More Music You Should Check Out

I love Spring. It's so much easier to be healthy! I love the sun and the produce! I love hiking and swimming! I love camping and star gazing! I love my whole house! And now onto the music!
Thanks to Ian for introducing me to Band of Skulls! Thanks to Ben for sending me gems on Spotify all the time! And thanks to Pandora and Jared for Explosions in the Sky.

You should love this band.

You just should. 

DRY THE RIVER.

http://www.drytheriver.net/us/home/

Another post like the other posts...

Okay people, I know I already posted this link on my Facebook page, but it's just so good.  http://thoughtcatalog.com/2012/5-terrifying-things-i-will-do-if-i-like-you/

I read this blog post to several people, including some guys, and everyone agrees (for the most part) that it rings true.

I just love how honest it is. People always think they have secret, dirty, embarrassing lives- but are they really so secret, dirty, or embarrassing? I don't think so. Everyone (unless they are a-sexual like Morrissey- but I bet it's all to cover up his pain and fear of rejection...wait, Morrisey is sad? Who would have guessed?!) experiences the havoc dopamine causes. Everyone experiences self doubt and fear. Everyone is attracted to someone. Everyone has, or has had, a crush. 

I love reading this article to people because I can see the reality of it in them. Some people have a look of horror, like I'm revealing one of their secrets. Most people just say, "Oh my gosh! This is so true!" I just wish people could be more open, I think if we all said what we were thinking more often, then we might all realize that we're all thinking the same thing in one form or another. The older I get, the more normal I realize I am. My whole life people have been telling me I'm weird or awkward, but I realize I'm not much of either, other than the fact that I say things other people would never admit.

We all fall madly "in love" with people we've just met sometimes (some more than others- me).
We all live vicariously through books, movies, Facebook stalking, and daydreaming.
We all have sex dreams.
We all fart, get diarrhea, barf, have boogers, earwax, B.O., hormone hairs, and pimples.
We all worry about our bodies at one point or another.
We all are afraid of something.
We all compare ourselves to others.
We all just want love.
We all have bad hair days.
We all suffer.
We all face loss.
Regardless of gender, age, appearance, socioeconomic status, education, tastes, or any other differences we can find, we are all human.

 And for your listening enjoyment (warning, contains at least 2 swear words), my namesake:

Chemicals.

This post is mostly me freaking out and not finishing my thoughts, hello word vomit. This post is about some of my fears. This post is about love. This post is about chemicals.

I am a crazy mama jama. Heck-a-tolito, we all are. It just blows my mind how one day I can be convinced that I have to be with one guy, because I'm "in love" with him, and then the next day I'm all googly eyed for another. Sometimes I feel super mental/dotty/off the rocker, but then I remember, everyone is crazy. Thank you chemicals.

Sometimes I feel like I'm constantly in "Stage 2 : Attraction

This is the "crazy in love", the "falling in love" phase.

We think obsessively of our lover-- we may eat less, loose sleep, and look forward to the time when we will see them next. We may sneak out to meet them, daydream about the relationship, or feel we can't live without them. This part of love may seem crazy because it really is. The brain is responding to many different chemicals. 

Dopamine is released when we're crazy in love-- the same as if we are on cocaine or nicotine! Norepinephrine (aka, Adrenaline) speeds up our heartbeat and gets us excited. Seratonin levels are typically low in a new relationship-- the same patterns are found in the brain in love as in people with obsessive compulsive disorder!

This stage is also called "Falling in love", or a "crush", or "infatuation".

Crazy? Maybe. But it's nature's way of getting us to move on to the next level in love-- attachment."
I've referred to this dopamine thing before, remember "cocaine brain?" Shudder. It's wonderful and AWFUL.

Holy horrifying!

This is one of the many reasons I am so scared to get married! A. What if we "fall in love" and it was all dopamine!? B. Sure the spirit will guide you, but I'm sorry- the feelings of the spirit can feel an awful lot like the feelings of dopamine! C. What if I go CRAYZAY and rush into something, when I know- in my level state of mind- that I should wait?! Friends, if I try to rush into something...

