the What I Learned Today starts here.

i like to share stupid things that hit me like a ton of bricks, and set off the light bulb above my head to either illuminate or explode. things like: today, i learned that there is no lawn fairy. if there were, she'd be losing an epic battle with the weed fairy.

Thursday at school, i learned that MTV has completely ruined young minds. In my cognitive neuroscience class, (yes sounds smart, doesn't it?) the professor asked "What is the best TV show out today?" as part of an example to illustrate something complex. A girl in the second row shouted "Teen Mom!" And everyone laughed. Even the professor. Rightfully so. A little while later, the professor was talking about tests being done on comatose patients to see if their brain is really responsive. The same girl raised her hand to ask a question. It was, and i quote, "Do you know anything about that guy who is supposed to be, like, our time's Einstein? He lives in a wheelchair and has a computer that reads his mind and talks for him?" as a way to infer that the computer technology already exists to "read minds"... The professor stared at her blankly while the rest of us were confused. Kindly, a guy sitting in front of her turns around and tells her that she is referring to Stephen Hawking. As we all put two and two together, the class erupts in giggles. And I just thought, "Wow. Teen mom? If you'd been watching Family Guy, you would at least have some inkling as to who Stephen Hawking is." Where was I going with this? I dont know. But did you notice that I started using capitalization as soon as I started talking about school? They're always watching, you know.

So in light of these illuminating moments i'm just going to put them here so i can keep track of them. because someday they'll be worth something. a reference for how not to mow the lawn, for example. it has a few mohawks, but all in all, its shorter than it was before. so that's the point, right?

this week i also learned that birds are breeding in my back yard. the amount of trees between us and our surrounding neighbors is impressive. and there is a hummingbird sitting on the wire above my orange tree! never seen one still before. though he's looking around in every direction each second. maybe its not a hummingbird. but it has a long narrow beak like a hummingbird. i need new glasses. see how these learnings just come right out?