Is 2012 Real?

Is the world coming to an end? We'll soon to find out as the designated day approaches, but I have deep doubts about it. Just like many other apocalypses and predictions that predicted the world to come to an end, it never did yet.

Two days ago I experienced my first earthquake of 5.8 while I was sitting cross legged on my desk typing away when I suddenly felt my desk sway while the plastic blinds in front of me flew back and forth uncontrollably. At first, I thought it was just myself being on the computer for too long and started having illusions. But the Earthquake statuses on Facebook confirmed that I wasn't just day dreaming about it. That quake shook me to reality, I should be living my life and even if I do die in 2012, die with no regrets.

Could 2012 be real? The Mayan calendar showed so, but maybe the Mayans could just have been too tired and exhausted to continue their now world famous calendar.

Well, whether it's true or not, we'll just have to see. Live in the moment and not in the past or the future.

With a Pen and Paper

There are times where other than a dog, pen and paper are your best friend. Sure, the technology is advanced, you could do practically anything on your laptop or computer, but what I do to truly express my feelings on is a piece of paper and a good pen.

I encounter many moments where after a long day, I just want to slip into my covers and write. Write about things that come to my mind, things that I secretly care about, things that I wish had changed. I just let my mind roam with no specific targets to meet. It might not even come out in complete sentences. Scribbles, sketches, whatever it takes, and then hide them into a place where no one will ever look for. 

Harry Potter Series - It Marks the End of Our Childhood?

I have had the privilege to watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 in IMAX and 3D the other day. It was a great experience, the sound system, the 3D effects, but one thing was not as fascinating as I expected...the display was not your usual IMAX dome, but just rather about 1/3 bigger than a normal movie screen. Though it felt like a deja-vu since I had read the last book already, and knew about the outcome of the battle and Harry's fate, I still thoroughly enjoyed it. Out of the three kinds of different theatres, IMAX would be my #1 choice, the audio, visual and special effects just really come together...well, at least I think so.

Watching it also made me feel old, feel grown-up. I remember watching the first of the series in grade three at a lunch break because it was snowing outside. The library was dark, everyone huddled around a thick, old fashioned television, our heads without our notice inched closer and closer to the vintage screen. The scene where the Dursley residence was under attack by owl letters deeply captured my attention, and I knew from then that I would become a hard-core fan.

YAY for the extra large picture! (:
Oh the days when little Harry was still so cute and cuddly

But with the years following, one after another, the Harry Potter made appearance in theaters all over the world, each time getting more recognition, fame but also negativity. Despite what many say about the series, I think it has helped me grow in various ways, learn about love, hate, courage, family, and so much more. I think it does indeed mark the end of our childhood, but also is the start of a new age, where we become more
responsible and understanding.

"Paint the cut with iodine"

Today I decided to take a rare break from my endless internet usage ( composing of mostly Facebook, MSN, and dramas -__-) to go on my 15th floor balcony to enjoy the seasonal scenery primarily consisting of trees, houses, and more trees. PS. I heard the color green is apparently good for your eyes, just like carrots.

Outside my balcony

So on my balcony I was reading a short story called, "The Sound Machine" by Ronald Dahl that I had picked up from my desk.

The story was about a seemingly maniac named Klausner. He was obsessed with the exploration of different tunes and sounds, and he was confident that many, many extremely high pitched sounds and low pitched sounds that humans could not hear still existed among us. Therefore, he set out in search for it, building ultimately his own Sound Machine.

The Sound Machine later on led the protagonist to hear a sharp, desperate, yet toneless scream from clipping a rose stem. He imagined what that would've been like if instead of a rose stem, a human arm took its place. He thought he heard the rose scream out in pain, and decided to test his theory out with a bigger living organism. A tree. Klausner transferred his machine to a park nearby early next morning and used an ax to drive it into its trunks. Guess what happened ? Of course, a louder, more deafening moan came. Terrified and surprised by this finding, he immediately dialed up the doctor and pleaded for him to come as soon as possible. But, well, when the doctor arrived, Klausner insisted him to listen to what he had heard as a terrifying scream. He dove his ax once again into the bare flesh of the tree. Timberrrrr, the tree came crashing down. The doctor said did not hear or notice any similar noise at all and thought this to be a waste of his time. Klausner had just realized what he had done and demanded the doctor to paint the two cuts of the tree with iodine. As what we humans would do to cuts so it does not get infected and speeds up the healing process.

Ronald wanted us to remember that we are not the only living species on this Earth, but rather we share it with  so many others. If we took the importance of  the lives of other organisms just as much as we valued ours, then we would think twice. Better yet three times to consider why we need this resource, and how we will sustain it by either re-planting before we cut them down. Like the fate of the rain forests in Brazil, Indonesia, even if the damage is already done, we should at least paint it the cut with iodine.

carpe diem

Stress. It seems to bother us from day to day, month to month, year to year. They are ghostly figures that are constantly roaming in the dark, gloomy ocean floor scouting for an opportunity to grab our legs and pull us down... away from the warm sun and far, far away from happiness.

But think of it this way- using perspective. Ants are one of the tiniest creatures visible with the naked eye, then comes other insects such as ladybugs, caterpillars, the list goes on and on. Humans(aka. homo sapiens, people, muggles, as harry potter fans would say, mortals, the word mortals make me think of vampire wise. ) are relatively small compared to other living organisms on this planet. The Earth is relatively small compared to other celestial objects in the solar system. Gas giants such as Jupiter is approximately 1321 times bigger than the Earth. Beyond our middle aged solar system, there are even more significant galaxies outside, and in those, there are thousands, millions, billions,gazillions! Well, you get my point, there are a lot of rocky planets like our Earth. But life, water, the distance of our planet and the Sun exist so perfectly and they create conditions that are just right for life to sprout and bloom into what it has done today. 

  

    ( This celestial object is the Horsehead nebula taken by me through a special program that allows users from around the world to take photos using telescopes online. It rests approx 1500 light years away from Earth. )                                   

We need to live optimistically, and not in a nihilistic way

And so,

Carpe diem, live on

PS. Leave me your comments on your opinion about what life is or... if you can spot the horsehead in the dark picture (: