lecheng kapalpakan!...[milked failure!..:)]

preserving a specimen is sooo not easy. i guarantee that. kasi today, i wanted to finish na my project for my inverts class(read: invertebrate studies class) which includes preserving invertebrate specimens preferably belonging to the subclass Ophiuroidea, the serpent stars or more commonly known as the brittle stars; and a few more invertebrates of your choice. which is why I'm having such a difficult time employing the steps for proper preservation because for one, these are small creatures. they are not your ordinary cat fetuses you just submerge in 35% formalin-water solution. and they are-ehem, brittle. so much so that if you don't kill them properly, you're left with nothing but raggedy tentacles and chitinous limbs. to hell with them!

which is why it took me a good three days just to completely preserve four specimens out of my total thirteen. minor problems even surfaced, literally, from just trying to preserve these comfortably named echinoderms. one limb from a brittle star was not properly covered with the wax i used to mount them. i only noticed this today when i opened the lid of the container and noxious fumes mushroomed out of it, choking me to almost total unconsciousness. i just had enough oxygen to soak the exposed part with formalin, hoping against hope it would not decay.

the bitter part of this whole gaga is that i was supposed to complete and submit this last monday. i inadvertently refused to comply. did i learn something from all of this ? probably not. i am planning though to finish everything by the end of this week. god bless me.