jury duty and relativity

yesterday i was a true american and hung out at the multnomah county courthouse all day serving jury duty. it was really easy because all i did from 8am to about 415pm was sit in the jury assembly room and wait for my name to be called. but my name was never called. i didn't have to do a single thing. i considered bringing a book but then i had the crazy thought that i might actually be occupied while i was there so i didnt. i realized that i made a mistake after i was sitting around all morning so on the lunch break i walked home and got a book.

before i had the book i read through the handouts they gave us about the juror selection process and what happens during a trial and all that. and then i heard people talking to each other and asking questions that were covered explicitly in the handouts but i didnt say anything. also the lady who was in charge of calling our names told us there were books and magazines in the back if we were interested. so i went back to look at the books thinking that with a whole bookshelf full of books there would be something at least marginally interesting to read. but i realized that when she said books what she really meant were romance and other pop novels like James Patterson's The Lake House. and i'll read almost anything but i wasnt that desperate. so instead i sat in my chair and practiced not thinking and just listening to my environment. i really like doing that lately. i think its incredibly relaxing.

so when i got my book i started reading The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene which I have had since last year and just finally got around to starting. i'm really glad i did too because it is really informative and well-written so far and is a perfect follow-up to my summer physics curriculum which ended last friday. and while i was reading about it I realized that another good practice (in addition to the not thinking) is to constantly remind myself that I and everything around me are in constant motion even though we appear to be stationary. its good to remember these things that we all know to be true yet our second nature seems to contradict them. this concept is the basic idea behind relativity i think. and by the way the book said that Einstein published his paper on special relativity in june of 1905 which makes this summer the 100 year anniversary of the world's offical introduction to it. and since the idea that the measurement of something or someones speed will be different depending on the relative motion of whoever is measuring that speed is not so relevant to our daily lives (since for the tiny tiny tiny difference to be noticed in speeds common to our everyday experience the tools used to measure would have to be impossibly accurate), even after 100 years it is still not second nature to us. if it was maybe i could explain it in a way that would be incredibly clear to anyone reading it. i'll just have to keep reminding myself daily so that eventually it IS built in to my personal subconscious and so i understand the way the world really works as opposed to the way that everyone thinks it does.

Semi-charmed kinda life

So here's something I would never admit to my 18 year old self. Actually its ok I probably would admit it since I'm much cooler now than I was then anyway. But since I've had this recent pop rediscovery, I find that I really like that third eye blind song. semi-charmed life. yeah. its so enthusiastic!! i think yesterday mustve just been a bad day because I was down on curb your enthusiasm. still a good show. and i started playing final fantasy again and now that my black belts have reached level 10 and beyond they are kicking some serious ass. nothing can really stop me now. its a steep climb in the early levels but it was worth it. i'm going to waste this fucking game. so i'll tell you a little bit about my team since they might be the greatest in the history of final fantasy for nes. They use no black magic, only bracelets for armor, and no weapons!! Ok the white mage is using a silver hammer right now. but thats hardly a powerful weapon. it IS a sweet weapon, but not too powerful. Anyway the three black belts are called JOHN, MARK, and LUKE (you only get four letters per name). The white mage is called GOD. GOD has not died yet and he isn't going to. consequently he is further ahead of the others in experience. The only attack magic that GOD can use is HARM which only works on undead creatures. makes sense. basically we rely completely on some quick fists and a silver hammer here and there. taking out giants, ogres, wolves, arachnids...you name it. plus the sweetest part is that GOD just gained 5th level magic so now he can resurrect his fallen black belts using the LIFE spell should they take one too many hits. and i think i've barely even stratched the surface of the game. ok thats enough talk about this.

Sunday is so lame

I need to blog on days that I actually do something but it seems like its just Sunday that gets the special treatment. I just spent an hour watching curb your enthusiasm. It was really funny the first time i saw the episodes but unfortunately after a few times it seems more contrived and therefore less funny. I prefer the office. Ummmm... for all you partiers out there, youre going to be jealous when I tell you what i did last night. I was on the soulseek p2p looking for i dont remember what and i found a user who was sharing mp3s of the top 100 billboard from the 1940s to 2004. so i spent a really long time downloading the ones i wanted to hear and listening to them. it was great actually. most of the songs i got were from the early 90s. my favorite one i think is "I Got a Man" by Positive K. That song is so good. You have to hear it again if its been awhile. Anyway while I was doing this I also found this article online Playing God with Whatever: The 90s Pop Culture Box and I think it probably the best piece of music writing i've read in a long time. And apparently the guy who wrote it is 19. So he was 4 when the 90s started but I guess i'll ignore that. His article is not pretentious like all other music writing. So i appreciate that. Plus it helped me remember a bunch of songs I wanted to hear again. Its a good thing to read if youre bored and you like 90s pop music.

I havent played final fantasy since I wrote about it last week. I feel like my physics class exists in another world and its only at around 6 tomorrow morning that reality will come back and i'll realize I still do go to school. Its weird starting a new term on a friday. We had one class and then a weekend. The breeze feels really good coming in from my window. My stroke of genius this weekend was buying a lemon and slicing it up and keeping it in tupperware in my fridge so I could have a lemon slice in each glass of water I had. There really arent too many better things in life than a glass of water with lemon in it.