Finite or Infinite?

Today was the first full day since I returned to my parents house and my mother left. Surprisingly my dad was civil and pretty much left me to my own devises, and if he needed me to do something he didn't demand it to be done. So I figured I wouldn't make a fuss about it and thus I weeded the vegetable garden, watered the flowers, took Gaia for a walk, fed her, and other miscellaneous tasks her asked me to do, I just hope he can keep it up. While weeding, I think I burned my feet, because when I walk, the soles of my feet feel weird, so I will wear shoes when working in the garden next time, especially if it breaks one hundred-ish again.

Earlier today, I was watching a show with dad and Gaia featuring Morgan Freeman, called Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman. It is basically a show about theoretical physics, this particular episode I was watching was particularly interesting to me because it explored the possibility of there being an edge to the universe and if there was something beyond it. A few months ago, I had asked my dad if there was an edge to the universe, if there was a point where the known universe stopped and he said that the universe is infinite. That conversation left me unconvinced, because I have a hard time believing that it is infinite, I think there is always something larger.

In the episode, three or four scientists put forth theories trying to prove that the universe is actually finite. One theorized that the edge is like a game of asteroids, where if you leave the screen to the left, you will end up on the right and go through a continuous loop, the same for up and down. Another scientist put forth the theory that the universe is shaped like a dodecagon (a twelve sided shape), or affectionately called the soccer ball shape. Another scientist discovered that some galaxies are traveling towards a common spot that could not be determined. After that was published, another scientist theorized that that spot is where another universe is touching ours and is pulling those galaxies towards it. Which lead to the statement of every comic book super hero fanatics wet dream, a multiverse, where there are actually more than one universe out there. At this point, Gaia began to start bothering me to go out, so I missed the last ten or so minutes of the show.

Next weeks episode is asking wether time exists or if it is a human invention to explain the universe around us.

All around the World

Today I was looking at my blogs stats and I noticed that I have had at least one paige view from four of the seven continents. The newest one was from Russia, so I count that as Asia, so now I have at least one page view from North and South America, Europe (fourteen from Germany, twelve from France) and of course Asia. All thats left is Africa and Australia (yes, I remembered Antarctica, but there are so few people there at any given time, I will not keep my hopes up for that one.)

Speaking of continents, I actually would love to travel to each continent at least once, including Antarctica. So far I have been to North America (of course) and to Europe (Germany). When I go to Asia, I hope it will be to Japan and South America I hope to go to Tierra Del Fuego, an archipelago at the southern tip of South America. In Africa, I hope to go to Egypt and Madagascar, the first for the ruins, and the second because that was where the "pirate king" Henry Avery created a pirate republic. Antarctica and Australia are both single country continents so I'll just figure them out before I visit them.

Of course I would love to go to specific countries as well, but I haven't decided which ones I would like to go to. So far I have come up with Russia, Italy, France, England, Ireland, China, India, Brazil, Chile, and Argentina. Unfortunately I probably wont be able to go to those places in the near future, so I shall continue to dream about the day I can try.

Finally, I would like to visit all fifty states in the United States.

Plain and Simple

Sometimes people p*** me off

Today as I was taking Gaia on a bike ride, meaning I rode my bike and she ran alongside, I noticed a particularly large amount of trash around the development I live in. I immediately returned home and grabbed a bag to try to pick up as much as I could, unfortunately there was so much trash, I couldn't get it all. When I was in Germany awhile back, I noticed how little trash there was in the villages and I also saw residents picking up trash and then mutter something that I later learned was German for "Damn Americans can't resist littering." On a side note, I never litter without realizing it, and I try to pick up the trash if I miss.

It is not just the trash all over the place, it is also peoples attitudes sometimes. They seem to think they are top dog and bully those perceived lower than them, or think they deserve everything to be handed to them, granted I am a little like that, but I am trying to change that part of me. Then there is all the -isms, like racism, sexism, and others of similar prejudges. Its disgusting how we treat others, myself included. I admit, I am uncomfortable around mentally handicapped people, I apologize, I just don't know how to act around them, so I try to avoid or ignore them to keep from having to interact with them.

Depression is not fun

Today was my birthday. Of course I was wished a happy birthday by family, to whom I thank. Unfortunately, when I logged on to Facebook today, only one person besides family made any mention of my birthday, and for that I thank HS from high school. Now I am not trying to sound selfish, I just like to know that people who aren't family realize I am still alive and leave some form of message to me. Now I do suffer from a minor depression, so I am probably blowing this out of proportion, but on top of all of that, my mother leaves tomorrow to be with my sister for two-ish months or until my first niece/nephew is born. In addition, I am still trying to find a job, with my fathers completely unnecessary badgering everyday, but it is slow to show results. Sometimes I get so tired of it, but after some video games, playing with Gaia, and reading, I feel better and go back out and try to continue where I left off.

