Sunday, 2 September 2012

And so, it begins..... again.

this week, I had the strange feeling of having my free will ripped from me for a period of 2-3 hours.

Well, maybe thats a bit strong. more like i found myself, after a string of random occurrences, having to make a decision, which wasn't really a decision. more like reality, the universe, god, 'the secret,' my subconscious, my inner child, my conscience, whatever you want to call it, telling me which i will choose, that that choice is the choice i will make, and the consequences are a part of my life.

I stood in the bookshop for close to 30 minutes, looking at the book in my hands, realising all of this, wondering how this was possible. 'what if I don't read this?' I asked this feeling (in my head obviously, i'm not that mad yet) and it seemed to laugh at the question, and asked 'what do you mean? you already know you're going to buy it and read it. reread the blurb again, but its not going to change. this book has the information you've been looking for, for a very long time, at any given opportunity. are you really going to just walk away, now that it is right here?'

I went through the stuff that had brought me there that morning. an appointment in the city, that had been cancelled as i made my trip, without me realizing. 'maybe on the way back i'll look in a bookshop,' I thought as i left.
then I had to get petrol. after that, and getting on the Highway, i could smell petrol, and a lot of it. I got off the highway, and stopped at a park. there was no more petrol smell. I left, deciding to go home the slightly longer way, through strathpine.
I saw the bookshop that I ended up going to, but too late. I whizzed past that one like I did the other ten or fifteen I'd seen on the way home. until a truck changed lanes very close in front of me, and braked very suddenly, and very quickly to a stop, right next to a carpark. I turned in there to avoid the truck, and then decided, what the hell, i'll go to that bookshop up the road. its not too far a walk.

I got in there just in time to hear the bookshop owners friend telling her about the book i was now thinking about buying. As I walked in and looked for the section I always look for, I half heard their conversation. A few key words and phrases, until I realised what i was hearing.
 It couldn't be. I had been looking for something like this for years. i found bits and pieces, but never something that put it all and more together. I guess, to find out, I had to ask.
So I did. I asked about the book, who wrote it, really any question i could think of. How she had heard of the book (she is training to teach yoga, it was part of the reading list), etc. I read the blurb, those annoying quotes that say how great the book is, the preface and the introduction of the author.

As I heard and read more, I knew I had to, and wanted to, read this book. Of course I had a choice, but then again I didn't.
none of these events were huge signs screaming, 'get this book,' but they didn't need to be. they are not the reason I got the book either. It was the feeling I got as I held it in my hands.
some people probably scoff at the idea of Gods plan, fate, destiny, the Pattern of the Weaving of the world and/or the idea that the intrinsic nature of Free Will is the very thing that shows it to be an illusion and that all actions great and small therefore contribute to some vast, imperceivable and predetermined higher process.
But, no matter what you think, when you hear the Call, you would have to be either incredibly ignorant or insane to ignore it, Because it will just get stronger, and harder to ignore.
And it'll seem awfully quiet when it finally gives up.

Sunday, 10 June 2012

le libre de jonah

i read the book of jonah,  just randomly. i think its my favourite story in the bible. not that i've read the whole thing, but i don't think you need to see everything to know what your favorite of a particular thing is. that at least rings true in my mind.

anyway, we all know the story of jonah and the whale, to some degree. the story i heard when i was little missed out on some crucial details in the story. so many, in so many different places, so consistently, that i'm just going to have to retell the story (shortened/summarised) and then talk about it afterwards. or during. whichever.

so jonah was doing whatever he was doing, and then god told him to go to ninevah, and tell them He was going to destroy it, because it was wicked.
jonah was like 'you won't destroy it, you are a loving god. why should i go over there and tell them that something that isn't going to happen will happen? i'll be embarrassed, and ashamed. i'm going to spain, in the opposite direction.'
so he got on a ship in joppa and started on the journey across the mediterranean for spain. as is surprisingly common in the mediterranean, a ship-breaking storm rose up, and all the people on the boat prayed and asked for help from their own gods, and threw cargo out to lessen the danger.
during this, jonah was asleep in the hold, despite what i assume would be quite a din above, with thunder and rain and people yelling in weird languages and crying out, and cargo shifting....

anyway, the captain found him and told him to pray to his god/gods for mercy, and a safe voyage.
not much is said of that, but everyone then drew lots to see who was to blame for the danger they're in. jonahs name was drawn. he explained he was a hebrew, and that he was running away from the Lord.
the sailors were like 'ahhhh! what a terrible idea! what do we do?'
jonah told them to throw him into the sea. the sailors didn't want to kill him, so they tried with all their might to get to shore.
when that didn't work, they begrudgingly threw jonah into the sea, asking Gods forgiveness, and the storm stopped at once. and jonah was eaten by a giant fish.
to say the sailors were terrified is probably an understatement. they served Him til the end of their days.
jonah sang a song in the fish, and in three days was spat up on a beach somewhere, and promptly made his way to ninevah. running away from his task wasn't particularly constructive, apparently. when he told the ninevahnians that in forty days they would be destroyed, they believed him, and prayed and fasted and wore sackcloth and did anything to show they were sorry, so they would not die.
God saw it, and decided not to destroy them.
jonah was like 'i told you this is what would happen, didn't i? thats why i didn't want to do this stupid task! you are a patient loving god who does not want to punish. now, let me die, i'm too angry.'
jonah went east from the city and waited to see if anything would happen to ninevah. god made a tree grow to give jonah shade. jonah was happy. the next day, God sent a worm to kill the tree, and jonah was angry and wished he were dead again.
God asked jonah what right he had to be angry about the plant. jonah told him he had every right.
God told jonah he pitied the tree, despite having done nothing for it, or even made it grow. how much more pity He should show for ninevah, which has over 120,000 children and as many animals.

this post seems a bit big. i guess the big thing this story tells me is you can't run from your fate, the task god made you to do. and that task may make no sense in your mind. but you have to do it.
people sometimes say free will is an illusion. i guess that depends on your definition of free will, and there are many definitions, despite what people may think.
if your definition of free will is an illusion, is that a bad thing?

also here is a page from an avengers versus xmen comic. spidermans in there. thats funny in itself. but i like the comments from the random guy at the bottom. enjoy.

