After the Fall, seg. 1

Alright, so this is a story idea I've had floating around in my mind. I'm not one to usually do bleak-sci-fi-future-stuff, but a bunch of ideas have been bouncing around my mind in just the right way to convince me that they just might coalesce into something good. I'm... not frightened, but for lack of a better word I'm (as of now) frightened to post this on Protag. Maybe it'll find its way over there, but for right now it's staying right here.
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Much of the work we do is for our progress, for our apparent advancement in this universe. We strive to move ourselves ever forward, not pausing to take a good look back. Sure, we bring some things along for the ride, history and art and principles and what-not, but we constantly look for ways to "improve" it, to make it "fit."

This is especially true with science. It's based on the basics laid down by the Greeks, the other "ancients" in all those textbooks, Newton. Even Einstein used these principles, using them to chip in his own ideas and expound on others.

Advancement. Ha! Progress. Ha! The only progress we've seemed to make is to backpedal. And that's my opinion on a rare good day. If you catch me on most days, I'd say we're progressing alright: progressing right into our own rendition of The Inferno. The stupid Computer screwed everything up. In our rush to go forwards, all it's led up to is a launch backwards. Sure, the calenders say it's 2062 (at least, that's what they said last I checked who-knows-how-long-ago), but that's just a number. Numbers could care less if the world's more like 1062. 1562, depending on where you are, and if you're lucky.

Maybe a brief history lesson would help. I'm not sure of all the details, or even if the details I have are correct, but it's all we have to work with right now.

Back in the day, before The Fall, my mother was in high school. From what I understand she was pretty bright, loved school. Among her many loves academia was her physics class. She claimed that it twisted her brain into knots and really made her think, but she loved it. Close friend of the teacher, too, Patrick Hewlett. At one point he told her about the effect the quantum computer would have on society. It would be able to predict seemingly-random events such as the weather, the stock market, the lottery, and such. The way he put it, if one person could single-handedly control the stock-market, the economy would collapse because once it got out that someone knew exactly what would happen, what would be the point in investing? Everyone would pull out. Down comes the stock market, down comes the economy, and then down comes most of society as we know it. And, in Hewlett's mind, this person could probably control what remained of society.

Ain't that a comforting thought?

When the idea was introduced in-class, some wondered, "If quantum computers'll be the end of the world, what about the end of the Mayan calendar?"

"Maybe they'll be developed at the end of the Mayan calendar," she suggested half-jokingly.

Anyway, fast-forward to my mother's sophomore year in college. She picked up a copy of a newspaper, and looked at a tiny side-bar article She nearly fell out of her chair in surprise. I still have the page, faded and tattered as it is.

The New-York Times. Saturday, December 22nd, 2012.
Late last night bore witness to a momentous occasion. A brilliant individual, who wished to be unnamed at the time of publication, has claimed to have completely developed the long-awaited quantum computer. Earlier versions of this machine have been able to execute simple functions such as addition and subtraction, but, "this has limitless potential," the developer said. One of the known functions, the developer told our reporter, is its ability to predict weather with such accuracy, it can predict the exact temperature, amount of precipitation, and dew-point for one side of town, and the same figures for the other.

The text at the end of it gets blurry, but I think it was something like big corporations and labs and such had offered "the developer" astronomical sums of money, but "the developer" refused.

Needless to say, my mother was a bit flipped out. She double-checked the date of the paper; it still said December 22nd. Nah, it can't be, she thought at the time. Now when I think about it, nearly fifty years later, I say it had to be. There's an odd connection between the supposed Fiery End and the rise of The Computer.

Do you see it?

Invitation to Life; Come as You Are

I've been thinking (-gasp of utter surprise!-), and I think I've established something about myself: for the most part, I'm a "come as you are" person.

Allow me to explain. And even if you don't allow me to explain I shall do so anyway. I think people should be more comfortable with themselves, and not need to put on a show of sorts for other people. I mean, sure you can show what you have to offer, but it should be a center-stage performance, it shouldn't be a side-show to try and hide something flawed. Tiny flaws are part of the beauty of any live performance. It gives it that genuine, human quality to it, y'know?

Now, don't get me wrong, I like the occasional metaphorical song-and-dance of, say, dressing all nice-nice and what-not, but I don't think it's "who I am," if you will pardon the cliché. If I had the choice, I'd wear my dark-wash jeans, nice shirt, and black flats all the time, with the occasional dress thrown in there for performances. Granted, if I had to I'd get used to wearing dresses all the time, but it would have to be the right kind of dress.

One of the things that made me think of this was preparation before attending a symphony performance. Now, I don't know if I've mentioned at all, but I love any and all live classical music like nobody's business. But, there's only one thing of which I'm not a fan in the classical music world: the apparent "necessity" to get all dressed up for a performance. I mean, yeah, one should look nice in public, and yeah, it's a fairly special occasion to go to the symphony. But I feel that I'm there to listen to the performers on stage play their hearts out, not to win the "Best Dressed Award." I don't really care what people think of my attire, frankly. If I like what I'm wearing, that's all that really counts to me. If someone happens to really like it, kudos to him or her.

I'm kind of the same way with musical competitions. Some people get all spun up about them, and feel they absolutely must be the best out of everyone there, lest the universe implodes, or, heaven forbid, they only place instead of win (okay, most of the competitors that I've known aren't that uptight, but I've heard it to happen). I'm just there to play my best and get the constructive comments from the judges. If I happen to place, that's just an added bonus. If I don't, I'm satisfied with the fact that I played my best. I play for my satisfaction, in the hopes that someone else will be satisfied by my music as well. If not, well, frankly it's their loss.

