Put your shoes at the door, sleep, prepare for life.

Subject:	Oh hi there, world!
Time:	3:12 pm.
Mood:	excited.

If anyone is interested,

volcanosummer is up and running once again! Join me as I cavort across ten of the world's coolest volcanoes in the next two weeks. After that I may be heading back to Hawai`i for more research, and I'll also be travelling to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute to work on my thesis (mapping the rift zone of the submarine volcano Loihi)!

Updates for the next two weeks will be arriving via VolcanoSummer's new Twitter account. There will be pictures immediately, and better ones after I return home. I'll be hiking Mount St. Helens, so this could get interesting.

You can also find both regular and Twitter updates on the original VolcanoSummer site, so stay tuned for more!

Between the emotion: 4 Shadows -and the response

Subject:	Extreme LJing
Time:	8:06 pm.

So, when's the last time you read a post on your friends page that was written from the middle of the Pacific Ocean? On a research vessel? Wooo! We finally got underway around 3pm HST after a morning spent refueling and waiting on one of the crew members. We took on 70,000 gallons of diesel fuel. That is a mind-boggling amount to me. Just wow.

Anyway, I've learned that I will be a video logger when Jason (the ROV) is down in the water. That's pretty awesome. The ship is rolling like a mother right now, but the seas are pretty darn calm. That's the ocean for you, I suppose. It's dinner time, so I should head over to the galley. I miss Benji, and I'm very happy to be here. Let's hope for continued good weather, etc. I think I'll have internet access the whole time I'm here. Rejoice! The connection is 56k, but hey...it's a lifeline. I'll be continuing to update

volcanosummer, so keep it on your friends list, etc. Bye for now!

Between the emotion: 1 Shadow -and the response

Subject:	Quick things I want to remember.
Time:	11:28 pm.
Mood:	indescribable.

I read 2 good quotes today. One is from Inherit The Wind, and it is as such:

All motion is relative. Perhaps it is you who have moved away - by standing still.

The other is from

vickinicole:

Love doesn't stop people from leaving.

Too true, too true.

More on Zzyzx later.

Between the emotion: 5 Shadows -and the response

Subject:	A little bit misty.
Time:	1:56 am.
Mood:	inarticulate.

Ok, this is one of my Top Ten Favorite Pictures of All Time (dun dun DUN).

That's my dad, and he was just barely 30 years old. The little person laughing wildly on his back is me. I don't know how old I was (maybe one of you baby-knowledgeable folks can tell me based on the state of my partially toothy grin). We were at the beach in Ocean City, NJ. I practically grew up there, but I haven't been back since I was about 8. I miss it.

It's so weird to see how my dad has aged. When I think about how different he and my mom look now from the way they look in my memory I get very emotional. In my head they're perfectly frozen at the ages they were when important things happened in my childhood. My mom will always be 42, the age she was when she sewed my amazing and incomparable turtle Halloween costume. My dad will always be about 37, the age he was when he taught me how to play basketball, baseball, and football.

Dear God, where does the time go? My mom is 60 now, and my dad is 56. I'm currently in a late night, irrational guilt phase because I'm not going to give them grandkids. I feel like a selfish asshole at the moment. The tiny bit of my brain that's still functioning rationally (and not emotionally) knows that having kids just because my parents want to be grandparents is a stupid idea. We CAN'T have kids. Yes, we could adopt. NO, I don't want to AT ALL. Why do I feel like I OWE my parents a child? Why do I have this sense that they will be somehow disappointed in me if I don't give them that?

Fuck, man. I just need to go to sleep. Feeling like an asshole and being all nostalgic/guilty at 2AM = not good.

Between the emotion: 7 Shadows -and the response

Subject:	The bottom.
Time:	10:24 pm.
Mood:	okay.

My Marine Geo class is just the shit. We talked about submarine canyons today, and I now have an inkling of what my master's thesis could potentially be about. Of course, I still prefer the trenches...but that's more of a PhD dissertation topic. Ah, someday.

Something cool happened, but I've forgotten what it was.