Tuesday, 27 March 2012

thinking

at some point last week, i got bored. so i decided to read some bible passages.

i found a story of the moment God tells moses that the people he left at the base of the mountain are worshipping a calf statue made of solid gold, crediting it with all the things God did for them. God tells moses that they will promptly regret this decision, with all their mind, body, soul and spirit, if any survive, anyway. which they won't.
moses pleads with God to take it easy on them, citing the promise made to abraham, that the number of his descendants would rival the stars in the sky. god calms down, and agrees not to utterly destroy them.

what i got out of this is that, you shouldn't follow God blindly accepting what happens, never asking, never thinking, never telling Him how you feel about something. God made dogs for that. you're a person, a human being, so act like the intelligent individual you are, and ask questions, think, tell God how you feel (through, you know, prayer and stuff) sure, He already knows the questions you're going to ask, the thoughts you're going to have. but if you're not going to ask, or think, theres nothing for Him to know. so ask, and think.

unless you're an idiot, you already realise i'm not just talking about God (well, its still connected to Him, and you can still argue its part of God) i'm talking about the world. ask questions, explore, learn new things, never stop doing this. think about things, make connections between thoughts and things, and you'll find more questions, more things to find out. the day you stop asking questions, the day you stop learning new things, is the beginning of the end.

heres a picture of scully and mulder dancing. i hope it makes you laugh as hard as it made me.


my next blog post, very soon, will be a review of the book of jonah. i read that after this passage, and i think they had an odd continuity between them.

Thursday, 9 February 2012

safe and sound

usually, when i get a day off work, or a fair bit of time home alone, i like to sit quietly, sometimes i'll think about things, or just let my mind be quiet, and meditate. its usually when i meditate that i think best, funnily enough.

the other day, i was trying to meditate, and i couldn't get a song out of my head. later i had a look at the lyrics, which spoke of, um, stuff to the effect of 'time keeps moving forward, stopping for no-one, so don't stop or you'll be left behind.' it never said that in the song, but you now have the idea of what the song was like.

anyway, while reading, i sort of came to a conclusion, a realisation. i already knew this, but i hadn't realised it. it hadn't sunk in until then. you know how you can know things, but until its sunk in to your brain, and you realise it, the knowledge is meaningless? of course you do! it was like that.
its a realisation as old as time, and if you haven't realised it yet, which i doubt,  you might want to, no pressure though, can't rush these things. you might cause yourself irreparable spiritual/psychological damage.
the lyrics, 'it can't be done safe and sound' refer to the search for self, who you are. now, i can't deny my little realisation has anything to do with that, but i'd be lying if i said it was that. i can't describe it in a simple sentence, so i'll explain it in an example.

i'm scared of speaking in front of an audience. Standing at a podium or on a stage, knowing there are people watching me, even if i also know they're half asleep, seems to create a gnawing black void in my stomach that comes dangerously close to sapping my physical and mental strength (it never does, though, but i think if i let it...)
but, i think its the same for every person who does public speaking. They feel the same thing. The difference between me and them is that i allow it to be a problem. i want to avoid that feeling, but others seek that out, because that feeling reminds them they are alive (i've heard people say that)
you know, emos cut themselves 'to feel something,' and thats weird, and stupid, and a little pathetic, but it has some truth in it, that feeling tells you you are alive. And cutting yourself seems a bit cowardly, at least when you get that feeling from something like public speaking, just thought i'd point that out.

and i gotta say, i certainly felt alive the few times i have done public speaking, internally fighting that all consuming abyss of fear and darkness. i use this example, because i'll be talking about an event at church this week. its pre written (although, in someone elses words... not good) so it won't be that bad, but its two pages, and i'm going to have to prepare for it. but, i'm going to do it, i'm not going to avoid it and, live safe and sound, because to live safe and sound is a misnomer. if you're safe and sound, and avoid these feelings, then you're not living, you simply exist.

heres a pic of uncommon hazard signs. i'll admit, i looked at some of these and muttered 'uh-oh.'

Thursday, 26 January 2012

a couple of thoughts

first of all, yes, i seem to have basically stopped posting anything. i've decided to not worry about it,  i'll post when i have something, instead of trying to make something come out. when you're writing a book, you can't try to force your creative writing, you gotta let it flow, otherwise its shite. some writers, such as stephen king, usually make one of their characters a writer, or ones hobby is writing, so when he has a serious case of writers block, he can write about how that character has writers block, and can keep writing about writers block, and come up with some very good metaphors for it. a sort of fiction reflecting life deal.

anyway, what i have that makes me write this delightful piece of a generically nice-but-not-too-nice-thing, is bigfoot. or sasquatch (saskatchewan?) abominable snowman. but not just a man like ape thats 7 ft tall with red eyes, also the lizard man of a small county in the south USA of essentially the same description, the sightings of the mothman, a flying 7ft tall entity with red eyes, shadow people or the Grinning man, Aliens (greys) lake monsters, chupacabra, and a bunch of other things (loveland frog, owlman, a batman-thing, jersey devil, quinkans, physically manifest demons (and otherwise) occasional vamp or werewolf sighting) that if i were to mention all of them, every name for each, then this would be way too long.

