August 10, 2008 at 5:46 pm
(random)
I was about eight when my stepdad gave me the whole light = wave / particle talk, based on a line of interrogation I’d subjected him to around the Elven cloak Frodo used to hide from various baddies in The Lord of the Rings. I remember proposing this as a solution to the question of an invisibility cloak and becoming VERY indignant at being told the Adults - who were supposedly SOOO much smarter than me by virtue of being taller or some other criteria they never actually specified - hadn’t yet figured out how to make it work. I mean really, how hard could it be if light is both a wave and a particle? Just exploit the hell out of both possibilities instead of acting like it’s one or the other. Adults back then had problems with quantum physics too, as I recall.
I wonder if the folks having fun with the prototype are much older than me, or if they were having similar conversations about that time? What’s the quote - if we can dream it we can do it? Pretty damned cool.
Comments
July 27, 2008 at 12:58 pm
(life)
Heidi is coming to visit this week, and we’ve been using her arrival date as an excuse to get some things done around the house, as we’re otherwise slothful 8-year olds with credit cards. I spent a couple of hours yesterday cleaning off the lower patio, scrubbing dirt off the back porch/walkway walls (deposited by our canine dirt-delivery systems), rinsing schmutz off the patio furniture and the arbor over the firepit and all the windows I could get to by water before my back got annoyed and Stephen had to step in and rearrange the remainder of what I’d left akimbo.
Though we did need to attack the dog-dirt with a sponge and soapy water, a good blast from the hose took care of most of the grime elsewhere. As I was flagging about an hour and a half into it I was reminded of several important things:
1) What I put out there is what I’ll get back - standing under the water’s point of impact as I spray it above my head at the eaves/overhead beams means I will get a) pleasantly misted and thus nicely cooled in the summer sun, or b) a faceful of cobwebs, bird poop, and dirt of unknown origin-infused water, all depending on my intention/direction.
2) One pass at something is not always enough - washing off half the dirt on the wall then admiring the effect the remainder creates (sort of an amber wash over sage green stucco) is fine by way of taking a short break to let my shoulders rest; calling it art, or an artistic effect, or just plain better looking that way is pure laziness.
3) I can do more than I think I can do - this time last year I wouldn’t have been able to be out in the sun and heat (mild as it is right now) for more than an half-hour before starting to get heat exhaustion, nor would I have had the energy for a solid two and a half hours of bending, twisting, lunging and waving my arms around, all while standing up no less.
Conclusions? A good hosing cures many ills, and brings wisdom.
Comments
July 13, 2008 at 7:20 pm
(fun, meme, writing)
As called out by The Amazon Iowan in her post of many questions (I’ve gone on a bit… it just happened, quite beyond my control really, so it’s all after the break): Read the rest of this entry »
1 Comment
May 21, 2008 at 1:31 pm
(random)
I dreamt that I was pouring Arabic coffee into the gorgeous little Persian carpet coffee cups I keep stashed above my refrigerator. The first cup bled tea out the bottom, though I could have sworn I poured in the richly dark cardamom-infused stuff of life, not the glowing honey mint-infused stuff of life. The cup wasn’t cracked, it simply lacked proper glazing across the bottom, which the set in real life does not, as it’s entirely glazed porcelain. I remember making pouty-face (hey, it was a dream, I can pout in dreams) and pouring into the next cup, which held as it should. But I was denied the taste - I woke up just as I was raising the cup to my lips, breathing in the dark spice but not yet burnt.
2 Comments
May 16, 2008 at 11:27 am
(dogs)
I just walked into the kitchen to add more sugar to my coffee (all hail hot and sexy mens who make me strong coffee) and caught a flash of movement to my right. Both dogs were standing in the den gazing up into the corner of the ceiling with big grins on their faces, tails wagging at half-speed. I asked them what they were so entertained by, and by way of reply they strolled over to me, still grinning, and sat on my feet. Neither looked particularly guilty of anything, nor did they seem to think my attention to the Fascinating Thing in the corner of the den was required.
