Tag Archives: Science

My Favorite Scene in Chaos

2 Replies

 

Authors often feel very passionate for their work. They have favorite characters or less favorite ones. They have favorite scenes or less favorites ones.

I do have a favorite scene in my novel, Chaos, that I would like to share with you all. It’s an important scene that takes place part of the way into Chapter 4:

 

 

As soon as her uncle got out of the car and walked toward the men, Noelle had a dream. Not just a normal daydream, but one where she felt as if she were a part of the dream. She was running through the woods, the smell of pine stronger than ever before. The ground below her felt awkward, as if she were barefoot, yet the feeling in her feet was somehow different. She glanced down; she was running on all fours.

What the … I have paws! She stopped running to ogle at herself. Paws, fur. She turned her head to examine herself further. A bushy tail? Hey, wait a second … Suddenly a different smell tickled her nose. Closing her eyes, she inhaled deeply. Oddly, she knew the smell. Opening her eyes and staring straight ahead, she watched two doe run past her. It was as if she recognized their scent and something deep inside told her she was hungry for them. She could feel the predator instinct trigger the desire to catch and kill her prey. Her mouth salivated as she let out a deep growl.

Her heart pumped faster with adrenaline as her legs moved faster with speed. She was giving it her all trying to catch up to the deer when she felt a sharp pain go through her. She surveyed her surroundings, and noticed three men in the distance … and heard repeat gunfire. Suddenly, she was not chasing the deer anymore; she was running for her life. Her heart raced in panic as she began to feel weak. Peering down, she saw blood pouring from a wound in her side. Fear set in as she realized someone shot her. The less she moved, the less she would bleed out, but she had to get away from them. Things went out of focus and then grew dim, as if the sun was setting or time was fast forwarding, turning day into night. Her lungs ached and it pained her to breathe. Her heart, which was pumping quickly moments before, had trouble keeping a steady rhythm. That could only mean one thing: she was dying.

I don’t want to die! If I die in this dream, will I die in real life? Is this really a dream? I don’t understand what’s going on. I can’t die. I won’t.

Feeling weaker with each step she took, she fought for the will to keep moving. When she felt another pain rip through her, she collapsed to the ground, blacking out, her last breath leaving her.

Noelle opened her eyes and breathed as if she was drowning. Gasping and coughing, she reached her hand up and grasped her chest. Her heart raced as if she had just run a marathon. She closed her eyes, trying to figure out what had just happened. She’d had similar dreams before, but never this vivid.

“That was wild. I’m not sure I want to do that again,” she whispered to herself.

Opening her eyes, she saw that she was all alone, and sitting inside her uncle’s patrol car. She had a strong feeling that was where she had been the entire time. Her heart slowed to a normal pace as she slowly took in the scene around her. She could see her uncle walking toward his deputy as if he had just left the car.

Did time stop? What the hell was that? So many questions ran through her mind.

She shook uncontrollably from the adrenaline pumping through her. She quickly assessed herself. No blood, no bullet holes. Thank God! I don’t know what that was, but I’m still alive! Clearly, a weird dream. She wiped a tear from her cheek and closed her eyes, drawing in deep breaths, trying to focus on what she had seen. She wanted to get out of the car and get some fresh air, but she remembered she made a promise not to leave the car. Noelle decided it was best to crack the window instead, and try her best to erase the images that flooded her mind.  

Hope you enjoyed!

Chaos is about two sisters who find themselves in a magical world of supernatural creatures and a book that just might send them on a path to find their destiny.

If you would like to read the rest of the story, it is available on Amazon, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble:

Amazon paperback: https://amzn.to/2ranhTv
Kobo: https://bit.ly/2J2uvzG

Please note that Chaos is listed as FREE under the Kindle Unlimited program.

Chaos Cover EBOOK

 

 

 

Essential Oil Diffuser For Those with Sinusitis

Leave a reply

diffuser

Due to allergies toward dust and mold, I suffer from chronic sinusitis. It can be annoying when working around important people all day in a state office; having to dash off to the restroom to blow my nose or use my prescription nose spray every half hour or so. I needed to find something else that would help clear this up. Allergy meds and nose spray wasn’t working that well.

After consulting with a few friends who work in the medical field, they had each recommended I try essential oils. I had never thought to even try them until I was in an IEP meeting at school and one of my daughter’s therapists had one in her office. She currently had been overcoming bronchitis and was using her essential oil diffuser. After twenty minutes of sitting there, I could tell that it was actually working for me.

