only foods that I can swallow whole. I feel like a snake. There's a HUGE caramel cake sitting in the kitchen just tempting me... It smells so good, but I can't eat it :C I've put in a request for banana pudding (store-bought preferably so that the nilla waffers are already soggy and swallowable) and plain skyr. So far, no luck on either yet. I would kill for pudding right now...vanilla especially.

Not a whole lot has gone on today. I've felt so pleasantly stoned on pain killers; it's been a nice day. I painted a tadpole that now, in retrospect, looks like someone puked rainbow on it. Mom found an eastern box turtle and brought it to me.

That's about everything that has happened. The thunder has been nice...it's making sleep soooo relaxing. Also, Sobe Lifewater is the nectar of the gods. Just sayin'. I'm feeling pretty awake now, so I might play some Pokemon and paint a little more to try to keep my mind off how hungry I am.

the where place I live

2010-05-29T11:08:00.000-04:00

I spent the first couple of weeks after school let out staying with my family in Augusta and adventuring outside. I took a bunch of pictures. It's a really pretty place here if you know where to explore c:

Acris spp.

They're eating another tadpole! Tadpole cannibalism!

Barn Swallow nests under a busted-busted down bridge on the Savannah River. Me and Blair spent a day floating down the river and discovering all sorts of things.

Osprey on the river.

Red-bellied turtle

We found a HUGE sycamore tree with pieces of wood nailed up the trunk; we both climbed as high as we could/dared.

Going up....

All she did was reach over and snatch it off the log! It was the most effortless turtle capture I've ever seen!

Osprey-lady on her nest.

Then we went to Charleston....

Hyla cinerea on a Haley.

This guy was sitting on a post across the street from my window. Ember was none too please and made sure everyone in the house knew it.

This is from last weekend when Haley, my mom, and myself went for a walk along the river on one of our favourite explorin' trails.

Hard to see the Canada Geese there.

I'm not so sure why I became so enamored with this dead tree.

Blue Heron

Scarlet Tanager!

Another mysteriously elegant dead tree.

I found a bess beetle during the walk! They're such cute little insects, and SO gentle!

That's it for now! I'd like to get out into the woods again today, but my cheeks are so swollen and I'm SO out of it; it just doesn't look like it's going to happen :c I think I'm going to go take a nap again...I'm so so tired.

oooow

2010-05-28T15:24:00.000-04:00

Everywhere I go, I drool blood today! Percocet has been making for happy sleep times though. Utena is a trip to watch with that stuff on board.

Also, HTTYD irony: when I woke up from anesthesia after being rendered more toothless, I had a vicious case of hiccups.

wisping deerpeeple

2010-05-23T09:29:00.001-04:00

It has been a while! I have been ~~drawing~~ finishing old things I've been finding around my house...lots of animal-people and willies mostly, so hang on to your hats, kiddies.

Me as a deerperson, maybe.

Owl

Owl's fur when she's not wearing it.

More Owl.

D: BALLS

OH GOSH THE PHALLIC IMAGERY!

Mushroom-medusa

an long overdue update

2010-05-18T14:28:00.000-04:00

School is out as of almost two weeks ago THANK GOD. My year of organic chemistry has come to an end! These last two weeks, I've been at home in Augusta with my family. I have to soak up all the family time I can because starting in...well...40 minutes I have to begin attending daily therapy sessions to help treat a rather stubborn and deeply-rooted person issue I've been dealing with the last couple of years. It has been swinging between the almost-completely-gone and the terribly-present for a while now, but my parents and I have decided that it's time to either a) Start some serious, committed treatment or b) go inpatient at a recovery center. A A A A OH GOD A. Long story short, my nightlife will be spent in, as I like to refer to it, "the nuthouse". I'm not too bent out of shape over it though...except for the fact that it prevents me from doing my favourite things: seeing my family, tending my garden, and working my summer job at the animal hospital.

So now here I am, in Athens. By my lonesome save for my rainbow parrot. I think I'm going to dive into container gardening to help keep myself sane and amused c:

engineer

2010-05-16T18:40:00.000-04:00

I made this creature back in my freshman year of college/only year as an art student, and am just NOW getting around to photographing him! The years tucked away in a closet have left him cobwebbed, cracked, and chipped, unfortunately. I made this little guy for my 3-D Design class. The project was to design a character with a background story, then sculpt it from polymer clay. This creature doesn't have a name, just an assigned number. He's one of many bipedal, animal-like workers mass-produced to engineer large machines in dingy warehouses; kind of like Brave New World meets the Matrix.

counting down...

2010-04-25T18:23:00.000-04:00

This rainy-yet-wonderful weekend was Twilight! For those not in Athens, Twilight is a large bike race that takes place in downtown Athens. It's an awesome 48 hours wherein downtown Athens reeks of bar-b-q meats and beer, music is loud, and people everywhere have dusted off their road bikes and are taking to the streets. In a manner not unlike that of spawning polychaete worms and squid, bicyclists from every corner of Athens congregate downtown on their two-wheel mounts to gear up for Twilight. And, just as sudden as they appeared, they disappear again when the race is over. I really really love it here in Athens. This year it rained HARD for Twilight, but I managed to catch some of the races before heading back to drier places.

The darkness + awesome speed of the bikers proved too much for my pocket-sized Canon SD750 to handle. The blurry ghost-bikers look kind of neat to me.

11 more days until I get a small, academia-related-stress free break. I need to keep this countdown handy; it keeps a fire lit under my bum. Only 11 days left of this school year. It was hard, just as I expected the road to vet med to be. And now, more studies. I have a physics AND an o chem test on Wednesday...it's terrifying. I write so much about studying here....

poop

2010-04-25T17:51:00.000-04:00

I found this art taped on the inside of a window downtown. I later hunted the artist down on the internet and now I get to view his awesome stuff anytime! The internet is amazing.

Look at his fabulous ideas HERE. It's like pure, golden inspiration to me.

