the geylang park connector looked new to marathon man. the last time he was in dakota, he did not see it. anyway, the place was quiet, and the air was clean. though it was hot, it was pleasantly hot, not too humid. as he was heading towards tanjung katong, he saw a hawker centre in the junction of joo chiat road and dunman road. it was the dunman food centre, opened in 2003. 2 floors, small place. he ordered the char koay teow without black source and soya water with almond, thinking that they ground the soya with the almond. instead, they just mixed the clear almond water from the bottle to the soya water. anyway it had the medicinal taste of almond. not many people came to eat. just nice for marathon man to open his nonya pasta stall here.... no need very good business, no need to have a big crowd, as long as he could earn his living, he's happy.
then he met a colleague, ah huay, buying koay chap.
"hi, koay chap good or not?"
"good, very good, i always come hear to buy. i have got an extra ticket for rwinds concert tonite, you want to come?"
"where?"
"victoria hall, at 7.30pm."
"what concert?"
"rwinds, the rjc, ri and rgs alumni band."
"ok." though he's not into brass band music, he's much into getting closer to ah huay.
so tonite, the band played the pieces, but marathon man did not connect with the music, the classical music most of which plays on and on, sometimes quarter of an hour or more..... marathon man knows that there's a theme of the music some kind of a refrain...then some off-shoots from the theme, then some crescendo, then some mellow tunes....... some theme are very catchy which marathon man likes, some are total obscure, almost all band music so far i have gone to were dead-pan unfamiliar, obscure pieces, like tonite 'Yorkshire Overture','shirim' with a familiar tune of 'donna, donna' in one of sections, 'Wintersturme' with the lead-conductor as the soloist, 'Saga Maligna ', 'the incredibles', 'beauty and the beast' which really reflects what the band looks like when it turn a beautiful score into a blowing-fish bag-of-air(the beauty being the score, the beast is the band, who else?), and edned with persis... you have to imagine what the music is trying to convey, they said.
but some pieces, whether claissical or otherwise, just click to your mind, some love at first sight, some needs a bit of time to get familiar.... also modern music or pop music does have the same obscure, non-event kind of scores, infact there's as many as those in the classical arena.... it's not the composer's fault if the music doesn't click, or climbs to the pop-chart. he just thinks that he has done a good job, good enough to let the public to appreciate, but the tune just isn't there.
all this is very subjective, people like mozart's clarinet concerto in a major, symphony 21, beethoven's fur elise, symphony 5,bach's tocatta and fugue in d minor... because they have catchy tunes... but musicians, they like everything under the sun, seems they can understand even junks to lay-people.
what's a cathcy tune?
if classical music can be accompanied by motion picture like some animation, like some thing in the movie.... it would be of much help to lay people like marathon man, instead of trying hard to make sense of he hears, the picture tells the story...
in real life, there's no background music to lead the mood.... and in real music.... only imagination makes sense out of it. but not the ordinary imagination.... with pictures, with objects..... it doesn't even need imagination to appreciate music.... it needs the an extra sense on another dimension.
it seems music and real life don't go together. but why human makes music, consciously and subconsciously?
what's that music bring to life, or what can people get out of it?
- perhaps, you don't get anything out of it, but it opens the door and lets you into some place where all things originated
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Monday, December 28, 2009
victoria concert hall - moody night
mozart - clarinet concerto in a major.... they would not play it in the CODA 5 concert in victoria hall. instead RWinds would be engaging themselves on a journey though the lyrical lanscape of France (Beauty and the Beast), Belgium (Saga Maligna), Iran (Persis), America (The Incredibles) and more! Every musical musical journey begins, but Coda 5 will also end with an overture, marking the start of new beginnings for both RWinds and Victoria Concert Hall.... but marathon man did not care too much about these windy sounds that's not doing decent justice to these hard-to-blow instruments...
music is it created from the emotions or just the dexterity of neurons on notes?
he just sits by the piano, and start hitting some keys, hear the notes and their periods. before the next note is hit, the mind has to do some analysis on the notes just heard, trying to make sense of it in terms of melody, tempo, and harmony...... that will detremine the next notes to be hit..... it's a process of feedback between the hand, the ears and the mind.
or, everything already done up in the mind of the composer, then he would just sit down and play it out to finetune the , then jot it down on paper?
or tune comes up when the composer is walking, eating, shitting..... then he quickly stops whatever he's doing and beginning to clarify the tunes and put them into memory, or jot it down, or record it in a recording device?
or tunes comes from his dreams, daydreams......?
or tempo comes first then melody?
in the beginning, Godsaid to man, "I want you to understand that whatever you do, you must find time to make music and listen to it."
"what is music, God?"
God said, "music is sound, any sound."
"then why some sound sounds so irritating, like when people quarrel. is that music also?"
"it is. if you take away all that's rude and improper."
"so it's sound that's filtered?"
"sound that leaves memory in the mind."
"can a good advice be msuic?"
"it is."
"what is the person is deaf, music to him is a non-event, then?"
"he cannot hear what normal people hear as music, but he has other way of getting to know the beauty of music, equivalently."
"what is equivelent to music for a deaf person?"
"viusal represetation of notes? vibrations felt thru the sense of touch. if you train them from small..... they could very well get the hang of it like what great musicians do."
"music without the mood is not music..... music is mood....."
"or rather MY mood is music..... "
music is it created from the emotions or just the dexterity of neurons on notes?
he just sits by the piano, and start hitting some keys, hear the notes and their periods. before the next note is hit, the mind has to do some analysis on the notes just heard, trying to make sense of it in terms of melody, tempo, and harmony...... that will detremine the next notes to be hit..... it's a process of feedback between the hand, the ears and the mind.
or, everything already done up in the mind of the composer, then he would just sit down and play it out to finetune the , then jot it down on paper?
or tune comes up when the composer is walking, eating, shitting..... then he quickly stops whatever he's doing and beginning to clarify the tunes and put them into memory, or jot it down, or record it in a recording device?
or tunes comes from his dreams, daydreams......?
or tempo comes first then melody?
in the beginning, Godsaid to man, "I want you to understand that whatever you do, you must find time to make music and listen to it."
"what is music, God?"
God said, "music is sound, any sound."
"then why some sound sounds so irritating, like when people quarrel. is that music also?"
"it is. if you take away all that's rude and improper."
"so it's sound that's filtered?"
"sound that leaves memory in the mind."
"can a good advice be msuic?"
"it is."
"what is the person is deaf, music to him is a non-event, then?"
"he cannot hear what normal people hear as music, but he has other way of getting to know the beauty of music, equivalently."
"what is equivelent to music for a deaf person?"
"viusal represetation of notes? vibrations felt thru the sense of touch. if you train them from small..... they could very well get the hang of it like what great musicians do."
"music without the mood is not music..... music is mood....."
