Frozen Yoghurt, I call it Fro-ghurt

Being sick is ass. You feel terrible. (thats bad)

However, I don't have that guilty feeling of not having done anything today. (thats good)

You look terrible (thats bad)

You get to take pseudophedrine (thats good)

Gives me cotton mouth (thats bad)

I get to watch TV all day (thats good)

I don't get to read cause I can't concentrate (thats bad)

Ignorance is bliss

You are the fastest person at your school. Then you had to high school and you are the 7th fastest.

This was such an awesome meal of Vietnamese, then you go to Melbourne and everything tastes worse.

This is the greatest book ever, until you read more than 5 books.

Seriously, there have been so many times in my life where I say something which is seemed so meaning and/or passionate, but then days/weeks/years later I realise what a fool I had been. Bigger than a fool sometimes.

Other times I look back on life and how things were so much easier. Your days were a constant cycle of happiness. Eat, sleep, play, eat, shit, play, sleep, eat, eat, eat, sleep, shit, play.

Now I eat less, sleep less, play less but funny enough shit more. Sometimes it come from my mouth, ranting on about useless stuff that gets me into a bigger pile of shit.

Ok, should probably tone down the swearing. 

It is so much happier to be ignorant and yet we strive to make ourselves richer in both wealth and mind. We try to educate others to stop them from being stupid essentially. Yet are we denying them their happiness? Let crappy coffee taste good to them, don't take them for a real coffee. Let them dream of bad books and do not direct them to Borders or Amazon. 

We are dream killers, happiness devourers. One are the ones that bring the shit to the ignorant.

Word of the Day #9: Simulacrum

For so long I had thought this word meant robot or some sort. And perhaps the picture of this card misdirects us to think so. 

But actually finding the real meaning has made me appreciate the card even more.

Pronouced: sim-u-lay-crum

Meaning: 
1) superficial likeness

2) image or representation

Example sentence: This magic card is a simulacrum of Jens Thoren.

Probladox (My made up word for a solution that causes more problems)

I remember when I was younger, I didn't read very much. I'm not sure why I didn't. I think perhaps it was because I wasn't good at reading, but then I remember reading some books that I liked and I never thought to myself "oh this is too hard."

I think that text based computers games helped me a lot with my reading and with those text based computer games came the internet. At the beginning stages of the internet, it was all very much fun, there was no internet lingo, ICQ was just starting to become big and all was fine. 

I guess one of my first internet acronyms was a/s/l (age/sex/location). Yeah you know the one. 

ah oh

Around this same time, cellphones were being more readily available to the wider market. I remember my first phone, it was an Alcatel and it was pretty much a brick. But when I first got it, it was one of the latest models and the kids at school were like oooo.... a little history on cellphones during this time was that most phones could not text in lower case letters and only the network provider would text you in lower case. So when I got a text saying "please tell your momma to move her ass, as she is blocking our satellite. vodafone." I had to really laugh.

I think that it was hard to meet people back in the days. The only ways to really meet people were school, work, social clubs. To meet with people you would have to ring them as well and talk....actually talk, we know how awkward it can be, how do we not sound like a dork, what do you say? I think that the internet has really helped the former problem. There are so many social networking sites, or websites to meet people. The cellphone via text messaging helped with the latter problem. However both of these solutions creates more problems. You would have thought that programs like ICQ would help people type more and thus get better at it and thus be able to spell better. [insert Tui Billboard here(New Zealand joke...sorry!)]. Instead what it created was internet acronyms and abbreviations; text language with cellphones. Both of these can create massive inabilities to be able to communicate with the other person. 

I cbf xplanin evythg 2 u nw, bt maybe ltr. 

It can lead to the inability to read a decent piece of text properly too, especially if any government in the world wants to legislate that text language be made into an official language even for a school test/exam. Jesus, who was smoking some serious shit when they put that idea forward. Then you get to the point of, god yes, this guys is terribly boring, what the fuck is he saying? Is he some kind of social dork? Is he trying to text me right now?!?!?! He seemed so interesting during texting (that's because we never get to practice speaking to real people much now do we?). 

Or more recently, you get some psycho dude from the South Island who fakes things on the internet. Then when you get here from Germany, takes your passport away from you! Ok, that one is an extreme case, but you should get the picture.

I'm not sure how to solve the problem. Is there a solution....is there a problem?

Some of my friends would tell me to gtfo or stfu.

But seriously, in the world where we want to push and push for education, is the internet and cellphone more benefical or more harmful?

Beyond 2000: The medical edition

For those of you that remember the Beyond 2000, I bet you are laughing now. Those of you that don't know what it is, it was simply a TV Program that would have "advanced" technology. The program would "promote" these new technologies that could/would be avaliable to you beyond the year 2000! What the program didn't know was that technology would advance exponentially. Things that were unfathomable, like decoding the human genome that was said to finished decoding in around 2025 was decoded in 2003...why? Because technological advancement in computers was so dramatic. 

That leads me to my actual topic. Resveratrol.

Resveration is a new compound. Place most commonly found? Red Wine.

The compound is actually found in the skin of grapes. This compound functions by activing the longevity gene in animal bodies. This longevity gene helps us to lose weight, to fight off disease, to live longer. Study using overfed rats showed that those that were given resveratrol ran faster than other overfed rats and ran twice as far. Another factor was that, those that were given resveratrol gained less weight. WOW.

Then I think back, a while ago broccoli was the big find because it helped to prevent cancer! Where has that study lead?

Stem Cell research was the big thing, it got scrapped and now Obama is just reviving it. 

I am just so skeptical now about these programs even though they are promoting such great and wonderful things. Don't get me wrong, I hope they succeed, I hope I proven to be an idiot, but my brain says, no.

The scientists in the program says that in around 5 years time reservatrol will be on the market in pill form. Definitely in our life time.

Tune in next time to Beyond 2000: The medical edition where we look at the pill that prevents diabetes.

Word of the Day #8: Austere

I can't believe a word can have that many meanings, but this word "austere" has many meanings. The meaning I'll write down will be the one I'll use most frequently.

Pronounced: aw-steer

Meaning: lacking of ornament, grave, solemn.

Example sentence:

The was were no artifacts, no enchantments and no creatures, making his board feel austere.

Before they are hanged

It is very ironic and sad that while New South Wales is flooding, that Victoria was emblazoned with wild devastating bush fires. I think the total number of dead has past 200 and around 1000 homes are gone. The worst thing? That perhaps there were multiple arsonists at work. What are these people thinking? What possible gain do they have for doing something like this? The good thing to come out of it is even though we are in a heavy recession, New Zealanders and Australians (especially) are donating a lot of money to help out the cause. Red Cross NZ has pledged more than 1 million dollars and are not deducting costs of admin and bank fees. 

It is going to take years for those broken families to get over it, the land will be unusable for at least 6 months (could be a lot more, I'm not sure).

So far they have caught 2 arsonist, but they only caused small fires apparently (still killing 21 people). I hope they caught all the bastards, and then I hope the families forgive them...

But not before they are hanged.

