Encountering Nature

Recently, I've been thinking a lot about the relationship between humans and nature. The two trips I took this year brought those thoughts to the forefront: Yellowstone National Park and the islands in the South China Sea in Thailand like Koh Samui, Koh Tao, Koh Nangyuan (note: Koh=island)

When I returned from the islands and landed in Bangkok airport, the amount of noise and people jarred me and it took a bit to time to adjust from living in the relatively quiet and low hustle-bustle of the island to the real world. I liked the feeling of an untouched sanctuary in Yellowstone where things have been pretty much the same for as far as we can remember collectively as the human race. Obviously, there are some manmade disruptions to the landscape, but for the most part, I think the park epitomizes when we-humans- let nature take its course and consequently we become the ones in the cage.  The islands must have been like that once too, but now they are tourist attractions (specifically, Koh Samui though not to the level of Phuket) and there is construction everywhere as more villas on stilts pop up and the mountain is carved more and more. Koh Nangyuan (a private island) and to an extent Koh Tao still retain that pristineness i.e. the lack of human touch.

Going back to nature, it saddened me how many of the corals I encountered while snorkeling were dying or dead. There were some happy spots. However, I couldn't help but wonder if I'd come here 10 years ago, maybe I'd be seeing a different sight? With Yellowstone, I didn't feel that way at all, I was just in awe the entire time and here the views, the colors of the water, and the creatures left me in awe, but seeing the corals or lack thereof made me somber.

When you're snorkeling and I'd assume it's similar when you're scuba diving, there's just you and the water. The world around you goes completely silent and it's like you're blessed to your own private movie. It's mesmerizing to a degree where you can't keep track of time and when you pop your head out of the water you take a minute to get your bearings because underwater there's no horizon. You're just following after the corals and the fish and whatever creatures you see. Viewing beautiful landscapes leaves me speechless, but its inhabitants (the living creatures) is what I think gives them their charm and character. Without it, what's the difference between 2 cities? Why do people go to different cities in the first place-they all have your basic skyscrapers, huge malls with branded names, and good places to eat?



I watched the documentary,Chasing Ice,  recently and it put things into the perspective of the climate change timeline. I definitely recommend watching it! (There's also Chasing Coral <3 I found them on Netflix!) One of the things James Balog, the one leading and conducting the Extreme Ice Survey (i.e. photographing  glaciers in real time to create time-lapses to see how much they are receding), said that really stuck with me was the fact that we see geologic events as something that happened in the past or something that will happen in the future, but its happening right now and he also said when my daughters ask what were you doing when this was going on, I'll tell them I was doing everything I know how to do.

When you see the Grand Canyon, or the numerous springs in Yellowstone, or even these islands, we see them as history books similar to how we view the Pyramids in Giza or the palaces in Istanbul. I'm sure I'd get personal proof if I went back to snorkel in Thailand or Jamaica in a couple of years that climate change is without a doubt real. Obviously, I probably won't return, but I don't need personal proof to know something is true. When we are presented with facts or ideas or speculations, its not because its a fact that it's true, its what our beliefs are that make anything true. Everyone is made up of their own truths.

I wish I had James Balog's confidence in saying I can tell the generations after me that I was doing something profound about climate change. At the very least, I'll try to make myself more knowledgable about it and maybe someday I can play my part.


Hello :) How is everyone doing? Thank you so much for reading my last post and all the kind comments <3 Recently, I've been readings Inferno by Dan Brown, The Sun and Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur, and of course listening to music:

Summer Vibes Playlist:

I don't know exactly why, but hearing the news about Kyoto Animation made me really sad. 

I'm glad that the director of KyoAni is first and foremost thinking about the feelings of those who survived when moving forward with what to do about Studio 1 as well as their future/ongoing projects. Of course, I personally want to see more KyoAni, but that's just a selfish desire. I looked into the stuff they've animated and I was surprised that I've watched more than I thought and quite a few are on my plan-to-watch list like Koe no Katachi (A Silent Voice) and Nichijou (My Ordinary Life). Like Gigguk says in the following video, "I don't even know if the people who worked on this [the shows and movies] are alive anymore", but I want to send them my prayers, blessings, and thanks in my own way.

<3 There's  a link to the GoFundMe in the description of the video as well as their official page for buying prints if you want to support KyoAni directly <3:

As such I wanted to highlight my favorite KyoAni songs in today's Summer Vibes Playlist:

1) God Knows-Aya Hirano (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya *English lyrics in description*)
This is just so badass in my opinion, but this show was really good as well as the movie continuation

2) Toki o Kizama Uta (A Song to Pass the Time)-Lia (Clannad After Story OP)
Clannad was one of the first anime I ever watched and After Story made me bawl like a baby

3) Daisy-Stereo Dive Foundation (Kyoukai no Kanata/Beyond the Boundary ED)

Akihito and Hiroomis friendship is just full of LOL moments

4) Heading Over-Old Codex (Free! S3-Dive to the Future OP)
I love sports anime and I love Free! I've watched all 3 seasons as well as the movies (even the compilation ones, except Road to the World which compiles S3 which came out this year) I think it's really cool that you get to see the characters grow from when they were kids to the present season where they're in college which parallels with my own life.

5) Koi wo Shita no Wa-Aiko (Koe no Katachi/A Silent Voice)
I haven't watched this, but I know the gist of the story and I remember when everyone was talking about Kimi No Na Wa and it switched to everyone talking about Koe no Katachi. I already know I'm going to cry while watching it so I've been holding off on it.

6) Sincerely-TRUE (Violet Evergarden OP)
I haven't watched the full anime, but the scenes I have watched are breathtakingly beautiful and melancholic and I really like the concept of the story so I'll definitely be checking it out