the moon story - avatar, the pre-quel

the full moon rises from east into the sky which is clear after the day rain. cool and comfy, he gazes at the moon. suddenly a rabbit leaps out of it and lands himself right in his balcony.

he was stunt. it says, "don't be frightened. i'm bunny loon.... and coming down for some foon."

"why no foon on the moon?"

"after those americans left, nobody there to play with."

"now, the chinese are going to there."

"they were there a few thousands years ago.... chang er and wu gang... "

"what happened to them?"

"the yangkees chased them off...."

balcony - full moon

woke up at 4am, went up to the rooftop, the full moon hanging on the south west....

like the poem that goes...

一翦梅 李清照
红藕香残玉簟秋。轻解罗裳，独上兰舟。云中谁寄锦书来，雁字回时，月满西楼。

花自飘零水自流。一种相思，两处闲愁。此情无计可消除，才下眉头，却上心头。


TO the tune of 'a stalk of Japanese apricot' A poem by Li Ching Chao

The fragrance of the pink lotus
fades away, the jade mat hints of autumn.
Softly I unfasten my silk cloak,
alone I boarded the orchid dinghy.
Who is sending a letter from
among the clouds?
When the swans return the message,
the full moon shows up in the west balcony.

The blossoms drift on themselves, the water flows regardless.
There is the same yearning of the hearts,
But it abides in two places.
There is no way to drive away this yearning:
By the lowering of the eyebrows,
It enters the heart.

proff - not any tom DICK or ali....

a few friends received the wedding invitation from their professor.

they were pooling to give him a combined gift.

since the proff is already in his 70's, they were thinking of giving him something that's good for him both in the bed room and outside.

they chose a tongkat ali.

he can use the tongkat as a walking stick when he is moving about and he could also chew on it to give him the oopmh when he needs it to help him carry out his duty as a real man.

they thot it was a clever idea.

after the wedding, the proff returned the gift to them, unused, with an invitation which said:

"SONs, thank you for your well-thot of gift. here's is another invitation to meet your 'brother' in 5 month's time."

- surely the proff's ting is not any tom, dick, or ali's thingie....

roses - red and yellow

she said, "i will give you a rose, a big one, for your birthday."

"why rose? i should have given you a rose, a big one for that to your birthday, instead."

"a rose stands for my passion, for my intensely loving feeling for you. and i cannot but to express it in something i feel so close to myself. a rose is what i feel myself to be like..... so vibrant and yet so vulnerable. you must cherish and take of it very delicately."

"that i will."

"now, what are you going to give me for my birthday present?"

"by the same token, i will give you all my heart, a yellow rose. it's not red, but yellow, that's always sunny, and happy because of you."

- a rose by any color is a rose, need it be said more?

the helix - screwing

the helix, a new bridge opened yesterday by minister of national development, mr mabok tan, together with another bridge, the bay front, across the bay from the esplanade to the sands ir. it was 280m long, with most of it already opened up for people to walk, except for the last 50m or so that joined to the ir, that's still closed up.

he met a photographer, in his 60's using a sony dslr camera taking pictures of the bridge and the background ir, and the bay.

he asked him, "what camera do you have?"

"an old sony one."

"what you reckon to buy for a beginner."

"must buy canon or nikon. spend a bit more to buy the camera with more features so , no need to change body later on."

"how long have you been into camera?"

"20 years.... still very much into it.... one thing about camera is, you buy more types of lenses, over the years, but still using the same camera body.... unlike woman, with your same lens, you want to screw different bodies."

"you mean the same LAN screwing different babes?"

then this lady who heard what they said, said, "ha.... you men, everyday screw this , screw that. even the subject of photography can turn into some weird sexual screwing thingie..... i think your minds really like this helix bridge, totally screwed."

away - and home again

goodbye LA


LA clouds


tokyo clouds


tokyo sunset


SIA at narita


changi T3


home sweet home - home actually smells. not sweet but, rather that old, a bit of moldy, stale scent - the scent that you smell when your whole family are back from holidays. you thot it was natural since the house was empty and the dusts just kind of settled in with no cleaning done..... the smell of an un-tended house. but when he comes back with himself only- there's still a lesser kind of that smell.... that's what home supposed to smell... he reckons.

he reached home at 2am. after a an 11hr flight from LA to tokyo, and a short transit in narita, then a 7-hr to singapore.