My local store only had a few of the small diffusers, so I checked online to see what I could find. Amazon had some for the same price my local store had, except Amazon’s was much bigger and seemed to do a lot more.

I purchased one of them, as well as a few essential oils that was recommended to me. One of those essential oils is called Breathe Easy and it’s for those with nasal congestion. I also purchased the lavender as I love the smell.

After using my essential oil diffuser at home for a few days, I can tell a big difference. Only wished that I could take it to work with me, lol!

One Word Photo Challenge: Melon

5 Replies

Not many know this, but I am interning at the Little Rock Zoo. I won’t go into details, as I don’t have permission to talk about what it is that I do there, but with that said, after I’m done with my work, I take a stroll through the zoo and see the animals out and about, foraging, playing, interacting with one another, etc.

To see more on this weeks photo challenge, melon, click here.

Enjoy!

melon1melon2melon3melon4

Happy Birthday Einstein

2 Replies

Today, in 1879, genius and physicist, Albert Einstein was born. It is also Pi Day, but Einstein is more of a memorable icon. Pi, not so much, as I’m not a fan of math. 😉 I used to be able to spat out the first 9 digits that represent Pi on the calculator, but those were the days of studying Algebra to receive my Associate’s Degree.

It's a bobble head that I have sitting on the dash of my car. The headband, around his head, is a Superman bracelet that belongs to my daughter.

It’s a bobble head that I have sitting on the dash of my car. The headband, around his head, is a Superman bracelet that belongs to my daughter.

Though the word ‘autism’ wasn’t known until the early 1900, famous names, such as Einstein and Newton had autism.

According to, WebMD, “Autism is a neurological disorder, that was once discovered around 1911 by, Eugen Bleuler, a psychiatrist from Switzerland. Though, he had associated autism as a form of schizophrenia. Researchers didn’t start using the term to describe children with autistic behaviors, until the 1940’s. In the 1960’s and 1970’s, researchers started to use electroshock therapy and prescribed LSD as a medication. In the 1980’s and 1990’s the began behavioral therapy and other treatments.”

Today, 1 in 42 boys will be diagnosed with autism, 1 in 189 girls will be diagnosed with autism. Though there are many “theories” as to what causes autism, there are no actual Scientific facts. There have been some cases where it was identified that a child’s autism was caused from genetics or from the environment during early brain development, but not every child on the spectrum can be identified with this being the definite answer as to why they have autism.

This Week’s Photo Challenge: Orange

1 Reply

This week’s photo challenge is, orange; anything to do with the color orange. Orange just happens to be my favorite color. It’s bright, colorful, and is cheerful.

Below are a few pictures from my 2001 Navy Deployment, as well as a few pictures from the past few months around here in Arkansas.

Enjoy!

Church in NaplesCrete sunset

1497786_821572894549878_1746614542_n67wrenorchidmush1cats9autismspeaks1leaves 1

Another Legend Has Passed Away

Leave a reply

spock

It’s a sad day in the geek world, as we learn that one of our beloved Sci-Fi actors has passed away. Leonard Nimoy did live long and prosper, and shall always remain in our hearts forever.

RIP Spock!

This Weeks Photo Challenge: Rule of Thirds

4 Replies

Anyone who knows me, knows that I’m always snapping a picture of something, anything, everything. I’ve never taken classes for photography…yet, it is just something that I’ve inherited from my grandfather who always had a camera on him.

This weeks photo challenge is about Rule of Thirds. As an amateur, I had no clue as to what that meant, until Jen H. described it in the Daily Post.

The Rule of Thirds is a photography concept that puts the subject of the photograph off-center, which usually results in blank space in the rest of the image.

That’s easy enough, though I find it harder to do with my mobile. It isn’t an expensive, flashy phone, but it does take some relatively good pictures.

Enjoy!

This picture is of a real dragonfly, I just have my cameras lens zoomed in as far as I could get it to zoom. I think I was about twenty feet away. This was the only clear shot I could take, all the others came out blurry.

This picture is of a real dragonfly, I just have my cameras lens zoomed in as far as I could get it to zoom. I think I was about twenty feet away. This was the only clear shot I could take, all the others came out blurry.

turtle  eaglehappycats9eight110spider1mush1mush2mush3

One Word Photo Challenge: Strawberry

3 Replies

This week’s One Word Photo Challenge reminds me of when a few classmates, an instructor, my daughter, two dogs, and I went foraging through fields, woods, as well as through the muddy banks of the Arkansas River, for a project that involved our Anthropology Club. Another student and I had written about our foraging experience and the reason behind it; hopefully our articles will be published soon so that I can share them with you.

