fly like a bird.

I absolutely love flying, but every time I get on a plane I see people freeking out as if it were the end of the world.

It's hard to believe, but you have more chances of dying in an accident while driving to the airport than in the actual plane, by far; what you believe is only what the media made you believe.

So enjoy life and go to the carribeans to bread alongside the leatherback turtles...
& go there by plane for once, you're too old to cross the atlantic by row-boat again.


Go to:
- airplane disasters (for explanations)
- airplane crash statistics (for stats on the truth)

Pins & needles

Most know now that I once had my tongue pierced, most see people in the street with unusual holes poked in their skin somewhere on their body, & a lot have actualy experienced it. But do you know what it actually means, or at least meant?

Ear piercings were always more commonly worn by men & had the use of being a dorrway out for all the demons in a man's head (the reason for which "the bigger the whole the better"). But many other meaning have passed through time; such as sailors who wore an ear piercing were the ones who had sailed around the globe or had at least cross the equator; or it has also been believed that it would increase the acuity of eyesite through acupuncture.

The nose piercing was first discovered 4,000 years ago, but its main reference date from India & was said to help reduce pain at childbirth & lessen period pain. By custom it was always on the left side, the spot associated with the female organs in Indian medecine. It was also common to join it by a chain to the ear.

Nipple piercings were originaly a misunderstanding between Roman generals and their soldiers: the general's body armor was well known for its faithful imitation of a man's torso, & it was also well noted that their capes were attached to them by means of hooking it to two rings on that body armor that were placed on its 'nipples'. The soldiers belived that the generals indeed had the same rings on their real nipples, as the armors seemed to be perfect imitations of what was under.

Prince Albert piercings (on a man's third leg, down under) were, as one could guess, invented by a certain Prince Albert who first pierced his genitals in order to keep 'it' strait up in the then-current fashionable tight pants. Nevertheless some consider this to be highly unlikely and prefer tracing its origin back to the kamasutra in ancient Indian culture. Your choice, but either way it has always been known to be a practice of gay culture.

Navel piercings (on the belly button) was used amongst the Egyptian royal family members for ceremonial purposes. It has now become the most common body piercing after ear piercing but is still done using unsanitary means and often leads to infections.

Tongue piercing (my favorite) was used in the Mayan culture as a means to talk to the Gods & was only done on priests. But like most piercings today it has gained a more sexual connotation. Moreover it is considered to be the most risky, as it can, in certain cases, cut the break: the tendon on your tongue that hold the tongue back (if cut the tongue would just hang out of the mouth and no surgery can fix it).


Now if you ever want to pierce youself (not recomended) it can be useful to rub the skin that is to be pierced with a raw potato, as it will rend the skin numb and will take away most of the pain. But modern techniques allow for quick and painless piercing, just make sure you go to a certified piercer that uses proper anesthetics.

Smile

Beyond the cries
far from the sorrow,

Beyond the tears
away from the sobs,

Beyond the darkness
and out of the shadows,


Lift up your head,
Look up to the sky...


and smile.

Just do it

Now there's something I never been able to say & I've been meaning to say it to a lot of people for a long, long time. And Paul Haggis has said it for me, in his movie Crash.
I would like it if you watched that movie, by any means possible.
So please... just do it.




(Dedicated to Melinda who alowed me to discover the movie)

Words for love

Love: Letting Out Voracious Enemies

Trust: The Rest Use Serious Thinking

Understand: Undergoing Numerous Disappointments Encompasses Realizing Someone’s Truths And Needlessly Doubting

Affection: After Four Failures Every Conviction Truly Inheres On Nothing

Honesty: How Our Nonchalance Easily Skips Truth’s Yearn

Tolerance: To Overcome Lapsing Every Real Aspiration of Needing to Convince Everybody.

Loyalty: Leaving Out Your Acute Legerdemain To Yourself

Fear

I don't have much to say about this subject, except that I don't like it: it slows you down and takes away the control you have over yourself.
But it stays in all of us, like that itch on your back you simply can't get to; but if you don't think about it you'll just end up forgeting all about it.

Knowing what you're dealing with will obviously help you deal with it.
So go to this link and read the whole thing... yes, everything.

http://people.howstuffworks.com/fear.htm/printabl

Death become her

Someone close once told me about a certain curiosity in death but wasn't able to talk to anyone about it. I personaly disagree with the people who avoided the conversation, for to know the true meaning of life one must cover all aspects, including death.

