the Butterfly Effect
I guess the new year has put me in a philosophical--I don't even know if that's the right word for this--mood. I've been pondering about the Butterfly Effect a bit. No, not the movie, but just the theory or whatever it is. It should be pretty obvious that the idea is true. Everything makes a difference. Something I'm wondering is how small events can get before they stop making any difference. Like, for example, say I'm drumming my fingers on the desk right now, will that effect what job I eventually get, or what the weather's like on Tuesday, or...something else? I don't know, I kinda doubt it, but it's hard to tell.
I find it fun to look back and see how, if so-and-so hadn't happened, I wouldn't be who I am today. This blog is an example. Last summer, I spent a week at a Catholic boys' camp somewhere in the semi-wilderness of Western Washington. It was there that I met Brian and Joe from BlogHogger. At some point during the camp, Brian and I were talking about the Internet, and he mentioned that he had a website, which was, of course, BlogHogger. He gave me the URL, and when I got back to a place that had Internet access, I checked out his site. I liked it, and after several visits, I finally noticed the little orange Blogger button lurking in the corner of his template. Curious about how Brian made his site, and feeling this would contain some answers (hee hee hee), I clicked on it, and I found myself on the homepage of Blogger. It didn't take long to realize, me being as sharp as I am, that Blogger provided a free website service. Hot dog! It just so happened that I'd been looking for a way to make a website for a long time, preferably free, me being the cheapskate that I am, and here was the solution to my problem. So, now, here's this blog. If my dad hadn't gotten it into his head to send me (and himself, as a matter of fact) to that camp, this blog wouldn't be here. I don't know about you, but I find that pretty interesting.
Another example of butterflies effecting is my playing the drums. Also last summer, our family went to visit the family of my younger sisters' godparents (whose name was Colombo-that's for future reference) for an afternoon. Unfortunately, there weren't any boys my age there, so I spent some time meandering from room to room, until Mr. Colombo noticed that I seemed bored. He said that he had a drum set in their garage, and invited me to bang around on it a bit. He also had a CD player down there, with some blues CD in it, and he suggested that I try playing some drum beats along with the songs on the album. The effect wasn't spectacular, but I guess it was enough to convince my mom that maybe my playing drums wouldn't be a bad idea. Now, about six months later, I'm taking drum lessons and have my own drum set in the garage, an old beater of a set, but it works nonetheless. Just because of one afternoon. Actually, just because of 45 minutes in a garage.
Funny how that works.
I find it fun to look back and see how, if so-and-so hadn't happened, I wouldn't be who I am today. This blog is an example. Last summer, I spent a week at a Catholic boys' camp somewhere in the semi-wilderness of Western Washington. It was there that I met Brian and Joe from BlogHogger. At some point during the camp, Brian and I were talking about the Internet, and he mentioned that he had a website, which was, of course, BlogHogger. He gave me the URL, and when I got back to a place that had Internet access, I checked out his site. I liked it, and after several visits, I finally noticed the little orange Blogger button lurking in the corner of his template. Curious about how Brian made his site, and feeling this would contain some answers (hee hee hee), I clicked on it, and I found myself on the homepage of Blogger. It didn't take long to realize, me being as sharp as I am, that Blogger provided a free website service. Hot dog! It just so happened that I'd been looking for a way to make a website for a long time, preferably free, me being the cheapskate that I am, and here was the solution to my problem. So, now, here's this blog. If my dad hadn't gotten it into his head to send me (and himself, as a matter of fact) to that camp, this blog wouldn't be here. I don't know about you, but I find that pretty interesting.
Another example of butterflies effecting is my playing the drums. Also last summer, our family went to visit the family of my younger sisters' godparents (whose name was Colombo-that's for future reference) for an afternoon. Unfortunately, there weren't any boys my age there, so I spent some time meandering from room to room, until Mr. Colombo noticed that I seemed bored. He said that he had a drum set in their garage, and invited me to bang around on it a bit. He also had a CD player down there, with some blues CD in it, and he suggested that I try playing some drum beats along with the songs on the album. The effect wasn't spectacular, but I guess it was enough to convince my mom that maybe my playing drums wouldn't be a bad idea. Now, about six months later, I'm taking drum lessons and have my own drum set in the garage, an old beater of a set, but it works nonetheless. Just because of one afternoon. Actually, just because of 45 minutes in a garage.
Funny how that works.
posted by James at
8:42 AM
