New York City!

Link to NYC pictures

The trip was fantastic! New York is amazing! The weather was pretty good after the storm went through on Friday afternoon. It was really muggy on Friday. Saturday, the weather was perfect. Not too hot, not too cold, sunny. New York reminded me a lot of London, funny enough. It was the amount of people (crowds on sidewalks), crossing against the red on sidewalks, the driving/cars, and the tall buildings. It was definitely faster paced compared to California, though. Pretty much all the stereotypes of New York City applied (e.g. honking, cars, etc), though, which is funny. JK Rowling is still amazing to me. Sometimes you meet people in real life and you don’t like them; I just like JK Rowling even more. She’s an amazing lady. 

I wrote a very long more than 4 page write-up of the entire weekend, but it's too long to post in a blog. Course, most of it is about Friday night (about half, LoL). So...I'll sum up the other days in a few lines and post my long write-up of Friday.

The flight to NYC was uneventful and good. We had no real problems getting the car service to pick us up. They drove us straight to our hotel and dropped us off! The hotel (Park Savoy) is a budget hotel and our room was TINY, but clean and GREAT location. I think the queen bed rooms are larger, but we had a double bed so it was small (smallest bathroom I've ever seen in an actual building). We were a block away from Central Park South (that's a road, but also the south end of Central Park). We were right across the back entrance to the Essex House. And one block away from Carnegie Hall (literally right around the corner from our hotel).

Saturday we went on one of those hop-on-hop-off bus tours around
downtown. We caught it at Central Park South and rode it all through
downtown. We stopped at Ground Zero and saw the cross and St. Paul's
Chapel (the place where people hung all those banners/signs/stuff after
9/11). We also went to the Scholastic store! That was cool just to see
some of the Harry Potter stuff they had. We walked around Times Square
and Broadway too. We saw where Wicked was playing, but didn't go and
see it. We were tired, it was Saturday night, and there were a ton of
people around.

Sunday morning we walked the west side of
Central Park and found The Dakota. It was really sunny and I was just
dying in the sun. There were LOTS of people walking through Central
Park and then we realized it was a walk to promote Breast Cancer
Awareness. THOUSANDS and thousands of people were walking around
Central Park. We tried walking "upstream" of them and we gave up and
walked on the street because there were just too many of them.

The flight home was good, but boy am I glad to be home! 

I've definitely had an amazing year and one I'm very thankful for. Now
time to buckle down for my capstone and finish this semester strong.
I've got an intense next 2 weeks coming up for school.

-----

Friday, Oct 19
We got up and decided to just check out the area we were around. We went and found Carnegie Hall (literally around the corner from our hotel). There were a ton of people milling outside and I realized that these were the school children that were going for their book reading, Q&A, and signing. We walked down that street and down an avenue to get to Central Park. We walked along the south end of it for a while and came to an intersection. I looked to the right and what did I see?! The APPLE STORE! The famed cube with the Apple in the middle with the actual store below ground. I couldn’t believe it. So I took pictures and we went in. If I ever had a moment of impulse buying, it was then. Playing with the new iMac and iPods I had a momentary weakness of wanting to buy something so I can get the Apple bag. LoL It’s just a white drawstring bag with a silver Apple on it, but it’s an Apple store in the Big Apple! Anyway, we left before I could attempt to buy anything and walked down Madison Ave. We stopped in an Ann Taylor store (store Kristi likes) to see if we could get her anything that she’d like, but it was all too expensive (at least right now – hahaha). We walked back to Central Park and walked about a third of the park. I tell you, that park is HUGE and AMAZING! We went past the zoo, saw the Balto statue, and the Alice in Wonderland statue. When we were walking back to see if we could find something to eat in Columbus Circle (we made a full loop), it started to rain! Luckily, I had brought 2 umbrellas so we used those. We got pretty damp, but it wasn’t bad. We went into the Times Warner shopping center and found it’s 3 floors. We went into the Borders on the 2nd floor (I had to). I bought my travel map I left back home and called my store. I ended up having a full-blown conversation and asking to put something on hold. My mom was laughing at me saying I’m in a Borders in NY while I’m on the phone to a Borders in California asking them to put a book on hold for me. We went to Whole Foods for lunch (in the basement). We walked back out and it stopped raining! We went to pick up our tickets at about 3 pm. We got them with no problem and then decided to go back to our room to rest for a bit.

