Lately I've been reading about parallel universes and watching Numberphile and Veritassium. I knew my buddy A is deep into physics and math so we've gotten together twice now to discuss over wine.
Tonight this is what we ended up with.
We both work in architecture so some door schedule ranting, and "plan view" of the black hole were included in our scribbles.
Do you know that 1+2+3+4+... to infinity = -1/12? Mind blown? Yeah me too.
It's true and has been proven and works in certain experiments. This was a good way to kick off our wine/physics discussion tonight.
What's your favourite time of day?
Other than the obvious - 5pm on Friday or waking up on Saturday morning - I also like the time right before I fall asleep.....
My other favourite time of day is lunch. Lately I've been going to the same place and losing myself in a book. I almost always read during lunch unless someone crashes my party.*
I order some variant of the same thing - a yummy coffee with caramel and either a scone or croissant. I find a cozy table in the back and I make a nest. I prop my book open, warm my hands on my coffee and dig into my scone. Ahhh, it's the best.
I'm not just reading any book right now. I'm reading about insane physics, parallel universes, particles and black holes. Stuff I can completely get lost in.
My brain feels a bit like mush when I head back to work but it's so satisfying.
*Which is always a welcome event A and D!
Obviously I've known about it for years. I've watched tons of videos on there - mostly stuff sent to me in emails or crap I see around the web - cat videos, funny toddlers or crazy weather.
When it came to finding stuff I want to see - I would always draw a blank.*
Until now. Since we cancelled our cable we've had more time and energy to put into exploring YouTube. I have found some amazing stuff.
Numberphile
The most amazing channel for numbers and math nerds. It actually makes me want to do math - and I suck at math. Googol Plex, Mandelbrot Set, Is Zero an Even Number? We dig all of it and now I have a little crush on Dr. James Grime.
VSauce
From black holes to questioning whether ceral is soup - this guy has it all. I love it when people are this enthusiastic about science. I could spend all day...
Glove and Boots
Time for something lighter. Glove and Boots is the funniest thing I've come across (thanks Rawbean!) in a long time. Johnny T is the best. Something about Mario though - Movie Etiquette is one of my favourites. The outtakes are really funny too.
Space Rip
I'm a huge space nerd. The other night I met up with a buddy who has a physics degree just so we could drink wine and talk about the universe. It was awesome.
These are good quality videos that I haven't even gotten into but I can tell they are epic. I literally stumbled on this channel this morning.
It just might be possible to create that bubble around myself that I've been imagining! It will keep out all the Kardashian, Entertainment Tonight, Hollywood and celebrity gossip bullshit.
I'm one step closer!
* The latest Taylor Swift video or Minecraft tips are not interesting.
A couple weeks before my surgery we went to Seattle. It was one of the highlights of our summer before I went off the radar for six weeks. I can't believe I didn't get around to blogging about our trip because it was awesome. So I'll tell you about one of the highlights.
We went to a whisky bar on a whim. Neither of us had any clue about whisky but had always wanted to try it. The bartender in this place was super knowledgeable and it was a slow enough evening that he could entertain us with a whisky flight.
He started us off with a single malt that wasn't too scary or intense. Then on to something more intense, next up was an Irish Whiskey and finally a bourbon to finish with.
We completely fell in love.
The second one was definitely one of the five best things I've ever had. I've ordered it a couple more times and it blows my mind every time.
Last time I visited Rawbean, I raved about Ardbeg and ordered one for her. It's so intense and she was a great sport but overall "There's a campire in my mouth!" is a good description. We had more whisky that night that was a bit more successful in intensity.
Ardbeg tastes like the forest - but in a good way. I can't describe it. When the glass is put in front of you, the scent is overwhelming. I want to bathe in it. We checked it out at the liquor store - around $100/bottle.
Damn.
Happy New Year!
I was so relieved to see 2013 end. 2014 was better, but not by much....I'm starting to think that my climb out of the hole that was 2013 is just really, really gradual.
2014 was filled with interesting experiences. The first one that comes to mind is of course my double jaw surgery. I'll do another update on that since it's almost another entire blog worth of experiences.
Best Book
This book. Blew. My. Mind. Joseph Boyden had been on my radar for a while, especially since he won Canada Reads in 2014 with The Orenda. The characters were so powerful, the story completely engrossing, the subject matter was difficult but handled well. Highly, highly recommended.
I avoided him after this because a) it would be way too emotionally intense to tackle another one after this masterpiece and b) I was afraid one of this other books would compete with this one for my best book of the year*.
(Honourable mentions: Neuromancer - William Gibson, Rendezvous with Rama - Arthur C. Clarke, Tess of the D'urbervilles - Thomas Hardy)
Best Album
I'm surprised I bought an album that was actually released in 2014, I'm normally so behind in the times. This was a shot in the dark and I've been enjoying it a lot since I bought it. A little bit like Empire of the Sun but with these guys the entire album is fantastic**.
(Honourable mention: SOHN - Tremors.)
Best Movie
Honestly, I can't remember what we watched this year other than Interstellar - which sucked. So I'm going with a movie we saw recently.
After this movie ended, we tried to figure some stuff out and ended up Googling it to see if we were right. In a way this makes me crazy because it could have been presented better but on the other hand it was interesting dissecting it with Brad and trying to figure it out. I love time travel stuff.
Oh and I think Bruce Willis is still kick ass.
Best Instagram
I took this on Pender Island. It's pretty fantastic because I had come across a similar photo online and it inspired me so much that we ended up booking a cabin for a weekend. It turned out to be one of the highlights of the year.
I'm super lucky to live in this part of the world for a zillion reasons.
Best Blog Post
Overall, there were major hijinks this year at The Book Sale. It's such a different experience every year and such a highlight for us, I'm going with it for my best post from 2014.
Since this blog was taken over by my jaw surgery for a while, I'm going to choose a post from this category too. The IV Sedation Incident was classic Jabba material: completely mental and we still laugh about it.
Best Completed Craft Project
This project has been completed for a few months but I haven't blogged about it - yet. I actually made a quilt for us which has been unheard of in my sewing room until now. We use this thing every day and it is so worth every stitch - even though I started groaning as I sewed near the end.
Honourable mentions for 2014: my introduction to whiskey, a reminder of my love of camping and nature, our trip up island and all the book stores, a Seattle trip that didn't make it on the blog, serious bonding with my Mom and I read 43 books!***
* I am fully aware of how ridiculous point b) is.
** I can only get into 3 or 4 songs on the Empire of the Sun album that I own.
*** A new record.
