Useless Trivia

*Today’s blog is in response to meagansmith.wordpress.com’s definition of my mind as a Wiki-Trail seeker (i sure love her a lot!)

I love information.  Useless trivia (I tend to bug meagan with my pop up trivia version of movies, music, books, and other things.  I know she loves me though cause she puts up with it..  Riddles.  Jokes.  Books.  News.  Stories.  Anything that I can hold on to and recount.  I collect information the way others might collect keepsakes, souvenirs, or ticket stubs.  Information that I recall can take me back to where I read that or heard that.  Like a keepsake I am reminded of my feelings at the time, or as a souvenir of another time.  The thought itself is a ticket stub of where I have been, what I have “witnessed,” and what I lay claim to as a piece of information.

I acquire information, stories, and data and then store them away. Why are they worth storing? At the time of storing (or filing it in my brain boxes…with my mind grapes!) it is often hard to say exactly when or why I might need them, but I also realize that I never know when it might become useful? With a beautiful collection of possibility engendering “facts” in mind, I  don’t feel comfortable throwing anything away (I see this connection in life to, I am a bit of a pack rat and I am trying to fight this!). But I will continue to acquire and compile and file stuff away. It’s interesting. It keeps my mind fresh. And perhaps, hopefully, and most likely (I have discovered), some of it will prove valuable one day.

I like to take that information and then converse with others who have so many diverse and enlightening opinions.  I love to sit with an individual (especially my Dove…she is so smart!) or group and talk about life, love, philosophy, and even (with humbled reverence for the mysteries I will never know) God.  Even if the conversation never goes anywhere, it is the exchange of ideas and information that makes me light up like a New Orleans evening during Mardi Gras.

I am fascinated and deeply intrigued by ideas. What is an idea? An idea is, to put it simply, a concept, the best explanation of the most events. I get so excited when I can discern beneath the complex surface of an issue and find a beautifully simple concept (or pattern) to explain why things are the way they are. An idea then forms a connection for me. My mind  is always looking for connections and I am greatly enamored when seemingly disparate occurrences can be linked by some seemingly irrelevant connection. The ideas can even become a fresh perspective on familiar challenges for me – whether professionally or personally. I want to take the world we all know and turn it this way and that so we as a community can view it from a strange but enlightening angle. Simply put, ideas are thrilling, and for me that is enough sometimes!

I don’t know what kind of intellectual pursuits you find intriguing but I hope you find ways to challenge yourself personally.  Whether I am just sitting vegging out on video games or I am in deep study for a bible lesson, I know that I will always continue to think and examine things from different angles.  Maybe that is why I feel a close connection with post-modernity because I want to find all the angles people look at the world from and then discern connections between them so we can live in harmony and understanding.

*I would like to add one disclaimer.  I do love wikipedia.org, but YES I am aware of the evils of open source information sharing and so it is usually a springboard for me to go different places and look to real sources for info!

*If you are a news junkie I recommend www.drudgreport.com for intense, diverse, constantly updated news stories.

Hope you are having a great day.  peace to you

current itunes track: Pardon Me, Incubus, Make Yourself

currently watching: not much. I am behind on tv stuff, been pretty busy!

currently gaming: new tunes on rock band 2.  i am disappointed in the content put out by GH: world tour, rock band 2 is light years ahead!

currently reading: Living Your Strengths, Winseman, Clifton, and Liesveld, Gallup Press 2003