Adventure Time

 Heyo! I want to take some time to talk about my current favourite thing on Netflix right now and that thing is called Adventure Time. Sure, I might be several years behind on the hype  but it took me a while to truly appreciate the absurdist and silly humour of the show so if you ask me, I say I'm just on time for maximum viewing pleasure.

Besides the awesome animation style, out-of-the-box story telling and just about the best kid-friendly one-liners ever, the show is also extremely avant-garde, conceptual and imaginative. Take for example Jake the Dog and how he seems to to have no limits to shapeshifting at his own connivence. Having worked with kids, this is like a dream come true - to be friends with a talking-dog who can transform into anything he wants during times of crisis. 

The show is also clever in that the humour in it is campy without being cheesy at all. Both the characters are already so genuinely sweet and decent that the show never try to insert preachy moral lessons like most of kids shows which gets super trite and stale very quickly.

If you haven't seen the show yet, you owe yourself to do it. I've always been a big fan of cartoons and Adventure Time is so weird and cute that it suits anyone who identify as those things. 

Everything All the Time

I've been going through a particularly hard time these past few days because my two-and-a-half year relationship is pretty much on its last legs. No, this isn't going to be a sappy post about how sad and miserable I am. Instead, I'm going to use this as a lead-in for just how much music has always helped at times like this. More importantly, my love for music and how crucial, I think, art is for the well-being of a balanced person.

For those of you who have dealt with break-ups or mourned for a great loss, you're probably very familiar with that sinking feeling you get every morning right after you wake up. You know, that feeling like, "fuuuuck... this is only the beginning of yet another day of my long and seemingly never-ending journey to complete emotional recovery". Perhaps sleeping and dreaming temporarily eliminates your stress and sadness and having to come back to that once you wake up is simply too overwhelming -- like going back to a job you hate after a nice, long vacation. This morning, I woke up and just felt absolutely "UUUUUGHAAAAAHHH...." (we all know the "groan-scream") but I had the important task of getting my first aid certificate so I had to shake the feeling fast. So I immediately remembered Band of Horses, because that became my mantra and muse when I was dealing with a previous break-up. On the way to my training, I blasted Everything All the time through my headphones and the nostalgia just washed over me. Ironically, remembering my last break-up gave me comfort because I know that I have it in me to get through this one, like I did the last time. Furthermore, I find that it's not just listening to music that helps me but playing and actively engaging in any creative process is very therapeutic. Sometimes, I think it may even work better than drugs and therapy. Regardless, I truly believe in the power of music and art and their benevolent forces to inspire and heal during your darkest moments.

I really can't comment much on these two outfits except that I wore the stripe bodysuit and grandpa pants to my friend's birthday dinner and felt very self-conscious due to its "second-skin" appearance. The second outfit is my "Vancouver Commercial Drive grunge" style. You know what I'm talking about, Vancity folks.

On Love

What if I say I shall not wait?
What if I burst the fleshly gate
And pass, escaped, to thee?
What if I file this mortal off,
See where it hurt me, - that's enough, -
And wad in liberty?

They cannot take us any more, -
Dungeons my call, and guns implore,
Unmeaning now, to me
As laughter was an hour ago,
or laces, or a traveling show,
Or who died yesterday

-- Emily Dickinson

Today is QiXi, aka Chinese Valentines day. It is the seventh day and of the seventh lunar month according to the Chinese calendar. I've never been known to enjoy the celebration of any festivals or holidays and today is of no exception. The reason why I wanted to mention QiXi is because I am more intrigued by the folklore behind it more than the cultural traditions associated with it. The story, if any of you care to know is about the love between a mortal and a goddess and the forbidden love they share that eventually lead to their eternal separation. On the surface it is just one of the many cliche love tales but to me it is a case of the struggle not for love, but for rather companionship.Some years ago when I viewed everything through rose colored classes, I was a firm believer of true love and the existence of "the one" or a "soul mate". But as time passed and people changed, so have my conceptions about what love really is. And to me, the yearning to be with someone is as simple albeit powerful as the desire to seek companionship. We see this in the animal kingdom, although differing in purpose and social codes, human beings are just as driven to seek out any suitable mate as animals. Thus this primal instinct is non-discriminatory, meaning we don't really care if we get matched up with "the one" as long as we find one.
For all the romantics out there, I'm sorry if this has disappointed you but it is merely of my personal opinion and observation. However, I do believe that our will to seek out companionship and the desire to maintain it is what eventually transform into what we call "love". And this love to me is very, very real and in no ways like that between two mating animals. However, we must understand that this powerful and unique bond between people must first stem from the need for companionship therefore it is not exclusive to members of the opposite sex. We also must understand that the only type of love worth maintaining is one having endured many conflicts and great hardship because that is the only test of one's commitment to another. In conclusion, this trumps the idea of "soul mate" because the implication of "destined to be together" connotes not an idea of "fighting for what's valued" but a notion of "what's yours will always be effortlessly yours".