Days Slip Past

It's been a while.

Life has gotten rather hectic lately. I don't sleep as much as I'd like, which is annoying. Ultimately  though things are good. I've had a very cheerful past couple of days (though the evenings haven't been so great). There's no reason for it, but for the most part I've had a lot of energy. I also think I'm addicted to tea, but that's okay.

Things haven't really changed here. Tech has gotten extremely time consuming (stupid stage work), but at the end of the day it's not that bad. I'm meeting new people who are all very interesting. I've got an AP Euro test tomorrow that I'm pretty freaked out about. It's worth a lot of my grade. I just studied for well over two hours, though, so this is my break.

I've still been blogging lately, just not on this blog.

www.gotgaff.blogspot.sg

My boyfriend Nick and I write it together. Well, we alternate. It's fun.

I think I'll start trying to post here again weekly as a minimum.


Sorry this post is short. There really hasn't been a lot going on.

Though on a random note, I've started really reading my horoscope again. I haven't done this since  9th grade and it's entertaining. Sometimes it's more correct than others. While I know it's a load of lies, the weird Murphy's Law thing works. . Being told you're going to have a good day somehow makes it happen!

(According to Nick, it's because you remember only the good things that happened in your day).

Reflections on September 11, 2001

Can anyone believe it's been 11 years since 9/11/01 (or here, we'd write it 11/9/01)? 

In 2001 I was five years old, and a kindergartener. There was no way I comprehended death or disasters. The attacks meant nothing to me because I just didn't understand them. It didn't make sense to me why people were crying or the same grainy video of planes crashing kept replaying. I don't even know if I thought the towers falling or the Pentagon burning was bad. All the tragedy went over my head.  As I got older, I still didn't really understand why people seemed so sad around this time of year. That level of devastation was incomprehensible to me as a child.

I think the eighth anniversary of 9/11 was the first time I really understood it. I would have been in 8th grade, thirteen, and generally old enough to understand the basics of human suffering. I remember watching a video about 9/11 in class, holding the moment of silence after the Pledge of Allegiance extra long. It hit me all of the sudden like a tidal wave hits the shore- overwhelming.

I’m not going to lie and say that I remembered it was 9/11 first thing in the morning today, or that I reflected all day about the terrible things that occurred.  9/11 has forever scarred the hearts of the American people.  We need to learn from that day. We need to apply it practically to ensure the safety of everyone as much as possible. We need to remember those who lost their lives, and honor those who responded on that day.

In the weirdest way possible, I am quite optimistic about humanity in general. I believe we all have the ability to get along with each other as long as we are tolerant.  Shoving one's opinion down another's throat is wrong on many levels to me. I'm not going to pretend I don't hate the extreme individuals that caused 9/11. However, I think it's worth remembering that even now, those individuals are not good examples of the groups they come from.

Regardless, the tragic events on that day forced a country to come together united by grief and anger. Remember that  while united we stand, but when divided we all eventually crumble to the ground. 

200th Post

There have been a lot of things going on lately, and posting has unfortunately not been one of them. Considering school, my annoying finance blog, the other blog I write, and homework, I've been more than preoccupied. Which is sad, considering this initially started off as being a blog on what it's like to live here in Singapore. Now it's a collection of scattered thoughts. 

Something interesting that I'm not certain I like about Singapore anymore (and arcades in general as they convert) is how digital it is. There's something distinctly impersonal about a computer telling me my achievements. For example, I am babysitting tonight. I took the girls to an arcade earlier in the evening, and the whole things was digital. You had to swipe your card to play games (and since when are they like $1 a game?!) and then you don't get any tickets. Instead, you have to go and ask the cashier person how many points you have. There's no joy of finding a lost token on the ground, or watching the ticket-muncher thing count your tickets. It's impersonal and kind of really sad. 

Then again, I remember them converting the arcade in Massachusetts that I used to go to as well. It's sad that the world is becoming so screen based. I fear the day that people lose the desire to be around only computers. That day is coming up too quickly in my opinion. 

I think it's cool that there are kids in like Sweden or somewhere that are learning computer programming from age 6. I think it's cool that the kids I babysit for have school-issued computers and iPads. I think it's really cool that there are online schools, where kids can work at their own pace and stuff. Yet I think it's sad when kids are at home playing educational games instead of running around outside building fantasy worlds. Isn't it that children learn best from playing? Isn't creativity the mother of human progress? 

So, there's my scattered 200th post. 

I shall be honest now and say I don't know how long I'm going to keep running this blog. I know posts will be more infrequent, mostly because I can't find the time to write so much every day. 

Either way... POST 200 WOOHOO!!