with all of these entities, people have claimed to see them. many, many people, some of whom weren't in their right mind at the time, some that were, some that clearly mistook something ordinary for something extraordinary (case in point this isn't the one i was thinking of, apparently its quite common in england) some that have a tale so extraordianary its hard to understand how that even became an idea in their head, unless something physical inspired it.
but theres no physical proof. when a bigfoot gets shot (countless witnesses have shot it, hit one with a car) he always manages to walk away, leaving spent bullets deep in treetrunks and cars badly damaged. there have never been hairs or scat or blood or anything that proves his existence - it is possible though, to find footprints, that occasionally go for quite a distance. one in particular is called the 'cripplefoot' tracks from washington state, that seem to show a deformity on one foot, identified as club foot. for other creatures stated above and others, its the same. well, more or less. you don't find lake monster footprints.
well, except - but i'm getting off topic.

so theres no physical proof, but many people have at least thought they've seen something, and many of these people are said to be usually honest and sane. and in many cases there a re multiple witnesses, in many cases unknown to each other, reporting the same thing, with slight differences.
(warning. statements made after this point may be insane. wearing a tin foil hat is advised, but not necessary. if you don't, you're probably a reptilian)

presuming the witnesses actually did see something, and using the presumed fact that it/they can be seen by people who are 'away' from society temporarily, or just alone, sort of, um, seperated temporarily from the 'hivemind' of society, and that it/they (or whatever) leave very few physical signs of their/its existence....

what if, all of these entities, are the same thing, and their form changes by something in the witnesses mind. not not physical, just something we can't properly percieve or understand, essentially a paranormal entity in the purest sense.
 what if, they are some sort of mental construct by an entity, that needs to distract the witness for some reason. its not real, but people can see it, be manipulated by it, change course.. but of course, this one is frightening, as it makes you wonder what else might be a distraction. did you really have toast and eggs for breakfast? if so, was that your choice, or did something manipulate you in some small way to choose that option? why?

or perhaps, when groups (friends or strangers) of people temporarily leave the 'hivemind' of society, they, through an unidentified, traditionally impossible way, create their own temporary pocket of reality, which acts as the previous reality, but different. they see strange things, which leave their physical mark on that reality. they come back to our reality, which may not be the real one, simply the human one, where the physical marks do not exist. they insist it happened they saw it. but they don't realise its in a different reality. but because in this idea, people create reality, not physics, reality can change slightly. maybe bigfoot doesn't exist here, but a few footprints do. but thats scary too, because we have so much power, and we are incapable of controlling it. or that we choose this reality. whatever, man, its scary!

a couple of insane ideas that could maybe be true or something. maybe (prove me wrong)
also, theres a village in devon with the name WESTWARD HO!. i found it funny.
heres a video. a music video. for australia day.


are you not entertained? is this not why you are here?

Saturday, 26 November 2011

WYD bytes 1.3: the vigil (dun dun DAAHHHHN)

seriously though, it was fun. and cold. and wet. and tired. when the sun came up, at about 8:00AM (a beautiful sight to me), i began to see dark squares flying all over the place, i was so tired my eyes couldn't properly function for about 10 -15 minutes. or maybe it was an hour. i don't really know.

but, lets start at the beginning.

