I like the idea of shower thoughts, the things your brain wanders to when you’re stark naked under hot water- or cold, if you’re an absolute monster (seriously, who takes cold showers). But what specifically are shower thoughts? Well, they’re brief ideas or epiphanies that come to you when you’re in the middle of doing something mundane, something that does not require advanced thought processes. Like, well, taking a shower. Typically, it’s during these tasks that your mind is not preoccupied with anything specific. You become hyper-focused on what you’re doing, and the rest of the world vanishes. For me, these thoughts really do happen in the shower. Any other time, my mind is whole fully preoccupied, filled with the stories I have yet to write. While working a single shift at my part-time job, I’ve probably created an entire storyline for made-up characters. Everyone has an inner dialogue, and mine is a narration of other stories- never my own. But when I’m in the shower, I am alone in the most intimate way possible. There’s no one around to judge me, my body, or the words inside of me. And so, sometimes, when I’m not narrating the death of a character beloved by no one but me (its creator), I’ll start thinking. While most of those thoughts disappear like the shampoo in my hair, I have managed to remember a few long enough that they’ve made an impression on me.

What follows is a brief collection of those thoughts. They are in no certain order, have no particular theme, and are just for fun.

The Cities Of The United States Versus Europe

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One of my dreams in life is to travel the world. It’s at the top of my bucket list, and every day it seems I come up with yet another country or city I’d like to see in real life. When I’m not stuck in my head, I often find myself drifting into the dreams I have about visiting cities such as Paris, France, or Stockholm, Sweden. And as an introvert bookworm, I read about those with the kind of joy only ignorance can produce. Have you seen the population of those cities? Paris boasts a lovely two million occupants, and Stockholm is home to more than five hundred thousand people. And maybe that’s a lot of people. But maybe there’s another reason I feel drawn to these places. And this reason is simple: European architecture is phenomenally beautiful.

Don’t get me wrong; America does a good job of building things. But in America, cities are characterized by shades of gray. A light gray concrete skyscraper here, a dark gray apartment complex here. Maybe there’s a spot of red brick buildings every now and then. But in a city like Vernazza, Italy (pictured above), there’s color. There’s red, and blue, and yellow, and orange, and… well, looking at this image, I can see ROYGBIV on full display. And this isn’t the only example: open two tabs in your browser and pull up pictures of Stockholm, Sweden, and New York City. Now do that with other cities in the US and Europe.

See what I mean?

Why does America have such ugly architecture?

Space

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Is it ethical to populate Mars, or even go back to the moon? I’m no philosopher, but I think there’s a gray line here, and feel that we, as a civilization, should discuss before we touch down on the red planet or return to the pockmarked surface of the moon.

If we find out the hidden truths behind dark matter, what could that mean in terms of our understanding of the universe?

How long will it take humanity to discover a way to achieve deep space travel?

Will humanity achieve deep space travel?

Should  humanity seek deep space? No, I honestly don’t think we should seek it- it should come naturally to us. By nature, humans are curious. We want to know things. We need to go where we haven’t before. But there’s a delight with waiting to discover the unknown, and I think humanity would experience a better victory if we wanted to go beyond our meager solar system. Besides, right now the science isn’t there.

Power of Music

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There are days when I ask myself if I’m addicted to listening to music. Some days I argue that music cannot be an addiction because it does not produce a harsh chemical reaction, and some days, I stop lying and say that music is the greatest addiction I’ll have- besides writing, of course. When I’m stressed, music is there. When I’m upset, music is there. When I feel alone, music is there. Music and writing have always been there for me when I’ve felt that no one else has been. People let you down, and you can’t just press a pause or skip button to make that hurt go away, but with music, you can. You can delete one song and replace it with another. If you did that in real life, you’d be jailed for murder. But seriously, can music be an addiction? What defines an addiction?

The Speed of Dreams

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The speed of sound is 343 meters per second.

The speed of light is 299, 792, 458 meters per second.

Usain Bolt can run 28 miles per hour.

The highest speed limit is 85 miles per hour, courtesy of Texas.

Time has a speed of one second, one minute, one hour, one day, one month, or one year.

Do thoughts have a speed? If thoughts had a speed, how would we define that speed? Could we even give the speed of our thoughts a unit of measurement? If we give our thoughts a speed, does that mean dreams have a speed as well? Because, to be honest, I believe that the speed of a dream is faster than even that of light. If I ran at the speed of my dreams, I’d be able to escape this persistent nightmare I have about a blank page. They say follow your dreams- but perhaps they should be saying to run as fast as your dreams will take you.