post-doomsday confusion (perhaps?) & season greetings

It has been approximately 3 days since Doomsday, so here's a very belated Happy Doomsday Everyone to all you merry folk. To all that bought into such deceit, I think a swim would be quite apt for now as that was some major BURN!

Christmas is just around the corner! So kind folk of the internet, here's wishing you a very blessed Merry Christmas, and an exciting, fruitful, and astounding upcoming year!!
May your new year be filled with all good things like peace, happiness, joy and love, with strength, goodness and wisdom, to carry you through curveballs life hurls you. May it bring new things and blessings, with warm fuzzy feelings and the love and comfort of both friends and family, and may you cherish those whom you love and bless the ones you don't.

Love you guys!

love, becky and rach

if we were words we would rhyme

-Sophie Madeline, Jocelyn Mackenzie & Emily Hope Price; Bei Mir Bist Du Schon (Cover)

 
-Sophie Madeline; Must Be Love (Cover)

What I'm listening to on this dreadful rainy day: Check out her playlist, she's this awesome English chick that plays the ukulele! She did 30 covers in 30 days some time ago. She does pretty amazing numbers, it makes me nostalgic, and it's quite amazing rainy day music; it's so chirpy that when it's sad, it makes me quite melancholic haha. So cute!

sight. but not... foresight?

I'm back where the air is dense, the wind is warm and heavy, and the perspiration pools. I'm back in the land in which I was born, where my family and some friends reside. Strangely, what the inhabitants chase after in this land - what we call "progress", has made changes in the places I have known... changes in the familiar. I get lost in malls, subway stations... much less so on the streets, but all around me, the changes are apparent. Where the land was barren in this concrete jungle, new buildings have sprouted, weeds or crops - it is not yet clear to me. Where familiar and old buildings have been, they stand now as a heap of rubble, or behind blue nets and aluminium-sheet fences, their expiration dates drawing nearer with each passing day.

Change, well, change is good, I suppose. Standards of living improve with this "progress" you speak of, new technology, new devices, new places with fancy gadgets... But more and more, we do not realise the increasing individuation that takes place in society. Sure, we are increasingly able to keep in contact with the world, through the means of social networking platforms through our really high tech communication devices, but more and more though, is it our gadgets we interact with, instead of the world?

5 Reasons why "That 70's Show" is the most awesome sit-com of all time.

I do enjoy other sit-coms too. I like Fraiser, Everybody Loves Raymond, Dharma and Greg, Scrubs, South Park...just to name a few.

But the only sit-com that managed to grab my attention for the long run was That 70's Show. I couldn't stop watching after the first episode and before I knew it, I was at the end of the 8th Season (which was also the last season)... I was devastated. How can That 70's Show end its run without consulting me, I lived for that show (okay, alright..I am being dramatic here, but I did live for that show....for a few months), I was practically the ambassador for that show!

10 Reasons why That 70's Show kicks ass:

1. Mila Kunia, Ashton Kutcher, Laura Prepon, Topher Grace, Danny Masterson, Wilmer Valderrama, Debra Jo Rupp, Kurtwood Smith, Don Stark, Tanya Roberts and the old great Tommy Chong.

The main cast: Steven Hyde, Michael Kelso, Donna Pinciotti, Eric Forman, Jackie Burkhart, & Fez

The names above are good enough reasons for anyone to watch the show.
Yeah the teenage cast of the show were nobodies when they first starred in this show. But that's what makes That 70's Show ever more awesome, the show was the stepping stone if not the break through for many of these young actors we have come to know as super stars today.

Mila Kunis - with a list of movies such as Black Swan, Friends with Benefits and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, she is one of the biggest Hollywood stars of this generation.

Mr Kutcher - a.k.a the ex-husband of Demi Moore is not just a Hollywood hunk, but also a budding comedy veteran (in my opinion anyways, he is too young to be a 'veteran' but what can I say... He started out young. AND I also added 'budding', so he is not there yet but he will be.)  He was the other Sean Willian Scout or Neil Patrick Harris of my generation. Dude Where's My Car? wouldn't have been the same awesome without Ashton.

