Coolest Thing I've Seen

I'm fortunate enough to have gotten the chance to see and do a lot of cool things so far in life. I've been to a lot of places and done a lot of fairly awesome stuff. That makes picking the single "coolest" event a bit of a challenge. I had to think about this one for a while.

In the States we had: the Grand Canyon, the Everglades, the Very Large Array, eating rattlesnake in Texas.
At home in Canada I remember: Niagara Falls and playing in tide pools in Nova Scotia.
Ireland was: catching hermit crabs on the beach, the Giant's Causeway, eating lunch at the Brazen Head (est. 1198).
England had: Stonehenge, Hadrian's Wall, Dover Castle, Nunny Castle, Sherwood Forest.
From Central America I remember: Xunantunich, Chechem Ha, Tikal, the Panama Canal.
Europe was brilliant, with: La Ramblas, the Alps, the Pyrinees, a fantastic clock in Liechtenstein, Versailles, Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, and Gaudi's cathedral.

Like I said, I'm lucky. I've seen a lot of phenomenal things.
What finally stood out in my mind though was my trip to Florida. My parents not only took my brother and me to the Kennedy Space Center, we got to see a launch the next day!

I don't think it's possible to adequately describe the sensation of watching a shuttle take off. It's something you just have to see (and hear).
It was a nighttime launch. I was only 10 or 11 at the time and I remember being cranky at having to wake up at two in the morning. It was so worth it though!

I remember the night being pitch black, and quiet. The launchpad was lit and we could see the shuttle sitting there. Anticipation.
Then steam, thick and dark, begins billowing from the bottom of the shuttle. It gathers and climbs, obscuring the shuttle bit by bit. Then, just as the tip of the vessel disappears behind its veil... The world explodes!

Light! Sound!

The sky lit up as if the sun had suddenly burst from the ground. For a few moments we could see everything around us. A minute of perfect daylight in the middle of the night.

And the noise!
No cymbal crash, rock concert, thunderstorm can hold a candle to the earth-shattering uproar of that shuttle making its great escape.
That rumbling, roaring ruckus reached out and rolled across the distance between us. Filled the air. Filled our ears, our heads. It grabbed the ground and shook us. Rippled through our bodies. After the first second or two, you are no longer hearing the launch; you're being engulfed by it.

And then, after being blinded, deafened, and awed, it begins to recede. The light shrinks back towards its source. The sound fades away. And you're left in a seeming vacuum. Tingling and watching the fireball rise.

As that brilliant bead of light shrinks to a speck you see a hint of a burst, a tiny bit of extra light, as the rockets detach. Watch for another moment and it vanishes. Beyond reach, beyond sight, beyond perception.
And you're left alone with the stars.

"Defend your vice"? Uh... which one?

Sloth at Baru by roblisameehan

There are a few that immediately come to mind.
Let's see... sloth, lust, and gluttony to name a few.

Now, as far as defense goes...

Well, sloth isn't a perpetual state. I can work quite hard if there's some incentive or motivation. It's just that, quite often, it doesn't seem like there is. I dunno, I get into funks where I can't seem to get up the gumption to do anything at all. I've been in one of those for about a month now.

Gluttony? That one I'm working on. I've been bad the past couple of weeks, but I'll get back on track again. I'll get it under control.

I'm not sure if lust is quite the right word for my last vice. It's not as if I don't have any emotional connection or deeper attraction to the people I sleep with. I usually do. I'm not just in it for the sex. But I definitely do have a bit of a preoccupation with fornication.

If real life had savepoints...

Man oh man, the things I'd redo!

Undo button by dps

Well, the first thing that pops to mind is my attempt to run away from home. That was stupid! Not only was it foolhardy, but it cost me a lot of money and hurt everyone around me. I would give just about anything to be able to erase that particular disaster from my past.

Relationships in first year. I pulled some stupid sh*t in first year. Most of it had to do with boys. Unfortunately some of it ended up hurting them. I wish that I could take it back. It wasn't fair to them. I was just acting the bollocks. No excuse.

Moving out of residence. Residence has it's problems. It can be noisy and distracting. People are always having parties and pulling fire alarms ('cause they're drunken morons!) but it's still probably the best option for living arrangements when you're in school. You don't have to worry about furniture or landlords or transportation. It's simple. It's easy.
But I was so anxious to get out on my own!
I don't even remember why anymore. It seemed so important at the time. Now it just seems silly.
Things might have turned out so much differently if I had just stayed on campus for one more semester...

Ireland.
It would take a small book to properly describe all the things I did wrong on this one.
In short: I panicked, ran off to Ireland, lied to my parents about why I was going and what I was doing. Things started going wrong. My parents tried to step in and help and ended up in the middle of a big mess because I had misled them about the situation. I got engaged. That was a mess and a half! Don't get me wrong, my fiance was a wonderful, loving, sweet, caring guy. It wasn't for lack of love that things fell apart. Things were just poorly handled, all 'round. And the whole thing stressed my parents out terribly and I wish I could go back and spare them that.

A space of my own

Room and board has it's perks, but the convenience is no substitute for the satisfaction and comfort of having a place of your own.