2010-04-13T22:08:00.000-04:00

In what may be the lamest use of birthday money ever, I am going to buy an organic chemistry tutoring session.

2010-04-05T21:04:00.000-04:00

Right now I really just want to pack up Toots and my camping gear and head to the North Carolina mountains. I would shave my hair off and lay in the sun reading novels about native flora and hobbits and the universe, learn to play my harmonica finally, draw and draw and draw, explore, and make a big bonfire to sing and dance around. I wouldn't wear a bra; only baggy shorts and skirts that flow around like wispy seaweed. I think I really just want to run away from academia right now. I always get this way when nearing a big test. I still might shave my head though.

It was a nice thought to dream about on my study break here. I guess it's back to the books now.

"whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr" - B. terrestris

2010-04-03T23:25:00.001-04:00

I was 20 miles away from Augusta last night when my eyes started to itch badly. Pollen season had begun.... For those not in an area domineered by Loblolly pine, pollen season occurs for about one week in early spring. During this time, all the Loblolly pines synchronously release their yellow pollen into the air. The sky turns a queer yellow, your eyes itch, and absolutely everything becomes inevitably covered in a thick layer of ~~pine jizz~~ pollen. It's completely gross, frustrating, and terrifying if you're new to the area and have never heard of/experienced this phenomenon before.

These were taken this morning. It has grown progressively worse since then. Bring on the Zyrtec...

In other horticultural news, I clipped a small branch from a backyard gardenia bush last summer. Not only did it send out roots in the cup of water I kept it in, it actually flowered a couple weeks ago. This one blossom was enough to keep my whole room fragrant for several days.

Recent beastey adventures include the newly budded hind legs of my A. maculatum larva and my inadvertent stumble upon a booming B. terrestris breeding colony; both terribly trilling events, to be honest. They can only be topped by my discovery of a fresh, and reletiely intact, Mockingbird not even an hour ago. I now have a set of beautuful pinned wings, tail fan, and skull!

Goodnight and Happy Easter! May a rabbit lay a pink egg in your basket.

morning listing

2010-03-27T09:40:00.000-04:00

Things to get done today:
~~-MtG cards~~
~~-Pokemon~~
~~-Draws (new, tiny watercolor set arrived yesterday)~~
~~-Coffee~~ avec espresso
~~-Army surplus store~~
-Woodland roaming to collect spring plants, maybe bones, hopefully mushrooms, and birdwatch
~~-Continue whoreing myself out to me new Netflix account~~
~~-clean house~~

small batch

2010-03-26T07:25:00.002-04:00

parrot

2010-03-18T12:50:00.000-04:00

I fell in love with this baby while picking up Ember's food.

electric sheep

2010-03-18T10:16:00.000-04:00

One quiz, one test down, one more test to go. Physics is the only thing left to do, and it's not so bad. This is all do-able. The week from hell is finally coming to a close, thank goodness. Now that o chem is done, I feel like such a weight has been lifted off my shoulders!

Last night was excellent. It was the perfect way to celebrate the completion of the most terrible of tests: o chem. I came home, put my chemical shit away, and played some of my HG Pokemon. Transferred my watts over. Caught a Mareep(!!!). It was all quite good. Chris came over, we went to Kroger to get isopropyl alcohol, he grabbed some MtG boosters, we ate white rice and grilled sweet potato while doing a pack war in Ru San's (we didn't get anything useful...), came home, I preserved some dud salamander eggs and a dead triop in little vials using the alcohol we got, more Pokemon, sleep. So relaxing. Also, it was St. Patrick's day! I dressed myself in my frumpiest of green loungewear. The only alcohol present was used to preserve dead animals!

To do today:
~~-pay water bill~~
~~-go to group meetings at 4~~
~~-vacuum my room, hopefully~~
~~-study physics~~
~~-bleach hair~~
~~-Pokemon~~
~~-work out~~...maybe while playing Pokemon...we'll see how this goes.

Yesssss, I did it all.

baked goods

2010-03-15T22:32:00.000-04:00

Someone is making baked goods.
In this house.
Right now.
I can smell it. It's jarring my benzyl kreptons askew in my head. Hungry.

2010-03-15T22:21:00.000-04:00

Apparently I can update from my phone. Ohhh the things you discover while on a study break.

spring break 2010

2010-03-14T20:19:00.000-04:00

Well, it seems like Spring Break has come to an end, concluding with my need to study for 2 tests and a quiz. It was a nice, relaxing break. I'm bummed it's over.

This break, Chris and I didn't really have the funds or resources to travel, so we decided to take advantage of the nice places to day-trip at around us. On Monday we went to the Atlanta Zoo and had a GREAT time. We arrived early and all the animals were hungry and active! We spent a great deal of time watching the Lappet Faced Vultures interact and the elephants eating things. The apes, surprisingly, were out foraging as well. It was nice to watch. There were babies c: We tooled around downtown Atlanta for a bit before heading home. The next few days I spent just relaxing and hacking away at organic chemistry lab reports. Chris and I made another brief trip to Atlanta on Wednesday to participate in a MtG draft, where we were both eliminated in the first round! Go us! It was REALLY fun though, and apparently I suck at drafting but WOW it's fun anyways!

On Friday we drove back to my place in Augusta! We derped around, made a couple trips to Target (one of my favourite places ever), watched some Gankutsuo, and had sleeps to get ready for Saturday. The nest day was so full of greatness. We left the house with my Dad at 10, and arrived in Columbia shortly thereafter where ReptiCon was waiting for us! This was Chris' first ReptiCon, and it was a GOOD one too! There was a staggering amount of oddities and beautiful creatures, both in about equal parts! I managed to snag some photos of some of the weirder things there.

I find Balls boring, but these Bumblebee morphs were everywhere and so beautiful!

I have no clue what this guy was, but he was very very angry, expensive, and dinosaur-like.

I felt bad for these two stressed little guys AND the African Grey above them. Dad was clucking at the Grey and it was flashing at him as he did so. Clearly an inquisitive, intelligent bird, but nobody put the effort into raising it properly.