Nevertheless, it’s always great being a college student. You never know who you’ll meet, what you’ll learn, or what events, projects, and/or experiences you’ll sign up for. I have never had a doubtful moment, nor have I ever looked back and wished I did something better that day. I can say that our Anthropology Club is backed by some really awesome professors/instructors, who has opened quite a few doors for their students. And beyond those doors is nothing but awesomeness!

The pictures below are of some wild strawberries we found on some property owned by one of our instructors. They’re okay for eating, though the ones we had picked weren’t ripe enough to enjoy and had a watery taste, rather than the sweet flavor strawberries from the farmer’s market or store are known for. It was for a farmer’s market project, as to why we picked them, as well as many other wild fruits, vegetables, and other vegetation. My Anthropology Club set up a table at Bernice Gardens during their National Heritage Month last year. It was a great experience that taught us quite a lot about our state’s naturally grown food and what Native American’s from this area several hundred years ago ate.

Wild strawberries - though a little to early for picking, they were used for a college project.

Wild strawberries – though a little to early for picking, they were used for a college project.

Wild strawberries

Wild strawberries

Caffeinate Me!

8 Replies

Image

Doctor, doctor, double the dose please!

I’m having one of those days…weeks, where I’m dragging my feet, half asleep at my computer. I’ve made a few too many errors already. For example: I get to school this morning, insert my jump drive into the computer, pull up my biology notes and what do I find? I didn’t save them to the jump drive, but I did save them…to the computer…at home. At least I can email the homework to the teacher. 

It’s been like this all week for me, little errors here and there. I’m thankful that they are just little errors though. I have been swamped with homework and studying, then taking a break to take care of my little one who is sick again. Every night this past week I have been staying up a little later than I usually do just to get my homework done. 

One of the girls in my class realized that we needed to seven more chapters in our biology class. We were both freaking out as it’s our last week before finals; today is our last exam in biology, next week is our finals. I also have two other classes to study for as well. Ah, the life of a college student! 🙂 

This semester in Biology has been a big mess to begin with. The teacher couldn’t get the online system to work for us to get our notes and homework; this continued to push us further and further behind. He ended up doing a few labs for us, which had us scratching our heads when it came to do the notes for the homework. All and all I think I’m passing this class. 

I think the majority of us are ready for our break, me especially. 

Computer dissecting in Biology

Leave a reply

Two weeks ago, I went to Biology class hoping I would be dissecting…something. My lab sheet for that week had diagrams drawn for a clam, frog, crayfish, cow eye, and a rat. Sounds gross, I know. It started to take me back to the tenth grade. I can still remember my group of girlfriends and I crushing on our Science teacher, Mr. Nash; isn’t that just like teenage girls? We would send notes back and forth, even though we all sat at the same table. We would gossip about the latest things, or mostly gossip about Mr. Nash’s hair, his smile, then giggle.

We weren’t paying attention to what Mr. Nash was saying; we should have. He came around to each table, passing out what looked like a baking pan with this wax stuff inside of it about an inch thick. One of us asked what it was for and he said, “This is the tray you’re going to use to dissect your frog on.” There weren’t any giggles, more like a few gulps and a few ewws. I snarled up my nose, thinking this is going to be so disgusting! It actually turned out to be quite fun! A couple of girls got sick, not from my table.

I sat there, reminiscing about those days back in high school, but my college teacher pointed to the ‘white board’, which read something about googeling our dissections anatomy on the internet. I was kind of bummed, but elated at the same time. I know I wouldn’t have a hard time dissecting clams, crayfish, and eyes. I wouldn’t have a problem dissecting a frog. There may be a problem with the rats. That’s where I would say, “Eww!” I’m not scared of them, just don’t prefer them is all. Mice are cute, I don’t mind them. I just don’t like rats.

Yesterday, I spent several hours trying to find pictures that even came close to the diagrams given to us on the lab sheets.The eye was a piece of cake, as I already knew most of it. The clam and crayfish were pretty simple, but the frog was a little tough. I’m still missing a few key terms as the diagram looks computer drawn, compared to the images I’m looking at on the internet. Some of the organs looks inaccurate, or out of place. Maybe dissection would’ve been a lot easier, tough we only have a few weeks left of school and this class is only a once a week class.