Anat and Phys of the Eye

First I would like to give you an anatomy lesson on the eye.  In the Retina layer, you have photoreceptors which are stimulated by light and transmit images to the brain. They are how you see basically. You have two types of photoreceptors: rods and cones. Rods see in black and white and have generally a more fuzzy image. They are located all throughout the Retina. But what I want to focus on is cones. Cones see color in wavelengths of blue, green, and red. They need lots of light and give very sharp images. Cones are only located in the Fovea Centralis. (Which in the picture below is the back area of the eye, it only says fovea though.) Because they are only located here, you get the most vivid color straight on. You can only see good color when it's right in front of you.

I was reading in D&C last night and I came across this scripture. Now think in relation to what I just taught you about the eye... D&C 88:67 "And if your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you; and that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things."

Pretty cool huh. I thought it was.

Example

Sometimes I'd rather just not bother reading or watching the news because of the way it makes me feel. I get so frustrated and mad about these ridiculous people in this world... never good. Like today while flipping through the TV channels, I came across a news story of a young mom shaking her baby to death because it cried and distracted her from her Facebook "farmville" game. If that doesn't just make you absolutely sick to the stomach, then I'm afraid I must call you heartless. I was so appalled! But it comes down to addictions. People tend to lean toward the notion that only chemical substances that enter the body rewire the brain. But the same things happens when you become addicted to gambling, pornography, even food can have the same affect. When you become so addicted to something that it can break the bond of nurturer that's been made by the release of oxytocin in the body... you're in trouble. It just makes me sad. I can't even imagine...

Sorry for that depressing beginning. I wasn't planning on talking about that. What I really wanted to show was this great news story I came across! Can you just picture this 73 year old man, in his wheelchair, wheeling himself 3 miles to help his 61 year old sister whose car got stuck in the snow for 2 nights in a row? That is true family love right there. I wish the news would post more stories like this. They give me hope in the future. I have to admit I'm afraid to raise kids in this day and age! (Of course it still won't be for a while now don't worry. I'm definitely not pregnant or engaged in the least.) But I'd just like to say thank you to the 73 year old man who shows that family is your best friend no matter how far down the road of life you are. They will always be there for you.

Only picture I could find with the WHOLE family in it!

Bird Crap and Costumes

 In my Heroic Journey class (it's a humanities class) we were assigned a group photography project. Our group needed to have 3-5 pictures that could be considered art and could be related to the creation, fall, and redemption. So I went out looking for something to take my pictures of. If any of you know me and my photography, I don't like taking pictures of things that everyone else would take pictures of. I didn't want to take those generic flower, plants, leaves pictures... So I headed to the stadium stairs.

So not too different of a picture. Still good though I think. 

But anyone who travels to the top of the stadium stairs will come to find the nonexistent cleaning job of the upper bleachers... which amounts to a mess of bird droppings. Yup and that's what I photographed of course.

 My group didn't use my first two photos, but we did use this one. It fit into the "fall" category. See when you sin, your life is kind of full of crap, and messes. But as you repent and become more like Christ, the mess starts to fade away to clean! (bottom of photo=man's fallen state. top=using atonement in our lives.) 

We also used this photo in our "fall" category. For this we used the bird crap as sin or problems in our life, and we sometimes get so focused on everything that's wrong. We need to find out how to get around it and move on to better things (represented by city background.) But we never know what the future holds for us equaling the blurry background. 

 See those photos fit in so well! I'm probably one of the few people who can pull off taking pictures of bird crap too. No one would even think of taking pictures of that...which is why I love it. Maybe I should do a photo book of bird crap? haha 

So my ward had this great idea of doing a Halloween date/game night. There were two lists of costumes that you could sign up for, one for the guys, one for the girls. The costumes were paired up. So whoever matched your costume, was your date! 

Meet Sandy and Danny from the ever great movie, Grease. 

(I know, fail on me for not having blonde hair)

Aubrey and Scotty were supposed to be cave man/woman but Scotty had an ultimate fail with finding a costume so he got together all of his hunting clothes and wore them. 

Aubrey's was an ultimate win. (I put it together right before going over to the party. It was awesome. Cut here, tie here, fold over there...I can't even believe it worked out. Pure genius.)

Prop 19

I came across this article today.
Thank you California for your generous contributions of starting all these propositions. Now everyone is going to start trying to legalize marijuana.
Does it blow anyone else's mind away that a formal surgeon general would be quoted of saying, "It's not a toxic substance" or stressing that the drug is not physically addictive?

