Seems about time...

I've been wanting for some time now to actually get on here and update, but it seems like my crazy hectic life prevents me from doing anything not already ingrained into my normal routine. Maybe I can practice my Psychological skills and create this into a habit...how long does it take? 21 Days? I should know this seeing as I'm slowly becoming an "expert" on the brain and behavior. I have to say that I really do enjoy it however. It's fascinating to go to class every day and learn something new and exciting about how my body really works to perform different functions. Learning that, yes, I really do use 100% of my brain and it does miraculous things! (PS-Don't believe Pierre Flourens, you use all of your brain, not just 10%, silly man)

This semester I seem to be really getting into what being a Psychologist is all about, the brain and behavior. I'm finally starting to feel that when I leave this Tech savvy institute I really will know something about Psychology. Last semester I learned about all the ways we as humans can be messed up and "crazy" by learning about Abnormal disorders of the body. Depression, sleep disorders, sexual disorders to name a few mild ones. Then Schizophrenia, Bi-Polar Disorder, and different personality disorders. It's all such a fascinating subject. And then there was my class on all these famous men (and a few women) who made Psych what it is today: a fastly growing science. So many of these people did things I consider incredible. Some of these people were not only noted Philosophers, but Mathematicians, Physicists, and even map-makers. Talk about busy lives! Most of them were bi-lingual, and had received multiple degrees.

However, now it's getting down to the science of Psychology, and it's really what I love. How our neurons work inside our body to fire messages back and forth to tell my body to do something. How complex it really is to learn and remember facts and all the different aspects of my nervous system working together so that I can see this computer screen and remember where the keys are to type. Did you know it's actually harder to think than it is to see? Our brain is so complex, but yet it's not wired for the task of thinking! It's set to memorize, not to think, which is why it's easier to do math when you've memorize your multiplication tables than to start fresh every time. Your brain takes much longer to contemplate answers when it doesn't have memory to backup it's ideas. However, in a sense seeing is more complicated! But, your brain is wired to help you see. All the neurons in your head fire to send that image from your retina to the exact center in your brain where it will read the information before sending it to another area to tell you what you're seeing. This occurs in a matter of seconds! But we can't program computers to do it for us, because it's too complex for them! Seeing, moving, hearing, all these mental processes take complex strategies that sometimes change, and you can't program a robot to contemplate a situation and decide what angle is best for it to paint a car part at (which is why they arrive at the painter in the same position every time), or if there is an error in the part it's seeing. This is why humans are still around in these processes.

It really is fascinating what the brain can do!

I love you more than yesterday...but not as much as tomorrow

That song, as well as "I'm a Believer" the one from Shrek have been playing over and over in my mind alllll day long, especially now. Of course, it helps that I've heard them both today, the latter being more than once...

I found myself crawling into my bed after an amazing past two hours, found there was no way I was getting to sleep without proclaiming to my blog how undeniably in love I am at this very moment. I swear, sometimes the best thing is just laying in a bed for two hours and talking about everything. It doesn't happen super often, and it's definitely something that can not be forced as much as I enjoy it occurring. I love lying there talking about the things on my mind and hearing the opinion of the person I love most. It reminds me of the reasons I'm madly in love with him. It reminds me of how confusing love is, and how it's a continuous effort by both parties. We have joyful, sad, meaningful, and productive topics that in the end just strengthen us. It's during this time we discuss fears, apprehensions, and things that weigh us down whether it be about our relationship or just our lives in general (apart and together). And we also discuss the things that make us happy, excited, and thankful. Our conversations can go from making me worry to making me so sure of my current path in life within minutes. But, no matter how many hard topics come up, I always walk away happy and completely in love.

Sometimes, it's so hard to accept that meaningful, lasting relationships take work. Especially when the "I'm always happy and totally in love" stage fades and the real relationship develops. It's hard to think that in just over two months my boyfriend will be headed to North Carolina to start a new life for himself, one that doesn't have me close by. But, I remind myself that we're always just a phone call away even if seeing each other isn't possible. It also makes me look toward the postives, North Carolina is going to be a great place to visit, and is a great school that I may one day find myself at. It reminds me how much work a relationship takes and how long distance can take it's toll, but in the end if it's worth fighting for you will. I can't imagine my life being any different or being with anyone else. And although he'll be leaving soon and we'll be twice the distance apart I won't stop fighting to keep my relationship going strong. And it's night's like tonight that remind me of that. They remind me of the reasons I keep fighting.

All in all, I love the feeling of being in love. I love the goofy smile I get when I'm so happy. I love the bubbly, playful side he brings out in me. I love his ridiculous sense of humor, no matter how much I pretend I don't. I love his logical side and his optimism. He's my opposite, my supporter, and my foundation. He counteracts my negativity, he shows me the positive sides to things. He shows me the logic and rational decisions, and I show him how to follow his heart. We're great for each other because we offere differences to fill in the blanks in each other's personalities.

And now I'm rambling...

I just knew I couldn't fall asleep without expressing how I felt to "someone." I go to sleep now hoping that tomorrow will bring the same happy feelings.

