Adding to the noise

I'm sure everyone has heard how the olfactory sense is probably the most memory-invoking of all our five senses. Which makes sense; I can assume we've all had the experience when we catch a whiff of something and it takes us back to a time and place, and possibly a feeling. I know quite frequently I catch a whiff of some time of incense or perfume (I never know what it is) and it takes me back to standing in my great-grandma's bedroom with other family members and relatives, as she neared her final day. I can't put my finger on what the smell actually comes from, but every time I experience it I associate the scent with death. One time I was in one of those weird oriental-type shops and sniffed a stick of incense; I immediately had to leave the store because of that memory.

My intention of this post is not to depress anyone or myself, but I was thinking about this type of thing because of a CD I was listening to a while ago. I know I just mentioned that the olfactory sense gives us the ability to draw up memories probably more than any other sense, but I feel that our auditory sense is a close second, maybe just as capable of transporting an individual back to a time and place, particularly specific tones and music. I initially pondered this recently when I switched my alert tone for text messages on my phone to a different tone. Not really aware of this at the time, it was the same tone that I was using for texts on my phone in the time surrounding when Jake and I got engaged. I had gotten my cell phone not long before it happened, and had this tone as the default for texts. So the other day when I changed it back to that tone, the first time somebody sent me a text after switching it, I immediately felt this happy, excited, walking-on-clouds feeling, and this was before I noticed the memory. In the microseconds after these emotions, I wondered why I felt that way then traced the reasoning back to when we got engaged and concluded it worked just like the olfactory sense.

Now tonight, I decided to listen to an album I had not heard in a while, Snow Patrol's "Eyes Open". This whole album transports me to a time and so many different emotions, and I recall that the same album has always had this effect on me, because of the synthesis of the music and the time period during which I frequently listened to this music. However, tonight I wasn't thinking about that when I pressed "shuffle" and as soon as the first song, "Open Your Eyes", started playing, I was whisked back to the first semester of college, to when I had my heart broken for the first time, by my first love, and the hazy, obscure time period that followed as I desperately held on to that love. Hearing even just the first few seconds of the song was so compelling that my breath was taken away briefly and I felt that empty, lost feeling once again. It's like for a moment I forgot that I am currently 22 years old, a graduate student, and engaged to be married. It's as though I was 18 again, sitting on my bedroom floor after that phone call. Don't get me wrong; I have so much joy about where I am and where I am headed, personally and as part of another relationship, but it is only human to feel these powerful emotions even long after you've moved on. It's only human to feel hurt and confused and to question "why?", even if you are in a better place.

Viva Chile!

As I watch the last of the 33 Chilean miners emerge from the rescue capsule on live TV, I am filled with so much joy that it is overwhelming. The world has experienced so much pain and sadness and too many events such as this have come to a tragic end. This wonderful story fills my heart with happiness because the world needed something like this to boost its spirit. The hope and faith that kept the miners alive and from giving up has been apparent in the family members camping out at the site, holding hands with and hugging each other, praying, and the large portion of the world that watched and waited as the rescue workers courageously went down the chute and helped bring these brave, strong men to safety and into the arms of wives, fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters, who, for some amount of time, likely believed they would never see their beloveds again. I am fairly certain that I would start losing my sanity after being trapped merely for a few days; however, these men encouraged and supported each other throughout what was most likely the greatest trial of their lives, living in a cave with no light, limited entertainment, and eating 200 calories a day. That strength, along with hope and faith, brought them back to the world after nearly 70 days underground.

I think we can all learn a little something from these men.

Happy Friday the 1st!

October is here! I like this month a lot. I'd like it more if it actually felt like October should. That's the problem with Las Cruces. But I'm not here to complain about how much I miss Los Alamos this time of year. I'm actually here to complain about pop culture; specifically a few names in Hollywood. One of the things I can't stand the most in pop culture is that the media pays WAY too much attention on people that just bring drama wherever they go and don't really do anything good for anyone. I'm not saying they should never have existed, just that they shouldn't exist in Hollywood :) By keeping them in the spotlight and in front of cameras, we are just fueling their annoyingness. Here are just a few of the characters that I wish would just drop off the face of Hollywood and the media:

Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag...seriously, get a life. One that isn't whining about each other in your pseudo-divorce and screeching and passing it off as a music career.

Paris Hilton...grow up and stop hoarding innocent animals. And all the other stuff you do.

Snookie...I don't even watch Jersey Shore, never have, never will, and I can't stand the girl just from seeing her face all over the place and hearing about why she was most recently a public nuisance.

Lindsay Lohan...the girl has issues. I get it. Move along.

Jon and Kate Gosselin...Time to focus on your kids, folks.

Levi Johnston...wait, why is he famous anyway? Because he said some nasty stuff about the Palin family? Ah yes, a legitimate path to stardom...???

Lady Gaga...Must I explain?

And I apologize if I've hurt anyone's feelings; if any of you are fans of these people. It's nothing personal toward you, just my opinion.