Sometimes I wished I hadn’t said it. But I did. So to put a stop to all the questions I am putting my answers here:

1) Yes, I am writing a two part Krishnan story

2) Yes, I will be drawing it in the distant future

3) Yes, it will be my first

4) No, I don’t plan to say anything else about it until it’s all written and drawn.

Today is my mum’s birthday. To celebrate we are going out to eat. Yes, Food is always a great way to celebrate.

I read two books and a bunch of comics this week. I could have read more but I wasn’t as bored as I expected to be.

The books from amazon still haven’t found their way. I wonder what’s keeping them.

I had the pleasure of meeting Helen (Yi Siang’s beautiful friend) Yi Siang (nothing to say about him because he’s a dude) and that other guy (go read his blog).

By the way, just so you know come Monday, I am going to start on my Ganz initiative. Part of the plan is to train mind, body and technique (drawing). I am going to draw till I drop. I won’t rest until I can draw superman better than Alex Ross. Which basically equates that I am never going to stop practicing.

And here’s a word of reminder to all those who hate me, I hate you too. Wohoo! Come to think of it, I doubt anyone hates me, they could be extremely annoyed though. But hate?

Gratitude is merely the secret hope of further favors.
- Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613 – 1680)

I tore myself away from the safe comfort of certainties through my love for the truth; and truth rewarded me.
- Simone de Beauvoir

If you limit your choices only to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all that is left is a compromise.
- Robert Fritz

An idealist believes the short run doesn’t count. A cynic believes the long run doesn’t matter. A realist believes that what is done or left undone in the short run determines the long run.
- Sydney J. Harris

Never say never, for if you live long enough, chances are you will not be able to abide by its restrictions. Never is a long, undependable time, and life is too full of rich possibilities to have restrictions placed upon it.
- Gloria Swanson (1899 – 1983)

Lots of people, friends and family alike, have often wondered whether or not I believe in God, more importantly in their God. An interesting question given the circumstance that point to the rather obvious. I do not go to the temples unless I am nagged or told I have to do it for my dead ancestors. I also never pray and often put on a show for my elders because I do not believe in personal God.

It may sound like I’m an Atheist. But call it whatever you want. I strongly believe that God that does not rule over the universe by providence, but a God which itself is the deterministic system of which everything in nature is a part. Thus, God is the natural world and He or She has no personality.

I am determinist who holds that absolutely everything that happens occurs through the operation of necessity. For me, even human behavior is fully determined, with freedom being our capacity to know we are determined and to understand why we act as we do. So freedom is not the possibility to say “no” to what happens to us but the possibility to say “yes” and fully understand why things should necessarily happen that way. By forming more “adequate” ideas about what we do and our emotions or affections, we become the adequate cause of our effects (internal or external), which entails an increase in activity (versus passivity). This means that we become both more free and more like God.

Are there dragon? she asked. I said that there were not. “Have there ever been?” I said all the evidence was to the contrary.”But if there is a word dragon,” she said, “then once there must have been dragons”

Usually I do not take much interest in other people’s life. But there are exceptions to every rule. In fact I am not one who abides by rules because rules are man made and like everything man has made over the course of our human history is fallible.

One disturbing thing I see among friends, past and present is that many have taken up several bad (because it harms one’s health and one’s spirit) habits knowing that they are harmful. We have been taught or have learned from one way or another that we shouldn’t do certain things. These things such as adultery, smoking and gambling leads to all kinds of problems within our society and social circles. Knowing full well the consequences of their actions, why then do people continue on their path to their own self destruction.

Is it because they can’t attain love or success with their careers or the fact that they do these things to take their mind of their pain; past or present or they simply punish themselves for not being strong enough. Whatever the reason, people continue to do things that they shouldn’t be doing. Odd isn’t it. Common sense depicts that we stop the things that hurt us but in reality the opposite is true.

When I ask some of my friends, why they smoke or are cheating on their wives or girlfriends, they tell me it’s just for a little fun. Some goes as far as to tell that since we only live once, we might as well do everything in life, enjoy it to the Max. These people clearly do not believe in their religions, can’t blame them all religions are man made too, thus they have no fear of their consequences in their afterlife.

But I think the problem with many people today that leads them to self destructive behavior and adopting bad habits is expectations. If you would sit back and ponder upon this you would find some truth in it. E.g when you send someone a gift or do something nice for them in time of their troubles and then when they bite at you some where along the future, chances are you will be more hurt than the usual. People can take insults from strangers but when it comes from someone you love or admire greatly it’s going to be those tears-swelling-type-of-hurt. Most importantly you feel that they didn’t live up to your exceptions and some even feel betrayed.

Guess what happens next. You try to take your mind of it. And boy are there things today to take your mind of things. Seems as though people do not want to face cold harsh reality. Who does, when the truth is too painful to bear. Would you risk everything you believe knowing that you could be wrong.

But what if you never had a exception at all. Don’t you think that is equally bad. If I do something good for some one should I expect them to do the same? I could. But what if I didn’t? Just do it without any incentive?

You might say I’m crazy. But am I really? think about it, this world I believe is about do and don’t do. If you didn’t do anything, no one can compliant that you screwed up. You could hate yourself for not doing it but the fact of the matter is, you didn’t. But if you did something you felt was worthwhile for someone without any expectation of return, you could be much better off since you do not have the weight of expections on your shoulders.

Here’s a list to illustrate my point.
Do Something Good + Having Expectations = Bad
Do Something Good + No Expectations = Good
Don’t Do Something Good + Having Expectations = Very Bad
Don’t Do Something Good + no Expectations = Good

You might wonder why people who don’t do anything and have no expectations are better off than most of us. The truth is everything that you aspire to be in this life will be unmade by your mortality. There is no other way around it. Even if you became a great figure in the world or amassed huge fortunes you will bring nothing to your grave. So most simple minded and intelligent people just go about their daily lives have simple fun and try to live out their lives without much hassle.

And those of us who are educated get the worng impression of life. We are sold the lie that we deserve luxury, greatness and all those things that make us a stand out individual because they say no one remembers the second man on the moon. It’s true that on one remember the second man on the moon but what matters most is whether you remember him. Other people’s opinions is exactly that, other people’s opinions.

So in conclusion, I feel people should just do good things and not be bothered with expectations. If they returned you the favor it’s a bonus but if they didn’t you need not worry because you got your gratification from doing something nice for them.

The more I want to get something done, the less I call it work.
- Richard Bach

I look to the future because that’s where I’m going to spend the rest of my life.
- George Burns (1896 – 1996)

We learn and grow and are transformed not so much by what we do but by why and how we do it.
- Sharon Salzberg

A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.
- George Bernard Shaw (1856 – 1950)

Perseverance is a great element of success. If you only knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody.
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 – 1882)

What was supposedly a 5 minutes job took well over 5 hours. I won’t go into the details but it’s a good thing I picked up MySQL or else I would be spending days and not to mention nights categorizing all my posts.

But all is well now. I even managed to include widgets in my template.

And if you need some nudging before you upgrade – this video might help

For those of you who have keen eyes, you would notice a refreshing change to my blog.

After my failed attempt to convert my word press blog to a Joomla one (moving 982 posts and 540 plus comments is no joke!), I did the next best thing. I changed my color scheme and also got rid of all the ads you people hate so much.

And if you notice, my front page will only feature the latest five posts. So no more boring load times.

And I know some of you are quick to point out that this new colour scheme is a variation of my old blogger template. And you are absolutely right.

And for the readers among you, I strongly recommend Christopher Hitchens’s God Is Not Great. It’s  a wonderful read if you are not a religious apologist.