I've been trying for the past week to achieve lucid dreaming where during your dreams, you become aware that you are dreaming hopefully, learn to control the dream. It sounds like a very difficult thing to do and it is, even more so than I thought.
To learn how to achieve this, I looked around on some reliable scientific resources like Wikipedia and stuff. Remembering your dreams is the first step. The easiest way to do this is to have pen and paper next to your bed so you can write everything down before you forget it. Unfortunately, that doesn't always work because you tend to forget dreams the moment you move or open your eyes.
Most nights, this has worked and I've been able to write down at least one dream from every night since I started doing this. I've found that most of my dreams are in some way related to school. Either featuring people from school or having something to do with schoolwork which is kind of sad. Though there have been some more interesting dreams.
One time, I dreamt I was part of the Explosives Disposal team in the Hurt Locker except it was set in World War II. There was a pile of empty compressed air tanks and we were kicking them around. Suddenly we realised one of them was a bomb and we ran for cover. When the bomb exploded, a knife flew out and chopped the testicles off one of the soldiers. I also wrote down 'coolest thing I seen today'. I'd assume that means someone in my dream said that.
Another dream I had was that it was someone's birthday and we somehow managed to have all school lessons cancelled and had a three day sleepover at the school. That was a really dumb dream.
While I haven't found it hard remembering my dreams, the next step to lucid dreaming has proved to be much harder for me. You must be aware in your dreams that you are dreaming. The easiest way to do this is to constantly ask this question and perform reality checks while you're awake. Soon you'll be doing it out of habit and hopefully in your dreams. These reality checks are pretty simple things like squeezing your nose and closing your mouth and seeing if you can breathe.
So far, I have yet to have a dream where I knew I was dreaming. I've been trying out the stuff in the last paragraph for a while and it hasn't really worked out so it could all be a buncha bunk. These things probably take time and recording my dreams has turned out to be pretty interesting so I'll keep on going with this.
Just a note, my sudden fascination with dreams has nothing to do with Inception. I just happened to see some stuff on this topic on the internet and thought I'd try it out.
And finally, a special mention to Lorraine Li, because I really don't like the word 'shoutout'.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
My Dad
Have you noticed that most asians have cool dads? The mums are always mean and always screaming but dads are always cool. For example look at mychonny's dad, or kevjumbas dad (LOL papajumba app) or tysons dad (he's missing an eyebrow :D). Well my dad's not really cool, but he is kinda weird.
Almost everyday I come home from school I see my dad sitting on the couch listening to music. You might think that he has his headphones on so that no one else in the house will be disturbed. No. He has to have the volume up so that the floor shakes. It might be actually alright if the music he listened to was normal. But it's not. Here's a typical playlist my dad will go through in a day (not in any particular order):
My dad's pride and joy is his stereo system. He has three high end amplifiers, one tuner, one CD player and 4 speakers. You can literally pick any component of his stereo system and it will be worth more than his car. Yes, even the wires. I should however point out that his car is only $500 (it used to be a taxi). If he sold all this we would probably be very rich. But then he'd be grumpier than usual. And that's not worth it.
That is all.
Almost everyday I come home from school I see my dad sitting on the couch listening to music. You might think that he has his headphones on so that no one else in the house will be disturbed. No. He has to have the volume up so that the floor shakes. It might be actually alright if the music he listened to was normal. But it's not. Here's a typical playlist my dad will go through in a day (not in any particular order):
- Chanting Monks
- Cannon fire (seriously)
- A man reciting chinese poetry
- A woman reciting chinese poetry
- Nature (like dogs barking, birds chirping)
- Celine Dion (O.O)
- Whitney Houston (O.O)
My dad's pride and joy is his stereo system. He has three high end amplifiers, one tuner, one CD player and 4 speakers. You can literally pick any component of his stereo system and it will be worth more than his car. Yes, even the wires. I should however point out that his car is only $500 (it used to be a taxi). If he sold all this we would probably be very rich. But then he'd be grumpier than usual. And that's not worth it.
That is all.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
TUESDAY: Things that make me laugh
It doesn't take much to make me laugh. I find lots of things funny. But here's a list of the kind of stuff I find really funny.
Andrew Hanson
This is the guy who did the really funny comedy songs for the Chaser. He has some pretty funny facial expression and he's pretty good as the Crazy Warehouse Guy.
4Chan /b/
SMBC
This is probably my favourite webcomic. Not laugh out loud funny, because stuff like this rarely is. More like, chortle-chortle kind of funny.
