You ever feel like just driving in silence? I don't do it very often, in fact hardly at all. I think the reason is because when you are driving in silence there is really nothing to distract you from your thoughts. You're forced to think about that mistake that you made or you want to make; you're forced to think about things that normally only creep up in your dreams. And it's not just thinking about those things, but you are totally conscious of it as opposed to the back-of-your-mind role those thoughts usually play. It's amazing how much our sanity relies on distraction. Thankfully we're all mastering the skill of texting and driving, so there's never any excuse to not be distracted while we drive.
I learned about a sick irony in life when I was just in 10th grade. You see, all the years leading up to then I desperately wanted to be cool. I never was. In 10th grade I pretty much stopped caring and started doing whatever I wanted to do regardless of what I thought other people would think. The irony is, of course, that year I was more "cool" than probably any other year of my life. But it's hard not to care. The thing I've learned time and time again is nobody can just decide to be "cool" or "unique." Circuit City can't consult an advertising agency and ask them to help them become "cool." It doesn't work that way. Slapping Fall Out Boy on all your ads is a joke. You have to do your own thing. (As in be yourself) The coolest thing you can ever hope to be is someone or something that doesn't care about the definition of "cool."
Hope Springs Eternal. I was watching House the other day and he quoted this popular phrase. Even though he was using it in a condescending way, it really is beautiful sounding. It basically means people will keep on hoping, no matter what the odds. To me that is a good sign, it also reaffirms the idea that we were meant for better things.
I am retarded when it comes to girls. I have what I am now considering to be a defense mechanism in that I pretend to like just about every girl. I playfully flirt with them, knowing that they pretty much always know I'm just a flirty jokester. This way I never have to deal with rejection, since I'm constantly expecting it. Lately I've felt that this attitude has put me at a distinct disadvantage when there actually is a girl I like. For one, does she have any way of knowing that I'm not joking with her like I am with everyone else? Two, does she (and more importantly do her friends) think that I'm the kind of guy that likes every girl? I am trying to force myself to quit this bad habit.
I scraped my hand on my heater. It's kinda gnarly for what it was. This picture probably doesn't do it justice. But take my word for it.
So I'm without a doubt rooting for the Cardinals this sunday. Though I'm definitely a band-wagoner, I've been rooting for them throughout the playoffs. Any time a team that is usually considered one of the weakest teams in the worst conference makes the Super Bowl you can bet I'll be rooting for them. Plus what kind of a DB do you have to be to root for the Stealers? Especially if you're from the west coast and super especially if you're from Seattle.
Have you ever been annoyed by a driver? If not you've never been to Idaho (sober at least). What's up with people who drive so slow in the leftmost lane? I have my cruise control set to a comfortable 5 over, basically moseying along when I come up behind one of these mystery persons, and instead of just getting over, they wait until I get right up behind them, until I've already had to take off the cruise control and manually slow down to 10 under or whatever, and then they signal and take their sweet time getting over. Now I'm stuck wasting gas trying to get back up to freeway speeds and doing my best to fight off road-rage, all because these people can't figure out the difference between the left and right lanes.
Do people ever truly change?
East of Eden was a really good book. I finished it about two weeks ago and I can't hardly read anything else because I'm still trying to let East of Eden sink in and settle amongst my thoughts.
Chris and I watched a documentary called Encounters At The End Of The World, which was basically about researchers and scientists in Antarctica. Not only was it about what they were researching, but about what brought them to Antartica and how their impact on Antarctica might or might not be good. Though far from my favorite documentary (don't worry, Hoop Dreams!) it did talk about some interesting stuff. One thing was about what was basically a Conscious Universe theory. The idea was that in some sense, the world is a living organism. One guy was studying the ice and through studying it had come to the conclusion that you had to treat it like a living entity. It's not just static frozen water, but an extremely powerful force that had the capability to significantly alter our existence. Another guy from the University of Hawaii was studying neutrinos. They are basically these particles that we know nothing about. They are smaller than an atom, and though this very second trillions of them just went through your nose, they don't do anything. They float through matter, be it a star, a planet, or a person. Magnetic fields have no effect on them. Gravity's influence on them is almost nonexistent. Neutrinos saturate our universe, flying in all directions to no particular destination, and the more scientists learn about them, the stranger they seem to be.
"They exist in a way that's almost otherworldly," said Peter Gorham, principal investigator of the neutrino detector ANITA (ANtarctic Impulsive Transient Antennae). "They have very little interaction with matter as we know it. They don't affect anything that we do day to day. In some ways, they are the particle of the mystic. Physicists know they exist and can make precision measurements of their characteristics, but everything about them is strange and unexpected."
One of neutrinos' bizarre truths is that despite the lack of effect that matter has on them, they exert an enormous amount of influence on matter.
"In the early universe, before there were any elements, neutrinos dominated for some time," Gorham said. "During that time is when all the elements were formed. And without that neutrino soup in the very early part of the universe, we would not have the elements we have now. We could not. They are absolutely, inextricably tied into chemistry, physics and the physical elements. Those things could not exist without neutrinos."
To me this is extremely interesting. Could neutrinos be scientist's best understanding of the presence of an omnipotent God, who created the earth, yet lets us live with free-will? I don't know, it's definitely interesting though.
Lastly, the thing that struck me about the documentary was that according to the filmmaker, most of the scientists, through their research and experiences, had come to the conclusion that, as a species, humans are not going to be around that much longer. Does this bother you? It doesn't really bother me because it's the same thing my bible teaches. If you truly believe you've got some kind of claim to 'truth' then there's no need to be scared of science, like so many christians are. Science is seeking the truth, so are you.
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