Tai Chi, for once

I went to tai chi this evening for the first time in ages. It's taught by a volunteer instructor at work (just a guy who knows it well) and is held in the exercise studio in my building. I enjoy it, though I often wish that we could spend less time on the first third of the form (which we do over an over) and more on the second two thirds, which I don't actually know well enough to do on my own. There are a number of transitions that I don't quite understand, and I get lost if I try to do the form outside the context of the class.

But I went today, and it made me feel good, and I enjoyed it, and it was exercise, too. Bailed out ten minutes early so I could pick up dinner on the way to Jeff & Alice's. (Star Wars night -- much fun.) Saw the Ottems' new baby. And, um, yeah, that's about it.

Not that anyone cares, but my Star Wars character now has a +20(!) skill modifier on Repair checks, which is min-maxy, true, but makes for enjoyable escapism.

Fermi's Inbox Paradox

melted_snowball posted about the Fermi paradox, which is the question: if there's intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, why hasn't anyone contacted us?

As a total side-note, I just finished re-reading -- somewhat randomly -- The Search For Signs of Intelligent Life In the Universe, the one-woman Lily Tomlin show by Jane Wagner, and I was actually thinking about posting about that today! It's a wonderful, wonderful play. I have it because it was one of the texts for a class I took at MIT on non-linear and interactive fiction, which ranks up there amongst my favorite college courses, actually. It's very funny, and it's about all these synchronicitous and random connections between people, and how we communicate and what it means for people to be in touch with one another. And that's sort of what lots of other people on LJ have been posting about lately (just have a look at my friends page), and kind of what LJ is about anyway, and I guess just... : hey, wow. Synchronicity. Cool.
( My theory... )