303K

it's been ridiculously hot lately, and the heat is certainly taking up the energy that i've gathered from food and sleep.

webcomic was updated... last week. not very productive at all, it seems, but that is because (excuse) i've been working on something else. another unpaid project that involves drawing, meaning another project that will follow the usual "make up story - draw - get bored - abandon project entirely" pattern. but that's okay; after all, if we were able to break that pattern so easily, the term "starving artist" would never have existed in the first place.

so much to say lately, yet so little willpower to say them. "i think it's the heat" is the excuse that i've given many people regarding my (lack of) recent activities, and i think i will re-use that again for this case.

my corolla was 400 miles overdue for an oil change, so i went to sears to get it changed this monday. while waiting, i walked around the mall, found a nice seat outside a nearby starbucks, grabbed myself a grande java chip with cinnamon, and started inking the other unpaid project i was talking about earlier. i plugged in my earplug/phones and listened to t-rex's 20th century boys. during this hour and half of bliss, i realized something that i should have realized a long, long time ago.

us human beings like to live inside our own little world; sure, that's a common thing. what most of them have done but not realized is that living inside their own little world feels better when done out in the public. when one sits alone in his room, listening to his favorite music, sipping a cup of coffee and staring out at the moon, the serene atmosphere would make him feel content. but when one is outside in a crowded place, yet is able to recreate such mood as if he were alone in his room, he would feel the ultimate bliss, because not only he feels the serenity and the happiness, but he also feels that he has conquered the entropy of the world. this latter accomplishment is what turns good into better.

the ipod in-ear headphones that i got a while ago because my regular ipod earphones had gone awry twice in a period of less than three months has given me much bliss in this chaotic, changing world. it is both earphone and earplug, which is great because it lets you listen to only what you want to listen, and not what you don't want to listen. people might say that it is another result of capitalism and commercialization, and it probably is, but if it allows the recreation of tranquility that one usually gets only when he's alone, whenever, and wherever, for once i will thank capitalism and commercialization.

in fact, it doesn't even have to be earphones. i use these earphones as a medium because i lack the ability to focus and ignore. i am the type of person who turns his head whenever he hears a noise that he does not recognize. i lack concentration, and these silly little devices composed of rubber, magnets, and coils helps me filter out these noises that tend to distract me. if you are able to filter out these noises by yourself, props to you.

try recreating that blissful tranquility outside when you're around people, and see it for yourself how much better it is.