Dreams/Eternity

Yesterday night I dreamt.

I dreamt I drove a car. Again.
I dreamt about the end of the world. Again.

If anyone asks if I have recurring dreams, I'd say yes.
I always dream about large surreal landscapes.
I always dream about driving.
and I always dream about the end of the world.

It is amazing how realistic things feel in dreams. So I felt the feeling one should feel about the world ending. Thus I woke up, and then I pondered.

I realise things aren't eternal. If you think about it, everyone will die one day. So then, what is the point?

We slave the day away. We work hard, we plow the fields, hoping against hope to sow that little seed. Technology advances, new ideas are conceptualised, old ideas are debunked. Society grows and nations collide - some wanting to eradicated each other, some forming an alliance. Then man grow old and dies. The next generation succeeds in place of the old, and then they die too.

Even so, society is obsessed with eternity. Steady progress is being made in discovering that elusive elixir to longevity. Cryogenics, eugenics, substitution of the human brain for a microchip - these are but some of the ways we think will bestow upon us time here that will never end.

But truly, how long is an eternity? Already the human mind has problems grasping the meaning of an infinite number. A googol, or even a googolplex - One already have problems visualisation the magnitude of that number. But that isn't eternity. No, it doesn't even come close. Since the dawn of the first man - our time here has nary a register in the timeline of the universe. Thus far, our time here can truly be said to be a fleeting moment in the grand scheme of the universe. No, fleeting won't be appropriate. Fleeting would still describe too long a time.

Yet, here we are, dreaming grandiose dreams of infinity, when we cannot yet comprehend the implications of eternity. Science fiction stories tend to take us huge amounts of years into our future. But what then, of billions of years ahead? Is there a story that depicts humanity down the path of a billion years later?

To paraphrase the adage, that there is no limit to the imagination of man. Oh, I beg to differ. Infinity stands against it. Then to paraphrase another adage, whatever has a beginning has to have an end.

Perhaps, it is simply that our minds are not yet evolved to understand this concept of eternity. Already, so many stories have thought up of man evolving into one shared Existence. An Existence without a physical being. An Existence that feels no pain, no love, no hate, no loneliness, no hunger. We would simply possess a collective existential conscious, floating through the eons.

There exists a philosophical school of thought about eternal recurrence, where the universe is thought to have recurred, and will continue to recur in a similar form for an infinite number of times. The symbol of it being the Ouroboros, a snake biting upon its own tail, symbolising the recreation of itself. Then what boggles the mind, and begs the question is, if eternity has always existed, when then, was the beginning?

Ahhh.

However, things that lasts for a little while tend to possess a great amount of beauty. That ephemeral sunset/sunrise. The quick burst of fireworks amidst the dark night sky. That short feeling of being truly happy and touched when someone you love pleasantly surprised you.

And surely, the human life exists - for a lack of an exact descriptive word - for but a fleeting moment. Doesn't it then, possess a great amount of beauty as well? Like that old rock-n-roll saying,

"Let's burn out, rather than fade away."

Even if the end comes tomorrow, your lives have already been beautiful.

Self pre-emption

Okay. Wow. I wanted to rant about something.

And then I did it again.

I over analyse.

I realise that there might be a small chance of me doing it as well in the future.

So I tried changing the wordings of my rants such that there might be some loopholes in it for me to escape from in the future should I commit the same deed.

Then I realised it was too dangerous, so I completely deleted it off.

Yup.

I just pre-empted myself.

Long names

So in my previous post I mentioned "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb", a film by Stanley Kubrick was probably my favourite movie title of all time.

I find the context of the title really amusing. How can one not love a title like that? So funny in such an intriguing way. Plus, I love the way the movie title rolls off one's tongue. This is the epitome of a successful movie title, because it actually makes me want to watch it.

Then I found out this is not the longest movie title. That honour would have to be conferred to:
"Night of the Day of the Dawn of the Son of the Bride of the Return of the Revenge of the Terror of the Attack of the Evil, Mutant, Alien, Flesh Eating, Hellbound, Zombified Living Dead Part 2: In Shocking 2-D"

Wow. In shocking 2D!!!!!! Omigosh.

And just to prove to you that's its a real movie click

Now this title just does not make any sense at all. However, there's something I find laughable at names or titles with an extremely long name. You'd have to wonder whatever that person was on to come up with names like this. Was he trying to be funny? Was he trying to convey his main point through the title. Was he perhaps trying to summarise something?! When a name becomes too long, its like all reasons are completely thrown out the window. It becomes silly and absurd. It stops making sense, and it becomes almost random. And than you laugh, but than forget it. Because, seriously, who would actually remember that "in shocking 2-D!" movie title?

With that said, here are some other long names I've came across.

Longest English word:
Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis
click

Longest place name:
Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Yuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit
This, place, surprise surprise, is actually Bangkok
click Scroll down to read the part on "Full Name".

Longest game title (At least, I haven't seen anything longer than this):
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner - Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army
click
But then I did a search and I was wrong. Trust the Japanese to come up with a game that has a title like this:
White Princess the second ~ Yappari Itto ni Ittemo Soujyanakutemo OK-na Gotsugou Shugi Gakuen Renai Adventure
or
White Princess the second ~ Love Adventure in the School That Follows the Principle of Convenience, Where It's Okay to Stray From the Path or Stay on the Path
click

Then throughout my searches, I came across this:
http://thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com/
click
which probably has the longest URL address, and it has a list of things which are long.

*Slaps forehead*

Okay. I am done with long names.
Give me my abbreviations.

My Whines

So I logged into SSDC website to book my practical driving lessons. Upon logging in, I spied this URL at the top of the page while it was loading....

http://www.ssdcl.com.sg/stud_login/.../..

Anyway, my point is "stud_login". SSDC treats their students as studs. I am a stud. Woohoo. I am amused by the simplest of things.

But this still doesn't excuse SSDC for having a very bad server. I can hardly log in to book my lessons. Reminds me of NUS CORS. Maybe there are too many people applying for driving lessons, further strengthening the fact that Singapore is probably too crowded. I waited almost 2 whole hours just to apply for my PDL! A process that took less than 5 mins! Then I realise I waited so long, because a lot of foreigners were applying for license conversion or something. Its like you are having this super creamy cake, and then someone pushes upon you a cup of full cream milk with whipped cream on it for kicks. Bad analogy perhaps, but sigh....it is sometimes hard to find some alone-time here.

Also, will people please stop putting onions into eggs. I realise people love frying omelets with copious amounts of onions. Please stop! Leave my eggs alone! I HATE onions in my delicious eggs!!!!

I also want to say something about examining Wagner's operas, re-reading Shakespeare's Macbeth, and how my favourite movie title of all time is probably "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb". However, I realised I have done so much whining in this post, that I've decided it shall just be about my whines - and thusly, the title.