Why do we even bother dreaming?
tagged: pic pickpermalink | July 22 2010 | view comments
ENCARASOMNI WORDS OLD FEED
可望而不可即.
I’ve been wondering recently what would happen if I just stopped caring. So far, this summer I see friends all around me work their asses off and take classes for nearly twelve hours every day and living in some sort of austerity just so they think they can “survive” in junior year. Imagine how nice it would be if none of this matters and we do not need to worry about a thing. I am a bit sick of the apprehension I am feeling inside of not being prepared for the SATs, not starting on summer homework, or not finishing off my portfolio. Sometimes I just sit down and try to forget everything so I can try to figure out what the heck I want to do with my life.
Today at my Art Center Saturday High class, a fellow student was presenting her ideas of an album cover to my instructor. This particular album discusses and expresses the idea and notion that the society we know and believe in is all but a fraud and a fake shroud over the true complexities of leading a life. This set of music speaks a message that since we are introduced into this world, everything around us is fake. From the days of rainbows and the Disney channel, we are taught and nearly literally forced to think that life is something where you can chase the dreams you want, and reach the goals you want to reach.
Everything is bull. Once we are given an opportunity to live such a wondrous life at the age of eighteen, the truth slowly unfolds, and I really do not think anyone truly understands this truth until the day they die. Instead of being held by your hand and taken into a miraculous world where dreams come true, we are thrust into a hell hole or wars, divorces, bills, and politics. Many can argue with me that everything is based on choice, but think about it. How many people actually can live the life they want? Imagine the rocky and bitter path one will need to take to reach their dreams. I do not mean to be iconoclastic and change the way society wants us to think, but so many of my fellow friends and people my age really think anything is attainable as long as you are determined. This is partially true. Fifty percent of the path, I believe, is based on determination, but the other is based on luck, timing, ability, talent, and interpersonal relations.
Really. Do you think your life will be perfect? Hell, I have my own lofty dreams but I know what is realistic and simply improbable. I hope I am not crushing anyones goals, because I believe no one can live without them, but I hope I can knock some sense into some people. Not everyone leads a picture-perfect life, and the road of trials may be much more daunting than you would think.
In relation to my classmates at Art Center, one fellow classmate and friend is working on a project designing a logo for a organization which promotes astrological unity, sending a message that no matter who we are, we are under the same sky. Okay, so if we are under the same sky, we should be one people. If we can be united and represent the true qualities of the human race, what the eff is going on with the world? I honestly believe that human nature is one of the most warped and occasionally hilarious things in the universe, I can just imagine extraterrestrial beings looking down on us and laughing their heads whatevers off. Side note: I do not see why some people believe in alien invasions, and although I must admit I am scared as heck of ETs, who/what in their right mind would want to let us disgusting humans grace their presence? We are killing ourselves off faster than they would.
The above thoughts are the main reason why I love advertising. You see different perspectives, and different ways of thinking, and you never stop learning about life. If you did not notice, I used some words in this post that are pretty big for me, LOL. I’ve been trying to use these blog posts as an accompaniment to the SAT words and stuff I should be studying. Anyways, the title of this post is ke wang er bu ke ji, which basically sums everything up. Everything is within sight, but as true as the United States is a failing nation, many things are beyond reach.
Stuff so people won’t hate on me: The above represents solely my own opinion, and I do have the right to express it. So voice what you think, but please don’t be rude or mean.
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tagged: wordspermalink | July 17 2010 | view comments
望眼欲穿.
I have these phases where I just cannot stop thinking about life, why we live, what we are supposed to do in life, and what happens after death. I do not really know why I constantly think so much about these things, and it always just utterly confuses me. This is a collection of my recent thoughts.
Before I get blasted about the contents of this post, I give you a warning. This is my personal opinion, and if you refuse to respect it or disagree, please keep it to yourself, or express it in a way that is not blatantly rude.
I hear all the time to seize the day, or carpe diem, make the best out of every day. I also hear that we must chase our dreams, and live a life where it leaves a lasting or influential impact on the world. Is that even possible? Imagine, if every single person on this planet makes a influential contribution to the world, what would this world be like? And how is life fair for the many billions who may never get even a second in the spotlight, where they can possibly just get a second of recognition for the life they live. Some point in everyone’s life, one probably wants to be that ideal person, be famous or do something which can let their names not be forgotten in a hundred years. Although as we age and become even more mature, this desire slowly backs away, recently I cannot refuse the beautiful idea of living a famous life. I wonder what its like, how different it is from the normal lives we lead now.
The religious of a certain faith believe that our lives have been bestowed upon us by a higher being, and we must work constantly to lead a just and right life under His terms. Another religion stresses a similar idea but instead of not fulfilling the “requirements” and going to a terrible place, you are reborn. As I have addressed in a previous post many months ago, I can never understand religion, and can simply only accept the use of a faith as an ancient way of explaining the world. And even though I must admit it’d be nice if I can wholly believe one of these faiths and believe that I will die and be in a better place, my upbringing simply doesn’t offer me a unlocked door to jump into that idea. Sometimes I wish I was born into a devout family, or simply a family which did not have any religious affiliations whatsoever, so I would not be so confused. I can say that I am agnostic, and I have a Buddhist/Taoist background, and I’ll leave religion at that.
