Esprit de l'escalier

Today has been the usual uneventful monotony that it always is. But I have still managed to learn a lot. I’ve done almost nothing but read all day. I caught up on my current events since I finally had the chance to read cover to cover, the latest issues of my TIME magazine. And I started the second book in that series I was talking about, “As You Wish”. (side note: Loreanne and Natalie – I can’t believe Christy really thinks that she might not marry him! *girly gasp* I refuse to believe it! – There’s still hope though, I only got to page 49 before someone finally managed to scrape up something for me to do. hehe) *hand on forehead in dramatic swoon* “Oh the drama!! the terrible terrible drama!!”
Anyhow, as I was saying…I’ve learned a lot from my reading today, especially pertaining to health. I think I’ve figured out why I’m always so cold. I read in the article about how humans are equipped with dozens, perhaps hundreds, of genes and associated hormones that regulate what scientists call the energy-balance equation. On one side of the equation are the calories we consume. On the other side are the calories we burn – through physical activity as well as whatever is needed just to keep the body in good working order. Anything left over gets converted to body fat. (I know…we all knew this already). For years, the identity of most of the major players in this biochemical balancing act could only be guessed at. But in 1995 a scientist discovered ‘leptin’ (which I learned is short for leptos, which is Greek for ‘thin’…neat huh?) Anyhow, leptin is a hormone produced by fat cells that actually cause fat to melt away, at least in lab mice. It turns out that it doesn’t work the same way on humans. But leptin is part of a network of a dozen other hormones that all work together. It is clear that all of them are important nodes along an elaborate network of interconnecting pathways that feed into and out of the hypothalamus, “a brain structure that is the control center for weight regulation”. (that was a direct quote from TIME…I didn’t want to plagarize, hehe) So the body and the hypothalamus send messages back and forth which powerfully affect our behavior even when we are not aware of them. “Thus, while we read the paper or carry on a conversation, the hypothalamus- activated by leptin or some other compound-orders cells and tissues to ratchet up energy expenditure. The body responds by idly fidgeting to raise metabolic rates, or by increasing blood flow to outer layers of the skin in an effort to dissipate heat. In this way, we carry out a process know as thermogenesis, which is the body’s way of burning excess calories.”
Whew! okay, with that said (or quoted) I think that I’m not eating enough calories to get my leptin going to give off heat or keep me warm, does that make sense? Perhaps I’m just crazy and thinking too much (hmmmm….probably.)
Well, besides learning that…I also noticed after reading about what the President has been up to, that George Bush kinda looks like Clint Eastwood. You know…he has that ‘the-sun-is-always-in-my-eyes’ squint. I never noticed it that much before.