Hearing colours, lung problems, and Wendy Mass's Awesomeness

Hey world!

I was looking at my blogposts, and the ones that have gotten the most views and interest are the ones where I am telling you a bit about myself. So in the same theme I decided to tell you something about me that not alot of people know (It isnt that exciting, dont get your hopes up). 

I have something called synesthesia.

Synesthesia comes from the word anesthesia, which is to have no feeling. Similarly, synesthesia means to have lots of feeling and connections. This will sound weird. Keep reading.  There are many different types of the condition, but none of them are life threating, contagious, or anything of that sort. Quite the opposite actually. Synesthesia is a neurological phenomenon in which people experience colour in a different way. Imagine it like this; most people have a whole lot of sections in the brain. There is one for smell, one for taste, one for sight, etc. They are all somewhat separate. But in a synesthetes brain, these are all muddled up and connected. Some synesthetes can hear colour, or taste words, or smell numbers. I am not that degree of awesomeness (unfortunately), but do have some of those sections minorly linked.

For me, when I see letters, numbers, shapes, words, etc, I associate them with colours. So the letter A is yellow, and B is green, and C is red or pink (depending whether it is in a harsh sounding sentence like cat, or a soft sounding one like celebrate). I also see sounds as colours, which is kind of cool when listening to songs. Except when I see the music video it ruins it for me because it doesnt match the colour that I hear it as. 

There are alot of myths around synesthesia. I will now list a few common misconceptions about it.

MYTH ONE- SYNESTHETES ARE LYING AND ONLY TRYING TO GET ATTENTION.

We are not 'faking it'. No. No. Nononononononono. Just no. Oh, you have a lung problem. ARE YOU SURE? ARE YOU SURE YOU ARE NOT JUST DOING IT TO GET ATTENTION IT DOESNT SOUND REAL? I MEAN I CANT SEE IT AND YOU DONT SEEM DIFFERENT YOU CANT REALLY HAVE IT CAN YOU? People who says these things need to stop. My synesthesia is just as valid as someone elses lung disease. (That is a sentence that I never thought I would have to write).  

MYTH TWO- YOU HAVE TO HAVE AN OFFICIAL PIECE OF PAPER GIVEN BY A DOCTOR TO ACTUALLY BE A SYNESTHETE. A doctor doesnt have to 'diagnose' it. A doctor doesnt have to tell you that you have brown hair or you are an introvert or that you like nutella. Doctors need to diagnose cancer and ear infections and other scary diseases. Nobody needs someone else to confirm their thoughts and feelings. I am a synesthete because I associate words and sounds with colour. If you have a problem with that, GO AWAY I DONT LIKE YOU. YOU ARE A PEASANT. 

MYTH THREE- SYNESTHETES ARE ALL JUST HIGH.

Instead of getting mad at these people, I will instead educate you. No, we are not all drugged. Some of us, probably, but then again basically every catagory of people have some people who are. Where people get this misconseption from is that when you are high, you actually have similar experiences. On drugs people sometimes can also create the links between senses, which is what synesthesia is in a nutshell. Although this sounds like synesthetes may just be high, it IS scientifically proven to be a thing and that there are differences between being a druggie and a synesthete. 

So thank you for reading this weeks blog post! This is like the first week where it hasnt been deep or oversharey so you guys are probably all relieved. If you want to learn more about synesthesia you can:

-Read the book A Mango Shaped Space, by Wendy Mass. Very very good book. Even if you dont really care about synesthesia I still recommend reading some other Wendy Mass book because she is amazing.

-Watch the Good Mythical Morning episode on it! It is actually such a good description and makes much more sense than me. It came out quite recently, but I am pretty sure that they have a previous one on it too. 

-Google it. Plain and simple. The best way to learn about things.

Again, thank you for reading! Please please let me know of some blogpost ideas for upcoming weeks because I am running out of ideas. 

The Socially Awkward, AKA Melissa xx

p.s. no there is no scheduled day to post anymore deal with it x

Binge, Pizza Hut, and Growing Up

Hey world!

