Bedtime Reading

I got a load of books out of the library the other day. I guess I should brush up on my psychology stuff now that Uni is due to start next week. Oh, what a sheer collection I got, and I am not even going to read all of it but to pick up some great snippets from here and there! Hmm, I guess I have about 12 books in total to flick through and all of them very interesting subjects indeed!

And just check out the topics at hand: the origin of consciousness, the worldwide decline of atheism, mythology of the Middle East, scientific religion and reasoning, and so on! The two I've been most attracted to read is 'Rocks of Ages' by Stephen Jay Gould, and 'Dawkins' God' by Alistair McGrath. The latter author is interesting for the fact that he is a scholarly scientist who is also an avowed atheist turned Christian. How he made the transition from unbeliever to believer would be something interesting to for me to find out, but I'm more interested in the main topic of his book; a full-fledged rational challenge to 'The Selfish Gene' by Richard Dawkins!

Mind you, I don't think it's altogether fair to read these things backward, so I went to the library today and booked out a copy of Dawkins' 'Selfish Gene' so I can study it it and then read the challenge. I had the choice to study Dawkins' text last year at uni for a book review, but I decided to drop it for the excellent 'Phantoms In The Brain' by V.S. Ramachandran. At that time I knew that Selfish Gene was a good book that I should think about putting aside, but I guess I never had the time. So I guess I can finally pick it up now and try to understand his case for Darwinian evolution.

Mind you, that would also be a tad backward since if I wanted to read up on evolution it would be most appropriate to study Darwin's original text. But you know, I can't be bothered to go back and forth to the library and especially since I have so little time to read on my hands.

Mind you (OK that's becoming a little annoying!), 'The Twilight of Atheism' by McGrath that I also got looks to be something good to chew over. In his Intro to Dawkins' God, he mentioned that he realised how atheism was not self-evident as it was supposed to be, but was just a "belief system" like any other religion. I have trouble wondering whether his viewpoint comes from an objective study or if it originates in his own disillusionoment. Rather than the typical Nicky Cruz 'Christian conversion' novels that are profusely available nowadays, it seems that McGrath is very much of a scientists and is able to challenge Dawkins on scientific and rational ground. The fact that he happens to be a professor of Christian theology shouldn't make much of a difference to his other numerous scientific credentials.

Fun and frolics in Cardiff

Whoa, now was that a trip and a half or WHAT! A chance reading of the temple noticeboard informed me that the very next day was an open invitation for people to attend the first ever Ratha-yatra in Cardiff. CARDIFF! So far away, and free transport, how could I say no?

So there I was at 7am at the temple, waiting in the morning chill for the coach. It was great that Hari Sauri das was with us. He didn't speak much, and I so badly wanted to get a photo of me and him together but drat! The digicam wasn't working and my heart stopped. Hmmm, just typical. Maybe the batteries had run down, I'll check it out later. But what a missed opportunity, this guy is like a celebrity, I loved his book(s).

Anyway, the trip was like a 3-hour drive, GOD! But it was kinda cool to drive over the Severn bridge. I do like Cardiff. Just because it is in Wales doesn't necessarily mean that all things there are by default strange. The houses look good, I like the general countryside that it is surrounded by, and did I mention that crossing the Severn bridge was COOL!

But for fuck's sake though, why is everyone in Cardiff so fucking fat? Observing the British Govt's recent attempts to highlight a nationwide obesity problem, I could never figure out why. Living in and around London I guess city people like us are more materialistic and health-conscious, and I could never figure out why. But today I was like "aha"! Fuck's sake, even the kids had little bellies. What DO they eat? What is the staple Welsh diet, chips and beer?

But I'll say one thing though; those girls who look good in Cardiff are very good looking indeed. Cardiff has its fatties and its hotties too. :P Just they need to lay off the damn beer..

And the Rathayatra went great too. Small but manageable. Not bad for the first time ever. It's always good to be there to witness history being made. :)

And then I get back him to see a niiiiiiiiiiice 2-hour programme on TV about Elvis. Excellent, now I'm in an Elvissy mood.

I've started up a new blog lately, but only to discuss my spiritual interests and share profound thoughts with like-minded people, friends of mine. I need to look up some verses so I can blog this Cardiff trip in a different perspective. Arrrrrrgh, where's my new copy of CC???