so, when we got there, it was dusty, crowded, hot, and litter was everywhere. there was very little grass, but there was some kind of itchy hay everywhere.
it sort of made me think of a refugee camp after some kind of huge disaster. a very big disaster, seeing as many different countries flags were waving, everywhere in sight. i wasn't the only one to think that, many news shows and people we talked to said the same thing.
we trudged through the crowds, seeing the sights, cheering when we heard songs, chanting the chants, etc, for what seemed like simultaneously an hour, and no time at all. we found our area, D2, and found some of the other brisbanians who had also got in. they'd made a little makeshift tent type thing. it was pretty cool.
while we were walking, we could see the dust going up high in the air, seeming to bump into a giant, dark cloud. it filled up half the sky. and, as everyone knows, dust + clouds = rain. if that cloud wasn't going to rain before, it sure was going to rain now. it was very hot, so i kind of marvelled at that awesome natural mechanic: when large crowds gather, dust is sure to rise, and the temperature with it. when enough dust rises, its more likely to rain, lowering the temperature. the large crowd, unless shaken by the weather, is no longer hot. how amazing and awe inspiring is that? (i probably didn't explain that very well, but i think you know what i mean)
ok, a lot of stuff happened, and i'm spending too long explaining every little thing.
we set up our sleeping bags and mattresses and stuff. i had to set up a bit away from everyone else, near some guys from western australia. i set up, put my bags down there, and went away for a bit, came back to find my sleeping bag and mattress moved, and where i had put them, was a huge, angry colony of ants.
the guys there were cool, laughing as they said that i had to brush up on my bush skills, cityboy. they hadn't noticed the ant colony either, as it had been covered by the hay. i tried to get the ants out of my sleeping bag and off my mattress, moved it somewhere else (checking for ants) and stayed there for a bit.
before the main events of that night, adoration, a speech by the pope etc, i talked to a few columbians, traded stuff, you know, staple vigil stuff.
ok, now, the storm. it got windy all of a sudden, my sleeping bag/mattress got blown away a few times, i weighed it down with some stones, and went to help others who had tarps, brisbanians makeshft tent (made out of beach towels, string, walking sticks and a pilgrim pole) and making sure a few of the new vigil-friends i'd made were alright. the sky was pretty dark, if i was inside it would have been a beuatiful sort of dark, but outside, it could only be seen with the eyes of someone surveying danger on the horizon.
lightning raged across the sky quite a few times. someone said, i don't think they were catholic, now i think of it, that god had sent the storm as punishment for worshipping the pope instead of god. i thought that was stupid, despite a large part of the crowd shouting for the pope to stop the storm. that was a bit weird. there was a woman on the stage, or perhaps that was the english translator, asking us to pray to stop the storm. it seemed a bit like an idea of some cheap magic "ok, if we all pray, maybe the storm will stop! 1,  2,  3!"
anyway, it didn't stop, not for a while, although it was very short lived, about 5-10 minutes. i managed to get some shelter with the group from western australia. i was, shivering and freezing and soaking, it wasn't good.
before the storm, it was hot. then it was freezing after the storm, then it was lukewarm, a nice temperature.  we did adoration, talked, traded with people a bit, went to the toil- well, you get the idea.
when i decided to go to sleep, i went to my sleeping bag/mattress, and took the rocks off, i'd put on to keep it down from the wind. the first one crumbled in my hands. they were actually dirt-clay clumps, and they 'melted' all over my sleeping bag. i slapped most of it off, and slipped into my sleeping bag. i found myself waist deep in water. most people i had been talking to said their beds had dried very quickly, and i hoped mine had done the same. i was wrong.
i think i slept, but i'm not really sure. after a while, i couldn't stand it any more, and got out. the days were hot, and so was the first half of night. but the 2nd half was freezing. standing in a freezing cold paddock, soaking wet and in summer clothes, it was pretty uncomfortable. i stood there, trying to think of what to do for a very long time, i don't know how long. after a while, i asked a woman in a wheelchair what the time was. she said in a very thick US accent 'uh... its about ay qwarter payst four.'
i thought that group had been columbian, so i was kind of surprised to hear an american accent 'are you american?' i asked. she said no, she is columbian. i told her she spoke very good english.
i decided to get a nice hot coffee. i walked down there, talked to two amrican girls (i don't remember which state, but its famous for its paranormal activity)
and got a coffee. but you could only get an iced coffee. i got it anyway. i wandered around for a bit, heard news about stuff damaged by the storm, about 3 people injured (apparently six were injured in all, an more passed out due to the heat of the day)
i went back to D2, and waited for the sun to rise. a french guy came up to me, he only spoke french, so i didn't understand a lot of what he was saying. i asked if he spoke spanish or english, he said no. i think he was looking for some bags, or a sleeping bag.
then this columbian guy and his girlfriend come in. apparently they'd snuck in, with a group from brazil. they were pretty interesting. he'd been training to be a priest, but ended up not, because he um, like girls too much. his girlfriend asked if she could borrow my sleeping bag, she was cold. i explained it was wet, so it was a bit unusable at the moment. she found another sleeping bag, from some girls who'd left about half an hour before. they were pretty surprised when they came back, but very forgiving.

as always, there is a lot, a lot more. as i write this, more is coming back, and its difficult to believe all this happened in so short a time. WYD, or any event of such magnitude, or even just going to another country, or a new place, with friends and meeting new people, is an experience that words can't describe.

i don't know if i'll do another of these. i can't do it justice. it is good to remember everything, though.


heres a riddle. the answer? tune in next time! or look it up.
some will use me, while others will not,
some have remebered, while others forgot.
for profit or gain, i'm used expertly,
i can't be picked off the ground, or tossed into the sea.
only gained through patience and time,
can you, unravel my rhyme?

Tuesday, 15 November 2011

WYD bytes 1.2 : chuckles rides again

so, i don't know who chuckles is, i like to imagine him as sort of like pennywise the homocidal dancing clown, apparently with a horse, and maybe one of those wooden rubber band guns, or even a gun that shoots a flag saying 'BOOM!"
i guess he'd also have a cowboy hat. and yell 'hi ho silver! AWAY!'
if you're wondering why its in the title, i can't help you. there should always be a mystery in someones writings, something even the author doesn't know or understand. its like rule 16 or something.

anyway, back to the walk to the vigil in WYD madrid, that was in my last post.

so, after waiting for a few people, we left our accomodation, and got walking.
 after figuring out which way to go, we started our walk down the street. alot of it you really had to be there for, but just walking through a city, especially an old one like in europe, really nice, you see so much stuff that kinda blows your mind. to be honest, you wouldn't look twice at these things in your own town/city. you'd probably think they were ugly.

we stopped a bunch of times, it was a really hot day, through streets, up hills, through parks, etc. at one point we stopped in a park, and the sprinklers were on. we took our bags off and ran through them. there were nuns and monks running through them as well, it was really fun.

there were also people who had wisely decided to profit from this walk. people had filled up bottles of ice cold water and were selling them for 1 euro each. like 1-2 litres, it was good. i'd just run out of water when i saw them. its probably even luckier they had water at the vigil, otherwise it would have been a much longer night. soaked, freezing, tired, and dehydrated.

we met a bunch of people on the walk, including an irish group. i don't remember much about them, but i remember they were awesome. i mean, they were irish...
(come to think about it, i wish i'd met some welsh, i like them. there are two kinds of welsh accents; the one that sounds like a deformed monkey taught english by a german, and the other one, much rarer i think, i've only met one, but she had the most beautiful accent i'd ever heard. sort of like the sound version of the sight of flowers, or like rain, only quieter, and, uh, voicelike. or, um, whatever...)

