9:29 AM Well, I still have yet to fix the issues that abound with my site, but feel the need to update on my going ons.

1. I'm most importantly still alive.
2. I took the GRE, and did alright on it.
3. I'm applying to grad schools this month! AGH!

Those are really the only important things I have been up to.

I've been rather uninspired to write about my life as of late, but maybe when interesting things start happening, I'll be more chatty.

Until then,

Jen

11:25 PM That's what I get for trial and error CSS. I'm such an amateur. Jeez. There's apparently a lot more kinks with the site than I first thought. Might be putting the old site back up until I can figure out what the heck I did to this new one to make it so ungood and so discombobulated. (yes, I used the word discombobulated in a sentence)

The non-working links and random lists that aren't supposed to be there are driving me crazy.

blah.

6:14 PM As you can see, I have decided that my blog needed an overhaul. Typically I reserve such drastic changes for my 'new year, new blog' post in January, but I'm at a point at which I feel it's appropriate for a makeover.

Comments are currently disabled, but will be placed back eventually.

9:51 AM Today marks the start of my eighth week of unemployment. While it's really awesome to not have to work, it's really getting to the point where I'm pretty much flat broke. That's not so awesome.

I've got a job lined up though--I start Thursday. So once again I'll feel like I'm a contributing member to society. I have felt so completely useless lately. It's time to work.

10:24 AM So it has certainly been an interesting couple of months. August was certainly not my finest by any stretch of the imagination.

I am officially unemployed--I was let go from my position, and it forced me to really look at my life and what I've been doing with it. It's a tough thing to go through, so you guys have to understand that's why I've been M.I.A. for quite a while. Sometimes you just need to disappear, and that's exactly what I did.

I'm unfortunately still without job, but at least I think I've developed a much healthier perspective on things. I was so distraught and disgusted with how everything went down, that for a short while I entertained the notion of getting out of geology completely.

Then I came to my senses. I obviously got into the field for a reason, and I shouldn't let one bad bump in the road knock me off course completely. I just know that there are components of geology that I decidedly dislike, and I know that I should not apply for jobs doing those things. I also had some breakthrough last week talking to my old boss. He's pretty much the reason I am even thinking about geology again. I believe that the next step is for me to head back to school. I've started gathering up info and am now readying to take the GRE. I'm nervous about going back, but I've come to realize that jobs are a lot easier to come by and better paying if you have that second piece of paper, and it will be worth it in the end.

6:51 PM Sometimes you just get into a funk. Mine's not necessarily triggered by any one thing, but it's more of a gut feeling deep inside that started as a small ache and has slowly begun to resonate and reverberate throughout my entire body. It's swelled and swelled until finally cannot ignore it for any longer. It then completely takes you over and you have no choice but to surrender yourself to it. It's no small thing. I'm not saying I'm depressed, because that's hardly the case by any measure, but I have a deep seated yearning for something more that I haven't found. And it's driving me crazy.

I feel like I'm not living the life that was intended for me. Everyday that becomes more painfully clear. What I'm doing, how I'm doing it, it just doesn't feel right. It's not that I'm unhappy, but each day that passes makes me realize that it's time for a change, and soon. Lately it's become glaringly obvious that I don't need to do what I'm doing for the rest of my life. It feels almost silly to say, but I'm destined for greater. Maybe not greatness, but definitely something greater.

5:10 AM I shit you not.

(In case you don't believe me.)

Ok. So my blogging has fallen by the wayside, but can I be blamed? I'm in one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen in my entire life...so one could argue that I shouldn't be blogging at all.

But nevertheless, here are some pictures for now. I'll try to write a more in-depth account of my adventures when I get the time, but for now it's off to bed for me--tomorrow I surf!







7:38 PM
After over a two hour delay and a 9.5 hour flight, I have finally reached my destination: Honolulu. It's beautiful here and I wish all you were here to enjoy it with me! I have a feeling I'm not going to want to leave...

After all...they do have lots of geology here...

12:43 AM In less than 48 hours I will be on a plane flying to Honolulu.

I can't believe that day is already so rapidly approaching.

10:20 PM My life for the past couple weeks in photo essay...

Labels: snapshots

4:57 AM Oh yeah, and I had a dentist appointment today.

I'm happy to report that not only do I STILL not have any cavities (~24 years and counting!), I also got laughing gas during my cleaning (which was AWESOME), and an A+ for my teeth being so great. Just thought I'd share.

In the event that you're curious as to why I got the gas for my cleaning, it's apparently a standard item that my dentist offers--along with televisions in the ceiling, and massaging chairs. My new dentist RULES.

Labels: grillz

4:26 AM My last overnight shift is finally over with, and I’m glad that it’s now Memorial Day weekend. I can hopefully get back onto some semblance of a routine, and for that I am thankful. It was nice to not have to wake up early, but my weird schedule and sleep patterns would not allow me to be productive at all before I went into work each day. So now I am free to start getting back into working out regularly and resuming my dance classes that I put on hold for the past month or so.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I went to see Bright Eyes and Gillian Welch this past weekend. The show was phenomenal. I went with a new friend that I made last week, and met some of her friends as well--it’s always nice to meet new people, especially ones that share not only similar interests but musical tastes as well. Unfortunately we ran a little late (surprise, surprise), and we got to the show as Gillian’s set was already underway. I really wish that we could have seen her whole show. She really is an extremely talented musician. I can't really even begin to describe how amazingly talented her partner Dave Rawlings is as well. He completely blew me away with his beautiful guitar playing and sweet harmonies he provided to Gillian’s strong and slightly southern twanged vocals. If you ever get a chance to see her and Dave live, go. You will not be disappointed.

