Viva Forever

iNET has its first hostee again! Go visit Anne! She’s got a very pretty layout up AND she’s doing a course on culinary arts! Here’s hoping that she’ll post up some recipes or tips. :P

I realise late that I no longer am as enamoured with long, “pretty” and/or obscure words as I once was years ago. I remember I used to be drawn to not so much using, but more so enchanted with lengthy words. Words like “eternity”, “luminescence”, “symphony” etc etc. Heck, I’ve written prose that have too many of “pretty words” and immortalised.net itself harkens to that idea. But nowadays… they are less impressive. Rather, I’m finding smaller, simpler, everyday words to be quite enchanting unto themselves. For example, nowadays I’d find myself much more endeared to the word “bubble” than, say, “effervescence” though it might’ve been different a few years back.

I have nothing against using sophisticated language but I think maybe nowadays I’m more critical of context? Sometimes big words are just out of place. I find it a little laughable when some blog entries I stumble across (for example) whose author writes with needlessly big words (and many of them) to describe rather mundane and ordinary situations. I think it’s very possible to tell when someone has to use a more sophisticated jargon because nothing else would fit what they are trying to say and when someone is telling something with big words picked out of a thesaurus. For example (completely made up), it’s the difference between:

“I went shopping today and I found a totally swanky top!”

and,

“I traversed to my local shopping complex this morn whereby I located a splendiferous shirt!”

Okay, so it’s a bit of a straw man, but hopefully my point comes across. At least the point I was trying to make is swanky > splendiferous (at least in this context).

I understand that blog entries are grounds to rummage through ideas and explore thoughts and I completely empathise with writing in a pseudo-stream-of-consciousness way where the point might take a little while to get to. However, I find it completely unnecessary (and definitely not impressive) when a person use big words that don’t quite fit what they’re saying, just so they might seem sophisticated. Maybe it would’ve impressed 16 year old Belinda, but not this one.

Having said all that, big words can be used hilariously. For example, the famous Monty Python Cheese Shop Sketch where verbosity is given a substantial nudge in the ribs. An exercept:

“…And I thought to myself, ‘a little fermented curd will do the trick’. So I curtailed my Walpoling activites, sallied forth, and infiltrated your place of purveyance to negotiate the vending of some cheesy comestibles.”

<3 Monty Python.

Oh, and many thumbs up for clever neologisms, which brings to mind the hilarious ones that Steven Colbert has made up over the years. Superstantial!

Still no games yet but WOOT! I received my Japanese book “かぎ針編みパターンブック300″ (or “CROCHET PATTERNS BOOK 300″)! Before anything else, here are pictures (all clickable for bigger versions of the image).

Squeee!! OMG where to start! I bought it from Yes-Asia. I was incredibly nervous about buying it online even though the price was so affordable (for a Japanese book) PLUS free shipping (AU$35!!). I thought there had to be a catch! I went to Kinokuniya to make sure that I couldn’t get it there instead but the price listed was AU$47. On a whim, I thought what the heck and bought it. With a coupon I ended up ordering the book for an awesome price (US$25, AU$32). Many common and mediocre English crochet books (not like there’s that many anyway) costs more than that and this one is shipped from Japan.

The order was made on the 1st February and shipped on the 15th and I received it today so the time it took was reasonable (given the the headquarters were apparently in Hong Kong and that the book wasn’t readily on hand). I was flabbergasted that for FREE economy shipping, the extent to which they wrapped the book was so thorough. It was in a huge, sturdy, grey bag, with a layer of bubble wrap encasing over two rigid cardboard pieces that was on the front and back of the book and the book itself came in a lovely plastic wrap. The book was in PRISTINE condition (see first picture)! One of the best purchases I’ve made!

And onwards to the book! I still haven’t had a detailed look at it yet as I had gone out after opening the package, but the lack of Japanese and abundance of diagrams and pictures is really relieving. This is a book about patterns and that’s all there is, pure and simple. There are no boring repeats from a flick I’ve had; the patterns range widely from the very lacy (see 4th picture) to the more sturdy but unusual (see 5th). All the photos come with what seems to be internationally recognised crochet diagrams and I’m sure with a bit of studying, I could get to knowing how to read it properly. Fortunately there are quick mini-diagram tutorials at the end of the book describe what each type of diagram represent which kind of stitching. COOL BEANS! All pages are glossy so do excuse the glaring circles in the photos. I’m can’t wait to start creating something from the diagrams!!

