Guest Blogger: Box in Cat

Box in a Cat

War, famine, prejudice, and death are what I see on today’s popular news; parties, Mercedes, wealth, and sex are what I hear in today’s popular music. There obviously is a devious intent to distract, a meticulous disguise to shield the reality from the general populace. Yes, you know what I’m talking about, the carefully manipulated messages in mainstream music that encourages over indulgence of luxury and sexual pleasures; that over glorifies money and status; that paints a picture of vanity and greed; that whispers loudly in your ear that you are not worthy. The taunts, however feint and indirect are enough to keep consumers consuming, wanting and dreaming. And if you look past the distractions, you might just notice the unpleasant reality wrapped inside the mesmerising beats– auto-tune.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t dislike auto-tune. Healthy doses and clever placements of this technique can be most refreshing. What I find irritating is the overuse of auto-tune in music. Many people share my opinion with regard to the overuse of auto-tune. Unfortunately, many of those people disapprove of auto-tune for the reasons I find illogical.  As I recall a MTV host preformed an experiment once where he recorded himself singing in a studio. He then replayed the recording once normally and second time with auto-tune to show how much better he sounded with auto-tune. Finally he made the conclusion, which was congruent with the popular opinion at the time that he disapproves the artists for singing with auto-tune because they sounded better than they normally would.

There was a time, perhaps too long ago to remember, where songs told tales of the brave, chastised the actions of wicked, and conversed stories of true love, sorrow and joy. Themes, values and the messages that have embedded in mainstream music have changed over time, but its purpose remained the same. Music is made for the enjoyment of its audience. And regardless of the technique the artist used to create the music, it should be considered good music if it is enjoyable. However unfair it may seem that hardworking singers with natural talents are being outshined by computer processing, if you believe that auto-tune makes the artist sound better than they normally would, then the artist shouldn’t be chastised for using auto-tune to make better music.

It seems that most people today are conflicted and lost. Sometime it is easier to follow the popular opinion. But this society is built upon the idea of democracy and democracy would not result in better decision making if everyone was distracted and not think things through. Know why you listen to the music you enjoy; and always keep a sharp mind so you can still see the prejudice in the system and hear the cries of starving families through the beats of today’s mainstream music.

Here is a treat for those of you who prefer natural talent …. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_j6IBdHW_rY 

Loki

New look to blogger...

So it seems that Google upgraded the template/post creator for blogger... It's a bit different from before, but I think I'll get used to it after a while.

So I got up early today to go to the federal government building downtown to talk about my income taxes. I wasn't quite sure how long it would be, so I paid for 2 hours of parking in the underground parking (underneath the building of course =P). That cost me a whooping $16... and I always thought that parking at the university was expensive.

My appointment finished in half an hour, so I had a little over an hour to kill. I walked around the river to get in some exercise and fresh air. (It's been two weeks since I last had a good workout!) I went all the way to visit the new Peace Bridge. I don't believe it was worth the $25 million dollars, but I might as well use it since it came out of our taxes anyways...

Here's a picture of the Peace Bridge from the inside. I couldn't get a "long-view" of the bridge since there was quite a bit of people walking through it.

Day 2: Favorite Ice Cream Flavour

Well, it used to be chocolate. At one point of time, I used to like vanilla. Now a days, it's Neapolitan! I get chocolate, vanilla and strawberry! Awesome indeed!! =)

I just realize my interests/likes change quite frequently...

30 Things About Me Series

Well, to hopefully help me blog daily again, I decided to start a little segment called: 30 things about me. Each day, I'll post a little tad bit about me that some of you may not know. Of course, I'll try not to dish out my deepest and darkest secrets/traits =P bwahahaha.

Well today, I managed to wake up early again! =) I got up and worked on finding some more jobs. There's this one at the Spark Center that I'm thinking of applying too! I really do need that income for the summer, though I don't think I'll be able to start on "that project" this year =(.

After looking and fixing up some cover letters, I went back to FF XIII-2. I managed to collect a couple more fragments, so I'm at 159/160 fragments at the moment!! The last fragments is going to be hard to get though... I have to find all the monsters in the game and collect ALL of their data. In other words, many hours of farming will take place. =(

I went out to eat tonight. We initially went to Grey Eagles for All You Can Eat Seafood, but the line was humongous! We estimated that it'll take 2 hours to go in, so we decided to go somewhere else. We ended up at Smugglers Inn. It's been a while since I last been to that place. I had the Rib and Rib Combo today (which was ginormous! Should have taken a picture...). For the first time in a long time, I had trouble finishing my meal. (Doesn't help that I ate a lot of salad at their salad bar =P)

Well for today's picture of the day...

