This post is severely overdue! Just like one of my library books that hopefully, I will remeber to return tomorrow, I have been neglecting this blog...In my defence, it has been a crazy last two weeks!
First thing on the agenda...I had a huge fight with my mom. I shan't discuss the nitty gritty here but it happened. Thus I felt really depressed for approximately a week and didn't update as a result. I also worked furiously on my assignment for my animal behaviour course.
Then, last Monday I recieved my first three day long exam. It was for animal behaviour and it sucked. Not like loosing change from your pocket sucks, more like a-large-chunk-of-ice-is-plummetting-toward-earth-and-will-annihilate-all-humanity-and-any-proof-that-ice-cream-was-invented kind of sucks. It REALLY sucked. I mean REALLY sucked. The question was as follows:
...
Hmm, well I can't seem to find the paper right now but when I do, I shall unleash the horror of the exam question we recieved on the world. You will just have to take my word for it that it sucked. So, the three day exam works as follows. You recieve a single exam question and you have three days to write an essay on that question. You have to treat it as an exam, so you are not allowed to speak to your lecturer about the question at all but you are permitted to speak to your exam-mates. Technically we are not really supposed to but who's gonna stop us?
I managed to find the question...here goes!
'Environmental changes may create challenges and demands for many animal species. Some animal species respond to such changes by modifying their behaviour, a phenomenon referred to as behavioural flexibility. However, the concept of flexibility is not universally accepted by animal behaviourists, because of:
1) an imprecise definition
2) uncertainty about the mechanisms underpinning the development of flexibility;
and
3) uncertainty about how flexibility would rise in a population/species.
Do you share these skepticisms?Discuss.'
Now is that not a crappy question? If some ridiculously intelegent individual has read this and offhand can give an answer...you suck and I really don't want to know what the answer should have been!
Anyway, once the exam was over, I left to go with my friend Eebee on his fieldwork. He is working on elephant shrews and a species of mouse. He is mapping their homeranges and comparing it to the personality of the respective individuals.
So what he has to do is trap the animals, take numerous measurements (length, mass, sex...etc) and assign a personality type to them. So I went off and learnt to trap them and do all the other stuff. It was really fun and I learnt a heck of a lot! We also had to alk through the bush spraypainting rocks with numbers that represent the grid in which the traps were placed.
So anyway, we were off to check the traps and had just returned when I got an sms from my mom to say that my grandfather was dying. Eebee very kindly offered to take me home if I wanted to go. So I packed all my stuff and we headed out. It was getting really dark by this stage. We got to the gate of the reserve and discovered that the security guy who was supposed to be there had gone off to bed and so we were stuck inside the reserve. Shortly after our arrival at the gate I got a message from my mom saying that he had died.
The guard arrived eventually and let us out. We drove back to Joburg and after thanking Eebee, I headed inside. It was really surreal, the kind if thing that you see in the movies. I was the prodigal son returning in time for the family death. If you have no clue what I'm on about, don't worry.
Here is a sunset to cheer you up!
I'm actually okay about the whole thing. It has been two months of up and down in the hospital for him and so I think that death was probably the best thing for him. I realise how cold this may sound but it is true. My family on the other hand are not holding up as well as I am. My sisters and mom are okay but my gran is understandably upset and so is my uncle.
Then the next thing that happened was that I got contacted by my supervisor who told me that my masters project is on the go and that I had to go see him about it. Immediately after that I got a call from one of the workers at the zoo that I know to congratulate me on getting the project and that she looked forward to working with me! It was so random!
So I went to see my supervisor today and he told me that the ball was indeed rolling and that I had to get cracking on this project. I'm so EXCITED! It's gonna rox!
I am totally addicted to the TV series 'LOST'! It is so cool! I love it! Currently, the second season is playing here in SA and I've only just recently started watching it. So my friend Helen, who works at a video store, has been giving me the DVD's of the first season. It is so cool...
And so, hopefully, you all now understand the reason why this is so overdue. Hope you can all forgive me. I'm actually going off on more fieldwork tomorrow of my own. So I'll update again at a later stage. Hope all is well in the world!
Cheerio!
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