Of Discovery, Nat Geo & Ani Planet

If I can only choose 3 tv channels to subscribe, I think I can survive just on Discovery, National Geographic & Animal Planet...

I was down with a little irritating flu and sore throat, and thereby gave me a grand excuse of doing nothing much but sitting in front of the TV... With my remote in my hand, toggling between channels, I found a pattern... I tend to settle down watching documentaries from these 3 channels...

I learnt so much about the world just from these 3 channels... from flora to fauna, to mega constructions to bike construction, to natural to man-made disasters, from religions to human culture... All nourishment to my brain...

Just as I'm typing, the show currently on Animal Planet is a documentary on the life of Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin, who passed away yesterday, killed by a mantle ray's sting... such a great man whose contribution to humankind is in the conservation of the wildlife... And I respect and admire him for spending his lifetime doing what he does... I don't think he'd chose to die in any other way...

Last couple of days, there's a series on Tibetan Buddhism... on the reincarnations of living buddhas... The series intrigue me greatly... mostly because I'm extremely facinated with Tibet... and more importantly, right within the core of myself, I know I'll feel most at ease believing in the teachings of Buddha than any others...

Then there's the American Chopper... it could be the boy in me, but I really find the customised motorbikes that this family of querky men produce extremely desirable... It's really inspiring to see this bunch of grown up men being so passionate and creative in having such great mastery in their craft... Really makes me have an urge to go learn how to ride a bike and own one chopper myself.

And of course, there's the Myth Busters... It's a series that really enjoy because this couple of weird guys go round testing and proving myths that common people are passing around for ages, but not proven... I like their systematic, methodological and scientific approaches to testing the myths... that's the way I feel many things in life should be, rather than just believing what others say...

Last night, as I was dozing off, I was watching a documentary on the Taiwanese singer, A-Mei 张惠妹. It was a documentary on the singing prowess of native minority tribe Taiwanese... And just before I swtiched off the TV and go to sleep, a song, which I hadn't heard for a while was played...

The song was of course sung by 张惠妹. It reminded me of a very good friend of mine back in my university days... She said the same of me as the song:

原来你什么都不想要
我知道这样不好
也知道你的爱只能那么少
我只有不停地要
要到你想逃
泪湿的枕头晒干就好
眼泪在你的心里只是无理取闹
以为在你身后
是我我一辈子的骄傲
原来你什么都不想要
我不要你的呵护你的玫瑰
只要你好好久久爱我一遍
就算虚荣也好贪心也好
哪个女人对爱不自私不奢望
我不要你的承诺不要你的永远
只要你真真切切爱我一遍
就算虚荣也好贪心也好
最怕你把沉默当做对我的回答
原来你什么都不想要

How apt... how ironic... how much I've learnt about myself... how much of myself that hasn't changed...