That night he came home to the sight of her with a dark expression on her face. It was times like these that he was more than extra wary around her. Cautiously, he took the long route around the receiving area and into the kitchen. It was best to leave her alone when she was in one of those brooding moods. He half-expected it to be PMS, he wouldn’t put t beyond her. As much as she didn’t act it, she was as much as a girl as any other. However, this thought was not as comforting as he would like.
The summer heat was making its way to the early evenings. It was hot and humid, and it was bad for tempers. Right now he was at a standstill, should he ask if she’s had dinner yet? And if she hadn’t, then should he ask what she would like to eat tonight?
He shook his head. Since when was he her personal butler?
Yet the image of her sitting on their couch and staring blankly into the wall troubled him. This was nothing new, hardly, she had a habit of staring into space, but somewhere in his gut he knew something was wrong. That’s right. It was a Tuesday, she wasn’t supposed to be home Tuesday nights. Now he was curious. What could have been wrong?
It was an odd picture at most, him standing awkwardly at the doorframe, and her sitting just a few paces a way from him. He should be talking by now, nothing has ever stopped him before. Maybe he should distract her, or just talk about himself. Perhaps that would bring back the comfortable relationship they had with each other. Right now he was desperate for that, seeing with actual human emotion frightened him. In the end he braved that one step forward and took the seat next to her. She could slap him like she did before if she wanted to, right now he just needed her to know she wasn’t alone whatever it was she was facing.
He prayed it had nothing to do with his so-called friends.
“Aren’t you supposed to be in the lab today?” he asked as nonchalantly as he could.
“I give up.”
“What?!” Surprise was a massive understatement. Since when did she know how to give up? “What are you talking about?”
“I give up, who am I fooling? I should have just done what I’ve been told. Look at where I am now. I’m a mess.”
He didn’t fail to notice the cracking of her voice or the glistening of tears in her eyes. “You’ve always been a mess.” Hot mess, he was tempted to say, but he didn’t fancy another black eye. “What brings this on now? I thought you were making progress?” He was glad there were only a very few things that troubled her. He couldn’t read minds, so deduction had to suffice.
“What progress?!” she shrieked. She pushed herself off the couch and stomped to her room.
He watched her helplessly, afraid to say something that would only hurt her more. Why was she so difficult? Sighing, he let his gaze drop down to the spot where she sat. On it, was a sheet of paper he hadn’t noticed before. It was a copy of her grades- and they weren’t any better than his. Was he to be disillusioned? Knowing she didn’t receive higher marks than he did, was that supposed to make him feel anything?
He felt nothing. Except perhaps the need to tell her that her worth could never be defined by a silly number.
I always find myself asking why I write, and always the answer is the same.
It’s not so much as I have something to say. I feel as if I have no right to sit and write when I I have not once stood up to experience the world. But writing, although does not silence the voices in my head, dulls the raging whispers for even just a while. For a moment, the susurrations that haunt my sleep and my dreams are dulled until all I hear is the sound of a transient calm. I can imagine myself walking by the coastline, the sound of the sea in my ears and salt on my skin and in my hair. Murmurs are but waves crashing on the shore and the winds following the tides and the currents. Icy foam crawls from the water and on to my toes, ephemeral as the substrate when the tides rise and fall. For a moment there is peace, even throughout all the madness.
There is only one way: Go within. Search for the cause, find the impetus that bids you write. Put it to this test: Does it stretch out its roots in the deepest place of your heart? Can you avow that you would die if you were forbidden to write? Above all, in the most silent hour of your night, ask yourself this: Must I write? Dig deep into yourself for a true answer. And if it should ring its assent, if you can confidently meet this serious question with a simple, ‘I must,’ then build your life upon it. It has become your necessity. Your life, in even the most mundane and least significant hour, must become a sign, a testimony to this urge.
You made writing a priority in your life because you had a story to tell, and you owe it to yourself, your story, and your characters to complete this journey.
There are Three Essential Characters in Every Story. There may be any number of side characters, but in traditional Adventures, and Romances of every stripe the main conflict is usually, if not always, a triangle of complimentary opposites.
Translation: You could tell the WHOLE story with ONLY these Three Characters; perhaps not with any real detail, but you could still do the entire basic plotline. (Yes I know, I’ve said some of this before. Bear with me.)
THREE Characters?
Yep. I’m sure you’re familiar with: Hero – Villain – Heroine (or Sidekick) already. Those are pretty darn standard. So, let’s define them in a more Literary, (and complicated,) fashion shall we?
Credit: FASEB 2012 Bio-Art Winner - Douglas B. Cowan
This micrograph shows cells called myoblasts attached to spherical microcarriers, which allow the growth of adult stem cells that have been isolated from skeletal muscle. The stem cells are shown in green. By combining these cells in a bioreactor, the muscle stem cells can be greatly increased in number and then separated from the myoblast “feeder” cells. The image was produced in the course of studies aimed at creating artificial “stem cell factories” and was supported by NIH funding from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.
2. Scaffold for Cartilage Regeneration
Credit: FASEB 2012 Bio-Art Winner - Frank Moutos and Farshid Guilak
Due to a lack of blood vessels and other characteristics, cartilage heals very slowly. One way to accelerate natural cartilage repair and growth is to use tissue engineering, or the artificially-stimulated production of functional replacement tissue. The image shows a three-dimensionally woven biomaterial scaffold. The scaffold consists of multiple layers of resorbable fiber bundles that have been woven into a porous structure. The scaffold is then seeded with cells that grow to become new tissue as the fibers are resorbed. The fibers provide stiffness and strength in a manner that mimics native collagenous tissues such as cartilage. This work to use tissue engineering to generate replacement cartilage is supported by NIH funding from the National Institutes of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases.
3. Production of New Neurons
Credit: FASEB 2012 Bio-Art Winner - Grigori Enikolopov and Ann-Shyn Chiang
New neurons are produced from neural stem cells in several areas of the adult brain. One such area is in the hippocampus, a brain structure crucial for cognitive function. The number of neural stem cells in the hippocampus decreases over time, possibly contributing to the cognitive impairment associated with aging. When activated by extrinsic stimuli, stem cells divide and generate progenitor cells, which eventually mature into neurons and migrate into the layers above, whereas stem cells themselves undergo additional rounds of rapid divisions and convert into astrocytes, thus leaving the stem cell pool. The image depicts stem cells (green) and neuronal nuclei (red). This research to understand how the brain produces new neurons is supported by NIH through the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute of Aging.
4. Brain, Heart, and Lung Communication
Credit: FASEB 2012 Bio-Art Winner - Li-Hsien Lin
Both glutamate and nitric oxide play an important role in transmitting cardiovascular and respiratory signals between the brain, heart, and lung. This butterfly shaped figure is an image of a rat spinal cord showing the distribution of three types of glutamate and nitric oxide synthesizing enzymes. Understanding the action and interaction of glutamate and nitric oxide in the nervous system could lead to better treatments for cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension and heart failure. This work is supported by NIH funding from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.
Although the Filipino for Whale Shark is ‘Butanding’ - Tuki is what they are affectionately called in Oslob where, to much controversy, they are being fed.
These are the same whale sharks I’m leading a research volunteer project on. It is not a simple black and white situation (when is it ever?), though it may appear so at first. The political and community aspects must be considered in order to best protect these sharks.
The Tuki Chronicles are a series of documentaries telling the Tuki story. Though the makers of this documentary are completely unrelated to the project, I hope it gives you an idea of what I’m up to at the moment.
Part 1 is about the tourists that come, Part 2 which follows is about the local community that I’m just getting to know.
