So, I wanted to really free write. I know that I wanted to make a few points in this post, and I’m sure I’ll get to them, but I’m going to write whatever comes to mind. Because I wrote at the beginning of this month that I slacked off last month, and for that reason, I’m going to post at least once more before this month is over. And no slacker posts like the one about my physics of music notes…although it was interesting to me to see those.
We’re now past the halfway point in summer. It’s amazing how quickly it’s gone. I swear, suddenly it’ll be November again and I’ll be wondering what happened to those warm days where I could sit with the window wide open, typing this to you in my boxers like I am right now. I’m going to be wondering what happened to feeling the wind on my face as I drove down 405 with the windows rolled down. I’m going to be preparing for the first Christmas in this house. But that’s for December, so expect a post about that later.
Reflecting back on my first half of summer, I really want to remember two things. And these were very fun things. Both of course, very simple, yet for some reason to me very pleasurable.
I hated hated hated the dog at first. There are still times, like right now when she’s crying and barking and it’s 11 pm at night that I still hate the dog. Or maybe dislike is a better word now? Ok, dislike. But the dog makes me happy for two reasons. First is the fact that every time I come home (I am the first to come home) she is ready with tail wagging, going crazy, running around, jumping all over my legs, licking my hands, not holding steady when I’m putting on her collar. Because you know what? They don’t know how crappy your day was. They don’t care how tired you are. They are happy to see you and glad that you are home now. You begin to get the sense they never want you to leave. I have been the most calm this summer when Lola is calm and I am petting her. I would post a picture of her being calm right here, but I am too lazy to crop it from the 1600 X 1200 size it currently is in. Nice job, “Medium” setting on my Canon. Pffftt…
The second reason I really am enjoying Lola is how she runs. She is probably 4 inches off the ground, but she is a speedster. And only a few times have I been successful in tiring her out. Most of the time she is looking for more, and I am drenched in sweat trying to catch my breath. Why? She’s a chaser. You run, she runs after you. You stop, she stops, and you can run after her. As part of my daily workouts (let me get to that later) these past few months, I’ve been sprinting all around the house, all around the yard, and even around the neighborhood park with her. Seeing how happy she is that she caught me just makes my day. And I know it sounds cheesy, but I don’t care. The fact that she runs as fast as I sprint is great. We make for great races. Come watch us run around some time when you get the chance.
The other thing I wanted to mention is finding summer basketball heaven. Every year I’ve tried to find “that court”. The one where wannabe gang bangers don’t roll up and bump their music. The one where the lights stay on all night. The one that’s got grass surrounding it, and flat grass at that, not the one on top of the hill where the ball rolls WAY down the hill if you’re not careful or air ball it. The one with regulars that don’t talk trash and are there just to have fun like me. It may be a little far from my home, but it’s worth every penny of gas and mile on my car. I cannot get over how good this court is. This is my 4th consecutive week playing there and every time I come home wanting to go back tomorrow. But I don’t. I go once a week. It’s my little “away” time from the girls.
We used to play down here in the business parks. 3 am, no one around, just playing HORSE for money. But the court wasn’t well lit, and if we stayed for long enough, we’d get kicked off of private property. This new court I play at is a park. And it’s called “Hidden Valley” for a reason. Seriously if someone hadn’t given me directions to the place, I would’ve never found it. Perfect, secluded location. It’s like driving through a forest and BAM you’re on a park. Thank you Alex Akita for showing me the way.
I guess now for some kind of bad stuff to write about. I slacked. I’m such a loser. I totally slacked. In June I said to myself, “Ok Seth, you’ve got 2 and a half months to get in shape before the BP…DO IT…GET CUT…NO EXCUSES”. But I came up with excuses. I came up with 30 hours of poker (Without which, I wouldn’t be bringing an extra $500 to Vegas with me). I came up with taking care of Lola while Michelle was running around at weddings.
Did I mention, weddings suck? I never want to be part of one again until I’m invited to one that is not obviously my own. That is, unless the BP is going to be rocking hopefully like mine is.
