Willpower for the win!

Working!Dalek

This is going to be quick, but I figured I should get it out of the way since I will have no time later today. I am currently celebrating my victory over the fanfiction (I had quite the battle with myself upon finding out that I didn't actually have a homework assignment due for my class tonight...but I still have so much to do that I really can't waste time today...so I won!) ... I am also waiting for my caffeine to cool down enough to not give me second degree burns.

(Yes, instead of reading fanfiction, I traipsed downstairs for caffeine and am updating this blog. Got a problem with that?)

Traipsing down and up two flights of stairs was fun. Naturally, it being one of the busiest weeks this month, my body hates me....and has no qualms in telling me so. Loudly.

...Opus chai still too hot. (What am I going to do about my Opus addiction in a month-ish??? Yikes!)

Oh - interesting things I learned in social psych today: (we're doing the chapter on attraction. I'm intrigued.)

1. Obscene amounts of perfume/cologne will actually hurt your chances of someone being attracted to you (even if they like the smell.) While smell does have an impact on attraction, it actually works better if its something your brain takes note of subconsciously because then you can't attribute your liking to the smell, but rather say "Oh, hey, there's something about this person I really like....can't quite put my finger on it." and leave it at that. (If you can smell it consciously its more along the lines of, "I could perhaps like this person, but I can't tell if its just the way they smell that's making me happy or if its the person him/herself.... obviously its just the smell and I should walk away now before he/she starts hitting on me again.")
2. Secrecy increases attraction. It could be because people like those who are similar to themselves, and sharing a secret could be another form of extreme similarity, because its just between the two of you. It could be a variation on thought suppression - the more you try not to think about something (or to hide it from other people, I guess), the more you end up thinking about it. This is why crushes are so much fun (cause you can go all giggly over being sneaky and stuff... not that I have any personal experience in this area or anything). It also explains part of the thrill people have during affairs... or on a more positive side, when they've just entered into a relationship and haven't told anyone about it yet.
3. Live close to your friends, live closer to your enemies. A big part of why you're friends with who you are is how often you interact with them. (Obviously, its difficult to be friends with someone you've never seen or spoken to or anything...) I mean, you probably have stuff in common with them - shared sense of humor, taste in books, or music, or whatever... but it helps if you see them often - take classes together, are friends with the same people, that sort of thing. There's this theory called "mere exposure" wherein the more often you are exposed to something (benign), the more you like it (like the .... interesting shade of orange they picked for the psychology floor of the science center). However, the more often you're exposed to something you dislike (someone's annoying habit, etc.), the more strongly you feel about that too. As I noted before, it is said that you live close to your friends, but you live closer to your enemies (because maybe they wouldn't be your enemies if their obnoxiousness wasn't in such close proximity to you and constantly pissing you off. This does not relate in any way, shape or form to anything in my life. Nope.)

And now my caffeine has cooled enough to be palatable. Huzzah! Also, when I start a post with "this is going to be quick, but..." I really ought to start hearing alarm bells clanging away in my head or something. That was obviously a lie. Stupid social psych - why must you be interesting?!

(Non-classroom related knowledge I picked up yesterday that I wanted to note: the speed of passing time increases exponentially with the level of enjoyment you're currently having. This knowledge could perhaps be rephrased as time flies when you're having fun. Somehow or other I lost three hours last night when I was with my boyfriend. Where did they go? And where the heck can I get myself a time-turner? Also, why do my decision-making/willpower skills always disappear whenever I have the most work to do? Seriously, I think my brain has masochistic tendencies or something.)