The Introverted Detective

 I have long hair. When down and out of the braid I keep it in, it nearly hits my waist. I quite literally have it up or in a braid almost all week, with the exception of when I wash it. Today I have found some nifty tips on what to do with super long hair.  Photo by The Freckled Fox In the general sense, thick long hair is great to have, yet takes work to take care of. I love my hair being long and it makes different hairstyles possible. I only wash it once a week and have my husband braid it (because he's so good at making the braid last) to keep it from tangling. Even then it tangles after five or so days of being up. I sleep in this braid, for reference. (If I'm not supposed to do that, well, too bad. I work in foodservice. It makes it easier to wear a hairnet.) I did some research on how we're supposed to care for long hair. This is everything that I found.  General Care When you brush your hair go from the bottom to the top, working your way up. It doesn't rip out...

 Journaling has many benefits, one of which being that it helps you process your thoughts. I did this all the time during college when I couldn't find a safe place to blurt out my thoughts verbally to a friend or alone. It is best to do this while being honest with yourself. What else are journals good for? Let's find out! Photo By Committ30 Why journal? There are many reasons. You can release your thoughts and process whatever is most bothering you. It helps you manage anxiety and depression, too. Keep in mind that typing it out and ignoring it is not processing it; to process those thoughts you released you have to leave it all out on the page and reread it to identify bad thought habits and what is most stressful. If you are obsessing over something unhealthy it will come out in your journal.  How To Journal To get the most out of the journaling (typing or pen/pencil) you have to do it at least weekly, if not daily. It unclutters your mind and clears the cobwebs out of your...

 Christmas Carol mentions poorhouses and workhouses through Scrooge's infamous line about "Are there no workhouses?". Allow me to enlighten you on what those were.  Photo by gold.ac.uk When we see the horrified faces of the charity workers responding to Scrooge's comment on workhouses this is because these places were horrible. Scrooge literally told them that the poor can die in these places and he didn't care in different words. I mentioned almshouses and poorhouses in a previous blog about Nursing Homes .  The earliest laws for dealing with the poor were made in 1601. The Elizabethan Poor Law declared locals had responsibility for the poor, had to provide for them, and were not liable for the poor outside their town. The paupers of the time could be auctioned off and work as payment for having a home. The poorhouses had the goal of transforming the character of their people and check the expenses of pauperism (selling the poor to other people). You still had to...

 Deadpool is an immensely popular marvel antihero. If you haven't heard of him by now you live under a rock. While I was thinking about Loki, I figured we could dive into this guy's backstory for a bit. Ready to dive into the world of Deadpool?  Photo by Hulu Deadpool is not a hero, but instead an antihero. His antics are quite violent and that disqualifies him from the hero category. That doesn't stop the public from loving him, which is where antiheroes come in. He can't die and has two voices that only he can hear in his head. There is no mental filter for his mouth (though his mouth was sewn shut at some point). He has all the strengths and none of the weaknesses of various marvel X-Men. His actual name is Wade Wilson.  What you might not know is that Deadpool has cancer. He undergoes a procedure that saves him and leaves him disfigured. His cancer can't die, yet it won't kill him. He can't die at all. He also gets his name from a bar, one that bets on w...

If you look at the history of the asylums blog I posted before this, you see that this type of home replaced the asylums when it came to the elderly. How did this start? Let's take a closer look.  Photo by Flashbak - a 1970s nursing home (if you didn't guess by the colors in the room) The nursing home may have had some similarities to asylums. I'd say it isn't the same, mostly because the focus is different. The focus isn't to cure, but instead to keep the elders of the community comfortable and somewhat happy. This is where you send grandma and grandpa when you can no longer take care of their needs by yourself. The asylums in comparison were similar, yet the goal of the asylum was recovery.  You think of medical care when you think of nursing homes. Older asylums look like nursing homes in some cases. I know that nowadays nursing homes are not all homey. It didn't start that way. The homes were literally homes set up for those who needed support in their older...

We see asylums as creepy places, and some of them are legitimately haunted. When and why did they start? Let's begin there.  The Kirkbride Plan  - PBS Learning Media During the times of at-home treatment for those with mental illness, some could not be around others or be contained. This is where being sent to "a home" started. Private hospitals depended on the money of wealthy families to care for their patients. Most hospitals had a ward for those who needed it. Asylums became something big when the idea of open space and kind treatment began to be considered the way to cure the mentally ill.  This required secluded places. The Quakers were the first to run with this and had laypeople running it, rather than medical physicians. Most other facilities had physicians as the head of the establishment. Thomas Kirkbride developed a plan and outline for how they should be set up. Almost every place used this system for at least 40 years. Kirkbride's plan called for only 25...

We know of Loki through Marvel movies and streaming services, but what is the actual mythology behind Loki? Is he more than the god of mischief? Let's find out.  Photo by The Atlantic Starting with bare-bones basics, Loki is the god of mischief and possibly fire. He is considered neutral (not good or bad). It explains why he'd be an antihero. Odin may not be his father, but he's still considered part of the deities known as Aesir. He is commonly a companion of Thor and Odin. He can change shape and sex at will. His father is indeed a giant. He's also caused the death of several gods in Norse mythology. Loki produced Hel (goddess of death), unlike what the movies seem to tell you. He also (with a female giant) produced Jormungand and Fenrir. He gave birth to Odin's 8-legged horse, too (yes - gave birth). With his wife Sigyn, he has a son (Narfi or Nari) whose name could mean corpse. In all aspects, he defies all society and makes a mess of everything. He often has to...