it didn't seem that long ago when she announced her retirement, and now she's back with vengeance! how brilliant.
i do feel sorry for Dementieva though - you're the fifth seed. of course you meet an unseeded player in the second round. only problem is, that unseeded player is Justine Henin. A well-rested Justine Henin who has realised that she is still hungry for tennis. Bummer.
Wednesday, 20 January 2010
Wednesday, 16 December 2009
grief...
it was one of your friends who suggested that i read it. and a few days after that, a friend of mine sent it through the post from italy.
it was pure coincidence: there is no divine intervention or some other greater force at play. but it helped me. it helped me understand what i was feeling. i am still unable to articulate how i felt four years ago and how i feel today. so i will have to borrow Joan Didion's words: taken from "A Year of Magical Thinking"
Grief, when it comes, is nothing we expect it to be. It was not what I felt when my parents died: my father died a few days short of his 85th birthday and my mother a month short of her 91st, both after some years of increasing debility. What I felt in each instance was sadness, loneliness (the loneliness of the abandoned child of whatever age), regret for time gone by, for things unsaid, for my inability to share or even in any real way to acknowledge, at the end, the pain and helplessness and physical humiliation they each endured. I understood the inevitability of each of their deaths. I had been expecting (fearing, dreading, anticipating) those deaths all my life. They remained, when they did occur, distanced, at a remove from the ongoing dailiness of my life. After my mother died I received a letter from a friend in Chicago, a former Maryknoll priest, who precisely intuited what I felt. The death of a parent, he wrote, "despite our preparation, indeed, despite our age, dislodges things deep in us, sets off reactions that surprise us and that may cut free memories and feelings that we had thought gone to ground long ago. We might, in that indeterminate period they call mourning, be in a submarine, silent on the ocean's bed, aware of the depth charges, now near and now far, buffeting us with recollections."
My father was dead, my mother was dead, I would need for a while to watch for mines, but I would still get up in the morning and send out the laundry.
I would still plan a menu for Easter lunch.
I would still remember to renew my passport.
Grief is different. Grief has no distance. Grief comes in waves, paroxysms, sudden apprehensions that weaken the knees and blind the eyes and obliterate the dailiness of life. Virtually everyone who has ever experienced grief mentions this phenomenon of "waves." Erich Lindemann, who was chief of psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital in the 1940's and interviewed many family members of those killed in the 1942 Cocoanut Grove fire, defined the phenomenon with absolute specificity in a famous 1944 study: "sensations of somatic distress occurring in waves lasting from 20 minutes to an hour at a time, a feeling of tightness in the throat, choking with shortness of breath, need for sighing and an empty feeling in the abdomen, lack of muscular power and an intense subjective distress described as tension or mental pain."
Tightness in the throat.
Choking, need for sighing.
it was pure coincidence: there is no divine intervention or some other greater force at play. but it helped me. it helped me understand what i was feeling. i am still unable to articulate how i felt four years ago and how i feel today. so i will have to borrow Joan Didion's words: taken from "A Year of Magical Thinking"
Grief, when it comes, is nothing we expect it to be. It was not what I felt when my parents died: my father died a few days short of his 85th birthday and my mother a month short of her 91st, both after some years of increasing debility. What I felt in each instance was sadness, loneliness (the loneliness of the abandoned child of whatever age), regret for time gone by, for things unsaid, for my inability to share or even in any real way to acknowledge, at the end, the pain and helplessness and physical humiliation they each endured. I understood the inevitability of each of their deaths. I had been expecting (fearing, dreading, anticipating) those deaths all my life. They remained, when they did occur, distanced, at a remove from the ongoing dailiness of my life. After my mother died I received a letter from a friend in Chicago, a former Maryknoll priest, who precisely intuited what I felt. The death of a parent, he wrote, "despite our preparation, indeed, despite our age, dislodges things deep in us, sets off reactions that surprise us and that may cut free memories and feelings that we had thought gone to ground long ago. We might, in that indeterminate period they call mourning, be in a submarine, silent on the ocean's bed, aware of the depth charges, now near and now far, buffeting us with recollections."
My father was dead, my mother was dead, I would need for a while to watch for mines, but I would still get up in the morning and send out the laundry.
I would still plan a menu for Easter lunch.