Visions Haunt Me Through the Night

Periodically I have these dreams when I sleep that I am convinced are visions of the future. For example, when my mother still owned a blue mini van with only one sliding door, I had a dream that my mom had a golden mini van with both side door slider things. Shortly after that, my mother came home with the exact thing I dreamed about. Another example was of my brother running around with a white four legged bundle of fur, and thew next thing I know, he had got a dog named Skye. Recently I had a dream that involved my sister and a baby. I am not sure of the gender, but I remember carrying it around and laying it down in a crib. I think there were male motifs, but that could just be my brother-in-laws wishful thinking for all I know.

There are also dreams I have that are really nightmares, consistently they are of me being homeless, or of me at a funeral and not caring about the person who had died. Now the latter part is more likely because I try to keep people at arms length so I don't get close to them. A fine example of this method of mine is made obvious at the deaths of all of my grandparents. When I heard about them passing, I was surprised for sure, but I wasn't sad. In fact I didn't feel anything, although that does worry me, I am a little happy that I had no reaction, none of the stages of grief effected me. I wasn't sad, angry, in denial, nor was I trying to make a deal  to change it. All that happened was for me to accept that death happens and I moved on with my life.

Jury Duty

The other day I received a jury summons in the mail, and this time I did not have an excuse to get out of it. So naturally I asked my dad if I became a citizen of another country and still lived in America, if I would have diplomatic immunity. Apparently thats only for diplomats and maybe their immediate family, he was never clear about that. So I then asked what the consequences of ignoring the summons was, and I think the answer was either a fine and/or jail time, now I do not think prison would agree with me, so I figured I'd just go to jury duty and get it over with.

Basically what happened was I showed up at the time given to me to show up. I then preceded to sit for about half an hour waiting for the judge or someone to explain what was going to happen. After some lady, I wasn't paying attention to her name, explained what was going to happen, one of the judges came in and split us up into panels. I was put in the eleven o'clock panel, meaning I had about two hours to kill....probably should not say that when I was in a court house. What I did with that time is of no concern to you so I will just skip that section. At eleven, I returned to where I was told to go and after a few minutes, the judge I was assigned to came out and told the panel I was in that all cases (five of them that day) had plead out or something. So I went home after stopping at a few places to ask about jobs, but thats not important to this topic so I'll skip it as well.

What's in your head zombie?

Recently I have begun reading a book about the hundred years war that lasted from 1337 to 1453. It was fought between the English and French over the rightful claim to the french thrown. I just recently started it and in the early years of the wars, yes thats right, I said wars. It turns out that it was actually a period of on again off again wars, not one single war that lasted one hundred years. Anyway, apparently the invasion of Normandy on D-day was not as original as I was lead to believe. In reality, on "13 July 1346 the English armada landed at La Hogue, on the Cherbourg Peninsula." (pg. 58, The Hundred Years War by Desmond Seward). That is actually about five hundred and ninety-eight years before the 1944 invasion.

After reading that, it has made me wonder how many other "original" plans were actually taken from history. Unfortunately I am not that motivated to cross reference all of that, so I'm just going to guess a lot. When I learned this fact, I was reminded of a quote from one of my favorite movies, Endless Waltz, which actually has nothing to do with dancing believe it or not. Anyway, the quote that I remembered is, "History is much like an endless waltz, the three beats of war, peace, and revolution continue on forever" Ignoring the obvious pessimistic view at the end of the quote, it basically means that history repeats itself.

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Returning to Church

When I am not in a church service, and expressing my faith through my actions and through questions to people to further my faith, I feel like I am part of a religion that has roots in the ancient world that is amazing and awe inspiring. I guess what I am trying to saw is that I don't really like going to church as a building, but rather interact in my religion through actions, such as volunteering, and having conversations in a more private setting. Like how Christianity started out when it was being persecuted by the ancient Roman Empire, they would meet in secret and discuss their beliefs. Now I am not saying that Christianity should be persecuted and meet in secret, I'm just saying I would prefer a more intimate setting. Now I might change my perception and opinion of church buildings in the future, because despite what some people say, somethings can and do change.

Now to prove my father wrong.

Today at church the sermon that was given was about a scottish woman who worked at a steel factory until she was twenty-eight or something around that age. When all her siblings were grown, she decided to become a missionary and was sent to a region in Africa around the Ivory Coast. At first, it was slow moving, but eventually she built dozens of buildings (yes I said BUILT) which gave sanctuary to twins because in the region she was sent, twins were seen as a curse and were placed in earthen pots(?) and "returned to nature". Another building she built that was a church, ended up with a congregation or about ten thousand strong. This woman eventually died in 1915, she was upset that she hadn't done enough that she could have done.

Yes dad, I do pay attention to the sermons.