INTERPOL

(No, not the world's largest international police, but the band, silly) Has blessed the world with a new album. After a battle with my car CD player (not wanting to play songs 6-10 on any given burned CD), I was finally able to listen to the entire self-titled album yesterday evening...And I'm confused. "Lights" might be one of the bands all time greatest tracks, but as for the rest? Not so sure....

Hoping it will grow on me :/

2 things are still for sure: Paul Banks is my soulmate, and
The combination of the song "Lights" and its corresponding video are the definition of AMAZING. Click here to watch

Guest Blogging about science ;)

Click here for my first guest blog!! Yay!
Here is a little explanation of the project,
straight from the Horse's mouth: GradMom :)

"Introducing Guest Wednesdays

This coming Wednesday (September 1st) will be the start of my new guest series. Each Wednesday I will feature posts from one of my friends/colleagues in the field of psychology who will be sharing their own graduate school experiences and advice, as well as talking about current developments in their respective areas. We are all in different programs and our research interests are very diverse, so you will get a broader look into the world of psychology, research and grad school. You can find their info on the Contributors page. You can submit questions for them as well, I’ll pass them along. Enjoy! "

EL LAY....

Hello non-existent followers! I have been missing in action for more than 8 weeks! I know that the invisible masses that follow this blog were devastated and anxiously awaiting my return to the blogosphere....So here I am!

So, where have I been, you ask? Well, I got into a summer research program (funded by NSF!!) at UCLA, and have been working in Chris Evans' lab researching the role of the Delta Opioid Receptor in chronic and neuropathic pain :)

Oh dear, I have so many stories to share, but oh-so-little time right now (the program is wrapping up this week)! So here are a couple representative pictures of my time here in LA (to tide you over), and I will be back when time allows (aka- I'm back at CSUSM where I know what I am doing and can accomplish things is 10% of the time allowed, hah).

Lets just say, I have the best supervisor (Post-Doc) anyone could ask for in my lab and have learned so much already (including brain slicing! woo woo!!) Not to mention I re-visited what its like to share a room, but made a great friend doing it :) and we found the best Nigerian-version-of-Lil-Kim on the internet that makes me laugh out loud on a daily basis....then there were the 13 hour days and GRE classes....and the visits from amazing friends, free live shows, dive bars and museums...as well as reconnecting with old AXO's and discovering the "Carlsbad" of LA.... Needless to say, a crazy 8-weeks!

So at the end of my UCLA summer program, it has been decided that I will go home for 6 weeks to finish my thesis, and then I will be working at UCLA full time!!

I feel refreshed and invigorated....I am excited to finish up my thesis at CSUSM and move to LA for the start of a new beginning :D

ME-EE-KAH SNOW is how it is pronounced...

Miike Snow killed it last night at their [sold out] show at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach...

I thoroughly enjoyed their entire set even more than when I saw them at Coachella.

Those swedish boys really know how to put on a show!!

Imagine a small venue filled with fog

and 6 swedes on stage

sporting creepy-serial-killer-masks:

Til next time, Miike Snow!

-S.G-

New Black Keys album out...

and i will be enjoying it all day today :)

Water Damage to the iPhone...tear :'(

So...it seems as thought the iPhone may be toast :( I woke up last Tuesday and there was water in it....Not sure how you get water in your phone while you are sleeping...

But anyway, I googled how to possibly fix it and ended up stealing like 20 of those silica gel packets from purses at Wal-Mart...According to all the wonderful people out there on the internet, the packets will dry out the phone "in several days..."

But after being extremely patient, it seems that they didn't work! It's been one week and the phone is still not turning on :(

I am going to see if I can get it repaired at this store in the mall....Cross your fingers for me!

Otherwise I am screwed!!

-S.G.

Weather Facts

I have a strange obsession with the weather. I have not one, but two weather app's on my iphone and weather.com is first in my bookmark bar on my MacBook.

Interestingly, this weather obsession is something people close to me are aware of....

For instance when my neighbor got her new flat screen TV (hooked up to netflix) she immediately let me know that there is a 24 hour a day streaming weather channel! How sweet is that?

