Two Decades and then a Week to soak it all in.

Had an amazing 20th birthday last weekend! Since my birthday is on Valentine's Day and most of my friends are not really acquainted with one another, it seemed fitting to have brought everyone together in one pub for a suh-weet Valentine mashup to celebrate the day!

However, the week (although it felt like an eternity) that would follow brought a dense amount of assignments, tests, and exams D: Now that that's over and done with, I'm taking advantage of this Reading Week to soak in all the good stuff, and to purge myself of all the stress from exams.

To those of you who still have exams post-Reading-Week, Godspeed! The worst is almost over. 

Sam Lai





 

Today calls for sunny weather

regardless of whether the sun is out or not. Today is the last day of my exams and after I rock this Abnormal Psychology exam (@ 7pm), I get to kick back and relax and go home to Ottawa soon!! 

So, I made myself a nice sunny-side-up breakfast for some morning cheer in this cold, grey winter.

Wish me luck!

These photos go out to my good friend CANDICE SO who has been long awaiting my frying an egg.

Exam #2 of 3: Children and Their Development

The third post of a photo at the library, and the second with coffee in hand. Only two more exams to go. The next one is PSYC251: Children and Their Development. This is happening tomorrow at 9am. 

Goshh this material is ridiculous. Did you know that there are 5 types of grandparents (influential, supportive, authority-oriented, passive, and detached)? Wow who knew!... 

Man studying about how children tend to play with those of the same sex and at which stage of aggression at what age is really not my cup of tea when I have an Abnormal Psychology exam coming up shortly after this one. I'd rather be reading about something cool like.. schizophrenia or sex disorders.

Source: Children and their Development by Kail & Barnfield

Seriously PSYC251.. you have done little to stimulate my intellect.

Well, study/procrastination break is up. I should get back to studying about kids and their grandparents. 

Bye for noww.

Espresso-self

Just having a cute lil' cuppa in preparation for my Cognitive Psychology exam later tonight. These cute espresso sets belong to my housemates Alex and Christina. Are they not the most adorable little sets?

Note To Self:

Clean room.

Wash dishes.

Go grocery shopping; Eat some real food.

Do laundry.

Soon!!!!!!

Don't judge my catastrophe of a room and lifestyle. I'm still undergoing midterm exams! Thank the Lord my last midterm is on Friday. This Friday shall be henceforth known as Freedom Friday and I will be looking forward to Queen's Players and a weekend of relaxing! And bars.

Wave 2 of Midterm Exams

Welcome to Clube Stauff, where the partying never stops and the fun never ends, where 'partying' means 'studying' and 'fun' means 'stress'. Good God these posts used to be so much more interesting before exams kicked in. Goooood luck everybody. 

I Can Procrastinate While Studying at the Same Time...

So lately, I've been really obsessed with posting blog entries, as you can see from my blog archive. The frequency of posts becomes highly saturated in the month of October. This is a bad thing, for now, because I have a fair number of midterm exams coming up.

However, I just found this passage of my Abnormal Psychology textbook so fascinating that I wanted to share it with you. I love learning about how such simple actions work, and learning how it only seems simple on the outside but is actually quite complex.

For example, what exactly goes on backstage, physiologically, when we react to danger and stress? 

So a little backgrond: this is due to the responsibility of our peripheral nervous system, which coordinates with the brain stem to make sure that our bodies are working right. One of the two major components of the this nervous system is the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The primary function of the ANS is to regulate the cardiovascular system. The ANS is then further divvied up into the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). 

Ok let's get to the roles they play in our context.

The SNS is responsible for:

• mobilizing the body in the face of danger/stress
• by rapidly activating organs under its control
• when SNS is on alert:
• heart beats faster, increasing flow of blood to muscles
• breathing increases, providing more oxygen to the blood and brain
• adrenal glands are stimulated

These changes help mobilize us for action. If we're threatened by immediate danger, this system enables us to run faster or defend ourselves with greater strength. This is why most of you have probably read about people lifting cars and stuff. Or maybe you are more familiar with the Simpsons episode where little Maggie Simpson saves Homer from drowning.

SNS vs PNS

Lastly, but importantly, the parasympathetic nervous system kicks in when the SNS has had enough and balances the SNS. The PNS normalizes arousal and facilitates the storage of energy by helping the digestive process.  Basically, the function of the PNS is to stabilize us because we can't operate in a state of hyperarousal and preparedness forever.

So hopefully that post wasn't too boring haha. I need my dose of blogging... and studying! Good luck to all you who have exams coming up as well!

SL.

References: Abnormal Psychology: An Integrative Approach by Barlow, Durand, and Stewart.