Topher Grace - One word: VENOM. Yeah and that is enough, he was in Spider Man. Case closed.

The other actors/actresses are amazing too and have great resumes to offer, but I shan't bore you with the details.

And BTW, I love Kurtwood Smith a.k.a Red Foreman! He is HILARIOUS.

2. The Circle

Okay for those of you who watch the show, you know what I mean. THE CIRCLE. THE DOPE CIRCLE. Dope as in cool and dope as in its literal meaning.

Well, during each episode, the guys (only referring to the teens here) would sit in a circle in Eric's (Topher Grace's character) basement and smoke some weed/ other undisclosed drug. They would then engage in random but interestingly significant conversations while being high. Yes you can imagine now, The Circle scenes are always hilarious and unexpected.

So unexpected that finally, the girls and even the parents were also introduced into The Circle. That's when the fun begins...imagine your strict dad (Red Foreman) and the wholesome, loving mom (Kitty) getting high on 'special' brownies and talking about nonsense in a circle with their equally inebriated neighbours. Yeah I know, that's a dream most of us have that'll never be fulfilled.

The Circle is the one unique feature in the show that no other sit-coms ever had.

3. The Fashion

Fez

Hello. Anyone grew up in the 70's here?
Yeah maybe the show did not showcase the most accurate or best fashion of the 70's, but the fashion was still awesome. I love the 70's fashion personally (I'm all for retro), even the weird rainbow-coloured sweaters and hideous bell-bottoms that most Singaporeans who grew up in the 90's and 2000's would associate with  as 'Ah Beng' fashion. I love them all.

I'm always torn between Donna and Jackie. I love what they both wear in the show. I think I am more of a Donna with a sprinkle of Jackie. (Well, to be more exact, I feel like a Donna during my Secondary school days and more of a Jackie now - I'm referring to the fashion here btw.) A combination of them would be the best of both worlds.
Okay this is for the retro chicks: Donna has the cool, old school thing going for her. She could wear a pair of corduroy pants and a sweater and look fabulous with her plaited red hair while Jackie looks super sweet with her little floral dresses, vintage accessories and boots! (Have you girls seen her accessories?? They are to die for. They look like stuff you could get at some boutique from Arab Street. Yeah those boutiques that over-price their goods.)

4./5. The Music and The Era

If you are a rocker like me. As in if you like rock...real rock, like rock and roll with the guitar solos and licks that you don't hear much on the 'Top 40's'  these days, then you are in for a treat.

Okay, just think of post-Motown and post-Beatles and after the Country Music wave. That's the 70's. When the poppy tunes of the 60's died down, you get the psychedelic rock genre with influences from  the blues and rhythms from country music. The music from the 70's was like a mash up of everything good from the decades before. The 70's was the decade of EXPERIMENTS, experiments in music and experiments that challenged the 'Big Brother', the system and the conventional way of thought.

Yeah, the Hippie (a.k.a freedom/counter-culture) Movement, well it started back with its roots stemming from as early as WW2(that's when the 'peace' sign we know today originated) and the Vietnam War. But the movement took on a whole new identity in the 60's when the people united and fought for freedom by creating a whole new world for themselves. A world of spirituality (so they say) and a world of love, not war. The Flower People they were called. And the movement carried on well into the 70's.

Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Cream, The Yardbirds, Creedence Clearwater Revival - just to name a few prominent bands/musicians of the 70's : they were the music heroes (few out of the many other bands not mentioned) of the 70's. They sure rocked it out with spectacular beats and tunes but they added something special to their music - their music echoed the voices of a generation of youngsters, the lyrics told the story of how it was like to be young in the 70's; the desires and wants of a changing generation.
Even the music alone has a bittersweet essence to it. Whenever I listen to bands like those I mentioned above, I always feel like they were going through a struggle but somehow they were enjoying it as their music reflected that, because their music was great.
I believe the people of that generation were struggling to be heard, although it was tough and many of them were ridiculed, they had fun during the process and even if they did not achieve everything they wanted, they were still happy as they were courageous enough to speak out against the masses (thus the bittersweet sounds). I know not everyone is for the Hippie agenda, I myself am on the fence on this one. I definitely do not condemn it, but I would not particularly encourage some of their ideals as well. However, the 70's was interesting because it was different. It was different and that's what makes it amazing.

I'll have to thank the hippies for opening the doors to many things and opportunities we enjoy today.
And the gays (I'm not gay, I'm just saying this as a matter of fact) have to love the 70's. The 70's was a milestone for them, the 70's saw the first ever openly-gay politician (Milk Harvey) to be elected in America. He helped paved the way for legal gay marriages.
So yes, the 70's made a huge difference in the world we live in today.

- To be continued (I'm too sleepy and I'm not going to check for errors this time round...)

waiting....

Carpe Diem. Seize the day. The early bird gets the worm. And much recently, you only live once.
Yeah yeah yeah, so we've heard it all before... But how many of us are still sitting around, waiting for some thing to happen?

Maybe it's really okay to wait, maybe we're not that ready to be go-getters yet. I think it's an intrinsic decision, or at least an arrival of some internal realisation that makes people achieve that drive to go out there and get what they want. Therefore, sometimes, if you haven't really decided that THAT'S what you want, it's okay to stick around and wait.... Right?

Well and sometimes, a situation is not in your control, and therefore you have to wait around for someone's decision, for something to happen.

I'm waiting to hear if I will get accepted into an internship program, I'm waiting to hear if my cousin will come up to study in Melbourne here with me,
and this last one will be the one to hate: I'm waiting for this guy to make his move. (I know it's the 21st century etc etc etc. It's sometimes okay to wait, okay?)

So now, what are you waiting for today

(well besides the comments section to start working... I'm on it!!!!)


-------
[edit:]
OH NO MY SEA MONKEY JUST DIED!!!
He was the only one. The Only One (that hatched)....
R.I.P. Poseidon, King of the High Seas. You were awesome to watch when procrastinating. You filled my essay writing days with mild gleefulness and amusement.
May you find the light at the end of the murky depths of the deep (Australian plumbing system), and return to the sea as a natural sea spirit. Of some sort. 

Someone yells: YOU FLUSHED IT??!!
Yes I did. Indeed. I did. 
[/edit:]

[new edit:]
I'm so dumb, so I changed everything in order to accommodate the comments section, and tried to keep it as "same" as before as possible (wow my English teacher will be furious at this statement).
It's up and running now. I'm not completely satisfied with how it looks. SIGH. I'll tweak it again soon.
[/new edit:]

Pokemon is awesome.

Sorry for the lack of new posts guys, it's been really crazy on this end with exams around the corner (tomorrow! and two papers!)... I promise a more steady stream of posts when I am done with them, and when I am procrastinating.

Two days ago, I was looking through this box I have that houses my stationary supplies, paints (yes, I paint), and electronics, when I chanced upon my old hard drive. I thought it was back at my parents' house in Singapore! (I had always thought I had asked Mom to bring it home for me or something. But pssh, what is real and what isn't, really? I live in a world of my own...) 

I plugged it in and looked through its contents, which was surprisingly empty; old scanned copies of my various education achievements (high school results and what not), an old resume, couple of movies, and a very, very. Special. Folder. (no, it's not the sexy kind of special. I do not own material such as those, thank you very much.)

I found my old games folder!!!

I found the Gameboy emulator application that allows you to play games on, and along with it, Pokemon Fire-Red, Pokemon Emerald, Super Mario World, and Plants vs. Zombies (though you don't need an emulator for this) !!!

this is like the best thing ever

I looked through it and didn't find any saved material in the games, so they were pretty much blank slates. 

HOW EXCITING IS THAT!

so unashamedly, I STARTED PLAYING.

(oh god. Just what I need before exams right?!) 

I LOVE POKEMON FIRE-RED!

Judge me. Whatever. I LOVE IT.

(My housemates are totally judging me but it's cool. I can live with it)

I think this love is largely due to Saturday morning cartoons on free-to-air television when I was growing up. My brother and I would watch Pokemon at 10:30 every Saturday without fail. First it's (I think,) Loony Tunes, Pokemon, X-men, Iron Man/ He-Man, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and then Power Rangers.

(then Mom would go: KIDS STOP WATCHING TV! YOU'VE SAT THERE ALL DAY! and be shooed from the house to play outside...)

We were so into Pokemon, we watched from the first few episodes of the original series, how Ash met Pikachu and all that, to the first Pokemon movie (which I think we own a VHS of...). As the Fire-Red version remakes the original Red version, I'm actually familiar with most or all of the pokemons in the game? As opposed to Emerald, because high school happened and I kinda just stopped watching. I'll totally go look for episodes online to watch during my upcoming summer holiday though!!!!

Because I'm quite a fan of lists (no not really, but it's fun to write about),

here's 4 reasons why you should play Pokemon Fire-Red - or Pokemon, in general.

1. It brings back childhood memories.

If you watched Pokemon cartoons as a child/ for fun, it really is very fun! It lets you reminisce about the good ol' days, in a way...

2. It gives a great sense of satisfaction.

The feeling when you level up, or beat someone... It's really satisfying.

3. It gives you the sense that you're really on the epic adventure (as with most RPGs).

So it starts with this: you're given an epic mission to catch all the pokemon there is, to fill out a small electronic encyclopaedia (i.e. the Pokedex), and to be a Master Pokemon Trainer. You have a rival slash arch-nemesis, and you would feel compelled (by the basic storyline) to beat him at all cost. You can also give him a name of your choice. You travel around the country on foot (and later by bicycle), and you fight at different leagues (Pokemon gyms) for Pokemon-qualificatons, known as badges, whereby each badge is sort of like unlocking new things you can do.

4. It has an overhead kind of view, and it's really cute.

see for yourself!

The guy in the hat; that's you (if you chose the 'Boy' option in the "are you a boy or a girl?" question at the start) [edit: and oops i mean, bicycle guy, there are two guys in hats!]

so cute right???? 

so go play it! Gameboys are hard to come by these days, and so are cartridges - but they are easily downloadable online (both gameboy emulators and games) for both Mac and PC, so that could be your new fun indoor-holiday-activity or something!

great quote I found while writing my essay

"We must do away with all explanation, and description alone must take its place.
And this description gets its power of illumination—i.e. its purpose—from the philosophical problems. 

These are, of course, not empirical problems; they are solved rather by looking into the workings of our language, and that in such a way as to make us recognize those workings: in despite of an urge to misunderstand them. The problems are solved, not by giving new information, but by arranging what we have always known. 

Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language." 

-Wittgenstein, in Investigations, 1954

District 9 vs. Avatar

TWO MEGA ALIEN MOVIES, ready, go!

AVATAR 

(Summary: Humans invaded another planet, Pandora to excavate a precious material. The aliens (indigenous natives of Pandora from the Na' vi tribe) and their homes are now being threatened by the humans. Genetically engineered Na' vi bodies were made by the humans and they controlled these avatars using the minds of selected people. One of the avatars (controlled by the leading actor) falls in love with the Na vi princess. Okay, then the battles begins, Humans VS Na' vis. )

"Avatar, Avatar was awesome! It is the movie of 2010 (well it was released in Singapore in 2010 and in the USA in 2009)...blah blah blah" , I'm probably not the only person who learned about all the fuss of the James Cameron project. An epic movie in terms of CGI and cinematography, yeah.. special effects wise, it was pretty awesome. 

