Feeling: sore, but better

Watching: Stroker and Hoop

Thinking: I'm tired

Atlantis launches smoothly

I'm glad the launch went well. I must say, awesome name for the space shuttle :)

I'm supposed to go to the doctors tomorrow, but not because of the accident. I made an appt. about a week ago because I think I have acid reflux or something. Ick. I don't really want to go. I havent been able to sleep very well the last couple of days and I would like to just stay home and rest tomorrow. Oh well, at least I can ask about getting some pain meds and maybe a muscle relaxant. The guy at the car place where I took my car (obviously) is going to call me tomorrow. Hopefully I won't have to go down there too.

Today was actually a really good day, which was nice.

Yesterday, before the suckiness, my sister and I were on our way to the natural history museum in LA. There was this exhibit about the bog people of Northern Europe. All these artifacts and bodies have been found in various bogs throughout that area and scientists had to figure out why they were there and who the people might have been. I frankly didn't know that much about it, but my sister really wanted to go and I love museums, so I was all for it. So, then the accident happened and that pretty much scrapped our plans for the day.

So... My dad picked us up and on the way home I asked him if he would possibly be able to take us to the museum tomorrow. I told him I'd pay his way in and I would be so grateful, which was true. He said ok, so we were able to go today :)

It was really fascinating. The bog preserves bodies and many artifacts because of its lack of oxygen. Unfortunately, when the organic material is exposed to air, it tends to decompose very rapidly, even with proper handling. Therefore, many of the bodies were not as preserved as they were when found. Still, it was very interesting to read about how they were found and what scientists had concluded as to what happened to each person. Also, there were many coins, pots, jewerly, and various other objects that were better preserved because of the material they were made from (such as copper or other metals).

Oh omg, the best part was the end. Ok, after we went through the exhibit, we got to this part where we were able to examine evidence, and try to determine various cases involving bodies found in the bog, using forensic science. Yes, how awesome is that? I, of course being a CSI fan, was quite pleased. One problem for me is that I am fascinated by forensic science, but I'm not very good at it. It would not be a job I'd want to do because I don't have an eye for detail, I have trouble paying attention, I get confused easily, etc. So yeah... I just think it's amazing how it all works, but I wouldn't want to do it for a living.

Still, it was so cool to be able to study the evidence like that. They had replicas of bones, cloth, and metal found in the bogs. We used telescopes, magnifying glasses, information gained from the exhibit, and our own ingenuity to try to come up with answers such as what gender someone was, how old an artifact might be, etc.

The only problem was of course there was a lot of people, so it was hard to find time to actually figure things out. I'd try to really study say, a skull, and someone would be breathing down my neck after ten seconds, obviously wanting to have a turn. That's the way things go sometimes.

It was still great though :) They called the area BSI (Bog Science Investigation) hee hee.

Speaking of CSI, I so want to buy the first season. I want to watch all the seasons so far actually. I have seen a few eps. already, but not nearly enough. I need to cath up!

Back to the museum, so after we left the bog people exhibit, we looked around the rest of the museum. They have dinasour bones, gems and minerals, items from various times and places in history, etc. It's all so cool. The last thing we went to was the insect zoo which consists of real live bugs. There were some bugs which I had either never heard of before, or hadn't seen.

My fave part is usually the dinosaurs and the gems and minerals. They have this one area in the g&m section where there are all these perfectly cut and smooth diamonds, topaz, rubies, etc. It's so beautiful.

Ugh, I'm frickin' tired (I just nodded off for a couple of seconds) so I'm gonna wrap this up. Bye for now!