I would still remember to renew my passport.
Grief is different. Grief has no distance. Grief comes in waves, paroxysms, sudden apprehensions that weaken the knees and blind the eyes and obliterate the dailiness of life. Virtually everyone who has ever experienced grief mentions this phenomenon of "waves." Erich Lindemann, who was chief of psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital in the 1940's and interviewed many family members of those killed in the 1942 Cocoanut Grove fire, defined the phenomenon with absolute specificity in a famous 1944 study: "sensations of somatic distress occurring in waves lasting from 20 minutes to an hour at a time, a feeling of tightness in the throat, choking with shortness of breath, need for sighing and an empty feeling in the abdomen, lack of muscular power and an intense subjective distress described as tension or mental pain."
Tightness in the throat.
Choking, need for sighing.
Monday, 14 December 2009
2009...
...is an ambitious title for a blog post. it suggests that in this post i will be able to sum up the year that has been. i am hardly able to remember what happened to me last week. i can hardly be expected to convincingly write about a whole year in one posting!
but the fact is: this is my first post of 2009. it will most likely be my last post of 2009. so, like it or not - this post will sum up my 2009.
2009 has been a mad, hectic rush. it feels like one has been treading water all year: seemingly calm above water, frantic underneath, all in an attempt to stay afloat.
the things that stood out: -
i) the 28-day trial that continues to consume our lives;
ii) the 7-day trial that reminded us why we practiced law;
iii) the 10-day part heard trial that sucked our souls and made us wish we never practiced law;
iv) the exam that will enable us to practice law;
v) the offer of the new job that makes the exam slightly redundant;
there were also attempts at holiday and travel - the mini-break to nikoi that was lovely, the quick weekend in phuket that was relaxing, the 2 week trip to the UK that was exhausting and stressful, (followed on very swiftly by the 10-day part heard soul-sucking trial).
but if i had to give a verdict, it has been a good year. professionally and personally. good. but not perfect. things could be better - and that's what 2010 is for.
but the fact is: this is my first post of 2009. it will most likely be my last post of 2009. so, like it or not - this post will sum up my 2009.
2009 has been a mad, hectic rush. it feels like one has been treading water all year: seemingly calm above water, frantic underneath, all in an attempt to stay afloat.
the things that stood out: -
i) the 28-day trial that continues to consume our lives;
ii) the 7-day trial that reminded us why we practiced law;
iii) the 10-day part heard trial that sucked our souls and made us wish we never practiced law;
iv) the exam that will enable us to practice law;
v) the offer of the new job that makes the exam slightly redundant;
there were also attempts at holiday and travel - the mini-break to nikoi that was lovely, the quick weekend in phuket that was relaxing, the 2 week trip to the UK that was exhausting and stressful, (followed on very swiftly by the 10-day part heard soul-sucking trial).
but if i had to give a verdict, it has been a good year. professionally and personally. good. but not perfect. things could be better - and that's what 2010 is for.
Tuesday, 16 December 2008
16 December 2005
I wonder what you would have to say about the way things are now.
A lot has happened in the past three years. Some good, some strange. I'd like to talk about them. But there's no one to talk about them with. You're not here. No one has taken your place yet.
A lot has happened in the past three years. Some good, some strange. I'd like to talk about them. But there's no one to talk about them with. You're not here. No one has taken your place yet.
Monday, 24 November 2008
soon they will tell me when i can and cannot breathe
I wonder how many members of the National Fatwa Council have ever been to a yoga lesson.
According to these people, yoga is haram because it involves chants and the worship of another god of another religion.
I practice yoga. I have been for the past 6 or 7 years, on and off.
I don't chant at yoga classes. I'm not sure what the National Fatwa Council people mean when they say people chant at yoga classes. When?! I have problems even breathing properly during a yoga lesson. Between standing up on one leg and and putting my other leg next to my ear, i don't even have the ability to breathe properly, let alone chant anything out loud. Any words that come out of my mouth is usually an expletive about how heavy my bottom is and why I can't seem to fold my legs properly.
I used to go for Ashtanga classes that were taught by certified/authorised Ashtanga teachers. They are purists. They would start each practice with the Ashtanga chant. This chant is in Sanskrit. It talks about the practice of yoga. (It's actually used in the first season Heroes series, in the background. You have to listen very properly though). It does not talk about God, let alone "another god of another religion". And every single certified or authorised Ashtanga teacher who chose to start with the chant will tell the class that they don't have to chant if they do not wish to.
