Summer 2014

Hello there. Hope you're having a great summer. I'm just going to face it. I can't blog. However, I am still going to walk you through my summer through the photos I have taken.

So at the beginning of the summer, you may have remembered this photo I posted of my ambitious summer plans.

How have those plans gone? Well, not as planned. After my summer finally got rolling, I found myself straying further and further away from the path of productivity. Of the things that are shown above, I've done about four of them. I read Cosmos, worked on college applications, tried to study physics, and sort of went out.

What did I do instead? Well, I suppose my excuse for not achieving my goals is that the ??? turned into my main summer commitment. I began attending summer science classes. Yay. I'll try not to bore you with all the details, but here's a little timeline of what I have been doing.

This is liquid nitrogen turning into a gas as it reaches room temperature.

One of these is Gatorade and the other is a dye that I mixed to match the color of it.

This is a tiny flower that I photographed under a microscope.

This is a beaker of fruit flies in alcohol.

Okay, this was all funner than I make it sound. Actually, I've been having a really great time at this program. We've been going on lab tours, doing experiments, and even getting in some humanities lessons. I may elaborate later, but let's move on for now.

Besides playing with bugs and chemicals, I have also been doing some cooking and baking.

Cheese and Mushroom Omelette

Butter Cookies

Brownies

This is kind of where my summer went, not to mention the anime I've been watching. The last portion of my time went to reading Cosmos by Carl Sagan. 

I have to admit that this is one of the best books I have ever read. It is an excellent combination of science, history, and philosophy. I found myself reading about everything from the self-destruction of mankind to pulsars and quasars to other dimensions to the search for life elsewhere in the universe to the Library of Alexandria. It reminded me why I first became interested in science and astronomy and showed me how science can cross disciplines. I must say that reading Cosmos and watching Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey were different experiences, but the effect was still the same. I am still in awe by what people have been able to accomplish over the years and what surprises this universe still holds. After reading this book, the history of mankind seems more remarkable. At times, it seemed a little more like science fiction than reality, but I suppose this world can be pretty crazy.

Overall, I suppose you could say that my real goal for the summer was to immerse myself in science. I wanted to love it and breathe it. In a way, I guess I could say mission accomplished.

Well, that's all for now. Back to you in the studio. I'll check back in soon. Have a nice weekend, folks!