When I don't feel like working...

I, unfortunately, tend not to. I am becoming a master procrastinator. Becoming? I suppose I have always been this way. It is unfortunate. Anyway!
I was just looking up some stuff about methane burning, because my geo101 professor asked us whether it would be better for the environment (in terms of climate change) to burn methane gas, or to let it escape into the atmosphere. On the one hand, by burning the methane you do make energy, which we all need - but on the other hand, by burning methane, you do the following:
CH₄ + 2O₂ -> CO₂ + 2H₂O + energy
The biggest problem with this is that it puts CO₂ into the atmosphere, which absorbs infrared radiation and is the whole thing we're trying to avoid. Interestingly, letting the methane just escape into the atmosphere as it is puts molecules that absorb infrared radiation 25 times more effectively than CO₂ out there - which seems, at first glance, to be a problem. But then I found out that CO₂ has a residence time of 100 to 110 years, while CH₄ has a residence time of 9 to 10 years. Soooo, you get 25 times more absorption, but for only 1/10th the time.
The crazy thing about this question is that there are a whole bunch of things that I can't seem to find (or don't recognize them in the very scientific ways they may be presented in) like - would the amount of energy produced by methane burning be greater than or less than the energy produced by the infrared radiation blocked by methane molecules through solar panels? Actually, I guess that question doesn't even matter in light of the actual question, which is about environmental benefits. I'm just curious about the numbers.
In other news, I just had pretty much the best break in the world. That may have been because technically, it was my first break this whole semester, since I went to Maine with the geo department during my fall break, but it was just really, really nice. I *didn't* do my homework (which is why I'm in the rocks lab at o-dark-thirty), but I spent some really nice quality time with my family, including the newest addition: Farrah. She's kind of insane. Well, mostly she's very energetic. Sometimes she does thing that I did when I was younger, and it's really, really weird to be on the other side of that. Mostly it's just really weird suddenly having a (for all intents and purposes) little sister like this, all of a sudden. My mom said to take it as a life experience; things like this are what make life so rich, and I guess she's right. Part of me would still rather I have a perhaps less-enriched life with my family remaining as it is, but another part of me, the part of me that is incredibly, ridiculously delighted with new relationships and the wonderful people in my life, is ok. And also the teeeensy part of me that always wanted a sister is pretty happy, hahaha.
Speaking of new relationships, I can quite honestly say that I have never been this happy in my entire life. I don't even know. Every time I try to express myself, the words that usually float around in my head all vanish and these things that I want to express manifest in colors and this thing called language that is supposed to make me (well, humans) so special becomes rather useless. Because if I walked around going 'blue! gold! a little bit of yellow, right there, and some fantastic maroon blending into scarlet' (I think that loosely translates to I now know someone who is so wonderful that I'm beside myself in amazement half the time, and the rest of the time, I don't even know. Aqua. Sunlight shining through the ocean.), well, it would be interesting, but not really convenient. Which is kind of unfortunate, because I think that colors are a really interesting mode of expression. One of these days - well, when I get home for break, I think - I'll sit down with some paint and try to put it onto canvas.
In the meantime, I think I should probably go back to my room, and then curl up with my pillows and perhaps dream up something for Sognante. Or (if it's just colors) maybe just for me :).