Thoughts on life

Graduation report: the ceremony itself was quite as expected- long and boring. I was one of the last people to graduate. Beforehand my family had planned a Hannah-recognition ceremony, which was very thoughtful and special. I was very surprised.

Here's something that I was thinking about lately: I have read in history books and other such literature about people in the 17th/18th centuries that they attributed everything to divine providence because they didn't understand how science worked. For example, people believed they were having a baby because God gave them a baby, or that someone was sick because God made them sick, or that weather patterns and geological formations were what they were because that was what God made. According to these books, this was because they did not know the scientific explanations for these things. The implied (though not explicitly stated) comparison is that we today, with our vast knowledge, know better and can explain everything with science. My opinion is that the two are not at all mutually exclusive. Let's look at the example of weather, say, having nice weather on a day when you have to work outside a lot. Yes, we know that weather is caused by a lot of things like wind patterns and lots of other things that I don't fully understand but meteorologists can explain to us. But does that mean that God had nothing to do with it? May it never be! Clearly it is not completely deterministic- otherwise weathermen would be able to perfectly predict the weather for all time. There is some uncertainty with everything. We might say that we KNOW that given the existing weather conditions, there is a certain probability that it will be nice tomorrow, and another probability that it will be hot, and another probability that it will be rainy. So what determines which of those options it is? The scientific explanation leaves a hole there.

Even in chemistry/physics, in the study of electrons, the typical model that says there are such-and-such number of electrons in this shell, so-and-so many here, and so forth, those are probabalistic- it's just a probability that a certain electron will be in a certain place. The placement of these tiny electrons isn't fully predictable! So it doesn't make sense to say something like, "that person recovered from that illness because his immune system was able to kill the disease cells and it worked in such-and-such fasion... [lots of details]," because there is never perfect uniformity in these results. Yes, we can understand more of the specifics of how things physically happen, but there is still no certainty. What makes one person recover and another get worse under the same circumstances, other than God's plan?

I don't like when history books take on this "we know everything now" attitude.

Ceremonial End-of-School Stuff

One more day until I graduate! I've been surprisingly busy these past few days. I thought that after finals were done, I would have several days of doing nothing but eating, sleeping, hanging out with Justin and other fun people, and maybe watching TV or something. Apparently I was underestimating how much time it takes to pack. Moving out is not fun.

My moving out has been punctuated with some less tedious events. Last night Mama and Daddy came up and joined Justin and me for an Honors Awards Ceremony/Reception. I got a gold "stole" that I get to wear at graduation, which will make me easier to see from the audience! Today Justin and I went to a Math Dept reception for graduates, where I got a purple & gold cord for being in Pi Mu Epsilon (math honor society), which I will wear to graduation. Yay! More bling (or "regalia").

Dr. Stecher, my math advisor and one of my favorite professors, was there and asked if he would ever be able to meet my family. I told him they were sad that they couldn't make it today, but would be at graduation tomorrow, but apparently he will not be. He is a very nice man and has been very helpful and encouraging over the past four years. I had Justin take a picture of me with Dr. Stecher.

After this reception Justin and I had to walk back across campus to do some other stuff. It is quite hot today, and we saw a sad little squirrel who appeared to be suffering from the heat. He was splayed flat on his stumoch, panting heavily. It was so cute I had to take a little video. Unfortunately, by the time I got my camera out and turned on, he was about ready to get up, but I did get a little bit of panting-squirrel footage.

I am very excited about getting to see everybody tomorrow! Hooray for fam time!

Turn Right at the Goats

Today I had a dentist appointment. Last time I went the found three cavities, so today I had to get them filled. As I sat in the dentist chair with two strangers' faces hovering above me and four white rubber gloves, a cotton roll, a suction tube thingy, some stuff that tasted nasty, and an uncomfortable metal thing in my mouth, I thought, "this is not a pleasent experience." I have never really enjoyed going to the dentist. When I was little, the grossness of the tooth polish and fluoride rinse was at least balanced a little bit by the fact that I got something cool- a sticker, or toothbrush, or pencil-topper - at the end. Last time I went to the dentist I did get a cool plastic zipper pouch with a toothbrush, trial-size toothpaste, and floss inside. But this time all I left with was a numb mouth! Boo! I'm never going there again. [wink wink]

After my dentist appointment I drove up to College Station. As I got to the stop light on 359 at the goats, I thought, "this is the last time I will make this drive as a Texas A&M student." How I will miss seeing those cute little goats, sometimes sitting contentedly inside those concrete cylinders, reminding me of the beautiful simplicity of college life. Well, not really. I just felt like I should try to make the goats sound more meaningful.

Anywho, here are some things I will miss about A&M:

• Football games (although I'll still come to some next year with Justin)


• Being able to take naps in the middle of the day


• Access to huge library with lots of cool books- regular libraries don't have as many math books.


• Being within 10 minutes of everything, by bike.


• Having a schedule that allows me to eat whenever I want to, and sit outside during the nicest parts of the day.


• Changing my schedule every semester.


• Formals with Justin


• Professors telling me I'm awesome


• Getting to still be a kid


• Turning right (or left, if I'm coming home) at the goats


• Summer Break/ Christmas Break/ Spring Break


• Math

Here are some things I will NOT miss about A&M:

• Terrible parking


• The wierd smell in Blocker


• Difficult homework


• Being poor


• Construction on Highway 6 AND Texas Avenue (I could write a whole other blog post about this... maybe I will next time I'm bored)


• Grading papers


• Feeling like a little kid


• Having to put "High School Diploma" as my highest level of education completed when filling out surveys