Day five & six Written out of Order

I'm posting two this time because I fell off the wagon with the last two post days so I'm posting two to catch up. 

Day five I was supposed to take an 'out of order' sign and put it randomly on something, I decided to put it on a trashcan, I wanted to see if people would be dumb enough to not use it because of a sign and I didn't want to put it on anything that would cause trouble. Though it didn't seem to work well I didn't see any real affect. 

Though It did remind me of an psychological experiment, but I can't remember what it is called. 

The experiment is they take a couple and put them in a situation where they can choose one of two bridges to cross, one has loads of people crossing, so many so it's kinda crowded, and one bridge had no people whatsoever, no signs or anything just no people. 

Around 7 times out of 10 the people would choose the crowded bridge without any thought and no questions to ask about the quality of the other bridge. 

There was another experiment where they tell a guy to come in for an experiment but it isn't what he thinks. First they make sure he shows up late and make it look like the experiment has already begun, they also have a bunch of other people there posing as other people there for the same experiment as him. Then they show them a series of lines all next to each other and they ask them to pick which one they think is the longest, now all the other people that are posing choose a line that is obviously Not the longest, the test subject looks around like they're crazy and chooses the shortest, but they test it again, and again, by the third test he's agreeing with all the others and choosing a line that is obviously shorter even though they ask to pick the longest line. 'mob' mentality. 

Weird huh? 

Alright Day six is: Today write the opening of your debut novel. So here it is: 

'You know those moments after something has happened that will forever change your life and you will never be same because of it, so you go back to daily life trying to pretend nothing has changed but you can't; you don't recognize your life, you are not a part of it anymore because you're not the same person you were only five minutes ago? Mona knew.' 

Okay not only is this a HUGE run on sentence, and technically two sentences but whatever it's my opening 'line' lol. You know I used to love writing, I started writing my own story as a kid around.... I'm gonna say eleven and I wrote and rewrote. My friend edited, and I would rewrite and add to it jotting down some sentences here and there between classes, and then I put it away for a long time and then when I was in high school I picked it back up and completely rewrote it again all over and it was amazing I was finally getting to the end and then boom! It was deleted, I accidently deleted the whole story, no back ups nothing and I tried writing here and there but it just wasn't the same. And now I can barely write at all, I've never been really great at grammar (you can probably tell from my posts lol) but I was really good at concepts and character development. Now not so much, I'm not eloquent, I have a hard time forming plots or even translating emotions properly or using proper language I've gotten so bad, I feel like I'm getting old! 

So I've decided I'm going to try and write again, a lil everyday, even if it's only some sentences, and I'm going to write a story. I'm not going to worry if it's good, or about publishing or doing anything it's just going to be an exercise for me to improve myself. So that's what I'm going to try and do. 

Oh and here are some famous first sentences to some really good books, try and guess which one's they are!

'All happy families resemble each other; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.' 

'It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.' 

'Mother died today.' 

'1801-I have just returned from a visit to my landlord- the solitary neighbor that I shall be troubled with.'

'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.' 

'Lolita, light of my life. Fire of my loins.' 

Lolita. Vladimir Nabokov

Old Testament  

Wuthering Heights. Emily Bronte' 

L'estranger. Albert Came

Anna Karenina. Tolstoy. 

Pride and Prejudice. Jane Austin. 

Day four: 'Oh the places you'll go!'

World Coloring-In day is the title for day 4. Followed by:
"Today work out your glob-trotting plans for the rest of your time on earth, and get on the phone to an accredited travel agent. NB the state dept. currently discourages travel to the following countries: Afghanistan, Iraq, North Korea, Turkmenistan, Zimbabwe, and North Yemen.
Fill in the country by country: (green) been there done that. (blue) Intend to go there within the year. (yellow) Intend to go there sometime before I die. (Red) Happy never to set foot there in my whole life.

Alright this is my colored in world map:

Now I added the color white because I don't care either way, and you'll notice there isn't a scrimp of blue on this map besides the dear old ocean, yep I have no intentions of visiting any country besides my own in the next year, I have just moved from the west coast to the lower south so for this year I will only experience the cultural differences between the west and the east coast. You'd be surprised on how different one end of the country is from the other. 