Anyway, fast forward a month and a half, and I’m left sitting here 18 days away from the bachelor party, only doing my normal routine. Not pushing it at all. Not working to get cut. Just sailing along. Which during any other summer would’ve been fine. I mean, I keep up with the guys on the court just fine. But I wanted my abs back. I wanted my definition. And at this point, I have to be real with myself and just do the best I can with what little time I have left. 2 and a half months I feel is enough time to change a body. Especially one like mine where I maybe have to lose 15 pounds to be an ideal weight. And it wasn’t even about the weight with me. It was about losing my love handles (he laughs) and my beer belly. But just like in college I procrastinated, and now I’m sitting here trying to make up for lost time. Going on runs twice as long as I should be, thinking I’ll be working out all weekend other than Max and Erika’s wedding...really pushing myself with the weights. I mean by now I should’ve been on my “tone and firm” stage of the redevelopment of my body. Instead I’m on a crash course to who knows where…hopefully not sickness.
Regardless, I’m still in great shape and have been working out at least 2 days a week for the past month and a half. I really should have pushed it to 4 days a week, but now I’ll be going 6 days a week. *sigh* Why do I always do this to myself? Procrastination, you’ve screwed me over once again.
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Just want to be over with it
I just paid our Comcast bill and also our bill for our appliances. Just those two amounted to more than $300.
I am a very impatient person. And because I am very impatient, it means I don’t want to make payments. I don’t want to make monthly payments to pay off things. Because every time I make a payment, that means another month has passed. And I could look back over the month and definitely see good things, fun things, good memories, but I see them less frequently than I’d like to.
It’s weird to think about exactly how many people spend 30 years in a house and pay the whole thing off. I can’t imagine doing that. I can’t imagine the person that spends 30 years in the same house, making the same payment every month and then at the end of 30 years, exactly 360 monthly payments later, gets the deed to their house and finally outright ownership. Obviously, this won’t be the case for Michelle and me. I don’t imagine us paying 360 payments to pay this house. We’re already paying over the amount we owe every month. And once we finish with our appliances and TV, we’ll be able to pay even more in to our mortgage…but…
It’s not coming soon enough. It’s not going fast enough. I don’t have the patience. I’ve been in this house for exactly 5 months as of this Friday. So that means I’ve got 356 more payments to go, because we didn’t make a payment the first month we were in here. I want to look 5 years down the road and miraculously have this thing paid off. It was the same way with my car. 5 year loan, finished in 2 and a half years. I got antsy. And yeah, sure all of those econ majors out there can point to me and say, “Well what about the time value of money?” And to that, I say, I feel better if money isn’t being sucked out of my account. I’d rather be broke and not see money come out of my account, then see lots of money come in to the account and just funnel straight out of it. For some reason that latter is much more painful to me, for reasons that would probably be pretty hard to describe.
When I was paying off my car, they expected a payment of $275 or something like that every month. But I was paying $500 a month. And on my last payment, I dumped $1200 off to them just so I could be done with it. I think here’s part of the reason, no the main reason why: Is because I hated seeing that money leave. This is the reason that I felt like writing this blog post tonight, is because I was kind of sick at this point of my mortgage coming out. And I’ve only got 29.5 years left of it. And of course, everyone can say it’s an investment. Yes, it is, I agree. Every dollar we put in to this house will come back to us hopefully double. That is barring any disaster, and assuming that we sell it. It will be hard to sell it though. The only thing I dislike about it is the school district. And that can be fixed by just plain old good parenting.
I just think about the $2800 coming out every month out of our joint account and I cringe. I mean, really, what could we do with that money? At the least save it. That was another point that I wanted to make. Is that I never wanted money so I could buy things with it. I just wanted money to have a lot of it. Because having that cushion for some reason feels really great. The moment we’ve got 6 months of mortgage payments in cash in the bank is the day that I’m going to feel better about this. And from my calculations, if Michelle and I don’t get raises (which we will) that point will be 4 years from now.
