I've decided my post titles will be much more entertaining if I just combine what I'm talking about into a crazy amalgam of an idea. More entertaining for me, perhaps more intriguing for you?
Motorpacing
I don't know whether physics is confusing
Or just preposterous
As drops of sweat fall horizontal
And bend upward again
Only to stop suddenly
Waiting for my face
To catch up instantly
And stinging my eyes
As they end their journey
Just two inches from the
Brow where they originated
Dribbling down my chin
Coating my lips
With caked-on whiteness
As I suffer behind the car
At thirty-five miles per hour
The brief vacuum behind
The red bumper
snatches salty drops
And sucks them in
toward the open hatch
The trunk ajar
And the interior hovering
Inches in front
An odd constant scenery
As the pavement cracks
whip past underneath
And bumps in the road
prove the only reminders
That we're making rapid progress
Since the cupholder between the chairs
Remains perfectly still
Poem:
I went motorpacing and couldn't for the life of my figure out how I was getting drops of water splashed on my constantly. Then I saw a drop of sweat leap off my cheek, fly forward faster than I was, loop around, and hit me in the shoulder. I was fascinated. There didn't seem to be any way to predict how they would behave. Some would drop down to the ground, some would shoot off to the side, and some changed directions twice before I lost sight of them. I don't think I've done too great a job getting the description right, but the experience is so brief I have trouble slowing it down in my mind to do it justice.
Observation:
There have been a lot of technology things happening recently, so I thought I'd talk about some of the cool things I've been hearing about. The first is that the three-dimensional television screens are cool for a way different reason than I was thinking about. Because the 3D technology works by sending slightly different images to each eye (forcing them to combine the two into a perspective with depth) it's possible to get two people to see different images on the same screen. The way this is accomplished is by giving one person the equivalent of two "right-eyed" lenses from a pair of glasses, and the other person two for the "left eye." because they block out the image the other person sees, they will wind up with a two-dimensional image of completely different pictures. So one person can be watching something else happen. This is mostly interesting for video games, where shared sounds make a bit more sense, but if you had headphones, you could each watch completely different things. Of course, at that point there's no good reason not to get two televisions. The technology is pretty awesome though.
Another cool little thing is the case I just got for my phone. It has a battery built in, and I let my phone run out of battery and it's been charging off the case for the past four hours, bringing it all the way back up to full charge. I'm thoroughly impressed. It's a bit bulkier than other cases, but doubling my battery life is worth it for sure, especially since I'm going on a vacation soon-ish.
Exercise:
Use all these words in a story: priest, ring, garden, magnifying glass
As the priest pronounced them man and wife, all the ring bearer could see were the ants. The beaming smiles and all-too-modest kiss drew applause from the grown ups, which released his hand briefly. That was all he needed. Sam ducked into unobtrusiveness and hunched his way over to the trail of little figures. They were single file but for one rogue, which branched off from the scent trail. Sam followed the line backwards until it departed from the main walk, diverted onto a side path of loosely set brick. There, in the middle of the garden, he sat surrounded by all the classic wedding flowers. Lilies, daisies, and tulips all lined the bricks, some potted for easy setting manipulation, ready to be shuttled to the reception area or the church entrance should the need arise.
Sam reached into his pockets one by one, starting with his pants. By the time he checked his little tux coat, his search had become a bit frantic, and he patted himself all over before reaching in to the inside breast pocket and removing a little multi-tool, the kind given to kids at science centers to inspire enthusiasm with education. He flipped open it's cheap plastic magnifying glass, found a patch of sun, and with the ease brought on by long practice, directed a concentrated beam of light at the shell of one unfortunate drone. It sizzled briefly, threw off a spark, and the ants behind just continued by unfazed. Even at that age, that was what Sam found remarkable. He had just watched two people vow to care for one another as long as they both should live, and yet here, only fifteen yards away, the ants marched by affected. Sam knew people were like ants in some places. He had been to the city, seen the homeless being ignored, seen the suits stroll past in line. But he had also had an ant farm, and knew that while some people were like ants, there were no ants like people. There were no secluded church gardens, no wedding vows, no pauses in the march. He considered this as he absentmindedly torched another ant, it's thorax bursting in a miniature testament to apathy.
Me:
I didn't bike yesterday due to the weather, and the day off apparently made me quite ready to ride today. My dad said it was the fastest ride he's been on in a long time, and we averaged 22.1 mph for the whole thing, including the in-town stuff. Which means out on-road average was somewhere around 25? I guess. That's pretty good for me. I just hope my legs feel good for my race tomorrow. It's a perfectly flat course, so I'm not thrilled, but I did well there two years ago, so we'll see.
In a good news/break from complaining section, my fingers have finally stopped hurting. It's taken like three months, but the two I dislocated playing handball are now almost entirely pain free. They don't have quite a normal range of flexibiliy yet, but I noticed the last two or three times I've been on a handball court that they're not affecting my shots any more. Nw if I could get my feet moving how I want, I'd be back up to snuff. A combination of tired legs and overconfidence has resulted in me focusing less on the mechanics I know I could be improving. But my left hand has kept improving, so at least some progress continues to be made.
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