In looking up the definition for physical addiction we learn that physical dependence is: substance abuse. A physiologic state of neuro-adaptation to a specific opioid, characterized by a withdrawal syndrome if the drug is stopped.
I don't know about you but it sounds like marijuana could be put in that category.

I also found this article (well it only gave me the abstract). But I thought this was particularly interesting: "It is suggested that when there is a dysfunction in the brain reward cascade, especially in the dopamine system causing a hypodopaminergic trait, the brain of that person requires a DA(dopamine) fix to feel good. This trait leads to multiple drug-seeking behavior. This is so because alcohol, cocaine, heroin, marijuana, nicotine, and glucose all cause activation and neuronal release of brain DA."

Here's another article with a quote from it to think about, "Legalization would be a significant change in that marijuana production and sale would move above ground. State and local governments could then tax it. California is expecting $1.4 billion in additional tax revenue from legalization, along with reduced criminal justice expenditure."
They also go on to say, "In a free society, the presumption must be that people can smoke, snort, eat or inject whatever they wish, so long as they do not harm others."

Food for thought.
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Dad

Have I ever told you how much I love my dad? Probably not. But I can honestly say that there is no one else that promotes all the random things I get interested in like my dad does. I remember back in Jr High, I started getting interested in architecture from my art class. My dad of course proceeded to give me a book he had that went through all the different types of houses, Victorian, Gothic buildings...everything. Which then led him to tell me about Frank Lloyd Wright. When I got interested in photography he sat me down on the couch and taught me everything about the camera. He would show me the different settings as we took pictures of our shoes. He followed it with getting me a small portable tripod for my camera. When I was young I must have gotten interested in racquetball because I got a racket for my birthday. I now try and play racquetball with him every time I come home. When I became interested in the medical field and anatomy, he bought me a computer program that came with a medical dictionary, anatomy atlas and a human 3D program. My dad taught me the correct way to save/share/burn music. I am no longer a victim of itunes music hording ways. As I got excited for the new Alice in Wonderland movie to come out, my dad sent me an email with the Alice Theme Song. Can I just say that it's an epic song. I love it. When I got interested in chalk art, my dad sent me photos of chalk art some missionaries had done. When my interests in astrology became evident, he got me a packet of constellation glow in the dark stars for your ceiling. I remember laying them out on my floor trying to  coordinate it all perfectly in comparison to how they really appear in the sky. Eventually I gave up.

Well recently I've been on an autobiography craz...as I'm sure you've seen by my posts. My recent choices of reading have been either Martin Luther King Jr, Fred Astaire, or Frank Lloyd Wright. I don't know if any of you know about my dad's love for old radio shows...like in the movie, A Christmas Story, how the kids lie around the radio and listen to the show... anyways, he sent me one the other day about Frank Lloyd Wright. I was in the library when I saw it and a smile lit across my face. I'm sure if someone was looking at me they would've thought I was delusional with homework or something. But I'd just like to say thank you dad for always being interested in whatever I'm interested, for always encouraging me in everything I do. I like to think I'm a much "rounder personality" type because of you. Love you dad.

Anatomy and Physiology

So! I've been studying like crazy for my first anatomy and physiology test. I have to get an A out of this class... and my teacher is amazing, but he takes pride in his tests. He likes knowing it takes students an average of an hour and a half to take the test of 54 questions.
So my study buddy Emily and I have gone about creating some new study techniques that I basically love. The first is study texting. Randomly in the day we'll text each other pop questions and go back and forth remembering as much as we can. The second way we've been studying is on the great and spacious white boards. Our classroom has a huge span of white boards, and as luck would have it, there are no more classes in the room after ours.

This is what it ends up looking like after we're done with it. Don't think that's all the information though. We erase a lot and write up more. But white boards are fun, which means studying on them are fun. 

I took my test this morning and.... I got an 85%! Now I know you're probably like...um that's a B sister, not that great. But! my teacher said the smartest kid got a 90% and he normally scores the highest on my teachers tests...which means I got close to the highest! And if my teacher curves the test...which I believe he does, then I'm in good shape! 

I'm just glad I have the first test over with. I hate the first test. You never know exactly what to expect. Last semester anat and phys was more facts. This semester is more apply to real life. Much harder. But I understand the concepts better. I honestly just love anatomy and physiology. It is by far my favorite class. Even though it stresses me out like nothing else, I love the inside anat and phys jokes me and Emily have. The fact that I can say "my sympathetic system just shot up like crazy" and she'll know exactly what I'm talking about makes it all worth it.