How to get your caffeine fix

Hey guys,

So as you all probably know already, I am a college student. In fact, not to brag, I go to a pretty prestigious college in the US (which one it is, I will not say, but it was rated by USA today as one of the top 20 in the US). Sorry, I just wanted to support my school a bit anonymously. I love my school, its spirit, the dormitory system, the classes, my friends, everything. Anyways, sorry. Back to my point: my school life can be very busy, quite hectic at times. And it is for basically all college students these days. We have classes at 9 PM, review sessions at 11 PM or midnight, practices at midnight, etc etc etc. We have weekend parties, all-nighters, etc etc etc. It's absolutely crazy.

http://collegecandy.com/2009/02/03/weve-all-been-there-the-all-nighter/

So what do you do when you're in the middle of everything, and you have to stay up to do work and stuff? Well, you do what you need to do. You get your fix of whatever to keep you awake.

I've tried just about everything, and here's my two cents on all of those things....

1. Coffee - start with the basics. 

http://www.coffeehousemystery.com/UserFiles/Image/CoffeeWithHeart(1).jpg

Coffee does work, but only when your brain is in a stable state to tolerate it. This is going to get a bit sciency....

So basically, what your brain does is that when it is tired, in the synapses of the neurons of your brain (those are the gap spaces between your brain cells, which are linked together like pieces of wire) it releases a chemical called adenosine.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Adenosine.png

Adenosine triggers a signal in your body that tells your body that it is tired. Thus, you yawn, your attention span decreases, you have a yearning to drift off, etc etc etc.

Now, what caffeine does is that it stops adenosine from being released into your synapses, thus stopping you from feeling the effects of adenosine. In essence, it tricks your limbs into thinking that you are not tired. Tricky molecules... 

http://www.natural-remedies-review.com/image-files/chemical-structure-caffeine.png

Tricky molecules huh?? Here they are side by side for comparison:

http://img.search.com/thumb/5/53/Caffeine_and_adenosine.svg/350px-Caffeine_and_adenosine.svg.png

Anyways, sorry about that aside. I'm a bio nerd so I'm kind of obsessed about things like this. So, what happens is that the caffeine basically tricks your body, like before. But, the thing is that you caffeine doesn't work after adenosine has already been released. Thus, if you are already tired, caffeine won't help. This is why you can have 4 cups of coffee sometimes and still be able to fall asleep. You just have to drink it at the right time for it to work. So, the trick is to drink it when you know you will be tired later.

Anyways, thus, coffee works fine for me, but I have to add milk or stevia or agave nectar or something. If I don't add anything, all it does is make me nauseated and want to throw up. Alternatively, espresso shots also work, although you might want to dilute them with milk and sugar and stuff.

http://cache2.allpostersimages.com/p/LRG/14/1462/3TGQ000Z/posters/de-villeneuve-fabrice-espresso-cup.jpg

Tricky stuff eh?

To read more, click the jump!

Fave songs, May 2011

Hey guys,

Sorry, it's been a long while since I did a fave songs post. I've just been really really busy with school, and finals, and everything, so finally I've been able to update more frequently after everything else has occurred.

So thus, here's a fave songs post!

I apologize if I've repeated songs from the past. It just emphasizes how much I love these songs!

1. "Prrrm" by Cosculluela



2. "Pretty Boy" by M2M



3. "The Lazy Song" by Bruno Mars

Oblivious Alsk

So I was searching on Youtube the other day. There's this cool guy from the University of Houston named Alan Rask, a.k.a. Oblivious Alsk, or Alsk - a syncretic blend of "Alan" and "Rask." He aspires to become a science teacher someday and started a youtube channel series to help himself prepare. On his channel, he hosts a show called "Science or Not", where he features cool scientific and historical topics, while also bringing in non-scientific facts that he considers to be interesting.

So why do I think this guy is cool?

Well, first off, there's the whole cool ponytail thing. Sure, non-conventional. But at the same time, the news he talks about (the science or not part) is really really interesting. Exploding watermelons, 657 islands being discovered in one year, giant spiders half a foot wide, etc etc etc - things you wouldn't really think about on a normal day-to-day basis unless you were deliberately looking for them.

Here are some of his videos:

Dabora

Hey guys,

I recently found out about a 14-year old model named Dabora (Débora Silva). This girl is from Brazil, and has become quite famous on the internet and elsewhere. The key thing about her photos, to why she is so popular, in my opinion, is that she is very young and innocent-looking. She has a very emotional face reminiscent of perhaps the Afghan girl, although in a more positive light. Her pictures look as if she is longing for something, yearning for that eager moment in life.



Here is a picture of the Afghan girl for comparison purposes:

http://www.eworldpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/afghan.jpg

And here are pictures of her (all were taken from http://www.7easylife.info/celebrities/14-year-old-brazilian-model-dabora.html):

See that comparison? To see more pictures, click the jump...

Asian dancers rock!

Recently there was a video of a 9-year old Chinese girl doing the Melbourne Shuffle in various parts of Beijing posted on Youtube:



I absolutely adore her! She's cute and she's really good at it. I really want to learn from her and also be able to shuffle like that as well someday in the future. I learned some popping this past semester and also worked on hip-hop and Bollywood dance forms. I've improved quite a bit from last year (meaning last year I basically did nothing, knew nothing about dance) but I want to improve more.

This girl is reminiscent of Moon Boy from a few years back (I think it was 2008?):



But yeah, asian dancers rock, including Hojin from Korea:



As well as Jay Bang from Korea/Taiwan/US:



Of course, Shinee:



BoA as well:



But enough with the Youtube videos; you guys get my point. Today I'm celebrating Asian dancers across the world. They're absolutely amazing!