Learning a new word is fun

Today as I was commuting to work, I did my daily routine of reading the Metro, and I noticed one of the little blurbs at the top. I, being a renowned collector of useless knowledge, found it rather interesting. It was as follows:

"Even kissing has a scientific name: philematology, which has been defined as the art or science of kissing".

It allowed me to probe the internet for a few more interesting facts about this lovely phenomenon that we all enjoy (oh, come on, admit it!):

• Scientists believe that kissing is a learned action as opposed to an instinctive one. Some scientists have theorised that it was originally inspired by mothers passing food to their babies with their mouths, and subsequently affection became associated with touching lips.
• Kissing comes down to pheromones. Pheromones are an organisms' unique scent. They reveal the mood, health, disposition, and recent exploits of the particular individual. Thus, pheromones could be used as evaluation of compatibility as a mate. When we are close to another's face we get an olfactory cocktail that tells us a lot about each other; women find out if a man is a good candidate for a father, and men find out if a woman is fertile and strong and thus if she's a good candidate for a wife.
• Kissing feels good (duh!). The lips and tongue are packed with nerve endings and are incredibly sensitive to this sort of stimulation. In fact, the lips and the area around the mouth happen to have the highest concentration of sensory nerves endings of all the tactile senses. To seal the deal, the lips are also outfitted with a very thin layer of skin making them the most sensitive part of the body.
• Can you believe there are even motoneurons that are designed to let you work in the dark to maintain your relative position to this soft feeling of goodness?
• The warm and tingly feelings associated with pleasure of kissing are the outcome of a potent surge of dopamine, norepinephrine, and phenylethylamine in the brain. This "cocktail" of neurotransmitters, triggered by electrical signals from the lips, is received by the emotional portions of the brain.
• Studies have shown that kisses assist in the prevention of tooth decay, stress relief, weight loss, and can raise self confidence - but some of these effects might fall under the category of the Placebo Effect - I mean, we've all got faith in kissing.
• Kissing might help you tell if a person is in good health. Consider the act of kissing as a way of testing someone's spit - body fluids are a pretty intimate aspect of a person after all. In addition to bacteria, saliva contains immunoglobulin (a compound that binds to bacteria to signal disposal by the immune system). Stress and anxiety levels can also be measured in saliva by monitoring the breakdown of noradrenaline. In other words, a person can make a pretty educated guess about a potential mates' health just by swapping spit.
• Scientists have found that the size of a person's lips can make a big difference to how attractive other people find them. Basically, big lips are considered to be attractive, however it is possible for lips to be too big. Men consider a full pout on a woman to be a turn-on, however Mick Jagger-style lips may not necessarily be perfect on a man. Men's lips should be full yet virile-looking, according to the women surveyed. Thin or pursed lips on a woman were seen as signaling a lack of desire, while full, red lips were seen as a reflection of warmth and sensitivity.
• The Christmas tradition for lovers to kiss under the mistletoe is meant as both a sign of romantic love, and as a sign of good luck and future prosperity. The practice has its roots in acient Celtic mythology, when the Druids considered mistletoe to be magical and used it to make various magic concoctions. Tradition also held that if two enemies met under mistletoe they would have to lay down their arms and treat with each other. The kissing part comes from the Norse mythology. The goddess Freya's son was killed by a spear made from mistletoe, thereby bringing winter into the world. Freya declared that mistletoe become a sacred plant thenceforth, and that it be a token of love rather than death.
• Most people turn their heads to the right when kissing, according to German researchers who spied on 124 courting couples in the interests of science. It is believed that right-kissing may be a reflection of behaviour in the womb - unborn babies tend to lean to the right. Researchers observed kissing couples in airports, railway stations, parks and benches in the US, Germany, and Turkey. Only the first kiss, if more kisses followed, was counted. To qualify a kiss the act had to include lip contact, face-to -face positioning and an obvious head turning. They found that 80% of the kissing pairs turned their heads to the right, and 44 to the left - a ratio of about two to one in favour of right-kissing.