Repeat: These are the purist Ashtanga classes. There aren't many of those around. The other classes I go to, at the gym or at yoga centres, have no chants in them at all. And there is definitely no act of worship there.
Go to any yoga centre and ask most people who practice yoga why they're there. And everyone will tell you it's because of the exercise. They like the way they feel after a good yoga workout. Some say they are not leaner and fitter. (I'm told you need to go quite regularly to achieve that effect!) Lets face it, it's all about body beautiful.
Yoga has never been a religious experience for me. It is however, the best form of exercise I have ever done. I am quite active. I play a lot of sport. I work out. Okay, admittedly I've been a bit lazy of late, but I do work out. I am generally healthy. And out of the swimming, netball, tennis, jogging, weights - I do think that yoga is the best form of exercise I have ever done. It is complete. I start by getting my heart rate up, I build strength, I stretch, and I cool down properly. I concentrate on my breathing, and as a result, I sweat buckets.
For the National Fatwa Council to now take this away from my by unilaterally and arbitrarily saying it is haram is unbelievable.
I understand Islam. I understand the edicts, the teaching and the reasons behind the teachings. I know what I should and should not do. Never have I ever, in the past 6 or 7 years, thought that I was worshipping another god of another religion when I go for yoga classes. And for the NFC to suggest that I may be swayed is both insulting and incredible.
There are God's words and then there are man's interpretations of God's words. You'll excuse me if I question and challenge the latter.
According to these people, yoga is haram because it involves chants and the worship of another god of another religion.
I practice yoga. I have been for the past 6 or 7 years, on and off.
I don't chant at yoga classes. I'm not sure what the National Fatwa Council people mean when they say people chant at yoga classes. When?! I have problems even breathing properly during a yoga lesson. Between standing up on one leg and and putting my other leg next to my ear, i don't even have the ability to breathe properly, let alone chant anything out loud. Any words that come out of my mouth is usually an expletive about how heavy my bottom is and why I can't seem to fold my legs properly.
I used to go for Ashtanga classes that were taught by certified/authorised Ashtanga teachers. They are purists. They would start each practice with the Ashtanga chant. This chant is in Sanskrit. It talks about the practice of yoga. (It's actually used in the first season Heroes series, in the background. You have to listen very properly though). It does not talk about God, let alone "another god of another religion". And every single certified or authorised Ashtanga teacher who chose to start with the chant will tell the class that they don't have to chant if they do not wish to.
Repeat: These are the purist Ashtanga classes. There aren't many of those around. The other classes I go to, at the gym or at yoga centres, have no chants in them at all. And there is definitely no act of worship there.
Go to any yoga centre and ask most people who practice yoga why they're there. And everyone will tell you it's because of the exercise. They like the way they feel after a good yoga workout. Some say they are not leaner and fitter. (I'm told you need to go quite regularly to achieve that effect!) Lets face it, it's all about body beautiful.
Yoga has never been a religious experience for me. It is however, the best form of exercise I have ever done. I am quite active. I play a lot of sport. I work out. Okay, admittedly I've been a bit lazy of late, but I do work out. I am generally healthy. And out of the swimming, netball, tennis, jogging, weights - I do think that yoga is the best form of exercise I have ever done. It is complete. I start by getting my heart rate up, I build strength, I stretch, and I cool down properly. I concentrate on my breathing, and as a result, I sweat buckets.
For the National Fatwa Council to now take this away from my by unilaterally and arbitrarily saying it is haram is unbelievable.
I understand Islam. I understand the edicts, the teaching and the reasons behind the teachings. I know what I should and should not do. Never have I ever, in the past 6 or 7 years, thought that I was worshipping another god of another religion when I go for yoga classes. And for the NFC to suggest that I may be swayed is both insulting and incredible.
There are God's words and then there are man's interpretations of God's words. You'll excuse me if I question and challenge the latter.
Monday, 22 September 2008
my father, my guide
3 years ago today : -
I was at work. It was a busy time. I remember we were advising those American lawyers on some aspect of Malaysian law. Exciting. Stressful.
