Fish Farts

National Geographic Exclusive: Herring Break Wind to Communicate, Study Suggests

 

 

 

 

 

So, apparently, men and Herring share important information in much the same way…

Multiple personalities?

There is a new site called “I Write Like”. The premise of this site is that you are supposed to be able to copy and paste paragraphs that you’ve written, and the site will analyze your writing style and choice of words to tell you which author you write like.

I decided to copy and paste from my blog to see which author I most resemble… So far, I got results for Chuck Palahniuk, Margaret Atwood, Dan Brown…

Wanderlust and soup

A friend once described me as “the perfect soup”. He told me that I had the perfect mix of everything. What a compliment! This is exactly how I wish to describe the place that I recently visited; “the perfect soup” – I fell in love with the locals’ smiling faces; the curves of the road, the cool dry air, the winding river sparkling in the hot summer sun..

I believe that places have personalities, just as humans do. I’ve traveled to many different locations and each of them has a different atmosphere; its own specific “feeling”. Pagosa Springs and Durango, CO – the perfect soup..

I remember when I first visited South Padre Island, TX. The sultry humid air and the warm sand beneath my toes – in an instant, the Island had stolen my heart.. Fast forward eight years. I now live close to South Padre Island, and the allure is still here – however, there is an undercurrent of desperation.. Losing my job soon after I moved here and experiencing my first ever hurricane (direct hit; Hello Dolly!) probably did not help the tender feelings I’d once experienced for this location. After my brief escape to Colorado and the depression I felt upon returning home I began to wonder if places weren’t more like humans than I originally realized.

Love. You meet that perfect person; or they seem perfect – the rush of feelings; that endorphin high.. Sometimes if you’re left with the “what ifs” and the “might have beens” the fantasy can stay alive in your brain.. But when it comes to the nitty-gritty, the every-day life.. You can get bogged down in the details, the mundane, and wake up one day realizing you’re not so sure you love this person anymore.

Choose Your Own Adventure

There is a fork in the road up ahead. Which way do you go? Left? Right? Right takes you to page 45. The road is washed out, and you and your car float on downstream to oblivion… Luckily, you were smart and kept your place in the book so that you could choose the left fork; page 67. You find a pot of gold under a rainbow and live happily ever after.

Wouldn’t it be great if life were like those “Choose Your Own Adventure” books that we used to have as kids? Do they even still make those? That’s beside the point, but really, I’m sure everyone out there at some point has made a totally idiotic decision.. Then wished that they had paused to consider said decision for 10, 15, 20 minutes.. “If only” is a tough thing to deal with. “If only” life was like a book, where you could look ahead to see the consequences of your decisions.. then choose accordingly. “If only” you could take back that stupid thing you said, or did.. I guess it’s all part of life, learning from mistakes and moving on.

My thumbs are too fat for this!

Ok, so has anyone else ever been in a “texting war”? I say war because that is what it feels like to me. Last night I was trying to text a friend, who basically got out about 3 or 4 sentences to my one! I blame it on the phone or my fat “Loken thumbs”.  If you are going to have a lengthy conversation, why not just pick up the phone and talk?

On a side note, I finally started the P90X workout (see previous post) with my sister-in-law. We had a 3 year old and an 8 year old who wanted to work out with us.. About a minute into the dvd, they both ran off to go swimming because “it’s too hot”! Granted, we didn’t have air-conditioning and it was 85 degrees. Anyway, the workout was intense like they say.. There was a lot of sweating, grunting, laughing and little cursing (from Julia, mainly – good thing that kids left!). I think I’m going to enjoy this, because it’s kind of a no-brainer. All you do is follow the dvds, and it’s mainly up to you to pace yourself and take control of your results.

Succumbed to the pressure

Ok, so I’ve finally given in. Lots of people are doing the p90x workout and I’ve decided to become one of the masses.. I am more curious than anything, really. I’ve started doing yoga and jogging, and I’m already tiring of the routine – I hear with p90x it’s always different. I’ve never had ripped abs or been totally buff, but I’m thinking it might be a nice goal to aim for..

Prank you very much

Spending 4 years at a boarding school, it was inevitable I’d fall prey to one prank or another. Sadly, the attempts that I made to prank anyone always got thwarted. I was standing by the dorm fridge one evening with someone’s shampoo and conditioner in hand, ready to throw them in the freezer when out walked our dorm dad… I could never get away with anything!  I’d have to say the best (or worst) pranks had to be the ones my friend Lauren played on me. There was no “getting her back”, because she’d always pull the last one. Always.

