Live fast, die pretty

Another rainy Friday night...

With all the news of disasters popping every day, I think it is time for a bit optimism to cheer you up.

During time of turmoils, it is comforting to know there are some constants. In our case, the constant is breasts. No matter how bads thing are, cleavage are always nice. You see, I am not a leg person. I have legs. By the way, women always know if you stare at their chest. The bottom line is to think of them like the sun. You never stare at the sun, only a quick glance to appreciate its existence.

On some more serious stuff, I was sitting around watching the Presidential Debate with my ferrets (Oprah and Glenn Beck) and couldn’t get any angrier when Obama blames the financial crisis on the Bush Administration. If I were to point a finger, I would point to the Clinton administration. During Clinton era, lenders were to pressured to loosen loan standard in order to increase minority (read low-income) home ownership. This strategy worked wonder during time of easy money (great job, Mr. Greenspan !) when home prices were increasing. Well, you know the rest of the story.

So far, following the financial crisis has been fun for me. It a relief to know that  some of my friends won’t be able to make billions by taking a whole lot of money that borrowed from banks at super-low rates and throwing them into some algorithm in which a machine makes millions of trade a day selling/buying some super complex financial products made up by “super-smart” bankers who got bored of pushing paper and re-packing every worthless pieces of home loan to churn out a super high rate piece of mortgage.

Last week, Steve Levitt confessed:

As an economist, I am supposed to have something intelligent to say about the current financial crisis. To be honest, however, I haven’t got the foggiest idea what this all means.

at some points back in the 80 when no one was listening to economist with their well-thought, precise mathematical calculation on every aspect of economic theories, they launched a hostile takeover the Psychology department, renamed it to “Behavioral Finance/Economic”   and published zillion book to explain why people do thing they do. Yet still, they have not been able to give a good answer to that question.

For those who want to know more about the subprime crisis, I wrote about it here.

Continue a bit more with my digression into politics. Recently, I have adopted a new principle. That is, if Hollywood be for it, I be against it. Before you liberal readers go crazy on the improper grammar, it is meant to be read in the Shakespeare sense, or perhaps more accurately in the biblical sense. Matt Damon, Cameron Diaz, George Clooney,…etc. those Hollywood’s liberals can’t be satisfied with being uber rich, adored and above the average American life. They have the monopoly on awards show, movies, television, and all other culture influences and they never pass an opportunity to convince us that they have something worth listening to. The problem with the Hollywood-Club is they believe their reality is reality. Bottom line is, what exactly, beside celebrity status, qualifies Matt Damon to get an audience of millions to slam Sarah Palin? What makes his opinion more valid than mine, my friends, or … for that matter, my snake pet?

OK, serious question. What do you write in a birthday card to someone who got cancer?

For better or worse, no comics today, only breasts.

-k

Perfectionism...

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Hello again,

Well, I woke up Sunday morning two weeks ago, ate my muffin, drink my milk, and then I had what alcoholics normally refer to as a 'moment of clarity' at their AA meeting . I realized the cause of my frustration in my last post. It was perfectionism. I was trying to find the perfect words to express myself. The end result was nothing came out right and it read like I was forcing the words.

What I realized that morning is that perfectionism is toxic (read: subprime mortage-backed securities). It keeps you cramped and insane. I think, perfectionism is based on a crazy belief that if you run carefully, eat healthy and make sure your next stepping stone is right, you won't have to die. The truth is that you will die, and a lot of people who aren't looking at their feet are going to enjoy life a whole lot better than you, and have a lot more fun with their carefree attitude when they are doing it. In case of writing, perfectionism is the enemy, it blocks playful thought and inventiveness. By being a perfectionist, it means you desperately try not to leave any mess. But mess is the only evidence of life being lived. Anyway, the bottom line is I am going to make a lot of mess around here. Buckle up, comrades.

