There’s something in the Wifi…

Looking at my phone and thinking about how upset I would be without wifi, I suddenly found myself thinking – how did I survive high school without Wifi? Did everyone in school have data? Back in my day (couldn’t resist), the wifi was restricted for staff while the students either went without or used their data.

Luckily, it’s not like the Whoniverse, where a superintelligence is hungry for consciousnesses and is pirating them when they connect to specific wireless networks. But that’s not to say that the network is completely safe or that there isn’t something that is targeting individuals at such an influential age.

But what is about wifi that makes is so addicting when you’re first introduced to it? It could be that it connects you to the rest of the world or that it means that you could play those games that require a constant connection. For adolescents, the former (connecting to the rest of the world) would probably be the main reason for really wanting wifi at school, according to all of those child psych classes I took (individuals around those ages tend to be influenced by others and seek somewhere to fit in).

What was the point of this posting? I have no idea, but I know that I found myself looking (rather desperately) for a network while walking around the outskirts of downtown Montreal and Jean Drapeau (I found out that there is barely any cell service and no wifi). Now, excuse while I silently freak out about having lost connection to the cafe’s network.

 

 

(internal scream, hair gets pulled out)

 

To help yourself is to help others

Ever feel good after helping others? Know anyone who is almost always volunteering to help others in need? Ever help a friend in need? 

From Psychology and Anthropology, I learned that humans are social creatures, learning our survival skills from those around us. From experience, I often felt good after helping others, regardless of how small the act is. 

Something I hear a lot is that to help others is to help yourself. However, recently, I’ve started to think otherwise. 

In an environment like that of a university, they always encourage that students focus on helping themselves before helping others, hence why there’s so many resources to help students do well in their classes. 

I’ve started looking at creative alternatives to break my destructive habits. I started writing again, bought a colouring book (Doctor Who, of course), I got a stress ball (like Sherlock’s skull), and… I painted my nails blue (almost TARDIS-like). 

For every alternative that I’ve tried, I was already becoming scared before even starting, which made me hesitate in starting, but I went ahead. 

As a result, I’m not as afraid of not being perfect, I’m better able to manage my stress, I become aware of what I do I’m stress, and I don’t suppress my artistic side as much. 

Just like many of the articles said, the colouring book did help, just as every other method works. I still get stressed, as any other person, but I understand it better. By doing so, I’m better able to help others, which is what I always love to do. When people ask why I chose that method, I tell them that it allows for me to understand myself and, by extension, others around me. 

The Unusual Weather & Influence of Media

Ever watch a movie where the setting consists almost entirely of rainy environments? Ever see such a movie where bad things happen? 

  There’s something about a rainy morning in autumn that gives me a bad feeling. Maybe it’s because I watch too many shows that take place on or around Halloween. 
I’m usually the kind to feel calmer when watching rain, but hearing almost nothing and seeing almost no one… Flags are raised in my mind. 

Times like this make me think about the influences that the media has on the audience. With so many movies taking place around Halloween and the autumn season, many might have grown somewhat cautious when it becomes rainy, cold and/or approaches October 31st. 

Any other time and I would like the change in scenery, but I can’t help but think of all the bad things that happened in movies…

But they’re movies. Sure TV shows have Halloween episodes as well, but they’re all stories that someone wrote. There’s no way that any of them will come true… Right? 

 

Creating Alternate Realities

Ever watch a TV show and invent a character that would be in the series? Ever watch a Movie and imagine a sequel or a side-story that fit well in that reality? Ever read a story and imagine “what if”?

Being a bit of an artist and a bit of a nerd in many aspects, I find myself creating an OC – an Original Character – in each series that I watch or read. As the characters are created, I realized that they resemble to each other in terms of their pasts and personality.

It’s almost like creating alternate realities because it’s the same character with little tweaks here and there – one was an amnesiac, one was a pirate, one was a mage, one was a detective and one was affected by a particle accelerator explosion. The best analogy is with Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles, where a group find themselves having to travel between worlds, sometimes dimensions to gather a friend’s scattered memories. The only difference is that, on most cases, these OCs would never meet the other and finding them fighting alongside each other.

With the most recent movie being Terminator: Genisys, I find myself writing a story that would take a place between the years of Skynet’s activation and John Connor being converted into a Terminator. A story in which yet another OC would be created in a different time and a different world. A story in which people stopped taking life for granted, making sure that they lived to see another day. A story in which humans no longer lived in a peace of overall peace.

The question now is, why? What’s the point of creating these mirror images of a character? Is there such a strong desire to live in a world so drastically different from here? Is there something so intriguing about living in a world where every day is different, all contributing to something big in the end? Is there something inside that wants to live everyday towards getting close to a certain goal and to have an official ending?

Sherlock once said that to create a disguise is to create a different version of ourselves. Would that imply that every character that is create reveals a different version of our personality? The Doctor often says that we humans are controlling, that we often to seek an understanding in everything  and that we often seek to be to accurately predict the outcome and, therefore, the future. The Doctor also said that we’re all stories in the end, that as time passes, we’ll be remembered by what we leave behind.

