Long, Long Hugs. Yay.
Uhhhh, I know there are important things I could talk about (major terror plot thwarted in Britain, for instance?) but I would have to say, if I am completely honest with myself and you, that the thing that keeps jumping to the front of my brain is that Lauren and J Wahl broke up and I just keep mentally screaming "YEAH, good thing you turned down that INTERNSHIP IN PARIS for that dirtbag. Smooooooth moooooove."
Now you know how truly, truly un-deep I am.
Wait... check this out. Someone wrote some computer program that takes pictures of people and tweaks their features to make them more "beautiful." Here's the comparison photo they use to illustrate the article, and I am just shaking and shaking my head. First of all, both pictures look attractive to me; and if anything I think the one on the left looks like a prettier girl, a girl more people would have crushes on due to her irrepressible je ne sais quoi. Second of all, I'm sure the person who wrote the program had some sort of postive, life-affirming, world-enhancing motive in mind (or at least I hope to God he or she did) but uh... what is to be gained from this? Do we really want to ask computer programs to tell us what's less-than-beautiful about us? I mean, first of all, computers are ugly, they really don't have room to talk. But seriously, do we really need to encourage the belief that people need to stamp out their individuality in order to adhere to some geometrical ideal? Do we need more gorgeous and unique Ashlee Simpsons surgifying themselves into boilerplate "Indistinguishable Young Blonde Celebrity circa 2006" automatons? GAG. ME. Ugggggh this stuff drives me BONKERS.
Breathing. Calming down.
I also just finished reading this incredibly long article about the differences between male and female brains, and wanted to share the last paragraph with you:
Research shows that the female brain naturally releases oxytocin after a 20-second hug. The embrace bonds the huggers and triggers the brain's trust circuits. So Brizendine advises, don't let a guy hug you unless you plan to trust him. "And if you do," she said, "make sure it lasts 20 seconds."
Hug science might be my new favorite kind of science! But this has me confused, because the only dudes I'm hugging for 20 seconds are dudes I already trust. I'm trying to picture some weirdo hanging onto a girl after the already-kinda-long 8 second mark, and just clinging while she tries to claw her way out, and then when the clock strikes hit 20 seconds she suddenly relaxes and wants him to have her babies, and it's just not working. Hmmm... I wonder if a guy could sort of push a "just really good friends" girl over the edge by extending one of their "really good friend" hugs that extra several seconds though. SCIENCE! It's educational. Girls: be on the lookout for dudes pushing hugs to 20 seconds. Dudes... you know what to do.