"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
--Edmund Burke
Being impressed with E. Watson's HeForShe campaign speech in support for feminism:
"If not you, then who, if not now, then when.."
On the flip side, I am also impressed with the social experiments conducted here. Finish the entire video and you will realize that gender inequality applies to all genders. One can think of HeForShe as a shoutout for solidarity to both sexes to challenge socially-stereotypical impressions.
Raising awareness begins with your acknowledgement of the issue.
A lot of times Windows throws an error saying that Windows Explorer is not working and then my taskbar disappears. Usually it restarts itself. But sometimes, it annoyingly doesn't and I keep tons of my work windows open usually.
I found a workaround:
http://www.wikihow.com/Restart-Windows-Explorer-Without-Rebooting-Computer
Basically,
1) Ctrl-Shift-Esc
2) Under 'Processes', close explorer.exe
3) Under 'File', run new task, type in 'explorer'.
Recently, finished "The Cuckoo's calling" by Robert Galbraith, which is the pseudonym for the famous author of Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling. When I found that out from NY Times about the sequel to Cuckoo, I was so excited! J. K. Rowling's new books!
This is not a fantasy book, but a detective novel about an ex-SIB (Special Investigation Branch), celebrity-son Cormoran Strike and his unlikely sidekick, Robin Ellacott, investigating the suicide of supermodel Lula Landry. Unfortunately, I wasn't superbly impressed after reading the first half of the book. I didn't expect Strike to be Agatha Christie's Poirot nor Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, but the book still didn't grip me enough to set me on the edge of my seat, perhaps until the last few chapters of the book, when the mystery started to unravel...
My own impression is that there is a general lack of logic being offered to the reader that tantalizes him/her to make his/her own deductions with regards to the resolution of the mystery; the author leaves enough bread crumbs to lure and pique the reader's interest. In my opinion, this author-reader intellectual pull-and-tug is what makes an appealing detective novel, or at least to people who enjoys this genre. However, J. K. Rowling's style of storytelling that glued me to the first Harry Potter magic did come through, especially in the last few chapters where the focus is on unfolding what actually happened.
Nonetheless, it wasn't a bad read, so I put a reservation on the sequel - "The Silkworm".
Side: I stumbled upon this website about "forensic stylometry", which puts authorial detective work down to a science (it's almost exactly written like a scientific article!)
You can't rule out the impossible because you never know which of your assumptions about what was possible turn out in the real universe to be false -- Orson Scott Card "Ender's Shadow"
The last five years indeed... The show resonated more so than I would admit. So it seems, things are never simple or straightforward. But still, really, still....
"Still Hurting" - Cathy
"Shiksa Goddess" - Jamie *Replaced "I Could Be in Love With Someone Like You" from the Chicago production
"See I'm Smiling" - Cathy
"Moving Too Fast" - Jamie
"I'm A Part of That" - Cathy
"The Schmuel Song" - Jamie
"A Summer in Ohio" - Cathy
"The Next Ten Minutes" - Jamie & Cathy
"A Miracle Would Happen/When You Come Home to Me" - Jamie/Cathy
"Climbing Uphill/Audition Sequence" - Cathy
"If I Didn't Believe in You" - Jamie
"I Can Do Better Than That" - Cathy
"Nobody Needs to Know" - Jamie
"Goodbye Until Tomorrow/I Could Never Rescue You" - Jamie & Cathy
"Still Hurting" - Cathy What about lies, (Jamie) What about things That you swore to be true What about you
Jamie is sure something wonderful died Jamie decides it's his right to decide Jamie's got secrets he doesn't confide And I'm still hurting
Go and hide and run away Run away, run and find something better Go and ride the sun away Run away like it's simple Like it's right... "If I Didn't Believe in You" - Jamie Well, then talk to me, Cathy Talk to me If I didn't believe in you We'd never have gotten this far If I didn't believe in you And all of the ten thousand women you are If I didn't think you could do Anything you ever wanted to If I wasn't certain that you'd come through somehow THe fact of the matter is, Cathy I wouldn't be standing here now "Nobody Needs to Know" - Jamie Hold on, clip these wings - Things get out of hand All right, it's over, it's done No one will understand No one will understand...
We build a treehouse I keep it from shaking Little more glue every time that it breaks Perfectly balanced And then I start making Conscious, deliberate mistakes
"Goodbye Until Tomorrow/I Could Never Rescue You" I'm not the only one who's hurting here I don't know what the hell is left to do You never saw how far the crack had opened You never knew I had run out of rope and
I could never rescue you All you ever wanted But I could never rescue you No matter how I tried All I could do was love you hard And let you go
No matter how I tried All I could do was love you God, I loved you so So we could fight Or we could wait Or I could go...
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That's when you realize... I realize...
I have no more tears... But layers upon layers upon layers, of sadness.
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The songs are really good btw; the musical's really good too.. They are making a new film adaptation starring Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan!!
"I don't have to say a word. She just looks at me and sees who I am and how I feel and accepts it. She doesn't try to change it or wants to change it. That person. There's a billion people but I imagine there's only one of her."
-- Owen Hunt to Cristina Yang
"Grey's Anatomy" Season 10, Episode 16, "We gotta get out of this place"
Initially I was gonna call this "Another one bites the dust". But I guess my love for alliteration took over; it's less morbid and more pertinent anyway.
With GG finishing his PhD in 3.5 yrs (*envious*) and leaving for London, A is moving back to Singapore, K back to Texas, M is leaving for his dream job in CaliLA, J leaving in a foreseeable future, EK is going off to a faculty position, I thought my life would not be ruffled by goodbyes, at least not for a while. As life has it, LA told me over lunch she is moving with her boss to Philly in a year!
I am sad to say goodbyes. Scared. The feeling of being ditched, of dwindling numbers, of great nostalgia, of being alone, of being left behind... It's funny how all things come in a series of events. Unfortunate or not. And it's not like you finish this bunch, you finish up the quota for the rest of your life. Life does seem just like chapters of goodbyes, doesn't it? Maybe except this one, it's a whole chapter of goodbyes.
Yet, I am starting to feel this stage of my life that I have to learn how to say them - with love, with grace, with gratitude.
I should not perhaps consider each chapter as a goodbye; that just seems too one-dimensional. For a start, if one looks at it as chapters of meetings, then the goodbyes are merely endings, leading on to the next chapter of reunion. Or as chapters of events, good and bad. That forms a story. Your life. Sadness in parting brings out the anticipation and glee in reunion. Bittersweet. It makes you treasure your present, or at least the few months leading up to the departure. If they care, you are given time to prep till the moment, because they know it's hard for both persons, and because they know you care too. So I guess, these moments also make you realize who cares.
So for now, I am going to just cherish my times with my dear friends. I am happy for them, that they are moving on to further greatness in life. I am glad I got to know these awesome people. Sometimes, I wish I have known them a little more. But alas, that's how life is. Some leave deeper footprints than others, but sadness, and hope, lingers all the same.
Websites to check: http://www.kayak.com/
- an aggregator, but seems to be have its own flight bookings nowadays. http://www.cheapoair.com/
- i have flown more times than i can count using this.
