I just went to my friend Max's blog http://cultivateculture.wordpress.com/. He's in Chile visiting his family (and preparing to do a Master's in neurophysics, I believe) -- after having toured part of Europe in the fall. The guy is teaching me things every time I come in contact with him. He humbles me -- which is a good thing. Max is always thinking, thinking, thinking. And his enthusiasm for science and its impact on the world is infectious. Nah, that description's too general. I get the feeling Max is fascinated with the intersection of science, culture, and intellectual exploration and how that can change how we see our world.

I dig that wavelength, but I'm much less versed in the scientific side of things. For a virtually untrained amateur I don't fare too badly, and I have a good, if not great, grasp of culture (at least on the local level). But I love soaking up the insights that people like Max uncover in the world.

Max turned me on to the the TED talks http://www.ted.com/talks, which are a practical example of that intersection/confluence/clash/collision/collaboration I'm talking about. I get so jazzed by these talks that every time I go to the site, I want to spend hours jumping from one talk to the next to the next. Too bad I don't have that kind of time. Or I forget about them and spend time playing poker. How sad it that? Speaking of lack of time, mine is up. TTFN!

Popping Mah Cherry

So this is my first offishal post. Huh. Honestly, I'm not entirely sure how well I'll take to this, because I'm more of a lover than a writer, but I'll give it some time. I guess being the type that is a little hesitant to make her opinions known sometimes, and being a bit shy (gun-shy?), I may not be quite the right fit for this, but I'm game to try something new for a while. Maybe this will open up new dimensions, broaden my skinny little horizons, blow up my mind...

O.K. I feel like it behooves me to leave some kind of opinion in this entry, so here goes:

I think public expectoration is disgusting, unless you're running really, really fast. So if you're in the habit of doing it... PLEASE. STOP. NOW.

I mean it. That goes double for public defecation and urination.

On the plus side, I love using multi-syllable words for stuff like that. Sigh. I'm such a word nerd : ) Now the blogging world will know... *blush*