just after we left the irish group, sitting under the shade of a coolibah tree, all the paths of other pilgrim groups began to converge, like the reverse branches of a tree, or a mamallian blood system toward the heart. there were also buses and trains, taking some tourists pilgrims to quatro viento.  many of the bishops, archbishops and so on did this. not archbishop batthersby (i hope i speeled that correctly) or the bishops with us. they walked in our group, which i think was really humble of them.

after a while, it became very crowded, and this was about 2 kilometres away. it was about this time we splintered off.
 after the crowded area, the closer we got, the less crowded it was. we walked through small streets, and people threw water on us because of the heat. (or was it?)
when we actually got there, it wasn't as bad as i thought it was when i saw it on tv that morning: but it was certainly kinda foreboding. it looked like a refugee camp. dusty, grassless, flat, crowded 0% shade, rubbish everywhere. but the main thing was, we were there.

next time, on WYD bytes 1.3 : Dead Men tell no tales, i'll tell the story of the stuff i remember at the vigil.
yes, storms, iced coffee, toilets damaged hosts, columbians getting in like mexicans across the US border, stealing peoples sleeping bags, and a very rude french guy, who could only speak french and german.


because i can, and more importantly because i want to, here, um, this.... enjoy.
(its a link)
http://www.youtube.com/user/communitychannel/
of course, i'm quite sure you've seen this already, so i show you this:

Sunday, 6 November 2011

WYD Bytes 1.1

i was at a WYD dinner type thing, seeing and talking to people i hadn't seen since we left, hearing people talk about everything that happened, randomly remembering stuff i forgot about, which i can't believe i forgot, and i realised i haven't really talked about the things that happened there much. i'm not really particularly sentimental, the way i see it is it happened, its not happening anymore, so why talk about it? its in the past.
but suddenly, i think people might be kind of interested to hear some of the many stories from WYD madrid. i mean, there are a few, a lot of stuff happened. its kind of strange how even getting your clothes washed can be a semi interesting story, because you're sleep derived, you're not sure how the machine works, and so much stuff is already happening, its hard to stay focused on some things you probably should have focused on.

i'm going to tell the story of the walk to the vigil, as well as the vigil itself. out of my group, of about 38, only 4 of us got into the vigil. i was lucky enough to be part of that 4. the only reason i was there was a choice i made , i could stay with the larger group, about to take a break from walking for the second time in 5 minutes, or the splinter group, pushing on. i decided to go with the splinter group, to make sure they were alright. that little voice bugging me to make sure everyone was alright made a lot of decisions for me over there, and in the end, i'm mighty glad it did.

the story starts, um, well, i don't remember waking up that morning, or breakfast. i do remember hearing what time we were leaving, and that it was a 13 kilometre walk. i think i may have done my laundry that day, or maybe it was the day before. in any case, thats a different story.
at WYD, we got a packed lunch each day. after the 2nd day, i stopped taking them, picking the water bottle out of one of the plastic bags in boxes leaning against the lobby wall of our accomodation. it was a bread roll, with a small amount of meat, or eggy potato in the middle. for the vigil, we were given lunch for two days, and were told to eat a particular one first, as it would go off if we left it till the next day.
because there had been a few cases where the daily lunch had gone bad in our bags after just a few hours, a couple of us heard this and said, 'bugger that.'
we went to the shopping centre about, uh, 20 mintes walk from the accomodation, i think it was principe pio, to get some food for the vigil.
we looked around the supermarket, they had some really yummy looking foods. in the end i got a paper bag of triple chocolate cookies (they almost melted in your mouth, they were filled with chocolate, but not particularly sweet chocolate, proper chocolate. delicious. they were  my breakfast the next morning.) some prngles (spanish pringles!) and some milk bread (bread made with milk. very sweet, like a mix between a cookie and a croissant. very dry though)
we spent a while there, and we had to get back. but not before lunch. we went to the food court, up some stairs. mcdonalds, kfc and burger king (i was about to say hungry jacks) were filled with people, and that was just the line.
a german restaurant was just opening, so we decided to go in there. while there, we saw on the news, the vigil grounds, cuatro viento. it was dusty, shadeless, i think i saw a single palm tree somewhere. and crowds of people. notice i said crowds, plural. there were lots of people there.
i remember thinking 'we should bring more water.'
we ordered some food, and waited for it to arrive. i found it funny we were in spain, siting in a shopping centre food court, and at a german restaurant. there was a moment when i was seriously considering getting a hamburger, which was on the menu. multiculturalism at its finest.
it took a little longer than we thought, and i began worrying we were going to be late getting back, but when we got back everyone was still there, it was fine. when it was time to pay, it was a perfect opportunity for me to try out my travel card. i adn't used it yet, and was pretty eager to.
the woman at the cash register accepted the card with a smile, and put it through the machine. i then waited to put my pin number in. and waited. and waited. i finally asked about the pin number, i think i said "PIN?" and mimed typing, with 'beep, boop, beep?' she spoke a little english, and said the pin was not necessary. but then, why did it have a pin number? we had to go, so we went as quickly as possible. i half expected them to yell back, but they didn't.
we got back, fit the food into our bags, obtained some more water from the plastic bags (there weren't many people willing to take the bags at this stage, so it was alright) and were waiting around for other people to get ready.
when most people were downstairs, a girl in our group had the idea of dedicating the walk to something. me and a few others dedicated the walk to the people at home, who had helped us get here, and could not be there with us, even though they wanted to.

thats some of what happened the morning we were getting ready for the vigil, and the walk there. my next post will be the walk, or as much as possible until i feel like i'm making the post seem to long.


um, heres a random video from an old show called skithouse.

Thursday, 3 November 2011

i'm bored

so, i'm just going to post a few dylan moran youtube clips.













also this.