I don't mean to end that on such a sad note. There are always some top-notch breeders present, along with the gross breeders/vendors. It seems like you can't have one without the other.
After ReptiCon we went to the Riverbank Zoo. Nothing terribly noteworthy occurred. The flamingos are still my favourite. It was a very animally day. The Augusta part of the break was really really nice. I feel like it was a good opportunity for Chris and my family to get to know each other more. Also, I had a good time with Haley, and that doesn't typically happen a lot.

Now I'm back in Athens and school starts again tomorrow. I'm really...not happy about this yet. 2 tests and 1 quiz on the horizon: how awful.

tyto alba

2010-02-27T13:08:00.000-05:00

I have the house to myself today, which is nice. I don't have to worry about walking around/playing Fallout in minimal clothing. I spent the morning practicing some baking recipes I have wanted to try while watching a live feed of a barn owl nest. It was totally relaxing.

snow

2010-02-14T23:22:00.000-05:00

I have been a mess this weekend, and I feel terrible for it. There really can't be any excuses. I'm 22, and I need to learn how to handle things like a 22 year old.

The snow came down here in Athens. Lots and lots of sticky snow. For the 24 fleeting hours that it stuck with us, I felt so nostalgic for my family, and for Shanley, and for snowy nights when my dad would snowblow the driveway and aim the snow at me, and for laying in the front yard with my eyes closed while snowflakes fell on my face, and for flying down a mountain, and walking through the snowy silent woods with Blair. Being wet and cold from playing. Digging. I began to miss my family very very badly. I haven't seen them since Christmas- the longest I've ever gone.

The snow is gone, but I still miss them. I woke up this morning still so so sad. It's embarrassing to be the 22 year old that still needs hugs from mom. Things seemed to get worse and worse for my as the day went on until I collapsed and called mum. I felt much better afterward. It was a rough Valentine's Day because of this. I suppose Valentine's Day only has as much meaning as you give it...other than that it's just an arbitrary day. No significance really. It's strange that it has come to be this huge thing now. After today, I'm going to try to distance myself from it again. I don't want to get too wrapped up in the corporate affairs of this holiday. If me and my SO want to celebrate a day of love, I don't think we should need a holiday to do it. /soapbox.

Tomorrow starts a new week! I have an appointment tomorrow to help me combat a terrible battle I've been fighting with myself and my body for the last 2 years. Mum is coming up to support me. So, new week, new adventures, new track for myself. I'm ready to move on. I hate the way this particular problem has me living everyday. It's SO so hard. I'm going to sleep.

banana pellet

2010-02-07T23:34:00.000-05:00

Converting a bird to a pelleted diet is more difficult than:

-converting .flac to .mp3
-converting ml/kg to acre-furrow-slice
-converting a diol to an epoxide
-converting from mac to windows
-converting Charter into a functional cable provider
-converting water into wine

I have a written plan to convert Ember from a pure seed diet to a pure pelleted one in 10 days. Can we do it? I have no clue, and I feel this will be more taxing on myself than the Toot; he has an iron will.

2010-02-04T21:21:00.000-05:00

It's the day after a mentally exhausting 72-hour organic chemistry study binge and test. I've spent the whole first part of the day studying wildlife diseases, particularly avian. Then I decided to settle into some documentaries about the universe. My mind was so blown today. I had to call my dad to discuss recent enlightenment I had. My dad is an OB/GYN, but he has a particular fascination with astrophysics. I don't know. I'm in a mental rut right now trying to contemplate what came before the small, infinitely dense ball of infinite mass that gave birth to the big bang and our universe. I used to be under the impression that the universe itself was infinite and stretched on forever (sometimes leading me to attempt to contemplate infinite space, which usually ends with me being frustrated). It's not though. It is finite. It has an end! What lies beyond?! I have no clue! MIND BLOWN. What the hell could it be? Mankind doesn't even know, and we know a WHOLE WHOLE LOT! I don't even know. It freaking blows my mind. We're so small! And where did the infinitely massive/dense, big bang precursor come from? And in what was it suspended/floating/hanging/sitting? This is so incredibly thrilling to think about. I told my dad about all this stuff, which is just wild to me! I try my hardest to explain everything with science, but I've hit a wall where science can't answer anymore. He has some theories as to what mankind will discover in the future about the big bang. I am excited about broadening mankind's knowledge on this matter.

I am going to work out and read, but the prospect of leaping from this subject into my corny fantasy novel is just totally lame. I wish I had some Sagan books or something.

Worldwake comes out tomorrow. What a day this has been.

all I do is study

2010-02-02T20:02:00.000-05:00

All I've been doing recently is studying, writing cover letters, glittering up resumes, and cranking out lab reports. But mostly studying. Last semester I would study study study and stress SO SO MUCH. It was awful. This semester is weird though. I've been studying and kind of chill during the day (aside from a minor meltdown on Sunday evening) and then all night I lay awake in a stressful panic. As soon as the sun rises, I'm fine again! Getting all my stress out during the night doesn't make for good sleeping, but it makes the following day way more productive and relaxed. Somewhat related: I just had an "aha!" moment in organic chemistry. Suddenly things are making more sense! I have a test tomorrow at 7pm, and I just want to get it over with so that I can go back to watching Bear Grylls and playing Fallout 3.

Pokemon HG SS countdown: 39 days 4 hours.

It was frosty the other morning, so I took the opportunity to explore subtle natural curiosities and pish at the resident winterbirds chorusing in the backyard. It made them upset.

Carolina wren

Snappy, angry cardinal

Frosty morning in kudzu-forest.

moon

2010-01-28T21:47:00.000-05:00

It has been cold, then warm.

I need to vacuum the entire house.

44 days 2 hours until Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver are released.

After careful consideration, I think I will get HeartGold. Ho-oh is a rainbow bird...and I kind of have a thing for rainbow birds.

