Evil Genius

Koreans are evil geniuses. I mean, just watch this:


I've seen pictures of these girls before, never thought they were really pretty, pretty generic looking. The dancing isn't really hard or anything, but I CAN'T STOP WATCHING IT.

Koreans are gonna take over the world soon if we don't watch out.

Phrases

Stupid phrases learnt in college today: "Deep theological reasoning" and "the chinese are very individualistic people"

XKCD

Today's XKCD is so epic that I just have to share it with you guys. If you understand it, that is.

Home

This is the first time blogging from my humble home in Bukit Mertajam. Believe it or not, I'm a very nostalgic person. One thing about coming home every 3 or 4 months is that you notice the progress that the once little Bukit Mertajam is making.

Looking at the new houses appear by as I drive back through a once familiar road, I remember my teenage years, where the brand new houses stood were once a little path with coconut trees all around. Me and my friends used to bike around little kampung paths like these. During my last few years in high school it was already a construction site.

Driving back to my house I couldn't help but notice new condos, once that weren't there before. I remember when I was a kid and I wanted certain toys and my parents told me that you can't get that in little Bukit Mertajam. Not anymore.

Stepping in to a familiar coffee shop and hearing the familiar Penang Hock Kien accent puts a smile on my face. I always know I'm home when I hear it. Looking at the coffee shop people that see me growing up, I can only wonder what they think of me, or what are they whispering behind my back. Not that it matters much, it's just a matter of curiosity. "Char Koay Teow, mai nui qi pua." (fried koay teow, no egg) I ordered. The lady smiled as she sees me. My mother used to bring me here everyday after school. To be honest though, the koay teow here was never really good, I ordered more out of habit then anything else.

I just went to the new Jusco in town, and when I was inside it I couldn't help but feel a bit surreal when I think that I'm in my hometown. This is what Bukit Mertajam has become! I tell myself as I look at the vast, clean, modern insides of a brand new shopping mall. Secret Recipe, McDonald's, Auntie Annes, Baker's Cottage and whatever franchise is there can easily be found. No longer will people look at you funny when you speak english to them, and it's getting rare to find someone that doesn't have at least a basic level of English. My little town surely has progressed.

As I roam around my little town I couldn't help but wonder what would become of it when I've finished my studies in the U.S. With the current rate of progress, I'm almost certain that much of it will be unrecognizable. However, I'm equally certain that some parts of it will be the same, at least for a while.

Things may have changed here, but no matter what this is where my heart lies, and where my home is. I might travel the world, I might even live somewhere else when I grow up, but in a special place in my heart little Bukit Mertajam will always stay.

Activities

How I spend my time in the short period after the finals and before I go back to my hometown.

12.30 p.m Wake, bathe, brush teeth

12.30-2.00 p.m Play Patapon on PSP, awesome game

2.00-4.00 p.m Eat with friend, then go to giant buy some stuff

4.00-7.00 p.m Back in room, play PSP again

7.00-11.30 p.m Go Asia Cafe play DotA with friend

11.30-12.30 a.m Sohai sohai go Bubba Gump eat with friend

12.30-1.30 a.m Drive back to Nilai

1.30-5.00 a.m DotA at the internet cafe here

5.00-12.30 p.m Bathe, brush teeth, sleep

Bob the Shark

Just thought I'd update you on our dear deterministic shark. I did not see him on my last few trips to Al-Salam. Only an empty cloudy tank where he once was.

R.I.P Bob.

Perfection

Perfection. We often throw the word around in our lives, but what does it mean?

On the surface, this is obvious. Perfection is something without a flaw, something that is good in anyway imaginable.

Seems clear enough. Yet is perfection truly attainable, or merely an oxymoron? Consider this statement I make. Bob is a perfect dog. Immediately you have an image in your mind of a dog that you consider (for now) perfect. No doubt Bob is friendly, caring, loyal, smart, strong and all other imaginable positive attributes we might associate with a good dog. Yet there are some qualities that do go together, even if both are good qualities. For example, you might want a dog that is strong enough to guard your house at night against criminals, such a dog would logically be of a decent size. Yet such a dog would not be able to possess the quality of easy to carry around. Even if you compromise and get a medium sized dog, remember that dog wouldn't be as good in both qualities, thus imperfect.

This applies to anything, of course, assume the perfect handphone. What is the size of the perfect handphone? Too small and it is easily misplaced, too big and it's too bulky, too little functions and it's useless, too many and it's confusing Perfect beer? Too bitter and it's piss water, too smooth and it lacks flavour. Perfect girlfriend? Too caring and she's way too controlling, too uncaring and you don't feel loved. With every little move up or down the scale of any quality, comes it's pros and cons. And since all quality has cons.

Nothing is perfect.

Bastards

H1N1

Okay, I've heard enough about H1N1 that's downright silly. I feel compelled to write a post about the current H1N1 flu situation.

First, H1N1 is a flu virus with flu symptoms. Without laboratory testing, it's practically impossible to know if someone has H1N1 or plain old seasonal flu.

Second, due to the obvious fact that H1N1 is a flu virus, it's impossible to get reliable statistics about it, because the only way we know it's H1N1 is through laboratory testing, and most people don't go for a laboratory test after catching the flu. Due to the similar physical signs between normal flu and H1N1 flu, many (possible several times more then reported) cases of H1N1 probably went unreported, because people get sick, treat it as any other flu (hot tea and warm bed) and recovered.

Third, because of the difficulty in getting accurate statistics, experts (and me) agree that H1N1 is probably way more widespread then you think (possibly 10 times more cases then reported). With the current data in Malaysia, the virus has already successfully infected much of the population.

Fourth, due to how widespread the H1N1 virus already is, quarantine and restrictions on traveling, as well as closing down schools, in most cases, is useless. If 10 of the students in your school has high fever, it's too late, the virus has spread into the school. It spreads through the air, people!

Fifth, it's flu, not AIDS, H1N1 is not much more dangerous then normal flu. Getting H1N1 is far from a death sentence. In fact in all likelihood someone close to you has already got it and recovered, and nobody knew about it. As of July 27th, there are 134503 reported cases of H1N1 with 816 deaths. Bringing the death rate up to a whopping 0.61%. Compare that to the death rate of plain old seasonal flu of 0.12%. Remember though, that there are definitely much more unreported cases of H1N1, but most cases of H1N1 deaths do get reported, meaning that 0.61% is probably a much higher then what really is.

However, it's noted that the potential the virus has for mutations might make the H1N1 pandemic much more serious in the future.

So next time you hear someone speak of H1N1 as if it were the end of the world, say:
Relax, it's a fucking flu!

Fast food theory

Malaccan Food Review

In a recent trip to Malacca I had the chance to taste some of the famous dishes there. Here are the opinions of a highly-biased, disgustingly elitist penangnite. Proceed with care.

Auntie Lee's Nyonya Food (Ujong Pasir)

First thing we had in Malacca was in a small inconspicuous joint at the corner of a street. From what I heard, it was suppose to be a famous for it's home-cooked nyonya meals, but when we got there on a Friday night it we were the only ones there.