Split personality

Decided to move my book content to another blog. So if you want to get up to date on what I have read or my reviews or comments about books, you need to move to

sleeping-with-books.blogspot.com

20 Random things not about me

It's harder than it looks! Copy to your own blog, erase my answers, enter yours.
Use the first letter of your name to answer each of the following questions. They have to be real...nothing made up! If the person before you had the same first initial, you must use different answers. You cannot use any word twice and you can't use your name for the boy/girl name question.

1. What is your name : Enchante

2. A four Letter Word : Emit

3. A boy's Name : Eddard

4. A girl's Name : Erin

5. An occupation : Educator

6. A color : Electric Pink

7. Something you'll wear : Embroidered Jacket

8. Something you'll do : Eat

9. A food : Eggplant

10. Something found in the bathroom : Earrings

11. A place : Earth

12. A reason for being late : Essay assignment night before

13. Something you'd shout : Easy

14. A movie title : Eagle vs Shark

15. Something you drink : Eggnog

16. A musical group : Everclear

17. An animal : Eel

18. A street name : Egmont Street

19. A type of car : Echo

20. The title of a song : Everlong

Word of the Day #7: Sycophant

I thought this word meant preacher, how wrong I was.

Pronounced: sic-oh-phant

Meaning: A flatterer, a fawning parasite, an ass kisser

Example Sentence:

I don't want to sound like a sycophant, but your awesome. 

Ode to Nighteyes

I had a dream last night. It was a funeral but it was very different. I remember there was a couple of 3 story apartment type buildings, and there was a man inside it who was still. He didn't move but his eyes pierced me. There were mourners around me, and I started to cry relentlessly for there was nothing else to do but cry. Was that man inside Fitz? Was I crying for him? I woke up and tried to feel the tears that surely must be a pool. There is nothing but the wind blowing and my heavy heart.

Word of the Day #6: Mawkish

This is a really odd word in my opinion. It looks weird, it sounds weird and I don't think you could guess what it means.

Pronouced: Maw-Kish (adjective)

Meaning: sickly sentimentality, weakly emotional

Example sentences: 

1) The comment she made seemed mawkish.

2) He whispered mawkishly into my ear "Goodbye beloved."

Sticky-Icky

A know a few people who smoke pot and although I don't condone it, I won't go calling the cops when I see someone do it. 

I think that it could be a good drug to help for medicinal purposes but beyond that, it's just like smoking to me.

I know it is a media thing, but I just hate how sports stars/celebrities get so much attention when they do something like pot (i.e. Michael Phelps), just let the police handle it and back the fuck off. They aren't murders or serial rapist so stop making them out like they are the big bad.

Word of the Day #5: Pantheon

Pronouced: Pan-thee-on

This word has many meanings but the one I am refering to is this.

A place for heroes or idols of any group, individual or movement.

i.e. The Hall of Fame

Example Sentence

MacGyver should be placed in the Pantheon of TV History.

Book Porn: January Centerfold

OCD

In an earlier post, I directed your attention to the 3x3x3 Rubik's cube. Well my fascination of it has lead me to the 4x4x4 Rubik's cube, however, I a

m attempting to solve this one without any help from our friend the internet. 

The following are a couple of pictures of my attempts to solve the 4x4x4 cube (key word is attempt here ladies and gentlemen)

With help from the petrus method which I learnt while trying to solve the 3x3x3 cube I manage to get to this.

EPIC FAIL!

All but the two that are flipped around the WRONG way.....

Still trying to flip the two around, spent 2 hours last night trying to flip the two around, but can't....pissing me off.

Word of the day #4: Pissant

Before I get on with word of the day I have a story to tell. The other I was in the supermarket to get random things and while looking at the aisle signs I noticed one of the words: 'Haberdashery'. I smirked to myself and thought "I know what that means!" like the little boy I am.

Pronouced: Piss-ant

When used as a noun, it is a person or thing that is worthless or of no consequence.

When used as an adjective it means worthless or insignificant.

Darth Vader is awesome; Anakin Skywalker is a pissant.

Killing me softly with his words

The current book I am reading is 'A Clash of Kings' by George R.R. Martin. I am actually re-reading it because hopefully (and I am being very optimistic here) 'A Dance of Dragons' is going to come out in October and by then I want to have re-read all of the other previous books. 

It is such a joy to be back in the world of Westeros but there is a thing that's been making me feel a bit guilty. The amount of books I have read over my life time isn't a lot and there are still so many good fantasy/sci-fi books for me to read, so many different authors I haven't had the pleasure to get acquainted with and yet here I go whoring my soul in Westeros again.

With that said, it is a guilty pleasure and I'll be getting into bed with 'A Storm of Swords' and 'A Feast for Crows'

xoxo

Word of the Day #3: Cajole

Pronounced Ca-jole

Meaning to persuade using flattery or promises. 

Example Sentence:

My students cajoled me into reading them a story.

Where were you on the 20th Jan 2009?

It's such a common saying when something big in the world happens.

I had doubted whether it could happen, I suspected that there would be too much stupidity, that there was too much hatred in America, that someone that 'could' be someone great would be denied by his own people. I shouldn't have doubted. The mob have spoken.

Today Barack Obama was sworn into the presidency and became the first African-American to ever grace the steps of the White House. A horde of 2 million people were gathered to watch him get inaugurated while millions more watched from their TV screens around in world (me included at 6am). I woke up because I wanted to hear a JFK speech, a Martin Luther King Jr speech, a David Lange (ex-NZ prime minister) speech but I was a little disappointed because I felt it wasn't one of those speeches. However, maybe it's because I am not American and so distant from everything that is America or maybe because he didn't want one of those speeches, he wanted to let America and the world to know that he doesn't have delusions of grandeur for himself, but he is here to help change America for the better and deluding us with fake speeches is not what Obama is about.

While watching the news the day before, you see a lot of Obama mania (there were lots before yesterday too) where people were selling, buying, making, praising anything Obama. He is probably the single most popular man in the world to date; there are people who have dropped everything to come to his inauguration; people who profuse their love for him. 

You might ask why many people love him, why droves of people shout his name on the streets. There has never been an African American more loved since Martin Luther King Jr, never been a man more loved since 'The Beatles'. Why?

What is more powerful than anything in the world?

What can endure any hardship and cannot be beaten down?

What is it that wakes people in the hours of stupid to watch a man (and yes, he's just a man) say a few words?

Hope. The Hope that he is not just a man, that he can transcend not only America, but be the start of a revolution. 

Good Luck Mr. President.

 

Most frequently used words from Obama's Inaugural Speech. Picture from www.readwriteweb.com

Ruby Ruby Ruby!

Ok, that titled could mean anything! A girl named Ruby? My friends son called Reuben who's nickname is Ruby? The Kaiser Chiefs?...whats this...you want to tell us about a Rubik's Cube!

Yep.

I have seen them during my lifetime, have tried twisting and turning them around to no avail but no desire to actually sit down and figure them out either. About the last week of school a student of mine brought one in, and when he left it at school over night I grabbed it and messed around with it failing by epic proportions. Then it clicked. YouTube.

