Vectors have different definitions, depending on their context. Mathematics and software engineering define a vector as a direction with a magnitude. My wife and I were arguably both vectors since we each had direction with rapidly accelerating degrees of magnitude. Tangentially, molecular biology defines a vector as a vehicle to transfer genetic material to a target cell.
Once my decision to leave school was official, we took a final walk around our campuses, pausing a moment in each place I remembered once sitting with my chess board while visiting my uncle. It had been years since I'd last played. And I had no interest in playing again. But if we crossed paths with any kid, presuming to co-opt one of my special childhood memories, that kid would have to earn it. I wasn't concerned with being rusty. I'd never studied or practiced the game, so my level of play depended solely on how completely I could fill my mind with stacks and stacks of chessboards fanning out in shifting pyramids. One for each potential move on the board immediately below, beginning with the board presently in play at the bottom. If the kid could envision chessboards stacked higher, more moves ahead than I could, then congratulations, they might win; except that, if I were feeling wicked, I might smile knowingly, just as my uncle had, to create doubt each time I'd reached for a piece. So, if he, or she, could force themselves to ignore my antics while envisioning more chessboards..., no, I recall deciding, I'd never allow myself to employ any such psychological tactics. My young opponents would only need to prove they could envision higher stacks of chessboards and make the better decisions based on those fanned out above.
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The Words - An Autobiography
Science Fiction"What if God was one of us?" Credit to Eric Bazzilion, and thanks to Joan Osborne for singing his brain-rattling words. Much earlier, my mother promised that if I applied myself, I could be whatever I wanted when I grew up. Then, from somewhere, I r...