We went to the Super Wal-Mart last night and bought nearly $200 worth of groceries and other sundry goods. They were sorely needed, and it's nice to have a well-stocked kitchen again. We also got a 3 DVD set of Hunt for Red October and two other movies like that. Yay. It's weird that we have to drive 15 miles (to Pico Rivera) to get to a decent Wal-Mart. The one on Crenshaw kind of sucks, so this is what we get for living in the middle of downtown L.A.

Oh yeah, the cool thing. My advisor offered me another job yesterday (since I'm not teaching a class this quarter due to my insane number of field trips). He said I was the first person he thought of. Last quarter I was an Instructor and a Research Assistant. Now I'm a Graduate Assistant and a Research Assistant. It's extra money and way less stress than teaching. It's also nice to feel needed.

Benji had a few interviews over the last few days, and he has another tomorrow. They seem to be going well, so hopefully he'll be employed by next week. Cross your fingers. We'd be able to have money to do fun things (finally) and I should be able to get Vash out here (FINALLY). It'll be weird not having him around constantly.

I have a research/pleasure trip to Zzyzx next week. A few of us geology people are tagging along with the CSULA geography-folk on their trip. Hopefully we'll get some good samples of the ancient miogeocline for radioactivity dating. I'd like to do some paleomagnetic work on them, but since we have to go to USC to borrow their equipment I doubt it'll happen.

I think I'll take a bath and read my Petrology text (or maybe my Marine Geo reading...mmmmm).

Between the emotion: 1 Shadow -and the response

Subject:	Two things.
Time:	10:55 pm.
Mood:	drained.

Isn't my poor little EmoCat adorable? He just looked so down last night that it was actually comic. Poor Mew. His life is fraught with difficulties, such as whether to sleep on the ridiculously comfortable bed or on the warm, sunny windowsill. He has it very hard, people.

The second thing is that my Marine Geo class made me insanely happy. I couldn't stop grinning every time a new subject was discussed. We get to go on a research vessel! To do research! It is taking all of my self restraint not to capitalize every word in this post.

Sometimes I'm deep, and sometimes I don't even scratch the surface.

Between the emotion: 4 Shadows -and the response

Subject:	Arizona Apple Cake
Time:	11:34 pm.
Mood:	culinary.

In addition to attending my first geochemistry class and obtaining a faculty parking permit for the quarter, I baked. This time it was a shot in the dark. I was looking through a tiny recipe book I'd obtained at the Yuma Territorial Prison on a geology trip in January when I came across a recipe for Arizona Apple Cake. Generally I'd have skipped on past it, but today was a fateful day. I had 4 apples on hand for our fondue that has yet to occur. The recipe requires 2. Brilliant.

Sooooo...after an impromptu cutting lesson from Benji (who spent 12+ years working in restaurants and is therefore a cutting genius) with my brand new Chicago Cutlery Kyoto knives, I made the cake. Oh damn. Someone else here has to try this recipe out.

( Another picture and the recipe are under the cut! )

I just wanted to thank

syntheticfix,

steidhe, and

elmocho for being so great about my post last night. I really appreciate it, you guys. I'm feeling quite a bit better today, but not totally my old self. You 3 helped, and that's always nice.

Between the emotion: 8 Shadows -and the response

Subject:	New schedule.
Time:	1:50 am.
Mood:	tired.

Here's my spring quarter schedule. Let the insanity begin in under 12 hours.

Monday
Geochemistry: 1:20-4:10

Tuesday
Marine Geology: 4:20-6:00

Wednesday
Geochemistry: 1:20-4:10

Thursday
Marine Geology: 4:20-6:00

Friday
Petrology: 9:00-12:30
Geologic Mapping: 12:40-3:00

Saturday
Various geology trips. I have one almost every weekend. I think I have one for Petrology, 3 for Mapping, 3 for Marine Geo, and at least 1 "fun" trip. It won't be too terrible, but I'm also working for Professor C still. Ah well. I am nothing if not a masochist.

Ok, here we go.

Between the emotion: and the response

Subject:	Tasty.
Time:	9:57 pm.
Mood:	full.

