Monday, February 28, 2011

Thoughts on premarital sex

(Or sex in general.. with a little section on virginity)

Being from an Asian community, sex is and has always been somewhat of a taboo issue around me. So its pretty easy to assume that premarital sex is regarded as something extremely wrong to do for the community I am in.

However, I am totally indifferent about the issue. I actually wanted to say that I am totally supportive of premarital sex, but I don't want to sound like I'm recommending it to every single couple out there.. its more like I don't think its a wrong thing to do, and it is especially, definitely not something sinful and humiliating.

One of the main things people have against premarital sex is due to all the risks and accidents relating to it. Ask anyone against premarital sex why and they'll point you to all the rising instances of baby dumping and sexually transmitted diseases. The thing is, all these negative things occur not because premarital sex is negative but because the people doing it are not well prepared, uninformed, or just reckless and irresponsible to begin with. Don't blame the sin, blame the sinner.

Speaking of sin, there is a lot of religious stigma against premarital sex. The main argument is that premarital sex is basically giving into the temptations of the flesh, suggesting couples to wait until marriage before going that far. Sex for 'recreational' purposes (for lack of a better term.. I don't like using casual sex because of all the baggage associated with it. Married couples have sex for recreational purposes too) is considered as sinful, as sex has the only purpose as the means to conceive a child and continue the bloodline~

I think this is a load of bullshit. The desire to have sex is one of the most natural things to feel for humans - it's hardwired into our brains, into our very being. Its an evolutionary necessity. Only the human mind, in all it's creativity, has come up with the idea of suppressing these natural instincts. Why? For moral reasons? In order to ensure a functional and orderly society? No. It is to claim ownership.

One might argue that patience is a virtue, and going fucking around isn't a civil thing to do. That's because these rules that have been placed in human societies have become universal rules, common sense, moral values, logic. I'm not saying that they are wrong, as I have often pointed out in my blogposts, as long as the mass majority of humans agree on a certain truth, it becomes the truth. At least until someone disputes it and persuades the mass majority. Everyone used to think the world was flat, until someone proved otherwise.

What I'm saying  is that these rules, these facts and absolute truths are not set in stone. They are created by humans for the betterment of human society, long long ago, and though they are effective working models of an orderly society, I think that most of these ideals are outdated. I'm not saying we should all throw caution to the wind and go sleeping around with whomever we wish.

I'm saying that nobody should worry about what other people think or be pressured by the rules of their societies and just do whatever they want, as long as both parties are fine with it and whatever they do does not effect other people.

Another thing I'd like to add is my thoughts on the concept of virginity. Most of you would be able to predict by now that my stance on the concept of virginity is that it is a "load of bullshit" XD Yes, exactly like what I mentioned earlier, virginity is also a concept created by humans long long ago. Let me tell you my warped theory on the conception of 'virginity'.

Long long ago, when human society was still very very male dominant, women were treated as possessions. The concept of virginity was introduced by men as a standard to measure their potential wives. The criterion for a virgin was that she must be young, fresh, and 'untouched' by any man. Sounds a lot like the criteria for picking fresh fruits in a marketplace. All men wanted virgins, and those who weren't virgins are cast aside as unwanted women with no future. This was possible because the men had all the power in most societies, so in order to survive, the women were forced to adapt to the standards set by men because a lone woman could not survive (comfortably) in such societies.

And so, this concept of virginity quickly catapulted in importance because it was a reliable and applicable standard throughout almost entire human civilizations. Mothers groomed daughters in order to meet this standards so that they would live good lives. Mothers. Women enforcing men's rules on their fellow women while men sit back and enjoy fruits of their labor. It sounds almost ridiculous when I put it that way, but that is what has been happening for centuries and has only begun to change during these recent centuries. A lot of feminists demonize men, but what they do not realize is that it is not just the patriarchal men, but the patriarchal way of thinking that is the enemy, and that includes women who think that way as well.

