Truth and Beauty

A few days ago, I looked over my bookshelf again, and “Dragons of Autumn Twilight” caught my eyes again. I flipped over to the back cover, and the nostalgic words brought tears to my eyes. They were:

“Lifelong friends, they went their separate ways. Now they are together again, though each holds secrets from the others in his heart. They speak of a world shadowed with rumors of war. They speak of tales of strange monsters, creatures of myth, creatures of legend. They do not speak of their secrets. Not then. Not until a chance encounter with a beautiful, sorrowful woman, who bears a magical crystal staff, draws the companions deeper into the shadows, forever changing their lives and shaping the fate of the world.”

It made me think. If I could distill the goal of my life down to a simple few things, it would be a pursuit of truth and beauty.

Truth
I want to know…

• what lies beyond the furthest stars
• what happens after death
• what allows a baby to draw his first breath
• what allows one person to be a leader, a scientist, a healer, or an inspiration and another to commit the worst atrocities
• what motivates each individual
• the secret of happiness

Beauty
I want to capture in art, words, or memory…

• old friends reuniting after half a lifetime apart
• two people understanding each other at the deepest level
• someone with an undeniable will and a pure spirit
• the peak of triumph and depth of despair
• a child grasping the highest apple in the tree
• a child playing by the seashore
• the most beautiful sunrise

See you this NaNoWriMo.

Roundup: Blogs I Read

Reflective of my varied interests:

Greg Mankiw’s Blog: http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss
Phoronix: http://www.phoronix.com/rss.php” title=”Phoronix”/>
DistroWatch.com: Packages: http://distrowatch.com/news/dwp.xml
DistroWatch.com: News: http://distrowatch.com/news/dw.xml
DailyTech News Feed: http://www.anandtech.com/rss/newsfeed.aspx
AnandTech Article Channel: http://www.anandtech.com/rss/articlefeed.aspx
Slashdot: http://rss.slashdot.org/Slashdot/slashdot
/home/liquidat: http://liquidat.wordpress.com/feed/
Niniane’s Blog: http://niniane.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss
Fear The Fin: http://www.fearthefin.com/rss/
News Tom’s Hardware US: http://www.tomshardware.com/feeds/rss2/tom-s-hardware-us,18-1.xml
byte sized: http://dragonwarden.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss
VirtualBlog: http://www.virtualdub.org/blog/rss.xml
Linux Today: http://www.linuxtoday.com/biglt.rss
OSNews: http://www.osnews.com/files/recent.xml
DesktopLinux.com: http://www.desktoplinux.com/backend/headlines.rss
NotebookReview.com: http://www.notebookreview.com/rss.xml
KernelTrap: http://kerneltrap.org/node/feed
Project Syndicate: http://www.project-syndicate.org/ps.rss
polishlinux.org: http://feeds.feedburner.com/polishlinux_org
Coding Horror: http://feeds.feedburner.com/codinghorror/
Ah Yes, Medical School: http://ahyesmedschool.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default
Universe Today: http://www.universetoday.com/universetoday.xml
Planet KDE: http://planetkde.org/rss20.xml
Outside The Beltway: http://feeds.feedburner.com/OTB
Miguel de Icaza: http://tirania.org/blog/miguel.rss2
Celettu’s Weblog: http://celettu.wordpress.com/feed/
sh0dan // VoxPod: http://sh0dan.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default
Diary Of An x264 Developer: http://x264dev.multimedia.cx/?feed=rss2
FP Passport: http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/node/feed
naked capitalism: http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss
Right-Thinking from the Left Coast: http://right-thinking.com/index.php/weblog/rss_2.0/
Swing State Project: http://www.swingstateproject.com//rss/rss2.xml
GotWoot?: http://www.gotwoot.net/?feed=rss2
Dispatches from Purple America: http://dispatchesfrompurpleamerica.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default
Electoral-vote.com: http://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2008/RSS/index.rss” title=”Electoral-vote.com”/>
SCOTUSblog: http://www.scotusblog.com/wp/feed/