weekend dose of yin and yang

click to see my weekend consumption

the past weekend was filled with a wealth of good experiences. was able to finally finish reading harry potter book 6. had a great sampling of various cuisine—indian, japanese, filipino, american. was able to spend a night out with the boys and meet new people over belgian beers and white russians. was able to soak in the beauty of new york sights and not as humid weather.

and though the weekend was brimming with experiences, it somehow felt incomplete, however. sure, new york is a great venue for carpe diem—sucking the marrow out of life. there are definitely lots to see, hear, feel, taste, smell. but somehow ive realized that life does not become full in merely experiencing it. for experience is such a passive thing. it is as though you let life flow and soak in as much as you can. dont get me wrong though. nothing wrong with it for to soak in, to experience, and to consume life is after all human.

click to see my weekend creations

there is a flipside to consumption, however, as there is a yin to yang. and i realize in the "something's missing" feeling over the weekend that creation is consumption's counterbalance. sure i can taste the world's cuisine, but there's something to cooking one's own meal. sure i can read all the books of harry potter but there's something about writing blog entries. sure i can listen to great subway performers but there's something about playing (or more like struggling to play) my guitar. sure i can appreciate the great works at the guggenheim but there's something about making silly sketches (and yes, there is beauty in stick figures). sure i can watch all the basketball (and wrestling) i want but there's something about sweating it out over a bike ride. sure i can enjoy all the festival foreign and indie films i can find but there's something about making my own documentary (which is yet to happen). sure i can soak in all the wonderful architecture of the village but there's something about decorating (or even just putting into order) the apartment. sure i can by my fruits from the 24-hour deli, but there's something about growing my own herbs and jalapeno. sure i can go on perhaps with other examples but ive created enough blabber i think. oh but i do wonder though if like all the rest, there really is something creative in typing out business reports or in designing the ads that i do. maybe, there is. but im quite sure there's some things more worth creating.

it is quite a challenge balancing consumption and creation as i realized over the weekend. it seems as though it is much easier and more necessary for us humans to consume than it is to create. rightfully so, perhaps; for, maybe one can really not create if one isn't able to consume and soak in first and gather all the raw materials necessary for worthwhile creation.

but as a saturated sponge needs to be squeezed out before it can again soak in, so must a person be. after all the taking comes the giving. after all the seeing, hearing, tasting, feeling, touching, a certain amount of speaking, singing, swimming, acting, planting, playing, writing, drawing, doing, cooking, joking, laughing, sharing, loving is necessary to make one's life, strangely enough, more full and overflowing.

to consume is human, to create divine. now if only i could teach this mosquito to quit sucking out my blood and get itself a productive life.

oops, killed it.