Have I Ever? ...

It's probably silly to do this, but I found this list here, and I wanted to see how much of life I haven't lived.

Instructions:
Bold the ones you did.
* the ones you want to do.
the more stars the more desperately you wanna do it

Have I Ever?
01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink (was never that happy to be so generous)
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain*
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive** (only touched one)
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said 'I love you' and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped (never going to happen, not sky-diving either)
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea* (Would love to have a camera if it ever happens)
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa*
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg* (I hope you mean at one of the poles on this earth)
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby's diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon *
22. Watched a meteor shower *
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment (who hasn't)
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run / a six
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking (all the time)
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 10 provinces (of what?)
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk (hopefully, never again)
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country (U.S. is a foreign country right?)
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe ************************** (desperate to, but when? when will I?)
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing*
49. Midnight walk on the beach (Stayed up all night and walked on Miami Beach once)
50. Gone sky diving (never going to happen)
51. Visited Ireland *
52. Been heartbroken longer then you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan*
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your cds
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day (anyone that hasn't is a liar)
60. Posed nude in front of strangers (what the heck?)
61. Gone scuba diving (can't swim, afraid to learn)
62. Kissed in the rain :D
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater (can't believe I haven't done this)
66. Visited the Great Wall of China*
67. Started a business (someday I might want to open a magazine. hmmmm...)
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight (no, but played other games for a lot longer *nerd*)
72. Gotten married (Seriously?)
73. Been in a movie* (But will be producing one, a love triangle with Kate Beckinsale, Maura Tierney and I ...)
74. Crashed a party (All the time, hehehe)
75. Gotten divorced (Seriously? Am I missing much?)
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch (Like supermarket cookies just fine)
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo* (Will. As soon as I can figure out what to get. Any suggestions?)
81. Rafted the Snake River * (Where is that?)
82. Been on television news programs as an "expert"* (Wait, but what would be an expert in?)
83. Got flowers for no reason (Guys don't get flowers. Can we keep these gender neutral please?)
84. Performed on stage (Unfortunately there was a time I thought I was talented on stage. hehehe)
85. Been to Las Vegas (Been there, done that, lost a lot of money)
86. Recorded music (Even my CDs I buy suck or so I've been told. So, no thanks)
87. Eaten shark
88. Had a one-night stand* (Yeah right!)
89. Gone to Thailand *
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one of your parents (Huh?!)
93. Been on a cruise ship*
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children* (Someday.)
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour* (Need a group to become a groupie though.)
98. Created and named your own constellation of stars
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country*
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over*
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge* (Walked the Brooklyn Bridge though)
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn't stop when you knew someone was looking* (All the time)
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an illness that you shouldn't have survived
105. Wrote article for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback (Huh? Who needs holding when they are having a flashback?)
108. Piloted an airplane* (Someday I'll get my license)
109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone's heart (Nothing to be proud of :( ...)
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show* (Still hoping to make it on Who Want To Be A Millionaire. The show is still on right?)
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari***
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol*
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse*
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon* (Went half-way and came back. It is way too exhausting probably to go all the way.)
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours (Who hasn't?)
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states***********************************************
124. Visited all 7 continents***********************************************
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days *
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper*
129. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about (i don't know, but i probably have given plenty of bad advice. hehehe)
130. Gone back to school (To visit, yes. Not actually go back to school.)
131. Parasailed*
132. Petted a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey*
135. Selected one "important" author who you missed in school, and read (I never read anything in school. I only prepared for exams. hehe)
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (Wow, who's done that?)
137. Skipped all your school reunions (Never got an invitation so far.)
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language*
139. Been elected to public office (Do non-profit organizations count as public office?)
140. Written your own computer language (Not that nerdy)
141. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair (A late teenage phase in my 20s. Blonde streaks. hehehe.)
147. Been a DJ (Like I said, my CD collection sucks. No thanks.)
148. Shaved your head (As a kid I think)
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone's life*

43/150. Hmmm... 28%. Hey I'm 28 (almost). I guess I'm on track. Living my life. :)

Sex Blog

'I don't write to titillate. I censor like crazy to make my blogs less erotic'

Some people have more success with their blogs than others. The sex diary of a London post-modern feminist blogger gets her a six figure book deal but loses her privacy.

