Since the beginning of my university adventure many young people around me including those I haven’t met before call me a “master slayer”. However I wasn’t popular nor interactive with girls or anyone in particular back then. In fact, for most of my journey through high school I carried the same attitude from secondary school where I thought academic success would lead me to generating numerous friendships. I felt awkward, uncomfortable and unwilling to start the conversation with the girl sitting next to me. I was untrained. I didn’t know what a conversation with a girl normally sounded like. It was like I was thrown into the wilderness with no survival training whatsoever. The first girl I met, rather awkwardly, was at a Chinese family warming in year 10. I think her name was Flora. She rarely smiled but we had a few common interests like Pokemon and novels. For 2 years I would text her every day not romantically because I didn’t know any pickup lines, puns and metaphors. My English wasn’t up to standard with grammar errors, elongated sentences, misuse of vocabulary and emotionless remarks. Fortunately she was kind and caring towards me and she taught me a lot about social media and texting. I felt overexcited when I typed my first ever emoji :-) . It was like discovering treasure buried in my front garden. She also taught me a lot of texting gimmicks such as common abbreviations like LOL, LMFAO, ROFL, TY, TMI, BRB and WTF which did assist me greatly when sending a longwinded message to someone. When Flora and I reached year 12, her parents told my parents who told me to limit my interactions with her because they are concerned I am a huge distraction to their daughter which may hinder her performance in VCE. At first I didn’t believe it but both of us understood it was for the best for both of us. I rarely talk to her nowadays but I dream of the day where I catchup with her and see each other's transformation.
There was another event in year 10 that I’d rather forget. My friends wanted me to attend a junior social but my parents didn’t support the idea of me being there which illustrates their tiger parent mindset. All the girls wore somewhat lustful party dresses/clothing, white/ black sneakers or high heels and loads of mascara and eyeliner, whilst the guys had fancy hairstyles, polished fashion sense and an attitude. I, on the other hand, didn’t have the wealth nor the knowledge of party dress codes, hence I wore what I normally wore at home i.e. A sweater knitted by my grandma and saggy pants. By the time I stepped inside the social, the experience was inexplicable and overwhelming. The heavy beats gave me pounding heart attacks, the loud music was unbearably beating down my vulnerable eardrums and no matter how loudly I spoke my words weren’t getting through to my intended person audibly. I thought I was living in a nightmare and I desperately tried to keep my composure. The pitch and tone of my voice kept getting absorbed by the continuous high-amplitude sound waves emanating from the loudspeakers. It wasn’t just loud but it was dark as well. I couldn’t see my own hands with only the flashing coloured studio lights keeping the dance floor temporarily luminescent at various areas spontaneously. I couldn’t hear myself think and analyse the situation I was stepping in. Everyone else around me mindlessly raised their arms and had that hypnotised gaze like the music is controlling their minds. I saw some guys dance in an peculiar way like they had flimsy limbs. I thought you dance only on two feet whilst you wave your hands and shake your waist with the music rhythm. These guys were spinning around with only their hands touching the ground and sometimes they ended up upside down on their heads spinning like a top. At first I didn’t see that as dancing but rather a rapid, odd manoeuvre to show off your flexibility. However, after years of painstaking searching on the net, I found out that manoeuvre I first saw from the social was a particular type of dance called breakdancing or bboying.
Breakdancing is a style of street dance that originated in Puerto Rico and USA primarily African American youths in the 1970s. The first ever breakdance group were called the Black Spades that started in the Bronx then to Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, New Rochelle, New Jersey and Connecticut by the late 1980s. Since then breakdancing has spread to countries like Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, South Korea, Japan, UK, Australia and Vietnam. I noticed most participants of breakdancing are short with skinny legs and exhibit a passive-aggressive attitude. This could explain their flexibility and lower risk to critical musculoskeletal and ligament injuries around their wrist, hip, knee and ankle joints. I always wondered whether the performance of breakdancing actually makes young men attractive to all types of women. I’ll try to answer that question in another post regarding the links between dance and love.
When I first heard that phrase (master slayer) I didn’t know how to react whether to feel offended, flattered or thankful because it was such an innocuous term. Google was not immature enough to know the origins of this term, instead it led me to the legends of dragon slayers and a 20th century American hard punk rock band. I then realised this was a colloquial slang term mostly spoken by youths in Western societies. In the correct context, a ‘slayer' often describes a young male who has the unfounded ability to attract the opposite gender regardless of personality, age, culture, intelligence, attitude and appearance. This term loosely describes females too but the term ‘hoe’ or ’slut’ is more commonly used. All these terms somehow carry some negative connotation like they’re dangerous to the opposite gender and should not be considered to be loveworthy at all. I don’t know if this is entirely true but so far there is not enough evidence to suggest so.
