Happy New Year's Eve! Update on how I'm doing.

'Allo all!  So here's my thing about this New Year:  I've been a little nervous about the New Year, I don't hundred percent know why but I'm betting it has something to do with how stressed out I was last New Years Eve.  I decided to be kinda girly this New Years and dress up, that's right folks, I've borrowed a dress and I'm going to look shnazzy!  My shoes even match the dress that I borrowed from Emy (thanks again!) and I got some jewelry, I'm going to do my hair and be the prettiest little Lisa I can be!  Aside from that, things have been great!  I've been having a nice, low-key, relaxing time with the bf and this seems like it was exactly the mini-vacation I needed.  I'm going to get back to Chicago with a renewed intrest in the things I really need to focus on (being writing my show with MC, making some money, saving some money, and taking my classes) and hopefully work hard enough to earn myself some vacation time to travel or something this summer.  I'd like to visit a friend in Ireland perhaps?  We'll see.  I'm going to go talk Fotis into letting me buy him lunch or something.  Hope you have a great New Years'!  Thanks for Reading!

Lisa B.

P.S.

Stay tuned....tomorrow might be a recap of this year?  Or something equally as cliche.

Sweet Lady Minneapolis

Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen I am in Minneapolis but just for a few days and it WAS kind of a last minute decision to be here so please don't feel bad that I didn't go contacting everyone willy nilly about seeing everybody because sometimes you just need a low-key trip back home to relax a little bit.  A mini-vacay if you will.  I am however trying to put a week long thing together or something to get to MN and see my fam and friends.  And so.  I hung out at the BNW last night, the Christmas Show is hilarious, so you'd better see it before it's over.  I've lost my voice, so I'm hoping that comes back soon so that I can do my job at the museum when I get back.  I'm slowly but surely getting all my debts paid off....YAY!!!!  Come Friday (payday) I will have most of them gone.  Scientists are wigging out right now because half the universe is a different temperature than the other half which may count against the big bang theory.  I don't know.  We can't see the whole universe, so maybe overall it's pretty even?  I dunno.  I hope you have a great Tuesday!!!  Thanks for reading!

L. B.

Coral Christmas

The Corals of the world are all supposed to be gone by 2050.  This is one of many reasons I want to get down to Australia to see the Great Barrier Reef before it's all gone.  Another reason is how stinkin' cool corals are!  I had started to write my big bio thesis on corals before I chose to go the theatre route, and so I will proclaim my love for them here in blog-form.  Corals, similar to most naturally occurring stagnant living beings, record history over time.  Not many people know this, however, which is why no one has done a "save the corals" campaign or whatever other type of bullshit you would have to do to keep them from dying.  The coral animal is, in itself, a cnidarian meaning he is an interesting emmer effer, check it out up top.  He's in the same phylum as jellyfish which makes them both stinger-hunters.  They eat small animals, plankton, etc. in the water that they sting and those little animals get entangled in the tentacles and they eat them.  Corals will deposit Calcium Carbonate to create a great shell/skeleton that they live in.  Wouldn't that be FREAKING SWEET?!  You'd never have to pay for an apartment again.  Each person sort of builds their own apartment on top of their family's apartment or on top of their friends' apartments!  Yowza!  So here's what happens, as things like hurricanes, tornadoes, runnoff from farmers on the coasts happens, corals will deposit calcium carbonate (this is for their skeletons, people) with trace amounts of whatever the predominate chemical/element to the land is, whether it be illyum, iron, phosphorous, whatever.  If that element is too acidic or too basic (which is basically anything over or under pH of about 8 or 9, generally depending on where the coral is) the coral dies and/or deposits that substance into its skeletal makeup.  The coral animal itself is what give the coral reefs their color, so when the animal dies bleaching occurs where the skeleton is left, and it's white.  My point here is that I should've stuck with Corals because now they're coming out with studies that prove exactly what I had started writing about in college.  

Little Holiday Recap From Yours, Truly:

Christmas Eve I had Chinese food and made cookies while watching Love, Actually.  I was waiting for Mike to arrive (I was waiting less patiently than he or I would have wanted, I think).  He got here on Christmas Day and we went to his family's Christmas.  That was very fun!  Met all his family and actually his Yia-Yia's basement was almost exactly like my grandparents' basement growing up where we always held Christmases!  It was a wonderful jaunt down memory lane for me while at the same time meeting a while new crew of very loud, fun, Christmas-spirit-filled folks!  Also may I say, for the record, Nils (Fotis' nefew) is pert near the cutest ever.  

Then I worked.  ugh.  

Now I've got a break!  Yay!

