Now What Shall We Do?

[nowwhatshallwedo]

TOOL at Download 2019. Live music is my church.

[nowwhatshallwedo]

The bizarre face-pulling that comes with getting suntan lotion washed into your eyeballs by a big wave. Worth it for the crystal clear swim.

[tastefullyoffensive]

Cat Burglar (via benji)

[mineraliscreative]

[nowwhatshallwedo]

The Relief of Spring

[nowwhatshallwedo]

Open the dooooooorrrrr

[nowwhatshallwedo]

I slept with ear plugs in last night; an experiment with stress

Despite frustrating everyone with my developing deafness (what? sorry? eh?) I have become an irritatingly light sleeper, which mostly is irritating to me, and occasionally to my boyfriend. It seems I have a superpower which allows me a scientifically impossible audio range, but only when I am asleep. This means that the weather, the neighbours, or someone flicking a light switch as they make their way downstairs, are all liable to wake me up which is fine if it only happens once.

The problem is that the noises don’t all happen together at a pre-agreed time (because I am not a dictator; I am barely in charge of my own hair) but one after another. My hyper-alert brain will then hoover it all up, and spit it back out as adrenaline. If it is feeling stressed during waking hours, the brain will stay anxious when you fall asleep, continuing to look for danger. Unfortunately, by that point it can no longer differentiate between good guys and bad guys and will hit the panic button every time it detects something outside the bubble of you. The processing centers in your head will become overwhelmed by all this extra data that you are gathering (without even trying, without wanting it, without needing it) and they will join in, asking what did we do last time this happened? ALL SYSTEMS GO.

Handy if you’re trying to grab five minutes sleep in a war zone. Terrible once the real danger has passed.

Medication can be useful to help you get to sleep, the theory being that once you break the cycle and actually get some rest, the ‘terror chemicals’ will stop detonating all those neurons at once and you will feel a little calmer the next day. Those medications work very well for many people, but I have yet to convince myself that I won’t be chemically locked into a nightmare until the morning.

So, I bought some ear plugs, reasoning that if I could improve my sleep pattern by depriving my brain of the auditory stimulus that was upsetting it, I might have more energy to deal with the other horrors lurking about in there. 

Here’s what happened.

I squished the foamy little things hither and thither until I had satisfied myself as to their staying in-ness

I took one out to see if they were working, or if it had actually just gone quiet.

I spent some minutes stuffing it back in.

I pulled them out in a bit of a hurry because I could feel a sneeze coming on, and I was worried about what might happen to the air pressure in my head if I sneezed with blocked ears. (If you’re interested, mental images ranged between cartoon inside-out face, to exploding à la The Walking Dead.)

I needed a drink, but after the first mouthful it sounded like I was disappearing down a drain, so I had to take them out for a moment.

I spent more time on step one.

I fell asleep.

I didn’t wake up 345974590734590734 times like I normally do, and instead managed a few hours of unbroken sleep.

I had the most ludicrously horrid nightmare, and then couldn’t get back to sleep. Nice one, brain. We’ll try again tonight.

[nowwhatshallwedo]

“Monday — Just One Second” by Martin Pietropoli Because... Monday. Oh you.

[cosmicvastness]

Hubble’s Variable Nebula (NGC 2261)

Hubble’s variable nebula is named (like the Hubble telescope itself) after the American astronomer Edwin P. Hubble, who carried out some ofthe early studies of this object. It is a fan-shaped cloud of gas and dust which is illuminated by R Monocerotis (R Mon), the bright star at the bottom end of the nebula. Dense condensations of dust near the star cast shadows out into the nebula, and as they move the illumination changes, giving rise to the variations first noted by Hubble. There is probably a symmetrical counterpart of the fan-shaped nebula on the southern side of the star, but it is heavily obscured from view by dust lying between this lobe and our line of sight.

Credit: NASA/ESA and The Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI).

[nowwhatshallwedo]

So beautiful, versatile and away from the ground bugs!

[nasa]

What Did Astronaut Scott Kelly Do After a #YearInSpace?

Astronaut Scott Kelly just returned from his One-Year Mission aboard the International Space Station. After spending 340 days on orbit, you can imagine that he started to miss a few Earthly activities. Here are a few things he did after his return home:

Watched a Sunset

While on the International Space Station for his One-Year Mission, astronaut Scott Kelly saw 16 sunrises/sunsets each day…so he definitely didn’t miss out on the beauty. That said, watching a sunset while on Earth is something that he had to wait to see. Tweet available HERE. 

Ate Fresh Food

After spending a year on the International Space Station, eating precooked food, anyone would be excited to dig into a REAL salad. Astronaut Scott Kelly was no exception, and posted about his first salad on Earth after his one-year mission. Learn more about what astronauts eat while in space HERE. Tweet available HERE.

Jumped into a Pool

Water is a precious resource in space. Unfortunately, that means that there isn’t a pool on the space station. Luckily, astronaut Scott Kelly was able to jump into some water after his return to Earth. Tweet/video available HERE.

Sat at a Dinner Table

While living on the International Space Station, crew members regularly enjoy their meals together, but do so while floating in microgravity. The comfort of pulling up a chair to the dinner table is something they can only experience once they’re back home on Earth. Tweet available HERE.

