friday - later
Not doing anything special for New Year's Eve. We had a nice lunch out with Johnny earlier in the day. Dave, Sebby, Johnny and me. Drove to Clarion and went to Cozumel (Mexican restaurant). Cozumel is in the Motel 6 motel. I like that about it. I like the feel of going into a hotel and going through its lobby to get to a restaurant. Also it feels "bigger" that way - who knows who you might meet there, where they might be from? There was a mysterious person at the next table over. Wore a fedora hat for the whole meal with a beautiful scarf around their neck. I would have liked to know their story.
Something fun that I learned while Johnny was here. There is an element - a metal that is liquid at room temperature - gallium - that when you put just a drop of it on aluminum it begins to infiltrate it. The aluminum acts like a sponge and the gallium moves through it. As gallium soaks into it the aluminum becomes super brittle and fragile even though it still looks exactly the same as it did before. That's creepy. A bicycle treated with it can be broken apart with your bare hands. It is illegal to transport gallium on an airplane.
Johnny found this video for us to watch. My favorite part is where the guy hits a little ball with a gallium weakened bat and the bat explodes.
We originally got onto the subject because Dave and I were telling Johnny about how when we were kids both our dads let us play with mercury. Dave's dad was an electrician. He got his from mercury switches in old houses that he had replaced with modern electric switches. He had a whole vial of it. My dad collected some from a broken thermometer and let us play with it. I remember putting mercury on a sheet of aluminum foil and watching white crystals grow from it.
At one time I wanted to be a scientist - it's so cool! But I ended up wanting to be an artist more. Then I didn't do either for many years of my life.
*****
I guess when you stay home on New Years Eve you have time to think. A traditional time to remember the last year and think forward into the new year. No resolutions for me. Though I do have hopes and plans. I hope to do more physical things. Still hiking but be active in other ways too - maybe be more willing to clean house and get exercise that way. House cleaning is certainly a good way to keep fit by moving your whole body. I ordered a used 85mm portrait lens for the camera and when I get it I hope to use that for portraits. Start taking informal pictures of the family and of friends. Keep up piano lessons. Keep up with art-a-day and writing in LJ everyday. If I do that I'll be satisfied.
Something fun that I learned while Johnny was here. There is an element - a metal that is liquid at room temperature - gallium - that when you put just a drop of it on aluminum it begins to infiltrate it. The aluminum acts like a sponge and the gallium moves through it. As gallium soaks into it the aluminum becomes super brittle and fragile even though it still looks exactly the same as it did before. That's creepy. A bicycle treated with it can be broken apart with your bare hands. It is illegal to transport gallium on an airplane.
Click to viewJohnny found this video for us to watch. My favorite part is where the guy hits a little ball with a gallium weakened bat and the bat explodes.
We originally got onto the subject because Dave and I were telling Johnny about how when we were kids both our dads let us play with mercury. Dave's dad was an electrician. He got his from mercury switches in old houses that he had replaced with modern electric switches. He had a whole vial of it. My dad collected some from a broken thermometer and let us play with it. I remember putting mercury on a sheet of aluminum foil and watching white crystals grow from it.
At one time I wanted to be a scientist - it's so cool! But I ended up wanting to be an artist more. Then I didn't do either for many years of my life.
*****
I guess when you stay home on New Years Eve you have time to think. A traditional time to remember the last year and think forward into the new year. No resolutions for me. Though I do have hopes and plans. I hope to do more physical things. Still hiking but be active in other ways too - maybe be more willing to clean house and get exercise that way. House cleaning is certainly a good way to keep fit by moving your whole body. I ordered a used 85mm portrait lens for the camera and when I get it I hope to use that for portraits. Start taking informal pictures of the family and of friends. Keep up piano lessons. Keep up with art-a-day and writing in LJ everyday. If I do that I'll be satisfied.