Went to the 23rd Ontario Japanese Speech Contest on Saturday. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to stay for the latter half of it (which included the speeches of the Advanced and Open sections). The opening speech given by the current Consul General of Japan in Toronto, Hisao Yamaguchi. The sensitivity and thought with which his speech was composed reflects a level of diplomacy, professionalism and taste, the likes of which I haven't seen in a long while. Following his impressive speech were the participants of the actual speech contest. (During the beginners' section, the Japanese flag actually fell down from the wall... one wonders what that foreshadows.)
Consul General Yamaguchi's speech was fully bilingual, in the simple pattern of a paragraph in Japanese followed by its English equivalent. Of course, his Japanese was more rapid and fluent, but his English was quite well-pratised as well, and it was apparent that he was no stranger to the concepts which define English grammar.
On a totally unrelated note, I wonder whether it's actually *possible* for me to become fully bilingual. Of course it's been said that my English is impeccible (when need be) and that my breadth and depth of foreign languages is equally impressive. But despite these amateuristic hobbies, I must admit that I reserve some doubt as to whether one day I might be able to converse in German or Chinese or Japanese as well as I do with English, using the various famous lines of literature and lore at my disposal.
I digress. I hope my next entry will be more refined in its focus and flow.
2005/03/14
2005/03/12
D³
Darkness. Depression. Despondancy.
Gloomy shadows up above,
devour the souls of those below.
Drowning in a pool of blood,
Tormented by time that does not flow.
Blades and sheers soon numb the senses
As jaunts soon numb the mind,
The sun hides 'hind the sky of darkness
N'er again for mine eyes to find.
Gloomy shadows up above,
devour the souls of those below.
Drowning in a pool of blood,
Tormented by time that does not flow.
Blades and sheers soon numb the senses
As jaunts soon numb the mind,
The sun hides 'hind the sky of darkness
N'er again for mine eyes to find.
2005/02/28
Sanguinary Solitude
"He who would keep a secret must keep it secret that he has a secret to keep." How clever, and oh, how true. This blog isn't seen by many, and yet too many read this blog already.
Too much idiocy in this world. As Albert Einstein once said, "There are only two truly infinite things. The universe and stupidity, andI'm not too sure about the former".
There's no use confronting the idiocy either. There's just simply an alarming lacuna of cogitation. And even on the off chance that one's reasoning is understood, idiocy cannot spontaneously evolve into a pure-bred fortress of intelligence.
Nothing is ever simple. There is always a second dimention. But idiocy sees only what it can see, and since it cannot conceive of something beyond its ken, it dismisses the possibility of any higher meaning or hidden layers.
If I'm blogging about something because I'm bothered or hurt, then there's basically one of three things one can do: offer comfort or advice, do nothing, or do something asinine and offensive. I don't expect everybody to be brilliant; nobody ever truely knows how one deals with various situations in life. Then if good advice cannot be offered, between saying nothing and saying something stupid, I wonder which is better.
"What is done cannot be undone." But what is known can be taught. Nobody's perfect. But some are more perfect than others. (enough quotes and clichés for one post?) Imperfection is one thing to be intolerant of, but ignorance and idiocy is another. Of course, some people often mistake the two, and obviously one is a result of the other.
Go out, live, speak, learn your mistakes and grow! Certain individuals (who shall remain nameless) are perhaps unbearable, not because of their poor manners or klumsy speech, but rather because of their inability to see that they've offended someone, or ruined the mood. Stoicism is certainly not the answer, but clearly it is better sometimes not to say anything at all than to lower the calibre of the conversation by contributing meaningly drivel.
Bloody blighters. Can't ever leave well enough alone. *sighs*
Too much idiocy in this world. As Albert Einstein once said, "There are only two truly infinite things. The universe and stupidity, andI'm not too sure about the former".
There's no use confronting the idiocy either. There's just simply an alarming lacuna of cogitation. And even on the off chance that one's reasoning is understood, idiocy cannot spontaneously evolve into a pure-bred fortress of intelligence.
