As I type the entry for today I am being very slow and cautious, since I have my pet wasp on my index finger. Every time I reach for the r, t, f, g, v or b the wasp bounces up and down. I am very impressed by how docile it is being. I certainly couldn't trust most humans with the same thing.
Today's thought from chemistry is, in fact, from chemistry. We finally did some actual lab work, something that wasn't just theoretical. Granted, all we did was boil water, but hey, it's a start.
It was easy to see that the class was a bit rusty in the area of lab equipment. Some over zealous individual had the Bunsen burner on full when they lit it. Now, I don't know about most Bunsen burners, but our's can be pretty impressive. This one made flames leap up about a foot and a half, directly into an overhead cupboard. Needless to say the teacher wasn't pleased. As my partner and I placed our beaker of water over the Bunsen burner we heard screams coming from the other side of the room (I've put the wasp away, if that thought is still bugging you). Someone hadn't attached the burner properly, and flames were leaping directly from the wall. The teacher rushed over, turned it off, and said; "Now you see why this should only be done with a trained professional". I wondered if he was referring to boiling water, or making flames leap from the wall. Perhaps he just wanted to say it. There aren't many times a high school teacher can call himself a "trained professional". I considered, with some guilt, the many times I had done things like dousing my hand in alcohol and lighting it, or spraying air freshener over a candle, or making my own firecrackers from dissected rocket engines. Perhaps I should have done those things with the supervision of a trained professional. Then again, any reasonably conscious semi-professional person probably would have prevented me from lighting my hand on fire.