"or rather MY mood is music..... "
seletar camp - freedom
the seletar camp trip this time brought a lot of surprises. he never have thot that the camp was actually much bigger than what he imagined it to be, for the few times he jogged there and the many times he played golf in the 9-hole public golf club. he crossed the bridge across the tpe, from jalan kayu, and hit the seletar westlink, then passed the seletar golf country club. as he wanted to turn to the dike on seletar reservoir going to yishun, he realized infront of him, the road led to some new place he never stepped feet on before. he continued on, without turning. found quite to his pleasant surprise, that this corner of singapore also had some home-made wooden jetty-like terminals, from a few fishermen's homes into the sea, for their fishing boats and a few privately-owned power boats. he met a few guys collecting mussles from the seaside and knocking out the concrete-like stuff sticking to the shells. he said to one guy, "are you collecting toa-tau's?" "no, its chai luan."
there's a bridge spanning across the small bay. he went up the bridge and crossed it over to the other side. it was a reclaimed land, characterised by the big stretch of cauarina trees planted as wind-breakers. he was heading into no man's land, no idea of where it would lead him to. it must be more than an hour now, still he did not see any familiar road names or landmarks that he could figure out where he's heading towards. he came to a big lokang-like river, with the end of it separated from the sea by the road that marathon man was stepping on. beside the river, he noticed a pathway cut into the big stretch of casuarina forest. he saw some people playing in the river, some distance away from him. he decided going for the pathway, instead of going ahead on the main road. he smelled the very faint scent of the casuarina trees... some kind of pine-tree smell, but so faint that the next minute, he wanted to take it in all, it evaded his nosy sense. he went down to the river, and the water was very clear. he could not figure out what river was it. he went deeper into the path, saw a van with a driver stopping beside a shack, he pointed to the front and asked, "is there a way out that direction?" "i don't know, i came from the other direction." pointing to where marathon man came from. he decided to moved on toward the unknown destination any way. and he was rewarded by the many birds, big and small, that made the bushes in the river bank their paradize, obvioulsy, quite a remote place for any normal guy to step feet on. and he saw the river turning into a sort of lake, opposite the place he stood, he saw some factories, smelling of oil processing. and ther's a flood-gate on the other side, joining another river.
amidst all the nature and man-made artifacts and creatures, he was totally captivated by two small yellow butterflies, frolicking in the air.... one going after the other, dotted in the air, high, then low, then parted, then came closer again, then set feet in the grass, then took to the air again.... after a couple of minutes, they finally flew apart. but for that brief couple of minutes, nature had shown marathon man what freedom was all about - it was all about, to do whatever you like, to whoever you like and in whichever way you like, wherever and whenever you like.... and the same freedom was available to all in the group.
and the freedom to intrude into some unknown space which befits marathon man the title of some sort of explorer, did lift his drooping and tiring spirit; since his handphone ran out of battery after his fren ah cheng called him 2 hours ago, he did not have any way to call for assistance if his feet give up on him, at this juncture.
but he found his way out anyway - back to where he started - the bridge that spanned across the small bay.
seletar camp has changed alot. they were tearing down old houses and put up new building and extend the seletar airport run to accomodate the aero-tech industry here. marathon man used to play golf in the 9-hole public seletar golf club here. he got his pc and handicapp cards here a few years ago. he met a lot of strangers in the golf course and he befren them one and all.... though he has not kept in touch with any of them, he specifically remembers one chap.....
ah huat, that's what he told marathon man his name was.
ah huat got this very funny sound when he laughed, something like a revebaration from a big tong. and he laughed a lot. obviosuly he's a happy man.
they played golf a few times. one time, their flight-mate, ah kong said, "my wife is pregnant, and her mood swing is really fantastic. one moment she feel very high, then the next cries like a baby..... how ah?"
marathon man, single himself, don't know what to advise. the flight mate ah seow, a father of 3, said, "don't worry lah.... mood swing due to hormone only. once delivery over, ok already."
"i heard there's something call post natal blue.... how if she continues her pre-natal into psot natal?"
"blue is the color of the bright sky..... should not be signifying anything melancholic." marathon man somehow blurted out something, though it sounded irrelavant.
"what? you must be drunk. blue is blue which is like blur, blur lah... like you cannot see anything clear.... sad, low mood, unhappy.... lonely.... " ah kong said.
the ah huat, who'hv been keeping quiet so far said, "your wife situation is temporary, whether pre or post natal blue. my wife is chronically feeling blue, her sickness is post marriage blue syndrome?"
"wow, how do you deal with it?" ah kong was curious, since ah huat didn't seem to be bothered by it.
"simple lah... when she's angry, i just tell myself that, to make her happy, i would have to let her feel that she's still single."
"how?"
"to act like a single myself..... go pubbing like nobody's business, go ktv's, go golfings.... just don't stay at home."
there's a bridge spanning across the small bay. he went up the bridge and crossed it over to the other side. it was a reclaimed land, characterised by the big stretch of cauarina trees planted as wind-breakers. he was heading into no man's land, no idea of where it would lead him to. it must be more than an hour now, still he did not see any familiar road names or landmarks that he could figure out where he's heading towards. he came to a big lokang-like river, with the end of it separated from the sea by the road that marathon man was stepping on. beside the river, he noticed a pathway cut into the big stretch of casuarina forest. he saw some people playing in the river, some distance away from him. he decided going for the pathway, instead of going ahead on the main road. he smelled the very faint scent of the casuarina trees... some kind of pine-tree smell, but so faint that the next minute, he wanted to take it in all, it evaded his nosy sense. he went down to the river, and the water was very clear. he could not figure out what river was it. he went deeper into the path, saw a van with a driver stopping beside a shack, he pointed to the front and asked, "is there a way out that direction?" "i don't know, i came from the other direction." pointing to where marathon man came from. he decided to moved on toward the unknown destination any way. and he was rewarded by the many birds, big and small, that made the bushes in the river bank their paradize, obvioulsy, quite a remote place for any normal guy to step feet on. and he saw the river turning into a sort of lake, opposite the place he stood, he saw some factories, smelling of oil processing. and ther's a flood-gate on the other side, joining another river.
amidst all the nature and man-made artifacts and creatures, he was totally captivated by two small yellow butterflies, frolicking in the air.... one going after the other, dotted in the air, high, then low, then parted, then came closer again, then set feet in the grass, then took to the air again.... after a couple of minutes, they finally flew apart. but for that brief couple of minutes, nature had shown marathon man what freedom was all about - it was all about, to do whatever you like, to whoever you like and in whichever way you like, wherever and whenever you like.... and the same freedom was available to all in the group.
and the freedom to intrude into some unknown space which befits marathon man the title of some sort of explorer, did lift his drooping and tiring spirit; since his handphone ran out of battery after his fren ah cheng called him 2 hours ago, he did not have any way to call for assistance if his feet give up on him, at this juncture.
but he found his way out anyway - back to where he started - the bridge that spanned across the small bay.
seletar camp has changed alot. they were tearing down old houses and put up new building and extend the seletar airport run to accomodate the aero-tech industry here. marathon man used to play golf in the 9-hole public seletar golf club here. he got his pc and handicapp cards here a few years ago. he met a lot of strangers in the golf course and he befren them one and all.... though he has not kept in touch with any of them, he specifically remembers one chap.....
ah huat, that's what he told marathon man his name was.
ah huat got this very funny sound when he laughed, something like a revebaration from a big tong. and he laughed a lot. obviosuly he's a happy man.
they played golf a few times. one time, their flight-mate, ah kong said, "my wife is pregnant, and her mood swing is really fantastic. one moment she feel very high, then the next cries like a baby..... how ah?"
marathon man, single himself, don't know what to advise. the flight mate ah seow, a father of 3, said, "don't worry lah.... mood swing due to hormone only. once delivery over, ok already."