The concept of virginity also ensured the 'ownership' of a woman, as another man would be less likely to find another man's wife to be appealing because she isn't a virgin anymore. Of course this didn't really work, but its important to point out this idea of  'ownership' as another reason that solidifies this theory :P

Long story short, virginity is an extremely sexist concept to me which is horribly outdated. I cringe every time I hear people putting even a shred of consideration on virginity or preserving their 'sexual purity' v_v But hey, this is just my warped opinion. Don't feel pressured to change the way you think :P I'm not out to shake the foundations of human society, no matter how ridiculous and outdated it might seem to me. I'm just not going to sit still and adhere by it. Everyone has the freedom to chose whatever it is they want to do, so like Nike says, Just Do It~ tm ^o^b

Sunday, February 27, 2011

This guy is awesome

Check this guy out *o* He makes really funny videos



When I grow up, I wanna make great, funny content just like Wheezywaiter *u* he's so cool.

Do check out all his other videos as well~ They're all pretty good :)

Saturday, February 26, 2011

The dragons of my world

Like most fantasy writers, I was, and, to a certain extent, still am, enamored by dragons. I also think that there are one too many commas in the last sentence. Anyways.

Dragons are such amazing creatures with a rich collection of mythology and history associated with them. There is such a variety of different types of dragons from so many different cultures that its almost impossible to believe that they aren't real (search Wikipedia, my recent adventure wasted 3 hours of my life and made me save like forty Wikipedia pages which I guarantee I won't read anytime soon..)

Of course, with such a huge variety of different archetypes of dragons, there are bound to be some that I like and I dislike, and that's what I wanna talk about today ^o^

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

The Hopeless Romantic

The hopeless romantic is a young boy that grew up being enamored by love songs and ultra-sweet romantic scenes from movies and other sources of stories like comics, novels, etc. In other words, hopeless romantics grew up with the ambition of being an honorable boyfriend to a beautiful/sweet/cute girlfriend and while their friends focused on being number one in class, the best on the football team, or Pokemon Masters, they tried to mould themselves into the perfect boyfriend.

A few burnt pots and pans, the discovery of microwaveable foods and the washing machine, and an extreme makeover later, and you have an above-average-looking guy that is able to socialize with girls without the massive stuttering, blushing, or tendency to say unnecessarily inappropriate things that their other peers might suffer.

In other words, hopeless romantics are just average sociable guys that aren't female-repellent jerks.

The problem that plagues hopeless romantics and often gets them misunderstood is that they view most girls that they are (even mildly) attracted to as a potential girlfriend. While this might make them sound like jerks who are only out to get into your skirt and are not worth being friends with, lets not be judgmental.

To understand the workings of a hopeless romantic's mind is to first understand his motivations. And no, its not to get into your pants >:| Hopeless romantics are so obsessed with the desire to have a sweet and heartwarming relationship (as advertised on TV) that I can tell you that most of their focus towards the girls they are attracted to is to get together with them ..and ends there. The hurdle of getting into a relationship with a girl so difficult (provided he isn't blessed with astonishingly good looks) that what happens later is rarely considered - no reason to get his hopes up, right?

There is a very popular joke of a young boy that tries his best to impress the girls that he likes but fails all the time, until one day, he finally meets a girl that can accept him and becomes his girlfriend. His response to this was "Wow. SWEET *O* ....now what? :D"

And that, is the sad part of most relationships regarding young hopeless romantics. They don't know what to do :( and as many a hopeless romantic would discover, reality almost never turns out like what is shown on TV or written in books. Most become disappointed when their dreams become crushed after encountering their first major argument in their relationship, while a small, dangerous few try to replicate fairytale romances and end up scaring their girlfriends because they either move too fast (everything in movies are accelerated twentyfold to keep the story from being too stagnant like a documentary) are too dramatic, or have too high expectations.

