Casanova

I can't get over how hillarious this article is.
Look at how sad this adorable guinea pig is!!!!!

Ants and the Grasshopper

Who doesn't know this story?
Ants work hard during summer while grassshopper does nothing but sit around and play music. And when winter comes along, the grasshopper, starving of hunger, seek help from the ants, only to be rebuked and ends up dying of starvation.

We grew up listening to this story being told and retold to drill into our heads how important hard work was.

So anyway, I was talking to a friend of mine from Brazil.
And for some reason ( don't ask me how we got there) this story came up. And further along into the discussion, we discovered that our stories' endings didn't quite match up. Apparently, this story has different endings in different cultures!

So according to him, his story ends with the ants inviting the grasshopper in to their homes to play his music and bring joy and music to their lives. And also as a thank you to the grasshopper for providing music during their hard working summer.

I had such a laugh over that. And we wondered if this was a cultural thing.
For Asians, its always, 'Work hard and work hard and work hard or you'll die like that grasshopper!'
And for this other culture, its more like, 'You gotta have fun too. Working hard isn't everything.'
Hell, I can almost imagine the grasshopper as this weed-smoking, Bob Marley lookalike, laidback guy saying 'Chill, duuuuude.'

Amazing, the things you learn everyday :D

Quickie

So, without realizing it, I'm at week 4 of uni again now.
Damn I miss those long, boring days of summer holidays.
Now its placement placement, classes classes and work work. Seriously. And the lecturers at uni doesn't seem to understand that their students have lives too. All my assignments due date overlaps and clashes. There's always something due and its driving me crazy because I hate procrastinating my procrastination. ( Ironic isn't it. :D)

So just to have a change of scenery, I decided to switch rooms. Moving from the first floor to the third floor. Not far, really, but its a change anyway. MY view's better, room temperature's better, and my room's bigger too.
Boy, you won't believe the amount of crap I've accumulated over the years. Took me almost 6 bloody hours to finish packing and unpacking and putting everything back to its proper place! Its worse than work, all this packing and unpacking gave me a sore back.
And now all my smart-arse friends are saying 'Well, we'll see how long the tidiness in your room lasts.', 'we should take a before and after picture to compare'.
I guess my reputation as a messy ( I stress, messy not dirty!) person preceeds me. But who knows, I might actually prove them wrong this time!

Colorblind

And it's not just a game
You can't throw me away
I put all I had on the line
And I give and you take
And I played the high stakes
I've won and I've lost
But, I'm fine

Hear me say I'll rise up 'til the end
Hear me say I'll stand up for my friends
And I crash to the ground
And it's just my own sound
I drop in the blink of an eye
I'm colorblind

And your milky way fight
Won't stop my delight
You keep me and lock me away
And it's dark and it's bright
It's your colorful pride that kept me here 9000 days

Hear me say I'll see the sky again
Hear me say I'll drive for you my friend
There's a noise in the crowd
But it's just my own shout
A stumble I fall and I pray

Hear you say your eyes see green again
In the end we'll lived up holding hands
Yes, we'll spark in the night
We'll be colorblind
And these are the lives we gave

Hear me say I'll rise up 'til the end
Hear me say that I'll stand beside my friends
I won't stay on the floor
I will settle the score
A stumble I fall and I pray

Hear me say it's time we stop talking
Eye to eye we see a different face
Yes we we've conquered the war
With love at the core
A stumble I fall, but I'll stay
Colorblind.

This is the lyrics to the song 'Colorblind' by the South African group Overtone. It was featured in the soundtrack for Invictus ( you know I'm a sucker for good soundtracks :D) and I think its a beautiful song, because of the music and also the underlying themes it represent.

I think it portrays Mandela's imprisonment ( You keep me and lock me away) and the racial issues that South Africa dealt with ( Its your colorful pride that kept me here 9000 days) and Mandela's willingness to forgive and forget and look past all that had been done to him to move forward into greatness (Hear me say I'll rise up till the end, hear me say it's time we stopped talking, eye to eye we see a different face, yes we've conquered the war, with love at the core, a stumble I fall, but i'll stay)

Such an awesome song, that makes me wonder if the world would be a much, much better place if we were all colorblind?

E.T

It's been awhile since I've talked about a movie I've watched.
Don't worry, its not that I've stopped watching them, its just that I've been too busy to write about it.
But this is E.T we're talking about here. Steven Spielberg classic, right up there on the list of movies you have to watch before you die. Right up there with Gone with the wind, to kill a mockingbird (which I haven't watched yet).
So I've finally seen the movie. And boy, what a doozy it is.
Now I understand all the hype about the movie.
It is BRILLIANT!!!!!
The classic quotes:
'E.T phone home."
"I love you, E.T"

The classic scene, where Elliot and E.T cycles over the moon ( breathtaking) and where E.T is leaving and puts his finger over his heart and says 'Ouch' to show how sad he is. Simply classic!!!!

I swear by the time the closing credits rolled, I was a weeping mess. I never knew an alien movie could ever make me cry like there was no tomorrow.

But oh boy, if you haven't seen this movie, 2 words: WATCH IT!!!

Utopia

Utopia is defined by wikipedia as a name for an ideal community or society.
I supposed I could say its a nice name for my perfect world.
I actually had a dream about this Utopia of mine the other night.
I dreamt that I was living in the perfect place. One that had four seasons, but none of them too extreme. My family was close by, and so were all my friends. I had everyone important in my life living close enough so I could see them whenever, and wherever. I was rich, studying whatever I wanted in uni. I was beautiful, tall and slim and glamorous. I had my dream guy beside me, I had everything I ever wanted in life. But then somewhere along the dream ( probably when I was waking up) this sneaky thought of doubt crawled into my dream head.
I remember wondering in my dream, if this was all some sort of a trick. If this was all in my imagination. Because this was all too good to be true.
And then I woke up.
Amazing how as a kid you could believe that life would be whatever you wanted it to be. Exactly like in the movies. All you needed to do was believe. Its a testament to what life and age and time does to people as they grow up, when they finally get to a point where they realised just how much life has a mind of its own, and that sometimes, no matter how hard we try, we can't expect life to turn out exactly the way we wanted it to.
But you know what?
I'd take reality, and life any day over a perfect dream.
Disappointments, tears, worries, stress, anger. These are what defines life. They're just as important as love, happiness, faith, hope, patience. Cause without these negative emotions, how do we compare them to the positive ones, and find out just how important the positive emotions are to us?
So yeah. I choose life. Life with all its difficulties and surprises, all its ups and downs, all its twists and turns. Because I don't think Utopia exists. It can't when nothing in this world is perfect. And thats the beauty of it, when you start to see the perfectness in all this imperfectness.
My conclusion?
Utopia's just a dream. And nothing more.