"i heard there's something call post natal blue.... how if she continues her pre-natal into psot natal?"
"blue is the color of the bright sky..... should not be signifying anything melancholic." marathon man somehow blurted out something, though it sounded irrelavant.
"what? you must be drunk. blue is blue which is like blur, blur lah... like you cannot see anything clear.... sad, low mood, unhappy.... lonely.... " ah kong said.
the ah huat, who'hv been keeping quiet so far said, "your wife situation is temporary, whether pre or post natal blue. my wife is chronically feeling blue, her sickness is post marriage blue syndrome?"
"wow, how do you deal with it?" ah kong was curious, since ah huat didn't seem to be bothered by it.
"simple lah... when she's angry, i just tell myself that, to make her happy, i would have to let her feel that she's still single."
"how?"
"to act like a single myself..... go pubbing like nobody's business, go ktv's, go golfings.... just don't stay at home."
Friday, December 25, 2009
seletar farmways - Merry Christmas
seletar farmway 4 it is. some years ago, marathon man was here. he could hardly recall details of the place. that's why he wants to try it again this morning. there's a foreign worker dormitory at the beginning of the road, converted from some old hdb shop houses and hdb flats. they could have been very good quarters for the locals, but why they were abandoned?
he turns into farmway 5, and enters the 'animal resort'. it's the same resort he visited before, not change as far as he can remember. though he couldn't remember whether there was a horse, a lovely horse. marathon man wants to whisper to it, since it comes close to him, with its double-eye-lid eye, ignocent look, it tempts him to say something to it. they interact for sometime in silence. then it turns away.
the peacock in the coop, is excited and spreads out its technic-color feathers into a fan, strding proudly facing him.
the fat, old goose groups with the white ducks, as if he's the leader of the group.
the fishing pond begs some leisure lines; 2 adults and 2 kids try their luck, but so far no fish.
he spends half an hour in the mini zoo, fully relishing its atmosphere and its creatures. he continues his journey, walking slowly toward farmway 8. and lands in the swee lee landscape, where there are many tall trees, palm and other types, with tehir roots packed in soil, wrapped in back plastic bags, all ready to go to the IR in sentosa.
further on, he enters farmway 7. and somehow, he hits on the jalan kayu terraces - he remembers the last time he was in jalan kayu, he wanted to detour into the forest trail... now he's in the forest trail, coming out to jalan kayu.
he stops in an indian restaurant, ta'aanam for his $3.80 lunch(mutton, omlette, lady fingers and spinach). the cumin in the masalah makes his day.
On the this joyous day - what's better to spend it to re-discover the rustic lives of singpore's zinc-roof-house lot?
he turns into farmway 5, and enters the 'animal resort'. it's the same resort he visited before, not change as far as he can remember. though he couldn't remember whether there was a horse, a lovely horse. marathon man wants to whisper to it, since it comes close to him, with its double-eye-lid eye, ignocent look, it tempts him to say something to it. they interact for sometime in silence. then it turns away.
the peacock in the coop, is excited and spreads out its technic-color feathers into a fan, strding proudly facing him.
the fat, old goose groups with the white ducks, as if he's the leader of the group.
the fishing pond begs some leisure lines; 2 adults and 2 kids try their luck, but so far no fish.
he spends half an hour in the mini zoo, fully relishing its atmosphere and its creatures. he continues his journey, walking slowly toward farmway 8. and lands in the swee lee landscape, where there are many tall trees, palm and other types, with tehir roots packed in soil, wrapped in back plastic bags, all ready to go to the IR in sentosa.
further on, he enters farmway 7. and somehow, he hits on the jalan kayu terraces - he remembers the last time he was in jalan kayu, he wanted to detour into the forest trail... now he's in the forest trail, coming out to jalan kayu.
he stops in an indian restaurant, ta'aanam for his $3.80 lunch(mutton, omlette, lady fingers and spinach). the cumin in the masalah makes his day.
On the this joyous day - what's better to spend it to re-discover the rustic lives of singpore's zinc-roof-house lot?
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
oasis - found
a caravan of camels had to stop over in this oasis for the nite.
the beasts filled their stomachs with food and water. the caravaners went to look for their chicks.
and marathon man was left alone to tend the camels.
one camel said, "are you not interested in women?"
"sure..."
"but you are here with us?"
"it's my turn."
"nobody is around, you can go for some fun, and make it back here before anyone finds out."
"how about you guys? sure you won't play the hide and seek game on me, like you did with the last guy?"
"don't worry. you are a good guy, we only tricked the guy because he treated us bad."
"what did he do to you?"
"he smoked a pack of camel."
"wow.... that's very in-considerate, smoking camel infront of the camels."
"you are telling me.... so you want to go or not?"
"heeheheh,..... i need some humps... and surely not the ones that you have...."
the moral found in this story - smoke and hump don't jive, so
QUIT SMOKING
the beasts filled their stomachs with food and water. the caravaners went to look for their chicks.
and marathon man was left alone to tend the camels.
one camel said, "are you not interested in women?"
"sure..."
"but you are here with us?"
"it's my turn."
"nobody is around, you can go for some fun, and make it back here before anyone finds out."
"how about you guys? sure you won't play the hide and seek game on me, like you did with the last guy?"
"don't worry. you are a good guy, we only tricked the guy because he treated us bad."
"what did he do to you?"
"he smoked a pack of camel."
"wow.... that's very in-considerate, smoking camel infront of the camels."
"you are telling me.... so you want to go or not?"
"heeheheh,..... i need some humps... and surely not the ones that you have...."
the moral found in this story - smoke and hump don't jive, so
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
forest - lost
there's still the urge to shoot something. but no target yet.
the hunter got lost in the forest. his immediate call was to find the way out, not so much as to hunt.
yet he did not want to miss the chance of shooting something, if he found his game.
along the way, he saw a deer near the bush. he raised his bow, and aimed at it.
the deer noticed him, said, "wait, i know you are lost. but don't tell me you're so lost that you don't know you are lost and your job is to find the way out."
"you are right. perhaps i should not waste my time in hunting, instead, looking for a way out." so he let the deer go.
after wandering the forest for another hour, he saw a trail of tiger paws on the ground, he toed behind them and saw the beast resting under a tree. instinctly, he readied his bow and arrow, and was about to shoot. the tiger turned around, gazed at him, said, "young man, you must be lost to find yourself in the deep forest.... you shoot me, you still lost.... perhaps i could find you the way out"
but he shot it anyway. he reminded himself, threatening adversaries always presented themselves as threats, must be eliminated.
he moved on.... still lost as ever.
then the sound of the wild buffalo attracted him. he saw one near the river bank drinking water. and the buffalo saw him also. it said, "hunting chap, you look like you have been lost for quite sometime. you need some water?"