Yours Truly (and thank you for reading)

L. MF. B.

Competetive vs. Noncompetetive inhibitors

Keep happy friends, everyone.  It will keep you happy, studies prove it!  Ok, ok, so maybe they don't necessarily prove it, but the people you surround yourself with definitely impact how you're feeling on a day to day basis.  Surround yourself with positive, happy people, it'll do you some good!  Ok, now that that's out of the way, how are you?  How've you been?  On my relaxing days, I tend to get irritated with myself for not getting things done, is that weird?  Yesterday, for example, I really didn't do much.  I had planned on going shopping, doing laundry, getting grocieries, maybe even making cookies but I ended up sleeping a lot of my day away.  Sleeping is great, but when I'm bored and I don't want to just eat when I'm bored, I'll just get sleepy and nap for four hours at a time.  Last night I finally got out and had a beer but with my procrastinator's mindset of "I'll get all this stuff done tomorrow".  Eesh.  I love getting stuff done, and the way it feels at the end of the day, but on my days off I have trouble doing it!  Ack!  I actually DO tend to get a lot more done if I either have someone to do my mundane life things with, or if I have people coming over soon, both of which are the case today.  What are the catalysts in life?  Motivation, Drive, Propulsion to move ahead and achieve whatever large or small goals are in place for that day.  I have a tendency to get stuck revising my planner and budget when I should just be DOING.  I suppose those things would be the noncompetetive inhibitors of my enzymic lifestyle and in order to break down and get to work, since I don't have competetive inhibitors (like work), I need ADP to get me jumpstarted.  Temperature is certainly a factor here.  It's now cold and snowy outside so I'm less likely to want to get out of bed, but to make these chores fun, I've got friends to go with me.  My ADP.  Alright I'm off to do my stuff for the day!  I hope you have a great Wednesday!!!

If you need some inspiration, watche Amelie today, or read a good book and tell me what you learned via email or commenting on my blog!  I love to hear about that stuff!!!

ADP for the day=Jeremy Kanne and MC Princeton

Thanks for reading!

L. Burton

Science and Creative Mind

It is incredible Earth is even freaking here, you guys.  Seriously.  Think about it, there are billions of planets, trillions even that have been and are being created AS WE SPEAK.  Have we found life on any of them yet?  No.  Might there be?  Sure.  Maybe.  Even if there is, they too are very lucky.  I mean, the atmosphere created by a planet like this is so specific to our situation.  The thought process that goes into understanding the why of all this is mindblowing, and I'm not just talking about the "we're all ants, look at all those stars in the sky at night" bullsnot, I'm speaking specifically to our living environment.  Imagine if we had just a hair more nitrogen in the atmosphere.  Dead.  OR we'd evolve into some weird-looking nitrogen-breathing humans.  Wild!  In space now, they've discovered the presence of what they're calling Dark Energy, which is the constant that will inevitably control exactly how big the universe can get.  Now, I'm not trying to put ideas into anyone's head, but if you were a super villain and heard the news about an identified force/energy/substance that could CONTROL how big the universe is, where it stops expanding, wouldn't you do everything in your power to obtain that substance?  Einstein apparently identified the constant of Dark Energy when he was doing his theories of relativity, but disregarded it as his, "greatest blunder".  He was too smart and creative for his own good.  That makes me think of the creativity in children and how I wonder how many creative kids are running around right now with answers to the universe and they don't even know it.  Maybe Joey in Hutchinson, NC. is playing spaceship with his 8 year old brother, Marcus and Joey has a pink blanket that cuts their universe off at the garage door.  Dark Matter.  Creativity is what?  Originality, Inventive, Getting an idea with no definable source of reason.  It's the opposite of fact.  Fact comes from observation.  I can see that my computer screen puts out light because my hands are washed in a creepy bluish glow.  I can only assume my screen might put out some heat because of the facts I know about light bulbs and trying to make that connection.  If I were to say my computer can float, however, that's a creative thought.  There's no reason for it, and yet if I really thought hard right now, I might be able to use fact to make my creative thought become a reality, perhaps using hollograms or projecting the screen onto my wall in such a way that my shadow could be the mouse to click on the icons.  We cannot have innovation in science without creativity.  If you're an uncreative scientist, then you're just a computer.

Thanks for reading!!!

Hope you have a great Tuesday!

L. Burton

A small morning think

The cold air next to my bed draws my ear outside to listen to the brief bursts of moving vehicles explode past.  The noise has been sound-numbing enough for me to have to turn up the volume on my alarm clock to maximum capacity for me to even hear the thing.  This morning I wake up with feelings of gratefulness that I live in a country where I don't have to worry about getting blown up or held hostage every time I walk into a large building.  I'm thankful that I have an imagination and that I keep friends with similar thinking patterns.  I'm excited to work at the museum today, although I loathe the negative guests that will innevitably make their way onto MY tours today.  I shouldn't say that, keep the positive, keep optimistic, I'm looking forward to the challenge of making those guests happy!  That's genuine.  Ok.  Time to start my Saturday.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Thank you for reading.

Lis

It's....Thursday?

