Thoughts from ME

            Cognitive dissonance occurs when one’s thoughts contradict themselves, their thoughts contradict their behaviors, or their behaviors contradict their other behaviors. One of my largest problems with cognitive dissonance was remedied this summer during an internship in California. I had a supervisor over me who was from Columbia. Jeanelle Ariza is a brilliant female scientist who also has a deep testimony of the power of Christ. Every morning she would ask me “how are you today?” and I would tell her I was fine, to which she would squint her eyes, put her little hands on her hips and say in her thick accent, “I don’t believe you.” I believe Jeanelle to have a spiritual gift to read people. She would tell me I was sad. She would ask me why and I had no answer for her. I didn’t feel sad; I felt the way I always had felt. Because of her example and curiosity and compassion, I began introspection and realized that while I acted each day as though I was perfectly happy, inside

The idea for this blog post comes from a blog I occasionally read called The Freckled Fox . She calls these posts "Taking Stock": Seeing:  all the dogs sleeping, a nephew playing, ceiling fans turning, grey clouds. Making:  an effort to not disappear into the bedroom I'm staying at while in Nebraska with family (kids'll do that to me) Cooking:  nothing. Since I'm visiting family in Omaha, I haven't done much cooking. But while here I have made my absolute favorite PB cookies which are easy and delicious Drinking:  sooooo much water - still not enough Reading:  a guide for everything you need to know about medical school and Pushkin's Eugene Onegin Hearing:  the pot on the stove cooking the bottles which contain my SIL Nicole's homemade spaghetti sauce Wanting:  the next year to speed by - I am tired of fretting about med school applications and would like the whole thing finished - please? Looking:  forward to visiting the zoo tomorro

The gene known as FMR1, Fragile X Mental Retardation Protein, is a main contender for the spotlight in medical research of today. There are three specific disorders, called Fragile X-associated Disorders, that are caused by permutations of this gene and two of those disorders are studied at the University of California Davis Medical Center (UCDMC) located in Sacramento, CA. The two kinds of Fragile X-associated Disorders are discussed as well as final thoughts on the UC Davis internship. The first of these disorders is Fragile X Syndrome and is the best known cause of the disorder known as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or simply autism. Approximately 1 in 88 children in the United States are affected by ASD. Those who suffer from ASD show signs such as delayed speech development, difficulties with social interactions, disrupted immune responses, and multiple other symptoms that range across the spectrum. This disorder is studied extensively at the Medical Investigation of Neu

Recently I've really liked these songs. So I wanted to share them somewhere! The short lived Wonderland musical that ran in 2011 had some really good songs, although it's totally weird. This  is currently my favorite of the songs from this musical. And this song from the Pirate Queen musical. "I see horizons wide as mans." When I first arrived in Woodland I listened to this song a BILLION times via Spotify (yay!) during my drives to and from Davis. Whitney Bashor is so fun to sing along to! (Warning. The song is beautiful. The musical is about adultery - not beautiful :( This one is really liked - though not a personal favorite. And then there's just this super random song from Amanda Seyfried (who I don't even like) - but this song  about little red riding hood is a little quirky so I enjoy it!

I recently moved out to California. I wasn't sure I'd be able to make it since I had a lot of car problems (typical, right?) among other things. But it happened! And I made the trek out, stopping for a time to see my sister in Nevada. I'm living in the most beautiful place I've ever seen (if you take out all of Virginia of course!) Pictures to come of that. I logged onto my blog with great hopes of writing all these magnificent thoughts and everything. I think this will be a little rough sailing! It's been so long since I've written anything of this nature! Mostly, I wanted to get on my blog for two reasons: one, to document somewhere other than facebook my experiences while here in California, and two, to share a thought or two about the timing of life. I'll start with the second part I think. Since coming home from the mission, it has been a little hard for me to feel purpose in my life. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, there is a