Day 12 - How I found out about blogs and why I made one

I don't remember how I found out about blogs. I had a LiveJournal account in high school, and I got a Blogger account in high school as well. Several friends in college courses were required to keep a blog as part of an English assignment and needed comments, and it required I have an account, but I don't think I ever posted anything.

I first considered actually blogging was when I was first married. I don't remember the what or why, but I do remember the neighbors below us helped influence that decision. JP actually wanted a blog first, to help our family know what was going on in our lives. That didn't work out so well, neither of us posted very frequently. I started this blog when I was pregnant because I felt the urge to try the 365 day photo challenge, which I've previously mentioned. I continue to keep trying to blog because this is my way of saying I write in a journal. Yet, I'm still horrible at updating this. Hence this 30 day challenge to hopefully help me be better at posting frequently.

Day 11 - Another picture of "you and your friends" - or not.

So for Day 11 I was supposed to do a post with another picture of my friends and I. But I already told you people, I don't have friends, the loosely defined "friends" I have I don't hang out with, and if I did I wouldn't have a picture of it. But if you do want a picture of what I spend the most time with it would be this: 

Rough skinned Newt, Taricha granulosa

Actually I spend most of my time with thousands of larvae, and most of the larvae have some sort of deformity. I study (okay, technically I'm a research assistant, but there isn't a ton of difference) these little creatures in the lab I work in.

Two headed newt larvae. So sad, yet so neat.

These newts contain high amounts of tetrodotoxin which is 10x more toxic than potassium cyanide, which makes them one of the most toxic creatures in North America. Yeah, somehow saying that makes my job sound so much cooler than it really is. If you scare them they like to show off their bright orange color. Aren't they so cute, in a deadly sort of way? 

Unken reflex = don't eat me!

Day 10 - Songs I Listen to When I Am Happy, Sad, Bored, Hyped, Mad

When I'm happy I tend to turn on upbeat music, and generally it's country. Cowboy Casanove - Carrie Underwood, Looking for a Good Time - Lady Antebellum, some good old Journey and other classic rock is good too.

For the sad times, occasionally I'll wallow into the sad tunes, and there are more than plenty of songs that exist about not so happy themes. But usually I only indulge in them for a brief time, then I switch over to the happy songs. If I listen to happy songs long enough it'll help cheer me up. Actually any music long enough will cheer me up, so when I'm sad is when I'm the least picky. The soundtrack to Scarlet Pimpernel is always a good pick-me-up and transition from sad and wallowing to happy.

What I listen to when I'm bored is incredibly variable. Most of the times I just put iTunes on shuffle and listen to whatever pops up next.

When I'm hyped it's very similar to when I am happy. Upbeat tunes, good songs to sing along to or dance to. So I'll play the usual happy songs, and this is also when I tend to add in Lady Gaga, Shakira or Rihanna.

When I'm mad, well then the mad songs with angry lyrics or with loud beats. P!nk and Miranda Lambert are very good for these times. When I'm mad is when a lot of my rock songs get listened too, mixed together with the country, angry don't-take-no-crap-burn-his-house-down lyrics. But similar to when I'm sad I don't listen to these for incredibly long time. After a while I'll revert to shuffle and listen to whatever to help revert my mood.

If you're curious my library genres in order are: Country - 485 songs, Soundtracks & Musicals - 397 songs, Easy Listening (New Age, Josh Groban/Susan Boyle style stuff ) - 107 songs, Pop - 80 songs,  Gospel and Religious - 77 songs, Alternative & Punk - 74 songs, Holiday (restricted to December only) - 68 songs, Rock (including classic songs) - 50 songs Dance & Techno - 26 songs, R&B & Rap - 14 songs, and lastly Hip-Hop (all Black-Eyed Peas) 7 songs. So there you go, that breaks it down pretty well what I listen to.

Day 09 - Something I am proud of in the last few days

This really depends on your definition of "few." I submitted my AMCAS application, that is something I am extremely proud of, I worked hard to get to this point, and I worked very hard on my application, all 16 pages of it. But that was a little over a week ago, so I'm not sure that's recently enough to be considered a few days ago.

Well last Friday I stayed awake the whole night because the car was too uncomfortable to sleep in, and then I still drove 2-3 hours after breakfast while everybody else in the car was asleep. And I didn't get lost! That's pretty big for me, okay yes it was Montana but still. JP got lost, okay that was the fault of the GPS taking us some place different. But don't let any of that diminish my accomplishment, I managed to stay on the same highway and not get lost while driving for several hours on no sleep with no one else awake to assist me. I'm still proud of myself.

The past few days (see I'm actually getting to the post requirements now) I've gone on all these darn hikes my family has been dragging us too. Despite the fact that I am obviously the most out of shape person in this group and that I despise physical activity. But right now I'm just too exhausted and tired to be proud of this. For your information, the hikes were beautiful, I would post a photo but they aren't uploaded to the computer yet.

