iiiiits legwarmer season!!

here i am again. right. here.

so i've been avoiding The Blog, conscientiously and otherwise, for a few weeks. it's probably going to be a photo journal of sorts for the while. i grow weary of the emotive entries - of the discussions of boys (laaaame), of whether or not san francisco or texas is my "home."

i started and maintained this blog because i considered myself to be traveling. my trip to texas and back allowed me to recognize that i am in fact no longer traveling, that without realizing it i have begun to create a community here, am gaining stability in the chaos, and have become addicted to all the madness here. i am happy here. i love it here. i love my lifestyle and the constant attempts at maintaining balance, of discovery, of pretty pretty sunsets.

* * *

on another note, i'm a little bummed/excited because i am reading a book that is one that i started to write a few weeks ago. yes, someone's already written it. blast. but mark buchanan did a fine job, and has the mathematics background so nailed it better than i could. it's called "nexus" and you should totally check it out.

you've heard of the six degrees of separation idea, yeah? the phrase "it's a small world" applies well here. perhaps i'm not in the know with the latest in "science," but i am learning through this book that these ideas are the crux of a mathematical theory that was discussed publicly in "Nature" in the late 90s. "Small worlds theory" or "complexity theory" has implications on how scientists and academics understand the complicated, multi-faceted relationships at work throughout the general fields of medicine, biology, ecology, sociology, etc. science (hard and soft) has pushed towards reductionism, focusing on how the tiny things work - with the function (in some cases) being an attempt to understand the larger picture. but this theory breaks apart how networks work without focusing on the small stuff - in a brilliant (and brilliantly simple) way.

so anyway. the latest piece i've been working was more non-fictional, "semi-autobiographical" (man i hate that term) - posing indirect questions to how it is that so much "wierd stuff" can happen to an individual in a world of 6 billion people. how are all of our lives intertwined? we've all had the experience of sitting next to someone in a cafe who is from the same city that we're from, or things even more unbelievable. but since i started traveling, these "strange" connections have started to accumulate and become even more unbelievable. the two boys i met here who are connected on myspace. running into 4 people from texas in rome within 24 hours (hi will). and how is the internet changing this? couchsurfing. myspace. the programs that allow us to observe and/or build networks.

i was bummed as i read it, but it's actually kind of cool because i think it's going to get my brain moving in 18 new directions that branch from my experiences, stories i hear from others, "nexus," related literature i find, etc.

so there. that's the first ive written about my writing. you best appreciate.

i wonder if anyone out there still reads this.

jen