7 Wonders of the world

As you may or may not know, someone decided that we needed 7 new wonders of the world since 6 of the 'old' wonders of the world is gone. The only one left standing is the pyramids of Giza. The new list is as follows: Brazil's Statue of Christ Redeemer, Peru's Machu Picchu, Mexico's Chichen Itza pyramid, the Great Wall of China, Jordan's Petra, the Colosseum in Rome and India's Taj Mahal. Apparently over 100 million voted for these.

I didn't vote for it myself, but I've been thinking about my list. What are my 7 wonders of the world?

In no particular order:

1. Me

That's right. I am a wonder of my world. Without me, this list wouldn't exist, this blog wouldn't exist. Can you imagine a world without me?

2. Kei

She is a wonder to me. You can have your pyramids, your machu picchus, your colosseums, but nothing can replace her. My world would be missing a wonder if she wasn't here.

3. My friends

Yes, without my friends, a big part of me would be missing. I need my friends and I love them very much. Some may come and go, but you will always be special to me.

4. My family

That's a given. Without them I wouldn't be here. Wherever I go, whatever I do, they will always be there supporting me. Their support means the world to me.

5. Music

What a lifeless boring world it would be if there wasn't music. I need music. It's my passion, my joy. Music can be everything. A time machine to the past and the future, a comfort in time of need. Music is magic.

6. Love

I can't explain love, but it is a wonder of my world. It is the most powerful force I can think of. Being in love is the most amazing feeling. What can be better than that?

7. Belief

You have to have belief. We all have it, but without hope, without belief I wouldn't be able to do what I want to do. It constantly pushes me forward, making me grow as a person. That to me is amazing. Belief can really move mountains. If you believe it, it will happen.

So there you have it. My list of 7 wonders of the world. But why limit it to 7? I have many more wonders like the sun, the forest, the mountains, the ocean, the stars; the moon... the list goes on and on. Right now I am listening to music, thinking about my love Kei (who is down with fever at the moment), writing this for all my friends and family, and with strong belief that Kei will be fever free soon.

Donating your soul

I started watching this new show called Heartland. It is a doctor show that's about organ donations and the drama behind it all. Quite interesting. They haven't gotten to the religious things yet, but I know there are certain religions that won't allow donations of any kind, for example blood (I saw that in another doctor show once). I wouldn't mind my body used for science or organ donations in the future. It also got me thinking about things like my heart. Some think that love comes from the heart, but I think it is more than that. It is the soul. For me donating the heart wouldn't be like donating the soul. Not even the mind would accomplish that feat. What do you guys think about all this? Would you donate your organs in the future? Is there any part you wouldn't give away?

I guess today, everybody has the environment in mind. I am trying to watch the live earth concerts, but the streams won't let me. Well I don't need a couple of concerts to remind me that the environment needs taking care of. The earth is a gift for us, and we need to take care of it any way we can. I saw the movie An Inconvenient Truth and it was quite shocking. I hope every one of you see that movie and start to think about what to do for the environment. It needs your help.

I'm happy that football season is slowly starting up. Watched my first match today, it was just a training match, but still... It's back!

Next week I will hopefully start to exercise myself. I need a physical assessment from the physio which will hopefully happen on Wednesday and then I can start training in the gym. The physical assessment is just for protecting their arses. Everyone is afraid to get sued these days. I heard that one guy got rejected because he has high blood pressure, which is ironic because he certainly could use the gym more than others. Well we'll see how it goes. I have it from a very good source that my family has very low blood pressure.

I saw Spider-Man 3 finally, and it was great! By far the best in the Spider-Man series. I liked the two first ones, but this was just amazing stuff. I also saw Die Hard 4, and it didn’t disappoint. Easily on par with the first one, maybe even better. Enjoyed it from start to finish. Also saw Pathfinder, which has been slaughtered by both critics and people who saw it. I have to say that it wasn’t as bad as people say it is. It wasn’t great, but it was enjoyable. It wasn’t as good as the Norwegian movie Veiviseren which was the movie it was based on. I remember I saw that one in the cinema back in 1987. The Reaping was a good movie, which had a few surprises up its sleeve. Premonition was not bad, but what I liked the most about it was the soundtrack by Klaus Badelt, so I guess that says it all.

The fun begins now

In recent years, I've become a pretentious prick going on and on about how Tom Cruise really can't act (Sorry Cruise fans). Not only that, but I can smell a plot hole a mile away. All of this is ruining the fun of watching movies. The fact is, I really like Cruise and his work. But this isn't a post about him, neither is it about horror movies even though I will talk about it in the next few paragraphs.

You see, my big sister just loves horror movies and she used to scare me when I was little and forced me to watch them with her. Not so much forcing, but still. I remember I was hiding behind the pillows for the really scary stuff, but I was so fascinated by all these 80s horror movies, the demons and all this imagination. I secretly became a fan and names like Carpenter, Craven and King kept popping up during my childhood and beyond.

Now Freddie Kruger, there's a character. When I watch the movies now they are really fun to watch, but not really scary anymore. That's ok, because as I grow older, there are other things that scare me more, like white Japanese girls with long black hair. Michael Myers, Jason, those characters are all flawed, and the movies they were in didn't have the greatest stories or the best actors, but it was just pure popcorn fun.

I realized on Saturday that I have forgotten to watch movies for fun. All I want these days are content and great stories with great actors. I want something to think about. Nothing wrong with that, but it makes me a boring person. I haven't really watched many horror movies in recent years and I decided to do something about it so I watched Hostel, The Hills Have Eyes, When A Stranger Calls and Pulse.

