osmoregulation

there are two kinds of animals in this world: osmoregulators and osmoconformers.
all animals need to maintain appropriate water and solute concentrations in themselves and in comparison to their environment. this is a lot harder than it seems.  there are so many climates and environments that differ globally, not to mention changes within our immediate environment (notice earlier posts this week about the blizzard that hit seattle) that occur weekly, or daily, depending where you live (is it just me, or does the west coast a little confused about it's weather?).
there are two ways that animals deal with their tumultuous environment: osmoconformers decrease their membrane permeability (permeability= how easy it is for things to come in or go out), which means there's less transmembrane movement. the animal adapts a stagnate state, with little change occurring internally. osmoregulators decrease the difference between the concentration of solutes and water inside their body as measured by the solutes and water in the environment. the animal adapts an ever-changing state, where readjustment and reabsorption are constantly occurring, with an internal environment that is never constant.

there are evolutionary advantages and disadvantages to each. osmoconformers do not have to expend any energy maintaining a stable and healthy internal environment, and yet because of their inability to adapt to a changing external environment, they cannot survive in any other environment. osmoregulators are able to adapt and change to a multitude of different environments, and yet they spend priceless energy on making sure they don't swell and burst with too much water, or shrivel and die because of lack of water.

unfortunately, we cannot choose which way we react to our environment physically (we are osmoregulators, by the way, as deemed by god). but there are other ways we get to choose.

there are two kinds of people in the world: osmoregulators and osmoconformers.
we all need to maintain an appropriate level of emotional engagement with the world.  this is harder than it seems. there are so many different climates and environments that we find ourselves in, both on the large scale, and on the small, everyday scale.
and so there are two ways we deal with our tumultuous environment. osmoconformers decrease their emotional permeability. they adopt a consistent state, where little infiltrates their hard exterior and disrupts their internal peace, and yet the world knows little of them because not much is released from their internal world. osmoregulators decrease the emotional distance between themselves and their environment. there is a constant flow of emotion (and by emotion i don't mean just sobby, bad emotion) as they adjust and readjust themselves according to their circumstances, and it is not hard for the world to see what emotional state they are in. 

there are advantages and disadvantages to each. osmoconformers maintain a consistent internal state, and if their environment becomes too extreme, they are able to harden up their outer shell. they often are able to exude stability and peace, as long as they are don't have to change too often or too quickly. osmoregulators are not limited to any situation because of their inability to change, but expend much emotional energy as they transition from one climate to another. there is no level of depth or emotional state that is unattainable to them.

and so we must choose how we will react to the "climate changes" of this life.

thank you, god.

yesterday was a fabulous day, filled with family, friends (love you jackie), and food. in fact, i still feel full this morning.

there was a particular moment yesterday that's a little sad to reflect on, but gave me some good perspective nonetheless.

one of my mom's cousins was late to dinner because her cat is dying.  if you've ever had a pet, you know how sad and unreal it is to see them slowly break down until their day has come. i've experienced this twice, once with my childhood dog dutch, who got so weak and sick we had to finally put him down, and another time with my cat sadie (the sweetest cat in the whole world) to whom we had to do the same thing to.
when my mom's cousin got there, i got up to greet her and give her a hug and tell her i'm sorry about the cat. and this is what she said to me:

thank you, ali. you know some people just don't get it. these cats [she has two] have been my longest relationships.  i've had boyfriends come and go, and husbands come and go, but these cats have been through it all with me. seventeen years they've always been there when i got home and they've never left. 

in the moment, i was very supportive, and very understanding. but later, i remembered she was talking about cats. not her parents, or her sister, or her friends or co workers. cats. and it made me really sad. i'm not trying to discount how sad it is to have a dying pet, because my two experiences were very, very sad. but in the end, they were just my pets.
it made me sad, because it reminded me how lonely people are or can be. pets come and go, boyfriends come and go, maybe even sometimes husbands come and go, friends, family, you name it, they all come and go at some point in our lives. so is that it, then? are we just doomed to a life of loneliness because anything substantial in this life really isn't that substantial at all? maybe. those things, no matter what we do, will never stay with us every step of our lives. and yet, there is something that i have been able to count on, no matter where i go or who comes in and out of my life.

in matthew 28:18-20, jesus tells his disciples right before he ascends into heaven:

all authority on heaven and earth has been given to me. therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, son and holy spirit, and teaching them to obey everything i have commanded you. and surely i am with you always, to the very end of the age.

jesus makes a promise, that he will be with us always, even to the end of the age (whenever that is).
so here is what i am grateful for. i am grateful that i have a father in heaven that will be with me always, even if the worst should happen and i end up stranded on an island somewhere (cast away style). i am grateful that i have a father in heaven who gives me more than i deserve in this life, such as my wonderful parents and brothers, and grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins galore. i am grateful to have a father in heaven who has given me a chance to never be lonely. no matter what this life may bring.
i am grateful for my father in heaven. thank you, god.

i'm a little obsessed

give a girl a break. i'm from california, when the only time we see this much white stuff in the air is either ash from fires or pollution from a particularly smoggy day.

4 pm: the space needle has disappeared completely.

(if you couldn't tell, i judge how bad the weather is based on how well i can see the space needle)

and this is the view outside my window.

maybe, if we get lucky, school will be cancelled all week!

ps. the fleet foxes have never sounded better than on a day like today.

stuck in my very own snow globe

these are taken from inside my little dollhouse apartment:

10 am this morning.

12 pm today.

i'm sitting inside my little room all safe and bundled up in wool blankets, and sipping hot chocolate. they cancelled school (how do they expect us to go to school on a day like today?) and now i just get to watch the snow flakes fall outside my window and be thankful that i don't have to go anywhere today. 

i've never had a snow day before. i love cold weather.

ugly dogs need love too

i want one. how could anybody say no to a face like that?

clinical interviews shed some light

these are all taken from "entering the child's mind" by herbert p. ginsburg.

i'm reading this book for being a physics ta. there's a lot of psychology that goes behind our physics program, and we will be conducting some clinical interviews. i came across some good insight in the chapter "guidelines for conducting a clinical interview" that i think apply to a much broader audience than the students in the class i ta for:

• good things are often hard to do. <preach>
• assume instead that you are dealing with [somebody] who like all [somebodies] is engaged in an attempt to construct a view of the world and means for dealing with it. <you mean, we're all different?!>
• the open mind cannot be an empty mind. <counterintuitive, i know>
• whatever you say, make it simple and honest. <just like this sentence>
• even the most willing and cooperative [person] may have difficulty in talking about thinking. <how did you know?>
• the moral is that you never know what will work; be flexible enough to try almost anything. <almost being the key word in this statement>

it may seem very idealistic, and in-sync with the post-modern worldview, but i delight in the fact that i can extract some meaning from these late-night, last-minute study sessions.

a new definition of ghetto

i went to see harry potter 7 at midnight last night.
my biochem lab partner invited me and another friend to go with her. she had already bought her tickets at a movie theater in everett. not alderwood (the new one), the other one. plain old everett mall.

my roommate's response when i told her which theater:

that place is gheetttoooo. 

at first, i thought, it can't be that bad. now i understand completely why she said that.

so we get our seats. start watching the movie, and about an hour in the movie shuts off and the lights go on. right when harry potter is in the house with that lady who turns into a snake. it took them twenty minutes to turn it back on, so they gave us free movie passes.

they finally get it fixed. the movie comes back on split down the middle horizontally, with what should be the lower half of the screen in the upper half, and vice versa. it took them five minutes to fix that.

we get through another hour of the movie, and it happens again, right when hermione, harry and ron are at x lovegood's house. it only took them five minutes to fix it this time, so no one made a huge fuss (although some people did leave).

the movie starts again, and i'm thinking, we're all in the clear. until....

