Hello, world! Does the world seem boring to you? Well, now’s the time to rethink that viewpoint. Way back in 2005, the late David Foster Wallace gave the commencement speech at Kenyon College. His speech starts off like this: “There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, ‘Morning, boys! How’s the water?’ And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, ‘What the hell is water?'” (Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CrOL-ydFMI) Sometimes, an interesting world lies all around you, but you’ve probably simply shoved your nose far too deep into Facebook (or at least gotten too used to everything around you) to notice. So why not take time out of your day to explore the more interesting aspects of this world?

For example, in September of 2011, Texas inmate on death row Lawrence Russell Brewer requested a gigantic last meal that consisted of two chicken fried steaks with gravy and sliced onions, a triple patty bacon cheeseburger, a cheese omelette with ground beef, tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, and jalapenos, a bowl of fried okra with ketchup, one pound of barbecued meat with half a loaf of white bread, three fajitas, a meat-lover’s pizza, one pint of bluebell ice cream, a slab of peanut butter fudge with crushed peanuts, and three root beers. When given all the food though, Brewer refused to eat any of it, claiming that he wasn’t hungry. Now Texas no longer offers those on death row a final meal. (Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl-Va_R5vj4)

Did that story offer you even the slightest of entertainment (and hopefully some humor)? If so, you have just tasted an inkling of all the awesomeness that our wonderful universe has to offer. Finding this awesomeness while you’re on Facebook is going to be difficult, but thankfully, you live in the US (or at least I’m assuming the majority of my audience does), and as such can freely explore the awesomeness however you wish… unless of course you decide that you want to take a trip to Cuba. I suppose you can never have everything you want in this world. [SIGH.] By the time you die, we will still have never uncovered all the awesomeness that the universe has to offer us. However, on the bright side, that means that wonderful new surprises await humans for millennia, possibly even millions or billions of years, to come. Instead of feeling sad that you’ll never experience all of the awesome, go explore as much of it now while you still can (if you can somehow find a way to do so when you’re dead, I suggest you actuate your idea in the hopes of gaining a Nobel prize of some sort). If you’re looking for a place to start, this blog may be a suitable choice. Remember, kids: Don’t troll on social media; troll on death row!