Most of my peers especially guys and their girl friends who label me a “slayer” live in neighbourhoods in the east, southeast, northeast and northwest suburbs of Melbourne. It turns out each suburbia carries a unique youth cultural vibe depending on the high school they attended such as Methodist Ladies College, Balwyn High School, Scotch College, Penleigh Essendon Grammar School, Presbyterian Ladies College, Xavier College, Melbourne Grammar, Camberwell Girls Grammar, Caufield Grammar, Brighton Grammar, Mentone Grammar, MacRobertson Girls, Melbourne High, Ivanhoe Grammar, Kew High, Doncaster and Doncaster East Secondary Colleges. These schools I’ve listed are amongst those with the most populous Asian cohorts in each year level. The guys there seem to be interested in fitness, bodybuilding, preference of Asian girls in neighbouring schools, relationship bandwagons, naughty moments, gang culture and drunken parties. However most girls are interested in food culture, fashion brands and designs, holiday destinations, work opportunities, makeup collections, opportunities to update their Instagram such as movie dates and brunch, selfies, snapchat filters and gossiping about their partners, and their exaggerating reactions and opinions of other girls. It’s intriguing that most guys have a goal to woo the girls with their oily bare chest and six-pack or Rectus Abdominis and gains/guns or Biceps Brachii and Triceps Brachii. I suspect this has a small success rate because it only attracts girls of a particular persona rather than all personas and there’s a short term vision when it comes to the relationship. Depending how fortuitous you are, you have a chance of attracting girls who have a deep understanding of fitness, fashion and nutrition that treasures strength, bravery, an en guarde attitude and confidence even if it involves assaults and possibly murders. Consider your love as a sock. You assume that one method attracts all but over time that sock will begin to lose its string integrity and ultimately develops multiple failures in the form of holes. Then you have to change your method and the cycle repeats. However there are solutions to slow down the degradation of your attractive gestures but you’ll have to hold onto your horses for now. Apparently there is a lot to cover regarding personalities of guys and the type of girls they most likely and least likely attract which will be answered in another post.
Karl Stefanovic discussing lust VS love with Lisa Wilkinson and Georgie Gardner on the Today Show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9HvjBo3yq0
After watching a discussion on the Today Show’s The Grill, Georgie Gardner mentioned that when a male human feels aroused seeing a girl that is beautiful and glamorous to him, it is in fact the feeling of lust not love. Most guys understandably can’t tell the difference between lust and love because the naughty fantasies of sexual interactions with the girl of our dreams is more satisfying and overwhelming than actually considering them as a possible wife. It’s like comparing a one-night stand with a 50 year relationship and marriage. When you are feeling in the mood, your brain releases a neurotransmitter called Dopamine, which initiates that feeling of euphoria. Because this biochemical exhibits similar effects to manmade love drugs, it can become an addiction which makes us repetitively perform actions that release this neurotransmitter at higher concentrations. Dopaminergic subcortical sections of our brain become over-stimulated similar to what a cocaine addict experiences mentally. Another hormone called Oxytocin, known as the “love hormone”, gives us that warm, fuzzy feeling whereas Vasopressin causes that aggressive and territorial behaviour. On the other hand, Serotonin levels in our brain decrease dramatically, which is critical to mood regulation. Therefore there is a tendency to have positive and exhilarating emotions towards our counterpart more strongly. Experts refer to this as “crazy love” and this is where all the poetic devices, exaggerated descriptions and compliments, and pickup lines come out of an aroused man’s mouth. Hence our Norephinephrine levels increase which stimulates that arousing sensation throughout our body especially our brains, taste, smell, touch (around your genitals). When we become overly obsessed with someone’s appearance and seeking validation for our compliments and requests for close-up action, most girls would become gradually annoyed and contemplate finding a different partner rather than satisfy their partner’s and their own physiological needs. This explains why the pain of a breakup is unbearable and unrelenting and our bodies go through a withdrawal phase from our ex-partner which closes us from society temporarily cutting communication with our friends and family. This suggests that love is not only satisfying to your body but it can be scary, dangerous and addicting. The reason why love is addicting hence the number of relationships both men and women experience since beginning their high school adventure is still controversial.
