Kurt's Theory of Evolution

In just a few short weeks, I will celebrate the anniversary of accepting my current job in the Greater Boston area. I still stand firm in saying that moving to Boston was one of the single best decisions I've ever made. Again, I have nothing against New Haven, but I needed the change. In that time, I've met a lot of women, enriched my knowledge, started the ball rolling on a career change, bought a condo, and discovered the "city" boy in me.

Having completed Biology I, where we learned all about cell biology and genetics, I have returned this week to start Biology II, which will deal with ecology and evolution. Today, we already learned about cladograms and phylogenic trees. This may be good preparation for my upcoming trip. I'm hoping to uncover the secrets buried deep under the city of Prague which may lend some important clues to the evolution of Pilsner, for example.

Stephanie is in this course, too. She is more concerned with the evolution of her relationship with Greg and with Greg's relationship with his current girlfriend. In physics, where we all met, we referred to all this as an uncomfortable geometry. Now, between Greg and Stephanie, there exists a completely chaotic eco-system. Maybe this course will teach her just enough ecology and evolution to sort it all out. She comes into the course with quite a bit of knowledge on the topic already, as she teaches some of it to her ELL students. As she grapples with what to do about Greg, she has found that relying on songs helps her relate to what's going on in her life. Kelly Clarkson's "Beautiful Disaster" and ABBA's "Under Attack" seem to define her situation quite well. I also believe in the power of music and songs to speak the language of those things we sometimes have a tough time deciphering or saying. None of that is as bad as Hungarian, however. Fortunately, I have a copy of "Just Enough Hungarian", which will hopefully help me get by while I'm in Budapest. I have to brush up on my German for when I'm in Berlin and Vienna. It won't help me very much though in Prague, Krakow, or Warsaw.

Yes, songs are great. I was listening to "Mamma Mia" the other day and I realized something. ABBA has a song for just about every possible situation in which you can find yourself. It's the "finding yourself" part that I'm still struggling with, however. Just when you think you've figured it out, you realize you have not.

Elicitation Question: If you could choose one song from ABBA that could descibe your life at this moment, what would it be?

For me, it's always changing and evolving, but right now it's:

Take a Chance on Me

If you change your mind, I'm the first in line
Honey I'm still free
Take a chance on me
If you need me, let me know,
gonna be around
If you've got no place to go, if you're feeling down
If you're all alone when the pretty birds have flown
Honey I'm still free
Take a chance on me
Gonna do my very best and it ain't no lie
If you put me to the test, if you let me try
Take a chance on me
Take a chance on me
We can go dancing, we can go walking, as long as we're together
Listen to some music, maybe just talking, get to know you better
'Cos you know I've got
So much that I wanna do...

Of course, this goes for me as well. I've got to take a few chances, too. I took the chance on moving, I took the chance on changing careers, and I took the chance on a few people I have met. I don't blink an eye when booking trips here, there, and elsewhere. I thrive on travel. If I could do all those things without any angst, then everything else should be easy. My question is why isn't everything else just as easy? Physics, for example, is not easy. Why can't that be easy? Chemistry is not easy, either. Yeah, chemistry. I'll have to take that again soon, and that's going to be a challenge. Chemistry is such an interesting subject, though. It's all about atoms. I mean, in the grand scheme of it all, that's all we are and all any of this is! You have to know all about ionic and covalent bonds. You talk a lot about energy and reactions, too. Sometimes you just need the proper catalyst in an experiment. Sometimes you don't get it right the first time. In fact, you often screw things up royally. However, the beautiful thing about science is that if it doesn't work the first time, you pick up and try it again. You will never achieve perfection, but you've got to be comfortable with what you have. You can't rush things or race through the steps. You want to take the time to get it right...to make it work. At the end of the day, quality still trumps quantity.

It's a lot like baseball. If you go out there and you lose the game, there's no reason to hang your heads. Remember, there's no crying in baseball! You just go back out there and you try it again. You go out there with the confidence that you have a good team and that you can still contend for the pennant. You have to believe you are the best team and that nobody else will beat you, unless they prove otherwise. Right now, the Red Sox are ahead in the AL East. They should be able to hold on, but if they doubt themselves or start to worry too much about a possible resurgence by the Yankees, then they could lose their cool and their edge. As long as they keep going out there and giving it their all every game, with the determination that they will win each and every game they can, they should be fine. So my life is like an ABBA song. It's like the Red Sox. It's not like beets, however.

It's like biology. It's an evolution.