Happy 4/20!

Good morning my fellow freewriting adepts.

Today is 4/20. This means it's time for EARTH DAY CELEBRATIONS AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY! Oh and smoking pot. But not for me, because I have a wicked hot date that I don't want to forget about. Yeaaah.

Currently I am encoding some Captain Planet episodes I downloaded into a format which can be put onto DVD and read. The purpose of this is so we can play Captain Planet (aka the best cartoon ever) at our booth today along with documentaries about organic living and genetically modified organisms. Not only will the Captain (no not the spiced rum making one) teach environmental messages, but entertain those of us who will be baked out of our minds (everyone minus me). I see no fault in this plan.

So next year I'm taking multivariate calculus (finally), physics II (review), engineering mechanics (not sure what this is), linear algebra, and INTRODUCTION TO ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE! I have five fucking classes. Bad. Bad 30ish hours of school a week. Bad. Plus work.

When I die I would like to be buried in the earth without a coffin or preservatives in my body. I would then request that a tree, preferably some type of maple tree, be planted over my corpse. Of course, my burial site should be guaranteed to be protected from demolition/etc. for the next hundred years or more so the tree which grows from my essence can prosper and perhaps even propagate.

Other plans: when/if I ever have children, I want to plant a tree the day they're born. This involves abandoning my future wife at the hospital the moment the child enters this world to start digging. My mother did something similar to this for me, except it was purchased when I was maybe three. However, I believe the tree was planted the year I was born so it's all good. We even had it harvested from our old home in Peabody to be planted at my Aunt's in Beverly when we moved to New Jersey. My uncle and aunt have taken good care of it but unfortunately have stunted it's growth by planting it around bushes and other plants in a small area of land so the root system can't expand. It may be only about as tall as I am, and thinner than my... you get the idea, but it has the most beautiful leaves in the autumn.

I also plan on growing trees in the bonsai art manner. I heavily dislike bonsai which shows man's dominance over nature - trees which have been clipped, bent, and generally abused into an unnatural shape - but I do love ones which simulate nature. One of my favorites that I've ever seen was some type of maple which was planted on a rock but had its root system going down the sides of the rock into the soil below. It, to me and probably the gardener, is a symbol of perseverance and determination. I really would like to grow Redwoods as I think they are beautiful in every shape and form. I believe the oldest recorded has over 3,200 rings. This means it is older than 3,200 years. Wow. Touching it is the closest thing to touching an immortal being. The amount of accumulated biological knowledge and experience it must have might approach the spiritual. I also wish to grow bonsai pines and maples among others. On my property, I also hope to grow several sugar maple trees and be able to perfect making several maple products such as maple syrup, maple butter, maple toffee, and maple cream. Furthermore, I'll probably set aside a large part of my dream house's property aside for a garden. It's been my dream for a number of years, especially after reading Thoreau, even though I think he's a shortsighted and foolish nutjob at times, to be self sustaining. That's what the future is. Once we can't use oil anymore due to shortages, global warming, or whatever, all of our food must be able to come from local sources. No more importing cheap corn and meat from the Mid-West or fruits from South America. It all must be grown on local, hopefully organic, farms. I figure I'll happy if I can at least grow my own food and provide my own energy through solar power for my house and car, or not have a car at all.

Time for bed,

Chris