Day 08 - Short term goals for this month and why

Goal 1: Fill out and submit all Secondary Applications received within two weeks of receiving them. Why? Because I really want to go to medical school, and I need to set a deadline for myself so ensure that I don't procrastinate.

Goal 2: Work on potty training my daughter. They start potty training at daycare at age 2, so I want to have her familiar with it at home. Also, diapers are really expensive and I'd be happy to be done with them. The last reason is because she has a terrible rash that comes and goes, but is never really gone for good. The rash tend to be drastically better on the days she spends in underwear, so I'm hoping that potty training may actually get rid of this evil rash.

Goal 3: Don't kill my family. Why is this on my goals for this month? Because I will be spending an unusually high  amount of time with family this month. Over a week in Canada with my parents and siblings (where I currently am), another day or two with family for Gabrielle's birthday, around 3 days with my extended family for the family reunion, and who knows what else may come up. So almost half of the month will be spent with family, which can be stressful. (Yes, I still love them.)

Goal 4: Work on scrapbooking. Scrapbooking gets neglected during the school year, and it was neglected even more the past little while as I was preparing to apply to med school. So I am terribly behind, even more than normal, since you are always behind with scrapbooking. Plus I really enjoy scrapbooking and looking at the results. This leads to the next goal.

Goal 5: Get better at Photoshop. I'd previously used Digital Image Pro, but the program is really old and has some glitches. It's getting worse lately, for instance, it will no longer copy things, and occasionally it will turn photos into these ugly overexposed negatives giving everyone a skeletal demonic look, and sometimes it refuses to save things. As you can see, these can create some issues.

Goal 6: Finish my summer to-do list. I have a list of several small tasks that need to get done, but they've been neglected for once again that darn med school application process.

Goal 7: Actually work out regularly. I try so hard, but then things keep getting in the way. For instance, I'll have to work late, or JP will have to work late and I'll have to watch Gabrielle, then somebody will get sick and of course that creates issues, or I'll have something other obligation at night. Often my day is so cram packed that I have no chance to do anything until around 10 at night, and by then I'm exhausted and just want to sit.

Day 07 - A Picture of Someone that has the Biggest Impact on Me

I couldn't decide on whether JP or Gabrielle are more impactful to me. Both of them changed my life forever.  So completely. JP has always been by my side, there for me through everything, taught me the basics of living on my own (do you know if you smash the milk cartoons they take up less room in the recycling bin, I didn't at first). He has helped me and inspired me to grow and become a better person. Without him, I don't think I could have accomplished near as much as I have, and want to. Nor without him would I have the second gem of my life, Gabrielle.

About Gabrielle, well I became a mother, need I say anymore about how that changed my life? I learn more about myself everyday. I also tell myself that I need to be better everyday. But it's much more than that, so much more, and unfortunately I don't have the brain power right now to even try to describe what it's like. I can not fathom what life would be like without her, I can't even comprehend how I managed to live life before her. It was like I wasn't even really living life, I thought I knew what happiness, sorrow and love were before, but I really didn't. I didn't realize that my life was bland before I had a child, now my life is full of emotion, wonder, new insights everyday. I truly now have a reason for living and smiling everyday. When I get a smile from her it's such an amazing sense of fulfillment, the reason for being. And that's only a smile, let alone the hugs and kisses. On the same note, I don't think anyone else has the capacity of complicating my life near as much as her, or making me feel so awful as when I make her cry. Also, somehow having a child just mean potential to me. Through her eyes I see the potential of what I and JP can become. I am constantly amazed at the potential she has, what she can become, and what this world can be like if put in the right perspective.

Day 06 - Favorite Super Hero and Why

So I'm not really sure I have a favorite super hero, I've never been big into the whole super hero thing.

When I was younger I always thought Batman was pretty cool. He didn't have any super powers he just did it on his own, with what he had. However, the movie Dark Knight seriously creeped me out. And my very well versed in super heroes husband introduced me to Iron Man who is basically the same as Batman, rich playboy with no super powers saving the world, with a slightly less creepy demeanor.

I also liked Storm and Wonder Women when I was little. Girl Power and all that, but I don't really know all the much about either of them.

I thought about putting Wolverine. He's kinda cool, got the whole rugged, loner, bad boy that's actually good guy thing going on. Plus, I really liked the show, and Hugh Jackman's pretty good looking. But I can't really categorically state that he's my favorite.

My husband and aunt would probably try to persuade me in favor of Superman. After watching all of Lois and Clark (yeah, that was my Christmas Break) I'd have to say they have a pretty good point (Lois Lane is obnoxious though).

So throughout all this rambling I still don't know who is really my favorite. I'm going to leave it to a vote, whoever gets the most comments in his/her favor will be my "favorite", persons are also welcome to leave arguments for a super hero to try and get said super hero extra points.