In time, (and with perhaps many a heartbreak) most hopeless romantics will grow out of the phase of chasing a fairytale romance, which is often not very practical in today's cruel world. Some will continue pursuing romance, though in a more mature and sophisticated way, and by sheer force of probability, will end up happily with a girl (or guy) ^o^ Some, will become bitter and distance themselves from anything lovey-dovey :( that is, until they find someone that manages to 'heal their wounds' and revitalize them *o*

But a select few hopeless romantics will stay the way they are and (again, by sheer force of probability) might actually meet a girl (or guy) that's also a hopeless romantic (yes, for god's sake, this archetype, like all other archetypes, applies to all genders v_v) - and the stuff that can only be see in movies will magically appear in real life *o* (whether it turns into a romance, drama, tragedy or romantic comedy, I leave it to you.. and them ;D)

Hey guys

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Ambitions, Ambitions, Ambitions

When I grow up, I want to be... ...bigger .o.


Long long ago, in a galaxy far far away, some emo kid had his hand chopped off by his cyborg father. And then someone dubbed that epic event in hokkien and we laughed and laughed ^o^

...in other news v_v;

Today Yesterday, certain events happened in a way that forced made me to think of what I want to do with my life. I'm looking for a job now, while I still have to complete my Masters' thesis. Things are lining up so that I have this impression that I should really chose which path I want to follow, set my priorities and all that kinda shit.

But of course, what I should do is just get my Masters done and over with and worry about everything else later v_v after all, even if I do decide on a career path, who's to say that I won't change my mind in the near future, or circumstances will open (or close) certain paths? like me suddenly becoming super good at starcraft or magic and becoming a PRO GAMER WOO HOO *o*

..dreams are good, you know. They set goals and motivate us to do things in life. That's why I admire people with ambitions, no matter what their ambitions are. The act of having an ambition or passion towards something is more important than the validity of the ambition itself ^_~ the journey is much more important and meaningful than the destination~

So because I have no idea how to end this post and I wanted to, here's a list of my previous-to-current ambitions (that I can remember and/or are not too ashamed to admit) ^o^

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Amateur God needing help T_T

I have this idea of an awesome vampire story that already has a juicy mechanic and overarching storyline, but I can't get started on it at all because I'm stuck with the setting >_<

You see, I want to create a world where there is no such thing as a sun or sunlight.

I've gone through tons of ideas to no avail.. starting from disregarding everything and treating it as a magical world where the conditions are suitable for life to exist even without a life-giving celestial body (since everything would freeze without the warmth of the sun, not to mention the lack of oxygen thanks to zero photosynthesis, which relies on primarily sun power)

Then I moved to a super outlandish idea that 'solved' the problem with the existence of oxygen by putting a huge ass ancient electrolysis machine at the bottom of that world's ocean (believe me, the super crazy back story I created surprisingly makes sense *_* I don't wanna spoil it yet though). This also allowed the fauna of that world's ocean to be really unique - most of them would evolved to cooperate electricity in their bodies, like eels do in our world~ and it also makes the oceans of that world extra dangerous thanks to them being electrically charged *O*

With oxygen solved, I realized that the world would still be colder than a freezer, even with oxygen.. and this is one of my biggest problems thus far. Our main source of heat is from the sun, and without a sun, (or even far enough away from a star) a planet would be freezing to human standards. I toyed with the idea that the heat comes from the ground itself, where the planet has a lot more tectonic and volcanic activity.. but I doubt that'd be enough, really T_T This is where I could use the most help.

Of course, without a sun anywhere near the planet, it would be unbelievably dark. So what I came up was to have auroras periodically streaming across the sky, providing an eerie lighting for the setting. Auroras are usually caused by the collision of charged particles directed by the Earth's magnetic field, which would seem like it makes sense to have them on my world since the there would be some funky magnetic fieldwork thanks to the electronic bzzt bzzt of the world's oceans.

Another aspect that relies on the sun is the planet's orbit, which usually circles around the sun thanks to it being pulled by the sun's gravity. A planet without a sun would then spiral out of control and float freely in outer space. While this might sound like the Death Star, that thing is a freaking spaceship and has its own propulsion system. A planet without an orbit would more likely crash into something than float happily around in space.

