Truth and Beauty

A few days ago, I looked over my bookshelf again, and “Dragons of Autumn Twilight” caught my eyes again. I flipped over to the back cover, and the nostalgic words brought tears to my eyes. They were:

“Lifelong friends, they went their separate ways. Now they are together again, though each holds secrets from the others in his heart. They speak of a world shadowed with rumors of war. They speak of tales of strange monsters, creatures of myth, creatures of legend. They do not speak of their secrets. Not then. Not until a chance encounter with a beautiful, sorrowful woman, who bears a magical crystal staff, draws the companions deeper into the shadows, forever changing their lives and shaping the fate of the world.”

It made me think. If I could distill the goal of my life down to a simple few things, it would be a pursuit of truth and beauty.

Truth
I want to know…

• what lies beyond the furthest stars
• what happens after death
• what allows a baby to draw his first breath
• what allows one person to be a leader, a scientist, a healer, or an inspiration and another to commit the worst atrocities
• what motivates each individual
• the secret of happiness

Beauty
I want to capture in art, words, or memory…

• old friends reuniting after half a lifetime apart
• two people understanding each other at the deepest level
• someone with an undeniable will and a pure spirit
• the peak of triumph and depth of despair
• a child grasping the highest apple in the tree
• a child playing by the seashore
• the most beautiful sunrise

See you this NaNoWriMo.

Appreciation for Kerouac

Wow, apparently there’s someone else who knows and recognizes Jack Kerouac.

Here’s a sample:

i highly suggest smoking weed: drugs are the only route to true contentment, that or applying eastern philosophy/transcendentalism to your life…but considering materialistic, workaholic America today, the former is a better choice.

and im only half joking. in moderation and with responsibility, these things work, take it from Jack Kerouac.

Women in CS

Books such as “Unlocking the Clubhouse” have asked the question of why there are so few women in computer science. Even while other subjects such as math and physics have reached gender parity (actually, women have exceeded men in both numbers and aptitude), computer science, along with other engineering subjects, remains the elusive subject that women have yet to enter. In my perusals, I found a few interesting articles and publications on the matter. Some of the most respected women in the field have given their opinions here, here, and here.

In other news, the partisan political publication industry is booming, thanks to readers desperate for conflict. It didn’t used to be like that though. Peggy Noonan wrote a few very nice books about the Reagan years that I’m reading through now. The Amazon link is here.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and I’m already gearing up for a break. My mind is on vacation and I’m skipping all of my classes. Ah, it’s good to recharge one’s batteries once in a while.

Droplets of rain still stain the window; outside, faint glitters of dawn can be seen, but she won’t go home, not today

F.I.R is one of the hottest bands in East Asia right now. If you don’t know about them, I encourage you to try their music, which you can find on my music server as well as in lots of other places (yesasia?). They have such a breathtakingly diverse and honest style of music. Their own site promotes the idea of discovering and exploring the culture, hopes, and beliefs of our generation.

This made me think (again) about our own generation. As an amateur sociologist, I am extremely interested in how people adapt to the pace of change in this age. We exist in such a state of… uncertainty. I mean, I don’t think any previous generation has had the amount of choices that we have now. That is why I sense that so many of us are unsure about what to do. Previously, one’s life was laid out, often determined by one’s birth and station. Rarely could someone elevate his/her status in society in the course of a lifetime. In contrast, our lives now are so open that we seem to have lost all of our bearings. There is no one to tell us what is the “right” way to live.

All of that exploration has led to the “degredation of traditional ways.” Children look around and they don’t see any role models. Politicians are drowning in corruption; pop stars live a life of glamour but hide the unpleasant parts of their lives. Intellectuals are being cruxified by the masses for being insensitive and for living in an ivory tower. All traditional institutions are slowly being eroded. Church no longer features prominently in people’s lives. Dating/marriage is no longer taken seriously. One column advised young women to “test and try out” 30 different people before deciding on a suitable companion. Sound advice? Maybe, but not if the attitude is such that she doesn’t give any of them a chance by holding a casual view of the relationship and by thinking that it won’t amount to anything. I think that is why so many children grow up decide to join gangs and lose themselves in video games or, oh noes, fantasy novels and manga. Daydreams and fantasy are much more preferable to reality; it is so much easier to choose to lose oneself in a fictional world with, in Zyline’s words, dashing exploits, heroic deeds, and knights than to live in the doldrums of reality.

Now, I will start writing. I probably won’t do much editing at this point. Rather, I will let my thoughts flow onto the page. After all, the structure must be set before any chiseling can be done. Don’t be surprised if the going is slow or if I don’t write/edit for weeks at a time. Also don’t be offended if each entry is not “complete” in itself. I’ll try to patch up things when they hit me. Zyline, put me in a creative mood ^_^.

“Artemis” is one of many teenage girls who “work” in this part of New York – not the New York that is featured in so many soaps and dramas, but a dark and sinister New York seemingly hailing from the gothic novels that so delighted the upper-middle class girls who would otherwise be drowning in boredom in their rooms. She’s been here for the past week and has no plans to go back home. Why should she? The slum has almost become her home.

Ironic, isn’t it? Any of the girls living in the slums would be willing to trade situations with Artemis in a heartbeat. After all, her father is a doctor and her mother recently quit her job as the head of public relations in one of those media giants that dot that side of the city. Artemis had never been left wanting; her father was sure to provide anything material that she could desire, and her mother was always close by to offer support and comfort. How strange it must be then that she could choose to abandon such a life of luxury and opulence for the boisterous hubbub of the slums.

Artemis’s dress swishes around her legs as she moves from table to table. Business tonight was slow. The Knicks games usually drew off a sizable number of regulars who would otherwise be tossing coin over brandy and barmaids.

Here, her dress marks her as another of those rich girls from upriver who come for anonymity. Here, they could toss aside their good-girl images and revel in experiences and emotions not found in a proper household. Here, the ritualized courtships are replaced by drunken fumblings and groping hands. Here, the cheers and toasts while uncorking martinis become gossip over crude beer. Here, Artemis has no name or past. Here, she can spread her wings and leave all inhibitions behind.

Beginning of a Tale

Well, walking home with Zyline yesterday, I formulated the rough outlines of a story. It probably won’t be what was foremost in my heart the past year, but it’ll suffice =). I’ll have to save that story for another lifetime.

Anyways, I’m a bit bored of the regular fantasy stories. It’s been a while since I encountered something that twists and turns as well as GRRM’s aSoIaF or contains as beautiful language as the first few novels of WoT. Aaah, now I’m just rambling. How about something with as much history, richness, and scope as LotR, or with as much meaning as Ender’s Game. Gah, how can I leave out Tad Williams or Zyline’s David Eddings or the lovable characters of Weis and Hickman? >.<

So, my plan is to do my best to create a compelling world and write about it in the most human sense. This is a story about regular people. Thus, magic will have to take a bit of a step back. I also love how GRRM is so neutral to his characters. He knows that war is war and does not play favourites as readers do. Thus, any character can die at any time. Moreover, people are affected by human emotions. They fall in love, they give up on friends, experience greed and betrayal, among other things. I want to do more than write a typical fantasy story or a sappy love story as most of my other works have been. I want to do everything, including shouting out a message. I just don’t quite know what that is lol.

The world will probably draw from my previous role-playing worlds and use the places and characters, with different names of course. The planning might take a while, and with all my occupations, I probably won’t get it done anytime soon. I will post updates here in the story section for anyone to read, of course.

Enjoy.