Sunday, 30 October 2011

'thats the second biggest flamingo i've ever seen!'

these words were exclaimed by ron stoppable as a 60ft tall mechanical homicidal flamingo marched menacingly into a room he was trapped in. it was funny, i assure you.

disney used to make good funny cartoons, like dave the barbarian ('with his fierce intellect, dave ingeniously made a megaphone out of only a chipmunk, a piece of string, some earswax, and a megaphone!') phineas and ferb
('so, uh, whats up with the giant floating baby head?'
'phineas' idea.'
'oh. creepy.')
kuzcos new school ('wrong...lever...'), and even a good drama-y-ish show called so weird, which by the third season had become so dark that the disney channel hired a new team, and got rid of the main characters and made a whole new, sunshine and rainbows 3rd season, which was kinda trippy if you watched the first 2 seasons. i still don't know what the father was into before he died; it was most likely something to do with the occult. and i think he was killed by a troll. the show was called 'so weird,' what do you  expect?
the ABC has some good cartoons, such as spliced, about some mutants living on an island somewhere. (weird stuff happens, if you haven't seen it, you don't know. they also play the game, which you just lost. it also involves a rhino that began life as a wart on an interdimensional bird kings foot) and, um, uh, there are other good ones, but they're pretty few and far between.

disney seem to make alright animated cartoons, but their live action kids tv shows make me depressed. my sister watches them, i ask her why, oh god why, and she shrugs, says 'shut up!' goes back to watching, not laughing once at anything, because the jokes aren't funny. the same jokes are done every single episode. not running gags, like 'doofenschmirtz evil incorporated!" from phineas and ferb, but jokes that should only be done once in an entire series, or season if you want to push it, such as the title of this post.
a lot of jokes are just a random sentence, and the only reason i say its a joke is because of the laughing track that plays after they say it, and the pause in dialogue.
"Oh, Okay .. Well then D Battery Guy does. [Wears a purse]'
i want to say this is taken out of context, because its embarrassing for the person who made this stuff up, but its not. a super hero called D battery guy says this, and then wears a purse. and then the laugh track plays. there is no lead up, or anything. it'd be okay if it was completely random, but they actually manage to make it fit into the scene. its really sad, especially when you realise someone came up with that.
a group of people must have a meeting occasionally, someone actually pitched this idea, the idea was discussed, and it was deemed good enough to do it on the show.
" a super hero wearing a purse? called D battery guy! the kids'll love that! its hilarious!'
 and then of course theres the overacting, the inability of anyone on the set to properly line up a joke, and they treat their viewers like idiots, not kids. but, those are all obvious even if you haven't seen an episode.

a good comedy, you get a relaxed vibe from it, the writers/actors/producers aren't trying too hard, they're just enjoying the process. they're making a comedy, and if you're not enjoying  making it, why would anyone enjoy watching it?
i don't know why kids watch hannah montana or wizards of waverly place, i've never seen anyone laugh at them, except for one guy i went to school with, i think he just thought miley cyrus was hot.
but then, good advertising is now 9/10ths of popular culture.

as you've guessed, i'm a bit of a comedy connoisseur, i think i know a little bit about comedy. you might think i don't laugh at much, that i only laugh at some sort of 'god tier' punchline genius, but i laugh at everything. well, almost everything. funny things. and all something needs to be funny is that you think its funny, and sincerity. if you don't laugh at a joke or find it entertaining, what makes you think someone else will? its a lot more complicated than that, but i think that gets the point across.

heres a video of one of my favourite comedians, dylan moran, on his view on fatboy slims 'funk soul brother'
enjoy.

Wednesday, 26 October 2011

what huge gap of time without blogging? i didn't see anything! oh, right...

so, i know its been a while since i put anything on here, and i'm simply going to ignore that fact, so ignore this sentence. well, don't ignore it, just, you know, whatever man, its all G.

i found a random blog topic generator, it does some interesting topics, from nuclear weapons to beautiful rivers in holland (hollandaise rivers? dutch rivers?).

the topic that it chose is 'specifications of my dream house.' hmmm. rerolling.

the next one is countries with a slave trade. i'm going to assume that means modern slavery, which is human trafficking, which is the fastest growing criminal industry, and debt slaves, people who are so in debt they have to work it off. its very common in southern asia.

these are bad enough, and we should be doing as much as possible to stop it. in fact, i think there are operations and regulations across the world that aim to stop it. of course, it could just be a side effect of immigration control, but, i'm sure the UN and various other international organisations are doing all they can to stop it.

it kind of reminds me that we're all enslaved by money. but thats really completely different. its social conditioning.

heres a funny pic. its about the logic of the computer game age of empires.



and, if you're not interested in that, then heres this:

if you didn't find that amusing, then say sorry. i'll be looking for some better funny pictures for later posts. my next blog post will be about how bad childrens shows are these days. especially on saturday disney.

Wednesday, 12 October 2011

asdfmovie

ok, i'm sure everyone that reads this has already seen these youtube clips, and you know what: i don't care.
it just means you know exactly how funny these clips are.

my sister randomly showed me these asdf movies about 15 minutes ago. about halfway through the third i was laughing so hard i was crying, and not a small amount. i had to pause the video, otherwise i think i would have died of asphyxiation. i haven't laughed like that in a while, 6 weeks at least.

so um, enjoy asdfmovie 1, 2 and 3.