Not that I have anything against my roommate, or the family I'm boarding with. I'd just like to have my own place. I'm tired of everything I have being someone else's. I want to pick out my own furniture, have my own cookware, do my own grocery shopping, make my own food! Now, the cleaning? That I don't mind someone else doing. But everything else could stand to change.

Don't say 'irregardless' around me

In general, just try to avoid bad grammar and redundancies (oxymorons are okay). I know my grammar isn't perfect, but I do make an effort and I appreciate when other folks do the same. This mostly applies to writing, of course. The spoken word is supposed to be much more free form than what we write down. That being said, there are a few words that just plain annoy me, irregardless of circumstance.

irregardless
It's completely redundant. Regardless already means "without regard to", there is absolutely no need to preface that with a negating "ir-". This word should not even exist! The only time you should be able to get away with using it is if it's part of some sort of humour.

prebiotic
This one really drives me nuts! I mean "probiotic" was bad enough. Someone decided to coin the term and then everyone latched onto it. Now every second thing you see in the supermarket is "probiotic this" and "probiotic that". The problem with probiotics becoming so popular though is that now your calcium-enriched-trans-fat-free-low-sugar-probiotic yogurt no longer stands out. You need a new hook. So, what do they come up with? "Prebiotic"! This word is such a gimmick! They've started tossing it into ads and slipping it into commercials. Not that they explain what the term means mind you. "Probiotic" is already popular enough, people are gonna jump on the bandwagon without even knowing or caring what the word means. This word is yet more proof that human beings seem to have lost the ability to think for themselves. Empty-headed sheep!

orientated
I've always said oriented. I'm not sure which version is technically correct, but "orientated" always makes me do a little inward cringe when I hear it.

dreamed
I know it's considered a perfectly acceptable alternative to "dreamt". Actually, it looks like it may have overtaken its older counterpart; this spell checker doesn't even recognize "dreamt" as a word. Anyway, I still prefer the older form. "Dreamed" was only introduced in order to get this verb to match up with all the other ones that take an "-ed" to form the past tense. Just like "swollen" and "swelled". In this case, it's not so much that "dreamed" annoys me as that I prefer the alternative.

Audiences

I wonder if anyone ever reads this. I wonder if they ever have.
I tend to think not. There are so many blogs out there and there's nothing in particular to draw an audience here. I don't write to an audience. I'm not expecting a crowd. I use this page the same way I'd use a journal. I just write what's on my mind. No particular direction or theme. I'm not going for popularity. I'm not looking for numbers. But I do wonder sometimes... if anyone ever has wandered onto this page, listened to what I had to say.

I'm generally glad that I don't have an audience. It means I don't have to worry about pleasing anyone. There's no pressure on me as to what or how often I write. I'm completely free. That being said, I somehow enjoy the possibility of readers. I don't know what I'd do if I ever found out that there were people following this blog. I'm not sure how I'd feel about that. But I do like the idea that this is "out there" and that someone could be reading it.

Quotes

I've been browsing the Quotes pages on Goodreads. I found quite a few that I liked. Some were humorous, some profound. I'll probably end up using some of the funny ones as taglines/signatures on forums and whatnot. Some of the others have given me food for thought.

"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."
— Dr. Seuss

I like this sentiment. It's a good way of looking at things. A different perspective than one might normally have. It may be easier said than done, but I think I'd at least like to try to keep it in mind the next time something gets me down.


"Anyone who thinks sitting in church can make you a Christian must also think that sitting in a garage can make you a car."
— Garrison Keillor

So True! So many people go to church every Sunday, yet don't live by the values. They listen to the sermon, but it's passive, they don't take it to heart. In short, they don't practice what they preach (or rather, what is preached to them).


"Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up."
— Neil Gaiman

I know exactly what he's talking about. Being in love is wonderful, but at the same time it's utterly frightening. You're open, exposed, vulnerable. It can be the most wonderful feeling in the world, but there's always that chance... The chance that something will go wrong, that feelings will fade, the relationship fall apart. And then you just hurt. Then all that beauty and happiness that you saw and felt turns into just as much raw, bitter, pain.
Not that love isn't fantastic. Not that I won't keep looking for it. Of course I want to love and be loved! But every time I fall for someone there will always be that undercurrent of fear. That worried tingle at the back of my mind that warns me that I should be more careful, that I've given someone else this power over me, that I could get hurt again. It won't stop me, it won't change what I feel, but it might be enough to give me pause.


"Love is a fire. But whether it is going to warm your hearth or burn down your house, you can never tell."
— Joan Crawford

I guess this one kind of goes with the previous quote.

And... I'll finish up the rest of these later.
"It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will be when you can't help it."
— Oscar Wilde

"No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally – and often far more – worth reading at the age of fifty and beyond."
— C.S. Lewis

"Make it a rule never to give a child a book you would not read yourself."
— George Bernard Shaw

"Let children read whatever they want and then talk about it with them. If parents and kids can talk together, we won't have as much censorship because we won't have as much fear."
— Judy Blume

"There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them."
— Joseph Brodsky

"No woman really wants a man to carry her off; she only wants him to want to do it."
— Elizabeth Peters

"A good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read."
— Terry Pratchett (Guards! Guards!)