So Many Questions

Cholla (pronounced "choya") cactus flower, taken in at Crystal Cove State Park, California

That picture is just a sneak peek of what I've brought back from our week in California. It was beautiful there, as always, but I have scads of pictures to go through, and I want to present them in a way that makes sense thematically. So it'll be a while before you see those.

In the meantime, my fan club* has lamented that I haven't posted in a while, so here's a little something to tide you over.

Quite some time ago, I discovered Quora, an online forum for asking opinion-based questions.

Unlike, say, Ask.com, it doesn't try to save people from flexing their Google muscles. Rather, it invites people to pose their "dropping off to sleep" or "shower" questions: those things that pop into your mind while you're not quite awake and your mind wanders free.

Like this one: In countries with ambient temperatures below 0˚C, like Canada and Russia, what makes water not freeze in the public pipelines network to homes?

Good question, right? There are already 19 answers to the question.

Other questions have a more philosophical bent. My husband is a frequent participant on discussions related to theology, faith, and Christianity.

I subscribed to Quora, and receive a periodic bulletin that I almost always read because the information is quirky and sometimes funny or useful.

Very rarely, I actually post an answer to a question. One of those questions was:

What is the worst feeling in the world?

I answered it almost two years ago with: Having one's child attempt or commit suicide.

Having answered the question, I now receive an update whenever someone else provides an answer or comment.

At first, I was appalled at what I perceived as the shallowness of others: slow internet connection, broken cell phones, rejection from something you want (like a job). Even the disappointment of biting into a chocolate-chip cookie, only to discover it has raisins instead.

Seriously? I thought, That's the worst feeling you can imagine? Well, then, I hope that's the worst life ever gets for you.

So I kind of stopped paying attention, until recently. There were plenty of people who were broken by lost romantic loves and rejection. Others were undone by career failures. A surprising number were devastated by having disappointed their parents.

I've hurt the only woman in my life who loved me and all of my shortcomings: my Mom.

Some were eloquent.

When you treat some person like the entire book of your life.
But,
That person knowingly/unknowingly treats you as just another page of his/her life.

If you're looking for an interesting way to while away a little time, check it out.

* My "fan club" is also known as "my husband."