Friday, 26 August 2011

home again

yeah, so, um, back from spain. we were told at one of the briefings in the morning after mass to think of a 'soundbite' of what happened there in spain. you know, because we can't just go around saying 'it was awesome' like we did after sydney. we said awesome so much, it began to lose all meaning. it kinda makes me think of an episode of scrubs i saw, where dr cox makes up the word megaloathe, because everyone said 'hate' so much, the word wasn't strong enough anymore.
anyway, so we had to think of a sort of  short linguistic paragraph (you know, a paragraph you say, not write) to explain how, (awesome) this world youth day was, and the experiences we had.
and every time i try to, i sort of try to say a bunch of things at once, and just stand there, sort of gulping like a fish trying to breathe air. so much happened, and in such a short space of time, i can't find the words to express the experiences i had. well i could, but it would be in so many words it would probably be fiendishly boring to listen to. and i still don't know where to begin. well, i guess i should start at the beginning. i'll put upn at least one photo a day, and tell you what the photo was about, the story behind the photo.

this photo is far from the first photo i took, and even farther from the last. this is of some of the surrounding area of pedro abad, which is where we stayed for days in the diocese. i think it was on the drive to my host familys home, on a big hill just outside town. those trees are olive trees, and, yes, they pretty much go as far as the eye can see, and probably farther. it was a beautiful place. espana es preciosa!

i start with this photo, because, to tell a good story, you have to begin with the background.

Sunday, 14 August 2011

same same, but different... muchos different

i can´t get into my facebook, it keeps saying the device is not recognised. the computer is entirely in espanol.


anyway, hola! from espana! i don´t really know what to say, theres a lot of stuff that happened, and we´re going to the piscina (pool) later (luego), so i don´t have much time. so i´ll start at the beginning.


so, we were on a plane for, roughly 21 hours (horas). when we got oput of the areopuerto, the first thing i noticed was that the trees, the flora was totally different. no eucalyptus, or she-oaks. mostly olive trees. in pedro abad, where we are staying, the view from the top of  the hill is just olive trees, as far as you can see.
the view is beautiful, though, the entire country es preciosa (beatiful)
i´ve heard from other people, you don´t feel like you´re in a different country, different part of the world, but i think they´re  wrong. you can tell, it feels different, it looks different, everyone speaks espanol, so it sounds different. i´m starting to think, in my mind, with a spanish accent, with occasional spanish words. occasionally, i´ll say something to my fellow australians, and i´ll be saying the key words in spanish.  its a bit concerning.

we went to corduba today. i took about 300-400 photos, of eberything. i would be tired, but its so exciting well, i am prety tired, cansado, but, who has time to sleep?. this computer doesn´t have the capabilities to put up any oif my photos, so, lo siento, i cannot show you the cathedral, which was once the largest in the world.

sorry i haven´t said much, we are going to the piscina now. i am having a lot of fun, its very interesting, and beautiful.  i am fine, i have had so much food, i may explode. everyone is very friendly. we have done a lot in the past few days, i could never hope to tell you all of it in a simple blog post. i hope one day you can come to espana and see its beauty. i sound like i´m advertising it, but it has no need of advertisement.

oh, and world youth day is much bigger here in europe than in australia. the french are televising the mass tomorrow (el domingo) in, france, i suppose.
ok,  i must vamos. adios! hasta luego! maybe tomorrow (manana) hopefully. maybe i can put some order into this tangled mess of words.

oh, the sun doesn´t go down till about 10pm. it rises around 7am. its amazing.

Tuesday, 2 August 2011

organic supermarkets: what the hell?

organic supermarkets are weird. i mean, the stuff they sell is pretty good, it tastes nice and everything, lots of choice , even though having 18 different kinds of flour (normal, gluten free, oat, rice, 6 types of wheat, all with different levels of refinedness) seems a bit over the top.
most of it is local, so, you're contributing to the local economy. the weird thing i don't understand is, if its local, that means there aren't as many expenses in getting it from the farm, or whatever, to the supemarket, which means it should be cheaper. and then theres the fact that they seem so fond of saying: "its organic. nothing artificial has been added." which means even less expenses in production by lack of additives, making it cheaper yet again.
so why the hell is everything at least twice as expensive as in a regular supermarket, which gets its produce from at least 2-3 days truckdrive away, and its apparently filled with additives, and covered in insecticides and herbicides?
according to howstuffworks, the whole thing is basically because its in low supply, with a high demand, and that the marketing chains are innefficient. i think the last bit is a polite way of saying the organic supermarkets jack up the prices.

i would just like to add, their sweet potato chips are delicious.

here is a picture of a monkey on a really tall ye-olde style bike. enjoy.



i like the expression on the monkeys face.

Saturday, 30 July 2011

a little late yes, but...

so, my last post said i would post some pictures i took on my new camera. this didn't work out very well, i didn't have much time. they are not very good, but, i said i would, so i am going to.
i mean, what would be the point of saying i was going to do it, if i wasn't going to do it, or even decided against it later? thats like breaking a promise! not that anyone has even read my last post yet...

so, this is just near buderim, up on the hill. the view from there is pretty spectacular, especially when you consider how easy it is to get there:



there were more, but, um, i think the files are too big. i'll need to find a program to make them smaller. i'm going to spain soon, and i'll try to use this blog to post my pictures each day/few days.. obviously, that depends on my ability to find and use a computer while there.

Thursday, 28 July 2011

wa hey! long time no post!

mhhrrm. or something like that. i'm trying to convert a cough noise into a word, its not exactly brain surgery, but its not easy as  pie, either. the scale of ease seems to exist in two dimensions, not one.

so, its been a good while since i made a post. well, for this blog at least. i follow a few other blogs that do like, two a month, and saya in underworld hasn't updated since the japanese tsunami. i can only pray to god that shes alright.

i don't really know what  to write. hmmm, you know what? i just got a new camera; 14 megapixels, 18x optical zoom. i have to go to uni in the afternoon tomorrow, but in the morning, i'm going to wake up early, and take some pictures. i've wanted to do that for a long time.
oh, of course, i'm going to post them on here.
heres a pic, a gif (i hope it works). i would like to point out the kids mouth looks freaky.

