5.28.2004
Phys-a-ma-cist int the fam
READER WARNING: Nostalgia, Sappiness and Potenial Hyperbole Contained
My brother is now an upstanding mid-20-something with a degree and his whole life ahead of him. Congratulations Drew! Now run away to Alaska and live in a lean-to. We all know you're going to. What? You want a family, kids and a house in the suburbs? My god what happened to you? Did you not learn anything from me, your older sister?!?! (interrabang!?!?)
Oh...maybe you did.
I should have said congrats before except my bro does not:
(a)read this site
(b)use the Internet as far as I can tell for that matter
(c)call, write, email
Not that this is a complaint. We don't really have to do these things, and sometimes, in fact, they can be so distinctly unsatisfying that it's better just not to. We'll probably get together in like a year. I'll blather, he'll interject biting commentary. That, as I am given to understand, is what brothers do.
So he's the mountain man and I'm the expat, both more comfortable in a world we make familiar than the one that already is. I started out in physics, but after a year I realized all the classes I really wanted to take were in the Asian Studies department, and me being me, I just did whatever I darn well pleased and switched without giving too much thought to chucking what had up till then passed for my mission in life. Made some excuses and flitted over to the next flower. Not regretful. To be honest, the only things I've read about hard science since then have been histories, not even pop science--don't miss it. Asia I can study forever and just keep filling the sieve. That and my books, holing up with my books.
Drew on the other hand migrated into physics after periodically running away to the mountains. I guess that could sound kind of unibomber creepy, but I'm the creepy one, not him. Mostly he was up there staring at the stars I reckon, and living in a converted storehouse with a couple of other thinking types--all named Andrew. They could have been characters on Northern Exposure.
And now what? Graduating in Asian studies didn't make me Asian...not yet anyway. Will physics make him a physicist? We shall see. But it makes me very happy to know that between the two of us there is a physicist. Maybe he can fill me in and remind me of the stuff I used to be so passionate about, and I can carelessly twist those ideas into my own metaphors (Stepen Weinberg would loathe me). Maybe I'll pick up a thing or two about people and religions that I am always reading about to blather at him about next time we share a beer or six. What lives we lead, two kids from Tulsa trying to comprehend the universe. Going about it such different ways. We must make time. I miss my bro.
My brother is now an upstanding mid-20-something with a degree and his whole life ahead of him. Congratulations Drew! Now run away to Alaska and live in a lean-to. We all know you're going to. What? You want a family, kids and a house in the suburbs? My god what happened to you? Did you not learn anything from me, your older sister?!?! (interrabang!?!?)
Oh...maybe you did.
I should have said congrats before except my bro does not:
(a)read this site
(b)use the Internet as far as I can tell for that matter
(c)call, write, email
Not that this is a complaint. We don't really have to do these things, and sometimes, in fact, they can be so distinctly unsatisfying that it's better just not to. We'll probably get together in like a year. I'll blather, he'll interject biting commentary. That, as I am given to understand, is what brothers do.
So he's the mountain man and I'm the expat, both more comfortable in a world we make familiar than the one that already is. I started out in physics, but after a year I realized all the classes I really wanted to take were in the Asian Studies department, and me being me, I just did whatever I darn well pleased and switched without giving too much thought to chucking what had up till then passed for my mission in life. Made some excuses and flitted over to the next flower. Not regretful. To be honest, the only things I've read about hard science since then have been histories, not even pop science--don't miss it. Asia I can study forever and just keep filling the sieve. That and my books, holing up with my books.
Drew on the other hand migrated into physics after periodically running away to the mountains. I guess that could sound kind of unibomber creepy, but I'm the creepy one, not him. Mostly he was up there staring at the stars I reckon, and living in a converted storehouse with a couple of other thinking types--all named Andrew. They could have been characters on Northern Exposure.
And now what? Graduating in Asian studies didn't make me Asian...not yet anyway. Will physics make him a physicist? We shall see. But it makes me very happy to know that between the two of us there is a physicist. Maybe he can fill me in and remind me of the stuff I used to be so passionate about, and I can carelessly twist those ideas into my own metaphors (Stepen Weinberg would loathe me). Maybe I'll pick up a thing or two about people and religions that I am always reading about to blather at him about next time we share a beer or six. What lives we lead, two kids from Tulsa trying to comprehend the universe. Going about it such different ways. We must make time. I miss my bro.
