Sometimes, we just end up watching too much Big Bang Theory.
Portia: When we go to Switzerland, can we go and see the Hadron Super Collider?
Ian: Why not? Though I don’t know what I’m going to do with it.
P: I said see it not play with it.
Pause.
P: Can I put you inside the Hadron Super Collider?
I: You want to vaporize me?
P: …
I: I will move in the speed of light and I will get vaporised.
P: Superman moves faster than the speed of light.
I: I’m not a super hero. I’m human.
P: I thought you were a Green Lantern.
I: I’m still human. I will still get vaporised.
Another pause.
P: So theoretically, we can go back in time. We’ve found a way to move in the speed of light, we just need to move a bit faster than that, then we can go back in time.
I: Only if you can find a material that won’t get vaporised while moving in the speed of light. And create a container out of that material that can maintain the air pressure while moving at that speed. Trains can go faster than they do but they limit the speed to the capacity of humans.
P: We can get materials from the planet Superman is from, his clothes don’t get vaporised…
I: What planet is that?
P: Hmm… KRYPTON! Planet krypton! What if we can make a container out of metal from planet krypton that humans can ride faster than the speed of light to go back in time?
I: Is there a guarantee that moving faster than the speed of light will actually bring you back in time? We don’t even know it yet. Whose theory is that again? Einstein?
P: Is it part of the Theory of Relativity? I’ll have to look it up.
Long pause. Preparing to go out.
P: What are they trying to do with the Hadron Super Collider anyway?
I: They’re trying to find the god particle.
P: How?
I: They’re colliding two atoms at the speed of light to find the god particle.
P: Are they relying on the law of big numbers to find the god particle?
I: I suppose so. There are billions of possibilities. So they keep on colliding two atoms at the speed of light to eventually find the god particle.
Pause.
P: Let’s go check out Cat Café?
I: Why not?
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Our whole universe was in a hot dense state,
Then nearly fourteen billion years ago expansion started. Wait…
The Earth began to cool,
The autotrophs began to drool,
Neanderthals developed tools,
We built a wall (we built the pyramids),
Math, science, history, unraveling the mystery,
That all started with the big bang (Bang)!
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I can’t remember a conversation that I’ve heard recently, as I keep on having the conversation with people around me. Maybe I’m the one people are actually overhearing. I’m not exactly sure. But when the prompt said “conversation”, this is the conversation that immediately popped inside my head. I wish I can tell you that this conversation was fiction, but it’s really not. This happens when you watch too much Big Bang Theory.
I’m more of an art and humanities person rather than a science person but I do love talking science from time to time. And as I’ve recently introduced my partner to the nerdy, geeky, and dorky world of Big Bang Theory, we’re having more of this type of conversation than usual. It is very enjoyable.
I decided to present this as a dialogue because that was how it happened. And its different from what I usually do. Now imagine this occurring in an apartment while eating Chinese food. That’s how I wished it happened at least.
I told him that I was writing this post and I needed an image, so he made me one. Isn’t it nice of him? And I didn’t tell him what to make, just that I’m writing about the Sheldon him.
My post is a little late today. I prefer writing in the mornings. But there were too many things going on. Sheldon was around today, so we had croissant and coffee breakfast while watching Big Bang Theory episodes.
It’s unbelievable that he hasn’t really watched the Big Bang Theory before. He’s seen an episode or two, but he’s never really seen an entire season of it.
Now, we’re on an off and on marathon, looking at the lives of Sheldon, Leonard, Howard, and Ragesh. I still say he’s a Sheldon.
Watching the series again, in his presence, gives it more life. He notices things, down to the sodas they were drinking in the cafeteria. Its Dr Peeper, not Dr Pepper. Its Cola not CocaCola. And so on.
This pretty much ate up our morning. I haven’t been sleeping well lately, I think there’s been too many ideas in my head. So a lazy Monday morning is great. With a Sheldon beside me and a Sheldon on screen.
My Sheldon loves Green Lantern. He wears green almost every single day. He wears his green belt bag and black hiking sandals wherever he goes. If he does not, all is not right in the world.
He explains mathematical and scientific principles on a regular basis. He’s a mathematician. I will stare. He’d laugh and continue explaining.
We were watching an episode of Little People, Big Dreams and one of the children failed a math exam because she didn’t know a formula (that I still don’t know now). Sheldon proceeded to explain that the formula is on imaginary numbers. I got so confused that I thought imaginary numbers should stay in the imagination. It was a good laugh, I haven’t thought about stuff like that since my college years but he brings them back to life.
