Today's lesson is on the 5 senses.

I'm very sensory oriented. I think my sensory-overload directly corresponds with the total exhaustion I feel at the end of the day. I'm constantly aware of smells and textures around me, but not so aware of tastes, sights and sounds. Taste is understandable because I'd look like a crazy person licking everything, plus I'm not a germaphobe, but licking public objects just isn't safe. And I take my sight for granted, so I don't pay too much attention to it. Sounds are tough because I like noises, but there is a lot of background noise so it must just fade into my subconscious.

But I find myself constantly asking others "Do you smell that?" or demanding that they "Smell this." I love smelling. I even love bad smells just because they're smells and I get to use my nose. People who have known me for years, know my love/hate relationship with my schnoz. It's been the butt of many jokes, which I have egged on and enjoyed. As of now I love everything about my nose. I even forgive it for bringing harmful allergens into my body, even if they make me miserable. I'd rather smell and sneeze, than not be able to smell.

I also like to touch everything, especially bumpy, scaly, or very textured ojects. Smooth, soft objects like skin, kittens, microfiber fleece, and ivory piano keys are enjoyable, but I much prefer the sharp corners of countertops or the tip of a freshly broken twig. I first realized my obsession with touch while riding around in my mom's civic. I would prop my arm on the passenger side door and I touch the window button. It looked like this ////// and I would drag my fingertips across it one by one feeling the grooves. I did this everytime I sat there.

Over the years, it's funny the habits one notices about oneself, when the habits have probably always existed. I like that self-discovery, when I think "wow I've never noticed how often I do ________." And it's even funnier when you tell your friends and they say something simpy like "yeah I know," which goes to prove that you really have been doing 'it' for years. It's like finally getting a punch line to a popular joke.

simple pleasures (alternate title: the best thing)

What do you do with old tees? You know, the ones with holes in them and stains in the armpits? Well if you're smart, you'll cut a little notch in the top and then RIP IT OFF YOUR BODY HULK HOGAN STYLE! Seriously! This is one of the simplest/silliest/funniest things. It's so entertaining. Try it with a crowd. And make sure you RAWR when you do it. You won't regret it!

subliminal messages? what is my brain trying to tell me?

I've been having super trippy dreams lately:

Example #1: I ordered a tarantula online and went to the post office with my little sister to pick it up when it arrived. It came in a ziploc baggie and I told Jennifer to hang onto it while I drove. She doesn't listen to directions well because she threw it in the back seat and it crawled out of the baggie. So we screamed and in a panic just left the tarantula in the car! Locked up. For months. Until it eventually starved or suffocated to death.

Example #2: I was riding in a jeep and we pulled up to a stop where there was a train stopped across the tracks in front of us. Then in front of that train, another train was effing chugging down a hill perpendicularly to the other train. It was trucking at the speed of lightening! And there was no where for us to go. And right before it slammed into us, completely annihilating us, the track shot straight up and barely avoided us! I got that feeling that you get when you're on a roller coaster and you think you're too tall to go into the tunnel and then you barely make it, but your brain still thinks you narrowly escaped death.

Example #3: I was swimming in my aunt's dining room at thanksgiving dinner. And then a man with curly blond hair flirted with me and swam underneath me and I got really embarrassed. Then curly kissed me. My boyfriend swam past at that exact moment and was all mad, "If you really loved me, you wouldn't be letting that loser swim underneath you!" And I said, "Don't be mad. I didn't want him to kiss me!" But then my boyfriend did the mad sigh and swam away to one of those shiny, silver ladders and got out of the pool/dining room.

What is going on here?! Maybe I'm spending too much time alone, which reminds me of a passage from the book I'm reading. A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz.

"I have too much free time. Free time makes people think; thinking makes people morbidly self-absorbed; and unless you are watertight and flawless, excessive self-absorption leads to depression. That's why depressing is the number-two disease in the world, behind Internet porn eyestrain."

Haha I like that. But back to my dreams, I just wish my imagination during the daytime was as vivid. I think I'd have much more fun.