Make Yourself Invisible

That morning I had sat at the table eating cereal while my parents fought.  Someone stole some stuff from us way back in November, and we were still getting stuff squared away with insurance.  (Insurance did not pay us out as much money as we believed they would.)  My Mother was trying to get some photos and scans of the new things so that we could have them on record.  The scanner was in the other room.  She turned it on and then tried to work on the next picture with her camera while the thing was scanning.  My Father came in and turned it off and it angered her he couldn't ask. 
"I want you to leave," she yelled at him.  And he did. 
I do what every body does when someone is having a fight in front of you: make yourself invisible.  I hurriedly tried to finish my cereal and then put stuff away, but I got a front row seat anyway. 
I've been thinking a lot about this fight, not because it's rare (it's rather typical) but because a few of my friends have been discussing their own families fighting with me this week.  Everyone mentions the frustration and stress of it, and Jennifer particularly addressed how she felt like she had never seen a relationship up close that worked. 
I am now of the impression that no one knows how to make a relationship work, that humans understand virtually everything better than relationships. 
And people wonder why I'm so cynical about these matters. 

Coupling Us Of

Jennifer and I had a nice drive over here to East Lansing.  Jennifer complained to me about her job.  I don't mind because I know everyone needs a little space to complain about their job.  Sometimes, even if you love your job, you need some room to say what you don't like.  You need to feel listened to.  I love listening to Jennifer.
Finding Nate and Megan's place was not tough.  I was afraid it might be, but it was this really nice section of apartments.  Jennifer was kind enough to take my bags up one set of stairs and then a second set, since we went up the wrong one.
And then we found their apartment.  The door opened, and there Nate was.  He looked exactly the same.  I almost felt like the Grinch, like my heart was expanding three sizes in my chest.  I felt I was going to burst.  We hugged, we talked.  I said hi to the other two roommates, Valerian and Dorian.  We chatted a little.  (Megan was at work and would return soon.)
We sat around and talked.  I called and texted various people, telling them I was in town.  Now that I was forced to consider it, there were a ton of people here this summer who I wanted to see.
Justin called asking me for ice cream.  Sure, I thought.  I'd love ice cream.  Sadly, Justin's work schedule was a little screwed up, so I would have to wait for his call.  But I was already happy to see even some people.
I laid down for a little in Nate's bed while he worked on his homework (he's taking an online class.)  We had earlier teased people who weren't doing so well with what were pretty easy questions.
I had another bout of not sleeping last night (I think from so much of the excitement surrounding this trip) that I was really tired.  I felt terrible.  Even though I don't think I slept, just giving my body a little downtime was good.
Dorian offered me some cheesecake, which I had.  It occurred to me that maybe I would spend this entire trip eating junk food.  This is a vacation, so I'm okay with that.
Megan came home, and it was so good to hug and see her.  She changed into this really cute outfit and we sat around and talked and took care of some business.  It felt like no time had passed at all, like I just graduated from school yesterday, and the next day I was seeing my friends.
We decided to go out for dinner, since Nate and I got invited to a dinner party tomorrow and Nate is going to be working Saturday night.    
Megan, Nate, Dorian, Valerian and I piled into Dorian's car.  I texted Dan to tell him that he was welcome to join us.
Driving through the town was weird.  I have all these memories here, but I've already been able to put so many of them in the past.  Feels strange to deal with them now.
We went past my old church.  I had accidentally left one of my favorite blue hoodies there right before graduation.  We went in to try to find it.  No such luck.
The church was eerily quiet.  No one appeared to be around.  All I could think of is how people at home are afraid to leave a church like that because people come in and vandalize so often.
We walked over to the restaurant and ordered our food.  The guy at the counter did that thing were he couples people off.  He assumed that Nate and I were a couple, which was awkward.  Nate had already walked away when he mentioned that we were a couple.
I laughed.  "We're not," I said.
"I don't believe you," he said.
People in this town are both crazy and fascinating.

Step Back: I'm Using Science

A couple of days ago, Jennifer and I got onto a conversation on aluminum. Basically, there is a lot of scientific evidence (though not clear proof) that aluminum increases your likelihood of developing Alzheimer's disease. This was totally news to me. (Read a pdf review of the research that's been done on the subject.)
The biggest problem with all of this is that aluminum is in a ton of products, most of which people use on a regular basis and don't think much about like toothpaste, deodorant, and makeup.
So, in an attempt to understand this issue better, I did a little scouting online. I was mostly looking at the things I like to buy that might have this stuff in it. The only thing I found? Sun screen from Sephora. Sun screen is suppose to help you not get sun burned and develop skin cancer, not make plaques grow in your brain. This kind contains Aluminum hydroxide, which is less dangerous than other kinds, like organic forms, which are more easily absorbed. I found other products here and there with aluminum in them, though none with something like Aluminum citrate.
But I did find that apparently no one likes to list their ingredients right on the page where they're selling. This angers me a lot. I feel like it shouldn't be that hard for them to type them up. I'm this close to boycotting the companies that won't list ingredients (which is a far longer list than companies I found who always listed them.)
What's most sad is that a lot of companies that are very much in the business of selling beauty products seemed to have the hardest time listing things. Department stores that sell mostly clothes often wouldn't list, but companies who are happy to carry on about how their stuff smell like Cucumber Melon or A Day at the Beach were pretty disappointing about listing whether or not their stuff had iron oxides. Consumers have a right not know what they're purchasing.