I got found this person called Dan Brown (no, not Da Vinci Code guy) who had made an amazing tutorial on how to do the rubik's cube in a very easy way, the 'Layer by Layer' method. It took me about a day to memorize all the algorithms. Then I went and bought one and tried to solve the cube as fast as I could and got to about 1 minute and 34 seconds. However as I have learnt now that I had no real understanding of the rubik's cube, to really understand it you have to look at each piece as it moves, don't just look at the piece you are moving, but look at the piece you are moving away (where does it go?).

I went to my friends (Shaun, Daz and Koray) house during the holiday and practically got them all into learning how to solve the cube (later on my girl wanted to learn too). Koray latched onto the cube as much as I did and we both would take our cubes when we went out and solved the cube over and over again.  We went to Raglan with another bunch of mates. When we met up with one of our friends called Chris there, we asked him about the cube because earlier before, David (Chris' older brother) told me that Chris had learnt to solve the cube himself. Koray and I found out that Chris had figured out the cube in much the same way Dan Brown did except he used another way to solve the top (for all you cubers out there, instead of solving the cross first on the 3rd layer, Chris solved the corners first) and it turned out to be a lot quicker.

About 2 weeks later Daz bought Koray a 4x4x4 and 5x5x5 rubik's cube. Not only did they look very daunting to our untrained eyes but they also looked like a new challenge. Because Koray and I both essentially learnt the cube off the internet we were determined to try and solve either the 4x4x4 or 5x5x5 cubes by ourselves. Long story short, we failed (like duh, obviously). I only had a few hours to try it but I really got no where, this is because I had and still don't really have a good understand of the logistics of the cube.

I then had to go back to Wellington and I didn't have a cube other than my 3x3x3. So i decided I would learn how to solve the rubik's cube another way. I knew that there was a method in which you started from a corner and went from there (instead of the layer by layer method). So i looked it up (YouTube) and found out it was called the Petrus method and learnt to do it via a guy called Hobie. Hobie's video was not good as Dan Browns (no disrespect). The reason for this is Dan Brown actually embedded the codes/algorithms onto his videos, you could pause at certain points to  try and do it yourself. With that said, Hobie's video was the best Petrus method video because he did his video's in many parts with a specific point in each video. Also the clarity (both visually and instructionally) were better than the others. 

I found that the petrus method was a lot harder than the vanilla layer by layer method because I have to 'find' the right pieces at certain points, whereas the vanilla method you could go with the flow, solving each piece that is 'solvable' at any given time. But in conclusion the Petrus Method taught me way more about the cube itself because the Petrus Method limits your movements. Hobie talked about 2 or 3 degrees of freedom (because you can only move 2 or 3 of the 6 faces).

After doing all this I don't think I could solve either the 4x4x4 or 5x5x5 with any degree of success but I sure will give it a try when I get my hands on one. A video for fail blog perhaps?

Thanks Dan and Hobie. You've changed my life!

Word of the Day #2: Taciturn

I picked this word because I felt it meant nothing like it looked and sounded.

Pronounced tas-i-turn

Meaning reluctant to speak, reserved in conversation, habitually untalkative and tempermentally disinclined to talk..

Example sentence:

The woman at the haberdashery was very talkative, while the man was taciturn .

Starting a new trend

I find reading great; not just books; reading in general.

Yes, reading books has more value, you experience a much more vast variety of different words than say a tabloid magazine but that still doesn't that trashy girly mags have no reading value. Obviously those magazines sell by the bucket load because people like gossip but they still occasionally contain words with more than 3 letters.

Anyways, so I was saying...reading is great. To enhance myself, I am going to help enhance you!

Word of the Day #1: Haberdasher

A person who sells small articles for sewing, such as buttons, ribbons and zippers.

A Haberdashers shop is called a Haberdashery.

Sloth is the greatest of all sins

A while back I had a very vivid dream about hybrid type vampires. I woke up and wrote down the main points of the story. As time has gone by I have had other ideas about the story and have also written them down. I want to write a bit more of this 'book', not so much as I think it will get published but rather I would feel rather proud of myself.

However, even with time on my hands I haven't tried to write more of it even though I really want to. I need some more motivation other than I will feel proud of doing so.

Perhaps some publisher out there wants a new vampire novel? 

Harper Collins? 

Tor? 

Anyone...?

.

..

...

....

.....

......

.......

........

.........

..........

...........

............Hello?

Enchante's Top 5 books of 2008

This is the first ever time I have read enough books in one year to warrant a top anything book of the year. I think in total I read 29 books, 2 of them were short stories, 2 young adult books, 1 auto-biography, 1 non-fiction, 1 crime/thriller and the rest were fantasy/sci-fi. 

I think last year not only did I read a lot of books (at least for me) but the quality of books I read was also quite superb. This is due to the fact that I am playing a lot of catch up on classics and also because the amount of quality fantasy writing has increased. It was really difficult for me to pick a top 5 not only because I read a lot of great books but some of them were read 300 days ago and my memory is failing me. 

Anyways on with the show.

#5 Tuf Voyaging by George R.R. Martin

George R.R. Martin is my favourite author in the world. He wrote the series called a Song of Ice and Fire which has won the hearts of many. Too often when an author has a stand out series is that many of his other works go unnoticed or aren't mentioned very much and I have not heard anyone ever mention Tuf Voyaging.

As with most of Martin's earlier works they are more sci-fi orientated with a hint of horror and this book is no exception. The plot of this story is about a relatively poor merchant/transporter who is in love with cats. He accepts to take a group of 'scientists and mercenaries' to find a 'lost' technologically advanced ship which would make them all richer than the Sultan of Brunei, but finding the ship was the easy part, surviving the terrors on board and surviving each other will become of the utmost importance.

This story is very witty and funny. Martin spares no details when describing scenes/people and dead. An excellent story which I hope one day gets a sequel. 

#4 Perdido Street Station by China Mieville

Don't judge a book by its cover and certainly not by someones first name. I had heard many raps about this book from BookSpotCentral.com before I read it and it certainly did not disappoint. Mieville creates this world called New Crobuzon where races of Bird men, Cacti men, Khepri (scrab people), mutants, humans and other strange races fill the living world of New Crobuzon. 

The story starts off very slowly and pulls you along making you guess what the real story is about (unless you read the blurb at the back), developing the characters, the culture of this city and the city itself.

It is hard to describe this book because it is like no other fantasy I have ever read before. The races are different, the world is different (vastly), the technology available is neither here nor there. The main character is not your swash buckling long haired hero with a greatsword in one hand and a maiden in the other but rather a slightly overweight scientist who falls in love with a woman totally forbidden.

Be prepared to have your fragile little mind blown apart when reading this book and don't let it hit you on the head either, the book is thicker than your skull.

#3 American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Gaiman is known to comic enthusiasts as the author of Sandman. To movie goers he is known as the author of Stardust but to readers of fantasy he is known for Neverwhere, Good Omens a book he co-wrote with Terry Pratchett (recently knighted author of the Discworld series).

I picked up this book from the recommendation of my friend Leigh. I wasn't sure of the book at first but the more I read the more I couldn't put it down. 

