Today had nearly perfect weather--well, at least according to my taste. This is the California fall weather I know and love: it's sunny, but not hot; it's breezy; it's the kind of day that makes me want to have a picnic.

It was made so much sweeter by the fact that the physiology exam was pretty much a joke. I was out in 25 minutes and everyone else seemed to still be deep in thought. Honestly, it wasn't that hard. I think they were severely overthinking things. We didn't even cover very much material--just some neurophysiology and neuroanatomy.

On the bus ride home, I sat near an attractive young man. He could have been illegal--he had one of those faces and a demeanor that could fall on either side of 18--but I found myself strangely compelled to stare at him at every opportunity. (I gave him the benefit of the doubt that he was at the very least college-aged as he did board the bus with me at the university transit center.) His disheveled hair peaked out from under his hat. His arm draped lazily over his skateboard. The early afternoon sun drifting though the window and illuminating his blemish-free face. Alas, our journey together was too short, as I disembarked at my stop and walked away.

It's funny what you start to think about when you look at a stranger. Alternate timelines explode in your mind, constructing histories of what might have been and futures of what would have been. Elaborate stories, none of which are based on your own objective reality, suddenly are posited into existence. That we can create worlds that exist solely within the confines of our consciousness is a tribute to the powerful emergent properties of the brain--of neurotransmitter release and binding, of firing action potentials, of the trillions of synaptic connections of trillions of brain cells. It is simply--and pardon the pun--mind-blowing.

Human neurophysiology is such an intensely beautiful thing.

Yeah... when I look at strangers I wonder what would happen if they kidnapped me... I'm not sure why. Usually it's stuff like "what would they want as a ransom?" or "would I be kept in a hole like in The Silence of the Lambs?"

It's probably not normal to wonder stuff like that.
» randomjunk on 2008-10-09 06:41:30

i'm amazed at some guys for having blemish-free face and they don't even take care of their complexion!
» renaye on 2008-10-10 02:53:01

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