passionate actions lifted the spirit into cloud 9. he thot he would crash when he arrived home. instead he crashed not onto the bed but onto a bed of juicy and succulent oyster.

he took some rest until he woke up at 7am.

he felt as if everything was back to where it was, the 1 week away from home did put a very heavy toll on his physical and mental being. but everything was just like a dream, like walking into the clouds, and after walking out, feeling fresh and raring to go....waking up to a happy self.

star alliance - grass alliance

star alliance lounge in LAX, maggie noodle, chips, fried noodles, cheese, wine and drinks.... and the invitees typing away on their la-tops. in front of him, one seat to his left. a lady got hooked on hers.

then she raised her head and moved her gaze to him. their eyes met. they both retreated with a smile. then went to hitting their keys again.

the second time their eyes crossing sight, she said, "helloo..." a smile flashed up.

"hi..."

"you going to singapore?"

"yes."

"i'm heading there also. and 1st time."

"anything you want to know about singapore?"

"hmmm... i see in the net that singapore is very strict in drug smuggling. that means i cannot get grass in sinagpore?"

"oh... i'm afraid so."

"i got some in my bag. what do i do to get it thru customs?"

"well. you better chuck it away.... that stuff gives you trouble if you try anything funny in singapore."

"but i'm a habitual grass smoker.... i can't do without."

"grass, we have a lot, not for smoking but for eating."

"what? you eat grass? alfafa?"

"no. in singapore, unless you are somebody, else, you eat grass."

hr - the latina

the man eaten raspberry sorbet, and the vitamin c kept him awake the whole nite. part of it due to jet-lag. the image of the lady kept appearing in his mind... petite but big bosom. fiery, aggressive and raring to go. the first time they met up, they had big argument, about his subordinate; she from hr and talking to him about his succession plan. then he cooled down and she relented. they shook hands and left in happy terms.

the second the meet, he was stunned by her youthful, petite but very curvaceous body, accentuated by her tight outfit. he said something very sensually complimentary, which she did not expected, "what? what did you say?" she did not take the compliments too nicely. he said. "eh... i said you look nice."

the third time they talked on the phone, it was when one of his guys got into trouble. and she acted very professionally.

then this time when he met her in his boss office, she was as professional as ever.

then he saw her walking by when he was waiting for limousine to go airport.

she said, "do you need transport?"

"no, i'm waiting for the transport."

"i can send you if you don't have any."

"the limousine is here in 5 minutes."

"ok..... have a good trip back."

"thanks."

come to think of it - if hr's job is to get people to toll the company policy, give this latina a tiger beer, for she has the brawn, the brain and what's so rarely about any hr ladies, the body and the bosom!

costa mesa - actors

the fired is a good fren of marathon man, friendly, helpful and very easily approachable. he was surprised to from his former subordinates that, he was the opposite from what marathon man thot that he was. but then, human interaction based on a lot of factors, when one party is good to a certain other party A doesn't mean the first party will be good to party B, or C...... understand? and similarly when a person is good to another person today, it doesn't mean, he will be good to him tomorrow. again similarly, when a person says he like something now, doesn't mean he will like that same thing later on.... human nature is very freaky.

norr was a quick thinker and doer, not only literally but politically; meaning he flips his position within a second, from the opponents of a certain idea to the proponent of that same idea. he was dead against looking at problem thru analysis of a lot of data.... he said in front of the bosses, he said it to the people around him, but when his boss assigned him the task of organizing the quarter technical review with the vendors, he had no choice but did his head into it. and once he got the hang of it, he just wanted more data to be presented, giving the same excuses that he formerly boo-booed as bs.

the first meeting finished. there were tons of data presented. he participated in the discussion actively... asking question based on the data presented, giving suggestions and idea based on the data he has....

then when they were heading for dinner in charlie palmer in costa mesa, he asked marathon man, "how useful are these meeting?" obviously hinting that meeting like this is just a sham.

marathon man said, "well, it depends whether out of this meeting, action items would be implemented. it would be more like effective if the big bosses were in, but today, all are small fries...."

"hahah.... the problem whether we spend 90% of the time in collecting data, and 10% in analysing them. it's a huge waste of time, and effort."

"well.... why then you did not tell your boss to shaft it?"

