Genesis.

Well, I'm going to give the blogging thing a shot for the time being. Who knows how motivated I'll be throughout this semester and further into the future. I'll just go with it.

I gave this blog its name because I recently read Don Quixote. I thought it was interesting on a few levels. The thing I thought that was so great about the character of Don Quixote was that in a serious world, he was the one taking life lightly and running around conquering windmills. Idiot? Maybe. Probably. But that guy loved what he did, even though he really thought windmills to be some sort of enemy. I just thought it's something we all should do a little of : have our own windmills to chase in an otherwise serious world. Great book, thankful I gave it a chance.

I don't really plan on writing deep, deep thoughts on this blog unless I feel like something needs to be said. In fact, that short paragraph preceding this one is about as deep as it'll ever get. Generally, this will be a very sarcastic blog. So as my first post, I'd like to bring to your attention a pressing problem in society today. Something that could very well affect your health in the future, as it already has affected mine.

The subject? Optical illusions.

 Apparently, you're supposed to stare at this black dot until the gray starts to disappear. I tried this 1,000 times earlier at work, and it works. Congratulations. But to get to that point, I had to stare at my computer screen at singular black dot until I couldn't see anything at work but black dots. It was like everyone was made of little black and white pixels. But....that gray area disappeared! Awesome.

 

...are you kidding me? Before I even start to rant about that, I feel uncomfortable looking at this anyway because it looks like someone's eye is staring at me through the computer. Anyway, I'll just go ahead and quote the instructions for this vortex, circle, disco party decoration thing.
"Stare at the center for 10 seconds and begin moving your eyes around the outer perimeter..."
"Does it appear to be moving, shimmering, or just making you dizzy?"

Well actually, if you stare long enough it'll spin until you feel like you'll fall into it. AND I'm dizzy. Now I won't sleep at night because this eye will be looking into my soul while I sleep. Thanks.

I just bring this up because I cant fathom how looking at things like this is healthy for any human being. We're supposed to stare at a single image for an extended period of time until our body tricks us into thinking what is in front of us is actually moving. That sounds like a horrible drug trip, not something that should be in a magazine. Last time I checked, staring at anything usually isn't the right thing to do. Don't stare at the sun. Don't stare at the crazy soccer mom screaming at her kids in Wal Mart. But hey, stare at this freaky image until you feel like your brain will shut down or you start seeing things that aren't real.

Anyway, this post has been really long for something that really doesn't matter. But still, I feel like I don't need to be Evan, M.D. to know that this is really unhealthy for the human psyche. All I need is to stare at my ceiling fan long enough at night until it appears to turn on and start spinning.