The dishes were:
Assam fish
Rating: Good
The fish was fresh and the sour spicy soup was strong yet not overbearing. Well-balanced and delicious.
Ayam pongteh
Rating: Good
If you don't know, this is essentially chicken and potatoes in soy-sauce like dark gravy. From the taste of it has a lot of spices in it as well. The chicken was well cooked and the potato was soft yet firm. The gravy tasted unique in the sense that it was a bit sourish. Other then that it's nothing special, but a well-cooked, well-balanced dish, which is a delight in it's own right.
Otak-otak
Rating: Good
Nice flavor and texture. I won't pretend to be an experienced otak-otak eater but it was nice.
Cincaluk Egg
Rating: Fair
For those that do not know, cincaluk is crush little tiny shrimp (or shrimp rice in mandarin), fermented. To be honest I didn't really like this dish. It was just really salty fried egg, although I guess that's what it's SUPPOSED to taste like. Which is why I gave it a fair.
Petai
I don't eat it so it wouldn't be fair for me to comment.
Overall Rating: Good
This is one of the most enjoyable meals I had in Malacca. The distinct nyonya taste of the dishes really made this meal memorable. Some might say that it's just standard fare that people have at home, but I say a good home-cooked meal is as rare as a good bowl of noodles. (for those that don't get it, yes it's quite rare)

Me stuffing my face. Stuff stuff. Yummy.

Chicken Rice Balls, Jonker Street

The next day we had the famous Chicken Rice Balls. We went to the most famous stall where there's always a queue at the weekends, and we queued for a good 40 minutes before being able to get a table.

We are served with 5 chicken rice balls each and a big plate of chicken. This is basically the only things they serve there, a testament to the reputation of the shop.
The chicken rice balls were basically normal chicken rice, squeezed into little fish-ball sized balls.
It did not taste anything special, but it was good chicken rice. The rice was fragrant and just oily enough so that you feel it being smooth but not so oily that you don't feel like eating after a bite. The way to eat the rice was refreshing as well, eating rice as if they were fish balls does make it feel really different. Better or worse then normal rice? I don't know. Refreshing? Certainly.
The chili that came with the rice tasted light and you can easily taste the lime juice in it.
The chicken was good, it was soft and smooth and juicy enough. Some people say this kinda chicken can be found anywhere, but I assure you not many stalls reach the level this one does (although I wouldn't say it's the best I've eaten)

Overall Rating: Good
Innovative (though quite gimmicky) way of eating chicken rice. Rice was fragrant and not too oily, chicken was good, chili was decent. That's all you need for a good plate of chicken rice.

Sate Celup, Capitol

Finally, we have the famous (or infamous) Malaccan sate celup. This is the most famous shop in Malacca offering it, and in a feat of insanity (or stupidity) me and my friends decide to queue for it. If you're wondering why I made the previous statement, behold:

The queue

This is the shop and the people queing for it. No, this is not the whole queue.

This is the rest of the queue. You can see the far left of the first pic and far right, it's the same guy. Insane enough? Not yet.

This is the rest of the queue. You can see my dear friends (including Fenna, the girl that serves as the marker of connection between this and the last picture) queuing. And yes, that IS another sate celup shop, with nobody queueing in front of it. The queue starts from one sate celup shop and ends at another. Presumbly this "other" shop survives by getting customerst sick of queuing. Or when people like to come and eat sate celup while laughing at other people queuing FOR sate celup. We queued for 2 hours before getting a table.

For those who are wondering what the hell is the big deal and what is sate celup, it is just lok lok (wooden satay sticks of fish balls, veges, meats, whatever) but instead of clear soup, they use satay sauce to cook the food. Sounds good? Ya, it didn't to me either. To be fair though, I gave it a chance.

Inside the shop were pictures of various articles on the newspaper and famous food reviewers and celebrities that came to the shop. Even the english rugby team once ate here.


good, fresh ingredients, ruined by sate celup

The ingredienst were pretty normal, they were fresh and of good quality (as one would expect from a shop with such a reputation). However, other then that, I'm afraid I have nothing good to say about it. Seafood just tasted plain odd with satay sauce, the vegetables you see in the picture trap so much of the thick sauce that it dripped all over, and not in a good way, meats did not taste TOO bad, but it did not taste like it was meant to be served together with the sauce. Fish balls and satay sauce also do NOT go well together. At all.

Overall rating: Very Poor
Normally I might just give it a Poor, but because of it's ridiculous reputation, and it's failure to uphold it, it thoroughly dissappointed me. Queuing for 2 hours and ending up in dissappointment is just sad. Ridiculously overhyped, expensive, and definitely not worth it (the money AND the queuing). Sate celup sounds like a bad idea someone thought up during a boring lecture. If, however, you do like sate celup (for whatever strange reason), I recommend you go to any other shop beside this one, as from what I heard, they taste not much different and you don't need to queue.

There were a few other things that we had in Malacca, including Durian Cendol, Curry Laksa, Assam Laksa, traditional kuihs and pineapple tarts. They were all quite good, but I won't say more because I don't have pictures of them, and a wall of text is no fun right? :)
One thing about Malacca is that you can truly taste different versions of things that you are used to if you're a Malaysian Chinese. For example, you might have had some kuihs in your hometown, Malacca probably has it to, but with a nyonya twist that is quite refreshing.

The downside is, Malaccan food is quite gimmickish. What do I mean? Just look at 2 of the food I mention above. Chicken rice balls and sate celup. Both seems like quirky versions of what they originally are, and in some cases (sate celup, for example), this isn't exactly a good thing. Also beware, cause every shop will stamp the words nyonya on them, and that doesn't by itself determine whether the shop is good or not.

In a nutshell, Malaccan food is worth a taste because of the strong cultural influences that really bring unique flavors that might not be easily found anywhere else in Malaysia. In terms of quality though, it definitely isn't Penang. ;)

Ignorance

Just an hour ago I was at a friend's room, waiting for him to copy something to my pen drive to me when I noticed his room mate's notes on his table.

It was a course on critical reasoning, and it was notes on logical fallacies that people are prone to.

I look down and I saw this note:

Argument from ignorance
Example: There is no proof that watches exist, therefore, they do not exist.

Immediately i felt something wasn't right. It was obvious what this was an analogy to.

There is no proof that God exists, therefore, he does not exist.

By using such a bad example, which does not clearly show what the argument from ignorance actually is, it makes me suspicious of the lecturer's intentions.

First off, the argument from ignorance is essentially a logical fallacy in which it is claimed that a premise is true only because it has not been proven false, or is false only because it has not been proven true.

The example that the lecturer give appears to be correct at first glance. Just because one cannot prove that watches exist, it is not a good enough reason to conclude that they do not exist. However, because watches do indeed exist (I hope none of you doubt the existence of watches), it is hard for anyone to relate to the point of the fallacy.

A much better example would be: There is no proof that the BigFoot does not exist, therefore Bigfoot must exist.
Or: You cannot prove that evolution happened, therefore evolution is false.

