[csail-related] GSB Tonight: Humerous Life

[jamoozy at csail.mit.edu (Andrew Correa)]

Life's a funny thing, y'know?  I was thinking about my life again [1], how
each big event seemed to me while living it and what each event looks like
to me now.  It's given me quite a bit of perspective.

So here's my analogy [2]: life is a long path going over a series of hills,
each of a different size.  You're a traveler that has decided the path
taken, and will decide the path to take.  The path has many forks and many
choices; sometimes you go through woods, sometimes you have long periods of
hill-less terrain, and sometimes you get lucky and find a river with a boat
that pulls you along.

Like many travelers here, I'm heading up the largest hill I've decided to
summit so far, and I'm finally at the height where I can see over all the
hills that have come before it [3].  Those hills suddenly look like small
mounds in a sandbox.  I remember how high they seemed at the time and how
large the next one looked when I had finally summitted one.  I remember how
I thought "That wasn't so bad." for some and "Well, I'm glad that's over"
for others.  I remember meeting people along the way, and not discovering
lessons learned until faced with a similar hill down the road.

In many ways it's an exciting time, being this high on this hill.  I'm not
sure what the future will hold--I can't see over this hill yet; but it can
also be quite frustrating.  After all, I've never had to climb this high
and I've never had to climb for this long before.  I think back to the
other times I've thought this, and hope this hill will seem like nothing in
the future (as those do now).  I fear that it will, because that will mean
I've been silly [4].

I like to think about what it might be like at the top.  Certainly there
will be other hills, but will they compare to this one?  I've certainly
learned a lot about climbing in this time, so I wonder if hills further
down the path will be easier, because of all the leg muscles I've built.  I
hope they will be smaller.  I fear they won't.

Let's study anuses at this week's:

       +-                                                  -+
          girl scout benefit -+-  5:30 pm  -+- 32-G9 lounge
       +-                                                  -+

           For those coming from elsewhere: Building 32 is
            <http://whereis.mit.edu/map-jpg?selection=32><http://whereis.mit.edu/map-jpg?selection=32>
       Once you are in 32, just take the G-elevator to the 9th
   floor and we will be in the lounge that you will be looking at

<http://projects.csail.mit.edu/gsb><http://projects.csail.mit.edu/gsb>

[1] It's odd how existential you get here ...
[2] "analogy" seems to come from "anal" and "ogy", so I think it means "the
study of anuses".
[3] In most cases I can even see the base of the far side of the hill.
[4] I certainly feel silly enough ...