Electrical Dreams and Grammatical Reality

Many years ago when I was a young whippersnapper growing up in Pittsburgh*, I wanted to be a scientist. I loved the imagery of laboratories with colored liquids bubbling in strange glass vessels, of sparks climbing jacob's ladders or zipping from van de Graaf generators, of the whole arcane mystique of science. I eventually matriculated** at Penn State University, where (much to my father's pride) I began my quest to become a chemical engineer.

But then my scholarship crashed on the jagged reefs of differential and integral calculus, sinking all my dreams of cackling hysterically in my vast mountaintop laboratory ...

And I ended up with a degree in Linguistics, having traded laboratory glassware and electrical displays for (much to my father's dismay) the arcane mysteries of German grammar and acoustic phonetics***.

Sigh.

I thought about this today when I ran across this wonderful sendup of the impossibly complex electrical diagrams that I was never able to understand ...

... and I decided that German grammar and the Cyrillic alphabet weren't so bad after all.

So, Dear Readers, did you realize your dreams? Are you still working on them? Want to share? Leave a comment, and let's see where we're all going together.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

* As opposed to an old curmudgeon grouching along in Springfield.

** But I had to stop, because I heard I'd go blind if I kept it up.

*** I can now refer to a raspberry as an elongated bilateral labial fricative.

I Resign

Dear Readers,

Having carefully observed the condition of the nation and the world, and the day-to-day lives of my grandchildren, I have decided to issue the following declaration ...

To Whom It May Concern:

I hereby officially tender my resignation as an adult. I have decided I would like to accept the responsibilities of a six-year-old instead.

I want to go to McDonald's and think it's a four-star restaurant.

I want to sail sticks across a fresh mud puddle and make ripples with rocks.

I want to think Skittles are better than money, because you can eat them.

I want to play kickball during recess and paint with watercolors in the park.

I want to lie under a big oak tree and run a lemonade stand with my friends on a hot summer day.

I want to return to a time when life was simple. When all you knew were colors, addition tables and simple nursery rhymes, but that didn't bother you because you didn't know what you didn't know and you didn't care.

I want to return to a time when all you knew was to be happy because you didn't know all the things that should make you worried and upset.

I want to think that the world is fair, and that everyone in it is honest and good.

I want to believe that anything is possible.

Somewhere along the way as I passed too quickly through my youth, I learned too much. I learned about nuclear weapons, greed, war, prejudice, starvation and abused children.

I learned about lies, unhappy marriages, suffering, illness, pain and death.

I learned about a world where men left their families to go and fight for their country, and returned only to end up living on the streets begging for their next meal.

I learned about a world where children were taught how to kill.

What happened to the time when we thought that everyone would live forever, because we didn't grasp the concept of death? When we thought the worst thing in the world was if someone took the jump rope from you, or picked you last for kickball? I want to be oblivious to the complexity of life and be overly excited by little things once again.

I want to return to the days when reading was fun, and music was clean. When television was used to report the news or for family entertainment and not to promote sex, violence and deceit.

I remember being naive and thinking that everyone was happy because I was. I would walk on the beach and only think of the sand between my toes and the prettiest seashell I could find. I would spend my afternoons climbing trees and riding my bike. I didn't worry about time, bills, or where I was going to find the money to fix my car, pay my rent, or go to the doctor when I was sick. I used to wonder what I was going to do or be when I grew up, not worry about what I'll do if that didn't work out.

I want to live simply again. I don't want my days to consist of computer crashes, mountains of paperwork, suspense dates, depressing news, how to survive more days in the month than there is money in the bank, doctor bills, gossip, illness and loss of loved ones.

I want to believe in the power of smiles, hugs, a kind word, truth, justice, peace, dreams, the imagination, mankind and making angels in the snow.

I want to jump in big piles of leaves and think it's the funnest thing in the world.

I want to be six again.

Thank you.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo