I'm Way Down Here!!!

How old are you? Don't answer me, just think about it. Well guess what. I'm 18. Sometimes I wish I had someone to blog to that was my age. I would love to talk to Red Dirt Girl at my age. Mother of Invention, Grizzbabe, Annalisa, Barbara, Kissyface, Old Lady, Gewels. I look up to all of you, I respect you. You are all amazing people. I would love to have known you when you were my age. Sometimes, I just need to talk to someone my own age.

It seems that everyone I know in this, the Blogging World, is a generation ahead of me. Serves me right too, yall are my Dad's friends. I have just now begun to get to know you, but already I know our friendships will be hindered by the age difference. When you comment on my posts, you will see me as Steve's Daughter, I will see you as My Dad's Friends. I want it to be different, but I'm afraid it may never change. I'm in a different world from you. I'm in college still. Most of you are set in your career, have children, or have taken steps toward one of both of those things.

I think I want to work with whales. Maybe Orcas. Possibly Belugas. Perhaps even the illustrious Blue. Or ya know what, if that falls through, I would love to have a chance to work with Tigers. Maybe Horses. I don't have a boyfriend right now, but if I did it would be a boy from Denver, Colorado that I spent my summer with. He has met my parents, but that doesn't matter to me. All I know is that he is my best friend and so much more. Colorado is still a junior in high school though, and even those two years is a bit much of a difference for us to handle right now.

How am I supposed to relate to, to talk to, confide in, my dad's friends. Who are all a generation ahead of me. I'm not sure why I'm feeling this way, maybe I just need to go home, but I needed to say it.

Saving the World, One Mysticete at a Time

I'm not so sure that Yall are going to like this too much, it's a bit of homework that I did for my Succeeding in Science coarse. I had to write an introduction to a research paper. Most people see the word 'introduction' and think, one paragraph. Tell the reader my point. Write a thesis statement. Short and to the point, right? A lot like this paragraph right here... Wait til you get a load of this short sweet and to the point introduction that just barely met the word count requirement of 550 words.

Mysticeti are whales that do not have teeth, instead they have rows of baleen. Baleen is made of keratin and project from the outer edges of the palate (Croll, et al). Mysticeti use these rows of baleen to filter water out of the mouth while feeding (Gormely, et al). There are four kinds of feeding habits that Mysticeti use. The most common is known as intermittent ram suspension feeding, generally used by rorquals such as humpbacks, blue, and fin whales. Continuous suspension feeding, used by bowhead and right whales, and sediment feeding, employed by gray whales, are the other two widely accepted feeding patterns (Cetacean Palaeobiology, et al). Bubble nets or bubble clouds are also thought to be feeding methods, but there are those who dispute the bubble method (Gormley, et al).

Rorquals, whales with ridges (Cetacean Palaeobiology), hunt by swimming very fast into a school of prey fish with their mouths open. Fish and water rush into the whales’ mouths causing the ventral pleats to expand, once the mouth is full, the whale shuts it, sometimes needing to surface, often seen in humpbacks, in order for the mouth to fully shut. Once shut, the whales push the water through the baleen(Croll, et al). Some whales use their tongue, others rely on the elasticity of the ventral pleats (Gormley, et al). Blue whales feeding grounds have been very difficult to locate, one off the coast of Australia has been found since the 1980’s. The Bonney Upwelling, a seasonal change in water salinity and temperature, causes the number of krill in the Great Barrier Reef to rise drastically, bringing with them blue whales. This could mean that the number of blues world wide is growing and they are looking for more feeding grounds, or the availability of krill is dwindling, forcing the blues to search for food elsewhere. Very little is known about the massive animals and finding this feeding ground could help scientists discover where they go after they leave and possibly where they breed, which would be a major break through in Mysticeti research (Grill, et al).

Continuous suspension feeders keep their mouths open all the time, collecting krill and copepods in the mouth cavity, occasionally closing the gap between the baleen to filter the water out (Cetacean Palaeobiology, et al).

