Real Age

So I thought I would try the "Real Age" test. Basically, it takes your health habits and medical history and tells you how old your body really is.

So I went through all the steps...
and guess how old my real age is?

14.6.

Seriously.
It should probably be closer to 14.2 since I had to adjust my birthday 4 months so I could take the test.

But seriously?! 14? That is in years. Not that I am taking this too seriously, but 14?! I'll be turning 20 soon...and just I was starting to feel so grown up...

It is all coming together now though. I guess the morning runs help out a lot and the fact that I don't smoke or drink and I eat fruit and manage stress...but 14?!

It explains what happened over the weekend too...my cousin's friend found me "very attractive" ... and he is a junior. In high school. That makes him 17. But, hey, if my real age is 14, then why not?!

I guess I can use this as an excuse for losing $60 this weekend too. I mean, 14-year-olds can get away with that kind of thing, right? I am still hoping I will find it...that was going to go towards a new pair of jeans...or, since I am actually 14, maybe I should just spend it on movies...that is, if I find it.

And while we are making confessions...last semester I saved $100 by not buying books for my mythology class. Not only did that save me some money, but I also saved many hours. By not doing my readings. Out of the hundreds of pages I was supposed to do in Livy and Ovid and Sophocles and Hesiod how much did I do? Probably one page...yep, one page. Maybe even half a page.

And what grade do you think I got?
A. A freaking A.
Not just an A, but a 98% A. Yeah...the things you can do when you are a teenager.

I'm sure when I turn 20 in three and a half months I will be much more responsible...because then my real age will be what...15?!

Being a Lefty

This is a blog about how wonderful and sometimes not-so-wonderful it is to be a lefty.
To those right-handed people who read this, don't worry, you are special too.
Just not as special.

So why is a person left-handed, you may ask?
Research is still a little unclear why we are so amazing, but many ascribe it to genetic and environmental factors. Although some people may come to the conclusion that it is decided by whatever hand they first pick up a pencil with, research shows that hand orientation begins even before a child is born.

But who cares? The fact is, we are special.

We have learned to adapt in a world that favors right-handedness.

Just imagine being a child in kindergarten, searching through a pile of brightly-colored, plastic grip scissors and finding that the only lefty pair is plain silver and extremely uncomfortable. What do you do? You learn to use the right-handed scissors.

Imagine going through elementary, junior high, and high school where your teachers demand you write long essays and assignments and tests in pencil. Do you know what this means for a lefty!? It means a paper full of smudged graphite. It also means a large smudges of grey running down your hand and even onto your sleeve. What do you do? You wash your hands after every class and roll up your sleeves when you write.

Now imagine being in college, trying to find a left-handed desk. You realize in some of your classrooms, there are none. in other classrooms, the two left-handed desks are in the back, far-left corner of the room. What do you do? You learn to love the fact that you can lean your right elbow on your desk, while your left hand maintains a slightly awkward position on the left. I'm really in love with this flyer--especially the part that says, "Is this desk an instrument of ?" YES, I say to all the wicked desk creators, yes it is.

So being a lefty is kind of a challenge.
BUT.
We are also amazing.

Continue reading to find out how amazing:

"Left-handed persons are thought to process information using a 'visual simultaneous' method in which several threads can be processed simultaneously. Another way to view this is such: Suppose there were one thousand pieces of popcorn and one of them was colored blue. Right-handed people—using the linear sequential processing style—would look at the popcorn one at a time until they encountered the blue one. The left-handed person would spread out the pieces of popcorn and look at all of them to find the one that was blue. A side effect of these differing styles of processing is that right-handers need to complete one task before they can start the next. Left-handers, by contrast, are capable and comfortable switching between tasks. This seems to suggest that left-handed people have an excellent ability to multi-task, and anecdotal evidence that they are more creative may stem from this ability to multi-task." (Wikipedia: Left Handedness)

As a side note, I really, really love the popcorn analogy.

Instead of solving problems and analyzing them a piece at a time, we solve it by looking at the whole.
We are usually more creative.
And there are more people with IQs over 140 than right-handed people.

Think of the left-handed people that have lived. To name a few--Leonardo da Vinci, Marie Curie, Joan of Arc, Winston Churchill, and Aristotle. We are creative and sometimes even brilliant.

We are famous. The finalists of American Idol last season (David Cook and David Archuleta) were both left-handed. Oprah is left-handed.

Lefties have a habit of being powerful politically also--Julius Caesar, Charlemagne, and Napoleon. Our presidents also have a habit of being left-handed also--Obama, Bush, and Clinton.
Even amidst the the prejudice and the discrimination, it is pretty great to be a lefty.
We look for each other. We notice other lefties. And apparently we may be attracted to other lefties also...

