• The Scientific Method
  • WATCH SHIT Observe a natural phenomenon
  • EXPLAIN SHIT Develop hypotheses
  • PREDICT SHIT Make predictions for each
  • TEST SHIT Experiment with or reobserve the phenomenon to test the hypotheses
  • REDO SHIT Compare results, refine hypotheses
    • SHIT DON’T STOP Since hypotheses can always be refined, the scientific method is never-ending
    • CAUSE SHIT AINT DONE A theory can never be considered final
• The Nature of Science
  • SHIT FIXES ITSELF Since models are always being refined, science is self-correcting
  • IF SHIT’S GOOD, SHIT CAN BE WRONG Theories also must be falsifiable and lead to further understanding, not merely serve as an explanation
    • THIS WAY SHIT GETS GOOD This leads to an increasingly accurate description of nature
  • LIKE I SAID, SHIT AINT DONE However science does not produce absolute truth, since none produced are final
    • BUT SHIT STILL SORTA EXPLAINS STUFF Instead, we glean tentative descriptions of phenomena
    • GIVE IT TIME, SHIT GETS GOOD Over time it will still reveal the objective truth

The distinction between want and need was one instilled in me by my parents early on, when I would rarely get things that my whims decided they wanted. I learned that really, I don’t need much at all. Most things are wants, and I can do without them. I’ll live without them. Don’t fret if you don’t get it.

What if I have applied this rule too liberally to my life? What if, in my (successful) attempt to insulate me from the pain of dejected desires I caused myself to never really deeply desire anything?

I know that is a false statement, though. There have been things I have wanted and believed in with all my heart, but as scars are wont to do, the failures are the ones that make themselves constantly evident to me. I believed in them, devoted myself to them, was willing to do anything for them. I turned myself into things uncharacteristic and unimaginable for them. And yet those causes were wrong. Totally, utterly wrong.

When I now look at them, I recoil. They make me unsure of whether I can ever again really trust my judgment. I recall the certainty with which I elevated my position, and the ruinous falls that would follow. How could I ever be sure of anything again? How could I ever pledge myself to something again?

It’s not that I don’t, but I feel like it has become too easy for me to abandon them if I need to. That when they’re declared void, I simply don’t care. It doesn’t affect me.

I don’t know why I’m fine. In a way, the fact that I am fine makes me think I am otherwise. The absence of feeling loss is what troubles me. All I feel is that, well, you didn’t really need them. You may have wanted them, but the fact is that you already have all you need. You had no idea of knowing whether they would have been any good for you in the first place, and there’s no use pining for losing what was ultimately a gamble. You ought to just keep on rolling the dice.

Do I not invest myself in people and causes anymore? Have I reduced them to dice, ready to be followed or forsaken according to whatever result happens to show up? Because I think it should hurt more than this.

But all of that was the prelude to the main event, my trip to Japan. I leave tomorrow (today, Friday, really) and will be gone for a week with my brother, mom and aunt. Thanks to the time difference, my 14 hour nonstop flight to Tokyo will effectively take a day to get there and mere minutes to return. I will be taking meticulous notes linking my pictures to their descriptions based on time and date taken, because it’s unlikely that after the week-long trip I’ll remember in what context I took that picture of Hello Kitty or what caption I thought up for that strange mechanical contraption that looks vaguely like a sex toy.

Things I definitely want to cover:

• Pachinko. I don’t like gambling…but this is less gambling and more Peggle/Plinko + cute prizes!
• Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. This sounds incredibly dull but AHHH MODERN ARCHITECTURE! Should be right near our hotel.
• DrumMania. Fuck yea, drums. There is no way I am going to pass up the chance to try out the precursor to Rock Band. My brother may link up with GuitarFreaks, but I don’t think either of us will try out KeyboardMania…BeatMania was bad enough.
• VENDING MACHINES
• Maid cafe? None of us speak fluent Japanese so this may be more awkward than it’s worth. And we can’t take pictures inside them anyway.

And as for you, viewers, just pray that my shutter finger is itchy and I don’t collapse from the extreme humidity over there this time of year.