Anyway, due to my weather obsession,

I thought I would share some cool weather stuff today :)

Is mood linked to weather?

Everyone has heard the tale that your mood is linked to the weather, and that there is a higher likelihood of depression in the winter months in comparison to summer months.... However, the actual research conducted on this topic is limited. There have only been a small number of studies which have produced inconsistent results....

Interestingly, this weather-mood myth may not be true!

A recent study published in Psychiatry Research disputes this myth. The study was conducted online an included almost 14,500 participants.

The results found no link between mood weather!

This does not dispute the existence of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), in which certain individuals experience Major Depressive symptoms more often during certain times of of the year. However, it does urge psychologists to further investigate the supposed link between season and mood.

City without Seasons:

Medellin, Columbia

This city in Columbia has NO seasons! It's essentially spring ALL year round!

Crazy.... Although we barely have seasons here in sunny San Diego, you can tell the difference between summer and winter!

Perhaps they should measure the rate of depression there?

-S.G

Electric Daisy Carnival Headband ideas :D

In the summer of 2010 I will attend my second annual Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC), and I am extremely excited! Let's jump back about a year though, so we can see where this all started...

On Friday, June 26, 2009 at 3pm, my friend and I were sitting at Pizza Port in Carlsbad drinking a beer when we realized we should be attending EDC later that evening! So we Sponatneously got ready and drove up to LA, just the two of us...

Documentation:

We totally had a blast! this year will be much different, because we have a group of about 10 going and a hotel room booked :)

Furthermore we decided that we are going to make super-sweet headbands to wear to EDC, and I think I will be using these fromBan.Do as my inspiration:

Can't wait until the end of June!

-S.G.

Update!!

Here is a couple pictures of the

headband i chose to wear

and the entire outfit :)

In my opinion I did pretty well with this one!

The night was so much fun...

Deadmau5 killed it, as usual :)

-S.G.

Boyfriend Criteria

Inspired by Anna, (who was inspired by smitten) I am creating my Boyfriend Criteria :)

So, here it is:

1. 5 o'clock shadow: Own it

2. Science: Love it

3. Live Music: Can't live without

4. Tattoos: Have a few

5. Sarcasm: Always

6. Wanderlust: Be one

7. Reading: Do it

8. My dog: Love him

9. Communication: Use it

10. Wine: Drink it

11. Romanticize: Everything

-S.G.

Home Goods :)

i collect many photos of interior decorating in hopes that one day i will come back to these pictures and be able to use them as a blueprint for my own home decor :)

A Mirrored Pool of Thought

A few recent photos by Yours Truly :)

-S.G.

Stab The Princess

Brilliant trio of photo's for your enjoyment :)

Created and photographed by my dear friend Ryen

www.stabtheprincess.com:

Yes, I watch weddings shows and enjoy wedding magazines...

Just imagine, combining these elements for the perfect wedding:

The most romantic song ever:

Bright Eyes: First Day of My Life

The best invite ever:

Click here to see larger size

Combined with something much like this wonderfulness:

Kelli + Sam - Same Day Edit/Wedding Trailer from Matthew Forrey on Vimeo.

The thought of a wedding with these elements melts my heart.

Something besides rants....Raves (as a double-entendre)

-- Rave: Cool LED-light creations --

This used to be my favorit-est creation using LED lights:

(a light installation that can be found at Coachella, EDC or other cool music festivals/Raves)

Until the LED-light wall at Voyeur nightclub in SD:

That is an ever-changing 20x50 foot wall of pure bliss :D

And lastly, a LED creation that I would like to get my hands on:

french designer aissa logerot has developed 'halo' an LED light spray. instead ofspraying paint it has an LED that sprays light. not only can the LED’s brightnessbe altered, but the colors are interchangeable. if the light doesn’t have enough battery,users simply have to shake it to have energy again.

Another Update!!

I have experienced something even better than all of these combined...

Deadmau5's new stage set-up for his 2010 tour...

Pure breathtaking LED-Brilliance:

Cheers, S.G.