A nerdy Saturday

I'm listening to Nocturnes (2) for piano by Chopin. I just spent the last five hours listening to my biopsychology professor lecture on pharmacology. This is the study of how exogenous drugs (something made outside the body) affect endogenous neurotransmitter systems (something inside the body) to produce changes in behavior. I missed 5 days of class which is why I had so much to do to prepare for the test we are having on Monday. So what is one interesting thing I learned today from these lectures, well, there was so much that caught my attention and sparked an interest. My professor talked a lot about addiction and withdrawal symptoms that can affect one physically and/or psychologically. I never knew that physical withdrawals from alcohol can kill someone. This worries me. I pray for fellow college students who begin to develop drinking habits here thinking everyone drinks a lot in college until the popular partier at some frat finds himself guzzling down beer like a "college student" at age 40.

I am grateful for many things in my life and right now the best thing in my life is my gorgeous blue eyed boyfriend. When I first met him I knew there was something different about this boy. I truly and unconditionally care about him like no other previous boyfriend. When he told me that he was going out with his buddies to have a single beer, I did not mind. But when that single beer turned to drunkenness on several occasions, I feared for our relationship and his health. After a few rocks and bumps, we both promised each other (as I will be turning 21 soon) that we didn't need alcohol and we both gave it up for good. This is sort of a big deal for a guy in a fraternity but his brothers respected his decision and respected him for the promise he made me, not to mention his also worrisome mother liked this and me for promoting this. I have seen friends and family members fall down wrong paths from drugs and alcohol too many times so it holds a sore spot in my heart. I know I worry way too much but with this promise I can live much more comfortably with myself and those I love.

Another interesting fact I learned today, weed is the biggest money making industry in our country. There was a slide in the lecture filled with the positive affects and one tiny bullet point on the negative affects of THC (the main ingredient in cannabis, the pot plant). The briefness of negativity could be due to the lack of research done on this plant and drug, however. The part of the brain that THC affects was recently discovered in the 90s which in science world is like a baby learning to crawl. Since the government has classified marijuana as a deadly drug, the same classification a narcotic is given, not much research has been able to be done. I am not for legalizing marijuana but I am almost positive that the reasons for its illegalization do not lie in the government's concerns for public health and there are lurking variables hiding in the bushes as my high school stats teacher would say.

I watched my best friend from middle school start drinking alcohol, discover weed and it's "lack of a hangover", then slowly dissolve into the world of drugs. She left me and the rest of the high school behind, or rather fell below our island into a world I don't know to this day if she ever got out of. Last I heard she had a cocaine addiction. Without the help of green eyed Mary Jane, my best friend from middle school would have had a chance at graduating high school with the rest of us plain Jane's living in a different kind of green world. This is just one sad story in which I have read a library's worth throughout the two decades of my life. I pray for strength.

I love piano concerto No. 1 in C major by Beethoven. I am listening to it played by someone magnificently. Times like this I wish I kept up with my piano playing. One day I will reacquaint myself with the love that kept me out of trouble the first half of my life.