an apple a day keeps the doctor away?

The time has come where apples and blackberries are no longer seen as fruits, but spark thoughts of technological brands. An i-age is what I would define today as. And yes, I am referring to iphones and ipads and iproducts. Not just that, today our opposable thumbs seem to be indispensible in performing our daily tasks (not hard manual labour, but SMS-ing). It's 2010, and the days of snail mail and messenger pigeons are long gone. It is amazing how even siblings living under the same roof can facebook wall each other while seated in their own rooms. Or take the example of handphones and how they have become some sort of appendages on us, without which one begins to feel handicapped and agonized.

Are we truly moving into a society that is non-functional without these gadgets? Are we moving into a materialistic world defined by products and brands? These questions are worth raising and contemplating on. Somehow products have begun to embody our own aspirations and even bits and pieces of ourselves. But is this healthy? Probably not.

Even though, I may have fallen prey to consumerism in several instances, I believe it is of extreme importance to not lose ourselves in the process. A bag, for instance, should be to hold your items and make transportation of objects easier and not something that personifies you. Personification of oneself via objects leads to an unhealthy obssession and drive to attain more objects to express oneself. I recently heard from a friend about a mother who purchases branded goods for her child, just so she can drive them to work hard to attain such brands. But is what we want for the future generation? Children talking in the language of Gucci and Prada and aiming to get that latest design burberry coat rather than personal development?

On the whole, we as individuals need to draw that line between over-indulgence in materialistic possessions and remind ourselves to keep close what truly matters - friends and family and personal development. After all, that latest Gucci handbag may develop holes after a period of time, but our values and morales remain.

the toast always falls with its buttered side facing down.

Murphey's law - one of the merciless laws of nature which strike suddenly and so forcefully that it throws you off balance. And more often not, when you least expect it. For those who are unaware of what this law is exactly, the trusty (and sometimes not so trusty) wikipedia may help you out:

Murphy's law is an adage or epigram that is typically stated as: "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong"-wikipedia

Take for instance this scenerio. You walk out of your house feeling good about things, with a smile on your face, wearing a new dress/sandals and the sort. You feel a light drizzle and do not let it dampen your spirits (pun intended) and walk on. Then it gets heavier so you take out your umbrella, only to discover that there is a leak right above your head. Yet you go on thinking at least the rest of me is sheltered and the next thing you know, your umbrella gets blown inside out by a gust of wind. And as you walk along with a slight frown on your face, you get splashed with murky roadside water by an oncoming vehicle as you're walking along the pedestrian walk. AND you miss the bus and you sit at the bus stop, shivering in the cold. And yes, this unfortunate soul was yours truly, albeit quite a few years back.

In any case, somehow this law has its way in our everyday life. But it is how we approach these situations that makes the difference. And the best way is to laugh at yourself once in a while, especially when murphey's law seems to magnify itself. After that, you shrug and move on and hope that the next day would be a better day. Laughter seems to lighten that load by folds!

On another note, balancing both my final year project (or honours project) and modules is getting to be quite a challenge. It almost feels like I am balancing on a tightrope with no circus training and holding a rod with weights hung at both sides. But no matter what, I shall not look at the valley below me. I just hope the tightrope does not break!

Cheers!

getting the ball rolling.

World cup 2010 season just kicked off as Mexico and South Africa headed towards each other within the demarcated field of play (puns intended). By now it should be clear as to what the title of the post was inspired by. In any case, I am rooting for Spain (for obvious reasons) and Honduras (for not so obvious reasons). We shall see how this season goes!

In any case, getting the ball rolling in not so literal terms can prove to be a pretty daunting task at hand. Getting the gears into motion for example needs oiling, tweaking and many other strenuous tasks. Overcoming this initial barrier may be equivalent of a hike up Mount Everest or braving a storm in the midst of the Indian Ocean. Some may give up, some persevere and wear themselves out but only a select few make it to the peak and then move on with ease. I am faced with a similar problem or obstacle as to whether I should pursue this or I should head in another direction with hopes of greener pastures. But the ultimate question is whether such greener pastures really exist or are this a figment of our hopeful imagination. Is the grass equally brown at the other side? Nobody knows until they go over to find out and by then it may be too late to return. What a big headache-causing dilemma this is! Maybe I should just roll a dice. Maybe I should consult a gypsy with crystal ball. But for now, I wait and watch and let myself try to reach that peak.

On a side note, I am officially addicted to this years worldcup official theme song wakawaka by Shakira. Tsamina mina, eh eh, Waka waka, eh eh.. Tsamina mina zangalewa, This time for africa!cheers!

stuck in MUD.

The topic for today is something that a large number of university students can relate to. It is a silent killer, which strikes in their early twenties. It is something that robs the sleep of many and turns them into panda-eyed zombies during the day. Something that makes them turn and twist in bed and hence spoil the springs in their beds. Something that makes them invest in wigs because they have ripped out their hair. It comes unannounced, and catches you at the worst possible hour and hangs onto you like a persistant flu bug. It makes you hallucinate and turns you into an insomniac, with loss of appetite as a side effect in many.