Writing the story is long and slow, that’s no surprise. For a few moments in time, the world is different and there’s something to work up to. For a few moments, time is slowed and the surrounding world would come to life. That is, until something or someone brings back me back down to Earth, like my phone that isn’t connected to Genisys.

Well, Genisys is supposedly going to come into existence in 2017. That’s two years from now (and counting). I wonder if the world will change that much by then.

I’ve got nothing to hide… or do I? *Ominous music plays*

Ever hear someone say that they have nothing to hide? Ever discover something about someone that was unfamiliar? Ever see/hear anyone ask for the login information for a website? Ever see anyone write a diary out in the open? Ever see anyone talk to someone on a phone in a quiet place?

I think we’d all like to say that we have nothing to hide, but I also think that, if we were asked to tell everything to any one person – and I mean everything – that there would be… a long……… awkward…………. silence.

*crickets*

…..

*Shoos crickets*

Anyways, after listening to TED Radio Hour Podcast episodes “Keeping Secrets” and “Why We Lie”, I was reminded that as much as we might say that we’re open and honest, we’re not. I think that there’s one part of ourselves that we hide from everyone, maybe because we’re afraid to be judged, because we all want to have connections.

In the episode “Keeping Secrets,” Frank Warren collects hundreds – if not thousands – of letters that arrive literally at his footsteps. The idea of writing something kept within, something that is never said aloud, and to send it to another part of the world and to a stranger’s house – it’s terrifying, even if it’s anonymous. Glen Greenwald asked anyone, who says that they have nothing to hide, to email him the password to their emails so that he could look at all of the emails… and he has yet to get a reply.

In the episode “Why We Lie,” Jeff Hancock had a study that suggested that people tend to lie more often over the phone while people tend to lie the least via emails. He and the radio host, Guy Raz, said that maybe it was because emails could be tracked, that if there was a lie, it could be proved in print.

In the show “Person of Interest”, a machine with artificial intelligence has any and all access to technology and the internet in order to be able to identify possible threats big and small. There are episodes in which people’s iPhone are used by the machine to track a target. When finding out about an individual, there is nothing of which cannot be found by the Machine (unless it’s only printed).

Sometimes, what remains hidden is smile and has reason to be joked about. There are some people who, when they’re alone, would dance to their favourite song, beating their pillows to the beat of the drum. There are some people who, when they’re alone, would sit in an odd position to study. There are also some people who could be found wearing two very different fashions, depending on who they’re with or where they are.

Other times, what remains hidden… well, I’ll leave that to your imagination (and to the TV & Movies) (*cough Cough*)

To be completely honest is hard, for many reasons. Sometimes, we’re afraid to be judged, to be laughed at, to be taken advantage of. Sometimes, we are fully aware of all the secrets that we have in our heads. Sometimes, our minds have found ways to keep it a secret from our consciousness.

Maybe, as an experiment, take out a bunch 4X6 papers (or just cut out a bunch of papers into 1/4 size). On each, write a secret, something that no one has heard or seen. After that, cut it up and put them together in random order. Be creative. You never know, maybe all those secrets could sum up to something worth showing to the world.

“Ever wonder what was going on in someone’s head?” (Review) (Spoilers)

Ever wonder how someone is almost always smiling, even when everything might seem at its worst? Or wonder how someone could have the shortest temper, getting angry at the smallest thing? How someone could come up with lots of worst-case scenarios and is prone to high levels of stress? Or maybe there’s someone of whom thinks of only the negative, insistent that nothing will go as they would like it to go?

Inside Out is a movie that demonstrates what goes on in someone’s head, specifically with their emotions. I remember hearing that, while there are many emotions, most can be derived from a few main ones: Happiness, Anger, Sadness, Fear (Personally, I’m not sure where Disgust comes from).

Seeing it, the difficulties of the teenage life come to mind. First of all, there’s the physical growth spurt. Second of all is the fluctuating hormones. Thirdly, we tend to try to be more mature than we actually are. Fourthly (maybe most important of all), we’re in a new environment with different teachers, different kids, and a different school altogether. Fifth and maybe the final, with the new environment, we might be forced to find new friends and might be left alone to make our own decisions, which might be something new to us.

Becoming a teen is no easy feat. There were stories that stated that reaching 16 meant adulthood in the past. Neuroscience and Biology might say otherwise, with studies that suggests that teens wouldn’t be fully matured until 21 on average. Nowadays, some places say that 18 is the legal age while others say that 21 is the legal age.

So, is that what all teens are aiming for? To become an adult as soon as possible? Or maybe they’re like Riley, who wants desperately to go back to a time and place where everything was happy, where everything stayed the same and she didn’t have to worry about anything changing.

