Life is Precious

Hey guys,

The universe is weird. It doesn't all make sense and it probably never will-- not scientifically, not philosophically. There are some good things and some bad things.

Among the good things: I went to my first ever nerdfighter gathering today. Apparently there's a group of nerdfighters in Denver who have been meeting on a monthly basis for the past year. That made me kind of a latecomer, but they were as welcoming as you'd expect nerdfighters to be. We walked around downtown, played frisbee in the park, ate overpriced hamburgers on 16th street, and walked around a bookstore immaturely adding "in your pants" to the end of  book titles and laughing loudly. There were maybe maybe 12-15 of us in all, although not everyone was there the whole time

It was the first time I've spent time in a large group of people (approximately) my age all summer, and it felt good. Sometimes when you watch YouTube videos you forget that even though you're alone in your room, you're sharing that experience with hundreds, thousands, even millions of other people. And it good to realize that those other people aren't just usernames and digits in a play count, they are flesh-and-blood people.

Now, forgive me, but I want to talk a little about some bad things too.

I live about 30 minutes away from the Aurora movie theater where the now-infamous shooting took place. I know it's been horrific news for the entire country (and the world), but I think that those of us who live in the surrounding community have been the most shaken. Many of us either knew victims personally or know their friends or family.

Life is precious, guys. Like, I know people say that phrase so often that it can lose its meaning, but there are times when you realize it's true. Life is precious.

(By the way, I will not join the gun control debate at this point. It's impossible to foresee tragedies like this, and I think the victims deserve our respect right now, not bickering.)

I don't want to talk too much about this but I did want to share this with you quickly. This is a page to help support one of the victims, a girl whose family has been friends with mine for several years. Please check it out and help if you can.

http://igg.me/p/177903?a=905831

Thanks and DFTBA,
Emily