Greetings from Spockgirl Musings, where logic rules, but the frailties of
human nature, genetic inadequacies and hormonal imbalances wreak havoc.



Thursday, January 12, 2012

Degradation...

... of my mental synapses. This is the thought that launched itself into my brain today. Considering my thought patterns lately, or shall I say... lack thereof, it is rather interesting that this came to mind. Of course, immediately afterwards I thought... where the heck did that come from? So I decided to delve a bit further.

Synapses:
n. The junction across which a nerve impulse passes from an axon terminal to a neuron, muscle cell, or gland cell.

or.
n. The point at which a nervous impulse passes from one neuron to another.

So... then... I had a "light-bulb" moment. A double-jointed one at that. If you look at the inner workings of an incandescent light-bulb, you will see the thin wires in the centre, across which the electrical current travels. When the light bulb burns out, I have no idea what exactly happens, just that the electrical current can no longer travel that same path. You know the bulb is broken because when you shake it, you can hear something...  shaking. Doesn't quite work the same way for the human body, although my head does hurt when you shake it... sometimes. You just can't hear anything moving around.

So, these thoughts brought to mind that old bit from way back in school about lights being connected in series or parallel. I had to go agoogling as I couldn't remember which was which. If my brain is a continuous line of Christmas Light strings, I have to wonder did one of the bulbs go out and all the rest go out with it, or did one go out and the rest are all working overtime? I wonder if my light bulbs are dying or if the wiring is simply out of alignment. Is it the degradation of my mental synapses or simply that the power has been rerouted to other circuitry in my brain?

I am not sure if any of that makes sense. Well... it does to me ... at 3:30 in the morning.

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