BioBlitz 2008
As soon as I heard about the Biodiversity Blitz (BioBlitz) at SFU, I wanted to volunteer. I didn't count on being so ridiculously tired yesterday. The whole idea was this: find and identify as many species on Burnaby Mountain as possible in 24 hours. The identification part is the really tricky bit.
Yesterday I had classes in the morning, so I was up there for a bit. I finally felt motivated to do some homework (I'd been struggling for about a week to feel motivated). So I did some of that up there. I also met briefly with my Co-op supervisor to lend him a book that says how to make a caterpillar cake, because his daughter requested that for her birthday and he had no idea where to start. He tried talking her into an ice cream cake, but she doesn't like them. So, I dropped that off and ran into another Co-op supervisor. She had just been talking to my chem prof (from last year) and he'd been talking about me and the photograph that I gave him, that he has in his office. He was my reference for my Co-op job, so I gave him a framed photo of the amazing view of Vancouver from where I was working. Once it hit me that she'd spoken with him, ergo he must be on campus, I dropped in to say hi. We went for coffee and talked about some of the disappointing things about university and the difficulties of teaching. He was really upset that the university doesn't even expect the professors to affect that many students, which is like saying that they don't really care if your education affects you or your life.
After that, I did some homework and went to a lecture and a tutorial. I headed to my parents after that to pick up my hiking boots. I hung out a bit with my dad, and brought a copy of The Peak (since I had photos in it this week). I told him about how my day had been (really good!) and then I realized something. A lot of the things I am doing right now are really cool. I am learning sign language. I am learning all kinds of neat things at school. I am having a blast with photography. I get to dance and joke around with one of my best friends. There are a lot of things I wish I did better, but I am doing a pretty good job of balancing things and enjoying myself. I think he was really happy to hear about it, because I often tell him when things aren't going so great, to help give me perspective on things. So, it was good to share that with him. I've been able to spend quite a bit of time with my parents lately, and there have been a few moments when I've realized just how proud they are of me, and it's been really good to be able to see that on their faces.
We went to pick up some groceries, and my bus showed up right as I got to the bus stop afterward. When I got home I was pretty tired but anxious to get things together for the evening. I rested for a while, then got up and ate something. I felt a lot better, and headed back up to SFU for the beginning of the BioBlitz. It started at 7 pm.
I ended up walking around with Dr. Elle and my animal physio prof from last summer. We introduced ourselves (by first names), and I told him that he had been my prof. After a minute or so, he said my last name. I was pretty impressed that he actually remembered me, even though I probably followed him about asking questions for an hour or so at some point. "You did pretty well in that course?" he half-asked, half-stated, as if he was pretty sure he was remembering correctly. "Uh... yeah," I replied, feeling no need to be modest. I worked my ass off in that class!
We walked around and Dr. Elle helped us identify some plants. We did pretty well. I remembered some stuff from my first year biology nature walk, and my animal physio prof knew some other stuff. We caught some bugs too, and brought some samples back to the lab. It was mainly walking around the edges of campus by the woods. Back at the lab, I identified the two types of horsetail (common and giant). It wasn't as if it was hard to do, but someone needs to record it for us to be able to count the species. There was also a species of Starflower that I identified. It was good to feel a tiny bit useful!
I didn't get home until 11 pm, and was in bed by midnight. But I got distracted with a book I was almost finished reading, and was awake a bit longer.
Getting up this morning was hard, and I ended up sleeping in more than I intended. As is, I was up at SFU for 12 hours, so going any earlier would not have been that fabulous. I went with someone to set up bee traps and she taught me a bit about bees, so now I know which ones I can catch because the males don't sting! And now I know which ones are male for certain species. I got some adorable bee photos, like a male and female collecting pollen beside each other (how much cuter can you get? they are like kittens, they are so cute!).
