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We interrupt our regularly promised next post to say, Listen to this TED talk:


Brené Brown: The power of vulnerability




Amazing. Freakin' amazing. We know these things to be true, but when you hear it, you can use it in a new way. Especially if it ties into your book. But your book comes from your life, too. So we really have to know what we're doing. embrace not knowing what we're doing?

Something like that.
In order to do it.

:)
r

Kind of like what M.T. Anderson once said at a past SCBWI Summer Conference: "The experiment is the piece of literature, not the preparation for the piece of literature."

So with life!

P.P.S. With thanks to Irvin Lin at Eat the Love for leading me to this talk, after an amazing weekend of Irvin and AJ hosting me in SF. Love you guys so much.

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In order to clean my apartment (and restore order), I must expend energy and heat, which increases total disorder in the universe. In order to not contribute to world disorder, I need do nothing.

My apartment is very peaceful right now. We are spinning along together—it and I—through the universe, through time—disturbing no one.

A disorderly desk is a sign of a peaceful mind. Happy. Working.

I was doing well with the kid-level science books. I made the quantum leap to Stephen Hawking, however, and now I understand nothing. But I am wiser about my apartment.

I think Stephen Hawking also just told me that even if our universe began contracting tomorrow, my apartment would still get messier. (As opposed to cleaning itself up, which is what he thought could happen before.)

I'm having great nonsensical fun with all this, since it’s all one to me.

Stephen Hawking also just told me, in so many words, that the mere effort of trying to learn has already, apparently, also increased world disorder by at least ten million million million times the amount of any information—correct or incorrect—I could have possibly gained.

The question thus becomes, Why try?

Ah. Why indeed . . . That’s like asking what makes us human . . . (she says as she climbs into her rocket ship and fastens her seatbelt, revving the engine and undoing the earth),

r

Blast off!!

P.S.
I wrote this a few hours ago, before picking my husband up from his week-long business trip. As soon as we got home, I told him exactly what I just told you. I was all, “Tonight I learned that any effort I put into creating order in this apartment would only give off heat and energy, which would contribute more to the total disorder in the universe.”

He said, “So we should never clean the apartment.”

I said, “Yes.”

He said, “Well, we knew that. It’s the Law of Entropy. You write it with a big S.”

Why do people know these things???

(And does the fact Damon has all this science information lodged so readily in his brain that—as far as I know—he hasn't used ever—explain why he can’t remember who told us which funny anecdote at which dinner party how long ago?? And is the fact I don't have this knowledge the reason that I can??)

P.P.S.
I've also been thinking a lot about this old entry.

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