"yes. but i also need some food." he shot it and got a good steak out of its meat.
and nite fell. the forest took on its own life... creatures and creepy crawlies, big and small had a field nite, foraging, preying and looking for mates.... the hunter put himself in the mercy of the nite.
he lit up a fire. and without a shut-eye, was in full alert of any imminent menace around him.
then a big snake hanging from a tree caught his attention.
its aggressive hissings prompted him to aim his arrow in its direction.
it stopped hissing and said, "oh, your arrow would not hurt me, with my thick skin..... and i see, you are a hunter, a lost hunter and soon will be my sumptious supper."
he gave it a shot anyway.....
marathon man is very much that lost hunter..... would he have survived the ordeal, and found his way out of the forest or ended up finding his way into the snake's tummy?
the hunter got lost in the forest. his immediate call was to find the way out, not so much as to hunt.
yet he did not want to miss the chance of shooting something, if he found his game.
along the way, he saw a deer near the bush. he raised his bow, and aimed at it.
the deer noticed him, said, "wait, i know you are lost. but don't tell me you're so lost that you don't know you are lost and your job is to find the way out."
"you are right. perhaps i should not waste my time in hunting, instead, looking for a way out." so he let the deer go.
after wandering the forest for another hour, he saw a trail of tiger paws on the ground, he toed behind them and saw the beast resting under a tree. instinctly, he readied his bow and arrow, and was about to shoot. the tiger turned around, gazed at him, said, "young man, you must be lost to find yourself in the deep forest.... you shoot me, you still lost.... perhaps i could find you the way out"
but he shot it anyway. he reminded himself, threatening adversaries always presented themselves as threats, must be eliminated.
he moved on.... still lost as ever.
then the sound of the wild buffalo attracted him. he saw one near the river bank drinking water. and the buffalo saw him also. it said, "hunting chap, you look like you have been lost for quite sometime. you need some water?"
"yes. but i also need some food." he shot it and got a good steak out of its meat.
and nite fell. the forest took on its own life... creatures and creepy crawlies, big and small had a field nite, foraging, preying and looking for mates.... the hunter put himself in the mercy of the nite.
he lit up a fire. and without a shut-eye, was in full alert of any imminent menace around him.
then a big snake hanging from a tree caught his attention.
its aggressive hissings prompted him to aim his arrow in its direction.
it stopped hissing and said, "oh, your arrow would not hurt me, with my thick skin..... and i see, you are a hunter, a lost hunter and soon will be my sumptious supper."
he gave it a shot anyway.....
marathon man is very much that lost hunter..... would he have survived the ordeal, and found his way out of the forest or ended up finding his way into the snake's tummy?
Sunday, December 20, 2009
giza - brilliant idea
pyramid - a gigantic stone structure that's built by countless man power, and ingenuity. a king's tomb.
having the luxury to command people is no small feat. but only a few can reach that pinnacle of power.
while pushing against the head winds in the giza plain, marathon man's fren ah mark, who said that, he was a king in the land of aisyalam in his past life, told maarathon man how he used to make things happen at his whims and fancies. to him, nothing seemed impossible; it's his immaginations that limited the possibilities.
one day he asked his chief architect, "ah low, you have built many roads and bridges, can you build a bridge within a span of 500m, that will reach a height of 20m, so as to allow the ships to pass under it?"
"hmm.... your majesty, it's tough, to rise to a height of 20m, you must need at least a span of 1.5km."
"i know it's difficult..."
"ok.... we can build a crooked bridge."
"there you have it. i know you can do it. so a crooked bridge we shall build."
"where you want to build the bridge?"
"from our jaybee to the centre of the boundary between our kingdom and the lily kingdom."
"why?"
"oh, i can only exert my power on my people, not on the lily kingdom."
"your majesty, why not invade them and take them over."
"i would if i could, but they are not a weakling, you know."
"your majesty, instead of using the money to build the crooked bridge, why not use it to strengthen our military might and use it to conquer lily kingdom?"
"you have a plan to win the war?"
"sure. simple. we just pay the 8 million illegal immigrants, to march over the causeway..... even bare handed, would've drowned out the little kingdom 5 million population."
having the luxury to command people is no small feat. but only a few can reach that pinnacle of power.
while pushing against the head winds in the giza plain, marathon man's fren ah mark, who said that, he was a king in the land of aisyalam in his past life, told maarathon man how he used to make things happen at his whims and fancies. to him, nothing seemed impossible; it's his immaginations that limited the possibilities.
one day he asked his chief architect, "ah low, you have built many roads and bridges, can you build a bridge within a span of 500m, that will reach a height of 20m, so as to allow the ships to pass under it?"
"hmm.... your majesty, it's tough, to rise to a height of 20m, you must need at least a span of 1.5km."
"i know it's difficult..."
"ok.... we can build a crooked bridge."
"there you have it. i know you can do it. so a crooked bridge we shall build."
"where you want to build the bridge?"
"from our jaybee to the centre of the boundary between our kingdom and the lily kingdom."
"why?"
"oh, i can only exert my power on my people, not on the lily kingdom."
"your majesty, why not invade them and take them over."
"i would if i could, but they are not a weakling, you know."
"your majesty, instead of using the money to build the crooked bridge, why not use it to strengthen our military might and use it to conquer lily kingdom?"
"you have a plan to win the war?"
"sure. simple. we just pay the 8 million illegal immigrants, to march over the causeway..... even bare handed, would've drowned out the little kingdom 5 million population."
Saturday, December 19, 2009
sungei, cinema, sms ....... the detour
a fren said that she's on her way today,
after so many years.
yah, it must be a long long time.
the seasons come and go,
the hair, lesser and whiter,
so many years after the whole thing.
naive not the word to describe it,
rather wishful
and obsessed
or possessed?
waking up early,
brazing the morning breeze,
awating for that cab of hope
that brings joy for the day
joy that never meant to be
sungei, park, and bay
office, cinema and late nite functions
letters, emails, sms....
all gone to the bitter winds
heart racing, blood simmering, mood soaring,
no clue of
what heart ache to come.
hurting, deep, deep
the one who's not supposed
to know what's going on.....
happy birthday
many more to come
after so many years.
yah, it must be a long long time.
the seasons come and go,
the hair, lesser and whiter,
so many years after the whole thing.
naive not the word to describe it,
rather wishful
and obsessed
or possessed?
waking up early,
brazing the morning breeze,
awating for that cab of hope
that brings joy for the day
joy that never meant to be
sungei, park, and bay
office, cinema and late nite functions
letters, emails, sms....
all gone to the bitter winds
heart racing, blood simmering, mood soaring,
no clue of
what heart ache to come.
hurting, deep, deep
the one who's not supposed
to know what's going on.....
happy birthday
many more to come
Thursday, December 17, 2009
al ahreesh street - eat sand
sand storm, that's some kind of sand feeding process, whereby the wind does its job of feeding sand into people's mouths.
a 45-minute walk from metro supermart in al ahreesh street, off al ahram street in giza put a lot of sand into one's 5 senses.
.....
just stepping outside the hotel, a guy came up and asked, "where are you going?"
wanted to ignore him, but he kept asking. still he wouldn't want to say more, just walked faster and tried to leave him behind. but he wouldn't go away. "i'm the police," he said. but he's not in police uniform, though with a walky-talkie....
"where are you going?"
"buy hibiscus tea."