For example: In CA (California, where I was born) they are very fastidious with public trashcans, there are toilet seat covers in every stall of every public restroom, bike lanes EVERY WHERE, wide enough lanes for your huge hummer cars, and when you order tea it is understood that you will add your own sweetener unless you are getting brisk or nestle tea....this is not so in the south; nope they don't believe in germs on the the toilet seat or they don't believe in gross people sitting on the said toilet seat, not that many people ride bikes here (If you can, look up Davis CA, they are a bike town, I have only visited but they have so many bicyclist there they have parking lots, LOTS mind you! That are dedicated to bicycle parking), and the lanes for cars here are old so everything is more narrow, when I first got here me and my husband were driving home and a trucker was hauling a trailer behind him, it swayed back and forth towards us with large industrial pipes and I swear it would get so close my husband could have reached out and touched it! Though I will admit my husband has incredible long long arms. But anyway back to the countries!!

The page tells you to get in touch with a accredited travel agent and start working out a plan, well I have probably the best accredited travel agent you can get....though there is a catch. 

Because while the Military is probably one of the best way to travel (unless you're inconceivable rich) you don't necessarily get to choose where you're going or for how long you're going to be there all the time lol but it's a way of travel, so for now that is the plan, and hopefully Germany will be one of our first stops. I have a real interest in visiting Europe mostly, I love the architecture and all the art history it has to offer, though I know I'm short changing some countries that I have put in red because I know that many of them have just as much history. A lot of the red countries I have highlighted are either because I don't think the country is particularly friendly or safe to one such as myself (small female) or I don't know much about them and don't have an interest. 

So! Here's where I have a challenge for anyone that does read this, if you know about, love, or live in any of these red high lighted countries and think I am being too harsh in my judgement I would love for you to send me a comment about why I should reconsider, it's a great chance to blare the horn of a country you like and teach a person about something interesting (I love learning about other countries and cultural diversity) so if you like please comment me or message me at my email: Quite_Contrarium_110@hotmail.com. 

Oh and before I sign off I'd like to just give an update on how my life is after my three other tasks, I will say I'm loving my sandwich and I try all sorts of combinations though I haven't gotten my husband to be so adventurous, I'm thinking about trying another sandwich with Shrimp! Though I'm thinking I'll leave the peanut butter out for that one. I'm surviving without my favorite toy though it is very missed, and still fighting the urge to get a new one.

Day Three: Farewell

Today on day three I am supposed to simply throw something away that I like, and I thought it would be easy...it's not.
I had my item all picked out, an old toy that I have become very attached to, yes it had always been there for me in the lonely nights, like an old friend. But it does have it's bad points, which is why I thought it would be easy to throw out, even though I 'do' like it.
I even made a pros and cons list of throwing it out:
Cons:
....when I'm lonely I won't have it.
It will take a some time to get a new one.
Not sure if the other toys will be 'powerful' enough to take it's place.

Pros:
New means new options!
No more cord!
.....pretty new colors?

Either way I know I will end up getting a new one, maybe that's not the point of this exercise but it's the truth, and I have moved and gotten rid of a huge chunk of my life so maybe that will allot me some wiggle room with this one.
I think it's to help us realize that it's just stuff, have you ever noticed how much we care about 'stuff?' Really look at mean and women now, were all about getting the newest TV, game, game system, new computer, clothes, movies, more, more, more. It never stops, we grab at all this stuff and we keep wanting more and more!
I mean no joke I am sitting here, got my lab top on, we have the desktop next to me, my husband is playing his new game on his PS3 and flat screen and I am listening to my ipod while this is all going on. That is a lot of stuff in one room, and I just named off all the electronics.
But it's so hard to get away from all the stuff, I'm told that we use the stuff to fill the a hole that can only be filled with by God, but how do you fill it? I've read the bible, and I've prayed, I've gone to church, I feel like I'm missing an essential key to get all of that. I have some very close christian friends and some very close none-christian friends that are still very religious, they all have this thing like they're in the loop, they get it and they're happy, I almost feel like it's a show and they're just pretending but I know different.
There's a good chance that there isn't anymore room for anything like God because my own selfish desires are taking up too much space to let God in, so what can you do but try and get rid of the selfishness? I've been trying, trying to be less materialistic and more just happy with what I have but there's so much out there!!
I swear I don't have a shopping addiction I can tell myself 'no' and I can get rid of things when it comes time (like now), but it doesn't stop me from endlessly wanting! Which is the real problem.
I want to stop wanting stuff, I want to just be happy with what I have, you'd think that would be easy right?
Well I guess the first step is getting rid of something I don't need, and might even be holding me back, I might not even get a new one now that I am thinking about it, I mean I'm alright with out it.
I highly suggest taking part in some of these daily tasks, this one I would invite you particularly.

