The Journeyman

As one journey ends, another must begin. Usually, between journeys you have at least a few days to get yourself back together. Not me. Yesterday was the last day of finals for the Fall 2006 school year as well as the (near) completion of the Flamespeed Project I’ve been working on since the beginning of summer. Less than 12 hours later I was in an airport on my way to Salt Lake City to participate as a member of Crew 53 of the Mars Desert Research Station.

This semester can best be summarized as a series of unending tasks. As one project was completed, another was assigned. As one block of my schedule ended, another began. As one club activity ended, another had a meeting. As one physics tutee in SARC finally understood something powerful, another wanted private tutoring over the weekend. As on trip to Spain ended, several trips to the UCF medical center ensued. The term “rat race” barely begins the description of what it was like, and as one famous song in the 80’s puts it, I pushed it to the limit.

As of now, I do not know what my grades are. My classes (Feedback Control, Solar System Astronomy, CAD/CAM, and Engineering Measurements) were all pretty challenging, and I put more effort in this semester than I have ever before. Even though I only had four classes for a total of 11 credit hours, I did more work this term than I did taking 24 credit hours on semester at OW. Three labs didn’t help, and writing twenty, 7+ page lab reports (one of which was 52 pages plus an appendix, which was turned in yesterday) makes me not want to take another class with the letter L on the end of the course number ever again.

The only class I actually enjoyed being in was the Astronomy class, and even though the professor didn’t have the most captivating presentations of voice, the material was so diverse and his experiences were so quirky that the random-yet-useful stories in addition to planetary science made the class far different from any class I’d taken.

However, my new journey awaits me. For the next two weeks I will be in the Utah desert simulating a real Mars habitat. I’ve been looking forward to this all semester and I feel truly blessed to have been accepted. Even though it’s not Philmont, it will be a nice (and cold!) two weeks away from the madness that has been Orlando, as well as a great chance to experience a field I really have an itch to go into but doesn’t technically exist yet.

For now, I’m waiting in Memphis for my flight to Salt Lake City, wearing my flight suit, Disturbed bandana, and a brown leather jacket (because looking awesome is almost as important as being awesome).

" In your life you may choose desolation
And the shadows you build with your hands
If you turn to the light, that is burning in the night
Then this Journeyman's day has begun "