"let me show you the way."
so he followed him crossing the busy road, with him, trying to slow down the on-coming traffic, as if he owned the road.
not far from the hotel, he showed him a small dirt road, "there, supermart."
he went in a small grocery stall... it just opened for business, the stall-keeper still opening up the inner doors. he spoke to him in arabic. and he showed him the hibiscus tea. then he realized he had not changed his dollars into egyptian pounds... so he said, "ok, thanks, i have to go..... no money.."
so they came back to the hotel.
then he exchanged his money and went out the hotel. he met the policeman again. this time he said, "i'm going to al ahreesh." and he did not follow.
after 20 miuntes' walk with no clue where to find al ahreesh, he showed another police man the destination written in arabic by the tour-guide, an asked, "how to go to al ahressh?"
he took a look at the paper, said, "here, follow me."
he went to the road side, and hailed a micro-bus, "al ahreesh?"
"naam", the bus stopped.
"you go up, and pay 1 pound."
so he got into the mirco-bus, with the door always opened, and paid the driver 1 pound. after some stops, the micro-bus stopped, the driver said, "al ahreesh."
he pointed to the street opposite where the micro-bus stopped, "is that al ahreesh."
"naam."
good men, cannot be known by just their looks. you meet them, it's your luck.
a 45-minute walk from metro supermart in al ahreesh street, off al ahram street in giza put a lot of sand into one's 5 senses.
.....
just stepping outside the hotel, a guy came up and asked, "where are you going?"
wanted to ignore him, but he kept asking. still he wouldn't want to say more, just walked faster and tried to leave him behind. but he wouldn't go away. "i'm the police," he said. but he's not in police uniform, though with a walky-talkie....
"where are you going?"
"buy hibiscus tea."
"let me show you the way."
so he followed him crossing the busy road, with him, trying to slow down the on-coming traffic, as if he owned the road.
not far from the hotel, he showed him a small dirt road, "there, supermart."
he went in a small grocery stall... it just opened for business, the stall-keeper still opening up the inner doors. he spoke to him in arabic. and he showed him the hibiscus tea. then he realized he had not changed his dollars into egyptian pounds... so he said, "ok, thanks, i have to go..... no money.."
so they came back to the hotel.
then he exchanged his money and went out the hotel. he met the policeman again. this time he said, "i'm going to al ahreesh." and he did not follow.
after 20 miuntes' walk with no clue where to find al ahreesh, he showed another police man the destination written in arabic by the tour-guide, an asked, "how to go to al ahressh?"
he took a look at the paper, said, "here, follow me."
he went to the road side, and hailed a micro-bus, "al ahreesh?"
"naam", the bus stopped.
"you go up, and pay 1 pound."
so he got into the mirco-bus, with the door always opened, and paid the driver 1 pound. after some stops, the micro-bus stopped, the driver said, "al ahreesh."
he pointed to the street opposite where the micro-bus stopped, "is that al ahreesh."
"naam."
good men, cannot be known by just their looks. you meet them, it's your luck.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
alexandria - a city with a brown turban
Go alexandria from giza, 3.5 hour bus journey. A lot of oil refinaries at the suburb, belching out large amt of smog, polluting the air - the whole city, from far, can see a layer of brown smog hanging over it. The seaside is very long and people take to the seaside and beach to fishing and enjoy the sea and waves and cafes and water-pipe smoking. Traffic very heavy.
Visit catacomb - group-tomb or like today's memorial. The surrounding area is very dusty and dirty with narrow streets and haphazard, characteristically egyptian un-finished houses. Also go pompeys pillar near by. Then makan along the seaside. Then go library and farukh's gardens and palaces.
Eat in 'tang cheng' chinese reataurant in giza.
what's dust to marathon man is air to many egyptians - their wrapped-up bodies separate most part of them from the dust - their lungs won't be so protected - life within the dust bowl is also life for so many people for as long as history is known to mankind.
alexandria, a city destroyed by the 4th century earth-quake, the city that holds cleopatra's dreams never had it so bad - people do not have any more conscience on cleaning up their acts to make the air, if not particularly clean, at least not that bad - why?
because their rice-bowls literally come from the dust-bowls.
Visit catacomb - group-tomb or like today's memorial. The surrounding area is very dusty and dirty with narrow streets and haphazard, characteristically egyptian un-finished houses. Also go pompeys pillar near by. Then makan along the seaside. Then go library and farukh's gardens and palaces.
Eat in 'tang cheng' chinese reataurant in giza.
what's dust to marathon man is air to many egyptians - their wrapped-up bodies separate most part of them from the dust - their lungs won't be so protected - life within the dust bowl is also life for so many people for as long as history is known to mankind.
alexandria, a city destroyed by the 4th century earth-quake, the city that holds cleopatra's dreams never had it so bad - people do not have any more conscience on cleaning up their acts to make the air, if not particularly clean, at least not that bad - why?
because their rice-bowls literally come from the dust-bowls.
cairo - kickless boost
Yesterday, go saladin citadel and md ali mosque. It's built after the blue mosque in turkey. Very grand deco inside. With a big chandellier from france and jade-green paintings on the inside of the domes. And a lot of letrik candle lights hang slightly above one person's height in the big hall.
Then go khan khalili market donwtown cairo. The 4 gals late coming back, everybody claps and they still want to argue. Give them a piece of his mind. Eat in hard rock cafe. Met gracie, his colleague n family, from another tour. then go to cairo museum. Visit exhibits from old, middle and new anicient egyptian kingdoms - old ones have better art sculptures than the others. Impression of more than 2000 yrs, little change in the traditons and other aspects of the egyptians. The kings of the old kingdom donned the same attire as the kings from new kingdom - worshipping the same gods, making the same monuments except the tombs of old kingdoms were pyramids, whereas the later kings built tombs in the kings' valley.
Looks like history is more of kings and powerful people than of the ordinary folks. If the kings don't change their ways of life, the people would care little to do so. Hence the point to democracy is to let the people have more say what they want and how they want to live their lives instead of pushed down from the top. Singapore reflect exactly the kingdom system where by changes are pushed down from the top.
Witness king tut's exhibits - very glamorous and mind boggling how more than 4000 yrs ago people already had what we are having now as the means to live and enjoy life - fans, mirrors, diff types of bed, diff types of container jar, perfumes, nails,...the workmanship of the sedan chair was like done with a precision machine on the wooden handles and capped with bronze at the ends, done in such neat fits you wld think it must be done with some kind of high tech robot.
Dinner at egyptian buffet retaurant - so so. Buy a can of beck, the non-alcoholic beer. Tastes like beer but no kick.
beer is no beer if it looses its alcohol, just like salt is no salt if its looses it saltiness.
singapura is no singapura if it looses its singapore-lah!
Then go khan khalili market donwtown cairo. The 4 gals late coming back, everybody claps and they still want to argue. Give them a piece of his mind. Eat in hard rock cafe. Met gracie, his colleague n family, from another tour. then go to cairo museum. Visit exhibits from old, middle and new anicient egyptian kingdoms - old ones have better art sculptures than the others. Impression of more than 2000 yrs, little change in the traditons and other aspects of the egyptians. The kings of the old kingdom donned the same attire as the kings from new kingdom - worshipping the same gods, making the same monuments except the tombs of old kingdoms were pyramids, whereas the later kings built tombs in the kings' valley.
Looks like history is more of kings and powerful people than of the ordinary folks. If the kings don't change their ways of life, the people would care little to do so. Hence the point to democracy is to let the people have more say what they want and how they want to live their lives instead of pushed down from the top. Singapore reflect exactly the kingdom system where by changes are pushed down from the top.