This story is about the Norse Gods, Odin, Loki etc. and how they are trying to survive in a world where no one remembers them and no one believes in them. However, when you have power you won't relinquish it easily and the Gods are preparing to rejuvenate their power and to do so they must take on the new generation of gods,the Internet, the Media, the American Gods!

Gaiman has definitely captured my heart and I am currently reading his Sandman Graphic Novels. I hope to read Good Omens soon, as it is getting lonely on my bookshelf.

#2 The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

I will always remember this book as the first 1st/1st Edition Hardcover book that I owned. I was so happy to hold it and turn the first page and finished it in about 3-4 days (quick for me).

The story follows Locke (in my mind Lock - e, and not Lock) Lamora an orphan who is bought by a blind priest of Perelandro to stop him from being executed. However the blind priest turned out not to be blind nor even a priest. Chains (the fake priest) was actually a thief, a very good one at that but an old one and he was building a tiny gang teaching them the ways of thievery, disguises, deception and cooking! 

The story keeps you on your toes because every 2nd chapter goes back to Locke's past and Scott Lynch always left the chapter before on a semi-cliffhanger. 

Locke is your typical main character who is smart, intelligent, gets away with the impossible and very very lucky. 

Locke is not your typical main character because he isn't a striking man, when it comes to fighting he is actually really shit.

I loved how Lynch wrote with such a simple touch, kept to basics but made the characters interesting enough and Locke's background interesting enough to deprive me of sleep and social interaction. This book would also make a great TV series!

#1 Troy: The Fall of Kings

Gemmell at the top of your list? But once you've read one Gemmell book you've read them all! I keep hearing/reading that from people. Perhaps that is why this series has fallen under the radar a bit. 

To my benefit Troy: Lord of the Silver Bow, was the first Gemmell book I read, since then I have complete the Troy trilogy, 'Legend', and 'The King beyond the gate'.

Fall of Kings is the 3rd and final installment of the Troy series ('Lord of the Silver Bow', 'Shield of Thunder' being the first two). David Gemmell died before the book was finished. Stella his wife was left with 14,000 words already written and a skeleton diagram of how David wanted the book to end. I could definitely tell where Stella picked up and she isn't as talented as David but it still did not diminish this series for me.

I can tell you that Troy is NOTHING like the first two books Gemmell had published (the fore mentioned books). There is a lot more character depth, twists to amazing legends that you may or may not know (perhaps from the shitty film called Troy), death to some of your favourite characters, betrayal,  love and tragedy of Shakespearean proportions. 

Books like Legend were great but won't make me miss Gemmell. Troy definitely has made me miss Gemmell. Go pick it up from the bookstore/library now. If you know me personally, ask me to borrow it, I won't hesitate and praise Gemmell for what I call his finest work. Rest in peace David Gemmell.

Honourable Mentions:
Last Arguments of Kings by Joe Abercrombie
Dune by Frank Herbert
Temeraire by Naomi Novik

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin (not on my list because it was a re-read)

Plateau

I find myself in a position I have never been in before. 

I'm jobless, not studying, no income to speak of at the moment.

I deal with that, I know that there will be more jobs opening up a couple of weeks before school starts but right now I am sort of in limbo. I need to fill time in.

I can read sure, but I really need to be more productive. I want to go for jogs, but I hate jogging. I want to write some more of my book which is still in the embryotic stages, yet I feel the lack of motivation. 

I have fallen and I can't get up

Your new favourite saying.

Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Fast becoming my favourite saying.

When did Ozzy become an actor?

That line is from the song '1985' by 'Bowling for Soup'. I was reminded of it when I was walking through the EMO/PUNK aisle in JB-HIFI. You expect bands like My Chem and Panic at the Disco there but it made me sad that bands like Green Day were there. Bands like Green Day were rock/punkrock way before Emotional Music was Emo, before teen boys pretended to be teen girls

I think I'm getting old.

I gain 6 life.

After having such an extended break from my friends (because I moved to Wellington) it was so good to see all of them for Christmas/New Years. Some of them have changed (for the better) and some of them are still the same, but all were just awesome.
Shaun my best friend is really growing as a person and moving out of the house is doing him wonders.
Koray changing his name back was the first big step towards normality but still has heaps to learn.
Daz was good fun and very welcoming even if I was at his house almost everyday!
Team Cumberpatch, always good to see you guys.
Leigh and Pat, no Cannelloni! Good to play Bball with you though Pat.
David great to see you, and I think your my new coffee drinking buddy!
James Farrier, was great hanging out with you dude.
Chang Family: Family is more and more important the older I get.

MIA:
Nik and Fern: Miss you guys heaps, come back soon?
My girl. See you soon, missed you heaps

Surprises:
Anna, James' girlfriend, sweet and nice, making a new friend is great

Melting my heart

There was a program by Bill Cosby entitled 'Kids say the darnedest things'. I never watched it, didn't care but now I am a teacher and I deal with kids everyday. Now I'm not saying I am watching re-runs now but I was reminded of it when the kids in my class blurted out random comments or genuine thoughts.

---

M: I don't want you to go Mr. Chang, I'm going to miss you.
Me: That's sweet. It's nice to be miss.
M: Yeah, I will miss you, I miss you when I go home, I miss you at night and I miss you on the weekends too.

---

J: Mr. Chang, your my dad.
Me: I'm not your dad J, you have a dad.
J: Yeah, but your like my dad. You look after me.

God Defend New Zealand

I heard a very interesting conversation over the weekend. A guy was arguing why we should have Waitangi Day. His arguments were about patriotism, that we as New Zealanders are not patriotic enough and that we need something to associate ourselves with.

Now I was agreeing with him a little but I didn't get the chance to ask him, why New Zealanders aren't patriotic enough, what were his thoughts?

Here are some possible explanations that I have thought of:

1) Maori consider themselves Maori and not New Zealanders.
2) We associate ourselves with the Silver Fern far more than we associate ourselves with the New Zealand flag.
3) We put too much emphasis on Maori in New Zealand. How many of us know the National Anthem flawlessly? Ok, now how about the Maori version?
4) We have two versions of the National Anthem.
5) We have tall poppy syndrome. We rather associate ourselves with our "region" than with New Zealand because it might lump with the Jafa's or the hicks in the Tron.
6) We call ourselves Kiwis and not New Zealanders. Do you hear American's calling themselves Yanks or the English calling themselves Poms (yes, I know this one has a negative connotation)?
7) We haven't been in MANY wars.
8) We leave the country in droves because there are better opportunities elsewhere.

I am sure that there are more.
I know that I have not made arguments for patriotism in New Zealand.
However, I DO think that New Zealanders aren't patriotic enough.

I'm terrible

Sometimes I have to realise that the mentality of 5 year old's can be random at best.

So, only make jokes with the older kids.

Don't tell one student to tell another student to come see me because they are in "big" trouble.

Especially when it is not true.

Especially when the student told is 5 years old.

Because your going to make the 5 year old cry.

And you will feel really stink afterward.

Feinting

This is sometimes what I think my job is about. Feinting my emotions. I can't be the teacher that swears, the teacher them seems to get annoyed, the teacher who thinks that swear words and toilet jokes are all the rave.

I have to not laugh at things I find funny because it was rude or dangerous or stupid.

