I was reading in my Psychology GRE study guide that a dog phobia is called cyonophobia. I guess a raccoon phobia would be procyonolotorophobia... isn't it amazing how this entry ties in with my last one? AMAZING! WOW!
I wrote my Graduate Record Examination (GRE) in New York at some college a few years ago. I scored in the 97th percentile. That means that of the thousands of wannabe graduate school hopefuls writing that exam around the world that day during that set of hours (they synchronize all the test locations globally so that no-one from Helsinki phones their friend in Singapore to tell them answer to question 347...), only 3% did better than me.
I am so smart, SMRT.
My girlfriend at the time wept in the parking lot because she did poorly. She did. Compared to me and 24% of the other writers... She's now a Ph.D. in Psychology. I didn't go to grad school. It was all about getting my documents together and feeling confident about my abilities to go to grad school. I was not confident. And I sabotaged my efforts to get there - looking back, I shoulda just submitted them. I'd wanted to go to Waterloo. But I didn't go on to do my Masters and Doctorate in addiction research with an old rude lady I met at a cognitive psychology conference in Philadelphia the year before who was an admitted alcoholic. She studied cognitive stuff about alcoholism. Well, I guess that makes sense. She'd understand it all well. I was interested in research around opiate addiction. I find it fascinating.
I thought of that subject of study last night, unable to fall asleep for 30 minutes (normally I'm asleep within a minute). I remembered the term 'anticipatory hyperactivity' and remembered a paper I'd submitted on it in my final year. Now that was fascinating stuff. It's a reaction your body has in unconscious anticipation of some depressant substance or state - which can well explain tolerance development. Normally all around opiate tolerance and addiction. I'm neither tolerant nor addicted to opiates. I did have some opiates administered intravenously when I had a kidney stone a couple of years ago. I babbled.
But last night I attempted to reformulate my whole paper and thesis while staring at the ceiling. I almost had it all summed up and smiled and fell asleep. In the office earlier last night, I reached down to pick up a pen that had rolled off the desk. I got my head stuck under the desk coming up again.
I am so smart, SMRT.