Witness king tut's exhibits - very glamorous and mind boggling how more than 4000 yrs ago people already had what we are having now as the means to live and enjoy life - fans, mirrors, diff types of bed, diff types of container jar, perfumes, nails,...the workmanship of the sedan chair was like done with a precision machine on the wooden handles and capped with bronze at the ends, done in such neat fits you wld think it must be done with some kind of high tech robot.
Dinner at egyptian buffet retaurant - so so. Buy a can of beck, the non-alcoholic beer. Tastes like beer but no kick.
beer is no beer if it looses its alcohol, just like salt is no salt if its looses it saltiness.
singapura is no singapura if it looses its singapore-lah!
Friday, December 11, 2009
abu simbel - progress
The egyptian nite in winter is chilly. But inside the air-conditioned van, it's warm. It left the cruise docking location in aswan at 3.00am in the morning and has to wait for 30 minutes in another area where all the buses going to abu simbel gathered and go thru some security check before it actually leaves aswan, heading south on a 3-hr journey.
After leaving the road lit by street lights, they are into the desert with no street lights and no other man-made lights other than the headlamps of the van and occasionally head lights from other vehicles.
Marathon man did not have a good sleep , though he tunned in before 9 last nite. But he does not feel like shutting his eyes, but is quite at a lost of what else to do in the next 3 hrs. Looking outside, it's featureless, desert-like lanscape. Then it stikes him when he looks up; there are countless stars hanging in the sky.it reminded him of the nites he spent in the arabian desrt, many years ago. if there's a milky way up there, it would definitley not be seen in the cities, with their lights cutting off all dimly lit starlets and stardusts...
just before they arrive at abu simbel, the sun rises up from the horizon, coloring the cloudless sky crimsonly red, and lighting the trees and plants scattered along the abu simbel village into some brilliant creatures ready to begin the day of sand eating.
the village is a small one, mainly accupied by the nubians, the dark-skin egyptians who inhabit the southern egypt and northern sudan, and who is supposed to be the first civilized people in the world, dated to the years before 3800bc.
abu simbel, 2 beautiful temples dedicated to remesses II and his wife nefertari was moved from the lower part of the nasser lake in 1960's when the aswan dam was constructed. still it retains its glorious mountain-carved structures and also the positionin of the remesses' temple such that the sun's ray will illuminate the three statues in the sanctuary room on the dates 22 feb and 22 oct, every year.
egyptian history like any other ancient or even recent history is mostly about kings, conquerers - most of the relics and artifacts left behind are big structures dedicated to the kings.
for the 200o years of ancient egyptian history, it seems the kings of the 1st dynatsy and those of the 30th dynasty had many things in common, in their beliefs, their attires, their customers..... to them, it seemed thare's no generation gap.... there's only one generation for the 2000 over years.
but now, just within the last century, egypt has changed from a monarchy to a republic and has followed the step of the global changes quite closely, espceially in the big cities like cairo and alexandria.
autocratic society progresses only if the person in power does so - whereas, for an opened society, the motivation for progress comes from the people.
After leaving the road lit by street lights, they are into the desert with no street lights and no other man-made lights other than the headlamps of the van and occasionally head lights from other vehicles.
Marathon man did not have a good sleep , though he tunned in before 9 last nite. But he does not feel like shutting his eyes, but is quite at a lost of what else to do in the next 3 hrs. Looking outside, it's featureless, desert-like lanscape. Then it stikes him when he looks up; there are countless stars hanging in the sky.it reminded him of the nites he spent in the arabian desrt, many years ago. if there's a milky way up there, it would definitley not be seen in the cities, with their lights cutting off all dimly lit starlets and stardusts...
just before they arrive at abu simbel, the sun rises up from the horizon, coloring the cloudless sky crimsonly red, and lighting the trees and plants scattered along the abu simbel village into some brilliant creatures ready to begin the day of sand eating.
the village is a small one, mainly accupied by the nubians, the dark-skin egyptians who inhabit the southern egypt and northern sudan, and who is supposed to be the first civilized people in the world, dated to the years before 3800bc.
abu simbel, 2 beautiful temples dedicated to remesses II and his wife nefertari was moved from the lower part of the nasser lake in 1960's when the aswan dam was constructed. still it retains its glorious mountain-carved structures and also the positionin of the remesses' temple such that the sun's ray will illuminate the three statues in the sanctuary room on the dates 22 feb and 22 oct, every year.
egyptian history like any other ancient or even recent history is mostly about kings, conquerers - most of the relics and artifacts left behind are big structures dedicated to the kings.
for the 200o years of ancient egyptian history, it seems the kings of the 1st dynatsy and those of the 30th dynasty had many things in common, in their beliefs, their attires, their customers..... to them, it seemed thare's no generation gap.... there's only one generation for the 2000 over years.
but now, just within the last century, egypt has changed from a monarchy to a republic and has followed the step of the global changes quite closely, espceially in the big cities like cairo and alexandria.
autocratic society progresses only if the person in power does so - whereas, for an opened society, the motivation for progress comes from the people.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
edfu - pap rules
Woke up in the wee hours, he checked his blackberry, and wouldn't be able to get back to sleep any more. He came up to the sun-deck, chilly and quiet.
The time was before 5am.
The dark sky was clear with a cresent moon overhead. the cold stars sparingly dotted the dark screen.
At 5.55 the loud speakers sounded, one after each other - the call to prayer made a very powerful statement to break dawn in a muslim country - that religion is the expression of human beings inner faith to strive for something that's not humanly possible.
The sky over the east bank of nile show the first light of dawn at 5.30am, though marathon man could not be sure that the very faint shade of brightness was actually that from the rising sun. He was fooled once, yesterday morning when he was jogging along the east bank of the nile river in luxor. He thot the sun was going to come out from the other end of the river given that he witnessed a spetacular but quite brief sun-set to the west bank the day before. but, instead, the sun rose on the south-east of the nile.
at 5.45 the shade of brightness turned into deep orange opposite where the cruise docked, and the rest of the sky brightened up in soothing turquoise-blue.
A rooster crowed - then anotehr one, then one after another, from far and near - morning had really broken at a location along the nile, unknown to marathon man.
The birds began to chirp. many of them, sweeping thru the sky - their scissor-tails alluded to their identity - the swifts.
Every so not often a horse-pulled or donkey-pulled cart trotted along the street below.
As the sky brightened up more, the stars faded away: only the moon with her lemon-cresent still hanging in the sky.
At 6.30 the sun finally appeared from the eastbank, amidst the horizontal strip of dark-grey haze. The glory of the day had indeed arrived in this land of the pharoahs.
Marathon man went on to the street next to where the cruise docked. But it stank with the horse and donkey Pee And Poo. No incentive to explore further - just to wait for the time for the day's tour to kom ombo to start.
edfu and singapore has one thing in common - each is a place where pap rules.
The time was before 5am.
The dark sky was clear with a cresent moon overhead. the cold stars sparingly dotted the dark screen.
At 5.55 the loud speakers sounded, one after each other - the call to prayer made a very powerful statement to break dawn in a muslim country - that religion is the expression of human beings inner faith to strive for something that's not humanly possible.
