First post

I decided to make a new blog because, quite frankly, livejournal was really starting to annoy me. I think that it's about time that I phased it out. Plus there's definitely a stigma attached to livejournal which I'm not sure I would like to be associated with anymore. So here is my new blog.

For anyone who isn't quite nerdy enough to get the reference in the title of this blog, the Chamber of Mazarbul is the Chamber of Records in Moria (in Fellowship of the Ring). I thought it was an appropriate title for a blog. Especially considering the purpose of the blog. I am not going to treat this as I treated my livejournal, which was basically a place for me to write random bullshit. It may seem silly, but my primary motive for creating this was so that I could have a place that people could go to get updates about my life. This is senior year, and soon I'll have graduated. I may not see or hear from a lot of people very much, and hopefully I'll have some post-graduation readers who may find this useful. I will certainly try to keep this public (I haven't even explored the privacy options yet, so I may not have a choice there), as opposed to my livejournal which ended up being "friends only" most of the time. Also, like the occasional livejournal entry, I will probably write about any traveling that I do (similar to how Laurel made her India blog, but probably not as intensive). I guess it also just seems kind of cool to have a record of some things, for others as well as me.

And so now that I've explained why I've created a new blog all of the sudden I'll actually post a short little update about my life at this time. This is my final fall semester at Denison, and for once fall has the meaning of senescence to me, as it does for many organisms. Fall is usually my favorite season (though I do like them all), but now I'm constantly reminded of how near to the end I am. I'm trying not to dwell on this, but reminders of the fact occur every now and then. I'm going to complete my senior research this semester, which is a good thing I suppose. Even though I tend to enjoy fall semester more, it will be nice to have a laid back final semester (without physics!!!).

As of right now, I'm still not sure what I will be doing next year. And maybe it's better that way. I've always had structure in my life, as I've progressed through sequential stages of my education, and there were never really any alternatives. I suppose college wasn't the only option I could have taken, and I had to make a choice about what type of institution, and specifically where, I would attend. But now for the first time I feel like I'm not so set. It's acceptable for prospective Ph.D.'s to take time off before diving into grad school. And with my experience at this stage in my life, I feel like more opportunities are available to me. It's something that I'm going to have to look into further, but I've got a decent start. There are some internships in Alaska with the USFWS that sound really cool. It would just be for the summer after graduation, but it could open whole new doors as well. And just being familiar with Alaska would give me more confidence to possibly attempt a trip in a less mild time of year when the Aurora borealis will most likely be more impressive.

On an unrelated note, last week a got a letter telling me that I was a senior fellow for the bio department. Today Liz and I went out to the bio reserve at 6:30 am to get a good picture of me with a frog for my senior fellow picture (the pictures we got yesterday during the afternoon just didn't turn out that great). I'm glad that my picture will be appropriate. However, today I was surprised to get an email which listed only two other fellows! Last year I believe there were 8, and I just find it so hard to believe that they only chose three this year.

Anyways, I feel like that's enough for my first post. I have a ton of work to do anyways, and I should stop procrastinating and just do it (after I eat dinner, of course).