Because it didn't take to "Thomas"

It must have been five or six years ago now, the memory came to me randomly today, that we were having a sex ed lesson in our Junior School. Mr. Payne was not, perhaps, the most comfortable person to be having a Q&A on the birds and the bees with - he was one of the more feared ones: with a grey Santa beard and the rounded belly to match, as well as a propensity for shouting as us littlies quite a bit. I don't remember much of it, but what I do remember is someone saying "Why is a penis called that?" or something to that effect. Mr. Payne being a primary school teacher and not a literary genius, his response to this was "Well, why is a tree called a tree?" with no further explanation.

The question is, why is a tree called a tree?

The steady insanity of Haruki Murakami

It's a funny thing, how ideas take root in our heads.

I don't need a title for this blog.

You know, it's been a while since I've sat down to write a blog without a single idea of what I was going to put in it. I briefly thought about what I might title it, but then I thought, well that rather defeats the point of a spontaneous blog, if I put a heading at the top and write with it leering over me. So I'm going to write with a blank title. What significance do headings have when the content is the greater picture? See, I don't need to plan these things to sound like a philosophical genius.

Society's prisons

There's been something on my mind more and more lately: what right does the government have to rule over us? Usually this is a question regarded as insolence, immaturity, held in the same vein as children complaining about parents or teachers - but I think that this is a negative attitude that we need to get out of, because in the question of why are we ruled by a government lies a very serious point. And that is - well, what rights exactly do they have?

On belief in God

When I was younger, it was either Year 4 or Year 6 (I'm in Year 11 now,) I remember that we were having a lesson on probability. It was given a name with less syllables I'm sure, but what I remember about that lesson is that there was a line going from the things that "definitely could happen", and the things that "absolutely definitely couldn't happen". I don't think Santa Claus was on there given our ages, but I remember aliens being one given example. What I also remember thinking is something like "But they could exist!" Because we just don't know for absolutely damn cert. And thus, I come to God.

You know, Valentine's has to be the most complained about holiday of the year

It's two days from V-Day, I know, but I didn't want to write this right after writing my last post, which was rather a long one, and I thought I might as well get this out there now that Valentine's has settled down.

Buses vs. walking, the environment, and the sorites paradox

Holy mother of all beetroot-and-watercress-eating-iguanas was that a complicated Tuesday to organise. Just trying to figure out who's getting transport with whom, what time Minya and I were getting the bus, when we were all going to meet up, was Gerry coming, the realisation that we weren't just going shopping, we were going to see a film ("Oh, shit, wow, I didn't realise... what are we watching?" "That's still to be decided") and then money issues. Transport was an issue unto itself, but eventually we resolved most of this. All goes to show that teens seldom put in a lot of forethought <3.

You know, I really don't get why we feel the compulsive need to share every single god-damned aspect of our lives

I'm a blogger who several times a week will write posts telling you guys about some of the things I believe and why, and often carelessly including sensitive information about myself. If you go to my Profile, you will find similar information, probably a reference to my Facebook page. People who are good at searching paper trails would have no trouble at all locating all my various accounts, largely under three or four of the same names, almost all with the same email address, or a similar email format.

I make absolutely no effort to conceal a thing about myself. I shamelessly publicise all sorts of information about myself. Why?

Useless

Critical Thinking lessons are really useful in some respects, in that they inspire interesting discussions, and they get people thinking. And then, they are also a reminder of the common attitudes that get on my nerves.

Some things to do when you're bored

A theory that I still hold but haven't well tested is that often, when it comes to the question, we know the answer, but not how to get it out of ourselves. I find one way that sometimes helps me is to actually try to help someone else, and that allows me to think more effectively about what I'm trying to do.

I get bored very easily, and now and then when it's seriously bad, to the point of indifferent lethargy, I google "Things to do when you're bored." The problem is that everything I find seems to be written by people who were so bored, they just tried to amuse themselves by writing a bunch of crazy shit, which is of no help to people who are actually bored, and provides only a bit of limited reading. So I wrote a bunch of crap down to try and help me with boredom, and I thought I'd share my ideas - omitting all the ones that are very specific to myself.