This is an image for Photos.

…Then I made two discoveries. First, my camera can do exposures up to 60 seconds. Second, it’s actually not hard to write in cursive backwards!

I think that latter revelation can be explained by two things. First of all, as an engineer I pride myself on my capacity for spatial manipulation. (Not really, but I do have some.) Second, though, and more significantly, something a bit counterintuitive: *I never use cursive.* If I had written this normally (which would have required covering the flame between each letter), I would have had a more difficult time doing so backwards. (I tested this later on paper and found it to be true.) I’d have written all my p’s as q’s and d’s as b’s. When I write normally, I don’t even think about these letters or how they’re shaped. When I think “bacilli” I jot down a b. The letters have no connection to whatever part of my brain remembers and senses their shape. When I write in cursive, though, it is so ill-practiced that the formation of the characters never became completely reflexive; I still think about the shapes – the loops and curves in each letter – every time I write. Thoughts on this theory, anyone?

(PS – This is the larger candle. I made a little inverted skirt for it with aluminum foil to catch the wax drips.)

(PPS – Looking at this photo may be a bit more exciting if you imagine the thunder roaring in the background and shaking the floor.)

(PPPS – Storms are wonderful things!)