A Step Out of the College Bubble, and a Leap into the Real World.

I can't believe it. As the end of my college career inches closer 30 days and roughly 8 hours...  I am anxious but excited about what the world has in store for me. Believe it or not, I actually got a job! In something I want to do! Say hello to your new EEG technician :)
Basically, my job is to hook people up to an EEG which will then read the different types of brain waves and immediate feedback. I then give them techniques on how to relax and practice mindfulness. Think Buddhism-Neuroscience fusion. And my boss is pretty awesome also... that never hurts.

Now my next task is to kick ass in my finals.. good grades = good PhD program... and to find a place to live. Bring it on world.

All Hallows Eve, Another Pet Peeve

I love Halloween. I was that kid who wouldn't be able to sleep because of excitement the whole week before the sacred day. I would drop my backpack at the door when I got home from school, rush into my room and put on my costume to strut my stuff around the house. I did this from probably age 4 to only god knows how long... wait a second... I just did that a few minutes ago....
As Halloween inches near pumpkins are being chosen and carved, corn mazes are ventured, the onset of Type 1 (childhood) diabetes is being fueled, and slutty costumes being picked out. I think it's interesting that in college it is the norm to dress up - or actually- dress in as little possible, right on the threshold of being charged with indecent exposure. It has become socially acceptable to dress like this on the onset of November... where most places it actually snows (I love California...)

For $56.99 you can get this awesome costume! (hard hat not included, or boots, or socks.... or hammer). Oh yeah, and an added bonus... you'll probably lose some more weight after you buy it -- because pneumonia usually does that to you. It just blows my mind that some women actually dress this skimpy in 50 degrees weather- and what I find more entertaining is that the women who actually do dress like this are usually the ones that demand respect and to magically skip the line-up for the beer pong table. If I was a guy looking at you wearing that costume, shaking like a leaf because of the cold, psssh, there wouldn't be a chance in hell that I would lend you my jacket -- who knows what kind of advanced and mutated strain of STDs you may have.
I personally believe in leaving some for the imagination. There are many ways to dress up in a costume that don't pin you as the easy girl at the party. I'm not telling you to be a nun or anything - but put a little imagination into it. Remember as well that a great figure or physique is nice, but it's self confidence that makes someone really sexy.

Old People and Hand Sanitizer

Old people and hand sanitizer. That's what it smells like in the waiting room at the doctors office. In my previous blog, I talked about how I enjoy people watching. I swear, another one of the best places for people watching is at the doctors office. As some people are anxiously waiting, others are patiently distracting themselves by thumbing through the 10 month old magazines that are probably riddled with germs, and of course you have the screaming children running amok while their parents frantically try to "shush" them and keep them under control. These are my favorite interactions to watch.
 Kids fascinate me. They have such an innocence,  a unique and untainted view of the world. Everything is intrinsically interesting to them and they are always very observant. From what my parents told me, I was a very observant child. If I remember correctly, I would definitely peg myself for that annoying child who just won't stop asking "why?" about everything until you reach the point of either pulling your hair out or grabbing the bottle. This trait about myself seemed to carry on into adulthood.... Not picking up the bottle, but instead how observant I enjoy being and asking the question "why?".

So why do people act the way they do? This is a question that can never be fully answered and is why I find the social sciences to be so alluring. I am happy that I wake up everyday knowing that I chose the right field of study. Now comes the real hard part however.... Finding a job, and picking a Graduate school.  Yikes.

Eating Alone and Weekends of Debauchery.