Wednesday, 20 July 2011

the evolution of cetaceans (or whales and dolphins)

i hope i spelt cetaceans right. that would not be a good start.

you know something? the world we live in is ridiculous. sure, look around you, it doesn't look ridiculous at the moment, does it? (if something ridiculous is happening around you, please don't read the previous sentence. thank you.)
well, you wanna know something? whales and dolphins evolved from a deer the size of a housecat, that lived in northwestern india. it likely ran and dove into the water as an escape mechanism from predators, and i guess it met one hell of a predator.
scientists used to think it evolved from a kind of wolf with hooves (yes, a wolf, that had hooves. what about it?) that lived in asia and north america. they thought this because they both had similar looking teeth shapes, but it was realised that they had different leg shapes, and molecular analysis proved it wrong.

the herbivorous indian cat-deer thing evolved into a carnivorous hyena thing that acted like a crocodile. it lived in arid, desert type places, mostly swam in water, but could move around on land if necessary.

the hyenacrocodile adapted a more crocodile appearance. this animal was more or less the same as before, only it was much more reliant on water. it was most likely very slow both on land and water.

that evolved into a thing that looked like an otter mixed with a crocodile. it was likely a very effective swimmer, and was totally dependent on saltwater. the nostrils are beginning to move towards where it will become the blowhole, currently towards the top of the snout.

this evolved into a dolphin thing, with an extra set of fins where the legs would be. in modern dolphins, a birth defect can cause these fins to reappear. in whales, however, it causes a very small set of legs to grow.

and i think we know what happened next. these dolphin thingys eventually splintered off into various shapes and forms, some big, some small, some gigantic.

also, here is a picture of vestigial leg and pelvic bones in a baleen whale skeleton. whales and dolphins have a number of vestigial organs, such as ear pinnae, which serve no function, and slow the creature down significantly. they are important, in land based animal ear function.


so, yeah, the world is ridiculous. and you know what? thank god for that, otherwise it'd be boring.







note: i looked at the wikipedia page for this, its where i got the picture. the dates for the animals are a bit strange, the first animal apparently lived after the second and third. in another website, an article on squidoo,  dates that make more sense are seen. the first was 49MYA (million years ago), the third is 48MYA ( in 1MY, the species turned carnivorous, and lost most of its hair, spending much more time in the water. its not such a big change) the 4th was about 43MYA, and a little bit before, and the 5th was about 35MYA, again, a little before.

Saturday, 9 July 2011

in tonights post: cgi brand placement and a weird essay thing i found at work

here is what was written on a piece of paper i found at work the other day. it was in a pile of stuff in our lunch room. i asked around, nobody has any idea where it came from. i don't really know why i'm so interested in it, to be honest.

in the 21st century, it seems mcdonaldization comes into the world via the fast food system.
it could be said that this system can affect a variety of fields including technologies and education.
as a result of this, these domains could be explained in terms of two of the elements of mcdonaldization: efficiency and calculabilty.
these factors will be able to offer positive and negative impacts in technoloy and education.
this essay will explain will explain advantages and disadvantages of efficiency and calculability using the examples of technology and education.

firstly the positive influence of efficiency of mcdonaldization is related to the internet technology in lives of people.
therefore, mcdonaldizaion and the internet technology can provide people with accessibility of information.

secondly, the negative impact of the calculability of mcdonaldization is associated with higher education.
based on this information, it is said that higher education affected by calculability of mcdonldization can provide people with low quality education.

in conclusion, mcdonaldization has affected the fields of technology and higher educaion.
it seems that technology and higher education affected by two aspects of mcdonaldization, which are efficiency and calculability, are explained in terms of positive and negaive impacts.
therefore although mcdonaldization can lead a positive impact like accesibility of information, it can offer negative influence like low quality education.

there is no doubt that this system of mcdonaldization can happen to negative impacts like low quality education rather than positive impacts.
besides, it can be seen that the current negative impact of mcdonaldization is only the beginning stage.
it could be said that more various fields can be governed under the negative impacts of mcdonaldization in the near future.
eventually, it seems that the lives of people will receive negative influence of mcdonaldization.
as a result of this, the quality of lives of people will get lower.

and thats it. i think ther must be more to it, maybe this is only a part of the essay. also, it seems the writer may not have english as their first language. i asked the korean workers (they're over here to perfect their grasp of english); they don't know anything about it.
still, i think its an interesting read.

also, here is a clip from how i met your mother. i am showing it to you because it shows a new advertising thing, where a brand is dgitally placed in a scene. they've done it to many reruns of how i met your mother, as well as other shows.
also, listen to what barney says. that stuff is gold.

Thursday, 30 June 2011

not much to share, just feel sort of obligated to do this

been sick most of this week, so haven't really thought about blogging anything, so there is very little interesting stuff here.

if you've never seen stephen kings IT, i suggest you do. heres my favourite scene. i go into hysterics every time i see it. plus it scares small children for some reason, so thats always a plus (unless you're a small kid)
of course, the fact it scares small children makes me think sometimes, they know more than we do about things we'd term... unnatural. but thats a thought for another post. actually i'm not sure i can actually do that thought justice, when i first thought that thought all the way through, i was scared of the dark again for about 4 days.... until i forgot most of it.
but i'm rambling. enjoy this scene.