During my youth, I was an ordinary geek who was overweight, enjoyed playing Pokemon and strived for good grades. My parents reinforced academic work over social skills which explains why I felt awkward and uncomfortable in social events. Before my belated 21st birthday party in November 2016, the last party I attended was a female friend’s 10th birthday at a 10 pin bowling arena. I think the birthday girl was Chantelle. You can imagine how lonely and abandoned I was as my friends partied night in night out over the following decade. During my first years of secondary education, I didn’t have the intention of attracting young girls and I was one of the few students who cared about success in education. If my peers dared me to hit on a girl, I would feel shy and awkward with the fear of failing or worse, ruining an opportunity to befriend someone new. Because I was never taught what love is or feels like, I didn’t want to risk myself plunging into the lake of embarrassment drowning myself in indignity and regret as a person, if the outcome didn’t meet my expectations. I remember I shared a few illustrations to some of them, not of the girls I had a crush on which most guys do, but of the creatures that depicts their beauty and elegance like a butterfly in a blooming garden patch of sunflowers. I asked myself what are the safest options to show love and respect for the girls around me? It would take me a number of years to answer such a simple but deceptively complicated question. Unlike most guys, they would let their emotions get the better of them and on most occasions they would be left high and dry with their worst first impressions possible. I didn’t want to be one of those guys who would be known for the wrong reasons in the dating zone making a few enemies and unfriendly faces along the way. Once you leave a bad first impression, the girl you’re trying to a date with will alert her and her girlfriends of your antics and your chances of getting a date, let alone a friendly hello and a bear hug, from that group of girls will be close to zero.
I remember writing a Facebook status about advice escaping the friend zone which my friends still bring up time and time again. I never got a chance to explain my thoughts behind my status because it was more complicated than everyone else thought. If I was an organism besides a human, choosing a mate would be simple because a few mating calls across a pack and at least one or two potential partners will respond by volunteering to my breeding counterpart. However, as a human being that is not the case. The modern society that you and I live in today complicates things on an epic scale from money, economics, unproven studies about sex and relationships, dating tips from those with limited experience and the language we use to communicate i.e. English. I notice most guys would hunt for girls who have the most connections, the most amount of publicity, apply a considerable amount of makeup and employed in a profitable job. These girls, mostly Asian, can be Instagram famous such as Nancy Chen, Claire Bi (funkynutmeg), Rachel Kee (rachelalala), Gina Darling, Mimi Choi (aeomxox), Chailee Son, Rachel Jordan (skylightcasimir), Jasmine Chan, Nicole Li (nikallae), Lily May Mac, Jenny Lee, Jenn Im, Maggie DeeJay etc. However most thirsty guys don’t take any notice about the girl's friends within their circle which suggests those girls are shy, don’t enjoy the publicity, and prefer to limit their personal connections in society. If you look at the big picture, would you compete against rival male players to get a date with 1 or 2 overrated and highly publicised females? Or would you consider showing your first impressions to the girl’s friends (at least 3 of them depending on the size of the circle of friends she’s part of)? The numbers speak for itself. I'd rather let her friends know my presence and allow my first impressions store in their memory. I assume the friendship bond between the most attractive girl and her friends are quite strong that it's only a matter of time before the girl every guy wants hears about you. Although these girls’ appearance, personality and attitude may not match the criterion of your dream girl, you have a better chance of getting at least a coffee lunch date with them and gain crucial experience socialising and interacting with people young and old of the opposite gender. Love is unpredictable, because on most occasions the girl you didn’t consider wife material in the first place may turn out to be the most responsible, most intelligent and most loveable woman in your lifetime. It’s important to understand that the realities of a long-term romantic relationship are different to our expectations we see in films, movies and youtube videos. Don’t be dismayed if these girls aren’t prepared to progress to the relationship zone, your actions will catch the eyes of a few mutual girls watching from the sidelines who might find your commitment, bravery and effort attractive. Remember the world is just as big as the Pacific Ocean, Earth’s biggest pool of water. They are plenty of fish out there to be hook on, as long as you lay out your most reliable and appetising bait. There is no hurry finding love, patience is key.
Because this is one of my favourite topics, there is so much to discuss that I can't fit it into one humungous post. There will be more commentary ahead on a topic that never fails to catch the interest of every human on Earth.
About every 365.2421891 Gregorian days or 366 days every leap year, you have successfully orbited the Sun once in your lifetime on Earth. During this time, our Moon has orbited our Earth once every 27.3 days which is its sidereal period. Because Earth’s axis is tilted 23.4392811 degrees, every country on Earth experiences the 4 seasons; winter, spring, autumn and summer, hence it allows biosystems to flourish giving birth to millions of species of animals, eukaryotes and prokaryotes. If you want extremely exact figures, does 31,577,600 seconds suffice? Or if you want to know what exactly is one second, it’s exactly the time taken for the electrons to transfer between 2 hyperline levels of a ground state Caesium 133 atom 9,192,631,770 times. I’ll just let those astronomical numbers settle in your head for a moment or two.
While you’re reading this post on your bedside or chair, you are currently at rest, 0 m/s relative to the Earth’s surface because you are spinning with Earth as friction from the ground you are sitting on drags you along as Newton’s 3rd Law explains the presence of an equal and opposite force to the applied force. However if your friend is on the sun watching your movement on Earth, you are spinning counterclockwise at about 1670 km/hr and orbiting your friend at about 108,000 km/hr. Many textbooks will only show you a screenshot of our solar system and you would assume our solar system is relatively stationary in the universe, but I’m afraid to say that it’s not. The sun is moving, we and our neighbouring planets including Uranus and their respective moons are moving with the sun. We are moving with the sun at about 72,000 km/hr roughly towards the constellation of Lyra. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is also moving as the universe is proven to be expanding due to the discovery of red shifts.