Nothing is ever simple. There is always a second dimention. But idiocy sees only what it can see, and since it cannot conceive of something beyond its ken, it dismisses the possibility of any higher meaning or hidden layers.
If I'm blogging about something because I'm bothered or hurt, then there's basically one of three things one can do: offer comfort or advice, do nothing, or do something asinine and offensive. I don't expect everybody to be brilliant; nobody ever truely knows how one deals with various situations in life. Then if good advice cannot be offered, between saying nothing and saying something stupid, I wonder which is better.
"What is done cannot be undone." But what is known can be taught. Nobody's perfect. But some are more perfect than others. (enough quotes and clichés for one post?) Imperfection is one thing to be intolerant of, but ignorance and idiocy is another. Of course, some people often mistake the two, and obviously one is a result of the other.
Go out, live, speak, learn your mistakes and grow! Certain individuals (who shall remain nameless) are perhaps unbearable, not because of their poor manners or klumsy speech, but rather because of their inability to see that they've offended someone, or ruined the mood. Stoicism is certainly not the answer, but clearly it is better sometimes not to say anything at all than to lower the calibre of the conversation by contributing meaningly drivel.
Bloody blighters. Can't ever leave well enough alone. *sighs*
2005/02/21
NG
Nobility and Gentility. I just saw My Fair Lady, and Pretty Women. Ah, such good movies. Reminds of one of the single reasons why I'm an imperialist; they at least had a concept of morality, gentility and nobility. Unlike the common youth of today who regard anything vulgar or tasteless as amusing, and anything classy or tasteful as pretentious.
Totally unrelated, but another thing that bugs me is people who claim to be something when they clearly have no grounds to claim them in the first place. (e.g. "I'm very humble!") But also people who clearly lack a maturity of thought and action who claim to have the depths to know what it means to love, to hurt, to live. One such fellow, whom I've had the misfortune of becoming acquainted, endevours to stake the claim that he is "evil", as if he had a concept of what evil really is. To him did I (indirectly) retort: "The evil of idiocy cannot compare to the malice of intelligence".
I find that in his mind, being "evil" singlely consists of the feeling of darkness, or hatred. Also being an exemplary example of a typical brutish male, his lack of depth of thought disallows him to conceive, contrive or concoct any acts of malice which would extend beyond the immediate and overt act of violence, whether physical or verbal.
Semi-articulate hate-rant today. With this level of fractional-clarity of thought, I just may make progress on one of my numerous outstanding essays (some of which had been promised to be completed up to a year ago).
Totally unrelated, but another thing that bugs me is people who claim to be something when they clearly have no grounds to claim them in the first place. (e.g. "I'm very humble!") But also people who clearly lack a maturity of thought and action who claim to have the depths to know what it means to love, to hurt, to live. One such fellow, whom I've had the misfortune of becoming acquainted, endevours to stake the claim that he is "evil", as if he had a concept of what evil really is. To him did I (indirectly) retort: "The evil of idiocy cannot compare to the malice of intelligence".
I find that in his mind, being "evil" singlely consists of the feeling of darkness, or hatred. Also being an exemplary example of a typical brutish male, his lack of depth of thought disallows him to conceive, contrive or concoct any acts of malice which would extend beyond the immediate and overt act of violence, whether physical or verbal.
Semi-articulate hate-rant today. With this level of fractional-clarity of thought, I just may make progress on one of my numerous outstanding essays (some of which had been promised to be completed up to a year ago).
2005/02/18
Dispelled
Finally. I've successfully untangled all illusions looming above a certain someone. Although feeling rather indignant as well, since I kinda wanted to be back in Toronto 4 hours ago... Oh well. It was a good learning experience.
2005/02/16
sin(x)
Was really down yesterday. Thanks to you all who tried to help cheer me up. It started on Monday evening, and it just kept sliding down. My roommate helped slow it down, and a few of you (xq, ally) helped by talking to me about it. It makes me so touched, I feel like drawing a picture.. ...or writing a poem. ...Or maybe after class.