Indeed, the argument from ignorance is essentially drawing too much from too little evidence, or drawing too little from important evidence, usually because one has reasons to support one particular stance.

If anything, we have to take all the evidence as a whole before drawing conclusions. One might not be able proof that the Bigfoot does not exist, yet after years or searching, all evidence claimed to be found has been fakes, and all we can find is personal testimonials that do not always tally with each other. In other words, given all the available data, there is a high chance that the Bigfoot does not exist.

As for the watches example, it would have been more accurate if it has been phrased like this: You cannot prove that watches exist, therefore watches do not exist.

This way, the reader can clearly see that just because 1 person cannot prove that watches exist, it is not enough of a reason to conclude that watches do not exist.
In fact, if there is no proof that watches pretty safe to conclude that they do not exist.

You cannot prove that purple invisible hippos exist, therefore, they exist.:)

Green Lies

The environment is a no doubt an important issue today. Global warming, energy usage, recycling, we've all heard it, yet sometimes, the truth is more that it seems.

Take for example, the frequent bashing we hear of plastic bags, and how bad they are for the environment. Here are the usual reasons, plastic bags take a damn long time to decay (omg omg, the bag you threw out yesterday will last FOREVER!), plastic isn't "natural" as it is made of "chemicals" and sometimes animals die of eating plastic bags (sea turtles, stupid fuckers). Paper bags seem to be what many green advocates propose, failing to consider that paper come from trees , "chemically" treated and bleached, then washed with tons of water, not to mention the high energy costs in making paper. Paper vs Plastic, indeed.

Or that walking, sometimes costs more to the environment then driving? If you're wondering how on earth could this be possible, then bear in mind then your body is in fact an energy consuming machine as well, and many environmentalist frequently forget to include energy costs in food production when considering the effects of walking compared to driving.

When it comes to the environment, things are often not as simple as they seem. Perhaps the most important point to ponder when considering such issues is that if anything, those that are particularly involved in "green" activities (those that join a Green Society for example), very often are coloured in their views.

Gender Equality

Today, we have quite a awkward situation between men and woman. On one hand, we still have links to our more traditional thinking regarding men and women (and trust me, this applies whether you were brought up Western or Eastern, although perhaps varying in degrees on certain issues), on the other, we are learning of philosophies such as gender equality, the feminist movement and we are being brought to light on issues such as women receiving less pay, being discriminated at work, etc etc.

If you think you're not a sexist, or this is not a real issue, then simply consider how society reacts to a situation differently if it was a man or a woman doing a particular action. First, just think of how parents treat their sons and daughters. If one discovers their son is having sex, one is not likely to make a big deal out of it, and in fact might be proud of his/her son for "growing into a man", if its a girl, needless to say the treatment would be very different.

A brief look at our evolutionary past could easily explain many of the differences between men and women. If the past, social roles were clear for men and women. Men were built to hunt and gather resources. They evolved superior spatial skills, superior strength and they are judged on what they bring home for dinner and whether they dominate other males of the same species. A men with multiple sexual partners is one who is successful, and is thus respected and revered in society, and the fact that he is wanted makes him even more appealing to other women, because it is a sign he has good genes. The most successful males were those that were aggressive, physically strong and have leadership qualities. Women, on the other hand, evolved to be good mothers and gatherers, maintaining relationships were a key part of a woman's life. A promiscuous woman is scorned upon, as no man can be sure it's the child in her is his.

This would also explain many of today's female behavior, such as fondness for shopping, dressing up, gossiping, wearing make-up etc etc, while men like things like sports, video games, machines.. yada yada yada. That is why so many still cling to thoughts that women should stay at home to care for the baby, and men should work and earn lots of money. It has been hard-wired in us for so long that as a matter of fact, all of us judge people based on their sexes to a certain degree.

Knowing the origin of the discrimination between the sexes might clear things up a bit, but it doesn't offer a solution today's problem. Some, in fact, use this knowledge to justify their sexism. If woman evolved to stay at home and care for the family, then we should in fact, teach them to do so! Why should we go against our natural inclinations?

Well, if you ask me, I'd like to think society has progressed a bit from the cavemen stage. During the period where humans evolved, most of the resources can only be obtained through physical means which men are more suited for, but today, much of the modern workforce have jobs that physical strength hardly matters anymore. In fact, more and more of today's jobs concern with dealing with people, something women have been able to do better since the beginning. A woman shouldn't be paid less for doing the same job as a man, if she does it just as well, but this isn't an easy thing to fix as many employers do not even know that they are discriminating at all. In fact, much of our sexism is unconscious.

Go back to the sex example, and how a man is celebrated while a woman is scorned for having sex. A virgin man is laughed upon, a virgin girl is praised as being pure. If there is a lesson we learned from examining the origins in which we judge males and females differently, it is that most of us do it unconsciously, and we have no real moral basis for judging someone based on their sex. The most reproductively successful strategy in the past isn't necessarily the kind of way we want members of our modern society to act, nor does the evolutionary origins of any behavior justify it's moral rightness or wrongness. In fact, knowing that we are naturally inclined towards judging people based on their gender should be a reminder to us to weed out discriminative thoughts whenever they appear.

If what I said on evolutionary psychology is right, then we would expect that most women get more satisfaction for raising children and more men will be happy winning the bread for the family. This is exactly what we observe in real life. There is nothing wrong with that, but it no doubt reinforces much of the discrimination we see today. This doesn't mean that there are no woman who places their priority of their careers rather then their family, or man who prefer to be stay-at-home-dads, nor does it mean that it is justified for us to treat men and women unequally in the workplace or anywhere else. If anything, however hard it may be, we shouldn't be judging someone on what they choose to do, no matter they are male or female, but how well they do it.

20

As a kid during Chinese New Year, I always divided the family members into 2 groups: kids and adults. Kids were the ones that the adults never took seriously in a conversation, they were the ones that hang around with you doing fun stuff instead of sitting around chatting, drinking and watching tv like the adults.

Every kid probably wondered when he or she will become an adult. When will anything you say, your opinion, begin to matter? When will you be able to do adults stuff, like drive cars, have loads of money, not having to listen to people tell you to do things...

I always thought of it as a cut-off point at a certain age, and I often wondered what age it was. Hmm.. So kids graduate from high school at 17.. and there are people starting to work after high school, so they should be adults.. there are no smoking signs that say you can smoke when you're 18, so is it 18? Well I didn't really know why, but I sort of settled on 20 as the adult age. Maybe it is because 20 is the first 2-digit number that starts with a 2, I don't know.

So here I am. It's my 20th birthday today, and I don't feel much more adult then I did yesterday, or the day before that, or the day before that, or the day before that. I still feel insecure, still feel vulnerable, still feel lack of confidence, still doubt myself sometimes. Worst of all, I still have to do what I want to do, and still people don't really care what I say. Well, maybe all these things don't just go away as you grow up, maybe no matter how old one is, one will always feel a hint of doubt here and there, and one always has to listen to what people tell you to (or society), or that people don't really care what you have to say unless it's similar to their opinion anyway. Maybe all these is just part of being human.

