Senioritis

Today I realized that I am falling behind in life. I think the major factor for this small(ish) problem is senioritis. I learned in my phycology class, that there are diseases that affect a persons motivation and functionality, because of this, I think that being diagnosed with senioritis should be a reasonable excuse to get me out of work, class etc.  (as well as someone to clean off my desk and do laundry.) Unfortunately this is not exactly possible. (Dang) So due to my "disease" I have been falling behind in important things like cleaning, homework, blogging, going to the gym and other "life forwarding" things.  To help solve this, I have started making lists. Lots of lists. Lists of homework for the week, Grocery lists, Lists of things to do NOW, Lists of things that need to be done sometime soon, Lists of things not to forget, List of things to Blog about... like I said, lots of lists. I ran into a small problem this morning when I lost my list of things to do for the day. Dang. Dang dang dang. 

01.20.2009 The Beginning of an Error

     After just watching the Inauguration of the Obama, I am desperately hoping that he doesn't screw up. Through out the morning, such a big deal was made about the race of our new president, and because of this I am worried that if he does botch his presidency, his status as a minority will be blamed, making it harder for minorities in the future. This might affect the chances of Sarah Palin being elected President (or vp for Mit) So, for her sake (and that of all "minorities") I hope he does well. 

     On a random note I didn't know until I saw him signing the papers for his cabinet that Obama is left handed. Interesting. 

     Design Cuisine took care of the catering of the Inaugural Lunch , which was inspired by president Lincoln. Because I need to know, I found the website of Design Cuisine which is very nicely designed. Kudos to them. 

Pearls

For christmas, I got my first set of "Big Girl" Mikimoto pearls. I am in love. I wore them all day (even though I never got out of my pajamas) and slept with the necklace on my night stand were I could see them... and slept in the earrings. I wore the earrings constantly for the next few days (except in the shower because the lady said that that was bad for them) until we left for Canada were I was too afraid to take them. (finding pearls in the snow would not be a good thing.) In honor of my new love here is a little background on them (courtesy of wikipedia) 

A pearl is a hard, roundish object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusk. Just like the shell of mollusks, a pearl is composed of calcium carbonate in minute crystalline form, which has been deposited in concentric layers. The ideal pearl is perfectly round and smooth, but many other shapes of pearls (baroque pearls) occur.

The finest quality natural pearls have been highly valued as gemstones and objects of beauty for many centuries, and because of this, the word pearl became a metaphor for something very rare, very fine, very admirable and very valuable.

Almost any shelled mollusk can, by natural processes, produce some kind of "pearl" when an irritating microscopic object becomes trapped within the mollusk's mantle folds, but virtually none of these pearls are valued as gemstones.

Nacreous pearls, the best-known and most commercially-significant pearls, are produced by two groups of molluscan bivalves or clams. One family lives in the sea: the pearl oysters. The other, very different group of bivalves live in freshwater, and these are the river mussels.

Fine gem-quality saltwater and freshwater pearls can and do sometimes occur completely naturally in the wild state, but this is rare. Many hundreds of pearl oysters or pearl mussels have to be gathered and opened, and thus killed, in order to find even one wild pearl, and for many centuries that was the only way pearls were obtained. This was the main reason why pearls fetched such extraordinary prices in the past. In modern times however, almost all the pearls for sale were formed with a good deal of expert intervention from human pearl farmers.

A nacreous pearl is made from layers of nacre, by the same living process as is used in the secretion of the mother of pearl which lines the shell. A "natural pearl" is one that formed without any human intervention at all, in the wild, and is very rare. A "cultured pearl", on the other hand, is one that has been formed on a pearl farm. The great majority of pearls on the market are cultured pearls.

Imitation or fake pearls are also widely sold in inexpensive jewelry, but the quality of the iridescence is usually very poor, and generally speaking, fake pearls are usually quite easy to distinguish from the real thing.

Pearls have been harvested, or more recently cultivated, primarily for use in jewelry, but in the past they were also stitched onto lavish clothing, as worn, for example, by royalty. Pearls have also been crushed and used in cosmetics, medicines, or in paint formulations.