Lovely little video Jeffrey Thompson

"Fixed" 2010 from Jeffrey Thompson on Vimeo.

Caitlin Crosby! Quirky Vid! Tres Loves it!!

Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder

"I believe there is something of the divine mystery in everything that exists. We can see it sparkle in a sunflower or a poppy. We sense more of the unfathomable mystery in a butterfly that flutters from a twig--or in a goldfish swimming in a bowl. But we are closest to God in our own soul. Only there can we become one with the greatest mystery of life. In truth, at very rare moments we can experience that we ourselves are that divine mystery."
— Jostein Gaarder (Sophie's World)

Processing Sophie's World in my mind is equivalent to a snack junkie suddenly being packed with healthy leafy, high protein meals and whole grain wheat throughout the day. It feels like an entire shift in my mental diet. Granted thats a bit of an exaggeration because I believe my mind does "eat" relatively "healthy" materials when it comes to reading...But this book by Jostein Gaarder is certainly not one that can be read only once and digested. And trust me it will take you through a journey which'll force you to reevaluate your way of thinking, of perceiving the world and such and most importantly it makes you think. It transforms your brain into a churning thought factory suddenly processing large amounts of raw material.

I like how Gaarder true to his pedagogical stance, maintained a very unbiased view of every philosopher's viewpoint. He gave both the advantages and flaws in each respective philosopher's contribution while at the same time pin pointing the reason why each had carved out a name in philosophical history.

I also like how he managed to weave fundamentals of philosophical concepts into an interesting and laudable parallel fiction in the form of the two lead characters: Sophie and Alberto.

Definitely worth a read, educational, insightful and thought provoking.

Zooey inspired

Of piranhas and pirouttes

So here i sit, staring blankly at the screen...


What have I been up to after the whirl of crazy law exams? Well for starters, Ive been teaching little kids English at a tuition centre and I rate it as the best job ive had so far, in terms of job satisfaction. Sure I had to chafe and grate and squeeze my vocal chords to make my intentions heard amongst a classful of little piranhas with cute faces all clamouring for attention around the live bait that was me, but I guess Im just a huge mushbucket waiting to be let out of the closet when it comes to kids and their wide eyed gullibility.

Amidst being set up as the designated station for glitter application central for their parent appreciation cards( Mommy Daddy I love you for all you've done for me)and simultaneously having to deal with glitter stuck on my ass and kids trying to eat them, I reached a few epiphanic milestones:

1) I will set up a shrine for my former school teachers in devout reverence of the

shit they had to put up with while trying to shove knowledge down our screaming

throats.

2) I will always gape in admiration at a family of more than 3 kids, all well

behaved. Either the parents use non conventional methods of disciplining the youth

or they really are super star parents who've mastered the art of child management

(who can say they've really learnt) through experience.

3) I am definitely not ready to have kids for the next 10 years or until Ive

outgrown my own 6 year old kid in me( though i suspect he's a non ager). But then

again this 6 year old alter ego is what helps me connect with my students.

Speaking of paradoxes...

4) Its more challenging to teach kids but that I prefer teaching a class full of

rowdy kids to a one on one session with some awkward young adult who's a year or

two my junior. That very same awkward young adult would also be even more awkward because he won't know whether addressing me as Miss would be too formal for someone who's just a year his senior and also if addressing me on a first name basis might be a bit rude. So the result is that the AYA( awkward young adult) ends up "aheming" to get my attention whenever he needs to say anything or when he needs me to check his work.

5) That it takes real mad skills to manage a class full of rowdy, robust, hyperactive

12 year old kids and so far ive met only one person whom i admire for being able

to do that without raising her voice and that is Miss Nanee, the tuition centre's

owner and principal. Where I had to yell to bring what im saying to their

attention, Miss Nanee with 10 years experience under her belt manages to stride

in, get their attention through her cheerful but firm demeanour and gasp(!)

actually get them excited about learning!

6) That it's a fresh experience and would add that to the list of experiences that

make me feel law school is bad but not THAT bad.

In the mood for some soul food

“Those who intend on becoming great should love neither themselves nor their own
things, but only what is just, whether it happens to be done by themselves or
others.”
Plato



“Knowledge becomes evil if the aim be not virtuous.”
Plato quote



“Apply yourself both now and in the next life. Without effort, you cannot be
prosperous. Though the land be good, You cannot have an abundant crop without
cultivation.”
Plato quote



“Astronomy compels the soul to look upwards and leads us from this world to another”
Plato quote



“For a man to conquer himself is the first and noblest of all victories.”
Plato quote



“When the mind is thinking it is talking to itself.”
Plato quote




“Courage is a kind of salvation.”
Plato quote




“In politics we presume that everyone who knows how to get votes knows how to
administer a city or a state. When we are ill... we do not ask for the handsomest
physician, or the most eloquent one.”
Plato quote





“The direction in which education starts a man will determine his future in life”
Plato quote




“Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge”
Plato quote


“Courage is knowing what not to fear.”
Plato quote




“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is
when men are afraid of the light.”
Plato quote



“One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up
being governed by your inferiors.”
Plato quote




“Do not train a child to learn by force or harshness; but direct them to it by what
amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the
peculiar bent of the genius of each.”
Plato quote



“If particulars are to have meaning, there must be universals”
Plato quote



“The measure of a man is what he does with power.”
Plato quote




“How can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a
dream; or whether we are awake, and talking to one another in the waking state?”
Plato quote




“Nothing in the affairs of men is worthy of great anxiety.”
Plato quote




“Man - a being in search of meaning.”
Plato quote



“I have hardly ever known a mathematician who was capable of reasoning”
Plato quote

“Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say
something.”
Plato quote




“Love is a serious mental disease.”
Plato quote



“He who commits injustice is ever made more wretched than he who suffers it”
Plato quote




“People are like dirt. They can either nourish you and help you grow as a person or
they can stunt your growth and make you wilt and die.”
Plato quote



“It is only the dead who have seen the end of war”
Plato quote



“No one ever teaches well who wants to teach, or governs well who wants to govern.”
Plato quote



“Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back. Those who
wish to sing always find a song. At the touch of a lover, everyone becomes a poet.”
Plato quote




“There are two things a person should never be angry at, what they can help, and what
they cannot.”
Plato quote



“He whom love touches not walks in darkness”
Plato quote



“Good actions give strength to ourselves and inspire good actions in others.”
Plato quote

Can't get enough of Marina and The Diamonds!