How I solved this was to come up with yet another crazy idea; I put the planet between three black holes. While black holes compress everything into their center, being in between three black holes allows the planet to spin around almost indefinitely in the center where their gravitational pull intercepts. Whenever the planet almost gets sucked into one black hole's gravitational field, the opposing two black holes pull it free and the cycle repeats ad nauseam.(By the way, being 'close' to a black hole isn't close at all - the planet is lightyears away from each of the three black holes - even further than our solar system's width @o@)

And.. yeah, that's about it. My attempt to make a working planetary system with my very very very very limited knowledge of astrophysics and ecology :P Hopefully someone would come up and point up what I'm doing wrong, as I really want to get this right XP The idea is so awesome, but I need more knowledge to make it work T_T;

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

The most romantic Monday of the year

Today Yesterday was the most romantic Monday of the year for most people~ I'm always so amused at how people react to this day every year *_* 

The singles burst in outrage saying that its just another day, or band together in self pity, calling it Singles Awareness Day or something to that effect.. XD 

The doubles on the other hand don't say anything (in fear of being bricked to death by jealous peers? XD) but go out of their way to display their affection to the world~ *o*

I have nothing against the tradition of Valentine's day, after all, it's just a tradition that reminds us to love each other <3

What I do have a problem with is how certain parties take advantage of this tradition. You know the symptoms, raised chocolate prices, extremely expensive Valentine's themed food sets, overpriced flowers, all this and more~

Speaking of flowers, I'm one of the types of people that dislikes the idea of flowers. For one, they've never appealed to me. Are they really beautiful? To be more practical, flowers can never last for long (plus I'm too lazy to maintain them ;_;) Wilting flowers are one of the saddest images one can see, not to mention the pain of throwing them away and remembering how much was spent on them T_T

Its sad how society has capitalized an innocent day like Valentine's day into a commercialized money making holiday :\ 

Monday, February 14, 2011

Posting for the sake of posting

Many of the successful people that I really respect have one thing in common; they all are highly talented at whatever they specialize in because they have put their lives into it. 

There are a lot of talented people in the world, but the ones that I respect the most are people who I know started small, they started as nobodies, just like me, and became what they are today through sheer persistence. Practice makes perfect, and these people are living, breathing examples of how this is true.

A lot of people that I know are often stumped by the great wall that stands in their way of improving themselves, and many give up their dreams because its so difficult to cross over the seemingly thin line from good to great, myself included.

In fact, that line is so universally difficult to cross that there is even a mentality that has evolved from ignoring it completely, settling for the mediocrity of merely being 'good' at things without excelling at anything in particular. This is the 'jack-of-all-trades' mentality, something that I aspired to be when I was younger.

Being my ambition, I eventually succeeded in becoming a jack-of-all-trades not too long ago, being marginally good at almost anything, always able to perform averagely in any situation and never ending up last in anything, and consequently not being the best at anything. 

Life experiences so far has thought me that this is a very mediocre state to be in and I'd not rather excel at a few things and suck at everything else than be ok at everything but not up to standard for anything. While I never get the shame of coming in last or being at the center of attention for all the wrong reasons, I always envy those select few who are so unbelievably good at what they do.

How do I become like them? How do I cross from merely good to great? Like I mentioned earlier, it all comes back to sheer persistence. Do anything, and I mean anything for long enough, and you'll bound to get better at it. "Practice makes perfect." "Big shots are only little shots who keep shooting."

This is so basic and so true that it's almost common sense, but at the same time it seems so stupid that it makes most people react by doubting it, saying "nah, can't be that easy, there must be something extra" after all, even Albert Einstien thinks that its a crazy idea. 
"Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."



Friday, February 11, 2011

The Parent

The parent, like the moniker suggests, is a friend that often reminds us of our parents. In both good and bad ways. Its nice to have a caring friend that we can rely on, but at the same time, another person nagging us to do something 'for our own good' is never fun ^^;

A common characteristic of the parent is to be extraordinary caring. The parent usually worries about our well being and constantly goes out of their way to ensure that we're comfortable, safe, and happy at all times. In addition to that, they often advise us when we face problems and give us guidance. Most people are very thankful to have the parent as a friend, and oftentimes feel very secure with such a person.

