Friday Memeage!

[dawn_felagund]

The Friday memes are sadly deficient this week. fannish5 didn't even post, thefridayfive was late, and I don't think I saw any memes floating around LJ land this week, unless I'm missing something. So the Friday Five will be all by its lonesome....

1. How do you deal with stress?
2. Do you have a favorite "comfort food" and what is it?
3. Do you have a "comfort activity" and what is it?
4. What days depress you and why?
5. What days excite you and why?

1. How do you deal with stress?
It depends on the stress. I find that writing about how annoyed I am with something makes me less teeth-grittingly annoyed with it. So a lot of times, I rant in Notepad at work and never post the results.

As far as longterm stress, as in having lots to do, I just...do it. I actually work very well this way, perhaps evidenced by the fact that last November-December, I participated in NaNoWriMo, made twenty pounds of homemade chocolates, and wrote twenty holiday gift stories. However, I will not be repeated that this year. ;)

In terms of immediate stress, as in anxiety, I resort to relaxation techniques, particularly progressive muscle relaxation. It's amazing how easily the body is conditioned to associate a stimulus and a response. I recently conditioned myself to relax upon beginning the breathing pattern that I use for using scuba without my mask underwater. I was start the pattern and literally could feel my heartrate drop 10 bpm (and those who were around LJ at that time know that I was on the verge of panic about using scuba without my mask).

2. Do you have a favorite "comfort food" and what is it?
Evil dairy foods! Cheese, sour cream, cream cheese...the other night, I asked Bobby what he thought happiness might taste like. (He answered "chocolate," by the way.) I said that if happiness had a smell, for me, it would be the smell of opening a fresh carton of heavy cream. Honestly, when I use heavy cream for my ice cream recipes, I always take a deep sniff of the carton before pouring it. I love that smell. Oddly, the strongest association I can find between the smell of heavy cream and an actual memory is the smell of the whipped cream at The Piece. I guess I was happier at The Piece than I knew at the time!

But a big plate of nachos or ooey-gooey cheese fries topped with sour cream...ai, now I'm hungry....

3. Do you have a "comfort activity" and what is it?
*ahem*

Well, keeping it R-rated, writing, of course, wipes away the reality for however brief a spell. "Dissociation"--or daydreaming--serves the same purpose.

But in terms of physically changing my mood in the long term, it would have to be strenuous exercise. Hiking, skating, swimming...gotta love endorphins. They have a nearly identical structure to heroin, did you know? So vigorous exercise is literally legal heroin. But aside from strong painkilling effects, the chemicals released during exercise have a powerful mood-altering effect for me as well. I have driven myself to hypomania by skating too hard!

4. What days depress you and why?
Mondays. And I feel bad for Monday because everyone hates him and he really doesn't deserve it. It's our wonky schedules that put school and work weeks as starting on Mondays. I am a natural nightowl, and I can revert to a late sleep schedule in literally one day. But to get myself back on track to waking up in the mornings for work...sometimes I can't manage it over the course of a whole week. But Mondays are always bad for me because I'm coming off of (usually) two days of staying up late, and the mind and the muses can't be convinced that going to bed early and waking up at seven is a good idea.

5. What days excite you and why?
Fridays, or the threshold of the weekend, as Bobby and I call them. We have our date on Fridays, usually just dinner and a movie, but sometimes something more involved. Saturdays are nice too because we're usually doing fun stuff then too. Sundays tend to make me drowsy, and I don't get much done--plus, I know that I have to go back to work the next day--so Sundays are nice but not quite as exciting as the first two.

Comments

[sinneahtes.livejournal.com]

Aw, I knew I should have looked for more memes to do last week... ;) (I kind of wanted to dig up one of the interactive sorts like "tell me something about yourself so I can learn more about my flist," but my flist seems relatively shy about/tired of answering those :P)

I am a natural nightowl, and I can revert to a late sleep schedule in literally one day. But to get myself back on track to waking up in the mornings for work...sometimes I can't manage it over the course of a whole week.

Ugh, me too. I read somewhere that a night owl staying up late for the weekend and then trying to revert back to a morning lark's sleeping schedule for Monday is like jet lag... and that's exactly what it's like for me, though I have no problem with staying up 'til 9am on a day when I can sleep as long as I want even if I've been up since 4am the previous day. I should really get into the habit of going to bed at the same time and waking up at the same time every day... but the late night hours at home are so enjoyable, it's not fair! :(

[dawn_felagund]

When I took Health Psychology, we talked a lot about sleep and Circadian rhythms and other fun stuff (well, to me :^P), and more and more studies are showing that being a "morning person" or a "nightowl" are inherent parts of who we are, not anything that can be readily controlled.

Of course, modern life favors morning people, and nightowls are often made to feel lazy or lackadaisical. :^/

We are persecuted people! :^P (very much kidding)

[sinneahtes.livejournal.com]

Haha, yeah... even when I was a baby, I'd sleep all day and wake up at night to cry and keep my parents up, and when I was a little kid, I'd be surprised when other kids my age could and would have 7:30 bedtimes, when I would find myself still awake at 9 or even 10pm. And I know my mom has pretty much the same night owl tendencies I do--we bump into each other between 2 and 4am while looking for late night meals quite often...

