Earlville Opera House

Ballpoint Pen
NFS

“If epiphanies were genetic, their exaggerations would be epigenetic. The phenotype would be the product of both. An epiphany is a moment when we see the light. But, light has reflections and vision is limited. Having an epiphany is a joyous moment, but is it being beneficially interpreted?”

Ballpoint Pen
NFS

“Trying to grab what is beyond your reach may be motivational, but it is often (too often) met with a long fall to the floor. Hope for the best, but plan for the worst. Hopelessness is when even those plans fail.”

Ballpoint Pen
NFS

“Memories are morgues from which the ghosts of our past often emerge to suddenly haunt us. We wonder why? Moreover, are they accurate? How much wisdom is retrievable from that elusive crypt?”

Ballpoint Pen
NFS

“As a compulsive walker, I love to wander around in older parts of cities. Repeated efforts have been made to modernize old neighborhoods, but close inspection can detect their historical roots. This activity is so enthralling that it purges my mind of all other thoughts.”

Ballpoint Pen
NFS

“Somehow, we get involved in all sorts of diverse activities. Sometimes it is beneficial to wonder why, especially when they are all unrelated to one another. We seek a common theme; we sense that it will emerge. But alas, nothing seems to come together.”

Ballpoint Pen
NFS

“Rampaging usually takes more effort than it is worth. Each episode in serial rampaging deserves to be left twisting in recovery until it sheds all its glory and attains its bare-bones truth.”

Ballpoint Pen
NFS

“Haste distorts turning the pivotal corners of life into curves, just as speed causes a turning vehicle to make a curved trajectory. Our lives are loaded with pivotal corners where what we were became the antecedents of what we are now. How many were performed in haste? Dare we return to leverage those antecedents?”

Ballpoint Pen
NFS

“The scale is usually tipped. Opposite extremes tend to be in a dynamic equilibrium that shifts over time. During our lives, we get buffeted by various forces, but lurking somewhere near the center seems safer than getting trapped at either pole. Finding the center is the difficult part.”

Ballpoint Pen
NFS

“Chaos is the puzzling interface between randomness and order. Weather systems self-assemble in chaos. Perhaps ideas do too. And, like weather, ideas are elusive flashes that must be quickly captured, before they blow away.”

Ballpoint Pen
NFS

“Incongruence is readily noticed, but is seldom greeted with sounds of joy. Any sound associated with it is usually admonitional. Too bad, because it is the incongruent that really deserve the anthems. When I bushwhack through the woods, I am overjoyed to find a plant or animal that is incongruent.”

Ballpoint Pen
NFS

“Routine demands of everyday life are the worst demands made on us, because they are never over with. Complete one day of chores and tomorrow we have to do them all over again. Like Sisyphus pushing his wretched rock up his steep hill. And, like Sisyphus, we are cursed. We have to do our daily chores because they are the price we pay for the privilege of living.

Every time I want to do something more worthwhile, I hear my daily demands snarling at me. This drawing was made during my futile attempts to not hear those taunting snarls.”

Ballpoint Pen
NFS

“The trajectories of our lives through space-time are not straight. They are more like the battered balls in old-fashion pinball machines, knocked around and battered about, twisted and spun and finally smacked down at the bottom. At least pinballs get many opportunities to try it again. We get only one.”

Ballpoint Pen
NFS

“My wretched soul is not lost; I know where it is. What is lost is its ultimate destination.”

Ballpoint Pen
NFS

“Philanderers want to have multiple lives simultaneously. Living one life is difficult enough to handle, so I have to admire anyone who is able to live more. How do they do it? What is their secret? Perhaps being ambidextrous would probably help.”

Ballpoint Pen
NFS

“Is there a simple message to most inquiries? Or are we trapped by trying to explain complex situations as if they were simple? Nature does not explain anything; it just does what it does and as we try to figure it out, we tend to get dumbfounded.”

Ballpoint Pen
NFS

“Particle or a wave? Properties of both. Alive or dead? Simultaneously, until measured. Spooky action at a distance. How real is all this stuff? Can it be applied to everyday life?”

Ballpoint Pen
NFS

“There are no stupid questions — just stupid answers!

Up until grad school, my life was miserable. Because I ask research-type questions, which are often called "stupid". Once I realized that scholars who do original research were actually answering "stupid questions", I felt vindicated. My most highly cited theoretical article was the answer to a "stupid question".”

Ballpoint Pen
NFS

“We had nothing in common, except our being soldiers in a hostile place. But, we were a bunch of rough and ready guys who could find something humorous in even the most brutally horrible situations. I miss them.”

Ballpoint Pen
NFS

“Entropy is a measure of disorder. Everything in the universe seeks its lowest energy state. Thus, to maintain order, energy must be provided. Randomness is the ultimate disorder with maximum entropy. The interface between randomness and order is chaos.

This drawing looks at the cross-section of the trajectory, in either direction, between order and disorder.”

Ballpoint Pen
NFS

“Exploring the wisdom that can be acquired from a planned career path and the angry actuality of harsh reality. Or, posing the question, "How did my long life turn out this way?"“