Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Smoke Rings


Last night it dawned on me that I consider the ability to blow smoke rings an essential part of fatherhood.  There is of course financial stability, emotional support, supportive family structure.  If I found out I would soon become a father, I would worry about these things.  And I would also worry about being able to blow smoke rings.

I just would not feel ready to bring a child in to the world before I could blow smoke rings.

Maybe that sounds silly?

When I grew up, my favorite book was the Hobbit, by Tolkien.  This was my favorite book because it was my dad's favorite book.  (I don't know how many times I have watched the Rankin/Bass animated version of the Hobbit, and I don't care how much spectacular CGI Peter Jackson uses, Rankin/Bass' the Hobbit is THE movie version of the Hobbit.  Forever.)  My dad was a huge fan of all of Tolkien's work.  And in addition to gripping fiction and overly-detailed world building, Tolkien was also really good at pipe smoking.

9/10ths of all Tolkien photos in existence
(Seriously.  Do a Google image search for "Tolkien".  Nine out of ten photos, he is smoking a pipe.)

So my dad smoked a pipe, too.

On the back of our old house, my dad had built what we all called the "bonzai porch".  It was screened in, with a built-in water hose.  In the winter we'd cover it in plastic and set out space heaters to keep the plants from dying.  In the summer, my dad would sit on the back porch and smoke an old pipe and blow smoke rings, and my sister and I would play with them.  We'd chase them around as the wind pulled them, or poke our fingers through them, or try to grab them like doughnuts.

And there is something magical about it.  About smoke rings.  The way they float out spinning in to the air, and then pause, hovering, then spread out like a lasso.  It's mesmerizing to watch.

I don't know why that's such an ingrained memory of mine.  When I think of my early childhood with my dad, I think of playing chess and smoke rings.

I sat on my back porch last night, pulled out an old paperback copy of the Hobbit I got at a used bookstore, lit up my pipe, and practiced my smoke rings.  I'm not very good at it yet, but luckily I still have plenty of time to perfect the art.

Why Blog?


I recently decided to start a blog.  This blog.

There's some amount of self-consciousness that goes in to that decision.  Am I doing this because I think I'm so important and brilliant that my thoughts matter to anyone?  Is it conceit?  Is it desperation?  Are people going to see me as self-important and conceited and desperate?

The idea has been rattling in my head for a while to start a new blog.  I say "a new blog" because I have an old blog.  The old blog I started to express theological and apologetic ideas I was exploring at that time.  It was really thick and heavy, and sometimes uncomfortable.  And sometimes mean.

And I wanted to talk about different things, sometimes.

Currently, I am a graduate student in physics.  Going on my third year.  I have been in my research for about a semester and am still learning the ropes.  The research isn't anything sexy, like dark energy or string theory; I use some computer algorithms to calculate electronic properties of crystalline solids.  It's useful. (I have not even begun thinking about what a thesis might possibly cover, so please do not ask when I graduate.)

Sometimes I have ideas pertaining to physics, or science more generally, or to math (I majored in math), and will want to share it.  Nothing groundbreaking or even researched - just thoughts I have.  I might use math to express those thoughts, and if you don't understand mathematical notation then you might just learn something.  I 'm still learning, a lot.

I enjoy reading.  Mostly I read fantasy literature (knights and dragons and wizards).  If I get in to a book, I will cease all activity until I finish it.  Like, I will cut out eating and sleeping.  I got a "B" in second semester quantum mechanics (angular momentum and perturbation) because I started reading George Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series the week before finals and ended up not studying and barely sleeping.  If left to my own devices I would just read constantly.

It happens when reading that something in a story strikes me, or that there's an unfinished series and fans are speculating on how it will end (I'm thinking of Song of Ice and Fire and Kingkiller Chronicles in particular at the moment).  I'd like to share that sort of stuff, with whoever would read it.

I'm also an evangelical Christian.  To some of you, that means "embodiment of pure evil".  Fine.  I used to be worried other people in the physics community would think less of me if they learned that, and that it might affect my employment prospects, but I have ceased caring.  If you find me less intelligent because of my religion, all the problem there is on your end.  But sometimes Christian overtones will come out in things I say, when I'm being good.

Anyway, the reason I want to start a blog, is because I want to.  I enjoy talking about certain things and I want a place to talk about them.  I would like as many people as possible to be able to agree or disagree with the things I say, beyond just the usual people that I talk to.  So there.  I started a blog.