Farewell dear toy you lit my world on the lonely night with joy and comforted sleep! 

Lol were you thinking it was something naughty?

Day two: As love goes

For day two I was asked to 'gaze at everyone wondering whether they might be the one true love of my life, the one destined for me and me alone, and whether I might be passing them by forever...' I'm supposed to act accordingly.
Well to put it bluntly I didn't see anyone I would be remotely interested in destined or not...so any and all visions of a future together were quickly led to a 'crash & burn' scenario mostly for my evil glee.
This might be because I am already married and I don't see myself with anyone else besides 'him.' Though I will say when we were 'just' friends I was dating someone else and whenever I was with my future husband I would wonder if I was passing by a 'destined opportunity.' He and I were both going to be leaving the community college where we met and heading off to separate schools, him up north to a fancy pants liberal school and myself mindlessly following my current boyfriend to his school of choice because I had no real opinion of where I wanted to go at the time.
Needless to say this all didn't go the way it was planned... and for that I am extremely grateful.
The big point I'm trying to make is even when I was with my other boyfriend, who I was quite content with at the time, I still had this attraction to this other boy that would eventually be my husband, on a personal and physical level. Now I will say I don't cheat, I don't play the field, and I don't respect people that do (no offense) so the fact that I liked this other boy was very troublesome to me, I just couldn't help myself, I beat myself up over it, was in complete denial over my feelings until finally I just caved and admitted it to myself, but even then I decided to ignore it, there was nothing wrong with the boy I was currently dating, he was nice attentive and sweet...he just didn't give me fire.
And I sensed this 'fire' in my husband, when we first met I did, I'm not saying it was 'love at first sight' but there was definitely something there.
This got me wondering: 'Why?' What was that 'fire' I felt, and why was it so strong between me and him? This is what I have decided to find out.

(a little romantic mood music, for thoughts about love)
Well after doing some research I discovered an Anthropologist named Helen Fisher. Fisher's career has been mainly devoted to studying the biochemical pathways of love in all it's stages: lust, romance, attachment, and even as it fades. Fisher quote: "A woman unconsciously uses orgasms as a way of deciding whether or not a man is good for her. If he's impatient and rough, and she doesn't have the orgasm, she may instinctively feel he's less likely to be a good husband and father, Scientist think the fickle female orgasm may have evolved to help women distinguish Mr. Right from Mr. Wrong." (National Geographic 06 'Love the chemical reaction'). Hmmm Well I will say that this didn't have a factor into the 'fire,' I have only made love to one man in my life and that was my husband but it definitely didn't occur on our first meeting lol.
Fisher and her crew have dedicated themselves to studying love, in fact one study found that when the subjects looked at his or her loved one, the parts of the brain linked to reward and pleasure would light up. Fisher concluded that Love lights up these particular locations because it is home to a large spread of receptors for a neurotransmitter called dopamine.
Dopamine creates intense energy, exhilaration, focused attention and motivation to win rewards. These are reasons why those new couples that are lovey and gooey can stay up all night just talking, watching the sunrise and holding hands constantly (even while eating dinner). Love makes you bold, makes you bright, and makes you take risks.
What about that 'love sickness?' Those times when you are dealing with gut-wrenching want for that other person who you just know you are destined to be with, but they don't seem to share your views(been there my friend)? Well Donatella Marazziti, professor of psychiatry at the University of Pisa in Italy studies the biochemistry of love sickness.
Marazziti became interested in actually studying the similarities between being in love and obsessive-compulsive disorder. In one experiment, she and her colleagues measure serotonin level in the blood of 24 subjects who had fallen love within the past six months and obsessed about this love object for at least four hours every day.
Serotonin BTW is a star neurotransmitter. When you are given prozac or zoloft, it's this that the medication balances out, the drugs seem to increase the amount of this neurotransmitter availability at the juncture between neurons basically means that if you are depressed there's a good chance your serotonin is out of whack, and might be blocked, the prozac basically unclogs the area from my understanding.
Marazziti compared the serotonin levels with people suffering from 'love sickness,' to people who were suffering from O.C.D. and people who were free of both ailments. Levels of serotonin in both the obsessives blood and the lovers blood were 40 percent lower than those in her normal subjects. Translation: OCD and Love sickness could easily have a similar chemical profile. Another Translation: Mental illness and love ...a lot a like.

But Why are we attracted to the people we are attracted too?

