Super Taster

Okay people. I'm learning about the body, and oh is it fascinating! Get ready to take notes people. This is some pretty cool stuff.

So your tongue... It is pretty much amazing! You know those bumps on your tongue? Those aren't taste buds... Sorry your whole life is a lie. They are papillae, which contain the taste buds. Then each taste bud has about 50 taste cells, and it gets more complex. There are 5 general categories of tastants, which cause the taste cells to recognize a change: sour, sweet, salty, bitter, and umami (savory).

Anyway, the amount of papillae on your tongue changes your sensitivity to tastants. In my class, we dyed our tongues blue to see the different papillae, and measured a small circle, about 1/4 inch wide. Then we counted the papillae within these circles. There are three main categories of "tasters": nontasters, regular tasters, and SUPER TASTERS.

 If you had between 5-15 papillae within the circle, you are considered a nontaster. Nontasters need lots of flavor to taste something, and usually dump salt or sugar on their food. Nontasters can handle super spicy foods, and find most foods bland. If you had between 15-35 papillae within the circle, you are considered to be a regular taster. You can handle most foods, and can sense most flavors without a problem. People with over 30 are considered to be fairly sensitive to tastants.

Then there are the super tasters. Super tasters have at least 35 papillae within the little 1/4 inch circle, and can taste things without excessive amounts of tastants. Super tasters had the biological advantage back in the dinosaur days, as they were sensitive to bitter plants that ended up being poisonous. Now super tasters are just considered to be picky eaters. Which leads to me. Guess how many papillae I had? 38! That was the class record. It was kind of awesome, people were super surprised that somebody could have twice as many as most of the class.

I'm sorry if you found this post boring, but I thought it was so cool to learn something that explained part of the way I live! I'm super picky, and super sensitive to spicy foods or super sugary foods. It is just so incredible to learn the little things that you didn't think had a logical reason! Anyway, I hope y'all have a great day, and maybe learned a little something about yourselves. Tudles! 

Rocky Road, Batman, and Coldplay

Well, it's one of those weeks where I'm not so great at finding joy in the journey. It's more of a listen-to-sad-music-and-eat-lots-of-ice-cream week, and it's only Tuesday. I've never been a super huge fan of ice cream, but apparently I am this week. I got my Breyer's Rocky Road, and let me tell you about it. Super good chocolate ice cream, marshmallow swirl, and chocolate covered almonds. Pretty much all one needs when life isn't going the way you want it to. Okay, maybe not all you need. But chocolate releases endorphins, and endorphins make you happy, and happy people don't kill their roommates. (Name that movie! Not that it is exactly the same...)
 
This is what it looks like, just in case you are having the same kind of week I am.

I think the best part of this week is that I'm starting my pajama pants for my Clothing Construction class... and holy cow. I got the coolest fabric ever. ON SALE!

Check it out.

I think it speaks for itself. I win!

And lastly, I've been listening to slow Coldplay songs on repeat. I can't tell if they make me sadder, or happier, but I love them either way. They haven't made a music video for their best song, so I'll just post a weird video posted by some stranger.

 This is Til Kingdom Come... It was in the new Spiderman movie, but I liked it way before that. Just in case you were wondering.

So that's my life this week. Rocky Road, Batman, and Coldplay.

Finding Joy in the Journey

I don't know about you guys, but when I was 12, I wanted to be 16, and have a car, and go on dates, and be cool. And when I was 16, I wanted to be 18, with no curfew, going to college, and being on my own. And now, at almost 20 (how did that happen?) I wish I was four, with a designated time for napping and tons of coloring books.

I have been thinking about this a lot. And I realized that with more freedoms, comes more responsibilities. It sounds like a no-brainer, but it is crazy how true it is! Most of the time, it feels like there are ten times more responsibilities than there are freedoms. It is often easy for me to pout and whine about life, and bum around with a negative attitude. But I remembered this quote this week:

And how true it is! So I began to think of the blessings I have, and focused on the great things I got to do as an adult.


For example, this week, I had an assignment to make a pillowcase. It was frustrating, and I definitely stabbed my fingers with pins a few times, but at the end, I loved it!

Pretty dang cute, if I do say so myself. (the trim is supposed to be purple blackberries, in case you were wondering.)

I am still sick, and thought that I should make soup, so I did.

What is this deliciousness, you might ask?

This is my aunt Barb's Tomato Bisque. And it is delicious. I had some dough for rolls that I had frozen last week, so I got those ready, and had a pretty great meal!

