Air conditioning is a temporary solution to a permanent problem. Someday when we're 80 and the world is collapsing around us, when we can only go outside in a hazmat suit, is that when we realize what we've done?
It is no longer possible to walk from one place to another without complaining about the heat, and I too am a victim of this mindset. A good solution was to build a walkway from Pavilion to KLCC. The bad idea was fully air-conditioning it. I know, I tend to complain in college about the heat and how I wish everything was air-conditioned everywhere, but logically speaking, it's ridiculous. Air-conditioning is like a giant bubble, and someday that bubble will pop and nothing will be there to cushion your fall. A good question is who is paying for the electricity bill. A better question is who will pay for all the cfc gas and shit you're releasing into the air.
It's not just what we're doing, but what the previous generations have already done, and what we're teaching our future generations. (I can officially say this now, because I have 2 nephews and a niece! The future generation!)
They're born into this world into an air-conditioned room, and spend their lives running about in rooms with white walls and marble floors. When they get slightly older, they spend their time doing homework in cold rooms, staring at white walls. To procrastinate, they sit at the same table, but pick up a PS3 controller. The idea of heat is as foreign to them as sitting on grass.
Shouldn't they be able to run around in a playground without fear of the heat? Some kids these days can't bear the idea of having no air-cond, much less the idea of actually being outside in a playground digging for worms. Trust me on this, it's fun. Playing masak-masak with rocks and leaves, digging for worms, then running and screaming when you actually find one. Running around primary school, falling down, getting bruises(that last until you're 18). These are memories that stick with you all the way until you turn into a young adult, which is what I believe they call people my age now.
Where have those days gone? Were we really the last generation to have these things? When air-conditioning was a luxury, not a necessity? Why do we only seem to enjoy nature when it's our wallpaper, or when we're looking at from the inside of a glass wall? Things used to be the other way around, when the kids were the ones outside looking in, not inside looking out.
I never used to understand why my father couldn't stand my music, especially back when I was younger. The man can't even take Jason Mraz. Recently I was downloading some Santana, when I remembered his entire stash of CDs, so I pulled up a chair next to the CD rack and went through it. I came out with Led Zeppelin and acid jazz. (Didn't really fancy Zeppelin though.)
Every generation thinks itself better than the next generation, and I can safely say it's true. My dad hated my music, the same way we hate this generation's music. I guess somewhere along the way, we grew up, maybe a little too soon.
The same way I'm talking about the new generation not spending enough time outside, is the way my mother used to tell me how when she was a kid all they had were sticks and stones. Perhaps this is just evolution, and every generation has to change. I just don't think it's right that we exploit nature the way we do. Isn't there a better way for us to evolve? Technology is good, yes, I strongly believe in that, but if it's making us evolve in ways that aren't good for ourselves (Like big fat obese pigs with everything at our fingertips, literally) we need to stop. You know what they call bad evolution? MUTATION. We're mutating into big fat pigs.
The only way to stop this mutation is to change our habits. It is in our very DNA to resist change, but when we succumb to it, daaaamn guuurl, we succumb; and this is a fact that is slowly leading us to our big fat deaths (in Hazmat suits). Why can't change happen the other way around? Change must happen, and the only way we know how is by force. Since I'm behind my keyboard, and you're behind your screen, I can't possibly force you to switch off your air conditioning, start exercising, and plant a tree now can I?
So we should all try asking nicely. Can we just.. Try to use a little less of everything, and try appreciating everything a little more?
Find out for yourself, whether or not you're truly trying.
Happy Valentine's Day folks, love your environment :) Al Gore would be proud!
In light of recent events, the realization that it is nearly impossible to score 4As for the AS Level exam has finally hit. Achieving As are no joke, especially if one is at best a B-grade student who enjoys watching series' and scratching bee stings(it really, really itches. Note to self; Avoid bees.).
A good example to present here would be the fact that despite a student studying like a person who is not sound of mind, that student is still capable of brain-hiccups. Take, for example, a simple pure maths exam. Despite having done all of his or her tutorials, there is always room for error, and this is especially true for the simplest of questions. Suddenly, something which used to instinctively come to mind has vanished.
Or, one may get two simple terms confused in an Economics exam, resulting in a Level 1 classification. (Hint: Level 1 is not a good number to be at.) Two such, such simple terms..
Nevertheless, a student's job is to relentlessly persevere, against all odds, to try and laugh in the face of failure. At the risk of sounding cliched, every student must live the words of a wise man who once invented the light bulb(Let's save you the google trip: It was Thomas Edison), "I have not failed 10000 ways, but I have found 9999 ways to not succeed." (Although let's face it, the definition of failure is to not succeed, but I assure you I'm not here to dishearten you..... Just myself.)
