Goodbye Lazarus, and other ramblings

   I want to preface this post with an apology, my mind was all over the place tonight and this is the result, relatively random wanderings.  Good Luck and Enjoy!

   I would like to say that I am not one for fantastical thinking, but that is probably as much of a lie as the cake is. I have had a very, bi-polar week or so and I found myself thinking that maybe there is something at work either on me, or in me, that makes things this way. I know that the first thing that will pop into many of your minds is, "Oh, well that is evidence that God working in your life."  I want to make it very clear to you that I am not in any way discounting that.  It is very likely in fact, but I also want to just throw some thoughts out here that have been wondering around in my head.

    I started wondering about the importance of people. Specifically, why does it seem that some people make a bigger effect on Life (being those lives of everyone who touches them, so grand scale). It is as if there are a select few people whose presence alone can greatly change the way that others perceive life.  This is getting a bit confusing for me as well, so here is an example, Have you ever been around someone that within a few minutes of really talking with them you realize that you want to me more like this person?  or Have you ever notices that someone that you know seem to be the catalyst for exciting (be it good or bad) things to happen even when they are not seeming to even attempt for anything to happen?  Maybe, Maybe not.  But it seems to me that there are people in this world who the world forms itself around, not the other, more normal view of people adapting to their surroundings.

    That that was a bit more intense than I thought this blog was really going to end up.  I figured I would write about why my life has been bi-polar.  I suppose I will give you this at least.  My car Lazarus is dead (situational irony maybe), for good.  My bike went to the grave 2 days later and Found out some other family sad news. So it has been a pretty sad week or so. I also apparently almost got beat up at a party because I walked a friend home who was lost in the rain, I dont know why that pissed off some of the guys there but apparently it did.  That being said I have really had a very good week as I perceive it.  I have a couple of really good friends who do more things for me than I think they realize and I am happy that they are back in my life.

Saw this in Boston and got way too excited for it.  Thus I sent it to one of those close friends.

C. Fletcher

Analysis of a Vacation

    So it has been quite a while since I have written. I hope to begin to keep it up for longer this time. I have a lot of thoughts and this is a good way of getting them out. I have been traveling around the east coast this summer and have seen two very different ways of living.  I am also told that people like pictures so I will put a few pictures of my trips as well.

I was really tempted to put in a quarter.. but I figured that I am already older so it might make be 50 or so.. which would be a bummer.

    First I went to Boston for a research conference. The people that I met there were very high society and higher intelligence. It made me aspire to be ground breaking and look for novel ways of doing experiments and made me want to push the boundaries of where I can go in my research.  I met a group of people who are all at least somewhat leaders in their respective research fields and realized that though I am not yet where they are, it is not much of a stretch to see me one day be able to meet if not exceed their stations.  It was an inspiring realization for me, and I am looking forward to excelling in my research.

This is potentially one of the libraries in Cambridge should have taken more picture of Harvard. 

     After Boston, I went to Palm Beach, Florida.  This was a complete change of pace for me. Normally I am surrounded by literal genii.  I live in a college town and work in a research lab with one of the "young hot shot" advisers and the other graduate student in my lab would unarguably be selected as the smartest graduate student in our department. I am fortunate to work with people like this who are highly driven people who can push and inspire me to do better than I could do otherwise.  Conversely the atmosphere in Florida was not that.  It is not that I was surrounded by idiots (far from it), but they culture is just very different.  I want to call it a much more "free" culture, but I don't think that gives it justice. I was there for two weeks and was able to relax and have no worries, which makes it a great vacation.  The people I was around just did not fret about anything.  In their minds things get done when they get done and there is no knowing what will happen in a year, a month, a day, or even and hour in the future.  This was a radical concept to the scientific part of my brain which is very structured and plans my days, weeks, months, ect, in advance for me. On the other side though, this way of thinking has given me a new perspective on ways to deal with adversities and such which I am hoping will be a valuable asset for me in the future.  I love the people who I got to spend time with and those that I got to meet in Florida.

- C. Fletcher