But I got to admit, I was bored during some of the scenes. Come on, it was almost three hours long and it was NOT Lord of the Rings (LOTR). If a movie is three hours long and it doesn't have some sort of character that resembles Gandalf, Aragorn, Bilbo Baggins or even Gollum (for that matter), I will most probably be bored. Not definitely, but most probably. 

Yeah, it surpasses the Scary Movie series and Sadako (2012) by miles. But with all that fuss of how good it was, I wanted to be amused, I was waiting for something unexpected to happen, maybe like if they found another Earth and on that new Earth, avatars and humans could coexist and spawn baby "Avatar-mans".

Take away the 3D glasses, the high expectations and suspense, Avatar is really a story about  two incompatible 'beings' making love in paradise. 

Maybe the two most interesting things to me were the: 1) dragons (how awesome is it to be able to bond with a pet dragon man! A PET DRAGON that gets you out of danger and serves as a convenient way of transportation) and 2) the intricate and complex process of enabling humans to 'live' in the body of an Avatar through the power of the mind in the name of Science.

Think of the 1995 Disney Classic: Pocahontas, that is basically what Avatar is in my opinion.

Ratings: 6.5/10
(Alright alright, for you Avatar geeks out there, I'd give it a 7/10 at the most and I am really pushing it.)

DISTRICT 9

(Summary: JUST THINK INDEPENDENCE DAY but this time the aliens did not stay on Earth voluntarily, they were stranded as their mother-ship broke down and they had no way home. So, humans being humans start segregating the aliens (a.k.a cockroaches), calling them names and degrading them to a slum area called District 9. These Aliens worked and survived on little provisions. They adapted to life on Earth after many years of staying on the planet. One day, a reporter (played by leading actor, Copley) went to investigate the slums, however there was a twist of events and something happened to him. The show ends with a cliff hanger, leaving the audience (a.k.a ME) guessing the final plight of the reporter.)

OH MAN. OH DISTRICT 9, wherefore art thou District 10 or a sequel? (There are talks of a sequel coming up!!! :D :D :D)

I didn't watch it in the theaters, no 3D glasses, no huge comfy velvet seats, no big screen and awesome sound effects. I downloaded the movie and the only things that accompanied me and District 9 were my Macbook Pro and a pair of average earphones.

No big preview for District 9, no big advertising, just a movie title amongst the many other films that were released that month. Yeah, that was District 9's resume, including the saving graces of a promising cast (promising because they were talented and not famous - especially the leading actor, Sharlto Copley) and that it was produced by well-known names such as Peter Jackson (director of Lord Of The Rings - LOTR Trilogy and the upcoming The Hobbit Trilogy) and Carolynne Cunningham (Academy-Award nominated producer and assistant director of King Kong (2005) and the LOTR Trilogy). 

In a nutshell, I downloaded District 9 out of boredom and curiosity and was more than pleasantly surprised by the experience of the movie.

Well I thought the movie poster looked like a wannabe cool-alien-action movie, something like Independence Day meets Battleship. I was curious to watch a movie that seemed trivial. A movie with a dry storyline (so I thought at first) - aliens getting stranded on Earth. Yes, that's basically the gist of the movie, ALIENS STRANDED ON EARTH...boo hoo.

But NEVER underestimate the power of Simplicity.

A simple and maybe all too familiar plot (like that of Independence Day) might actually hit the jackpot. The simple things surprise you because you do not expect much from them. Nothing works in a movie, not even a great script if the execution (eg. computer effects, make-up, wardrobe, cinematography, editing etc) of the actual production ain't great. District 9 also tugs at one's heart strings, bringing up a very controversial subject (degradation and segregation) in a subtle yet powerful manner.
Personally, the humanization of the "cockroaches" (a.k.a the aliens/intruders of Earth) is what made the movie stand out. In addition, the sympathizing character played by leading actor, Copley gave the movie a sense of hope and allowed the audience to relate to him (because we are all moral beings or we try to be at least).