Didn't take one today, so here is an album art that I really like. It came from Amuro Namie's new single: Go Round/Yeah-Oh. I think the cover was well done! I usually don't like her covers for some reason...

Now time for the First Thing About Me: Easy Going

I feel, for the most part that I'm easy to get along with. I usually don't have a preference for things, so I tend to go with whatever others feel like doing. However, I guess this sometimes backfires... this indecisiveness... To some, it looks like I don't really care, but really I do!

And that's it =P

What a difference it makes waking up early!

On Monday and Tuesday, I woke up at around 11 AMish. On both days, I hardly got stuff done.

On the other hand, I got up at 6 AM today. After breakfast, I drove down to see where my practicum was located. Valley Creek is located in such a nice neighbourhood! The school looks pretty nice from the outside as well. I took a couple pictures to get myself started for next week! Can't wait!

After coming home, I started to look for more jobs to apply for the summer. I have to say, it is harder than it looks. I am quite fortunate to not have to search for my previous jobs =P. I think I finally starting to see how difficult it is to look for employment. =(

So after writing a couple of cover letters (since each job is different...), I got back to FF XIII-2. I'm trying to finish collecting all the fragments before the end of the month... which I don't think is quite possible. I managed to collect about 20ish fragments today though! (Which is pretty good!) I spent like 4-5 hours collecting those fragments though... and with the help of my trusty guide book...

Lol oh! Started a new drama series: Strawberry Night (featuring Takeuchi Yuko). The first episode is typical, but hopefully it'll pick up soon!

For today's picture, here's one I took at Valley Creek!

Feast!

Today was the black belt ceremony and annual spring banquet/buffet. I believe we had 6 new shor dans (1st degree), 1 new ni dan (2nd degree) and 1 new san dan (3rd degree). Congratulations to them all!

After the ceremony, the head sensei gave a speech to the new black belts. The speech was about dedication, motivation and discipline. I learnt today that many people will go the distance, but never quite finish the "marathon" (couldn't think of a better metaphor). Most people would give up when they face adversity. However, our head sensei encourages us to go all the way, to see the end of things. 

If you put so much effort in, why stop now?

After the speech, a couple of the senior black belts gave speeches of their own. They had good speeches as well, about refining techniques & discipline and the joy of seeing the new black belts getting their black belts after years of hard work.

Once the speeches were done, lunch was served!

I had two full plates of food =P. It was quite yummy!

After the buffet, I went back home to get ready for work. Once work was completed, it was off to countless amount of episodes of Code Geass R2. I finished the series a couple years back, but I had to rewatch the series again. Lelouch is quite the genius!

That's it for today. Tomorrow is a big day! Since I won't be able to talk summer school, I'll have to look for a job that'll keep me busy! (And I could use the money! If I accumulate enough money, I could start on a big project that I have in mind! =) )

Done On-Campus Courses!

Finally finished my on-campus courses! It has been a stressful last couple of weeks, but I'm finally done! =D

Ah, well I guess it's high time to look for a job for the summer. Time to rake in some dough =P

Practicum starts in two weeks time! Can't wait! Should be fun and exciting!

For today's picture of the day

A scene from Final Fantasy XIII-2. Two chobo chicks in love. Strangely, I found it to be very cute. =P

Guest Blogger: Box in a Cat 2 by Loki

“Would you say that this cup of juice is half full or half empty?” My ESL teacher repeated. Puzzled and rather disappointed, I explained to her with what broken English I had that I was thirsty and that I demand a full cup.

That was nearly 11 years ago; the first time I was introduced to the oldest trick in the book that attempts to categorize people into ether a pessimist or an optimist. This piece of memory inspired an interesting conversation two days ago between me and a college. That was when I first realised that I might be a pessimist. The dictionary.com definition for pessimism is: the tendency to see, anticipate, or emphasize only bad or undesirable outcomes, results, conditions, problems, etc. You might see someone describing themselves as being optimistic but you’ll never see the word pessimist on a resume presumably because the word itself has many negative connotations. Pessimism infers characteristics of sadness, depression, cynicism, failure, and quitting. I’ve never noticed how incorrect these connotations were until the conversation I had two days ago. I mentioned to my college that I always attempt to anticipate all undesirable outcomes. “You’re a pessimist then” he slurred. Taken aback, I reasoned that I’m in fact an optimist because I have always been the last one to quit regardless of the hopelessness of the situation. It was then that we agreed being pessimistic does not make you a quitter. King Leonidas stood his ground in the battle of Thermopylae whiling anticipated his inevitable death. Group of Zealots held the fortress of Masada for over 3 years with overwhelming odds against the unrelenting Roman Empire. You could argue that the Zealots fought because they are sanctimonious or borderline insane, but Leonidas certainly didn’t seem like he is depressed. Anticipation or even acceptance of undesired outcomes does not necessarily translate into depression or hopeless. The fact is that the pessimistic view allows people to anticipate the worst, and in comparison, it can make every other living moment brighter. The cynical view of pessimism will probably remain for my lifetime ever, but I’m no longer hesitant to proclaim myself a pessimist. I mean what is the worst that could happen?