Sometimes I wish the world would just relax a little. People should still work hard, but just calm down about the results, that's not what matters the most. It's the process that matters, it really is. I think if people would think about that more, it'd calm things down a bit. Not much, I realize, but just that little bit.

Epic Fail

I simply had to share this pic I found earlier...

You Can't Take It With You

Last night I went to a local production of the play You Can't Take It With You, a three-act play by Moss Hart and George Kaufman. If you're not familiar with the play, I highly recommend reading it, it's absolutely hysterical.
But the comedic antics didn't just stay on stage; it seeped into a few of the cast bios as well.
Most of the time, a cast bio will include previous parts, a few hobbies, etc., etc. Often interesting, but often in local productions it's the same people in the lead parts, especially with musicals. It was refreshing to see a straight play, because it brought a few people into the cast one otherwise might not see on stage. And some of the people will play up on that fact.
These two bios were perhaps the most entertaining bios I've ever seen.

"D.L. (Mr. Henderson) has been a part of every musical since The Wizard of Oz, performing [viola] with the pit orchestra. This is the first production in which he has been a part of the cast. The pit orchestra members from previous shows have waged war on him, claiming treason on his part. It began with verbal abuse, but quickly escalated to badgering, pestering, and nuclear warfare. He only hopes that he is not attacked during a performance. The auditorium will be on maximum security to limit danger. In his spare time, he likes to play with staplers, eat lead, and perform magic. He is currently running a one-man magic business, dpL Magic, performing at various venues (hire him please)."
(side note: This dude's an excellent violist, an insane magician, and all-around crazy-awesome.)

"M.L. (Donald) has never been in any previous theater productions as a cast member. He has been a member of stage crew for both "Beauty and the Beast" and "On the Town." He thoroughly enjoyed his time in stage crew, but wanted to give acting a try. ... M's other hobbies are very distant from acting. Some hobbies of his ar geology, music, playing piano, guitar, ukulele, and harmonica. He also enjoys collecting staplers from 1976 and making milk sculptures. ... He likes to travel and violently shake unsuspecting foreigners. This play has been very enjoyable and although he will most likely stick to stage crew more often, M's very glad to have had the chance to be in the cast of a truly delicious play."

I think these two might've had a thing going with staplers.

SAT Prep Class: Week 1

Hey howdy all!
Well, it's finally upon us: the beginnings of SAT preparation. So, the proactive studyer that I am, I signed up for the prep course offered by the school, and tonight was the first class. I figured I could mention a few points that came up during the two hour class, and then (for the first four weeks, anyway) list any vocabulary I deemed noteworthy.

- Boba Fett was used as a reference for the adjective "mercenary."
~ I re-remembered a "Frankenstein word" we inadvertently created in English class one day: psychophant: an insane truckler (one who looks to curry favor through praise).
- (Orange, this one's for you) One of the practice questions ran as follows: "To avoid being -------(predictable), Stephen Sondheim strives for an element of surprise in his songs."
~ I have one thing to say: "It blanked the blank!"

And now, in a version of the Princeton SAT Vocabulary Hit Parade, I present to you:
John Stamos's (and g2's) Awesome SAT Words
superfluous: unnecessary
stymied: foiled
spurious: questionable
invidious (the one word the teacher didn't know! I looked it up as soon as I got home): unfair, prompted by envy
dogmatic: stubbornly devoted to cause or idea
sanguine: passionate
intransigence: not lasting
redolent: sweet-smelling
debacle: disaster
haranguing: long-winded lecturing, often looking down upon the lecture-ee
conciliatory: forgiving
imperious: giving impression of importance
inscrutable: unable to be understood by close study
histrionic: dramatic, often melodramatic
solicitous: requesting
profundity: deep, philosophical-ness
palliative: able to reconcile
litigious: like a legal problem
reprehensible: deserving of contempt
insular: limited in scope
viscous: slick
floridity: flowery-ness
dearth: lack of something
demonstrative: openly demonstrating feelings
opacity: quality of hard to penetrate
magnanimous: friendly (man, I love that word)
disparaging: insulting

Dos Canciones Favoritas (y una más)

(Translation: Two Favorite Songs {and one more})
Inspired by OrangeOreos's initiative, I've decided to put up two of my favorite Spanish songs. I don't plan on making this a "regular" thing, but I'll post favorite songs/videos sporadically.

The first is a more recent discovery: Caraluna, by Bacilos. The class's interpretation of the song was that the "narrator" is talking about his lost love, but I disagree. I think he's looking for love, he just hasn't found it yet. It fits the more hopeful beat of the song.



Catchy, no?

The second is the first song we ever learned in a Spanish class, and it still sticks out as a high favorite. It's just so happy and bouncy!


I must take this opportunity to say this: this song came on at homecoming a few months back, and because everybody who's taken Spanish 2 (a majority of the school population) and/or people who know Spanish-2-goers knows this song, we were all singing/screaming along to this song. It was absolutely frickin' awesome.

Now, this last one. As a Spanish student I find this absolutely hysterical. For anybody who's not a Spanish speaker, this guy's basically trying to impress this girl (the one with the "what am I doing here with this loser?" expression) with basic phrases like, "¿qué hora es?" (what time is it), "mi gato es muy blanco" (my cat is very white), and the like.
Take note to what he whispers into her ear at the very end...


...that, right there, is just great.
If anybody's curious, there's a second semester Spanish love song as well. Spanish Mike (as the singing dude is called) has learned conjugations, and he brought along a friend.

Paz, amor, y chocolate.