The fungus among us

A dear friend of mine told me that the Bornean ducks (not technically the species name, just a descriptor of where I saw and took a photo of them. The ducks.) photo at the top is boring and needed to be changed. This person is no longer a dear friend. Not really. The suggestion was that I mix up the photographs used. I was skeptical at first. I like my Bornean ducks. They remind me of a delightful part of my Master's journey, including the fantastic homestay family I quickly grew to love and now miss terribly. But, I can also understand that looking at the same old photo each time you read these ground-breaking amalgamations of thought isn't very appealing. So, my no-longer-but-really-always dear friend sent me some fantastic photos and gave me permission to use them. You may notice I've played around with the appearance - new photo, a new background, font colors, etc. - because you definitely pay that close attention to things.

The photo I fell in love with, which you should see if you aren't viewing this on the mobile version, is one of a fungus taken on an island south of Tierra del Fuego (which makes this song pop into my head: http://youtu.be/OkEedQGZ5Q0 enjoy!) by my dear friend (who hopefully is fine with my quest for anonymity and doesn't desire to be named). Responses to hearing (or reading) the word 'fungus' probably range from accepting to "ewww!" because of varying levels of experience. Maybe you love to eat mushrooms. Maybe you hate mushrooms. Maybe you've been lucky enough to be a host for a fungus on your feet or other body parts. It's ok. I don't judge. Maybe you've geeked out at zombie-creating fungus (I totally geek out on this every. single. time.), like this:


Perhaps you've even equated fungus growth to homework. No? Just me, then? Ok. Well, here goes. Homework is like a fungus. If you don't address it in a timely manner, it just keeps growing, especially under the right conditions, such as a doctoral program. Fungus (i.e. homework) doesn't stop for your full time job, additional part time job, or the most important part of your life: parenthood. Instead, it sits quietly in the corner (i.e. computer), slowly accumulating and expanding until one day (read: many sleepless nights) you have to buckle down and apply some elbow grease just to catch up with the growth. But you never can eradicate it. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. Some fungus is quite beautiful, such as the one shown in the photo. Learning is also beautiful, and homework is just the "proof" of learning.

So, I guess it's time to buckle down and prepare to apply elbow grease for the foreseeable sleepless nights future. I am currently accepting donations in the form of coffee gift cards. Or just the coffee. My favorite is iced nonfat double chocolate mocha, in case you're wondering.