Noelle and I got in touch and agreed to meet up at Brooklyn Diner (the block right next to Carnegie Hall) for dinner. We met up, hugged, introduced people (Noelle brought her brother, Trevor), and ordered food! The food was really good and we talked Harry while eating. Noelle INSISTED on buying dinner. She grabbed the check the instant it came and gave my mom and I the dirtiest look when we asked about it. I know you shouldn’t mess with Noelle, but on-line I can just ignore her and she can’t do anything to me. Man, in real life, do NOT mess with Noelle! LoL

After dinner we went to Carnegie Hall and was amazed at how many people were already in line! We went to line up around 6pm, the event is supposed to start at 7pm. We took pictures in line and waited. We debated whether they’ll take cameras away or not (they didn’t even check your bags). Noelle got interviewed by a Kid Reporter for Kids’ Time Magazine.

Once we were in the building, we split up from Noelle and Trevor.  They were in the topmost balcony and we were floor. We had FANTASTIC seats! They were on the floor, middle, and I’d say the first most half. We had a wonderful view of the stage. I took some pictures I wasn’t supposed to take because everyone else had their cameras on! Eventually they did tell us that cameras were not allowed and blah, blah, blah. So I stopped. I talked with the people next to me. Everyone was asking where you were from and yaddy, yaddy.

Finally, JK Rowling came out! She got a standing ovation from us all. It was just amazing. She read to us for about 20 minutes. This particular section (the moment right after Ron destroyed the locket to the end of the chapter) was the first time she’s read that piece in public. She said she a) knew we were an older crowd and b) that we’re all more likely to have finished the book by now. It was so neat to hear her reading because she inflected in the reading how it was SUPPOSED to sound/be. I thought Hermione forgave Ron quicker than she actually is supposed to. It was just one of the most surreal moments. I’m sitting in Carnegie Hall, he most acoustically perfect building, and I’m listening to JK Rowling read. It was just amazing. Carnegie Hall is just BEAUTIFUL and I’d love to go back and listen to some live music in there, but adding in JK Rowling? It was just amazing.

She answered about 15 questions. They ranged all over the place and only 2 were “duds” in my mind. Only because they’d been asked before or some form of them. Though, 1 of my duds Jo did extrapolate on so it wasn’t so much of a dud. Of course I was at the reading when she explained that Dumbledore is gay. It truly makes sense for his actions towards Grindelwald, but it doesn’t affect the book in the sense it doesn’t affect Harry’s storyline. After she told us, most people started cheering. There’s a lot of hype about it and people don’t like it and now are starting to think perverse things about Dumbledore and Harry’s relationship, but – seriously – it’s not that big of a deal because a) Dumbledore loved Harry as a SON, b) it doesn’t affect the plot or the book since it's all Harry's story, and c) TOLERANCE people!

The question I liked is the one where she talked about why she had Molly kill Bellatrix. Mom really liked her answer since she basically said that mothers and housewives also have talents beyond tending the home. It just makes you like Jo since she seems to realize where there are intolerances, lack of respect, and places our society can work more on (e.g. tolerance!). Someone also asked about what she hoped people would get from the books (actually pertained more to the parallel of Nazi Germany and the Deatheaters), but she talked about tolerance and prejudices and to question authority (to not believe the press or news for everything). I also liked how she explained why she couldn’t kill Arthur. Frankly, I just liked about everything she said. Lol

Neil (her husband) and her kids were there too, which was nice. He was up on the first balcony (one right above the ground floor) to the right side. I saw him. We only knew he was there because she mentioned he was there and then I saw people pointing. LoL

Anyway, after the Q&A she walked off stage to get ready to sign books! They started with the first 2 rows of people in my section because they were the ones who got to ask questions. Then they did the entire right side and then us! As we waited, they compiled all the previous readings she’s done from Goblet of Fire to Deathly Hallows so we could watch it. It was pretty neat.

Once I got up to the table, I was distracted by the Scholastic people because they were (literally) shoving people along. I looked at her and she looked me right in the eye and say “hi, how are you?” I was totally thrown off so I said “fine” and then I was watching her sign the book in front of me and I got shoved along and given a book she had signed (not kidding) 2 books ago! She was signing books faster than people were moving through the line! I bet they changed this tactic (of not personalizing) after London when she was there for HOURS! She signed people’s name (I’m pretty sure), they got the hologram sticker in the upper right hand corner, and she signed it. This time around it was she just signed as fast as she could (they had a ton of people helping) and they slapped on a sticker where ever they could place it fastest. It was kind of anticlimactic, but STILL amazing. I think she looked at every person who went by. How amazing is that? I mean, I walked away with a SIGNED book by JK Rowling. I SAW her in person! She SPOKE to me. It was amazing. LoL

We left Carnegie Hall after that and milled outside. I wasn’t sure where Noelle was, but knew she was in the balcony somewhere. Turns out, she was at the VERY top. So we ended up going back to our hotel so we could drop our books off and rest a bit while we waited. I called people right when we got out and talked to people while in the hotel. Eventually we decided she has to be almost done so we went back. Noelle came out about 15-20 minutes later. We took pictures in front of Carnegie Hall with our books and went our ways. Trevor isn’t one to stay up late.