And thinking about 4 years from now is for some reason a pretty heavy weight. I mean, we could have a child by then. What then with that nest egg? Does it then go to the child? Does Michelle quit her job to stay home with child? Or do I? Are my parents or hers retired? How many days a week can they take them? Do I work part time? How long can we stay at home and how far does that push back retirement? What does a huge wind fall of money do? What happens if I get lucky?
I can’t even think about what the plan is for this coming Tuesday, 2 days from now, let alone 4 years from now. I am thinking too much. I should really think, and stress less. But it is hard. Because I want to be comfortable. And I think that being comfortable, or at least getting there takes a lot of discomfort. Was there a sign up sheet for this? I don’t remember volunteering for it.
I am a very impatient person. And because I am very impatient, it means I don’t want to make payments. I don’t want to make monthly payments to pay off things. Because every time I make a payment, that means another month has passed. And I could look back over the month and definitely see good things, fun things, good memories, but I see them less frequently than I’d like to.
It’s weird to think about exactly how many people spend 30 years in a house and pay the whole thing off. I can’t imagine doing that. I can’t imagine the person that spends 30 years in the same house, making the same payment every month and then at the end of 30 years, exactly 360 monthly payments later, gets the deed to their house and finally outright ownership. Obviously, this won’t be the case for Michelle and me. I don’t imagine us paying 360 payments to pay this house. We’re already paying over the amount we owe every month. And once we finish with our appliances and TV, we’ll be able to pay even more in to our mortgage…but…
It’s not coming soon enough. It’s not going fast enough. I don’t have the patience. I’ve been in this house for exactly 5 months as of this Friday. So that means I’ve got 356 more payments to go, because we didn’t make a payment the first month we were in here. I want to look 5 years down the road and miraculously have this thing paid off. It was the same way with my car. 5 year loan, finished in 2 and a half years. I got antsy. And yeah, sure all of those econ majors out there can point to me and say, “Well what about the time value of money?” And to that, I say, I feel better if money isn’t being sucked out of my account. I’d rather be broke and not see money come out of my account, then see lots of money come in to the account and just funnel straight out of it. For some reason that latter is much more painful to me, for reasons that would probably be pretty hard to describe.
When I was paying off my car, they expected a payment of $275 or something like that every month. But I was paying $500 a month. And on my last payment, I dumped $1200 off to them just so I could be done with it. I think here’s part of the reason, no the main reason why: Is because I hated seeing that money leave. This is the reason that I felt like writing this blog post tonight, is because I was kind of sick at this point of my mortgage coming out. And I’ve only got 29.5 years left of it. And of course, everyone can say it’s an investment. Yes, it is, I agree. Every dollar we put in to this house will come back to us hopefully double. That is barring any disaster, and assuming that we sell it. It will be hard to sell it though. The only thing I dislike about it is the school district. And that can be fixed by just plain old good parenting.
I just think about the $2800 coming out every month out of our joint account and I cringe. I mean, really, what could we do with that money? At the least save it. That was another point that I wanted to make. Is that I never wanted money so I could buy things with it. I just wanted money to have a lot of it. Because having that cushion for some reason feels really great. The moment we’ve got 6 months of mortgage payments in cash in the bank is the day that I’m going to feel better about this. And from my calculations, if Michelle and I don’t get raises (which we will) that point will be 4 years from now.
And thinking about 4 years from now is for some reason a pretty heavy weight. I mean, we could have a child by then. What then with that nest egg? Does it then go to the child? Does Michelle quit her job to stay home with child? Or do I? Are my parents or hers retired? How many days a week can they take them? Do I work part time? How long can we stay at home and how far does that push back retirement? What does a huge wind fall of money do? What happens if I get lucky?
I can’t even think about what the plan is for this coming Tuesday, 2 days from now, let alone 4 years from now. I am thinking too much. I should really think, and stress less. But it is hard. Because I want to be comfortable. And I think that being comfortable, or at least getting there takes a lot of discomfort. Was there a sign up sheet for this? I don’t remember volunteering for it.
Sunday, July 09, 2006
My mind erases
Retention period: As long as needed or wanted.