Amidst the craziness, K called to ask if I had time to have lunch. He wanted to take a client out and thought maybe I shd meet him. I agreed. We picked the client up from his office. As soon as he got in the car, I wanted to get out. He was the singularly most offensive man I had ever met. I disliked him immediately. I was quite shocked by my repulsion. It usually takes me a while before I decide I don't like someone. I remember the conversation going something like this: -
K: - Hello. (to client as he gets in the car). (Introduces everyone)
C: - So, why you decide to take me for lunch today?
K: - I'm not so busy today, so I thought we should have lunch today.
C: - Oh, no work is it?
Me: -So, where shall we go for lunch? Where would you like to have lunch, client?
C: - You're the one taking me. You decide.
Me: - K? Any preference?
K: - I'm fine. You sure client you don't have any preference?
C: - Wah, I worry man that my lawyers can't even decide where to have lunch. How do you all manage my files?
This was 5 minutes into the lunch and I was already physically repulsed by this horrible disgusting man.
We finally decided on a restaurant. We were still looking at the menus and deciding on what to have when my telephone rang. It was Ida. Ayah had passed away.
I was calm. I usually am in these situations. My main concern at the time was how to get home. I told K what happened, who said he'd take me back to the office where my car was parked. I would then be able to drive home.
I felt an overwhelming sense of relief. Now, the pain will stop. It had only been a few days before that when Mak woke me up at 3 a.m. and asked me to hold Ayah's hand, because he was in such excruciating pain and needed some comforting. The chemo-pod and the palliative medication no longer had any effect. The pain was the worse it had ever been.
I was also morbidly grateful to Ayah for getting me out of that lunch! (I intensely disliked that man. I met him again a few months later, and he was still as repulsive.) I remember laughing about it with Ida a few weeks later. Ayah would have found it funny. He was the worst of all of us. The irony of how he helped me, even in death, would not have been lost on him.
Today, 3 years on, you still guide me. I wonder what you would say or do if you knew I would do something or other. And I haven't done too badly, I don't think. You'll still despair, I'm sure, but a bit less now than you did before (I hope!)
I miss you. I miss your quiet wisdom, your cheeky laughter, your strength and your support.
I was at work. It was a busy time. I remember we were advising those American lawyers on some aspect of Malaysian law. Exciting. Stressful.
Amidst the craziness, K called to ask if I had time to have lunch. He wanted to take a client out and thought maybe I shd meet him. I agreed. We picked the client up from his office. As soon as he got in the car, I wanted to get out. He was the singularly most offensive man I had ever met. I disliked him immediately. I was quite shocked by my repulsion. It usually takes me a while before I decide I don't like someone. I remember the conversation going something like this: -
K: - Hello. (to client as he gets in the car). (Introduces everyone)
C: - So, why you decide to take me for lunch today?
K: - I'm not so busy today, so I thought we should have lunch today.
C: - Oh, no work is it?
Me: -So, where shall we go for lunch? Where would you like to have lunch, client?
C: - You're the one taking me. You decide.
Me: - K? Any preference?
K: - I'm fine. You sure client you don't have any preference?
C: - Wah, I worry man that my lawyers can't even decide where to have lunch. How do you all manage my files?
This was 5 minutes into the lunch and I was already physically repulsed by this horrible disgusting man.
We finally decided on a restaurant. We were still looking at the menus and deciding on what to have when my telephone rang. It was Ida. Ayah had passed away.
I was calm. I usually am in these situations. My main concern at the time was how to get home. I told K what happened, who said he'd take me back to the office where my car was parked. I would then be able to drive home.
I felt an overwhelming sense of relief. Now, the pain will stop. It had only been a few days before that when Mak woke me up at 3 a.m. and asked me to hold Ayah's hand, because he was in such excruciating pain and needed some comforting. The chemo-pod and the palliative medication no longer had any effect. The pain was the worse it had ever been.
I was also morbidly grateful to Ayah for getting me out of that lunch! (I intensely disliked that man. I met him again a few months later, and he was still as repulsive.) I remember laughing about it with Ida a few weeks later. Ayah would have found it funny. He was the worst of all of us. The irony of how he helped me, even in death, would not have been lost on him.