Mom and I went out for dessert afterwards. We stopped at a place called the Park Café because they had cheesecake! They gave us a HUGE slice. What was really different about New York to California was the level of service at the restaurants! You’d put your order in immediately (almost) and you’d get your food like 15 minutes or less later. It was amazing! Sure beat my recent experience at Chili’s where Jenn waited like 40 minutes for her meal (about 20 minutes after we got ours). It was pretty good.

Life update

Huh, that's weird. I thought I updated with my marine bio test grade. I guess I didn't. I got an 85% on it. I did a LOT better than I thought on the essay questions. I missed some dumb things on the T/F part and only missed 1 multiple question, but it was worth 5 points. LoL Oh well, it's over and done with.

Anyway...My mom and I are leaving for NYC this Thursday!! Our plane leaves sometime after 6am (6:45am?). :P We'll be comin' back late Sunday night. JK Rowling is on Friday at 7 pm!

On another note...

I went to our school's graduate school fair today. MOST of the schools represented were there to promote their law programs and ALL the schools were from California. I visited a few of them with a classmate of mine because she is interested in law. It was kind of interesting and there are some pretty neat programs out there like one is international environmental law (it's only a degree, no masters yet). There weren't any science related program, well, what I was specifically looking for. UC-Santa Cruz was there, but they don't have specifically what I'm looking for either. I have pretty much decided, though, I am 1) going out of the state for grad school and 2) not going to law school. LoL Policy or public affairs is the closest I'll get. Unless I go governmental affairs, which I kind of doubt.

Anyway, I've decided (as of now) I'd like to go off and work for the government or some big agency, make my contacts, do some good work, and then end up as a professor at a college or working at a non-profit. Problem is, if I want to be a professor at a college I'm either going to have to have some good contacts and great career beforehand or get my PhD. :P I guess I'll come to that road when I get to it, which will be MANY years away. LoL Right now, getting a PhD sounds extremely intimidating and not fun. I have to get through my Masters before I can start thinking PhD!

Columbia University is still my top pick for grad schools, but I'm seriously contemplating going to Edinburgh University now. They have an environmental monitoring and management masters there and it's a 12 month program (9 months for the degree, 3 months for the dissertation). It's more science related and Columbia is more policy related. Columbia is definitely more the track I want to go (degree, classes, and location), but Edinburgh is a good university and it'd give me some great experiences (not to mention a research cruise!). Someways I just want to say Edinburgh because...seriously...I miss Edinburgh like I lived there most of my life. I must have gotten bit by the "I love Edinburgh" bug while I was there or something. I sort of miss London, but Edinburgh is like I want to go back every year for the summer (I can skip London, LoL). Anyway, we'll see what happens. It's still a few years away!

With that...I'm off to finish editing this paper, edit/review my marine bio lab, and sleep! Tomorrow I have to e-mail my capstone proposal off and e-mail someone for my capstone. Not to mention my contest work. Oh and pack....AHHHHHHHH

*happy thoughts, happy thoughts* I will be in NYC on Thursday and seeing JK Rowling and meeting her on Friday *happy thoughts, happy thoughts*

School Update

Okay, I just took a very easy marine bio test, but I also don't think I did well on it.
I totally blanked on more than 3 differences between r-selected and
k-selected species. *sigh* I was thinking size was a factor, because
k-selected are typically bigger, but I thought that was stupid. Of
course, that WAS a reason and I didn't write it down. Blasted. 10 point question and I got only
(at most) 6 points on it. I also, uhm, fibbed my way through what Net
Primary Production was. Hahaha. I probably got a 5 on that one (maybe more if he has pity on me since I did know what all the components in the equation meant (and the equation) even if I didn't exactly know what Net Primary Production exactly was). And...I
guessed on 2 T/F questions and 1 multiple choice question. If I got
those wrong, that's another 7 points!
Not to mention the possibility in getting other questions wrong. *sigh*
That's a low B and we only have 3 tests in this class! AHHHHHHHHHH

My stomach is in a ton of knots... I'm depressed...

I am doing better in 212, though. I've gotten 9's on the last couple of our assignments. So that means I'm pulling an A in the class at least. I'm not hostel (openly or otherwise) against him and I'm writing in a way that he wants, so I'm doing pretty well.

Water Law ain't bad, but we still haven't had too many assignments. I'm doing well, though. A at least.