As I stirred my coffee and sat back down at my computer, they trotted around the house in tandem, as if checking room to room for more of the Fascinating Thing that caught their attention (or perhaps other Fascinating Things - they still haven’t told me), then ran out in the backyard. They seem to have found it out there at the moment, floating in the sunshine, or perhaps tangled in the grass… their big doggy grins have taken on a touch of smug. I suspect within a few minutes of coming back inside Angus will feel the need to scan the bedroom floor for socks just in case another Fascinating Thing is hiding in a wonderfully smelly toe, and Emma will resume her station on the living room couch where she can keep both eyes out for more Fascinating Things.
5 Comments
March 9, 2008 at 9:46 am
(random)
This week’s Unconscious Muttering:
1. Homicide :: Division
2. Divisive :: Racial Bias
3. Flash :: Point
4. Steaming ::Asphalt
5. Crunch :: Broken glass
6. Look out! :: Duck
7. Anticipating :: Pain
8. Slim :: Shank
9. Navel :: Gazing
10. Help :: Wanted
Comments
March 4, 2008 at 12:59 pm
(life)
Back from hospital, getting staples removed and the surgeon’s blessing to move freely about the cabin of my life, Aunt Lola’s funeral and concomitant ice storm, coughing fever depths of the flu. Raised the shade this morning on my office door, which is all window, and saw that a rosebush I’d cruelly pruned back two years ago not only survived and thrived, but has sent tendrils become blooming canes full of creamy pink old fashioned blossoms all up and over the ugly concrete block wall behind it. I didn’t think it would be able to reach the scrap of lattice left bolted along the top edge of that section of wall, but there you go. Life will have its way, whether I’d intended it to have its way quite right there or not. Looming in the sky above the persistent roses is an ambivalent fogbank creeping in from the ocean. It’s well draped over Playa but not quite committing to crossing Sepulveda and embracing our neighborhood… a tease for proper rain, which I’d rather have more of anyway. So there. You hear me fogbank? Pfft to you until you grace us with a with softly furred view out every window.
Gmail’s got a habit of putting potentially interesting emails into my spam folder despite my best efforts to tell it otherwise. Today two of them from the same source are titled Accepting Responsibility and Getting Out Ketchup Stains. I can’t quite decide if that’s a mixed message or two steps along the same path.
If I were writing this post on purpose, or with purpose, or in a purposeful fashion, I’d have a third random thing to comment on. But I’m not, and don’t.
Comments
January 8, 2008 at 5:44 pm
(life)
January will be batting cleanup for 2007 with surgery tomorrow, housecleaning and sorting, and general getting it togetherness. Seems to be a theme… some folks are remodeling their wardrobe, some are remodeling their living room, some are remodeling their banishment chants, and I’m remodeling my uterus.
And ya know what the hell of it is? I have Jingle Bells stuck in my head. WTF? I’m gonna go under general anesthesia to get my innards scooped and hoovered with a cheesy Christmas song by way of accompaniment?
Pishtamabibble. Do Not Want!
Wonder if anywhere on the internets there’s an audio file of Sean Connery reading a recipe for fudge brownies with marshmallows on top? Even better, with the crash of the ocean and the Rolling Stones playing Sympathy With The Devil in the background as he tells me how he’s going to feed me those luscious, gooey, chocolately baked goods. That’s my kind of earworm, that is. Totally conducive to healing and stuffs. Practically medicinal. Even.
2 Comments
November 29, 2007 at 10:48 am
(yum)
I found out this week that I have a big fibroid that needs medical attention - which explains why I’ve been in constant pain the last oh year plus - and am focusing on not being a hater. My pelvis needs happy thoughts and the universe delivered.
I found this bit of happy pelvic action on the Supreme Goddess’ blog (apologies for not posting the video here, but it’s horking my layout for some reason).
1 Comment
