Case in Point v Point in Case

So I was trying to make a post to my online class today and wanted to sound impressive and use the term "case in point" as if I actually know what that means and how that is use. So, like any diligent students, I googled the term and followed the link to this website:

Points in Case

And I quote:


Point in case: an arrowhead displayed in a glass case in the Museum of Natural History. (practical)

Case in point: a glass case in the Museum of Natural History jammed into the tip of an arrowhead. (practical...if you've just dropped acid for the first time)


Go ahead, follow the link, there's a picture of point in case on the site... As I live and learn each day...

Funny Pic

I was blog surfing and came into this picture. So sorry I forgot to bookmark the page this was originally posted. My apologies if the original photographer happens to stumble onto this page. XD

I think this picture is hilarious. And the original guy's illustration to the pic: "What the... hell?"

Australia's Emblem

Credit for picture: Australian Government, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Over Christmas time hubby and I went on a vacation to Australia and learned about Australia's unofficial emblem with the kangaroo and emu on it. There was an interesting reason that these two birds were chosen among all the exotic species found only in Australia -- neither kangaroo nor emu are capable of walking backward. The Australian has chosen these two animals to signify Australia will be a country that will always go forward.

It sounds like a no-brainer, huh? Always going forward. Well, wrong. Our country, the United States of America, on the other hand, strive to go backward all the time. Todate we are still struggling as a country to outlaw aborption. Sure, it's barbaric to kill a new life, but sometimes aborption (from rape, incest) is necessary. A woman should be allowed a choice. Regardless, the solution should be education: how women get pregnant and how to prevent pregnancy. And no, abstinence only sex education that sometimes goes as far as giving incorrect information to deter teens from engaging in sexual behavior is not education, far from it. Trying to ban gay marriage and put discrimination is certainly a BIG step backward. A progressive mind set should teach people to be more tolerant of those different than themselves, not less. And to make it legal to discriminate... And these are just a few examples... Perhaps we can learn a few things from them and add some non-backward walking animals onto our flag also. :D

What I found interesting is: you can easily find both kangaroo and emu on restaurant menus. Um.... isn't it a bit... wrong to eat the unofficial national faunas?

A True Blogger

When I used to blog surf a lot, I've noticed that whenever I start checking a blog regularly, it almost always die (owner stop posting) after about 3 - 5 months. At first I thought it was me (Egocentric - the world naturally revolve arounds me. No questions asked.) but then I realize that's just the average life span of a blog.

Only those who can pass the true test of blogging (more than 5 months) can attain the title of a True Blogger.

That said, since this blogger is trying to post a blog a day, I am seriously considering tempering with the date and pre-blog a few entries whenever I am on a roll. :D This is so against the unspoken and unwritten golden rules of blogging. :D

The Ten Commandments

Once I tried to look up what exactly are the ten commandments on line. To my surprise, there are really more than 10 commendments in the "Ten Commandments." It actually varies from 13-15 or more depending. Speaking of book 5 of the trilogy of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.....

In my humble opinion, the ten commandments, much like our constitution, can use some amendments from time to time. If I were to write the 10 commandments for my make-believe religion, it'll be something like this:

(1) Don't break the law (which is what the original 10 commandments pretty much boil down to (no stealing, no killing, don't commit adultery, you get the idea)); act within the moral standards of the society.

(2) Be tolerant of those of different race, religion believes, and sexual orientation. Discrimination of any sort is a HORRIBLE crime.

(3) Don't be a jackass. Treat people the way you want to be treated.

(4) Learn to speak, write, and read fluently in at least one language.

(5) Education is VERY important. Earn thy college degree. Sky is the limit.

(6) Think very hard before giving away your first time (yes, I am talking about sex here).

(7) Think very, very, VERY hard before having a kid. Ask yourself repeatedly whether you are ready financially and emotionally. Never use a kid as a tool to save a relationship. Don't have more kids than you can afford. Enough is enough. Birth control is a-okay.

(8) Take marriage seriously. Don't get married for the wrong reasons. Ask yourself if you are truly ready to spend the rest of your life with the individual in question.

(9) Be an independent and self-sufficient person; don't leech off of others or the society. Be a constructive part of the society. Get a job; keep a job. Spend some of the money you earned but don't live beyond your means. Save some for rainy days and old age.

(10) Exercise your common sense.

Rambling 1-17

Lucky I pre-blogged today's content. Really wasn't in much of a mood to blog today. More family issues. That's always joyous.

