i was reading up on lit texts in preparation for my SAT, hoping that perhaps i'll glean some "examples" i can use in my essays. hahahah i became especially interested in lit texts, events in history etc after i read one model SAT essay which dropped "history textbook content" as examples all over the place. sounded awesome, hahaha and well it earned the perfect score. apparently history and lit students have an advantage in essay-writing, but that shouldn't stop a science student from having that advantage as well! google and wikipedia are our best friends, yes? haha.

so anyways i was reading this essay on pride and prejudice by jane austen, found here. as a lit noob, i dont know if this is normal fare students dish out for their essays.. regardless, i think it's a good write-up. haha. i wish i did lit, really. so much more interesting than.. okay nevermind, the subjects i did had their own merits too. mmm. haha.

as i read this essay and thought about the plot, i'm reminded of the verse in Ecclesiastes, "nothing is new under the sun." although it is the olden-days' version of chicklit (accordg to jl), some of the concepts of romantic love are still as applicable in today's context. all the different kinds of romantic love possible-
the "over-practical and pragmatic" marriage for comfort and an establishment (Collins and Charlotte),
the marriage of "unthinking passion", based on feelings of the present (Mr and Mrs Bennet, Lydia and Wickham)
the "love at first sight" and K-drama type of courtship marriage (Jane and Bingham),
the "reason and reflection to balance passion" type of marriage (Elizabeth and Darcy).
(credits to website found above)

yup, it pretty much reflects the types of marriages that still exist in society today. okay, maybe not the match-made type, but it was mentioned in passing wrt Darcy & Lady Catherine's daughter or sth. haha. my point is, even though circumstances changed, eg. the kinds of obstacles, definitions of establishment and comfort, etc, the way Man loves and courts seems to remain immutable. so, isn't it fair to say romantic love is indeed universal and transcendent over time? in loving and in passion, isn't all Man equal? i was observing this foreign family on the MRT, and how the daughter tugged at her dad's sleeve, the dad ruffling her daughter's hair, how they were taking pics on their hp camera together.. it really struck me then and there that though love, having many forms of expression, the raw substance and emotion of it is felt so similarly among different skin types and people with vastly dissimilar cultural identities. it took me 18years to fully comprehend what that meant. that glorious, enriching love you feel for your special someone or for your parents, that poor kid down that dirt street in Africa feels in the same way too. are we really that different from that poverty-stricken child? why have we allowed cultural and class divides to draw such bold lines that differentiates us from them? we are, in essence, common Man. he needs as much as i need. he wants as much i want. he loves as much as i love. he dares, he dreams, he lives, as much as i do.

at times like these when i realise how we are all the same, despite our lives and experiences being from two worlds, i remember God and His love.. and how His love is for the rest of Man too. not just for the educated elite, not just for my friends and my acquaintances. not just for those i can reach. but also for the rudely different, the weird and peculiar, the despised ones, the poor ones, the deviants and off-tandems. cos i think they feel that same love.

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hahaha its like 12am now, and i'm so high and happy from supper with valeriephang! hahaha. im even more convinced now that my love language is quality time. hahaha. anyway i re-read my post and i'm like, i totally don't feel that way now! haha as in i think and believe in the same thing, but the whole mood and stuff just doesn't feel me now. like ah, i typed that? *cringe. oman i think i have split personality disorder. or schizophrenia. or sth. gasp. hahaha. no wonder mr tong cant read me as well as he can read other pple. lalala. whatever.

to valerie: we need a man! a man! a meh-eh-eh-eh-an! :D