Pills and Consolations

"A number of other biochemical ingredients are critical to the most basic understanding of sexuality. But two of them — the hormone testosterone and the neurotransmitter serotonin — are especially important. Rising from the ovaries and from the adrenal glands that sit atop the kidneys, testosterone rides the bloodstream to the brain and, by means not fully known, stokes the production and release of dopamine. (Blood-borne estrogen, which derives from testosterone, may also be involved in this process.) And then there’s serotonin, dopamine’s foil. It allows the advanced regions of the brain, the domains that lie high and forward, to exert what is termed executive function. Serotonin is a molecule of self-control. It instills calm, stability, coherence (and, too, a sense of well-being, which is why S.S.R.I.'s, by bathing the brain in serotonin, can counter depression). Roughly speaking, dopamine is impulse; serotonin is inhibition and organization. And in sexuality, as in other emotional realms, the two have to work in balance. If dopamine is far too dominant, craving can splinter into attentional chaos. If serotonin overwhelms, the rational can displace the randy."
—"Unexcited? There May Be a Pill for That" from NYT

Traveling through continents on a neverending year-round scheme really takes the fucking life out of you. And here I am, sitting in my friend Stacy's living room floor in Paris, catching up on some New York Times article about hormones and synaptic reactions on a human being...especially the female being. Somehow, I like to relate to anything I read or experience, and though I have no problems with my sex drive, thought it was a very interesting read which reminded me how our fragile our bodies and psyches react to perception, time, and stress. My brain has melted into a mush from my frantic travel and work schedule, and I hardly have any time to gather my thoughts lately. I love my job, and I am living the dream, but there's a sense of incompleteness which fills you when you feel like your life is out of your hands. I am so looking forward to holiday season in August.