it happens again. right when dobby appears in the basement when ron, harry, and hermione get captured by the death eaters. i laughed a little when the whole movie theater yelled NO at the same time.
they got it fixed and we finished the movie. when we walked out we were greeted with a angry mob of harry potter lovers trying to milk the mishap for all it's worth. meaning the manager was handing out free movie passes like candy on halloween.

it might have been the most anti-climactic harry potter midnight showing i've ever been to. but it certainly was the most memorable.

and roomie, you were right. that place was ghetto.

gwyneth paltrow

usually i don't like it when actors or actresses try to "expand" their expression by going from acting to singing. however, i am seriously impressed by gwyneth paltrow's guest appearance on glee this week.

she rocked it, and i would love it if she made more appearances on the show.

i especially loved her renditions of "forget you" by cee lo green, and the mashup of "singing in the rain/ umbrella." that last scene of them dancing in water with the umbrellas made me want to find the nearest fountain and dance in it (even in this cold november weather):



i'll stand under your umbrella anyday.

have fun

i'm sitting in the sub working on some projects in between my two physics TA sessions.
and i have to go to the bathroom. since i am in the corner, there is only one person i can ask to watch my stuff (i don't trust those SPU kids with my unattended stuff... just ask jens).
i'm gonna call this person colonel mustard. col mustard is a balding, overweight, late 50's, glasses, cliche professor kind of man. who finds no shame in burping after he's eaten.

ali sue:

excuse me, will you be here for a while.

col mustard:

yeah i will be. 

ali sue:

can you just... i have to go to the bathroom. can you-

col mustard:

have fun!

--> at this point i'm hurriedly walking away, a little weirded out, a little embarrassed. i stop and turn around, thinking of how to explain that i didn't interrupt him to tell him i need to go to the bathroom.

ali sue:

can you keep an eye on my stuff while i'm gone?

col mustard (wide-eyed and annoyed at this point):

uh yeah.

-->now i'm really booking it out of there, feeling a little bit silly.

i come back from the bathroom, and to my surprise, col mustard has taken my request rather seriously.  he's moved seats so that he's now sitting across the table from my stuff.

i sat down and said thank you, trying to relieve him of his duty, thinking he would go back to his spot.

he didn't. i'm still sitting across from him as i write this post.

awkward encounters make life so much more interesting. 

common mistakes during registration

it's registration time.

wes:

they teach NAVAJO at this school? that's ridiculous. i'm taking it.

ali sue:

what?! really?! where? let me see!

wes:

right here. (points to the class in question).

ali sue:

 wes, that doesn't say najavo. that says NIVEAU. (i try to not laugh, but the cackle comes out).

wes:

shut up. 

dr. mcfarland, you know the key to my heart

sugars are often gel-like.

exhibit A:

sour gummy worms.

exhibit B:

regular gummy worms.

exhibit C:

gummy bears.


dr. mcfarland distributed all exhibits to the class. all students examined the exhibits in a close, personal way.  and by close and personal, I mean with their mouths.

each of us discovered that, indeed, sugar is often gel-like.

salivary glands stimulated: CHECK
observations made: CHECK
attention regained by dr. mcfarland: CHECK

on a side note, we all personally witnessed dr. mcfarland's 3D glasses collection (yes, the ones that are handed out for movies) and learned exactly how to smuggle them out of the movie theaters. and it was suggested that if we somehow contributed to his collection, he would be very grateful.

a valid life application of what we learn in lecture: CHECK

it tastes better when it comes in a cup that looks like this

independent research

today in lab, we discussed what our independent research project should be about. my lab group consists of jen (the track superstar), lauren (the fashionable genius), wes (the quiet cool guy), and me (the comic relief) they are all brilliant in their own right, and often I'm the oddball out.

here's what we came up with:

ali sue: 

how about we test the effects of different external stimuli on heart rate and blood pressure, such as listening to different genres of music. 

lauren:

oh yeah, that's a good idea. maybe we can also listen to different tones and beeps, like sounds without words.

jen:

and maybe we can test looking at different images too.

ali sue (in all seriousness): 

yay! we can look at little puppies! 

wes (under his breath):

oh gawd.