Two important things

1. I love tea. I never used to drink it, but in the past few years (especially after finding the magic of rooibos) I've been drinking the shit out of it.
So, in a bit of an homage to the lovely Leigh, here's my Yogi tea "fortune". It made me happy. Also, I was trying to take the picture with low flash, because the light in my kitchen sucks but so does taking pictures with just flash...so this is what happens when you put your finger partially over the thing.

Also, Victoria got us into the British way of drinking tea, and the way the milk looks bubbling up from the bottom also pleases me.


2. This is like peanut butter...but made with crushed up cookies. How can you beat this? And don't worry, you don't need anything to eat it with save a spoon. Or your finger.



*This post brought to you by pomegranate margaritas and boredom. Thanks for listening to tea and cookie butter.

Learning is Fun!

Last semester was pretty much balls. We didn't get to choose our classes, and we had constant tests. None of it was fun in any way, because even the few things that would have been awesome to learn were just more weights being added onto our backs come test time.

This semester is a bit different, however. We will have 12 one-hour credit classes that each last 5 weeks, and are only made up of ten lectures. We had choices (although it was only 2-3 choices per time block, but that's better than nothing!). There was an element of control for us this semester, and we will only have tests every 5 weeks instead of every other week.

So, there are actually parts to this semester so far that have been really interesting, and even at times (gasp!) fun. So, I thought I'd tell you a little about what I'm learning tonight in my reading for my Genes to Physiology class tomorrow.

The reason that you feel lightheaded when you stand up is that the weight of all that blood in your body kind of sends it all crashing down to your legs, and there are nerves near your carotid arteries that recognize this and quickly work to make up for this difference by increasing your blood volume for a short time. This weight is why your feet swell and hurt--because of blood pooling, and to keep this from happening too much (and to keep from fainting if you lock your knees for too long), you need to occasionally contract and release your leg muscles a few times to cause the pooled blood to go back to your heart. Also, if you faint after giving blood it has absolutely nothing to do with your blood volume--it has only to do with the emotional center of your brain. So, no matter what anyone says, if they faint from giving blood it is because they are a wimp.

Oh, and if someone faints, you shouldn't try to get them upright! They fainted because of less blood going to the brain, so keeping them horizontal is what helps the most.

After a large loss of blood, the first mechanism that happens is something called autotransfusion, which basically means that your body takes interstitial fluid and adds it to your bloodstream, which dilutes out all the blood cells but keeps your mean arterial pressure more constant. Then you can slowly start to make more blood cells to replenish that shizz.

Weight training too much is bad for your heart!! What happens when you are lifting like that is that your heart starts trying to get more blood to these muscles, but the contraction is forcing the blood vessels more closed, and the extra blood isn't able to force its way in there. If you do this too much without rest or at least some good cardio thrown in there, it starts causing it causes hypertrophy of your left ventricle wall and lower volume in that chamber.

Ok, hopefully that was actually interesting to you, and if not, fuck off. Or, read this bit of depressing news:

More heart disease!

2012

I gave up New Year's resolutions a few years ago because they were always the same and I never stuck with them like I wanted to. You know, cook more, work out more, etc. I decided to make one this year because I've gotten stuck in a rut of pseudo-depression and laziness this past year. My resolution is to be a better person, all around. I have problems keeping up with my friends and family, keeping close to my Michael, keeping up with my work and my school, and keeping up with my house and my mutts. So, I'm going to work at being more present and more aware, more grateful and more open, more active and more studious. I will strive to be a better friend, lover, sister, daughter, coworker, employee, classmate, and citizen. I want to like who I am. I don't feel like I should change my whole personality, but its just that the last year I spent far too much time doing nothing and feeling busy. Ever get into that cycle of depression where you sit around, maybe watching TV too much, or playing on the internet too much, or even just staring at the wall, and then you don't have time for cleaning, cooking, reading, talking, walking, or anything? That was most of my year. SO! Here we go, 2012, I have high hopes! I will celebrate 15 years with Michael this year, I will marry him this year, I will finish my first year of graduate school, I will help my mother through the first anniversary of the tornado, I will travel, I will eat delicious food, I will laugh and I will enjoy my life.

This post was brought to you by my head cold and Dayquil--my stomach is sore from coughing so much, my head feels stuffed with cotton, and my brain is moving so slowly that I'm sure this post sounds like it was written by a child or someone with alzheimers.

Edit: I totally forgot to mention that I will also turn 30 this year. This shows how little regard I have for age, it really doesn't bother me. But, I will not be married when I turn 30, that will make me an old maid!