So what is death? It's a moment in time that can't really be defined; it's a bit like the present: by the time you think about it it has already become past; is present time the second you are living in? or maybe the hundredth of a second? or maybe less? I say it is too small to actually exist. So I say that we are constantly living either in the past of an upcoming moment or in the futur of another.
Death is kind of the same thing: either you're alive or you're not; death is either the afterworld for the believers or a time for body's decomposition for the non-believers. Death really is the moment you die, the one between life and one of those two others; but how long is that moment? one second? a hundredth of a second? maybe less? I say it is too small to actually exist...

So why be afraid of something that doesn't exist...

;-)

Your GPS has gone bad

Ever tried to guess what letter someone was writing on you back using the tip of their finger?
I presume that you know how you can do that?

Indeed there is a map of you whole body somewhere in your brain. But the interesting part is that it isn't like an unalterable ink & paper kind of map, it's more of a puzzle where you can rearrange the pieces at will; nevertheless what you have leanred in you life makes it difficult to consciously do it: your mind has to be trick into it.

Here is an experiment to show you how: sit in front of a friend of yours, blindfolded. Then ask another friend to hold up your index and point it towards your sitting friend's nose, ask him then to put it closer and closer until it's actually touching it, then make that friend use your finger to tap the sitting down friend's nose at frequent but irregular intervals, and then do the same movement with his finger on your nose (both have to be perfectly synchronised). At one point you will be thinking that your nose is your friends nose, the one a couple of feet away.

Click on the linked blog-post title to find out more & go a little further.

Know thyself.

Go to this page to unravel the mysteries of 'you'.

I was pleasantly surprised at my mental capabilities but deceived at my ambitions and personality traits.

A simple example: hold you hands together, crossing you fingers; now look to see which thumb is on top of the other... I'm not going to tell you what it means, I'll just say that it does mean something.

Enjoy...


http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/index_surveys.shtml

Busy Bee

Now this was the kinda week I was waiting for!!!

Monday: hmm... I can't really remember what I did, but I know I did something

Tuesday: Out at and little house party where I met some nice Brits... point? greet some new colleagues... & get drunk

Wednesday: Finally met up with some of my cousins from around the area and managed to plan a near journey of discovery and amazement in the night-life of the city of angels... Paris.

Thursday: out to another 'little' house party... point? say goodbye to some old colleagues... & get drunk.

Friday: now this is the one I prefered...
I met up with my cousins and went to the Oberkampf area (center's north east of Paris), where we discovered (or rather just 'I') a few bars and pubs: my favorite was the Charbon, lots of pretty 'gals that would be looking at me as if I were some sort of local celebrity (very pleasant I must say), but also a very nice atmosphere and good music (a bit crouded though). Then we went to the Wax, nice place but too young and no nice music (yes, still a nice place if you're there to sit and chat). After that we wandered around to different places, none of which I remember the name, except maybe the "Chat noir" but not worth remembering. Now I think that the only problem is that everything closes at 2.o0am... HOW BLOODY BORING!!!

Saturday: met up with a friend/ex-teacher (Yann for the ones who know) & some of his, and tried watching the france-georgia soccer match (stoped before half-time.. too boring) and then lazed around before going down rue de la Huchette to get caught in a Greek restaurant like a moskito to a neon light. It was a lifetime experience, but to do only once... really. For those who want to dare try it out, it's called "les Argonautes" and it #12 on the street in the 5th district. I'm never going there again: never had I eaten in such a loud environment (go to www.lesargonautesparis.com).

Sunday: we then went walking in a park outside of Paris (Parc de Sceaux @ http://parc-de-sceaux.9online.fr), very very very nice castle over there (I'm jealous... sniff). I then ended my most active week ever with a nice dinner at a Moroccan restaurant, in the middle of nowhere but with the best coucous Ever.

Lots of money spent, but all worth the fun.

Hello there

Now I've just come back from my most active night in Paris yet: I went to the Oberkampf area.
Now I was told, and also to what I saw, that the area passed its age and is now in the stage of popularity's decline. Nevertheless there is enought movement to get along very well with the locals.
I'm going through one of those nights where you want to discover the place, so you go to six different bars drinking half a liter of beer in each and then pretend to be perfectly sain even though you have several grams of alcohol at the tip of each finger, then you realize that all you've been doing for the past few hours is making a fool of yourself by dancing on any support than could be confused as a podium, so you then start walking home in shame only to realize that you've gone in the complete opposite direction, and then again in shame you take a taxi, making the driver your best friend in the whole wide world; and finally, after arriving home, you write a whole bunch of crap on some pointless blog to then collapse in your bed and have nightmares of glasses of beer with little legs and huge arms attacking you while you're hanging upside down under the eiffel tower.

All is left for me now is that bloody nightmare... wish me luck...