Speedcubing...

I am able to solve rubik's cube now!!! HAHHAHAHA.... Thanks to the master of rubik's cube, tanqf (can refer to the link on my page), who has taught me. Now, my fastest record is 2 min 47 seconds. Another skill learned!!

Thanksgiving Break

Thanksgiving break was long gone when I am writing this post. It's weird that I couldn't update my blog when I was supposed to have ample of time to do so, and now that I am busy with all the schoolwork, I can afford to spend some time on writing something....

Basically, this thanksgiving was a relaxed one. We went watch Harry Potter on the first day (Jinye, Renjie and I), and I had my first "sleep of the century" that night. Totally refreshed after almost 12 hours of deep slumber (from 10.30pm to 10am). Haven't been doing so for ages.

Aside from that, I managed to finish a tvb series (20 episodes long), attend a church thanksgiving dinner, celebrate a friend's birthday (Joshua is his name, his blog's link is on my page), do some room-cleaning, and cook two meals (tom yam and sukiyaki, which mel did a good job). Rather uneventful for a student staying in US, but I was rather satisfied as I was able to rest after the hectic two-thirds of semester.

Too bad, it's too short a break...wonder when will I be able to rest like this again..haha!

Another long post...

Exams are finally over!! This is the moment that I had been waiting so eagerly…thanksgiving break!! But now that I have nothing to do, suddenly I feel so empty. What’s wrong with me?? Guess I’m another guy who suffers from “pondering-on-what-is-the–purpose-of-life-syndrome” lately. So, what do I believe? What do I think about religion?

As a free-thinker, I do not reject the possibilities that religion might be real and not just another big Santa Clause story told. To certain extent, I even think that the existence of religions is good for us. It gives us a sense of purpose. It assures us that death is not the end. It exhorts us to do good and live our life to the fullest. Without these, our souls might be long dead before our physical demise. We need something to support our existence in this world. We need something out there, something omnipresent, something that is able to hear our deepest voice, something that is watching over us. Such yearning manifests itself especially when we are weak, when we are lonely, when we sense that the most dreaded moment is near. We hate to feel forsaken. We hate to feel that we are perishable beings.

To me, it is very possible that there is such entity; an entity that is superior to us, an entity which might have possibly created the world. However, I highly doubt that such entity is as omnipotent, as omniscient, as good as we are told in some scriptures. The Creator, if exists, must be a not so superior one considering this world is such a fiasco. I am always amused and confused when someone praises the God so highly. First of all, if God is so powerful, why does evil prevail and even exist? Why the supposedly perfect image of God is so subjected to the temptation of the dark side? The free will theory is purely bovine excrement to me. Why do we have something bad to choose from at the first place?

The purpose of us being created is another thing worth thinking. Is the world created out of sheer boredom? No no no. I suppose God is too overwhelmed with love, and He hopes to create beings that understand, share and practice His love. Surprisingly, the all-knowing He never figured that His image would be the most vengeful creatures on earth. Ok, He tried to rectify things. He send this son the warn us all. How effective and how clear the message was sent…. His theology itself has now become the source of hate. Why? There is an easy answer. Blame everything to evil. This must be the work of Satan.

Ok, this is starting to sound like a particular religion-bashing. I’m not against anything here; I’m just questioning the superiority of Creator, if there’s one. I do strongly endorse the values spread by religions though, among all, love. If practiced, this world will definitely be a better place to live. Hmm. Such beliefs guarantee me a place in hell I assume, by a loving God who strangely has wrath too. So human a God.

(shoot me if you think i'm too opinionated. open to ideas)

Tagged?

I was tagged, and I don’t even know what the meaning of tagging is. Here, I would like to respond to one of the question:

Things I Plan to Do Before I Die
1. Travel around the world (standard answer), including places (countries, cities, attractions) like: Rome, Paris, London, Cairo, Istanbul, Tibet, New Zealand, Angel Fall, Eilean Donan Castle, Grand Canyon, Athens, Alexandria, Switzerland ….
2. Listen to Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto 2 and 3 live.
3. Fly (or at least to get the idea of flying, like doing parasailing, bungee jumping…)
4. Have enough money to lead the life I want.
5. Be able to play Chopin’s Ballade in G minor and other master pieces.

Surprisingly, these are the only things that I can think of right now. Looks like I still don’t quite know what I want in my life….:)

Revelation

Lately, there was a hot issue among the Malaysians studying in the U of M in Michigan – the coming of a famous ex-politician to the grounds of AA to give a speech.

Actually this event was already planned since weeks ago, but not only until a few days ago that I was revealed his visiting to our university. Such revelation, of course, was not a pleasing one; apparently efforts had been poured into insulating the exceedingly immature Malaysians from such devilish information that might put them into dire conditions. The veil of secrecy cast, although sickening, was surprisingly similar to the obscuration of news we once despised - bad information must be contained, as people do not have sufficient wisdom to handle them. Lack of transparency, was in fact a de-euphemism for benign-intentioned tales/concealment to prevent chaos.

Though the situation had been rectified, this serves as a reminder for those in power, who once decried corruption and sworn to create a utopia what their initial agendas were. Again, this is not to blame or to belittle anyone who’s leading the group. In reality, I salute those who bear the courage to take the responsibilities. We are just humans anyway, prone to a multitude of mistakes thanks to our omnipotent and omniscient creator.

Before ending this ramble, I would like to post a disclaimer: the writing might be partly apocryphal and is in no way meant to attack or hurt anyone. It is just a random thought put into words by a disoriented mortal who just screwed up his midterm. I certainly do not anticipate that the last thing I see is red laser dots on my body in the middle of the night.

Another week...

Another week passed…A quite hectic one, as I did my stat 426 homework last minute AGAIN…Luckily, I managed to hand it in on time…

Last Monday was Halloween. Did not attend any parties, but could see people wearing weird costumes around in the campus. Look at what my geosci professor wore in class (photo attached below).

Finally, I got my new speakers!! Cost me only 17 bucks. Good deal I think…

Despite having tones of homework, manage to read Da Vinci’s Code by Dan Brown. A very interesting book indeed, but the story plot and style was disturbingly similar to his previous novel, Angels and Demons. I actually find the previous book more exciting and enjoyable to read. Yet, the brilliance of the author was still manifest through his inclusion of real artifacts and monuments in the book, making the historic claims in the story seemed incredibly credible (although there were a lot of fallacious facts in fact…wow, double usage of words!). And his ability to link seemingly unrelated pieces together again marveled me. A book not to be missed…

Don’t really know what to write. Does this mean that my life is boring? Indubitable...haha. Econs midterm coming up next week. Need to do some serious study again. Wish me good luck! Till then, ciao…

my new speakers!!! (philips) cool, aren't they?? hahaha...

The weather cow...(my geosci professor)