So this sex liberal decides to write her sexual experiences explicitly and anonymously on her blog. Her intent was never to write erotica apparently, but I guess a need to pour out her psychoanalytic thought process about her sexual appetite, technique and men in general.

Despite the ultra-conservative background I come from, where nobody talks about sex, ever, (except in crude humor), I have been able to learn that the average woman I have known supposedly does not think about sex all that much. It's not as important to women. It is men that are dirty and last about 7 seconds. We've heard all this before. But now, in this 'Sex and the City' Samantha Jones generation, having a healthy (or obsessive) sexual appetite, satisfying it and telling the whole world (at least anonymously) is considered 'third wave feministic' (*)? Really?

*(I know the "women entering work force, women's education, abortion, sexual freedom is considered the first wave of feminism. No idea what the second wave of feminism was, just quoting from the Guardian article.)

Feminism on the front-page again. I guess the feminist movement in London has reached a new milestone when this sex blogger is not being vilified more than the attention she receives in media. She has an ardent reader base that does not only consist of perverted men. Plus a publishing company is willing to put money (six figures I repeat) on it.

Here in the U.S., I was a little surprised that the conservative Christian pro-lifers actually lost their campaign against making Plan-B over the counter. At least they were able to push it behind the counter, but I still consider it a loss. (This is after the same conservative base vehemently being able to ban gay marriage not so long ago.) I guess that is a success for feminists / pro-choicers in a big way.

At least in this aspect, I was further surprised to hear about India staying ahead of the game. Forget about India being uncomfortable with sex in the open, the Hindu radicals won't let Deepa Mehta shoot a movie, Water, that depicts them in a harsh light (she had to shoot it in Sri Lanka I think), but there is a Plan B already. I guess the Ministry of Health was able to sell the idea based on practicality or perhaps even this is serving the male-dominated society in some twisted way. Nevertheless, women have more choice in India already and that's something.

Feminism on the front-page again, and changing the world.

Love in Mathematics

Found the Mathematics equation to Love on Flickr today. :p

Corinne Bailey Rae

Went to Corinne Bailey Rae's concert last night at The Loft. She is awesome. Her voice and her smile is so mesmerizing. And she has an English accent. She looked like a goddess up there. Wow! She wasn't too much like Norah Jones, she had a little bit more rock to her music. Apart from the songs from her self-titled debut released album, she did a Led Zeppelin song as well.

The opening act Gran Bel Fisher was pretty decent. The duo's songs almost tempted me to buy their cd.

The second act was some guy from Brooklyn called himself Kevin Devine. He sucked. People were just short of booing him off stage.

Toys

This is how boys with cool camera toys spend their Saturday mornings - by watching tv. :)

What defines us?

Somebody probably already said it, "The battles we choose to fight is what defines us". I see it to be true more and more everyday.

• People around us break the rules all the time and get away with it. When we do find out about it, whether we choose to side with the person (and support her) or the principle (and confront her) is what defines us.
• People will betray you in their own pursuits of life. When we do find out about it, whether we choose to be tragic (and forgive them) or sinful (and seek vengeance) is what defines us.
• Life will throw a curve ball at you from time to time. When we are in that situation, whether we choose to be patient (and accept it) or respond (and take a shot) is what defines us.
• Life will tempt you from time to time. When we are faced with it, whether we choose to resist (and wonder about it) or give in (and regret it) is what defines us.

As with most battles, there usually is no right or wrong. But whether we fight to be fair (and be prepared to lose) or to survive (and be prepared to cheat) is what defines us.

I Wore Shorts to Work, and They All Laughed

I Wore Shorts to Work, and They All Laughed: "Women dress for the weather, but men still don't dare."

"It was partly a show of civic-mindedness, but also a way of redressing the disparity between men, who wear a stifling suit and tie to the office in summer, and women, who breeze by in ventilated cotton eyelet skirts with loose silk camisoles or the bubble silhouette dress of the season that barely seems to graze the body."

