Everything's starting to settle as far as schedules, classes, and plans for the semester are concerned. When I was planning course loads, I had the idea in the back of my mind that I wanted to have time my senior year for mostly fun classes that wouldn't really have anything to do with my majors and minors. Now that my fun courses have all started, I think it was a smart decision. During lunch break today, I went over to the art building to clear up a few bad spots on a shoe still life I'm doing for one of my Painting I projects. Surprisingly, although the paint shoe still doesn't match the real leather shoe, I'm getting attached to it.

I need to get some PVC pipes attached to each other. I'm currently in the setup stage of a Biology Honors Project, "The effect of photoperiod on hatchability and hatching time of wild type Northern Bobwhite Quail, Colinus virginianus, and the Tennessee Red Quail color variant." I turned in a prospectus to the Judson honors committee outlining my procedure. While the procedure was ironed out and approved, there are a few pieces of it that need some starch before the experimentation can begin. Because the project is concerning effects of light periods, I'll work in a closet with as little light pollution as possible.  Opening the door, light from the crack under the door, changes in hall lights, and anything in the vicinity that can emit, reflect, or affect light might cause light variation on the hatching eggs. A PVC frame covered in black fabric around the incubator will help. If I can make the frame almost as large as the closet, it should work. I need to hurry up and get to building!  Dr. Wilson, my main honors project sponsor put me in touch with Moore's Gamebird Farm near Marion. The Moores have been kind enough to help me with the quail eggs. I'm not sure how far into the year they will be able to get eggs though!

While I'm on the subject of projects, I'm the subject of a project. The amazing Dr. Betty, Judson's voice instructor, will show her powers of transformation this semester. I'm signed up for one of her one hour private lessons. Last fall and spring, I took half hour lessons. Dr. Betty is slowly but surely moving me away from my only semi decent lip syncing to actually belting a song out loud and being on key. She's been trying to convince me to sing on stage, but so far I've had the strength to resist. I've finally decided that while I'm stumbling shoes first off cliffs in my other courses, I might as well toss myself off of one more..