Or maybe the real cut-off age is 21.. that's the legal age to vote right?

Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson's dead.

He died of a cardiac arrest.

I guess his heart couldn't beat it.

A tribute to the late Michael Jackson, the king of pop who revolutionize music, a suspected pedophile and for his contributions to the science of plastic surgery.

Jokes aside, nobody has reached his level as a performer, he was truly one of a kind.

A conversation about love

Below is a conversation I just had with a female friend on MSN. I'm posting it because it is interesting and might make you think, and it shows me in good light, and I am too lazy to write a real post. All names have been changed.

Leland says:
lol
u like transformers

girl (space) friend says:
uh huh
u?

Leland says:
din watch yet
im guessing nice action

girl (space) friend says:
YEAP!
watched w ASD
hahahaha

Leland says:
i can see now y its so kewl
girl (space) friend says:
so random
no no no

Leland says:
i get it la
just a jab
lol
how tings

girl (space) friend says:
im objectively saying thats its kewl!
i hate d 1st one
bt story-wise it suck
jz love d special effects

Leland says:
its transformers
the story
is of course like that

girl (space) friend says:
uh huh
so leland
what do u think of pre-marital sex?

Leland says:
er
cool
its
cool

girl (space) friend says:
right...
i can see d roll of ur eyes

Leland says:
i tink ppl should have more premarital sex

girl (space) friend says:
u dont wanna a virgin bridew?

Leland says:
not really

girl (space) friend says:
seriously?
y?

Leland says:
y should i
besides
a girl with experience
probably knows more stuff

girl (space) friend says:
shouldnt she b pure?

Leland says:
that can make me feel more awesome

girl (space) friend says:
dnt u wanna b d first to touch her?

Leland says:
pure?
well..
a bit, but practical considerations far outweigh that
come on a girl having premarital sex that i would go for..
u know
more fun in bed
i dun wanna marry some girl
that got brought up like a traditional stupid girl
then later cant enjoy sex
sex is great!
how can u accept that more pure crap nyways
unless u follow ur gut..
sluts= more chance of having someone elses baby
madonna-whore dichonomy
evo psy

girl (space) friend says:
haha!
bt.. d thought of another guy who had her b4
doesnt bother you?

Leland says:
well not really
unless i know the guy
that it would bother me
a biot

girl (space) friend says:
y then?

Leland says:
well its just kinda not nice imagining the girl u like having sex with another
but another then that im cool
she probbaly can give a 10x better blowjob then any virgin

girl (space) friend says:
well..
blowjobs does not break d hymen
duh
any virgin can gv an awesome fellatio

Leland says:
girl
u know nothing

girl (space) friend says:
yea
fine
so i admit i do not
educate me then

Leland says:
and enough about that overrated piece of skin
not oni blowjobs u know
a sexually confident girl
one that can enjoy sex
knows what she wants
knows how important sex is to a man
knows when to give and take if it comes to sex
imagine a girl that think of sex as a chore
that'd be horrible

girl (space) friend says:
haha
i always like hw you rationalize things

Leland says:
its about wat i want in a partner

girl (space) friend says:
bt still..
its because guys do not have a definitive indication of them losing their virginity..
bt girls do..
that makes it all d more harder

Leland says:
some guys care bout it
its not cause of that
if parents knew their son were having sex
they may even feel proud
if its their daughter..

girl (space) friend says:
exactly
why then?
bcz of d cultural perception that girls should b presented as gifts?

Leland says:
isnt it obvious

girl (space) friend says:
to their partners on their marriage nights?
i kinda figured its down to that

Leland says:
,remember
its most reproductively succesful for a guy to have as many sex as he gets
its most reproductively succesful for a woman to pick a guy with good genes and a decent level of commitment
make sense now?

girl (space) friend says:
yea yea yea
bt seriously.
you saying that you dont mind that another guy had touched her jz bothers me
me n ASD were discussing yesterday
i went "you wanna fuck me, right?"

Leland says:
ASD 120% cant accept

girl (space) friend says:
he's like.. "yea, im a guy. bt then, i wanna you to remain pure for your husband n crap"
duh
so i went "hmmm.. we'll c"

Leland says:
well
ultimately its a decision for urself
just remember that there are people that will always prejudice against non-virgins
hypocrites mostly
at the very least though make sure the guy is special for the first time

girl (space) friend says:
*haihz.
sex should b jz bout hedonistic pleasure
there shouldnt b anything more than that

Leland says:
sex has always been about making babies

girl (space) friend says:
yea
bt since d introducation of condoms n pills
d role has slightly reduced..

Leland says:
haha
well
evolution cant foresee things

girl (space) friend says:
it went towards pleasure instead

Leland says:
pleasure
is a side effect
for people to want to have sex
so they can have babies

girl (space) friend says:
uh huh
hmm.
mayb my decision will b made in d heat of d moment
we'll c..
nwayz. yea. told ya i'll get him back
i did, didnt i?
haha. im pathetic

Leland says:
congratulations
i struggle
to maintain a straight face

girl (space) friend says:
hahaha!
i noe!\
im laughing out loud over here too
im bored la.
nothing to do much in these 2 months
having a bf jz spices things up

Leland says:
if u say so
girl (space) friend.. says:
you finshed your webpage d?

Leland says:
no
havent started
a fren helping me tmr
study computer

girl (space) friend says:
haha!
no gf this week
?

Leland says:
got cos after friday im semi-free

girl (space) friend says:
haha.. so sweet..
do you still lust for her
jz bcz she's 'available
'
or bcz shes her?

Leland says:
lust?
because she's a girl and shes hot

girl (space) friend.. says:
yea. bt if another comes along

Leland says:
but i relaly do love her

girl (space) friend says:
hawter than her
n willing to have you?
awwwww... seriously? i kinda junk d idea of love d
dont believe in it

Leland says:
aww
did i ruin it for u

girl (space) friend says:
no no no..
more towards like. boy meets girl.
passion fires.
then.. its d commitment that comes in..
after awhile familiarity tells him that he cant live without her..

Leland says:
o ASD ruined i for u

girl (space) friend says:
n thus, he does everything to keep her
n marriage calls..
n he's jz too lazy to leave her

Leland says:
hahaha

girl (space) friend says:
nah. ASD didnt ruin it for me. ASD opened my eyes to it

Leland says:
differnt words
same meaning
besides
there are so many diff ppl

girl (space) friend says:
i mean. yea, ive been in love. its d longing, d missing, d yearning.
bt i dont think you "love' d person.