So next time you notice a lefty in a class or at the store...admire us.
Because life can be a little harder for us, even when we are so amazing.

Stalkability

Isn't it interesting how easy it is to stalk people these days?

You want to find out how people are doing? Just look on Facebook. On Facebook you can find their blog. On their blog you can know what they are thinking about. You can learn all about a person without every having to talk to them.

And that person would never know. Freaky.

Probably someone is stalking me right now, reading this blog, without me ever knowing. You know who you are...

I once had a professor say "that which is closest is furthest away and that which is furthest away is closest."

So true.

My Vote

People ask if I voted.
Of course I voted.

I voted for Mickie Mouse as president, Minnie Mouse as vice-president.
Because of this, there is no need for Washington D.C. Instead we will have two headquarters--one in Disneyworld in Florida and the other in Disneyland in California.

It may also surprise you that I voted for an increase in taxes. As we increase taxes, the price of Disneyland will go down as the government subsidizes the entrance fee. The food at Disneyland will also be available to all people instead of for the selective few who can afford to buy an extremely overpriced hamburger.

Happiness would abound. I'm not quite sure what abound means...but it definitely would. Music would play from the streets and all the world would become just like Main Street, U.S.A. Everyone would be happy and would sing "M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E."

Seriously, people, you want Obama when you could have Mickie?!

A Rainy Predicament

Be careful what you wish for.

This morning while driving to Salt Lake I saw the greyish clouds and wished out loud that it would rain.

I was meeting with a client to discuss details of an event I am playing at in a few weeks at a small college campus. I parked in a residential area and then walked to the building where I was meeting them. After we finished, the client turned to me and said, "You can find your way back, right?"

Of course I could. How could anyone get lost on a small college campus?

It had been sprinkling a little as I walked to the building, but when I stepped out and began walking the rain quickly became a downpour.

A downpour.

I started walking a little faster and went to the place I had parked. Except it wasn't there. I had gone down the wrong residential road, because I certainly wasn't parked on this one. I started running, hoping to find the street I parked on if I went a little further.

At this point the rain came down in sheets, and just when I thought it would lighten up pieces of hail struck my arms with icy stings.

So here I was--no coat, no jacket, no umbrella--trying to find out where I parked. In the drenching rain. With a short-sleeved, airy shirt on. My hair was dripping, soaking, stringy and wet. I can imagine someone looking out of their window seeing me walk up and down the same street thinking, "What in the world is that doing out there?!" I looked like Anne of Green Gables when she pretended to be Lady Elaine from the Lady of Shalott and almost drowned. I was completely drenched.

At this point I was hoping that Gilbert Blythe would come out of one of the houses and offer me an umbrella.

I walked hurriedly up and down another street, still to no avail. How could I have done this? It isn't hard, I told myself. You can find it. As the street curved into a different direction I realized I was seriously lost and confused. Somehow the combination of one wrong turn with the pouring rain, the darkened sky, and the winding road had left me in this predicament.

How do I get myself into these things?!

On the third street I went up and down, I finally realized that I needed to go much further north. So in the freezing, icy sheets of rain I walked until I had found the street (I didn't even know its name...and I still don't. It should be called Evasive Avenue or Disappearing Drive.) and walked up to my car. I put the key in the door, but my hands were so cold and numb I couldn't turn it. I finally was able to get in the car and turn on the heat where I promptly turned into a puddle in the front seat.

I have to agree with Anne when she said, "...have you ever noticed one encouraging thing about me? I never make the same mistake twice...There must be a limit to the mistakes a person can make, and when I get to the end of them, then I'll be through with them. That's a very comforting thought." I will never get lost in that same place again--I've memorized all the roads from walking up and down them.

I wished for the rain, too.

Sigh...I had that one coming.

I still love rainy days though.

And just for the record, I still believe in Gilberts with umbrellas.

Tomorrow is fresh with no mistakes! And hopefully no more rainy adventures either...

Analogy of the Frig

You can tell a lot about a person by the contents of their frig.

A few of the things I have in my frig right now:

• 1 1/2 mangoes (just to remind me of warm, sunny places)
• 2 avocados (for guacamole and other such stuff)
• 1 Asian pear and 1 red pear (have you ever seen a red pear before?! I hadn't so I decided I needed to try it)
• Swiss cheese (how can you resist cheese that has holes?)
• Great Harvest whole wheat bread (best stuff in the world)
• Alfalfa Sprouts (green yummy hairy things)
• Soy Milk (I know, it's weird...but it's good!)
• Spinach tortillas (to make giant green wraps...delish!)
  

So...not your usual college student food. (Just for the record I have not eaten any Top Ramen since I came to college.)

I guess I just love eating healthy!

But that doesn't mean I won't eat some cheesecake when I get the chance!