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!