Sometimes though I just want to feint a sneak attack.

1d4+7+2d8

Ready or not, here I come!

Children are so funny, it is amazing how much they think they know and an instant just freeze up when asked a simple question. Words like naive and ignorance are not part of their vocabulary and even if they were would not associate those words to themselves. However, that is a little unfair as how often do people put negative connotations to themselves?

What I find amusing is how kids try to lie or hide things from you and think they do such a great job of it. Suddenly putting things behind their back when I come around the corner. Say thing is happening when 2 seconds ago I heard shouting and running.

Not here to say if I think kids are stupid, they are very intelligent in their own way, however, they would be a lot smarter if they could see their own fallibility and when they grow up we wouldn't have a society of people in denial.

How to save a dollar

So I went to my local cafe today to get a vanilla milkshake for $4. I figured that since it was only 4pm I could park outside without paying the parking meter, get my shake and go. So I go inside, order my shake, go back outside and you know what? There is a parking warden like 3 cars away from me.

I had to run to my car, move my car down and onto the other side of the road. Run back up to the cafe to get my shake, run back to my car before the parking warden got to it.

Moral of the story: This is how you save a dollar while creating infinite stress and work off the calories you gain from drinking a vanilla shake.

You Can't be Serious!

There are campaigns in New Zealand for Push play. Push play is a national campaign to get New Zealand families and their children to exercise more everyday. The program is in schools and is looking to be quite successful.

Now these types of campaigns will be the antithesis to games/toy campaigns which require indoor play. Usually I am fine with toys and games, children need multiple types of stimulation to further growth and this includes computer games and the like.

But this new sensation (which I only heard of 5 minutes before writing this post) is disguising me.
It is called the iTeddy. I thought it was a new Apple Inc product but I was sadly mistaken.

It is a teddy with a built in dvd/games/tv/music player so now the children won't have to bother their parents anymore! Every neglectful parents dream toy! No wonder it will be a hot sell.

iTeddy

Takes so freakin long to learn

Patience. Why does it take so long to learn. Because I am impatient?
How can you learn patience when you are an impatient person?

Am I not suppose to know all the answers in the world because I am a teacher?

Teaching kids takes a lot of patience especially when you have to discipline the children. You have to give them time out's, taking away play time, taking away enjoyable activities. It is hard going, to see them in distress but you know you are trying to make life easier for you and the other children, but also for the children at hand as well. Their better behaviour will learn to better learning for themselves.

I'm not sure if writing this out helps to reinforce my own learning, but it is really helpful to get it off my chest! Imagine when I have my own children!

Tag Your It!!!

Thanks Eric

First, the random rules
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on the blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know they have been tagged.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

1) I have read 20 books this year, to know what they are, scroll down to the next post =)

2) I started working for real this year! At Makara Model School in Wellington. I have 8 kids 96 boys and 2 girls.) in my class because it is a rural school with the school pop at a huge count of 24!

3) I have moved houses twice this year, that's doubling the amount of times I have moved in my entire life. Now you math whizzes out there calculate how many times I've moved houses in my life time.

4) I'm really anti-stoopid

5) My favourite band is the Smashing Pumpkins. I saw them live this year which was a dream come true. Even though they are my favourite band, I just don't listen to them all the time. I don't have much of their merchandise (3 t-shirts), and I only own about 70% of their albums. However, I always fall back on them, and old favourites become new favourites all over again.

6) I am a book whore, I have so many books waiting on my bookshelf to be read and yet I neglect them and keep on buying new or 2nd hand books. I think I have a problem but no one seems to care..."what books did you buy?" they say, "where did you get them?" they ask. No sympathy for the afflicted.

So after my ramblings I get to tag 6 people!
Cleo
Megan
Medora
Jay
Maria
Jen

List of Books I've bedded with this year

I was thinking that this year I have read a lot of books. Even though the year has not ended I feel I have read the most books of any year. I felt like I should start recording books I have read.

My List of Whoring (In no order).

Fantasy/Sci-Fi
Fall of Kings by David Gemmell
Legend by David Gemmell
King Beyond the Gate by David Gemmell
Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie
Dune by Frank Herbert
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin
The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett
Only you can save mankind by Terry Pratchett
The Darkness that comes Before by Scott Bakker
The Warrior-Prophet by Scott Bakker
The Thousandfold Though by Scott Bakker
Tuf's Voyaging by George R.R. Martin
Songs the Dead Men Sing by George R.R. Martin
The Hedge Knight (from Legends I) by George R.R. Martin
The Sworn Sword (from Legends II) by George R.R. Martin
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Shadow of a Torturer by Gene Wolfe
Devices and Desires by KJ Parker

Non-Fantasy/Sci-Fi
Dexter - Darkly Dreaming by Jeff Lindsay
Teacher Man by Frank McCourt

So on average about 2 books a month. There are at least 2 more books I need to read this year.
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
Red Seas under Red Skies by Scott Lynch

From then on it's all gravy.

Foolishness

Is it more foolish to not know what is wrong and and continuing on?
Or is it more foolish to know what is wrong and do nothing about it?
Is it too foolish to know what is wrong but not have the bravery to right it?
Is it foolish to take advice from a fool?
Or is it foolish to even contemplate listening to a fool?
Even a fool would have some expertise....at least in foolishness no?

It could be anything

I got the fever about two days ago. It also came with bonus stomach cramps and a sore lower back, so I went to the doctors yesterday. I had to go to the city because there were no doctors near my area (Thorndon). I went to the first doctors and they said they were all booked out and that the earliest they could see me was next week, but try the one down the road. So I go to the one down the road and they say the same thing to me. I asked them if there was any place near by that would take in walk in's. The secretary talked to the doctor and she agreed to see me.

Now before this point I'm wondering to myself, 90% of people go to the doctors because they have just gotten sick. How do you book out the doctor for 3 days? Are these people psychic and know they are going to get sick a few days in advance?

I walk into the doctors office and she asks me random questions, gets me to take a urine sample, gives my tummy a bit of a feel, feels my glands, checks my temperature. "It could be anything, there are many things going about these days" said the doctor. I successfully prevent myself from rolling my eyes. She tells me to go take a blood test, gives me a prescription for some drugs and send me on my way.

So earlier in the post when I said I had the fever, I was lying...it could be anything ("rolls eyes").

2nd Life

Been at my job for 1 week now. I am enjoying it quite a lot and do think I have made the right choice when it comes to professions.

However I do see a lot of ignorance and stubbornness that really irks me.

Anyways, more later

p.s. I think I will be back on this blog.

Ramsay the never

I don't know why, but I love cooking. The prep work, the cooking and the eating. I don't always make great cook and I never cook anything complicated. Simple and tasty. When I am cooking, I would say that I am sort of in a trance, just moving and doing and enjoying the food change in front of my eyes. I'm not exactly sure when I first got into cooking, it can't have been more than 2 years ago, I have an inkling that it was when I first made Spaghetti Bolognese.

Anyways, I had my 2nd go (in about 2 years) at cooking Chicken Pasta in a creamy white wine sauce. The first time I made an absolute muck of it and therefore hadn't tried again. This time it would out quite well except when I simmered the sauce at too high a temperature and the fat separated!

