Although it's been a fact for at least eight years, it was only yesterday when I truly realized how much my special hobby means to me- Birdwatching, of course. I just simply can't get enough of birds. I watch them, i study them, i seek them out, i adore them, and I also sometimes write about them. I just don't know what i'd do without my weekly dose of birdwatching. I'm hopelessly addicted. Even when i'm locked up inside my miserable house working on a TED project, the least i can do is dream of them.
So it seems like I'm just totally hooked, but that's kind of funny now that i mentioned it, because it's only been like this for two or three years (out of my entire eight-year career). It seems like i was just a beginner for those first five years: I rarely traveled for the sole purpose of seeing birds; i had never attended any bird-sponsored events; i rarely, if ever met up with other birders; I had no clue where to find birds; and most importantly, i could not tell seagulls apart from ducks.
So i was a noob. The simple fact that i came this far in eight years is amazing. I was certainly not as crazy about birds back then as I am now. So what made me change?
Was it just one particular bird that inspired me with its jaw-dropping beauty?
Was it a particular eye-opening trip?
Was it a certain feeling that i felt within myself?
Or was it the first nature festival that i attended?
I myself am not sure of what caused this spark in my interest. Perhaps it just developed slowly at first.
Either way, i believe that my passion for birds is all part of a greater picture that defines who i am.
This previous sunday, i simply felt like i could not bear to stay inside and miss out on all the fun. The winds were blowing, birds were soaring effortlessly, and my heart could resist that irresistable temptation to go birding. The whole world of birds was just calling to me! It was adventure! Opportunity! Enlightenment! Purpose!...but mostly just fun, i guess.
My homework load for that sunday was ridiculous, however. Unsurprisingly, I did not want to do my homework. But this time, i felt a great emotion with it. I felt the dread of missing such a beautiful day that i could have otherwise spent outdoors being who i was meant to be. I dreaded this work more than ever. I dreaded it so much, that i simply forgot about my school-related concerns. No- i did not forget about them. I stamped them out, pissed on them, and shouted "F*** SCHOOL!" And so those school-related concerns just became pointless. It's like i suddenly didn't care about them. All i cared about was the opportunity outside...
ALL I CARED ABOUT THE BIRDS!!
(so yeah...maybe i got a little too carried away here. I did think carefully about my "birds vs. homework" decision at the time, but perhaps even I am still too young to grasp how important my school-provided material is. Perhaps I'm missing something....but in any case, that just proves how powerful these birds can be in my life.)
Monday, October 27, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
What if?
Just what would happen if I suddenly lost control of everything i said or did? What if i took the censor bar out of my everyday thoughts and speech? What if I simply stopped repressing the dangerous, impulsive side of me? What would happen if i just let my mind go free? Allowed my entire sense of good judgement to drift away?
I myself can be impulsive, i can be a control freak, and i can also be very obsessive over certain things. Maybe that's why it scares me so much when i ask simple questions like, "What if i stuck this fork in an electrical socket?" I fear that thoughts like this may overpower my mind, force me to carry out the task, and cause me to end up doing great harm. It's a fear of becoming Obessive-compulsive. A fear of OCD. A fear that I'll somehow let my mind off the leash by accident. At least in my opinion, i think it's a bizzare fear I don't think most people aren't afraid of themselves to the extent that i am.
Sometimes, I can't even drive without feeling this strange urge to crash the car (and i'm dead serious about this, by the way). My conscious, of course, tells me to steer carefully and keep to the middle of my lane on the expressway. But then there's this other voice, something that tells me to do the exact OPPOSITE of what i intend to do. It's this malicious voice inside of me that asks, "what if?". What if you just steered the car off the road right now? What would happen if you just suddenly got up, shouted, and swore violently in the middle of class? What if you just straight-out told her that the dress was hideous and she looked more or less like a warthog while she was wearing it? What do you think would become of you if you simply jumped off that 100-foot ledge? What would happen if you just poked a venomous snake with a stick?
So these are the "what-ifs" that I'm really asking myself. The answers, to each and every one however, are the same. I would be in deep shit if i even attempted to do what this evil voice told me. And i fear that someday, i will end up doing the voice's bidding.
But even with that said, i am glad to have formed a mental barrier that prevents me from following the voice's commands. A barrier of pure will power. It's a barrier that acts so strongly, it would even physically prevent me from doing one of these obviously stupid things.
it's this barrier that has prevented me from performing these various acts in the past, like climbing onto my neighbor's roof and dropping stink bombs through their chimmney (even though i've always wanted to do that).
