enrobé de chocolat

Beneath The Sweet Coating

Saturday, September 26, 2009
11:50 PM

Much as you can guess, I am having my semester break now. It is actually a period for you to CATCH UP and not RELAX if you are mistaken.

Well well, I am kind of fascinated with cockroaches of late. These creatures are the strongest living ones on earth. If you watch heroes, you will know what I mean.

In the very first episode Mohinder is giving a lecture at a university in India. In his lecture he says “We have colonized the four corners of our tiny planet, but we are not the pinnacle of so called evolution. That honor belongs to the lowly cockroach. Capable of living for months without food… remaining alive headless for weeks at a time… resistant to radiation. If god has indeed created himself in his own image… then I submit to you that god is a cockroach.” Cockroaches have been associated with Sylar and there was a cockroach at the end of Sylar's blood trail sitting on the man hole cover. Thoughts?

Its shell is anti-radiation, and if you chop off its head, it will still live and when it finally dies, it is only because it had no mouth to feed on food and thus starved to death. And yes, my FYP will be on this godly creature. Even if I have to travel to Penang for this, I really don't mind.

Recently I have came across this blog of a friend which I had not read for a long time. His posts described his unhappy encounter of people asking him why he doesn't smile. Well, he is in fact, one with few smiles.

This brings me back to the topic of Duchenne smiles or genuine smiles.

A Duchenne smile as defined by wiki is one that involves contraction of both the zygomatic major muscle (which raises the corners of the mouth) and the orbicularis oculi muscle (which raises the cheeks and forms crow's feet around the eyes) while a non-Duchenne smile involves only the zygomatic major muscle.

Many researchers believe that Duchenne smiles indicate genuine spontaneous emotions since most people cannot voluntarily contract the outer portion of the orbicularis oculi muscle.

It is an expression which can only be felt by the heart of captured by the human lens. So, this simply means that a Duchenne smile can't be forced.

I have clearly seen Duchenna smiles from this friend of mine, let's call him Z for short. Those were treasured ones that money can't buy. However, they were soon gone. Sometimes, I feel that I am the cause for this.

I took a toy away from a happy kid and made him really sad. This sadness went on for years. The happiness too, went away taking away those innocent smiles. Yet, Z became a stronger person. He became tough and, tougher by the day. He proved to me that he deserved that toy. He constantly reminds me that I should regret that act.

I pondered. Why should Z be punished this way when I am the devil who took away his happiness. But it occured to me that, Z doesn't need the toy anymore and he is now a stronger man. So at the end of the day, I am happy that I took away the toy and make him tougher and at the same time, hope that he will learn to appreciate this one day.

Still, I hope to apologise to Z and ask for his forgiveness for taking away his toy. Only with this apology can we both REALLY move on.

I am sorry, Z.

Posted By Me*