Been having some trouble loading Gmail from work. Wonder if that Microsoft newest way to sabatoge Google or my work place trying to sabatoge me from checking email from work. :P

Wanted to change the skin to my favorite "Thisaway," but there must be something wrong with blogger's coding cuz the nav bar insisted on showing under the title and effectively blocking the date and making the page look ugly. *sighs* Such is my luck, maybe the code will fix itself the way it broke itself in a few days. Had to revert back to the Simple skin. :((

The Blogging Groove

Oh wow, I blogged TWO days in a row!! That hasn't happened since I've left our little love nest in San Diego. Am I back into my blogging groove again? Even so, I am not committing to one post a day.. and let's be honest, who am I committing to? ^_^ Lately even Hubby forgot to check my blog, I've been blogging so infrequently. Hehe.

Anyways, surfed to a random blog and heard this song. I liked it a log and the lyrics are pretty, and seems everybody and their uncle is putting it on their blog, so why not me too?

***

Breathe Again

Have you wondered how it feels when it's all over
Wondered how it feels when you just have to start anew
Never knowing where you're going
When you face a brand new day
It used to be that way
Now I just close my eyes and say

I just wanna breathe again
Learn to face the joy and pain
Discover how to laugh a little, cry a little
Live a little more

I just wanna face the day
Forget about the woes of yesterday
Maybe if I hope a little, try a little more
I'll breathe again

Starting out again is never easy
Disappointments come and go, but life still moves on
With a bit of luck, it's a brand new start
That might just work my way
No need to walk away
Don't wanna live on life's replay

I just wanna breathe again
Learn to face the joy and pain
Discover how to laugh a little, cry a little
Live a little more

I just wanna face the day
Forget about the woes of yesterday
Maybe if I hope a little, try a little more
I'll breathe again

Things will work out fine
If you can find the courage to look past the night
To see the break of dawn

I just wanna breathe again
Learn to face the joy and pain
Discover how to laugh a little, cry a little
Live a little more

I just wanna face the day
Forget about the woes of yesterday
Maybe if I hope a little, try a little more
I'll breathe again

Annulment v. Divorce

Last quarter I took Macroeconomics and I must admit, it has forever changed the way I look at things. So this quarter I've decided to challenge Income Tax. Okay, I'll be honest here: I am neither taking this class for the challenge, or to try to do my own income tax. I am taking this class because I have applied for a position within the company that knowledge in this particular area will be very useful. 'cause let's face it, income tax is not remotely as interesting as financial accounting. I'll equate income tax to chewing on a phone book....

But I have digressed, as usual. Reading about what goes under the "income tax" category just get me upset... and I am digressing again. I came across annulment while reading my tax, which sparked my interest in the difference between an annulment and a divorce. A quick search on the internet produced the following amusing results.

First, I came across the Intelligent Discontent website, in which I found this entry:

I would like to thank the voters of the state of Texas for annulling my marriage.

The joint resolution passed as a constitutional amendment yesterday reads:

Sec. 32. (a) Marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman.
(b) This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage.

Now, I see that (a) point saying that marriage shall only consist of a union of a man and a woman; but the (b) point clearly says there can be nothing identical or similar to marriage. And since my marriage licence is from McLennan County, TX, I recognize that my marriage is annulled. Because, of course, no “strict constructionalist” could read that passage in any other way right?

Therefore, I will inform my wife tonight that I am a bachelor. And she can blame Rick Perry et al. for the return of my lifesize Jar Jar Binks, the Guns N’ Roses poster that will surely be on the wall, the pizza boxes strewn about the floor, ramen noodles and the use of the entire bedroom as a clothes hamper. Oh yeah, I can spend all my spare time blogging now.

TX, you rule.

(To the dude, Joe, who writes Intelligent Discontent: I apologize in advance for copying your entire entry over to my blog. I am not doing this to attract more readership to myself because I really don't have any. :D I did this because from past experience, fellos are simply too lazy to click on a link. =.= BUT if you are reading this, somebody must have followed the link to your block. *wink wink*)

Joe also had a response to his entry, which says, "Congratulations, Joe." It's nice to know somebody out there still have their heads on their shoulders. :D

After I navigated away from Joe's blog and back to my search result list, I went to a website that talks about Florida Annulment of Marriage. It's written in much legal mumbo jumbo so I won't bore you with the details, and frankly, I don't get all of them myself. But since I don't (1) live in Florida, (2) want an annulment, or (3) am a law major, it really doesn't matter much now, does it?

What I wanted to point out for the purpose of this entry is this blurb:

A marriage induced by fraud and deceit can be annulled where the marriage has not been consummated. Misrepresentation of pregnancy, alone, has been held an insufficient reason for annulment. It appears, however, that sexual intercourse
operates as a complete ratification of a marriage otherwise voidable.

