6 months

It's been another 6 months. What have I accomplished? I don't know.

I'm getting laid off in January. I honestly don't think it's a big deal. It's just a job.

I'm applying to business school soon. Need to rework my resume. Have said that for a while, but haven't had the motivation to do it. With a GMAT score of 740, I better have a stunning resume to match.

I haven't been as introspective as of late. Maybe I should start again, to figure out what I truly want.

My camera gear has grown, but my portfolio has not. It's getting to the point where I believe I need to sell some and just get the Holy Trinity and leave it at that.

What exactly makes a good photo? I need to find out.

ENTP

Apparently, I'm now an ENTP (the Inventor).

Extraverted Intuitive Thinking Perceiving
Strength of the preferences %
22 25 25 22

I guess I have changed after university. Since I used to be INTP (the Architect).

Introverted Intuitive Thinking Perceiving
Strength of the preferences %
25 25 25 22

I think the I switched to E by 50%. I think it's partly because I'm sick of the mechanics of the world.

Posting

I know I haven't posted for a while. But now that it's more or less a daily ritual, I've stopped posting pictures here. It's strictly on the flickr site. But there will be at least 1 per day.

Listening to Monster Show, a waterloo band, just makes me feel nostalgic and depressed. Somehow, its melodies invoke a sense of melancholy. And a sense of restlessness. I don't know, but it feels like I have to change. There is no escaping it. It feels like my head is about to burst from the monotony.

I guess I'm just coasting through life right now. Somehow, I almost want to say that I want to quit and do something more and substantial.

But that's the problem, isn't it. What is substantial?

Posts and laziness

Okay. I didn't post any photos for the past week or so.

Why?

Because I uploaded over 200 photos on flickr. And putting them each individually would take forever. So just head over there and look at them. http://www.flickr.com/photos/riellanart. Then come back here.

Done?

Good.

I'll go back to my regularly scheduled programming after today.

Four Seasons

Spring to Summer to Fall to Winter. The seasons change, but we will persevere.

I can't shake him!

Hey, watch where you're going!

Asymmetrical Information

Now, I'm really liking this book about India, Imagining India by Nandan Nilekani. It fills in a gap in my knowledge that I always wanted filled, but didn't really want first hand experience. Just not a big fan of Indian culture. But the possibilities that the book gives us a glimpse of is too powerful to ignore.

India and China both lead the world in human capital. Most people, even if most of them are uneducated at the moment. The problem is that while India focuses on a exporting service industry with domestic manufacturing, China is operating the other way, with exporting manufacturing industry and domestic service. And unlike India, China's population will soon reach a standstill as the one child policy will cripple its usable workforce while their seniors increase. India has the enviable position of having the baby boom later than the baby boomer population of the Western world, allowing them to ride the wave of development.

However, there is still the stigma of domestic vs. imports. Imports, by their very nature, are more desirable than domestic goods. That stereotype and branding is still there. While India's economy is driven towards cutthroat pricing and affordability, American brand cars still do well given their Import prestige and the lack of need to reduce their cars to bare essentials.

And yet, for a country that is still swooning over cars made by companies proven to not know the pulse of the people, their technology growth is astounding. While I understand people here have to support legacy systems of technology, India by their very nature can leapfrog ahead of us because of the relaxed need to support those systems. What I don't understand is why are we falling behind?

Is it because we don't have the population necessary for such a system? Or does that just mean that our marketing schemes fail in a world filled with skepticism? Are we all jaded and scared that we would rather stick with what we know? Perhaps. I think that in the end, we have to ask ourselves, how can we use this knowledge to benefit ourselves?

Information Exchange

Given the thoughts on what India is doing with IT nowadays, there is no doubt that the future lies with information exchange.

Everything we do is based on the premise we exchange information with someone else. The whole "no man is an island" idiom really emphasizes this point. Our relationships, professional or intimate, friendly or romantic, chaste or carnal are all based on this idea of sharing information.

Without new information, people grow bored. I don't understand sensory deprivation chambers, but I understand all they do is try to stop you from sensing anything for a short while, so that you can experience everything afresh and give yourself a sense to free yourself from earthly sensations. A sensory deprivation chamber time is limited though. It's like drinking wine to clear your palate so you can enjoy your steak again, or having an affair so that the old regular stuff might seem interesting again. The thing is, the time in a sensory deprivation chamber is limited though, which is good. If it lasts indefinitely, it's akin to being buried alive, which is one of the deaths that we fear the most.

