Pros of going to the skate rink:
- The surface is much easier than outdoors
- Cool lights & DJ playing music
- Fans/air conditioning (I’ve gotten pretty hot in my backyard after only 15 minutes or so since it’s been really warm lately)
- I think falling hurts less in terms of both texture and hardness
- Can skate longer without getting fatigued
Cons of the skate rink:
- Children. But easily abated by opting for 18+ skate nights (Wed 8pm-11pm and Friday 10pm-1am) - TBH I more so blame the parents that don’t teach basic etiquette. It has nothing to do with being an expert (I’ve literally been skating 2 days), it’s just common sense stuff...
- Can only turn one direction
- Obviously doesn’t help me get skilled at skating outside or uphill/downhill, etc.
- Costs money ($12-$15 depending on which local rink I go to. $15 for the rink that has the 18+ skate nights)
But man, the rink was so smooth. I went from very wobbly outdoors to skating on one foot at the rink (I also had loosened my trucks) - nothing crazy but I was getting in good practice just balancing on one foot. I think I’d like to go to the rink once a week or so for the most ideal practice and then do more outdoors in a parking lot or something.
I also have my first skate bruise! All the YouTubes I’ve watched about skating says everyone falls no matter how good you are and “if you’re not falling, you’re not skating” haha. It’s on my upper outer thigh/lower butt since I landed kinda on the side of my butt (the ideal way to fall!). It was one of three times I fell haha. I had a sweater tied around my waist so I think that helped because it didn’t really hurt at all despite the bruise!
Also, my shoulders are super sore?? Was not expecting that. I think just from using them to balance and holding them out, etc. Also the other two times I fell, unfortunately my arms took some of the force (not the way to fall) so I wonder if that contributed too. I don’t feel injured though, just sore in my legs and arms like I had a good workout (cuz I did!).
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Cancer 1st House (Cancer Rising/Ascendant)
External Action Nature
Defensive
Reserved
Quiet
Shy
Private
Comfort Seeking
Tenacious
Instinctive Reactions
Reflective
Intuitive (Knowing what to give)
Shrewd
Contemplative
Sympathetic
Motherly
Caring
Nurturing
Affectionate
Behavior and Attitude
Sensitive
Vulnerable
Innocent
Soft
Sentimental
Nostalgic
Creative
Imaginative
Security Minded
Domesticated
Homebody
Devoted
Hard Working
Provider
Generous
Moody
Emotional Disturbance
Irritable
Sulky
Inconsistent
Easily Offended
Insecure
Controlling
Manipulative
Vengeful
Smothering
Possessive
Controlling
Body and Health Disposition
Tend to be shorter
Rounded features/curves
Prone to awkward body balance
Stomach related illnesses
Bloating, retention, digestive disorder
Overweight/diabetes tendency
Emotional disorders, depression, psychiatric illness
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Brain fog: how trauma, uncertainty and isolation have affected our minds and memory (Moya Sarner, The Guardian, April 14 2021)
“What we call brain fog, Catherine Loveday, professor of cognitive neuroscience at the University of Westminster, calls poor “cognitive function”.
That covers “everything from our memory, our attention and our ability to problem-solve to our capacity to be creative. Essentially, it’s thinking.”
And recently, she’s heard a lot of complaints about it: “Because I’m a memory scientist, so many people are telling me their memory is really poor, and reporting this cognitive fog,” she says. (…)
There is no one explanation, no single source, Simons says: “There are bound to be a lot of different factors that are coming together, interacting with each other, to cause these memory impairments, attentional deficits and other processing difficulties.”
One powerful factor could be the fact that everything is so samey.
Loveday explains that the brain is stimulated by the new, the different, and this is known as the orienting response:
“From the minute we’re born – in fact, from before we’re born – when there is a new stimulus, a baby will turn its head towards it.
And if as adults we are watching a boring lecture and someone walks into the room, it will stir our brain back into action.”
Most of us are likely to feel that nobody new has walked into our room for quite some time, which might help to explain this sluggish feeling neurologically:
“We have effectively evolved to stop paying attention when nothing changes, but to pay particular attention when things do change,” she says.
Loveday suggests that if we can attend a work meeting by phone while walking in a park, we might find we are more awake and better able to concentrate, thanks to the changing scenery and the exercise; she is recording some lectures as podcasts, rather than videos, so students can walk while listening.
She also suggests spending time in different rooms at home – or if you only have one room, try “changing what the room looks like.
I’m not saying redecorate – but you could change the pictures on the walls or move things around for variety, even in the smallest space.” (…)
“It’s a common experience, but it’s very complex,” he says. “I think it is the cognitive equivalent of feeling emotionally distressed; it’s almost the way the brain expresses sadness, beyond the emotion.”
He takes a psycho-neuro-immuno-endocrinological approach to the phenomenon – which is even more fascinating than it is difficult to say.
He believes we need to think about the mind, the brain, the immune and the hormonal systems to understand the various mental and physical processes that might underlie this lockdown haze, which he sees as a consequence of stress.
We might all agree that the uncertainty of the last year has been quite stressful – more so for some than for others.
When our mind appraises a situation as stressful, Pariante explains, our brain immediately transmits the message to our immune and endocrine systems. (…)
For Cohen, the phenomenon of brain fog is an experience of one of the most disturbing aspects of the unconscious.
He talks of Freud’s theory of drives – the idea that we have one force inside us that propels us towards life; another that pulls us towards death.
The life drive, Cohen explains, impels us to create, make connections with others, seek “the expansion of life”.
The death drive, by contrast, urges “a kind of contraction. It’s a move away from life and into a kind of stasis or entropy”.
Lockdown – which, paradoxically, has done so much to preserve life – is like the death drive made lifestyle.
With brain fog, he says, we are seeing “an atrophy of liveliness. People are finding themselves to be more sluggish, that their physical and mental weight is somehow heavier, it’s hard to carry around – to drag.”
Freud has a word for this: trägheit – translated as a “sluggishness”, but which Cohen says literally translates as “draggyness”.
We could understand brain fog as an encounter with our death drive – with the part of us which, in Cohen’s words, is “going in the opposite direction of awareness and sparkiness, and in the direction of inanimacy and shutting down”.”
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Gemini 1st House (Gemini Rising/Ascendant)
External Action Nature
Mentally driven
Curious
Observant of environment
Sociable
Communicative
Dextrous
Instinctive Reactions
Quick to react
Adaptable to circumstance
Verbally responsive socially
Inquisitive (Asking to learn/know more)
Behavior and Attitude
Youthful
Light hearted
Versatile
Intelligent
Literary
Informative
Scientific
Rational
Clever
Mentally cunning
Humorous
Comical
Savvy
Mechanical
Stimulation driven
Variety seeking
Jack of all trades
Sexual
Flitatious
Indecesive
Negativity/pessimism
Prone to ruminating
Non-committal
Nervous/anxious
Flighty
Boredom/attention span struggles
Copycat tendencies
Mischievous troublemaker
impatient
Scattered
Struggles with higher purpose behind actions
Body and Health Disposition
Youthful body appearance throughout life
Lively complexion
Expressive body (eyes/hands especially)
Flexible limb
Appearing restless in body
Arthritic hands/fingers is common
Lung related health aliments (Social contact related)
Anxiety disorder potential
Insomnia due to worries and busy lifestyle
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A lot of the substances we think of as protection against the supernatural (e.g. salt, silver, garlic) are actually antibacterial, and would have helped stave off infections and illnesses that people once attributed to supernatural influence.
Based on this, I want to see a story where vampires are repelled by hand sanitizer.
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