asphalt garden by ~i-love-snape-3 on deviantART

I dunno. I was proud of this. Lol.

I think war is derived from a dysfunctional human mindset. We believe that we will have a stronger self/national/cultural identity if we define 'us' as different from 'them'. This may be true, but there is a fine line between celebrating diversity/independence and dehumanising those you see as the 'bad guys' - this makes it easier for us to end the life of another person. Lives become resources. Killing somebody gives your side a tactical advantage. The meaning of wartime victories, with the exception of WW2, are essentially pointless. When you look at it from a wider perspective, it's two extremely like-minded 'teams' of the same species fighting each other for things with very relative value. I don't even know what WW1 was about. lol. I know that a lot of it was based on other nations having what seems like more power than your own and so treating them as a threat to your wellbeing.

We're heading towards this even now, after two extreme demonstrations of what human beings can unleash upon each other when they don't appreciate the same struggles and desires in the other person. Stereotyping is an example of how this wartime mindset continues during peacetime. If we believed that the other person was one of our own kind, we'd never kill them. We'd probably never even insult them, or regret doing so. But if somebody just happens to be part of a different culture (different from your own only in convention), you're not killing a person anymore. You're eliminating a threat. It's the false perception of threats in those who are not 'us' that leads to war. Some ways to combat this include negotiation, inter-culture and inter-faith dialogue, the elimination of generalisation and stereotyping, and taking a sincere interest in the dynamics of other culture.

Although it's easy to do so, we can't hold environmentalism, communism, socialism (okay maybe socialism), christianity, atheism, as our reigning ideals in regards to these problems in the human mindset. This is because of the way we use these things; these ideologies are restrictive and aid our attempt to define ourselves and our beliefs as better and separate to others. Just think about how many times someone has said: "My religion is the true one". There's no humbleness in that statement: how likely is it that you and your beliefs are 100% right and fair on every issue? I've learned this when I change my beliefs and find myself among the same people I used to deem incomprehensibly, obviously 'wrong'. You never know which way your opinion will change, so respect those of other people. In regards to ideals, I think we have to hold other people and general wellbeing as our ideal; that is not dogma, it is relating to your fellow individual. Something I'm not sure we'll adopt.

p.s Read Tolle.

Paige.

Honestly, I generally stay in my school uniform until I have my shower in the evening. If I'm planning to do exercise or in a hateful-towards-uniform mood I change into regular clothes though.. PLEASE TELL ME I'M NORMAL! :P

p.s It's my birthday :)

It's my birthday tomorrow, I can't wait to be like everybody else and turn 16 - so many priveliges (mainly getting a learner's permit, which I'm not even sure I want). Also, I get to drink wine. Not that I didn't before, but now my Mum can't frown at me for it. Having my party on Monday, I managed to invite 12 people even though originally parents weren't going to let me have any more than 8, hehe.

Finally watched the Season 3 finale for BSG, was alright, a bit strange.

Onto Season 4 if my sister lets me.

P.S I LOVE AKON

No, I didn't take it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22123579@N07/3052938849/in/set-72157606333071839/

So as NONE of you know (except you, Jessie) I like taking pictures. So I recently got a Flickr. Here's the link to my photostream:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36850973@N06/

I sure hope that works!

In other news, I've got a debate on Monday: "That we should designate seats in parliament for Aboriginal Australians."

I'm negative, should be good - especially cause we're against a private school XD

If we didn't have second chances, we'd get nowhere...
... so yes, for the sake of our own productivity. or efficiency. both those words are wrong, but you get what i'm saying, if we were perfect we'd all be on our first chances still and i doubt any of us are.

In other news,

read this. I loved it. i'm really hoping some guys love this too but i got this sneaking suspicion that girls appreciate things like this more than the others.

http://ohsostarryeyed.deviantart.com/art/opposite-s-day-collab-116677428

Random bloggishness.

1: yesterday in the sky of melbourne someone proposed via skywriting; it was adorable. it said something like "jojo, marry me?" - i died of squealing. i would love that done to me (but not really). someone said it would be funny if a skywriting plane flew up 30 minutes later and scrawled 'no.'

2: i discovered last.fm the other night, on my sister's orders. apparently this means that i'm branded a social networking site nut >.<

3: my family is (or maybe just me) completely addicted to biggest loser [au]. i die if i miss an episode. favourite characters are meaghan, nathan and sharif (all red team members thankyou very much!)

4: i'm about to watch slumdog millionaire (omg, so it IS spelt millionaire and not millionare!)

5: have been trampolining

is that an olympic sport yet?

Hi,
so I was bored out of my mind and staring sadly at my unfinished Chemistry when I thought, why don't I make a pointless boring post on my lJ?

Today I was going to go on a picnic but it ended up being cold and rainish so me and the ncyc people went to Emily's house to have lunch/talk/be stupid/play Cranium instead. 'Twas fun, and although it was a whole four and a bit hours and it was only a couple of hours ago I wish I could see them more.