So hopefully, with this thought/action barrier up, my great big "what if" question will hopefully not be answered.
I'm perfectly sane, by the way :-)
I myself can be impulsive, i can be a control freak, and i can also be very obsessive over certain things. Maybe that's why it scares me so much when i ask simple questions like, "What if i stuck this fork in an electrical socket?" I fear that thoughts like this may overpower my mind, force me to carry out the task, and cause me to end up doing great harm. It's a fear of becoming Obessive-compulsive. A fear of OCD. A fear that I'll somehow let my mind off the leash by accident. At least in my opinion, i think it's a bizzare fear I don't think most people aren't afraid of themselves to the extent that i am.
Sometimes, I can't even drive without feeling this strange urge to crash the car (and i'm dead serious about this, by the way). My conscious, of course, tells me to steer carefully and keep to the middle of my lane on the expressway. But then there's this other voice, something that tells me to do the exact OPPOSITE of what i intend to do. It's this malicious voice inside of me that asks, "what if?". What if you just steered the car off the road right now? What would happen if you just suddenly got up, shouted, and swore violently in the middle of class? What if you just straight-out told her that the dress was hideous and she looked more or less like a warthog while she was wearing it? What do you think would become of you if you simply jumped off that 100-foot ledge? What would happen if you just poked a venomous snake with a stick?
So these are the "what-ifs" that I'm really asking myself. The answers, to each and every one however, are the same. I would be in deep shit if i even attempted to do what this evil voice told me. And i fear that someday, i will end up doing the voice's bidding.
But even with that said, i am glad to have formed a mental barrier that prevents me from following the voice's commands. A barrier of pure will power. It's a barrier that acts so strongly, it would even physically prevent me from doing one of these obviously stupid things.
it's this barrier that has prevented me from performing these various acts in the past, like climbing onto my neighbor's roof and dropping stink bombs through their chimmney (even though i've always wanted to do that).
So hopefully, with this thought/action barrier up, my great big "what if" question will hopefully not be answered.
I'm perfectly sane, by the way :-)
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Blogging Around
I just have to say that I love assignments like these- I mean, Blogging Around: The name of it just sounds as fun and carefree as the actual task is. All i have to do is read and comment. It's that simple.
So anyway, the first blog I read was Mitch B's "360 degrees on God". A great argument for atheism. Mitch used alot of evidence to back up claims as to why people actually believe in God, and he also used similar evidence to prove how ridiculous the idea of God is.
Again, I don't know if it was really a 360...(maybe a 270?) but i still greatly enjoyed what Mitch had to say. Here's what I said:
Hey mitch,
I loved your rant about God, and i especially liked some of the points you brought up. Still, i'd have to agree that it was a little one-sided.You were pretty much dissing creationists for the most part, and you were using logical evidence to back up your claim- which is great for an argument, by the way.
Still, I don't really think you CAN use logical evidence to back up any claims relating to God. That's because the whole concept of god has nothing to do with logical evidence. God is part of a totally different element. Comparing the two elements is like apples to oranges, as they say.
So you've already made it clear that the idea of a God has a huge influence over our actions. Still, I believe there's some deeper meaning as to why the thought of God is so widespread and universal. It leads me to believe that the entire notion of a god is just byproduct of man's conscious thought.
I believe that the idea of a god at least brings some order to people's lives, and I'm not saying that I myself believe in it. Its just that most animals, as you see, are controlled by external factors: their environment, their predators, their food, and their instincts. Mankind, in emerging from this animal-like behavior, was thus exempt from most of these governing external forces. I think god was created because people really needed this sort of external force to control their lives. They invented god because they didn't have any other external forces to keep them in order. They needed someone to tell them what to do. And so God's role in this sense, is very similar to that of a leader's. Human beings NEED leaders. That's my point.
PS: I absolutely loved that "carrot of salvation" quote.
Another post that I read came from the other Mitch, who i know for a fact is very into politics. His post had to do with the Republican VP Candidate, Sarah Palin, and it clearly illustrated views from from four very distinct points on the political spectrum. He wrote about what the democrats may think of Palin, the republicans' opinions, the independents', and those who may have had trouble deciding who to vote for.
So, overall, i think this was a great example of a 360 degree post. Here's what i said...
