Day Four

Day Four got off to a bad start.  I slept through alarms, so I woke up later than I wanted to and had to rush to get ready.  But I did make it to the bus stop early and made it to the museum on time.  I thought I wouldn't have to worry about buses until I had to take the one back to my apartment.  I was wrong.  I was hit by.......

THE STRUGGLE BUS (bum-bum-buuuuuuuummmmmmmmm)

I was having the darndest time identifying bee flies!  Nothing was making sense, and X had to help me more times than not. I was so frustrated with myself for not doing better.  "Why can't I do this," I wondered, "why do I suck at this so much, I must look like a total idiot".  I had to remind myself several times that I am new.  I've never worked with bee flies or insects in general, I have only used dichotomous keys once or twice before, and they (hopefully) aren't expecting a lot from me at this point.  I am not an expert bee fly identifier they hired who should be able to do it no problem.  I am a bird lady who wanted to try something new.  Sometimes I feel like I hold myself to a much higher standard than necessary, good in someways, but also annoying the heck out of me when I can't reach the goals that  I set.

Eventually, I overcame the struggle bus and identified some flies on my own.  My favorite part about today was an email I may or may not should have intentionally gotten.  My boss/advisor has been at a conference most of this week, so she sent X and I an email apologizing to me, and asking X if he had been helping.  Whether X meant to or not, he replied all and said I was catching on quickly.  I almost wanted to thank him for the compliment.  It really meant a lot to me coming from him, since he is a pro at identifying bee flies and I'm...not.  But I didn't, I thought it would be creepy referencing an email that may or may not have been for me.

I did end up on the struggle bus again, but it was right before I was leaving.  I just made sure my flies were in enough ethanol and left.  The bus ride to my apartment was a little scary.  It was sunny and slighty cloudy and then all of the sudden DARK AND OMINOUS.  I have a picture on my iTouch of the difference between the storm clouds we were under and the sky in the distance, which I will try to post later.  The wind had picked up and was blowing everything around.  And right before the bus reached my apartment, then rain started.  It wasn't as bad as I thought, but I still ran to my building anyway.  I had a very nice conversation with my apartment-mate while we ate dinner about the flaws and messages of Disney movies.  It was AWESOME.  Maybe I'll post about them another time, right now I need to go iron my clothes.