In conclusion, District 9 is the Blueray DVD that I would go home with. :P

Ratings: 8.5/10
(I really want to give it a 9/10!! But I guess I still have too many movies to check out before I can be that generous.)

-Posted by Becky Brontosaurus (on Rach's account)

4 Reasons Why You Should Watch Adventure Time

Because I consider myself a very busy person (and I also live under a rock), I find myself being very far behind from being in-the-know, and I wouldn't be surprised if I fell low on the cool-spectrum in life. I don't follow the charts or billboards for recent or new hip-and-in music, I find out about movies when I watch movies (that's what previews are for right?!) – which is not very often, or I otherwise find out about stuff from the local abandoned warehouse that sits a block from my street. My friends also tell me that cool people don't say things like hip-and-in anymore. But I don't care.

The abandoned warehouse, or my notice board. photo credits to Google Maps Street View

Cool people (well, I find them cool) put up posters to school the public, and to let them know about the recent happenings in town. What makes this abandoned warehouse cooler is that spaces that are not stuck with posters are covered in cool graffiti or what they call urban art.

I also find out about things online, via social networking websites such as Facebook and stuff, and that was how Adventure Time was introduced to me. After learning of its existence, I began to notice posts about them on the interweb, and it looked cute and cool and awesome, so (being the very evil person I am,) I downloaded the first season and began to watch it. By doing so, however, I received a lot of hate by my flatmates. They have, apparently moved past the whole cartoon thing, and they don't watch "such juvenile programs" anymore. If you share a similar view and you don't watch shows like Futurama, The Simpsons, Family Guy and other such programs JUST BECAUSE they are cartoons, you are totally missing out! ):

4 Reasons Why You Should Watch Adventure Time:

1. It's so cute!

Everyone has the same (or similar looking) beady eyes, and they have the same charm as Pusheen the cat. If you love Pusheen the cat, you will love Adventure Time… and vice versa!

2. It teaches you about friendship.

The story surrounds two characters, Finn the human, and Jake the dog. Each episode runs for about twenty-odd minutes and consists of two mini episodes, which show us snippets of the adventures our two heroes take on. As the episodes go on, the story of how our heroes met and the nature of their friendship is revealed to the audience. These guys go through thick and thin together, man! They fight bad guys and have each other's back in everything. Sometimes they even disagree with each other and fight, just like real people (!!!), but they resolve issues for the sake of their friendships, and learn how to overcome them.

3. It teaches you about love.

After watching the first and maybe second episodes of the series, you'll find out that our two heroes have love interests of their own. Even the other characters in the series have relationships with one another, and you'd journey with them through various commonplace (albeit metaphorically) issues when you're in a relationship. You'd even develop a bittersweet relationship with The Ice King, where you sort of relate to his desire to find love, yet resent his princess-kidnapping and temper tantrum tendencies!

4. It has the most random humour.

The punch-lines in the series are awesome. The characters are strange; there are candy people, nut people, fluffy people, a game console... and there's even a unicorn in it! And she speaks Korean! How random yet awesome is that! There's even a snail waving in every episode, and the kind of awesome you feel when you spot it in the episode is the awesome you feel if you're a knight slaying the dragon. Or climbing Everest. Really.

I hope this has given you enough psyche to watch it, because it's really an awesome show!

What CSI: Miami Has Taught Me About Running For My Life

In an attempt to procrastinate (I kinda have essays due really soon), I have decided to "come on over" and write a post, and also to rather shamelessly talk about myself by documenting some of my experiences. Fuelled by an impeccable sugar rush - fed by dark chocolate KitKats (best. things. ever.) and low-GI-no-sugar apple juice, I have decided that the whole 4 o'clock hour would be spent procrastinating.

What CSI: Miami Has Taught Me About Running For My Life.

