Gigantic

Quick update before I get long winded: Three weeks have passed since we got here. It's going so fast I can't even remember what we've done or how we've spent our time. I'm working full time at the store doing the produce, being the Produce Manager (my department has all of one employees in it: ME). I'm having a great time, but it's way more work than my last job. I got to chill and read/do whatever I wanted. We'd discuss the important things of life like the Presidential Race, the latest goods on Integer Overflow, and laughing at each other over dumb things (meerly?). Now, I have to sneak conversations with the deli lady behind Else's back just to get some personal interaction in during the day (answering the phone and helping customers doesn't really count). I talk to myself when I'm in the fridge, but I get overheard by the kale and they're take advantage of all the secrets they hear.

I bought a bike, the dark gray Motobecane. I've ridden it to work all this week and took it out to the CSUCI campus on my lunch break. 5.3 miles one way, plus a mile detour into the dairy to check out the model airplane guys. It must've been WWII day, there were 20-30 world war two model airplanes, no one flying while I was there, though. Was a great ride. The strawberry fields smelled incredible. The bike works very well. A few minor adjustments to make, but I can do it. Very pleased.

Been thinking a lot about hormones lately. Taking all the science classes I did, I got to learn a lot. Emily has in her classes as well. Now, we blame everything on hormones. Grumpy day? Hormones. Feeling frisky? Hormones. No feelings whatsoever? Lack of hormones.

In Molecular Biology the professor taught us about a single gene on the Y chromosome that determines maleness. Testis-determining-factor gene is on the Y chromosome but only becomes activated for a tiny tiny period of time during gestation. The gene codes for the TDF hormone which has only one purpose (can you guess it?). Once it's job is done, the gene is turned off and never used again for the rest of the person's life.

Hormones are any chemical that the body uses as a signaland can be proteins, amino acids, cholesterols and fats. Insulin is a very simple protein/peptide hormone. Since proteins are direct products of DNA genes, the insulin gene has been discovered and spliced into certain E. Coli bacteria DNA. Now, almost all insulin production for medicinal/diabetic purposes is made by E. Coli. Testosterone, estrodiol (the precursor to estrogen) and several other androgens (sex hormones) are cholesterol-based.

Hormones are controlled in someway or another by nervous system innervation or another hormone control from the brain. Unlike nerve impulses, the originating signal can be long gone while the effect remains. Becoming an adult, it seems that the strongest temptations faced can be traced to hormones and part of me wonders if the great challenge of being an adult is learning to maintain control over the body in the face of overwhelming signals from the body to fulfill basic biological desires of one form or another. That, and learning to cope with other people dealing with the same struggles.

Just as every person is unique because of their genes, those same unique combinations of genes create unique combinations of hormone levels for every person. Hormones create desires to eat, sleep, procreate, exercise, and function. A lack or surplus of any of these hormones causes struggles to deal with. I don't know if there is any ideal combination of hormones, and even if there was and you had it, you'd have to deal with the rest of us with a less than "perfect" balance of the same. This will be the struggle Emily and I face for the next eight months, especially now as she's dealing with severe nausea (but no vomiting). If you didn't know, it's cuz we didn't tell anyone except those reading this (sneaky sneaky).

If only people knew what to do with all the hormones they feel and why they're feeling them we could learn to control them to some degree (speaking of those we are cognitive of). Even as modern study and research shows the cause and effects of so many hormones, there is no publicly accepted authority of what should be done regarding all these hormones. Should they be followed as they are felt? Should they be restrained to severe frustration and near insanity? Most religions cannot come to any decisions and neither can science. Many religions treat biological desires as ungodly things that should be suppressed to allow a closer communion with God. Science says our biology created these feelings for a reason and should be followed as they are understood. I say, we don't understand enough to make any decision about how we should act regarding them, so we need to do our best to follow God's commandments as we know them and enjoy life within the bounds set by him as we believe. We've also got to act for the best of ourselves AND society despite and because of how we're feeling at the time.

Nuff said.