Bright Eyes was of course amazing as well, playing most of the songs that I had hoped he would, plus a couple unexpected tracks. He played several songs off of his new album Cassadaga, and quite a few of his older tracks as well. I was thrilled when he play The Calendar Hung Itself, which is an intensely emotional track that he wrote when he was a young teen. His lyrics for this song are particularly moving and show his vulnerability and passion. It’s personally one of my favorite songs that he’s written and I was ecstatic to hear it performed live.

The show was held at the Fox Theatre. If you’ve never been there for a concert, it’s an absolute must. The acoustics are wonderful and provide a rich resonance for every note. Gillian and Dave even made a comment on how much they enjoyed playing there. They jokingly likened the acoustics to singing in the shower, and hoped that we heard what they heard and that it wasn’t really like a shower because when that’s the case you usually think you sound better than you actually do. Ha. I can assure you this was not the case for either of them. They ended their set with a mind blowing rendition of Jefferson Airplane’s White Rabbit and it was followed by thunderous applause and a standing ovation. I got goosebumps because it was so well done. Trust me, you NEED to see them in concert. Period. Have I sold you on it yet? ;)

Since this has become a rather music-centric post, I’ll go ahead and take the liberty of mentioning that I just downloaded the new Great Lake Swimmers’ album titled Ongiara. If I haven’t mentioned them before, I will now. They are simply amazing. They’re an up and coming band from Canada who play hauntingly beautiful indie rock. The lead singer Tony Dekker, has an airy melancholy voice that definitely sticks with you. While the songs are for the most part very slow, there's something about them that’s exciting and really strikes a chord in you (no pun intended). The lyrics are well-written and the songs provide a breezy ambiance that's perfect for days when you really just need something to chill out with. And in case you were wondering, the title from my previous post was taken from one of their songs:

Imaginary Bars
By Great Lake Swimmers

When the sun fell down and fell asleep
Drunk from drinking all the heat
Made a splash onto the sky
The stars stayed up til morning [repeat]

I was in a prison with imaginary bars
I was riding shotgun in imaginary cars
One was made of wind twisting through an iron mouth
One was made of trees with no keys to shimmy out

When the sun fell down and fell asleep
Drunk from drinking all the heat
Made a splash onto the sky
The stars stayed up til morning [repeat]

Labels: ear candy

11:30 AM This whole mess with the flip-flopped schedule thing has completely ruined any sort of sleep pattern I had previously established. I'm waking up at 11am, to go to work at 3pm, to come home at 3am, to go to bed at 4am. I do have to say that I like it though. It's nice not having to go into the office--or be up early for that matter. I like to stay up late, but seldom do merely because I know I'll be dragging come noon. This affords me the opportunity to do so.

Oh. You probably have no idea what "this" is. You do know though. It's that pumping test that I was talking about when I saw that sign for "Ocean Views!". Since I'm the youngest and most unattached person working on the project, I am scheduled to work the so-called graveyard shift of the test. My other two co-workers are married and one of them has a kid, so I figured that it'd be easier for me to work crazy hours rather than having one of them work graveyard and risk divorce. So I basically sit around in the geophysics van all night and take water level measurements in all the wells and make sure that the pumping rate stays constant with our pump that were using. Pretty easy.

And it's nice this way. I can get caught up on other stuff that I've been working on, read books, and watch movies on my laptop since the geophysics van has a generator attached to it.

But anyway, enough about work. I have to be there shortly, and so I'm gonna get some stuff done before I head out.

Labels: work

10:27 PM Ok. I just found my new pet.


From The Deep: The Extraordinary Creatures of the Abyss by Claire Nouvian
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute

And yes. It's real.

It's an octopus of the genus and species Grimpoteuthis plena, otherwise referred to as Dumbo octopuses. And yes, Dumbo, as in the flying elephant with the big ears.

Even the name is adorable.

Unfortunately I'll never get one because it's benthic and therefore lives at the bottom of the ocean. Oh, and it's pretty rare too, so that might also be a problem.

This little guy and his friends are featured in a new book titled The Deep: The Extraordinary Creatures of the Abyss (University of Chicago Press, 2007), by Claire Nouvian, a French journalist and film director. Her book was recently reviewed in a New York Times article found here.

1:57 PM So I officially feel like a complete letdown. I was supposed to be riding in the Tour de Cure today, but I slept right through my alarm and now it's impossible for me to make it there in time. I once again have not seen something through this year, and have let people down. Except this time it's especially bad because it's my company and my bosses and our vice president. I even told our vp last night that I would DEFINITELY be there at the race this morning. I'm ashamed and bummed.