My Final Word... YOLO

So here goes my last blog at the Sea Lab.  I know, I know.  So incredibly sad!  Try to hold back your tears. I know you'll all miss the blog terribly, but there's always Facebook and Insta stalking available. Oh, the joys of technology! So here lie my final words... about DISL, that is.

My time at DISL is over for the summer, and I'm leaving a changed person.  I may be leaving DISL, but DISL is not leaving me.  Not only am I leaving here with my super cool ray teeth, red drum vertebrae, catfish spine, and all the shells you can image, but I'm also leaving with wonderful memories, new friendships, a yearning for adventure, and a stronger passion for science.

A few months ago, I was intimidated by scientific research projects, but now I look at them with excitement and fever.  They're a exciting new discovery waiting to be found... by me!  And I can not wait to plan my Capstone Project for the Honors Program.  I'm not worried about picking a topic anymore, I just have to be able to settle on only one idea.

I now consider myself to be an adventure junkie.  Okay, so maybe not quite a junkie.  But adventure sounds like lots of fun.  I like it just enough to participate in questionable activity without thinking about it first. For example: You want to dissect a stingray? Give me your best hunting knife.  Swim with sharks?  Nothing new for me.  You want to explore a marsh? Call me crazy, but I'll be there.  What can I say?  Spontaneity is addicting, and that was my only form of entertainment on this island for two months.  So now I'm all like...YOLO!  (For those of you who don't understand the concept of YOLO, please utilize the gift that is UrbanDictionary.com.)

As for all the super cool people that I've met here- I'm definitely going to see them again. First of all, Anna and Angela go to UNA with me, and we're starting a new Marine Club at UNA, so we will still see each other frequently.  And for everyone else, if nothing else, a few will be back with me next summer.  But before then, we have an Auburn trip that we're trying to plan with everyone, which will be awesome.  And then (what I'm most excited about) we're going to have all of the Marine Bio clubs from each school plan a trip to go swim with manatees in Crystal River together.  Manatees (my favorite animal) and swimming with them and a reunion with a bunch of cool people all at the same time?!  Yes, please!!  But then again, what kind of YOLOer would I be if I said no??  Pretty pumped about that coming in my future!

So there you go.  Short, sweet, and to the point.  It's been real.  It's been fun.  But now I'm off to get back to my busy life.  I start giving campus tours at UNA on Monday, then back home for next weekend, then back at UNA for ResLife training, then LaGrange Society Retreat, then the school year begins.  So, obviously, still have a bunch of stuff to do; let's get to it!  Oh, and don't worry... I'll try to save some spare time for YOLO in my life. ;)

PS: Team Worm won best video.  What did I tell you?  Worm-Lovin-Marine-Biologist right here. Go Vermiforms!!  So maybe I still don't love worms, but you could say that I've gained a little respect for them... only the marine kind though.  Look at those winners!!

If you'd like to see our super cool video: 
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10201462909392448

Nothing like a shark nudge to get you motivated!

So this week was pretty exciting, guys.  Definitely several blog-worthy occurrences, and you know it's a good week when that happens... fewer roach stories and more sharks involved. Whoops! Spoiler Alert!

But first: Our dissection this week was arthropods (i.e. crabs, lobsters, etc), and the super cool part was the Blue Crab dissection.  My group caught a huge blue crab in our trawl last week, so we got to dissect our own catch, which was awesome!  Our speciman was at least 2x the blue crabs our classmates were using, so we got to see everything really well.  And it was a live dissection so that we could see the functions of the organs.  Wesley discovered that the crab can shoot what looks like water (and definitely isn't) about two feet away.  To say this in a nice way... he got marked as territory before the dissection started. But hey, it's all for science!

Group Project Update:  Team Worm is still going strong, and our video is even stronger.  After filming for a day and editing for two days, it is complete.  And it's the best video on worms ever.  Seriously, Team Worm is also Team Awesome and Team Winning because our awesome video will be winning at the competition next week.  When the class is over, I will post the video for all of you.  I know you're all on the edge of your seats, dying to see it!  You only have a week longer to wait!