Near the conclusion of a year, every news channel, social media giant and end-of-year TV show replays a compilation of events, moments, bloopers, births, deaths, discoveries, feature stories, interviews, uncensored speeches and scenes, and behind-the-scenes intermission moments that you may have forgotten or remembered. What can you remember this year, last year and so on so on?
In fact, the most memorable moments in each passing year are always personal which may involve achievements and goals that you’ve set yourself to accomplish even with your backs to the wall. As a university student those achievements are mostly academic, for instance, successfully passing units that I’ve struggled to surpass during each passing semesters. Moments shown on social media or on air involve events that are heartbreaking also stick in our minds too such as the terrorist plots in Europe and Indonesia, the outcome of the USA presidential election and the negative, overreactive backlash from all capitalist or Western media outlets in USA, Russia and Australia that followed, the subdued outcome of the Australian Federal Election, the Syrian refugee crisis due to the ongoing Syrian War, North Korea’s nuclear tests, natural disasters such as hurricanes/typhoons, tornados, bushfires, floods, tsunamis, earthquakes that affect high-risk areas and the scrutiny and controversy surrounding the Rio Olympics despite it going ahead as per usual.
Every year it’s estimated that each year about 131 million people are born, while 55 million pass away through natural causes, unnatural accidents, weapons, mother nature or excessive force. If this trend continues in the long term for at least the next millennia without any pending nuclear disaster, I don’t know how Earth will house this many homo sapiens along with the millions of animals species. However we are notified of the births of those who are related to popular people like the Royal Family’s Prince George, Hollywood couples like Brangelina (sadly no longer existent), athletes and models like Chris & Rebecca Judd, social media stars, TV presenters and news broadcasters etc. The media also acknowledges the birth of rare animals in our zoos like the pandas Wang Wang and FuNi in Adelaide Zoo and baby elephant Sabai in Taronga Zoo, Dubbo.
Understandably, everyone goes in a frenzy online and offline when their favourite celebrity (actor, actress or singer) passes away due to natural causes. It seems that 2016 is not only the year of the Underdog but also the unlucky year for celebrities. The most shared tributes I’ve seen include David Bowie, Alan Rickman, Muhammad Ali, Anton Yelchin, Alan Young, Gene Wilder, Zsa Zsa Gabor, George Michael, Prince and recently Carrie Fisher and her mother Debbie Reynolds. Here’s a list of celebrities who were unfortunately taken away from us by natural selection:
http://www.syracuse.com/celebrity-news/index.ssf/2016/01/celebrity_deaths_in_2016_famous_photos.html
Ever though a majority of us don’t know these people personally, we still grieve with waterfalls of tears streaming down our faces. We hear and learn so much about them in talk-show interviews not only about their passions in their singing and acting careers but also the fascinating personal stories they happily shared with us (the audience). It seems that their appearances in films and music concerts brought us closer to them like they’ve become part of our family. The way they emulated certain characters in different movie genres or sung their songs helped us relate to those plot twists and their sense of understanding of human behaviour inspire us to be just as empathetic as them. Sadly, like us, they are human too. As we age, they age too. Most of you would have seen them in their prime time and wish for them to bring back memories of their illustrious careers just so you can feel nostalgic about the entertainment you enjoyed as children.
Whilst all of you relishing in a minute silence for those we loved watching on the big screen, I'll discuss birth and death in another post. Meanwhile who could not forget one of our greatest ancestors?
#DicksoutforHarambe
On a positive note, moments that can be memorable most likely made us burst into laughter, nostalgic and and we cannot stop spreading their name and what they’re known for through word of mouth or online conversation. Do you remember this lady?
Candice Payne posting a viral Facebook Live video featuring her new Chewbacca mask
I’m sure everyone knows this game:
People say this game is Oddish and too Farfetch'd but I still wanna catch em' all.
And these forgettable memes:
- Arthur's clenched fist
Every country, community and society around the globe welcome the new year depending on your time zone with a bang in the form of colourful fireworks. Each mega-structure like the Burj Al Khalifa (UAE), Sydney Harbour Bridge (Australia), Taipei 101 (Taiwan), Eiffel Tower (France), Times Square (USA & Hong Kong), Brandenburg Gate (Germany), Big Ben (England), Sky Tower (New Zealand) and Tokyo Tower (Japan) become the firework centrepiece in the country they represent. It is this time of year where everyone across Earth say the same 10 arabic numbers in descending order as one year ends and another begins. But I’m always wondered why we welcome a new year with a fireworks display? Invented in ancient China around the 7th century (Tang Dynasty), fireworks were believed to scare away evil spirits and bring happiness and luck, as an extension of the Four Great Inventions of ancient China of gunpowder, a material the first pyrotechnicians used. Nowadays pyrotechnicians add chemicals to gunpowder to give its glamorous colour combination. Those colourful fireworks are generated by "pyrotechnic stars” that produce intense light when ignited. They contain the following basic ingredients:
— A fuel to burn the star
— An oxidiser to support the fuel combustion
— Colour-producing chemicals
— A binder that holds the pellet together
— A Chlorine donor that provides Chlorine to strengthen the colour of the flame.