So as frustrating and overwhelming as adulthood can be, there are so many wonderful things that come with it, such as developing talents in sewing and cooking wonderful food, or acing my Epidemiology test today. Whoop whoop!

Big Girl Weekend

This weekend my roommate Holly, friend Chelsea, and cousin Nick and I drove down to Provo for the three day weekend to escape the miserable place called Rexburg, which has weather I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy. And it was great! We got there and back safely with no problems. And I even wore a sweater outside and didn't die from exposure like I would here. Hallelujah!  The only misfortune we came across was the fact that we didn't document our adventure at all, which makes this a boring post. Wait, that's a lie. I took some of people dancing to Just Dance, but I swore to not post them. BOOOO.

I got to Provo on Friday night, and had dinner with Nick and my cousin Cameron. Yay for Pizza Pie Cafe's oreo pizza!!! And then I crashed on Allyson's couch. So good!

Saturday was... good. Allyson, Chelsea, and I met up with a friend for lunch, which was a little awkward. But the pizza was great! (It is called Slab Pizza, for any of you Provo-visiting people.) Then we went to the mall, and used one of my Gap gift cards from Christmas to get a shirt. I actually look like an adult! I think. But it was an exciting event. After the mall, Allyson and I went to the BYU basketball game! It was fun, but really weird because it was my first time going to a game since high school... So two years! Crazy stuff. Then we were lame college students and did homework. Woo.

Sunday was good, just a lot of time being with Allyson, Chelsea, Nick, and Cameron. We visited my aunt Sue, which ended up being a whole lot of eating chocolate chip cookies. Yum!! And the Wii Just Dance party of course, which let me tell you, is embarrassing and exhausting. But so much fun!

On Monday, we had Kneaders for breakfast, and just walked around the mall. And I finally washed my car! That was super exciting, because it was so dirty from Rexburg. We had In-n-Out for lunch, and then drove back to Rexburg. That was it! Three days of being with great people and just having fun. Now I'm in freezing Rexburg, lying in bed sick. I blame the people of Provo. Sorry this was so boring, I just didn't want to forget this great trip!

And the worst blogger of 2012 goes to...

Me.

I was pretty busy in Portland. I worked 40 hour weeks, and ran lots of errands and did other stuff that won't really excuse me from taking forever to blog. Oh well.

The sad part of it is that I'm blogging when I should be reading about the eye... It is just SOOO BORING! So many layers of mucous and other disgusting stuff. However, I did learn that the purpose of eyebrows is to stop sweat from dripping from your forehead into your eye. I guess you learn something everyday!

So, for those who I don't talk to pretty regularly, I am back in Rexburg studying my heart out... Kinda. Actually, I've been pretty good these two days about reading and homework. For those who care, this is what I'm taking this semester:

• Anatomy and Physiology 2 (MWF 7:45-8:45 am): that is really early. But the teacher is pretty cool, and seems to really like people. Sometimes I think teachers just don't like anyone, but he seems to care, which is nice to have for such a fast paced class. I've already studied at least five hours for this class this week... and it's Tuesday. 
• Clothing Construction (TTr 8:00-9:30 am): Also early. But it seems like it will be fairly easy... I hope. We will have to make a pillowcase, pajama pants, a shirt, and a skirt from patterns. So exciting. 
• Epidemiology (TTr 3:15-4:45 pm): I'm definitely excited for this one. It has to do with patterns and the way diseases attack you. The teacher is pretty funny, and works as an Epidemiologist for the govt. I learned that 100,000 people are killed from receiving the wrong treatment from doctors. Not from the disease that they had, but from being misdiagnosed. So I guess we should just get rid of all of the doctors to prevent bad things from happening. (That was my jab gun laws...)
• Family Foundations (F 9:00-10:00 am): This is a hybrid class, so it is mostly online with one class discussion a week... I haven't gone to it yet, but I have high hopes.
• World Foundations (Online): I'm actually pretty excited for this one, even though I HAVE to take it and it has nothing to do with what I am studying. It has to do with ancient Greek, Roman, and Egyptian cultures. And for those who didn't know this about me, I actually really enjoy studying Greek mythology. (Romans are just copy cats). 
• Understanding DNA (Online): This sounds okay. I don't really know what I think about it yet.

So that's my life. Studying the body, sewing, diseases, family, ancient cultures, and DNA. With a little Pinterest on the side.

Oh! And I made a New Year's Resolution of running... I won't say exactly what it is in case I miserably fail, but I did go running and cycling today. Needless to say, I'm exhausted.

Sorry for the rant, I just needed to catch up. Hopefully, I will be better this year. Maybe.