Launch(ed) A New Life Regime: A Life Free From Cigarettes.

Source: Launch

For quite some time, I was already considering of making certain changes on how I live my life. I thought ‘I need to launch a new life regime in which cigarette smoking is totally out of the picture.’ Just quite recently, that new life regime I was thinking to launch has finally been realized. I have stopped smoking. I do not smoke anymore. I am no longer a smoker. Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah! If I may say so, I am quite proud and please with myself. It is a tremendous achievement one could not underestimate. The sense of achievement we can experience when we are able to conquer ourselves is so gloriously elevating.

Windows: From My Desk’s Perspective

Source: Windows

When the photograph above was taken, the window – whether used as a frame or as an object itself – did not play a central role until this week’s photo challenge on the daily post. As the tree outside clearly suggests, this has been taken last winter this year. Obviously, what this particular picture initially tries to show is my desk  and the view familiar view outside when I am sitting behind my desk. When one looks at this picture, one does see the desk and the view outside the window, namely, the tree. Although being at the centre of the photograph that divides the desk and the tree, the inside and the outside, the window seems to deflect our attention. When we look outside, we see the view, but never the window, when, obviously enough, we cannot see the view without the window. Until today when The Daily Post has invited us to change our perspectives and the way we look at the photograph we have taken in the past.

Focused When Actually Not Focused

Source: Focused

In our modern society today, focus, like control, seems to be a norm that is overvalued. I think focus is one of the most stressful word because the more I think of it, the more I cannot focus. The more I try to take control, the more I lose control. Although focus and control are two different things, they are nonetheless not always mutually exclusive. To focus, after all, and to be able to hold that focus, requires a tremendous amount of control to oneself. We associate focus with success  while the lack of it with failure. In order to be successful in life and to be the best in whatever we do, all we need to do is to focus to our goals in lives. If we are distracted from it, then we are doom to fail. In other words, focus has acquired this unproblematized and uninterrogated positive value. It is an ideal of our modern society to which we must pursue.

Planet: The Visceral Experience of its Presence when I Run

Source: Planet

When I run in the open space, I feel connected with our beloved planet earth. I feel in synchronise and in harmony with its totality. The visceral experience of being connected with the planet and the universe as a whole every time I run out there, although fulfilling and elevating, makes me feel quite insignificant. Or rather, I should say, although makes me feel insignificant makes me feel fulfilled and elevated. It makes me realize that I am not at the centre of the universe but just a tiny speck of dust. In the  grand scheme of things, our magnificent planet is not at the centre of the universe. At the same time I also feel that I am a part of the planet’s integral whole which is quite empowering. When I run, I feel that I am running into a transcendent place that is neither here nor there and yet at the same time makes me more conscious of my presence in this beautiful planet earth and the life it breaths upon us.

Pamper, Indulgence, Obsession, Addiction, both Harmless and Otherwise

Source: Pamper

I have really mixed emotions when it comes to pampering myself as well as others, particularly those who very close to my heart. On one hand, to pamper oneself is quite a pleasurable and gratifying experience. On the other hand, it hurt the mind and soul especially when pampering start to takes over and it eventually will. By taking over, I mean that when pampering or the object of our desires become the master to whose control we have to subject ourselves. There is indeed a fine line between pampering and indulgence on one hand and addiction and obsession on the other.

Irrelevant: Between what is more important and Less Important at a Given Time

Source: Irrelevant

When I have begun this Much to Tell About Nothing Blog in the beginning of this year, I was in the middle of writing my research project. This particular research project was conducted and written within the trajectory of a master’s degree in humanities that I have recently finished. Discussing the object of that particular research project in detail or to specify the program in which it has been written is not the intention of this particular blog entry. It is, after all, not my intention, and will never be my intention, to bore the readers with details. Perhaps I will do that in other post in the near future. But for now, they are just details and details are, more often than not, irrelevant.

Layered: A Borough of Spiderwebs on a Branch of a Tree

Source: Layered

The Much to Tell About Nothing Blog’s contribution for this week’s photo challenge on Daily Post entitled ‘Layered’ is a photograph of layers upon layers of spiderwebs on a tree branch. The leaves on this branch was covered by a thick layer of spider webs which makes me wonder how many spiders actually live there. It is like a borough of spiders living within their small neighborhood. The photograph was taken one morning of August. It was, therefore, the peak of summer at its best. I was running through the park close to where I live. I do not make a habit of taking pictures while running because it interrupts my work out (which I think defeats the purpose of working out). But I made an exception for this particular moment because the site of this branch of leaves covered by  spiderwebs is simply difficult to resist. It has indeed a ‘wow’ factor and therefore must be photographed and shared.