A Sense of Wonder

Today begins my first solo childcare stint, while hubby attends a trade show in Vegas for three days. And I'm sure it will be nothing but business. HaHa. I'm sure there will be a few beers and a few pulls of the slot thrown in. Anyway, I'm nervous about not having any relief for three days, combined with the fact that Nova is teething! Yes, she has been exhibiting all of the symptoms and then it was confirmed when we looked in her mouth and spotted a flash of white. It is a bottom side tooth though, not the front bottom, as most childcare books claim to come in first. Luckily, I am armed with Hyland's homeopathic teething tablets, baby Tylenol, baby Orajel, and a multitude of cold teething rings. A few friends will also be stopping by to check in. I think the time will go quickly, and then on Thursday night a few girlfriends are taking me out for a belated birthday dinner. That will be a nice reward to look forward to.

Yesterday, Hubby let me do whatever I wanted so that I could get some down-time before this stretch. I started my day by lazing in bed drinking coffee and reading my latest issue of Jane magazine, which I have been reading for years and wonder if I will ever outgrow. Anyway, I read about this amazing online gaming site called Second Life which is being 80% developed by women. It allows you to create an avatar online which can be anything you want it to be, a person, a dragon, a flying pig, etc. You can purchase land in this cyberspace and open a business or a shop to sell practically anything. The freaky thing is that there is actual money used "Linden dollars" which can be exchanged at online ATMs for U.S. dollars, and people are actually making money by creating clothing, vehicles, popular real estate attractions, etc. for all of these online characters to own. I started reading about it and I almost lost my mind. It is seriously like this netherworld "grid" where people are creating a second life to live. It is very heavy with computer geeks, scripters and developers. The possibilities are endless. There is even an island where characters are run by patients with autism and Asperger's Syndrome and they can practice their social skills through their online characters.

I quickly felt my internet addiction kick in. What more could you want? Total cross-cultural creative freedom with the possibility of making money and building an empire in a new frontier. My palms started sweating and my heart started racing. Luckily, I shortly discovered that the videocard in my Dell Inspiron 5100 laptop is not capable of handling Second Life. What really bums me out is that the videocard can't be upgraded because it is attached to the motherboard. I have been greatly disatisfied with this Dell laptop. I'm sure it is for the best, though. After my technogasm and disappointment at not being able to escape this reality by going to a different one, I picked up my baby girl and thought to myself "Why do I need a Second Life when I have this one right here?" The discovery of such a complex cyberworld was still enough to give me a huge sense of wonder and amazement.

My sense of wonder grew last night when I caught the 60 Minutes segment about how NASA is building a "Highway in the Sky" to prepare for the onslaught of "personal flying machines" which they also previewed on the segment. There are half a dozen or so prototypes which are only the beginning. Since my childhood, I have had a silly dream about what it must feel like to glide through the air in a little Jetson-esque hovercraft. Those dreams are going to become more of a reality in the next twenty years. Hearing the experts speak about the future of flight really blew my mind. The combination of discovering Second Life and The Highway in the Sky and thinking about the technological advances that Nova will experience in her lifetime really moves me. It affirms for me the role of the dreamer in society. It confirms for me that anything is possible.