You know what, i had time to think about the whole Sun Xu thing and i decided to add this.

I'm on his side now. I rather full freedom of speech than none.

A tale of two cities

Just been reading on the whole 'dogs' incident as well as its related post. And truth be told, i feel its a little blown out of proportion. Here is a man, scolding another man because man B pissed him off. Exactly what i would have done, and what many whatever they may say, would have done. I'm not saying what he did was right, but that what he did was common place. And we need some freedom of speech anyway. And that includes, fortunately and unfortunately, giving the old 'up yours' in the modern fashion.

I just led me to think once again about my dual identity, both as a malaysian, and as a singaporean. Yes, i am not a citizen yet, but if circumstances permit, i fully wish to become one, and i've did my part in NS and whatever bullcrap opposers of foreigners talented or otherwise likes to throw forward when faced with increasing competition for their jobs.

http://temasektimes.wordpress.com/2012/03/02/exclusive-ex-moe-prc-scholar-left-singapore-for-good-to-start-company-in-china/

Unlike this person, I'm not under any scholarship in singapore, in fact, i've been rejected by almost every school i've applied for in singapore. I started out in a school that started on the same day i started school in Singapore. I got in to my secondary school despite being out of the qualifying score published in the school selection handbook by the MOE. I got into my JC of choice after an appeal. And most recently, i was denied a place in NUS to study medicine.

But that has nothing to do with anything.

The only reason i'm writing this post is to say. Yes. Its possible to feel like you belong to two places. And Yes. Dual citizenship should be allowed, in my humble opinion. And if you ask me who's side i'll be on in case of say a war. I'd say up yours, and be found in the nearest operating bar enjoying a quite drink, a la wolverine in first class.

9pm. Kid looks up at the enormous machine he now knows as a plane. Funny, he thought people rode on the top of planes like he read in those books, not too different from say, a flying carpet.

9.30pm. Big sister on the plane performs a wonderful charade of things falling from the sky in bright yellow costumes with so many interesting gadgets. wants to touch and play with some of them, but am firmly locked in place by mum. Looks expectantly at mum to be released.

9.45pm. Lights dimmed. Sensation of being thrown backwards. Loud noises coming from unknown sources. Cries for faith.

9.50pm. Wonderful display of lights out of the window. small cars seems to be moving on small roads, whose's toys are these? stops crying. Wonders how is it that i am flying.

9.55pm. Wonders too much about how am i flying. Lost faith in magic for a moment. Plane jerks. Scared. Cries. Concludes planes flies on faith.

and so it goes again. Another holiday comes and goes. This holiday have been weird. It started with a lot of drive and ambition, of dreams of things to accomplish. It then dies off, which by observation, seems to occur at increasingly common rates to me. And to be honest, i really have no idea why. I could blame medicine, and its immense workload, and with it the lack of time and energy to pursue any other train of thought, or my many other interests. It could be, the beginning of the death of my dreams. Or it could be, that morpheus died a couple of years back and i just wasn't able to remember the funeral, or that daniel is now in the dream throne and that all i am experiencing now is a different form of dreams. Of perhaps the uke, and the fantasy world of games. Or perhaps that's me just being too distracted.

Or maybe i lack a muse. nah. not an excuse. i blame having games on my computer. I think they're taking my soul away.

Someone help! haha.

And this year. I wish to be water, my friend.

And its once again 11/12, That fateful night of which 22 years ago, i was born to this world. It has been a good year, definitely. My 2 new ukes, finishing pre-clins, awesome food, awesome people, and then nepal. One might think it would be difficult to match that and next year will fail to live up to expectations. After all, this year was not without its disappointments, with some of them threatening to manifest into even greater disappointments by this time next year. But then again, i think its impossible to feel bad on your birthday. And then there's the lunar eclipse of course, which makes the occasion perhaps, even rarer.

Thank you everyone.

Nepal

And there are two explainations for my lack of posts, both for the significant milestone of the ending of my pre-clinical years and my great trip to the land of Never Ending Peace And Love (NEPAL for short). One of them is simple, its down to pure, utter laziness and a good dose of procastination. Another is more grand, sounds better, but many would dismiss it as an excuse, but to me its somewhat true. I find myself liking to wait a few days, a week or two, and let the initial euphoria die off before thinking back about it and then writing a few words. It makes for good reflection, or so i hope.

So.

Nepal in one word, was amazing. You know it is a good day when you wake up in a freezing temperature to see the sun slowly illuminating first the more distant hills, then the nearer ones, then finally shining on the one you are on. Then eat a simple meal prepared by monks before heading out to treat the ill and needy, and finally rounding off the days being swarmed by local children as you sculpt and handout balloons. I don't mind being the pied piper of balloons, its kinda fun. There are hardly any traffic lights in nepal, and horns are used excessively on the roads, there are hardly any big cars, and i don't think anyone could navigate as well as they could in any part of the world. There are of course, also snow mountains, visible within a couple of hours trek for any local in any town perhaps. It is something too, to sit on the plane, and point and say, that's the highest point of our planet. Its something surreal, something explainably cool about it. I have not climbed it, but now i live to tell my descendants that I, saw the top of the world. And maybe, just perhaps one day, I would climb it.

I could go on and on, but that would just defeat the purpose of this post. But truth be told, i miss Kathmandu, i miss its busy streets and crowded neighbourhoods, its messy traffic and its colourful history. Of course, all this from the comfort of the Hyatt Regency.

There's a song somewhere in scraps of paper i wrote about Kathmandu. Hopefully i could find it.

Till then.

Namaste.

Beast

Sometimes i want a average life. You know, be perhaps a blacksmith, or a luthier, graduate from my apprenticeship at age 21. Find a common girl, and marry and then lead a somewhat average life with few indulgences and fewer desires. And wonder if how life like that would be amazingly good and perhaps enjoyable.

And then its then that i know, deep inside, the Wong would never accept that. He would want the dragon-slaying adventures and the maiden you have to fight past a horde of orcs, the lady stuck in a tower by witches, or the one accursed with a million year sleep. And somewhere, there's another who's willing to live his life as a outcast and a beast, just to wait for the right belle. Another who's willing to be cursed to be a frog, to wait for the heart of gold that would break the curse.

And i guess its the hardest, when the frog, or the beast, see the maiden right in front of him. Surrounded by courtsmen from kingdoms vast and rich. And yet find himself helpless to the situation. And sometimes perhaps, like once again, she is just the person that would make you go look for the star, and then actually find the star. And then hopefully, Someone out there is thinking the same thing.

Its the 88th minute, and i probably have a couple of shots left before full time and having to wait for the next match. Which judging by my performance, i'd not be first team again.

Oh wells.

The beast lives tonight.

Reflections on long travels

I admire gamemakers. A good gamemaker is a philosopher, a worldsmith, a crafter of dreams of sorts. Able to make sense of this nonsense and then convert it into a format that does.

And i was just thinking, in any good rpg theres the epic boss battles and cut scenes as well as good story lines. But then there will also be quests that make you think 'this is pointless'. But that doesnt make the game bad, in fact it sort of reflects real life. When sometimes u are summonned across the city just to pick up a couple of messages that could have been picked up on the phone.

Hungry, tired and sick but a more active than usual brain.

Till better times.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfxVNRwrrwo&feature=feedrec_grec_index