That is pretty much all that has happened this week.

ember + allie vanity

2010-01-23T10:21:00.000-05:00

Last semester Toots and I had the privilege of modeling for one of Jenna's (a la Keep the Simple) photography projects. Jenna is a close bud of mine who I've known essentially from when I was first moved to the South. She wants to be a wedding photographer, and I have no doubts that she will excel! After looking through the shots she took of us, I felt so in love with little Toot; I can only imagine how emotionally touching her photos would be of two people in love on their wedding day! She's totally going to do my wedding if/when if occurs and she's available c: There were a whole bunch of us, but these were some of my favourites. I feel so totally vain uploading these...but holy cow they turned out completely awesome and I wanted to share. Of course, Blogger will compress them all....

I love this one so so much! Ember has some beef with Jenna, so he always gets puffy and defensive when she comes over.

These next few are from a second shoot she did out by the lovely invasive jungle of kudzu behind our apartments.

I had a totally awesome night last night. I hung out with Jenna and Shaye until laaaaate. There was Zombieland, Fallout, Rock Band, and Yoguri (MMMMM!). It was completely wonderful. <3

and now for a strange story...

2010-01-19T21:48:00.000-05:00

I took Ember into the clinic today for his final check-up, and everything is a-ok! He has successfully broken down and passed all the lead in his system, earning him the new moniker "the Plumbum Parrot".

And in other news, my bird secured me an epic job. My bird got me a job. And not just any college job. I just got through an e-conversation with the head veterinary technician here at the UGA Small Animal Teaching Hospital about working next fall in the exotics ward. That's what I want to DO IN LIFE: exotic animal veterinarian! My potential boss, Betsy, is a huge fan of Ember; when he was sick and infirmed, she was one of his primary care-givers and generally a huge fan of Little Toot. Ember, thank you for being such a cute, lovable, and charismatic bird-friend!

Last thing about Toot. He's receiving oral meds 2x a day, which usually winds up with him wrapped in a hand towel burrito-style to restrain the flappy wings...this occasionally causes him to bear a strange likeness to the Virgin Mary. These are strange times we're finding ourselves in...strange times.

coffee and feathers

2010-01-11T10:58:00.000-05:00

The Red Eye is a place you go to pay $2.50 for a small cup of mediocre coffee ~~artfully~~ very slowly made by an apathetic barista, the whole time being serenaded by middle-aged women discussing knitting and trying to endure the frigid sterility of the atmosphere.

I just got off the phone with the animal pharmacy regarding Ember's lead-binding medications:

Pharmacist: "I've got Ember's medications here. They will be all liquid, and we can even flavor them for you! What does he like?"
Me: "He like sweet things, especially fruit."
P: "We've got tutti fruity, cherry, banana...."
Me: "Do you have apple or mango? Or pineapple?"
P: "Let me see....grape, strawberry...."

This continued for several minutes...then I realized that we were seriously grappling over the issue of finding the correct fruit flavor that would satisfy Ember's oh-so finicky palette...these are meds that will be essentially administered forcefully. Tutti fruity it is, then!

My baby is coming home tomorrow! The general plan of action will be:
-attend my wildlife nutrition and diseases classes
-pick up Toot on the way back to the car
-spend the rest of the day [until o chem lecture] with Toots by my side...preferably my head
-O chem
-more time with Toots until it's parrot bedtime

I can safely say that last weekend was the worst weekend of my life. Thank you so so SO much to everyone who kept my orange puff in their thoughts/prayers/rituals/etc. <3

littlebird

2010-01-10T08:56:00.000-05:00

It's another day. After a dramatic decline in his condition, Ember managed to struggle through yesterday. I've never felt so incapable of functioning ever. Everything reminds me of him. It seems like everywhere I look there is a parrot or, even worse, photos or feathers from him. When I say it out loud,

"My bird is in the hospital."

it sounds so insignificant; like, big deal, there is a bird in the hospital. He's like my child and best buddy though. I don't even know what to do with myself. I've been so avoidant or people and places these last couple of days because I've been falling apart at the drop of a hat. I'm hoping today will be better. I'm going to try really hard to make it so.

Now I'm going to sit here and ~~twiddle my thumbs~~ attempt to read until I get a status update call.

this is not a fun entry

2010-01-08T22:31:00.000-05:00

Last night I kept waking up hearing Ember walking around his cage. He's a good sleeper and usually doesn't move at all during the night. He's had one night terror, and that's the only time he has EVER moved about at night. This morning, I looked in his cage and there was blood everywhere. Puddles of it. And so begins the terrifying events of Friday.

Ember was passing blood. Lots and lots of blood. He didn't want to eat, just drink and drink and drink. I called the UGA emergency clinic and got him an appointment. When I brought him in, he proceeded to vomit violently in the lobby and doze off while standing in his cage. The doctor saw him and took my buddy away for some bloodwork and an x-ray.

At 4 I got a call from the clinic. Ember has severe lead poisoning. The levels of lead in his blood are off-the-charts high and his leukocytes are incredibly high as well; most likely due to the fact that there are metal shards in his lower GI that are irritating his digestive system and causing him to pass blood. He will be staying there over the weekend to receive round-the-clock treatment, and I am terrified. Ember is the closest thing I've ever had to a child. He's been my partner for the last 2.5 years, and we've grown to love each other so so much. In the hardest of times that I've faced, Ember has been there to keep me company and cheer me up with his goofy antics. We shower together, we nap together, we eat together, we study together. The list goes on. Next to my human partner, Ember is my best bud and love of my life. It's just so hard to function knowing that he may not be alright.

It's even harder to function knowing that I am the one that made him the toy which has lead to this.

I've received so many phone calls today from friends and family checking on Ember's condition. I am so touched to see that there are so many people out there who care about us. I pray that my resilient friend will continue battling on through the night and that the call I get tomorrow contains good good news.

2010-01-06T09:53:00.000-05:00

I am back home in Athens now. School starts back up tomorrow. I am nervous. Tomorrow I have wildlife diseases, wildlife physiology and nutrition, one huge time gap, and then I start my second semester of organic chemistry. I'm excited for my first two classes and dreading the last. O chem: what an anxiety-inducing course.

On a completely unrelated note, I spent the morning making a new and larger jar for my snails and took the time to snap some photos of the life in my room.

You can now see the developing embryos in the snail eggs. Based on the temperature of the jar, they should hatch in a couple weeks.

Sporophytes.

a year in review

2010-01-02T08:40:00.000-05:00

It's the 2nd day of 2010 and this totally should have been written yesterday or the day before. It seems like the general consensus is that 2009 wasn't the best year ever. I kind of agree. There was awesome and not-so-awesome stuff that happened in 2009, but the nastier stuff was more prolific for me.

In 2009 I lived in a birdhouse where I cared for the local birds, and some not-so-local-just-passing-through migrants! I took a herpetology class where I met my totally awesome mentor/professor/adviser, Dr. Maerz! I got an iPod touch that I never really use. I overcame one of the most wretched tendrils of my EDNOS. I worked at the animal hospital not one, but TWICE! And even more importantly, I learned that waking up and going to work was a joy and something I looked forward to; now I'm going to be a veterinarian. I learned what I wanted to do in life, and that's an awesome feeling. I fell further in love with this fantastic creature. I discovered a large lake right near where I live that is fun to explore. I watched tons of David Attenborough and Flapjack and movies at the theater. I played tons of Pokemon and MtG. I got a new road bike and rode it around everywhere. I watched lots and lots of birds. I got my rock climbing permit. I started a semester full of hard hard classes; classes so difficult that they prevented me from ever perusing vet med. Well, I did them and did WELL in them! I guess I can do more than I thought I could!
On a less positive note, I found myself being grumpier to those who I love. I need to learn to cope with stress better. I had poor financial management in 2009. Other pieces of my EDNOS got worse and I quit therapy for it without telling people. I didn't read or draw or exercise as much as I would've liked to; I used to have a rigorous exercise regimen. I blame the workload. I lost touch with some awesome people and didn't hang out/be social as much as I would've liked.

Maybe there was more good than bad.... Overall, in 2009 I learned a whole lot and stressed a whole lot. 2010 already has a bunch of interesting things on the horizon: Pokemon in March, Worldwake in February, the conclusion of my career as an organic chemistry student in May, applying to vet schools, and another full year of exploring the everything and learning about everything.

In 2010 I want to: -read more, especially those gross fantasy novels I have so many of and lots of
                               naturalist material
                             -draw more (I feel like my brain is atrophy-ing....)
                             -travel LOTS more, hopefully see a new country but I'll settle for road trips
                             -exercise more
                             -be a nicer and happier person to those around me and those I love
                             -apply to vet schools
                             -do well in school

And it's already 2010, so I guess I better get started!

mostly heads

2009-12-29T22:28:00.001-05:00

I got tired of searching for the hilarious diagram of the mating octopuses that I saw in invertebrate zoology, so I just drew it how I remembered it.

My character Tyto Alba. I kind of hate this image.

Now you know what's in my purse. I've been bored recently.

I have been on a skull fix.

christmas

2009-12-27T10:25:00.000-05:00

Christmas happened so fast. I barely remember the day. What a bummer. It was a very different Christmas...mostly because my Grandpa was with us, which is strange and out-of-the-ordinary. I got some good loot; most notably the The Sibley Guide to Trees, my Sgt. Pepper coat, an XBOX 360, and some gud games. G-pa got me a book giftcard which promptly went to buying Animal Skulls: a Guide to North American Species and the Necronomicon. On the book note, Dave (a la the Book Tavern) sent me an email about recent stock liquidating in genres that I frequent. I will most definitely be swinging by today to drop some store credit! I should probably do that soon.

I'm wearing a new wool sweater which Ember has got stuck in no less than 3 times this morning. He has now discovered that the texture of wool is intensely satisfying and has spent the last 15 minutes pinching the sweater in his beak and grinding it around. It kind of does make a pleasing noise....

Butter and I went on a very recent woodland exploration wherein I found a tick friend who made its home on my scalp. It was a lovely discovery on Christmas morning, I assure you.

Who said dogfennel had no wildlife use?! Clearly it can be good bugging substrate!

They're like...fungal feathers.....

I made this. It's huge, containing over 100 species of local flora. The companion portfolio is a write up done for each species, complete with information on habitat, wildlife use, management regimes, and ethnobotanical use. It took forever and I plan on adding more once I get it back. It was the most enjoyable school work I did all semester.

I guess it's book time now.

2009-12-22T13:47:00.000-05:00

I made a draw when I couldn't sleep at 4am.

festive felines

2009-12-22T08:33:00.000-05:00

I am working at the clinic again, which makes me more happy than I can say. However, I am sick and have been up since 3am, so I'm not feeling too incredibly joyful at the moment. I've been making lots of draws during my break. I don't know. I felt that that deserved being mentioned. The draws feel good. Kind of like 4 months of creativity finally flowing out of my mind and down through my fingers again.

Have I mentioned that I love my job? Dr. Wheatly, Laura, and I all had some free time and more than a few colors of vet wrap available. Oh, and an anesthetized cat also.

pet store fish

2009-12-20T22:26:00.000-05:00

I am done with school for the holidays and now have an abundance of free time to make things and collect things and wander in the forest and read and cuddle my parrot. It's a much happier, stress-free time. My fingers have spend the day wrapped around implements and dragging them across paper. The results have been in the likeness of stompy beasts. Enjoy some small fruits of my hands.

baffled

2009-12-19T16:30:00.000-05:00

....I went to Wild Birds Unlimited and spent a bunch of $$. Basically the entire day has been spent birding around the yard. I finally caved and bought a squirrel baffle. It has worked well so far, but I feel like it's just a matter of time before they figure it out. Birds spotted today:
-Carolina Chickadee (resident)
-Tufted Titmouse (resident)
-Northern Cardinal (resident)
-Purple Finch (migrant)
-Mourning Dove (resident)
-Dark-eyed Junco (migrant)
-Brown-headed Nuthatch (resident)

I think I'm turning from a herper to a birder...and I'm totally okay with this.

