The Perks of Old Age

Sitting on the floor with a heating pad on my knees makes me feel old. But when I think about it, there are so many advantages to getting old...

First, I can use Facebook without shame. I can log onto my facebook and publish pictures that no one cares about. I can make wall posts and comments about whatever I want and I can send friend and application requests without shame. I can't wait to have every top friends, stalker, farm, and mafia application that Facebook has to offer.

Old people can say whatever they want. Everyone just attributes horrendous comments to people getting old. I think they are fed up with keeping their mouth shut! I plan on saying exactly what I'm thinking after about 70 years too. And apparently, no one is going to have a problem with it because I'll just be old.

I was at a thrift store yesterday and found some, uh, interesting articles of clothing. Needless to say, I fell in love with them. There is just something about pastel striped pants that I'm not ready for though. Someday. Someday I will buy all of my clothes at thrift stores and wear them without shame. All of those clothes at Goodwill, Salvation Army and Value World- those are the best of the best. Those clothes have all been bought before. That's more than the clothes still at regular stores can say.

Here's a Rant for Thursday.

I firmly believe that the Walmart in this town is one of the busiest in the country. Add Christmas shopping on top of the regular mess and yesterday was by far the busiest day in Searcy Walmart history. I spent an hour in Walmart running my cart into shelves, children, and other people's feet. I couldn't help but think of how much easier shopping would be if people just obey basic traffic laws. For example, when you are coming out of an aisle and into the main aisle, you yield. Push your cart on the right side of the aisle. Do not block the flow of traffic by parking your cart on one side of the aisle and standing on the other. Come on people! Is it really that difficult?! No, you do not need to stand in front of the freezer door for 3 minutes while you read the description of every single Lean Cuisine.

On another note; watch your kids. I legitimately had a child climb on the bottom rack of my cart. Who are you? Picking out the perfect oranges may seem necessary, but when I run over your kid you're gonna have bigger problems.

A Lesson In Biology

Everyone knows about that terrible feeling you get in your stomach. That feeling you get when you're a kid and you break your mom's lamp; now you just have to wait for her to get home and find out. Or maybe it is that feeling you get in high school when you get called to the principal's office. I don't really know what to equate it with as an adult. Maybe it is the feeling that you're just going to fail at life no matter what you do. It's just that feeling.
I've got that feeling. Sometimes it happens and you just can't figure out what it's from. Not this time. I have a pretty good idea what (or who) it's from. 1

I got a little curious and started doing some research on that feeling. Here's what I found...

This is a minor form of anxiety. Anxiety is hormonal and neural just like every other aspect of your body. The hormones that cause this are the adrenal medullary hormones, more specifically catecholamines.

Neurons from the brain run down the spinal cord and into the medulla, located just above the kidney. These neurons stimulate the cells of the adrenal medulla to produce catecholamines. The catecholamines then spread through the bloodstream. Blood glucose levels rise, blood vessels constrict and the heart beats faster. This raises the blood pressure. Blood is diverted from temporarily nonessential organs to the heart and certain muscles. 2

So basically, all of your blood is centered around your essential organs. Where are your essential organs? Stomach area. It is unknown why your brain sends these neurons or what triggers your brain to send them, but it just knows.
I find this all so fascinating and useless.

1 Details will remain unpublished do to lack of knowledge on who reads this blog.
2 Source: Rachelle's Biology Book

Being a Sister Wife

Two of my roommates got me started watching some HBO series. I usually stay pretty far away from TV shows. Revolving my life around a one hour block each week just seems asinine, but they had the first season on DVD so it was convenient. I could watch the first few episodes with them and that would be that. Not so easily done. Big Love. It's about a polygamist family, living in the city, that got exiled from the Mormon compound in Utah. They live normal lives except for the fact that there are three women, seven kids, and one man. They have three houses and no fence in the backyard. Now this show is complete with poisoning, underage marriage and sabotage. I'll be the first to admit that it's lacking substance. I'm already on the second season and still don't really care what happens to the characters, but the show itself is just mesmerizing. One of the first things we all realized is how unnatural polygamy is. There are times when the show is just plain weird.
I've been noticing the affect that the show is having on me. Besides my unhealthy obsession with wanted to watch three episodes a night (which I do not let happen), my thought process has also been a little off. I am very incompetent in the morning, I will admit this, but usually within reason I would like to think. Last week I set my alarm early so that I could wake up and write a paper. One of my roommates, Erin, wanted me to make sure she was awake. When my alarm went off I was very tempted to just go back to sleep until I really had to wake up, but I immediately thought, "No, it's my sister wife duty to make sure Erin is awake." Sister wife duty?! I don't have a sister wife duty! It didn't take me long to realize how absurd that sounded. But still...

This Is How We Do It- Michigan Style

It's summer time and I am back in Michigan. After my semester ended I decided that I was going to come back here and live the life of the average Michigander...
First things first, I had to arrive in style. I showed up in Ann Arbor via public transportation. Because I had no car, a train was the cheapest way to travel. Saving money is very important since I am unemployed. 14% unemployment rate, I guess that means it's the cool thing to do. I am classifying myself as one of those people who knew this was coming and took a buy out. I had a little money saved coming into this whole adventure, and because of that, I have been able to travel some. Once again taking advantage of public transportation, I took a nice day trip to Chicago as well as a weekend getaway down south.
Back in March after my dad had been without a job for 5 months he started his own business. VSP Foreclosure Cleanouts. Perfect. He goes into foreclosed houses and does the necessary repairs on them. He got his contractors license and took advantage of the situation we are all in. Well, I have been able to do a little work for him, and this means I get to see all of these houses. I can't begin to tell you how tempting it is to move back here after I graduate next year and buy a house for under 5k. I keep having to remind myself that I won't be able to find a job to pay for food.
After I hear stories about work from my friends I am occasionally relieved that I didn't look for a summer job. A friend of mine who waits tables at Olive Garden told me that a man handed her his money and said, "Sorry, economy is bad." He left her an 8% tip. If the economy is that bad, don't eat out!
Needless to say, I am not trying to provide for a family while unemployed, but I really do feel terrible for those that are. Spending most of my time out of state kinda makes me feel like I am wearing blinders. You don't really understand how bad it is until you're here.