I don't understand why some people look so uncomfortable when they eat alone in public places... I have friends that refuse to eat unless they have somebody with them. I guess this is an interesting tactic to lose weight? Don't have friends, and be anorexic? Hmm... Not my cup of tea.
When I used to waitress I often times felt a sting of empathy for the people that would come in and faintly say "um, just one". When working at a restaurant you soon learn that picking up two menus when people come in becomes a reflex... and in this situation it created a brief moment of awkwardness when you would put down one of the menus back into the plentiful stack. However, if I was the waitress of the solo customer I would try to strike conversation and make them feel less lonely, but I soon found out that they want to eat alone.
At first I did not understand this crazy phenomenon because I am naturally outgoing and always looking for stimulating conversation with other people.  But throughout my four years of college and conflicting schedules with friends I often times found myself eating alone and enjoying it. Eating alone allows me to do my favorite thing: People watching. Having the excuse of picking at food in front of you suddenly doesn't make you seem like a creeper if they catch you looking, because I now have this delicious sushi to look back down at.
I love to play the "whats their story?" game with myself, and will often play it with other psychology students who have also studied body language. The best day for "whats their story?" is Monday mornings at the college cafeteria - or what I like to call the watering hole of the campus. You see haggard students walking in looking like zombies from a crazy weekend of binge drinking and bad decisions. You can see the shame on some of the faces, and the attempts to strategically hide behind a pole or their friend to block their view from the guy's bed they woke up in two nights prior. You can also see the animated faces of gossip and self-esteem boosting, pointless drama.
Another reason I enjoy eating alone at times is because I can actually taste the food, I don't feel rushed, and since I'm not gabbing away, I know when I am full.
I'm not saying in the least bit that I don't enjoy eating with other people. So if you were planning on asking me out for dinner -- don't let this blog stop you.

Yay Psychology: Left Side Bias :The Conundrum of Being Photogenic

Have you ever looked at a photo of yourself and thought "Oh My God, how much did I drink that night?", "I look so bad!" or "oh man... If I untag myself from this photo on facebook nobody will see it!"... This could possibly be because of the left hand side bias that we have when looking at a faces of people. Well, now to elaborate:

People have a tendency when looking at somebody to start on the left side of the face from the person across from them and then scanning across the face, much in a manner that is similar to reading. This was shown through eye tracking research of how people read emotions of other people. So how this relates to seeing a picture of yourself relates to the idea of how you actually perceive yourself to look. When you look in a mirror, you are using the left side biased discussed above, thus putting an emphasis on your left side of your face. Thus, this is what you think you look like. However, people (and what a camera takes a picture of) are looking at the right side of your face first, thus people don't see you as you see yourself. Take a second to imagine it, and it will all make sense.

 Something that piques my interest and seems to be something that is unpublished, or is still in the realm of research being conducted (possible dissertation!) is whether a different culture would show the same left side bias in face recognition and emotion reading. For example, would people who read and speak Arabic, Hebrew, Yiddish, or Persian read faces from the left to the right? I mention these cultures specifically because their language is read from the right to the left unlike our own. I am curious about this because the research on the left side biased has only been tested in Western culture.

Interestingly, man's best friend, dogs, have also shown that they use the left side bias when reading the faces of other people (still, only research conducted in Western culture). Maybe this explains why dogs owners claim that their dog "knows if I'm in a bad mood" and can "read my emotions".

Everybody DJs

Sooo is everybody a Dj now? I feel as though whenever I'm out talking to a new guy (usually a bar setting or a music event), he always does the "oh yeah, well... I'm a DJ" and then tries to explain why he only plays a certain type of music (which now only seems to be Dubstep). To probe to see if he is just being fictitious and just trying to get laid, I'll ask questions like "oh- soo what do you use? Vinyl? CD-Js? What model? What mixing program" etc.
I love to see some of the douches stumble around in the dark looking for an answer, and my personal favorite is when they will try to divert the conversation to questions about myself-- nice try buddy and this point I'm hoping I can finish my drink faster so I have an excuse to get away from you  before I say something rude.


But seriously people, don't say you DJ to sound cool or get laid. I can press play on my itunes also... and make a playlist...I guess this means I'm a DJ!

