Deep down inside, in each of us, a part of us wants to believe that magic is real.
Some of us fear that, but others wish for it to be true.
Nevertheless, there are moments in our lives when we are caught off guard by what may be a truly magical moment. In fact, many of us are often too caught up in the everyday complications that is life to take time to observe, or notice the little things that do indeed make the world magical.
I think I am getting better at understanding this. Yes, I'm talking about magic. I can imagine that there are some magicians who go out of their way to demonstrate a complicated and elaborate card trick, thinking it will amaze his or her audience. The truth is - tricks can do two things. It can fool people, or it can amaze people.
No one wants to be fooled. But they do enjoy being amazed once in a while, by something they didn't think would happen. Now, I'm not saying I never fool people. It happens. In fact, card magic is all about fooling people, in the early stages, at least. Think about it, any little kid can come up to you, let you pick a card, and find it. That's a trick, not magic.
I'm sure this has been said many times by many people, but I suppose I will repeat this. Magic is all about creating, for a certain individual, a single moment where they are exposed. Exposed to the impossible, being all of a sudden possible.
I think I'm getting the hang of that.
But, really, that was all just a complicated and elaborate trick so that I can talk about something else. Not entirely irrelevant, but a bit more important, at least.
On the flip side of things, sometimes, people do wish that all of a sudden, their lives could take a twist, and magic can change things. We've all felt it - that, if only, something magical could happen. It would change everything for the better.
Magic.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Thursday, March 27, 2008
mar27.2008
My dear tender Fuji apple,
You may think that you are as tangy and boldly flavoured as your orange citrus brethren, but in fact, you are not. You have a much subtler taste - a texture and flavour commonly overlooked, but extremely favorable at the right times.
. . .
In other news, I have not blogged in more than a week, perhaps even two. So here I am, filling the gap that I have left behind.
Today as the title of this entry suggests, is March 26, 2008. I wrote the CMO today. It was many things. Among these many things, it was intense. However, the value of today's experience lies in a few revelations that I had. For one, I have a long way to go. I have to solidify my foundation in math, and go farther than before. On the bright side, it felt somewhat pleasing that I at least, and finally, even made the CMO. A somewhat decent day.
. . .
Flipping a few pages back, during Easter Weekend, I made a few major advancements in the art of magic. I have come up with a brand new routine, and that made me feel pretty proud - to not only have built my own routine of magic, but also have performed it at Ambrose's party after a day of hard practice.
Speaking of which, Ambrose's party was awesome - as usual. Props to that.
. . .
Now, as I approach the end to this rather choppy and abrupt blog entry, I would like to conclude with another terrific find:
And with that,
So long!
You may think that you are as tangy and boldly flavoured as your orange citrus brethren, but in fact, you are not. You have a much subtler taste - a texture and flavour commonly overlooked, but extremely favorable at the right times.
. . .
In other news, I have not blogged in more than a week, perhaps even two. So here I am, filling the gap that I have left behind.
Today as the title of this entry suggests, is March 26, 2008. I wrote the CMO today. It was many things. Among these many things, it was intense. However, the value of today's experience lies in a few revelations that I had. For one, I have a long way to go. I have to solidify my foundation in math, and go farther than before. On the bright side, it felt somewhat pleasing that I at least, and finally, even made the CMO. A somewhat decent day.
. . .
Flipping a few pages back, during Easter Weekend, I made a few major advancements in the art of magic. I have come up with a brand new routine, and that made me feel pretty proud - to not only have built my own routine of magic, but also have performed it at Ambrose's party after a day of hard practice.
Speaking of which, Ambrose's party was awesome - as usual. Props to that.
. . .
Now, as I approach the end to this rather choppy and abrupt blog entry, I would like to conclude with another terrific find:
And with that,
So long!
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
mar12.2008
Fortunately for some, unfortunately for others, the last blog entry was a bit.. off on a tangent, shall we say. Today, we will return to our own proper selves in reality, and recap on what has been going on for the past few days.
So, for the past few days, I must admit, my productivity has been rather low. Unless Starcraft is progress - which I force myself to believe is not. Regardless, there has been a lot of it. Yes, folks, for the next few paragraphs or so, I will indeed be going on a Starcraft tangent. Bear with me, or scroll past, please.
The past week or so has been a week of a lot of change when it comes to Starcraft. I have switched races to Terran, as I have often thought of doing in the past. I see them as Lego blocks that combine to build a greater unit. In a way, that's very true when I play Terran. However, I play Terran terribly.
