Nostalgia

There was a lunar eclipse last night. I went to check it out with my sister, plus Omar, Amanda, and some of Amanda's friends. The people I didn't know apparently knew of this place that would make for great eclipse watching. Their special spot turned out to be the side of the road in Paynes Prairie. The weather wasn't looking very cooperative at first, but eventually the clouds cleared up and we could see the moon turn red. There were also a lot of stars. A heck of a lot. Do you realize how big the Big Dipper is? It's really big.

I've found myself looking back on my high-school days a lot lately. In particular, I've been reading my archives for May 2007. What exciting times those were. Between coming in second place in the programming competition, taking an AP test, winning big at the senior class awards, going to prom, graduating, and more, I made a lot of memories there that I'm sure will last for a lifetime. Once in a while I look back on those days only a few months ago when everything was so different. Before going home for the holidays, before the first semester of college, before meeting my roommate and making friends, before that last summer, I was just a high school student standing on the brink of... life.

Which is not to say I'm living a lot more now than I was then. I'm not, really. It's just that I seem to have broadened my horizons a bit. Things in high school were so simple. Every day was the same. Things will never be that simple again. Not until I'm old and retired, anyway. I just wonder what things would have been like if I had done things differently. For example, what if I had been cooler? Then I'd probably be really cool now. Anyway, you get the idea. I'm just feeling nostalgic, I guess.

I know my readers are smart enough to know this, but you probably know some people who will find it useful: an explanation of why evolution is not "just a theory". (In short: scientific laws describe how things work, and theories are developed to explain why they work.)

Advice from a 50-year-old: 50 things I've learned in 50 years, a partial list in no particular order.

Turns out you can recycle more than you think. Here are 21 Things You Didn't Know You Can Recycle.