Why the emphasis on unfamiliar animals?
Went to build sandcastles just now as a school event. It's quite weird for a bunch of JC students to build sandcastles, or so I think, because youth has left me and there is nothing in me besides age. It is more regrettable that I couldn't revel in mud creation nor satisfaction gained from having created a hybrid turtle-cougar-lion sand structure.
I think that inactivity is the source of much discontent of the day, because there was nothing I can do that would benefit the building of the structure. When you have 20+ people crowding around a pile of sand, and 200+ people in the same squeezed area, you can't move around much and there's nothing much you can do because 20+ people crowding around the sand is just too much, there's too little space for everyone to work in. We ended up having around 5 slackers. Not that we want to slack but because we can contribute nothing.
Moving out of that compound would be retarded because you'd be missing and you don't want your attendance to be ticked off. Also, to be completely missing would mean that you're totally not interested in the affairs of the sand, so much that you are not even allowing yourself to be available to help when you are needed.
And to stone around on the beach with truckloads of people surrounding you looking busy isn't that healthy. And the instructors swoop down on stoners and people who are building random sandcastles at random spots. It's not like we can do anything else, but it's not healthy to argue, so we conformed and went back to stoning beside the structure. Easiest way out.
So for each sand structure you must build something related to the house, and AJ's houses are all cats. Not that I have a problem with cats since I'm a lion, but the question: Why cats?
Seriously, what's so impressive about cats? Or dogs? Or birds? America loves the eagle. Or hawk. Doesn't really make much of a difference to me. Singapore loves the lion. Or mermaid. Or Merlion, which doesn't exist and doesn't make sense considering the gender of both creatures involved but nevertheless well-loved and ignored to a large extent. The existence of such awe-inspiring creatures are hardly in-your-face kind of things. You are not reminded of the hawk, or mermaids or lions or Vanda Miss Joaquim-s in everyday scenarios. These animals(and plant) are chosen because of their uniqueness and rareness and traits which makes them stand out, not that any animal doesn't stand out with its own traits. But I haven't gotten to the point yet--
why all this extravagance? A hawk? A bird? All the same to me. A lion? A pussycat? Got difference mehx? Every major organization(every organization actually) is so concerned about a show of power that they forget that certain animals don't exist throughout the world. Like, you don't find pandas in Singapore. We don't even have them in our zoo. We don't see lions in Singapore in our workplace. We cannot relate to such noble creatures because they are too noble for us commoners to relate to. I can't identify myself with the whale besides the fact that I've got blubber, and I can't relate to an anaconda besides the fact that I have one behind my zipper. Oh wait...
OK I can relate to anacondas. But I can't relate to a bull besides the fact that I bullshit, and I really can't find myself similar to a cow besides the fact that male cows have whips and so do I.
Unless you can find something significant in the wings of a bird that is so you, you can't disagree with me. If you can, you're probably delusional, get away from your computer you're not safe on the Internet. I mean like, Hi, you're Human. You are not an animal. Sometimes I really don't see how come animals are associated with human traits. Are pigs really stupid? No. Are lions the only brave animals in the planet? How intelligent can any other animal be if they can be killed and eaten by us humans? If the animal is that clever then it should be able to preserve itself. That ability is apparently lacking in all animals. So why is it that owls are seen as a symbol of intelligence and not humans?
But this doesn't talk about extravagance of these rare, humanized animals. I just don't see how zai these animals are. I think that the most marvellous creature on Earth is....-drum roll-
the cockroach.
It has been on Earth since time immemorial(the dinosaur era), and not mentioned to have boarded Noah's Ark so I guess that means it's quite amphibious too considering the fact that it survived 7 days of flood without having to rest while treading water. Guess that's why it has 6 legs. 6 legs right?
Have you realized that cockroach repellents are always changing to become stronger? That's because cockroaches are able to survive and create some form of defense against such repellents. When you compare how viruses kills humans like flies, and humans can't kill cockroaches for nuts, you'd realize how strong and undying the cockroach is. If people were to humanize cockroaches, this persevering spirit of theirs is most commendable. Really.
Also, about the significance of cockroaches in real life, well, it just is. How often do you see a cockroach running around your house, or void deck? Quite often. You're constantly reminded of its existence and thus its undying will to live. Isn't it touching, how such a hated creature is able to hang onto its own dear life? Isn't it sad to note that it's severely misunderstood throughout the entirety of its life? But that's alright, they understand that humans are only interested in the glamorous, and such recognition is only given to animals on board of the Noah's Ark and not the ones that could live with god's hatred. If they can survive god's war against everything living, they can survive against humans.
There you go. You have a creature that survived god's wrath. Fear it. Make it your country's symbolic creature today.
Another creature worth mentioning is the....
rat. Really, they are quite hard to catch and kill. I once saw a rat trap and a caught rat in it when I was very young. It was kinda huge and it was attacking the cage furiously. It was really scary because I thought that metal was weak back then, and that its teeth would finally break the cage and kill everyone with its teeth because he is that manly.
But it didn't manage to break metal with calcium, although it did give a lot of fight. In the end, we didn't know how to kill it and free it such that the trap could be used again. So my cousin drowned it, as the nature of cages is not waterproof. Kind of DUH there but oh well.
Oh and before we drowned it my cousin was trying to poke it to death with sticks, as the nature of cages is not stick-proof. The rat's amazing dodging abilities helped it stay alive.
Back to the drowning.
It was at night and I can't see clearly, but I could hear and see lots of bubbles, and at times the cage would suddenly appear above the water level because of the strength of the rat's swimming. It was desperate for air and it got it in those dying moments of its life. Then suddenly everything stopped. No more struggling. My cousin then took the rat cage out of the water. It wasn't moving. Its fur glistened in the faint light from within the house, that which the rat could never again see. My cousin then took it out from the cage, but even then it looked like it could spring back alive anytime soon. It seemed completely capable of performing self-resuscitation even in its dead state, but it didn't. My cousin then took some stick and whacked it, and like a door mat the murderous water splashed around the place.
Really a memorable scene. See the significance and die-hardness of a simple rat? Household pests are more meaningful than foreign, unfamiliar animals.
-- 10/16/2009 12:29:00 AM