I have recently taken to the iCCup ladder. If you don't know what that is, and are wondering what it is, Google it. Perhaps it is because of the fact that Season 7 has just recently begun, seeing as how there is only one single A- player right now, but I somewhat doubt all the D level players on iCCup are really D level players, or are they just new fresh accounts ready to move onto D+, then C-, etc? After all, in my first two days of playing on iCCup, I had resulted in an 0-8 record (all as Terran). Not so bad, but really, can you get any worse than that?
Thankfully, I've put some work into my Terran skills and by today, after about three of four days of iCCup, I have a slightly better, but still terrible 4-13 record. Here have a look:
My Match List
I think I'm slowly getting there, though. Only time will tell how terribly my record will be. Still, I'm happy that I'm progressing. Already, I've had a couple of totally on-fire games where my APM, Micro and Macro hit all time high, both games smooth wins. But enough of Starcraft.
In other news, I have finally solved the 4x4x4 Rubik's Cube! Without instructions, in fact. Maybe it's because I've never actually sat down to try to solve it, but I feel somewhat proud of my accomplishment.
To finish, I will close with a sort of riddle. Here's some food for thought:
There are 11 wizards.
They are about to be tested - a test of epic proportions of epic epicness.
For simplicity's sake, if they fail the test, they're branded as n00bs. And we won't want that, do we?
The test goes as follows:
Every wizard is blindfolded, and a hat is put on each wizard's head.
Then they are unblindfolded - this means that they can see all the other 10 wizards' hats, but not their own.
Now, simultaneously, each wizard shows one of either a Black Card, or a White Card - simultaneously.
Based on this, simultaneously, each wizard must guess the colour of his own hat - simultaneously.
Now, it is known to them that there are 1000 hats - all of different colours.
Is there.. a possible strategy that these wizards can come up with, so that they can pass this test? And avoid being branded as n00bs.
I, actually, don't know the answer to this question. But I'll think about it, if you do.
And that is all for this time. Stay tuned.
So, for the past few days, I must admit, my productivity has been rather low. Unless Starcraft is progress - which I force myself to believe is not. Regardless, there has been a lot of it. Yes, folks, for the next few paragraphs or so, I will indeed be going on a Starcraft tangent. Bear with me, or scroll past, please.
The past week or so has been a week of a lot of change when it comes to Starcraft. I have switched races to Terran, as I have often thought of doing in the past. I see them as Lego blocks that combine to build a greater unit. In a way, that's very true when I play Terran. However, I play Terran terribly.
I have recently taken to the iCCup ladder. If you don't know what that is, and are wondering what it is, Google it. Perhaps it is because of the fact that Season 7 has just recently begun, seeing as how there is only one single A- player right now, but I somewhat doubt all the D level players on iCCup are really D level players, or are they just new fresh accounts ready to move onto D+, then C-, etc? After all, in my first two days of playing on iCCup, I had resulted in an 0-8 record (all as Terran). Not so bad, but really, can you get any worse than that?
Thankfully, I've put some work into my Terran skills and by today, after about three of four days of iCCup, I have a slightly better, but still terrible 4-13 record. Here have a look:
My Match List
I think I'm slowly getting there, though. Only time will tell how terribly my record will be. Still, I'm happy that I'm progressing. Already, I've had a couple of totally on-fire games where my APM, Micro and Macro hit all time high, both games smooth wins. But enough of Starcraft.
In other news, I have finally solved the 4x4x4 Rubik's Cube! Without instructions, in fact. Maybe it's because I've never actually sat down to try to solve it, but I feel somewhat proud of my accomplishment.
To finish, I will close with a sort of riddle. Here's some food for thought:
There are 11 wizards.
They are about to be tested - a test of epic proportions of epic epicness.
For simplicity's sake, if they fail the test, they're branded as n00bs. And we won't want that, do we?
The test goes as follows:
Every wizard is blindfolded, and a hat is put on each wizard's head.
Then they are unblindfolded - this means that they can see all the other 10 wizards' hats, but not their own.
Now, simultaneously, each wizard shows one of either a Black Card, or a White Card - simultaneously.
Based on this, simultaneously, each wizard must guess the colour of his own hat - simultaneously.
Now, it is known to them that there are 1000 hats - all of different colours.
Is there.. a possible strategy that these wizards can come up with, so that they can pass this test? And avoid being branded as n00bs.
