Saturday, October 22, 2005

[sing!] You....and me....and opportunity....

It's strange how stuff happens. Sometimes you think, "what was the point of that?" And then afterwards you'll see that it really was pointful.
Case in point, although not a good one. 2 people - Zoe and Hannah's sister - came into my room just then and asked if I wanted to go to Richmond and act as a zombie in a film. You know, been dead in an attic for a while, back to life, not happy, moaning, arms, garbage bags. Now normally I would jump at a random event like this (these opportunities often lead to even bigger, better and more amazing things). But tonight I'm a little scared of failing a subject called Impressionism to Postmodernism which had an essay due last Monday. Naturally, I haven't finished it. So they left my room to look for other potential zombies, and I thought "that achieved nothing for me."

And then it was that I realised something amazing. I'm big on this karma thing, where items enter and items leave your life. If something leaves your life, something different will arrive to take its place. It's not really superstition (maybe) because it just means getting rid of the trash, which is useful advice for most of us. ;)

So my food stash is a good example of this. It never seems to diminish, because when one food item is all eaten, something else tasty has arrived in the meantime. I was thinking before that there's nothing in there which I really want to eat. Then I realised that Zoe and Hannah visiting had a point. It had taken me one step closer to finishing one of my food items, and therefore getting another one, because I gave Zoe a piece of chocolate while she was here. (That may not be the only outcome, but it is one.)

At this stage I imagine you're thinking "what a useless story!" Or maybe "why not just eat the chocolate up or throw it out, if you want something else?" Well, I'm not a huge chocolate eater and I'd obviously prefer someone else enjoyed it. It's brilliant chocolate.


On another note, I've been thinking a fair bit recently about the existence between good and bad, light and dark, yin and yang, whatever you want to call it. Do these polarities exist? Or is the world like Voldemort says it is?
"There is no good and evil, there is only power...and those too weak to seek it."
I appreciate there is a mix of good and bad in everyone. Does this mean that there can never be an extreme 'good' or an extreme 'evil', because everyone is a mix of both? That would mean there was no such thing as either extreme, surely, because if you can't have pure good or pure evil they don't exist. They'd be always mixed in. (I'll think more about that one.) That would mean there were (was/is) no God and no Satan, because they are personifications of both extremes, and if the extremes don't exist, neither can they.
On the other hand - proof of the existence of these opposites comes in our generation, ie. our time. Recently bad rather than good has been a standout feature of our personalities and our actions. You don't have to look far to see what I mean here. If you're reading this, you're a part of what's happening. It's your fault. It's your dad's fault. It's our ancestors' fault, right back through time. It's history's fault. Maybe it's god's fault. What am I talking about? Morals. What's right. What should happen, and what we feel is right, as opposed to what we know/feel is wrong. There must be good and bad, because otherwise how do we describe things as 'feeling nice' and 'feeling bad', to give two examples?
"That feels great."
"Thanks, but you look terrible!"
"My friend gave me this jacket. Wasn't that nice of her?"
"Oh, that's awful!"

At the risk of taking this right back to basics, we feel 'good' when someone compliments us. We feel 'bad' when.... I don't know. This is where it starts to get hazy. I could say "when someone insults us", but often these days we insult each other without meaning it. There are other examples. Are these 'feelings' just random neurons firing in our brain? Can we really judge what is right and what is wrong from ... dare I say it... instinct? Do our natural instincts 'prove' the existence of good and bad, or are they not natural instincts after all, just history and religion forcing their values onto us?

Even night and day may once have been looked on as examples of polar opposites. These days we can look at the situation scientifically and say that it's just the result of the earth turning, resulting in an equal distribution of light and darkness over time. No big supernatural happening there. Still, night has typically been the time for 'dark deeds'.... when the absence of light allows one to conceal things more easily.

Technology in general has aided us in reaching this point, although it is by no means technology's fault. [Free and total exchange of information is what we are coming to.] For example, the more killings you see via the internet, films, documentaries, the more you will be desensitised to killing, possibly leading you to believe that it is just something unavoidable, the inevitable, manifesting itself everywhere; thereby leading you away from a 'good' or 'bad' judgement of killing in general. On the other hand, if someone you know dies and it has a huge impact on you, you may instead see death as a bad thing and nothing technology says will convince you otherwise. Every death you see on film will still make you cringe as you remember (subconsciously) your loved one and the effect their death had on you.


All I know is, I better post this now before I decide I don't like it and delete everything.


And if you seriously don't think there is more evil than good in society today (if evil exists, that is) take a look around. If I ever have to bring up children, I dread the world they will grow up in. I am not talking about politics. Political situations may work themselves out, given time. I am talking about the actions of my peers.
And I am such a loser, getting all worked up about this crap, but I am a human. That really explains most things.

Friday, October 14, 2005

improvised foolery/clutching at straws

Ah, the things I could write about my life so far. Well, starting at last night, I didn't get any sleep, because my sleep glands ran up against an unexpected obstacle. My brain/body functions combined to discover that my nose was horribly blocked, and had a dialogue between each other that ran something like this:

Sleep Gland: I want sleep.

Brain: We're supposed to be asleep. Gawain got to bed relatively early, let's make the most of it!

Body: Uh, slight problem guys.

Brain: What is it? Where? Who?

Sleep Gland: I want sleep.

Brain: Which? Why? Meaning of life?

Body: Um, the, uh, breathing passage is blocked.

Brain: Oh, that's right, we have a cold. So?

Body: So if we sleep, we'll, uh, suffocate to death, like. Can't breath through nose. Can't breathe through mouth or it'll dry out.

Brain: Yes yes, good point. Oh, I see. Very good point.

Body: So no sleep tonight?

Brain: I guess so. Damn. Get onto that virus!

Sleep Gland: I want sleep.

Body: Will do. Should be gone in a week or so.

Brain: This is annoying. I was looking forward to another freaky dream like last night.



Something like that. I didn't get the whole conversation.
As for the rest of my life, I can't be stuffed. Next time if you're lucky perhaps.