A really old YouTube video that I watched again today and suddenly started cracking up. I just found it so funny. This video is actually why I made this post because I thought 'Hmm, who else would find this funny'. According to Youtube, that would be the 31,489 people who also 'liked it'. But that's not my point.
Hot Chicks in Black and White Flicks
Sexy and classy!
Andrew Hanson
This is the guy who did the really funny comedy songs for the Chaser. He has some pretty funny facial expression and he's pretty good as the Crazy Warehouse Guy.4Chan /b/
SMBC
This is probably my favourite webcomic. Not laugh out loud funny, because stuff like this rarely is. More like, chortle-chortle kind of funny.
A really old YouTube video that I watched again today and suddenly started cracking up. I just found it so funny. This video is actually why I made this post because I thought 'Hmm, who else would find this funny'. According to Youtube, that would be the 31,489 people who also 'liked it'. But that's not my point.
Hot Chicks in Black and White Flicks
Sexy and classy!
Monday, July 19, 2010
Happy 2nd Anniversary Dark Knight
Yesterday was the 2nd Anniversary of the Dark Knight since its release in 2008. As usual, I celebrated it with watching Batman Begins and The Dark Knight again. They're still as good as the first time I watched them.
But I'm still really really pissed off at how Inception is being released this Thursday and not on the 16th like in America. I was really hoping to see it in IMAX.
Anyway since its the end of the holidays now, here's a list stuff of what I liked and didn't like about the holidays.
Likes:
That is all
But I'm still really really pissed off at how Inception is being released this Thursday and not on the 16th like in America. I was really hoping to see it in IMAX.
Anyway since its the end of the holidays now, here's a list stuff of what I liked and didn't like about the holidays.
Likes:
- I got to watch movies (almost one a day during the second week)
- I got to sleep in
- I got breakfast
- I had to listen to my parents all holidays
- My parents asked retarded and repetitive questions + requests e.g. "Come fruit shopping with me, you do ag", "Is it going to rain tomorrow"
- I had to do ag
- I had to do maths
- I wasted virtually the entire week on tutoring + UMAT training
- The holidays were too short
- Inception wasn't out during the holidays
- It was boring everyday until 9.00pm (when I get to watch a movie)
That is all
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Bad Ads
So in the cinema the other day (yesterday) there were the pre movie ads. Usually the trailers are good but I was watching Toy Story 3 and so the trailers were pretty crap. I mean there was an animated movie about owl guardians from Ga'hoole. Looks pretty good.
Anyway, the main ad I want to talk about is the one where there's a woman with a giant ball of string just running around the city. It's made to look so artistic, the girl runs up a spiral staircase, then there's a low shot where the shaky handheld camera looks up at her looking up the sun etc. etc. In the end the woman just meets another man with a big ball of string too. Now you might be wondering what the ad was for. Big balls of string? A new way to annoy the public? No, it was a tourism add for Melbourne with the tagline "You'll get lost in Melbourne" and i just sit there going w..t...f..?
Oh yeh and the ANZ one is pretty bad too. Well, it's not random it's just that whenever I see an ANZ bank I immediately think of the bogan lady and how she mistreats people so I have negative feelings toward ANZ now.
Speaking of bogans have you seen the trailer for "Hawke" the movie about Bob Hawke? How good can two hours of watching a bogan in a suit talk to other bogans not in suits be when you already know the end? Stupid. Ok I think I've been watching too much TV but hey, what else is there to do right?
Office quote of the day: When Mama was working as a prison guard and something went missing, she'd ask one question: "What do we do when we find the guilty party?" And if they said, "Come down on him with that swift hammer of justice", innocent. A clear conscience don't need no mercy. But if they said, "Officer Bessie, well they may have had a reason, blah blah blah blah", well, nine times out of ten, that's the anus they'd check.
That is all.
Anyway, the main ad I want to talk about is the one where there's a woman with a giant ball of string just running around the city. It's made to look so artistic, the girl runs up a spiral staircase, then there's a low shot where the shaky handheld camera looks up at her looking up the sun etc. etc. In the end the woman just meets another man with a big ball of string too. Now you might be wondering what the ad was for. Big balls of string? A new way to annoy the public? No, it was a tourism add for Melbourne with the tagline "You'll get lost in Melbourne" and i just sit there going w..t...f..?
Oh yeh and the ANZ one is pretty bad too. Well, it's not random it's just that whenever I see an ANZ bank I immediately think of the bogan lady and how she mistreats people so I have negative feelings toward ANZ now.