 STOP ME.

"A pair of powerful spectacles has sometimes sufficed to cure a person in love."
-Friedrich Nietzsche

Other things that scare me, but also fascinate the crap out of me:

Deep water
Spiders

Serial Killers

Heights

Big Foot/Sasquatch/Nessie

The Apocalypse

Snakes

Aliens

I'm not sorry for being me. I'm not sorry for being a terrible writer. I'm not sorry for being crazy, emotional, and a woman. I am sorry for being so repetitive with these posts.

Par deux: Pick up Liter

Life goal number two, pick up liter. Please note that I say, "liter," throughout the essay, not litter. MAKE SURE YOU READ IT CORRECTLY, it adds to the amazingness. All run-on sentences and glorious word mistakes included for your enjoyment.

            "For one of my contributions to society I want to pick up liter. Yes that’s right, I want to pick up liter, I see trash on the ground, I pick it up and throw it away. Hundreds of innocent seagulls on the coast of California die each year because of liter. They get their heads stuck in plastic can holder and strangle themselves all because people can’t put it in a trashcan. So yes, my goal is to pick up liter.

            My purpose for this is to make the world a better place.

            This will effect my emotionally because I will save the live of wildlife everywhere, and saving a life is emotional. When a doctor saves a life he feels all happy inside, well that’s how I feel when I save slugs and seagulls.

             Physically the world’s pollution rate will drop and maybe I will create a chain reaction, or just stop, liter. I will also have better lower back flexibility because I will bend down a lot.

            Mentally I will have improved self esteem and so I will think I’m better and I will be more confident with myself. If I am more confident I will achieve more and be smarter.

            In order to achieve this goal I will just do what it is, I will pick up liter when I see it. I could write notes on my hand to remind me or make tapes to play at night to train my sub consciousness into remembering to always pick up liter.

            I want to start now and never stop, so the day I’ll stop is the day I’ll die. When can I start, today.

            Some roadblocks that may interfere with my goal could be, unsanitary liter (feminine tissues, needles ect.), or forgetting. If the liter is not sanitary than I will simply have to carry around “the grabber”. If I tend to forget I will train my sub consciousness, and write reminders on my hand."

Commentary: It's all amazing! Aren't I just the best writer?

Laura's High School Sociology Goals Part 1: Marriage

           I found the most glorious document of all time. I wrote life goals in high school, and boy are some of them grand. I kept the grammar as is- so please excuse (or laugh at, because I did) the run-on sentences and other snafus. For funsies I've also decided to add some commentary, because I just gotta. The commentary will be in blue. Enjoy!

            When I am between the ages of 19 and 25 I want to get married. I want to marry my “dream man.” So I will describe him to you. Well, I guess I better hurry up- I turn 26 in 61 days!

2nd from the right, Alex- my dream "man" in highschool. HAHA!

            First I will talk about his physical qualities. He will have dark hair, preferably natural brown. His eyes will be either green or blue. He will be at least 5’11’ two inches taller than me), the taller the better, but not abnormally tall. HA! He will have a nice build, not skinny, but not 5 foot neck huge, he will be large and buff, not fat though. As far as facial hair goes, he won’t have any, but he will have a 5 o’clock shadow.RETRACTION!!! You know I love good facial hair, a 5 o'clock shadow is a good start though. His hair style will be curly or shaggy, ruffed up and short. He will wear t-shirts that fit, not too big and not too small. He’ll love to shop at Deseret Industries and always wear what he wants. His shoes will be “old school” and he will never have a plumbers crack. I'm glad I felt it necessary to say he wont have a plumbers crack. He won’t wear any femmi stuff like clam diggers or makeup. And finally he won’t have piercing, tattoos or deliberate body mutilations. Deliberate.

More dream men, Noogie- a terrible Australian band, but I was obsessed with Australia and I thought I was SO unique for liking such a foreign band (they were on a Mary-Kate and Ashley movie soundtrack btw)

            Now as for morals, he won’t drink alcohol, caffeinated drinks (HA!), coffee or tea. He won’t watch R-rated movies (HA!), swear, chew tobacco, smoke, have pre-marital sex, participate in or watch porn (participate in?!?!), be a democrat (HA!), or a hunter. And most important of all he will be worthy to marry me in a LDS temple.

