Hypothetical Hardships

I was so surprised...that it's impressively difficult to find scientific information about what would happen if our water supply was dramatically decreased.

Would the world be one giant Arizona?

Yes, I realize that it hasn't happened, at least not in recent times, and so there can only be so much information about it, but I just wonder how there can be so few people interested in looking into the effects of such an occurrence.

Let me explain why this is so frustrating to me: I'm currently working on a new novel, under the premise that the world has run into a water crisis. If you read my post a while ago about a "new project," this is the story I was hinting at. It's a really cool concept, in my opinion, and I think it's a fairly uncommon one, so I'm pretty excited about getting to write my version of what would happen. But I still want it to be as accurate as such a huge, hypothetical situation can be, and that's really hard to find! I started out with enough information to tell me that I should absolutely not make it so the entire supply of water (including oceans) dried up, because that would be the end of pretty much all life on the earth right now...So there's that.

I've been looking, however, for the other effects. I want to know how it would affect the land-based animals if fresh water was so used up that there was none but what humans held for themselves. Probably mass extinction, I'd venture to guess, but then what about the next creatures on the food chain? Sure, herbivores would die because the plants would mostly die (and I'm only saying mostly because I'm also working with the assumption and hope that the ocean's meager supply could still sustain enough plant life to produce oxygen, so that, for example, my human protagonist can even exist), and then carnivores would die out, and then what about bugs? And birds? Do they rely as heavily on that system? Can I keep birds in the story? Can I keep any animals in there? What's plausible?

There's where I run into problems. Apparently no scientists are interested enough in this premise to look into it, or hypothesize. I would take any scientific hypotheses just to supplement my own! I just want to make sure that what I'm writing makes sense in the scheme of things--even if my overarching idea is a far-fetched one (hopefully).

Honestly, I've become so fascinated with the concept, and I really want to get this right, so that maybe if I get some readers, they can say, "Wow. I really feel like I've learned about a possible scenario for this situation." That's all I want! An outcome that could make sense. So, I guess the best I can do is take the information I have found and apply it, and hypothesize the rest myself. Someone's gonna have to read it and tell me it makes sense, though.

Pictured: Not fun.

Ooh, on a more positive note, I've remembered something that could be quite useful: the Dust Bowl of the '30s! What a severe drought that was, and, well, I'm gonna have to use it. So, thanks, random Google search I just did that gave me the idea! Much appreciated! And you, readers, look out for some...well, it's not fun, as you can imagine...

The Sleepy Wannabe-Teacher

I was so surprised...teaching is so tiring!

For those of you who don't know, I just started my student teaching this week. It's been a blast, absolutely, and I LOVE my kids, but I just never realized how exhausting and painful it is to be on my feet, chasing after 5- and 6-year-olds all day. I swear, I thought my feet were gonna fall off!

Now, yes, I'm not really teaching right now, but I'm still there, being a classroom aide all day, and I'm still running after kids who refuse to accept my authority as of yet. Ugh. Like I said, I love my kids--and I mean all of them--but there are a few that just will not accept me as an authority figure yet. But I'm working on it.

Seriously, this week I've had one little boy in particular (we'll call him Fred, which is not his real name) who I've been especially struggling with. He's definitely the do-the-opposite-of-what-the-teacher-says-for-attention kinda kid, and it's hard to level with those guys! Especially when you're just stepping in and look like you're twelve. So we've been kinda battling this week...But I think I've had a breakthrough! Yesterday we had a sub, so he was more willing to listen to me than to this other new person, and he even admitted that we're best friends forever when we were on the playground. :] And then today he was asking me all kinds of questions and "convincing" me that I like the Broncos. What a cutie! He even kind of listened to me when I asked him to behave. What a nice time.

I absolutely love interacting with these kids. They're so adorable, and so funny! Each one has such cute little quirks and I love it. I just hope they like me as much as I like them! That's the scary thing, to me. That they won't like me or they won't wanna listen to me when I do start taking over, say, next week. Yikes!

Also. My apartment is freezing. haha It bears no relevance to the previous...conversation, I'm gonna call it...but seriously, it's frickin cold! I'm currently wearing a long sleeve shirt under a sweater, knee high socks under jeans, with the heater on the "turbo" setting turned up to 90 degrees, and a space heater pointed directly at me. This is just a tad ridiculous.

Anyway, I'm tired, and I'll probably start rambling (Start? Ha!) if I let myself go on any longer. Bottom line here: I'm a very exhausted person this week. So don't expect me to leave my freezing apartment for a while. In fact, maybe I'll stay huddled in my warm(ish) bed. Until next time! :]