New Moon, Full Moon

It's been a while. =) Standard explanation would be "real life just caught up with me" but as you know neither work nor my usual "toys" could quite stop me when I got the drive, so yeah, it's really just me not getting any writing itch recently.

To sum up the past weeks.. Watched Music & Lyrics and loved it. Watched Just Follow Law and loved it. *grin*

And oh, for some period, got hooked up on the songs from M & L too. Huhuh. You are gold.. and.. sil-ve-e-er!

Finished Paulo Coelho's The Valkyries that Eka lent me. Finally. =D I lost interest halfway through and was taking an awful long time getting back to it, but once I did, the suspense was good enough to pull me through quickly. Both of us agreed that this book was a little weird. =P I thought it was a little more "preachy" than the two books of his that I read before. Still, there are some good points in there, and I'm looking forward to borrowing another from Eka, my personal Coelho library. Heheh..

Meanwhile I'll make do with a murder mystery from my own second-hand collection. Come to think of it, my collection is quite littered with books I'm not really interested to read.. =P those that (1) I sort of "inherited" just because they were going to be thrown away otherwise, (2) I bought during warehouse sales (yeah, I'm occasionally guilty of The Bargain Temptation(TM)) , or (3) I *was* interested in when I chanced upon them in the second-hand store.. but didn't get around to reading them until my taste/interest/mood changed.

Ah, change. This kind of self-testimony should teach me not to brand people so permanently. =P

Lunch with Eka today, and I found that I said some things to her that were a self-discovery to myself at the moment of speaking (actually, most of my self-discoveries are made in this manner). Well, the pace of our conversations is always so fast (this girl is so efficient =D -- gotta love it!) that I sometimes missed giving the proper credits, but I'm sure she'll read this at some point too. =D

The topic we chanced upon was work attitude. We talked about how we needed to spend more than "regular working hours" to get the work done well, and how some colleagues didn't quite agree with spending private time for work.

I've always been surrounded by hardworking people -- not in the workaholic sense, but in that they take healthy responsibility for their work and they put admirable amount of effort in there. I used to do just the necessary work since I had many side interests that always took up my free time, and it was partly due to looking at these people, including Eka herself, that I realized I really should turn my work the way I want it, and for that, the usual working hours were no longer enough.

I was reminded of a Dhammapada verse about the importance of wise companions and how it was better to be alone than being in a fellowship with "the fool". Never has this felt so true until that point in the conversation when Eka and I agreed wholeheartedly that we do need companions who can pull us up rather than drag us down.

So all in all, at this point, in Eka's term, my "life in general is good". =D It's the point I'm feeling comfortable with mostly everything I do and am involved in. I'm sure this confidence will go downhill at one point in the future, as it has been several times in the past... and as it should too, I guess. No slump means no growth, means no confidence, all over again..

My Mountain and That of Mohammed's

I very much liked the song "Lord Don't Move the Mountain" when I heard it on The Pursuit of Happyness: "Now Lord, don't move my mountain, but give me the strength to climb." (Couldn't find the song, so if anyone would share it with me, much appreciated!)

Anyway, as I was looking up that song, I landed on The Hockey Rodent who interestingly noted:
"You don't need to move the mountain. You don't need to move Mohammed. The mountain ain't going anywhere. And Mohammed will undoubtedly move himself. All you need to do is motivate Mohammed to move in the direction of the mountain."
Good management lesson.

As you might already know (I didn't at first, hence this explanation), it was referring to the proverb: "If the mountain won't come to Mohammed, Mohammed must go to the mountain." Meaning one should know when to adapt to the situation. (This proverb in turn originated from the equally meaningful story of Prophet Muhammad.)

Three lessons from three mountains.

Finally, just to do justice to my obsession with quotes, let me just note the other beautiful verses that said something similar on this topic:

Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers,
but to be fearless in facing them.
Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain,
but for the heart to conquer it.
...
Grant me that I may not be a coward,
feeling your mercy in my success alone;
But let me find the grasp of your hand in my failure.
-- Rabindranath Tagore

I have thanked Thee a thousand times for my roses,
but never once for my thorn...
Teach me the glory of my cross;
teach me the value of my thorn.
Show me that I have climbed to Thee by the path of pain.
Show me that my tears have made my rainbow.
-- George Matheson

Not So Innocent A Child

Read Anne Frank in my spare time back home, and I really like it. She was a teenager transitioning into adulthood as she wrote the diary, and while her personality was very different from mine, she contemplated on a lot of matters that I could relate with very well. Not the war probably, but we've all once struggled with the same things she went through.

