Particle Tunneling

Book Review II

2005-12-09T00:11:00.000-08:00

My choice in books has become a little more childish lately now that I read a lot with my girlfriend, but here it goes:

1. Harry Potter 1-6: I was reluctant to read these books and held out for years without doing so. Well I read them all this summer and they were great. They are very exciting books and are very well written. I must admit that I was surprised, but that's all I'm willing to admit for now.

2. The Giver: A children's book supposedly, but a fun one to read. The plot is definitely deep enough for people of all ages, but the style and length of the book were easy enough for young children to grasp. It deals with a 'perfect' society in which the citizens purposely blind themselves to the 'bad' or ugly things in life in order to be happy. The problem with the society is that in order to fully accomplish this they had to shut themselves off to the most meaningful parts of the human experience such as love. The story follows a boy who determines that the 'perfect' society isn't worth its cost. I love stories like this.

3. Chronicles of Narnia: Besides the scriptures this is some of the best Christian literature I have ever read. C.S. Lewis was a brilliant writer and thinker. Beyond that these books are fun and adventurous.

4. A Modern Approach to Quantum Mechanics: Dry reading, but very informative. It teaches the dirac notation of bras and kets used for quantum studies, so the only math you need to understand this is basic calculus. It would also be helpful to understand the basic principles of physics, expecially wave mechanics and E&M.

comments

2005-04-05T20:41:00.000-07:00

I set this to allow comments. I'm not so mad about this P O S site anymore.

2005-04-03T21:50:00.000-07:00

so a Charmander made dinner for our apartment today. that was very nice of her. it was good food too. well, it's probably the nicest thing someone has done for me in a while -oh- except for my friend Dan who bailed me out of a tight situation on friday.

I have school tomorrow. I'm definitely not prepared for it. in a minute or so I'm gonna be completely stressed with all the stuff that i have to do. finals are soon and i haven't studied or written my final papers. i need to get out of here!

2005-04-02T23:10:00.000-08:00

I believe that at time everyone needs someone to talk to and listen to. Someone who will give their undivided attention, and not necessarily for any particular reason. I've been home from my mission for almost a year now and I haven't found a single person that I can have that kind of relationship with. I'm not saying I haven't made friends, but noone like that. My friend Ivy has always been there for me and I know she would definitely listen, but she is also busy very often.

It's hard to carry on like that. I've found myself spending a lot of time at school especially last week. I don't really have much to do there, but it keeps me from coming home and feeling down cause I have noone here.

On a different note . . . I went to the temple for the first time in a year last week. That was pretty important for me. It was the last barrier I had in my spiritual path. I think I'm almost back on track now, or at least it should be easier for me now.

I'm getting dizzy a lot lately. I'm not sure what it's from because it doesn't only happen when i stand up now. Often it happens when i turn my head. I also think I've been having minor acid and dxm flashbacks.

My life seems directionless right now.

BOOK REVIEW

2005-04-02T22:12:00.000-08:00

Great Expectations: This is the first Dickens novel I have read. I absolutely loved it. For me it reminded me that the simple things in life are usually the most important. Sometimes we focus too much on acheiving fame and greatness when we could be just as happy if not happier living a simpler life and enjoying the small things that come our way. I think if I had a nice family I could be just as happy as a blacksmith as I would have as an aristocrat.

Metamorphosis: Supposedly a classic. I usually like abstract books (I love Kafka's The Trial), but I just didn't understand this one. I could see a bit of the symbolism, but the whole was hard to grasp. This was a hard one to relate to. However, if you like books about giant insects living with people this is for you.

Hopefully more later.

Go away!

2005-02-22T21:21:00.000-08:00

If you should go skating
On the thin ice of modern life
Dragging behind you the silent reproach
Of a million tear-stained eyes
Don't be surprised when a crack in the ice
Appears under your feet.
You slip out of your depth and out of your mind
With your fear flowing out behind you
As you claw the thin ice.
-Pink Floyd

2005-02-19T00:47:00.000-08:00

Well due to peer pressure I am back here typing again.
I had a dream last night. Not a dream about equal racial treatment or rising to the mountaintop though. I'm writing about this one because I found myself thinking about it all day long trying to change the ending. See it was a horrible dream. I don't think the first part is as significant as the end, but it set the scene. The previous part had been about war. There was and army chasing me; I ran to a different territory as they followed. They made war with that territory and eventually made it to the castle where i was. Well the point of this part is that rigth as they got there the whole army died of a horrible plague. It caused them to vomit a continuous flow of blackish and greyish grainy liquid and turn to black and white skeletons immediatly.
The consistency as my dreams morphed and renewed was death. So here's the ending. I was floating down a river with my little sister. A voice called to us announcing that we were headed for a letdown. Well I correctly interpretted this as a huge waterfall ahead. The water became choppy and I was able to climb onto a rock. My sister wasn't so lucky, but I was also able to grab her arm. This whole time that same voice which was a woman's and evil kept taunting us. I couldn't seem to pull my sister out of the water. But every move I made to this point seemed to be divinely directed. I forgot to mention that part. At this point my sister said "just get the raft." I felt that same divine impression to get the raft and I did. I rowed to where my sister had been. She was sinking, so I dove after her and dragged her up. She was unconscious. I rowed to a nearby village. The next scene was me talking to a lady and her telling me that they tried there best but couldn't save my sister. I pleaded for more imformation and got none. I left. The camera panned back and the barrels along the dock started shaking a bit. There were live people inside them.
That is the part of the dream I have been trying to change. It seemed so wierd to me that for all other parts of my dream I had been escaping death and had been divinely guided, but at this point I was helpless to save my sister. I have run over this part of the dream many times today and each time felt that aweful helplessness. Even though things seem to go right for a while the end, despite your good intention, might turn out contrary to what you will want. It seems from that last sentence I typed that I can't even personalize the statement. That's how much it's bothering me.

2005-02-10T01:51:00.000-08:00

I spent 17 hours doing school work today. Once a week I have my astronomy lab where my group observes the stars (currently Alessi 2 cluster) until 12pm. Anyway, I am getting very worn out very quickly with school. My social life is pretty much non-existent at the moment. I keep thinking I need to start asking some girls on dates, but I never seem to work up the guts to do it. It's not like I haven't done it before and it's not like I haven't had girlfriends in the past, so I don't know what my problem is.
Ok so there's no point to this post. I am bored, and I want to express a few of the things that I am thinking.

My friend Bart doesn't like Platonic philosophy. I tend to believe that there is indeed something more, something greater than what we experience here in this world. What does science hope to find in the end anyway?

Few There Be That Find It

2005-02-10T01:36:00.000-08:00

The free man walks his own course.
He does as he chooses.
He knows there is more than one world.
In the other worldss we view things differently.
The 1st world knows not of the other worlds and understands them not.
The 1st world thinks it is best and powerful.
The other worlds are free, no not free,
But offer freedom from the 1st world.
Not to get out, but to direct one's own path.
These worlds have many paths.
Some look on them harshly.
This mattereth not.
We shall be free at once.
My path lies away from the 1st world.
Sacrifice must be made, but maybe I am not ready.
I look out across the paths, and I see peace.
The peace is freedom.
Unloosed the freedom finds its way toward peace.

-Dr. Hack.
(written while high - my only revealed poetry)