Today, 3 years on, you still guide me. I wonder what you would say or do if you knew I would do something or other. And I haven't done too badly, I don't think. You'll still despair, I'm sure, but a bit less now than you did before (I hope!)
I miss you. I miss your quiet wisdom, your cheeky laughter, your strength and your support.
Thursday, 18 September 2008
older and wiser? part ii
how odd. this is my "horoscope" today : -
Fight against your tendency to mull over the past instead of dealing with the present time and preparing the future. One can change nothing to the past, whether for good or ill; therefore, it would be better to leave it in oblivion. All activities related to purchasing or selling will be favored. Tackle long-term projects which are in wait for a conclusion. Also, concentrate your attention on all business which begins to stir and which deserves to be handled. Despite evident inconvenience, you'll readily mingle love and work.
Fight against your tendency to mull over the past instead of dealing with the present time and preparing the future. One can change nothing to the past, whether for good or ill; therefore, it would be better to leave it in oblivion. All activities related to purchasing or selling will be favored. Tackle long-term projects which are in wait for a conclusion. Also, concentrate your attention on all business which begins to stir and which deserves to be handled. Despite evident inconvenience, you'll readily mingle love and work.
older and wiser?
if you could do it all again, would you have done things differently?
i found myself asking that same question this morning.
and the answer was yes. knowing what i know now, i would do a lot of things differently.
but i'm not sure how that would have worked. i wouldn't know the things i know now if i had done things differently. i wouldn't have met the same people, had the same experiences, made the same mistakes. i would know different things, and the different me today may well decide to do things the way i did do them in the first place.
the point is, regret is tiring and pointless. an awareness of your mistakes is a lot more productive.
so yes, i would do a lot of things differently. i wouldn't have given up on PR quite so easily. i would have given up on ES a lot earlier. i would have talked to FJ that time she tried to talk to me.
but honestly, i don't think if i did do those things, the results would have been any different. i don't think i would be in that different a place from where i am right now.
this is it. this is my life. live it.
i found myself asking that same question this morning.
and the answer was yes. knowing what i know now, i would do a lot of things differently.
but i'm not sure how that would have worked. i wouldn't know the things i know now if i had done things differently. i wouldn't have met the same people, had the same experiences, made the same mistakes. i would know different things, and the different me today may well decide to do things the way i did do them in the first place.
the point is, regret is tiring and pointless. an awareness of your mistakes is a lot more productive.
so yes, i would do a lot of things differently. i wouldn't have given up on PR quite so easily. i would have given up on ES a lot earlier. i would have talked to FJ that time she tried to talk to me.
but honestly, i don't think if i did do those things, the results would have been any different. i don't think i would be in that different a place from where i am right now.
this is it. this is my life. live it.
Wednesday, 17 September 2008
brick walls and bigotry
"you can have race-based parties, but you don't have to be racist bigots" said Datuk Zaid Ibrahim on his last day of office.
well said sir.
and to those malays who feel threatened and angry: - there is nothing to be scared of.
the non-malays are not trying to take away this country from you. this country is as much theirs as it is yours. it is ours.
the non-muslims are not trying to undermine your rights as a muslim or your religion. they just don't want you to undermine them.
it is reported that Zaid Ibrahim says he is constantly met with a brick wall from the Cabinet when he suggests reform. He is accused of being less than Malay. the prime minister is apparently "supportive within his own constraints".
i'm sorry. but that is not good enough, I'm afraid. you have to try harder.
the people need someone to govern this country. if you won't do it, then let someone who will.
govern. not pillage. not rape. not molest.
nurture. not retard.
well said sir.
and to those malays who feel threatened and angry: - there is nothing to be scared of.
the non-malays are not trying to take away this country from you. this country is as much theirs as it is yours. it is ours.
the non-muslims are not trying to undermine your rights as a muslim or your religion. they just don't want you to undermine them.
it is reported that Zaid Ibrahim says he is constantly met with a brick wall from the Cabinet when he suggests reform. He is accused of being less than Malay. the prime minister is apparently "supportive within his own constraints".
i'm sorry. but that is not good enough, I'm afraid. you have to try harder.
the people need someone to govern this country. if you won't do it, then let someone who will.
govern. not pillage. not rape. not molest.
nurture. not retard.
Tuesday, 9 September 2008
Squatters? Do our children even know what the word means?
