To think or not to think - why is that a question?

So the question I am forced to ask myself is this - Should I go the ´abstract thinking´ way or should I go the ´objective thinking´ way?

Each path offers me alternatives and different approaches to the same ¨problem¨ or situation. What made me think of this? Well...lets just say the discussion was enlightening until it turned into a debate. And no one likes debates because as with all conflicts, there can be only one outcome - someone loses.

So what is abstract thinking? According to http://www.answers.com it is ¨Thinking characterized by the ability to use concepts and to make and understand generalizations, such as of the properties or pattern shared by a variety of specific items or events.¨ In philosophical terminology abstraction is the thought process wherein ideas are distanced from objects.
Objective thinking is ¨The expression "objective thinking" (or alternatively, neo-objectivism) designates a mode of reasoning which is based on and modelled by the notions of objective reality (reality is exterior to our minds) and reason (knowledge must be based on objective evidence - on methods which seek outward, not inward).¨ - http://www.objectivethought.com/objectivethinking.html

Now I am by no far stretch of then imagination a philosopher - heck, for a long time I though Socrates was a kiddie word for scrotum! But thankfully, I´ve played enough video games and been stung by enough wasps to tell what is good for me and what isn't.

So lets get to the point. I am forced to understand which thinking school do I come from? Abstract or Objective. After the debate it was quite clear that I was from the latter. And I can see why. I am questioning my own thinking at 3 AM! I cant generalize. I cant relate to anything that does not fit in the real world. I cannot reason with someone who thinks in an abstract direction. I question what I think needs to be questioned and I cant go forward unless I know what's ahead. Severely limiting - but not without its perks.

Now - this brings an interesting thought to my mind. A person who thinks abstract sees grey! Objective does not. It only sees black and white. There is no ¨ummm...OK¨. Its either right or wrong, left or right, good or bad. Black or White (what an amazing game). If you're a Matrix fan, then this fits, because choice is only an illusion. The grey here probably represents choice. ¨You can choose to make it real.¨ But what if its not supposed to be real? See how confusing this is? That question in itself represents a grey zone! And therefore I'm typing at 3 AM.

So an abstract thinker thinks of endless possibilities - practical or impractical. But so does the other guy - except that the objective dude prefers to stick with the practical or real world outcome. I think its called selection by elimination. So who wins this debate. Well...according to me, the objective thinker. Here's why :
- You can believe in aliens
- You don't follow your heart - you follow reason (Go Bender B Rodriguez! Go!)

Arrogant as this may sound, it seems to me as the most suitable approach to thinking. Why would I want to think that if I flipped a coin it would land perpendicular and not parallel? That's abstract. Why would I want to think that my heart tells me it will, it will? That's subjective. I will however think that it is not possible for a coin to land perpendicular because physics will never allow it in the real world. If the coin is spinning parallel to the surface its supposed to land on, then once it hits that surface the potential and kinetic energy gained will force it to fall flat on its face! Heads or tails - that's objective thinking. (I am no physicist either).

So it all really boils down to this - objective is the way i´m going. Because the way I see it, abstract = random and baseless while objective = true or false.

In short : "I could be wrong - but as long as I use reason, and unless you prove otherwise, or I find that I am wrong, I must start from the premise that I am right". And that's the statement that turned a great discussion into a debate.

I suggest you do NOT use this as a pick-up line.

Flies taste like chocolate ice cream!!

Now that I have your attention.

I'd like to share with you nice people some photo's from my recent trip to Bangalore. As you would have read in the last post, it was quite a good trip in terms of gadget-acquisition and gaming overkill. It was also good because Anu(I) got a (another) computer! >-) (heh heh heh). But it did bring up something really horrendous! Enoonmai will not be at the forums for a while. Why? Because the big bad spider, a.k.a Arachnid at him up! Gobbled him up like the chunky meatball that he is. Here's some pictures. I didnt want to put up a "Viewer discretion is advised" warning (God knows how any under 18's will ever come here!!)...but still Better be safe than 'worry'. So i'll just give you a before/in between/after show.

1 - "Welcome to my parlor" said the spider to the fly. Notice the look of bewilderment on this fly's face and the devious grin on the spiders. The poison-breath works!

2 - The fly enjoys a little "something" in it's intoxicated state while the Spider prepares for attack:


3 - The big fly is half eaten!!! YAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHH.....


4 - Ahhhh! That was one Yummy Fly!!! Just the way Grampa used to make 'em!

Thats all folks! :)

Great distances, great deals, great friends and a great time!

Q : So what does all of the above have in common?
A : The word "great"!

Yeah. I know it wasnt that good, but hey, it was worth a shot J

This post is about my trip to Bangalore last week – 30/06/2005. This was definitely the shortest trip I made to the city and everything was so rushed that it got over before it even started. But nonetheless, it was one of the most memorable times of my life!

Here’s a brief summary of what happened, what I did, what I bought most importantly what I learnt.

