Ring of fire

I'm in Hawaii right now, and it's been blowing my mind at every turn. Today's adventure: a hike around an active volcano, Kilauea. We came to the caldera's edge just after sunset and waited for the sky to get dark. As the light faded, the glow from the lake of lava inside the crater got brighter and brighter. Until it looked like this (click for monstrously large version) :

Then over to the Observatories at Mauna Kea, the world's largest astronomical observatory. The combined light-gathering power of the telescopes on the volcano summit is sixty times greater than that of the Hubble Space Telescope. The Keck Telescope and twelve others are at the top, but we went up halfway to the visitor center, where volunteers with telescopes let us use them to gawk at distant astronomical objects. I saw the Ring Nebula, 2,300 light years away. There were more stars in the sky than I had ever seen. The Milky Way was a carpet of tiny lights. "Beautiful" doesn't quite capture it.

Mind = blown.

Back to it

I'm back from spring break, sunburned, certified for scuba adventures and thoroughly satisfied. I slept for about two days after I stumbled off the bus, and now I think I'm ready for the next few weeks. And it is only weeks now. One week until grad school apps are due, a few more weeks until the thesis (currently in embryonic form) is due, and only a few weeks after that until graduation.

My semester thus far has been an easy ride: work hard all day, then home for painting and beer all night. The next while is going to involve a lot less painting and a lot more typing. Thinking, even. And probably less beer. Alas.

On the bright side, it is currently 60 degrees and sunny out.

A curious constitution

Back at the old place of employment, with wonderful big beasties frolicking around, biting each other, doing flips and trying to mate with the pool toys.

Now it's back to a schedule, with bedtimes and alarm clocks and such. Real life, in other words. What a relief.

I am not tired. I have a curious constitution. I never remember feeling tired by work, though idleness exhausts me completely.

Sherlock Holmes, from "The Sign of the Four"

Dogma (and to all a good night)

Merry Christmas!

I love Christmas. I really do. Lights in snowy darkness, and music and parties and a tree (a tree!) inside your house, just dripping with baubles. Oh, and presents. I love giving presents. Receiving them is nice too, but there's a very ingratiating part of my personality that makes me warm and fuzzy when someone reacts happily to something I've given them.

As secular as Christmas has become (thank goodness), it becomes impossible to escape the presence of tradition around this time of year. We take comfort in ritual as we try to assess what's going on, and how another year could have possibly passed so quickly.

At the dark end of the year, we try to sum up what's past into a coherent package and charge it with meaning. Maybe you'll use it to inform how we live the next year. Or maybe this is the sort of package you can't wait to get rid of.

More packages (and modules!) after the jump.

Sweet freedom

I'm done with finals! And I'm on the internet! On a bus!

This is magical.