Did he really do that? Did DATUK Ahmad Ismail actually call Chinese Malaysians (not Malaysian Chinese, people!) squatters and immigrants?
Gerakan and Penang MCA are right to sever ties with Penang UMNO. Memalukan is probably too mild a word to describe this feeling of nausea I am experiencing at the moment.
Enough is enough. Malay Malaysians should just stop feeling insecure and scared. How much more help do you want? 51 years of Merdeka and where are we now? Have we regressed? I think so. The 9th Malaysia Plan and yet the divide between the urban and rural Malays is still immense, if not bigger.
There are calls to abolish that grand plan to teach Maths and Science in English at schools. Studies conducted by University Pendidikan Sultan Idris and led by Professor Emeritus Isahak Haron showed that most students didn't really understand what was going on in class. Basically because they didn't understand English. The Malays and Orang Asli pupils had the lowest scores. When asked to complete the sentence "He ..... to bed", an average of 14 per cent and 19 per cent (two different groups) got the answer right. That is quite a scary statistic.
Now children are "taught" English at school, but cannot follow Maths and Science at school because these subjects are taught in English. So it is not enough that they can't speak English, now they can't count either. Great.
It of course goes without saying that the rural Malay pupils fared worse than the urban Malay pupils. So, again, it appears that only the urban Malays are benefitting from the programme. A bit like all the other UMNO and BN programmes then. And this was the great UMNO plan. This is what UMNO is doing for the rural Malays.
My late grandfather spoke English. He grew up in the kampung. He didn't go to English school. Actually, I'm not sure if he even went to school... Yet he spoke English. But he was from a time before UMNO was formed. That great bastion of Malay hope. Indeed.
Gerakan and Penang MCA are right to sever ties with Penang UMNO. Memalukan is probably too mild a word to describe this feeling of nausea I am experiencing at the moment.
Enough is enough. Malay Malaysians should just stop feeling insecure and scared. How much more help do you want? 51 years of Merdeka and where are we now? Have we regressed? I think so. The 9th Malaysia Plan and yet the divide between the urban and rural Malays is still immense, if not bigger.
There are calls to abolish that grand plan to teach Maths and Science in English at schools. Studies conducted by University Pendidikan Sultan Idris and led by Professor Emeritus Isahak Haron showed that most students didn't really understand what was going on in class. Basically because they didn't understand English. The Malays and Orang Asli pupils had the lowest scores. When asked to complete the sentence "He ..... to bed", an average of 14 per cent and 19 per cent (two different groups) got the answer right. That is quite a scary statistic.
Now children are "taught" English at school, but cannot follow Maths and Science at school because these subjects are taught in English. So it is not enough that they can't speak English, now they can't count either. Great.
It of course goes without saying that the rural Malay pupils fared worse than the urban Malay pupils. So, again, it appears that only the urban Malays are benefitting from the programme. A bit like all the other UMNO and BN programmes then. And this was the great UMNO plan. This is what UMNO is doing for the rural Malays.
My late grandfather spoke English. He grew up in the kampung. He didn't go to English school. Actually, I'm not sure if he even went to school... Yet he spoke English. But he was from a time before UMNO was formed. That great bastion of Malay hope. Indeed.
So UMNO members, UMNO politicians, general insecure Melayu people - instead of placing the blame of your lot on Chinese Malaysians, Indian Malaysians and other non-Malays - maybe you want to look inward first? Apa lagi awak nak? Do you really believe that you lay a better claim to this land than Tun Sambathan's descendants, than Tun Tan Siew Sin's grandchildren? Do you really? Do you really believe that you are more Malaysian than that Chinese Malaysian whose forefather worked the tin mines in Perak? How dare you?
Ask yourselves this - where were you from originally? How Melayu are you really? Aren't we all squatters and immigrants then?
Wednesday, 27 August 2008
happy birthday my lovely
If I Could Tell You - W.H Auden
Time will say nothing but I told you so,
Time only knows the price we have to pay;
If I could tell you I would let you know.
If we should weep when clowns put on their show,
If we should stumble when musicians play,
Time will say nothing but I told you so.
There are no fortunes to be told, although,
Because I love you more than I can say,
If I could tell you I would let you know.