Ahh it feels so weird to be writing this post. Because I pre-write most of my posts (and last week I cheated), I havent actually wrote anything in like a month. I still have some pre-written posts that I could post, but this week I felt like I had the inspiration to, and since this seems to be leading to be an inspirational blog I though I can save them for future use.

 Anyway, in this past week, I had done so much. I have learnt so much, and discovered alot. I have travelled to cities I have never been to before, I have had my 14th birthday, I have had my birthday party, I have gone to a movie premiere, and eaten far too much chocolate. I went on a plane for the first time in ten years, I have cried, both from happiness and from sadness, and so much more that I just cant fit it into a few sentences.

Tyler Oakley wrote a book, as some of you may know, which is called Binge. I have not read the whole thing as it is fourty dollars and I am not that rich, but while I was at the airport I read the introduction. (it is actually a very good book that I hope to get to read sometime.) It talks about how people love to tell others to live their lives in moderation. To be proud but not too proud, to be loud but not too loud, to be different but not too different, to think outside of the box but dont think irrationally, and basically just to live a life full of harmony. While I am not against harmony (obviously), I am against those things. Tyler talks about how it is okay to binge on things. Maybe not eat 10 containers of ice cream or do anything insanely dangerous, but do things like stand up for what you believe in, spend hours doing what you love, and overall not being afraid of things.

I actually love this, and totally agree. It is so important to do what you love, and when you do it, binge.

Go to the movies and bungy jump and sign up for x-factor and learn to do a cartwheel and join a club and travel wherever you can go. Run marathons, or just to pizza hut if that is more your speed.

My point is basically to just live your life, not just in moderation, but in DETERMINATION.

People think I am insane when I jump in the puddles, and sing on the bus, and dance wherever I am when I am excited. I played a game of twister right outside a cafe the other day. There was also a group of people doing pilates to music who were staring at me the whole time.

I am crazy, yes. I am loud, yes. I am annoying, yes. I am passive agressive, yes. But you know what? I am happy. I am doing what I love with the people what I love.

A week ago, I had a panic attack, just thinking about getting older. I was thinking about how I am not going to be able to achieve my goals before I die, and all I could think about was how I was getting older. I was worring that before I knew it I would be having my 40th birthday and life would have gone right past me. One of my greatest fears is unhappiness, which makes no sense and is a vicious circle but whatever I am a bit irrational like that. But now, I am starting to worry less about it.

If I end up to be fourty years old, and all I am doing is what I am doing right now, like being with my friends, drawing funny people, making puns, and writing this blog, so be it. The people and things that I have in my life make me so happy that if this is all I achieve, I will call it a wild success of a life. My friends are some of the best people I know, and make me the happiest version of myself (most of the time anyway). My life isnt perfect, but nobody's life really is. If you are surrounded with people you love, it is impossible not to enjoy life. Even if you have a really crappy house and dont make much money and cant cook anything to save your life, if you have the right people there, by no means is that a bad life. Look for the kind of people who will love you and care for you and bring you over chickflicks and ramen noodles, not the people who you are always trying to impress.

So in conclusion, live your best life, with the best people, doing the best things you possibly can. Nothing will run smoothly, but that is okay. Nothing really ever does. But if you look for the best, do the best, and surround yourself with the best, anything can happen.

The socially awkward, AKA Melissa xx

Whiteboards, Hitler, and 'All He Wants For Christmas Is His Eyebrows'

Hey World!
Since the last few posts have been very 'inspiration station' as one might say, I decided to lighten the mood a bit. Also, I know that this week's blogpost is two days early, but I am going to Wellington on friday, and tomorrow I am having cousins over that I havent seen in over six months and they are going on missions trips for the next two years so I want to spend as much time as I can with them. They also arent the cousins that you have to be with and smile and wave at from a distance. These are the good quality cousins that you have inside jokes with and meet up for movie dates every so often. This is also why I havent written anything deep (a real shame, I am sure) as I suddenly realised at 9:30 last night that I might need to post something. So I bring forth to you,

TWENTY EIGHT OR SO (IDEK)OF THE BEST PUNS I COULD FIND LAST NIGHT
catchy title, I am aware. LEGGO

Anyway, those are my favourite memes that I could find. Full credit to the original memes as I totally stole all of these. I hope you liked atleast one of them, as I was legitamitely crying. I love memes so much it really isnt funny. (PUNPUNPUN)

i am goING NOW

The Socially Awkward, AKA Melissa xx

Social Media, Pillowforts, and Watching Pastors Do Yoga

Hi world! Intros are overrated. Lets just start. This blog post is already long enough.

