Work vacay...

Turns out, when you get a real job your time is suddenly sucked away into a black hole of productivity and procrastination. Its a strange paradox of getting stuff done, but never really getting anything achieved. So my days are full of putting newspaper bundles full of plant material into giant shelving systems and then taking those bundles out to insert little bits of paper identifying the plant material and sending them to someone else's office. THen I usually get the plant material back (now mounted on cardstock) where I get to put them back into the shelving unit. Its a circular process. I never am able to clear my shelves completely.
Yesterady we took a little field trip on a mission to find a plant in the forest. This is seriosuly like a needle in a haystack. We drove two hours down to the Mark Twain National Forest and picked a spot along side the road and dove into the woods. Once we found the particular plant, we weren't allowed to collect it (permit issues) so we wrote down the GPS coordinates and continued to look. It was great to take a hike to relieve the travel stress I have been feeling, plus it was a BEAUTIFUL day in southern Missouri. I got a bit of botany lessons along the way, which is always a plus.
A milkweed bloom:

Wildlife:


My favorite plant:


Side trip to Elephant Rocks!

Not [un]Dead

That was an unplanned little break from blogging I took there. I promise to do better in the weeks to come to keep up the pledge to myself to continue to document every. Mundane. Thing. In. my. Life. If for no other reason, but for me to read it in years ahead and remember what I was doing as a 24 "professional".
So, lets see here. Since the last blog entry I have watched a few more horrible zombie flicks (Romero! Why have you forsaken me!?), learned a bit more about plants (nothing very interesting, I will refrain from trying to write something nerdy here), bought a mattress (I know, it was such a "big girl" moment), experimented with curry (hmmm), and won some trivia nights with my team (Anubis and the Zombies).
In the days to come, I plan to help out at TheStore (the store that will sell the produce from the farm I worked on last fall and I will be barista-ing at this upcoming Spring), win more trivia (bring Salty Dog!), and probably watch some more bad zombie movies (it's an addiction, really).

Trivial Pursuit

I have a new tradition. The Marine, JoeCool and I set out last night to start our new Thursday night ritual of drinking and answering ridiculous questions to compete with people we don’t know in a cozy bar down the street from my apartment. The Tower Pub is the location, and Tenacious trivia night is the event. The Marine has been before but it was JoeCool and my first time attending, and let me tell you, we kicked ass. Well, JoeCool did, The Marine and I kept insisting on wrong answers (that we were so sure were right!) and we ended up getting third place. But third place prize was a quick drying towel that I quickly snatched up and used this morning. First place prize is always $25 bar credit and if you are sad enough to end up in last place, you get a free round of shots. Nice! There is usually a theme to the questions, and last nights theme was: Seasons.
See if you can get these trivia bits correct…

-Name the movie where Richard Gere and Winona Ryder play star crossed lovers.
-Something like 16 artists have recorded a song by the name “Summertime”, name 2.
-Who is the actress who had a role in Three’s Company and Step by Step?

You get the drift. It was a lot of fun, and we were a pretty good team. Our name was very badass too, The Marine insisted on it. We were Anubis and the Zombies. Nice!

Hanky Panky

I have had a cold since Friday, and it is really taking it out of me. I woke up this morning positive that it was gone. My throat feels so much better, but I still have the cough, congestion and sneezes. I brought a handkerchief with me today, with a bit of rosemary essential oil on it. Yeah that’s right, I’m blowing my nose on fabric. It is environmentally minded.

Also, the best medicine I have found to treat my sore throat and stuffy head is a hot totty. Here is how I make mine:
Put the kettle on and wait for the water to boil
Put a TON of honey in the bottom of a coffee mug
Squeeze a bit of lemon on top of the honey
Pour about 1/2 cup of hot water
Mix the ingredients, making a syrup
Add about 1/2 cup Flor de Cana rum

And drift off into the best sleep you have ever had…

Locavore!

In my quest to complete #12 in my list of things I am doing (see entry below), I am happy to figure out that Local Harvest Grocery is not far from where I live at all! And maybe one day Winslow's Home will open and The List Maker can get farm fresh food that I helped to plant. Crazy, no?

Locavore - "a person who endeavors to eat only locally produced food".

Is there a vaccine?

Affluenza is probably the best term I have heard used in a sentence in the past 2 weeks. Although the original use of the word was incorrect (which made it pure comedic genius) a quick Google search uncovered the true meaning of the made up term.
Upon first hearing the term used, I thought a great definition for affluenza would be:

a condition of unsound mind and action caused by the over-accumulation of wealth. See: Britney Spears.

However it appears this term has already been coined (and no, not by a lady who lives on a cruise ship) with the 1997 documentary and book by the same name. Turns out affluenza actually means something far more tragic that Britney (hard to believe, I know) that plagues far too many people.
From Wikipedia:

affluenza, n. a painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more.
affluenza, n. 1. The bloated, sluggish and unfulfilled feeling that results from efforts to keep up with the Joneses.
2. An epidemic of stress, overwork, waste and indebtedness caused by the pursuit of the American Dream.
3. An unsustainable addiction to economic growth

Interesting...

Real World

I am happy to announce that I will no longer have entertaining stories of the ballpit, caves or firepit. Instead, my blog might turn into "the funny thing Dr.Portulacea said at the water cooler" and the new strain of quinine we found in oregon. That's right, I got the big institution job! I start on Monday. ON MONDAY!! Tomorrow is my last night at the glorified playground and Monday my first day at the research center. I am beyond excited and getting a little nervous. I am confident in my skills (woohoo inflated ego!) but nervous in starting a career. How silly, right? Right? tell me that is silly.

Maybe a major change...

After my interview with the big institution I have always talked about working for, in the department i thought only existed in my dreams, I of course had second thoughts. i mean, am I a career type? could I go to the same office, same cubicle year after year? I mean I really never ever want to say I have an office job, and where this new big job comes with benefits and salary (say what!?) it also includes some travel. i mean, I have to grow up eventually. I really can't work in the glorified playground for the rest of my life! And today it really hit me. I was at the playground, doing my duties, when i was asked to go on a "special project." since my duties at the time consisted of sitting in front of a fake cave system making sure none of our 5 customers walked in without an adult with them, I was stoked to be put on a special project. i was handed a bucket of cleaning solution, and a squeegee (squigi?). My special project was to clean the bathroom walls. As i was cleaning the walls, one of the nice housekeeping staff poked his head in the bathroom.
"Say, Alyse. I heard something bout you."
"Is that right? What did you hear?"
"I heard you had a college degree!"
"Yes, thats right, I went to WashU'
"Oh you go girl, you get it! you got it!"
It wasn't even in irony that Anthony brought up my degree from washU while I was cleaning a public bathroom. But right there, yeah, I'm ready for a research position in my field.