Learning to let go

I supposed I had given up a long time ago. There was once when I had hoped that my relationship with them would actually improve. I went for most of the activities. All in the hope that I could somehow find a way in. Maybe it was a sense of belonging that I was seeking. Whatever it was, I didn't find it. Not in them, anyway. In fact, along the way, I guess I got lost instead. I forgot the purpose of it all. In the end, it was the disillusionment that finally woke me up. It was painful at that time. The realization that some people were nice to you simply because they wanted something in return. And when they got it, they just turn their back on you, like as if you didn't exist in the first place. She was all smiles when she asked you to do something. At other times, it was like we were strangers. Yet I was prepared to overlook it then. Choosing instead, to look at the bright side and making up excuses for those behaviours. It happened again and again and it just had to stop somewhere.

Thinking back, I guess there were some things that I would not have done if I had known what I knew now. But then again, if it wasn't for those incidents, there will be some truths that I'd never have realised otherwise. It's funny how I usually generalize people like that. In all fairness, not everyone there behaved that way. Perhaps I was too immature then; putting my hopes in things that would not last. Guess I still am now. Still learning to let go...

She told me...

She told me she had seen him. I wished she had not done that. Only 1 month and it seemed so long. I had tried so hard to put it all behind me. So much so that it was as if he did not exist in the first place. But he did. And that little incident proved it. She said she was disappointed, that she didn't expect things to turn out this way. Neither did I. But I'm glad I had not stayed behind that day. In fact, I'm glad that I'm probably not going to see him ever again. It is said that time can heal all wounds. Patience is what I need now. Perhaps it was good after all, that things do not always go the way I want it to. Thankful, that's what I should be feeling now.



Saw this quote somewhere,

"A retentive memory is a good thing. But the ability to forget is the true token of greatness".

Lord, I want to forget.

Fairy tales

Holding out for a Hero

Where have all the good men gone and where are all the gods?
Where's the streetwise Hercules to fight the rising odds?
Isn't there a white knight upon a fiery steed?
Late at night I toss and I turn and I dream of what I need.

I need a hero.
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night.
He's gotta be strong and he's gotta be fast
And he's gotta be fresh from the fight.

I need a hero.
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light.
He's gotta be sure
and it's gotta be soon

Somewhere after midnight in my wildest fantasy
Somewhere just beyond my reach
there's someone reaching back for me.
Racing on the thunder and rising with the heat
It's gonna take a superman to sweep me off my feet.

Up where the mountains meet the heavens above
Out where the lightning splits the sea
I could swear there is someone somewhere watching me.
Through the wind and the chill and the rain
And the storm and the flood
I can feel his approach like a fire in my blood.

I need a hero.
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night.
He's gotta be strong and he's gotta be fast

- Bonnie Taylor


Last Friday, I went to watch a stage production at my brother's school. It was quite a good effort although the plot was somewhat predictable, about a prince falling in love with the humble village girl. Typical Cinderella-like story. But still...

Don't we all love fairy tales?
Even though we all knew how far they are from real life
And they lived happily ever after...

No, fairy tales don't happen
Neither should they
Not for me at least...

Of evolution & cloning

How changes in DNA sequences can account for the natural evolution of a species.

So what if our DNA is similar to that of other species, e.g. chimpanzees, aren't we all created by one creator? How does that show that we actually 'evolved' from chimps?

Evolution and Human cloning

I almost cried during the Genes and Society lecture last Thursday. Usually, I had to struggle to keep myself awake during the lectures but last Thursday, it was somehow rather different. The lecturer was going through cloning, of both animals and humans. The animal part was still palatable but when it comes to human cloning, I guess I can get rather emotional. Luckily the lecturer did not cover anything about evolution.

Just thinking about it makes me sad. The things people do.

How is cloning done?
http://www.globalchange.com/clone.html

I was thinking, if human cloning really becomes prevalent in future, does it mean that we do not need men anymore? After all, women will be able to 'create' children on their own right?

Maybe my thinking is a little skewed. But it is disturbing isn't it? In normal circumstances, a male and a female is needed to produce a baby. But in this case, it just defies everything that we know about reproduction. Granted that there are some advantages for human cloning (e.g. for infertile couples), the disadvantages clearly outweighs these advantages. Why do people have to mess around with our biological system like that? Don't we realise what we're doing here?

Got this from my notes:

A personal supply of stem cells:
Could be made from an embryo produced by nuclear transfer using an individual's own cells and a donor human egg cell
The embryo would be allowed to develop just until the embryonic stem cells are produced and before they start to differentiate (~ 100 cell-stage)
These cells could be used to treat serious illnesses caused by damage to cells (e.g. diabetes, AIDS etc)


Sounds good doesn't it? "These cells could be used to treat serious illnesses caused by damage to cells". But read further and you'll realise that the embryo will be destroyed around the 100 cell stage. I don't know about others but to me, the embryo is already a life. So in this case, won't it be like deliberately creating a life just to kill it so as to save another? That just sounds so wrong to me.

Something else:

ACTUALLY The world's first human clone of an adult was made, by Advanced Cell Technology in Nov 1998.
They took a cell from Dr Jose Cibelli and combined it with a cows egg from which the genes had already been removed. The genes activated and the egg began to divide in the normal way up to the 32 cell stage at which it was destroyed. If the clone had been allowed to continue beyond implantation it would have developed as Dr Cibelli's identical twin (in the cow?????).
Technically 1% of the human clone's genes would have belonged to the cow - the mitochondria genes. Mitochondria are power generators in the cytoplasm of the cell. They grow and divide inside cells and are passed on from one generation to another. They are present in sperm and eggs. Judging by the successful growth of the combined human-cow clone creation it appears that cow mitochondria may well be compatible with human embryonic development.


This is even more disturbing. Sounds like something out of a science fiction movi...
At times I wonder what is this world coming to...