Surfing through some old papers, I found this. And looking at it, I have no idea what it is at first glance.
Nothing really to talk about other than I feel like shit, but here it is...I think some smarter people may know what this used to help me with.
-Longitudnal waves deal with wiggling the air molecules back and forth in the direction of the wave.
-Transverse waves acts like the motion of a rope shaken up and down at one end. (perpendicular)
-Slope of a graph of position vs. time is equal to velocity.
-Newton’s 2nd law: F=MA
-Acceleration is the change in velocity over the change in time.
-Pressure is the application of force acting perpendicular to surface area.
-Force deals wither either a push or pull, may distort the object, changes it’s motion.
-Pressure is a force distributed over a certain area. P = F / A
-Work is done when a force is applied to an object that moves = F(D)
-Pressure of the atmosphere on our bodies is 10^5 Newtons / Meters^2 (15lbs/in^2) at sea
-Formula for a displaced guitar string: Potential energy = (2T / L)y^2 where T is equal to the tension in the string, L = length of string and Y is the distance of displacement
-Speed of sound: 343 m/s Gravity: 9.8 m/s^2 .305 meters in 1 ft
1 kg = 2.2 lbs 1 pascal = 1 N/m^2
-Difference between light and sound? About 10^6 m/s
-Kinetic energy = 1/2 M V^2 where M = mass and V = velocity
-Potential energy of a raised object = MGH where M = mass, G = gravity, H = Height
-Equation for a spring: F = -K(y) where Force (F) acts on K (spring constant) with
displacement of (y).
-Frequency of vibration is caculated: f = 1/T where T is the period of one vibration
-Frequency in hertz: f = 1 / 2(pie) * sqroot: (K / M)-Frequency of a pendulum: f = ½(pie) * sqroot (g / l) where g = gravity, and l = lenth
-Frequency of helmholtz resonator: f = [V / 2(pie)]* sqroot (a / VL) a is neck. V is
volume and L is the length of the neck.
-Tuning forks, principal mode will be struck at the bottom, clang mode near the top. Best
position to listen to a tuning fork is between the prongs at the top.
-Node: an area where there is no vibration, where sinusoidal graph intersects 0.
-One cent = 1/100th of a half-step
-Log functions are typically Logbase10, (Logbase10)100 = 2.
-(Log base 10)1 = 0 because 10^0 = 1, (logbase10)10 = 1 because 10^1 = 10
-If (log base 10)2 = .3, then we can derive (logbase10)4 by saying 2(log10)2 = .6
(logbase10)6 by saying 3(log10)2 = .9
-Frequency ratios: in logbase2, equation: 1200 X logbase2 (F2 / F1)
-Given 386.3cent, what is the frequency ratio?
386.3 = 1200(logbase2)(F2/F1)
386.3/1200 = logbase2(F2/F1)
2^(386.3/1200) = F2/F1 >>> 1.25 or 5/4
-Decibels: in logbase10, equation: 10logbase10
-Wave velocity equation: V = f(lambda) where f = frequency and lam = wavelength.
If “f” waves pass and crest at lambda meters apart^^^
-Longitudinal waves travel at v = sqroot (E / P) where E = elasticity, and P is density.
-Reflection of sound: The angle of incidence is equal to angle of reflection. The
reflected transverse wave is reflected like in a mirror when returning.
-Frequencies increase as you go towards the source (higher tone), lower when moving
away from the source.
-Speed of sound waves in ideal gas formula: V = sqroot: (Y R T / M) where Y and R are
constants for the gas, T is absolute temperature and M is molecular weight of gas.
-Doppler effect frequency: F = [Fs](V+Vo/V) where Fs is frequency of the source, Vo
is the speed of the observer, and V is speed of sound.
-If the source is in motion then the equation is F = [Fs](V/V-Vs) where Vs is
the speed of the source.
-Refraction occurs when the speed of waves changes which can result in a change in
direction or propagation.
-Diffraction occurs when waves encounter an obstacle, they bend around the obstacle.