I can recognize that my interests are different from the general American population, and I am proud of it, I really am. Sometimes I feel that my Asian tastes are the most solid and reliable connection I have to my roots, aside from my skin color. But to inform everyone, it does not mean I am completely disconnected from American culture. If there is something interesting, I will watch it. If there is something that does not sound like someone threw up in the recording studio, I will listen to it. It’s just that Taiwanese music and TV shows I can feel that I can connect to and understand not just logically but emotionally.
I am biased, and very much so. I have strong opinions which I am not afraid to voice, but many times, people take it the wrong way. For example, no, I don’t think that breast cancer awareness/funds is something stupid and should not be supported, but I think there are priorities and statistics in different types of cancers, which can ultimately save more people if more money were invested in their research. I don’t think that the America is completely lame and stupid, in fact, if I thought that, I probably would not be writing this, and if I wasn’t in the US, I probably won’t even be able to write this. But I’m pretty sure I have many things to say about America’s faults. I also know that I am judgmental and that I judge a book by its cover, but it’s difficult for me to change that. To avoid being racist, I will simply use food as an example. If there was chocolate-colored food and a nasty orange colored pudding in front of me, I’d jump for the chocolate over the pudding, which can may in fact be delicious. But I judge; many of us do. It’s something which is going to take time for me to change.
My thoughts are running all over the place now. It angers me that Chinese-Taiwanese relations confuse who I should brand myself as, and it is sometimes outright embarrassing to call myself American. Who in the world gave America permission to go reorganize the Middle East by herself, and who gave America the right to believe that the world should follow her lead? The golden age of American power died a few years ago people. Granted, she deserves some credit. She protected the freedom of many people and helped shape the modern world, but she needs to be able to fully recognize her faults and mend them before making outrageous assertions upon the world. So although there is more love for the US that hate in me, I am simply disappointed at the vast differentiation between the glorious America we see in the history books of many nations and what she is now.
I have no idea how I jumped from life to America’s place in the world, but my mind is just swimming all over the place and I suddenly feel the urge and determination to express them. But on the subject of politics, which I apologize for, people need to stop thinking that the Chinese government is downright evil, and terrible for the nation. If it was, why would China be such a quick rising superpower in the world, with the one of the most satisfying and money making growth? I think modern Communism has done some good for the nation, although I believe a democratic system may turn China into the world’s leading superpower. Americans, if the Chinese decide to abandon all its American assets because we continue to be as*h*les to them, the dollar will drop to oblivion as the Chinese sell American bonds, and the economy will plummet.
I know many people may call me ignorant for my opinions, or even stupid, but I call them ignorant. I don’t think anyone has the right to make a complete decision without understanding both sides of the story, and reading/watching CNN is definitely not a unbiased view. The first book I’ve read on my own and willingly recently is Three Cups of Tea, a beautiful non-fiction narrative of Mortenson’s aim to educate Pakistani and Afghani children. During 9/11 as America begins to destroy the Middle East, Mortenson was receiving hate mail for trying to help the “enemy,” when most people did not even know who the true enemy was. Now that is ignorance.
But enough of politics, I think some people who read all that will already be angry at me. I’ve recently found a renewed interest in advertising, because it helps me avoid the ignorance. It amazes me the things one can learn trying to address the general public about a product or a cause, and the research done can sometimes be life-changing. To be an art director is being able to view things omnisciently, and from that step try to get into the minds of all people, not just someone who may be already familiar and supportive of a particular product or cause, respectively. And even though at times advertising can be unbelievably difficult and feel like it will be the most unhappy job choice I can make, once I finish a ad or think of an amazing idea, I feel so fulfilled and happy. Now getting someone to buy something or donate to a cause (I’m currently supporting and doing a poster for the Girl Effect) is what I can call influential.
To finally wrap things up, the title of my post says wang yan yu chuan, which means to be wistful, or to “aspire earnestly.” This is most definitely appropriate for this post, and I hope no one kills me for my opinions, tyvm.
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tagged: wordspermalink | July 13 2010 | view comments
時不可失.
This summer has been pretty disappointing so far; nothing exciting has really happened. Shi bu ke shi means that there is no time to waste, with a “seize the opportunity” or even carpe diem idea. Only if I can actually embrace this and do something useful.
This past month of my summer has been shaped by studying Chemistry, volunteering at CalPhil once and going to TA at Chinese school three times a week, self-studying the SATs, and ACCD classes. I’ve been failing at most of this. My SAT study plan is going horribly, I really need to step it up, and I have yet to do something for my ACCD class, or I can expect my teacher to kill me. CalPhil hasn’t assigned me to a post for this weekend’s concert yet, which worries me, and I haven’t exactly been studying and working hard for Chemistry. I feel terrible, and yet, at the same time, too lazy to really do anything, which I know is screwing me over.
But now, there really is nothing the next two months of summer for me to look forward to, nothing at all. Everyone seems to disappear during the summer, plans with friends are canceled, and so far I have been holed up in my room or in front of the TV for a good part of the summer.
I’m not so sure if I know what I’m doing anymore; I’m not even sure of what I want to do. I can’t necessarily say I feel lost, but occasionally I feel left behind or forgotten, as if all of my connections to the world had been severed. The sad and disappointing thing is, nothing has been severed, technically, everyone is still there.
I don’t know what to write anymore, and I’ve lost the willpower to write. This has been sitting in my drafts for quite some time, so I figure that I might as well publish it and forget about it.
tagged: wordspermalink | July 6 2010 | view comments
Today was a pretty fun day; my memory card has way too many photos in it right now, and my stomach is over-filled, and I smell smoke coming from my window.
Happy Fourth of July!
permalink | July 4 2010 | view comments