Hey mitch,
I think you did a great job with a 360 degree Sarah Palin- I mean, you pretty much nailed the key concepts right then and there. As you mentioned, Palin could be interpreted as several different things: A joke, an inspiration, a threat, or a downright scary political figure.
I think you're especially right about Palin pushing some of the more indecisive, slightly leftish voters towards Obama because she is, after all, far more right-winged than McCain.
McCain himself is definitely one of the more liberal Republicans that the nation has seen, and i think that's actually pretty cool. Even for the opposing party, I thought he had some good ideas. I didn't think there was too much that was wrong with him...but that was all before Sarah Palin entered the picture.
Palin just scares me.
So anyway, the first blog I read was Mitch B's "360 degrees on God". A great argument for atheism. Mitch used alot of evidence to back up claims as to why people actually believe in God, and he also used similar evidence to prove how ridiculous the idea of God is.
Again, I don't know if it was really a 360...(maybe a 270?) but i still greatly enjoyed what Mitch had to say. Here's what I said:
Hey mitch,
I loved your rant about God, and i especially liked some of the points you brought up. Still, i'd have to agree that it was a little one-sided.You were pretty much dissing creationists for the most part, and you were using logical evidence to back up your claim- which is great for an argument, by the way.
Still, I don't really think you CAN use logical evidence to back up any claims relating to God. That's because the whole concept of god has nothing to do with logical evidence. God is part of a totally different element. Comparing the two elements is like apples to oranges, as they say.
So you've already made it clear that the idea of a God has a huge influence over our actions. Still, I believe there's some deeper meaning as to why the thought of God is so widespread and universal. It leads me to believe that the entire notion of a god is just byproduct of man's conscious thought.
I believe that the idea of a god at least brings some order to people's lives, and I'm not saying that I myself believe in it. Its just that most animals, as you see, are controlled by external factors: their environment, their predators, their food, and their instincts. Mankind, in emerging from this animal-like behavior, was thus exempt from most of these governing external forces. I think god was created because people really needed this sort of external force to control their lives. They invented god because they didn't have any other external forces to keep them in order. They needed someone to tell them what to do. And so God's role in this sense, is very similar to that of a leader's. Human beings NEED leaders. That's my point.
PS: I absolutely loved that "carrot of salvation" quote.
Another post that I read came from the other Mitch, who i know for a fact is very into politics. His post had to do with the Republican VP Candidate, Sarah Palin, and it clearly illustrated views from from four very distinct points on the political spectrum. He wrote about what the democrats may think of Palin, the republicans' opinions, the independents', and those who may have had trouble deciding who to vote for.
So, overall, i think this was a great example of a 360 degree post. Here's what i said...
Hey mitch,
I think you did a great job with a 360 degree Sarah Palin- I mean, you pretty much nailed the key concepts right then and there. As you mentioned, Palin could be interpreted as several different things: A joke, an inspiration, a threat, or a downright scary political figure.
I think you're especially right about Palin pushing some of the more indecisive, slightly leftish voters towards Obama because she is, after all, far more right-winged than McCain.
McCain himself is definitely one of the more liberal Republicans that the nation has seen, and i think that's actually pretty cool. Even for the opposing party, I thought he had some good ideas. I didn't think there was too much that was wrong with him...but that was all before Sarah Palin entered the picture.
Palin just scares me.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
360 Degrees: What's the point of all of this?
Seriously: what is the whole point of our entire school-centered lifestyle? Why do we go to school? Why do we have homework? Why should I even learn all this stuff? Why should i even show up to class? Why can't i just take a year off and go study birds somewhere in Peru? Why should I kill/subdue every other aspect of my life so that i can achieve a passing grade?
One could agree that these are all commonly-asked questions, and i myself believe that every commonly-asked question has a commonly-stated answer. Many people, for example, will ask "Where did people come from?" and they'll probably get either one of two answers: "God created mankind" or, "we simply evolved from monkeys". Now just because these are some of the more popular answers does not necessarily mean that they are correct. It doesn't even imply that they are the only answers.
So I believe there are many answers as to why people go to school. If I asked any ordinary middle-school teacher, for instance, they'll most likely give me that "Don't you dare get any ideas" sort of look, and respond by saying "You're going to school because you need an education." And while that seems fairly obvious and plausible, one may even say, "WHY do we need an education?"