We are persecuted people! :^P (very much kidding)

Yes, poor us! ;)

Though I'd settle for having more hours in the day so I could stay up all night and still sleep as much as I need to before work or school! (Yeah, that might screw up a circadian rhythm, but oh well :P)

[dawn_felagund]

Not surprisingly, in my family, my dad is a nightowl, as is Sharon. Only my mom likes mornings...and Bobby. That makes it rough when Bobby and I are making plans but nice when we decided to drive through the night somewhere. When I'm ready to sleep, he's waking up.

Interestingly, studies have been done where people have been locked away from all evidence of time (sunlight, clocks, et cetera), and people will develop a 25-hour Circadian rhythm. Now isn't that odd?

This icon is officially dedicated to we persecuted night-owl people. ;)

[nienna-weeper.livejournal.com]

I loves Monday, my precious! It's because Monday and Tuesday are my days off! YAY! Though I must work tomorrow, briefly... funerals. You just can't control 'em...

Chocolate... cream... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

[dawn_felagund]

Heck, even I could learn to love Mondays then!

Actually, I liked this one just fine because I took off too. Though it feels like Sunday to me, as a result.

[rhapsody11.livejournal.com]

LOL I really don't like Mondays, Monday used to be the day where well, you have to adapt to a new work week, where you always ended up in traffic jams or train delays or where you just forgot to pack your lunch and there was no way of sneaking out to get some 'cause your day was filled with those meetings. Of course, now having a job 24/7... you loose track of the weekdays. Kevin's lunch bib's (a bib is a cloth worn around the neck while eating (especially by babies or small children).. I just looked it up) have the name of the day on it, otherwise I easily forget (typically Monday has a rabbit on it ;))

I always loved working on Fridays, people are upbeat (even in a hospital), and you get the sense of finishing up things on that day for the weekends. On Mondays there are always piles of mail tp process, Friday is most often: let's do the smaller task and well... weekend ahoy! :) Unfortunately we don't have a date tradition like you guys have (but oh wow it sounds so lovely), so keep that up!

[dawn_felagund]

Ai, Mondays are like that for me too. The warrant officers are supposed to come in for their monthly warrant reviews, which means that they leave all of their old files with me. My desk goes from empty to heaped in like three seconds! It's very frustrating. Not to mention that we get recalls from arrests made over the weekend, which is usually a pretty good number.

Luckily, at the good ol' WAU, we don't have meetings. Or very rarely.

And I have underwear with the days of the week on them! (Though at the moment, embarrassingly enough, I am wearing Christmas knickers. *rolls eyes at self* That was just your random TMI.)

Unfortunately we don't have a date tradition like you guys have (but oh wow it sounds so lovely), so keep that up!

We've been doing this since Bobby started driving at age 16, so going strong for nine years. ;) It used to be one of the things that kept us sane when we were in university, and we've just stuck with it..

[vana-tuivana.livejournal.com]

I knowww, I was disappointed that there was no fannish5 on Friday. Booo. (I was in a memey mood and found one to do anyway, but it's not the same.)

For me, the smell of happiness I think would be hot, sweet, milky chai tea. Either that or the smell of orange blossom, which I always associate with my grandmother. :-)

[dawn_felagund]

Ooooh...chai! Yes, chai is happiness!

Sadly, the smell that I associate with my grandmother? Mothballs. *facepalm* And to a lesser degree, turkey croquettes.

[tarion-anarore.livejournal.com]

The smell of happiness is homemade sweet bread! Mmmmmm... It's also snow and woodfire. Most people hate smoke, but I looooove it!! Unless the building is on fire or something...

[dawn_felagund]

Unless it's cigarette smoke, I'm generally okay with it too. ;) I really like the smell of blown out birthday candles. Or fireplaces in the winter. That puts me in the mood for Christmas like nothing else.

Smell is the sense tied closest to memory. This serves as evidence of that, I think!

[tarion-anarore.livejournal.com]

Yeah cigarette smoke is gross. That doesn't count. Blown out candles are yummy too! Our fireplace is gas-burning, so it doesn't smell. :(

Oh yeah, and I like the smell of sunscreen! Summer!

Random note, but one of my little pin/hook/whatever thingies for my ACE bandage decided to hop off and run away. Damnit.

[dawn_felagund]

Oooh...sunscreen! What does it say about me that I sniff my sunscreen bottle sometimes during the winter? ;)

Btw, I am completely supportive of you seeking a second opinion on your ankle. A simple sprain doesn't seem, to me, that it would continue to require being wrapped. And that advice is worth exactly what you paid for it. ;)

[tarion-anarore.livejournal.com]

Ok, that might be a tad weird...;P

Well, I actually lost the thinger last Wednesday, and hadn't wrapped it since until today. We'll see, because it's being infuriatingly painful (not very painful, just in a different spot and annoying as hell). I must add, that it's rather rich coming from you eh? With your hip and all. ;P