-Frequency of modes equation to the nth mode: Fn = n(v/2L) where L is the length
of a string with both ends fixed, and N is the number mode currently in.
-In a bar or rod: fn = n/2L * sqroot: (E/p) where E is young’s elastic modulous and for
the material, p is it’s density.
-For a vibrating string: Fn = (n/2L) * sqroot: (T/u) where T = tension in the
string and u is equal to the mass per unit of length.
-Find first 2 modes of vibration of pipe .75 m long:
f1 = v/2L = 343 / 2(.75) = 229 Hz
f2 = 2v/2L = 2(343) / 2(.75) = 457 Hz
-Acoustic Impedance equation: Za = p / U where p = sound pressure to volume velocity
U. Measured in acoustic Ohms.
Surfing through some old papers, I found this. And looking at it, I have no idea what it is at first glance.
Nothing really to talk about other than I feel like shit, but here it is...I think some smarter people may know what this used to help me with.
-Longitudnal waves deal with wiggling the air molecules back and forth in the direction of the wave.
-Transverse waves acts like the motion of a rope shaken up and down at one end. (perpendicular)
-Slope of a graph of position vs. time is equal to velocity.
-Newton’s 2nd law: F=MA
-Acceleration is the change in velocity over the change in time.
-Pressure is the application of force acting perpendicular to surface area.
-Force deals wither either a push or pull, may distort the object, changes it’s motion.
-Pressure is a force distributed over a certain area. P = F / A
-Work is done when a force is applied to an object that moves = F(D)
-Pressure of the atmosphere on our bodies is 10^5 Newtons / Meters^2 (15lbs/in^2) at sea
-Formula for a displaced guitar string: Potential energy = (2T / L)y^2 where T is equal to the tension in the string, L = length of string and Y is the distance of displacement
-Speed of sound: 343 m/s Gravity: 9.8 m/s^2 .305 meters in 1 ft
1 kg = 2.2 lbs 1 pascal = 1 N/m^2
-Difference between light and sound? About 10^6 m/s
-Kinetic energy = 1/2 M V^2 where M = mass and V = velocity
-Potential energy of a raised object = MGH where M = mass, G = gravity, H = Height
-Equation for a spring: F = -K(y) where Force (F) acts on K (spring constant) with
displacement of (y).
-Frequency of vibration is caculated: f = 1/T where T is the period of one vibration
-Frequency in hertz: f = 1 / 2(pie) * sqroot: (K / M)-Frequency of a pendulum: f = ½(pie) * sqroot (g / l) where g = gravity, and l = lenth
-Frequency of helmholtz resonator: f = [V / 2(pie)]* sqroot (a / VL) a is neck. V is
volume and L is the length of the neck.
-Tuning forks, principal mode will be struck at the bottom, clang mode near the top. Best
position to listen to a tuning fork is between the prongs at the top.
-Node: an area where there is no vibration, where sinusoidal graph intersects 0.
-One cent = 1/100th of a half-step
-Log functions are typically Logbase10, (Logbase10)100 = 2.
-(Log base 10)1 = 0 because 10^0 = 1, (logbase10)10 = 1 because 10^1 = 10
-If (log base 10)2 = .3, then we can derive (logbase10)4 by saying 2(log10)2 = .6
(logbase10)6 by saying 3(log10)2 = .9
-Frequency ratios: in logbase2, equation: 1200 X logbase2 (F2 / F1)
-Given 386.3cent, what is the frequency ratio?
386.3 = 1200(logbase2)(F2/F1)
386.3/1200 = logbase2(F2/F1)
2^(386.3/1200) = F2/F1 >>> 1.25 or 5/4
-Decibels: in logbase10, equation: 10logbase10
-Wave velocity equation: V = f(lambda) where f = frequency and lam = wavelength.
If “f” waves pass and crest at lambda meters apart^^^
-Longitudinal waves travel at v = sqroot (E / P) where E = elasticity, and P is density.
-Reflection of sound: The angle of incidence is equal to angle of reflection. The
reflected transverse wave is reflected like in a mirror when returning.