Here’s a link below regarding which chemical gives off which colour:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrotechnic_colorant
I have to admit it’s been quite a tumultuous and eventful year like every other year. I was planning to start a blog next year but after finding Blogger, I was over the moon. I have found a media outlet where I could post personal commentary on every topic, issue, everyday activity and deep questions. I could not wait any longer so I decided to start it sooner rather than later. This is just the beginning. They will be a lot more deep commentary from me in the future and I hope you’re enjoying what you’re reading. Invite your friends over if you feel they find my unique thoughts worth a read. Finally, I wish all of you reading this and around the globe a safe and happy 2017. As Ellen Degeneres would say “Be Kind to One Another.” See you next year!
Whilst I see most of my friends celebrate Christmas Day with their honey-glazed ham, suckling pig, poppers, Christmas tree decorations, gift unwrapping, gingerbread house demolition, Christmas carols, playing Santa Claus, Christmas-themed games, my family, however, don’t feel as festive. My family came from a Buddhist country and Christmas is not celebrated there although Christmas is now translated and celebrated in certain non-Christian areas like Hong Kong and Macau. What distinguishes them from the fictional characters Ebenezer Scrooge and The Grinch, is that they don’t dislike Christmas but they feel their religion does not warrant them to commemorate an historical figure. They treat Christmas Day as another ordinary rest day from work and they go about their usual chores in the garden. I constantly hear their envy whenever we pass by a neighbour’s house lit up with a luminescent Christmas light show but we never commit an effort to setting up our own Christmas light display. The only Christmas decoration we casually put up is a Santa calendar and a randomly-chosen stocking hanging on a door knob. In public, I feel they say “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year” to their customers just for the sake of fitting in to Australian society. Although all they care about is their own money and own self, they’re not as cold-hearted towards the public and their hearts don’t coincidentally grow three sizes and then miraculously understand the true meaning of Christmas. Fortunately they’re not one of those people who lack Christmas spirit and blather “Bah! Humbug!” during this annual festive season.
You say this phrase to your friends and family. You write this phrase on every Christmas card. What does it actually mean to say and write “Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year”? Some people write Happy Christmas or say Happy Holidays but those alternatives are also largely accepted by the Christian society. The word “merry” is derived from the Old English, meaning pleasant rather than joyous. Although Christmas was officially a holiday from the 4th century AD onwards, the first known use of this religious greeting dates back to around 22nd December 1534, where John Fisher wrote season’s greetings and “Merry Christmas” in a formal letter to Thomas Cromwell, recorded in the Strype Ecclesiastical memorials, 1816.
And this our Lord God send you a mery Christmas, and a comfortable, to your heart’s desire.
The phrase did not take off in Christian society especially in America until the publication of Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol in 1843, during the early reign of Queen Victoria. During the same year on 1st May, the phrase also appeared on the first ever commercially sold Christmas card in London. However Queen Elizabeth II preferred the phrase “Happy Christmas”, because she argues ‘merry' not only means 'pleasant, peaceful and agreeable', but also frivolous and inebriation. This explains why some people in the UK prefer to use the terms “Happy Holidays” and “Happy Christmas” instead.
— Christmas is short for Christ’s mass, derived from the Middle English Cristemasse, which is from the Old English Crīstesmæsse, a phrase first recorded in 1038. Crīst is derived from the Greek, translated from Hebrew for Messiah, meaning anointed and mæsse is from the Latin massa, the celebration of the Eucharist.
Every Christmas story always features Santa Claus, also known as Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick or Father Christmas, who travels in his beautifully-crafty red sleigh with his flying deers carrying his large sack of gifts for every well-behaved child and coal for the misbehaved across the globe. We all know that on Christmas Eve, families place milk and cookies near the fireplace where Santa Claus will pop through the chimney, consume the sweet and crunchy treat and happily deliver the gifts under the decorated Christmas Tree. Of course, he cannot accomplish this annual journey quickly and quietly without his trusted army of elves. There is some controversy on whether this legendary figure of children’s Christmas tales is fictional or not. If his presence were to be true, what were his exact origins?
The popular illustration of Santa we all know today was drawn by political cartoonist Thomas Nast in 1881, with its appearance described in a 1823 poem “A Visit from Saint Nicholas” by Clement Clarke Moore. His memorable chuckle “Ho ho ho” was actually inspired by his poem with the excerpt below and the postal code in Canada Post when letters are sent to Santa Claus.
