Last week, at a wedding reception, I had a very long and interesting conversation with a good friend -a physicist- and a catholic priest whom I’ve met there for the first time (and who had had performed the wedding ceremony earlier that day).

If there was a running theme to the conversation, I’d say it was the discussion of the priest’s upcoming book (his phd dissertation; edited and expanded) about the experience of the sublime (I don’t remember the exact title, since it was in Latin, but I will most certainly try to look it up). That being said, the conversation was, in a sense, sporadic, hopping from one topic to another, thanks in no small part to the keen interest and inquisitive style of all parties. We touched on (among others) the personal experiences, perception of reality, research methodolgy and atmosphere, friendship, and the dialouge between the humanities and the sciences (which reminded me of the third culture, which I wanted to mention at the time, but failed to do so for some reason).

I am not going to attempt recounting the dialogue (trialogue) here (even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t be able to), but rather I’m jotting this down as a reference to the conversation; the fruits of which, I am almost certain, will appear on this blog, one way or another, at some time or another (the first of which is the next post).

This is also a self-reminder of that conversation (a hard copy of a mental note if you will) — hopefully, I will remember parts of it everytime I pass by here.

Some 2500 kms from where I currently reside, I ran into an acquaintance of mine from other dimensions — from another time and another place (more than ten years ago, we last met, 10,000 kms away). “Ran into” is not quite accurate; he actually spotted me from about fifty meters away -according to him- by the way I dressed!

Admittedly, this is not such an amazing encounter (compared, for example, to running into one’s first love and one’s relative on the same night, together, on their wedding night), but still makes one wonder about the interwinding paths our lives tread.
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I lost it! or at least I think so; the machine is at the repair shop –being diagnosed. I have a feeling that the hard disk is gone for good, but at the same time, I still can’t believe it!

It was so young!

Still, we shared so many memories. In fact, its memory was always more faithful than mine (I guess the difference is in the raw material; organic compounds vs. silicon), and now, what do I have–to remind me of all these things? Aaah! The bookmarks, the chat-logs, the snippets of reflection, the pictures, the movies, the code, the data, the calendar, the music, the preferences –aah the preferences; my hard drive knew exactly how I liked my stuff!

Everyone kept tellling me how I should be duplicating and backing-up, but -what can I say- monogomy is ingrained in me, so is procrastination and laziness!

This is not only lamentation, this is a reminder for you all — value the time you have with your drives, cause you never know when their time will be up!

Earlier this evening, I attended a chamber-music concert (Beethoven’s Septet in Eb, Op. 20 and Schubert’s Octet in F, D. 803 — gotta love the third and last Schubert movements -live!). Joining me and the fourty-some attendees, was a seeing-eye dog. What a wonderful creature; lying there listening to the music; perhaps enjoying it; perhaps at times getting bored; every now and then lifting the eyes up in a silent movement, which seemed to match the silent background, against which the musicians contrasted the faintest tones with the loudest movements. It was great.
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No reasons given, so don’t go looking for any. This is simply just another attempt.
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