Ok, melo-drama aside. I'm talking about Mid-Uni Depression, or MUD for short. You reach a juncture in the ultimate or penultimate year of uni life where you begin to question what exactly you desire in life. At a young age, one has the freedom to dream large and churn their mental futures. However, when the time to execute it nears, they soon begin to look faint and you question their practicality and possibility. It seems like I have reached that phase of MUD. Hopefully some miracle will hand out a stick and pull me out of this MUD before it dries out. I shall perserve till I find that solid ground again. I have to.

And I really wonder why some people forget that they are humans at the end of the day. It does not matter if you are the president of the US or a domestic helper, at the end of the day you should never forget what you on this earth for and you should always maintain humility and respect for others. Some people simply cannot see beyond themselves, it seems. But alas, we cannot change others, so we live with them and tread on our own paths, without letting them knock us off. God is always watching, after all.

The thicket to life.

The other day, while I was trudging through a forest on an eco field-trip and swatting away random bugs that nested on my skin albeit temporarily, with beads of perspiration rolling off my forehead (don't mind the slight exaggeration), I realized how similar life in general is to a rainforest. In this instance, our life starts off as seeds in this already populated world. Here, if we're lucky enough, we find nutrient filled ground to nestle in and grow. From birth, competition towers over us (representing the older canopy trees). We grow, nevertheless, with whatever nutrients we find around us (mostly given to us, in the seed cases, by our parents). When we're self-sufficient (upon growing our own leaves), we reduce our dependence on our parents and start to fend for ourselves. In countries like the USA, this would be synonymous to moving out of our parents' homes into our own apartments. And perhaps this would refer to being financially independent, in the context of Singapore.

Some of us, start off as parasites and live off others as climbers or parasitic plants for the rest of our lives, often inconveniencing the people we live off. This could be synonymous to people who prefer to get ahead of others by using them as stepping stones. Others practice friendly competition or compete with their inner selves to strive for the better and grow on their own accord with their own roots. Very often the former tend to forget where they come from, while the latter stays grounded and rooted in their values (pun intended) and stay true to their morales.

Whichever route a person (or a tree) adopts and treads upon, determines their fate in this world (or rainforest). Often, once we grow above or become more affluent than another, for instance, there is a tendency to look down on and steal resources from those who are still struggling (the seedlings). This happens among human beings, as much as it happens in nature. However, those who are able to maintain humility and perhaps in the context of the rainforest - develop leaves with gaps to allow some resouces to reach those below, can truly be considered as true human beings.

Eventually one's life nears an end and ends in various ways - catastrophically (being struck by lightning) or being martyred (being logged down for furniture or paper). Or one could grow to a ripe old age and allow generations to follow suit and eventually get gnawed away by termites, and leaving but their contributions to the rest of the world, in the form of their nutrients. This is the way life goes. From a seed to immense competition and eventually death. But will human beings ever break out of this cycle and find peace in simply being who we are, or will be continually get stuck in this ecological cycle of life where we constanly strive to survive? Some food for thought. Cheers!

For better, or for worse.

I believe everything has to get worse initially in order to get better. Somehow things work that way. Think about it, in order to convert a dough into a scrumptious muffin, it has to go through immense heat in the oven. Or take the example of a child, who has to fall and scrape his knees before learning to ride a bike or skate or how he has to struggle in the deep end before he or she learns how to do the butterfly stroke. If you're not convinced, take the simple case of catching a cold or the flu. Your condition inevitably worsens only to get immune to the flu for some time. It seems to a formula that all walks of life use. Take for example a caterpillar morphing into a butterfly. I would call this the 'delayed gratification' formula.

But sadly, this 'delayed gratification' formula is the very thing that seems to be holding human beings back from doing much about the world's impending devastation. It is only when we realize that the ozone has a hole or when the panda is growing extinct that human beings seem to see the need to act. It is when a condition is driven to the a critical point that people see the need to find a solution. But hopefully it isn't too late when we do act and hopefully the formula still stands by the time we are done.

Made-up reality

It's 2010 - two years prior to when the mayan calender predicts the world is going to come to an end. Fact or fiction, no one knows. People and religions churn out other hypotheses of apocalypse and accumulative natural disasters, but no one truly knows what is in store for us. It is in our human nature to make theories in order to make sense of what happens around us. Justifications for what transpires and the invisible hands that mould our future. That is how religion plays such a crucial role in our lifes - it makes all these happenings around us make sense.

On another note, I was just wondering how real reality shows really are. I mean, take the show Survivor as an example. While the 'castaways' eat off fallen coconuts and boiled rice, what do the producers, camera crew and the host eat? And what truly transpires in the hours when they do not telecast anything remains a mystery. In those 1-2 hour snippets, we are shown their hardships and what not, but what about the lapse of time in between the telecasts? For all you know, the contestants meet up and have a glass of beer. Just a random thought. Who knows, maybe they even sensationalize shows and sieve for contestants who can potentially create certain conditions on the show. Everything goes in the tv industry and we get drawn in like drama-hungry consumers. But that's the name of the game. As human beings we tend to create drama in our own lifes anyway, so much so that we lose touch of reality and start living in fantasy worlds of materialistic possessions.

To wrap it up, I think even though these shows and fantasy worlds we create add spice in our lifes, we should never forget to take it with a pinch of salt. What things look like on the exterior, may not be representative of the inner self and one should always attempt to look at that inner soul of anyone that they meet. It is easier said than done, but it is true that you only know half of the story till you try to read the inner half.