"why? because he's my boss."



they reached the restaurant and found that most of the attendees were there. they ordered wines, and cocktails.... they had a good dinner.... every one was sucking up to the new boss.

- that was hell of a show produced under the name - circumstances.

sakura - BEING

there's a sakura tree in front of the house. it;s covered with snow-white, multi-petal flowers. it's cherry blossom season in southern california.

his fren ah mong, invited him for dinner in his mission vijio home which he bought 2 years back, at usd700k, a 2-storey, land area 5000sft, living area 2000sft typical house in a typical housing estate. it should still be costing less now after the financial crisis. he said, another fren just bot one in irvine, slightly smaller, only 500k, in a much sought-out location.

he had to pay his monthly and all sorts of taxes and bills.... barely made enough.
now the changes in his department worried him a lot lest he would be affected in a bad way by these changes.

mong said, "as much as possible i would not want to report any incident or event to my boss, lest he would come back with his famous answer - do you have a process? if not, work on one..... to fix the problem once and for all."

mong is right, when a new boss has this kind of mindset, and he steps into something not so structured, he would have a lot of opportunities to apply this cure-all magic phrase.

but people come and people go - just let the come become and the go be gone.... and YOU just BE ING.

volcano - phoenix

for a few days now, the european skies have been darkened by the plumes of volcanic ashes from an iceland erupting volcano.

thousands of flights were cancelled.

people got pissed, airline companies got pissed, and they blamed the garments for not knowing what to do....

then the cannot tahan anymore, they have to risked opening the sky again, amidst all the ashes....

then the flight was up.... half way, out of the ash, came a big bird..... the pilot was shocked. not that it was big, but he never saw the bird in real life.....

"wow, what the fxxx is that?"

the bird said, "don't worry i'm the phoenix, rising from ashes...... "

"is that true? i thot it was just legend?"

"you bet. you guys hate ashes, not me. i get my life from ashes."

"how?"

"an over-crowded sky is not good for me."

direct flight - not so direct choices

for a few days now, the european skies had been darkened by the plumes of volcanic ashed from an iceland erupting volcano. and many flights to/from europe were cancelled. but changi airport terminal 3 did not appear anything as reported in the last two days, where many passengers were stranded in the airport, due to flights being cancelled, and no hotel room in singapore due to full-occupancy during the food festival.

he boarded the 4.20pm direct flight to LA. it was going to be a long journey, 14 hours, non-stop.

he watched 'sherlock holmes', 'the truant king' by steven chou, the a docu of sci-fi on time travel....

and he had no sleep at all; the pressurised cabin raised his blood pressure, and kept out the releasing of the sleeping hormone though it was his usual time to sleep. also he was going to face the music.... in a far-away land. the thot of attending those meetings, talking to some stranger(not in acquaintance, but in working relation) about your work raised the anxiety level many notches up.

hold your horse there - the man sitting beside him said. don't worry, just do whatever you deem fit and things will fall in nicely. just like me, i'm supposed to be in europe for a very important business meeting. but because of the volcanic ash thing, i just change my plan and headed back home. i'm from south dakota.... and though i may stand to loose a business, so what? there's always something coming along that's better than what you miss out.

oh.... if everybody has the freedom to choose what he likes, without due consideration of the consequence of his choice, then why do we need somebody to tell us everything is going to be alright?

tanjung rhu - bidding

the broker and her dog


panoramic view of tanjung rhu

"are you retired?" the property agent asked.

"no. still working."

"why? you got houses to collect rental."

"not like you. you are self employed, no need to answer to anybody. must be a very good job. just like a retirement job."

he met her when he was checking out stadium-tanjung rhu area. she was walking her dog, and he approached her to ask for the time, and they started a conversion. and she said she was a property agent. being in the heated market she said, walking her dog was the only leisure thing she did nowadays. being single she could not care-less about family. now was the time to make money. and retire early. that's her plan.

the tanjung rhu market had also heated up quite a bit, she said. so she asked him whether he's interested in a property there, since she had a few in her hands that the owners wanted to sell.

he smiled, "is it time to go in while it's so hot?"

"well, it will get hotter. don't believe? the stock market is going to break 3500 in few months time. why? look around..... there's so much bad news, greek financial crisis, iceland volcanic ash, goldman sach customer-is-sucker case, job market is the u.s. still very bad, even sentosa IR gave a lousy opening and shutting their main attraction rides.... but it hardly dimple the market any bit.... why? people's greed is still very strong, and that covers up all fears, all cautions and all nightmarish dreams ahead. nobody wants to take a break and see money flying away. how long can it last, maybe 1 year, 2 years, maybe 10 years..... so you tell me, good time or bad time to buy?"

