I'm finally getting started on birdwatching!

I did it for a biology class sophomore year of college, and LOVED it, but never found the time to start doing it in the long term. But! Yesterday I finally broke down and bought a field guide (Sibley, the Western North America version; I figure if I go back East, I'll get the Eastern one). And today, I rose at 6:30 in the morning, gulped down a cup of coffee, and headed off to the reservoir up the road.

(I didn't get there until 7:15, which I'm pretty sure is way later than hard core birders would be out there, but . . . it was my first time! And I don't do mornings!)

Anyway, the cool thing about being BRAND NEW at birdwatching is that even really, really common birds are new and exciting. I saw a buttload of Western Grebes, some Double-crested Cormorants, which are really funny because they wave their wings up over their heads to dry them out, and, best of all, a Belted Kingfisher! (And a bunch of Blue Herons, which aren't new and exciting, but are still really damn impressive birds.)

Hopefully I'll be able to make myself continue to get up this early, because I had a TON of fun out there.

So, a few things that are going on in my life lately . . .

-- I got invited into Alpha Lambda Delta for making a 3.5 GPA my freshman year. At our first meeting, I got voted secretary, and initiation is on Saturday.

-- Other bragging (might as well get it out of the way now):
97.5 on my first Bio test--highest in the class (and with no science background at all)
100% on my first Latin exam
50/50 on my first lab report

-- For Biology, we have to spend a few weeks observing some organism on campus and keeping a journal of what that organism is doing and how it changes over time (a phenology journal). I'm bird watching for mine, which is exciting! Except that it took me until the third time I went out to even SEE any birds. So far, I've just seen a few cardinals and a house finch, but hey, it's still exciting. I could totally take up casual birdwatching as a hobby. (Maybe someday I will!)

-- Apparently I'm not very good at making lists instead of paragraphs.

-- I had to write a poem for creative writing! It was actually fun.

-- The trees are turning colors, and the weather is finally cooling off. I love autumn, have I ever mentioned that?

-- I'm still working Phonathon for my school . . . it's a terrible job. Officially, next Wednesday should be my last day, but they're asking us to work one more week, if we can. Yuck!

-- Latin is finally getting interesting, after about a year of yawning. (I really should have tried taking a placement test and skipping first year Latin, but that's a long story.) Today we read a big chunk of Caesar's De Bello Gallico. Everybody else in the class was moaning and groaning, but I really enjoyed it. It's way more fun than those horrible drill sentences they give you.

-- Unfortunately, Latin being interesting means that I keep neglecting my Greek, which is bad news bunnies. I need to keep on top of it, or I will seriously get behind and fail.

Got a couple other really serious things I'd like to post about . . . but that will have to wait--right now, I don't have time to make my bed, let alone a long LJ post.