It's self-acceptance week here at NMU

Whether it's the fact that you wish you had blue eyes, the fact that you wish you were taller,  the fact that you wish you weren't so tall, or even the fact that you wish you were left-handed---> Sadly, we need to accept us for who we are... this week at least.


While there are plenty of blogs on being left-handed out there in cyberspace, there seems to be a lack of right-handed blogsin existence.  Surprised?  Eh, probably not.  It may be a little monotonous to post blogs about routines that have little difficulty because much of everything is adapted for the right-hander:  it's kind of a nice thing I suppose.

Holy Wah!

<--- What do you see this as?  That's the question of the century... or of the moment

If one goes to type in Google, "Left-handed blogs," one will be utterly amazed (Or, I suppose "amaze" isn't accurate for everyone) at all of them.  While I am certainly just a left-handed wannabe, there are Legitimate stories about the struggles of being a southpaw.  


 Are you a left-hander?  Don't doubt your capabilities!  Take the test.  Go ahead.  Do it.

http://www.beinglefthanded.com/Left-Handed-Test.html 

I just asked the left-handed classmate to my right (Dana) to draw a circle... I watched intently.  Next, was to find a right-handed person (Katrina) to draw a circle.  She too did it counter-clockwise.  Hmm.  Interesting. 

I can't attribute this information to research at Harvard or even Yale, but I did find that the chance of being a left-handed kiddo when your parents are right-handed is just 2%.  However, when one's parents are both left-handed, the kiddo's shot at being a southpaw jumps to 42%... still less than half.
"While being left handed isn’t a big deal anymore, once upon a time it was extremely frowned upon. For instance, in India and Indonesia, it is considered extremely impolite to eat with the left hand, as this is the hand that is used to “cleanse” oneself. Therefore, the left hand is considered dirty. In addition, teachers in America used to slap the wrists of students who attempted to write with their left hands.
Aside from past ridicule of society, lefties also face many other struggles when it comes to using scissors, knives, cameras, tools, watches, etc. Every one of these objects need the complete opposite design in order to accommodate the needs of a lefty. Fortunately, left handers of today are treated with much more consideration, and virtually any tool can be designed for left handed individuals.
Therefore, if you use your left hand over your right, or your child does, this is quite natural, and shouldn’t be something for you to worry about. Just make sure that you provide your child with all of the help they need to make the most of their abilities. Remember, there is nothing wrong about being left handed, event though it can sometimes prove to be difficult in a world with a predominant right handed population."

Quotes

If you hold a four-leaf shamrock in your left hand at dawn on St. Patrick's Day you get what you want very much but haven't wished for.  ~Patricia Lynch

Today is St. Patrick's Day, so in celebration of that, Happy St. Patrick's Day.  This morning I was studying for a rather large test next week when a friend came out of his way to pinch me.  While I was wondering why he was so dressed in green, he quickly informed me of his day's activities.


While I tried to support my case that I indeed have a green backpack, he really didn't care.  Interestingly, he pinched my left arm.  Interesting.


So, apparently, there is some sort of connection between ole St. Pats Day and the left side of one's body, or not.  

Thirsty? What way will you tilt?

It seems that many of my stories I share with people involve either me running, or at running events.  This case is no different.  It was after the last race a couple of my teammates and I were cooling down.  For those of you who are not runners, cooling down means to release the lactic acid that has built up in the legs.  For those of you who don't like terms such as "lactic acid," it simply is getting rid of that tight feeling.  Good, that is cleared up.

We were jogging down this carpeted hallway, when this drinking fountain looked rather appealing.  I stopped.  The teammates I was running with stopped.  I bent over, and tilted my head to the left.

"Whoa!, it's on the left side!  Isn't the water spigot usually on the right?!"

I feel like the majority of water fountains I've used in my short lifetime have had the spigots on the right side, so I was rather excited to see this one accommodated for the left-handed thinkers. 

"Brittany!  Sarah!  Isn't this weird?"

They really didn't care about what side they tilted their head toward to get some water.  I walked away rather pleased not only because I was no longer thirsty, but because I realized the world is striving for equality in water bubblers.. kind of.

Update.

I have largely thrown in the towel to writing left-handed in many of my classes.  Why?, you may ask?  Well the answer is simple.  I lack the self-control.  However... here's some left-hand vs Right-hand pictures of notes.  They're not too shabby.  Enjoy the human communication notes. 

Snap, Crackle, and Pop

I'm starting to pay attention to things more closely.  At the same time, I think I'm starting to annoy everyone around me too.  For instance, this week we have our indoor conference track meet down at Saginaw.  We made sandwiches for lunch while we were on the bus.  My seat partner and I made ours at the same time.  While we were eating the turkey, cheese, and bread combination, I noticed that Sara, my seat partner and roommate, ate the upper right-hand corner of her sandwich first.  However, I ate the upper left-hand corner first.  I proceeded to point that out, and get told that I need to stop over analyzing EVERYTHING.

Another interesting fact is that I now sleep on my left side.  Honest to goodness there may be a transformation taking place.  Who knows

The "Snap, Crackle, Pop" title was inspired by Mandy my roommate for the weekend because she was looking at a Kellogg's website.  Zero relevance otherwise.

Saddle Up Pinky

Over winter break, I went to my boyfriend's home.  While there, he thought it would be a good idea to go horseback riding.  Since I had never done it, I was all for it.  However, at one moment, the horse I was riding spooked, and I jammed my pinky on the horn of the saddle.  I know, right now you're thinking, "Poor Rita."  If you're not, you should be.  After subtle whining to several family members, I got it checked out to discover it was in fact sprained.  YES!  I was really hoping there was reason for my wailing.

When we needed a topic for this blog project, I struggled to come up with ideas.  I've always wished I was left-handed, and since my right pinky was injured, it only seemed appropriate to try the left handed approach.  After weeks of left-hand implementation-ness, I tried to brush my teeth with my right hand.  That gosh darn pinky is still sore!  My goodness.  What will it take.