Exponential Ramblings

   Frank and I went to Mill Mountain for coffee early Saturday evening. We needed an escape from our perspective families. I am sipping on my hazelnut coffee in it's usual ceramic mug, describing my foray into sewing about eight sets of pajama bottoms for my family for Christmas, when he says, "I have a serious question."    "What is it?"    "How are you smart?"    "What do you mean?"    "How do you know so much stuff?"     I really couldn't answer him properly because I was a bit taken aback by the question, simply, I don't consider myself to be that smart. But we have had this discussion before. I did credit my mom with a lot of my upbringing. She wanted children who were intellectually capable and successful. What parent doesn't? But then I realized that most of it is due to culture, perpetuated by my parents. Mom is a teacher and dad is an engineer. Successful parenting does not always have to do with occupatio...

   This is not going to be a massive blog post or rant but a reminder of certain values. Here is my list of things that kill your relationships. Being judgmental.  Look at the way you communicate, from your friendships and courtships to your online posts. If you are pointing fingers and telling groups of people how wrong they are all the time, you will find that your friends will back away. Why? They don't want to be in the line of fire when other people begin to judge you and  they don't agree with you. Show the best side of yourself in all  communication. Withholding. All withholding. Whether it is your inner self to physical contact to gratitude to information. If you think that you are not worthy of good friendships, then your friends will think that they are not worth your time. If you have difficulty opening up, start with one person who you think you can trust. You don't have to be 100% sure that they won't betray you. That is how trust is built. But ...

   First, let me say that it is a joy when I get to review any of Kanta Bosniak's delightful books. You may recall that I reviewed Twin Flames: More Love Poems   last October. Kanta is a spiritual guide in this crazy world. She is warm, insightful, and compassionate. I expect nothing less than that in her writing. Twin Flames  gave this Yankee woman the "feels," as the kids call it. But they are not tears of pain and loss, they are always of the heart leaping out of the chest with joy.    However, her new title Welcome to the World  is a very different read for me. As a tutor, I have read all sorts of children's books or educational books that focus on child development. I understand the implications of positive psychology and early development as parental stress does have long term effects on the child. While my specialty is not early childhood development, a stable and caring home environment does not take a degree in rocket science to comp...

  There were some concerns yesterday from my friends who were not aware that I was pulling out of leadership positions in the Society of Physics Students (SPS). There are a few leadership/logical reasons and a few personal reasons. Is this my official resignation letter? Maybe. Leadership/Logical reasons: I had agreed with the faculty advisor that I would pick it up and rebuild it because no one was working on it or seemed interested.  A year and a half later, there is increased involvement.  Our SPS Constitution needed major revision at the time, one person was doing all the work. The work was divided up more evenly.  While there is increased involvement, attendance fell flat in SPS, MAA (the Math student club), and ACM (the computer science major club) after Fall Break. There are few reasons why this happened.  Midterm reports came out and students in our majors will freak out. Chill guys you got this, you can still be involved, and it means you may...

    Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. Albert Einstein    Very rarely do I blog when I am frustrated, angry, upset, sad, etc. I try to keep everything positive and light but sometimes hard honesty is necessary. If today's blog seems a bit random, it's because it is. When I work through things, the brain is on overload. Friends tell me that they can look at my face and see my brain racing. Of course, I have the ADHD that fires EVERYWHERE in my noggin.  Herding people is like herding cats.    So many of us are pushing for a paradigm shift on campus. More community because it seems to be our biggest problem. We heard from our lawyer of the college, Michael Pace. He told us that two things were going to be very important for the GenXers, Millenials, and the two generations behind us; leadership and citizenship. And this is the greatest problem that I see for us: You have to come to the ...

     Yep! It's that time again! Thursday, December 4th, beginning at 7:30 PM, in Olin Hall. Jazz ensemble will be up first, as usual. I am excited! We have a full saxophone line, two altos, two tenors, a bari, and a clarinet! Two trombonists who will be joined by returning player, Neil Huss, and Dan Hall, who will be returning on trumpet! The sounds are very full and textured. Music lovers unite! I will see you there! Here is the line-up for the night: Council Grove Groove Soloists: James Fox, trumpet Amanda Wright, alto sax Andre Schneider, piano Sarah Petrosky, tenor sax Matt Spano, guitar Waltz of the Flowers Soloists: Andre Schneider, piano Matt Spano, guitar James Fox, trumpet I Know What I'm Here For Soloists: RaymondWilhelm, tenor sax John Guidry, trumpet Shane Clarke, bari sax Olivia Karkenny, trombone Amanda Wright, alto sax Matt Spano, guitar Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas Soloists:  Kathlee...