Loki

A sense of Teacher/Instructor Pride =)

Average Thursday really, so let's not go over that today =P

After class, I went to go help out with the black belt exams today. Most of the brown belts that were trying to get their black belts were students I have trained when they first started karate. This was the first time I ever had the chance to watch a batch of my students go for, what I argue, the toughest test in our karate dojo.

And I have to say, it gives me a sense of pride to see them go that far! I remember how they all started when they were young (early to mid elementary). Now to see them after 6-7 years after at where they are right now... well words can't really explain it. I have to say that this really brightened up my mood from this crappy week (and next week...) =P

Assignments can wait for tomorrow... Off to go drama!! =)

It's been a while since I seen a sunrise in downtown

One year since the 2011 Earthquake

R.I.P. to those who perished in the horrific natural disaster a year ago. Also, thank you to the Fukushima 50 who risked their lives by preventing a full-out nuclear meltdown.

100th post: Insecurities

So here is my 100th blog post! I started writing this on Wednesday night, but I realized it was more autobiography than I would like (got about 5 pages in...). This is a shorter, condensed version! I haven't edited this, so it may not make much sense. I wrote this mainly through my "emotions" rather than from a logical perspective.

I hope you enjoy this! =)

Ah, early Thursday morning… 30 minutes before class starts. I’m sitting in the room, wayyyy earlier than I usually would be in class. Well, let’s try writing my 100^th blog post right now: insecurities.

This blog post won’t be as happy as my previous ones, but its not all doom and gloom (if you manage to reach the very end!) So let’s start!

So why did I pick to write about insecurities? Well, for those that know me, I’m usually a pretty happy person. Due to this, I get comments that I’m so optimistic, that my life must be going well, that I’m living the dream (which I actually laughed at), etc. NOW I’m not saying that these comments piss me off. I’m glad that most people see me as a joyful person. However, I like people to know that I’m human too; that I have problems/issues in my life as well (Oh and thank you to those people who trust me enough to share their problems/issues with me).

So long story made short: I grew up in a sheltered household that made me arrogant and cocky. Once I realized that the world is bigger than what I first perceived it to be, I had a huge reality shock that shattered who I was. At this point in time, I lost all motivation to strive for my initial goals (power and wealth). Besides the reality shock, I lost a very dear friend due to me struggling to maintain my initial goals.

These two blows in my life really bummed me out to the point where I viewed my daily life as simply morning and evening; a continuous finite cycle. Due to some events in high school, I started to soul-search, to find out who I was. By the time I finished high school, I thought I knew what I wanted in life, but boy was I wrong...

The first couple of years in university were similar to my years in high school. I still felt kind of an empty shell, but it wasn’t as bad. I had the chance to meet new people, but I kept to myself most of the time. When in contracted frostbite in my 2^nd year, that was severe enough that I could have lost my toes, I entered a stage of depression at that time. During this period though, I had friends that helped me through my pain, either through keeping me company as I recovered or by telling me that money isn’t everything (that I should perhaps asked for a taxi instead of waiting for the train). From that point onward, I started to soul search once again, and realized that it’s an ongoing process for me.

So what did I discover?

Here I stand from before, my greatest insecurities I believe comes from my strengths. My parents, with hope to put me through medical school, had geared me with a whole range of skills by putting me through a ton of extra-curricular activities (piano, karate, swimming, skating, speech and drama, rapid calculations, badminton, etc). Despite all the effort and endless amount of money they put into my education (piano lessons ONLY used to cost them almost $500 a month for myself only), I feel like I have failed to meet up their expectations.

I understand that it is my life; that I can choose whatever I want to do, but I’m a person that dislikes asking others for favors, for believe that I need to return the favor. They are my parents, yes, but it’s still a favor in my eyes. My insecurities made me keep to myself, becoming somewhat of an introvert.