I, actually, don't know the answer to this question. But I'll think about it, if you do.
And that is all for this time. Stay tuned.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
mar09.2008
The snow is something really special...
If you were up early today, I'm sure you would have noticed how beautiful everything was. For those few precious hours, the world was bathed in sunlight, made more impressive by the thick blankets of snow that covered the world. It was a time - a small window of time in which man was helpless . The world, for a tiny moment, put down whatever it was that had preoccupied its attention, and was peaceful.
The roads were desolately empty, the sidewalks lost underneath the deep snowbanks. As the sun slowly rose, nature's elegance radiated from all around me as I made my way to the bus station. If only the world could stay like this for a bit longer.
The world is a beautiful place sometimes.
But surely, not everyone would have seen things the same way as this. I have no doubt that many others were too busy dreading the grave task that lies ahead of them as they stand in their garage with a shovel in hand - not sure where to begin shoveling. I suppose as one ages, the thought of money and supporting one's family is often too heavy a burden to be lenient enough to allow for a short break from the harsh realities of our world.
I, for one, was quite saddened to have had to trench my way out onto the road from my house. The driveway, which was nowhere to be seen - hidden underneaths the depth of snow, was much better this way, I thought. To have had to stain its beauty with a hideous trench was somewhat depressing to see. Ah well.
On my way downtown by my lonesome, it further struck me how precious our world is. The hidden jewels that are not yet destroyed by our hunger to consume. Resources and the environment, that is. I know of, and saw on my way there, of several places that may be great for enjoying the winter scenery. Perhaps I will get to go to those places this March Break.
Unfortunately, as the time slowly ticks away, bit by bit, even as I write this, the world will return to normal.
Savour it while it still lasts.
If you were up early today, I'm sure you would have noticed how beautiful everything was. For those few precious hours, the world was bathed in sunlight, made more impressive by the thick blankets of snow that covered the world. It was a time - a small window of time in which man was helpless . The world, for a tiny moment, put down whatever it was that had preoccupied its attention, and was peaceful.
The roads were desolately empty, the sidewalks lost underneath the deep snowbanks. As the sun slowly rose, nature's elegance radiated from all around me as I made my way to the bus station. If only the world could stay like this for a bit longer.
The world is a beautiful place sometimes.
But surely, not everyone would have seen things the same way as this. I have no doubt that many others were too busy dreading the grave task that lies ahead of them as they stand in their garage with a shovel in hand - not sure where to begin shoveling. I suppose as one ages, the thought of money and supporting one's family is often too heavy a burden to be lenient enough to allow for a short break from the harsh realities of our world.
I, for one, was quite saddened to have had to trench my way out onto the road from my house. The driveway, which was nowhere to be seen - hidden underneaths the depth of snow, was much better this way, I thought. To have had to stain its beauty with a hideous trench was somewhat depressing to see. Ah well.
On my way downtown by my lonesome, it further struck me how precious our world is. The hidden jewels that are not yet destroyed by our hunger to consume. Resources and the environment, that is. I know of, and saw on my way there, of several places that may be great for enjoying the winter scenery. Perhaps I will get to go to those places this March Break.
Unfortunately, as the time slowly ticks away, bit by bit, even as I write this, the world will return to normal.
Savour it while it still lasts.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
mar06.2008
Happy 17th Birthday Tiffany Santos!
Other than that,
'the Prestige' is a great movie.
I found it to be thought-provoking, and at the same time realistic and profound. If you haven't watched it, I really recommend you to, even though I don't watch enough movies to qualify myself as a trustworthy movie critic. In fact, I barely watch movies. But I found it to be really deep, with lots of twists. Awesome!
In any case,
Today is the start on the march break. I'm sure there's lots of hard working in store for me. Happy march break to everyone!
And with that, I'm off to bed.
Other than that,
'the Prestige' is a great movie.
I found it to be thought-provoking, and at the same time realistic and profound. If you haven't watched it, I really recommend you to, even though I don't watch enough movies to qualify myself as a trustworthy movie critic. In fact, I barely watch movies. But I found it to be really deep, with lots of twists. Awesome!
In any case,
Today is the start on the march break. I'm sure there's lots of hard working in store for me. Happy march break to everyone!
And with that, I'm off to bed.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
mar04.2008
Still a hectic period.
Almost there.
However... I think there's one thing I gotta say.
f r e s h .
.
Almost there.
However... I think there's one thing I gotta say.
f r e s h .
.
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