I went to the new Westfield today, yes I still think of it as new. I bought cous cous and some oxfam chocolate for my father. It said on the back "49%:99% cocoa", so to be difficult I asked the salesperson what percentage cocoa it had - she replied 49% and I was satisfied lol.

Biggest Loser was on tonight, just a weigh-in. I am such an easily manipulated asset for those bigtime producers, am I not?? I lap the stuff up, give in to the suspenseful ad breaks, pick my favourites, predict outcomes, it truly is sickening. But I can't wait for the elimination episode :P

Gah, I should have finished my Literature and Chemistry by now. It's already 8. I don't care about the mole, and while I care about Cathy and Heathcliff I would prefer to read about them as opposed to writing from their perspective, lol.

Until next entry... :\

P.S I love M83, why doesn't anybody else!

hello, wonderful world of livejournal.
A few minutes ago I was *peer pressured* into creating a superfluous blog over at wordpress. I got excited by the pretty templates and the crossover function - with any luck this will be over there (here?) as well.

I saw Kerry Armstrong at the ice skating rink in Eltham a few years ago at Eltham Skating Rink - I was so amazed and it may have been obvious that I tried to skate close to her to check if it was really her :P

I met Andrew G of Andrew G and James fame at the Australian Idol auditions in 2007 (I was most certainly not auditioning, just watching).

Jason Mccartney, who got famous when he returned to AFL after going through the Bali Bombings in 2003 came to my school to talk at a leadership conference. I got his autograph as a present for my brother but I think it's still in a drawer somewhere.

I had a discussion with Garth Nix (author) about his wedding ring at a book talk. The writing on it (latin maybe? looked like elven actually) meant 'I am a token of love; do not cast me aside'. Still haven't read Sabriel :P

I also saw Terry Pratchett at a book signing but didn't talk to him. That and Deborah Abella who writes some sort of spy girl book but I refuse to believe she's actually very famous.

I've met two astronauts, unfortunately can't remember their names.

Oh - that Mark Wilson guy from Dancing with the Stars came and trained my year level in Ballroom in Year 10. I was so terribly uncoordinated that he had to take me through the steps individually several times. I didn't feel honoured at all - I had only heard of him cos he was going to be our instructor.

So yeah, mostly minor people but all the same very exciting at the time :P

p.s Moby added me on Facebook.

Texting. Talking on the phone, especially initiating phone conversations, is one of my strongest phobias.

1. Sound of Music
2. Bladerunner
3. Across the Universe
4. A DVD of Battlestar Galactica
5. A DVD of Doctor Who (Series 2)

That way, if I were ever hungry, I could watch the reprise of Favourite Things from Sound of Music, if I were ever lonely I could watch Doctor Who (who ever felt lonely with David Tennant and Billie Piper?), if I got sick of the no-man-situation I could watch Rutger Hauer in Bladerunner, if I had an annoying song in my head I could watch Across the Universe and if I wanted to forget I'm even on an island I could watch Battlestar Galactica and get tied up in the plot and intrigue.

EDIT: OMG I FORGET RENT. AND HISTORY BOYS! AND EVEN MAYBE I CAPTURE THE CASTLE. AND 1995 PRIDE AND PREJUDICE OMG.

I'm currently watching Across the Universe for something like the seventh time and thought I'd comment on how awesome it is.

[spoilers]

The director, Julie Taymor, describes the film as a story in three parts; part one establishes the characters' innocence and adherence, pretty much, to the lifestyle their surroundings and parents have in mind for them. After Lucy's boyfriend dies (SADDEST PART OF THE FILM) and she escapes, in a way, to her own existence and exploration, the story turns to exploration - of ideals, of experiences, and of relationships. The six main leads fall in love with people and with the heady nature of the 60's activism and drug culture - which the Beatles also explored later on in their career. In the third component of Across the Universe, corruption affects the characters as Sadie turns from JoJo and the band to pursue a profitable solo career, Jude and Lucy clash on their commitment to eachother and of course Max is sent to Vietnam as part of the army in a questionable conflict. I love the ending - all of the characters affirm that love transcends these conflicts and hardships.

Ah what a great movie - good music as well.
And I love JoJo/Sadie! And Evan Rachel Wood's voice (still don't get why her name is Evan!). And Max. And Let it Be.

All this celebration of great classics calls for a Bladerunner screening - just warning you about possible further LiveJournal entries to steer clear of if you hate fanaticism :P.

did this for facebook:
Rules- Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you and I thought you might actually play:)

To do this, go to "notes" under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.

1. No matter how much I may look forward to something when it is kind of far away, I dread events cropping up and disturbing my idleness. Unless I'm in class and the event is a break.

2. I tend to be a bit obsessive about things. For example, I have to get rid of excess water from my toothbrush by tapping it twice on the left of the kitchen basin every time I brush my teeth. Don't ask me what happens if I don't, I haven't found out yet.

3. I'm of the opinion that cereal tastes the best at around 4pm. I can't stand the activity of eating breakfast, early mornings and food don't mix.

