Not that my journalistic tendencies are starting to be superseded by unoriginal self-storytelling, but it's been a long day, and I'm really exhausted. Uni's a real drag on Mondays, starting at 8am and ending at 4pm, with only a couple hours in between for rest, and even that is normally dedicated to work or settling important affairs. At least it's better than Monday last semester, which was 8 to 5, without a single hour free in between.

Where is this leading? Well alright, today was my lab practical for Ecology and Environment. I've been in uni two weeks and already this is developing into my favourite subject. Whilst many rookies are groaning at the workload and assessment propotioning, I have been basking in the warm afterglow of the Announcement. The announcement which says 50% of our assessment will be comprised of two field assignments! Finally, field research! Something that I can really dig my digits into.

In case you, the reader, haven't yet read my first post, I am a nature and ecology fanatic. Not a tree-hugger or a vegan or anything radically extremist like that, just a real scientific aficionado. I have been a naturalist at heart since I was three. My other friends were into whatever trend hit the mainstream market at the time. I just told myself I didn't need that shit [in better terms, of course, I was only four] and for the very most part I stuck to birdwatching, observing insects and tending to the aquarium and the myriad things I kept around the house that did nothing good apart from make the maid scream. And those were just the plastic ones. [The scorpion in the coal bucket and the snake in the neighbour's driveway are priceless memories]. Even when I succumbed to the mainstream and bought Power Rangers figurines it was really more for the sake of seeing the killer and blue whale toys I had drown them in the bathtub [though my Dad would really have you believe otherwise. He still likes to cling to the vestiges of the notion that for that brief fleeting moment I actually behaved like a normal kid. Let's humour him, poor man]. I often immersed myself in little projects which, if you look at them, were actually rather scientific. I used to, for instance, count the population of snails in the garden when the garden was wet or dry. And as I grew, so my understanding of scientific method contined to expand, and I devised more complex experiments, such as counting the relative abundance of different birds in the neighbourhood according to habitat viability.

It was somewhere around the age of 10 that I first discovered the meaning of the term 'marine biologist'. I was instantly hooked, and it has been my ambition to graduate as one ever since. It seems my interest and ties to the natural kingdom know no bounds, and it is just as apt that the scheme of things has managed to put many a bothersome obstruction in my way. Despite my apparent passion for Science I could never study it. I'll admit I was at best a mediocre student, who fit like a square peg in a round hole in most education systems. I even very nearly failed altogether to enter the preliminary Bachelor of Science in UQ, having failed one of the assessment requirements in Foundation Year. It seemed such that even when I aimed for excellence I'd never achieve it. Nevertheless my passion contined unabated. I managed to remedy my past misfortunes the previous semester, and now I'm finally where I always wanted to be.

Now I have my first opportunity to put all that I used to do for fun into an academic subject and use it in a really practical context for the first time. We have two projects, one standard project done by everyone who takes the subject, and another chosen from a list of four, which I am doing with my friend Alex as partners and will make up the bulk of the assessment for the subject. This latter project leaves me with a sense of deja vu: analysing the relative abundance of fruit flies according to habitat; I had conducted a most similar experiment in my own little garden involving snails. This is by no means an assurance I will ace the subject, much as I would like to. There are many mitigating circumstances involved, any one of which could prove potentially detrimental to the entire scheme. Still, we've planned our layout and our strategy, and with the knowledge and expertise behind me, I think we're well prepared. And most poignant of all, this project will stand as a proud monument of emotion in my heart. I am finally, living the dream.