Sunday, July 7, 2013

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.

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