Catch Some Z's

Sleep, its a beautiful thing. Unfortunately, it doesn't come easy for everyone. We do it almost every night, yet I seem to struggle with it still. That is why today i want to talk a little bit about something that is simply not addressed enough. Sleep paralysis.

For those of you who don't know what this is, it is when your brain is telling your body it is asleep when, in fact, you are conscious. Why is this a problem? When you brain tells your body you are asleep, it sends a out a chemical that paralyzes you completely, and if you're actually conscious while this is happening you are very aware you can't move at all and its a rather horrifying experience.

For me, this started when i was very young (about 4) and got really bad in middle school all the way through high school. For a long time I didn't even know what was happening, I turned to the internet (internet knows all) but the results I found were less than helpful, so I just had to deal with it and sort things out myself.

So now I present you with my findings and hopefully if you are dealing with sleep paralysis, this will be helpful.

-Sleep on your stomach if possible.
 I know this can be difficult or uncomfortable sometimes but for some reason it rarely happens when I sleep on my stomach.

-Listen to music.
 This, too, can be hard for some people if you prefer silence when you sleep. Now, you don't have to listen to heavy metal, just some kind of noise. Personally I like listening to the artist Blackmill, very relaxing and great to fall asleep too. Some of you might prefer a noise machine so you can listen to sounds of the rain forest, or just the sound of a fan.

-Try not to nap during the day.
When I was still in school this was near impossible for my, especially because sleeping at night was so difficult it was hard not to want a nap during the day. It's a vicious cycle that you should try to break.

-Have a regular sleep schedule.
I know that most of you work and go to school, and sometimes getting to bed at the same time every night is very difficult but if you can manage to try to go to bed and wake up at around the same time everyday this should help.

Now keep in mind this is just what works for me. I did not do any official studies on this (yet), I have no scientific research supporting this, but I find this works. I hope this was helpful for some of you, if you have any questions about this or any suggestions of what works for you please let me know!! Sweet dreams everyone!

So you've got a date

Hello everyone! Last night I posted about breaking up, break ups are sad, so tonight i want to do the opposite and talk about first dates!

First dates are a great until you realize you have to actually go out on this date and appear entertaining, charming, and witty for a few hours (not that you aren't). Here are some tips on how to have an amazing first date

Look sharp.

People love to say "looks don't matter" "It's whats on the inside that counts" "don't judge a book by its cover" etc. The sad truth is first impressions do matter and looks are factored in. If you show up looking like a scrub, your date will think you don't care (in the gross way, not the sexy bad boy way). You don't need to be in your sunday best but look like you put a little thought into it.

Pick something scary to do.

Go on some thrill rides, see a scary movie (The Conjuring is in theater's), go rock climbing, visit a haunted house.

Why? All these thing cause the body to release Adrenaline. When this happens in a date setting a little thing called Misattribution of Arousal happens. Whats that means is that your date is experiencing an increased heart rate, sweaty palms, and breathlessness because of the environment, but they are attributing those feeling to you. 

Also, this will give you something to talk about after if you're lacking conversation topics. 

When picking which scary thing to do, something to keep in mind is knowing your limits. If you shit your pants on the first date, you're going to have a bad time.

Ask lots of questions.

You are trying to get to know them after all. Avoid asking too many questions about work/school because those could bring about negative emotions. Ask unique question like "Whats your favorite cookie?" this will make them think because chances are they aren't asked very often. This will also provoke conversation about other things (allergies, food restrictions etc). Also now you know what to give as a gift.

 If you sit there all night talking about yourself you come off like a cockwaffle (no one wants that). If you have things in mind that you want to talk about, like if you want to brag about your stamp collection, ask if they have any strange collections, they'll say "blah blah blah coin collection blab blah.. what about you?" then you can brag away because they asked. (DISCLAIMER: if you have a stamp collection consider not bringing it up till the second or third date)

Try not to pre-stalk this person to much.

Its nearly impossible to at least take a little look see at their facebook page, see what they look like what they're into. It's ok to look through their profile pictures if you must, but try not to got through everything they're ever posted on any site ever. 

Why? It will probably cause you to say something stupid. Say you saw online that they went to Pooland High School, you mention on the date you knew someone that went to Pooland High School, they never mentioned they went to Pooland High School, you look like a creep. Even though people generally assume people stalk their facebook, they don't really want those suspicions to be confirmed on the first date.

Be honest.

People sometimes have a really bad habit of lying on a date. Whether its a little lie like "I like the baseball, too" or a big lie like "I'm single" in the end it will blow up in your face. Faking an interest will lead to many uncomfortable conversations about something you know nothing about and probably don't care about. Instead, find something you actually do have in common, and if you can't, laugh about how totally opposite you are, bang, and never call them again. (Just kidding .. sort of).

Who pays?

Ok here's how its going to go down 

Guy: offer to pay for the girl

Girl: politly decline and offer to pay for yourself

Guy: insist on paying for the both of you

Girl: Allow the guy to pay.

If everyone (on a tradition date) can follow this it will eliminate a lot of awkwardness. 

Now I'm well aware there are other possible situations.

If you are in a same sex relationship, whoever initiated the date should offer to pay and so on as above 

If you (a girl) asks a guy on the date, you should be prepared to pay for yourself. (Its not fair to expect him to have enough money for both of you if he didn't ask in the first place)

Hope this was mildly helpful for some of you! If you have any helpful tips of your own please let me know in the comments! Good luck on your date!

Curious about Misattribution of Arousal? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misattribution_of_arousal 

Let's Talk Anime, Shall We?

I think that some people, when they think about anime, imagine it's all like weird pokemon/sailor moon type stuff. However, this is not the case, there are so many awesome anime series out there, you just have to find what you like.

Personally, when it comes to anime, I prefer the drama/horror genres. The levels of darkness that are achieved in these shows are really something you don't get to see in you're everyday shows.

If you're sitting there thinking "Maybe I should look into this Anime business, but where do I start?" Here are some suggestions:

Death Note

This is a great anime to start on, its a drama series but has a little bit of everything; you laugh, you cry, you shit your pants, you fall in love. It's about a bright young student that goes on a secret killing spree, eliminating the criminals of the world, with the help of a killer notebook (hence death note). The animation is beautiful and the English dubbing is flawless.







Ouran High School Host Club

For those of you who would rather watch something a little lighter, this is perfect for you. Ouran Host Club is a romantic comedy about a group of beautiful and filthy rich young guys with too much time on their hands, entertaining beautiful and filthy rich young ladies who also have to much time on their hands. Things get a little shake up when a commoner is thrown into the mix.






These two are prefect starter amine's and two of my favorites. Some other great anime's (all English dubbed, you're welcome) are:

Ergo Proxy- futuristic drama
When They Cry- horror mystery
Chobits- comedy drama
Mushishi- drama fantasy
Darker Than Black- action fantasy
Cody Geass- action adventure
Deadman Wonderland- horror
Fooly Cooly- drama action
Elfin Lied- drama horror (Warning- Some Nudity)
Gantz-action horror (Warning- Some Nudity)

If you have A LOT of time on your hands you might check out Bleach or Full Metal Alchemist, they are worth mentioning but rather lengthy.

I hope you all give one of these a try (if not all). Let me know if you do! Also if you have any suggestions for me feel free to tell me in the comments!