Weekly ketchup

.. sort of.

I've been so busy at work that I hardly have any real free time to post entries in my LJ, let alone read others'.  But I've been trying to make time to at least skim my friends' entries at least once a week, or once every other week.

Tonight I came across a posting in the furrychristians community that talked about Christian sexuality in and out of furry.  I'll admit I skimmed the posting as well as the responses, but I did leave a comment of my own about one act that I've seen done in furrydom that happens at my church --- get your mind out of the gutter, please :P --- the act of hugging.  No scritches, no snuggles, no cuddles, just a plain vanilla hug.

I had read some time ago that hugs can be quite therapeutic and that the average person could use some 8 hugs or so a day for good health.  That prompted me to comb the net to find an article supporting this... and here's the article I found.  I keyed in on a few interesting points in the article:

1.  Marriage and family therapist Virginia Satir says that humans need 2 hugs a day to survive, 4 for maintenance and 6 to grow.
2.  According to social science researchers, many Americans are touch-deprived.  In fact, according to a South American massage therapist, such an aversion to touch is a "particularly American shortcoming."
3.  Touching and hugging provides a curative for psychological isolation.

I think that last part is why I think furs seem to enjoy being hugged.  It provides a sense of intimacy that's socially acceptable (as long as the hug is just a generic one) and makes both people seem loved.  In addition, how many LJ postings have you seen where the writer is upset/angsty about somethng and one of the first responses is a virtual hug?

Switching gears... ionotter is apparently back in New York and, I suspect, soon to be job-hunting.  I imagine he'll probably go to AC, then find a job somewhere near where he lives.  Yeah, he's mentioned visiting and possibly job-hunting in Hawaii, but simply put, I'll believe it when I see it.

In other news, I may be going back on the watchfloor for a brief period next month.  The idea is for me to see what those on the watchfloor have to deal with in terms of running computer programs, etc., and see what I can do to make those processes easier.

Otherwise, it's pretty much SSDD... and I'm sleeping again with Alfie, the plush dog ionotter  got my late mom to keep her company when she was in the hospital.  He's still nice and soft... and I'm not renaming him since my mom was the one who named him...