Sometimes I wish everybody was autistic

So I work with autistic children and adults as my internship in college. I love it. Sure, it has it's ups and downs, but what job doesn't? Maybe at your job you don't have to bring an extra change of clothing to be prepared for spit or any other liquids being spilled on you, but hey, it's just part of the job.
 Sometimes I wish that everybody was autistic. Every single kid or adult that I work with is so kindhearted and always so excited to see me. They never have any mal-intentions, and when they do, its so painfully obvious through their mannerisms and their facial expressions. If everybody was like this, there would be no duping, lying, cheating, and stealing.
At times the job is very taxing, and I want to rip my hair out, but at the end of the day as I'm walking out to my car reflecting on the day I've just had, it provides me with a very rewarding feelings. I really love each and every one of those clients.

You know what really grinds my gears? #1

Just a few things that bother me about everyday life, and their justification:

Swag. I just don't understand swag. Swag just makes me think you are making up for something (in the downstairs department...) and makes me know for a fact that you are lacking in the intellectual department. I don't get the whole "Im hard" walk and talk. You look retarded. Please, try and use proper grammar and not add "-shizzle" after everything. And yeah, I'm that person rolling my eyes at you. So stop acting like a peacock and grow up.

Flouride in the water. Sure, the government started putting fluoride in the water in order to prevent tooth decay, a noble reason, but low and behold, its toxic for our bodies! So I guess choose your poison: British looking teeth, or a decline in bone density, correlated lower IQs, and thyroid dysfunctions. In my humble opinion, I rather have a cavity or two than a plethora of absurdly unnatural things happening to my body. For more info : (http://www.fluoridealert.org/absurdity.htm)

Christmas music... in excess, and in any other month besides December. I had an old roommate who would play Christmas music, more specifically, Mariah Carey and N'sync Christmas music (in June) that made me almost want to punch a baby. Please, keep the Christmas spirit to yourself. I swear I'm not a scrooge, I enjoy decorating the tree, putting up tinsel and all that other festive stuff, but keep the sticky, catchy, stuck-in-my-head-all-day music at a minimum. I understand now why people spike the eggnog at Christmas parties.

People who talk on the phone really loud in public places. Okay guys, you aren't talking through a can-and-string phone, this is 2011, they make good enough phones now that you can talk in a normal volume. You aren't yelling at a drive through speaker at Jack-in-the-Box at 2.15am.. although those tacos always seem to hit the spot when it comes to late night munchies.

Lastly, The laws about wearing seat belts bother me. The people who don't wear seat belts in cars are only endangering themselves really. I understand why it's dangerous to talk on the phone and drive, because it slows your reaction time and potentially puts others on the road in danger, but to not wear a seatbelt and drive...? Fine by me.  If this law was revoked, this could potentially be natural selection at its finest.

What is Normal

What is normalcy? What does it mean when you're not normal, and you're different or strange? To be honest, I rather be strange than fit into the seemingly perfect cookie cutter life that society tells us to strive for... You know what kind of life I'm describing... The live in suburbia, have 2.5 kids, and drive a hummer kind of normal. Although some of this normalcy sounds appealing, mostly just the procreation part of it, I want more out of my life.
I want to do something I love, and help people while doing it. I want to leave my mark on the world, and have my work and research published so others can appreciate it. I want to fall in love,  stay in love, and get married in a beautiful church or a beach with a beautiful sunset, and I never, ever, want to stop learning.
When did learning and school just become the means to an end? The end being this "normal American life". When did college become a place to just scrape by and get a degree so you can work a job in a cubicle that you loathe? I believe I first realized this shift of culture in my freshman year as an undergrad when some douche in one of my intro business classes said with an arrogant tone " yeah, well the only reason I went to college is my parents told me I had to in order to take over my Dad's oil business when he's 6 feet under if you know what I mean". I'm pretty sure I couldn't stifle the choke/scoff that came out of me.
I guess all I'm saying is that normal is not ideal. So don't make the idea of normalcy your goal. Because being normal is also being mediocre.