One time I walked into my room and turned on the overhead fan – only to be surrounded by a white whirlwind of flour… After spending hours pain-stakingly cleaning up the huge mess, I left to go blow off some steam at the basketball court. When I came back to the dorm and turned on the light (and overhead fan), *POOF*! Yep. You guessed it. White powder all over EVERYTHING, one more time.. I was livid.

Then there was the time that I won a pie-eating contest. I’d won the contest only because I was the last contestant to jump off the stage and puke (we had to eat several of these pies to win). This contest had been held by the sophomore class, and my prankster friend Lauren just happened to be in charge of all the chocolate pudding that had gone into the pies. It was quite a rude awakening at 2 o’clock one morning when a huge tub of chocolate pudding was dumped all over me in my sleep.. Had I had any clothing on, I would have pursued the perp, but of course I knew who had done the dirty deed!

I think that the only prank I ever pulled off was on my roommate Andrew. While he was gone, a friend and I managed to shrink wrap everything of his – DVDs, remote, toothbrush, you name it. It was so immensely satisfying – that is, until he walked in and acted like nothing had every happened… Which makes me think that perhaps I was such a great target in high school because I reacted to everything. If only I’d had a poker-faced response (thanks Lady Gaga for ruining that expression!), maybe I’d have missed out on the second coating of flour in my room, or on the chocolate pudding bath…

Single’s wisdom

My desktop is starting to fill up, so I’m trying to streamline it and file things away. I found this:

“Most of our frustration with people not responding to us as we want them to — whether it’s calling us back, or asking us out again — has to do with our egos. We take it as a mark of our attractiveness, our desirability, indeed our self-worth, when our dating object responds with passion, and we take it as a blow to our selves when he or she doesn’t. What we have to keep in mind is that the other’s response is rarely a question of who we are. Almost always it’s a question of who the other person is, what that person has to do that day or week or month, and what demons he or she is currently slaying.”

This was a good reminder to me, because I honestly believe this is true. I hate that I don’t remember where I found it and can’t give the writer credit, but I’m glad I kept it – because now is one of those times I’m having bad luck in the “dating” department. Sigh. Date. What is that again?

Good luck?

Last Sunday I decided to spend a few hours at the beach. I met up with a friend, and as we were talking, all of the sudden he got this strange look on his face – apparently a bird let loose all over the back of his neck! I couldn’t help but laugh. It reminded me of the time I went to Atlantic City with an old boyfriend.

Bullseye!!

‘Dwayne’  (*all names have been changed to protect the poor innocent saps involved) happened to have a deathly fear of birds. Now, as anyone who has been to Atlantic City knows, you can’t walk a foot without encountering at least a few seagulls.. As we walked the boardwalk, I took in the beautiful view and salty air while he held my hand in a death grip. Every time a bird approached he’d squeeze my hand tighter. All of the sudden, he looked down and there was a growing stain on his pants. No, it wasn’t from him – a bird had pooped all over his pant leg! I think I still have the picture of him standing there, arms akimbo, bird poop on his pants with a slightly scared/slightly annoyed look on his face..

They say it’s good luck when a bird poops on you. I’d have to say, from the looks of it, it’s really just awkward and gross! Unfortunately I don’t keep up with ‘Dwayne’ anymore, so for all I know he could have gone on to win the lottery… But I seriously doubt it.

Self-branding

I’m in the process of redoing my web site. It’s also time that I edit and redo my logo – I need a “re-brand”. I thought it would be fun to brainstorm and come up with ideas for this. A friend of mine recently told me that I  self-edit too often, which can kill the good ideas along with the bad. So here goes. First bad idea: Old-school tetris. Get it? J and L?

So not me; the color scheme says nothing about me… Kind of 80′s fluorescent. I hated the 80′s style (and cannot believe it’s coming back!). But the self-editing is gone, and perhaps this will lead to something else?

Speaking of ideas, my dad is always trying to get me to invent something with him. I had the idea for “miracle slow” the other day. I’m really tired of mowing the lawn, so what if there were a substance that could actually slow the growth without killing the grass? Hmm. Just a thought.