Love at first sight, loving the first sight.

Ironic as it is, I often laugh at people's sentiments.

Sometimes my friends, or their friends write on their blog or facebook note saying how terrible they are feeling. How they broke up with a boyfriend, their hopelessness, complaining about their exams, you name it. And I think... get a grip! What you feel doesn't change anything, and you have food to eat, you've got a job, you've got an education, so stop whining. It's not the end of the world.

But I also wrote, and am still writing the similar things, like the following...

Have you ever considered that you are attracted to your crush because of the fact that she/he is your crush?

You like him because of what the distance you now have with him entails, and this distance does not allow you to know her much more. Thus is the chance for some fantasy to creep in. There is something about her that you really like, her looks perhaps. She isn't the most beautiful girl you've ever seen in your life, but she is realistically pretty. And wouldn't it just be great that she likes Jazz as well?

So your wishful thinking becomes more real, at least in your own mind. Perhaps it isn't something as specific as jazz, but something more blurry. Maybe it would be perfect if he can enjoy that long walk with you at twilight on the park, and embarking with your solitary and timeless trip is a soft summer wind.

However, the attraction for her is endless nights of dances, the drinks, and the fun. He likes tennis, rather than Pride and Prejudice. She loves the shopping and taking pictures on her trip in Tokyo, while you like to look at lake Louise in Banff, lying on a chair for hours, so you never have to take a picture with your camera. She loves the indie French band from Montreal, but rap is your thang.

Yes, perhaps he would really love the walk, the talk, and the occasional caffe latte with Andrea Bocelli singing Il Calmo Mare della Sera or one of your 80's favourite. She would love to do that because she is by then immensely in love with you, and this can happen only when you can understand her world. Sadly, you simply cannot take the deafening noise at the club playing what they call music. While at the same way, she can only enjoy the first 30 seconds of the 3rd movement of Sonata no. 8 Pathetique. That is, after you tell her what the piece is, and she can only remember "Pathetique," the same way she feels if she listens to it for more than two minutes without falling asleep.

You believe in love at first sight, and it's true, it exists. The love can only linger on that first sight.

And I hope this may be some consolation to you.

Why D-Day?

Saturday was June 6th, 2009, the 65th anniversary of the commencement of the Operation Overlord, otherwise known as the D-day landings during WWII. On the first day, at the Normandy Landings, 156,000 allied forces landed in France on a single day. The invasion continued with the eventual liberation of Paris, then advancing eastward into German soil. On May 8th, 1945, Nazi Germany surrendered, marking the Victory in Europe Day in WWII. Our press often dubbed it as the "turning point of the war."

Every year, there is extensive celebration of the day and there has been much press coverage. However a friend asked, why D-day? Why not V-E day? The answer is not about its significance in history, but its significance in politics and id
eology.

The real turning point to WWII in Europe is not June 6th, 1944, but February 2nd, 1943. The day marks the German surrender to the siege of Stalingrad, setting free a million troops and more. Stalin has always wanted his allies to open up a second front, by they delayed for a year. By then, the Soviet army already pushed the Nazi armies away from Russian soil. Eventually, Soviet troops captured Berlin and the European theatre of WWII was brought to an end. One may argue that the glory is more to the soviets than to the "western world."

The glory to the liberation of France however, is to "us." We, the fighters of democracy, liberating people from fascism and tyranny. The notion of those who defeated tyranny being communists is out of place, and it doesn't fit the west's persecution of communism at the time. Although we are through Cold War, and though the democratic capitalists prevail, we still like to view ourselves the good important guys.

Bookstore and Buffet

I like going to bookstores, bookstores like Chapters, or Page One in the context of my occasional readers from Hong Kong. The UBC bookstore obviously doesn't count, do you like somebody who is constantly trying to squeeze the last shoe out of you?

Bookstores are amusing (contrary to popular belief), I love the smell of (new) books. The pages carry a faint smell of wood that is somewhat hypnotizing, but not enough to make you sleep at the first tincture of the smell that enters your nose. I like that they are usually quiet and has just an enough number of people that does not make the room stuffy and makes me feel safe. I love all the different covers on the books, most of them colourful and catchy. It is sort of like going to a buffet, but only slightly like it.

Like a buffet, there are a lot of things to pick.
However, I don't want to try everything in a bookstore, but I pretty much like to try everything in a buffet. Most books are actually quite dull on the inside. For most books, I'd only want what I can acquire through the book. It is best I can have knowledge without reading the book. But as for the food, I would love to eat them but don't like the calories that I'll eventually get.

So books and food are somewhat opposites, and bookstores and buffets are like the two sides of the same coin.

Today is the 65th(?) anniversary of D-Day.

random no. 2

This is again a very random note.

The Question of the day is: How do we know if something is true?