Endless Beauty.

I used to think it was possible to define beauty, to look at it and experience it, in a picture, a book or a painting, but... do we really feel it?

True beauty is felt and experienced, it invokes something that is much more refined, and purer than our coarse means of obtaining it.

Have you ever seen pictures of fireworks?

No matter how high in quality a photo is, no matter how many explosions it captures, no matter how many colours, it can't capture the essence of the moment... The whining siren-like noises upon the firework's assent, the large pop followed by lights radiating from a single focal point, enlarging in shape and beauty before its inevitable demise. Such is life.

I don't know what's more futile, to try to capture these moments and label it as beautiful or to chase beauty to the end's of the earth without realizing the beauty around us. Just remember, you and me, we all contribute to this picture of endless beauty.

Daily Planet

I learned two things from Daily Planet on Discovery Channel today. One of them is awkward and the other is intriguing. The first segment was about elephants. So we all know that elephants are an endangered species, but there's this one area in Africa where the Bull Elephants were causing major damage. So they invented a new technique to quell them. No.. they didn't shoot them, they did something much worse. They invented the elephant vasectomy! First thing.. I would never want to see the nads of a gigantic elephant, second I wouldn't want to snip another fellow male.

The second one was about a bit of research about yawning. Have you ever had a yawn come on after someone else in the room just finished theirs? There have been a chunk of theories about why we yawn, spawning from... empathy of the species, an indication for the group to gather energy for a big move, or indicate time to sleep to the tribe. Whatever the case is, it's shown that not only do humans experience the yawn reciprocation but that dogs yawn also! Next time you have an urge to yawn try it out!! Yawn @ a dog and in a few minutes they'll yawn back. Or so the research said... 21 out of 25 dogs did in their trial. You tell me how many times it takes you. haha have fun!

Turbulent Times

It's times like these I like to know that no one really reads this blog. Things are more personal this way and the things I write I know will only be read by close friends or people I'd confide in.

This weekend I was told firsthand about the state of affairs in china. There are these children there, called left-behind children, who tend to their daily affairs themselves because their parents are off in another province working. Uncle Patrick told me about this, if you don't know who he is then it doesn't matter. What matters is the life of these children. They are malnourished. When asked what they eat, they reply "noodles and sweet potatoes". There was this one child living in a one room house with his younger brother. He is severely malnourished and as a result suffers from stunted growth. Him and his brother are both in grade 4, but they are not of the same age. This older brother shoulders the burden of taking care of his younger sibling, cooking, cleaning and acting as a stand-in parent. The poverty is so severe that the parents are reluctant to pay 10 yuan ($1.75) bus fare needed to visit their children, instead only sparing this amount once a month. Such is the degree of our world.

Just today my friend's friend died. He fell of a bridge while drunk. I know... wtf. I really don't know how to make sense of what happens in this world. Must we face death to feel alive? Must we grieve to feel human? It feels like being retched from my automaton studying life and thrust back into real life, with real problems. This detachment, and helplessness. When I really want to be there for someone why is it done through the internet. How I want to make things right in the world.

Enough of my rants... I just feel empty.