"Yeah, But Big Al Also Says Dogs Can't Look Up." [Spring Semester '08]

I find myself thinking about a lot of things lately. Rather, I suppose it would be more accurate to say that I have been trying to think about a lot of things lately. Unfortunately, whenever I make the attempt my mind gets muddled up in all the ultimately unimportant distractions in life. I think I'm going to try taking more solo hikes in the school's nature preserve, in order to free up ram in my head so that my brain can process some more important programs.

I really don't watch tv anymore, aside from my guilty pleasures in reality tv (which doesn't really count anyway, since reality tv isn't really tv). However, there are two programs which I follow with a near fanatical passion, those being LOST (whose fourth season premiere I missed tonight) and Heroes. Being the passionate geek that I am, I also look into any ancillaries these television programs put out in an attempt to enrich my viewing experience. For Heroes, they come in the form of graphic novels run by the NBC website. One of the previous chapters focused on the then-newcomer to the Heroes cast, West, an angst-ridden teenage boy with the ability to fly. The chapter posed an interesting point. While most of the Heroes characters do their best to hide their abilities from the general public, West never made such an attempt. He would fly around in broad daylight, sometimes mere feet above the very school which he was skipping out on. Why, you ask? Because people don't look up. I could not help but admire the insightfulness of this observation. We as a society, are so wrapped up in the responsibilities and pleasures of this world, that we sometimes completely forget the beautiful miracles around us. It is something which, unfortunately, is too often taken for granted. Since reading that chapter, I have made an effort to look up whenever possible, and each time my head returns to its starting position, my soul returns satisfied. At night, I gaze off into the infinite blackness of space and admire the glory of the starry sky. During the day, I watch as the clouds float by, amorphous, taking any form I desire. I marvel at the sheer span of that grand blue dome, and try to comprehend it. At dusk, the setting sun chooses not to go quietly into the night, and rends the sky with streaks of color so awe-inspiring that even heaven itself must become jealous. I have never once regretted looking up, and every time I do, life chooses some new way to thank me for not forgetting it.

I'm not sure exactly what kind of dogs Big Al was talking about, but I pity them.