Too soon

I’m not ready to leave “home” and head back to Newcastle.  This past week has felt like the last 6 months never happened.  We’re home right?  We don’t have to go back?  Too bad distance learning isn’t an option.

I miss things about Newcastle.  I miss my classmates and the crazy antics, I miss hearing Ahmed sing down the hallway to his iPod, I miss watching Grant and Victoria have a battle of words.

It’s all so weird.

I’m really very sad to leave.  At least I got to come home and see family and friends and most importantly, family I never knew before.  These people are all so close to us and it’s nice to finally be able to see them and bond with them.  Some of them even remember my dad from when they were much younger, or remember his parents with fondness.

Springtime?

The mid-atlantic is showing promises of a gross summer that I am glad to miss.  We’ve had two days in the mid-70s, with 1 day in the 50s (yesterday).  I love this weather, it’s so comforting and relaxing.  I just hate what it means the weather will turn into in another 2 months.

Homework sucks though, nothing has changed there.

Tomorrow is my cousin’s wedding.   Tonight I think I am missing contra dancing.  I am also missing hanging out with my cousins due to homework.  I’ve wasted away enough days that now it’s time to just work work work.  I don’t want to go home to Baltimore to pack up my stuff and get ready to head back to England. I want to do distance-learning where I don’t actually have to head back there.  UGH! Then again, avoiding mosquitoes for a few more months/weeks will make me happy.

Back to work I go.  Tree essay, case study, GIS practical and Conservation Biology essays. . .  Life is not fun.

Home!

I am back in Baltimore in my own home about to head off to my OWN bed.

Spidge is asleep on my suitcase and I’m not too happy about having to move her.  She has claws. . . and she USES them.

The trip to Missouri with Grant and his parents and brother was super fun.  I really liked meeting everyone and driving around in the golf cart.  I even miss the weather down there.  Weird, but true.

Something about not having the pressures of home makes things so much better.  I do like having my own room again though.  I hope I sleep well tonight. . .oh boy yes.

More later, right now I just need SLEEP!

Quick thanks

I would like to thank the facebook message that has led to no less than 11 visits to my blog. Specifically based on this.

I shared my opinion openly and freely, perhaps others would care to do that as well. One might almost consider it “immature” to talk about someone behind their back.

To make things plain: I have no dislike towards anyone in our MSc or modules. I merely did what I thought was right. It was an act I recall from being about 16, and to see it when we are all in our 20’s is merely laughable.

The stench

That kitchen is in dire need of a full airing. Why can’t we have proper ventilation, especially when it comes to these kitchens that 8-10 students use for whatever foul brew they feel like cooking and later, ingesting. *URK* I get a headache just walking in there, and it’s due to the rotting and unsealed foods people have left on their shelves in the fridges.

I am afraid to open the one fridge with the “communal shelf” Grant and I have taken half of. Perhaps I’ll just take to wearing a gas mask and eating in my room. It doesn’t help that if they’re really cooking something strong the smell permeates my room (it’s right above the kitchen).

Please just teach them how to SEAL UP food. And could we have a “basic meals to live on” lesson. Apparently some people believe that BOILING onion baji’s is a good thing. Who knows what else is in that pot, but it sure doesn’t get clean with soap and a sponge. Nope, we like to clean things in our kitchen with bare hands and hot water. That’s it. There is a reason I have my own pot, skillet, soap and sponge. I also need to start disinfecting the drying area again. It can’t be sanitary with all the stuff people put on there.

Admittedly, some of them do use a sponge and soap.  We’re not all afraid of a few suds.

I’m so glad to go home to a kitchen I understand (even if it does smell funny thanks to the array of weird foods my mom likes to make).

I’m not sure I’ll want to come back. . then again, that microwave at home scares me, and I’ll miss my Tesco Cordless Jug Kettle. It’s coming home with me in September.

Before I crash

I’m just going to say, it’s Merlin Day #11!! YAY!! 11 months ago Grant and I met at the DC Zoo.

Merlin, the Sloth Bear, you are fondly remembered! I had a great hour with you waiting for Mr. I’m going to drive into DC. *sigh*

Merlin, perhaps I’ll see you within the next few weeks. I sure hope so. And remember to eat those tomatoes!!!

Walrus dance!

Seriously, this is what will make me laugh for the rest of the day.  Defining “natural” and “ancient” woodlands sadly lacks in humour.

Enjoy.

Perhaps I’ll post more later today.  Right now. . . run to the library and Essay writing!! YES!

