Best bits of one of the many songs I've been identifying with recently.. but this one hits the nail on the head:
I knew that I'd get like this again
That's why I try to keep at bay
Be a hundred percent when I'm with you and then
The perfect heart's length away
The stickler is you've played not one beat wrong
You never promised me anything
Even sat me down and warned me just how they fall
I knew the odds were I'd never win
Yet here I am
Well there may well be others but I still like to pretend
That I'm the one you really want to grow old with
Got a schedule to stick to, got a world to keep sweet
You're so much to everyone all the time
Will you ever slow down? Will I ever come first?
The universe contracts to sigh
You know you'll never be lonely, no you'll always be loved
And maybe you never need more than that
But for the surplus that loves, what's to become of us?
Does it even register on your conscience?
Long for one last showdown from a box in a crowd
Air compressed tight to explode
I'm clenching my ticket to the only way out
As you disappear in a puff of smoke
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
How to make a beautiful life.
I just had to post this.. this was in a card that my mom gave me for my birthday.. and I really needed to hear it. You should too. It's really nice.
Love yourself.
MAKE PEACE with who you are
and where you are
at this moment in time
Listen to your heart.
If you can't hear what it's saying
in this noisy world,
MAKE TIME for yourself.
Enjoy your own company.
Let your mind wander among the stars.
Try.
Take chances.
MAKE MISTAKES.
Life can be messy
and confusing at times,
but it's also full of surprises.
The next rock in your path might be a stepping-stone.
Be happy.
When you don't have what you want,
want what you have.
MAKE DO.
That's a well-kept secret of contentment.
There aren't any shortcuts to tomorrow.
You have to MAKE YOUR OWN WAY.
To know where you're going
is only part of it.
You need to know where you've been, too.
And if you ever get lost, don't worry.
The people who love you will find you.
Count on it.
Life isn't days and years.
It's what you do with time
and with all the goodness and grace
that's inside you.
MAKE A BEAUTIFUL LIFE...
The kind of life you deserve.
Love yourself.
MAKE PEACE with who you are
and where you are
at this moment in time
Listen to your heart.
If you can't hear what it's saying
in this noisy world,
MAKE TIME for yourself.
Enjoy your own company.
Let your mind wander among the stars.
Try.
Take chances.
MAKE MISTAKES.
Life can be messy
and confusing at times,
but it's also full of surprises.
The next rock in your path might be a stepping-stone.
Be happy.
When you don't have what you want,
want what you have.
MAKE DO.
That's a well-kept secret of contentment.
There aren't any shortcuts to tomorrow.
You have to MAKE YOUR OWN WAY.
To know where you're going
is only part of it.
You need to know where you've been, too.
And if you ever get lost, don't worry.
The people who love you will find you.
Count on it.
Life isn't days and years.
It's what you do with time
and with all the goodness and grace
that's inside you.
MAKE A BEAUTIFUL LIFE...
The kind of life you deserve.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Where does LA's trash go? Straight to the Ocean.
Yesterday at work I had to opportunity to go out on our little boat and go kelp collecting (Kelp is the food of many of our so-cal and northern animals... like abalone). This was my first look at the water that everyone had been telling me was of horrible water quality.
When I first applied to the aquarium, my friend Francis and I decided they had to be an open system because they sit right on the ocean. An open system at an Aquarium means they take their water straight out of the ocean, it cycles through the aquarium, then goes right back out. The Ty Warner Sea Center in Santa Barbara has this type of system.
Upon starting work, I quickly learned that this is not the case, because the LA River flows right into the ocean here. Since LA is possibly one of the most polluted areas in the country, this is bad news for our water systems. Annie Crawley from Dive Into Your Imagination always says "Everything we do on land affects the ocean." I think the people of LA really need to learn this lesson.
As I was out on that little boat for only a half hour, I saw so many disturbing things.
1. The water building up in the back of the harbor had all of this disgusting brown stuff floating around. Whether it was broken down debris, or waste from a boats ballast, I don't know but it can't be good for the water.
2. The water further out was quite murky. Granted productive waters like those in California are not going to be clear, but this was not the healthy kind of "murky."
3. Upon exiting the harbor, we saw a group of seagulls standing on a platform. One of them was eating a styrofoam cup. After shaking it around for a bit, it fell back in the water for another unsuspecting animal to find.