Speaking of bogans have you seen the trailer for "Hawke" the movie about Bob Hawke? How good can two hours of watching a bogan in a suit talk to other bogans not in suits be when you already know the end? Stupid. Ok I think I've been watching too much TV but hey, what else is there to do right?
Office quote of the day: When Mama was working as a prison guard and something went missing, she'd ask one question: "What do we do when we find the guilty party?" And if they said, "Come down on him with that swift hammer of justice", innocent. A clear conscience don't need no mercy. But if they said, "Officer Bessie, well they may have had a reason, blah blah blah blah", well, nine times out of ten, that's the anus they'd check.
That is all.
Friday, July 16, 2010
FRIDAY: Sin City
The speakers for my TV have an iPod dock on them. So something I do for fun is watch TV with no sound, while playing something completely inappropriate from my iPod. An example would be playing heavy metal while watching Play School or something from the Pirates of the Carribean soundtrack during Dr. Phil. Every once in a while, the action on the screen synchronises with the music and it's really funny.
Speaking of iPods, I had to restore mine because it started acting really funny. Because Apple is lame, I had to upgrade to iOS4, which I'm having trouble jailbreaking. If anyone's jailbroken an iOS4 device, then please tell me. Otherwise I'll have to downgrade :(
I've managed to watch three more movies since the last post- Sin City, Pan's Labyrinth and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. I realised I never talk about movies that people might be planning to see or are still in cinemas, which means my posts don't really help anyone. But noone's complained yet so here we go.
Sin CityThis is a movie based on a comic series by Frank Miller, who also co-directed. According to the director, this was meant to be a translation of the comic, not an adaptation. That explains the brilliant style of the film. Everything looks good. The police cars bouncing down the road looks good. The CGI backdrop looks good. Jessica Alba as a cowgirl stripper looks really good.
I think that sums up what I liked most about the film. The director (Robert Rodriguez, famous among other things for directing Spy Kids) managed to pull off a very unique visual style that Zack Snyder didn't really do right with 300. There's a strong cast that do a good job with their characters (like Jessica Alba).
Though I haven't read the Sin City comics, I have read some of Miller's other stuff. By other stuff I mean his Batman comics. On one hand, he wrote Batman: Year One, which is considered one of the best Batman comics written. On the other hand, he wrote All Star: Batman and Robin which is a notoriously bad comic (though the artwork is really good).
Basically the problem with that comic is that Miller tries to make Batman sound like a badass, confident, slightly sadistic vigilante. Not a bad idea but unfortunately, he comes out sounding like a bit of a wanker (and not in a likeable way).
Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that some parts of the script in Sin City feel like they teeter dangerously close to that level of lameness. Overall though, I liked this movie a lot. If I had to give it a rating out of 5, I'd give it 4/5.
I felt very self-conscious while writing that and I don't think I have the time to write about another two movies so that's it. For anyone who's interested, Pan's Labyrinth and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang are also good movies and right now, I'd put them very roughly in the same league.
Speaking of iPods, I had to restore mine because it started acting really funny. Because Apple is lame, I had to upgrade to iOS4, which I'm having trouble jailbreaking. If anyone's jailbroken an iOS4 device, then please tell me. Otherwise I'll have to downgrade :(
I've managed to watch three more movies since the last post- Sin City, Pan's Labyrinth and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. I realised I never talk about movies that people might be planning to see or are still in cinemas, which means my posts don't really help anyone. But noone's complained yet so here we go.
Sin CityThis is a movie based on a comic series by Frank Miller, who also co-directed. According to the director, this was meant to be a translation of the comic, not an adaptation. That explains the brilliant style of the film. Everything looks good. The police cars bouncing down the road looks good. The CGI backdrop looks good. Jessica Alba as a cowgirl stripper looks really good.
I think that sums up what I liked most about the film. The director (Robert Rodriguez, famous among other things for directing Spy Kids) managed to pull off a very unique visual style that Zack Snyder didn't really do right with 300. There's a strong cast that do a good job with their characters (like Jessica Alba).
Though I haven't read the Sin City comics, I have read some of Miller's other stuff. By other stuff I mean his Batman comics. On one hand, he wrote Batman: Year One, which is considered one of the best Batman comics written. On the other hand, he wrote All Star: Batman and Robin which is a notoriously bad comic (though the artwork is really good).
Basically the problem with that comic is that Miller tries to make Batman sound like a badass, confident, slightly sadistic vigilante. Not a bad idea but unfortunately, he comes out sounding like a bit of a wanker (and not in a likeable way).
Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that some parts of the script in Sin City feel like they teeter dangerously close to that level of lameness. Overall though, I liked this movie a lot. If I had to give it a rating out of 5, I'd give it 4/5.
