SCIENCE.Who saw this coming.
Formalized science in high school is like the academic equivalent of waterboarding for 99 percent of rightbrains, who'd rather be writing A-grade book reports on novels they've merely skimmed. I guess it wasn't just the teenage rightbrains, it was really everyone, except for that one kid. You know the kind, who bleeds ambition and whose constant handraising irritated you mucho.
Irregardless of this, the total insufferable tedium of high school science, I always performed at/above capacity. I just never took any real pleasure from it. Sure, dissecting fetal pigs was smelly fun, but, as a rule I found the concept of scientific absolutes and rules deplorable. I like(d) options. (This is also why I hated that greater of two evils, mathematics.)
Clearly, this sentiment manifests a total misunderstanding of scientific rigor. Science is a lot more creative than high school (and undergrad) teachers spun it. There's wiggle-room if you know where to look. And there are really quite miraculous things that science can teach us/me.
Like space. Space is just totally cool. It turns me into nothing more than cranial putty. Prrreeetttty.
Joking aside, I guess you could say space opened a lot of doors for me, scientifically. It made me start wanting to WHY. And WHY I did. I WHY'd all over 2009.
I watched meteor showers in the early am. I started subscribing to lots of science blogs. I looked at a lot of space porn. I took the time to read how hydrogen bombs work. I tried to learn about infinity. I used a NASA-grade telescope to look at Saturn. Apparently, I said the following to Jared in my sleep: "Our love transcends space and time." I started reading the Concrete series. I watched a lot of LOST. I cried in the first 5 minutes of Star Trek. For Halloween, Jared and I dressed up as Stephen Hawking and A Brief History of Time. (I tried to conduct legitimate experiments.) ETC.
Plus, the cream - I'm married to the sci-fi nerd of all time. Jared can't be here to defend himself right now because he's busy reading Dark Tower: Wizard and Glass.
But don't worry, I'm sure later he'd love to show you his Star Wars playing cards, or maybe if you're LUCKY, the Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels.
I really can't make fun of him much though. I really love science and the genre that it spurred. I just happen to like the more socially acceptable kind. And you probably do too, for that matter.
Love Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind? GUILTY.
Love the Huey Lewis ballad Back in Time? GUILTY.
Love Huey Lewis? GUILTY. Of being awesome.
HONORABLE MENTION
karaoke.
5 comments :
I thought for years as a child I was going to grow up and be a mad scientist--until I realized I knew nothing about science. I really just liked designing my massive mansions with underground labs and wall-sized windows with views of the whales. And then...when my 5th grade teacher showed us "2001: A Space Odyssey" and I was overwhelmed with ecstasy I knew I had arrived--it wasn't science I loved--it was science fiction. But I am now realizing that in order to write these great movies I dream about, I need to know all of that darned stuff I despised in school. And yikes--it is cool--when you are not being force fed the stuff.
your 5th grade teacher screened 2001? you had the coolest 5th grade teacher ever.
Adrienne,
I love you. You are the apple to my cheese. It's January, can we play now?
[] Yes [] No
Leah
One time I called the radio station to request "Back in Time" and I waited and waited so I could record it on my boom box, but the sweet melody was never played. Stupid DJ. Stupid youth.
You SUCCEEDED in conducting legitimate experiments!
Favorite part: Plus, the cream - I'm married to the sci-fi nerd of all time. Jared can't be here to defend himself right now because he's busy reading Dark Tower: Wizard and Glass.
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