Imagine.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=aIT87On4ktU

This Youtube clip really makes you wonder if this boy remembers his past. He speaks as if he really knows. And you imagine... How can a boy as young as he, think of something so deep? I believe he remembers.

Miles.

I would walk a mile for _________ .

[Topic!: What would you walk a mile for?]

Forgive.

[Topic!: Forgiving and apologizing are two key ingredients in being happy.]

In this song, One Republic sings about how it's "too late to apologize." I don't think that's right. I don't think it's ever too late to apologize, and even more so, I think when someone apologizes, you should accept it. It's just... it makes life so much easier to move on don't you think? It's not only common courtesy, but when you hear about people forgiving the ones that killed their family members, or someone they loved, how can you not forgive the small things in your own life?

As the saying goes, "Forgive and forget."

[P.S.: I love this song though-- the beats and the melody are wonderful, and I'm sure a lot of people could relate to what One Republic is singing/feeling.]

Url source for Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePyRrb2-fzs

Territories.

I think all of us are territorial at a certain degree. For some it's a place such as their room, where they start to freak out if people go through their stuff. For others it's a gang, where the actual lines and borders of their home consist of wars over rights.

About less than a month ago, my neighbor decided to bring her dog over to see if her dog got along with ours. They were going to go out on vacation, and they wanted us to look after it.
I think I really felt like a mother then. I was wondering how my dog, my baby, would act around this new dog. I wonder if it's how mothers feel when their child meets new kids. I was so angry when our neighbor just put down her dog in our backyard and let it run all over my dog's territory. For some reason, I felt like if my dog couldn't really do anything about it, I should help him out. It's his backyard, and this other dog was starting to pee everywhere! In a way, I think I was freaking out more than my dog was. But I could tell he didn't like the new dog. My dog would raise his fur and try and keep the back porch to himself. So that day, I stood there, almost trying to make sure that my dog would reign superior on whatever he wanted. I guess that was unfair, but at the moment, I felt my dog being endangered, and being a territorial person that I am, I wanted to keep him safe and comfortable, no matter how extreme I must have seemed that day.

Topic!: Territorial? I wouldn't blame someone for being that. They're probably protecting something they care about.

Butterflies.

Butterflies are amazing. In a way, they live two lives.

In the first, they live as caterpillars. In this stage of life, anything could happen. They're at the base of the food chain, they could get eaten by birds on the outside, and get eaten by caterpillar wasps from the inside. Caterpillar wasps lay eggs on or inside the caterpillar, and when the eggs hatch, they begin eating their host [the caterpillar], most of the times from the inside out. It's so cruel, yet nature determined it so.
During this time, the caterpillar sheds its skin multiple times in order to get to the body mass needed to undergo the adult phase.

Then comes metamorphosis. At this stage of life, the caterpillar enters the pupal stage, where it doesn't eat, doesn't move in its pupa [AKA chrysalis, AKA cocoon]. The process may take from two weeks to several months as the caterpillar tissues completely break down and rearrange before we see the final stage.

The end result is the butterfly we see, the adult. Just when life seemed to end in darkness, the caterpillar seemed to get a second chance at life. For the few hours after breaking out, its wings will be shriveled and soft. But after hardening, the butterfly will begin mating, because in a few weeks, it'll die.

Sushi For The Mind.

[This is a second post for the day, so be sure to check the post under this one! Thanks-]

Topic!: Not all sushi contains raw fish.

For most people I've spoken to, they've all had this idea that all sushi contained raw fish.

Well, let's break it down.

• Nori is the black stuff on the outside, the edible seaweed. [picture]
  
• The white stuff on the inside is usually steamed white rice with a little vinegar and sugar. [picture]
  
• Nigiri is sushi that has raw fish or seafood. Usually the raw fish is placed on top of some rice and wrapped with a piece of seaweed, the nori. This type of sushi usually only contains the piece of raw fish and the rice. [picture]
  
• Maki is sushi that is usually wrapped in seaweed and then again in rice, or just wrapped in seaweed. This type of sushi is probably most common, and can be found almost anywhere. It can contain cucumbers, eels, carrots, avocado, etc. You can have whatever you want in it. (There are sub-categories with this type of sushi; including futomaki, hosomaki, kappamaki, temaki, and uramaki.) This maki type of sushi is cylindrical. [picture]
  
• Sashimi is where people only eat slices of raw fish. It's very expensive because the quality of the fish has to be extremely high. Usually the slices are dipped in soy sauce for taste, and maybe a bit of wasabi for spice. [picture]
  
• Wasabi is usually in a paste form made from Japanese horseradish. When eating it, only a little bit with soy sauce can cause a sudden flare through the nasal passages. Also, the taste is very peculiar, and if you're going to try it for the first time, only dab a tiny bit! Most pastes you find are imitations, since the real thing is highly expensive [sushi is expensive anyway unless you make it yourself]. But that's okay, because who knows the difference unless you're a connoisseur right? [picture]
  
• Last but not least, try to never get store bought sushi. No matter how convenient it sounds, or how good it might look, the rice is never fresh and still textured [the rice gets all mushy and it turns into one big piece of white stuff if left compacted too long], and the ingredients inside are not the greatest nor the freshest. If you can't afford to get the real stuff, then indulge at least once in your life, but I don't advise wasting your money on the ones you find in your local supermarket [unless you live in Japan, then maybe you can find some decent ones].

I hoped this little guide helped you a bit in figuring out what there was to sushi, but this was only the tip of the iceberg. If you're interested, just Google sushi and you can find more information on this foreign delicacy.

All the pictures in this post retain the rights from the website/url that they are from. I didn't take the pictures in this post.

Fools.

Incompetant fools who think everything they do is right and everything different is "backwards."

Refer to: [click] [look at the first comment by stuart]

July 5th.

My dog was barking outside last night during the fireworks, and it was around midnight. I went out to stand with him on our back porch and I suddenly felt alone. It was so weird, but it was like I was in a battlefield. I guess it's because of our current position as the US in the war with Iraq.

What did we have to celebrate for yesterday? Are we really independent? Doesn't everyone depend on something else? Aren't we depending on other countries for resources and allies?

The smoke filled the air and the darkness was almost serene. But far away there would be explosions of red light and angry sounds...

Cruelty Of Ignorance.

This video I'm about to link you to is hard to watch. It's graphic in the sense that you see live animals slaughtered without anything blocking your view of their pained eyes or the evil sneers and smiles of the people who work their jobs with joy. Even if you think you don't want to watch, you must, because ignorance is part of our weakness as a human being. I hope you will spread the word of this video, because it's something we all need to watch.

"EARTHLINGS is a feature length documentary about humanity's absolute dependence on animals (for pets, food, clothing, entertainment, and scientific research) but also illustrates our complete disrespect for these so-called "non-human providers." The film is narrated by Academy Award nominee Joaquin Phoenix (GLADIATOR) and features music by the critically acclaimed platinum artist Moby," by rkaufmann.

These parts are on Youtube.
Part 1: Here
Part 2: Here
Part 3: Here

Whole Video on Google Video: Here