Now that you have some facts, think about what kissing means to you. I like this quote by Ingrid Bergman: "a kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous." Maybe there is something more to kissing - being a girl we tend to add in the emotion. Sigh. But isn't it amazing how this (relatively) simple act ties in so much - biological, emotional and mental aspects are all covered. Maybe I should start somes philematological experiments. ;)

FYI, notes taken from:

http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro04/web2/gkelly.html

http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s498838.htm

http://www.kissingsite.com/kissingfacts.htm

I got a new haircut!

I am seriously in love with Paul from Shampoo. Every time I get my hair done, he encourages me to get something a little different each time, and he cuts my hair and does my colour so well. I highly recommend going to this place if you live anywhere near the downtown Toronto area.

Yay haircut day. It makes me feel all purdy...

I've gotta kick the shoe habit

I really like these boots. Fluevogs rock.

Sardine-n-it-up!

Now, if anyone had told me last year that I would be spending a Saturday evening playing Sardines in Toronto's Kensington Market, I don't think I would have believed them. But that's exactly what I did this weekend passed!

For those of you who don't know what Sardines is, it's a slightly different version of Hide-and-Go-Seek. The idea is that someone goes and hides, and then everyone goes out to search for them. If and when the hider is found by a person, that person then stays with them in the hiding spot, and you do begin to feel like a can of sardines. hehehe!

For the first round on Saturday my friend Galen and I went to hide. We chose a low stairwell, somewhat covered by the dark, that let to a wall. We were a little nervous that the door was an apartment as we didn't want to fall in or anything...well, you can imagine where this is going. We were eventually found by our friend Mark, and he joined us, agreeing that it was probably just a storeroom we were sitting by. Then just as we went to get up, Mark tipped us over a little, and the door suddenly opened, and I fell in through the door! It was someone's house, there was music playing! Yikes! hahaha! Luckily there was a little sheet covering the door so I wasn't discovered, but I swear, all three of us jumped up so quickly and ran away giggling as fast as we could! A definate highlight to the game!

Turn around time: one day

God is soo good!

Whenever things seems down in the dumps, there is always something that reminds you that you are a child of God, and you are blessed. Tonight everything turned around. My diatribe yesterday was met with a very solid Truth, that statement made years ago is not a reality! It does not come from God, and in His name it's stronghold has been broken! Amen to that!

Thank you Lord, for lifting that weight from my heart and replacing it with love! Amen once again!

A glance into the mind of a girl

Sometimes I enjoy being a girl, other times I just get annoyed with myself. The reason? The my abilities to over analyze and self-depricate. Yikes. Though most of the time it's unecessary, sometimes it's good - it allows me to realize something is wrong. But right now, in the last few days, it's just been tough to deal with. I'm torn...in more ways than one. I'm generally happy - I just started my new job and I'm enjoying it, some friends of mine are having a fantastic day (Go R-Dawg and J-Sonic!), but there is a part of me that is stumbling through some major hurt feelings and dissapointments. They aren't new types of feelings and it's not really even a new situation, but still, it sucks.

Ever find it hard to balance things like hope and dispair? Yes, it's one of the lovely dichotomies of this world. Most times I enjoy two sides, but really...

Honestly, I'm trying to be cautious in what I say - this is a blog that so many people read, and well, I don't want everyone questioning my sanity or something (ha!). No, really, it's just hard to be completely vulnerable over the internet! But regardless of those concerns, I did promise insights into a woman's mind, right?

The situation is thus - once again I am feeling the unduly dissapointments of feeling like an object of infatuation rather than an object of admiration. And well, it really, really feels wretched. It's just awful to constantly feel like boys are looking at you as someone who would be lovely to shag and not someone who is worthy to snag. It's only your dear friends who sticks around long enough to see you for who you are, and relationships aren't meant to be in the picture with them. Other boys come and go and some are bad, and some are great. And you find yourself hoping that well, just maybe, maybe this one will want to know me, for real. This one will want to talk, will want to flirt, but most importantly will want to be your friend and lover (used in a Jane Austen suitor-type way). Yet something always happens, ALWAYS - and you find yourself hurt and teary-eyed, wondering "What's wrong with me?" You see other girls - boys seem to be willing to bend over backwards for them. You wonder "Am I just someone who's around to boost boys egos for a while until they find the real thing?" - like a rainbow, pretty and nice to admire, but just really something to follow until you find the pot of gold. The rainbow just fades away...

