There is something incredibly satisfying about finishing a paper. Unfortunately, tonight I get to have that feeling twice, which means the usual collapse at the end of one is followed... by another. I'm having a difficult time embracing the bigger (and unfinished) of the two. I've been working on it for a week now and was granted the blessing of an extension, but it's due tomorrow and it still isn't finished. I have a low-grade migraine - I've been getting a lot of them lately and I fear that I'm going to have to get a new prescription for the heavier hitting drugs if the Advil stops working. That's a topic for another night. Now, I'm just concerned I get this paper done. So why am I writing in my weblog? Well, I never said I could do it without procrastinating, did I? Actually, part of the reason I'm writing here instead of in Microsoft Word is just to get the juices flowing and hopefully allow myself the time for a 'eureka' moment.

Maybe I should take a bath.

Other than working and writing papers over the last few days, I've also been watching Mt. St. Helens like a vulture watches a kill site. I'm waiting. I'm hoping to catch something exciting on the volcano cam. Yes, they have a webcam directed at the mountain and it updates every five minutes. Four days ago, there was a little steam and some yellow-tinged gas and for a few hours all was calm. Then it started to rumble again and has been letting off steam and a bit of ash at irregular intervals. Now, after not having checked the cam for a day and a half, there's a dome in the centre of the crater. A lava dome, I guess. For those of you who don't know what that is, here's the lay person's description. Basically, the volcano sealed itself after its last erruption, lava hardening in the crater when it stopped spewing. Now, the gases given off by magma (lava while it's in the earth) are building up, forcing the seal to bend. Something like a rock pimple, the dome can do either two things. One, the gases can escape from a side vent or slowly and the event will be minor or, two, it can rupture the dome and blow its top. You see, despite bending as it is, that dome is made of rock and rock can only bend so much. "Booma booma !" as they say.

Naturally, I hope for the latter because I'm a weirdo who gets a high from geologic and climatic events. It could be worse, I could get my highs from drugs. I'd love to go on a storm chasing holiday, but with real scientists, like a grad student would. Research is cool, see? Anyway, Mt. St. Helens is exciting because it is active and close, at least psychologically speaking; it's on the same continent as me, unlike, say, Etna or Mauna Loa. One day, I'm going to climb an active volcano and peer down inside its crater and marvel at the heat radiating up through the special protective soles of my shoes.

But, today is not that day. Today is for finishing papers. The Advil is starting to take effect and the juices are flowing. Flowing like lava.