15 things you may not know about me

1. I chew on my tongue when I am thinking by myself
2. I love taking cold showers and drinking afterwards drinking hot drinks
3. My biggest regret from high school is that I wasn't involved in more athletics.
4. I wash my feet every day before I go to bed.
5. My favorite chord on the guitar is the G Major chord.
6. I have taken 3 intensive aptitude tests that provide you with a career that matches your abilities. I have gotten the same results each time-Professional cabinet maker and wood worker.
7. I have playlists on my ipod that represent specific people in my life.
8. Dill is my favorite spice
9. I have a reoccurring dream about being a surgeon.
10. Nitrogen is my favorite element.
11. I sleep on my stomach every night.
12. I believe in ghosts.
13. I love watching sports.
14. Long sleeve t-shirts are my favorite wardrobe piece.
15. People's hands are the first thing I notice about them.

What do you think? What do you guys do that you think other people may miss.

Sadness

What is sadness? Why do we not allow ourselves to talk about sadness? What does it mean for Maren to be sad? 

I have been asking myself these questions recently. The movie Inside Out has really opened my eyes as to what roll our sad emotions play in our development and progression. I have started to realize some more specific aspects of my own sadnesses. 

Not all sadness is the same. Sometimes sadness is like a gentle drizzle of rain, unnoticed by everyone except those who are getting drizzled on. Sometimes sadness is like a faraway storm. You can see lines of rain that are falling somewhere else, but all you feel is general darkness cast by the far away clouds. Sometimes sadness is dreadful storm which stops everything but passes quickly. Sometimes sadness is like a sun shower where you can see and feel the light, but despite the sun's presences you are still getting wet. 

These many types of sadness have dampened my life. I am starting to see now that feeling sad is an essential part of processing through our lives. As we learn in Inside Out, sadness is the lens in which we see our past emotions and fit them into our future emotions. I think that sadness is our purest emotion and it can deepen and clarify our other emotions. For example, sometimes I have to let myself feel sad about happy times in order to recognize what it means to be happy in the future. Sometimes I need to allow myself to feel the sadness in my angry emotions to really understand why I was angry. Sometimes I just need to feel sad to understand loss or change. 

I know I can do myself a favor and grow from my sadnesses instead of trying to make it into a different emotion. I can try and talk about sadness without making excuses for what I feel. 

Incase anyone is too sad now, here is Sadness herself: 

Road Rage: Symptoms and Diagnosis

Do you ever find your pulse quickening while you are behind the wheel? Perhaps you find your blood boiling while idling in traffic? Do you ever feel like you have become a completely different person while driving? Maybe while on the road you transform into something like this....

If any of these characteristics sound familiar you may be suffering from road rage. 

Symptoms may include, but are not limited to: 

• Muttering threats and general grunting.  
• Slamming the steering wheel.
• Constant cravings for french fries, milk shakes, Doritos, pizza and anything else unhealthy that you can consume in mass quantities. 
• Your music tastes suddenly change to classic rock, country etc. 
• The radio is only ever on adds
• Every lane you change into immediately comes to a stand still.
• Immediate need to use the bathroom. 

Diagnosis: 

• Avoid rush-hour at ALL costs.
• Keep a variety of music genres in the car at all times. 
• Symptoms are exaggerated in stick shift cars, in construction, faulty AC, when you are on any sort of schedule, construction, and construction.

If you find yourself with any or all of these symptoms consult with a treat of your choice and get off the road as soon as possible. 

Funny Anecdotes: Frontrunner Edition

I have recently found myself in several situations where I am talking with a group of people and it somehow always turns into me telling a story about my life. This could be attributed to my general arrogance, however it does sometimes seem that my life operates on some sort of hilarious cosmic energy which makes for some great stories!
 There are a lot of examples that I could use to illustrate this but tonight let's review my long, LONG relationship with UTA.

There are two sides to my relationship with the frontrunner, both outlined as follows:

1. General timing/Reliability
The UTA website advertises that the ride from Provo to Salt Lake is exactly one hour. Man, I wish I had a dollar for every time that didn't happen. I would be able to pay my monthly rent with that kind of income!
My maiden voyage on the the great ship frontrunner didn't start until 2 hours after it was "scheduled" to depart. In that particular instance the train had "slipped" off the track at some point between Ogden and Salt Lake. I still don't know what to think about that? How exactly does a train simply "slip" of the track? And what pray tell was the conductor doing to elicit such a response from the train?  You know, the more I don't know the better.

"whoops....It just sort of slipped..." 

