I'll Take A Shower Later

• I'm too tired.
• It'll just make me sleepy.
• Maybe it would be better if I took it before bed.
• I don't smell bad.
• I'm too cold.
• Not right now.
• Maybe after I eat something.
• I'll do it later.
• It'll just wake me up.
• I can do it tomorrow.
• Maybe it would be better if I took it first thing in the morning.

These are some of the thoughts that can convince me to procrastinate showering or bathing.

The peculiar part is that I actually like to shower and bathe: being immersed in the warm water, the deafening white noise of the water pouring, the room filling with steam, getting the dead cells off of my skin, relaxing all of my muscles in the weightlessness, the yummy smells of the soaps, the silky feel of my wet hair. I love the idea of washing off all the bad gunk, emotions, energy, and situations. A shower or bath is a fresh start.

Then why all the procrastination?

Maybe it's a bit of rebelliousness leftover from my childhood. At the whim of an adult, I had to stop whatever I was doing; put my toys away, and go take a bath. I realized pretty early on that many bubble baths left me with hives. I sometimes had a toy or two in the tub. I liked little people and boats. I would play with the washcloth if that was all that I had. Most of the time I was being hurried though, someone else needed the room. To this day, I cannot stand the smell of that particular soap, ugh.

Maybe it's the after time. I do not like being cold. Wet is the quickest way to feel cold. I used to get those hives that look like mosquito bites but now I only sometimes have prickly heat looking hives. The first 45 minutes to an hour after the shower my skin crawls and itches. If I'm sick or stressed out, I cannot resist and scratch and scratch and scratch.

Still, maybe I need a shower. Nah, not right now, maybe after dinner.

Summertime Slime - Elmer's Glue

It's summertime again. Maybe not by your calendar but all the signs are here:

Tons of Empty Elmer's Glue Bottles!

1. The beaches begin to fill up. I went to local public beach, IRB and parking was tricky. There were no free spaces. Did you know towns and cities expect people to PAY for parking?
2. The water is filled with swimmers and boats. The water is perfect: calm, not to warm, and clear. why would anyone be anywhere else!
3. Dawn is before 7am and Sunset is after 8pm. Sunrise starts sneaking in just a little bit earlier and earlier and everyone including the sunset loves slowing down and spending the late afternoon at the beach. 
4. We see Watermelon for sale every where. I love watermelon. Good thing because I get to enjoy: watermelon soda, watermelon mint tea, watermelon smoothies,watermelon italian ice and of course watermelon.
5. We see tons of flowers blooming. we have areas that are very manicured and areas that are au naturel. Now all the flora are feeding the bees and butterflies. I love watches the insects flutter from bloom to bloom. 
6. Nests. Every year we have several nests to watch. We regularly have at least one dove nest, one mallard duck nest. Its summer when those chicks leave their nests. Every summer the mallards take their "sord" meandering thrhough our yard, out our driveway, across the street to who knows where. The dove chicks stay in their nests until summer when they ty to fly. Last year a nest in the rafters of our gazebo had one fledgling land on my head. The onset of summer also brings the mamma sea turtles onshore to build their clutches (a borough they dig and put 100 or so fertilized eggs in).
7. And of course my daughter, now 11 craves creating slime! I have no idea why but she loves creating slime every summer. She tries different recipes. Then she tweaks the recipes here and there for endless variations. I should buy Elmer's Glue by the  gallon drum!

Experimenter - The Movie

"You could say we are puppets. But I believe that we are puppets with perception, with awareness. Sometimes we can see the strings. And perhaps our awareness is the first step in our liberation."— Stanley Milgram

It's an entertaining and interesting movie starring Peter Sarsgaard and Winona Ryder about the "obedience" research of Dr. Stanley Milgrim in the 1960s. I personally, didn't remember Milgrim or the controversy surrounding his research. I was familiar with the results of several of his research projects. The film itself is a kind of project: the main character breaks the fourth wall, some scenes are portrayed with the backgrounds projected behind the actors, and much of the emotion of the film seems to be left up to my interpretation. There are important human behavioral questions brought up. Two that particularly interest me are: why will we hurt others just because we are told to; and are we justified to hurt others in order to learn. There are at least two sightings of actual "elephants in the room." I am not sure if the elephants represent that Milgram was justifying what the subjects endured in the name of his own research or that our society still doesn't act any different than the Germans did carrying out Hitler's atrocities.

Everyone would like to believe that "I would not have shocked the stranger." How we can learn as individuals or as a whole how to get there? How can we get to a point where we no longer do what we're told just because we we're told?  How can we be sure that we will act within our conscience?