So now, as I imagine, the teacher in this argument will tell me that I need an education so that i can get into a good college, earn a well-paying job, obtain some essential knowledge, and become successful in life...but is that really true? Maybe I'll ask this teacher what all this precalculus stuff has to do with being successful in life (assuming she's a math teacher). Maybe she'll tell me that it's helpful if i ever plan on becoming an engineer, for instance. What if i tell her that I've already thought out my entire life ahead of me and i don't plan on becoming an engineer? What if i tell her that I really DON'T want to become an engineer and much I'd rather spend the rest of my life photographing birds and using what little money i have to buy new camera equipment? She'll probably just tell me to shut up and quit acting like a smart-ass.
But even in spite of this, it seems like there would be a legitimate reason as to why we go to school- And there HAS to be some sort of reason, because our education wouldn't otherwise be required by law. I for one, believe that each and every subject has the opportunity to make a person successful, but i also think that depends on who that person is. I am interested in ecology, literature, botany, and field studies, whereas math may seem boring and meaningless. Perhaps the fact that I took Honors Biology will help me in the future. But still- Why am i even taking precalculus?
And with that said, perhaps it's best for people to be well-rounded in their subjects. I know for a fact that colleges prefer well-rounded students. Perhaps being well-rounded is the key to being successful in life?
So here are some other reasons as to why I SHOULD go to school. Explanations for what i believe school may be all about. Here they are:
1. School keeps kids out of trouble.
2. School provides people with the opportunity to excercise their minds and become critical thinkers.
3. Schools help form an ideal society in which everyone is knowledgeable, keen, and well-educated. (it makes me recall what we learned about in history about the Confucian education system and how great of a success that was)
4. School teaches kids all about real-life skills (so my question is why they don't ever teach self-defense?)
5. It makes for a great social environment!
6. In the case that I didn't go to school, I'd eventually get bored of playing video games and end up in school anyway. So my point is, school makes life interesting.
One could agree that these are all commonly-asked questions, and i myself believe that every commonly-asked question has a commonly-stated answer. Many people, for example, will ask "Where did people come from?" and they'll probably get either one of two answers: "God created mankind" or, "we simply evolved from monkeys". Now just because these are some of the more popular answers does not necessarily mean that they are correct. It doesn't even imply that they are the only answers.
So I believe there are many answers as to why people go to school. If I asked any ordinary middle-school teacher, for instance, they'll most likely give me that "Don't you dare get any ideas" sort of look, and respond by saying "You're going to school because you need an education." And while that seems fairly obvious and plausible, one may even say, "WHY do we need an education?"
So now, as I imagine, the teacher in this argument will tell me that I need an education so that i can get into a good college, earn a well-paying job, obtain some essential knowledge, and become successful in life...but is that really true? Maybe I'll ask this teacher what all this precalculus stuff has to do with being successful in life (assuming she's a math teacher). Maybe she'll tell me that it's helpful if i ever plan on becoming an engineer, for instance. What if i tell her that I've already thought out my entire life ahead of me and i don't plan on becoming an engineer? What if i tell her that I really DON'T want to become an engineer and much I'd rather spend the rest of my life photographing birds and using what little money i have to buy new camera equipment? She'll probably just tell me to shut up and quit acting like a smart-ass.
But even in spite of this, it seems like there would be a legitimate reason as to why we go to school- And there HAS to be some sort of reason, because our education wouldn't otherwise be required by law. I for one, believe that each and every subject has the opportunity to make a person successful, but i also think that depends on who that person is. I am interested in ecology, literature, botany, and field studies, whereas math may seem boring and meaningless. Perhaps the fact that I took Honors Biology will help me in the future. But still- Why am i even taking precalculus?
And with that said, perhaps it's best for people to be well-rounded in their subjects. I know for a fact that colleges prefer well-rounded students. Perhaps being well-rounded is the key to being successful in life?
So here are some other reasons as to why I SHOULD go to school. Explanations for what i believe school may be all about. Here they are:
1. School keeps kids out of trouble.
2. School provides people with the opportunity to excercise their minds and become critical thinkers.
3. Schools help form an ideal society in which everyone is knowledgeable, keen, and well-educated. (it makes me recall what we learned about in history about the Confucian education system and how great of a success that was)
4. School teaches kids all about real-life skills (so my question is why they don't ever teach self-defense?)
5. It makes for a great social environment!
6. In the case that I didn't go to school, I'd eventually get bored of playing video games and end up in school anyway. So my point is, school makes life interesting.
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