When I consider all these pent up feelings, it's tough to realize just how affected I have been by my past. You see, I'm really good at hiding stuff when I don't want to confront it. More often than not I will blow off a situation thinking "Whatever, it doesn't matter that you were hurt, you don't need that person". Luckily I'm managed to step out of most of the cycles of feeling like I'm not worthy at all - it's a long uphill struggle from hating yourself to loving yourself (11 years and counting...) and I can deal with dissapointment in constructive ways, and I learn. I pray for more strength. It's just certain times, I revert back to being a very unconfident young teenager who heard it said of her that she was "probably a great lay, but nothing more" - and that part of me that believe this screams in agony, and the part of me that knows it's not true stumbles a little...

And I pray for more strength and see how much I've grown, and that I'm no longer that girl, in fact I never was. But the situation still hits hard because that little piece of you that isn't jaded, that little piece that still hopes and is willing to be vulnerable feels like it's been slapped in the face...again. You feel like you want to puke.

Eventually you move on - quickly or slowly it doesn't matter - and you begin to forget about how you got hurt and you start to hope all over again. You never know, it might just stick some day. And if not, you can always get yourself a new pair of shoes. Because in the end, boys can come and go, but you will always need shoes! ;)

The QUDC lives on!

Funny moment this weekend:

I'm out with a friend, we are in Pages on Queen St. W and lo and behold there was a book on the "new in non-fiction" table that caught my eye. It was called Growing Up with Degrassi. Inside to my surprise there was an essay by my friend Mark Jansen from Queen's all about the QUDC! Ha! Can you believe it???

I've got a new job!

This is my very first post from my work computer - the girl is moving up in the world I tell you! Just before I left for Africa I accepted a position to be a customer care rep in a call centre, and so that's where I am today. It's day two, and it's going well. Yay training!

Funny, this time last year I was training for Jets Go. Boo.

A weird head space

Aside from the weirdness of being jet lagged, the last few days have been interesting - I've ended up in a strange head space, and I'm not really sure what it means. There was something about going away that allowed me to have a little bit of space from some of the crazy dramas that seem to happen here in the city, and I was able to get some much needed perspective. Drama isn't always necessary, and it's all relative.

Seeing my family, and knowing some of the history that they have survived made me stop and think - I've had it pretty good here in Canada. Really. I could have spent my life in Africa, had to deal with major political change and tough times, but my parents chose to leave for myself and my sister. Times have been hard here too, but still I've always felt relatively sheltered. So the dramas are all relative.

I guess it does make sense that I'm in a weird head space - I'm resisting all senses of drama here. I feel it. I don't want to deal with it. This doesn't necessarily mean that I am being surrounded by tons of it, I just don't want it to come. Yet I can't explain it, I feel like something is going to happen soon - my "faye" tendancies might be acting up - and I just have a feeling like something is going to change soon, for better or for worse I don't know. It's just a weird sensation and a weird head space.

Hmm...

African heritage reflections

Lately I've been missing my family, but I got an email update this morning from my aunt and it inspired me to write a little blog on all the lovely terms that I want to use, but can't because one I have a Canadian accent so it sounds horrible, and two because most people won't get what I'm saying. Here are a few of them (some of which my mother has been using for years):

• bokkies - little boxes/pots
• bakkie (pronounced bucky) - small pick-up truck
• "Ag, shame!" - term use when anything goes wrong, or is cute, etc usually denoting a sympathetic feeling
• woofie - term used most often by my aunt to describe dogs
• stompie - small end of something, most often used to refer to the butts of cigarettes
• Tot Siens - goodbye in Afrikaans
• "Foertsek!!!" - basically the equivalent to "Buggar off!"
• designer - term used most often by my aunt to descibe anything fancy
• braai (pronounced br-eye) - barbequing meat over an open fire of hard wood
• pommie - term used to refer to Brits (prisoners of mother England)
• Mugabe - dictator who is ruining the state of Zimbabwe (oh wait, we can all used that one - had to get a jab in there)
• mealie - green corn
• robot - traffic light
• podkos (pronounced pot-kor-ss)- snacks
• sarmie (pronounced sah-mee) - sandwhich
• naartjie (pronounced nar-chee) - name for a tangerine
• Bobotie (pronounced buh-boor-tee) – traditional South African dish made with minced meat and curried spices, with an egg sauce which is poured on top and then baked.
• muti (pronounced moo-tee) - medicine (usually referring to liquid forms taken orally)
• slops/slip-slops - flip flops/thong sandals
• cozzie/togs - swimming wear

Updates on the blog

I've added some pictures to some of my old posts, and I'm trying to set up a link to some highlight pictures from my trip. Look for the link of the side. Enjoy!

