Adventure is Out There!

Where did the time go? That's a common question getting asked these days, days like ... Graduation. Sometimes a Monday can feel like ages, a week like eternity. And then years just zip on by without a care in the world. *** I started this post at around 6:30 a.m. Now it's 3:30 p.m. and I'm graduated. Undergraduate no more. Do I feel different? How do I feel exactly? Well, the speech is done and over. There's relief there. There's a background sense of accomplishment, completing undergrad and all. Honestly, I mostly feel humbled and loved. Those that I care about took time out of their day (some, even their work day) to come and support me. Others have messaged me or will see me later tonight. I couldn't have done ANY of this without all of you. Thank you, thank you truly. This day is as much mine as it is yours.

It's getting late. Your next day is just around the corner, quite literally a couple hours away. As you get more distracted, as you rub your tired eyes and your contacts start to ache, as you click away from filling in a study guide for the next exam, you think to yourself. The thoughts drift in and out. To far off places, to the boy a handful of miles away. To the possibilities that tomorrow holds. No, nothing spectacular is happening tomorrow. An pretty ordinary day is planned. But you have plans. Your manuscript needs to be re-written. Before that the gym. After that, an old-friend and good times. Work hard. Don't lose your focus by letting discouraging thoughts cloud your head. It's easy to let them seap in, to feel like a fake. A lazy ass, a loser. That's what you tell yourself, but those are lies. Greatness... great good that you want to do doesn't happen over night. You need to sit your butt down, stop making plans to get it done and get i

It's the end of Summer 2016. The plane leaves at 6:05 am tomorrow morning. RMBL ("rumble") really did become a home away from home thanks to all of the inspiring friends and researchers. Science brings the absolute best people together from all around the world. The memories don't stop. I'm sitting here, thinking through my summer and it's incredible, so beautifully incredible just how good it was. Instead of typing all of those up, and boring you with the tidbits and not the juicy details, I'd rather say a "thank you." Thank you to everyone at RMBL that made Summer 2016 one for the books.

Yesterday (okay, well last saturday because you know, field work and life delays your writing). It was one of those days that was so good, so dang good that you don't want to forget it. You aren't satisfied with "oh I'll remember because, you know, we took pictures." Nope. Nope to that. This requires some writing, some thoughts on paper (or blog post). The adventure began early on a road I bike almost every day for field work. This day wasn't for field work, though. It was my day off and I was going to hike a mountain (yep, I am crazy). I live at a field station known officially as the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (or RMBL, pronounced "rumble," for short. On my front doorstep is Gothic Mountain, a 12,631 foot beaut. Since the field station is located in the town called Gothic, I needed to hike it. All 12,631 feet of it. With friends assembled we started the climb. Conversations drifted in and out, we soaked up the nature and then, be

It's a sleepy, rainy day in a cloud here at RMBL. The type of day that nudges at the thoughts tucked away in the corners of your mind and prods you to write something, anything down. Breathe through your writing a little. Yet, I'm coming back to this blog post weeks later. Time escapes me when I am at a field station. It happened last summer and it's happening again. The life here, the research, the people requires my full attention. And before I know it, the summer is halfway over, I've yet to send letters to friends, and my blog post is left unfinished. That's pretty great. As absentminded and thoughtless it may come across, it means that this life, this field station life, is good. I'll be back in the real world soon. Let me just take a side step for a little while. 

No, it can't. A week? Already? Well, apparently if the calendar is still the trustworthy fellow he is, it's been a week. A week into this incredible summer, a summer spent on top of a mountain in Colorado. I've still so much to learn, so many people to meet. The potential of this summer is pretty dang incredible when I sit back and let it sink in. I'm pretty taken aback by this place. Do not get me wrong, I am still, very much still, adjusting. This past week has definitely tested the mettle of this college girl that's grown accustomed to city life. No running water, outhouses instead of bathrooms, pmsing weather, below freezing temps morning and night, and ever-taunting mice] Day 4 Day 1 But you know what, once you get past all that, once you realize those inconveniences are just that, inconveniences, life is more than alright. It's great. You look up, you soak in the fleeting sun, you try to etch the mountains into your memory, and the

It can be easily overlooked, that tree over there, you know, the one where the sun is hitting it "just right."  There's that "warmth," that perfect contrast between light and shadow.  Behind is a light blue sky slowing fading out.  Holding a lukewarm cup of coffee,  breathing in, breathing out.  It's your choice:  let the stress sink in, think of the failure  or look at the tree and know you're okay. You're living.  Breathe in. Breathe out.  The Beatles were on to something. Let it be. 

It's in unmotivated times like this I'm somehow motivated to write here. When I say unmotivated, it's a lack of motivation for the immediate homework assignment, for that extra-credit paper that is due two days away. My head's buzzing, my fingers want to type, to create. I blame the warm weather, the warm summer weather that enticed me earlier to swing, to go out for an ice cream cone (the best, Uncle Wiggly's). Where I am right now, where a lot of my friends are right now, is on the cusp of choosing among different futures, different paths...it's pretty exhilarating if you let it sink in. You don't realize it every day. If you "future-thought" every day you'd be exhausted (more than usual). But every now and then it hits you. Like for me it's right now. And yes, it's scary. There are quite a few "I don't know"'s hanging about. I don't know where I'll be living after July 31st. I don't kn

When you starting digging yourself a hole, phone a friend. They'll remind you that you don't need to dig that hole and lift you out.

by Ruth B. that is all.

Every now and then, I come across a blog post, an email, a speech, an article, or a video that I just need to share with anyone, everyone . The video is 22 minutes, 43 seconds. As tempting as it is to look at your phone, multi-task and open another tab, to like that picture on facebook, please just don't...for 22 minutes, 43 seconds . Let yourself be remind of what's important. Let yourself be inspired. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CrOL-ydFMI

It's 2016. Well, yes, okay I know that you know that, but I'm over here still trying to wrap my head around it. It's 2016. Every year it's the same puzzlement, the same disbelief that another year has come and gone. Looking back, though, is pretty incredible. I can see the person I was a year ago and can see such a change. I have learned so much. Life is so dang rich. Yes, it's stressful, yes it's full of pain and yes it's scary as hell. You know what, though? When you step back, when you just sit for a second and look at the jumble you got, it's pretty cool that you get that you get to live. I haven't really sat down and written out any resolutions this year, but I think I'll just keep it simple. Don't forget to breathe in life and live it.