I was reading up on something called data-mining, which is basically one of those new smart thingies. The idea is that a computer system can run through a large dataset and discover hidden info-gems. It sounds smart but it also seems complicated, so being a programmer, I am lazy by nature.

I have a very dear friend that I call Flower Lady and many other sweet names, e.g. Hana Fujin, which is supposed to be the Japanese version of the same name. She told me once, that the relationship between things, people, etc. is the thing that really matters. Being a couple of part-time buddhists, we often talk about such things.  We basically go into one of the three modes; Christian, Zen, and Monkee. At that particular time, we must have been in the Zen mode.

I am also a poker player and drummer and a firm believer in a higher power, intelligence, meaning, design, and all that. I call that whole thing God, although I am not really sure what it is. But I believe that God and relativity are connected somehow.

 I know! It is getting quite confusing and all-over-the-place but I'll try to get to one of my many points.

Data-mining, music, poker, Zen, God, relativity and all this somehow fell into place in my head. I was in the kitchen getting a cup of coffee a few minutes ago (maybe 20 or so) and it occurred to me that the only right approach to anything is to process the relationships between stuff-units (homemade word) when you are trying to do data-mining, play poker, play drums, and all those things that I like to do.

The reason for this is most likely that God is spirit AND matter. Matter, well we all think we know what that is (we really don't). Spirit is the relationships between all things (at least that is what I realized). An example may be good here.

When I play drums, I split time into small finite beats. Now, as a drummer, you don't have to play a beat; it simply exists as a placeholder in which you may place a silence or a stroke. I am making a choice -- to hit or not to hit. The absence of sound combined with the presence of sound makes up the rhythm. Now, the relationship between the hits and the unhits is what gives the pattern its groove.

Still, that is only the physical part of the whole thing. Sound an music are not the same, so the music part is something that lives in me. I translate that spiritual existence into sound. The sound reaches your ear as sound (vibrations in the air). Your brain processes it and your spirit says "Yeah, I got that."

The music must live in you as well; how else would you be able to understand it? We understand with our spirit -- not with our brains. We can only learn things that we already know. If we do not recognize something, then we probably don't even notice that it is there.

WOW! Gotta stop before I go bananas.

Happy New Year and remember that I love you.