Safe, Sane and Single

Ladies and gentlemen, I am once again on Canadian soil and I am safe, sane, and even single. No eloping for me, at least not yet anyway. hehehe!

I landed in Canada on a delayed flight from London Heathrow, rather tired, seeing as I woke up at 5 am in London and didn't even sleep a wink on the plane - but I did managed to last until 9pm in Canada (2 am London time) and I'm hoping that my jet lag isn't going to get worse. I'm not surprised that I'm tired, though, seeing as our last few days in England were action packed. My godmother was very intent on making sure we saw as many sights as possible in our short time visiting with her. On our first day, just off a 12 hour flight and 2 hour train ride, we were whisked off to visit the picturesque village of Lacock where some of the first Harry Potter movie was filmed. Then it was off for a quick freshening-up and we off again for dinner at a true English pub and to meet my father's cousins (and their families) both of which my father has not seen in over 60 years! It was really cool to make yet another family connection, and one I don't think any of us expected to make!

The next day was another busy day, as Coral (my godmother) had organized a reunion lunch for a bunch of nurses who all trained with her and my mother in Zimbabwe, some of which my mother hasn't seen in about 40 years! It was so much fun hearing the ladies swap stories about the pranks and adventures they would have while they were training, ranging from pretending to be dead and frightening the staff to sending notes of the balconies while on night shift. Ha! One lady even let it slip to me that apparently my mom was a bit of a drama queen herself - now that explains a lot!

On our next day, we managed to have a lovely day of sight-seeing in Bath. What an amazing city! We were really lucky to have a break in the rainy weather so we hopped on a double decker bus and went around the town. I managed to get a few good shots in, but stupidly I forgot to charge my camera, so the pictures were limited. (I'll get more from Mom soon enough!) We also had a chance to go around the Roman Baths, which were actually surprisingly interesting, in the sense that I didn't know quite how much I was going to enjoy the tour. I can't believe how old the baths are, and just how intact they are too. Very cool. I highly recommend spending the pounds to see them, it's worth it. Oh, it's also worth tracking down a Bath bun and a Sally Lunn bun too - it can't hurt having traditional English treat, can it?

Soon enough it was out last morning there, and we were on our way back to Canada - probably a good thing too, seeing as patience was running a little thin on the family front and we were all getting a little annoyed with each other. We spent the night in London near Heathrow just to rest our heads, and it was back on the plane again - and now we're up to speed!

It's good to be home.

Jolly Ol' England

It's about 9:10 in the morning and I'm doing my internet business again, this time at Heathrow airport. We climbed off the long flight from Cape Town just over and hour ago, and now we're just getting freshened up - I feel soooooo sticky after 12 hours on a plane - then we're off to catch a train to Trowbridge, near Bath, to see my godmother, my mom's nursing friends, and even my dad's long lost cousin that he hasn't seen in sixty years! Should be a fine adventure for the next four days, then we're back on the plane to Canada on Saturday. Wahoo!

I'm feeling a little blue that I'm no longer sitting drinking tea with my aunt and uncle. (Trust me they drink tea - I could almost float home!) We went out with a bang, though. On Saturday it was my 24th Birthday, so we had a celebration, and it was great. Literally this is my first birthday spent in Africa since my birth day. We also exchange presents and so on as a little early "Christmas with the Canadians" kinda thing. We also were celebrating my aunt's 60th birthday and 40th wedding anniversary. Lots to be happy about!

Yesterday was a tearful good-bye - it's hard to leave when you feel like you're just getting to know someone for the first time in a life time. At least now I have a personality to add to the picture of the mysterious people in Africa I talk to every Christmas morning! Sigh!

Time's running out again, but onwards and upwards! See you all Saturday!