Overreacting

Did you ever have one of those times where you're in a place, and you're supposed to be there, but it's a place that not everyone is allowed to go, and you're not normally there, and then someone official sees you, and you feel like you need to launch into a 10-minute explanation of why you're there, and that you're allowed to be there?

I'm doing a "girls in engineering" thing tomorrow at a local high school, and today was the set-up. So I wandered around until I found the classroom I'll be in, so I could put all the supplies there. Now, when I was in high school, I was often in school after-hours. Between theatre and a half-dozen other clubs, most of the teachers / administrators / custodians at least knew me by sight, and knew that if I was going into a classroom or supply closet it was probably for a legitimate purpose and no cause for alarm. But that was a decade ago, and this was not my school. No one there knows me. So I'm stumbling around, looking for the light switch, when I see this very professionally-dressed woman coming down the hall. Oh no - a teacher?? She probably knows the teacher who works in this room, and is wondering what the heck I think I'm doing, and here I am in jeans and a sweatshirt (that I realized, upon arrival, had stains in about 6 places...I should have just taken it off but I was cold DON'T JUDGE ME). Looking like some kind of vagabond, and not at all like a reputable engineer preparing to encourage young ladies to explore careers in math and science.

It was a moment of panic.

Luckily, she was a fellow presenter. And did not question my right to be in someone else's classroom, at all.

(This post doesn't really have a point, sorry. I'm waiting for my friend to call me; we're going to watch Rocky Horror Picture Show and eat chocolate ice cream because we've both had a bad week and nothing cheers you up like Tim Curry in fishnets and a big bowl of ice cream. So I'm blogging to keep myself occupied. Also, we don't actually live near each other, so we'll be watching the movie simultaneously and messaging each other to keep a running commentary. It's an experiment!)

Nathan Fillion is an Awesome Donut

A conversation between myself and two (equally nerdy) friends (edited for clarity):

A: i never quite got into firefly
does that make me evil?
everyone loves it?

B: did you watch it from the beginning?
i didn't get it at first either

A: i did

B: i still don't like the movie

A: well, the movie was a bit tacked on

me: the movie was just totally different in tone
and I'm not sure hating it makes you evil, but it might make you crazy

A: oh no, i don't hate it
just not in love

B: but nathon fillion...
nathan

A: mmmmmmm...........
i mean, yeah he's alright

B: he's not your type

me: ok, see this is what makes me certifiably insane
I <3 <3 <3 Nathan FIllion

B: but platonically

me:EXACTLY
he's pretty much awesome sauce covered in awesome
but I don't find him attractive at all.

B: i don't really find him attractive
nice body in Dr. horrible, but not really
shouldn't the awesome be covered in awesome sauce
not the other way around

me: either way
maybe he's an awesome jelly donut with stuffed awesome sauce O_o

B:ookay
he's an awesome donut

me: he is an awesome donut!

4 books

I read an interesting hypothetical online today: "If you could prevent four books (or series) from being destroyed forever, which would you choose?"

There are two answers to this, I guess. One would be if I had to choose four books just for myself. That was the slightly easier question. I would choose:
Asimov's Foundation series
The Three Musketeers Saga
The Complete Sherlock Holmes
The Feynman Lectures on Physics

These are books I could not live without.

But, if I had to choose for all of humanity? That becomes a more difficult problem. Should I choose Great Works of Literature? By whose metric? What should I choose from Shakespeare, or Homer, or Dante; Goethe or Moliere? What about non-Western literature, about which I know far less than I should? What about science texts? Could humanity afford to lose Newton's Principia Mathematica? Or Darwin's On the Origin of the Species? Do I need to choose the Bible, or the Koran, or the Torah, or some other religious or holy book?

Faced with these dilemmas, I think I'd have to choose books that challenged me personally, or forced me to think, or contained ideas I think others should consider. To Kill a Mockingbird makes the list, hands-down. So does Inherit the Wind. I would probably add 1984. And Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol, by Tom Mula.

Look for upcoming posts on what those books mean to me.