FINALS ZOMG

Hell week x2!!


As I journey along these last two weeks of the semester, all I can think about is how I can't wait for it all to be over.  Before that happens I must survive:  a paper on Industrial Melanism, a final draft of my senior research proposal on Eurasian Watermilfoil, a regular Microbiology exam, a ten-minute powerpoint presentation, an essay for Climate Ecology, WRD (Westconn Research Day) presentation on our semester-long project of the identification of soil microbes in Lake Zoar using the 16S rRNA metagenome, a Microbiology final, an Evolutionary Biology final, and a Climate Ecology final.  


College students let me hear what's uppp.


It's funny to think that after I'm finished with my undergrad I just want to continue on to graduate school when I hate doing schoolwork so much.  I guess I just realize how important it is, and that you have to work hard to get where you want to go in life.  Nothing is handed to you on a sliver platter... though some kids are brought up to think that way.  Not me :-)


No matter how much I enjoy the beginning of a new semester, I can't even tell you how much I love when it's over.  What joy a short recess brings in the yearly grind that is college life.  It can be severely difficult to attend school full time while working 30 hours a week and trying to spend time with your somewhat-long-distance boyfriend whenever you have a free second (which is like, never) and of course don't forget about all your other friends... wait, what friends? ;-)  It's sad I barely ever get to see anyone... unless you count the insides of my textbooks. 


I'm just trying to hang on for these last two weeks because even though I'm not graduating I'm having a HUGE party with all of my friends from school, work, high school, and anywhere else I may have picked up a companion.  I can't wait to see everyone!


On that note... wish me luck!

Stress.

Wikipedia definition of Stress: "Stress is a term in psychology and biology, first coined in the 1930s, which has in more recent decades become a commonplace of popular parlance. It refers to the consequence of the failure of an organism – human or animal – to respond appropriately to emotional or physical threats, whether actual or imagined.

Stress symptoms commonly include a state of alarm and adrenaline production, short-term resistance as a coping mechanism, and exhaustion, as well asirritability, muscular tension, inability to concentrate and a variety of physiological reactions such as headache and elevated heart rate."

Right, so... now that I've actually read the definition of stress I see it in a very different light. I used to think that stress meant the pressures of happenings in our everyday, such as "stressing over work" or "money stress." I thought of stress as something that caused me to be uneasy, to lose sleep at night, and to just have an overall uncomfortable feeling. Clearly, I am not "responding appropriately" to the "pressures of happenings in my everyday." So. What does this mean to me, exactly?

Well, I'll tell you.

It means that stress is made up. Who makes it up, you ask? I do. We do. Everyone does. Culture, norms, interactions, media, peers, mentors... the list goes wayyyy on. I don't understand humans, and I'm one of them. Why do we create such intricate and silly ways of doing things? Why do we "stress ourselves out"? We are not running from a hungry lion, trying to stay alive. We are not hunting wild boars or scrounging for berries for food. Yes, we have to worry about money so we can pay the bills and buy food. Why does it always have to be about money? Majority rules, and it's the way we've been doing things for a very long time. Does it work? In some cases, yes. In most others, no. Money and possessions create greed. Greed is what fuels politics. So fun. Not really. I hate politics. Anyway, I digress.  Does it matter how much money we have in our lifetimes? Why does any of what we are doing as the human species matter? Honestly, not a single one of us can say that we know for sure. I don't care what you believe, because that is just it - a belief. It is NOT a fact. Everyone has a right to their own opinion. They do NOT have a right to their own facts. You can't pick and choose what facts you want to use while ignoring other crucial ones when trying to state your case. It would be the same thing as me saying that all bananas are yellow, and then showing you multiple pictures of only yellow bananas, clearly avoiding showing you pictures of green or red bananas. Silly example, I know, but say the key to taking a huge step forward in creating a better world for each other involved knowing the truth - that there actually were green and red bananas out there. If, for your whole entire life, all you knew were yellow bananas, and then one day all of a sudden you stumbled upon a green banana for the first time, you'd be mystified. Of course, most people already know the extent of banana colorings. Stay with me here, it's just an example.

Many powerful politicians (>.<) would love for you to believe that global warming isn't happening. Well guess what, folks. It is happening. And quick. People say... "Oh, we had such a cold winter! There's no way global warming exists!" Heyyy reality check!! IT'S CALLED CLIMATE CHANGE, MORONS. I wish whatever scientist that coined the term - "global warming" - didn't. Yes, the earth is warming, but mainly it means we are going to be seeing more and more extremes of temperature and other climate forces.

Let me try to put it for you simply.

The earth can only hold so much carbon in certain areas. For example, under the crust of the earth there are (or was) massive amounts of carbon in the form of - you guessed it! - oil. Petroleum. Natural gas. Coal. You get the point. Anyway, it's all underground, right? Well, it was. And since we've been using it, more and more carbon is being transferred from under the ground, out of our way, to into the atmosphere and water where we live and breathe. The atmosphere and water on our planet can also only hold so much carbon. There is a thing called the carbon cycle, and though it can get pretty complicated, the main points you should know include the fact that it normally deals with the carbon that is already found in nature - a.k.a. not all the waste we are pumping into the thing from using it for fuel. The more carbon pumped into the carbon cycle, the more bad things happen for us. The atmosphere warms, gas levels change, things fall out of equilibrium. This is bad news because of the simple fact that it is happening WAY TOO FAST. If this was happening over thousands or millions of years - hey, no problem! We'd all have time to evolve. As it stands, evolution has not exactly been able to catch up to us to clean up our mess. Evolution takes time. This is something we do not have.

Just chew on that one for a bit.