I felt very self-conscious while writing that and I don't think I have the time to write about another two movies so that's it. For anyone who's interested, Pan's Labyrinth and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang are also good movies and right now, I'd put them very roughly in the same league.
Monday, July 12, 2010
201st POST!!!! TIME TO GET SERIOUS
In tune with the two recent posts by Vincent and Tim, I have also decided to make a long post about life and what it is like for me. This is a serious and thoughtful post filled with a vast amount of poignancy and prose, so if you were expecting something random along the lines of my previous posts, than you better not be reading this at all.
First of all, I'd like to voice something that has been plaguing my conscience for years. Have you ever noticed that the indicator lights of cars do not indicate at a constant rate? If you are lucky enough to see two cars side by side at an intersection wanting to turn in the same direction, observe how their indicator lights are at first unsynchronised, then they are synchronized, then they are not again. This could simply be a fault with the timing system of the indicator lights, but I am not one as to be so inclined to what others call as coincidences. What if the automobiles were sending secret messages via the timing of their indicator lights so that one day they may band together, transform into mechanized humanoids and rise up against mankind which has enslaved them for so long? Heed this dire warning: treat your automobillic bretheren kindly so that they may show mercy when our time is nigh.
And now to reflect on my past. In bygone times of primary school, if I had the option of school or home, I would have most definitely said school. In the bygone junior years of high school, given the same option I would have tentatively said home. Now in the present, if given the options again, it would probably elicit this response from me - "I am disinclined as to acquiesce to replying to your question". In other words, now, they both suck shit. This may probably be due to the fact that I am involved in no extra-cirricular school activities. Probably what made me aware of this was (ironically) Shakespeare Festival. While we were figuring out what dates we were able to fit into everyone's schedule, I noticed a sort of pattern. Here's basically what our conversations were like:
Teacher: Do you guys wanna practice monday arvo?
Vincent: Nah, I've got cadets.
Falko: Yeh me too
Tim: Yeh I've got cadets too.
Lindy: So have I.
Me: I've got tutoring
Teacher: How about friday afternoon?
Vincent: Nah I've got musical
Falko: Yeh me too.
Tim: Yeh I've got musical too.
Lindy: So have I.
Me: I've got tutoring.
But I digress.
Overall, I think I've matured quite a lot since when I was two. I no longer watch Playschool and hi five anymore (though i'm still partial to blues clues). I think that maturity is really reflected in my second paragraph where i actually concern myself with global issues. So now I can go on to get the dream job of being a doctor. Let's just hope House is a documentary.
That is all.
First of all, I'd like to voice something that has been plaguing my conscience for years. Have you ever noticed that the indicator lights of cars do not indicate at a constant rate? If you are lucky enough to see two cars side by side at an intersection wanting to turn in the same direction, observe how their indicator lights are at first unsynchronised, then they are synchronized, then they are not again. This could simply be a fault with the timing system of the indicator lights, but I am not one as to be so inclined to what others call as coincidences. What if the automobiles were sending secret messages via the timing of their indicator lights so that one day they may band together, transform into mechanized humanoids and rise up against mankind which has enslaved them for so long? Heed this dire warning: treat your automobillic bretheren kindly so that they may show mercy when our time is nigh.
And now to reflect on my past. In bygone times of primary school, if I had the option of school or home, I would have most definitely said school. In the bygone junior years of high school, given the same option I would have tentatively said home. Now in the present, if given the options again, it would probably elicit this response from me - "I am disinclined as to acquiesce to replying to your question". In other words, now, they both suck shit. This may probably be due to the fact that I am involved in no extra-cirricular school activities. Probably what made me aware of this was (ironically) Shakespeare Festival. While we were figuring out what dates we were able to fit into everyone's schedule, I noticed a sort of pattern. Here's basically what our conversations were like:
Teacher: Do you guys wanna practice monday arvo?
Vincent: Nah, I've got cadets.
Falko: Yeh me too
Tim: Yeh I've got cadets too.
Lindy: So have I.
Me: I've got tutoring
Teacher: How about friday afternoon?
Vincent: Nah I've got musical
Falko: Yeh me too.
Tim: Yeh I've got musical too.
Lindy: So have I.
Me: I've got tutoring.
But I digress.
Overall, I think I've matured quite a lot since when I was two. I no longer watch Playschool and hi five anymore (though i'm still partial to blues clues). I think that maturity is really reflected in my second paragraph where i actually concern myself with global issues. So now I can go on to get the dream job of being a doctor. Let's just hope House is a documentary.
That is all.
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