4. Whatever plans I make, however urgent it is that I wake up early and finish my homework, I always hold sleep as the prime ideal and get as much as possible. It's a hobby of mine to set the alarm clock 20 minutes earlier than necessary and enjoy using the sleep button until my actual wake-up time.

5. I spend way too much time on the computer. My favourite sites are Facebook, Livejournal, deviantART and Harry Potter sites :P

6. Speaking of Harry Potter, I love it to death and engraved 'I love Snape' into the back of my iPod out of undying devotion to him.

7. I love Doctor Who, Star Wars, Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, Blakes7 and almost all of the science fiction genre. I also like A bit of fry and laurie, jeeves and wooster, the office and any British comedy (except Mighty Boosh!)

8. My middle name isn't really Paige. It's Julia.

9. I'm born on the 4th of the 4th. This isn't really that significant or cool, but whatever.

10. I'm vegetarian, and have been since '06. This is hardly ever demanding or inconvenient (and even if it was, I think it'd be worth it).

11. I went through a phase of spotting small red squares in real life and getting an instinctual reaction identical to that which one receives when they have a new notification. It was sad.

12. I love Moby, especially his music and his writing.

13. I have a budgie. I talk to it and don't get much of a reply.

14. I went to Madagascar late last year and had an awesome time :)

15. One of my favourite movies is the Sound of Music, and I have long been in love with Captain von Trapp (SWOON @ commanding post-boat-trip scene and the lendler dance!)

16. Other elements of my fangirly persona are fanfiction.net, shipping in general (draco/hermione, harry/hermione, snape/lily, zuko/katara, padme/obi-wan (YES.), maureen/mark)

17. I really like musicals (though perhaps not as much as my friend Claudia), especially Rent, Across the Universe (It counts.) and Les Miserables

18. Last year I thought that I would be terrible at Methods. I chose it. I'm terrible at Methods. (Tutor pending!!)

19. I've perfected the art of pokery, which MANY of you know. The grades of pokedom: pok!, poke, jab. Everyone has an individual pokability index. If you'd like a quote on yours, let me know ;)

20. I would prefer it if everybody just overlooked #19.

21. I can't wait to finish school so I can go to University, go travelling etc.

22. I hate sport. Can not STAND anything requiring fine motor skills or co-ordination. Don't care if my Dad was table-tennis captain in High School, it's played on a table. The last PE session was the happiest I'd been for many Tuesdays.

23. I think way too much and get sick of my own thoughts.

24. Facebook > Myspace.

25. In early 2009, I successfully completed a note of 25 facts and habits about myself. Surprised? Now who to tag...

Hogwarts. That would be so awesome - imagine the common rooms, the great hall with a buffet feast every night, QUIDDITCH GAMES, drama (especially around Halloween), walking around the grounds, charms classes, etc. Ah and you get to pass Snape in the corridors.

So there are bugs, all the same exactly in kind, flying around the mattress I've pitched in the living room because a MOTHER decided to sleep outside my room but I wanted to go on my laptop so I moved here. There are FOUR OF THE SAME BUG AND I CAN SEE ALL OF THEM RIGHT NOW OMG THERE'S A MOTH NOW TOO!
Anyway I'm really grumpy and tired and in 11 minutes my self-imposed Facebook ban will end.. but I will be strong and extend it to the morning.
I want to go to university and join CLUBS and sororities. Sound good?

OMG TETRIS FRIENDS IS UPDATING THEIR SERVERS AND WILL BE BACK SOON NONOONONONONONONONONO *DIES*

I've been putting off posting an entry about Journey's End for AGES, so I thought I better make one, but I should learn how to make an LJ Cut first. brb.
k.
( spoil yourself pl0x )

</rant>

I found it difficult to wrap my head around the idea of Zhang Heng, a polymath featured on Wikipedia today. I was greeted - O that merry featured article section! - by this sentence:

Zhang Heng was an astronomer, mathematician, inventor, geographer, cartographer, artist, poet, statesman, and literary scholar from Nanyang, Henan, and lived during the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 25–220) of China.

Anyway, so as to conceive this figure...

Having just completed a busy day at the government office, ZH is watching the stars while doing mathematical calculations to determine a map of said stars he will create as part of his geography career, while making sure to include pretty pictures in the map to denote things, and its title rhymes. He is inventing a parachute while doing these things, and also thinking about a book he read recently at the scholars' meeting.

Because it's well known that geographers map stars.

Also! My sister and I were on the bus and devised a spectrum of religiosity. For SOME reason, we thought immediately of what a nice LJ entry it would make.

NONBELIEF - BELIEF - DENOMINATION - SECT - CULT

There we go. The world had to have one, you know. Because I'm sick of people getting sects and cults mixed up - and even denomination and cult or even belief and cult. Annoying. Get your definitions right.

Also, an interesting essay on abortion and where to stand, when one has considered all things: http://www.2think.org/abortion.shtml

*hums along to Remember Cedric - ah the days of early-to-mid-2007!*