For some time I have still been deciding whether or not I should do a PhD. After my breakdown not too long ago I think I have come to a decision. I was once told by an awesome researcher that if I couldn't live, eat, and breath research than it wasn't for me. At the time I was studying chickens and knew that I could not live, eat, and breath research on chickens. Later on when I worked with cheetahs I knew that as long as I studied an animal I loved I could do the research!
Now I am studying the most magnificent animal I could have dreamed of - the tiger. It is really exciting to listen to their vocalisations and try to understand what it means, but somehow I still find myself dragging my feet to go to uni. My life no longer revolves around school like it used to and I find that my time is split between research and spending time with Matt and church life. I realised this last week that I am not willing to sacrifice my spare time with church and family to study tigers.
Where does this leave me then? I'm not sure. I know that an animal care-taking job is also quite demanding but at least then I would be physically working with the animals, preparing food, cleaning, etc. Additionally, I do not need a PhD to do that. My opinions were solidified as we met with the tiger keepers yesterday to discuss some unusual recordings as well as the possibility of using security cameras. Unfortunately, one of the most unique calls we had recorded were lions and not tigers What was astounding though, was that the keepers identified some of the other vocalisations as a tiger estrus call (when a female is in heat). Surprisingly, this is not in any of the scientific literature I have read and yet was obvious for the tiger keepers. This bit of info solidified my suspicions that the research is useful, but the keepers actually know much more than I do.
I recently had dinner at TGIF's with my friend Elayna who has deferred her Master of Research for next year. Instead she is just working as a research assistant doing what she was originally going to do for her research project. By the end of this year she may be able to get two papers published with the work she is done! It's funny how she will be able to accomplish more by leaving the program than if she was staying in it this year. Not to mention she seems so much happier and stress free! I'm envious.
Only time will tell what I will do, but at least I am happy to be working with tigers.
As for some other events....this week I got a horrible cramp in my left calf as I stretched in the morning. The next morning my other calf did the same thing! Afterward my calves were so sore it hurt to walk, especially up and down stairs. I also discovered that sitting around made them hurt worse. Matt gave me an hour-long massage on my calves that hurt so bad I occasionally cried from the pain! We decided it was due to my many high intensity interval training exercises that use my calf muscles, my lack of stretching those muscles, and a possible potassium deficiency.
Later, Matt and I went rock-climbing with my friends Cate and Sarah. Cate, who I usually go running with, was excited to try something new and did a great job! Sarah is just 13, but goes rock-climbing for school every week. Sarah is shorter than me and as short people we always have fun trying to figure out how to do routes that tall people have no problem with. I was worried my calves would make it too painful to climb, but I didn't actually feel the pain until after we finished climbing. It was worth it though.
Over the weekend we watched General Conference. Early in the morning I got up to go on a walk to help my calves which was a perfect way to start a Saturday morning!
We had to take a long break in the afternoon to get some shopping done for our lunch with the ward choir the next day, but then we got right back to conference! In total we watched 6 hours that day!
Sunday I took another morning walk and we started watching conference early so we would have enough time to make the sandwiches for lunch. During the two hour break we took our 20 or so sandwiches to the church where the missionaries and other choir member were meeting. We had lunch first and got to meet the new missionaries in our area. Luckily they all can sing and so our choir didn't extinguish. The only piano was in the chapel so we had to practice there with a small audience of members waiting for the next conference session to start. It was fun. Afterwards we went home to watch the last two hours of conference. I was really glad we have the opportunity to download the videos on iTunes and watch it at home because I don't think my back or calves would have survived the four hours of sitting in hard church benches at the chapel.
Here are some of my favourite quotes from general conference:
"You are infinitely more precious to God than a tree."
- Neil L. Anderson, Quorum of the Twelve
"Are we securely tied to God so that our faith shows, or are we actually tied to something else?"
- Russell M. Nelson, Quorum of the Twelve
"Of all the lessons we learn from the life of the Savior, none is more clear and powerful than the lesson of obedience."
- Robert D. Hales, Quorum of the Twelve
"Words that may be firm in information can be soft in spirit."
- W. Craig Zwick, Of the Seventy
"Vicarious ordinances are at the heart of welding together eternal families, connecting roots to branches."
- Quentin L. Cook, Quorum of the Twelve
"Those who set aside the bottle of bitterness and lift instead the goblet of gratitude can find a purifying drink of healing, peace, and understanding."
- Dieter F. Uchtdorf, 2nd Counselor in the First Presidency
"No matter how good your message is, you may not get a chance to deliver it without consistent, persistent follow-up."
- M. Russell Ballard, Quorum of the Twelve
"This life is your four minutes. While you are here, your actions will determine whether you win the prize of eternal life."
- Bishop Gary E. Stevenson, Presiding Bishop
"It will do us little good to speak of the general brotherhood of mankind if we cannot regard those who are all around us as our brothers and sisters."
- President Thomas S. Monson
"Let us remember that there is an adversary who personally seeks to disrupt the work of the Lord. We must choose whom to follow."
- Boyd K. Packer, President of the Quorum of the Twelve
"One should not roam through garbage."
- Marcos A. Aidukaitis, Of the Seventy
When conference finished Matt and I went on a walk together on a new path I had found that morning that is absolutely beautiful. We live right next to a nature preserve with a long creek that seems to go forever. It was a long walk as I wanted to see how far it would go and there aren't many outlets to the road. It took a little longer as well since Matt had to take some time to throw rocks and sticks at some termite nests on trees.
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| Bright orange mushroom |
Yesterday was fun as I got to congratulate Brock Butler after his graduation, then go to Taronga Zoo and talk to the tiger keepers, and complete the day by going to see Captain America: The Winter Soldier with the Butlers. Not to mention I also stayed up late that night to finish my book As You Are that my sister and I are reading at the same time.
Matt in "timeout" as we waited to get our movie tickets.
Now my calves are back to normal and today I will be going to Symbio Zoo with my supervisor Jennifer to see if we can do research with their tigers as well. I hope everything works out!
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