Sediment feeding gray whales roll onto their side, scooping mud and crustaceans into the mouth, the close their mouth and expel the water and mud out of the side of the mouth. Gray whales have recently been sighted lingering in San Francisco Bay, a place they supposedly abandoned over 150 years ago, this could be due to a growing population. Gray whales are said to have had a breeding ground there for some time (Tannenbaum, et al).

Bubble nets are used by rorquals, groups of up to 12 whales swim under a school of fish, blowing circles of bubbles around the school, causing the school to squeeze tighter and higher as the whales swim up. When the school reaches the surface, the whales swim up through the center with mouths agape, sometimes consuming entire schools (Croll, et al). Some skeptics say that the bubbles released are simply the whales emptying their lungs before taking huge mouthfuls of fish and that the bubbles do nothing to corral the fish (Gromley, et al).

Knowing the location of prey food for Mysticeti helps scientists to understand the way the ocean’s climate and salinity change with global warming, pollution and human interference. This knowledge allows humanity to better preserve the diminishing population of the wondrous creatures that live in the abyss that we know so little about. With recent finding with the blue and gray whales, we can delve deeper into the intricacies of ecosystem interdependency and how we can do more to preserve what is left until we find ways to bring animals like the pacific right whales back from the brink of extinction.

Daddy says I'm gonna save the world, I think these creatures would be an amazing place for anyone to start.

This Lil Guy Over Here

I'm not sure if Daddy has ever told you, but I have another brother, besides Rip. I'm not sure what kind of nick name I should give him yet, maybe I'll think of one by the time I finish this post.

The little guy is a result of my step dad, and like the story goes, me n Rip think of him as the evil step parent. Sometimes he is, but very rarely he isn't, but that's a different story.

This lil fellow is probably the coolest 5 year old ever, well besides me when I was 5. You see, he has a big sister in college, and a big brother that's a senior in high school. He's in kindergarten. At the same elementary school that me n Rip went to. His teacher was our PE teacher, the second grade teacher was a girl scouts mom with Momma and I'm pretty sure that Momma still has Mr. Green, the principal's, phone number in her cell phone-thank-you-Rip. He's the only kid who knows every Star Wars Character's name, what planet they are from and how the fit into the story. I don t even know that. For Halloween this year he wants to be that guy who they cloned. I can't for the life of me remember his name, but my little brother sure knows it. He has been reading for about a year now. His favorite book to read to Momma is Goodnight Opus.

I'm going home this weekend for the first time, I'm so excited! The reason I get to travel back to see my mommy and daddy is that it is the little guy's birthday on Friday. He's turning 6 and I'm pretty sure both of us are equally excited.

I got him some Star Wars Legos for his birthday.

"The big ones or the little ones mom?"
"The little ones."
"... Wow, he's getting big."


I think I'm gonna call him Dr. Carrot Top, he's a red head.

My Little Brother Is Going To College

Rip is my younger brother, he may be taller than me, weigh more than me and get into more trouble than I do, but he will always be my little brother. I called my Momma on Sunday, I plan on doing this every week at least so she doesn't have a heart attack worrying about me flunking out.

"Hey Momma"
"Guess What Rip did!"
"What's that Momma?"
"He wants to be a T-Sip!"

I'm very confused at this statement... She seems... excited... that he wants to go to *shudder* TU...

"And that's good because...?"
"Well Mrs Counselor Lady told him that he had to do really well on his SAT and take an extra math class to even get in to TU."

Rip hasn't had the best academic career.

"What did he say?"
"Well he had wanted to do Co-Op and have lots of releases so he could work more..."
"He has a job?"
"Yeah, he is the Host at Papadeux restaurant, he asked me to help him go get a tie and slacks and a button up shirt to wear to work the other day."

Rip refuses to wear a tie, slacks and a button up to church.

"Wow, what did he say when she told him about the math thing?"
"He said 'Yes, what class do I need to take and where can I sign up for a SAT Prep Course."

...

"Aubree? Are you there?"
"Yeah" *sniff* "My brother's gonna be a T-Sip!!"