My new squirrel baffle + one super sketchy clothes hanger suspension system

Tufted Titmouse

Binoculars make up for my cameras zoom limitations. There were at least 8 Mourning Doves foraging on the safflower seeds I distributed around the yard.

It was a good day, I think C:

little dove feet

2009-12-19T11:03:00.000-05:00

I am so bored right now. This morning I vegged out on the new Tudors season and *~made a drawwwww~*. It has been months since I made any draws. It felt super good! Now I think I'll kill a few more minutes with a Christmas meme, take a shower, then go to Wild Birds Unlimited. The resident burds are everywhere, and I saw Mourning Doves this morning. I think I'm going to lightly manage for some of the residents and maybe a few of the northern migrants. I don't know. I'm bored as hell.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper. I like the tedious monotony of wrapping.

2. Real tree or Artificial ? I don't know. Artificial trees are easier, but I think real trees are beautiful and gooosh they smell good. People think they're wasteful and "not environmentally friendly" but spending money supporting tree farming is like spending money to keep a plot of land in timber rotation as opposed to it being sold for development or cultivation of row crops. Timber farming provides habitat, for species that enjoy the early-successionary stages of a forest. Wow, that was a long way of saying that both have their advantages....

3. When do you put up the tree? A few days after M. gallopavo day

4. When do you take the tree down? Halfway into January

5. Do you like eggnog? I don't know! I've never had it. It looks rich and smells cakey, so I feel like it might make me barf. Allie is charming as ever this morning.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? I remember one Christmas Dad really went all-out for me and got me a Playstation and tons of games. I really spazzed over that. Then there was the year of the Furby...holy crap.

7. Hardest person to buy for? Blair

8. Easiest person to buy for? Dad

9. Do you have a nativity scene? HAHA yeah! One year someone dropped it and broke half the characters, so Haley replaced it with a black nativity set. Now we have a biracial thing going on. How a white Joseph and Mary produced a black Christ Child, I have no clue. Oh wait....

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Probably the face mask set that mom got me six years ago. It's still in the box under my sink.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, Love Actually, or Elf

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Black FridaAaAaAaAaaaay

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? No, though now I'm thinking about giving that face mask set to Haley this year.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Usually day will have a patient give him some baclava, and that's AWESOME and goes in my mouth immediately.

16. Lights on the tree? We have a fake tree with white lights built on.

17. Favorite Christmas song? I don't really have one. Anything but the new pop shit and the oooooold droning stuff that we've all heard since inception.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Usually we stay home and travel after

19. Can you name all of Santa 's reindeer? Yes

20. Star or Angel on top of the tree? I think we have a big Santa now

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Eve is when all the Robi sisters open gifts from each other, and the rest is on Christmas morning

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? How it's always preceded by finals.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? We kind of have a clusterfuck strategy going on our tree right now. There is no unifying theme AT ALL. I want to have a small animal skull theme on my tree though.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Sweet potatoes

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? the Sibley Guide to Trees, and XBOX 360, and an over the top Sgt. Pepper jacket....and for the Pokemon HG/SS to be bumped closer...way closer.

to-whee!

2009-12-17T10:50:00.000-05:00

We had a killing frost this morning! I felt so uneasy stepping into the shower this morning before my dental appointment. SO COLD! I love frost though. It's so neat the way it textures everything.
My appointment went well. Dr. Allgood is kind of a manipulating douche at times, but other times he's okay; like today! We talked about vet school and my wisdom teeth, which I am reluctant to part with at the moment.
On the way home I went for a walk through my woods. It was still super early, so all the birds were actively foraging and calling at one another. I did some pishing, which was SUPER fruitful! I didn't see any migrants; just a lot of resident songbirds. It was lovely watching them all foraging though. It was also totally awesome seeing all the plants fading away and releasing their seeds for hungry little creature-mouths to nom on this season. Habitat management class taught me so so so much. The particular walk I take goes up and down a huge hill where the cline of biota is extremely obvious and awesome to observe. It goes from bottomland hardwood habitat, up a hill into a drier, upland, xeric habitat, and down into the floodplain. I love love love watching the tree and herbaceous species alter with the habitat conditions! /dork. I took pictures.

Cooooold and frosty. Such a vast vast improvement over the last few 60 degree days.

Lalala grasses

So so so many Passerines, and not a one willing to dive into the sumac just yet. Yuuuucky forage!

Frosty foxtail grass.

What happened to the wetland while I was gone?! So much duckweed!

I kind of hate this picture now. It bothers me how badly it portrays this soft, totally-moss-covered slab of schisty rock.

Ah. Better.

My walk was a huge reminder of how much I learning this semester.

2009-12-15T20:29:00.000-05:00

I'm done.
What a semester. I finished up at around 2pm today, then spent the rest of the day lazing around with Chris and Ember. We had micro adventures in the kitchen and around the apartments. I wanted to find a nice, big trumpet creeper pod today. I know they grow behind the apartment. I didn't have any luck, but by crazy happenstance I stumbled upon a large-ish snail! He is by no means large for what he is, but he towers over my other small snails that I took with me to Athens from my summer garden in Augusta. This guy was big and meaty and once he warmed up, he was moving everywhere. I let him crawl all over my face. It felt surprisingly nice.

It's only 8:30, but I think I'll go lay down. I've had so so many 5am mornings, and my brain is academically spent. I guess the holidays can officially start for me now.

manylegs

2009-12-14T20:19:00.000-05:00

I found a thing, and it is interesting to me. Here. Muura had one and it was neat, so I made one too. Uhhhmm it's the eve before my last academic venture of 2009! Megan sent me a text saying that the final tomorrow isn't totally cumulative; just cumulative over the big things. UHHG YES. First one of four that HASN'T required me to know everything ever.