  I hate to disappoint all y'all, but this is not a Dr. Who post. And this is not a short story. This is my daily life... in a nutshell. Carry on!   If anything, I might have made a mistake by introducing the very thought of conjecturing that time is only linear in our inertial reference frame and not anywhere else.   That's right, nonlinear, chaotic time.   So what does that mean? It would mean that time travel is possible. It would mean that our inertial reference frame is not the only reference frame capable of existing. It would also mean that our basis of all physics is wrong. We rely, rather heavily, on rate of change. That motion not only has a magnitude but a direction which is dependent on time.   Well, that's lunacy! You would say. And that would be quite right because we would cease to exist. Our inertial frame would not exist because this is the way physics works for us.   Why the sam hell would I even contemplate such things? Well, it was ...

  What attracts me to befriend someone is an equal mixture of passion and compassion. Passion for life and compassion for people and animals.   I was joking around yesterday about watching the men work on the lawn at the house I am staying in while in South Carolina. Quite honestly, I enjoy watching people work. I enjoy watching people own their business, whether it's landscaping or the boardroom. There is something sexy and awe-striking about being fully engaged in work. I am not only watching the sinewy muscles of a lanky man know exactly how to trim the palms in the yard, I am watching their brain at work.    I am a self-proclaimed sapiosexual. I like brains. I like watching people use them. I can only dream about watching the axon terminals of each neuron pass along signals to the dendrites of the next neuron. It is an absolutely fabulous process to imagine.    I am also one of the least judgmental people you will meet. I feel that every per...

As I sit down with my PB&J I glance at my surroundings and all that has gone astray Magazines and books piled here, there, and everywhere which reminds me of my mum and her own controlled chaos much like Smaug, surrounded by my pretties Her taste is murder-mysteries which she can eat in a day two at the most depending on that day's Silken Prey In my field of view are girly magazines that tell me how to live and eat better pounds of poetry housed with authors that tug at my heart or make me guffaw science and math books and articles strewn about as I make sense of the project currently at hand I won't forget Sir Terry Pratchett, who is tugging at my right brain or the mounds of music books so that I may sight read music faster without the lines of Parker's cocaine These are the things that make me the smartest person I know Lest I open my mouth and remove all doubt.

Or... how not to judge a book by it's cover...   Exactly what is an atheist supposed to look like?    A short story from the beginning of last week:  So I'm putting gas in the car on the way to work this morning when a senior approaches me and begins a conversation. I look down and see what is in her hands [Jehovah Witness materials] and I tell her with my mischievous, Irish eyes and grin on my face... "I'm an atheist." I have never seen anyone so shocked in my life.. and I'm young yet. She asks "have you always felt that way?" My response, "Pretty much... I was a Christian... once." Her: "Oh, how interesting, have a nice day!" I think I must be the first female atheist she has ever met! LOL And we're so much nicer that she expected! Don't let that Virginia plate fool you honey!   In actuality, I am a spiritualist. Which is much more difficult to describe than atheism. I am confident and comfortable with my le...

First thought: I never thought I would reach this age. In a lot of ways, it is very humbling to realize that you have beaten the odds of all the things that could happen to you by the age of 40. I have also realized that I have started building up my own rules, a la NCIS's Gibbs-style. My rules so far: Never sign anything until you have read the fine print. Never witness anything, you live longer. Also known as the plausible deniability rule. No one can read your mind. Speak it.  Out of all the addictions one could have in life, caffeine is not so bad.  I am soft, I am strong, I am a woman and my curves are my beauty. Intelligence and confidence is the penultimate in sexiness. It's good to take a mental health day and pamper oneself. Say yes to every opportunity that takes you out of your comfort zone.  Own less stuff. There is great freedom in simplicity. Love is the greatest gift of all. Spread that shit around. You can't change your past, ke...

  Why do I blog? Well, quite simply, this is the place where I dump my mind. That's right, you guys get the turds that crawl out of my brain in hopes in finding a gem that I may have accidentally swallowed during the day. I apologize ahead of time but you keep coming back! Therefore, I feel compelled to keep spilling my guts all over the internet.   We are in the full swing of hazy, hot, and humid in South Carolina. I torched my skin for a second time this past weekend. I have been locking myself away on the weekends but I really don't want to do that this coming weekend.   I have been coming home, walking the dog, eating dinner, and then taking a nap which may have caused some issues with sleep and the migraine that followed the next morning. I feel better tonight and did the same thing. I feel wiped out and will be heading to bed soon. Hopefully, I won't wake up for two hours at 1 AM, tossing and turning. Routine during the week is important to me. Routine on the week...

