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Name: AKA
Home: Toronto, Ontario (in Australia until April 2009), Canada
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Changing the World
Buttons
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
On Good Friday, my good friends and I headed down to Niagara Falls for the day to do all the touristy things we could fit into one day. It was actually meant as a "Bachelorette Day Out" since one of my friends is getting married 17 days (!!!).
All in all we had a great time. The weather was terribly foggy and raining off an on, but we had a great time nonetheless. True to most 'girls only' events, I can't divulge all our secrets and inside jokes (because for most of them, you just had to be there) so instead here are just some of the pictures I took. You can see all of them here
usually post personall stories or events that I'm attending, I'll leave that to my friends who are good with putting up pictures on time and telling the stories. I, on the other hand, will prefer to write a lengthy post about some obscure thought.Interesting architechture
The view from the White Water Walk
Bridge/path along the WWW
One of us graffitied a rock with all of our initials...muahaha...we're badasses
Two years ago the elevator that takes you down to the WWW got stuck, so we were stuck in this tunnel and around the WWW area for 2 hours with about 150 other people. The Niagara Regioanl Police's genius idea to rescue us after 2 hours? Take 2 people up at a time on a 30-year old monorail which hadn't been used in about 20 years. And to make the matter more comoforting, the monorail, which seated only 2 people other than the driver, went at a snail's pace (though I'd bet my money on the snail). After taking the first pair up, the elevator's started up. We made a beeline down this very tunnel and made sure we were the second group to go up (in case it got stuck again). We got free ice cream when we got back up so all's well that ends well.
Beautiful trees
Clifton HillSo whaddya think? Maybe I could one day make Sam from DDOI proud? (I'll settle for jealous)
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Wouldn't it be nice to be about 7 years old again? I envy that of my sister who is revelling in that very age right now. And it's not what you think - it's not my whole "oh-my-god-I-am-getting-older" tantrum. It's that I realize how exciting the world seems through her eyes, while I may sit at the exact same spot and just be in a slump.
As a kid, double-decker buses fascinated me. I mean c'mon, it's a two-storey bus! I've yet to actually ride in one, and I'd imagine that the day I do I'll be as giddy as I would be if I did it when I was younger. But it's funny to see how something now that seems so commonplace, makes my sister shriek with excitement.
You know that whole thing where when you're in a car looking at the moon, it seems to follow you which ever way you go? That was her biggest discovery a couple years back. Like a scientific breakthrough that only she had come to discover.
I think as an adult you lose you sense of subtlety and awe. Something only catches your eye now if it costs a lot of money. The worth of the world around us comes with a price tag attached. It's an inescapable truth. And sadly, we know as a matter of fact, that it will only get worse.
There used to be a time when university was an actual place of knowledge and learning. Some people were actually paid to become scholar. Most didn't pay anything at all. It seems know that all a university is, is a large conveyor belt that we pay ridiculous amount of money to be placed on, so we can go from one point to another to receive a degree when we reach the end stage. Despite putting out the image that university caters to individuals, it is actually a steel-crafted mold that we are all pressed through. Some will come out with perfectly cut and rounded corners, and those who do not will be weeded out through Quality Control.
This is nothing against the professors at universities. Some are just there to fulfill a requirement in their contracts, while others genuinely want to teach. It's very rare today to find that one professor who changes you're thinking path provokes ideas that you would have never come up with on your own. They challenge what you've already come to accept and bring about controversy within your own thoughts and hold the simple talent of engaging a mind. It's at that moment that you are in the midst of true learning.
Memorizing a list of experiments and studies will indeed help you pass your final, but it really hasn't done much else for you. Why do I need a professor to lecture me on a study that I am staring at in my textbook as he/she speaks?
I am excited to go back to school in the fall. But at the same time I'm looking at some of my friends and family who are soon to be graduating from college/university and have no idea why they've endured 3-4 years of countless courses which seemingly have no purpose, all in the end to receive a piece of paper with their school seal and name. I've earned a degree from the university I went to, but not much else.