Um... I'm sorry to say this as a woman, but YES! misrepresentation of pregnancy IS fraud! It's a marriage based on a LIE! Like hell that should be ground for an annulment. That is such an awful act that it should really be illegal in the first place! I've always feel that it's grossly unfair to be the male in this situation: if the girl doesn't want to keep the baby, the guy really doesn't have much say in it, no matter how much he'd want his kid. On the other hand, if the girl insists on having the baby, the guy will automatically be jibbed with child support for the next 18 years to come. In this case, men are entirely helpless. Or are they? Perhaps if the guy really, REALLY, strongly wants to eliminate the possibility of this happening, they should take matters into their own hand, literally and metaphorically (use a condom, have a vesectomy, you name it). Now if an accident still happens, that's just the price you've paid for tempting fate while consummating your love.

Atheism

For the longest time, I've always referred to myself as an atheist. And for the most part, I was (or still am?). You see, when you are young, it's easy to accep that there is simply nothing after death. Now, I do not claim that I know the truth and that nothing after death is, indeed, the truth. It was, however, the idea that I found the least disturbing.

I was raised Catholic (and to date I pretty much lump all Bible-oriented religions into one big category) and the idea of heaven and hell and all eternity is simply disturbing to me. Never mind whether a person on earth can truly commit a crime so heinous that he/she deserve eternity in hell, let's just examine the idea of being in heaven forever. Of course, some say that you'll be with God. Well, that's certainly a hard concept for me to grasp, but let's just say you are with your loved ones. But all eternity? Aren't you familiar with the concept that there can be too much of something, good or bad?

I love my husband dearly, but spending 7 days straight 24 hours a day with him is simply too much. When we moved to San Diego for his last 10 months in the Navy, I relocated with him because we didn't want to be apart. We were just going to rent a nice, small place for a year but he decided on a one bedroom apartment. And he was right, sometimes even escaping into the next room for a while is healthier than not at all.

And the whole Buddhism idea of reincarnation -- even worse of a nightmare. What? One time is not enough? I am going to have to do this over and over and over and over again? I didn't even sign up to this. Or perhaps I did and will, but I just don't have that knowledge at my current state. I suppose depending on who you talk to, some would say you'd reincarnate till you've become a Buddha, but judging from what I know about being a Buddha (again, not much), I'm not exactly ga-ga over that life style and to spend live timeS to attain that?

But now that I am in my 30's, my view point is changing. I heard this early 20 something guy said matter-of-factly one time, "there's nothing after death." And although it had been my belief for the last couple decades, it struck me as cold, almost cruel. "There's got to be more, right?"

When I was in my 20's, and am not emotionally attached to any one or anything, that belief was enough for me. To believe that we are just the "gene machine." We are merely here on earth to procreate and ensure the survival of our species and that there's nothing beyond that. Now that I'm in my 30's, met the love of my life, and decided to not procreate, that idea is no longer comforting to me.

People became greedy when they became emotionally attached to another individual. First you see each other once or twice a week. Then that's no longer enough, and you see each other more frequently, say 3-5 times a week; when that's no longer enough, you move in together. Then people get married, which is essentially promising each other that you want to spend the rest of your life with him/her, all legal mumbo jumbo aside (unless, of course, you have ulterior motive such as an unborn baby. I do not claim that all folks get married for the right reason). Now that I am 3 years into my marriage and still madly enough, I am starting to wonder perhaps one life time is simply not enough time to spend with him. I am starting to WISH there is more after death, not because I am afraid of the unknown, but because I want more time with him.

Could love truly be nothing but an evolutionary byproduct to ensure the survival of the species because in the society today, a nuclear family between two heterosexual, monogamous partners provide the best environment for our offsprings? But the feeling of love is SO strong. Shouldn't there be more to it? Oh, I sure hope there is. But for the time being, I am going to have to go with half atheism and half "perhaps there are something bigger out there that's yet to be found out."

Got Screwed?

So, what's the moral of this story:

I am taking online classes in winter quarter. Being an studious student, I bought my text ahead of time during the winter break. School started and guess what? Yup, you got it. The prof announced that the required text is the NEWEST (2006) edition! But of COURSE I've bought the 2005 edition. New! From Amazon.com! And of COURSE I was so eagerly waiting for school to start I've started reading my text ahead of time and already highlighted the first few pages. Regardless of that, hubby probably threw away the box it came in and the invoice etc. So now I had to buy ANOTHER text book for the same class. The two books combined cost more than tuition for the entire quarter. Go figure.

The moral of this story:

Early birds get the worms; late worms don't get eaten by birds. (And I am, in this analogy, the early worms.)

Or maybe the moral of this story is just that:

Buy textbooks at outrageous marked up prices from local college bookstore!

Curious Squirrel