Even as we become adults, not everyone has a…. harmonious balance of their emotions (that’s putting it lightly). Some might still have their Anger being actively engaged in daily activity. Some might have the other emotions struggling to pull Sadness off of the console. And some might let Joy lead the other emotions everyday.

Either way, Joy, Sadness, Anger and Fear are crucial to an individual’s understanding of the world. And you know what – maybe Disgust represents our instincts that are deeply ingrained. Our memories are the foundations of different parts of our personality. We’ll have our down moments, but we’ll also have our up moments. I said that the five are crucial – that means that they’re crucial as a team because one or three can’t manage the console alone.

“Imagine a world where nothing is impossible” (Review)

Frank Walker: “Why now? Why Her?”
Athena: “Because she hasn’t given up.”

A world where anything could happen, where people weren’t afraid to try things out or to fail. Just thinking about it brings a smile to my face. 

In a recent article I read, the director mentioned that Frank lost hope not as he aged, but also as the machine he made counted down to the World’s End with what seems to be 100%.  

Thinking about it, Frank had many dreams and hopes and energy when he first came to Tomorrowland. He had enough energy to power a jetpack… With a little help from a machine. 

It’s like many of us when we were kids – we had dreams, we had the craziest of ideas – but then, we stopped. 

It was like we were all running to get to the end when, all of a sudden, the adults who were once cheering slowed us down and pulled us out of the race. All of that adrenaline, all of that dopamine, and that cortisol just suddenly stopped and along with it, the creative juice. 

As we would grow into teens, we would kind of stumble trying to find something that we could do, something else that we could run to without having other people stop us. As a result, some of us would just give up before even beginning (I.e. Frank). 

And finally, as adults, we stop our own creativity before it even gets a chance to flourish. Others are no longer a problem because now, it’s us who’s stopping the race before it begins. 

Watching this reminded me that growing up shouldn’t stop us from dreaming. We don’t need a secret place to not be afraid to try anything. We have the potential, the resources and the time to try something new. And just maybe, what we do can change the world and stop the counting clock.  

Being truthful and being honest

From Psychology, I was often taught that, by the age of 5, almost every kid had lied about something (like who ate the cookie, who made a mess, etc.). From NPR TED Hour, I got the impression that we lie to ourselves for protection (better safe than sorry) and that some actually make lying a profession of theirs (illusionists & magicians). From friends, I got the impression that people lied so that others wouldn’t worry or to make things seem better than they actually are. 

If that’s the case, how truthful are people? From the class Self & Society, I was given the impression that there is no absolute truth, that there is only relative truth, where it is considered to be the truth so long as it benefitted someone. To go on a week without telling a single lie… Is that actually truly possible?

Raymond Reddignton from Blacklist said at the beginning of the series that, while speaking to Elizabeth Keen, he would never lie to her, but also that he would never tell her the whole truth. I wonder if honest people are like that, purposely giving partial answers to avoid having to explain everything or to simply avoid lying.  By giving partial answers, they would let the other party assume the wrong thing. Therefore, when they find out, the honest person would look like a liar, but isn’t in fact a liar. 

Jarvis from Agent Carter said that while he might never tell his wife the truth about his actions, that he would always be honest. In relationships, being truthful is a big thing, something that many consider to be the thing to hold the group together. But what if things don’t go as planned? Do you lie then, or do you maintain that honest profile and lead the other to the wrong assumptions? 

Being an honest person seems to be very different from being a truthful person. To be a truthful person seems to mean to explain everything and to not leave anything for assumption. To be an honest person seems to be someone of whom would not tell a lie, but also rarely (if not ever) tell the whole truth. 

Which are you?

S.H.I.E.L.D – Being inhuman and being different (Review) (Slight Spoilers)

Last month (May 12), the series “Marvel Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” finished its second season and is renewed for a third (fan girl squeal). A lot of things happened in the second season – hearts were broken, lives were lost, alliances broken and other formed, and some encountered something that they never thought to have existed.

As I watched the story of “inhumans” unroll, it reminded me about how the world tends to treat anything or anyone who is different than the rest. We might not be individuals who can manipulate the vibrations, see the future, or teleport regardless of being blind, but some of us have certain hairstyles/clothes/homes/hobbies/talents or even names that make us different than the rest. 

Some of us have a heated past with those who took advantage of those differences (Jiaying), while others have accepted these new differences and is working to making others feel accepted by the world (Skye), rather than to be outcasted. 

When the two fought, it’s a state of Mutually Assured Destruction… Until Cal jumps in and saves the day at the cost of his beloved wife. The heart ached, but it seemed like the only viable option to saving the world. Things might have been different if Jiaying’s view could be changed, but that was unlikely, given that she was stubborn like Skye. 

Regardless, whether to be an inhuman or to be simply different, it allows for the possibility to see the world a little differently. The past will always influence how the world is seen, but thinking out positive future possibilities might allow for the chance of cooperation rather than annihilation… Because we might see something that everyone else is overlooking.