Liberian Girl

Liberian Girl...
You Came And You Changed My World
A Love So Brand New
Liberian Girl...
You Came And You Changed Me Girl
A Feeling So True

Liberian Girl
You Know That You Came
And You Changed My World
Just Like In The Movies
With Two Lovers In A Scene
And She Says...
"Do You Love Me"
And He Says So Endlessly...
"I Love You, Liberian Girl"

What a load of fucking bollocks.

Updates

And so it comes to my attention that this blog does actually get some readership. Looks like I do have a fan base after all! It must be nice to be gossiped about. I wonder when people will stop me on the street and ask for my autograph..

Hmm, I wonder who reads this blog after it's been out of action for nearly a year until recently. So who's been reading this blog? Hands up, come on, no one's going home until they tell me..

Jessica Cutler - Washingtonienne

I just heard about the 'Washingtonienne' after reading an article about her in the Guardian. Bleeding hell, she makes Monica Lewinsky look like a lily-white virgin from Kansas!

Check it out, she slept with SIX senior US politicians. And as if that wasn't enough, they PAID her for it. And it THAT wasn't enough, she wrote all about it on her blog!!

Check it Out. ;)

Bad Breath?

Attended a dental appointment this afternoon. I enjoy going to the dentist these days. Of course, the reason is that my particular surgery hosts a very attractive blonde receptionist as well as a couple of attractive dental nurses too. To top that, the female dentist is not that bad either even if she is a bit on the mature side.

The receptionist/dental nurse is blonde, blue-eyed with shoulder-length hair. Lush. In fact, all of them are rather courteous, polite and friendly, which makes the teeth experience so much better. In fact, if I was still a horny toad of a teenager, this whole experience would have been perfect material to feed my sexual fantasies and I might have jacked off several times today as a result. Lovely.

So while the dentist herself was busily inserting all sorts of things into my mouth and fiddling with my tongue, the blonde nurse was "assisting" her with the suction tube and peering in as if to join the fun. So close her face was to mine, that she was breathing right down on my face too.

Here's the cool bit: Her breath was great!

Seriously, it smelled like strawberries or something, cherries even, and that was from her nose! What a perfect girlfriend she must be. If she ever farted in bed it may smell like a big bouquet of roses or something.

I must marry her..

Together We'll Cry

You know, I tend to think deeply about a lot of things. And I mean, a LOT of things. Anything can cause me to think about the "deep significance" of whatever it may be that quite a lot of people tend to miss.

Recently I have been thinking deeply about a lyric from "Under The Bridge" by Red Hot Chili Peppers:

Sometimes I feel like I don't have a partner,
Sometimes I feel like I'm all alone,
In the city I live in, the city of angels,
Lonely as I am, together we'll cry.

The last line really hit a deep chord within me. I feel that it speaks of an innate loneliness of the soul, as if we are all lonely souls travelling in this caravanserai through the journey of life. "Lonely as I am, together we'll cry." Together we'll cry. How does loneliness suddenly become 'together'? That part is conveniently unexplained, but is it taken for granted that one may actually come across someone to share troubles with? Where is the guarantee?

And when loneliness becomes together, where is the need to cry? Shouldn't a companionship bring joy, peace, and love? Why would anyone want to cry? It's about LIFE. No matter what, the travails of life are almost always miserable. Life is more or less characterised by a degree of suffering and painfulness. At the start of a new relationship, what is the guarantee of success? More often than not, it may end in failure and the pain of separation from one's so-called beloved becomes unbearable. Cry. We were born crying, will we die crying? Is our whole life spent shedding tears?

"Lord, I suffer through the years and shed so many tears." - 2pac

Lonely as I am, together we'll cry. Even though I am lonely, do not worry, as we will cry together. If one suffers the pain of life alone, that must be truly unbearable. Such pain may be lessened somewhat in the presence of a companion, who is there for you to pour your heart out to and share troubles. So even though the lyric itself is set in a pessimistic tone relating to one's own loneliness and the probability of a sufferable life, it is ultimately optimistic in that one will FIND or have someone to cry with. Lonely as I am, together we'll cry.

Lonely as I am, together we'll cry.

Go get that song. Its worth it just to hear the guitars alone. :)