Diana - the warrior princess

No no... This isn't a post about how ironical it is that Princess 'Diana was named after the Goddess of War and yet she was the most hunted person on the earth' as quoted by her brother Earl Spencer at her eulogy. Instead its about something far more trivial - PlayStation 3!!

S and I got a PS3 to go with our fabulous TV and we've been hooked ever since. We've been playing this game called 'Drake's Fortune' which for all its dramatic intros and interspersed dialogue boils down to a simple point n shoot with your gun game. It does have splendid graphics though. So all through my free time, I get to hear dialogues like "He's over here" and then bang bang of the guns and a "Son of a bitch.." or a "You've got to be kidding me" as our hero catches sight of the villains he needs to overcome. So to cut a long story short, my overimaginative brain decided to create its own night-time entertainment for me... in my dreams! And so I was Diana, this bimboistically realistic heroine who is hunting for her crown which gives her the authority to rule La-La Land... Whatever! If it wasn't enough that I hear everything through the day... I had to be fighting people all night and assuring my 'subjects' of 'good times to come'. Considering the amount of money that the papparazzi and newspapers have reeled in from the poor Princess Diana, I bet such a game probably exists in some other form in the market. As for me.. I should probably try to read and then fall asleep so that I can fuel my dreams in a different direction.

The Feynman Experiments

Ok.. pretty soon everyone's going to be overdosed about Richard Feynman. I am currently reading what is largely considered his biography, "Surely you are joking mr Feynman". In one of the anecdotes, he conducts an experiment of how the brain remains connected in his dreams. How it tries to make everything that happens in the dream seem logical, giving you the illusion of the dream being real. How the idle mind exists on a separate plan from that part of your brain desparately trying to stay awake. Having slept a measly 4 hours last night, I was in great position to verify whatever he was saying, especially at a status meeting at the opportune hour of 3:00 PM. As I sat dazed with coffee in front of me, I slowly felt my eyes slide out of focus. My brain knew this was wrong and was doing its best to get back to earth. Meanwhile on the secondary plane, my imagination had started working overtime. As I remained cross-eyed perhaps, I imagined that I was in the Sistine Chapel observing the brilliant ceiling painted by Michelangelo. It wasn't hard to understand why. Because I had wiki-ed it a few hours of course. The detail was magnificent in the dream and I have always dreamt in color and remembered very minute details from my dreams. I can in fact be so pompous as to claim that for certain my dreams held more details and I remembered all of them more than Feynman himself. My eyes slid back to focus and the room zoned in on me. I sloppily picked up my coffee. Its also amazing when your half-asleep brain responds to someone looking at you or calling your name - Its almost like they splashed cold water on you. You are wide awake and all responsive.... for exactly one minute after which no one's paying you any attention and you return no favors. So this was on n off and on n off and like Feynman, I couldn;t draw any fantabulous conclusions. Except one that is. I should sleep earlier at nights.

Fine man?

Ever had recurring dreams? Yeah I know they are usually about falling off a cliff or following a long winding corridor or something of that sort. Off late though, I have been having dreams that Richard Feynman and I are in conversation about Physics. And that at the end of it, he gives me his set of books which are totally famous for lucidly explaining hard concepts in Physics. Going by the fact that his lecture, "There's plenty of room at the bottom" was one of the key inspirations to drive me into Nanotechnology, I didn't want to ignore the dream when it came for the third time last night. Maybe there's something in those books. For starters, I purchased his anecdotes and short essays sketching experiences from his own life, Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! and What Do You Care What Other People Think? Can't wait for them to get to me so I can read between thelines for messages from the beyond! :)