Leland says:
maybe love is just working with someone u really like to spend the rest of ur life with

girl (space) friend says:
you love how you feel around d person
yea. bt its bcz you love yourself more than you love d person..
bt then.. when you feel that you cant live without d person.
you rather sacrifice your life for him/her
thus.. a word: LOVE

Leland says:
must one be that self-sacrificial to be called LOVE?

girl (space) friend says:
well.. you jz said. you wanna spend your entire life w him/her

Leland says:
thats a rather cynical view
think bout it
is it that love isnt real
or was it ur expectations of it that were unrealistic
and naive

girl (space) friend says:
nah. i dont have much expectations of it

Leland says:
right
i believe u

girl (space) friend says:
what im trying to say is that.. 'love' itself.. could b substituted w so many other words
commitment.. infatuation.. comfortability.. familiarity.. happiness
bt ppl jz lump it all into one big fat word called love

Leland says:
it cant be substituted
it means all of that

girl (space) friend says:
it ca n
you think you love your family?

Leland says:
it can but u wouldnt be telling hte whole picture

girl (space) friend.. says:
you dont.. if not for d things they have done to you
if your mother wasnt who she was.. if she didnt carry you for 9 months.. would you had loved her?
or at times when you got into fights w her.. n hated her
you still love her?
bt yea.. you convinced your self you do..

Leland says:
u're broadening the meaning of love to mean ridicolously unconditioning feelings of affection and willingness to sacrifice

girl (space) friend says:
cz you think of all d good memories
well. you just said you wanna spend your ENTIRE lifetime w d person you love
dont start calling me hypocritic

Leland says:
im not calling u hypocritic
im just pointing something out

girl (space) friend says:
so, love.. it jz comes n goes?
exactly. why. i. said. love. does. not. exist.

Leland says:
the word
has so many meanings
its not neccesary that u need to be like wat u said to mean being in love
i can tell u from the bottom of my heart
i really do love my gf

girl (space) friend says:
ah..
well.
someone told me..
love is loving d person.. even when you put her last
some other guy that i emo-ed to la

Leland says:
that sentence doesnt even begin to make sense

girl (space) friend says:
bt it makes sense.. right?

Leland says:
who else would i wake at 6 in the monring, drive over to bring her here, then drive her back at night?

girl (space) friend says:
all i c are jz your fox-dogs
its bcz you enjoy her company

Leland says:
true
but does me enjoying her company

girl (space) friend says:
love then.. in this case. is enjoyment

Leland says:
means i dont love her?
it isnt
enjoyment

girl (space) friend says:
it means you enjoy her company

Leland says:
is part of love
but love isnt enjoyment

girl (space) friend says:
it does not necessitate loving her

Leland says:
if u define love so stringent that nobody can pull it off
that of course it doesnt exist
and the word would mean nothing
but then words are made by people
and people use the word for all sorts of things
if it din have meaning it wouldnt have any practical usage
is ur redefinition of the word love accurate?
if i tell u that altruistic behavior ultimately stems from the gene that cares for itself, does that mean that an altruistic being isnt altruistic?
if im willing to sacrifice something very important for a friedn, becasue i enjoy his/her company and i have grown attached to the person, does it mean i dont love her?

girl (space) friend says:
alright. so, say for example.
you sacrificed lots of time for me.
listening to me whine bout ASD.
bringing me to mcD n spending time w me
so that i get over ASD
that meant you love me
aite?
i know. bt your love to me is jz as that of a friend
your love to her.. goes way deeper
bt c leland
im playing your game
im trying to tell you.. that 'love
'love' is jz another meaning that humans attach to emotions generated by our hormones..

Leland says:
dear im familiar with wat u're saying

girl (space) friend says:
that generally mean nothing at all
other than to lead to sex
n reproduction

Leland says:
it doesnt mean nothing
zz

girl (space) friend says:
argh

Leland says:
just becasue somehting stems from another thing doesnt mean it is the other thing

girl (space) friend says:
double negatives
i dont understand double negative sentences

Leland says:
u should know my worldview by now
wat u're saying is
love isnt as special as u thought it was
well
nothing is
as mythically speical

girl (space) friend says:
yea, i guess.

Leland says:
supernaturally
bla bla bla

girl (space) friend says:
im saying that love isnt as special as i thought it was

Leland says:
but it doesnt mean what we experience is any less

girl (space) friend says:
bcz its d amalgamation of so many things..
i noe..

Leland says:
neither does it mean it has no meaning

The Secret

Ever heard of the book that's seemingly all the rage lately titled The Secret?
I myself am surprised how well-known it is. Even my friends who don't really read that much know a whole lot about it.

I hate that.

The book is apparently a self-help book. While I don't have a problem with self-help books generally, (people sometimes need a motivational boost and some good advice) it's books that all full of nonsense like the secret that annoys the fuck out of me.

The whole basis of the book is like this: Apparently, the whole secret that is so hyped up is the law of attraction. What is this law of attraction, you ask? Well it essentially works like this: you know how you want something really really really bad? Like that girl(or boy) you've been crushing on for months? Or that new iPhone that you can't afford? Or maybe a million dollars? Well, if you want it that badly, simple. Ask for it! Who to ask from? Well, the Universe of course! Because you know, every whim and desire of yours is so important that the ENTIRE FUCKING UNIVERSE just has to give a crap enough to give you what you want. Because you know, you're just that fucking special.

Pardon the language, but stuff like this really really gets to me. Of course, books like this sell because of their enormous psychological appeal and their very convincing (although complete bullshit) points. Imagine of course, if you confront someone who believes in this crap and ask them: Hey, I've been asking the universe and believing that that girl will give a shit for months but nothing seems to be happening. The answer? You don't believe HARD enough. The unfalsifiability of the claim is what makes it so convincing to so many. If it sounds convincing to you, then consider this. There is now a invisible pink unicorn behind you watching you read this blog. It's invisible and intangible. Prove me wrong.

Why am I so bothered when people use misinformation and mislead people with false beliefs? Probably because I value truth more then most people. But it's also because people that write crap like that are, in fact, taking hard-earned cash from people who can't know any better. Imagine if I sell sugar lumps to a tribe of people who has never seen it, tell them it gives them magical properties and sell the lumps to them for an absurb amount of gold. Yes, people like that are indeed con artists, only instead of selling fake jewelry or magical pendants that increase your health as long as you're wearing it, they are selling false hopes and beliefs.



Well, at least The Chasers got it right.

Battle of the Sexes 2

After looking at the guys, it's time to look at the girls. We've seen why guess are horny most of the time, the question is, why aren't girls? Why do girls need to feel a "connection" or emotional feelings before they can think about sex with a guys? Why do girls play "hard to get"? And why do girls frequently are the ones more crazy about the relationship after a while?

First off, we must remember, whilst a guys can quite literally impregnate half the world with his sperm cells, a girl can only has a limited number of eggs in a lifetime. Not only that, if impregnated, a girl would have to be "unavailable" for 9 months. FURTHERMORE, even after the baby's born, it's generally the female who has the maternal instinct to take care off (since the truth is, a guy really has no way of knowing for sure if the baby is theirs.

