Being Neighbourly

I heard my neighbour was installing grills in his unit. I heard, literally - the tremendously loud drilling and knocking early mornings, several days in a row. It was the faithful wake-up call which did not fail to greet me the past few mornings I wasn't working, and could sleep in. I also heard that he liked work done only in the early mornings because after an hour or so from the first drilling, the noise would cease altogether, and I won't hear anything for the rest of the day. Grand way to get to know one's neighbour's likes and dislikes with regards to grill-installations.

I also heard another neighbour supports child freedom and child's freedom of expressions. Every so often I'd hear his children running around free of adult supervision; laughing, crying, shrieking all their might, as much as they please. I'd hear it too, when his friends and their children drop by for visits. Lovely children, no doubt. Unfortunately, they are more often heard than seen, which isn't exactly the way I like children to be.

At times, I wonder if I ought to let my neighbours know more of me too. I'd love to let them know what kind of music I like. I really wouldn't mind sharing, especially Sarah Brightman's lush, magnificent music - but especially pieces that showcase her astounding vocal range and prowess. How about that new Josh Groban's Awake Live DVD that I got recently? Live concerts are always exciting because of the abundance of cheers and applause. Oh, and Jason Mraz's Beautiful Mess Live on Earth too - great songs, resounding with thousands upon thousands of screaming fans! It's also been quite a while since I had a fill of Phantom of the Opera. I'm feeling rather generous right now...

February 14

We celebrate love, being loving, and having loving beings around us. We celebrate having loved ones, having had a good loving year, and having a brand new loving year ahead of us. We celebrate having not been solitary in our laughter, tears, frustrations, successes and failures because we love and are loved in return.

We celebrate the start of the Year of the Tiger. We wish this year will bring us more joy, health and most importantly, love. Of course, we wouldn't mind abundant fortune and wealth either.

Happy Chinese New Year to us all.

Cliches and Conundrums

"You Learn Something New Every Day"
Actually, you learn something old every day. Just because you've just learned it doesn't mean it's new. Other people already knew it, Columbus is a good example of this. Edison and Einstein are the exception.

"The Sky's The Limit"
Well, how can the sky be the limit? The sky never ends. What kind of a limit is that? The earth is the limit. You dig a hole and what do you keep getting? More earth. The earth is the limit.

"You Get What You Pay For"
Clearly this is not true. Have you been shopping recently? Only a very naive person would believe that you get what you pay for. In point of fact, if you check your purchases carefully, you'll find that you get whatever they feel like giving you. And if corporations get any more powerful, you soon might not even get that.

"Everything Comes in Threes"
Not true. In reality, everything comes in ones. Sometimes, when three "ones" come in a row, it seems like everything comes in threes. By the way, in medieval times it was widely believed that everything came in twenty-sixes. They were wrong, too. It just took them longer to recognize the pattern.

"Nice Guys Finish Last"
Not true. Studies have shown that, on average, nice guys finish third in a field of six. Actually, short guys finish last. By the way, in medieval times it was widely believed that nice guys finished twenty-sixth. You can see how limited those people were.

"If You've Seen One, You've Seen Them All"
Do we even have to talk about this one? This should be obvious. If you've seen one, you've seen ... one. If you've seen them all, *then* you've seen them all. I don't even understand how this one got started.

"It Takes Two to Tango"
Sounds good, but simple reasoning will reveal that actually it takes only one to tango. It does take two to tango together, maybe. But one person is certainly capable of tangoing on his own. He just might look a little silly.

"If It's Not One Thing, It's Another"
No, not always. Sometimes if it's not one thing, not only is it not another, but it turns out to be something else entirely.

Darn right!

The Touristy KL

Kuala Lumpur may or maybe not be nicely touristy depending on the kind of tourist we're talking about. Let's talk about me - I find it so non-tour-worthy that it actually takes a couple of lost boys from Europe to get me to get to know KL as a tourist. As a tourist, yes. An always getting lost one. My lack of knowledge of the capital city of my country, and almost non-existent sense of direction are simply amazing. I nearly made a few pairs of eyes pop right out of their sockets when I said I don't know where Jalan Alor is, nor how to get there. However, having a for-tourists guidebook on places of interes in KL, the willingness to ask for assistance and a good sense of humour all-throughout, we managed to get to a few places and see a few things.