However, the parent is one of the most difficult character to get into a relationship with, which is surprising considering the fact that a caring personality is a desirable characteristic. There really isn't a problem with the parent (aside from the risk of becoming overbearing like a protective parent), the thing is, it is more of a matter of difference in point of view, there is a different level of respect.

Oftentimes, the parent sees their closest friends as someone to be protected, 'don't worry, I have you under my wing~' they boldly claim. While this is honorable and all, such a mindset gets in the way of having mutual respect. I'm not saying that the parent looks down on all their friends, but they often succumb to assuming that they have to take the leading position and might sometimes impose themselves on others, trampling their peer's wishes even though they have good intentions.

In the same vein, we also tend to look at the parent on a different level. Due to their guidance and security they provide to us, we often look up to the parent and treat them with a certain level of respect. Again, while this is a good thing, it might create a barrier between us and the parent, making us unable to act naturally or be talk freely around them - and anytime we have to control your behavior around someone, we can never be completely comfortable or at ease.

What's important, then, is to achieve a sense of mutual respect. Then we can have a healthy relationship with  these noble characters who give us much needed sense of security, especially away from our families~ and who knows, with mutual respect, you might be able to return the deed to them as well! Many times, (but not all!) relationships with the parent often end up becoming very close knit, but erring more towards siblings or parents (for lack of a better term) ..or like a member of an extended family :)

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Visual Dreams

I've often heard lots of negative criticisms towards a lot of 'singer's nowadays, and the truth is, I think such criticisms are undeserved because the majority of them are not really 'singer's, but are actually idols.

Kim TaeYeon - the most adorable
and lovable girl
ever~ >w<♥♥
*biased biased biased biased*
What is an idol? An idol is basically a new breed of performer and/or entertainer. This concept has become pretty mainstream in asian countries such as Japan and Korea, but not very well known in other parts of the world. This is a problem, because idols are not necessarily products of asian pop culture, but rather modern culture in general. I believe the idol evolved from the existence of video based entertainment such as music videos and television programs such as talk shows, variety shows, and reality shows.

The main characteristic of an idol is near-perfect features. And idol must be appealing to the eyes thanks to its visual based nature. You can't be an idol unless your looks appeal to at least a genre of fans. Looks aside, idols also specialize in other skills such as singing, dancing, acting, talking or hosting shows. Nevertheless, the highlight of an idol is almost always their beautiful, cute, cool, and/or amazing good looks. If they happen to be especially talented in anything else, that's just the icing on the cake.

It is this focus on good looks that subjects these idols to malicious comments such as they cant sing, have no talent, and rely solely on their looks to attract people. These are not only singers or actors or what have you, but sadly, most of them are characterized under 'singers','musicians', 'actors' or some other kind of performing title when in truth, they are idols.

I think the classification of 'idol' should be given more recognition. The main thing standing in its way, though, is the fact that it is not a good thing to admit that you like someone for their looks, it's too materialistic, too judge-a-book-by-its-cover. Such behavior automatically puts you into the same classification as shallow, materialistic, playboy/girls. But come on, who doesn't like to look at good looking people? To me, it sounds a lot like denial in the face of society's rules and peer pressure.
Justin Bieber - revered as a god in certain cultures -_-b
This mentality also stands in the way of certain performers wanting to accept the classification of an 'idol', it sounds way too much like admitting to the world that 'I'm a dumb blond durrr ^-^'. That statement isn't really true, though. The ability to be good looking is just as difficult as being able to be good at singing. Idols devote basically their entire lifestyles to maintaining their good looks, not to mention that attitude and characteristics are also very important contributors to being good looking - something they must watch what they do all the time in order to keep up a certain image.
While this is true for all types of performers and entertainers in our modern world, these are especially important issues for an idol, and to the people that think that these idols are 'fake' and are not naturally that beautiful on the outside and on the inside, the ability to keep up that image 24/7 is not an easy feat at all. I like to liken doing this to working as an actor that constantly have to be in character all the time for a movie that will never end until their career does.

