The Butterfly Effect
STICK INSECT RESEARCH!
They collect different species of stick insects, and see if detached populations are slowly becoming different species through genetic drift by observing mating and dietary preferences. Then they scan them and use Photoshop to calculate morphology between different groups (which I did not know Photoshop could do). And then they analyze the mitochondrial DNA to see how genetically similar the populations are.
Sweet sweet sweet. I'm not sure if how cool "collecting data" is going to get. I'd really like to play around with scanning and Photoshop, and also help with analyzing DNA, but I feel like I'll get stuck sticking the bugs into containers, waiting a few days, and then writing down which bugs mated with which bugs, and which type of leaf they ended up on after a few days. It's still super exciting though.
This is going to be a fun quarter. At the same time, omgosh, the effort it took to get to this point (if you count all the build up of being rejected by the raptor center, without which this probably would not have happened, which was caused by the freakout of looking at extremely full load of classes for the next few years) was pretty tiring. So much stressing. Taking initiatives is exhausting. I hope this was worth the effort.
I am 99.9999999% sure it will be.
Being in Integrated Studies > taking a mandatory honors seminar > boosting my total unit count by 2 > choosing to not take Communications because after adding that to all my classes and the seminar would boost me to 20 units > freaking out about being behind on my 4-year-plan > deciding I must do something this quarter to make up for that > applying for the raptor center > rejection > more determination to do something > stick insect research.
It's funny how one little thing triggers such a long chain of events. I can't say I'm glad certain things didn't work out, but it's interesting to know that without them, I probably wouldn't have ended up exactly at where I am right now. Life is a multi-variable function.
F(time, place, thoughts, past, situation) = Jessica.
I'm not going to say I wouldn't have it any other way, but this is definitely one of the many paths that leave me satisfied and happy with the way things turned out.
Something else to look forward to: Badminton Spring Open. Time to play singles; time to try hard and get owned. Time to play doubles; time to bond and get owned. (:
Train for badminton. Practice clarinet (concert at the Mondavi Center at the end of the year, holy cow). Dragonboat. Go clear advising hold. Figure out wtf is wrong with laptop. Take pictures of pretty places in Davis. Bike around Davis more. Do homework. Write poetry. Finish Posession. Do kick butt in classes. Be more sociable... so much to do, so little time!
They collect different species of stick insects, and see if detached populations are slowly becoming different species through genetic drift by observing mating and dietary preferences. Then they scan them and use Photoshop to calculate morphology between different groups (which I did not know Photoshop could do). And then they analyze the mitochondrial DNA to see how genetically similar the populations are.
Sweet sweet sweet. I'm not sure if how cool "collecting data" is going to get. I'd really like to play around with scanning and Photoshop, and also help with analyzing DNA, but I feel like I'll get stuck sticking the bugs into containers, waiting a few days, and then writing down which bugs mated with which bugs, and which type of leaf they ended up on after a few days. It's still super exciting though.
This is going to be a fun quarter. At the same time, omgosh, the effort it took to get to this point (if you count all the build up of being rejected by the raptor center, without which this probably would not have happened, which was caused by the freakout of looking at extremely full load of classes for the next few years) was pretty tiring. So much stressing. Taking initiatives is exhausting. I hope this was worth the effort.
I am 99.9999999% sure it will be.
Being in Integrated Studies > taking a mandatory honors seminar > boosting my total unit count by 2 > choosing to not take Communications because after adding that to all my classes and the seminar would boost me to 20 units > freaking out about being behind on my 4-year-plan > deciding I must do something this quarter to make up for that > applying for the raptor center > rejection > more determination to do something > stick insect research.
It's funny how one little thing triggers such a long chain of events. I can't say I'm glad certain things didn't work out, but it's interesting to know that without them, I probably wouldn't have ended up exactly at where I am right now. Life is a multi-variable function.
F(time, place, thoughts, past, situation) = Jessica.
I'm not going to say I wouldn't have it any other way, but this is definitely one of the many paths that leave me satisfied and happy with the way things turned out.
Something else to look forward to: Badminton Spring Open. Time to play singles; time to try hard and get owned. Time to play doubles; time to bond and get owned. (:
Train for badminton. Practice clarinet (concert at the Mondavi Center at the end of the year, holy cow). Dragonboat. Go clear advising hold. Figure out wtf is wrong with laptop. Take pictures of pretty places in Davis. Bike around Davis more. Do homework. Write poetry. Finish Posession. Do kick butt in classes. Be more sociable... so much to do, so little time!