Seed

I found a book at the library which captivated my attention. The book was titled "The Bizarre and Incredible World of Plants" by Stuppy, Kesseler and Harley. I love it when science meets art. The scanning electrom micrograph images which have been artistically enhanced with color by artist Rob Kesseler were a rare visual treat. One could never have imagined seeing these shapes and forms to be present here on earth. That's the beauty of seeing things at the microscopic level. It just fascinates me. I use to spend a whole lot of time on scanning electron microscopes years ago, studying non-living materials and not plants however, but still it always fascinated me how things look like seen under those powerful microscopes and how they would go on and change into other forms without us noticing them for most of the time. A scientist on TV have postulated that if there is going to be another catastrophe on earth, similar to the one that wiped out the dinosaurs, it would be these tiniest of living things, the algae, bacteria, plants; who would survive. Mainly because they could tolerate a wider spectrum of environmental conditions than humans do. They could survive higher temperatures for one. And from the book, I was amazed to learn about the many sophisticated ways of reproduction and adaptation that plants have developed and evolved over thousands of years, for the sole purpose of ensuring the survival of their species.... Makes one think about our own evolution and quest for survival. 

Below is a drawing I made of a seed from the book, colored with watercolor.

Two in One

For the past months I have strangely felt that I have two selves. One which I suspected was dominated by my right brain, and kicks in whenever I have at least two consecutive days of vacation. It would have me either writing, drawing, or painting; as I would tend to feel sensitive to the energy and connections that surround me and it overwhelms me not to express them in some form. On these days, I would fill my journal with pages of scribbles, poems and words or just sit down with my cup of tea and wonder in amazement how wonderful the world is or how I finally get things that have been eluding me before. In these days, I feel such peacefulness and calm that if I had the third day off, I'd spend it sitting near the river or harbor just watching boats, planes and people pass by and everything feels as they should be.

But then all these would be lost after I go back to work, where work is nowhere near paints and pens. That's when my second self would kick in. I could feel myself turning into a highly logical and analytic machine, being capable of working out formulas, numbers, and discussing theories for the whole day or till my computer crashes from the many statistical and analytical softwares I got opened at the same time. And I would feel segmented and disconnected from the state that I was.This had been in my thoughts for the past weeks as I alternated between days of vacation and work since last June. It felt like there was a switch button that turns it on and off to the point that the scientific part of me have began thinking of ways in which I could experiment in prolonging my right brained state of being - the one who writes, draws, paints and feels one with the world.

I thought it was a crazy idea. One which would just go away, like a dream, after I've spent all of my vacation leaves and would go back to working all week. So imagine my surprise (and delight) when I saw this video. I couldn't believe the serendipity of finding this one given what my thoughts were. To realize that it wasn't a crazy thought after all. That there is such a thing as two "selves" (the more un-crazy term being "two halves of the brain") in one. That there is a scientific explanation for the two totally different states of mind I was experiencing. And that there is such a thing as us having the choice to be in one - if we wanted to.
It is amazing. It is life changing. It is worth the 18 minutes of watching.



If the video doesn't work, you can also go to this site: http://blog.ted.com/2008/03/jill_bolte_tayl.php

"He's just not that into you"

Last week, during my regular friday walk with a close friend at work, she told me she had broken up with her boyfriend of 5 months. Having been with her since I started working here in Canada more than two years ago and having witnessed the struggles she had gone through in finding this nice guy five months ago, I was devastated for her to say the least. She is the best person there is to have in a partner. How could the world not give her what she deserves? I could feel her sadness. I also remembered how lonely it felt to be in this circumstance. I couldn't sleep last night and so turned to watch a late night movie on tv.

On any other day, I would have ignored this movie. The title alone didn't sound appealing to me. Aside from the lack of "poetry", it gives me visions of women crying and getting dumped and somehow through that it has comedy mixed into it. I thought, "why would anyone want to see a movie that tells them the person they most want aren't into them?" And then find anything in that funny. But since this was a night of heartache, I thought I'd watch it. Also seeing the many famous actors in one movie peaked my interest. There were Drew Barymore and Jennnifer Connely as well as Aniston. (And even though Ben Affleck was in, I figured I could tolerate him for now with all these great girls around.) The movie started out as per my low expectation, a bit patchy, a bit on the cheesy side, trying too hard to be humorous while trying to be smart at the same time, and somewhat segmented as about four different stories were unfolded all at the same time. Also it didn't help that they kept having a slideshow suddenly pop up in between scenes mentioning a phrase which summarizies the scenes earlier and pointing out how one could tell if they are not into you and then a commentary of a supposedly real person (not part of the stories) follows, before it goes back to continue the movie again.