On another late night ride home from Provo we had gotten all the way to the Murray station without a mishap. That is the station right before Salt Lake Central. I began to breathe easy thinking I had made it home. Well, this is where that cosmic hilarious energy comes in. We pulled into the Murray station. About 10 minutes later after having waited at a standstill the conductor announced that, "some {random train part} has gone missing. We will not be able to proceed until the situation is rectified, and no. You may not leave the train." We then waited for the elusive train mechanism to appear. Unfortunately no magic bottles were rubbed, no engineering genies appeared, and no part was replaced. Our immobile train was then pulled into Salt Lake by another train rounding the trip off to an even 2 hours. 

The last "delay" of note would be what I like to call "Loco with a motive." Get it? Locomotive? Anyway... I was on my way down to play in a concert in Provo when we heard a huge and awful grating sound. The engine sputtered, then totally gave up and proceeded to expel large clouds of grey smoke. I was sitting next to a nice looking nurse. We both groaned, clearly in mutual understanding of the commonality of such frontrunner "jokes." Eventually, we were informed that "the train had hit a snag on the tracks." I suppose the announcements are made so vaguely as to keep rioters at bay however after two hours of waiting, unable to leave the train and multiple groups of police officers arriving at the scene, the nurse and I seriously began to question the nature of our "snag." 

2. Special Souls 

The other wonderful aspect of train riding is the company that joins you on any given escapade. This deserves a category of its own but to spare the length of this post I will only relay two.


Tonight when I was ridding home I had to sit next to a man in an oversized hoodie that may have once been white but the color was now questionable. He was very still until the train started moving. He then immediately reveled what can only really be called talons. He had VERY long finger nails which he then used to scratch his dreadlock covered scalp. I wasn't fully disturbed until the moment he produced a special comb rifle through each hair piece. By the time he started examining the contents I had to move seats.

Perhaps my all time favorite story I like to call "A Man and his Machete: the ultimate bond." I was riding in the lower level of the car casually listening to music. A commotion arose in the row beside me. It turns out that a very drunk man was threatening the train host. He then brandished a rather large Machete. He was immediately contained by the transit police.

Oh frontrunner, I never know what absurd predicament you will put me in, but I ride you all the same. 

Till next time.  

Resolved Resolutions

Blogger world, this is not a drill. This is indeed a new post.

2014 was a year to remember. I realize that I am almost a month late in my reminiscences but that should indicate that 2014 was good enough to still be thinking about.

Traditionally I have never made resolutions, or the resolutions I made would quickly be forgotten and dusted over in some unopened journal. 2014 turned out to be a very "resolved" sort of year. Not only did I make a list of particle resolutions but I completed the entire list by October 25th, 2014.

My list as follows:

1. Donate platelets for Primary Children's 
Platelets are a type of blood cell that form clots to stop bleeding. Cancer patients have a reduced number of these blood cells when on Chemo which makes surgery very dangerous. The process is about an hour long and can be rather uncomfortable. Once the platelets are removed from the blood it is then cycled back into the body. I learned from my maiden voyage of platelet sifting that I have Herculean sized veins. To the absolute glee of the workers and Vampires world wide, my veins are able to hold the largest size needle for over an hour.

(You see that orange one? That is a 10 gage needle. We have gotten to know each other this year.) 

As it turns out, my blood type is really common so I get called by Primary Children's on a monthly basis. Because of this resolution I now know the Pediatric Oncology unit's surgery schedule, and I even have two little boys who use my blood regularly. The human body is the gift that keeps on giving! 

2. Read the entire collected works of F. Scott Fitzgerald

This was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I admit, I love Fitzgerald just like the overly romantic Pinterest fanatics. Cliche as it is, Fitzgerald is one of my all time favorite authors. His collection of short stories are particularly enjoyable. Fitzgerald actually made most of his money from writing short magazine publishing. Niel bought me Fitzgerald's entire works so this resolution was very easy to fulfill.

My top picks: 

The Offshore Pirate: This was hands down my favorite short story. It is beautifully written and a rather thought provoking story. I recommend it for a quick and entertaining read.

The Beautiful and Damned: This novel has all the elegance of The Great Gatsby. The characters are not ideal people, but I found that each character represents parts of ourselves. I feel that the whole premiss of the book is how our expectations and understanding of life changes overtime. So whenever you are in the mood to contemplate life's vicissitudes explore these pages!

3. Compile my favorite quotes

I don't have much to say for this, but having a journal full of quotes makes one wax poetic!

4. Run a half marathon....and buy new jeans to celebrate :).

Chandra and I started running together at a 5k in Charleston South Carolina. Our running partnership continued and we decided to run the Haunted Half. I never thought I would see the day, but I loved it! 

And last but not least....I found a pair of Jeans on sale for $6.00!! So with that final purchase my resolutions were resolved and 2014 turned out to be very rewarding! Since January 1st however I have been convinced that it is now 2013.....clearly I have some more work to do this year! So this is me raising my figurative glass to you in the hopes for another good year.