Leuty Parker

Blog

  • 26/5 – Chess

    I have recently had a real penchant for chess. I’ve got a magnetic chess board which is really helpful because my hands tremor. This chess board is very good for my concentration & my dexterity.

    The magnetic chess board is reversible; 1 side is chess, the other is backgammon, which I don’t know how to play, so I asked one of my carers to teach me.

    You can really know a lot about your opponents personality by playing them at chess.

    I have asked all my friends to play me at chess to up my dexterity & concentration.

    Chess has really grown in popularity recently, probably due to the series which has been very popular on Netflix, called ‘the queens gambit’.

    One of the facts I found in my notebook which gives me a lot entertainment & topics for my blog , it looks like this:

    The team “check mate” comes from the farsi phrase “shah mat” which means “the king is helpless“

  • 16/5 – Women inventions

    I was doing some cleaning out & found a notebook, which lets me know the old Leuty. It said a bunch of things which I’ll expand on in other for posts but here is one of the best;

    The following things are invented by women. I sound like a feminist but these female inventors really did change the world:

    kevlar. Five exists. CCTV. Circular saw. Monopoly . Windscreen wipers. Chocolate biscuits.

  • 17/5 – Clearing Out

    Very recently I did some clearing out of my old things & it means I can get to know the old Leuty, who I really want to become.

    I did find my old notebook, which must’ve had my various musings. It seems like I was very philosophical and these are my favourites. Here’ the first two pages;

    “Live in the present, remember the past and fear not the future. For it doesn’t exist and never will. There is only now”

    ‘To look at everything always as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time. This is your time on earth fill it with glory“

  • 16/6 – Tattoos

    A tattoo is life long. You have to be absolutely sure about it. You can’t just take it off.

    I, myself, have 3 tattoos & there was a lot of thought put into them. I’m writing this blog post because my new passion project is designing a tattoo. My 3 ones are on the soul of my foot, because that’s where tatattoos should be, on your soul. I appreciate the play on words.

    The first two ones I got, still on my soul, the placement was where your heart is in reflexology (on my heart & soul).

    A foot tattoo is easy to hide, so if you’re like me, having a mum who is very anti-tattoo then they’re easily hidden. She only found out about my tattoos when I was in a coma. So I guess I dodged a bullitt there.

    What my tattoos are are that 2 are the Greek symbol for the golden section, & 1 is a lightning bolt. The bolt because I love the energy of lightning & the mix of physics & nature. & lightning leuty I guess, there’s a ring to the alliteration. The symbol of the golden section is the last because it’s a mathematical theory for beauty. It is scattered all over the art world too. I love that there is a theory of where art & beauty cross will mathematics.

  • 11/5- Tattoo design

    11/5- Tattoo design

    I have a brand new project which really tickles my fancy. That is designing a tattoo!

    The person who it’s for gave me very little to work from.

    He’s looking after me , while I’m recovering from this brain injury, so I was thinking maybe a brain could be a symbol.

    He speaks 3 languages, fluently. I have highlighted the Wernicke’s & Broca’s areas, both of which are focused on language.

    He wants it to be on his arm so I guess it’ll be relatively small.

    Maybe a philosophical thing could be that instead of line, they will be stars so it kind of makes a constellation. It also is kind of saying that the brain, like the stars, is infinite.

  • 4/5 – Sleep

    We all take it for granted, but there’s a bit of a hype about sleeping better so to adhere to this hype, let me begin.

    It’s best to wake probably about an hour before you’re meant to wake, something called PER levels go up, making your body temperature rise, and blood pressure too.

    Preparing for waking up early, your body releases stress hormones, which is generally called “stress hormone” but can include cortisol, catecholamine (eg adrenaline) vasopressin (otherwise known as antidiuretic hormone) & growth hormone.

    I try to turn my phone completely off when I go to sleep, so no distractions.

    The type of bed is very necessary to get a good nights sleep, so that includes the right pillow (I really do sound like I’m selling some sleep product), mattress, duvet & even pillow spray.