The sky over the east bank of nile show the first light of dawn at 5.30am, though marathon man could not be sure that the very faint shade of brightness was actually that from the rising sun. He was fooled once, yesterday morning when he was jogging along the east bank of the nile river in luxor. He thot the sun was going to come out from the other end of the river given that he witnessed a spetacular but quite brief sun-set to the west bank the day before. but, instead, the sun rose on the south-east of the nile.
at 5.45 the shade of brightness turned into deep orange opposite where the cruise docked, and the rest of the sky brightened up in soothing turquoise-blue.
A rooster crowed - then anotehr one, then one after another, from far and near - morning had really broken at a location along the nile, unknown to marathon man.
The birds began to chirp. many of them, sweeping thru the sky - their scissor-tails alluded to their identity - the swifts.
Every so not often a horse-pulled or donkey-pulled cart trotted along the street below.
As the sky brightened up more, the stars faded away: only the moon with her lemon-cresent still hanging in the sky.
At 6.30 the sun finally appeared from the eastbank, amidst the horizontal strip of dark-grey haze. The glory of the day had indeed arrived in this land of the pharoahs.
Marathon man went on to the street next to where the cruise docked. But it stank with the horse and donkey Pee And Poo. No incentive to explore further - just to wait for the time for the day's tour to kom ombo to start.
edfu and singapore has one thing in common - each is a place where pap rules.
doha - co-incident?
T3 had become busier and busier. There, he saw a bunch of slim africans checking in the same flight as his. All of them were in track suits, looking very sporting. He saw them soemwhere, before..... It was the singapore marathon. They were the african runners and one of whom, kibet begged the chmapion of the man open race. He wanted to take a picture with himm but all of them look the same to marathon man. So he gave up the idea.
the 9-hr red-eye flight made the unsettled body and mind very pique. and finally it landed in doha airport before dawn.
marathon man shook his jacket before he put it on. then before the plane stopped from taxing, he found out that his $510 frameless, transition-lense glasses were missing from his pocket where he used to clip them when he watched the in-flight movies( he finished 2, 'kung fu chef' by sammo hung, a funny bone. and 'moon' which was a boring sci_fi cum psycho trash). he checked out all his pockets, the seat pocket in front. the seat, but it was nowhere to be found. he kneeled dwon to check the floor. also did not find them. the other passenger were alerted. helped him to find. did not bring any happy outcome. finally, the plane stopped, people started to alight. marathon man remained there. when almost all passenger left, he alerted the air stewardessesw ho helped him to search by turning on the reading lights. as the second ticked away, marathon man wondered where could they be? could they land themselves on someone"s luggage and no more in the plane? as he was feeling a sense of helplessness and hopelessness, he saw something underneath the seat in the opposite row. he realised he was onto something.
How the heck they landed themselves in that spot, he wouldn't want to fathom, he just felt so relieved. he said to the stewardess, " i found them! thank God."
The helpers also were happy. One of them said, "next time, put on your glasses before the plane lands."
He said, "oh, I think I would. You know what, I left my glasses in the seat pocket, the last time I took this airline."
She said, "oh. That was no coincident, you better check whether you leave anything elsee?"
Her reminder triggered a switch in his grey matters, she was the one who brought him back his glasses when he was waiting in the transit lounge. Oh boy, other than thanking her for her kind service, was he not captivated by her arabic-euro facial fetures and her slender shape and her oriental demeanders or what? That face stuck in his mind even when he landed in turkey.
Now he was looking at her.
He said, "yes, I did leave my heart in doha........"
the 9-hr red-eye flight made the unsettled body and mind very pique. and finally it landed in doha airport before dawn.
marathon man shook his jacket before he put it on. then before the plane stopped from taxing, he found out that his $510 frameless, transition-lense glasses were missing from his pocket where he used to clip them when he watched the in-flight movies( he finished 2, 'kung fu chef' by sammo hung, a funny bone. and 'moon' which was a boring sci_fi cum psycho trash). he checked out all his pockets, the seat pocket in front. the seat, but it was nowhere to be found. he kneeled dwon to check the floor. also did not find them. the other passenger were alerted. helped him to find. did not bring any happy outcome. finally, the plane stopped, people started to alight. marathon man remained there. when almost all passenger left, he alerted the air stewardessesw ho helped him to search by turning on the reading lights. as the second ticked away, marathon man wondered where could they be? could they land themselves on someone"s luggage and no more in the plane? as he was feeling a sense of helplessness and hopelessness, he saw something underneath the seat in the opposite row. he realised he was onto something.
How the heck they landed themselves in that spot, he wouldn't want to fathom, he just felt so relieved. he said to the stewardess, " i found them! thank God."
The helpers also were happy. One of them said, "next time, put on your glasses before the plane lands."
He said, "oh, I think I would. You know what, I left my glasses in the seat pocket, the last time I took this airline."
She said, "oh. That was no coincident, you better check whether you leave anything elsee?"
Her reminder triggered a switch in his grey matters, she was the one who brought him back his glasses when he was waiting in the transit lounge. Oh boy, other than thanking her for her kind service, was he not captivated by her arabic-euro facial fetures and her slender shape and her oriental demeanders or what? That face stuck in his mind even when he landed in turkey.
Now he was looking at her.
He said, "yes, I did leave my heart in doha........"
Monday, December 7, 2009
padang - singapore marathon
singapore marathon - he arrived padang at 7.15am. but not allowed to run from starting point; he's did not register. went all the way to marina blvd, towards the marina barrage. the so-called marina bay was now surrounded by tall buildings from the marina square hotels, the shenton way banks, and now the SAIL, asia financial centre building, marina residences, and the IR. it looked more like a pond. the planners must be regretting when they did the land reclaiming years ago, they did not envisage a grander vision to make the water a real bay of magnificent size....
when he wanted to give up the run, and turned back to town, before he entered shentopn way, he met up with the starting group of runners of the 10k run, followed by the bulk of the slower ones. he joined them. the route was a familiar one - the benjamin-sheare bridge, the area around republic blvd, then back to the durian, ended up infront of the old pariahman house. when he was about to reach the finish point, a mashall stopped him and asked, "where's your tag?"
"no tag."
"cannot finish."
so he went sideway and continued running, anyhow.
as they said, you run, when encounter a block, take a break and run again.
when he wanted to give up the run, and turned back to town, before he entered shentopn way, he met up with the starting group of runners of the 10k run, followed by the bulk of the slower ones. he joined them. the route was a familiar one - the benjamin-sheare bridge, the area around republic blvd, then back to the durian, ended up infront of the old pariahman house. when he was about to reach the finish point, a mashall stopped him and asked, "where's your tag?"
"no tag."
"cannot finish."
so he went sideway and continued running, anyhow.
as they said, you run, when encounter a block, take a break and run again.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
gallery by the straits - bad moon rising
"look the sun is rising!" his gal fren shouted excitedly, pointing to the horizon to the east of the straits of johor.
sea breeze blowing, the dark sky brightened up somewhat with the pale lighting from the orange obb. the food was good - lemak curry fish-head, kailan fried with scallop, black pepper crab, and meat-stuffed toufu.
"what? how can it be? how can the sun rise in the nite? it's the moon.... "
"oh... but look, it's so big and so bright. ya.... i think you are right. it's the moon...."
'bad moon rising', the backgroud music went.
but the nite was good.
dinner at gallery by the straits in saf yacht club in sembawang had a good start. the conversation topics went from tiger woods and his hole-some transgressions to tiger whips for people to boost their hole-some activities.
marathon man asked, "if you were tiger's wife, would you have gotten a divorce. remember the man is worth over a bil."