Everyday

Every day it's a new struggle to hold on for something I feel is slipping further and further away. I get scared that little fights will turn into big ones. That small arguments will escalate and result in different fights, the ones that are being hidden behind the small pet peeves. Things have been so stressed lately and it just drives me crazy. I'm not only juggling school with life, but throw in my sorority problems, my relationship problems and every other little thing in between. It's so hard to manage. I'm so happy that this stupid probation is almost over, that I won't be treated like a little kid in time out anymore. And I'm hoping this summer will actually be fun...I'm starting to doubt what it'll be like. I'm scared for when he leaves, going from the beginning of August until the end of November till I see him might be extremely hard on us. It's only been a month since we last saw each other and I already feel like it's ripping us apart. Long distance is a whole different kind of relationship, and I'm not sure if we're the kind of people who can handle it...

What do you do?

What do you do when you feel like everything you've worked for is falling apart?

Eddie Izzard, Star Wars, and....English class??

My Revisions class (fancy name for English 102) is very interesting sometimes. My teacher sometimes has a weird way of approaching different topics in class. The class is based on the concept of rhetoric and communication, and right now we're working on our final project. We're writing research essays that are analyzing a speech and so we're talking a lot about format, audience, and presentation.

Today she tells us we're watching Youtube videos and she puts this one on:



After it's done, we're all wondering what the hell Star Wars and comedy (at this point most don't realize it's Eddie Izzard) have to do with writing a research paper, PowerPoint presentations (which was the topic in class today), or even rhetoric. So she puts on this one (FYI: It's the same sketch, just a different way of presenting it, you may/may not want to watch it all again, but it is funny):



Now we're kinda getting. Alright, same sketch, different presentation, kinda makes sense. Most people still don't know that it's Eddie Izzard, because not many people know who he is. Then she shows us this one:




Then asks us why she showed the vidoes. Her point was pretty much how presentation can affect how it comes across. We talked about how watching the first two videos and knowing nothing about Izzard's stand-up comedy you wouldn't expect this tranny to be the one making the jokes (where's they nerdy comic book loving geek?) So she ended up making a cool point about how presentation means a lot and such. And I also got a good laugh, AND remembered how much I LOVE Eddie Izzard.


Now...to get my hands on a copy of Season 1 of "The Riches." Help anyone??



PS: I hope these vidoes made you laugh.

Sometimes....

Sometimes I think...

• I worry too much
• I focus too much on the future
• I'm too impatient
• I don't speak my mind when I should
• I get scared of what might happen
• I talk too much, but never do anything about it
• I worry too much of what the future holds
• I complain too much without doing anything about it
• I take my friends for granted
• I don't focus enough on what's important
• I focus too much on stuff that doesn't matter
• I lack motivation

I've got so much going on inside my head right now and it's so hard to get things straight. And I even think I'm too afraid to vent here because of what might come of what people see. I know I could make a private post just for me, but I feel like all my thoughts would still be running around inside of me. I looked at post secret today and I started thinking of the things I would send in for the world to know, without knowing it came from me. I had a lot to say I realized.

I picked up information about studying for my graduate degree in Australia today. The school wouldn't give me what I want in the long run, but now it's got me thinking about pursing my degree in another country. There's one thing that holds me back. And I don't think I'd ever do it because of that one thing...It's got me thinking. But, I have another two full years before I have to start applying to schools. Who knows where I'll be then. Maybe by 2011 it won't be a huge deal to study on the other side of the world....

Psychology: It's good for the mind.

Recently I've been doing some reading for class that has been very interesting to me. Our current topic of discussion is Developmental Psychology, which I didn't realized I'd find so interesting. As the big sister of a 17 month old, and with there being another sibling on the way this September, AS WELL AS two cousins to be born a mere 3 weeks later (Auntie apparently had to catch up to mom by having twins), I find young development theories interesting. I enjoy reading about the different ideas and theories psychologists and doctors have about raising infants. I thought I'd share two ideas I found really interesting.

• An experiment was done with mothers in their last trimester. These mothers read certain passages of Dr. Seuss's "The Cat in the Hat" (a good choice I might add.) every day to their unborn baby. After the child was born the mother was then asked to read the passages from "The Cat in the Hat" as well as passages from other stories. Observations of the newborns showed that the infants recognized the passages they had heard while in the womb. Psychologists look for reactions from the newborns while different passages are read, they can detect recognization based on facial expressions and various reactions. Even newborns exhibit similar facial expressions for happiness, sadness, and other main emotions that adults do.
  
• Another thing I found interesting is the use of a mobile above a child's bed. Experiments show that children who have a mobile are more likely to begin reaching for objects sooner than children without a mobile above their crib. The experiment estimated that children with mobiles will begin reaching roughly 6 weeks earlier.

Having so many babies born around the same time (Becca was born a few weeks before my cousin Eddie) it's interesting to watch them develop. Becca, although only a few weeks older, began crawling and walking before Eddie by more than a margin of a few weeks. And Becca, who was roughly a month younger, began to crawl and hold herself up before Mrs. O'day's (my senior English teacher) little boy. I'm very curious to watch the development of my future sibling as he/she grows along side his/her two cousins. I'm also curious to see how being a twin affects the development of my cousins versus the development of my future brother or sister. I guess it's the psychologist and scientist in me wanting to experiment and discover.