“… a little round belly
That shook when he laugh’d, like a bowl full of jelly”
Every Christmas always feature decorations including baubles, tinsel, lights, pine trees, stockings, stars on top of the Christmas trees, wreaths, mistletoes, candles, angels, candy canes and bells. The traditional colours of pine green (evergreen), snow white, heart red and gold have religious significance. The heart-shaped leaves of ivy symbolises the coming to earth of Jesus, while holly was as protection against pagans and witches, and its thorns and red berries represents the Crown of Thrones worn by Jesus at his crucifixion and the blood he shed. The green symbolises eternal life, for instance the evergreen tree because its leaves doesn’t die in the winter, and gold is the first colour associated with Christmas, as one of the 3 gifts of the Magi, symbolising royalty. Although it doesn’t snow in Australia during December because of its summer season, white refers to visually visible environment of snow-covered grounds in the northern hemisphere. Do you hear that merry singing in the air? As the Grinch listens dazed and confused trying to understand why Christmas came without gifts and decorations, it is evident Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without its own music in the form of carols (hymns). The word ‘carol’ originated from the French ‘carole’ in the 1100s, meaning a popular circle dance accompanied by singing. This reinforces unity and belonging in respective communities which suggests Christmas is about everyone joining in the celebrations no matter who they are or what they look like.
While you enjoy your delicious Christmas feast including the roast beast and joyfully sing those Christmas carols, remember there are men, women and children out there living in poverty, resting in hospital beds on life support and experiencing homelessness. It would be honourable and gratifying to acknowledge their presence and give some of your Christmas love to them and put a smile on their solemn faces. Your empathy and kind, caring words will suffice as a precious and invaluable gift for them. No matter where you are on Earth, there will always be something Jesus Christ can give to you and protect your goodwill.
I wish you all a Merry/Happy Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Happy Hogmanay and a safe and wonderful New Year. On a last note, i also wish Jesus Christ a Happy Birthday.
#Whereisthelove (Remix) Black Eyed Peas ft. The World, 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsRMoWYGLNA
Since the 2011 execution of al-Qaeda founder Osama Bin Laden by US Troops, I thought things would return to normal and terrorist attacks that he claims responsibility for in Bali (2002), London (2005), Oklahoma City (1995) and The Pentagon, Virginia (9/11/2001) would be a thing of the past. I could never have been so wrong in my entire life. It seems that the bloody soul of Osama Bin Laden has reincarnated in the remaining surviving terrorists fuelling their grieving acts of revenge against their opposition, Christian and/or capitalist countries.
As far as i can remember, the terrorist sieges and attacks from 2014 onwards are still fresh in my memory and it’s quite saddening and traumatising reminiscing the horrific scenes of these recent events:
— December 2014 Sydney Lindt Cafe siege
— November 2015 Paris shootings outside Stade de France Stadium during a football march between France and Germany (where French President Francois Hollande was in the stands), at a live concert inside the Batalan Theatre, Le Carillon bar and Le Petit Cambodge restaurant.
— March 2016 Ankara car bombings and shootings
— March 2016 Brussels Airport bombings
— July 2016 Nice, France Vehicle ramming on Bastille Day at the Promenade des Anglais
— August 2016 Gaziantep, Turkey wedding suicide bombing
— November 2016 Ohio State University attack
— December 2016 Istanbul, Turkey bombings
— December 2016 Berlin Market ramming truck attack
Bottom: People engaging in a moment silence for the victims of the Paris attacks at Place de la Republique
As you may notice, a majority of these terrorist attacks in developed countries occur mid-year and near the end of the year when students are on holidays and families are celebrating Christmas and New Years. During these festive periods, there is an expectation of a bustling crowd in the 100s of 1000s in their respective CBDs which attracts not only tourists from foreign countries but also would-be terrorists to conduct maximum carnage in these popular cities. Recently, a police operation has successfully foiled a terrorist attack to be conducted by 7 lone-wolves including 4 Australian-born at Melbourne’s popular landmarks such as Flinders Street Station, Federation Square and St Paul’s Cathedral most likely on Christmas Day. Whilst I’m slightly relieved that Melbourne has escaped becoming part of the terrorist attack statistics for another day, I have a great deal of concern for my safety living in my home town, the most liveable city for 5 years running, this great city in this great state, Melbourne.
Time has passed and things have changed so quickly. The old ways of living life are no longer relevant and new ways may need to be adopted urgently. As every day passes I feel there is someone anonymous in every house besides my own designing their weaponry and plotting their suicidal missions to potentially cause catastrophic consequences. The world has gone insane after viewing the threatening propaganda videos of radicalised young Australians joining the fight alongside ISIS against the people they grew up with in their childhood. As i’m writing this post, there are bombs and suicide vests set off in war-torn countries like Syria, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Egypt and Jordan. Every day is nothing but violence with no room for happiness nor celebration even Christmas, New Years and Republic Days. Memories are filling the minds of little ones, with ongoing suffering as men, women and children die and I ask myself, is there any love is this world? I always ask myself why there is so wrong in this world. The world where I’m living in as a 21 year old human being and people around me are giving in. Politically and ideologically charged people like Reclaim Australia and Anti-Islamic groups are promoting black and white demonstrations on the streets with no indication of accepting multicultural diversity. They’re not respecting each other, denying each other’s views, this is not freedom of speech, this is war of speech. Everyone needs to be aware there’s a war going on and we, the people, are fuelling the hatred and violence but those reasons are kept undercover and swept under the rug by the media. That's what the terrorists want to see; disunity, anger, selfishness, division within stable communities, scapegoating of innocent Muslims. They want to start a fight like a WW3. The media selectively chooses what you, the audience, can see, mostly violence scenes and some obscene language rather than reveal the entire ordeal including the lead-up to a free-for-all melee. They want the public to believe every explosion, gunfire or vehicle ramming at any Christian community or large crowd is always a terrorist attack and IS will claim responsibility for it. I feel the media cares nothing for our safety but news viewership hence financial profit. They will be eating their words if their headquarters were coincidentally targeted. It goes to show, selfishness will lead us nowhere but in the wrong direction resolving a large-scale global issue such as this.
I feel the weight of the world is on my shoulders and it’s stressing me out. Everyone is ageing including myself but everyone’s getting cold rather than warm. While I’m writing this post, my friends only care about their pay wages during the Christmas rush.Because these busy Melbourne shopping centres will be bustling with cheerful Christmas shoppers, I’m agitated this fits the criterion for a possible ideologically-charged massacre like that in Nairobi, Kenya. My Facebook newsfeed is nothing but full of bad or biased news. It’s infecting the young minds faster than E.Coli and they wanna act like what they see in Mission Impossible, Fast & Furious and 007. I feel like they aren’t enough kind-hearted people spreading the values of humanity, fairness and equality. Instead of spreading love, we are spreading animosity. Our lack of willingness to understand one’s pain, suffering and worries are leading us away from unity. Those are the main reasons why sometimes I’m feeling down and under (pardon the pun), however I’m not going to let that kill my faith until I discover the love that heals our infected hearts. For those who are reading this, ask yourself what is more important, your own race or your own species? I can’t influence your opinion but I know deep down in the strands of your DNA, your mammal instincts will eventually synthesise the love the world longs for. However I can not do it alone. You know, I know, we all know, that all of us must collaborate to help prevail against evil no matter how intimidating they are. We must not let their intimidation instil fear within us weakening our courage and motivation to fight and defend for the greater good. It’s like the ultimate battle in Marvel: Injustice but without the superheroes and the bloodshed is real not a CGI. However, all of that is easier said than done. If the soldiers after WW1, WW2, Korean War and Cold War did it, then we, the people, can take inspiration from them and replicate the brave efforts of our brothers fighting for a safer future for our children here on Earth. We only got one World one Earth, that’s all we got.
Black Eyed Peas, Where is the Love, 2003
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpYeekQkAdc
Hearing this famous song had never felt so relevant in this torrent era. Every lyric, every line and every verse accurately describes the traumatic scenes on the television, the bloodshed and lifeless corpses in the live video feeds. But instead of the CIA, The Bloods, The Crips and The KKK, it is ISIS / IS / ISIL known as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant who is the main enemy. The target is peculiarly not in the USA yet, but in popular holiday destinations mostly in Europe like France, Turkey, Germany, and Russia, and in Oceania like Indonesia and Australia.
The world is like Modern Warfare or Black Ops games come to reality. People around me are living like they is no safe place to live. The horrific pictures of gun cartridges, streams of blood and abandoned human corpses keeps flooding my television screen and every news channel worldwide is addicted to reporting these breaking scenes. They are lured by events bringing mass destruction onto human society seeing this as opportunism for a competitive view count against rival news channels with no sympathy for the people experiencing pain as they report. Despite all the fighting and compassionate words from global politicians including Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Francois Hollande, Angela Merkel, Recep Erdogan and Malcolm Turnbull, terrorism continues to take innocent lives with the fear of more violent mass attacks on the radar.