Enjoyed the Weather

When crew members live on the space station they can’t just step outside for a stroll. The only time they go outside the orbiting laboratory is during a spacewalk. Even then, they are confined inside a bulky spacesuit. Experiencing the cool breeze or drops of rain are Earthly luxuries. Tweet available HERE.

Stopped by the Doctor’s Office

The One-Year Mission doesn’t stop now that astronaut Scott Kelly is back on Earth. Follow-up exams and tests will help scientists understand the impacts of microgravity on the human body during long-duration spaceflight. This research will help us on our journey to Mars. Tweet available HERE. 

Visited the Denist

When you spend a year in space, you’ll probably need to catch up on certain things when you return to Earth. Astronaut Scott Kelly made sure to include a visit to the dentist on his “return home checklist”. Tweet available HERE.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

[buzzfeed]

How long would it take, for your character, to built an ikea closet? (Sorry for my bad English)

I think it would take even Tony Stark a couple of hours.

-Chris Evans

[theabreann]

Your brain is designed to keep you alive. It doesn’t give a shit about your happiness

- Ruby Wax

[nowwhatshallwedo]

Things I have done today, instead of writing

I’ve just learnt the word ‘listicle’. I get the impression that ‘proper writers’ snub them (perhaps because spell-check is anxious to correct it to ‘testicle’), but as I’ve done fuck all writing today, I’ll have a crack at one of these, instead.

I made a cake. A chocolate Guinness cake. The house smells like a chocolate brewery and even the cat is wafting about with a vague smile on his face. It’s my father-in-law’s birthday today, and the cake is for him. We might have to start the celebrations with cake as a starter, or I’ll make myself ill, launching my dinner down my throat in my rush to get to pudding.

Prepared a boat-load of vegetables. See above re. birthday. Unlike last time we had a roast, I managed not to peel my finger instead of a parsnip.

Laundry. The tumble drier (dryer?) is still a source of everlasting wonderment to me, being relatively new. Damp, crinkled clothes go in, lovely, scented, warm things come out. If you’re quick to get them folded when the cycle stops, they won’t need ironing. Does everyone do this? Or am I some sort of un-ironed scumbag? Anyway. I love my magical ironing cupboard.

Had a chat with TomWonderCat. He didn’t have much to say for himself. He seems very determined to be an inside cat, now that we live in a house where the heating works.

Drank a cup of coffee. I very rarely drink caffeine, as I find it makes the mental sadness and anxiety happen faster, but oh I do love the taste. There could well be another update later, written on the shed roof whilst I chatter to the birds about my existential horrors.

Looked on Facebook 3458345986436592387293857 times.

Realised I need to sit down and actually write something.

Wrote this instead.

I know what you’re thinking. Wowsers. This woman is a list-making genius.Maybe this should be my new ‘thing’. Make lists of all the things that I have done, instead of cowering away from my actual ‘to-do’ list. That way, I can still enjoy a sense of accomplishment about the little things I try and do, instead of drowning in the negativity of the massive tasks I have not yet done. The things that can’t be done in one day, that I am nagging myself to complete at the speed of a superhero.

I didn’t really get mindfulness until Ruby Wax explained it in her excellent book ‘Sane New World’. Part of it is being kinder to yourself. Easing off on the self-punishment when you become aware of what you are doing, really doing, once you cut out the big meanie narrating in your head. (That’s you, by the way).

Right. I’m going to the kitchen now to get another hit of cake fumes. Good luck with today, everyone!

[nowwhatshallwedo]

The staggering insight of Mother’s Day

This starts off pretty self-indulgent. But as this is the internet, it will probably fit right in. See how I draw the reader in and foster their receptiveness by alienating them? This is actually a classic writing tactic. It’s called being an intellectual dick.

Anyway, that intro doesn’t have a huge amount with what I planned to write about.

Today is Mother’s Day (or at least, in the UK it is. I’m not sure how that translates around the world.) My Facebook feed is currently filled with photos of people and their Mum. I think it’s great that so many people are showing the world how much they love her, how great they think she is. It is certainlymuch nicer than the habit some people have of ranting about an unnamed person, and then not even having the good grace to include an explanation for us nosy types, instead replying to their friends concerned comments that they will ‘private mesg u hun’.

But I’m going to have a quick preach, because obviously nobody else will have had this thought, I am wholly original and society will fail without the staggering insight of this post.

For the people whose dearly beloved Mums have gone, I salute you. Wherever she is, for whatever reason she is not there.

For the people whose Mum has left them voluntarily, in any way. I salute you too. You are still you. You are still real. You still count.

For the people who would very much like to be a Mum but for whatever reason are not at that point; keep the faith. I hope it works out for you, with minimum heartache (and heartburn, too). Fingers and toes crossed (but not legs, because I can never resist the type of joke that teenage me would have sniggered at).

So there we have it. My thoughts for the day.

To soften the abrasive edges of my preaching tone, I shall now effortlessly segue into something more lighthearted, with a subtlety so fine as to be barely noticeable.

Happy Motherflippin’ Mother’s Day! You’re alright, you are.

[nowwhatshallwedo]

Discovered this beautiful work! www.bethanwynwilliams.com

[nowwhatshallwedo]