"maybe, maybe not, depends."
"on what?"
"on whether there's still love left between us."
"ok.... but even if there's this thing called love, would you not be tempted by that fortune that you could take possession of, if you did the right move?"
"well.... money is good for almost everything. but it can't buy love. in fact, money breaks up love. further more, she loves her kids...."
"oh... i see. difficult decision for his wife, indeed."
"don't worry....we, women will make a decision when we need to make one. we have the intuition to make the right decision."
"you think so? why?"
"because, we are holely!"
sea breeze blowing, the dark sky brightened up somewhat with the pale lighting from the orange obb. the food was good - lemak curry fish-head, kailan fried with scallop, black pepper crab, and meat-stuffed toufu.
"what? how can it be? how can the sun rise in the nite? it's the moon.... "
"oh... but look, it's so big and so bright. ya.... i think you are right. it's the moon...."
'bad moon rising', the backgroud music went.
but the nite was good.
dinner at gallery by the straits in saf yacht club in sembawang had a good start. the conversation topics went from tiger woods and his hole-some transgressions to tiger whips for people to boost their hole-some activities.
marathon man asked, "if you were tiger's wife, would you have gotten a divorce. remember the man is worth over a bil."
"maybe, maybe not, depends."
"on what?"
"on whether there's still love left between us."
"ok.... but even if there's this thing called love, would you not be tempted by that fortune that you could take possession of, if you did the right move?"
"well.... money is good for almost everything. but it can't buy love. in fact, money breaks up love. further more, she loves her kids...."
"oh... i see. difficult decision for his wife, indeed."
"don't worry....we, women will make a decision when we need to make one. we have the intuition to make the right decision."
"you think so? why?"
"because, we are holely!"
Thursday, December 3, 2009
nowhere - boring
human invented language to communicate - and to do so, language supposed to have precise meaning in each word..... so that people can understand what you try to say. so when someone says, "i'm HAPPY." you know he's not SAD. but is that true? how do you know that he means he's really, really HAPPY and not SAD? but in actual fact, he's SAD.....
if you don't believe, you can try this with your thesaurus(the book of synonyms and antonyms). start with HAPPY, pick one of its synonyms from the thesaurus, in this case, it's CHEEFUL, then find one of the synonyms of cheerful, POSITIVE and so on......
happy
cheerful
positive
certain
specific
limited
narrow
tight
rigid
stern
grave
grim
gloomy
sad
see how HAPPY means SAD!
when he's not running about, marathon man likes to play this game of turning the meaning of a word to its opposite with the help of the microsoft WORD - Tool-> Language -> Thesaurus....
try it, it's boring..... you got it, i mean it's fun!
if you don't believe, you can try this with your thesaurus(the book of synonyms and antonyms). start with HAPPY, pick one of its synonyms from the thesaurus, in this case, it's CHEEFUL, then find one of the synonyms of cheerful, POSITIVE and so on......
happy
cheerful
positive
certain
specific
limited
narrow
tight
rigid
stern
grave
grim
gloomy
sad
see how HAPPY means SAD!
when he's not running about, marathon man likes to play this game of turning the meaning of a word to its opposite with the help of the microsoft WORD - Tool-> Language -> Thesaurus....
try it, it's boring..... you got it, i mean it's fun!
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
maguindanau - fear
maguindanau massacre - 23 nov 2009. some kind of signal to the human race, there's something very seriously sick with the human psyche - ie after all we are animals, but with much mightier power to eliminate our enemies!
we kill to survive, and we kill to get waht we want, and we kill to get to the top.
once you are at the top, you can kill more, with immunity.
the winning killer will be king, and the loosers will be the victims.
what makes man become a killer? a meditated killer. it's no freak incident like the bukit timah flood that happened 12 days ago, that minister yacob said, it would only happen once in fifty years. meditated killings systematically happen across the world, at anytime in any place.... in aftghan, pakistan, the somalia, even in the u.s. of a.......
human life is nothing but a piece in a chess game. any piece can be sacrificed, except the king. so when you are the king, you have to protect yourself. or rather your people have to protect you.
maslow's hierachy of needs - 5 levels. but how do you achieve what you need? you do that by:
inheritance/gift
exchange
leverage
cheat
corrupt
grab
lucky people inherit wealth. honest people exhange their work for their means to live. but most people would just be scratching aliving with their honest work. smart people leverage - they put in little effort and hope to get bigger returns. and really smart people cheat like madoff who was commited this march to operate the biggest ponzi scheme the world had ever known.in the civilized world should not see corruption and grabbing, but we see them or rather we know they do exist even in the "cleanest" societies. and wars between nations and tribes and gangs and clans... are glorified ways of grabbing. glorified thru heroism of protecting one's country, clan, gangs....
hence if you look at the massacre in this light, it would not be hard to understand the motive of the incident. people just wanted to grab what they think belonging to them.
honest people exchange their work for a living. there's nothing wrong with it . if you think there's something wrong, you sure go nuts, and you would think that , cheating, corrupting, grabbing, or killing would be the right things to do.....
marathon man knows that all this wealth and power could be gone overnite just like the collapse of the dubai world one week ago.....
and he knows, precisely, that the fear of losing it all motivates people to want to gather in more and more, to eliminate whoever that threatens their possesions or positions - and that's what's happening in the maguindanau massacre.
we kill to survive, and we kill to get waht we want, and we kill to get to the top.
once you are at the top, you can kill more, with immunity.
the winning killer will be king, and the loosers will be the victims.
what makes man become a killer? a meditated killer. it's no freak incident like the bukit timah flood that happened 12 days ago, that minister yacob said, it would only happen once in fifty years. meditated killings systematically happen across the world, at anytime in any place.... in aftghan, pakistan, the somalia, even in the u.s. of a.......
human life is nothing but a piece in a chess game. any piece can be sacrificed, except the king. so when you are the king, you have to protect yourself. or rather your people have to protect you.
maslow's hierachy of needs - 5 levels. but how do you achieve what you need? you do that by:
inheritance/gift
exchange
leverage
cheat
corrupt
grab
lucky people inherit wealth. honest people exhange their work for their means to live. but most people would just be scratching aliving with their honest work. smart people leverage - they put in little effort and hope to get bigger returns. and really smart people cheat like madoff who was commited this march to operate the biggest ponzi scheme the world had ever known.in the civilized world should not see corruption and grabbing, but we see them or rather we know they do exist even in the "cleanest" societies. and wars between nations and tribes and gangs and clans... are glorified ways of grabbing. glorified thru heroism of protecting one's country, clan, gangs....
hence if you look at the massacre in this light, it would not be hard to understand the motive of the incident. people just wanted to grab what they think belonging to them.
honest people exchange their work for a living. there's nothing wrong with it . if you think there's something wrong, you sure go nuts, and you would think that , cheating, corrupting, grabbing, or killing would be the right things to do.....
marathon man knows that all this wealth and power could be gone overnite just like the collapse of the dubai world one week ago.....
and he knows, precisely, that the fear of losing it all motivates people to want to gather in more and more, to eliminate whoever that threatens their possesions or positions - and that's what's happening in the maguindanau massacre.
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