Beach Update:  So I haven't been to the beach for a while with all this studying and junk.  That has changed this week.  I spend half of Tuesday and all of Wednesday on the beach.  I love beach days!  They are absolutely glorious!  Including the beautiful red skin that I've acquired. But Wednesday was especially exciting...  [Enter sharks]

Anna, Hannah, Angela, and I went to the beach in the morning.  Sun shining, waves glistening.  It was perfect. We grabbed the best spot on the beach and proceeded to enjoy our relaxing tanning time. A couple fishermen also joined us.  One on either side of our perfect spot.  And then a kayak went out in the water fishing.  And then a shrimp boat went by, obviously fishing.  So our perfect spot was surrounded by all of the fishermen that exist on this tiny island.  But no worries, there's plenty of ocean for us.  We can swim and still be a safe distance from their hooks.  So when it was about time to get in the water (because it gets so flippin hot!), we go swim out to the sandbar.  Felt a few fish swim around us... a couple more...or were they the same...or were they fish...pretty sure that was not scaley...pretty sure that was fleshy...and it had a large dorsal fin... oh, look lots of bubbles...the swimming thing is eating...eating a lot... So we're smart future marine biologists and can put all of this together.  We're swimming with sharks.  Cool.  I mean, it really was cool.  But there's this whole thing about being eaten by them that made us want to leave.  We were definitely in their space, near their food (thank you, fishermen), and they were obviously hungry.  So we calmly swam away, looked from the shore, and saw that there were at least three 4-ft-long lemon sharks where we were just swimming.  Word to the wise (or just those who don't like swimming with sharks), don't swim in the middle of a bunch of fishermen.  That was my second encounter with sharks in the wild- Nice!
And then we see 6 dolphins following the shrimp boat- Yes, we see that pretty frequently, but it is still really cool every time.  Then a remora came to us up by the shore.  These guys are really cool!  They have suction-cup-like-things on their heads.  Seriously, if you don't know what I'm talking about, go Google it.  I was very impressed that we saw one so close to shore- a sure sign that sharks are around too, but we already discovered that one.
Then you know the drill: tanning, the sun is too hot, water.  And when we went in the water this time, we walked a ways down the beach so that we would be away from the fishermen and the sharks won't be near us.  Look at us smart kids, using our brains!  It's too bad that sharks are dumb and don't follow our thought process.  As soon as we swim out, I kick something...  It feels large and fleshy... "Guys, I just kicked a shark"... And Angela thinks I was just messing with her until... Buuuudumm buudumm budum badum badum. "Ahhhhhhh!!!"  The shark swims right under her, very close.  Close enough that the dorsal fin lifted her in the water ever so slightly. And that, my friends, is closer than anyone's comfort bubble allows.  She just got a piggy back from a lemon shark. Ummm, no thank you.  We all go swim for the hills, or the beach rather. Who knew we could swim so quickly?  And with rip tides... very impressive, if I do say so myself.  Nothing like a shark nudge to get you motivated!  When we got to the shore, we saw those lovely shark dorsal fins to prove that we weren't going crazy. And then dolphins come, right on que, to make us happy again and want to stay in the water.  But we weren't about to swim out again.  Being near hungry sharks twice in one day is enough for me!

Coming Soon:  My class is on the big trip to Port Saint Joe and St. Andrews on Thursday and Friday, but I cannot go because I will be at my dear friend's wedding.  Congratulations Katelyn and Todd!!  It's unfortunate that I'm missing the class trip, but my roommate, Anna, may or may not be writing a blog about the trip just so the world (aka the cool people that read my blog) can know how awesome it was.  I say "may or may not" because she really might or might not.  She was interested, but non-committal, so we shall see.  I, on the other hand, will be a dancing/ partying bridesmaid this weekend.  I'm sure something blog-worthy will happen there too, so get excited for another exciting weekend in Hailey's life recorded in the best blog ever (aka The Daily Hailey).