The winds must come from somewhere when they blow,
There must be reasons why the leaves decay;
Time will say nothing but I told you so.
Perhaps the roses really want to grow,
The vision seriously intends to stay;
If I could tell you I would let you know.
Suppose all the lions get up and go,
And all the brooks and soldiers run away;
Will Time say nothing but I told you so?
If I could tell you I would let you know.
Time will say nothing but I told you so,
Time only knows the price we have to pay;
If I could tell you I would let you know.
If we should weep when clowns put on their show,
If we should stumble when musicians play,
Time will say nothing but I told you so.
There are no fortunes to be told, although,
Because I love you more than I can say,
If I could tell you I would let you know.
The winds must come from somewhere when they blow,
There must be reasons why the leaves decay;
Time will say nothing but I told you so.
Perhaps the roses really want to grow,
The vision seriously intends to stay;
If I could tell you I would let you know.
Suppose all the lions get up and go,
And all the brooks and soldiers run away;
Will Time say nothing but I told you so?
If I could tell you I would let you know.
Saturday, 9 August 2008
the flames of beijing
i thought the opening ceremony of the beijing olympics was spectacular - spectacularly chinese : organised, fantastic, synchronised, grand - in a way that it seems only the chinese can pull to perfection.
all culminating in the lighting of the flame: -
li ning suspended in the air, running round the length of the bird's nest stadium.
my top flame lightings: -
Barcelona 1992, Rabollo shooting the arrow into the cauldron.
Atlanta 1996, Ali - nothing else needs to be said.
Beijing 2008, Li Ning - i think so.
all culminating in the lighting of the flame: -
li ning suspended in the air, running round the length of the bird's nest stadium.
my top flame lightings: -
Barcelona 1992, Rabollo shooting the arrow into the cauldron.
Atlanta 1996, Ali - nothing else needs to be said.
Beijing 2008, Li Ning - i think so.
Friday, 8 August 2008
special day?
i've been waiting for this day for a long time actually. the same way i waited for 07.07.07, 06.06.06 and 05.05.05. the same way i'll wait for 09.09.09.
and as usual, it's been an anti-climax. the wait was more exciting than the actual event. it's been a pretty ordinary day actually. work, dinner after work - usual day.
although it is the official opening of the beijing olympics today, so that makes it quite special. even if it doesn't involve any actual movement on my part - except maybe when i want to make a fresh cup of tea.
and as usual, it's been an anti-climax. the wait was more exciting than the actual event. it's been a pretty ordinary day actually. work, dinner after work - usual day.
although it is the official opening of the beijing olympics today, so that makes it quite special. even if it doesn't involve any actual movement on my part - except maybe when i want to make a fresh cup of tea.
Tuesday, 15 July 2008
settling down
Mummra's here for 2 nights. I've left her at home. I should try to get away early today and spend some time with her.
She's been great. All excited about settling me down. Bless her. But I don't need 12 glasses... really. I'm one person. Plus I have running water which helps me wash glasses.
Have spent 2 nights at TGR now. I like it. I'm glad I decided on it. Even if I did burst the bloody budget. Hah! Asya doesn't stick to her budget. for a change...
She's been great. All excited about settling me down. Bless her. But I don't need 12 glasses... really. I'm one person. Plus I have running water which helps me wash glasses.
Have spent 2 nights at TGR now. I like it. I'm glad I decided on it. Even if I did burst the bloody budget. Hah! Asya doesn't stick to her budget. for a change...
Friday, 4 July 2008
2nd weekend in SIN
what a laugh - I had 3 parties to go to tonight.
and guess where I am.
but all such exciting work though. project finance, notes, bonds. I sound mad. really.
where did Asya Jamaludin go? It's 830 on a Friday night, I'm at work and I'm excited about it?!!
but i have to get out of here soon - Federer plays Safin tonight in the Wimbledon Semi-finals - must, must watch as it's not something that will happen again anytime soon! Come on!!!
and guess where I am.
but all such exciting work though. project finance, notes, bonds. I sound mad. really.
where did Asya Jamaludin go? It's 830 on a Friday night, I'm at work and I'm excited about it?!!
but i have to get out of here soon - Federer plays Safin tonight in the Wimbledon Semi-finals - must, must watch as it's not something that will happen again anytime soon! Come on!!!
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