Translated, this means that while the most successful male strategy is to fuck as many as possible, for females, it's a tad more complicated then that.
1. They need to make sure the guy that so generously donated his sperm has good genes.
For males, it really doesn't matter if his sperm ends up with poor genes, because a single sperm (or a single fuck) costs so little to him. For females however, a pregnancy has a much much higher cost, meaning, that she has got to make sure the genes she get are of a good quality, if not, she'd be spending a lot of resources and time rearing a reproductive failure.
2. They need to be sure the male is willing to commit to them and their baby.
Humans, unlike other primates, are a high male parental investment species. This means our males actually give a shit for their kids. Chimpanzee mothers take care of their babies alone, male bears and lions might actually kill a females cub, which would (strange to us) immediately make the female, (the mother of the slain cubs) be receptive to sex. This means that aside from good genes, females want males that commit and are willing to provide resources, time and care for their offspring.

A combination of the above 2 factors can easily make us understand a lot of things about females. For example, why do they like it when guys do seemingly irrational romantic crap (it signifies commitment), why do they value emotional connections (again commitment), and why are they sexually aroused not by the appearance of a guy, but by his gentle whisperings and soft touch. (Signs of emotional attachment = signs of commitment).

As for why girls generally get more into the relationship the further it goes, it's because before the male and female have a relationship (sexual), the female holds the cards. She's the one having the scarce resource (the egg). Sperm cells are frequently harvested by males everyday, whether or not in the presence of females. Thus, she plays it hard, she demands shows of affection and commitment before copulation. After the relationship begins, however, the male holds the power in the relationship. The female is essentially stuck with this male, at least for the next 9 months. The female cannot find other mates while she's pregnant, and no guy would want to rear another guy's kids. The male on the other hand, can effectively have sex with as many other woman he wants, if given the opportunity. This also explains why females are generally less promiscuous then males.

Therefore, expectantly, we will see the male having urges to fuck other woman, and the women trying to stop men from doing it (and thus diverting his resources to the other woman). If you think it's because of more then this, then bear this in mind. In almost all societies, rich powerful men have tons of wives and kids, with none of the wives unwilling. This is of course, because the said male is resourceful enough to provide for all his mates.

Battle of the Sexes 1

Ah.. love.. The euphoric feelings of happiness one feels, when that guy or that girl turned around and just give you that look.. the comfort you feel as your loved one lies on your lap (or vice versa), and you gently stroke her (or his) head.. the rush of feelings you get as you look at the special one..
all going to be systematically broken down and analyzed by a the bastard known as Leland :3

Have you ever noticed how most typical (note the word typical) relationship goes? First, it's usually the guy that goes after the girl. We've all seen guys go crazy over some girl, then go ahead and do whatever it takes to get them. After that, the girl would either accept or reject the guy's advances. If she rejects, the guy might persist for a long or short time, then after some emo-ing give up or switches target. If she accepts, the girl would find herself starting to fall head over heels for the guy, and begin to get more and more attached to the relationship. Ironically at this point the guy's feelings is likely to fade less and less, usually the guy won't be as crazy about the girl as he was when he was after her.

Strange isn't it? Wouldn't it make more sense if the guy and girl fall head over heels for each other at the same time? Sure there is a period, the start of the relationship, where both parties are so intoxicated with hormones they can barely function as human beings, but before and after, the guy and girl both seem to be having feelings very much not synchronized with each others.

Truthfully, it might make things simpler, but it wouldn't make more sense. To answer the question, we have to go back millions of years ago, in the environment where our species evolved.
First, we look from a male's point of view. We all know men are much more easily aroused then women. We also know that men get aroused through visual means, and can get sexually aroused by any women that isn't hideous. This is easy to explain. Guys can easily ejaculate millions of sperm cells, and the easiest way to ensure your genes get pass on to the next generation is.. you got it, fuck as many women as possible.

Yet you might ask, why does guys go crazy over 1 particular girl, and would go to extreme lengths just to be with her? Wouldn't it make sense to go after as many girls as possible? It would, if the girls will have you. Remember, there are other competing and females usually won't put out so easily (for reasons we will go into later). So, if a guy goes after as many girls as possible, and spread his resources/effort among them, it's likely that no females will accept him, and rather accept another male that would commit, thus it makes more sense to go crazy over a particular girl and commit to her every resource available. Of course, while you're going after Girl A, and Girl B comes along and spreads her legs for you, it doesn't make sense for you to refuse. I'm sure most guys know (and admit at least to themselves) that, however, being completely commit ed to one girl (at least for a while) is the most reproductively successful strategy, and thus the genes for mentioned behavior spreads.

The way these genes work, of course, is by dosing you with pleasure hormones every time you see that girl, which will make you think about her all day.. do anything for her.. etc etc.

Next part: Why are girls coy? Stay tuned!

In the night

He tossed and he turned. Nothing changed. He told himself it's all right. It has always been this way. Nothing changed. He closed his eyes again. This shouldn't be bothering you. I need to sleep. My realizations mean nothing. Nothing changed. He thought to himself.

Me, tossing and turning here. It's ironic. It's the same as everything else. He smiled. It wasn't filled with happiness. Or joy. It was just a tiny bit of satisfaction, the kind one gets when filled with a sense of superiority. In this case, or in any other case he realized, undeserving. Which made him smiled another strange smile.

Meaningless. This is meaningless. He turned and tossed on his bed, feeling the horrible throb in his head, caused by his thoughts, prodding him awake every time he drifts closer to slumber. Then he thought of people. His best friends, how oblivious they are. Worrying about girls/guys.. grades.. peers.. As if anyone can understand. No. Humans aren't made to make pointless realizations. He knew he was no better, and he suffers from what they worry about as much as they do.

None of them probably lay awake in bed, head throbbing, uncomfortable, and disturbed for no real reason though.

Reality

Have you ever experienced something that you can't quite remember, remember incorrectly, or what you felt did not correspond with what actually happened? For example, you might think you placed your keys on your table, and after you can't it, rethink back, and you were absolutely sure you couldn't had left it anywhere else, when suddenly your brother/sister/mother/friend pops out of nowhere and says they found it in your bag? Or maybe once when you hear a knock on the door, yet when you go check it, nobody's there. I'm sure everyone has experienced something like this at one point or another. When you think about it, our perceptions and senses are not always that reliable. Optical illusions are a stark reminder of the limitations of our perceptions.


AHHHHH!

So what right? Sometimes we get a few things wrong here and there, no big deal right? Well, that's until you realize that when we make such "mistakes" in our perceptions, we have no way of knowing until after the event, in which the "truth" is affirmed to us through again, our perceptions. In other words, we can only affirm our perceptions through other perceptions. Or, another way of saying that is, we have no way of knowing, at any time, whether our perceptions are true or not. Fuuu-

The Al-Salam Shark

In the little town of Nilai, near KLIA,
near INTI-UC, where students study and play,
is a little mamak shop, called Al-Salam,
which is a popular hangout, from pagi to malam.

In this little shop lives a creature,
Who's appearance and attributes do not normally feature,
Indeed, he is the Al-Salam shark,
and to many people, his situation seems stark.



Does he ever get bored? Many ponder,
For he keeps swimming around, in that glass cylinder.
Never stopping, never resting, just constantly swimming,
For if he stops moving, he stops breathing.

An interesting curiosity he has become,
undoubtly a smart plan to increase Al-Salam's income.
Humans look and feel pity towards him,
but most don't know he does more then swim.

