My New Friends

There are two people that I am very interested in. These two people are permeating my life right now. I think about them a lot, and everything I come across reminds me of some aspect of them. This is very nice, carrying these people around.


The first one is Gene Wilder. On my way from Corpus to Austin recently, I bought a book on CD to listen to on my drive home. It was a book Gene Wilder wrote two years ago about his life and his search for love and art. The greatest part about it is that he is reading it, and he has one of the greatest voices I've ever heard. Articulate, soft, warm, it's like a blanket. The thing that attracts me most to a person is their speaking voice.. and how much greater when they have something to say.

I relate to Gene in many ways. It feels like he is a Friend.

The other person's name is Helen Fisher. This woman is a scholar who has studied love for the past thirty years. Yesterday, online, I watched a lecture she gave. It has come up in almost every conversation I've had since I've seen it. I want to talk about this. Love. The science of love. What is going on in your brain when you fall in love...

She says it is not a feeling, but a drive. A drive that's even stronger than the sexual drive and a drive that leads to another drive we have, which is for deep attachment. Dopamine is a chemical in your brain that's involved with romantic love. When you have an orgasm, you get a little spike of dopamine. This is why it is possible to fall in love while having casual sex with someone you don't even know. It's crazy! There is so much to say about this, but you will be delighted to know that it's inspired a great new project in the works. A musical!

Haha!! It's perfect!