I started with Hostel which really blew. I was so disappointed, but mostly in myself who kept killing it with my brain. I think too much. But then I watched The Hills Have Eyes and the fun slowly started coming back again. I really enjoyed it. When A Stranger Calls was great. None of these were really scary, but I had fun. I just watched Pulse and it is better than the reviews it has gotten. I didn't like the ending, but still a good movie. I have made a list of movies I am going to see: Dominon (Sequel to the exorcist), Hide and Seek, The Descent, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Bug, Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, The Covenant, The Grudge 2, 1408, 28 Days Later, Captivity, Grindhouse, The Hills Have Eyes 2, The Messengers, The Reaping, White Noise 2. Any others I should add to that list?

All I wanna do is enjoy myself now and then. Not be Mr. Serious all of the time. Life should be entertaining, so have fun while living it!

Question me... please!

Questions. Annoying repeating questions. I know you all have gotten those. When you get a question like "Are you sure you can do it?" every week, and you always answer "Yes, of course" because you know you can do it. It can hurt and irritate, because you feel like you are not really trusted. Well I got one of those annoying repeating questions again this week and I felt that loss of trust and it hurt me. Well to be honest, it was my ego that got hurt. But during the conversation I discovered something. I didn't want to argue, so instead I observed myself saying and doing these things. Not really participating, just letting it play out.

Now I saw what an effect it had on me of someone asks the wrong question. What is the wrong question anyway? What this person asked me wasn't wrong at all, but it felt like that at the time. What the question did was challenge my ego, and I loved that. Isn't that the way we learn? If you are never questioned or challenged in any way, do you really move at all? I am eternally thankful to this person because once again my ego was driven out from it's hiding place. If I don't get questions like this, I will never really learn.

I think this person misunderstood that, and was confused by my thankfulness. It wasn't sarcastic at all when I thanked you. You opened my eyes as you have done before. How can I not be thankful for that? This person might be afraid to ask me anything in the future. Please continue to ask me and challenge me, I really need that. I know you are afraid to hurt me, but you can never really hurt me, only my ego, and if the ego never gets hurt, it will continue to bother me.

Terima kasih.

Lifehouse

As I listen to the new album of Lifehouse (Who we are) I think about what I have been doing with my life. I could have been anything I wanted, but I chose this, and it feels pretty good. "Feeling the life all over again" they sing as I think about the feeling of life and love. It's great to be in love again. It flows the right way. bringing me forward to a brighter future.

Track 3 is a really good one. It's called "Whatever it takes", and they continue "to turn it around", which just reminds me that it's what I can do. Whatever stops me from creating the future I want, I can always turn it around because I have great determination. "Keep us together, whatever it takes". It is what I want.

I've always loved Lifehouse. The vocalist has a great voice, it feels so good just listening to their easy going modern rock tracks. "We discover who we are" he sings on track 4, and it is what their new album are about. And isn't that what life is all about? Finding out who we really are. We think that we know everything, but we only know a very small percentage, if that. Go out, find yourself, you might be surprised.

I still remember when I discovered Lifehouse. It was in October of 2001. I was watching the pilot episode of Smallville and I heard my all time favorite song called "Everything" at the end of the episode. Ah, the memories. I think that song helped me change, because it was then I decided to leave the life I knew, my safe life. I went on to new things, and ever since then I have felt it all, the pain, the love, it all started back then. Thank you Lifehouse.

The EGO

What the ego wants, the ego gets. Isn't that right? But isn't that a good thing? I think ego is something we all have and will always have, but egocentric is the real culprit. What happens in our brain whenever we want something and something gets in the way, like a person? It could be very bad. I know people who have lost their best friends and lovers because of that. We learn best from our own mistakes, right? I have always thought that, but I keep on repeating them.

I have never paid much attention to the ego, pretty much letting it run wild whenever it wants. Today my eyes opened a little and I see the ramifications of my own actions. I can be so stubborn and selfish sometimes, and I thought it was just part of my past. Thought I had grown as a person, but the old me still comes back like he owns the place. Don't worry, I don't have a split personality I think. It's just that in hindsight it feels like it's not me doing it, like it's a person I don't want to be. Loving yourself is a good thing, but it is not a free pass to be egoistic. It’s more like taking good care of yourself spiritually, emotionally and physically so you can be in a better situation to take care and to love your significant other, family and friends.

You know, seeing what it can do scares me. If I let it, I can easily lose everyone I love. That's when my biggest fear comes in. To lose someone I love. So that fear can be a good thing, because the enemy of my enemy is my friend. I don't want to lose people I love, I will fight hard for that to happen, and to do that I have to battle my egocentric side. Spider-Man had it easy with his dark side Venom. I am ready to face it now, because someone I love very much has opened my eyes. Thank you! I will study it, I will learn it, I will be the master of the ego, not the other way around.

20.62% mainstream

That pretty much sums up my life really. Does that mean I'm 20.62% normal? Maybe... So how did I come up with this number? Well I went to this site and typed in my username at last.fm. It takes my 30 most listened artists and calulates mainstream based on popularity. So for example my nr.1 artist is Linkin Park. It has a mainstreamness of 63.04% and has the most impact on my final result. Brian Tyler my nr.2 artist has only 0.62% mainstreamness and so on. Quite interesting.

I think my life is actually 20.62% normal. I am not an A4 type of guy, I know that and my music seems to reflect that overall. I'm sure I'm considered strange by anyone who's ever met me. What's wrong with strange? Nothing really. In fact I love to be strange, different. The people who has achieved something in life has dared to be different. I still think people love me even though I'm not your average Joe.

Will I get weirder in time? I think I can. It's not a goal to be as weird as possible, but it doesn't hurt. I should find a site that checks my movies as well, that would be cool. I think I am more mainstream when it comes to movies, but you never know. I think I'll make a t-shirt for me that say: 20.62% mainstream.

How mainstream are you?