Capstone is, well, capstone. There's not a whole lot to actually grade. It'll come down to how my proposal turns out and what Judy thinks of it. The rate I'm going, it could be a disaster, but hopefully it won't be. I'm feeling really behind in capstone even if I am keeping up with all the assignments. I guess I feel on-time to the class, but behind to Judy and the NOEP's standards. My capstone will be a working paper and we're getting more work for the National Report, so...I need to amp up my work ethic to my capstone. Not that I'm working on something else more than my capstone. It's more like I'm constantly tired so really sluggish in getting things done when there's not a due date that week. I do have to make a time line of when I want things done for the NOEP and Judy so we can keep me on track, but it's just intimidating! I like the NOEP a lot, but I feel stupid when everyone talks about their projects. Granted, I'm sure everyone kind of feels that way with any project you have no clue about, but still! Being the noob, simply put, isn't fun.

On top of this all, I'm basically screwed with the Academic Planning Committee this semester. Their meetings are at a time I have class.  It's either ditch class (with the APC knowing) or participate next semester. They've asked if I can participate next semester, which I hopefully can. I may ditch Water Law anyway...That class is SO boring and she has us write notes for some purpose I don't know. We don't have tests or quizzes in the class.

I've decided not to be a mentor this year for the aquarium. I just can't add onto my mental status as it is already. I could do it, but just the thought of HAVING to be at the aquarium every Sunday because I have a responsibility would be too much. I like the freedom in knowing I can skip the aquarium if I need to.

Other than that, life is going. I've yet to receive my packet of information from Scholastic for the JK Rowling thing in NY, but that should be arriving sometime this week. To say the least, I'm really wanting mid-October to be here  NOW.

Okay, I should be off.

Flight!

My mom and I booked our flight tonight! It was definitely on the pricey end, but the times are at least decent. We have our hotel, we have our flight...All I have to do is wait for the packet of paperwork to arrive, send it back, and wait for October the 18th to arrive.

It's a 3.5 weeks away and it feels SO far away, but I know the time is just going to ZOOM on by.

I have to figure out now my financials to see about Australia and Chicago. I'd like to go to Chicago for Terminus (Harry Potter conference in Chicago Aug 2008), but if I go to Australia and with NY now...My funds are pretty much wiped out. Oh well, I have time to still think about that.

I have to admit, I'm not exactly looking forward to flying again. LoL I've been in San Fran (x2), San Jose, Monterey, LAX, Colorado, Orlando, and Heathrow this summer. With going to NY, I'll add in Salt Lake City and JFK into the list. Not to mention Monterey again. Of all the airports, Monterey is my least worried one because it's small. All the others I have to worry about getting through security and everything (*shudders at the thought of LAX*). I've been on 3 airlines (United, American, Virgin) so far with NY being a 4th (Delta). I'm definitely getting a feel for planes, airports, and airlines...I obviously haven't recovered from my ordeal with going to the UK, but I have something fun to look forward to! I just need to keep that in mind.

With that, I'm off to sleep.

We have a hotel!

After spending a solid two days trying to find a hotel (a decent one at a decent price) I FINALLY found one. The place that I really wanted showed it was full on-line, but I e-mailed them and tried calling them. This morning they e-mailed me back saying they had one room left! So I got it! It's about a half a block away from Carnegie Hall and a block away from Central Park (it's right across from the Ritz-Carlton, in fact). It's called the Park Savoy.

I'm so happy. LoL I was seriously getting worried for a while because all the "cheaper" hotels were booked. The next price range for a decent hotel near Carnegie Hall was $366 a night or going away out to Times Square or Manhattan and paying about $200 a night still.

Now to just book our flights!

I'm going to NYC!!

So....last month Scholastic had a JK Rowling Open Book Tour Sweepstakes. JK Rowling is coming to the US to do a book reading, Q&A, and book signing for schools in Los Angeles, New Oreleans, and New York. Well, in addition to those, she's doing a book reading, signing, Q&A session for anyone older than 7 and resident of the US! The event would be at Carnegie Hall in NYC on Friday, October 19th at 7pm. There would be 1,000 grand prize winners and the prize was 2 tickets to see her read, the Q&A, and get a book signed. Accommodations and flights would have to be taken care of by the winner. So, of course, I HAD to enter into it even though I'm still "broke" from the UK and Florida.

Last week they were contacting winners and a friend of mine got picked and I was getting more depressed as the days go on thinking I didn't win. So this week (after Monday) I gave up hope in winning. It just wasn't meant to be and there would be other times.