Turn Left

So it's been a while... And I'm sure you've all missed my oh-so-wise words this week, but I just haven't had too many crazy things going on recently.  I had my Midterm Exam on Friday, so I have been studying during all of my free time this week. Literally, all of my free time.  I even skipped a day at the beach to study... Hardest. Decision. Of. My. Life.  Oh, and the 4th of July... No fireworks for me.  I locked myself in my room memorizing all things invertebrates.  Why study like a crazy person, you ask?  Well, short answer: I'm Hailey Boeck.  More of an answer... On top of lecture notes and my lab drawings, I had a bajillion scientific names to memorize- Phylum Class Genus, and Species for each- all spelled correctly.  So, yeah, that took a bit of time. Though, the week wasn't a total bust. We did do a couple cool things in class!

Our dissection labs of the week were Worms and Mollusks.  So we got to cut open worms and identify parts.  Yes, I touched the dead worm in all it's 7 inch long wormy-ness.  Yes, I was very proud of myself.   And, no, I did not scrub all of the flesh off my hands when I was done.  I'd call that progress.  Progress towards my goal of hating worms less. 

We also went trawling on Independence Day! Trawling is dragging a net behind a boat and collecting species.  Being on a boat all day was really nice! ... After the first hour of hurl-fest, that is. I'm very happy that I don't get sea sick, but we were having some rough waves in the morning, and the boat was super rocky.  About half of the people on the boat were sick, including our professor.  But the collecting specimen part of the trip: very cool and less-sickly, which is always nice.  We collected shrimp, clams, muscles, squid, and a giant blue crab.  And we saw a HUGE leatherback turtle right next to our boat, which was awesome.

Since Exam day, it's been near non-stop raining here.  So because I can't have beach time, I decided to join the Doctor Who bandwagon.  And that has pretty much been my weekend.  But then yesterday, we wanted a break from Netflix and there was a short pause in the rain, so Anna, Hannah, and Angela and I decided to drive for a minute.  And then we decided it'd be a great time to visit the Indian Shell Mound on the island because we hadn't gone yet.

We made a bad decision.  We left the car, took the path, and not even 10 minutes later we got back to the car screaming. I know what you're thinking: Oh my goodness, what happened?! Well, let me tell you... man-eating creatures attacking us. Remember when I said that I hated bugs?  I still do.  And guess what, they still don't get it.  Bugs still love me. They think we're something that we're not  (You get cool points if you know what song I just referenced).  Anyways, these man-eating creatures are more commonly known as mosquitoes.  And I've decided that this shell mound (aka soggy, wet forest) is a breeding ground for them.  I have never had so many mosquito bites in such a short period of time.  And they bit me everywhere!  But most obviously, right in the middle of my forehead and another on the side of my forehead.  And they're huge.  And I'm going to be in a wedding on Friday.  So, obviously, I am trying every mosquito bite remedy in the book. Because if we're being honest, who wants to look at a two horned unicorn at a wedding? Oh, that's right... No one.  So why didn't we just leave? Why did we stay for the 10 torturous minutes that we did?  Well, we wanted to leave as soon as we entered, but this mound has about a million paths and we got lost.  We couldn't stop for directions because even if there were people to help, which there weren't, we were running through the forest to try to outrun the mosquitoes- which was in vain, by the way.  And there are no maps or signs or anything. But we decided to turn Right at all the forks and eventually we would get out, right?  We made a(nother) bad decision.  We always chose the right path to get to the wrong place.  Just like in Dr. Who, turn Left--You'll come out alive with fewer mosquito bites.  Just fyi, you'll thank me later.  But after running into every dead end, I finally turned left, saw the car and sprinted to it.  Running, screaming, and swatting my arms every which way to get rid of the mosquitoes.  I'm not sure if I was trying to scare them off, but I'm sure if a person saw me, they'd be terrified.  Really, my flailing was ridiculously out of control.  I'm sure this would have been very entertaining for all of you to watch, but unfortunately for you, I haven't gotten my own reality TV show yet. So the blog rendition of my life will have to do for now.

The Beast has Awakened

Quick life update followed by a tangent... Enjoy!