-Frequencies increase as you go towards the source (higher tone), lower when moving
away from the source.
-Speed of sound waves in ideal gas formula: V = sqroot: (Y R T / M) where Y and R are
constants for the gas, T is absolute temperature and M is molecular weight of gas.
-Doppler effect frequency: F = [Fs](V+Vo/V) where Fs is frequency of the source, Vo
is the speed of the observer, and V is speed of sound.
-If the source is in motion then the equation is F = [Fs](V/V-Vs) where Vs is
the speed of the source.
-Refraction occurs when the speed of waves changes which can result in a change in
direction or propagation.
-Diffraction occurs when waves encounter an obstacle, they bend around the obstacle.
-Frequency of modes equation to the nth mode: Fn = n(v/2L) where L is the length
of a string with both ends fixed, and N is the number mode currently in.
-In a bar or rod: fn = n/2L * sqroot: (E/p) where E is young’s elastic modulous and for
the material, p is it’s density.
-For a vibrating string: Fn = (n/2L) * sqroot: (T/u) where T = tension in the
string and u is equal to the mass per unit of length.
-Find first 2 modes of vibration of pipe .75 m long:
f1 = v/2L = 343 / 2(.75) = 229 Hz
f2 = 2v/2L = 2(343) / 2(.75) = 457 Hz
-Acoustic Impedance equation: Za = p / U where p = sound pressure to volume velocity
U. Measured in acoustic Ohms.
Sunday, July 02, 2006
Lawn Care
So, I haven't written a lot lately.
I've been busy.
And at the same time, I've been lazy.
So I will make a concerted effort to write more, because otherwise I lose track of my life...I lose things I was thinking, I can't look back a year from now and say, "Hey, I remember thinking about that".
Over the past few weeks, I've been thinking a lot about how naive I was as a child. In fact, it comes up every time I water my lawn...which has been about every 3 days.
Let me tell you the story of my lawn. My lawn has been the greenest in the neighborhood since the sun started showing it's rays. I thought it was just fine. Other lawns were browning, neighbors were fertilizing and watering, shaking their heads not understanding how my lawn could be so green and theirs turning brown already. I laughed it off inside my mind and figured I was just "lucky".
Really, I wasn't. The brown caught up to me quick. I honestly thought our front yard was dead within a few weeks and that we would have to replant the grass. But before I continue down that road, I want to talk about my thought pattern as a child. I used to think how silly it was to waste all that water...on stupid grass? When millions of people don't get fresh water, we sit here and waste it on our grass...something that doesn't even provide us with shade...or at least a flower...The first time I really watered the lawn, running the sprinkler in front and watering by hand in the back, this is all I could think of. Was how as a child I used to tell people how cars were bad, how we were destroying the earth, how the rain forest was being destroyed...I used to think that I would never drive a car. I would take the bus, or even better I would run or bike to work. What happened between then and now? I can't pinpoint it. Well, maybe I can.
In a bullshit lecture I took at UW, geography 100...in fact, I think one of my first freshman classes ever that I didn't do too amazing in...We had a scale shown to us on the giant projection screen. A scale from 1 to 5. 5 being the tree huggers, someone who would chain themselves to a tree before they let it be cut down, and then the people who were 1s. Those that didn't recycle, didn't pay attention to "no burn bans", you get the point. The professor asked, "Ok, raise your hand if you are a 5". A few people raised their hands, as expected. I'd say maybe 10%. "Raise your hand if you are a 4". More people raised their hands. "3" Almost everyone in the room raised their hand. I began to put my hand up when the little class clown/sarcastic bastard inside of me yelled out, "WAIT!". So I held on, not sure what was going to happen."2". About the same amount of people as "5" had their hands raised.
He said, "Ok then, how about the 1s?"
*hand raised*
*looks around*
*realizes that no one is raising their hand*
"You sir! You!" The professor yelled up.
"Me?" as I pointed at myself
"No, him in the balcony...what's your name?"