Life is insanely busy. Especially as internals approach, and as we start getting nearer to the end of the term and the stress starts to set in. It is important to just chill out every once and a while, and just do literally nothing. I mean, I dont have internals but all my friends do and they are having a major stressfest atm. Everyone is a bit down at the moment, and super tired so I thought I would bring forth my tips.

TO CLARIFY

I am writing this blogpost when I have slept like five hours last night and the night before and been awake for wayyyy too long, so if this is rambly, and/or makes no sense, dont judge me.

 Everyone needs to stop and do nothing sometimes, so I have compiled a list of five ways to do nothing, without social media. Because social media is too stressful (atleast for me), and stress is the opposite of what we are going for here. Leggo.

Number One: Is it sunny? Great. Go outside and lay on the grass. Make a daisy chain, sing a song to yourself. Cloud watch. If you dont have grass, find grass. Or make do. My house has the tiniest bit of grass, and is visible from everyone in the street, but I still lie there sometimes. It is great.

Number Two: Is it rainy? Brilliant. This is your excuse to create a pillow fort in your room with blankets and pilliows and read a book and listen to the rain. Build a fort! Or find every blanket you can in the house and wrap yourself in it. If you dont want to read, you could draw, or just cuddle in blankets. Either way, this is amazing.

Number Three: Audiobooks. No needed explanation. They are great. Sometimes we procrastinate going to bed because it seems boring, or we are stuck in the moment of work (even though those thoughts arent the same at 6:30am when your alarm clock goes off). They are portable, and through AUDIBLE.COM you can get a free 30 day trial! (JK. Definitely not sponsored yet haha. Although that is like every youtuber ever.) If you decide you want to sleep but know you are so tired you wont be able to, put on an audiobook. Whether you sleep or not, if you enjoy the book it is a win-win situation. Technically audiobooks are cheating because they are ON your device, but if you swear that you wont do anything with that notification sitting on your screen, we will let this one slide. It also works well with #2 :).

Number four: Bare with me here: YOGA. Some people will disagree and/or judge me on this, but there is this thing called holy yoga, which basically a whole lot of snobby ladies go into awkward positions and tell you about Jesus. I have done it with my mum a few times, and you will either enjoy it because it is brilliant, or because you like to watch pastors get into funny positions. Either way, it is incredibly enjoyable. If you arent flexible, just watch them! It is rediculously funny while being soothing. It is a stupidly brilliant combination. Some people find it amazing because they actually like yoga, but I am more in it for the giggles. They also have a whole lot of quality bible verses in them too, so if you are interested in that totally check it out. It is worth it.

Number five: Make tea. Tea is amazing. I dont even really like tea that much, but being able to hold the warm mug in your hands and dip the teabag in and out with the little string is all worth it. Again, I will be judged for this. But if you really arent into the thrill of just making the tea, i reccommend experimenting. There are all kinds of tea out there! I am pretty sure you can buy a pack from like Lipton or something and just get one teabag of each tea, and try each of them. Anyway, if you have a shower, and drink tea, it is nearly impossible not to fall asleep. Also remember that it does not have to be a hot shower, especially if you are in summer. If I had a hot shower I probably would get heat stroke or something. Having a cold shower and then warming yourself up is so much better than getting out of the shower to ESCAPE the heat, only to find out it is still hot outside the shower too. Unless you are in winter where you live, then ignore everything I said as I am not advising hypothermia.

SONG PLAYLIST IDEAS (especially for cheering you up)

Gold Star For Me- Dodie Clark and Carrie someone-i-cant-remember

Faces Going Places- Jose Vanders

My Face- Dodie Clark

You're not alone- Marie Miller

Home- Phillip Phillips

Somebody to You- The Vamps (S.O. GABZ)

Here Comes The Sun- The Beetles (i think)

Its a beautiful Day- Michael Buble

Anyway, those are my tips for relaxing, and hopefully they will help you.I am in no way a professional (probably should have put that in the intro), but these are just my tips from one semi-functioning human to another.  They are all things that really help me alot, although I feel like basically it was just me telling you to go to bed. I think that is what I will do myself now.