Evolutionary psychology has hypothesized that we tend to see 'healthy' as attractive. And health says that woman with a 70 percent wait-to-hip ratio and men with a rugged features that suggest a strong supply of testosterone in their blood is healthy. Waist to hip ratio is important in females for successful births and shows a higher percentage of fertility. A man with high levels of testosterone suggest a high immune system and so is more likely to offer healthy children. We also tend to see certain body types that would be a good match for our genetics as healthy as well.
A study by Claus Wedekind of the University of Lausanne in Switzerland was an interesting experiment with sweaty T-shirts.
49 women were asked to smell the shirts previously worn by unidentified men with a variety of genotypes that influenced both body odor and immune systems. The women were asked to rate the shirts, which smell did they like the best to the least. Wedekind found that women preferred the scent of a shirt worn by a man whose genotype was most different from hers. A genotype that might have linked to immune system, and possessed something hers might not have bringing forth new variety to the gene pool and making the offspring more diverse giving it better chances of survival.

Most research I have found tend to focus that the reason we fall in love are these couple of traits:
Attraction: Unconscious body language proclaims their readiness to mate; an open mouth smile, arched back, avid eyes, these are all settle hints of attraction towards someone else.
Romance: Chance instances where a romantic action or atmosphere happens that will cause 'infatuation.' Biochemists say that these feverish stages of love between two people will typically burn out after a few years. Why? many think it's because the brain can't maintain the intense neural activity of infatuation.
Bonding: experiences interest, opinions and emotions you share together with you and no one else that bring you closer and create a bond between you.

The last one isn't necessarily needed for the initial 'love' feelings but is a good thing to have:

Attachment: Thought to be the calming affect of oxytocin, a chemical that is a lot of times plentiful in long-term couples.

So maybe it was the testosterone levels, the pheromones in his shirt that led to the 'fire' and all the rest led to 'love.'
I encourage you out there to do this exercise whether you are looking out over strangers and opening your mind to possibility between you, or looking at your already loved one and being glad you didn't pass this destined moment up forever.

Also don't forget to check out Kersley Coles new book Contest!! 

http://www.thearcanachronicles.com/spread-the-word/

Day one: sandwich

Have you ever heard of the book: 'This BOOK with change your life,' by Benrik?
Well if you had kudos to you, but I had never heard of it till about a month ago when it was suggested to me by another book I was reading, "How to be a Hepburn in a Hilton World."
Great book anyway so I got curious and purchased a copy, now a summary of this book is a '365 daily instructions for hysterical living.' The first couple pages of this book have things like 'fill in life preferences in case of amnesia,' and 'in case of sudden death.'
I named my blog 'It changed my life,' for the hope that this book will in fact do that.
So I plan on doing all these 365 tasks minus the days off they give, and posting of my experiences here on this blog, followed by pictures and videos to accompany written text.
Now I won't be  doing them all in order, or exactly what they say (some of these things are just not intelligent to do, and I won't let a book dictate my life, sorry not that mindless) all the time, though I will be doing a version of them. Lastly I won't be doing them every day, I will be posting two blogs a week a task to each blog post, that'll give me at least 3 and half days for each task.
Speaking of which, day one: Warm up

'As this is your first day, you should warm up with an easy task that will only change your life a little bit.
Choose one of the following options:
Do one press-up
Triple tie your shoelaces
Perform a striptease
Lern to play 'chop sticks' on the piano
Increase your typing speed
Jaywalk
Set all your clocks to exactly the right time
Fantasize about your partner
Use a different thickness comb
Say 'yo' instead of 'hello'
Hold toe phone up to your other ear
 Tell someone your middle name
Try a new sandwich filling 
Leave work five minutes early
Bookmark a new website
Give your genitalia pet names
Decide which one of your toes is the prettiest
Insult an insect
Go on a one-minute hunger strike'

I decided to try something different with the new sandwich filling, and I created a new sandwich:
'The adventure bagel sandwich' lol
and here's how you make it.
Ingredients:
peanut butter
plain bagel
sesame seeds
1 slice of bacon cut into chunks
one half of a mushroom sliced and sauteed
honey

Cook up the bacon, saute the mushrooms, and set aside. Take the bagel slather with peanut butter and sprinkle with sesame seeds, heat up with microwave and then cover with bacon and mushrooms and finally drizzle with honey. Delicious!!

Oh and P.S!
Kresley Cole has an amazing new series out and a new contest give away check it out!
 http://www.thearcanachronicles.com/spread-the-word/