  Ok... don't get all excited about the title... it's just a regular, run-of-the-mill, vanilla blog post. Carry on! Sunday night, all I could think was, I have sooooo much work to do... I can't wait for the weekend! I don't think Tom Brady can solve these problems. Tonight? I have soooooo much work to do... is there really only two more days left until the weekend? Coffee... it keeps me going!  The research schedule is tight but we are on target for the moment. I come home exhausted from being "on" all day. I do take breaks and a lunch but I am constantly thinking about how to make the experiment better, what do I need to learn in order to be more efficient at it, and what do I need to incorporate to the presentation/paper/poster for fall? Even when I am home... I am thinking about the project. And I don't want to really think about the project when I am home not only because of possible burnout but the fear that I am squelching the ...

  I spent most of Saturday getting groceries and cooking for the week. It was pretty gloomy out so I figured I would flip schedules between the two days knowing that it was going to be sunny today. The rain, no matter how much, has a tendency to dry within hours. The ground at least feels pretty moist which will help as the temps begin climbing again.   There is a lot of life in the neighborhood. People on the golf course, walking in the morning, riding bikes, or driving their golf carts to visit friends. Coming out of Kroger yesterday, I saw two people in a gold cart leaving and heading to the community across the street. I mean, why not? They can top out at about 35 mph and use a lot less gas/energy than a car.   "Hey, get in the golf cart! We're going shopping!"   My only disappointment is the lack of local coffee establishments. I am slowly discovering all the standard, commercialized places such as Starbucks and Dunkin, but no real hole in the wall, we roast ...

  A friend of mine called me an intellectual badass the other day simply because he learned I had taken a Physics class at Harvard during my senior year of high school. Ok, sure, I hope that isn't the only qualifier! However, I hope it does inspire the next group of intellectual badasses to rise in the ranks. After all, I consider myself a very average student. I don't always do my homework and get it in on time, I don't always read the book, and I know I don't always study that well. I have test anxiety and find that I daydream in class often. I try to sit at the front of the class and stay engaged in class discussions as often as possible and try not to look out a nearby window thinking about the show that nature is putting on for us today. BUT if you really want to continue the delusion that I am an intellectual badass, here is my guide to badassery. Never stop learning. Always be curious. Find answers to questions you don't know.  Understand that those ...

Yep! It's that time again! I encourage you, as always, to stay for wind ensemble following the jazz band performance. Here is the line-up for tomorrow night in Olin Theatre at 7:30 PM! Cantaloupe Island Soloists: John (trumpet) Dan (trumpet) Amanda (alto sax) Riptide soloists: John (trumpet) Malcolm (trombone) Neil (trombone) Ruth (vibes) Matthew (guitar) Moanin' featuring: Shane (bari sax) soloists: Shane (bari sax) Amanda (alto sax) Dan (trumpet) Matthew (guitar) Embraceable You featuring: Ruth (vocals) Summertime soloists: Dan (trumpet) Shane (bari sax) Briell (bass) Ruth (vibes) Matthew (guitar)

My brain needs a rest Don't how to go about it best Being an ambivert with an attention that diverts When I go into introvert mode Sensors are on overload Clarity, clarity, clarity! One would think that were the remedy But with differentials abound in my head When will it end? When will it end? I can't even string a full sentence. Without mixing up all those damn tenses.  And thus, has been my day, friends. I have been trying to work on homework and feel like I am not swimming. Drowning is more like it. So where do I go when I feel like I'm drowning? The college library. I have not been here in awhile and maybe I needed the change in atmosphere. You know my love for words and intelligent things. It's national poetry month and that is probably exactly what I need for a diversion. Poetry and beautiful words.   Egads! But there is so much to do between now and the end of May when I go to North Carolina! Maybe it's Spring Fever. More likely Cabin F...

  This  article  came to my attention last night. Quite a few of my women friends after I posted it began to talk about how much they identified with the article. I cannot speak to their experiences but can only speak to my own.   Some days I feel like I walk around with a sign that says, "I am not worthy of love and I have nothing to give." This could be depression speaking and it probably is. But I also know plenty of men who suffer from this too. I encourage you to read the article in order to understand what I am talking about.   One of my first life lessons was that people you love will always leave you. For our safety, my biological father left the family. He also found that spending money on his daily habit was more important than paying his child support until he felt it was time to see me.   The second life lesson was being bullied all the way up through to high school. My family moved around a lot so making friends was always difficult at bes...

American Alligator: National Geographic   I don't know how it works for everyone else but most of the time poems just hit me and I have to write them down right away. Strokes of genius? Flashpoints of word creativity? We take for granted that we have this beautiful tool called communication in which we combine these things called letters that create this sound that forms from our mouths. The very fact that we can understand each other through universal symbols of communication is quite a wonder! Seriously, take a few moments to ponder what life would be like without language. How would we communicate? Would we have music without words? Would we express ourselves gutterally? Could we get clear meanings across with just gestures? We did eons ago, but where would we be now if we still used the same form of communication?   I know, the above has nothing to do with poetry but with the idea that we have this simplistic yet complex form of communication to convey thoughts, emoti...