Gig Em Aggies, Ay

I went to SALT Camp not knowing what a T-sip was. I didn't know what it meant to Pull Out, Push It or Mug Down. Since I was really little, people have been telling me I was gonna be an Aggie. I resisted, told all sorts of Aggie jokes and found them rather amusing.

Daddy has told you all about Uncle Don, his brother. When we went up north to see him one last time before he died, Mommy was packing for me and packed this shirt that I would never wear, I hated this shirt and would cry anytime she made me wear it. She told me it was Uncle Don's favorite color, it was burnt orange. Burnt orange was not his favorite color and is, in fact, the University of Texas school color, UT is known as TU at A&M. Those who go to TU are known as T-sips.

At A&M football is very important. Aggies never loose a game, sometimes the clock runs out, but we never actually loose. We are all the 12th man and remain standing during the game to let the coach know that if he ever needs us, we are there, ready to play. Everyone has to maroon out and stay standing the whole time. When we score any points we get to mug down, or kiss, if we choose to.

It's Awesome!

Yesterday there was a category 1 hurricane, all those from Texas went outside and watched the pretty lighting and awesome looking clouds. My roommate from Nebraska looked outside and said:

"I've seen worse."

She went and sat at her computer all night while we played in the rain with our neighbors and the boys from ROTC who are always over at my apartment. It was much fun.

This morning all the Yankees came out. They were scared of the little storm. My history teacher had them stand up and tell us how they felt. It was funny.

As my dad mentioned, there are lots of boys over at my apartment all the time. They are from the CORPS and the Naval ROTC. They are pretty cool to be around.

I Am The Walrus?

Daddy has been doing posts about The Wizard of Oz.

When I was 6 years old, I had those Ruby Red Slippers. They are no longer sparkly and have holes in the toes. Momma kept them for me. The Wizard of Oz was my favorite movie. I’m pretty sure I watched it every day.

I was so cute.

In my 11th grade Advanced Placement United States History class (APUSH), I had Mr. Washmon. Daddy had him Senior year, if that tells you how old he was. I loved Mr. Washmon, he had all kinds of old posters in his classroom, such as Coco-Cola signs and old War Stamp ones, telling you to support the troops. One of them had a picture of a pretty lady walking arm-in-arm with Uncle Sam. Mr. Washmon collects them.

He has an original movie poster for The Wizard of Oz and used it when he taught us about the monetary system switch of the late 1800’s / early 1900’s. He told us about the book and how it fit in with the silver vs. gold issue, here are a few of my favorites.

Yellow Brick Road - The Yellow Brick Road symbolizes sticking with the good ole gold coins that had been around for as long as anyone could remember. You used gold coins. That’s just the way it was. It was comfortable, you could count on it getting you what you wanted. Eventually.

Ruby Red Slippers - The Ruby Red Slippers are the products of Hollywood. Technicolor had just come out and the red showed up on the yellow brick road. The slippers were originally silver, symbolizing the use of silver coins as currency, but, of coarse, silver doesn’t show up very well on yellow. At the end, Dorothy realizes that she could have just clicked her heels and used her red/silver slippers to get her back home long ago. Yes, the yellow got her there, but she would have been better off just using the silver!

Shadow in the tree scene - There is an Urban Legend that one of the midgets who played a Munchkin hung him self on the set. Apparently, in the scene after the one with the angry apple trees, when the trio is skipping away, you can see his body swinging from one of the tree limbs. This is not true, the background behind them is a wall, not an actual road, he could not have done this, the reason you can ‘see his body swinging in the trees’ is because one of the film cutter people drew on the film so that it looked like the trees were still swaying and throwing apples. Also, if there had been actual trees on set, the proportions are wrong, someone went through and figured out that if the object swinging in the trees was a person, they would not have been the size of a midget, rather, a very large person, much like a giant.

Don’t quote me on that last one, that’s just what I remember from class, when I wrote it, I didn’t have internet access, so I couldn’t check my facts, look it up if you want to!!

