Etcetera

Tonight is an 'etcetera' night.

Golden is piled with snow and the ways of Winter are upon the local world. I've turned in my take-home Optics final exam and my breathing has eased some. My friends around me aren't quite as fortunate as finals week continues on through tomorrow. Here, in the over-warm computer lab (more of a living room for us physicists-to-be), I'm fresh off a trip to "Coors Lab," and my consciousness is slightly slurred with my free share of (not so good) beer. I'm thinking I'll be having my first relaxing evening in several months.

I didn't think I would ever be grateful to LON-CAPA (the internet-based homework website Mines uses for some of its gen req courses), but I had my first instance this afternoon. I was being walled away from the answer to a problem on my take-home final and I decided to ask the amazingly expedient, semi-omniscient entity that is Google about the subject (double slit diffraction). I found a java applet describing exactly what I needed in visual form (I am a very visual learner) and its source was/is Lon-capa.org. Applets are wonderful smidgens of information.

I'm rather at a loss for subject matter today.

I had an involved discussion this morning while avoiding the first problem of my take-home exam (I'd just completed the third, so I was feeling cocky). My friend Eric and I verbally unloaded on each other, through statements and debate, about our perspectives of the complex issues in the Middle East. We ended on wondering how old the Torah's first writings are and then Eric said we should get back to our test. I agreed.

War. This monosyllable is one of the few stand-alone words in English. I have been aware of war since I was four (the Gulf conflict of the '91 is the first one I recall). Equally as far back as my memory reaches, my view of warfare has been through a lens of sadness and distaste. I have imagined my family and quiet community of Englewood plunged into armed violence. I just as plausibly could have conjured an alien invasion from the Virgo system (I did by the way, several times, but that's not the point). All scenes playing out before my unseeing eyes (in a trance of fantasy) involved death, and despair. These days, the information I glean from news websites (I don't watch the television much anymore) does not entitle me to claim understanding of the climate that anciently embattled land. Despite my ignorance, I am able to make a few statements. I don't like war. I find it a terrible situation no matter the causes, motivations, justifications, trepidations, etcetera. Unfortunately, war seems a necessary aspect of reality ... for the time being. Not enough of the world's people know, trust, and communicate with their fellows. Their cause is noble, who work to bridge the many chasms within human domains, physically, linguistically, culturally, and socially. I've just finished a class on 'Conflict Resolution' this semester and my experiences were enlightening. The ideas taught in that short (four month) curriculum will cause profound improvement in global relationships if they become as commonplace as the AK-47 (hopefully more prevalent). During a special guest lecture for my CR class, a woman named V, who works in the Conflict Center here in Colorado, continuously iterated the motto of her professional life: Conflict is inevitable, violence is not. I believe, even more now, that the best solutions to problems in life are found in non-violence. Healing relationships, nurturing trust, and developing sustainable peace anywhere and everywhere will take time, generations probably. Our generation can be the framework.

Almost done with the preach. Earth: Finite since 1969 (or 1957 for Sputnik fans). My planet, your planet, their planet (future me's and you's), is a wondrous piece of matter. What a ball of fun! I hope humanity figures out how to live on it rather than use it into extinction. I hope I can help accomplish this goal. Humans are all connected here, if only by the fact we walk on the same dirt (covered in linoleum, concrete, or otherwise). I owe it to my fellow bipeds (tripeds, quadrupeds, and upwards included) to build connection around me, respecting and loving* my friends and my enemies. This strategy has worked before. I regret not sticking to it all the time.

Mind dump time! Let's see, there's the feeling my body felt today when I sat down on my couch (bad posture as usual) to eat my dinner (stir fry is delicious!). That sensation of your whole being 'sinking' into itself, saying: "Finally! A time to relax!" I had to get up and walk around to throw such feelings off so I wouldn't slap a DVD in the player and not get anything else done before bedtime (like this post). I've been cornered by the 'story-writing' feeling again so my brain is flowing off into my imagination again to pick out some good plot line to follow. From a strictly logical standpoint, Chinggis (good ol' Ghengis for you Westerners) Khaan's "Rules of Engagement" were and are the most effective means of waging war. Look him up, he might be on that 'impressive' list. Then again, if you're descended from any Eurasian country or China, he's not so hot after all. I'm finally getting comfortable with my guitar and I named it Rosin (ro-sheen, Gaelic for "rose"), so it's 'her' actually. I'll tell the story of her coming to me some other time. I have a fascination with inserting parenthetical statements into my sentences (is that the correct terminology?). I picked up the habit from reading Heinlein stories. I think I've written this truism before, but I'll put it down again: Pandora is one of the best internet entities in existence! Do svidaniya! Buenos Noches! Until whenever ...


*I'll make a post on Love soon. I have a lot to say, but not tonight.