4. We saw countless pieces of trash floating around as we made our way out to the breakwater (the breakwater is a big underwater wall built to protect the fleet that used to be stationed here)
5. On the way back in, we saw another seabird swimming around with a fish line in its mouth.
This all was extremely shocking to me, considering we were only out for a short period of time. It made me realize even more just how incredible Annie's trip to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch was... to find so many tiny bits of plastic 1000 miles off the coast. We all need to learn about our watersheds and how we are affecting them with our garbage.
But what is a watershed? Princeton.edu says: "the entire geographical area drained by a river and its tributaries; an area characterized by all runoff being conveyed to the same outlet." Basically this means that a watershed is where water comes from when rain falls. We are polluting our watersheds through litter, agricultural runoff, and everything you dump into your gutter.
And all of this, no matter how far away fromt he ocean you are, eventually ends up in the ocean.
So why should we care?
1. While 70% of the planet is covered in water, only about 3% is freshwater. Our freshwater systems, like the LA River as so polluted that they completely destroy water in the ocean? That is shocking. Not only that, but we need this freshwater for ourselves- for our showers, to drink.... why are we so careless with such a small amount of fresh water?
2. Through the water cycle, the ocean provides us with water. We don't want that water to be polluted.
3. The ocean provides 50-90% of our oxygen. We need to protect something this important.
4. The ocean provides us with food, and that supply is quickly dwindling as it is through overfishing. Why kill more fish with pollution?
5. Chemicals that are made into plastic, and chemicals that are attracted to plastic in the water may build up in the tissues of animals we eat. We are polluting ourselves. We Californians are completely filled with the chemicals, PBDEs from all of the flame retardants that are required on pretty much everything we own. The level in Californians is ridiculously higher than in every other state.
6. The ocean is a source of recreation, and is beautiful and breath-taking.
So I encourage you to learn about your watershed... and those of us in LA need to change our behaviors, because the pollution in the LA River has so many negative effects.
Finally, I want to share one of my favorite videos from Annie's trip to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch:
Chelsea Rochman Discusses her Conclusions about Plastic in the Gyre
When I first applied to the aquarium, my friend Francis and I decided they had to be an open system because they sit right on the ocean. An open system at an Aquarium means they take their water straight out of the ocean, it cycles through the aquarium, then goes right back out. The Ty Warner Sea Center in Santa Barbara has this type of system.
Upon starting work, I quickly learned that this is not the case, because the LA River flows right into the ocean here. Since LA is possibly one of the most polluted areas in the country, this is bad news for our water systems. Annie Crawley from Dive Into Your Imagination always says "Everything we do on land affects the ocean." I think the people of LA really need to learn this lesson.
As I was out on that little boat for only a half hour, I saw so many disturbing things.
1. The water building up in the back of the harbor had all of this disgusting brown stuff floating around. Whether it was broken down debris, or waste from a boats ballast, I don't know but it can't be good for the water.
2. The water further out was quite murky. Granted productive waters like those in California are not going to be clear, but this was not the healthy kind of "murky."
3. Upon exiting the harbor, we saw a group of seagulls standing on a platform. One of them was eating a styrofoam cup. After shaking it around for a bit, it fell back in the water for another unsuspecting animal to find.
4. We saw countless pieces of trash floating around as we made our way out to the breakwater (the breakwater is a big underwater wall built to protect the fleet that used to be stationed here)
5. On the way back in, we saw another seabird swimming around with a fish line in its mouth.
This all was extremely shocking to me, considering we were only out for a short period of time. It made me realize even more just how incredible Annie's trip to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch was... to find so many tiny bits of plastic 1000 miles off the coast. We all need to learn about our watersheds and how we are affecting them with our garbage.
But what is a watershed? Princeton.edu says: "the entire geographical area drained by a river and its tributaries; an area characterized by all runoff being conveyed to the same outlet." Basically this means that a watershed is where water comes from when rain falls. We are polluting our watersheds through litter, agricultural runoff, and everything you dump into your gutter.
And all of this, no matter how far away fromt he ocean you are, eventually ends up in the ocean.
So why should we care?