One of the main characters was also a semi-obsessive partner seeker and prone to over analyzing little things and so there were a lot of scenes where I found myself cringing because it placed the character in awkward situations which if I was in her shoes, I could imagine myself not going out of my room for months. Yes, it was uncomfortable to watch.

But and a big BUT, they were mostly true. And real.

By the time the second slideshow/commentary came in, I found myself enjoying it. the And then to my utmost surprise, I began liking the character I initially disliked the most. And best of all, I liked the ending very much. I won't spoil it by talking about the details but it is the kind of ending that gives a nice "closure" to the many stories within the movie. (And if you stayed a little bit more after the movie credits come up, they even show some post interviews of the couples which added I found very delightful as well.) And because it had many mini- stories within it, the movie was able to depict love (and relationships) with its many faces, the happy ones and the not so happy ones. Just like in real life. In this sense it felt like the movie was fully packed, with a lot of wisdom and humor. I also quite liked how simple things in our daily life could mean everything when seen at a right time and right mind like when Jennifer sees her ex-partner washing the dishes at the most critical time that she needed help and how that could change everything and make one realize that sometimes we already have what we want in life. As a whole I quite liked this movie. I had fun watching it. So if ever you find this one free on tv like I did, don't be put off by the title, it's a nice movie about finding love in this modern day and the realities within our most important relationships. My initial perceptions about this movie was totally wrong. The movie is deeper than the title might suggest otherwise.

And maybe after you watch it, you could then watch this teaser that some of the actors made for the movie. I think it may be best to watch this after you've seen the movie - when you've gotten to know the actors as their movie characters and not in this goofy way, but...on the other hand, it is quite funny. :)

Random Stuff

It's the season for cherries! For someone coming from a country where the only cherries I know come in the form of expensive bottled artificial looking ones used to top cakes or that of the distasteful flavor they put in cough syrups, I find fresh cherries surprisingly tasty, affordable and refreshing. It is fast becoming one of my favorite fruits.

It is summer finally! And the harbor docks are packed! I sure wish I could just sit around all day like this lady.

It is a bit odd to see people picnicking just behind one's backyard.



I have been learning to use the moviemaker application lately (which explains why my previous posts mostly contained videos) and this is one use of it that I quite like too! (although I feel it might be better if the words were a bit bigger and the page turning a bit slower for me to appreciate the pictures more)

Edward Hopper

I first saw one of Edward Hooper's work in the Chicago art museum. It was his painting of a couple in a dinner late at night. My bestfriend whom I was with commented that the painting was so lonely. It did feel that way to me too. But I was struck at how he could elicit that feeling of "loneliness" through his paintings; surrounding a lighted area with either darkness, uninhabited spaces, walls or forests. In a book I borrowed from the library, I found that he also uses roads in a "lonely" kind of way, having them lead to nowhere or are have them barren or filled with a lot of overgrowing grass. In his simple painting of a woman below, I am struck at how much he could achieve with just variety of colors.

Cool planter box

In Victoria these days, there is much talk (and marketing) about being eco-friendly, environmentally friendly and all that good stuff and from the myriad of topics that fall under these is the increasing trend of growing one's own food. Yes, it is now really "cool" to be planting your own vegetables and crops and being self-sustainable. I feel the slow mass movement towards this in the group of people I know. And so I am finally giving in and am going to attempt to become "cool' myself. Never mind the most likely insect problems that I would have, never mind the daily tending and watering and the most likely heartbreak in seeing them wither in winter. I thought it was worth a try, on a small scale at least. (The smaller the risk, the smaller the pain of failure, I suppose.) So I bought a planter box that I'd place in our patio (as it is nearer to the kitchen and would be easy for me to water daily). I plan to plant herbs and lettuces for now. The hardy ones for sure, aside from the fact that they're the type of herbs we use a lot. Rosemary, oregano, fennel/dill and lettuce. (I'm keeping my goals small although I know I'm being a lot more ambitious with the lettuce but it is what I'd like to eat daily so it's worth experimenting.) And I'm planting the leftover old potatoes directly on the ground in the backyard. I figured that if I could successfully grow these "hardy" stuff, then maybe I could someday grow the more finicky ones like basil, coriander, and tomatoes.

I painted the planter box sea blue. This shade of blue reminds me a lot of a beach house in Scandinavia for some reason. Not that I have been in Scandinavia. Just looking at it transports me to a nordic place or a more peaceful place like heaven maybe. I could hug this color to death. It is amazing how much color, if it is the right one that matches you, can make a lot of difference to how you feel about your day. This one does it for me. Not to mention that I figured I needed a back-up plan; being that in the the high likelihood that all my herbs would die on me, at least I have a nice empty planter box to look at.