The reason why I took the MCAT last summer? To please my parents; to show them that I “tried” to get into medicine. If you have no heart, then how can you achieve? It was a waste of money (I believe almost 1400 dollars)…

Besides that, I have all these skills that I have acquired, but I never put them to good use. Piano? I completed my ARCT, but after that day, I never played the piano seriously. I have lost my touch, my voice… my soul in music. I only play notes now. The music doesn't flow through my fingers like how they used to...

How about karate? I lost that chance early on to develop the skills when I was young, to maintain my flexibility as I grew older. Now a days, my balance is off, my kicks don’t go nearly as high, nor do I feel that I can land a hit “on-target”. I wished I practiced harder when I was younger... 

There are many, many more things that I feel like I failed in, that it would probably take up at least another five pages. At times, I think to myself, “I’m supposed to improve as life goes on, but I’m not… aren’t I?”. As of course, it not only affects me, but perhaps my relationship with others…

As to those people who know me well, I do not open myself easily to others. I wear a mask most of the time. I’m passive and obedient, even though I feel that I am quite stubborn in my ideals. I hide in my shell, my fortress that I have made, for this is where I feel “safe”. There’s no risk of getting hurt, is there? I don’t believe in the “hurting others before they hurt me” philosophy. Rather, I just stay back and avoid it in the first place. My heart is cold…

Now, that is enough misery for one day. 

I’ll be upfront and honest about my true intention of entering education. First of all, I had nowhere to go with my biological science degree. I refuse to do a master’s in a subject where I didn’t really like. Second of all, I have been a tutor/instructor for about a decade, so I thought that education was my natural calling. Well, a couple of my friends urged me not to enter education, since jobs aren’t easy to come by and even if I do get a job, the pay isn’t all that great. I was VERY close in dropping out of education, but my “gut feeling” stopped me from doing so.

The third reason, which I just realized quite recently, why I entered education… is to regain my heart. I may not be learning lots of about designing lesson plans or classroom management, but I’m learning what it is to be human. To REALLY show empathy to others. Just recently, one of my own profs was telling a touching life story of her hardships, and for the first time in a long time… I actually felt pain within myself, like I was able to understand her hardships as well.

Despite the path I choose for my future, I will never forget the lessons I learn in Education and throughout my late teen years. Of course, I’m not a brand new person, but little by little, I’m starting to feel more and more like a human being: One that can accept who I am, and one who can love with his heart. I am not alone in this world. I have people that I can rely on. I don’t have to trust only myself. I'm not the only person who have insecurities.

Now for those of you who are down in the dumps, there’s a saying that I came up with last year when I was feeling down: “Despite all the pain and despair that life brings, life is beautiful. Cherish the good, acknowledge the bad and live for tomorrow”. Things may be tough at the moment, but that’s life. You just have to keep trucking through to the very end. The past is the past. Let it help shape who you are and learn to live with the regrets. 

Sigh....

Didn't get as much work as I hoped for...

I started off my day with a visit to the dentist to get my teeth cleaned. After an hour, I was told that my teeth were in pretty good shape, but I need to brush near my gums more since they were a bit red.

I went home afterwards and got started on my essay... but after a while I got tired from work and played FF... I managed to unlock all the paradox endings though? =)

As for Bro Night today, we went to Royal India for buffet. I believe it was about $19 a person (with tax, no tip), so it was a pretty good deal! The restaurant was nice but there wasn't a lot of people today. The food was pretty good in my opinion. I got full after two plates of food =P,

Here's a picture of my first dish

Oh, and Loki is busy this week, so there's no guest blog post tonight. =(

On the plus side though, I have completed my 100th blog post for tomorrow, so I hope you look forward to that! =)

Time flies...

Time sure fly by quickly! I can't believe that my semester is almost over!

I couldn't really study after volunteering this morning, so I played some FF before I went to school... I managed to max out my characters though. =P But I guess I should have been working on my essay...

At school, I had a decent workout today. I arrived late, so I didn't work out as long as I would like too... but I went to do some work afterwards! I managed to finish reading the ASD section from my textbook, which would be really helpful for my paper! =)

Hmm, 408 was the same as last week... I didn't feel engaged in class today. I guess it's because I was thinking about those papers... that I should have started writing...

But keeping it short and sweet! I hope to have my 100th blog post up on Saturday, so today is the last day you'll hear from me, until Saturday!

For today's picture...