1. While 70% of the planet is covered in water, only about 3% is freshwater. Our freshwater systems, like the LA River as so polluted that they completely destroy water in the ocean? That is shocking. Not only that, but we need this freshwater for ourselves- for our showers, to drink.... why are we so careless with such a small amount of fresh water?
2. Through the water cycle, the ocean provides us with water. We don't want that water to be polluted.
3. The ocean provides 50-90% of our oxygen. We need to protect something this important.
4. The ocean provides us with food, and that supply is quickly dwindling as it is through overfishing. Why kill more fish with pollution?
5. Chemicals that are made into plastic, and chemicals that are attracted to plastic in the water may build up in the tissues of animals we eat. We are polluting ourselves. We Californians are completely filled with the chemicals, PBDEs from all of the flame retardants that are required on pretty much everything we own. The level in Californians is ridiculously higher than in every other state.
6. The ocean is a source of recreation, and is beautiful and breath-taking.
So I encourage you to learn about your watershed... and those of us in LA need to change our behaviors, because the pollution in the LA River has so many negative effects.
Finally, I want to share one of my favorite videos from Annie's trip to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch:
Chelsea Rochman Discusses her Conclusions about Plastic in the Gyre
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Just keep swimming...
So after 3 months of no luck finding a paying job, I was looking on the AZA website per my usual routine and saw an ad for internships at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. I figured, hey, it's close, and it will give me the specific experience that's holding me back from all the paid jobs I couldn't get. I was only offered an interview for one of the many jobs I applied for, and that was for a part time food prep job at a zoo in Boston. Except they wanted me to fly out there within the next few days on my money and interview for them. What? They straight up told me it wouldn't be worth it for me.. so so much for that.
So applied for the internships at the Aquarium of the Pacific. You could apply for all of them at once which was nice, and then just list the ones you wanted in order of most to least. I think the order I chose was Aquarist > Education > Program Animals > Marine Mammals > Aviculture... or something like that. Well after a phone interview (yes, I live 2 hours from the aquarium and they did a phone interview, yet Boston wouldn't do one) and an in person interview, I had the Aquarist Internship.
So to Long Beach I moved after perusing Craigslist for a place to live. I started on January 11, and I have been enjoying myself ever since.
Now, an Aquarist job isn't as glamorous as it sounds. One of the 3 aquarists I work under called it a "glorified janitor job" and it's totally true, but it's totally fun! Yeah there's a lot of hard work changing filter bags, cleaning protein skimmers, and keeping the exhibits looking spotless... but for some reason it's still fun. Probably because I regularly get to feed awesome animals like sting rays and zebra sharks. Oh yeah, I'm in the Tropical section.
There are 5 different sections the aquarists could work in. Southern California, Northern, Jellies, Shark Lagoon, and Tropical. All of the galleries represent a zone in the Pacific ocean (thus, Aquarium of the Pacific).
So applied for the internships at the Aquarium of the Pacific. You could apply for all of them at once which was nice, and then just list the ones you wanted in order of most to least. I think the order I chose was Aquarist > Education > Program Animals > Marine Mammals > Aviculture... or something like that. Well after a phone interview (yes, I live 2 hours from the aquarium and they did a phone interview, yet Boston wouldn't do one) and an in person interview, I had the Aquarist Internship.
So to Long Beach I moved after perusing Craigslist for a place to live. I started on January 11, and I have been enjoying myself ever since.
Now, an Aquarist job isn't as glamorous as it sounds. One of the 3 aquarists I work under called it a "glorified janitor job" and it's totally true, but it's totally fun! Yeah there's a lot of hard work changing filter bags, cleaning protein skimmers, and keeping the exhibits looking spotless... but for some reason it's still fun. Probably because I regularly get to feed awesome animals like sting rays and zebra sharks. Oh yeah, I'm in the Tropical section.
There are 5 different sections the aquarists could work in. Southern California, Northern, Jellies, Shark Lagoon, and Tropical. All of the galleries represent a zone in the Pacific ocean (thus, Aquarium of the Pacific).
Monday, November 30, 2009
Vampire Reunion
I loved this video so much I had to post it here. All of the vampires getting together for a meeting: Dracula, the Count from Sesame Street, Angel, Count Chocula, the True Blood vamp.... so funny. Even Buffy!
