Still, I know when I have to stop and take a break. I've had friends who were so hardworking that they sleep only 2-3 hours everyday for 3 months straight before even the Prelims. No, they didn't even try multitasking - watching Youtube and doing work at the same time - like I always do. They literally work 24/7. However, even though I have immense respect for people like that, I find that rather foolish, because it is rather impractical for humans with normal levels of stamina to persevere for that long. Also, they collapsed before the exam and their health got in the way of their rewards. In Chinese, that is called 事倍功半, which means to put in a lot of effort to get a less than proportionate amount of reward. It's like...having an elastic demand or something. Ok, that's a stupid analogy.
Anyway, I think taking Literature has ruined my fanfiction reading experience. I was reading the following extract:
"The woman in front of me, she was like a turbulent river, cascading around me and trapping me in the rapid currents of her passion; like a wild forest fire, scorching and engulfing my very spirit. But my wife, the one holding my hand so gently next to me, she was by distinct contrast, the calm surfacing of a stagnant pond, emitting the warmth of a small hearth-fire."
It is quite nicely-written, up to my demands on the language skills of a fanfiction author, but I cannot seem to get the picture of Ellen Olenska and May Welland from The Age of Innocence out of my head. Granted, the main character is nothing like Newland Archer, since he is the keyword I used to search up the fanfiction anyway. I cannot separate the characters of the two women in the fanfiction from the two in the novel I'm studying. It also doesn't help that while this author has done a good job with maintaining a respectable standard for the language use in his/her story, he/she has managed to make the female characters extremely OOC. For those unaccustomed to the terms used fanfiction, OOC means "Out of Character".
But I didn't stick much to this idea and instead went on to thinking more about the content of the extract. So just like Newland Archer, this character is married to a woman who he does love, but with less of a passionate kind of love than he has for this other woman. Since the situation is so similar, I'll just discuss it in relation with Ellen Olenska and May Welland, the former of which is the woman Newland Archer has an affair with and the latter of which is his wife (taking from the second part of the novel).
Now, in the given context that he is already married, then I have no qualms or hesitations in saying that he is completely in the wrong and that he should have no choice between the two women. It has nothing to do with marriage being a sacred institution, ordained by God, or whatever religious people preach. I am someone who proudly develops her values based on observations and experiences, rather than inherited values that are blindly and doggedly followed "just because" they are there. Instead, I think of marriage as a promise. I don't think that anyone should break a promise - because in the first place, you made the decision of making that promise.
What I mean is that, in any situation where you created the ultimate conditions for failure, you are then responsible for failure. In other words, in The Age of Innocence, when May Welland offers Newland Archer a chance to leave her for this affair she suspects him of being involved in, Newland Archer made an active decision. His decision to stay on in the engagement and to even push it forward created the conditions of a marriage that binds him to May. He wasn't forced into making that "promise", so when he broke it, it is his fault.
Think of it this way. If you promised your friend that you would keep notes for her, then it would be wrong of you to not keep notes for her. However, if you didn't make that promise and you didn't make notes for her, then you can't be blamed for your shortcomings, because you didn't take on the obligation to fulfill that duty.
Let's move away from discussing the rightness of the main character's decision. As for the fanfiction, I have not yet reached the part of his decision and since I am extremely biased towards him, I'm most likely to not impose as much blame on him as I did on Newland Archer. Newland Archer...he represents, to me, the most obnoxious and retarded kind of guy. He is referred to as "intelligent" in the introduction and that is the most blasphemous thing I've read.
Another thing to discuss would be the decision itself. The fire and ice motif, or the contrast between passionate love and comforting love. In the fanfiction, the main character does say that he loves his wife, but is unable to find the same passion in her - "As hard I wished it, my heart never skipped a beat in her presence, but when she laid her hand on me comfortingly, she could calm me instantly." I prefer the imagery in the fanfiction more, to be honest, because the author is doing a better comparison - contrasts become ironically more distinct when it is seen between two things of a similar quality.
Personally, I would always choose the passionate love over the comforting love. It makes me seem a little hedonistic, but it's not because I'm current high on hormones or anything like that. It's just that the alternative scares me. The idea of stagnation always scares me. When you are stuck in a situation that is deceptively comfortable and peaceful in comparison to whatever reality is in the outside world, you end up becoming trapped. And what is scarier is that it is a trap of your own creation. When a person becomes contented with what they have and believe that they cannot be happier than they already are, they lose the human impulse to want to improve and strive for more. It is the lack of something that creates the movement towards obtaining it.
Think about it, when you really desired something like a game, or score on an exam, everything in your being becomes focused on it and your consciousness pushes you to pursue it. However, the moment you attain it, you lose that kind of drive, not just in pursuing that one goal, but in general. This quite an interesting human phenomenon.