I hope that I'm not discouraging people to go to university, because education is important in all respects. But, maybe we need to try a little harder to get more out of it. Unfortunately I seem to have realized this after I left. But, at the same time, I'm thankful that I have another 3 years coming up during which I can make more an effort to achieve more than just a degree.
As a kid, double-decker buses fascinated me. I mean c'mon, it's a two-storey bus! I've yet to actually ride in one, and I'd imagine that the day I do I'll be as giddy as I would be if I did it when I was younger. But it's funny to see how something now that seems so commonplace, makes my sister shriek with excitement.
You know that whole thing where when you're in a car looking at the moon, it seems to follow you which ever way you go? That was her biggest discovery a couple years back. Like a scientific breakthrough that only she had come to discover.
I think as an adult you lose you sense of subtlety and awe. Something only catches your eye now if it costs a lot of money. The worth of the world around us comes with a price tag attached. It's an inescapable truth. And sadly, we know as a matter of fact, that it will only get worse.
There used to be a time when university was an actual place of knowledge and learning. Some people were actually paid to become scholar. Most didn't pay anything at all. It seems know that all a university is, is a large conveyor belt that we pay ridiculous amount of money to be placed on, so we can go from one point to another to receive a degree when we reach the end stage. Despite putting out the image that university caters to individuals, it is actually a steel-crafted mold that we are all pressed through. Some will come out with perfectly cut and rounded corners, and those who do not will be weeded out through Quality Control.
This is nothing against the professors at universities. Some are just there to fulfill a requirement in their contracts, while others genuinely want to teach. It's very rare today to find that one professor who changes you're thinking path provokes ideas that you would have never come up with on your own. They challenge what you've already come to accept and bring about controversy within your own thoughts and hold the simple talent of engaging a mind. It's at that moment that you are in the midst of true learning.
Memorizing a list of experiments and studies will indeed help you pass your final, but it really hasn't done much else for you. Why do I need a professor to lecture me on a study that I am staring at in my textbook as he/she speaks?
I am excited to go back to school in the fall. But at the same time I'm looking at some of my friends and family who are soon to be graduating from college/university and have no idea why they've endured 3-4 years of countless courses which seemingly have no purpose, all in the end to receive a piece of paper with their school seal and name. I've earned a degree from the university I went to, but not much else.
I hope that I'm not discouraging people to go to university, because education is important in all respects. But, maybe we need to try a little harder to get more out of it. Unfortunately I seem to have realized this after I left. But, at the same time, I'm thankful that I have another 3 years coming up during which I can make more an effort to achieve more than just a degree.
Monday, April 03, 2006
The paradox of our time in history is that
We have taller buildings, but shorter tempers.
Wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less.
We buy more, but enjoy it less.
We have bigger houses and smaller families.
More conveniences, but less time.
We have more degrees, but less sense.
More knowledge, but less judgment.
More experts, but more problems.
More medicine, but less wellness.
We drink too much, smoke too much,
Spend too recklessly,laugh too little, drive too fast,
Get too angry too quickly,stay up too late, get up too tired,
Read too little,watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.
We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values.
We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.
We've learned how to make a living, but not a life;
We've added years to life, not life to years.
We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor.
We've conquered outer space, but not inner space;We've done larger things, but not better things.
We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul.
We've split the atom, but not our prejudice.
We write more, but learn less; We plan more, but accomplish less;
We've learned to rush, but not to wait; We have higher incomes, but lower morals;
We have more food, but less appeasement;We build more computers to hold more information to produce more copies than ever, but have less communication.
We've become long on quantity, but short on quality.
These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion; tall men, and short character; steep profits, and shallow relationships.
These are the times of world peace, but domestic warfare; more leisure,but less fun; more kinds of food, but less nutrition.
These are days of two incomes, but more divorce; of fancier houses, but broken homes.
These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throw away morality, one-night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill.
It is a time when there is much in the show window and nothing in the stockroom; a time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to make a difference, or to just hit delete...
- Dr. Bob Moorehead
The essay appeared under the title "The Paradox of Our Age" in Words Aptly Spoken, Dr. Moorehead's 1995 collection of prayers, homilies, and monologues used in his sermons and radio broadcasts.
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