I copy here an entry that touched me most so far (I haven't finished the book). I hope this bit won't violate the copyright -- which belongs to Anne Frank-Fonds (an email to them is on the way), also where you can find background information on her life.

[Edit 9 March 2007:]
I have received reply from the foundation that clarifies the copyright entitlement: the previous full entry is definitely too long to put up on the web. I rewrite this entry to include quotations only. I still want to share it in her own words since she already did it so well, and I don't want to interfere. I can assure you there's much more fun in reading her amusing description of her outer and inner world that's not captured here, so do consider getting the book. =)

---

...I look back at that Anne Frank as a pleasant, amusing, but superficial girl, who has nothing to do with me. ...I'd like to live that seemingly carefree and happy life for an evening, a few days, a week. At the end of that week I'd be exhausted, and would be grateful to the first person to talk to me about something meaningful.

...Looking back, I realize that this period of my life has irrevocably come to a close; my happy-go-lucky, carefree schooldays are gone forever. I don’t even miss them. I’ve outgrown them.

...I lie in bed at night, after ending my prayers with the words 'Ich danke dir für all das Gute und Liebe und Schöne'*, and I'm filled with joy. I think of going into hiding, my health and my whole being as das Gute; ...the future, happiness and love as das Liebe; the world, nature and the tremendous beauty of everything... as das Schöne.

At such moments I don't think about all the misery, but about the beauty that still remains. ... [Mother's] advice in the face of melancholy is: 'Think about all the suffering in the world and be thankful you're not part of it.' My advice is: 'Go outside, ...enjoy the sun and all nature has to offer... try to recapture the happiness within yourself; think of all the beauty in yourself and in everything around you and be happy.'

I don't think Mother's advice can be right, because what are you supposed to do if you become part of the suffering? You'd be completely lost. On the contrary, beauty remains, even in misfortune. If you just look for it, you discover more and more happiness and regain your balance. A person who's happy will make others happy; a person who has courage and faith will never die in misery!


* Translation, taken from the book: "Thank you, God, for all that is good and dear and beautiful."

---

From The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition
By Anne Frank
Edited by Otto H. Frank and Mirjam Pressler
Translated by Susan Massotty

LnD

A poem I wrote during the vacation. It so happened that I just attended a funeral yesterday, but this is on a different person.

----

L&D

Someone I didn't know died today.
First question upon the news was how old she was.

Apparently eighty plus is a good age to die.

I thought if at half that age
I could've built a career,
a good living,
a family who could carry on without me,
then that too could be a nice stopping point.

Just that, of course, it isn't at all easy to achieve.

just born -- still struggling -- just started enjoying the fruits of hard labouring years --

Living takes such a long time;
good deaths, few and far between.

----

19 Feb 2007

Continued

As promised, on the topic of horrendous sinetrons (other stuff in separate entries later). Just realized I haven't explained this word for non-Indonesians: sinetron is an abbreviated term that (doesn't literally mean, but) refers to Indonesian TV series.

In short, I don't click with these. I guess a few years after their conception, most of the plot devices had become so cliched that I avoided watching them. My family tuned to these from time to time so I did peek into two series this time. Oh my, they're still the same since I last watched one many years ago. The pace felt very slow: we only tuned in like, four or five episodes apart, and they're still solving the same problem. Aiyah. But Mom said it's due to the amount of advertisements. =D

But mainly I avoid them because, somehow, watching them makes me irritated (they are supposed to entertain!). In every series I'm sure to find a totally annoying character who won't be reformed in a very long time, if at all. (In my case this is usually the magnified Cruella deVil or the glorified, whiny damsel in distress. Some nasty scheming stepsisters can still be entertaining.) Sometimes it's the conflicts that just feel petty; much drama about nothing.

(Yet, I saw one that was touching on homosexuality, but I didn't follow up on how it is resolved. I wonder if it's quite the trend nowadays since Brokeback Mountain?)

In comparison, I appreciate Singapore's local drama better now. Huhuh. There's the occasional annoying character and soapy stuff too, but at least they're always educational, with the not-so-subtle campaigns and all. =D

Haven't tuned back in though. I've wanted to catch Parental Guidance, but now that I have something on every Thursday evening... argh.