In truth our dear shark has a name, and it's Bob,
and truly, even if he could, he wouldn't sob.
Most people don't realize, as they are observing,
that Bob is returning the favour, to what they're doing.

He watches as they eat, chat and laugh,
and how they interact with each other, often acting tough.
He noticed their envy, happiness, and disappointments,
and how they control their actions and judgments.

He observed that as a matter of fact,
that many uses him, as the beginning of an act,
to begin a conversation, to be closer to their friends,
for example to apologize, to make amends.


Rawr.

He watches as many times, in a group of freshmen,
A guy, desperately seeking attention,
from an often indifferent girl, who doesn't give a shit,
and Bob knew, that it was too much for the guy to admit.

He watches, as people get together,
how often they seek, to get the better of each other.
How when they appear to be helpful and sweet,
when in truth, they intentions are never that neat.

He noticed how easily they are affected,
by the actions of others, even though they try to be grounded.
He realized that what they feel of the thing the called control,
is merely an illusion, as empty as a hole.

Then Bob smiled. (or did the shark equivalent),
as he swam around again, and realized in an instant,
that those who pity him, are on the point of idiocy,
For in truth, they are not much more free then he.

:)

Crossing the Bridge

If you're an INTI student, you'd know that in order to go to class, many times we have to cross a sky bridge, linking the academic block to the multi-purpose hall. Today, as I happily skipped to class, I stumbled upon these er, paper signs that some society probably put up. Putting up signs like this is an interesting way, because as you cross the bridge, you read the other signs, one after another.

Seems interesting, INTI recently changed owners, for those that don't know. Maybe they're promoting something cool that the new management allowed?


Hmm.. Seems interesting. Maybe we get some new facilities! Or maybe it's just one of those love your college crap. Either way, I'll see how it goes.


Err. Okay. I knew that, but what could this lead to?


Actually I knew that as well. But most people might not, is this some wildlife conservation or ecology thing?


OH SHIT. I sincerely hope this is not what I think it is about..
Then i saw it.. Inti Muslim Student Society. Crap.


Not the design argument again.. Btw, snail sex must be pretty interesting. (And I don't mean sex as in gender)


I don't get how this proves their god either.


AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...


If you're searching for relavance, you won't find any.


Must be some kind of sick divine practical joke. It's actually quite funny when you think about it.


Darwin and Wallace are turning in their graves... sobbing.


I can't resist posting the next picture after this.



and finally..


WHY THANK YOU, Inti Muslim Society, this is what you done to my mind:


Truth is, how cool things are, and how cool life is doesn't prove the existence your God, nor His magnificence and greatness, nor His purpose for mankind. Using a student's role in INTI as an analogy to God's role for mankind is neither creative, nor smart, nor accurate. Humans are not "human inventions" that exist for a particular purpose. Suggesting that joining the event, or your religion, makes a student "stay smart", thus implying that students who do not do so are stupid, does not make your cause seem pure, in fact, it's a cheap shot. Not different from many marketing campaigns I might add.

Next time, you guys wanna promote your society or your event, do what the INTI Christian Fellowship is doing. Invite some musician nobody knows, make it seem like a big deal and grant free access to students for his concert.

I concur.

Consciousness

How conscious are you?

If you're human (and you probably are if you're reading this), then you probably think you're in control of your actions, you know what you're doing and that you're a word conscious. After all, we humans have language and culture, we plan our actions, we have morals, we have religion. we have technology, we care for other people, to doubt that we have something so.. fundamental as consciousness seem to be silly or out-of-this-world, or is it?

Well, for one thing most of (if not all) of the things mentioned above that might convince one of their own consciousness are in fact, very much practiced by our dear friends from the animal kingdom. Monkeys have been known to have different calls when different predators appear, warning each other of their danger, dolphins use their supersonic sound abilities to communicate, ants use chemical/hormonal signals to convey messages to each other (language). Culture is found in various primate species and monkeys, one famous example is in japan when researchers feed monkeys sweet potatoes on the beach. One of the monkeys discovered that the sand can be gotten rid of by washing the potato is water, and soon after all the monkeys were doing it. Birds migrate in advance to avoid unpleasant weather (planning). Vampire bats regurgitate blood for their fellow non-related bat mates when they have extra blood (morality). Chimps use sticks to catch ants and leaves as cups (technology). There are a thousand other examples for any of the above, the point is, what we often consider as distinctively "human" behavior, is in fact, quite apparent in in the animal kingdom. If we're conscious, then they're conscious. We're just (arguably) "consciouser".

Imagine the simplest of microorganisms, perhaps a photosynthesizing bacteria. One can imagine a gene appearing in the population, causing the bacteria to sway their flagellum or whatever when not in presence of light. Such a gene would have a very simple mechanism. Maybe the gene encode for the creation of a protein that causes the flagellum to sway when photosynthesis isn't going on. Such a gene would easily flourish in the population, because by swaying their flagellum in the dark, the bacteria with the gene would have a better chance of being in a position to photosynthesize, and thus living and reproducing. Okay, now imagine another gene that makes the said bacteria not only sway their flagellum in the dark, but in fact, guides the bacteria towards the light. This gene would obviously flourish, due to the same logic as above. Now, did the bacteria just evolved more consciousness?

I can just hear the cries of protest after the last sentence. But the bacteria doesn't KNOW what it's doing, it doesn't KNOW that by moving towards the light it would survive better! It just does because it's in its genes! Obviously human desires, wants, behavior, actions are not merely a set of reproductively successful genetic codes!

Of course, it is only obvious until you really think about it. First off, one must acknowledge that we, humans, indeed have needs and corresponding uncontrollable (and thus quite unconscious) feelings. Among these feelings are hunger, thirst, sexual desire, avoidance to cold/heat etc etc.. No (sane and/or knowledgeable) person disputes that these feelings have a genetic basis, if you don't eat, don't drink, stay in the cold/heat too long you die. If your dad and/or your mum did not have sexual feelings, you wouldn't be here.

Oh, so true.

Only problem here is, people very often use their very conscious brain to fulfill their above unconscious desire. Guys try to impress girls, everyone works for food and clothing, etc etc.
So our very conscious mind is in fact, being constantly used to fulfill our very unconscious desires. The natural follow up argument after this, is of course, that not all our feelings are for fulfilling such desires. How would, for example, something like sacrificing yourself for your family be unconscious?

Self-sacrificing acts for others is generally termed altruism. Now, how can such an act be caused by our subconscious? After all, genes don't care about our human ideals and values. Truthfully, they do not. What they do care about, however is making copies of themselves through you not dying, having sex, and ensuring other copies of themselves get to survive and be copied. Many times altruism confuse people, how would such a trait evolve, if it were not good for one's survival? Perhaps it's a purely moral act, one that's conceived by our conscious minds? Or not. The fallacy lies in the mistake that organism themselves are being selected for, when it is essentially the genes. Think of it this way, a son/daughter has half their genes from their mother and half from their father. When a father dives into a burning building to save a son, he is essentially putting himself at calculated (not consciously!) risk of putting himself in danger to save half of his genes. Obviously, genes that help copies of themselves would survive and proliferate.