NYTimes writer Eric Wilson defies convention and tries wearing shorts to work in response to the sweltering summer heat, and reflects about how impractical men's fashion has become on par with women.

We always ridiculed women about how uncomfortable a fashionable woman would rather be, than give up her shoes or cover up her cold numb body in winter, but it is also true that men refuse to cross a certain line even in this summer heat.

"I wore a dressy pair of low-waisted, narrow knee-length navy twill shorts from Joseph, a white dress shirt, brown loafers (no socks) and a tightly tailored gray jacket from Thom Browne, another designer who put shorts suits in his fall collection. I found myself cooler, strangely confident and, because of that, walking more gaily than usual.

But on the street, people stared. Some took pictures."

We are all aware of this double standard, but we never question it.

“It is unfair,” he said. “Women wear flip-flops and miniskirts, and some of them even have their stomachs out. But if I wore shorts, they’d make a big deal of it in the office.”

The only difference in men's summer dress code is to remove the tie and an extra button near the collar. That is supposed to make up for all the heat. Most men even feel uncomfortable wearing short sleeves to work and instead prefer to wear full sleeves with a single or double roll. What is that? How conformist are we?

"The philosopher J C Flügel explained a similar reaction to dress reformers in the 1930’s as rooted in “man’s intense fear of appearing different from his fellows” and also fear of association with tendencies of narcissism and homosexuality."

I guess fashion is just as important for men as it is for women. We just prefer to dress more alike than the opposite gender and therefore prefer to be more boring.

Ethics in Photography

I was browsing some photographs on Flickr when I learnt about Jill Greenberg's controversial photo exhibits of crying children.

Jill Greenberg is a Sick Woman Who Should Be Arrested and Charged With Child Abuse
Think In Pictures: Adventures in Visual Education: The Case Against Jill Greenberg's "End Times"

I guess there are plenty of grey areas even in the work of a photographer ...

• Shooting Strangers: Where do we draw the line of invading someone's privacy in a public place?
  
• Shooting Strangers' Kids: How can a parent not be paranoid about potential kidnappers (or worse) and their M.O. as casual photographers?
  
• Permissions to shoot: Do we always have to respect the "No Pictures Please" signs posted?
  
• Security: If enough of us take enough pictures of the Brooklyn Bridge, are we helping terrorists?
• Dignity: Can we call ourselves journalists just because we happened to have the opportunity to witness someone's vulnerable / embarassing / unfortunate situation while carrying a camera?
• Skin: How much skin is too much?
  
• Taboo: Photographers love taking pictures in avenues that challenge society's norms and conventional thinking. But is Jill Greenberg's work ethical?
  

Chihuly Exhibit

Went to see the Chihuly Exhibit at Lowe Gallery last Saturday. It was the most awesome glass art I've ever seen. Spent hours taking pictures.

Blue Man Group

Ever since I saw the Blue Man Group show at Las Vegas, I have been a fan of their music. It's mostly just percussion with no vocals, but it still sounds amazing. I recently saw their video of a song Sing Along featuring Dave Matthews. I guess they were trying their music with vocals by parterning with some cool big names. Don't know about the others cause I haven't yet checked out the album, but this one song is great. Check out the video online.

Sing Along, Blue Man Group featuring Dave Matthews (The Complex, 2003)
http://www.blueman.com/videoimages/video/singalong_h.shtml

The song itself goes very well with BMG cause it's about being alone and different from others.

Atlanta Concerts

Some good concerts coming up in Atlanta ...

• Corinne Bailey Rae, Aug 16 (Got tickets already. Mellow Brit Rock. Saw her showcased on VH1 along with her video Put Your Records On)
• Flaming Lips, Sep 13 (Fight Test is the song that got a lot of airplay.)
  
• Matisyahu, Sep 19 (Not big on Reggae, but this is pretty decent.)
  
• REO Speedwagon, Sep 22, 23 (They have a lot of cheesy pop hits. I wanna check them out to see how they sound live.)
  
• Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Sep 22 (Classic Mainstream Rock band. I wanna go to this one just to hear Mary Jane's Last Dance)
  
• Keane, Sep 25 (This is really good Brit Rock. Am definitely going to this one.)