On Tuesdays, it is "Crime Night" on free to air television. TV shows such as NCIS, CSI: Miami and other local cheesy television programs such as Highway Patrol (which is essentially the show Cops taken out of America) are shown after the 6pm news, all the way till the station closes. Before I had cable (and before I moved), I was living in a smaller, less-worth-for-money apartment, and I used a small monitor as a telly. I used to hang out with a friend who lived in the building and we had dinner together every other night. We used to watch movies and TV shows  together, and CSI: Miami was one of them.

We'd get flustered about the many instances where poor unfortunate women try to run away from their perpetuators in cars, with their incredible stilettos and tight dresses, and ending up the next morning dead, their sad corpses found by the janitor. But after seeing some build-ups that leave poor women as dead hookers in or behind dumpsters, I started to observe what they did wrong, so here is how you effectively* run for your life.

*note that the effectiveness of these steps are totally situational-dependent.

 If you notice a car following you while you're walking home late at night,

1. Remove your heels, man.

If you plan on getting away from your creepy car-equipped assailant, you need to be able to run. So unless you keep spare flip-flops in your purse, you'd need to take these off and run barefoot. And fast.

2. Run in the opposite direction of where you were headed (or in the opposite direction of the car).

It sounds quite counter-intuitive, running towards the bad guys, but imagine they'd have to turn the car around (especially if there are other cars on the road)!!! They probably wouldn't expect it anyway, so they can't readily bolt out of the car to get you.

3. Don't freaking run into an alley.

Instead, try to maybe run towards residential areas. Cut across parks or yards, somewhere with less/no traffic. Bad guys are in the car anyway right? You wanna run towards people, they might be able to help you.

If all else fails… and your assailant catches up with you, well hey, at least you tried your best. At least you weren't a classic dead hooker case on CSI: Miami, who owed some uptight* people money or something.

*substitutable with any other adjective of your choice.

You get older, you get bolder.

The young and reckless, so they say.

But it seems like the opposite for me. I wish I was reckless and less self-conscious when I was a teenager, that being not too long ago.
I guess everyone goes through different phases at different times. Not saying that I am 'reckless' and irresponsible, I just take a little more risks and go with the flow of THE moment more often now that I'm in my early twenties.

Like to hell with it you know? Do or die. Live life trying or live life wondering what could have been.

Been wondering for far too long for my own good.

It is time to die trying.

Yeah I might take a different take on things ten years or maybe even a year down the road. But why wait till then?

It is now or never. I told myself that when I was twenty-one. Yes it just came to me at TWENTY-ONE. There is something amazing about the twenties. I can't quite figure it out yet.  Maybe it's when epiphany hits or STRIKES you hard on your head.

YES, I learned how to ride a bicyle at twenty-one.

Maybe a little embarrassing when everyone around me is learning how to drive. But I can look back and say that THAT was the best thing I did that year. I got over my phobia of riding and got rid of the thought of "oh no, am I too old to be learning to ride a bicycle?".  It was liberating.

And look, I am still feeling the same way today, in fact even more strongly so.

MUCH easier said than done. I know. So small steps at a time or maybe a leap of faith? Whatever floats your boat at that time.

So I say.

- Rebecca Brontosaurus

short post: food for thought

What makes humans any different from robots? The other day, I came across this awesome quote by this guy called Gilbert Ryle:

"Save for the doubtful exception of himself, one could never tell the difference between a man and a robot."

It brought to mind something that I am pretty interested in (though honestly, "pretty" in this particular situation is a definite understatement): The Android's Conundrum.

                

The Android's Conundrum, put so eloquently in a (The) Shin's song, is to me, three simple words that pose a difficult question to those who ponder. What does it mean to be human? This, my friend, is freaking awesome. The term 'android' was coined by an American writer Philip K. Dick, when he wrote the book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (on which the movie Blade Runner was based). It is, put quite simply, a robot. The android looks like a human. But it is not human. It has no soul.