1994-1995 was an… interesting period in my life. It was my Sophomore year of high school. It was the time when I developed my first serious crush, suffered my first bout of depression, and was consumed with insecurities. Yet oddly enough, it was also a time of self-confidence, when I fully embraced weirdness, and when I felt as though I could achieve anything. And it was when I fell in love with Carl Sagan [wikipedia].
During my Sophomore year of high school, I devoured everything that he had written – and my favorite of his works was Pale Blue Dot. I read that book numerous times, and wove his words into the fabric of cosmos-related fantasies which pervaded my life at that time. At that time I decided that what I wanted out of life was to become an astronomer… a dream which I held until my first semester at Sewanee, when I discovered that Physics and I were not destined for friendship. (Honestly, it was an incredibly depressing moment when I came to the realization that I would never become an astronomer.)
Nonetheless, my collection of the works of Carl Sagan remained one of my prized possessions until 2009, when in one of the many terrible decisions I made that year, I sold them on Ebay. (Please keep in mind that I was all but unemployed, working 6-10 hours a week at minimum wage, and I had no money but what I could borrow from my mother. This doesn’t so much excuse the act, as explain the motivation behind it.) I almost cried when I packaged the books up and sent them off… and I really did cry rather hysterically when I received a message from their buyer stating that they had been seriously damaged in transport, and he wanted a refund.
Carl Sagan died in 1996… by last Friday he appeared on NPR’s Science Friday, as they were celebrating their 20th anniversary by playing some of their favorite past interviews. I listened to the podcast on my way to work this morning. It brought tears to my eyes, and I’ve been in a funky weird mood ever since. Anyway, you can listen to Carl yourself by clicking here.
Also, would Pale Blue Dot be Голубая Точка or Голубой Пункт? And given the slang connotations of голубой, I wonder how this notion plays in Russia? Oh-бляд-i-oh- бляд-a, life goes on… lalalala life goes on :-)
During my Sophomore year of high school, I devoured everything that he had written – and my favorite of his works was Pale Blue Dot. I read that book numerous times, and wove his words into the fabric of cosmos-related fantasies which pervaded my life at that time. At that time I decided that what I wanted out of life was to become an astronomer… a dream which I held until my first semester at Sewanee, when I discovered that Physics and I were not destined for friendship. (Honestly, it was an incredibly depressing moment when I came to the realization that I would never become an astronomer.)
Nonetheless, my collection of the works of Carl Sagan remained one of my prized possessions until 2009, when in one of the many terrible decisions I made that year, I sold them on Ebay. (Please keep in mind that I was all but unemployed, working 6-10 hours a week at minimum wage, and I had no money but what I could borrow from my mother. This doesn’t so much excuse the act, as explain the motivation behind it.) I almost cried when I packaged the books up and sent them off… and I really did cry rather hysterically when I received a message from their buyer stating that they had been seriously damaged in transport, and he wanted a refund.
Carl Sagan died in 1996… by last Friday he appeared on NPR’s Science Friday, as they were celebrating their 20th anniversary by playing some of their favorite past interviews. I listened to the podcast on my way to work this morning. It brought tears to my eyes, and I’ve been in a funky weird mood ever since. Anyway, you can listen to Carl yourself by clicking here.
Also, would Pale Blue Dot be Голубая Точка or Голубой Пункт? And given the slang connotations of голубой, I wonder how this notion plays in Russia? Oh-бляд-i-oh- бляд-a, life goes on… lalalala life goes on :-)
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