Snacking

Recently I've found that I've been snacking more and more I'm not sure if its the changing of the seasons or im just pregnant. Either way this is not the best thing for me because when I snack its usually not the healthiest foods such as Swedish Fish and potato chips. I've been trying to switch to sunflower seeds because they have a lower calorie count but they're much higher in sodium. This week I brought back with me some kiwi's and some bananas in the hopes that ill be choosing to snack on those as opposed to my usual choices.

I find my main hang up with snacking on fruit as opposed to the others is simply location. I live in a three story house so I keep my fruit on the first floor in the kitchen and the other food up in my room on the third floor. Its much more convient for me to just grab some sunflower seeds or chips because I dont have to venture down two flights of stairs to get to them. I realize this is some pretty extreme laziness but when you're hungry its what happens.

Im really resolving this week to make the effort to go down to get the fruite rather than the unhealthy snacks because kiwi's and bananas are some of my favorite fruit. Hopefully my resolve stays through out the week and into the next.

Music is Simply Amazing

Ever since I was a little kid music has been a large part of my life. Some of my earliest memories are eating lunch with my parents while listening to AC/DC and my parents making pizza and listening to the same Erasure album every saturday. Even to this day I listen to music almost constantly. I have an impossibly large number of songs in my iTunes (35000+), a full 80gb iPod, an iPhone almost filled with music, and a CD collection in excess of 300. Even as I'm typing this there is music by my favorite band blaring from my cheap stereo system, the song where I got the name for this blog actually just finished playing. I've also been to way more than my fair share of concerts with almost 40 just in the last year alone.

All that being said I'm sure some of you are curious how this is going to be health related and not just me espousing on my love for music. For me music is integral to my health. Whenever I'm down I know the kind of music that will make me feel better, whenever I'm happy I know the type of music that will make me even happier. Theres also music to help me write, to help me concentrate, to make driving easier and so many countless other things.

With out music my life would be a lot more chaotic and upsetting. Music while it wont help me get over a cold or help me recover from a heart attack is quite important to my mental health. I wont say I need it to be in a good mood but it really does help. I cant how many times music has gotten me out of a funk or helped me deal with something depressing or just made a good day better. Some might find it weird but the music that calms me down is some of the hardest stuff out there that my parents and alot of my friends hate. Theres just something about someone screaming lyrics that makes me feel like they understand where I'm at in my life.After a particularly bad break up my freshman year of college one album by my favorite band really helped me deal with it because every song felt like the lead singer understood what I was feeling and knowing that someone else out there had gone through the same thing really helped me out.

Most people wont think of music as a part of mental health but to those people that are involved in it or have a deep love for it they know it is and they know how important it can be to people.

My Allergies Are Killing Me

It wasn't till about 9th grade that my allergies got bad but once they did it was like a snowball down a mountain. It really only started with itchy eyes which for a while was something I could deal with. After that the roof of my mouth started to get itchy. Once it got to that point I couldn't just suck it up so I decided to take some sort of allergy medicine. Because it was the most advertised at the time I decided to try Claritin-D. I decided to go with the D because my nose was getting stuffy at the time and I hopped it would help clear that up for me. When I first started taking it, it worked perfectly. It would last all day and all of my allergic reactions would disappear. After a while though my allergies started getting worse and the Claritin would stop working as much. It wouldn't last all night instead it would just last for 8-12 hours when it was supposed to last for 24. I decided that it was time to switch to something else so I decided to try Zyrtec. That to worked for a while but I again built up a tolerance so I tried switching back to Claritin last winter. Thats when my allergies started getting worse. The Claritin wouldn't take care of all of my allergic reactions. My eyes would stay itchy and start watering and the roof of my mouth would be constantly itchy and nothing I could do would stop it. I remember one particular day as I was walking to class there was what looked like a pollen tornado. I of course had to walk through it to get to class and that made my allergies go berserk. In class it literally looked like I was crying because the pollen had gotten into my contacts and behind them and the Claritin couldn't handle it. When I got home later I washed my contacts off and the solution was yellow from all the pollen. Just today I switched back to Zyrtec in the hopes that it can better fight my allergies. If this doesn't work like I want it to I might have to start looking into allergy shots because I'm sick of suffering from my allergies.

My Ears Are Ringing

When most people think of health, hearing is probably not one of the first things that comes to mind. For me though being obsessed with music my hearing is one of my main concerns. As a concert photographer I'm exposed to really loud music a few times a week. Usually I end up standing right next to the giant speakers that are playing the music loud enough to shake the venue.

My first concert where I was shooting and not just attending was the '09 Warped Tour. As I was new to this whole experience I was rather unprepared for that day. When I first got into the photographer/press pit I immediately realized just how loud the speakers were. When you're right next to them then can actually push you back if they're up loud enough (which has happened to me). Thankfully one of the security guards was nice enough to give me a extra set of ear plugs but the damage was done none the less. When I got home after spending all day by the speakers my ears were ringing incessantly. Luckily this stopped early the next day but some damage had been done. From then on I always tried to remember to bring ear plugs with me to limit the ear damage. I remembered to bring them most of the time but occasionally because I'm only human I forgot from time to time. Most times I could get away with this by hanging back from the stage when I wasn't shooting or covering my ears.

One time though neither of these worked because I was on stage and had no choice but to be next to the speakers. The Fall of Troy were on their Farewell Tour and they had a stop at The First Unitarian Church that I was lucky enough cover. After being on stage for all three bands I had to leave because my ears were hurting already. When I was over a friends house after the show I could barely hear what they were saying the ringing was so loud. This was the worse I ever hearing damage that I have experienced, it went on for three days, and even at the end of the third day my hearing wasn't what it was before the show, the ringing had just stopped. This really solidified in my mind that I needed to have ear plugs in at every show I attend wether its for entertainment or I'm taking pictures.

Hearing loss is something I've become terrified since that experience and ever since then I've done everything that I can to ensure that I wont go through that again. Not being able to hear a person sitting next to you talk even though you can see their lips moving is a fairly frightening experience. I'm hoping my ears can remain healthy for years to come.