I reached Bangalore at 12:00 PM on Thursday. This was as opposed to the 11:00 ETA! Spicejet really need to stop being cheap and offering crappy biscuits on a 4 hour flight! But hey, at least they had pretty(helpful and polite) air-hostesses ;).

Once I got there, I got into an auto-rickshaw probably the ONLY slow auto I’ve ever been in. This guy was seriously in his senses because he drove like a human being not like the super-charged adrenalin junkies in India that drive auto’s to make a living and an occasional killing. Took me about 45 minutes to get to my fiancé’s house. Once I got there, I promptly got a call from my good friend Krishnan (http://cafedigital.blogspot.com/ ) and we decided a time and place to meet. Now if you read my very first post, you will notice that I told you about some great friends I made on the Skoar! Forums (http://www.skoar.com/forums). Krishnan, a.k.a enoonmai is the best friend I’ve made here, or in real life for that matter. The POA was to meet up, recharge our batteries (read eat something) and go off to buy hardware required to build a PC for my fiancé. I was pleasantly surprised when I met Pradeep a.k.a Born_to_Frag as well (http://insanegaming.chumhost.com/?id=index2). The little guy is a genius and one day he’s going to make gamers proud.

So the 4 of us, Krishnan, Pradeep, Anu and me, raided Pizza Hut and ate till we almost exploded. Of course, for me, it was just an afternoon snack. Something to keep me charged for about 3 hours. Once we were through with that, we headed off to SP Road. Krishnan took us to a shop he knew well and we decided to build her an AMD based system. So we picked up an AMD Sempron +2200 and decided to build the computer around that. With the parts in place, next came the bill. Gave me a little heart attack, but hey, we men will do anything when we’re in love J. After that, it was just a matter of plugging, fixing, fastening and powering on the system. That’s when I realized how the mad scientist must have felt when he created Frankenstien!

With the computer ready, we bought the OS, some games and a some other essentials – MORE GAMES J.

We then decided to send Anu home with the computer while we fished around for other useful software. By the time we returned, this WonderWoman™ had actually managed to procure a computer table as well! Darn! In less time than it took for us to decide what parts we needed to buy! We set up everything and pushed the power-on button with gleeful eyes and blistering excitement. Kaput! Nothing happened. No nice glowing LED’s no hum of the CPU fan – nothing! That’s when Krishnan slapped me on the head and told me to check if the SMPS switch was on! Sheepish grin. Gave her another spin and our monster was ready!

That was a very fruitful day. Anu and I celebrated later in the evening at a nice restaurant and some really nice vodka later at home.

The next day we decided to meet Krishnan again and the guy was a gem to offer to come home first AND bring us lunch! Little did I know, he wanted to show off his uber-cool MP3 player! We also struck a deal for his old GBA SP, which I bought from him. After a little more tinkering with the PC, we went out and did some more useless stuff. Took Anu out to dinner that night too.

Day 3. My trip was coming to its end. Krishnan and I suffer from acute short term memories. But that’s strange because I still remember what’s probably the most difficult cheat code of all time. The NOCLIP cheat for Doom. It’s IDSPISPOPD! See! I still remember! Anyways, once we were sure we had everything installed and in place, we went out on our game buying adventures. We picked up a few games for the PC, GBA SP and a few for the PS2. Very refreshing indeed. Later Anu, her friend, Krishnan and I went to a nice Chinese restaurant and had some nice and some not-so-nice stuff. I was happy coz hey, I live to eat! Later, when everyone was ready to leave, we almost had another incident when Krishnan forgot to take his PS2 from me and got into an auto to go home! LOL! That was too funny!

My trip was almost at an end. Anu was playing Fatman adventures on her new PC while I was enjoying Super Mario Bros 3 on my new SP! All the while wondering where had all the time gone to. Why’d it have to end so soon? Why does a Monday (sorry CipherJ) seem like an eternity but the great times you’re having seem like a nano-second? But I guess that’s the way it works.

Sunday evening I flew out of Bangalore. Of course I had to make the flight back a memorable one too, so I beat Metal Slug Advance in all of 2.5 hours!!! I’m a God!

Anu was happy. My trip to Bangalore was a success. The smile on the face of the one you love is really worth all of it. So what if the trip was just 3 days? So what if it cost me more than a months salary? So what if the flight to and fro was crazy. That 1 smile and that look in her eyes made it all seem like an easy card trick.

But what I really learnt from this trip was :

• Friendship knows no distance
• Great deals can get you great happiness
• 3 days can feel like 3 seconds
• 3 days can feel like 3 lifetimes
• A woman’s smile can make seem running to the moon and back like a jog in the park
• Pradeep is very shy in reality
• Krishnan is a gem of a friend.
• Futurama is better than The Simpsons.

That’s all for now dear reader. I hope I haven’t bored you too much. You’re lucky I haven’t shown you holiday videos yet J.

It’s true - Great distances, great deals, great friends and a great time! You can have them all at once!