The Beatles - don't judge.
chances are that your mom
thought they were hawt
XP
I'm not saying that I defend people who are fake or think that looks are the most important things in the world, what I'm saying is that these acts are sadly misunderstood by most people and are automatically tacked with negative associations all the time that it's sad. To me, such things still require effort, and if such idols really are fakers, I still admire them for the effort they put into transforming themselves from bitches into angels on camera. Not many people can do that, and I think that kind of skill is just as admirable as other skills such as singing or acting prowess (in fact, its an evolved form of acting anyway).

The world is full of idols now~ in fact, idols have been around for centuries, beginning from the first performers to use music videos such as The Beatles, countless boy bands, girl bands, and one of the most popular idols in the world today - Justin Bieber.

Of course, all of this is just my attempt to justify the fact that I'm a crazy huge fanboy of SNSD XD and an excuse to put TaeYeon's picture on my blog (again) ;w;  kyaa~♥ lol XP

Monday, February 7, 2011

Why are the audios for my videos unaligned?!

Once upon a time, there was a girl which spent most of her waking hours hiding behind the thick rims of her emo-kid glasses.

These emo-kid glasses spent most of their lives in front of monitors. When our hero is asleep, they rest in front of her computer monitor. She puts them on and checks her reflection in the darkened monitor when she wakes up in the morning, she also spends most of her time in front of a monitor - watching dramas, playing games, socializing, you name it. She even faces monitors all the time during work!

This girl spends lots of her time typing up press releases for her boss, which is coincidentally also her monitor back in high school. Which was also her only friend in high school, because they originated from a school where only the smartest kids of their neighborhood went, which was filled with people who don't really socialize. Her monitor was her only friend not only because he's a friendly guy with rounded features all around (fatfat ^o^), they go waay back; he was her monitor forever, back in primary school and even kindergarten!

In fact, Mr. Monitor lives next door, and walks with her to school every single day. Every. Single. Day. These emo-kid glasses have monitors imprinted on them. The toothbrush often joke that her glasses are cursed to face monitors forever, reflecting the reflections of their reflections off the reflections to infinity.. the sad paradox that happens whenever two reflective surfaces meet, which is the infinite loop that our hero's glasses are indefinitely trapped in.

Anyways, the interesting thing about our hero is that she often faces a very frustrating problem when watching shows, especially her favorite dramas. The audio for the videos are always, always, unaligned. They appear half a second faster than the video, so you hear the scream before the girl's mouth opens, and you hear the laugh before the slapstick action is even done with.

Infinitely frustrating, I know. She tried everything, fixing the video files, using a different software, nothing. There was no way for her to fix it. So she lived with it and tolerated it.

Until one day, when she watched television. It was the first time she watched television since she could remember, since televisions went obsolete thanks to the invention of the internet. It was then that our hero discovered something that chilled her to the rims of her thick glasses.

The audio was unaligned for the television show as well! @O@

Panicked, she ran to her grandfather that owned the television, hoping that he also owned a plausible answer to her predicament, and then she realized...

...the audio for her grandfather was unaligned too! @O@O@O@O@O@

All of the sudden, it hit her, everything's audio was unaligned to her - the tick-tock of the clock, the thud that came before the door closed, everything. Scary!

Until she realized that... hey, wait a minute, she can hear half a second into the future! Wow, she can tell the future!! ...half a second into the future, where even if she can fore-hear a car crashing into her, the only thing she could do was to yell "AAAAA STO-" half a second faster, perhaps being able to finishing pronouncing the word 'stop'.

And so, that's how our hero realized that she owned a superpower, though she could not follow the footsteps of others that had superpowers before her and save the world or make it a better place - because she had a useless superpower, a suberpower v__v