Bonds

This came up a couple of years ago when I read something about avoiding exes or whatnot because it'll always be awkward business associating with them: You can't ever un-know someone. There will always be something remaining to connect you to them. Now I'm not talking about the strangers you meet on the subway that you chat with for five minutes and then never see again. I'm talking about the strangers-come-friends you see again tomorrow and the day after and you keep chatting until one of you decides you should meet up for coffee some day or the like.
If you imagine a string to represent all the connections you have with somebody, over the years a lot of strings are gonna form. Now think of the person you don't really know anymore. There's still some kind of bond between you, some connection. Some string.
My case in point, relationships. First, you get to know them. String. You make memories together. String. You pay for stuff together. String. You share everything. String. Kids (maybe). String. And the list goes on. And then you split. And the strings are being cut as you clean up your house. And now all the strings are severed... but there's still one. This one string may lead you to be more confident, less egotistical, or maybe just go for a haircut. But there's still that connection. You know that corny phrase "you'll always be in my heart"? Well... yeah.
Here's a funny thing. If you went as far as marriage in your relationship before you split, there's a new string. Frickin' alimony. Ali-money. It's a good idea, but I thought you split because you didn't want to be with this other person anymore. I thought you wanted a new life. Or maybe you didn't want it. I don't know. I'm not married, let alone divorced.
Anyhow, food for thought. There's always something that always connects you back to someone. Depressing if you think about it. If you don't connect, nobody will come to your funeral. If you do, that's just more people to feel loss over when they die.

On another note, I spent a good hour or so staying up last night to look at stereograms. I really didn't get what the heck they are/what I was supposed to do to see them for the longest time. It just looked like a badly Photoshopped, repetitive tessellation, except you can't see the original. Then I came along this picture that looked like a chain fence, and it hit me. (ow)
I remember when I was young, sometimes I'd look out the window towards the neighbor's chain fence, and I'd stare at it... then my vision blurs and refocuses and suddenly I'm tripping. The fence looks like it's close, but not really. It's like I can touch it even though it's far away. I'm looking at it, but I'm not; I'm looking beyond it. But it's still in focus. And I'm seeing straight, but I'm not. Ever had that? That's how you see a stereogram.
The book I was reading had really bad instructions on how to look at stereograms. The instructions just told you how to do it, not what you were looking for. I mean, "look at the two dots until a third dot appears". ....Wow. Gee. Thanks. Very helpful.
So here we go. There are two kinds of stereograms. One is the typical tessellating blob, and the other is two images that are slightly different, but still mostly the same. The point is to unfocus your eyes enough to blend the images and trick your brain into seeing 3d. It's kind of like the hot-dog finger trick, but much cooler.
Basically, you move your face very close to the image (or vice-versa, whichever's more appropriate at the moment), then, cross your eyes or somehow unfocus until you see double. You definitely need screwy vision to start. Slowly increase the distance between the image and yourself. Do not refocus!! Do not uncross your eyes!! You'll see the image shifting (you should). Eventually, it'll shift into focus on its own--you're still cross-eyed, right??--and you'll see this crazy 3d image. Once you see it, it'll feel natural, like you're focused again although in reality, you're not. What you're looking at will be 3d and zany but your peripherals will be useless. Maybe you can even look around the picture, see all four corners cos you're that good at being cross-eyed.
Here's a picture so you don't have to scour for one yourself: link :)
Now the other stereogram is a stereogram pair. This is two images side by side almost exactly alike, but a little different. You cross your eyes until you see double, so...four? Then you move the image away until the middle two become one. Then it's "focused" and you get a 3d image. Try it!
It's fun! But headache inducing. And have you ever been told that if you cross your eyes too much, they'll stay that way?