Today, for the first time in a couple weeks, I went out and did a fun, dirty activity. It has been SO SO long. In the last 2 weeks I have had 8 tests. 8 TESTS. This is ridiculous. I made a new life jar. The first moss jar I made had kind of faded, so I dumped it and started a new one. This time, instead of moss I used sorrels, wild ginger, and a teeeeeeny partridge berry vine. I found some monstrous snails, slugs, and millipods while I was out, so I tossed those in there as well. Unfortunately, I did this all in the rain, in my pajama pants, and with my 8" hunting knife. Pretty much the entire C Complex for some reason decided to come outside while I was digging through the clay with the knife. Classy.

The vet clinic never called me back today about working there, so I'm going to assume right now that work won't start on Wednesday and I can spend tomorrow celebrating the end of the semester instead of traveling home! Plans:
-eat weird rice flour biscuit sammiches while playing Pokemon Rumble with Chris
-adventure in the outdoors
-draw
-go see a movie maybe
-play MtG

Now to just get through tomorrow. My brain is so so spent.

stripes and spots

2009-12-13T19:13:00.000-05:00

7:05pm Allie
I think....I'm accidentally in love with this strange animal...

7:06pm Chris
I've been saying that for a year and a half.

I was talking about tapirs at him <3 He made it into a cute. I'm so so SO SO happy and stress-free these [last few] days. Organic chemistry is over and Christmas is here! Now I just need to get through my Wildlife Habitat Mgmt final tomorrow and Renewable Resource Policy on Tuesday. ALMOST HERE!!!Have a tapir and a good night!

meleagris gallopavo

2009-11-26T17:51:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving! Today was a nice, chill Thanksgiving. I had one delicious meal. Oh gosh it was so super nice. I requested a baked sweet potato and my mom totally delivered. Biggest sweet potato EVER. And it was soooo juicy. Juicy. The turkey was pretty dry (Mum and poultry...yikes)...but I'm not a huge fan anyways. I spent the rest of the day food coma-ing my potato and broccoli off while tending to the Harvest Festival in Animal Crossing. Now, me, my mum, and my sisters are heading to the Isle of Palms for Black Friday. Laaaaaa traditions are lovely. It was a beautiful day today to boot. I ended up taking lots photos of Lovely-parrot.

"Who are you?!" G-ma got me a "trinket of the season" for my slowly growing ornament collection. My first Christmas tree is going to be so strange...my mom and grandma have been gifting me with ornaments as the opportunities arise, and they're usually totally random little things. In addition to my new sun conure ornament, other oddities include a china pickle and a Pikachu.

Now on the waaaaay to South Carolina.

shadeleaf

2009-11-24T23:24:00.000-05:00

Today I: managed to include both Enya and Nightwish in a plant data sheet on Acanthus spinosa

tried on very VERY short dresses with Blair

bought a 21 lb turkey for $7.88

watched too much True Blood

drew a picture of Charizard

wrote a lot on plants

spent way too much money on Ember's super luxe new foods

It was a good day.

cleaning out the books

2009-11-19T09:21:00.002-05:00

It has been SO long since I updated. I think I say that every time now. I haven't been drawing much, but here are a few things. With Christmas coming up, I hope to put my fingers to more creative works...

OWL!

Obligatory Pokemon

KakaPokemon

I don't even remember drawing this...let along WHAT it is. Eelthing.

Oh Halloween images...why can't I ever finish you?

Back in the day...all I did was draw wolves.

I need more coffee shop doodlepagings to get me through my week, I think.

Well, that was it! Meager pickings with the hope for more in the next few weeks when this semester is over!

elodea

2009-11-15T22:39:00.000-05:00

I think one of the neatest parts about blogging/journaling/writing/archiving thoughts is the ability to look back and see what you were feeling one/two/three years in the past. Two years ago today was this:" You people with your cups flowething over and happiness out your ass, please keep your pep away from me :c I'm having a downer day again. I wrote a big entry last night about life, then deleted it. Things are going horribly for me and my family, so I let my mom take my dreads out and...words can't describe my intense sadness for the loss of them. It's crushing. Completely overwhelming. Mom's so happy, but I hate my current hair so I think I'll turn it into a hawk once the family Christmas photo has been taken. I just feel moppy and gross all over." One year ago today I was feeling so wonderful that I totally forgot to journal. It's awesome how life goes on and on and on and you have NO CLUE where you'll be next!

I stumbled upon my list of New Years Resolutions for 2009 while going through sketchbooks today. I never posted them online, but here they are:
-be happy and do what it takes to stay so
-figure out what I want to do in life
I finished them!!! The first one is always a resolution of mine, but WOW I finished the other! When I made that resolution, I never ever thought the answer would be veterinary medicine! And I NEVER EVER thought that a year after making that resolution I would be finishing my first semester of organic chemistry (one of the main reasons I decided never to pursue vet med)!!! It's awesome how stuff changes and I grow and new people come in and out of my life and push me along like seaweed in a current. I wonder where I'll be in a year? I'm excited.

I busted out the Christmas music prematurely today. News flowed in that Aunt Mary baked her first batch of Christmas cookies. IT'S ON, OLD WOMAN. We have a running competition about who can bake the most cookies every Christmas. I'm the current record-holder with 78 dozen, but she's determined to dethrone me. She actually called the house for the express purpose of taunting me with this news. I wasn't home, but my mom passed it along. The gauntlet-it has been thrown down.

:c

2009-11-15T07:55:00.000-05:00

Things are so stressful right now. I miss my mom. Thanksgiving break can't come soon enough...or end too soon. I will only have 2 weeks of school left after T-break, but they are going to be miserable, especially the Wednesdays: both Wed. will have a Hydrology test, Hydrology lab, and O Chem test on them. How is this possible?! More enjoyably, my monstrous plant collection is due the Friday after break. It has grown to over 100 plants (and many, as of yet, unidentified asters)! I ~~have~~ get to write reports of most of these plants. I love love love botanical work, but with my workload right now, it just seems to be an inconvenience. Next semester, please come quickly!

catching up

2009-11-09T00:49:00.000-05:00

Another hard hard week has passed successfully. This next week will be a slide. I think I'll take my less-stressful week and use it to draw and crochet more.