So this shall be left here with no proper ending, for a student must diligently perform his or her duty to study for upcoming exams, while tossing previous papers in the air and laughing it off (despite a possible failure).
This tweet now belongs to the society, left here with the hope that it clears up the strange air surrounding this post. God bless.
A good example to present here would be the fact that despite a student studying like a person who is not sound of mind, that student is still capable of brain-hiccups. Take, for example, a simple pure maths exam. Despite having done all of his or her tutorials, there is always room for error, and this is especially true for the simplest of questions. Suddenly, something which used to instinctively come to mind has vanished.
Or, one may get two simple terms confused in an Economics exam, resulting in a Level 1 classification. (Hint: Level 1 is not a good number to be at.) Two such, such simple terms..
Nevertheless, a student's job is to relentlessly persevere, against all odds, to try and laugh in the face of failure. At the risk of sounding cliched, every student must live the words of a wise man who once invented the light bulb(Let's save you the google trip: It was Thomas Edison), "I have not failed 10000 ways, but I have found 9999 ways to not succeed." (Although let's face it, the definition of failure is to not succeed, but I assure you I'm not here to dishearten you..... Just myself.)
So this shall be left here with no proper ending, for a student must diligently perform his or her duty to study for upcoming exams, while tossing previous papers in the air and laughing it off (despite a possible failure).
This tweet now belongs to the society, left here with the hope that it clears up the strange air surrounding this post. God bless.
When I was younger, I used to play dress-up with my barbies. As I grew up, I toyed with the Sims. Eventually, we're going to reach an age where we toy with our* own children's lives.
*Results not guaranteed, as my state of mind is constantly changing.
However right now, right at this very moment, I can barely even decide my own future, much less the future children I may or may not have. I see people walking by in suits going to work every week day, 9-5, doing the same job (possibly) in a cubicle. I try to imagine myself as one of them, and I can see myself there one day, but that idea repulses me the next day. Then somehow, the idea pops right back in the following week when I walk by the LRT, filled with people heading to work.
The time for people to ask me, "So, what are you doing with your life?" has long passed. It's been a year since then, and I'm still not sure what I want to do. It will probably involve maths and computers, but I really cannot go into any specifics at all, and it makes me question my motive in life.
What am I doing with my life? Even worse, is that the life I want to lead? How did these people get where they did? We grow up listening to success stories, of a cousin who got a scholarship, of a friend of a friend who got "that dream job" and is now living the life with 5 BMWs and a Maserati, but every single week day, I see the many who did not.
Are these people happy? What determines your happiness? Am I happy? Will I be?
Once upon a time, writing here gave me a sense of security, it made me feel like I knew what I was doing in life, it helped me figure out some answers. Lately, all writing is doing to me is making me question everything, from the decisions I've made, to the ones I'm about to make.
Reading posts from pre-SPM and post-SPM are completely different.. I used to be this person who was so sure of what to do in life, even if it might not be the right one, because I had assumed it was all already set in stone. I have lost every bloody inch of that confidence, and I'm left here in college, questioning myself, my decisions, and my future. These last few months have made me realize that nothing is set in stone, not your present, much less your future. Despite that realization, if you knew everything was written in sand, given the chance to, would you change it?
*Results not guaranteed, as my state of mind is constantly changing.
However right now, right at this very moment, I can barely even decide my own future, much less the future children I may or may not have. I see people walking by in suits going to work every week day, 9-5, doing the same job (possibly) in a cubicle. I try to imagine myself as one of them, and I can see myself there one day, but that idea repulses me the next day. Then somehow, the idea pops right back in the following week when I walk by the LRT, filled with people heading to work.
The time for people to ask me, "So, what are you doing with your life?" has long passed. It's been a year since then, and I'm still not sure what I want to do. It will probably involve maths and computers, but I really cannot go into any specifics at all, and it makes me question my motive in life.
What am I doing with my life? Even worse, is that the life I want to lead? How did these people get where they did? We grow up listening to success stories, of a cousin who got a scholarship, of a friend of a friend who got "that dream job" and is now living the life with 5 BMWs and a Maserati, but every single week day, I see the many who did not.
Are these people happy? What determines your happiness? Am I happy? Will I be?
Once upon a time, writing here gave me a sense of security, it made me feel like I knew what I was doing in life, it helped me figure out some answers. Lately, all writing is doing to me is making me question everything, from the decisions I've made, to the ones I'm about to make.
Reading posts from pre-SPM and post-SPM are completely different.. I used to be this person who was so sure of what to do in life, even if it might not be the right one, because I had assumed it was all already set in stone. I have lost every bloody inch of that confidence, and I'm left here in college, questioning myself, my decisions, and my future. These last few months have made me realize that nothing is set in stone, not your present, much less your future. Despite that realization, if you knew everything was written in sand, given the chance to, would you change it?