People need new information. Some people learn about the external world, becoming news junkies and/or academics. Others seek to learn about the social world, becoming leaders, players, or politicians. Some look at the world and use that information to experience new information about themselves in a spiritual realm of identity. Whatever it is though, people need to categorize their information. We are so bombarded with information nowadays, we have dedicated memory devices for it. Some people have newsfeeds and saved information on computers, cellphones for address books and blogs for information about ourselves. The problem is, how do we concentrate this into a usable form. Most of what we learn or know is lost in the shuffle of everyday life.

Google did very well, allowing searching through many different things using human interaction as the driving force for their search algorithms. Even though their algorithms do not apply to everything in life, it does apply to a lot. The problem is how do we shift through information in our daily life?

Our very identity is tied in with information and information control. And yet, our information control technologies have not kept pace with information broadcasting technologies. I do believe there is something we can learn from everyone, even if it is as simple (or useless, in some people's minds) as the fact that you enjoy eating strawberries for lunch. While we twitter about nonsensical things, how much of that information is kept and retained usefully?

Our world is being dominated by electronic social networks. Lavalife, facebook, myspace, youtube, pof. The developed world's love affair with intimate information will not fade. On the other hand, the developing world is being dominated by raw information. Prices of crops for example will have lasting effects on life. Weather information is critical. Somehow, I think the Western world's love for celebrity gossip does not bode well for us. Sometimes I think information overload is driving most of us to a level of apathy towards information. We think of information gathering as instantaneous, with wikipedia at our fingertips and google everpresent, but is it really?

I think this rant has a unpolished jewel of a good thesis for an essay, but I will have to organize this sometime.

But information will rule the world. It's just who would control information?

In flight around the world 2

Dried Apple

It used to be a Gala Apple apparently...

I wish I had a macro lens for this apple. =)

Tulip in Technicolor

Trying for a 3D effect for the tulip here.

The Better Way 2

Perhaps for shots like these, I would consider buying a Lensbaby.

Marching on College Park

The Tamil protest on Saturday. Even in the pouring rain, they protest. Even though they inconvenience others, how many people actually care or even know about their plight?

Duck...

Duck...

Sakura 7

Sakura 6

Sakura 5

Sakura 4

Even the birds like cherry blossoms.

Sakura 3

This looks like a flower dragon.

Sakura 2

I liked this shot. However, I used the 70-200mm at its full 200mm length, so it was a bit soft. Had to resize it.

Sakura 1

To open up a whole week of Sakura pictures.

Cherry Blossoms look so nice....

Fat Chick

I am Rufus the Guardian

Leap of Faith

Peeling Beauty

In flight around the world

Hanging by a Thread

Crisp Toronto Afternoon

Chain of White

Sorry for being late. But awesome time down at East Liberty Village today. A very very fun time. Black hoof was awesome. Got to eat a pizza wrap thing, a spellini (spelling?). Good weather, good friends, good food, good drinks. I never knew little Italy would have such a cool European vibe to it. I wish I brought my DSLR, but it seem so interesting.

The Better Way

Every time I ride the Sheppard Line, I'm always wondering what kind of people ride the subway. Are they like me? Do they like me? Could they like me?

Lost Little Child

Sometimes, we all feel this way.

Zen 4

Isn't life just ripples of causality?

Zen 3

Flowing Water and a Log

Zen 2

The second in the series...contemplate your thoughts upon the rocks.

Zen 1

The first in a series for meditation and thought.

Guardian of the Future

Wen and the new 5D Mark II

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Niagara at Night

Check Please!

It's been a while since I've written here.

My thoughts on social dance. Created in a way to facilitate intimate contact in a constricted social setting to make it 'acceptable'. Even now, it represents a way to get close to a girl within acceptable social conventions.

I think that people that know social dance, ballroom dancing in particular, are ahead in understanding body language, and it remains a very viable way to initiate physical contact in a meaningful manner. Especially how dancing was pretty much a way to instigate intimate contact.

I don't really think I have much to say here. Because while I have a lot of random theories and knowledge, most of it is unimportant to most of you. And my theories of how things happen and work may not interest everyone.

And right now, my motivation to write suddenly dropped. Unfortunately. Good night everyone.

Beauty in the Water

Musings of Life

Not the Mos Eisley Cantina

Out on the Town

Wines of Inniskillin

My first HDR!

Rose of Estia

Bacchus' Retreat

Sushi Signs and Wineglasses in Waiting

A two-for today because I was planning to do sushi signs, but I uploaded my other piece instead. Enjoy!

King of the World

Feeding the birds

Crossing...

A New Leaf

Sean ♥ Janice ∞

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