The Crazy Australian

We’ve had some lovely weather this week. Yesterday felt like late Spring (hooray!). Days are getting longer, the air warmer, and the sun brighter.

And it has occured to me that my mood is dependent on the weather. Not completely, but substantially. When the sun is shining, the sky is blue, the colours vivid – I feel great. When it is overcast, dark, or dull, I feel flat.
Has anyone else experienced this? Do you have a different ‘mood trigger’?

I’ve been trying to work out if it is a good thing or a bad thing. I am sure it is good to take pleasure in the wonders of God’s creation, but I’m not so sure that I should feel so low when the sky is grey. If a cloud impacts my joy, how much will real suffering impact me?

I wonder if it is like many of life’s pleasures:

delighting in a taste, enjoying the company of a friend, reveling in the ecstasy of sport, immersing yourself in a movie, discovering new places and travelling the world…

Enjoy them and be thankful for them, but remember that they are transient and will pass away, so don’t pin your joy on the things of this world, but on the eternal.

I’m still thinking about it all, and I’d love to hear your thoughts – leave a comment.

[Photo: the crazy australian (also the studious australian) making the most of the weather! I often ask if I can work outside, I love it!]

The last two posts (this one and this one) gave an overview of some weird stuff that science says about the world. But who cares?

Who cares if time slows down when you speed up? Why should you care if you are made of particles or waves (or both)? Why spend time trying to understand it?

This doesn’t just apply to science, but anything you care to think about. Why do it?

1. It’s interesting – this may be just me, but hopefully by the end of this list you will agree.
2. It makes you more interesting – the more you know, the broader your range of interests, and the broader the range of areas you are familiar with, the more you are able to talk about.
3. It’s fun – (Don’t throw anything too heavy at me!) Being challenged, being confused, struggling to understand things…. is fun!
4. Its good to know stuff – (and have a broad vocabulary with synonyms for ‘stuff’) No-one has ever run out of room in their brain. Use it!
5. New types of thinking create neural connections in the brain – erm… yeah, something like that. See here and here
6. It is humbling – It is way too easy to think you’re all that, to think you know a lot. Wrestling with something as hard as relativity prevents you from thinking you know it all. (If you understand it, you are the third person! I’d appreciate it if you could explain it to me )Two more – and they are my favourites:
7. 
   It gives insight into the nature and character of God!
   Why did God do it this way? I don’t know, but it’s good to think about.
   Even better is this: the universe is ordered. We can discover it’s laws. Thats cool. But we can’t understand them – thats even cooler! If even his creation is difficult to wrap your head around, what then of God?
   God is a God who is beyond our comprehension: what we know, we know in part and imperfectly. And it shouldn’t surprise us that this is the case – why wouldn’t the Creator be more complex than the created.
8. It’s useful for when you want to out-nerd your friends.
   ‘Nuff said, really.

[Aside: this can be applied to stuff you do at school, college, university, and even at work]

Have I sparked your curiosity? Have I missed anything you love about nutting stuff out? Do you disagree? Leave a comment.
Update: Don’t miss Vinchuco’s excellent additions in the comments.

1. The faster you need to get somewhere, the older the driver in front will be.
2. It’s okay to tell a guy “You’ve really packed it on”… but not such a good thing to tell a girl.
3. Almost everyone who uses the word “rocks”… doesn’t.
4. The irony of speeding to get to church could only be topped by the awkwardness of explaining this to a cop. (so don’t speed!)
5. Everything takes 3 times as long as you think it will, except when you allow for this effect – in which case it only takes as long as you thought it would in the first place.

Today was the first day of the school term. My last full term ever.

It’s a welcome shock. I realised this week that I’m looking forward to leaving school more and more as it approaches. I don’t know whether this is because the workload and pressure is building up or because, now the end is in sight, I can imagine the world beyond school.

There will be things I will miss about childhood and the schoolyard. There are things I’m afraid of in life ahead. I’m still working out where my life is heading. Yet despite all this, I’m excited! I may blog about some of this later, but at the moment, here are the top 6 things I’m looking forward to:

I can’t wait:
   7. For youth to start again (this Friday)
   6. To see my girlfriend
   5. For this Saturday (my 18th! Yew!)
   4. For school to be over
   3. PHAT 2008
   2. For summer! Bring it on!
   1. “Till He returns, or calls me home” (as the song “In Christ Alone” puts it)

What are you waiting for?

PS: 2 gold stars to the first person who can work out what the picture at the top has to do with anything. Don’t hurt yourselves!

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