Onion-ache

Today was really great. Reaching through my blinds, its as if the sun pulled me out of bed, and the beautiful Carolina blue sky kept me going through the day. It was filled with self-discovery and truths. For example, during my organ lesson today my professor said, "the preparation can be just as enjoyable as the result," which really resonated with me. I've spent so much time recently complaining about classes, reading, and homework, when the preparation and learning is just as enjoyable if not more enjoyable than the end result. Learning is really more fun than knowing. Just think how boring and meaningless a day would be if we already knew everything, and had the capacity to learn nothing! I also went to my second Episcopal Campus Ministry weekly program, and this week was about stress management. We did several de-stressing exercises from watching funny Youtube videos to giving three new people hugs. I learned that the hormone Oxytocin is released when you give people hugs, which can lead to lower stress levels and blood pressure, so I'm definitely going to start upping my hug dosage! Lastly, my day ended with an unpleasant moment of self-discovery; my body can't tolerate red onions. There were red onions in the pasta sauce served at ECM, which was followed by horrific stomach pains. I've noticed this happening after eating salsa and burgers with onions, but this time I looked it up online and discovered that many people have trouble digesting raw onions. So now I'm indeterminately withdrawing myself from raw red onions. Too bad I'll have to give up my dream of obtaining the record for the fastest time eating a raw onion, currently at 43.53 seconds, in the Guinness Book of World Records. (You can watch the record holder's voracious onion eating here.)

Signed,
EJS