He likes things when they are just so.
He also loves superheroes and he can differentiate the Justice League from the Avengers, something that has always confused me. And the superhero life permeates in his being. He loves X-Men First Class and absolutely loathes the Green Lantern movie. It’s something that I agree with, though I will never be able to fully explain what is what.
We were also talking about a friend’s wedding ring, as he was complaining that his gold ring is already scratched. I thought titanium would have been a better choice. But Sheldon brought up Volverine’s ademantium and Gundam’s gundamium as the much better metals. I don’t know if people are actually working on that.
He’ll measure ingredients down to the last teaspoon. He asked me to cook garlic fried rice and he’d cook the bacon, lo and behold, halfway through the process, he’s the one cooking the rice. I’m not complaining though. He’s a great cook.
Math, science, history, unraveling the mystery. It all started with the big bang.
I didn’t meet him in the past year, but in the year before that. But the prompt asked for the most interesting person, and he’s that. Anyway, we spent the past year getting to know one another. And the superhero nerd is really just getting out of his shell, just like in the comics.
He’s also a Magic the Gathering L1 Judge, working on his requirements to go for L2. About a year ago, I wouldn’t know what that means. We met through MtG and MtG friends, but knowing the depth of the game and the rulings, not to mention the rewards and hardships of judging, is something that I gained through him.
He’s a great judge, though still learning. He loved judging the Grand Prix Manila where he met judges from around the world. He wanted to make everyone feel welcome and since the event fell right after the holidays, I helped him prepare goodie bags for everyone. I heard they really liked it. It’s part of his nerdy world that is really fascinating.
Being a judge made him more mature, given the responsibilities that he has to the community. And yes, MtG is not just a game, it builds friendships and communities as well. Our community is also our family, as time went by playing the game, the relationships also deepened.
We’ll also hang out with our Magic friends and we would converse, as if we’re in a BBT episode. Yesterday, Sheldon was explaining the lore of where Elspeth came from. Elspeth is a slave girl from Dominaria and her spark brought her to Theros. She got her sword from Purphoros before she planeswalked to Bant. Heliod recognised her sword when she planeswalked back to Theros. And yes, I’m with him when he says that Elspeth isn’t dead, she’s just hanging out in the underworld until she gets herself out or someone rescues her. We just need to wait until the lore brings us back there.
That is how our Sunday afternoon looks like.
I double-checked on Elspeth’s story and he said I can elaborate it further. Elspeth planeswalked to Bant and became their champion. I asked if that’s where she became Sun’s Champion and he said no. She became a Sun’s Champion in Theros because Heliod anointed her. He needed a champion because they needed to defeat Xenagos, a planeswalker who wanted to become a god.
Wait, why did she become a champion in Bant? Well, she learned swordsmanship in Bant until she became their best knight.
It’s Monday afternoon, and this is what we’re still talking about. Sometimes, planeswalker lores are also my bedtime stories.
I realise that it is Monday evening now (very disrupted story) and though I try to edit things around, some of it just comes out confused. But that is the Big Bang Theory life. Sometimes it makes sense, sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes its plain crazy. But it is enjoyable.
My Sheldon also identifies as a cat. He has his own time and his own way of doing things. But I think he’s too sweet to be a real cat. But he insists that he is one, a silver one with stripes, and green eyes.
I’ll make him read this post later, but it will have to wait until he is done with Monster Hunter 4 or Dragon Nest. It used to annoy me a lot, but I’m ok with it now. He’s reliable when he needs to be. He’s trustworthy. And if his worst quality is that he plays his games too much, it’s not that bad. At least his vice is something fascinating and his other woman wears armours and fights for a Sun God.
Alright, he’s not as obnoxious as Sheldon and his name isn’t Sheldon, but I still see him as a Sheldon. All we need now is a Sunday night, with pizza and coke, and St, Patrick, and Lippy (and all our MtG friends) talking about strategies and lore. I’ll also tap four mana for katsu. Once we were playing EDH (Elder Dragon Highlander), I tapped four mana to cast Sakashima the Impostor to copy Zurgo, but he gave me a piece of katsu instead. It’s funny. And that is how we have our dinners.
I have to end this at some point. Maybe I’ll make more sense in the next episode. Or maybe I should write an actual episode next time, and hope that it makes more sense.
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I don’t think I made a good character sketch here. It’s my first time. But it’s something that I hope to learn. I do think I managed to tell some semblance of a story, at least I hope so.
Portia Placino 