Today, for the first time all semester, I spent the whole day with Chris. We did so many things, I can't even remember them all! A list:
-Men Who Stare At Goats
-MtG playing, which I always love
-motorcycle rides through autumny areas
-soup
-Planet Earth
-a long walk on a really nice, cold, autumn night
-dumpster diving at Earth Fare
We totally dove at Earth Fare, and the skips were FULL UP. Chris held my ankles and I managed to find a bag full of baked goods. I found one bag FULL of individually wrapped loves of breads and muffins and bagels and scones! We hauled at least 8 lbs of goods home, but when we laid it all out on the table we found most of it to be super stale :c The breads, which had all kinds of "Gluten Free!" stamps on them, tasted like CRAP. We ended up playing frisbee with the slices into the kudzu jungle behind the house. The marmots will thank us later.... The muffins ended up being the only thing worth keeping, which is still totally awesome. I'm going to try to hit up the bins multiple times each week to see if I can get most of my groceries covered for free! We've had GREAT luck at Earth Fare in the past, and I think it's totally possible!

I'm heading to sleep now, but here's some stuff from my Halloween adventures.

This pumpkin came out bearing an uncanny resemblance to Sauron.

Full moon on Samhain! Happy new year indeed! Good night to be pagan!

This -was- Blair, but the flash didn't go off...I kind of liked it.

G'night.

Lindlar

2009-11-04T06:54:00.000-05:00

If you raise the handles on Toot's cage 90 degrees, the whole thing is reminiscent of a cis-alkene...which you obtain by treating an alkyne with hydrogen and a Lindlar's catalyst....

Chemistry...and chemicals....

I was DEAD tired and hoping to rest up before today's test, but it seems as though I have stressed myself awake at the lovely hour of 6:44am :C I guess now I can get more knowledge in the headmeat now. At around 9 tonight, I'm going to be stress-free! ...except for that hydrology test on Friday. Boo. Dismal.

I had a mini-meltdown last night due to severely unproductive study methods. Chris was lovely enough to tell me it will be okay, which it will. About a half hour later there was a surprise knock on the door! It was my Stinky Creature bringing me mind fuels to power through the night! And by mind fuels, I mean a hot and tasty Mexican mocha and a manicotti his muhmuh made. Ahhh ffffffffff my Creature is wonderfully delightful!

Now to further pursue a more highly educated state...OH. But I made out my schedule for next semester, and it will be:

Wildlife Diseases
Wildlife Nutrition and Physiology
Organic Chemistry II
Physics I

EXCITED about the first two! I know we'll be doing lots of necropsies!

alchemy

2009-10-24T09:24:00.000-04:00

Alchemy is an unbelievable time sink. I've been messing with it all morning here at the 'rental's homestead.

brainweed

2009-10-22T11:29:00.000-04:00

What a beautiful week we've had in Athens. It really feels like autumn here now. I'm a little envious of my northern buddies with their bright autumn tree-colors, but I know our time will come c: After the incredible workload of last week, I'm really loving the mellow pace that this week has. I can't believe it's already Thursday....

I'm going home tomorrow to see my family for the first time since August 10. This is the longest I've ever gone without seeing them! I guess it had to happen some time, but I didn't realize how sad it would feel at times. I find myself wanting to hug my mom more and more, which I generally don't seek out that often. I'm not sure what I'll do this weekend while I'm home, but it will probably involve Halloween decorations, hiking with Butter, a movie of some kind, and probably baking. Hopefully there will be some shopping too, because I need new pants in a not-so-serious way...I do want new pants though. I've been wearing Haley's for the last year and a half.

This morning I took a walk around the apartments and collected only red things. There are a surprisingly large amount hiding all over the place. Jenna's house has a niiiice sassafras tree next to it that had very cute red leaves, and there were some yaupon in the hedges by the road that I didn't know were there - BRIGHT red berries! I took my finds home and made some ephemeral autumn art in our kitchen!

I found a new use for bullet holes!

I think...I really like making caches of things around the house. I have a bad habit of picking up acorns as I walk, which has resulted in me having a large acorn collection. Maybe I'll make subtle little caches and see if they're noticed.

Yesterday I came home from class, walked into the kitchen, and saw a little anole basking on a stone turtle that I keep on the windowsill. It's eyes were very dark, and he wasn't looking so good. I suspect he snuck in while Liz was taking a smoke or something. Either way, he's totally welcome in our warm reptile home! I told Liz, and she was delighted! Her terrariums often "leak" crickets (which she feeds her herps), and we have a little fruit fly problem. I think our new housemate will appreciate these problems more than we do C:

On the subject of interlopers...I was going to organize some acorns by species when I discovered this fellow:

It has constructed a cocoon against the glass, so I get to watch the whole metamorphosis! I'm feeling super lucky right now.

Also, a parrot in autumn plumage.

Seriously...he just finished molting everywhere. Autumn plumage.

sorrels

2009-10-18T22:46:00.000-04:00

An hour ago I was finally in a productive mode, studying for my soils test tomorrow. Then my housemate knocked on my door to alert me that my tomatoes were in danger! We swooped outside and rescued them, plus my St. John's Wort, catnip, and struggling lavender plant which now mysteriously houses wood sorrels as well. Liz is totally awesome, but then I got sidetracked and ended up pampering everyone and giving them plant food sticks and fertilizer, and staking the tomato plants, and I even planted some watermelon because it seemed like the dumbest idea ever (so why not...?)! Now I'm sitting in front of my soils again....studying fertilizer after having just fertilized my indoor garden. Trying to focus again.....all I can think about are my plants. Gardening is so much fun, especially when it means I get to fill my house with more leaves :X I know the hydroponic garden will appreciate the plant-food-filled study break.

No one likes a liar, Fortune Cookie. It was 48 and raining and miserable all last week.