What are we looking for?

Ok, I'm in a strange D&M kind of mood today... so this post will probably be a little deeper than usual (or more airy fairy). I am sitting here, alone... feeling slightly depressed wondering why do we, as people put ourselves through this? What are we searching for in this world?

Why is it, we devote so much of our energy, thought and emotion into finding a 'perfect person' to share our lives with? We pass hundreds of people in our daily lives when we go to the shops, work, out to a function... hundreds just pass us by and we don't give them a second look... but we all search for just 1 to come home to, or go out for dinner with. Why?

Is it the reason of our being - after all we could say the purpose of being is to reproduce to pass on our genes to the next generation, for this pattern to continue again and again. Why do us humans however look for one person to do that with... other animals seem quite happy to hump what ever comes next to them, then move on... without ever looking back.

With animals it is simply reproduction... (most) seem to have no emotional connection to whoever it is they are doing. Would a lion mate with a lioness, then care if she was later hit by a car, struck by lightning, or given some nasty std by a sleazy meerkat?

What are we looking for? Is it:

• Sex on tap
• Someone to help cook or clean for us
• Someone to look after us physically and financially - so we can lazily go on with our lives without a care.

If it is these simple things why is it the things I miss most are having someone just there, who you can whinge to if you have had a crappy day, or someone to cuddle up to in bed if it gets cold, or just knowing someone is there and that they are in some way your responsibility to provide for, to care for, like a pet for you to love and look after. Does our emotional investment in them somehow make us feel that once we go, we will have in a tiny way left our mark on the world at that at least one person out there will remember us and think of us until they eventually drop off the perch.

In a mind frame of looking at the above reason as an investment - wouldn't we be better trying to make this impact on the lives of everyone we meet... that way we would be remembered by more... so why is it we choose just one. Just one person to let all our feelings be exposed to, to share such a level of intimacy that they can see you and all your vulnerability as a person. Do we realise that by doing this we are making ourselves so venerable to being hurt so much? Are we that stupid... why is it we choose to trust a person so deeply? Should we?

I think it is human stupidity, or maybe even some desperate desire of hope in thinking that maybe our generation has evolved the perfect being, who is perfect, and trustworthy in every way that they will never hurt us.... but how do we know unless we drop all our defences and give them a chance?

Why is it, we can physically cut ourselves, it hurts for a while, but once we distract ourselves with another task we are fine... but we 'break our hearts' which causes no physical harm to us, and no matter what we do, it keeps eating at us inside. Then, being smart as we are supposed to be, you think we would learn from the pain not to try again... but we do.... we seek to take the gamble again.... will it pay off this time?

Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.
- Henry Louis Mencken

Priscilla - Queen of the Desert

Last night I went to see the Priscilla Queen of the Desert musical. Mum and Dad got me tickets for by birthday. It was bloody brilliant. Basically they have taken the movies and worked even more on it, added extra bits and made a few little tweaks.

The music was fantastic and the costumes were just dazzling. I think the soundtrack for the musical is on iTunes so I may have to buy that one. The music just left your feet tapping all the way through the show.

The setup of the stage was really good.... you would not believe that they could fit pretty much a full sized bus on stage, and actually have it move about, while having enough room to do scenes which do not feature the bus.

If your looking for a good night out, filled with laughs and good music, why not go see Mitzi, Felicia, Bernadette, Miss Understanding, and Farah Force-it in Priscilla - Queen of the Desert.

I'm turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so

I went to a work farewell for two of my work mates, Anushya and Zoya on Friday night, who have left Sydenham Library for full time work elsewhere. For something different we went to a Japanese restaurant in Moonee Ponds. Now, those of you who know me well are probably giggling away at the thought of me going to a Japanese restaurant!

Guess what? I actually really liked it!

After the initial scare of the appetiser (pictured) which resembled something you would see after a cat was sick (it was actually pickled beef, capsicum and zucchini) all was well.... And for those of you who are thinking 'So I guess you did not eat the appetiser' - WRONG! Quite a few people refused to try it, but I was feeling brave and experimental, so away I went!

For me, whenever someone said Japanese food, my mind always just assumed it would have been very similar to Chinese, had lots of fish (or even worse a little bit of humpback) and drenched in all different kinds of flavours. Japanese food I found seems to follow a very similar philosophy to Japanese interior design, where everything is minimalist and actually very simple. There was also a lot of 'non-fish' items on the menu. For example I had miso chicken, which was grilled chicken marinated in a very simple non-dominating marinate served with some plain sort of vegies.

So if you are ever looking to give Japanese a try I highly recommend the Koo Japanese Restaurant in Moonee Ponds.

See Where I Work!

As part of the job share I am doing with Christian for the development of the new library website, one of the cooler things I have been playing around with is creating interactive online panoramas.
This involves taking a whole heap of photos from the same spot and 'stitching' them all together to create one huge 360 view, then loading that picture into a web page with a java applet called PT Viewer.

Once this is loaded you get a full interactive panorama which allows you to turn around, zoom in, zoom out.... basically allowing customers to have a interactive tour of our library.

Checkout my example here.

10,000 BC

Last night I went and saw 10,000 BC. I had heard that it was a crap film... I thought very differently.

The film (obviously set in 10,000 BC) follows a young mammoth hunter, who turns into a warrior after his village is raided by another tribe and many tribe members stolen and turned into slaves. The hunter then tracks the bandits and his people through snowy mountains, lush jungle, and vast desert, all the way to Giza (Egypt) where his tribes people join many other slaves in the task of building the great pyramids.

The cinematography is visually stunning and epic on scale. The diversity of cultures you meet in the film also makes you appreciate how man-kind has evolved differently in different parts of the world.

If your going to the movies and have nothing to see, I say you should give 10,000 BC a try!

Touching YouTube Video

Ok, I usually am not into the soppy, emotional, inspiration or religious emails that go around, but a work mate sent me this video from YouTube of Facebook, and maybe my icy exterior is starting to melt... but I found it touching...