Relieved, I realized that ONE other person had raised their hands. They were in the balcony though so I couldn't see them."My name's Forrest".
*The auditorium burst in to laughter at the irony*
"Well Forrest, why did you raise your hand?"
*Forrest sounded high*
"Well, uhhhh...well, uhhh...yeah, you know, burning trees isn't so bad, it can give you heat and you can make s'mores and stuff"
*more laughter*
The professor tried to come up with some sort of rebuttal, but to no avail...the class had been lost at that point. Finally after calming everyone down, he pointed at me.
"Ok, now you. What's your name?"
"Seth"
"Alright Seth, well go on, tell us why your the guy that's out to kill the Earth"
"...I just figure that we're all going to die anyway right? So if we're going to die, why don't we use up all the resources we have available to us to make our time as enjoyable as possible?"
*stunned, the auditorium bursts in to more laughter...my face starts to get red*
"Oh, that's quite the ideal you've got there Seth...just the same crap that generations before us have passed down to us right? Screw the children, they can figure it out for themselves right?"
At that point, I could kind of tell he was irked by what I had said. He was probably hoping to get out of this lecture without dealing with a bastard like me. I conceded to him. It was his class.
"Yeah, sure, something like that".
And actually, other than getting a 3.2 in that class, that is the only thing I remember...that and my "group session with TA" where everyone ragged on me for looking like an idiot.
Enough of a tangent.
Obviously my thoughts on this planet changed. I'm struggling with it though. As a child how could I have been so gung ho about saving this Earth? And suddenly as I grew older, take a 180?
I water my lawn to keep the grass greener on my side. I do a little victory dance when I see major brown spots in my neighbors yards and not mine. It is horrid. The amount of water I used on my lawn tonight could've probably nourished or bathed an entire village of 200 in Africa somewhere. I left the sprinkler on for 2 hours. I can't imagine how many gallons I used...fresh, clean water. I know they don't say to drink from the hose, but that is 10 times better than drinking from a pond that animals and other humans bathe in...
So just like, or so I believe, many other Americans that are struggling with the feeling that we've got to do our part...I'm not sure what to do. I've volunteered, I've donated money, I recycle and don't waste whenever possible...but still there's that little person inside of me still thinking those idealistic thoughts...the kid that wants me to ride my bike to work tomorrow, the kid that doesn't flush unless he goes #2 to conserve water, the kid that used to tell his parents to turn down the TV so he could concentrate on his book...I miss him a lot.
But it's been this conformity that has molded me. Everyone else drives to work. Everyone else waters their lawn. And just like everyone else, I pay the bills that allow me to enjoy all the natural resources available to me. We're all a bunch of lucky SOBs.There are some other things that I wanted to talk about other than my lawn. But I suppose that will have to wait until my next write. I'm going to hold myself to writing at least 4 times this month...and with that, goodnight.
I've been busy.
And at the same time, I've been lazy.
So I will make a concerted effort to write more, because otherwise I lose track of my life...I lose things I was thinking, I can't look back a year from now and say, "Hey, I remember thinking about that".
Over the past few weeks, I've been thinking a lot about how naive I was as a child. In fact, it comes up every time I water my lawn...which has been about every 3 days.
Let me tell you the story of my lawn. My lawn has been the greenest in the neighborhood since the sun started showing it's rays. I thought it was just fine. Other lawns were browning, neighbors were fertilizing and watering, shaking their heads not understanding how my lawn could be so green and theirs turning brown already. I laughed it off inside my mind and figured I was just "lucky".
Really, I wasn't. The brown caught up to me quick. I honestly thought our front yard was dead within a few weeks and that we would have to replant the grass. But before I continue down that road, I want to talk about my thought pattern as a child. I used to think how silly it was to waste all that water...on stupid grass? When millions of people don't get fresh water, we sit here and waste it on our grass...something that doesn't even provide us with shade...or at least a flower...The first time I really watered the lawn, running the sprinkler in front and watering by hand in the back, this is all I could think of. Was how as a child I used to tell people how cars were bad, how we were destroying the earth, how the rain forest was being destroyed...I used to think that I would never drive a car. I would take the bus, or even better I would run or bike to work. What happened between then and now? I can't pinpoint it. Well, maybe I can.
