Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life (more)

D

Dark:

Denial:

Depression:

Details, The Devil is in the: If the Devil is in the details, where is God?

Dexter:

Dictionary:

Diet: I am always on a diet. More accurately, I’m usually trying to lose weight. It’s been a while since I’ve done an official diet. In fact, I’ve been eating kind of whatever I want lately. (Oops.) Sometimes I feel like I’ve earned it because I’ve run or lifted weights or survived another day, but I always feel a wave of regret when I step on the scale. My weight fluctuates by about 50 pounds, ranging from 130 at my lowest to 180 at my heaviest. Right now I’m in the middle but would like to--as always--lose 10 more pounds. I tell myself it’s just so I can fit in my clothes. I know this is part true, but I also know I want to look and feel skinny. Some memories can never be denied.

Digging: There is something that is immensely satisfying to me about digging. I like the feeling of a shovel in my hand, forming calluses as I heave scoops of dirt from the earth into a heap. I think the satisfaction comes from seeing the progress that I make: the hole gets bigger, and so does the pile of dirt. It gives me a feeling of pride that I can’t find in any other way.

Dinosaurs: In third grade, I was obsessed with dinosaurs. I think this is a common phenomenon among elementary school boys. I had dinosaur toys, models, and books. I knew all the facts about each dinosaur: what it was called, what it ate, what it looked like, where it lived, how it protected itself. The obsession with the historical world of dinosaurs was fleeting, later replaced by an obsession with the fantasy world of dragons. See Also: Dragons

Division, Long: Young people nowadays have no concept of math. Even the brightest of students struggle with any numeric operations more complex than single-digit multiplication. Long division? Forget it. I had the good fortune to learn long division before I was allowed to use a calculator in school. I feel lucky; it allowed me a much deeper understanding of math. Students nowadays want to solve things without doing any real work; they allow that magic box to do everything for them, and they don’t understand what happened when they get an error. They aren’t willing or don’t know how to go back and find the mistake. I like long division in the same way that I like any process that takes time and creates something beautiful. But students now be like:

Dragons: I have a longstanding fascination--an obsession, really--with dragons. I have always played role playing games as a warrior or wizard on a journey to slay a dragon and rescue a princess. As I got older, I started reading fantasy novels: Shannara, Magic Kingdom for Sale, Dragonlance, Ravenloft. These books comprised my adolescence, taught me about bravery and heroism the way that Harry Potter shaped later generations. I still joke with my friends that “I can believe in swords and dragons, but not lasers and aliens.” Science fiction has never appealed to me; I’ll stick to my fantasy realms, where I can slay dragons and be the hero; where I can understand who I am and why I exist; where I can just be me.