Reporting from Dive Into Your Imagination

I'm visiting the Dive Into Your Imagination crew today and it's good to be back!  As soon as the ocean appeared on the side of the 101 freeway I felt renewed and happy.

Dive Into Your Imagination has been doing some awesome stuff... Annie is one of the few people who have seen the garbage patch in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.  All of the videos they have been creating and putting out are completely amazing and informative.

It's really strange for me to go from a super eco-friendly place like Santa Barbara, to Palmdale where it seems like the information isn't reaching.  My house is full of plastic water bottles, plastic silverware... tons of single use plastic.  I go to the grocery store and see people buying packages upon packages of plastic water bottles... and I don't know what to do about it.  It's not like people that live further from the coast refuse to reduce their use of plastic... they just don't know anything about it!

One of the biggest environmental issues today is one of the least known about... Fish populations are in a huge decline and we are stealing tons of fish from countries that rely on it.  This means people in Africa who rely on fish for their livelihood barely catch anything.  We are driving poverty in so many nations.  We are destroying an ecosystem that makes up 70% of our planet and gives us 50-90% of our oxygen!!!  How is this issue the least paid attention to in this green eco-movement?

How do we reach people that don't already love the ocean and get them to want to protect it? How do we get people to understand that no matter how far away from the ocean you live, you still live in a watershed that will eventually reach the ocean... and in the short-term that watershed, which is our drinking water, is becoming polluted with harmful runoff, plastic, and other debris?

The problem is just so intimidating, and I sometimes feel little hope- look at the rainforests... ever since we were kids we heard about saving trees, not using as much paper.. but rainforests are still being destroyed for our use and for agriculture, which leaves the soil uninhabitable after the crops are harvested.  What hope is there for the ocean when nothing has been done about issues we've been hearing about for years and years?

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Having anxieties but moving forward.

Why is it that when I find jobs to apply to, I get nervous about it and put it off?  I think the whole process just intimidates me... I feel like I'm not good enough, not smart enough, not friendly enough... but that's not true.  I have so many qualifications and I always interview really well... I think I've always had fun interviews.  Lots of laughing.  That's good right?

The hard part about some of the jobs is they want all this extensive and specific experience... but how am I supposed to get that experience if everyone requires it?  I have a LOT of general experience, but not a broad range of specific experience.

I just need to be confident in myself. I can do it!

The job search continues...

As I continue to entertain my boyfriend as a guest, I am working on applying to two more jobs.   One as a Cheetah Keeper at a zoo in Oregon, and another as an education mentor for the animal care team at another zoo.  I figure if I put out 100 job applications.. I have to at least hear back from one... right?

It's just so frustrating continually applying and filling out a new, long online application for each job when I don't even get an interview.  I'm starting to wonder if I'm missing some error in my resume or something.  I just have to keep telling myself that while I'm finding a lot of jobs that I am qualified for (as I have worked at a zoo/aquarium for a combined 2 years, which most of them want), there are a lot of people without jobs.  This means that there are people that are quite overqualified applying.. and as soon as they apply my resume is gonna get thrown out.

Good things come to those who wait, right?

In the mean time I'm continuing to post photo albums and articles on http://www.DiveIntoYourImagination.com and our facebook page, which I made myself... mostly with pure html coding.  I am going to be starting a twitter and facebook page for http://www.euroscrub.com... links to be posted when they are done.

Can't wait to get paid at the end of the month... me and my boyfriend are going to nice restaurants and eating me out of house and home!

The Adventures of a Marine Biology Graduate

Hey all,

Though I know that no one is reading now, I know that people will read in the future... I have to start somewhere, right?

The purpose of this blog is to provide insight into the plights of a young girl (me, of course) as she attempts to fulfill her dream in the field of aquatic biology.

What is Aquatic Biology, you ask?  Most of the time, we hear about marine biology, but never aquatic.  Well here's the secret... the only difference is that my degree includes freshwater.  I would be perfectly happy standing in the middle of a stream sampling it, as I have done before.  Let's see if I can find that picture.....

Yep, that's me in the jeans.  That was for my super intense Aquatic Communities class.  Gave me some really great experience, but I'm not sure if the jobs I'm applying to realize that.

We wrote a scientific journal-style paper once a week.  Usually about 10 pages each.  My final one was nearly 30 pages.  On top of all the writing, we of course had to get the findings.  This included going out to streams all over Santa Barbara, taking measurements and collecting samples, then going back to the lab to analyze everything.  Definitely one of the most intense classes I've taken, but also the most rewarding for sure.

If anyone knows where I can find a job doing that, let me know ;-)