To say IS have love for own religion is quite controversial because a majority of their members are Muslim that strongly believes in the Islamic way of living. This poses a scapegoat for other innocent and vulnerable Muslims who don’t share the commitment of mass killing and are desperately searching all means of escaping their war-torn homes in Syria, Iran and Iraq. People in neighbouring and foreign countries initially will reject their entry across their borders with the fear of possibly terrorist attacks in their neighbourhood. It’s understandable seeing from their perspective because of the anonymity and uncertainty of who specifically has evil intentions amongst a large migrant crowd of innocent refugees. They’re like HIV virus agents disguising themselves as part of the crowd by presenting antigens similar to the host’s to the immune system cells. Over a variable period of time, they hide amongst the mess of blood and immune cells keeping the human body at bay with no visual symptoms. Eventually, they are triggered to perform an all-out massacre of immune cells then healthy human cells until there is nothing left and the human body is left compromised.
Madness and hate are demonstrated by pessimistic residents who have fair means of protecting their own family without contemplating the safety of those who are escaping the beast that is chasing them. Though we are self-protecting of our own race, eventually our instinct of saving our own species from obliteration will allows us to sympathise and therefore welcome these hopeless ones with open arms. Some may argue that we are also letting in a virus that is destined to cause destruction in our own backyard but the greater good always overpowers the lone wolf. I wish all humans have the love to set the story straight, the control over their mind and missions, let their soul gravitate to the love.
People killing, people dying, adults and children are hurt and you hear them crying. You can feel the strain and trauma and despair they are experiencing at the moment and you have this powerful gut instinct to help them but there is simply nothing you can do to bring back what is lost. No matter how much we practice what we preach or the infinite times we turn our cheeks, evil ignores all prayers and cares about achieving its outcome. Calling Father to help us by sending guidance from above is not enough to stop evil spreading hate faster than cancer. Evil is already demonstrating that actions speak louder than words. No matter how powerful we are on the political pyramid, we are all vulnerable and have one life because we are all human and we often forget that.
Why did the chicken cross the road?
To save his mates from KFC! XD
All of us tell a joke or two to get a laugh out of our friends or our audience at a standby comedy show. However, there are a few people who may not have known the reference because KFC may not exist in their community or country. Short and sharp jokes may induce uncontrollable laughter but it risks mockery, sheer embarrassment, loss of self-dignity leaving a bad impression on the audience. That is why I steer clear of knock knock, racist or chicken-crossing-the-road jokes because I cringe when people either don’t understand the joke or weirdly gaze at me like I spoke Russian to them. There are infinite variants of those jokes and it hurts my mind understanding every single variant. After watching numerous comedy shows from the UK, USA and Australia like “Mock The Week”, “Whose Line Is It Anyway”, “Last Week Tonight”, “The Office”, “The Chase”, “Good News Week”, “8 out of 10 cats”, “Never Mind The Buzzcocks” and “The Last Leg”, I have noticed many common themes in the thousands of jokes being shared by comedians. They often reference:
— Male & Female Genitalia or any sexual references
— Impressions of ridiculous scenes that seem impossible to happen
— Overreactions to subtle situations
— High use of swear words
— Foreign and local accents
— Contraceptives and sexual diseases
— Romantic relationships
— Bloopers from breakfast TV shows, game shows, news bulletins and comedy shows
— Controversial people like Kerry Katona
— Their own TV hosts like Drew Carey, Bradley Walsh and Dara O’Briain
— Accidental sexual references like substituting anything long, sturdy and/or sharp for that medical term television morally bans but not live in the studio
— Common jargon depending on the context like travel, sports, fashion, education and entertainment.
— Droppings and Defecation
— Impressions of different people, animals and everyday activities e.g. A baboon’s behind
— Nipple piercings
— Restroom signage and toilet training
— Foreign cultures like Indian, Mexican, Chinese, Vietnamese, French, Korean, Spanish, Scottish, Irish, Welsh, Sri Lankan, New Zealander (Kiwi), Somalian etc.
— Popular games, cartoons, movies, TV series and soaps depending on the country like:
(a) UK — Coronation Street, Eastenders, Hollyoaks, Downton Abbey, Emmerdale
(b) AUS — Neighbours, Home and Away,
(c) USA — Days of Our Lives, The Bold and The Beautiful, Brothers and Sisters
Seeing how detailed this list is, it is evident that comedians possess vast general knowledge of many topics in order for them to construct their standup performances effectively and often with hilarious results. Take Paul Sinha for instance, a British standup comedian and a professional top quiz brain on UK’s “The Chase” is ranked 14th in the 2015 World Quizzing Championships. With a brain the storage size of a computer hard drive big enough to store terabytes of general knowledge, it’s no wonder comedians have the confidence and the time of their lives to tickle anyone's funny bone for extended periods. But how do comedians construct many punchlines in their brains before we (the audience) have finished laughing at the last joke? Why do we humans have the urge to entertain our friends or audience through hilarious one-liners or standup comedy? Furthermore what triggers us to laugh after hearing those punchlines? As a matter of fact, laughter apparently is a complex neuropsychological phenomenon that is poorly understood which no one of us can comprehend with a clear and clean head. I'll attempt to answer that question hopefully without bursting into a laughing hyena in a another post.
