Ajax Thinks

Ajax Thinks
by Muffin Man

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Marie Curious and Great Friends

The title was the subject line of an e-mail I received today from one of my mentors. He was writing to give me the context of the Marie Curie quote I ranted about yesterday. I'll post the contents of his fact-checking:
"Be less curious about people and more curious about ideas."
Response to a reporter seeking an interview during a vacation with her husband in
Brittany, who mistaking her for a housekeeper, asked her if there was anything
confidential she could recount, as quoted in Living Adventures in Science‎ (1972), by Henry Thomas and Dana Lee Thomas

Variant: In science, we must be interested in things, not in persons. This is stated to be a declaration she often made to reporters, in Madame Curie : A Biography (1937) by Eve Curie Labouisse, as translated by Vincent Sheean, p. 222

So there you have it. The context of the quote does make her sound more personable.
While I'm on the subject of this friend, I will introduce him. Prior to going by the name Ajax, I went by the alias Rocky Pinstripes. I guess I still do, but it was a name I picked up in my home life. I am at school now, this is where Ajax emerged. Basically I have dissociative identity disorder among my nicknames. I am Ajax, I am Rocky Pinstripes. As Muffin Man is to Ajax, Bugsy da Spaniel is to Rocky Pinstripes. Bugsy is one of my philosophical brothers. We worked together prior to my university excursion. He was the bodhi tree to my Buddha, but not in a weird way. When I came to school Rocky kind of fell out of the mainstream and Ajax took over. I like Ajax so I don't want to shelve him when I finish school and go home, but I'd also like to keep Rocky around. I haven't given any thought to this dual personality before tonight. I am thinking about it now though. Perhaps Rocky and Ajax will fuse and I will become one new entity. Perhaps I will fuse the two alters and be myself. Which is who I am now. I'm just saying maybe I'll drop the pen names. Probably not. I like both nicknames. I'll have to give more thought to it though. Maybe I'll share those thoughts with you, but if I don't, too bad. I'm grateful to have friends like Bugsy and Muffin Man who entertain, inspire, enlighten, support and laugh at me. Here is to great friends.
While I'm on the subject of great friends... A friend of mine passed away yesterday. We met two years ago in a psychology class. We worked together with the student psychology society. He was a fantastic fellow. Always happy and kind to everyone. He had ambition and integrity. His death was sudden, brain aneurysm. I've been very somber when thinking about him today. It is interesting how this experience makes me recognize how much time I waste on things that don't matter. This friend was the one I mentioned a few weeks ago in a post. I had just gotten out of three classes in a row that boggled my mind. I was frustrated. I ran into him in the hall after the last class and we stood there and talked for about an hour. I vented and expressed my frustration and he listened and encouraged me. We covered all kinds of topics of discussion. One of those deep conversations you have with friends when you start out on one topic and then it just evolves into something entirely different, usually ending up with some simple solution to the world's problems. It was one of those. A great conversation. I walked away with a desire to adjust my life so I wouldn't be as frustrated. If I had been an explosive device ready to blow up, he defused me that day. He was a great guy. We weren't the closest friends but whenever I saw him on campus it didn't seem like he saw me just as an acquaintance. A man for the ages. I'll miss having conversations with him. I have great respect for him and the deepest sympathy for his wife and 5 month old daughter who he leaves behind. Once again, here's to great friends.

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