Contemplations

"Each organic or inorganic object on the earth makes, in the process of its growth, a delicate facsimile register of itself on the living sensitive ether that lies immediately around it and bathes and interprets its every action." - Balfour Stewart & P.G. Tait from The Unseen Universe, 1875.

It's strange how you can read something and at once it can seem like a newfound treasure, an immutable truth and something as familiar as an old comforting sweater. In a world of uncertainty and intolerable cruelty the idea of leaving a delicate imprint on the ether is somehow comforting. Every being, however small and insignificant is part of an ecosystem that promulgates the earth. Every life, however brief or prolonged began out of nothing, came into being and left a mark. A womb held every zygote, carried it until its violent escape into the world. Whatever happens after that may be horrifying, violent or amazingly gentle, but something was created out of nothing and that has to alter the universe in some way.

Bucket List

Last night I was reminiscing about a conversation I had with an ancient boyfriend back in college. Though it wasn't a serious relationship he was one of the few who has ever really made me feel like Virginia from that Train song, which I've always loved. I've come back to this conversation many times in the last decade or so; we talked about things we wanted to accomplish, goals we had for our lives. His enthusiasm for all my crazy ideas and neurosis was probably why the relationship lasted as long as it did, but it's also why I look back at it with fondness. I essentially made a bucket list that day, and though most of those ideas are probably impossible at this juncture I figured I'd start another one and see what happens. We've all got to have goals, right?

-See the pyramids of Egypt

-Become a certified yoga instructor

-Finish and publish my novel

-Master at least one dollar bill origami shape besides the infernal bow tie

-Speak French fluently

-Sing in a band

-Skydive or bungee jump or at least ride that flying ball contraption at Six Flags--something to alleviate my fear of heights

-Spend New Year's Eve in a hotel room overlooking Times Square

-Fill a 25 gallon drum with playbills and concert tickets from shows I've attended

-Learn an instrument

-Participate in an archeological dig

-Earn my Ph.D.

-Successfully meditate

-Spend an entire summer at Brushwood

-Open a boutique, deli or even an alpaca farm (whatever it takes) with my best friend