Unite!

I don’t know why, but the second I got on campus, I had one mindset: irritated.

I’m not sure why this was. Even though the bio trip took a lot of energy and I have a nice, slight limp, rash and pretty bad sunburn, I don’t think it was any of these things. Or maybe it was and I just didn’t realize…? But, still, I don’t think so. It might have been the rain or even that fact that my princess water bottle is missing. I really loved that thing ):

I was, for the most part, sharp-tongued and very short-tempered upon my return. I think it rings true that when you believe your day is going to be bad, then it probably will be. That’s how my day began. Thankfully I did what I usually do (if possible) when my mood has turned sour: I sleep. Sleeping can calm me down from any kind mood: excited, mad, irritated, etc. It’s like a cure-all for my moods. So, because of my mood/fatigue, I hit the hay and, 3.5 hours later, I awoke to a better mood.

My eyes/skin/rash still burned and my bottle was still missing (though I know where it went now), but I was in better spirits about it. Thank the Lord for sleep~

So, about the trip itself, I don’t really like blogging too much (because that would take some of the fun of the trip away) but I’ll post a few details:

- Jeremy never saw his shooting star. But, it is theorized, he will when receiving his “first kiss” - it will shoot down from the sky, landing near him. With his space rock, he will make a sword, engagement ring and paper weights for wedding guests. I only hope this comes to pass.

- Spile is a good twenty questions object. At least, it stumped 85% of the hikers on the way to the lake-y thing we hiked to. Poor Jeremy didn’t think this was fair, and maybe it wasn’t. Not even Ruth knew what it was. But! I forgot to tell him this, but next time he plays this game he, too, can impress with his knowledge.

- “Cellular respiration!” “Yaaaay!”

- There are no showers…

- I don’t have good shoes for hiking… at all. I fell at least six times, and almost fell/lost my footing about an additional ten times. I came away mostly unscathed, with only Ruth saying: “If only you had better shoes.”

- Even with good shoes, I haven’t been granted to the gift of grace. Who knew.

- We had to make small groups to make sure that no one was lost during our hike. Me, Jeremy, Ruth and Emily formed a group, naming it J-REC. We even had nature names: J = Thundering Dodo, R = Mountain Goat, E = Splendiferous Sparrow and C = Photosynthetic Cyanobacteria. When we breaked someone, namely me, would shout: "J-REC!" We would then come together and put out fists out while shouting our nature names. We'd then pull back our fists and declare, "UNITE!" Eventually a few professors caught on and started joining our group, as did a few students. Trend-setting. Ur doin' it right.

- The only time of the day I seemed to have phone service was in the back of the tent at four in the morning.

- It was freezing at night. I even busted out my towel to sleep with, not that it made much difference.

- My hiccups are gaining renown fast.

- I learned such phrases from Pam: “Doll”, “Heavens to Betsy!”, “It’s like herding cats!”, etc.

- Brian Hooker (new bio/nurse professor) snores like a freight train.

- According to Jeremy, who was staying in the tent of Larry Siemens, Life Extraordinaire, he awoke to Larry whispering: “You hear that? That’s a pygmy owl.”

- Jeremy understandably hates being called ‘Jer bear’, but Gangsta J Pimpy Foo Yee is fine by him.

- I feel for Ruth, having to had share a tent with me. I awoke early in the morning in search of my missing pillow. I’d been sleeping on something lumpy, a jacket maybe, so I began scouring for my pillow. Instead I grabbed Ruth’s head: “Oh, sorry about that Ruth. I though you were my pillow.”

- Emily lent me better socks. I think I left them rolled up in the sleeping back. Oops.

- I didn’t know I was sunburned until I returned to Simpson and saw myself in the mirror. Oh boy was I surprised.

- I was so desperate for clean hair Saturday night that I dumped really cold water on my head repeatedly. So. Worth. It.

- My eyes burn so bad. Soooo bad. I don’t know why. I’m probably missing a bunch of other things: like the beauty of the hikes, the camp fires, and the no-beavers… but you’ll probably hear those things from me regardless.

I IZ PINK AZ MAI STUFF!

Toodle Pip.