It would be absolutely unforgivable if I gave the Petronas Twin Towers a miss. I didn't know why I should be so obsessed with taking pictures of these towers, but I was a tourist, so I should. Ah, magnificent, aren't they? So were the sun's rays - superbly scorching.

What's a visit to the famed Twin Towers without getting into (one of) them and getting onto the Skybridge? It is an experience money cannot buy - yes, you can't buy tickets; they're given out free of charge - we just had to brave a terrifying number of eager tourists in a 2.5-hr queue to get ours.


We didn't get to cross over to the other tower - that end of the bridge was closed. So we walked about, looked about, took a few photos, and discussed if it was worth our time spent in the queue.


The Skybridge experience was worth the waiting in the queue - I wouldn't deny that. It was definitely once in a lifetime. As in, once per lifetime is enough. Perhaps it's got something to do with my dislike for crowds and fear of heights. I was light-headed and wobbly up there - either I could actually sense the towers swaying (how absurd) or I was trembling the whole time. I did get to see a part of KL from an angle I'd never before:


What else now? We went to Central Market:


We went to Petaling Street:


We went to The Actors Studio @ Lot 10:


Wait, you say, this is not a standard tourist site! No, it isn't of course, that's why you'd only get to know about and visit it when you have a non-standard, non-pro tour guide. We had drinks at the Lot 10 rooftop restaurant/club, then caught a show: FUSED - Strumming to a Different Tune, by Ian Chow and his guests. The photo I took shows no faces; you can view a photo with faces in it if you click on the links here. The lost boys from Europe, who were probably not really as lost as I was, enjoyed the performances. They only wished it wasn't so terribly cold inside the theatre.

But, I asked, isn't it colder back home? They mentioned it was -5 degrees C when they left.

"We have a lot more clothing on back home."

Right. =P

My friends and I enjoyed KL, mostly. I guess it is a pretty nice city, if you choose not to look too closely at its not-so-nice aspects. Take for instance this young lady at the road-side restaurant we stopped by for dinner on the first day - she graciously lent me her own mobile phone to make a call because my phone's battery ran out. I don't know where to start if I were to tell just how important that call was. The girl's kindness was simply awesome - someting I totally did not expect to get from the streets of KL. I didn't get her name, but this is where she works:


The food they served were good and reasonably priced, too.

On one of the days, we went out of KL - all the way to Kuala Selangor, to take the boatride to see fireflies:


And we did see lots of them:


Well, flash photography was strictly not allowed (anyway, if you think about it, you won't see anything in the photos if you took them with flash).

We indeed had a lovely few days in and around KL. I know I had a great time - great company accounted for most of that, of course. Do come again! The next time, we'll go to... erm, Melaka?

Little Angel

Sweet, lovely, and precious! Nice to meet you :)

The Flame Went Out

There it flickered, in the midst of glistening melted wax. It had been burning bright and steadily most of the early morn, and the once-brimming little aluminium cup was a little more than three-quarters filled. As I watched it burn, it occurred to me if I just added into the warm liquid chunks of unused wax broken off another half-burnt candle, I could prolong its lifetime. I got hold of the pieces and carefully dropped them in, one after another. I watched as the level rose. At the precise moment the cup was full, the beautiful flame went out. It was snuffed out, ironically, by the its life-sustaining wax having, perhaps, risen too suddenly, too drastically. I took a closer look - the top end of the wick was bent and submerged. It was no wonder the flame could not be. I reached for a paper clip, straightened a section of it, and using it thus, attempted to draw the immersed wick out of its watery nook. At first, I managed - the blackened end of the little cotton string rose erect above the still-liquid wax. The moment I removed the metal clip from supporting it, though, it bent right back into its flame-drowning position. Must I then, maintain my hold on the fickle wick and be still till the wax is cool and hardened? Regardless, I needed to try again. I prodded hastily at the increasingly thickening bluish fluid to recover the evasive strand. Alas, it slid off my improvised tool and sank out of sight. In vain, I dug and scooped - it was lost to me.

First, the flame went out; then, the wick was lost.

The Dove

I had a dove, and the sweet dove died;
And I have thought it died of grieving;
O, what could it grieve for? its feet were tied
With a silken thread of my own hand's weaving;

Sweet little red feet, why should you die?
Why should you leave me, sweet bird, why?
You lived alone in the forest tree,
Why pretty thing! would you not live with me?
I kissed you oft and gave you white peas;
Why not live sweetly, as in the green trees?

-John Keats (1795 - 1821)