The people I surround myself with are well rounded.  I forget sometimes that there are people who are not that way, or aren't wired in every different direction like I am.  What I mean to say is that I was at a museum employee program tonight on how to think more creatively and the majority of employees there that struggled with creative thought.  Honestly, it surprised me.  One woman got depressed because one of the definitions of creativity was to come up with something original from your imagination and not by imitation and she realized that as a girl all of her childhood play was imitating TV!  This brings me to my second point that these people got really stressed out that they weren't creative thinkers and took it very seriously.  My next thing I want to say about the museum is that it's FRICKEN AWESOME.  I get to see a live heart surgery.  "WHAT?!", you say, "You didn't just say LIVE HEART SURGERY."   Yes.  I did.  June 3rd I get to see a live heart surgery because they do them at the museum every now and again and June 3rd they're doing one just for employee observation.  Apparently, you can even ask the doctor questions while they're performing it.  I don't know how comfortable I would be if I was the patient, and I'm not sure just how comfortable I'm going to be asking the doctor questions as they are cutting someone open, but I'll sure go and we'll see what happens.  

Hope you're all having a great Thursday!

Thank you for reading.

Lisa

Just an update, really. Not a good blog entry.

Today is my sleep-in day!  Laundry will soon ensue, as will an update of my budget worksheet which I am keeping up-to-date.  I found a pretty slick spreadsheet on my computer that will calculate how much I will save if I spend only what I NEED to spend and save the rest.  Awesome.  Now, if only I could discipline myself to never spend an extra cent, I'd be golden.  I've been having really vivid family dreams lately.  That's where I'll leave it for now until they get super interesting.   

I started my internship at IO last night and it was super fun!  I was a little worried about no one liking me but I made, like, eight new friends.  Among my new friends, I met the notoriously good headshot photographer John Abbott who also happens to be the bartender upstairs.  

I'm thinking of joining the YMCA and seeing if I can't get a super discounted income-based membership or a free membership if I volunteer or something.  I was going to try and just go the winter without running, but then I just feel like a blob.  I really like running and it's a great stress relief for me.  

Do you have a meal routine?  I'm curious to know if other people do because for the longest time it was nearly impossible for me to have one and now that I'm out of money, I have oatmeal for breakfast, a sandwich and yogurt for lunch, and ramen for supper.   Just about every day.  It's good, but I fear it will get old quick.  How can I affordably change up my shit?  

Thank you for reading!!

Lis

My bills beg to be paid

They're begging me.  "Lisa, pay me, you'll love it."  

  I'm sure I'll love it.    

I can't wait to have the amount of money when I can just pay all my crap and be done with it.  That'll be great.  

Today, I spent some time doing different things like going on U boat tours.  That was super fun for me and I'm looking forward to giving those tours because I have found I like submarines.  

I start my IO internship tonight, hooray!!!  I'm so excited I could puke!  I'm not going to puke but I might get a free membership at the Y for volunteering, we shall see!  

Hope you have a great rest of your Tuesday, I'll write tomorrow!  

I dig you.

  Lis

A little Catch-up

I had a really nice Thanksgiving week, as M. Fotis was in town we did quite a bit of walking about, relaxing, stress-free.  Thanksgiving was spent working at the museum.  I came home and had a quiet night of watching AI and making cake which was just fine.  I knew I was going to be bummed out about not doing the holiday thing, but I was pretty sad about missing the Thanksgiving mess at my grandparents house.  Even if they're spent with other families, it's kind of nice to feel that frazzled holiday thing once or twice a year.  For some, maybe it's just something to complain about that we can complain with other people that go through it to, thus bringing us closer to other people through complaining about our families.  For others, they genuinely enjoy the loud voices of grandparents shouting at children and the arguments over political candidates or the quirky nature of those that are blood related.  For me, I've discovered, it's that I only really see those people once or twice a year anymore so missing this Thanksgiving and Christmas is like missing an entire year with them.  The next time I see them, my baby cousins will be in elementary school and my elementary school cousins will be dating.  That may be a little dramatic, but time flies in the areas of your life that you aren't focusing on.  I genuinely love them and I'm not saying it's merely an obligation, quite the opposite, I do like all the noise (not all the time, mind you, but a couple times a year it's very entertaining).  I mean I'll go back for Easter and that will be ok but I still haven't seen most of them since last Christmas.  Families change and people grow in different directions, but sometimes I wish they didn't.  Up until this point I wondered why or how it happened that individual families end up having their own Christmases or Thanksgivings together, without all the extended family.  That's just another tally on the board of life questions that got answered this year.   This past weekend working at the museum was somewhat hellish.  People people everywhere and no sleep to be had.  People were just dicks this weekend too.  One woman came in two days in a row just to complain to ME.  I mean, I'm flattered that she spoke to me specifically but COME ON!  Today, Monday, was a nice break from all that.  No screaming babies on tours.  No angry guests to comment to me about the screaming babies on the tour.  No teenagers to break the stuff in the smarthome.  It was a great low-key day.  Can't wait for Wednesday, my day off when I get to do laundry!  It snowed today in Chicago and the waves on the lake were crazy huge!!!  I can't wait to take my snowboard out.  

Hope you had a great first day of December!!!

Thank you for reading!

L. M. Burton