借りてきた言葉

ぶつかり合う時も来るさ　綺麗な事ばかりじゃないだろうから
全てを君と　越えてゆくと決めた

共に歩き　共に探し
共に笑い　共に誓い
共に感じ　共に選び
共に泣き　共に背負い
共に抱き　共に迷い
共に築き　共に願い

ささやかな幸せが　木漏れ日のように　やわらかに降り注ぐ
そんな日々を　描きながら・・・

November: Thunder x Ender x Steam...er

November is looking set on becoming a happy month for my fandoms!

Although, for my own part, some of the happy things may happen much later than that. =/

So, for some time we've known that Thor 2 is going to be released on 8 Nov (in the US).
All the ladies are so fabulous in this trailer, they're reviving my fading excitement for the movie. ^_^

Even more looked-forward-to is Ender's Game the movie, on 1 Nov (again, in the US).
I'm afraid there are too many good parts in the book to all make it within the length of a single movie, so I'm telling myself I'll just be there for the null-g stuff. And shiny visuals.

And I've just found out that the next Discworld book will be out on 7 Nov (UK, I suppose).
Obviously I haven't been a good enough fan because I hadn't heard about its release before its delay was announced. But no matter! What's important is there's going to be more Moist von Lipwig!

But of course, I won't be seeing that book anytime in November. T_T
In fact, NLB, I'm still waiting for The Long War. Pretty please?

(Entry title has to do with the fact that I've recently started reading Hunter x Hunter. Another fandom in the making? =X)

cloudy with a chance of firewalls

clouds overhead are overrunning the sky
dearies, this is really not the time
i'll love you at sunset, and i'll love you at sunrise,
but please won't you let me have my planets and stars when it's night?

Happy Vesak

A couple of personal reflections on this Day for Making Peace with Myself.

Sometimes I just need to give it time.
- Working smart is good when it works, but giving myself pressure to work smart when I can't only makes things worse.
- Not everything can, or should, be solved with a series of shortcuts.
- "Cross the bridge when you come to it" still holds true. Unless I'm supposed to build that bridge; then go ahead anytime.

The To Do list is always long. It's just as acceptable for "taking a rest" to be in there.


May I be well.
- May I always remember how to take care of myself.
May I be happy.
- May I not cause myself unhappiness through anger and worry.
May I be safe.
- May I earn the protection of a clear conscience.
May I be at peace with myself.
- May I always remember to be kind to myself.

May all be well.
- May I always remember to be kind to others.
May all be happy.
- May I be mindful so as not to cause others unhappiness.
May all be safe.
- May I be mindful to help others when I can.
May all be at peace with themselves.
- May I be mindful to accept others as they are.

Indigo

Beautiful world,
Beautiful sky,
Beautiful life;
Why the unhappiness, girl?

Just a hill to climb,
Just a cloud passing by,
Just a matter of time;
Why the impatience, girl?

A hill in bloom,
A cloud golden,
A company beloved;
Why the unhappiness, girl?

Sky Errata

I'd had that quotation* on my banner ("No sky is heavy if the heart is light. -- Winston Churchill") for almost as long as I've had this blog -- but only today it occurred to me to check the authenticity. Alas, the suspicion turned out right: it was mistaken. =X

From the time I first fell in love with that line until the last time I fiddled with its placement on my blog (a few days ago), I've continued being a collector of quotations, and have gradually learned (and thus suspected) that quotations are often paraphrased or wrongly attributed. In this case, it's both. The line originated not from Winston Churchill but from Rev. Charles Churchill, in a verse of his poem "The Prophecy of Famine: A Scots Pastoral":

Nothing but mirth can conquer fortune's spite;
No sky is heavy, if the heart be light:
Patience is sorrow's salve; what can't be cur'd,
So Donald right areeds, must be endur'd.

(Some doubts remain whether or not the comma should be there, as a Google Books result disagrees with the above punctuation. But given the "be", the line looks to me more natural with the comma.)

So now I've fixed the mistake, and posted this in hope that the next person needing to authenticate the quotation can have a more definite starting point than simply the comparative numbers of Google search results. =P


* Also, taking this opportunity, I've finally gone and cleared up** my occasional doubt about the usage of "quote" and "quotation", in both senses of "someone else's words" and "pricing estimate". The widespread use of "quote" as a noun has left me uncertain whether "quote" (n) means one and "quotation" (n) means the other. Well, (in case you want to know) I conclude that there is no such difference: for both meanings "quotation" is the correct noun, and "quote" is the informal noun (while the correct verb, of course).

** Also also, I went to check whether "cleared my doubt" was correct before finally putting down "cleared up my doubt". Obviously I'm now paranoid.

One Third

Only got a hundred years to live

And so much still to be done,
more still that can be done,

that I wonder if the next-life-I
will still be working on what I'm working on now,
adding, improving, (if ever) completing...

But it takes so long to grow up,
    to learn, to understand;
it takes so much to reach this place;

that perhaps the present-life-I

    having grown into the right circumstances,
                                            (I think)
    having met the right teachers,
                                            (I believe)

had better not count on that other hundred,

    not even on the rest of this hundred,

only now--

to do, do, do
as much as can be done.

This day has passed, and your life too has lessened.
Like a fish running short of water, for what do you rejoice?
Strive on diligently now, as if putting out a fire on your head.
May you be mindful of the transience, and be cautious not to be slack.
-- Samantabhadra Bodhisattva

Every Step Is Home

Just returned from CNY vacation in my hometown. Realized that nowadays I often have to rethink the context before using the term "hometown" -- should I say "birth town" instead? While I was here I'd say "go back to Indonesia" but while I was there I'd say "go back to Singapore". =X

Recalled that at my citizenship ceremony, Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan said something along the line of belonging to the nation without denying our ancestry or forgetting where we came from, all of which shaped who we are. That point of view really impressed me at that time and had dispersed the conflicted feeling I used to have about my nationality.

A recent article that addresses the topic of the Singaporean identity in connection to the White Paper on Population also resonates with the above point of view:
6.9 million people and an emotional hump

Not sure whether that link will be permanent, so I hope it won't violate any copyright to quote the relevant parts here:

Singaporean is by definition a nationality, not an ethnicity nor a race.

It makes some sense for the Japanese to fear immigration as they want to preserve their ethnic homogeneity. Recently, when Hong Kong’s leaders made similar remarks that Hong Kong’s ethnic homogeneity of Cantonese people will be threatened by more Mainland Chinese immigration, it made sense too, even if one argues they are all ethnic Chinese.

But Singaporean? What is that?

It is neither race nor ethnicity, neither a language group nor even a religious community. Singapore is Singapore precisely because of its diversity, not because of homogeneity.

We seem to have forgotten the Singapore Story. It is a story of an island of immigrants forged from many races, many religions, many cultures. It is a story of a nation that welcomed different people who wanted to make a better life to find a new home. It is a story of a country whose descendants of these original people still celebrate various festivals, where Mosque meets Temple, where Christians live alongside Hindus, and even if most of us speak English or Singlish, we still preserve our ‘native’ tongues.

[...]

In the end, like others, I feel nobody defined it more eloquently than one of our founding fathers and the author of the Singapore Pledge, S. Rajaratnam.

He said, "Being a Singaporean is not a matter of ancestry. It is conviction and choice."