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Thanksgiving Thoughts
As I was driving home for the thanksgiving holiday down the 101 freeway, I stared out into the ocean and could see all the way across the Santa Barbara channel to the Channel Islands. Both Anacapa and Santa Cruz were clear in sight. The sun was glistening perfectly off the waves and it was just incredibly gorgeous. Sights like these make me so happy that we are an ocean planet, and I am thankful every day for the resources and happiness the ocean provides us.
Here is a little appreciation list to say what I'm thankful for, as cliche as it may be. I'm thankful for...
- My parents- without them I would never have reached the success, happiness, optimism, and love of life that I have. I owe everything to them. For pushing me to do well in school, teaching me about life, supporting me in college.
- Matt- he is always there for me through thick and thin. He loves me unconditionally (though he may be embarrassed of me sometimes!!), wants me to succeed and supports me, laughs with me, listens to me even when I'm being crazy, and is my best friend.
- My friends- they let me just have a good time and let go of all of the stresses in the world, and are goofy! with me. Dancing to crazy music in the Denny's parking lot and riding in grocery carts through the neighborhood really make me happy. We have a true, lasting friendship that even distance couldn't break.
- Nature- it inspires me and takes my breath away. The level of detail, the way every piece fits... it's just incredible. Ecology is possibly the most mind-boggling thing on the planet. It is my passion and I devote my life to it because I know that without most of the things on this planet, I would not exist. We rely on nature and the outdoors- it renews us, provides us with air, food, recreation, happiness.... good times with friends, incredible creatures... I hope everyone can appreciate nature in this way, and I hope it continues to be appreciated throughout the generations as technology, computers, video games and the like progress
What are you thankful for? Let me know!
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Did we REALLY graduate at the worst time possible?
You know, everyone is so pessimistic about their current situation. But of course since I am the eternal optimist, I see things right now a little differently, at least for those of us that just graduated.
About an hour ago I looked at my Blackberry, which was flashing red telling me I had a message, and saw an email from Chancellor Yang about some regents meeting to talk about increasing student fees mid-year. And of course I read the Nexus talking about how much everything was increasing this year fee-wise. So personally, I'm glad to be out of that place that just robs us poor old students blind.
And you know what? The job market really ISN'T that bad... I think we need to realize too that for a lot of majors, a B.A./B.S. just isn't enough anymore. More and more people go to college so our degrees are becoming less and less competitive. We're going to have to start out at lower level jobs that we would have had to a while ago.
The thing is, I'm in a REALLY competitive field and I'm still finding a ton of jobs I am qualified for. It just takes persistence and determination, and I think a lot of people gave up as soon as they walked across that stage to get their fake diploma.
Also, in some cases we may even have a BETTER chance at getting a job because they can pay us less than all those other, very qualified people looking for jobs.
But maybe I'm just in a really good mood because I got an interview for an internship at the Long Beach Aquarium. Woo! Nah, I really believe everything I'm saying and I really think that we shouldn't lose hope, because there ARE jobs out there, even if they're not what we were expecting... AND we don't have to pay all the ridiculous fees to stay in college (even though college was a GREAT time).
So I guess all I'm saying is that we all need to keep our chins up and be thankful for what's been put in front of us.
And you know what? The job market really ISN'T that bad... I think we need to realize too that for a lot of majors, a B.A./B.S. just isn't enough anymore. More and more people go to college so our degrees are becoming less and less competitive. We're going to have to start out at lower level jobs that we would have had to a while ago.
The thing is, I'm in a REALLY competitive field and I'm still finding a ton of jobs I am qualified for. It just takes persistence and determination, and I think a lot of people gave up as soon as they walked across that stage to get their fake diploma.
Also, in some cases we may even have a BETTER chance at getting a job because they can pay us less than all those other, very qualified people looking for jobs.But maybe I'm just in a really good mood because I got an interview for an internship at the Long Beach Aquarium. Woo! Nah, I really believe everything I'm saying and I really think that we shouldn't lose hope, because there ARE jobs out there, even if they're not what we were expecting... AND we don't have to pay all the ridiculous fees to stay in college (even though college was a GREAT time).
So I guess all I'm saying is that we all need to keep our chins up and be thankful for what's been put in front of us.
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