magic shows and ice cream

Happy Halloween! I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed this Halloween. I ate pumpkin pie ice cream, babysat my little nephew Evan, laughed at a dumb scary movie, and hung out with Laura. It was a beautiful day.

Last night was pretty fantastic too. My roommates and I had a party which included eating a bunch of food at a barbecue place, going to the sister missionary mall, buying 4 cartons of ice cream for a dollar each, and eating ice cream while watching The Ghost and Mr. Chicken and then falling asleep.

Besides eating a lot of ice cream and watching Halloween movies, most of my life is full of classes, studying, lab reports, tests, homework, etc. Although I love it, it's getting kind of exhausting. I'm pretty excited for Thanksgiving break. I love both of my majors but I'm starting to think that I really am crazy for double majoring. But then I can't decide between the two. I thought chemistry until I had fun taking my last math test (sad, but true) and then I go back to chemistry when I remember the research I'm working on in atmospheric chemistry and how awesome it is. I love solving real problems. The project I'm starting in my research is about how radical self-reactions sometimes form harmful chemicals in our atmosphere (from the pollution we generate) or sometimes form a stable compound which then blows all over the world until it reaches the equator where it decomposes and forms the harmful chemicals there. I love that once we confirm that this is actually happening maybe we can find a solution and help improve the air for people all over the world.

Speaking of chemistry being awesome, last week was National Chemistry Week. We celebrated with spirit in the Benson building... complete with liquid nitrogen ice cream and magic shows. My niece and nephew, James and Ella, came to the magic show and James told me after that he wants to be a scientist and invent things. He was pretty impressed by the huge laser in my lab and later asked if I could build him a real lightsaber with it. I wish I could. That will be my next project...