I also went on a walk with some people, and we found a frog that looked really cool. I also found a dragonfly. It had just come out of the chrysalis stage, and was having trouble filling its wings with hemolymph (dragonfly blood). It was actually leaking hemolymph (which was green), and was having a lot of troubles. We brought it back to the lab in a jar to see if we'd be able to identify it before it died. But unfortunately it takes a couple days for them to change to their adult color, so we weren't able to. It had actually changed color by the end of the day.
I spent a while at the booth we had for the Open House. It was cool because I got to talk to lots of kids, and there were a few of them who really responded to the individual attention. There was one girl who I could tell really wanted to say something but wasn't quite relaxed. But it was really great once she started talking and seemed to be really happy that I was listening to her. There were actually quite a few people who seemed sincerely interested in what we were talking about, which is always good. It reminded me of what I did when I was volunteering at the aquarium, so it wasn't awkward or uncomfortable. But if I had to do something like that when I was in first year, I would have been terrified.
I also took photos at the Open House around campus, and was very envious of kids with cool painted faces. It makes me want to randomly paint designs on my face before I go out some days. Pretty things like flowers and rainbows. After that I went to eat something because I was feeling tired. I had a panini and some chai, and it was awesome. And free! Then I went back to the lab, and pretty well just hung out there until 7 pm (when the BioBlitz ended). In the lab, the mycologists were having a blast, supplementing their insults with dialogue from South Park. I got to see some cool mosses, liverworts and lichens. There were also some mushrooms and slime molds, but I don't really know much about those, so I don't find them as interesting.
We finished with 501 species. We had to put down the dragonfly that I found to put it out of its suffering (I cried about it later on the bus home). Then we drank tequila and talked about biology for a bit. I left around 8:45 pm, and waited around for a bus. The sunset was awesome, and I got some really good shots once I was down at Production Way. Then I caught a bus home, and it began to rain when I was thirty seconds from my door. That sudden kind of spring rain that gives you a sudden burst of energy and part of you instinctively does not want to get wet, and part of you just wants to run around it in and spin in circles.
I am giving up on sorting through my 500 photos tonight, and instead I am just going to bed. I think that is an awesome plan because I am exhausted in that way I won't feel until I put my head down on a pillow and am suddenly dead to the world for quite a while.
Yesterday I had classes in the morning, so I was up there for a bit. I finally felt motivated to do some homework (I'd been struggling for about a week to feel motivated). So I did some of that up there. I also met briefly with my Co-op supervisor to lend him a book that says how to make a caterpillar cake, because his daughter requested that for her birthday and he had no idea where to start. He tried talking her into an ice cream cake, but she doesn't like them. So, I dropped that off and ran into another Co-op supervisor. She had just been talking to my chem prof (from last year) and he'd been talking about me and the photograph that I gave him, that he has in his office. He was my reference for my Co-op job, so I gave him a framed photo of the amazing view of Vancouver from where I was working. Once it hit me that she'd spoken with him, ergo he must be on campus, I dropped in to say hi. We went for coffee and talked about some of the disappointing things about university and the difficulties of teaching. He was really upset that the university doesn't even expect the professors to affect that many students, which is like saying that they don't really care if your education affects you or your life.
After that, I did some homework and went to a lecture and a tutorial. I headed to my parents after that to pick up my hiking boots. I hung out a bit with my dad, and brought a copy of The Peak (since I had photos in it this week). I told him about how my day had been (really good!) and then I realized something. A lot of the things I am doing right now are really cool. I am learning sign language. I am learning all kinds of neat things at school. I am having a blast with photography. I get to dance and joke around with one of my best friends. There are a lot of things I wish I did better, but I am doing a pretty good job of balancing things and enjoying myself. I think he was really happy to hear about it, because I often tell him when things aren't going so great, to help give me perspective on things. So, it was good to share that with him. I've been able to spend quite a bit of time with my parents lately, and there have been a few moments when I've realized just how proud they are of me, and it's been really good to be able to see that on their faces.
