Chirstmas list

What do I want for christmas? I will tell you:

-to see my sister, brother-in-law, and nieces
-read a book that has nothing to do with school
-play monopoly with my brother
-eat ham and potatoes
-sleep in (during the break not on the actual morning)
-watch White Christmas with my family while we all sing at the top of our lungs
-laugh until 1 in the morning
-to go sleding with my nephew and neices
-watch the snow fall
-sleep under the christmas tree
-read the christmas story with my husband
-TELL EVERYONE MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

I am drowning...but Anthony pulled me up!

So, the last weeks of school are always a bit crazy, as any college student past or present will tell you, but this semester seems different to me. I have two ten page scientific research papers to write in one week, a presentation on the seismic setting of Birch Creek Wyoming, a seismic map to complete, and a arcGIS project to do (along with various small projects things). Every time I sit down and look at my Utah Lake Paper for mineralogy I feel blank...totally blank. Last night, in order to avoid said paper I wrapped all the amazon packages we have gotten for Christmas so far, folded two loads of laundry, made the bed, and finished of by playing minesweeper. When Anthony got home at 9:20 or so my avoidance stress level was pretty much through the roof and I started crying. He calmed me down, like always, and made us a plan. I always feel better when he says "Here's what we do..." and then proceedes to take control. He was going to give me a blessing and get us food (salad from wendy's) while I wrote my schedule in my planner and wrote a seperate list of all the homework that I need to get done before the end of the semester (I just realized I forget "memorize 70 mineral s and their formulas" in my list). After he got home and we ate, he looked at my planner and list and proceeded to plan out my days while I finished making flash cards of minerals. Then we went over the flashcards. (It was so funny to hear him try and pronounce the minerals!) When we finally went to bed we were exhausted but I wasn't crying and he is my hero.

Kind of a long story to get to the point but I love that man!

Apparently I am boring

This on is for Bekah! Hmhmhmhm...

Since I last posted I have:

-turned 23 (which I realize isn't very exciting unless you have a husband like mine:)

-Passed my first Chemistry class with flying colors (although I sometimes thought I wouldn't even live through it)

-taken a really cooking class where I learned to make lots of YUMMY things like really good fried chicken and cherry tarts and apple pie and shortbread cookies and quiche...well you get the idea

-taken an ASL class! This is one of my favorite things to happen since April. I learned a TON!!

- Gone on a 2 week trip with my fellow geology students. This included mapping an area of little cottonwood canyon, visiting Bryce, Zion, and Capital Reef national parks, the Coral pink sanddunes, and various unnamed outcrops.

-started a new semester including Mineralogy, Geomorphology, and Geologic communications.

-gone to death valley with my geomorphology class.

- had my SECOND anniversary with the love of my life! We went to St. George and it was so fun.

Here are some pictures:

Ok, maybe a little boring for some people but I love my life and I hope this will appease Bekah somewhat. :P

Can a scientist be existential?

This post is in response to my little sisters post on Existentialism that can be found here

http://littleamyinabigworld.blogspot.com/2011/04/why-i-love-dostoeyevsky-and-suck-at.html

Are parabolic functions inherently meaningless in our lives? I used to be like Amy (who I love more than life and respect like crazy). I was going to major in music, humanities, or ancient middle eastern studies. I wanted to study meaning and people; existence if you will. Music, theater, and literature are beautiful and brilliant and I will always appreciate literature and art in my life. Singing, reading great books, and learning more about art will always be a part of me, but right now, I am a scientist and I have something to say.

This earth is the ultimate expression of meaning, it is God's art. I love Raphael but who is he to God? The understanding of science and math is beautiful and rich with meaning. It is the meaning. It is the reason that we can live and be, the reason we exist at all. God's great work of art is dynamic and awesome. Because it is not paint on canvass it takes years and patience to appreciate. Everything that we have learned about math and science from the time we are in first grade is building up to something, something beautiful and grand. It just takes a really long time to get there. The truth is that we won't ever get there completely in this life but we will have spent our time in pursuit of understanding ourselves. Every step we take towards that ultimate truth, no matter how small, is a step towards true beauty.

I am not saying that you are wrong Amy. I am saying that math and science aren't the ugly things that people think they are. They are subtle, beautiful, and meaningful. Math and science majors get a bad rap from music and humanities types and vis versa. I think that our disciplines are more alike than we know and we should appreciate what each has to offer. I know that you weren't saying that we shouldn't but I guess this was something that I felt like getting up and shouting about.

End of the world. I mean semester.

Are those two things any different? Sometimes I think not. Like now for instance. It is warm and lovely outside, my house needs cleaning (which I would love to be doing, I know I am weird), and I would rather by on vacation. BUT...I am sitting in a windowless computer lab writing a paper our the geologic history of an outcrop in Canada and hoping that today ends soon. It won't. I have D&C, Trigonometry, historical geology and physics with homework due in three of those classes. Will it end? Yes. Then Chemistry will start.

On the other hand, I am breathing and it is spring after all. I guess I can't stay to grumpy in spring.

GEOLOGY

This past weekend I decided that I want a master's degree in Geology. I really do! I don't know when or how but I want it. This amazing realization came standing on an exhumed meandering stream channel in the Morrison Formation with my Sedimentology class. We had to make as many observations as we could about the outcrop and then make an interpretation. We didn't know anything about it when we got out of the vans but by the time we got back into the vans we knew what this area had looked like 145 million years ago and where the dinosaurs came to get a drink. We are really good at putting puzzles together and it was really exciting. Two and a half more years for school is not so much to ask for that kind of satisfaction.

"Challenge of the day: use one word to describe Jimmer."

This is actually the sign that I saw today in the check out line at the BYU bookstore. I didn't have anything original and witty to say but it made me laugh non the less. I have officially caught the Jimmer bug and am feeling so nervous and excited about the game tonight that you would think that I am on the team. Problem is, I have a physics class tonight...it starts AT 5:30. I might argue with my teacher that when your school is in the sweet 16 for the fist time in who knows how many years and you are holding mandatory class with 200 students, you are not going to have their attention or understanding anyway; CANCEL CLASS! Good thing that I have my iPod and there is an internet conection in that room! Phew.