"hahaha...i owned a property here already."

"good. when did you buy it?"

"2008."

"good. you want to sell, very good price now."

"no lah, i collect rent..."

"are you retired.".................

and they continued their conversion..... until her handphone rang.

"ya. ya... you mean mr chan is willing to pay 2.5mil?"

"ahha.... and mr lim 2.6mil.... mr chan will let you know in 5 minutes whether he wants to raise the bid..... ok.... good.... let me know."

she smiled and said to him, "you see, that was my co-broker. two buyers are bidding for one house here...."

marathon man said, "good business.... what do you want to do with all your money?"

"hahaha... funny question."

"why? are you going to be single your whole life.... with so much money, sure no need to marry for rice bowl sake?"

"why asked me this type of questions? you think i'm also opened for bidding? "

why - what

guilt eats you and your soul like a snake swallow a chicken.... like a fire burning your flesh, like boiling oil poured our your body.....

you blame yourself for whatever is going to happen that happens because you did something wrong in the past.

you struggle hard to make it right, but useless... helpless. you are anxiously to find a way out. but all you see is darkness.

why didn't you do such and such?

why you so lazy?

why you take the short-cut?

why? why? why?

what to do now?

what? what? what?

and the nite falls - your brain churns like a cement mixer. your heart pumps like hip-hop drum beats. the minute you close your eyes, blood shoots to your brain, and it just keep thinking.... thinking about the mistake, about the consequence, about doing something to fix.... about self stupidity. thots pour into the grey matters like a water rushing out from a ruptured dam, unstoppable.

your eyes so sour.

your mouth so dry.... and you feel like going to bath room..... just after five minutes you did so. you are hyper, you are stressed.

you take a panadol..... it does not help. you have gone into a loose gear, where the whole being is consumed by fear, by guilt!

2nd amendment - don't jump the gun

peter is weird guy - not that he's from ireland, talks non-stop, jokes all the time. but he makes and sells guns, ak45, m16.... drive a military truck and planning to buy a tank.

when he was a big boy, he sold vibrators once. but he did not make any sale because he was quite naive about the thingie.

"how do you go into making guns?"

"oh... being in ireland, you tinkle with guns after you seen sunshine.... "

"and you are making guns legally in the u.s. and sell them?"

"well, it's like any other business, as long as you have a license. i have one, and all my guns are serialized, and i keep track of all sale and inventory. and every year they come and check me."

"what do you think, is the right of owning a gun a good thing?"

"sure, in america."

"why?"

"americans are still very closed up person. though you can say the society is an open society, but the people are still very individual, their ego-sphere is very big, once you cross into their ego-sphere, there's bound to be trouble."

"so guns can take care of that?"

"in a sense, it's a deterrence, apart from using it a a means to take the law into your hand. "

"but i thot the 2nd amendment is archaic, relic kind of law... originated when u.s. was still very much a part of old england, where people don't quite trust the government to protect them. now, things has changed, britain also has gun control law, what is the u.s. thinking?"

"they are thinking as what i'm thinking - i make gun for a living - they live to own a gun....."

- The Second Amendment reads: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

meeting - after the fire

this morning, opened up email, everything is quiet, even on the ipad front, except there's a meeting invite from the boss' boss, early in the morning. and he guessed something was not usual. he checked "BEE", his boss name still there. as he was going to call somebody from the other side to check it out, am sms came in, "you boss has gone", it said.

he called him up to hear him say, he;s been fired. for anything that can be an excuse.

the meeting was no more than the post-sacking-do-your-mending hr 101 lesson. he went thru the one-page-strategy, stressing integrity, group mission, goal, strategy, team work, etc......

question time.....

can you send me your presentation material..... it's kind of useful.

sing song - poor people, rich people

if you can get up early in the morning and sing a song everyday, you must be rich. for the poor they get up early, but they don't sing any song, they sink to their rice bowl right away, for whatever time they have in the day.

poor people has other ways of entertainming themselves. they don't sing. even if they do, like what you see in the movies, the plays, they sing poorly. their songs aren't that sophisticated. all about work, work and work.... working in the fields, in the farms, in the factory, in the office.....