I like sharing recipes so here it is.

Ingredients: (serves 2)
300g Boneless chicken
5-6 Cloves of Garlic
2 Tsp Olive Oil
250ml of Cream
180ml of White wine (any will do)
8g of Plain Flour
1 tsp of Salt
2 tsp of oregano (dried, if you use fresh then as much as you like!)

Prep work:
1) Cut chicken into small pieces
2) dice the garlic
3) whip the cream until it is thick

Cook work:
1) throw in whatever pasta you like to eat with it into a pot (add some olive oil and pinch of salt to water) until al dente
2) heat the oil, throw in garlic, just when it starts to brown throw in the chicken. Cook until the chicken has a nice brown colour (you don't have to move it too much)
3) put the cream/wine/salt/flour/oregano into the pan and simmer at a low heat.
4) once the sauce has be reduced to about 2/5 of the original content, then you are done (or until your desired thickness but thick and gooey is best).
5) drain pasta, add with chicken and your done!

Optional:
6) At the end of part 2, throw in some sliced mushrooms or diced courgettes!

Enjoy

Speaking of ch-ch-change

To get more readers to my blog I have to go out and find other like minded people. People who not necessarily share my views but are willing to put themselves out there. It is very easy to be bold on the internet, people type whatever rubbish they feel like. The one's I am after are ones that also put in intelligent thought behind the words.

Sometimes I'm a bit of a hypocrite. I write for myself mostly but I do want others to read and comment on it as well.

There is a website that I visit like 7 times a day. Fantasybookspot.com and recently they have been trying to urge some members into moving their blogs to FBS's blog. I am thinking about this quite a bit. Would it be a hindrance to the people who read my blog now or have me in their blogroll?

Yet the more I think about it, I keep telling myself why am I so sentimental about this website?

Get what we've always got

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
(turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-changes
Dont want to be a richer man
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
(turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-changes
Just gonna have to be a different man
Time may change me
But I cant trace time
- David Bowie

Change is simple yet so very hard. To make our diet better we can simply give up drinking fizzy drinks (simple yeah?). But most of us like drinking fizzy drinks and it is EVERYWHERE! The fact that a bottle of water costs more than twice the size in fizzy drink is ridiculous.

The thing that makes change hard is that it changes what is comfortable for us. We have done things so habitually that we don't think anything of it. Those people who are fat didn't wake up fat but gained 1 pound a week or two. Those that have had a much better income than 5 years ago, most likely had worked hard for 5 years and getting small constant pay rises rather than a quick job change.

However, there are many things that we do benefit from changing our routines. We get new insights from working at the different place. We stop eating dairy and found out just how much of it is in packaged food goods. We walk to work and save $3 a day, $15 a week or a whooping $720 a year.

Change is normally good, we can learn a lot from it. Don't try and ignore it or be afraid of it. If you want your life to be better than you have to change or stick to what you have always gotten.



This guy will bring huge changes. Not just because he could be the new president but because (and I don't like focusing on this, but too many Americans can't stop focusing on it) he might be the first ever black president.

Hopefully any changes that happen to the good old US of A is for the better.

Buying Anonymity

So I sat down on a long brown couch which looked very inviting and sunk deeply into it. I felt around with my hand, pushing the cushion here and there then poking at the couch cushion next to me. Feeling dissatisfied I got up and looked for another seat. I was looking for the green one-seater couch I had sat in before, and it wasn't long before I saw them. It wasn't in the most appetizing of spots but I was willing to tolerate it because of the comfortableness that the green couch offered. I opened up 'Last argument of Kings' (to the chapter I was at) and began to read, immersed in the world of Joe Abercrombie. Not before long my latte in a cup arrives to interrupt the dealings of Logan and his ponderings. I added two sugars, stirred, took a sip, and just stared out the window looking at nothing in particular. I looked back towards my book and thought "this is the life, if only I could have more moments like this."

Now it wasn't so much as being able to sit in a cafe, drink coffee and read my current book that made me all sentimental. What it doesn't tell you was that it was my day off work. I didn't have to think about anything else. There was nothing to worry about at home, there was no obligations at that particular point and time except for me to read my book and do whatever I felt like doing at that time. Sometimes it's about watching a movie with my girl, sometimes it's going out and having lunch with a good mate.

Perhaps that is why I would like to be rich (don't confuse this with being famous), it would create more days/chances I would have less obligations and therefore have more days where I feel sentimental.
I also want to have children, but that would create more obligations, conflicting with my need for sentimental days! Or is it that by having children I would create more sentimental days, but instead of having a read and a coffee, it would be my child running towards me when I come home from work and yelling "DADDY!"

Diagnosing Adulthood

The Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (as known as the DSM) is a book that helps diagnose mental illness' such as autism, schizophrenia etc...

The DSM helps mostly doctors to diagnose patients, but sometimes their diagnoses can be the different between the sane and the mentally disabled.

On Wikipedia is says:
The DSM-IV-TR states that, because it is produced for mental health specialists, its use by people without clinical training can lead to inappropriate application of its contents. Appropriate use of the diagnostic criteria is said to require extensive clinical training, and its contents “cannot simply be applied in a cookbook fashion” *** DSM-IV-TR = 4th edition text revised version.

This helps to prevent common people like you and me looking through the book, ticking off the requirements and think we or someone we know have some mental illness. However, I am thinking of a different thing for this blog. I have always wanted to know when do people become adults. I have a small criteria list and although it is not extensive, I think it is quite a good reflection.

You must meet this first requirement because under the law you will still be a child.
* Am over the age of 18

You must meet at least 1 of these critera
* Have bought a house before
* Lived away from home
* Have children

You must meet at least 1 of these criteria
* Have had a long term relationship
* Have a driver's license with no restrictions
* Have had sex before
* Have stopped maturing physically

Three or more of the following, each present for a significant portion of time during a one-month period
* Can be objective even when involving oneself
* Independent, the ability to self rely.
* Moral understandings between right and wrong
* Ability to make decisions that you don't like
* Ability to say sorry, not necessarily because you mean it, but because it is the right thing to do
* Have an altruistic nature

-----

I will soon move out of the house soon, which will promote me from child to adult according to my guide. Hopefully I don't suck at it too much.

Tomodachi, Amico, Mate

I just watched on Boston Legal, Denny Crane turned down a potential wife because he was not willing to move to another state, because that would have meant leaving Alan. His love for a woman was not greater than his love for his friend, a man.

I've always viewed friendship as such a sacred bond. I treat my friends like family, sometimes perhaps even better than family. It could be because I am an only child, it could be because my family are quite different from me, they are immigrants (now citizens) living in New Zealand, whereas I am a citizen born in New Zealand.

There are many people out there that have many friends. I am not one of those people. I have few friends, but those few friends are very dear to me.

To my friends out there (you know who you are and that includes you sweetie!), I love you all very much.

Stupidity is a state, not an event.

/start rant

Fact 1: I am getting older
Fact 2: I like to think that I am getting wiser
Fact 3: I like to think that I am getting more patient

Why is it that I act like some young impatient idiot when it comes to stupid people. I am so positive that it is the thing I hate most in the world. Stupid people drive me crazy, I don't know why they are stupid...but they just are.