            He will love punk and ska music, some pop, 80’s and older music, emo, covers and a variety of every other kinds of music except music that swears. Well this is hilarious. He will also like cake, sleep, church, the D.I., mud wrestling (I still want this), outdoors, movies, and having a good time.

            I could care less about what car he drives, unless it’s an ugly low-rider, and as far as money, I don’t care as long as he can bring home the bacon, and some extra cash to spend. And I would also like him to have flexible hours with vacation and quality me with myself and my kids. 

            I love smart guys, but not if they make me feel stupid, he also has to know a lot about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He’ll be stable and mature, and be a good communicator and listener. He will be able to share his feelings but he won’t be a basket case.

Another high school crush- Nick Hexum of 311

            And now here are some loose ends that my husband will be like. He will love food, won’t tickle me hard, he won’t be a pervert, and he will have a good sense of humor. GOOD PRIORITIES. And last but not least, I want a man, but not a male chauvinist pig.

            Why do I want a husband? Because he will be my better half and in my religion you can’t make it unless you get married and I want to be in love for years and years.

            Now finally, how would I benefit, emotionally, physically, and mentally by achieving this goal?

            I will emotionally feel better about myself and have true love. Like the saying goes, “My better half.” He will love me and so I can be emotionally connected with him. Like the saying goes, “My better half.” HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

            As for my physical benefits, he will have money and I will move out of my house and we will go hiking and travel. I would not only have a new environment but I would be in better shape because of all of the activity we would do. I really thought this paragraph was going to go in a different, and much more risqué direction...

            Mentally I would have to work as a team with my husband and he would share his experiences with me and I would learn and grow because of it.

            In order to get married I will have to date a variety of men in order to find out what type I want. I will have to search long and hard and be in steady relationships. Then when I have gone steady with one man I will get engaged, say yes and then I will have a wedding in a LDS temple and a reception at the St. George Opera house.

            I already set a timeline, 19- 25 years old. Some roadblocks that might happen could be, no proposal, too much college and death. If I never got proposed to then I would just have to set my time line back to 30 years old, if I got too engrossed in college then I could just wait until I graduate or be more social in my classes. If I die then I would be in heaven and I wouldn’t care. DEATH! "TOO MUCH COLLEGE AND DEATH." SOOOOOOOO GOOD.

I hope you enjoyed. Coming soonish:

College

Children

Become a Kindergarten Teacher

Have Benefits

Have Flexibility

Pick Up Liter (Best typo ever)

Donate Money to Charities

Help My Students in Trouble

My Dream Car (This is my second favorite essay!)

My House

Travel

I'm totally my Grandma.

The other day I realized I've grown into a woman shockingly similar to my grandmother. When this realization hit,
A. I was wearing a muumuu.

B. I was making a sort of Greek salad. I was putting all sorts of things in it. Kalamata olives, tomatoes, feta, croutons, sunflower seeds, almonds, cucumbers...okay this is just sounding like a normal Greek salad. I swear there was something  weird in it...flax seed? It just hit me, and I liked it.

My grandma Patsy is awesome. She's been an artist forever. She's still an artist. That grandma paints like a motha! Every time I visit she has more paintings to show me, it's super inspiring and I always want to take them all home.

We used to fight all the time, but then one day I stopped fighting with her. Since that day I have just and only loved loved my grandma. She's smart and loud and funny. Sometimes at dinner we play, throw stuff in Grandma's cleavage- it's hilarious.

All of my grandmothers are bad-A. Check out Great Grandma. Just look at that sweater! Bad motha licka!

 Check that Nana Laura. Bad-A fashionista!

Great great great great great Grandma Lucy Diantha Morley, SHE WILL CUT YOU.
Moral of the story, my family ladies are amazing. I am amazing, how can I not be with this legacy of mothas?