So I'm in Marine Invertebrate now, as you all know.  Very interesting class, but it is starting to be one difficult class.  This is a class that would normally be a whole semester (4 months), but it's squished to be a summer class (5 weeks).  But here at DISL, they recently shortened that 5 weeks to 4 weeks, which is what I'm taking now: a 4 month class squished into 4 weeks.  It's so information-y I'm gonna die!! So this Friday, I have a Midterm. Not excited.  But all the labs and field collections are still super fun!  This past Friday, Team Worm collected a bajillion species and we just finished keying them tonight, so that's exciting!  We got our species from Airport Marsh and the tidepool near the Public Beach.  We've also done lab dissections on coral, jellies, and worms.  But today we had a FOUR. HOUR. LECTURE. Straight through.  Because we had too much information, so we had to stay after class. For a whole extra hour.  I almost died. Four hours of sitting still in a dark room... Can't handle it, guys.  But when we were finally set free, we needed to reward ourselves for the torture we went through.  Especially because we have a midterm on Friday, so it's study week and too much lecture time.  We were going to get our normal milkshakes from the gas station, but then Coffee Beast was open.  [Commence Tangent.]

Listen, guys.  This is a big. freakin. deal.  BIG.  Coffee Beast and I go wayyyy back...  All the way back to my first week here.  Coffee Beast is a new coffee shop on the island aka increase of civilization on this island. You all know how I feel about civilization- it's glorious!  But when there's a lack of civilization, it's a rather depressing experience for me.  Well, this Coffee Beast place was supposed to have its Grand Opening on June 4th, my second Tuesday on the island.  Pretty cool.  I'll get to try this delicious coffee/ donut place.  On Monday, we drove by, noted the "Open on June 4th" sign, and planned our adventure there the next day.  Tuesday comes and the place isn't open.  But not only that, they changed their sign to "Open on June 11th."  So, it's a disappointment, but you know how construction is... Always takes longer than expected. So we just plan to return the next week.
The 11th comes around, anddddd they're closed.  Really?  Again?  And they didn't change the sign until the day-of. It's a good thing that there's nothing better to do on this secluded island then wait around for this coffee shop to open.  If there was, I'd be about as bitter as the coffee they haven't served yet.  So the sign now says "Open on June 18th."
Go on 18th, closed, sign says "Open June 24th."  Is this a trick?  Is this place ever opening?  Or are they just doing this to see how many people they can see drive through the parking lot with disappointment?  Because it was at least 4 people that were heartbroken on June 18th.  Add that to your count, Mr. Never-going-to-open.  But we're going on the 24th and they WILL BE OPEN. We're determined that they will be done.  So there.
Along comes June 24th, the day of truth. Are they open??  NO.  AND the sign says... "Open on July 24th." JULYYYYYY!!  What the what?!  That's not okay, guys.  I have been wasting my time every week to go to your supposedly "Grand Opening" and I won't even be there when it actually happens!  ... if it ever does.  But I'm bitter now. As bitter as the coffee they will never serve! And we decide we will NEVER EVER EVER go there.  Not even next summer when we come, whether they're open or not.  They won't get our business. We refuse!  They have disappointed us one time too many!!
Well, they opened today.  July 1st.  The FIRST!! What?!  So what do we do?  Stay strong with our "never going there ever" attitude??  No.  We freak out with excitement , turn the car around at the next possible U turn and swerve into the parking lot.  And we're all like... "YAYYYYYY COFFEEEEEEE AND DONUTS!!!!!"  We forgive and forget like nobody's business.  And then we raved about our delicious snacks, the awesome atmosphere of the new shop, and left saying that WE LOVEEEE IT!! And I'm okay with it.  We just witnessed a miracle. The Beast has awakened.  It's open.  Finally.  And we're way too over enthusiastic about everything in life, so why should this Grand Opening be any different?

And now that we have our sugar/caffeine highs, we're going through a 24 page Study Guide together.  You'd think it'd be silent note card-writing, fierce page-flipping, and maybe a couple soft tears of anxiety.  You'd never expect to hear so much laughing and outbursts and excitement over studying the differences of locomotion/ anatomy/ function/ characteristics/ etc among all Invert Phylums.  But we make our studying way too fun.  I mean, pedal pads relate to Spongebob and are a hilarious subject to discuss, just FYI.  Oh, and you can make a sound effect or re-write a song for absolutely anything.  Just try us- we got this.  Marine Bio Nerd Probs.  Anyways, off to study some more- song, dance, and all!