I always question why people are stupid. Are they like that cause they were born dumb (I don't believe this). Was it because the education system failed them? (possibly). Was it because their parents failed them? (probably). Is it because they don't know they are stupid and/or they do not actively go out to improve themselves. (definitely maybe).

To recap, I really despise stupid people. I don't want to talk to them, I don't want to work with them, I almost don't have the patience to help them improve themselves. Not saying I'm the smartest guy in the world and you should all worship my awesomeness but I'm just using a highlighter pen to highlight the important parts. (although I do do stupid things...but that doesn't make me stupid..hence the title...hint..hint.)

/end rant



Light comic relief.

If you're flawless, then you'll win my love

Appearances are everything. Girls take 2 hours before they get out of the house putting on make-up, trying different clothes, trying on shoes...the shoes don't match the clothes so they have to change clothes again. Sometimes the clothes then don't match the make-up so something has to change.

Men these days are becoming more like women, we try to take care of our skin, we use pimple remover, face cleanser, and decide whether 3, 4 or 5 blades will give us a closer cleaner shave. We even allow ourselves to wear pink dress shirts.

We do this to find the perfect job, perfect partner, perfect life. But is perfect really perfect? When is perfect...not perfect?

We always talk about the perfect partner, those that know why we are sad, what they need to do to perk us up. They know our favourite foods and the little things that make us happy. But do you really want someone that knows what you are thinking all the time, someone who finishes our sentences and knows what we are going to do before we do? Wouldn't that get annoying?

The word perfect is actually a contradictory statement in itself, as there can be no such thing. Again going with the partner theory, the is no "perfect" person, they will undoubtedly have some quirks or annoyances that you don't like, that perhaps they will never change. Then you argue that that is what makes them them; that they are perfect just the way they are. So to be perfect is to be imperfect.

Just like beauty, perfection is in the eye of the beholder. Or am I making up bullshit because perfection doesn't exist.

Secretly a woman

I think I am a compulsive buyer when it comes to books.
I try to read as much as I can, but what I do read is not nearly enough as I want to.
I find I am easily distracted and tend not to read when I get the chance.
Which makes compulsive buying of books so much the worser, because the "books I have bought but yet to read" pile is getting larger and larger.
At times like these I am glad I only mostly read fantasy.
Books I have bought in the last 2 weeks...

This is my Boomstick

When kids decide what they want; whether it be food, play or any other activity, sometimes it can take a very long time. I put it down to, children do not have a deep understanding of the activities that they do. They cannot fully appreciate one activity over the other and therefore take a long time to make a decision.

You ask a child, what's your favourite toy at home and most of the time they will not be able to answer you. You will have to ask them to tell you about ONE of their favourite toys.

When adults do this, does this mean they don't have a deep understanding? If they don't, then is it presumable that they are ignorant? or could it be that they have dull senses (the 5 senses). Sometimes when you ask someone, what their favourite music is, and they will answer...'oh i like all kinds of music' or 'as long as it sounds good, I don't mind'. I find it difficult to not have a favourite music artist or favourite movie/cuisine. And because I can decide my favourite's, I can also decide on what I don't like and thus being labeled as 'picky'.

Am I really picky? or do I need to open my senses to like a wider spectrum of things.

Jack of all trades, master of none? and is it really ofttimes better than master of one?

Cleanliness is Godliness

Things...anything...we love it. We want more of it, it fills our hearts, it satisfies us...but only for a short while before we want more!

We buy so many things, from cars to books to clothes we only wear once. We like to clutter our lives with things we want, things we don't want, things we need and especially things we don't need or want. Waste not, want not?

What is it that drives us to want more things? Why do we have to follow the latest fashion, knowing that next season our clothes will be obsolete and we won't want to wear them again? Why do we buy flash new cars only for them to depreciate quicker than petrol is going up. Why do we not cook more regularly? It tastes fantastic and costs so much less.

Would any of these things matter if it did not eat into our savings? Would these things matter if there was no such thing as carbon emissions? Should these things matter? It makes us happy, it makes people next to us happy and it certainly makes retailers happy.

HULK SMASH!!!

Morality is a funny thing. What is the right thing to do?
A lot of people have their own personal morals and they try to live by them. Personal morals are very subjective, it changes from person to person. One person can believe that someone who commits repeated crimes deserves to have another chance, to always see the good in a person. Others will might believe in second chances but once they mess up again, thats it, damnation.


During my psychology classes, I got taught that beliefs do not unnecessarily predict behaviour. To put more simply that just because you think something is true or right, does not necessarily mean you will do what you think is right.

Enchante's personal moral #5: Do not be vindictive.

But what if....WHAT IF....someone infuriates me so much that I want to send them anonymous abusive emails, send some death threats that I will never follow through with. I need justice from an outside source but it will never eventuate. I would like to serve my own justice and become a vigilante but in this circumstance it conflicts with moral #5.

ARRRRGGGHHHH!!!!!!

For all the trolls

Without telling you who I am, this is who I am.

You are "Brian Griffin"!

The brain in your group, your politics are important to you - unless you have had too much to drink. You are fiercely loyal, almost to a fault since your friends are so screwed up. But hey, they're your friends and if you leave, who else is going to feed you?

Get a Life

While at work today, a light bulb hit me in the face. No not a real light bulb, but the ones that spark brilliant ideas (well brilliant for my standards). I only just realised that although my blog looks nice and tidy, most of my blogs are quite short.
Thats because of 2 reasons.
1) I'm too lazy
2) I don't have a patience to write for long periods

And apparently a picture is worth a thousand words. So today's blog is worth 1086 words and I'm going to start incorporating some pictures (when viable) to the blog.

Dennis Rodman Syndrome

There are many types of identity.
Work identity, dependable, comes in first in the morning, last to leave.
School identity, class clown, has potential to do very well if only he would commit to it.
Internet identity, whatever you are in real life you are the exact opposite here.

Identity is the make-up of what we are, who we are.
A topic I have read upon is personal identity, what is it that makes you, well.....you?
Are you you because you look a particular way. I know you are you because you have that crooked nose, that ungainly smile. If you suddenly have a face transplant...are you still you? I surely won't recognise you and it would take a great deal of convincing otherwise.
Or are you you because of what is in your mind. What you know is who you are, what you do and act upon is who you are. When you wake up in the morning, you don't have to open your eyes and check in the mirror to know you are you. You wake up and think...I need to do this today and why did I wake up so early...again.

Or do we have to be both. Do we have to look like ourselves and act like ourselves to be...us.

Are we still ourselves if we have Alzheimer's, Schizophrenia or bipolar?
Are we still ourselves if we have a horrible accident that disfigures us?
Are we still ourselves once we die?

Hippo in front of Campus

I had an idea for my blog today but as usual I did not note it down, and I have totally forgotten what it was about. I have had many distractions and somewhere in the chaos, I left my memory somewhere.

Memory is such a fragile thing. It is so important that we have memory. Without it, there would be no such thing as emotions and/or feelings. There can be no happiness and there cannot be sadness.

