neuronal conversations

Our brains, the cool things that they are, are made up of so many neurons, it isn't even funny. What's cooler is that we, at a certain point in time, have way more neurons than we need. Our brains, the cool things that they are, get rid of these extra neurons (the existence of which has a completely valid reason I shan't go into cuz I can't remember all the details and my Biopsychology textbooks are a. too far away and b. under a bunch of other textbooks and I'm still recovering...more on this later...) - a process called apoptosis, which is kinda like neuronal (in this case) suicide.

The reason I brought this up - 37.5 hours of data entry which I've been doing at my internship place. I am completely aware of the fact that it has to be done, and that what I'm doing is important, so that all these lovely people can be contacted for future projects and stuff. But oh. My. God. I swear, I can almost hear this conversation in my head (completely fictional cuz I'm pretty sure apoptosis doesn't work like this...):

Neuron 1: Oh. My. God. Kill me now. I haven't been used in the longest time. I've almost forgotten what an action potential feels like! *wistfully gazes at Neuron 2*

Neuron 2: Neuron 1, is that...you? Haven't heard from you in forever! Helloooo!!

Neuron 1: Hmmm...looks like Neuron 1 is trying to say something, but what??

Neuron 2: I don't know how much more of this data entry I can take. I am trained to make sense of complicated journals and pages of numbers and things with names that are so long, learning how to spell them takes forever. HOMOSCEDASTICITY!! The subtests of WAIS-III and WISC-IV!

...Okay, I got bored. Basically, the neurons figured they'd try greener pastures and proceed to off themselves in desperation. It's harsh, I know - but seriously, anyone can do data entry. I need more stimulation.

There's a deck chair with my name on it. Bliss.

purple

My nails are purple. I kinda hate painting my fingernails cuz they always end up looking messy, then there's the inevitable smudging and chipping. But today, I felt like it so I painted. But now, I have to stop looking at them or I'm going to end up taking it all off.

I went back to my internship on Wednesday. All I've been doing so far is data entry for a project they recently had.

Okay I really have to stop staring at my nails. I can work this. I just can't let anyone look at them up close. Okay.

frozen

this video is pretty self-explanatory, but just in case - on sunday, the 13th of april, 1000 people froze in the middle of a shopping mall. crazy? kinda. what's crazier is that this was the work of one person, who through Facebook, made this event one for the record books (or mine, anyway...).

it was quite the experience. i don't think Lot 10 (where we were told to gather and wait for little orange flyers) has ever been that crowded. people were just standing around, waiting, and you could tell why they were there. we were all strangers, but connected in the anticipation of something quite extraordinary.

if you look carefully, you can spot me, my brother and my friend at about 2.43 on the right hand side. i was sitting down on the stairs, eating a cheese-cup-cake thing. my friend was tying his shoelaces while my brother was "stealing" his wallet. i thought that was a pretty cool idea (someone stole our snatch theft idea) until i watched this video and saw that two other people did the exact same thing. my freeze pose was a total coincidence.

in the moment, i think many people lost sight of the real reason this event was organized. which is actually okay, cuz even if you went just for fun, you were a part of the tapestry (explanation another day...).

"Where human beings get together to do something in unison, without speeches or reference to their age, color, sex, beliefs and background."

that line was why i attended this thing, and it was nice to see people get off their apathetic asses and actually do something to make a difference, as cliché as that may sound. so here's the video, from Random Alphabets. enjoy :)

time out

Two exams down, two to go. I have to say, I didn't expect to find myself back here, but today was one for the record books. Dropping my friend home, we randomly decided to go watch a movie. Twenty minutes later, I picked her up and we went to get tickets Definitely, Maybe with Ryan Reynolds and Rachel Weisz and Isla Fisher. Cuz she was hungry, we decide to go get some sushi. By "we", I should clarify that I mean my friend :) There's still a lot of sushi that I don't eat, e.g. anything with seaweed or tentacles. Today I tried something new - a tempura cheese thing which was quite okay. We then head over to McDonalds so we can get (decent) food for the movie which was seriously enjoyable. I've been a fan of Ryan Reynolds from waaay back when Two Guys & A Girl was called Two Guys, A Girl and a Pizza Place. After the movie, we went for dessert to Baskin-Robbins. Much to my surprise, they had one of my all-time favorite flavors - Love Potion #31 (or something). I ended up being more than a little disappointed with it. I don't remember what it tasted like before, but this wasn't it. Another friend of mine joined us, and the second they were introduced, they started talking about me. It was the strangest thing. I've known the first friend for about three years and have spent a considerable amount of time with her. The second I know from school. They both had the same things to say about me, and they found this extremely amusing. I found it strange cuz I don't get how they came to the same conclusions. At all.

Anyway.

It was a good evening. Food. Laughs. Ice cream. A good break from the hecticness of the past week. Tomorrow's exam is a strange one, then there's one more on Monday.

a world without pain?

Lately I've been thinking about how I missed this and decided that I'd do something about it after my finals. But I was studying and having a pretty random conversation with a friend, and next thing you know, here I am.

What I was reading about was Whorf's linguistic relativity hypothesis. Basically, this brilliant dude made the observation that linguistic differences contribute to different perceptions of reality. In English (or at least what I hope is English, I'm kinda tired...), how you see your world depends on the language you speak. Eskimos are kinda sorta inextricably linked to their environment, which is why they have heaps and heaps and heaps of words for "snow". I can't remember in which language exactly, but a culture dependent on paddy farming had heaps of words in their language to describe the different stages of growth.

All of that made me wonder what it would be like to live in a culture and speak a language that had four hundred words to describe "happiness". Would people go around with smiles on their faces all day? What about one that had four hundred words to describe the total opposite - "sadness"? What about one that didn't have any words for "pain"?

So many things have happened since the last time I was here. Things I wish I could erase to alleviate the pain in some way. Things that were probably the cause of my absence - I didn't know how to put what I felt into words.

Wait. No. I didn't want to have to know. I still have a hard time trying to pick up the pieces, and what's worse is when I think I'm getting somewhere, I break and end up having to start all over again.

Okay, so this is turning into an extremely depressing post. It's not like the last 3.5 months have been complete crap. I've had some good times. I've travelled. Danced. Hugged. Laughed. Shopped. Frozen :) But I've also had the most intensely difficult experiences I've ever had to face.

I'm dealing.

Slowly.


P.S. To the friend who put up with an intensely random conversation - *clinks cups of green tea* xoxo.