I can't sleep.

I wish I could sleep.
I wish a wave of relaxation would wash over my back.
I wish I felt Kensho at work.
I wish people didn't get cancer.
I wish my mind didn't take imprints of people during the day.
I wish my mind would be fully present and fully not engaged.
People are like quicksand.
Or I am an idiot.
(As in, don't step in and you won't fall down.)
I wish I wasn't an idiot.
I wish I didn't move so fast.
I wish there was a place within walking distance of work that had really good sushi.
I wish Health South would pay back my whole student loan.
I wish we could afford a house before I'm 40.
I wish I had ever gone to a James Brown concert.
I wish there was time (and a place) to go for a 20-minute jog every day at lunch.
I wish I could do speech therapy in a treehouse.
I wish there was a pulley system whereby 85-year-olds could come up without too much trouble.
I wish they would like it.
I wish we could eat the sushi up there.
I wish birds would land on branches near the treehouse.
I wish lizards would wiggle nearby, too.
I wish I ever practiced the violin.
I wish work was done every day at 2.
I wish I could take the long view.
I wish I did something productive with my energy.
I wish I felt as good every afternoon as I do every morning.
I wish the sun was shining and Neil and I were on a walk.

Grilled cheese and cartoons

The boys of my generation resemble each other.

Soko fumu na
Yube hotaru no
Ita atari

-Issa

Do not tread on the grass
Where fireflies glowed
Last night

(Tr. Asataro Miyamori)

Brain symmetry

I was thinking last night about symmetry in nature, and what biologists and physicists and mathematicians understand about it. Maybe there are natural elements that appear to exhibit symmetry (e.g., a leaf is split down the middle), but the cellular composition is actually much more complex. (Although something could be symmetrical and complex. I wonder what the opposite of symmetrical is, besides asymmetrical. Random is perhaps going too far.) Anyway, I was wondering how deep the symmetry goes. If it does go deep and it is a feature of organic structure, I wonder if it can then be a sort of lens that organisms can be seen through. So if there is an organism (or organ) that appears not to demonstrate a lot of symmetry, I wonder if it could be examined with specific symmetry parameters in mind, and then that same organism would reveal a symmetrical composition that had been previously unnoticed. Specifically, the brain. I know there's the right and left hemispheres, but I wonder how deep symmetry goes in the brain, in terms of structure but also nerve patterns. It would be interesting to explore the latest research on specific areas being sites for specific cognitive functions (e.g., left hemispehere: language) in terms of symmetry, especially because if other parts of the brain also are mildly activated during a cognitive task, they could be seen as part of the pattern. Of course, maybe even if symmetrical characteristics are common to organisms, they are also common to non-organisms, like raindrops and rocks. But that doesn't mean that the questions couldn't be tested anyway.

interesting mapping format

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