Twenty Days

Well, I'm back. =) Since Wednesday night -- physically. Not quite completely 'back' in the last few days, so this post might not be so late after all. ;P

Soon after I arrived I talked to Yesie, and I found that I had to watch what I spouted out to make sure they were in comprehensible Indonesian. =P Too used to speaking Teochew back home and watching Chinese TV channels that my dad likes. Different paradigm? Hee.

I'm over the language disorientation by now, but still readjusting to the different lifestyle. Back home I was very much domesticated. =P Singapore time runs much much faster by the amount of things to do, for work or for play. Strangely enough, my obsession with those I (used to) do for play is, at this moment, drastically down. I'd have expected them to amplify after leaving them for so long! As you see it's only now that I write this blog (and you'd probably notice the bad writing). Even more stunning is how slowly I'm updating my manga collection after the void, heh.

Anyway, about the trip. I've repeated travel stories to several friends, so I've lost steam to talk more here, but here are some pictures. =)

I've always wanted to take this kind of photos, since I'm rather obsessed with the sky (you've probably figured from the title of my blog). I had a former misconception that using cameras is forbidden inside airplanes (did they say electronics?) so I hadn't dared to. But I figured cameras wouldn't interfere with any navigation signal... right? (Well, we did survive that one flight.)

A look down at the clouds!

And a once-a-year view. =)

Chinese New Year Eve in Pontianak was filled with noisy fireworks that lasted well over three hours -- I went to sleep amidst the noises after I've watched enough. I know Singapore also has lah, but different atmosphere woh. =D Our town is small enough for most residents to see them in close distance.

This year our small town had more than the usual 'small fries' (those 'annoyingly loud but nothing to see' ones), since somebody sponsored for the big beautiful types. I've found out long ago that naked eyes (er, with specs when needed) have got the best lens focus capability, so it's probably for the better that I missed recording some of the nicest ones with my camera, as it means I was enjoying 'the real thing'. =)

The above four I snapped quite randomly. Of course there were more shots that caught nothing and went to trash. =D

That one looked like a lightning, and sounded like a thunder, too. I used video mode to record, and this is a screen capture from the resulting video; otherwise my timing couldn't be this good. =D The video has my surprised squeak also, so I'm not posting it, huhuh.

Anyway, the rest of the firework photos that follow are all screen captures. The video resolution is much lower so these are quite crappy. Interesting shapes they did with the smokes in the sky; but no doubt solidifying on our roofs afterwards, and we couldn't use the water from the first few rainfalls in the following days.

I call this "the spider that painted the sky blue".

For some reason the long-ish shape reminded me of the Lance of Longinus from Evangelion. Hee.

Several days into the New Year, the 舞狮 (lion dance) troupe finally roamed the streets of our town. Kids had been parading their own small lions just for fun before this came, but of course people only invited the 'proper' group into their houses.

Still I heard from my parents that even this trained group was not following the proper procedure by already parading on the 7th day (if I remember the date correctly). As they told me, before being paraded, the lion's eyes have to be opened in a proper ceremony, exactly on the 13th day of the New Year. This is the only day that the god responsible for this matter (for lack of better phrasing..) is present in the temple. Interesting huh.

The rest here are 'iseng' (just for fun) photographs.

As I told you before, I'm a sucker for sky and clouds. It just seemed bluer than normal Singapore sky, but to be fair I didn't watch the sky often enough in Singapore.

Second on my fave scenery list, flowers and greeneries. This is one side of our little garden. The other side is the edible/herbal group, and looks rather like a mini jungle. =P

A little background story before the next pictures. There've always been owner-less cats around our neighborhood -- they would sunbathe on someone's yard and have kittens on somebody else's roof and sneak around my mom's cooking materials for food. Nevertheless we began leaving leftover food for them, so they would patrol our place from time to time and keep the mice away (animal exploitation!). I found them quite fun to watch too.

That day, a technician came to repair the phone line, and the cats were looking on with interest as he worked from atop the stairs.
But, just like us, short attention span ler.
So they started looking at each other pretty romantically (or not, since I thought they were related, but a~nyway) and enjoyed some quality time.
Then the third (party?) sibling came, and Right Patch went off for an attempted affair, or so it seemed. But cat drama was not at all like some of the horrendous sinetrons we have, and this was soon over with everyone simply going on their own ways. ^^

I'd have more to say on the topic of horrendous sinetrons and some other stuff, probably next entry.