There are different types of memory. Those that make up who we are, we know our names our abilities, these are the things help to make up our identity.

Others such as muscle memory, which help us to do certain things with multiple exposures or after many practice sessions.

Of course there are other types of memories but I'm not a doctor and you did not come here for a lesson in how memory works.

While typing this blog out, I have actually remembered what I wanted to really blog about, but that will have to wait for tomorrow or perhaps another day. (p.s. this blog was a memory cue)

Don't take your memory for granted or you'll end up like Charlton Heston or HM (refer: http://ahsmail.uwaterloo.ca/kin356/ltm/declarative.htm) .

Remember to thank your memory before you go to bed tonight and any other night that you remember.

No such thing as a free lunch.

There are many ways companies try and entice us to buy there products. The most common of them all is sales. 20% off...50% off...one day only! Infomercials would use the classic line...and thats not all...if you call within the next 15 minutes we'll thrown in this hunk of junk...a $20 value...FREE! More recently with the failing economy, companies use the interest free lay-by to get sales.

Sometimes it's the small little details that people like, and what I like about when buying products is a 24 hour helpline. These are numbers you can ring at any time of the night and ask for help on your product. Now, let me ask you...when is this not a good thing?

New Zealand: 0800 2xx-xx6

After 3 automated questions, I get a person with an Indian accent. The line quality is really bad. The person on the end of the line asks all these questions that you know what you need to tell him before he asks the question. He doesn't fix your problem. You ring again, you get someone from Canada, who doesn't fix your problem. He gets his supervisor...he's from some other country.

Couldn't I just have told him my problem and he goes about the quickest way to fix my problem, and if he knew he couldn't do it, then he should have gotten someone who could have?

No...that would be too easy.

Reality 500km Ahead

Dreams. There are those that say that dreams have meaning. Perhaps they are our subconscious coming to life. Dreams are a place where they have the power to control, to bend our will to their liking.

Dreams can be very powerful, vivid. Nightmares are just unpleasant dreams. We can wake up screaming, drenched in sweat. So unpleasant was that dream, we perhaps refuse to go back to sleep and/or wake up our partner to confess the dealings we just had and for them to comfort us. Most of the time, the dreams or nightmares fade away very quickly unless we talk about them in great detail straight away.

However, when do dreams become reality? If I have a dream and I write it down for all to see? When it becomes a best selling book? or is it as simple as telling someone within earshot?

Maybe we should treat dreams like a favourite tv program with us as the main character or narrative.

Tune in next time, same Bat time, same Bat channel...same Bat dream?

Secret Shame

There are things people like to do. We like to go shopping with our friends, we eat out, we go and play sports. These things are all human nature and are considered normal.

There are other things that are part of everyday life that are considered normal, but because of how we go about doing them make them weird. It can be a daunting chore for most people but is considered enjoyable to you. It can be a time consuming task, and in this day and age where time is so precious why would you want to do it.

To me washing the dishes is a thankless chore, it is time consuming and really doesn't benefit us that much except to get dirty again, and yet we have to do it because of hygiene reasons. However one of my friends likes to wash the dishes because he said it relaxes him, he whistles when he does it and even volunteers to do my dishes.

Perhaps it isn't such a secret shame but to me it's filthy!

Magic Mix

"A friend in need is a friend indeed. "
- Placebo

Friends are normally made by a common interest. We go to school together, we work together. In this day and age, we are more likely to make friends outside of these interests, e.g. our hobbies, the gym, cooking classes. More than not, we probably won't have that much in common except for how we meet but...opposites attract right?

Are friendships better made when you don't have that something in common? When it is an act of selflessness or altruism? Wouldn't you feel very grateful that someone disadvantages themselves to help you out? Would you not feel compelled to better of those people, even if it is trivial like lending you a food processor when your blender is broken?

"A friend is someone you can use over and over and over and over and over..."
- Ancient coffee mug quote

Short Fat and Dumb

I was thinking that if I ever get the chance to choose a flatmate, I would definitely choose someone from overseas than choose someone from the local populace.

Local people are to me uncultured, demanding, inpatient and arrogant. Whereas people from overseas are having overseas experience (possible not the first time). Having learnt from other cultures their eyes are open to different perspectives. If you tell them something, they will stop and think about it before agreeing disagreeing or having no opinion to the matter.

People from overseas also have a high chance of speaking another language. Not only do they learn something from your culture, but you get to learn something from theirs. You can swap languages, music and probably most importantly, food.

Next time you get to choose a flatmate, choose the one with the cute accent.

Our own worst enemy

Being sick is horrible. You don't feel like yourself. You feel drained. You don't want to do much.

Thank Allah we have medicine to make life bearable.

I got to thinking however, there are many diseases and illness that are a natural progression. But how many illness are cause by us humans because of our ever expanding technology?

An example would be swimming pools. Public swimming pools are a great place, it is clean and fun. To keep it clean they need to put chlorine into the pool, but this can cause skin welts and rashes. So to combat this, we put on vaseline and wash with aqueous cream.
Another would be side effects to drugs e.g. the pill makes woman fat etc

How many other illnesses are caused by our need to have a better life, a more comfortable life.

No Thank You Mouthful

I think that there are many foods and drinks out there that taste horrible. Utterly revolting, and yet we force these products down our throats.

In foods, it can be anything from mushrooms to crocodile meat. In liquid refreshments, I am mostly talking about alcohol but include drinks like spirulina.

There are foods which at the beginning taste horrible, but because we expose ourselves to them often we get desensitized to the bad taste and eventually it tastes good.
Alcohol is a prime example. Making a big assumption, I think that the first time anybody ever has alcohol, it tastes horrible to them. However, it is accepted by society to drink, and so we almost force ourselves to like it.

Is forcing ourselves to eat/drink something we don't like, so we become desensitized to it a form of masochism?

Compelled to help.

Why do some people feel the need to correct other people's mistakes or when they "think" being are making a mistake. Sometimes it not even a mistake but perhaps giving advice on a "better" way to do something.

Is your way of doing things just better than other people and that is why you have to correct other people. Is it because you always want to be right?

Am I writing this because I am speaking for the masses who are afraid to change. The who feel that "their way" is a comfortable way of doing it. Yes, it isn't the best way to do things, but it is a familiar way, a relaxed way and thus we feel annoyed, even angered when other people try to correct our ways.

Relief and Relax

Often, relief is describe by people as the best feeling in the world. When you having been holding on for 30 mins and then let it go, it feels fantastic. If you have a itch and you scratch it, it feels better than a massage. However, relief is always preceded by a bad or unwanted situation. To feel this "best feeling" in the world, you have to suffer....interesting (no pain no gain?).

The power of relaxing is a powerful thing indeed. Smokers use cigarette's to help relax and calm them. Alcohol is used to steady the nerves. However, I was thinking about just a day off after you have worked your butt off for the last week or two. Just sitting down and relaxing, doing nothing, wasting the day can feel so good. Relaxing is an essential part of everyone's lives. Too many of us suffer from burnout and we need to actually take care of ourselves and treat ourselves to good times.

So do it...DO IT NOW!