Chris and Information, sitting in a tree...

You guessed it: K-I-S-S-I-N-G.

I love information. I have oft been quoted as saying, "It's all about learning!" while rifling through a dictionary at a particularly trying moment during a game of Scrabble. Information is gained through education. They go hand in hand, don't they? As a big proponent of education, I enjoy imbibing information (can one actually imbibe information?). How we take it in, process it, store it and use it fascinates me. How do two people look at the same piece of information but interpret it differently? How do they use that same piece of information for different ends? (Look at the divided political groups. Look at the distortion factor.) When we are told, "Just the facts, ma'am. Just the facts," are we able to truly give just the facts? Is all information subjective? Scientists might credit evolution with who we are today, based on what they call "scientific evidence," or facts. Many religious people believe otherwise. They don't take "facts" and digest them in the same way. I might view a crime scene and give the detective "just the facts," but my facts will differ from the facts of another witness. We will each pick up on different things based on our psychologies, life experiences, upbringings, professions, faith systems, perhaps. So, how can we truly pare down the facts to "just the"? Of course, if the car was blue, you'd say, the car was blue. There's no refuting that. Sure, the basic color was blue. But if you ask me to further define the hue, that's where the gray area begins (pun intended).

How can one even write about one's relationship to information? OK, I'll drop the distancing pronoun and simply ask how can I do it? Opting out of the assignment on weak philosophical grounds is not really an option. So, stop whining, you say, and just answer the damned question. (That's a question: Is it damned or damn question?)

I import information into my personal hard drive, otherwise known as my brain. I process that information through the use of thoughts and sometimes even thought processes. Wait, I unintentionally went redundant. "What's your thought process behind that?" leads to an understanding of the interpretation of the information, I suppose. These complex muscular conglomerates we call "mouths" are terrific tools for information spreading. And I use that thing all the time. You are just lucky enough to read what I'm saying, only I'm writing and not speaking, and, at the same time, trying not to edit myself, so as not to get in trouble with the teacher.

How do you, the viewing public, even let me ramble on for this long? Why haven't you switched the channel? In fact, you probably have, unless you're my teacher and you're being paid to stick around. Hey, Colin. Thanks for reading to the end. It is the end. Really.

K-I-S-S-I-N-G would be a great word for Scrabble. Not a whole lot of high-scoring letters, but it uses all seven tiles which is an automatic 50 points.