Saturday, July 17, 2004
Recycling
I must say I enjoy Blogger's new posting interface, being able to change fontswhenever I likes. Pretty neat! But alas, much like wearing a giant glittering codpiece, it cannot improve the content of one's post, and I'm afraid this particular missive is on the subject of recycling.
Not that recycling isn't a worthy subject. Nay, it is a very worthy subject, but for some people, an incredibly boring one. So carry on, if you must, with your sodomy and what-not. As for me, I really like the idea of recycling -- finding ways to re-use things you would normally throw away or making new things out of old things so you don't have to kill and/or buy anything new. It's something that's intrigued me for a long time, so much so that my 6th grade science fair project was on my attempt to recycle paper using a blender and part of a screen door. Basically, I threw paper and some water into the blender, pureed it, then poured the resulting goop into a tub. I then strained the liquified paper with the screen and dried whatever collected on the screen in the sun or in the oven. And a few hours later, PRESTO CHANGE-O, I had a new sheet of paper! Granted, my final product was all gray and fuzzy and would fall apart really easily, and you couldn't really write on it, but it's the thought that counts. Especially in a 6th grade science fair.
And so I made an exhibit with the different types paper I recycled. I was more successful with some paper than with others, i.e. my recycled folder paper was nice and smooth while my recycled milk carton paper was full of bits of wax.
And for some reason, I also tried recycling dryer lint, which some could say was a mistake. The final product ended up looking nothing like paper as it was just dryer lint, only in a different shape. And tragically, it also ended up with a few errant pubes sticking out of it. Not exactly something you'd like to find hanging from some kid's science fair project. Well, FYI, those hairs weren't mine, as I was in the sixth grade at the time and not nearly the manly specimen I am now. Come to think of it, I'm not even sure I knew what pubes looked like back then, being naive, oblivious and Christian as I was.
Anyway, I made it to the state finals and I won a ribbon -- for my sheer, pube-laden ingenuity. I also vowed to one of the judges that I would carry on trying to develop better ways of recycling paper, which I didn't end up doing, as the next year brought on a switch from 6th grade private school to 7th grade public school and with it, a whole host of other crap to worry about.
But I still recycle today, or at least set things out to be recycled, which I believe is a good thing (although there has been some dispute.) I sort my recyclables from my trash, and I take my cans and bottles to the recycling center. Sure, it's a lot of effort for a $3.00 gift certificate to the grocery store, but hey, that's worth like six packs of bubblegum. And as everyone knows, bubblegum makes you happy!
So recycle for happiness, and as an added bonus, you could be helping the planet out a wee bit!
Not that recycling isn't a worthy subject. Nay, it is a very worthy subject, but for some people, an incredibly boring one. So carry on, if you must, with your sodomy and what-not. As for me, I really like the idea of recycling -- finding ways to re-use things you would normally throw away or making new things out of old things so you don't have to kill and/or buy anything new. It's something that's intrigued me for a long time, so much so that my 6th grade science fair project was on my attempt to recycle paper using a blender and part of a screen door. Basically, I threw paper and some water into the blender, pureed it, then poured the resulting goop into a tub. I then strained the liquified paper with the screen and dried whatever collected on the screen in the sun or in the oven. And a few hours later, PRESTO CHANGE-O, I had a new sheet of paper! Granted, my final product was all gray and fuzzy and would fall apart really easily, and you couldn't really write on it, but it's the thought that counts. Especially in a 6th grade science fair.
And so I made an exhibit with the different types paper I recycled. I was more successful with some paper than with others, i.e. my recycled folder paper was nice and smooth while my recycled milk carton paper was full of bits of wax.
And for some reason, I also tried recycling dryer lint, which some could say was a mistake. The final product ended up looking nothing like paper as it was just dryer lint, only in a different shape. And tragically, it also ended up with a few errant pubes sticking out of it. Not exactly something you'd like to find hanging from some kid's science fair project. Well, FYI, those hairs weren't mine, as I was in the sixth grade at the time and not nearly the manly specimen I am now. Come to think of it, I'm not even sure I knew what pubes looked like back then, being naive, oblivious and Christian as I was.
Anyway, I made it to the state finals and I won a ribbon -- for my sheer, pube-laden ingenuity. I also vowed to one of the judges that I would carry on trying to develop better ways of recycling paper, which I didn't end up doing, as the next year brought on a switch from 6th grade private school to 7th grade public school and with it, a whole host of other crap to worry about.
But I still recycle today, or at least set things out to be recycled, which I believe is a good thing (although there has been some dispute.) I sort my recyclables from my trash, and I take my cans and bottles to the recycling center. Sure, it's a lot of effort for a $3.00 gift certificate to the grocery store, but hey, that's worth like six packs of bubblegum. And as everyone knows, bubblegum makes you happy!
So recycle for happiness, and as an added bonus, you could be helping the planet out a wee bit!