Think that's freaky? Consider the split brain experiment done by psychologists. The severing of the right brain of the left brain is done to treat epilepsy patients. Normally, even though their right brains and left brains aren't connected, these people are able to function just as any other normal humans. To quote from wiki:
"A patient with a split brain, when shown an image in his or her left visual field (that is, the left half of what both eyes see), will be unable to name what he or she has seen. This is because the speech-control center is in the left side of the brain in most people, and the image from the left visual field is sent only to the right side of the brain. (Those with the speech control center in the right side will experience similar symptoms when an image is presented in the right visual field.) Since communication between the two sides of the brain is inhibited, the patient cannot name what the right side of the brain is seeing. The person can, however, pick up and show recognition of an object (one within the left overall visual field) with their left hand, since that hand is controlled by the right side of the brain."
The cool part? When they showed a command to walk to the right brain (the one that couldn't do language), the patient started walking. When asked why he started walking, the patient said he was thirsty and was going to grab a drink, and sincerely believed it. What if all our actions are caused by something unconscious like our dear patient? Perhaps the command might not be from a researcher, but our genes. Maybe we do things before we think we know why we do them.

So, again,

How conscious are you?

It hurts.

Ever done something borderline stupid, not particularly good for you but that something you'd absolutely never regret? Well that happened yesterday. After water polo training (which include roughly 1.5km of swimming), some evil entity managed to convince me to go to boxing training.

Here's how it goes. Push ups - punching - push ups again - sprinting - punching bag - sit ups -leg lifts - stretching - sit ups again - jump rope - push ups again - non-stop punching - push ups again - sprints - more sit ups... All while a guy with a huge beard is insulting everything about your girlfriend, your manliness.. etc..

It's not that bad. Just 4 hours of intense physical torture (which made my total exercise time last night close to 6 hours). Oh, did I mention i had an 8a.m class today morning and training ended at 2.15a.m. Of course, my minor flu that could very well possibly went away after a good night's sleep developed into a full-blown one, and now I'm sneezing uncontrollably. The worse thing is, every time i sneeze, the muscles on my stomach hurt, not to mention every other part of my body when I do anything at all.

Fuck.

Rationalizations

Once, I told someone he was a master of rationalizations.
It wasn't a compliment. Despite the strange spelling of the word, rationalizations isn't what it sounds like, on the contrary, it's a failure of rationality and reasoning. Rationalization is the process of constructing a logical justification for a belief, decision, action or lack thereof that was originally arrived at through a different mental process. In other words, it's a process of self-delusion to make one more comfortable of oneself, or to avoid dealing with certain issues. There is a common tale that most of us have heard before that implies the seemingly foolishness of rationalizations, that is of course, the tale of the fox who couldn't get the grapes. Due to the failure of the fox to obtain the grapes, he rationalized that the grapes were sour and moved on.

This of course, exemplifies the foolishness of rationalizing, and after reading that story I'm sure most of us felt a sense of superiority (as we often do when we hear of someone doing something foolish) and that we'd never do as the fox did. Ironic thing is, humans are masters of rationalizations and self-delusion. The power of rationalizations shouldn't be underestimated. Once, a cult figure manipulated the rationalizing ability of close to a thousand people, making them commit mass suicide. Through a period of time he steadily abuse the rationalizing nature of his followers, the fact that they were only normal people does nothing but make the incident more disturbing. For the curious, just wiki Jonestown.

If you think we're safe from such mental manipulation then you'd be wrong. People's ability to ignore, not notice, or deem unimportant evidence contradicting their acquired beliefs can be astounding. One example that plagues many of us is direct sale companies. We've all had at least a friend that participated in such activities. Receive a call from an old friend that you were never close with? A decent chance he's trying to "give you an opportunity" to achieve financial freedom.

Religious people of course, are masters of rationalizations. Religious doctrine not making logical sense and having no evidence to support whatsoever? No problem. Our god works in mysterious ways. Other typical responses that really makes no sense if you aren't rationalizing? God did it to preseve free-will, god is testing your faith, god must exist because I learn good things from religion, prayers work because sometimes what you pray for comes true (although the other times God just doesn't want to give you what you want).

Truth.

Other common rationalizations in day to day life include a smoker that rationalize that smoking is just another harmless activity, a fat/out of shape person telling himself he/she hasn't the time to exercise, a person too cowardly to try something new rationalizing that that new thing probably isn't worth the effort (classic sour grapes), a girl after being used and dump rationalizing that the guy must have some noble motive . I don't need to list down many more. If you open your eyes and observe the people around you, you'd be sure to notice countless rationalizations, ranging from somewhat convincing to downright pathetic.

So, as you can see, the human mind is particularly good at rationalizing. Next time you make a judgment, a decision, or a thought, ask yourself, do you really know what the grapes taste like? Rationalizations may be tempting at times, but they also prevent us from seeing the truth about ourselves, about other people, and about the world. They might make you feel better, but whatever good you're feeling from rationalizations is equivalent to the satisfaction of the fox thinking the grapes are sour. Face reality, accept it as it is, and do what you need to get what you want. The grapes might turn out to be sour, or they might not, but one day you might get your chance to try them.

Ultimate Birth Control

I present to you now, the ultimate form of birth control known to man.



It's effectiveness is summarized by the following quote:
" I completely believe this is an effective form of birth control.
One look at Pope B16 and I lose all interest in sex ."
Apparently the Pope recently made a comment about condoms not helping the AIDs problem, and these condoms were made to mock him. (The French are very creative people.)


Anyone can guess what this is?
Come on. It's not that hard.
Answer(highlight to see): It's a dildo in the form of baby jesus.

Now that you know what it is...

Awesomeness.

Little Pleasures

Ever notice how when you hang out with a friend you tend to gain some new experience and learn something new? This post is dedicated to all my friends, old and new, and the pleasure I gained in knowing you.

Some of you have taught me that you can find little treasures everywhere if you look (e.g, an unknown cassette on the roadside),
some of you have taught me that ordering spring rolls at secret recipe isn't a waste of money (god they were awesome),
some of you have made me realize that sometimes (just sometimes!) it's okay to act like a kid,
some of you just make me smile,
some of you give me new insights on human behavior,
some of you made me realize that it's really not that hard to decide what you want in life and we should follow our dream with persistence,
some of you taught me the value of having an open-mind,
some of you have cautioned me against the dangers of tempting rationalizations and false beliefs,
some of you have taught me that sometimes, we shouldn't judge a book by it's cover,
some of you grace me with wonderful (cough) music,
some of you made me pick up something I never would if I never met you,
some of you taught me how to drink,
some of you remind me that as a young adult, I must take responsibility for my actions,
some of you become outlets for me to show a dark sadistic side of myself,
some of you provide me with intellectual conversations,
all of you help me grow as a person,

So to all my friends, thank you, life is indeed full of hormone-inducing little pleasures.