Well...I was sitting in class at about 12:20pm on Wednesday and my phone rings. I'm staring
at it on the desk flashing a "Call 1." I knew it had to be an unknown
number. I've been reading the comments on the news post about the
winners being contacted on TLC's main page so I know from that (and my friend's account) their numbers don't show up. So it's the BEGINNING of
class and this happens. So I'm sitting there thinking, "could that be
them? I can't remember which number I gave them. It could be Chris
though, his number is blocked." So it stops ringing and a
voice mail was left. So it's making even MORE paranoid. LoL I even was
trying to figure out what time Chris would have had to start work to
call me at that specific time. I figured out there was not much chance
it was him, but it STILL could have been him. I was trying to not get
my hopes up. So we were finishing a movie and I'm sitting there trying to
pay attention and not freak out. FINALLY at 1pm she says we can take a
5 minute break (we do every class) so I get up (we ALL have to get up
and move around) and I check my voice mail. It starts off, "Hi, this
message is for Bethany Taylor..." I KNEW right then I won. LoL Then it
goes onto "This is Vicky from Scholastics and I'm actually calling to
congratulate you..." I basically freaked out. I'm standing next to my
friends saying, "oh my gosh! I can't believe it! I won!" They're looking at me
funny. I finally tell them when the message ended. They just gave me
one of those "oh, that's nice" looks.
I went out of the room to call my mom. I'm trying to hold it all in and
I called her and she said I sounded funny like I was distressed. So she
was worried about what could have happened! Then I told her and she's
all "really? You won?" It was funny, but I was so excited! So I went
back and had to sit through 45 more minutes of class knowing this
information! I tried calling Vicky after class, but there was no
answer. I left the worst voice mail ever. I'm all "Hi Vicky, this is
Bethany Taylor. I'm just calling your...I mean, returning your call. I
would absolutely love to accept the tickets, prize, [I said something I
don't remember], whatever they are. You can call me back at..." I gave
her my number twice (hope I said it right, I don't even remember saying
the numbers) and hung up.

Now to wait for the return call because I have some papers to fill out and send back to them! So, yes, I and my mother are going to NYC to see JK Rowling!!!! Am I excited? Oh yeah!

Entering a whole new world...

So...I've been slowly figuring out by way of researching for my capstone that I'm entering a whole area no one has really been in. So my capstone paper will eventually (definitely looks that way) will end up being published somewhere, sometime. How is it the state of California has had NO one research biotoxins and how it affects the economy?! There are hypotheticals and there's extrapolating from other states, but I can't find any papers on specifically California or even government documents! So I'm going to have to end up doing MORE research and work for my capstone than I thought. I'll have to extrapolate from other studies and compare it to California and look at domoic acid blooms, fishery closures, beach closures, and fishery and beach data when they're open. Lovely...

In some ways it's kind of interesting going and doing something no one has really done before, but it's also terrifying for an undergraduate capstone paper! I had a PhD scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (a premier institute) tell me that if I unearth any information or write a paper that estimates economic costs from harmful algal blooms (HABs) for California to pass it on to him. This guy has been writing papers on harmful algal blooms HABs and economy impacts for years (at least 2000). So I'm just a bit floored and even more stressed now. Lol

On another note...it seems wrong that kids (5 and 3) have more energy than a 21-year-old. I'm reading stories to my niece and nephew and getting them ready for bed and all I can think about is how much I want to go to bed and how wired they are. LoL I do think if I can have any super power it'd be to sap excess energy from little kids and/or the ability for people to sleep for you. I think both those would be very useful. Who cares about being invisible or being able to fly, I want something more practical. :P

School! My first of three marine biology tests is next Tuesday. AHHHHHH! I have a paper/presentation due next week in Water Law too. I have to go to the water district's office and pick up a brochure and call them to interview someone. *rolls eyes* My first formal paper is due Thursday for food ethics. It's definitely not my best paper I've written. It's hard to fit everything I want to say in 5 pages double-spaced. Also harder in trying to cover enough points with such little information and on a topic that's hard to grasp. It just makes for a not-so-great paper. At least that's what my draft for tomorrow is like. LoL The GRE is quickly approaching; okay, it's in 47 days. It seems really close, though, and finding time/energy to study is hard.

As for the aquarium, I have to make a decision tomorrow whether I can commit to being a mentor or not. It's basically a mandatory meeting 3 times in a year (fall-summer) and arriving early/staying late on shift on Sundays. I think I can do that, but do I want to add another level of commitment onto myself? Granted, it's not adding that much more since I'm already going on Sundays, but it's all psychological!

Anyway, I should go to sleep. Well, more like read some marine biology and my lit review paper for it. Test next week with 200 pages of the book to read and pages of notes to review. AHHHHH