The Life of a Mathematician

I have no idea how Sunday school went this week. Kyle and Andrew did it I assume, but I haven't talked to them yet. Mostly I've spent the week at the library, accompanied by my trusty algebra book.

Today we went to a Fourth of July potluck get-together that we've been invited to for the past few years. The family lives out in the country, and their friends and extended family all come for this, so there are a lot of people there. My old roommate Jeremy is in Portland right now, but his dad and three of his siblings are still in town and were there as well. Speaking of which, they were visiting Nichole over the weekend, and stayed at my apartment even though I was not there. They also picked up my mail for me.

They didn't set up the volleyball net this year, but we brought our croquet set and played a game. The course we set up was close to a traditional course since we wanted to keep it in a contained area. We ended up with six players: Me, my sister, Joel and Johnny (who are Jeremy's brothers), Amanda (whose house we were at) and Noah (who is Amanda's cousin or something). Now, Noah is about seven or eight years old. He is very small and doesn't look very threatening. He hadn't played croquet before, but was eager to learn. He was having some trouble swinging the mallet properly, so I tried to show him how, standing behind him and helping him position his hands. We hit the ball through one wicket together. Great. Then on the next one, I helped him get set up, then stood back a little to watch. I was leaning down to see the ball. He swung as if he were hitting a golf ball with a driver, missed the ball entirely, and hit me in the forehead with the mallet. I stopped trying to help him.

Since I didn't black out or see stars or anything, I figured it wasn't too bad. I held ice on it for a while just to be safe. There's a bruise, but nothing serious. Still, after receiving a blow to the head in the afternoon, it isn't necessarily the smartest idea to go watch a show involving bright lights and loud noises that night. I've got a bit of a headache, which I'm hoping will go away by morning. It isn't nearly as bad as the migraines I used to get, and it's getting better.

Speaking of fireworks, that display was impressive. As usual, someone had a radio tuned to the station where they have music choreographed with the explosions. Interestingly, for part of the time near the beginning they played the Star Wars theme. I kept expecting to see the Millenium Falcon fly in or something. Toward the end, the music stopped, and remained silent for the grand finale. Then, a few minutes after the finale, they set off six or seven more of them, as if they had forgotten those during the main show. Weird, but the show was still good.

I was thinking tonight that this would be a time when I particularly wouldn't want to be overseas. I remember when we went on a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee, they raised an American flag on the boat and played our national anthem. All of the students saluted the flag and sang along. This was maybe a week after 9/11, and we felt very patriotic and very homesick right about then. There was something about seeing the stars and stripes for the first time in weeks that really made me realize how far I was from home. I think that Independence Day is an especially good time to remember our soldiers who are stationed away from home, many of them in harm's way. If it were not for men like them, we would not enjoy the blessings of liberty.


"Oh thus be it ever, when free men shall stand
Between their loved homes, and the war's desolation!
Blessed with victory and peace, may this Heaven-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved her a nation!
And conquer we must,
When our cause, it is just,
And this be our motto:
In God is our trust.
And the Star Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave!"