Quote of the Day: We who cut mere stones must always be envisioning cathedrals

We who cut mere stones must always be envisioning cathedrals.

—Quarry worker's creed 

Quote of the Day: Education is easier than reeducation.

Education is easier than reeducation.

As I progress from job to job, project to project, task to task, I have realized that

it is far easier to accumulate bad habits than it is to remove them.
it is easier to learn something the right way than to relearn it.
it is far easier to do it the right way the first time than to keep changing it.
relearning may never be as perfect as learning it right the first time.

But as life goes, there is rarely perfection on the first round. We make errors. And so we labor on, figuring it out as we go along.

You were born an original. Don't die a copy. ~John Mason

Right now, I feel a lot like a copy. I attempt to focus on the things that only I am, but find that it's an illusion.

It feels like, everything I love to do, there's another someone doing the same, and yet another doing it better.

Of course, I can learn from them, but then I become dissatisfied whenever I hit a block. If all goes naturally, I will simply internalize all this,

On one hand, I can just sheepishly follow my routines.
On the other, I desperately need my own unique space.

Quote of the Day

The world is not outside you. ~Ramana Maharshi

Fascinating Idea of the Night #1: Removing infrequent letters

The least frequently occurring letter in English are z, q, x, j. etaoinshrdlcumwfgypbvkjxqz

What if we removed the least frequent letters? 
Would that make English a slightly easier language to use?

Top 10 things to do in Japan

1. Hike.

The hills in Japan are much cleaner than SouthEast Asia. There are no ants to make things complicated. Trees are often big and dry. Clean, smooth granite monoliths are the norm. Even the moss on the rocks by the rivers look serene and beautiful.

Oh, and the hikers are the most polite in the world. I have trouble getting even a "Hi!" out of most HK hikers.

2. Dip in the ocean.

Yes, it's cold as heck. But it'll make you warm for the rest of the day.

3. Take thousands of photos.

The place is very pretty.

4. Enjoy the food

Sashimi seems to cost a little less than in HK.
Sushi is available for every price level, from the humble 100yen sushi to 2000yen for a few slices of tuna or 5000yen for top class Kobe beef.

5. Check out the toilets

I. Love. Bidets.
I could really do with one at home if I could justify the budget.

6. Pay to enter the Castles

I still find the castles cool. Now, since I haven't been to Europe, the Japanese castles are about the coolest castles I've seen so far, besides the Chinese walled cities.

7. Pay expensive admission to temples

The thing is, I have no idea what they're about. All I've ever been able to do is marvel at the sheer number of people who pay and worship those things. I wonder what's going through their minds.

8. Enjoy The Politeness

The Japanese are mysteriously polite and professional. There is no other place in the world I see this, not even at Walmart in the States (the Walmart greeters don't come close). I often wonder if they harbor some secret resentment towards other people, or bloody foreigners who can't figure out how to use their bus lines or Japanese-style toilets. The sense of de-individualization is most interesting.

9. Meet The Poor

The Japanese poor seem to just suck it up and suffer in silence. Why aren't they demanding more welfare or begging like in most other places? In all the places in I see very few beggars, at least far fewer than homeless people quietly desperate in their efforts to stay warm and out of the wind.

10. Watch The Salarymen at the metro

They all look the same to me. They are like a swarm of black and white at rush hour. Of course, we can see this in HK too, but the uniformity there is just incredible to me.


There's more, but I'll stop here.