Best Brainstormed Idea Ever!

Stressed? Bored? Tired? F***ed Up?

Then this is for you.

Kinect coloring game!

Inspired by Boredom.

Why I don't need a grad trip

1. Desire for long term entertainment and purpose

One trip is too short. I would just start thinking when it was going to end and then I would be back where I was.
This indicates underlying issue of not having found a goal in some field, particularly career. I want to figure that out first.

However, if I did find the prefect career match, I would not be procrastinating or resting. I would directly run at it until I got there and satisfied. It would be both work and play.

Personally, I can be a very in-the-moment person, but years of studying and working under deadlines has driven me towards being goal-oriented. I have realized that both being in the moment and on a schedule are really one and the same. That means I don't have to unwind as long as what I do is immensely engaging.

2. The Carrot & The Stick
The carrot and the stick limits people within a system, or culture. It's not good or bad, it just limits human potential. If the trip is deliberately a carrot, I don't want it.


3. Purpose
What is it about a graduation that makes it a purpose?

I usually like trips centered around a main objective. Like studying a course, or climbing a beautiful mountain, or seeing Alaska. But just going out and being a consumer isn't a valid reason to me. I could go to nearby Shenzhen for a day and that would fit the bill too.

Granted, we need to unwind sometimes. I like traveling. It opens me up to new perspectives, new people, new things and let's me experience just how great the world is. The "I know what's happening in Alaska at the moment feeling of connectedness.

4. Finance
And then there is money. To me, a graduation trip signifies that I have achieved a kind of independence.That I have not raised nor can spare the appropriate funds for the trip means that I am not  yet independent nor taking responsibility for the trip.

Having exhausted all arguments, I conclude that I simply don't feel like it.

So where do I want to go?

I'd like to go climb some mountains or explore some area. After mount kinabalu, I no longer felt satisfied with just sightseeing or the regular touristy stuff.Something taking tremendous effort was necessary to feel rewarding

Re: Diarrhea Diaries

I read this while reading. 

You're supposed to drink 2L everyday, diarrhea or not.

I've never had diarrhea last more than 4 days. The worst I had was in YangShuo. I had swallowed LiJiang water with all the garbage in it and then ate bad meat. At least for food was excellent the night before my diarrhea started.

My stomach started to cramp during a afternoon hike. By the time I was pound tent-pegs into the ground, my stomach was cramping every few minutes. No diarrhea.

When dinner was served, I had no appetite. Wearing shorts in the freezing cold, I went to bed early and cried to sleep. Still no diarrhea.

It wasn't long before I awoke. My guts felt normal and I wanted to eat. But dinner was done and even the marshmallows were gone, digesting in the stomachs of people sound asleep.

I sat up for a while, listening to the sound of cicadas and river flowing. Everyone was sound asleep and snoring. My guts started to twist again and despite the hunger, water gurgled inside me, followed by cramps.

I decided to go and try. The hole in the ground wasn't the best toilet, but it was good enough for now. The air being so cold, it didn't really stink at all. The latrine was dug pretty deep and actually already quite filled. I had to take care not to slip in getting up.

Diarrhea was actually enjoyable after the cramping. I had to go to toilets everywhere - from hole-in-the-grounds to your standard Mainland Chinese dirty squat-toilet. It was tough squatting properly with cramps - I found it easiest to pad the sides of the squat-toilet with toilet paper and sit down on it. 

Later, I found out that the others got antibiotics. As I realized, antibiotics are simply unnecessary and sometimes ineffective. All you need is lots of water and a good appetite, and then the body will eject what it does not need.

After 3 days, my appetite returned and all problems had ceased. The experience injected me with greater respect for my body and made me indifferent to bodily malfunctions - if anything, I have come to enjoy illnesses. The twisting of the guts, the gurgling of digestive matter, the satisfaction of offloading waste and the thump of shit freefalling into the water below. The feeling was all strangely healing and exquisite, part of the human experience in the infinitesimally short moments we are alive. 

Looking back, I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.