Cat with a soft mouth

Apparently Spidge, the getting-fatter cat back home, is a humane kitty.  I kid you not.

My mom went up to the attic and noticed mammal droppings bigger than a mouse’s.  The cat wanted up, so my mom let the cat up to a new place she’s never explored.  My mom went back downstairs and got to work on her Traffic Patterns Video (for the rowing club, she’s been doing this for years, they should PAY HER for all this effort, free membership for a year or something).  A little while later she turned around to find a baby. . thing on the carpet behind her.  Apparently Spidge had brought down a little present.  Mom thought it was dead so she threw it in the trash and emailed the Lolcatfriends group.  People said it wasn’t a mouse or a rat and it could be X or Y or something else entirely.

My mom goes back to the trash, and lo and behold, that little pink thing ain’t dead.  It’s still alive.  Spidge didn’t kill it (Kitty would have eaten it, pity he’s gone).  So my mom put it. . . in the freezer.  This doesn’t surprise ME, but it surprised a lot of people on her LOLfriends group.  Some people even said good for her, while others said they would have held it until it died.

I looked up baby squirrel pictures and those things are HUGE.  So yeah, infestation of furry things that gnaw on anything.  My books and cabbage patch kids are in danger.   EEEEEK!  Okay, I’m a silly girl who wants her dolls kept safe because at some point there will be another little girl who wants to play with them whether it is a cousin or whomever.  Don’t worry, no kids for me for some time.

Anyways, there is now a dead squirrel baby in my mom’s freezer and more of them up in the attic getting all cute and slightly furry.  My mom figures the now-frozen one was born in the past 24 hours (of when this happened).

Honestly, I’m getting sick of my home being the rodent house.  Just get a nasty hamster and let it loose, that should solve our problems.  Vicious little crappers (literally).

Unsure

I’ve done something good, I’ve done something I’m still coming to terms with, and I have a helluva lot to get writing on.

The good:

I inadvertently helped a fellow student get credit for being present on our Trees field trip by crossing off someone’s name who was not on it. I don’t care who finds out it was me. BRING IT. I am not going to put up with these middle school/high school antics of writing down people’s names when they are not present. They need to fend for themselves and act on their own. You’re not there, email the professor asking what you can do to make up for it. Apologise for your lack of attendance.

To continue. . .

The coming to terms:

I was in a rather sour mood Thursday night so I sent off an email to two friends who I have felt rather ignored by. There have been many promises of “I’ll come visit” and “I’ll write you an email tonight.” There have also been apologies of “Sorry I didn’t write you.” I’ve been here for almost 6 months. Just write a 5 minute email saying how life is. I rather blew up and got very interesting replies. The first friend replied with a very defensive response in how she’s acted, the other friend replied with a huge apology and explanation of how it made her feel to read my email. I am still mixed about these replies.

I understand having friends keep in touch with you can be very difficult. I have some friends that have sunk back into the “I’ll see you when I see you” and those that I write letters to back and forth, chat with on AIM, and generally keep in somewhat-touch with. I am not comfortable with the shift happening while I am away from home. I have known these friends for most of my life (at least 20 years) and to feel them slipping into the background is very hard for me to grasp. I am unsure if that is how things will be or if it is an unaware of what is going on. I can also rant about this for days, so I’m stopping.

The school work:

I have an essay on some tree topic that I still need to start due Wednesday, my Limestone Pavement Case Study due by noon on Thursday, Conservation Biology short answers due Friday as well as a 1200-1500 word essay on our field trip to Houghall College AND to see if I need to help out any more with our Powerpoint Presentation on beech trees.

My life has hit a wall of hell.

Back to writing about Limestone Pavement I go. The stress is actually making me almost feel sick. Bad. . bad. . bad. . BAD.

The recent change

For those of you that read my blog at the actual site rather than through a reader will notice I swapped around the layout and the picture.  I like the new change.

The old picture was of swans in Leazes Park next to my student accommodation.  This new one is of “Lindisfarne Castle” at, well, Lindisfarne.      I went to Lindisfarne for a bird survey field trip last term.  We had lunch and looked at shore birds through scopes when I took this picture.  This wasn’t any tourist trip, we were there with a purpose of food and seeing birds.  Crazy biologists.

Grant is a bit more than jealous that I got to Lindisfarne.  Poor guy, he’s been trapped in a course that doesn’t do field trips.  I wonder if I can sneak him along on my field trip to Kielder Forest this term (I went last term as well for Ecological Survey Techniques).