We went to pick up some groceries, and my bus showed up right as I got to the bus stop afterward. When I got home I was pretty tired but anxious to get things together for the evening. I rested for a while, then got up and ate something. I felt a lot better, and headed back up to SFU for the beginning of the BioBlitz. It started at 7 pm.
I ended up walking around with Dr. Elle and my animal physio prof from last summer. We introduced ourselves (by first names), and I told him that he had been my prof. After a minute or so, he said my last name. I was pretty impressed that he actually remembered me, even though I probably followed him about asking questions for an hour or so at some point. "You did pretty well in that course?" he half-asked, half-stated, as if he was pretty sure he was remembering correctly. "Uh... yeah," I replied, feeling no need to be modest. I worked my ass off in that class!
We walked around and Dr. Elle helped us identify some plants. We did pretty well. I remembered some stuff from my first year biology nature walk, and my animal physio prof knew some other stuff. We caught some bugs too, and brought some samples back to the lab. It was mainly walking around the edges of campus by the woods. Back at the lab, I identified the two types of horsetail (common and giant). It wasn't as if it was hard to do, but someone needs to record it for us to be able to count the species. There was also a species of Starflower that I identified. It was good to feel a tiny bit useful!
I didn't get home until 11 pm, and was in bed by midnight. But I got distracted with a book I was almost finished reading, and was awake a bit longer.
Getting up this morning was hard, and I ended up sleeping in more than I intended. As is, I was up at SFU for 12 hours, so going any earlier would not have been that fabulous. I went with someone to set up bee traps and she taught me a bit about bees, so now I know which ones I can catch because the males don't sting! And now I know which ones are male for certain species. I got some adorable bee photos, like a male and female collecting pollen beside each other (how much cuter can you get? they are like kittens, they are so cute!).
I also went on a walk with some people, and we found a frog that looked really cool. I also found a dragonfly. It had just come out of the chrysalis stage, and was having trouble filling its wings with hemolymph (dragonfly blood). It was actually leaking hemolymph (which was green), and was having a lot of troubles. We brought it back to the lab in a jar to see if we'd be able to identify it before it died. But unfortunately it takes a couple days for them to change to their adult color, so we weren't able to. It had actually changed color by the end of the day.
I spent a while at the booth we had for the Open House. It was cool because I got to talk to lots of kids, and there were a few of them who really responded to the individual attention. There was one girl who I could tell really wanted to say something but wasn't quite relaxed. But it was really great once she started talking and seemed to be really happy that I was listening to her. There were actually quite a few people who seemed sincerely interested in what we were talking about, which is always good. It reminded me of what I did when I was volunteering at the aquarium, so it wasn't awkward or uncomfortable. But if I had to do something like that when I was in first year, I would have been terrified.
I also took photos at the Open House around campus, and was very envious of kids with cool painted faces. It makes me want to randomly paint designs on my face before I go out some days. Pretty things like flowers and rainbows. After that I went to eat something because I was feeling tired. I had a panini and some chai, and it was awesome. And free! Then I went back to the lab, and pretty well just hung out there until 7 pm (when the BioBlitz ended). In the lab, the mycologists were having a blast, supplementing their insults with dialogue from South Park. I got to see some cool mosses, liverworts and lichens. There were also some mushrooms and slime molds, but I don't really know much about those, so I don't find them as interesting.
We finished with 501 species. We had to put down the dragonfly that I found to put it out of its suffering (I cried about it later on the bus home). Then we drank tequila and talked about biology for a bit. I left around 8:45 pm, and waited around for a bus. The sunset was awesome, and I got some really good shots once I was down at Production Way. Then I caught a bus home, and it began to rain when I was thirty seconds from my door. That sudden kind of spring rain that gives you a sudden burst of energy and part of you instinctively does not want to get wet, and part of you just wants to run around it in and spin in circles.
I am giving up on sorting through my 500 photos tonight, and instead I am just going to bed. I think that is an awesome plan because I am exhausted in that way I won't feel until I put my head down on a pillow and am suddenly dead to the world for quite a while.