No, it's not something that I read from a book. If everything you know about the world is only obtained from reading, then you aren't going to be too smart. Books assist learning, most of my knowledge is obtained through careful thinking and then double checking to see if my deductions are correct. Therefore, when people throw me links to documents the moment I start discussing a certain psychological phenomenon, I automatically assume that the person must be incredibly stiff in the brain. I like to create and generate theories by pingponging ideas off people who are equally apt at using their own brain to figure things out. I do not want to discuss an idea with a document, because if that's what I'm supposed to do, why the hell am I even talking to you?
Anyway, my whole point is that, a person who creates passion is also more likely to create a thrust factor in your life (no pun intended, *cough cough*). It is, after all, the warmth of the hearth-fire isn't going to propel you to move anywhere and you are more likely to just lay down and enjoy the warmth. The burn of the forest fire will make you run instead. Similarly, the stagnant pool of water is filled with water that is calm and never-moving, but is known as "dead water" in Chinese for a reason. In contrast, the river will bring you down its course and you have to fight the white water rapids in order not to drown. What is the point of life if you are just going to be content and stagnate? Keep moving forward and never stop wanting to move forward. That should be the way to go.
So I'll actually encourage him to leave his wife for the other woman? Hell yeah. Especially since in the fanfiction, it is an arranged marriage, so it removes my given clause of an "active decision".
Now for FamilyJules7x's covers and some Pokemon remixes by GlitchxCity. I seem to have unlimited respect for people who have talent in things they are passionate about. What? That's everyone? That's not true. I have met people who are content just doing whatever they are told and whatever other people want them to do. It's frigging disgusting, if you ask me. Why were you born as a human if you have less individual autonomy than a dog? I mean, you can be agreeable, but damn, have something that you love and pursue with a passion!
FamilyJules7x
Elder Scrolls (Morrowind/Oblivion/Skyrim) Guitar Medley
I absolutely love the Elder Scrolls and while I didn't like Morrowind as much when I first started it, I began loving it too after adapting to the game style. It was refreshing to not have a fast travel system and having to know which Silt Strider, boat and teleporter brought you to which town. It was also cool that each faction had their own skill requirements, so that a Paladin decked out in full Heavy Armour won't be in the Thieves' Guild for no damn reason. It made me feel like Oblivion was easy and Skyrim was for babies. Increasing the difficulty by like 10 in Morrowind is much much harder than the laughable Master Difficulty on Skyrim. If you play anywhere below Adept on Skyrim, shame on you. That said, I cheat on every second playthrough of Morrowind with official bugs.
Ecruteak/Cianwood City Pokemon GSC Guitar Cover
To be fair, I really hated both Ecruteak City and Cianwood City, because I used to do the segment from Goldenrod right up to Mahogany City and back to Goldenrod for Team Rocket at one go. And if you ever played the games, if you didn't shame on you, then you know that segment takes a frigging long time. It gets extremely frustrating, especially since I have the memory of playing with Typhlosion, I bloody hate the back sprite of Typhlosion for some reason.
Cool, Cool Mountain Super Mario 64 Guitar Cover
Bloody baby penguin, go die. That's all.
Majora's Mask Medley
Can someone say, favourite Zelda to watch someone play through? I love the dark atmosphere the game has that is rarely seen in E-rated games nowadays. And the music is phenomenal. Now, I don't really like playing it myself because it gets quite tedious after a while, but still, I love Majora's Mask. For playing...I still like my standard 2D Zelda.
GlitchxCity
Pokeball Factory XY
I think Pokeball Factory has some of the best music I've heard in Pokemon games, and this is coming from an ardent fan of Generation III with RSE and the ORAS remakes. I do want to get XY, just for the Pokemon, but then I'll prefer a Japanese version, which is more expensive, so I can evolve both Pokemon via trade and do Masuda breeding method efficiently.
Primal Dialga Mystery Dungeons: Explorers of Darkness/Time/Sky
I'm sorry, Rayquaza, but I prefer the second generation of Mystery Dungeon games to the first, even though you were the final boss of the first generation of games. You can't tell me that Primal Dialga is badass as hell, and while I am biased towards Dialga, vs Palkia, I think Dialga is just a cool Pokemon in general. I always play as the same Pokemon though. Not Riolu, I hate Riolu. Treecko and Mudkip all the way. Agility + Mud-slap + Violent Seed set-up is very broken indeed.
Eterna Forest DPPt
Most people don't like Eterna Forest, or don't even remember it. Every single Pokemon generation has its own forest - Viridian in Gen I, Ilex in Gen II, Petalburg Woods in Gen III, etc etc. The reason I like Eterna Forest is very simple and quite a shallow reason. Murkrow. It's the first place in the game that you can catch Murkrow and I've already expressed my love for the extremely cool-looking Honchkrow.
Meteor Falls RSE/ORAS
You can't tell me that Meteor Falls isn't just absolutely beautiful. Even in the old games, I was in awe of this place.
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