poor people, they are poor because they don't sing sophisticated songs.

unlike rich people, they do not have to work hard. all they have to do is singing some sophisticated songs, and people like them, they pay for them.

poor people, rich people, which songs you sing says it all.....

don't you think so?

wealth, fame, and a lot of things is like the rythm of a song - if you get into it, you are famous, you are rich. if you sing out of tune, you are out. unless.

botanic gardens - smart dog

ice-scream pusher outside botanic gardens


the gate


uncle, you first time here?


doggie asked, "hey, white thingie, r u fr alaska also?"


canopy of an old tree


bubbles - that's my birthday present for you.


spectators, actors, who's watching who?


i want to be a fish farmer, next time


my white half has gone to the dog, left me here, alone and sad


not the same pandan in your backyard


bamboo, the biggest grass


the biggest of them all


bridge to islet in NUS lake


mother goose snapping away


a man, a woman, a view, an atmosphere..... n nite is falling


playground 1


playground 2


the gardens close at midnite, no hurry....


the botanic gardens is a very hot place, nowadays, not that there's many people visiting it, rather, the humidity and the hot sun make it a real sweaty oven. that's good. sweating is good.

marathon man took it easy, like most of the visitors.

he saw a gal walking her giant-size dog. she pulled it to the edge of the pond where the swan was being fed by the people. she said to the dog, "look, swan."

the dog squealed a little as if it knew what a swan meant. it went near the edge of the pond, and straightened up its neck and stared at the swan, and the swan also gave it a one-kind-of-a-look.

marathon man asked, "wow, so big but so cute, what kind of dog is it?"

"alaskan dog."

"wow, nice. does it bite?"

"no. it's a very tame dog. you like it?"

"yes, i like."

"are you single? "

"yes."

"as in very single? no gal fren?"

"yes."

"then you should have this dog. i can sell him to you. it's very macho and caring kind of thing, and sure will attract a lot of beautiful gals."

"but i hate to keep dog."

"don't worry, it's easy. i can teach you."

"how'bout toilet manner, that i cannot cope."

"i will be at your house to train him until he knows a fix place to do his job, daily, also i will be with you to teach all other doggie things, until you are comfortable with him."

marathon man looked at the dog, and he really liked the dog, and he looked at the lady, he liked her more than anything else......

but, he did not buy the dog, instead he bought her heart.

all that jazz - meaningless

it was a hectic nite, the last nite. ipad reported issue, and all are thrown into a frantic, fire-fighting mode......

it drizzled in the morning. thot that the day was going to be wet. but started t-off as scheduled at 1225. and it got hotter as the day moved on. they took less than 5 hrs to complete 18 holes.

then they had dessert in the half-way house. and james paid, probably out of guilt for his late turn up. they ordered green bean soup. steven said, " i prefer red bean soup."

james said, "green bean is better, it cools down and cleanses the system. red bean is hot."

khoo said, "you know green bean soup, in the china town hawker centre, they sell with smelly grass, and cured orange peel. it taste different. i like it."

"smelly grass is not grass, it's a kind of small leaves on a branch, like malungai. it smells and taste bitter. i also like it." marathon man said.

"why people like smelly things ha? like durian, i cannot tahan."

khoo said, "well, smelly scent and yukky taste are acquired thingie..... you have to condition your mind to accept it - you have to tell yourself that it's good for you... like drinking beer or alcohol, or smoking, they are repulsive to the natural self. but to prove that you are a mature, cool guy, you drink and smoke..."

james said, "talking about that acquired taste. lately i acquired a hobby, that not many would do."

"what's that?"

"talking cock."

"i thot everybody likes to talk cock."

"maybe, but t like to talk to the cock. i just bot a rooster and keeping it as a pet. and talk to him, everyday."

"did he talk back?"

"oh ya! he said, cock, cock cock."

"well do you know what it means?"

"of course, it doesn't mean anything, else it would not be talking cock."

diffused beauty - just enjoy

impressionistic, misty, silky
unexpectedly soothing

simple, watery, sketchy
divinely accomplished

naive, innocent, pure
vulnerably childish

smooth, serene, peaceful
elegantly satisfying

dreamy, illusionary, surreal
altruistically refreshing

touching, invigorating, relaxing,
heavenly gift

i want some more......