"We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it is forever."

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Okay, so technically it's the night before, but trust me, I won't be done until at least January '098, so that's cool.

And, because I love you guys: HAHAHA. Marky Mark's my hero. True story. And, okay: LOLOLOLOL. Ugh, the 'stache is so creepy... YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL ABOUT... Guhghfff. He said he was either being James Joyce or Burt Reynolds.

And... So far I haven't seen a satisfactory picture of me... I hope Meg didn't delete the other ones... but if one should arise, trust me, it's going up here.

So Joey asked to borrow the Cosmos book so I figured I should step up my game, you know. Also, who wouldn't want to write about Carl Sagan? Zero people. Zero. Actually, at the homecoming game today a druggie was talking to me about how cool he thinks Carl Sagan is. At first I was like, "How did he know!?" But then I remembered my 'Carl Sagan is my Homeboy' shirt, so...

I can't possibly go over everything in response form again. Actually, in one of my early posts I'm pretty sure I just had one that was just gushing over Sagan and Cosmos (the TV series). So, you get little tidbits. PS. I LOVE CARL SAGAN.

"We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it is forever."

"We are, each of us, a multitude."

On the 'canals' of Mars: "The power of Lowell's idea may, just possibly, make it a kind of premonition. His canal network was built by Martians. Even this may be an accurate prophecy: If the planet is ever terraformed, it will be done by human beings whose permanent residence and planetary affiliation is Mars. The Martians will be us." Reminds you of the end of The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury, huh? Well, Marky Mark would be reminded of that! He borrowed it from me a quite enjoyed it. Because it's awesome. But besides that, the final scene (SPOILER ALERT) is this father promising his son they'll see real live martians. At the end they are floating in a boat on a canal and the father says, basically, there are the Martians, look. And they see their reflections and all. It's hard to really get it without the context and understand all of the awesomeness, but maybe you should read the book and not just my spoilers. (Kidding, I love you!)

"We have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night"--Tombstone epitaph of two amateur astronomers

"If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe."

Okay, if you've never taken an astronomy class, there are many theories of the universe's creation and existence and all. One theory is the model of the pulsating model, which unless I failed that astronomy quiz means it's a universe that expands to a certain point and then bounces back. Carl's wondering on what that would mean if true: "Will people at such time be born in the grave and die in the womb? Will time flow backwards?" What an interesting an idea! (Don't bring up Benjamin Button, okay?) I mean... living life backwards entirely. Would you remember? Would it still be just as new? I mean... it's such a cool theory! Immortality is a strange science, though, certainly.

"A book is made from a tree. It is an assemblage of flat, flexible parts (still called 'leaves') imprinted with dark pigmented squiggles. One glance at it and you hear the voice of another person--perhaps someone dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, the author is speaking, clearly and silently, inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people, citizens of distant epochs, who never knew one another. Books break the shackles of time, proof that humans can work magic."

"If we do not speak for the Earth, who will? If we are not committed to our own survival, who will be?"

"The Cosmos may be densely populated with intelligent beings. but the Darwinian lesson is clear: There will be no humans elsewhere. Only here. Only on this small planet. We are rare as well as an endangered species. Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another."

_

I would love to have met him, but he died in '96, I believe. It's funny, but he's almost completely parallel to how important and inspiring Matisyahu is to me as well. (Because Carl Sagan was an atheist and Matisyahu is a Jewish rapper/reggae guy.) But I think science and religion are sort of exactly the same things, too. Like how love and hate are really just the same thing basically. Like, again, in The Martian Chronicles Spender talks about how the Martian religion and Martian science completely intertwined. Neither contradicted each other, they were perfect together... They simply were. I mean, both are sort of the same deep down. If you think about it. I think it was Kepler who said this--"Science is my religion." And the opposite is true as well: religion is my science. Both exist. They don't have to be at odds.

Autopilot; no control

I realized I was being dumb yesterday. What was throwing me in Doctor Zhivago is, like every other Russian novel I've read, they refer to Yurii by first name/paternal name. I feel so dumb for not realizing it earlier! For those of you lost, it's a Russian deal--instead of giving a child their own middle name, they add a 'ivich' or 'ova' or a few others I don't remember to the father's name and there you have it. What gets added depends on gender and the name. The example that's at the top of my head is 'Ivanova' from 'Ivan'. Sooo. Yeah. I feel like an idiot.

And we had a fair sort of deal for the locale for the last three days. The day I went I was wearing my 'Carl Sagan is my homeboy' shirt, and there were tons of people asking me who he was. When Jackii was eating, the guy sitting across us was grilling me. I told him to look up the television series 'Cosmos'... I told quite a few people that... which they should. It's a real eye-opener. And I guess science isn't everyone's cup of tea, but it's not a straight-out dull-as-ditch-water science documentary. It's actually incredibly interesting, and puts theories like evolution or Einstein's theories into a light that even I can understand. And he doesn't explain it the way you remember your idiot or possibly high science teacher would (ninth grade was hell) he actually makes it interesting. At one point he explains a Japanese war between two samurai clans (one was the Heike, I don't remember the other) and leads that perfectly into an explanation of evolution. Every episode is like that--it flows seamlessly. And he wrote these things himself! Genius is what I think of Carl Sagan. (So, anybody want to buy me the Cosmos DVDs? I don't think the library will let me take them out ever again. I think I used up the allowed times for the rest of my life) But... crud. I was actually going to go further with this, but Dinosaur Comics distracted my train of thought.
Oh wait. Okay, so I admit part of the reason why I've watched it so much is because Carl Sagan's voice puts me to sleep. He's not boring, he just has a very... soothing voice. As my dad puts it, in jest I think, "the voice of an angel". Meg isn't sure what she loves more, "Carl Sagan or the entity that is his voice!" (These things really have been said in my presence. Lots of Sagan love, here.) And, as a pop culture note, you know that movie Contact? I never saw it, but I read the book, which he wrote.
So remember this. Watch Cosmos! AND THANK ME. Nah, 's cool. But do yourself a favor... God, I hate that phrase. When people say it on commercials I just want to punch them.

Ps. Kurt Vonnegut lookalike came by yesterday and bought more tomatoes, and hot peppers. He's spicing life up!
Pps. Today I brought my SP and More Friends of a Mineral Town to work. That's right, in between customers, I was playing a farming game whilst on a farm. I haven't played it since I got Tree of Tranquility, so it was a little strange getting re-used to. Like, when I came home at night--"WHO IS THIS STRANGE MAN IN MY HOME!?" Oh, right, my husband. Huh.
Ppps. Sometimes when I play Tree of Tranquility, I get upset my life will and never could be like that. It's the ideal life for me, I don't know about you guys.