Here's dinner:

This dinner was ridiculously easy. Benji's still sick, so I didn't feel like making a tremendous effort. I made it all in the microwave. The bread is from last night; there's fresh mozzarella and roma tomatoes with basil and balsamic vinegar on top. The pasta is the Pasta Pepperonata from Trader Joe's. The whole dinner took fewer than 10 minutes to prepare. Delicious. Simple.

Now we're watching Master & Commander. I've never seen it, so hopefully it'll be good. Russell Crowe makes me laugh solely by existing.

Between the emotion: and the response

Subject:	Change of plans.
Time:	11:07 pm.
Mood:	accomplished.

Ok, so no fondue tonight. Benji has been sleeping all day and evening since his cold isn't quite gone. I decided to make No-Time Bread instead. It did help me feel better. The recipe is from TheKitchn.com, and I used wheat flour instead of white since that's what I had on hand. I don't have a mixer, so trust me when I say it's fine to do the mixing by hand. I just took a bite, and SHIT...it's AMAZING. Oh man. You have to try this bread. It took me about an hour and a half from when I started until when I cut a slice. SO DELICIOUS.

Here's the recipe. I used just slightly more water because the dough just wasn't kneading well. If you guys were within driving distance I'd invite you all over to have some! MMMMMM.

( The recipe is under the cut! )

Between the emotion: 2 Shadows -and the response

Subject:	Book list.
Time:	11:36 pm.
Mood:	happy.

Hold on to your horses, guys. This is the most exhaustive book list I've seen yet. It's kind of heavy on the Terry Pratchett and the Robert Jordan (never read either) and there was NO VONNEGUT until I took a stab at it. I didn't go nuts with the Irving or Vonnegut, and I didn't add all of the Terry Brooks books I could've. Moderation, and a fair sampling are what I tried for with my additions. I had to add the rest of the Chronicles of Narnia since the Potter books were in there separately. I know I'm going to add a bunch more of what I've read, and I hope some of you guys'll do this for yourselves too. The bolded ones are those I've read, and the italicized and bolded are the ones I've added. Reading rocks! ENJOY!

( The ultimate book list. )

Between the emotion: 6 Shadows -and the response

Subject:	More dispatches from the western front.
Time:	5:27 pm.
Mood:	happy.

Benji and I hiked to that today. We had to go through a bamboo forest, cross a river, traipse through a cow pasture, and then climb backwards down a muddy hill/cliff. It was worth the effort, huh? Did I mention it was raining and the wind was blowing too? Yeah. We both fell down a few times, and by the time we were back in the rental car we were covered in mud and soaked. It was awesome. It's wonderful that the man I love is so willing to do fun things of all varieties with me. It just affirms what we already knew...we are for each other.

Last night we ate here at the house and then Benji and I went to see Charlie Wilson's War. It was funny and well done, so much enjoyment was had. Today we took the aforementioned hike and now we're cleaned up and lounging around. The Redskins are beating the Vikings (I REALLY want the 'Skins to go to the playoffs this year) so momentarily everything is calm. I'll leave you guys with two more pictures from the trip.

( This way to the bamboo forest and Maui's north shore. )

Between the emotion: 2 Shadows -and the response

Subject:	THE dress.
Time:	6:49 pm.
Mood:	content.

What's this?! THE actual dress in REAL LIFE?! Maybe we can get her to show us more!

( Click here for the rest of the story! )

****************************

Ok, that's quite enough of that. Anyway, you can see the dress in its pre-altered state. Cell phones aren't the best photo devices, but I think you can get the idea. I'll have my formal fitting after we get back from Hawaii. I love the dress. It looks great when it's held in the correct position, too. (In those pics it's really big on me still.)

Yep. Just having a lazy day today. Benji's sleeping for the first time in 2 nights, so I'm just hanging out with him this evening. I think I'll grab a movie and watch it in bed with him. Mew is sleeping on my feet and Ro is snoring next to Benji. I love my little family.

Between the emotion: 10 Shadows -and the response