One: You have no one to blame but yourself!?
Another: Always
Another: Other people aren't going to change
Another: If I'm not happy, I have to figure it out myself
One: Well, that's kind of the thing, though. Other people do change. They change right out from under you sometimes.
Another: Except I interpret that to be that I never really knew them in the first place
Another: When they found out the earth was round, everyone's mind exploded, but nothing had actually changed

My home.

http://www.carynsolly.com

The Queens 50
"A pre-gentrification to-do list."

Remember that I got that dollar that had a Where's George? stamp on it? You know, the one that's gone ... nowhere?

I got another one.

*UPDATE: And another one! A $10 bill this time.

One Night Stand with Augusten Burroughs
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
8:00 PM - 9:30 PM
Cooper Union

"For the first time in New York, Augusten Burroughs performs live his new autobiographical show that has fans across North American and Australia lining up for hours. Entertainment Weekly named Burroughs the 15th Funniest Person in America. His live performances display the same dry wit and eye for the absurd that have made his books so wildly popular as Augusten delves into his own bizarre, disturbing, but ultimately life-affirming childhood and young adulthood in a tour de force performance."

Found it via Upcoming [RSS!], and it was posted, coincidentally, by my pal Dan. I will be seeing him and his cute wifey Katie there!

*Running With Scissors and other books I recommend
*NY Philharmonic in Central Park Also on Tuesday night (Free)

Photo by Emma

These drunk women tried to grab my camera. They wanted me to take their picture, but I couldn't think of why I would want a picture of them. Emma took my camera and snapped our bachelorette and the two women.

I was wrong. Now I see why I want a picture of them.

Hilarious.

While we're on the subject of science and meteorology, I just love my Bloglines weather forecast today.



Exactly how much is "tons"?

I have so many thoughts on spirituality that I don’t know where to start, so I’ll try to keep this relatively short and to the point.

I believe in science, and one area of science that has just been blowing my mind in the last year is quantum physics and the implications it has on our reality. Really, just blows my mind. The ideas in quantum physics are so imaginative and spectacular that I am awed, humbled and inspired by the world around me. And in me. I like that feeling and am looking for more avenues of exploring these kinds of ideas.

It’s hard for me to explain why I find science so spiritual, but I’ve mentioned it to a few people and they’ve understood what I meant, even if I had trouble putting the right words to it.

I haven’t gotten very deep into this topic. I have only read a few books and seen a few movies that opened up this world to me.

Nova: The Elegant Universe (DVD)
This series was just awesome to me. Not for the animation or effects, which did do a lot to help communicate and illustrate, but for the radical ideas presented, like String Theory, multiple dimensions and alternate universes. I definitely recommend this to start with, if this is something you’re intrigued by.

What the #$*! Do We Know!? (DVD)
I just watched this last night and, like the Elegant Universe, it just blew my mind. This movie did a little bit more to relate the implications of quantum physics to our everyday reality, what the human mind is capable of observing, and the role of observation and consciousness in our reality. The Marlee Matlin stuff is mostly lame, but it’s forgivable because the ideas presented are astounding and exciting to me.

Quote from Dr. Jeffrey Satinover in the film that sums it up nicely: "Modern materialism strips people of the need to feel responsible. And often enough so does religion. But I think, if you take quantum mechanics seriously enough, it puts the responsibility squarely in your lap—and doesn’t give answers that are clear cut and comforting. It says, 'Yes, the world is a very big place, very mysterious. Mechanism is not the answer. But I’m not going to tell you what the answer is because you’re old enough to decide for yourself.'"

The Elegant Universe (Book)
This book by Brian Greene inspired the Nova series. I only read this after I saw the series, and I’m glad I did it in that order. I find this material to be really challenging, so being able to reference what I’d grasped in the series helped me understand the book much better.

The Fabric of the Cosmos (Book)
I haven’t read this other Brian Greene book yet, but I bought it last week and plan to dig into it on Amtrak this weekend.

The reason I’m posting all of this is because I’m looking for recommendations. Should I add some Hawking to my reading list, and maybe even Sagan and Bryson? Of course, I can just go by what good ol’ Amazon recommends along these lines, but I always lend more weight to personal recs. Thanks!

Related:
*A Bad Daughter I told my parents I am an atheist
*The Alchemist Another inspiring read that I'm digging into
*Unitarian Universalism I've been too chicken to go to a service yet, but I find it intriguing

I recently saw an onion in someone's purse and a stupid slogan on an ad for HIV testing. I also saw this woman a few months ago.

*Take a picture of the weird things you see on the subway and submit it to Chiba at SubText.