It has been over a year since he told me all of this. Though I found it fascinating, I didn’t retain much, I’m afraid those are the only specifics that I remember, but I know that the Scarecrow, Tin Man, Cowardly Lion, Glenda, The Wicked Witch, and The Wizard all represent different players in the arguments for and against the use of silver. I know that the farmers and bankers are represented, but I’m not sure who they are.

My sophomore year, I had Mr. Wooley, who told us that Paul McCartney has been dead since the 1960’s. We spent a week learning all about the cover up and all the hints and clues about how it was true. We even studied the life of Billy Spheeris, who replaced him as lead singer of The Beatles. He had about 95% of my class convinced by the end of the week. The next Monday, he told us that there was no cover up, and that teachers lie to us every day; to take every thing they say with a grain of salt. He said that the only reason teachers don’t completely screw us up is so that they can keep their measly pay checks.

I would like to believe that my teachers really do care. They want us to do well, they really want us to succeed.

I’m not so sure I believe Mr. Wooley.

What Now?

I'm a senior in High School.

I'm in The Band.

I play the flute.

I'm a writer.

Yall don't know much else about me, now do you?

Well, I've learned so much about all of yall over the past few months, I just thought I would fill you in...

When I grow up, I want to be a Marine Biologist. I want to be the girl that rides Shamu in the Sea World Show, be the girl who blows the whistle and the dolphins jump through that hoop.

I want to go to A&M Galveston. I sent in my application, but that was two or three weeks ago and they haven't even recognised it yet... I'm starting to get scared...

I graduate in May, over the summer, me and some of my girl friends want to go on a road trip, maybe to Colorado, possibly Cali, we're not sure yet, but I have a feeling that we're gonna spend the whole summer planning the trip and we wont ever actually get around to going.

I'm a Lifeguard, I love being in the water. Last summer a little girl jumped off of the diving board and pretty soon she couldn't make it to the side. I jumped in and saved her. Her dad yelled at her. Parents yell when they get worried.

I like Coke. Weather it be a Pepsi, Coca Cola, RC Cola, Dublin Dr. Pepper (only real sugar *yumm*), Mountain Dew, any of the above, twist of Cherry/Vanilla Flavoring.

I like going swimming at midnight with a bunch of friends, it's dark and it's just us, no one can come into our little world, unless of coarse we get too loud, then the nice police man comes and tells us we should "Skee-daddle"

I like wearing my hair in pig tails, braided, like little girls and Ellie Mae.

I have green eyes. I like to say they look like McDonald's pickles, other times they look yellowish on the inside, turn brilliant emerald green, light blue, and by the time you get to the outside of the colorful part, there is a ring of forest green there.

My pupils are HUGE

My favorite stone is a Sapphire.

My mom says I wear too much eyeliner, my friends tell me I don't wear enough

I'm a band nerd, I love band, it's an awesome experience, but I'm terribly afraid that that wonderful portion of my life is over. I'm gonna miss it. A lot.

There isn't a band at A&M Galveston, the only sports we have are rowing and crew (sailboat racing)

My dad wants to find me a prom date out of a catalog, he thinks I can't find my own date...

I don't even want to go to prom...

I'm terrified of needles. They freak me out. Even more than Cockroaches.

*shudder*

Did I ever tell you about the time my U.S. History teacher threw a live cockroach on me, I screamed bloody murder so loud that a few teachers from other class rooms came to see what happened and I sat in the fetal position for about 20 minutes crying? Well now I did.

I've been messing up a lot lately, I'm sorry Daddy, Momma, I'm 18, I feel like I need to spread my wings a little bit before I leave so that when I crash and burn, I can just come back home and lick my wounds. If I don't do it now, I'll do it when I leave, and then I'll be about 500 miles away (I think?... how far is it from "Funky Town" Ft. Worth to Galveston?). I don't want to crash and not be able to pick up the pieces... I still need you guys!

Just a few things about me, why I do certain things, and what lies in my future.

Cross my fingers X X close my eyes >_< and make a wish

I'm almost a grown up...