But I'm feeling much better now. I got a message from the source of my unhappiness these past couple of days this morning. So I really was reading too deeply into things, as I always do anyways. But even if one knows that one reads too deeply into things doesn't stop one from still feeling all those emotions of pain, anxiety, hurt, loneliness, etc...
Oh well... I'm gonna be given some belated v-day sweets tomorrow! yey! But I swear, I have NO idea where I stand in this relationship... so confusing...
But I'm feeling much better now. I got a message from the source of my unhappiness these past couple of days this morning. So I really was reading too deeply into things, as I always do anyways. But even if one knows that one reads too deeply into things doesn't stop one from still feeling all those emotions of pain, anxiety, hurt, loneliness, etc...
Oh well... I'm gonna be given some belated v-day sweets tomorrow! yey! But I swear, I have NO idea where I stand in this relationship... so confusing...
2005/02/14
Tiredddd
I got a reasonable amount of rest last night... ...or so I thought.... why am I so tired? Up since 8:30; not gonna be home till around 8:30pm... ...if not later... T_T
V-day
Freezing rain. V-day. I wonder if the two are related. Personally, I don't put much stock into these sorts of things (I don't even bother with these sorts of days in general), but it's hard to ignore it when everybody else is going crazy over it. Ah well. I'm single and loving it. ...well, as much as one CAN love one's life while one is in university...
I still gotta find some simply printouts outlining the history of Valentine's Day for the Japanese exchange students (Language Exchange today... whee). *thinks a series of other thoughts that won't ever get written in this space*
Class soon. Germannnnn.
2005/02/12
Happiness
There's a joy you experience with your family, a joy with your friends, a joy in life... So many types of joy in the world. I've finally found some semblances of joy here in UW. Unfortuantely, I'm also hypersensitive, so these sorts of joys tend to be short-lived. But I think that there's a certain joy that I've found by being with a certain someone that won't be as short-lived as the rest. At the same time, I'm usually really bad at predicting these sorts of things.
I'm NOT going to go into what I think love is, or what love means to me. Because there are plenty of other people in the world who do that already. But I will say that I've finally found someone outside of highschool who shares a great many interests and certain ideals. Joy... Beauty. Eternity isn't the only beauty in the world. In saying thus, I think that even though I'm unable to remain friends with everybody forever, those small windows of time in which we shared amicability are small gems in the otherwise dull scheme of my life. Bigger isn't always better. Sometimes the friendship was beautiful because it was short. (not to say that I go around trying to cut short my relationships. ) Just that I don't try to make all my relationships last when clearly some of them aren't meant to.
Feelings cloud judgement, but they give such flavour to life. Finding the balance is the real trick... ...and now I'm ranting. Gotta get up early tomorrow for Toronto...
I'm NOT going to go into what I think love is, or what love means to me. Because there are plenty of other people in the world who do that already. But I will say that I've finally found someone outside of highschool who shares a great many interests and certain ideals. Joy... Beauty. Eternity isn't the only beauty in the world. In saying thus, I think that even though I'm unable to remain friends with everybody forever, those small windows of time in which we shared amicability are small gems in the otherwise dull scheme of my life. Bigger isn't always better. Sometimes the friendship was beautiful because it was short. (not to say that I go around trying to cut short my relationships. ) Just that I don't try to make all my relationships last when clearly some of them aren't meant to.
Feelings cloud judgement, but they give such flavour to life. Finding the balance is the real trick... ...and now I'm ranting. Gotta get up early tomorrow for Toronto...
2005/02/09
Damnation
Just discovered that comments here either require you to be a blogger member, or no ID whatsoever. Grr!! I hate this anonymous posting. A pox on thee, blogger! You may as well have merged with xanga. Grrr... So erm, dear friends, please be so kind as to leave your name at the end of your comments. Thank you. =)
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