Untitled.

As I plump myself into the back seat of my friend’s car on the way home from tuition and with my left cheek touching the cold surface of the car’s window, I thought about the boring-to-you-yet-interesting-to-me identity numbers. This was pass down to me by my great mathematics teacher who also happens to be my god brother, (Sir) Tan Yee Wei (aka the Pink Man).

[Future reference for self when I get amnesia: Identity numbers are numbers that leave another number unchanged when an operation is applied. Yeah, I think that’s what he said. It seems so much less magical now that I’ve learnt in school. But a few years back when algebra was foreign to me, it was simply fascinating. He told me that the identity number of addition (and subtraction) operations is 0 whereas the identity number for multiplication (or division) is 1. It’s simple really, if you add any number by 0, or subtract for that matter, you get the same number, which is its identity. And if you multiply or divide a number by 1, you’d also find yourself with the same number you started off with. Cool eh? Yes. I’m a dweeb. And come to think about it, I still find it quite fascinating. I mean, who would ever think about that sort of things?]

[Part II of future reference for self when I get amnesia: So, what purpose do identity numbers serve? There’s this thing called Google, it’s really amazing.]

Well, that [insert whatever that was] gave me a jump-start and got my mind churning. I realise that I have this hunger for knowledge. I love to inquire as I feast on information. As a matter of fact, I tend to be in favour of self-realizations. Likewise, I find myself always wanting to be the best that I can be.

Then I thought, what’s my identity? What is it that makes me who I am?

I know I don’t want to be stereotypical and perhaps that’s making me so vulnerable to the Stamp of the (Mundane) Commoners. Gosh. It sounded better when it was playing in my mind. Let me try to rephrase that.

Everybody doesn’t want to be stereotypical, and that's what makes him or her a stereotype.

I looked at the window and gazed into my reflection. Of course, being the science freak that I am, I started to wonder whether it was total internal reflection that I was looking at or not, but I decided to lay off physics for a bit. So as I looked steadily and intently into my reflection, I started to reflect.

Who am I? How did I get here? Why am I here?

At this very moment, my enquiring mind opened up to the fundamental questions that philosophers and troubled kids have been asking since the dawn of civilisation. No one ever came up with a solid answer as these complicated questions that led to countless arguments show no signs of not being infinite. So why bother?

Looking past my reflection, I see a few stars glimmer palely between the clouds. It’s really strange; we live on a tiny little planet in the universe, on one of the many planets orbiting the Sun, yet our planet is the only living planet. In fact, it is possible that we’re the only life forms in the entire universe; but then again, the universe is inconceivably huge and we may never know for sure.

Scientists for one believe that the Big Bang caused all the substance in the universe to be expelled in all directions. And as it gradually cooled, it formed stars and galaxies and moons and planets. But how did life really begin? Was it really the cause of the tightly packed substance of the universe that led our “primeval atom” to explode due to its enormous gravity, thus creating life? Inorganic matter, I can ingest and I can give credence to; However, I can’t say the same for the organic matter, for life. Unless of course, atoms have life, atoms can breathe. All the more, where did this “primeval atom” even come from? Everything has to come from something, right?

Well, you know the formula, x over nought equals to infinity, with x being any positive number? Why not reduce the equation to a simpler form by multiplying both sides by nought. In which case you have x equals infinity times nought. That is to say that a positive number is the product of zero and infinity. Doesn’t that demonstrate the creation of the universe by an infinite power out of nothing?

Creation. A designer. A God?

Yeah, God would be the easiest answer to everything.

‘Let there be light!’

Why, if only life was as easy as tying my shoelaces (which would be rather subjective if I said ‘tying shoelaces’ instead of ‘tying MY shoelaces’); If only the period between our birth and death was less complex, less intricate and less impenetrable; It is only then, I suppose, I would have nothing to write about any longer. XD

But jokes aside, is there a designer in the realm that we live in?

Let’s take a look at the possibilities for just one moment: If there was no designer… How did we get into something so complex? Could we have gotten here by chance? Is it possible to build a bridge without an architect? Or the green plants, which have been called nature’s factories – quiet, non-polluting oxygen producers that feed the world; did they happen just by chance? No, it is not believable and neither is it conceivable. Life is far too complex and far too improbable to have gotten into existence just by chance. There must be a designer!

But then again, who designed the designer?

Mark Twain once said his works are like water whereas the works of great masters are like wine. But everyone drinks water.

Well, my writings must be like medicine or a herbal remedy of some sort in that case. Yeah, that collective substance that forms a blend that is good for you IF it is right for you. Nonetheless, it is usually bitter and people would rather stay away from it. Oh well. XP

Note to self: Change spacing between paragraphs.