In a bullshit lecture I took at UW, geography 100...in fact, I think one of my first freshman classes ever that I didn't do too amazing in...We had a scale shown to us on the giant projection screen. A scale from 1 to 5. 5 being the tree huggers, someone who would chain themselves to a tree before they let it be cut down, and then the people who were 1s. Those that didn't recycle, didn't pay attention to "no burn bans", you get the point. The professor asked, "Ok, raise your hand if you are a 5". A few people raised their hands, as expected. I'd say maybe 10%. "Raise your hand if you are a 4". More people raised their hands. "3" Almost everyone in the room raised their hand. I began to put my hand up when the little class clown/sarcastic bastard inside of me yelled out, "WAIT!". So I held on, not sure what was going to happen."2". About the same amount of people as "5" had their hands raised.
He said, "Ok then, how about the 1s?"
*hand raised*
*looks around*
*realizes that no one is raising their hand*
"You sir! You!" The professor yelled up.
"Me?" as I pointed at myself
"No, him in the balcony...what's your name?"
Relieved, I realized that ONE other person had raised their hands. They were in the balcony though so I couldn't see them."My name's Forrest".
*The auditorium burst in to laughter at the irony*
"Well Forrest, why did you raise your hand?"
*Forrest sounded high*
"Well, uhhhh...well, uhhh...yeah, you know, burning trees isn't so bad, it can give you heat and you can make s'mores and stuff"
*more laughter*
The professor tried to come up with some sort of rebuttal, but to no avail...the class had been lost at that point. Finally after calming everyone down, he pointed at me.
"Ok, now you. What's your name?"
"Seth"
"Alright Seth, well go on, tell us why your the guy that's out to kill the Earth"
"...I just figure that we're all going to die anyway right? So if we're going to die, why don't we use up all the resources we have available to us to make our time as enjoyable as possible?"
*stunned, the auditorium bursts in to more laughter...my face starts to get red*
"Oh, that's quite the ideal you've got there Seth...just the same crap that generations before us have passed down to us right? Screw the children, they can figure it out for themselves right?"
At that point, I could kind of tell he was irked by what I had said. He was probably hoping to get out of this lecture without dealing with a bastard like me. I conceded to him. It was his class.
"Yeah, sure, something like that".
And actually, other than getting a 3.2 in that class, that is the only thing I remember...that and my "group session with TA" where everyone ragged on me for looking like an idiot.
Enough of a tangent.
Obviously my thoughts on this planet changed. I'm struggling with it though. As a child how could I have been so gung ho about saving this Earth? And suddenly as I grew older, take a 180?
I water my lawn to keep the grass greener on my side. I do a little victory dance when I see major brown spots in my neighbors yards and not mine. It is horrid. The amount of water I used on my lawn tonight could've probably nourished or bathed an entire village of 200 in Africa somewhere. I left the sprinkler on for 2 hours. I can't imagine how many gallons I used...fresh, clean water. I know they don't say to drink from the hose, but that is 10 times better than drinking from a pond that animals and other humans bathe in...
So just like, or so I believe, many other Americans that are struggling with the feeling that we've got to do our part...I'm not sure what to do. I've volunteered, I've donated money, I recycle and don't waste whenever possible...but still there's that little person inside of me still thinking those idealistic thoughts...the kid that wants me to ride my bike to work tomorrow, the kid that doesn't flush unless he goes #2 to conserve water, the kid that used to tell his parents to turn down the TV so he could concentrate on his book...I miss him a lot.
But it's been this conformity that has molded me. Everyone else drives to work. Everyone else waters their lawn. And just like everyone else, I pay the bills that allow me to enjoy all the natural resources available to me. We're all a bunch of lucky SOBs.There are some other things that I wanted to talk about other than my lawn. But I suppose that will have to wait until my next write. I'm going to hold myself to writing at least 4 times this month...and with that, goodnight.
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