So yup, I’m really happy with my purchase. I don’t usually buy many things, but this seems to be a solid investment. :D

I confess I’ve always been fascinated by mythological stories to do with pantheons of Gods, all with unique personalities. I very much like Greek mythology for that reason, and I really like learning about Chinese mythology.

I think the best part of it is how, while obviously having elements of the fantastical and divine, these Gods have very person-like and Earthly social qualities. There is a social hierarchy in the heavens and the Gods and Goddesses get into lots of different adventures. Some of the idiosyncrasies and stories are down-right delightful. For example:

• “… the JADE-EMPEROR is a master of winning without really doing anything. He knows all aspects of The Way (DAO) and its Principle of Least Action (Wu Wei), making Heaven’s regime the ultimate example of a do-nothing policy. He can become almost flustered if anything actually happens.” [Link]
• “Lei Kung has the head of a bird, wings, claws and blue skin, and his chariot is drawn by six boys.” [Link] Child labour is a-okay in heaven! :P
• The story of Shou-Xing, who became immortal from offering his lunch to two strangers who turned out to be Gods. They were so impressed by the lunch that they gave him ever lasting life. [link]

I think it really speaks of the practicalities of the Chinese society historically when no creation myth was even bothered to be made until about 350BC whereas there are at least three Gods of Wealth. <3 I have a book on Chinese myths, I should give that a good re-read.

My family bought a digital camera a few days ago (hooray post-Christmas sales!) and I’ve basically yoinked it and have been playing with it since. Today I’ve been cleaning out my bookcase because I have too many books and the previous arrangement (in alphabetical order according to author’s names) simply didn’t work out anymore. Being the absolutely nerd that I am, I thought I’d give you guys a glimpse of what I have hoarded over the years. This is my bookcase:

My room, though relatively big, doesn’t have much in it. My bookcase is the grandest thing I have in my room and reaches almost the ceiling and is made from solid wood (my uncle found it somewhere and hauled it to my house). Besides my computer, the only precious things I have in my room are my books. Here’s a rather rambly guide to my dear bookcase (and books!).

Read the rest of this entry »

I finally suspended my account at Despair.nu. I was sick of getting half-arsed comments and sick of giving it too. It was a good lesson to learn though, to be reminded that while an elevated comments count may momentarily boost self-esteem, it’s really ashes in one’s mouth when you realise the majority of comments are done via obligation rather than genuine interest. Incredibly intuitive you might think, but I needed the process hammered into me.

In other news, an article on me and an article for you. Furthermore, I pine to write more freely, more personally yet I cannot do so when I feel uncomfortable having it displayed to people whom I don’t want reading it. So as a reminder registration is open. Please identify yourself, preferably with a URL to your site/blog. You will only have access to private entries once I know who you are.

Edit: Comments are now threaded for easier replies thanks to the updated version of this script.

I’ve been busying myself lately, in terms of online activity, with this thread. I disliked how it eventually became so convoluted, but it’s just so frustrating that the user “Angel” keeps arguing and justifying her incredibly thinly veiled prejudices and racist opinions, and conveying the air of snobbery. I can’t bear to read the whole thing through again, though I feel I could have probably more concisely worded everything in hindsight. It’s just incredulous that people of our generation, someone presumably intelligent, can harbour such narrow and bigoted opinions. But maybe it’s just parental brainwashing? I know my parents are at least somewhat racist, and if I was more obedient, perhaps I would be sharing the same views as them?

Edit: Holy shit, she started a new thread. *head-desk*

I’ve been reading excerpts (from a book that I don’t own basically ^^;) of The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. It’s absolutely fascinating read. While ultimately, my (waning) gut feeling says that his incredibly driven argument that religion has no place might still be either too premature or too extreme, it is nonetheless very convincing and a delight to read. As an essayist had said, Dawkins is not at scientist who merely explains and offers answers, but he actually puts forth scientific arguments. Very intriguing indeed.