Not my own picture (credit: http://www.myburger.fr/images/chroniques/grande_61_a&w_CA_double_teen_burger_a_01.jpg)

But that was what I had for dinner today. I'm getting sick of MacHall food, and I only eat there once a week!

Inspirational

What an inspirational day today!

First off, I printed off the sheet music to a fan-made piano version of Final Fantasy XII-2's Knight of the Goddess. It's such a beautiful piece. I can't get enough of that ascending motive! It's almost ingenious in its placement.

407 seminar was the same old today... I don't really recall what we were talking about... It was something to do with how we would treat students who have a learning disability or such... but I don't recall why I can't recall!! (Must be the end of term stress... oh you papers you!)

I went to go work out afterwards. During some cardio (on a cross trainer), I was watching Power and Politics on CBC. They were discussing the Rob Ander's controversy, in where he was caught sleeping during caucus meeting (I believe this is what it was), and when some veterans complained about it, he retaliated back with comments. Now I'm not into politics, but it was interesting to see the debate between the a conservative member, a liberal and a new democrat. While I was watching that, I managed to log in around 35 minutes on the cross trainer (when I was planning to do just 15).

Now 406 lecture today... well it was something different. Usually, I would sit in class with no idea of what is going on. However, I managed to understand a good chunk of todays material. Also in class, my professor read out loud her eulogy that she wrote for her mother, who passed away quite recently. I had to say it was really touching. I could tell that the whole class was listening, for it was dead silent. At the end of the eulogy (which involved the importance of teaching), she explained how her early years was quite difficult. Out of her siblings, she is the only one that managed to have, what I see, as a good life. To combat all those difficulties takes a lot of courage and to share that to our class... well I think that takes a lot of courage as well. To share something so deep and personal to a group of us where we don't really interact with her that often... well I was deeply touched.

To end of today's post, I don't really have a picture that I took today, so here's a picture I ripped off from dashhacks.com

 Lightning - Etro's Knight (aka: Knight of the Goddess)

And here's the song:

Guest Blogger: Box in a Cat by Loki

Ah, meant for it to show up on Friday, but it's already Saturday...

Anyways, I decided to have a friend help blog on my page! That person's post will hopefully go up on Friday, since I'm mostly out on Fridays for "Bro Night". My friend would prefer to be called Loki, rather than their original name. I known Loki for about... 8 years now. We met in high school (English class I believe!). Anyways, here is Loki's first post on my blog! It serves as an introduction for whats to come in the next following weeks! 

Box In a Cat

Prodigious philosophers and scientists throughout time have dedicated their lives in hope of a chance to one day peek behind the grand curtain of the majestic universe and witness all its wonders in secret. I am neither a philosopher nor do I have a science degree but similar to those philosophers and scientists I am embarked on the same epic journey to possibly nowhere. If you are like the billions of other who are fascinated by mind boggling philosophical conundrums and enthralling existentialist ideals and hopping to read about my epic odyssey then you are out of luck. Instead, this blog will be dedicated to the small things along the way that I find interesting.

The title of this blog is inspired by Erwin Schrödinger; the man who contemplated on murdering cats in the name of science. For those of you who haven`t tried or heard about this kind of animal abuse, the idea is to lock a cat inside a perfectly sealed box with a poison releasing mechanism. This mechanism that releases the lethal poison is trigger by the decay of a radioactive substance. Longs story short, based on quantum mechanics, the decay of this radioactive substance is completely random. This means that since nothing gets in or out of the box (Sound, Light, Air etc.), there is no way to indicate whether the cat is dead or alive a second later or a week later. This paradox is used to illustrate the idea that because there is no observer observing the cat in the box, the cat exists in a superposition of states where it can be considered both dead and alive or sort of dead and half alive. Although it might be awfully frustrating to not be able to tell for sure whether the cat is dead or alive inside this box, it is certainly comforting to know with high degree of certainty that in reality (based on common sense) the cat will be dead in under five minutes.

This experiment is inspired by the discussion from the famous EPR article. It tries to bring ideas derived from quantum experiments to the bigger world. The experiment inspired many new ideas such as theory of multiverse and brought mankind one step closer to nowhere. In honor of Schrödinger`s cat and the pursuit of the imagery ultimate truth of the universe I name this blog within a blog the Box In a Cat. I hope that together, we can use this blog to bring to light and discuss many obscure and interesting things in life.

Q: If a box is placed inside of a cat and no one looks at it, is it dead or alive? 

(I do not know why the picture is so small...)

EDIT: Am I on PT here?... It still says it's Friday!