Since I have always felt I am a victim of Amazon recommendation system when I purchased "The world is flat" a few years ago, I couldn't help but notice when Thomas Friedman's new book - "Hot, Flat and Crowed" came up under my Amazon radar again today. A billiionare by marriage, a public intellectual among liberal globalization cheerleaders who actually believes that social inequality, world hunger and terminal diseases can be solved with Internet access. Tom Friedman has been wrong about almost everything, and I bet this new book is going to be another laughingstock.

Anyway, next is a picture of Victoria Secret model Adriana Lima on "Ugly Betty". I never heard of the show and don't intend to but I guess the story is to pit Betty (whom I assume is ugly) against Adriana Lime. And at the end, Betty (who again, is ugly) will triump because the only things that matter are personality and inner beauty.

I saw birds having sex. Twice. Last week. Could it mean anything?

-k

I am bored...

It is that time of the year again. It is Saturday night, and raining. So here I am with a glass of wine, babbaling and making noise in the Internet as usual.

It is funny how there is a lot I want to say, yet it is so difficult to articulate in sentences. It perhaps could well be the lack of restful sleep, the exessive caffein intake, or that strange dream that woke me up with a 'what....' feeling.

Every once in a while, I walk around the blogsphere looking for inspiration and ideas to continue this binary journey, building my digital palace with words. However, at this point, I am bored.

For a while now, my search for new materials have been nothing but futile. Everytime I came across something seemingly good, I immediately have a feeling that I said this, written that, or commented on the same similar piece. I feel that I have became so jaded about a hobby that is no longer new and exciting. So I am left with no encouragement to either write or comment.

I did a quick run through of my archive over the years. There are only a few of them that I consider to be of value. The kind of posts that offers me real insights, or reminds me of certain events in the past. Yet, it is so easy to realize that my writing has lost its niches and that sparks that gives a thrill once is published. Maybe it is true that "art never comes from happiness", and a state of despondency brings out the best of everyone. Maybe !

I thought about closing the door to this place a few times, and maybe concentrate on another endeavor, but it is easier said than done. Like most people who blog (I hate the word 'blogger' by the way), I suffer from a "narcissistic desire" to have a spot 'out there' in case I need to express a feeling, share a thought or just make some noises for the sake of making noises.

Now I am left to ponder until the rain stops.

-k

I just learnt a minute ago

According to the Meth Project Foundation, one of the indicators that you might have a problem with meth is that you are "using more meth than intended"

-k

"Dear My Dearest One,

It's not that we don't know how to let go, it's the mere thoughts written in the past that we had come to cherish & can't stop living in. It's somewhat true that people might never change but it's also somewhat true that people grow up. Growing up doesn't necessarily mean someone has matured, growing up can go either way. Look deep inside yourself & search the meaning as to why a person can't leave your thoughts, to why he still lingers in your dreams, & why he still walks to the beat of your heart? Is it really him that you can't let go? Is it really him that you cant come to stop dreaming about? Or is it simply the idea of him that you had engraved in your head in which you cant distinguish the truth from a thought?

I used to once love a person who never once threatened his love for me, but just as the leaves on a cold autumn day withers away, our innocent infatuation came to an end. It took awhile for me to realize that who I missed, who I longed for & who I still held on to so strongly to was not who I once knew. The love that we had for each other was a beautiful portrait in which neither I nor he can deny, but it was later on that I realized is best to savor those moments instead of allowing it to destroy me. Its best to remember him for the person he once was & not the one who I simply cant let go of.

You see, theres a big difference to whom he once was to you & to who he is now in which you cant stop seeing in your dreams. Even if you had the chance to hold his hands again & to feel the beating of his heart next to yours, will his heart still play the same melody? Will his fingers still tap to the same beat? The innocent love that you once had, do you seriously think that it would remain the same? The years had gone by & many branches on a tree have had different leaves grow on them year in & year out, nothing stays the same. The only thing that you can do now is cherish the good memories & accept that this is now, today is what is important & not yesterdays broken promises"

'One Litre of Tears