Carpe diem
Saturday, August 25th, 2007
Everyone around me seems to be deep in thought about their futures. Can’t say I blame them as I’m constantly thinking about my future as well. Graduation time is near for some, and some are planning their future based on their loved ones. I’m more of both. Heck, even my lil’ brother (well not so little, that urchin is taller than me!) is contemplating the future. “Que Sera Sera. Whatever will be, will be” is tagged to his MSN nick.
Times like this, Hiro Nakamura‘s power will come in handy. Bending space-time continuum, hell yeah that would rock. Even that Universal Remote Control from Click would be a good thing to have. (Which reminds me, I’ve been dying to learn play/intepret tarot cards for ages).
Then i came across this Latin poem by Horace. Specifically, the poem Odes 1.11… whatever that means.
Tu ne quaesieris, scire nefas, quem mihi, quem tibi
finem di dederint, Leuconoe, nec Babylonios
temptaris numeros. ut melius, quidquid erit, pati.
seu pluris hiemes seu tribuit Iuppiter ultimam,
quae nunc oppositis debilitat pumicibus mare
Tyrrhenum: sapias, vina liques et spatio brevi
spem longam reseces. dum loquimur, fugerit invida
aetas: carpe diem quam minimum credula postero.
And, the English translation for that goes something like this:
Leuconoe, don’t ask — it’s dangerous to know —
what end the gods will give me or you. Don’t play with Babylonian
fortune-telling either. Better just deal with whatever comes your way.
Whether you’ll see several more winters or whether the last one
Jupiter gives you is the one even now pelting the rocks on the shore with the waves
of the Tyrrhenian sea–be smart, drink your wine. Scale back your long hopes
to a short period. Even as we speak, envious time
is running away from us. Seize the day, there is nothing else beyond that.
Carpe Diem, what it means is that we should make the most of current opportunities because life is short and fleeting. Its something like the biblical phrase “Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die“. No use worrying too much about the future. Things changes fast. Its good to have at least some planning, but its not good to place too much worry in it.
“You’ll have time to rest when you’re dead.”
- Robert De Niro
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Its just one of those days when you go “what the f***?”. Got up early today as I’ve to commute down to the city to collect my translated documents from my professional 
A few more stops later, this 2 men boarded. At first they look like any normal aussie bloke, well, not really normal but… anyways, at that time I was replying a text message. When I’m done with that and looked up, lo and behold, a scene that will forever scar an image in my mind and gives me nightmares every night from this day hence played out. There is just something extremely traumatizing seeing 2 blokes French Kissing and being lovey dovey in front of you. The worst thing of all, both of them have missing and crooked teeth. One of them looks almost exactly like this guy on the right. Its true! The striking resemblance is uncanny!
However, nothing comes without a cost. As for me living in the suburbs, it takes me about 40minutes to 1 hour to get to the city by train, tram and/or bus. Then there is dinner which range from a measly 3 bucks (if we cook… by ‘we’, i mean someone in the group which generally doesn’t include me as I will probably poison them all with my cooking =p) to about 30 bucks if we go out to some happening places. Then comes the cost of travelling home via cab which sets be back about 20 bucks.
That is a lot of money. Monetary cost isn’t the only thing that adds to the cost. Just today, I had to wait in the freezing cold for 45 minutes till about 3am for a cab. Then of all the brilliant cab drivers I’ve had in the past, I got one that doesn’t speak proper English (must be a new migrant). So, I told him how where I want to go and I told him exactly how to get there. Then, he suggested taking an alternate route which is faster and better. So i asked him, which way is he planning on taking. After 15 seconds of trying to explain his route, I told him nope, go my way. He got pissed. He said his way is better, but he said it was up to me. I’m paying the fare not him. So I looked and him in disbelief. What the hell…. I didn’t pay to be talked like that.
But since I’ve already got into the cab and am dead tired trying to catch a cab, I didn’t bothered to argue and just told him to take my way. That was after 8 bucks ticked on the meter while on his route. after 20 minutes of utter silence, my destination got nearer. In a move that shocked me to the core, he stopped the meter and told me not to worry about it. So he drove for another 5 minutes or so till I reached home, and he charged me the fare that was last on the meter. He told me “Remember this. Not many cab drivers would do this.” I thought to myself, he must have realized that if we go on with his way, I would be in Geelong instead. (Then again, if the cab driver was a hot chick I wouldn’t mind at all =p)
I still remember there was a time when my parents continuously berated me for playing video games all day long saying that it was a waste of time. Then, i thought they were just old fashion and do that it is no different to them sitting in front of the idiot box watching all night long. As i grew older and got exposed to MMORPGs, i find myself feeling really sorry for my older gaming friends who no longer have times for long sessions of gaming. Time sinks such as MMORPGs and epic single player RPGs like the final fantasy series are no longer viable to them. I thought to myself, perhaps they are no longer the hardcore gamer they once was. Maybe, just maybe as you grew older, your interest in video games just diminished. Then, i thought to myself, i would always be a hardcore gamer, no matter the circumstances. Work? so what? I’ll just game after work. No worries there.
Then, one day, I woke up with a scary realization. I’ve become more and more like them. I look back at myself though this whole year. How many games have I actually played? Nothing compared to the vast amount of games I’ve played in the past. The hardcore grinding and raiding in World of Warcraft had stopped. In fact, I no longer have a subscription with Blizzard. With university work piling up, the pressure to improve my results as realization that grades really do still mattered in university especially when it comes to employment, increase in shifts at work and etc, i no longer have time to invest time in 60++ hours of RPG. Daytime was devoted to work and classes and by night, I feel totally drained for long sessions of gaming. Often time I find myself lacking of time to play at all.
Everything changed this year. With my ever busy schedule and a constant at least 2 hours travel to and fro uni, work and social life, i find myself playing my PSP more instead of wasting precious time looking at scenery lamenting. Most of my gaming time were spent on public transport getting intimate with portable titles like Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, Monster Hunter Freedom, Valkyrie Profile – Lenneth and the remake of FF1 for the PSP. Recently I’ve even purchased a Nintendo DS to expand my library of portable games. Surprisingly, there are some pretty solid in-depth and innovative games on the DS. My library of portable games have increased exponentially over this year to date. Circumstances changed the way and types of games I played. Now don’t get me wrong, I am still a hardcore gamer. I still enjoy long epic games which requires huge amounts of time invested in and by no means have I given up on gaming.