But first, HOLY YOGA!!!!

The Socially awkward, AKA Melissa xx

PS: If anyone has a free chance, would they be able to pray for my school and friend group? They are all going through alot right now, and we are all really tired and particularly down at the moment. I treat them like peasants, but I really do love them. Hope you all have a good week!!

Theoretical analogies, chickening out, and other inspirationally too deep stuff for a first blogpost.

Hey world!

I guess that that is my official sign in now. I wish I had thought that through a bit more. This week, it gets deep. Maybe too deep; definitely too deep for a first blogpost but I have already written it and I was meant to upload it like 5 hours ago so this is what I have got. Plus nobody did the poll (or likely, saw the last post). So be it. Lets stop procrastinating. Lets jump right in.

The people that you love, and love you, are special. They are important. They are the people who you dont necessarily see everyday, but when you do see them you wonder how you ever coped without them. They are the people who might not stand out, but the people who blend in. Imagine it as if you were a piece of pottery. You want the sort of person who will sculpt you with their finest tools, and put flowers and patterns on you. Who take time to tell you how amazing and beautiful you are. A person who sees the little extra bit of clay on the side, and instead of seeing a blemish, sees an opportunity to create a handle, or a pompom or whatever.  Sure, when you were a plain pot you were okay and you still worked, but with some people just make you smile a little bigger, laugh a little louder, and live a little brighter.

Recently, I have been put in an interesting place, and it made me realise this a bit more. There is this person, and I have been trying to be friends and become close with them for a very long time. And every time I see them, I do something horrifically embarrassing. I went up to talk to them, and then chickened out. My friend, knowing this, ran towards the person I was too scared to approach, so that I would follow him. I did follow my friend, but I ran towards him with too much force because I was trying to get away from the person, so instead I accidentally tackled my friend. This, on its own, is bad. The fight or flight action response in my brain had been turned on. I freaked out. My friend is on the floor and is laughing, and goes and approaches the person I was avoiding. Now, the person I was avoiding, AND all the persons friends are staring at us.  I decided that this would be a good time to abort the mission, so I ran. But the story doesn't end there. Oh no, why would it? I dont lie when I sign out every blog post saying I am socially awkward. I ran in the wrong direction. A one way road. I knew that the bell was going to go soon and I had to go back, so I blended in with the girls in front of me, and then had to go BACK PAST THE PERSON I WAS AVOIDING, AND ALL THEIR FRIENDS. Except, the group of girls who I was hiding behind pulled a left into a classroom, so I ended up walking straight past the people I was avoiding, ALONE. My friend had since left, something I am not sure if I am thankful for or not, and I ended up having a massive cringe attack and crying. Smooth, Melissa. Smooth.

After this horrifying incident, and I had stopped crying and yelling at my friend for causing said scenario, I realised something. I didnt really KNOW why I kept trying to impress this person. The only reason why is because I thought they were cool, and I wanted them to like me. Except, every time I am around them, I am miserable. I dont think they are doing that intentionally, because I know deep down they are a good person, but they make me really really unhappy. I always feel worried and pressured, -and although those are definitely not their intentions- it isn't healthy for me to be in that environment. I want everyone around me to like me, but not because they have to, because they genuinely like me. In the same way, I want to like the people that I am with. If everyone in the situation doesn't feel like they are genuinely important, then why are they here? Did you know that according to Asap Science, the number one regret people have before dying is that they made others happy, but not themselves. They spent their lives trying to please only others, and didnt realise their mistakes until they were on their deathbed. I hope that we all realise how important it is to be who we truly are, and have the people around us that make us feel happy and loved, not just the ones that up our status.

Maybe this is a bit deep for a first blogpost, heheh. But nobody reads it yet anyways. Keyword yet. I HAVE FAITH OKAY. I hope that you liked it nonetheless. Also, Hi Mum!

The Socially Awkward, Melissa xx