I've been thinking about suicide a lot lately. Not suicide for myself, but suicide. Not for others, cause that would be murder, but suicide in general.
First off, suicide hotlines: How do they work? Are they free? What if I decide to call, and I get some person all jacked up on religion and they decide to go the religious approach?
If calls weren't free, and I spent an hour talking to them, (let us assume that they are generally quite efficient, and manage to successfully talk me down from the ledge) then one month later I receive a Maxis bill, only to realize that I should've killed myself in the first place. What if I decide to act as though I'm a religious person, pretend to go along with at all, and then at the very last minute, I tell them that I was lying, I'm an atheist, and I'm going to go kill myself anyway. Would they trace the call? Would they care? Would they feel guilty?
Then how would you do it? Lately I catch myself looking a little longer down the road as I cross the streets, as if it were the barrel of a gun. I suppose in concept, they're the same. Both are messy, and carry a risk of living. If you're going to commit suicide, you damn well better get the job well done. It's the same with jumping off say, a 6th floor building. It's so messy, not to mention if you survive, you'll just want to kill yourself again. During GP the other day, we were discussing how Hitler always had with him a cyanide pill (aka a K-Pill, seriously, google it) and it struck me, how that might be the best way to go. It kills your brain, stops your heartbeat. Painless, and it wouldn't draw any attention.
And the responsibilities.. Forget the mourners, they'll get over it eventually. The living have other problems. So why make it harder for them? For example, let's say you're a class representative, and right now you have to settle their payments, as well as yours. If I were to kill myself tonight, then who will do it all? What if I had collected all the money, then killed myself? Would my family settle things? Of course not! The reasonable thing to do would probably be to settle everything, and then do the deed.
Let us pretend for a moment I did kill myself, after I paid for all my college fees and my AS exam fees(exam fees are a killer, excuse the pun). The college probably wouldn't refund my family the few thousand I just paid. I suppose even for the soon-to-be dead, timing is an issue. It has to be just after you settle everything, but before you commit to anything.
What if I decide I don't want a funeral?
What if I said this was all happening right now, and I'm about to do it? Will the "cyberpolice" come back and trace me? Do they have a google search for suicide refreshing all the time?
What if this was my suicide letter, just that nobody knew?
...Naaaah, just joking. The world is beautiful and my 365 is going well! Just sometimes I look at people, and I wonder, what are they thinking, and would they have the capability to kill themselves if they had to?
First off, suicide hotlines: How do they work? Are they free? What if I decide to call, and I get some person all jacked up on religion and they decide to go the religious approach?
If calls weren't free, and I spent an hour talking to them, (let us assume that they are generally quite efficient, and manage to successfully talk me down from the ledge) then one month later I receive a Maxis bill, only to realize that I should've killed myself in the first place. What if I decide to act as though I'm a religious person, pretend to go along with at all, and then at the very last minute, I tell them that I was lying, I'm an atheist, and I'm going to go kill myself anyway. Would they trace the call? Would they care? Would they feel guilty?
Then how would you do it? Lately I catch myself looking a little longer down the road as I cross the streets, as if it were the barrel of a gun. I suppose in concept, they're the same. Both are messy, and carry a risk of living. If you're going to commit suicide, you damn well better get the job well done. It's the same with jumping off say, a 6th floor building. It's so messy, not to mention if you survive, you'll just want to kill yourself again. During GP the other day, we were discussing how Hitler always had with him a cyanide pill (aka a K-Pill, seriously, google it) and it struck me, how that might be the best way to go. It kills your brain, stops your heartbeat. Painless, and it wouldn't draw any attention.
And the responsibilities.. Forget the mourners, they'll get over it eventually. The living have other problems. So why make it harder for them? For example, let's say you're a class representative, and right now you have to settle their payments, as well as yours. If I were to kill myself tonight, then who will do it all? What if I had collected all the money, then killed myself? Would my family settle things? Of course not! The reasonable thing to do would probably be to settle everything, and then do the deed.
Let us pretend for a moment I did kill myself, after I paid for all my college fees and my AS exam fees(exam fees are a killer, excuse the pun). The college probably wouldn't refund my family the few thousand I just paid. I suppose even for the soon-to-be dead, timing is an issue. It has to be just after you settle everything, but before you commit to anything.
What if I decide I don't want a funeral?
What if I said this was all happening right now, and I'm about to do it? Will the "cyberpolice" come back and trace me? Do they have a google search for suicide refreshing all the time?
What if this was my suicide letter, just that nobody knew?
...Naaaah, just joking. The world is beautiful and my 365 is going well! Just sometimes I look at people, and I wonder, what are they thinking, and would they have the capability to kill themselves if they had to?
Staying with my mum is going to give me a bloody heart attack. There comes a time when the chill parent just becomes an irresponsible one.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