    Sleep scientists say that rapid eye movement increases your memory. So maybe I need more REM sleep. The only thing I do to boost my sleeping hygiene is put pillow spray to get me more relaxed, but doing this research has made me want to practice what I preach.

    I do, however wake up quite early, without any alarm. So around 6 or 7. I do also keep a dream diary, to test my memory & try to see what is going on in my brain.

    The oura ring (which I really want) is a great sleep, stylish monitor which has a gyroscope, heart monitor & other things. It’s Wireless too, so you can remotely charge it.

    Our sleep has 90 minutes periods & then it starts again. So I guess that works the same when we’re aware; your brain can deal with exercises for up to 90 minutes, then it starts again.

    I don’t practice getting a lot of sleep though, but I do appreciate all the science, so it’s my goal to get a more healthy sleep system.

  • 6/5 – Remembering

    My Sunday person is studying psychology, & he told me that you have two types of memory; episodic & semantic. You can think of the two like this; function vs fashion.

    ‘Fashion’ (or episodical) is kind of like things that you can imagine what it looks like, feels &/or sound like. You can actually picture yourself feeling the situation.

    Semantic memory is where you just remember the facts. It’s quite clinical. It’s things that are common knowledge, like ‘ a strawberry is red’ or ‘a chello is deeper in sound than a violin’. However this doesn’t include things that you learn from experience.

    For me, I’ve already mentioned I have quite a musical brain, so with that in mind, some songs bring back memories. Not that I can remember particular details but I know the lyrics, not knowing how I know them perfectly.

  • 2/4 – Reading

    I have actually blogged about this but I have found that I get to fall in love with my favourite culture again, for example my favourite books. Right now I’m reading my old friends book so I can fall in love with it again.

    One of the good things is that, now while I’m reading it again, I’m more focussed on it. I take notes so I guess I’m perceiving it differently.

    That reminds me of the different parts of the brain, which are relevant. I learned them today too.

    There are 2 types of memory; episodic & the semantic memory. It’s kind of like fashion vs function. The old Leuty (who I’m trying to get back) was very much interested in function. So I guess it’s a bit ironic that a fashion designer prefers function over fashion.

  • 17/5 – School of Rock

    I finished the School of Rock receiving & it truly made me smile. It’s a real feel good movie & has some really rad music in it too. The story goes like this…

    The protagonist stars Dewey Finn (Jack Black) who is a struggling guitarist. Initially there’s a scene where he’s playing a concert, which turns out he’s doing a ‘Battle of the Bands’ gig. He tries to crowd surf but they all depart & he falls on the floor.

    Next, it flicks to a scene where he’s asleep & his flat mate, Ned is arguably with his girlfriend about Dewey.

    I have a very music brain anyway, so learning is what they do in school,& & rock is a form of music, so it’s a match made in heaven.

    It expands to them arguing about Dewey & his lack of playing the rent. Being just a guitarist for a band won’t pay for thei flat rent.

    He then receives a call, meant for his flat mate (Ned), about their need for a substitute teacher (Ned is a substitute teacher). He pretends to be Ned Schneebly, (his flatmate) accepting the position.

    He teaches his students & sees some potential, so he follows his passion & teaches them rock & roll.

    Dewey then forms a band of fifth-graders, and attempts to win battle of the bands.

    It really made me appreciate rock & the education system too.

    It’s on Netflix Woohoo! Hoping you like it as much as I did.

  • 5/5 – Automatic Reaction

    In my attempt to learn a bit more about the brain, I learned about it’s power, which includes automatic reactions. A green example is blinking; we don’t think about doing it, we just automatically do it.

    I guess another example, but to lesser extent is breathing. In breathing , we need oxygen to function, so it does have the biological aspect. But again, we don’t think that we are breathing, we just do it.

    It’s only brought to our attention when we think about it, & when it’s out the norm, do we focus on it, for example when we yawn. Yawning, what I’ve been told, is your brain tries to get more oxygen. So I guess it’s just glorified breathing.