2006年09月22日Friday

天下间纵有仙丹可以治人病，却无灵药可治人心

Another one of those pessimistic views of the world. News nowadays are pretty depressing with coups and terrorism stuff. How the world has changed since 911 - almost like WW2.... indeed no place is perfectly safe anymore. As the media always tacitly agreed on: bad news is good news.... otherwise it will be boring. Sometimes I think if all the effort in the world to play politics is put into medical research and social develpment, what wonders will we have discovered by now. Yet we cannot avoid what is in our baser instincts. A lecturer once taught "politics is the struggle for influence in a human relationship" - it is not merely the stuff we watch on TV between politicians but it exists in all of us. Husband and wife, brother and brother, parents and children, friends and colleagues.... we all try to influence each other, subconcsciously or not, for good or or evil. Kind of makes you not want to get out of bed the next morning but it also makes life an interesting knot of dilemmas and choices. In the end, it still boils down to how you face yourself in the mirror each day - have you lived fully with the time God has blessed you on earth?
Posted by Sakuragi at 22:43:21 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

2006年09月21日Thursday

动情伤身，痴情伤心

Cynic or just being realistic? But I like the way it strikes true and yet sounds somehow sad..... Was watching this HK drama series "布衣神相" which was recommended by the store helper who swore heaven and earth that it was good. Turned out to be kind of ala 'Indiana Jones' but this guy wears flowing robes and uses a bamboo stick than a whip. Story is HIGHLY predictable (I mean they even call the bad guys "黑道" and the good guys - you guessed it - "白道". How more obvious can you get?) and yes, the female lead IS the daughter of the BADDEST guy but she doesn't know it yet. BUT, the fight scenes are pretty good. I think my diet of "鹿鼎记" and "楚留香" has me shaking my head and fast forwarding all the so-called duels. This one however, uses pretty high tech but yet not overdone. Some of the scenes were a tad revolting (mother flinging herself in between her son dueling with guy who saved her) and SO simplistic (you can so tell who is the bad guy - he wears horns and yes I BET he will become good in the end and vice versa) that I wonder WHO is the target audience for this show. I need intrigue!! I need someone to hate!! But script has its moments in flowery speech (like the title)..... I have it on if HBO, Discovery, Nat Geo and AXN fails me and they often fail me these days.....
Posted by Sakuragi at 16:41:01 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

2006年09月20日Wednesday

Music soothes the savage breast

Or is it "Beast"?..... hmmm.... well the word 'savage' shld suffice a good enuff pic :) My friend S has just given me a music Cd which she has burned some songs she wanted to share and it was nice of her. I have no particular fav music genre and no special singer or group has me waiting at the airport for their arrival or pay half a month's salary to attend their concert. In fact, if friends do not tell me what is the song title or the name of the singer, I will have no clue as to some of the songs that I like. For the past 1 year, I have stopped listening to the radio - not that BJ's radio stations are totally terrible but I don't think I OWN a radio here. Used to listen in on the way to work or when I shared an office with colleagues and they really prefer FM93.3. That was the time I knew more chinese song titles and probably could even hum a tune or 2 (and prob knew more chinese words then). The most I would do here is to watch V Channel which is the chinese version of MTV and even then, I think I lose interest after 10 mins. Some MTVs are interesting but music to me, is something in the background, part of the subconscious. Not that it is unimportant.... I like listening to music when I do things and esp when I rollerbladed.... And what will movies be without a good soundtrack? I truly admire those who can play a music instrument well - really blessed!! Can you imagine that it is already not easy for humans to have language in the first place but to discover music?.... God is good to us :)
Posted by Sakuragi at 10:26:49 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

2006年09月18日Monday

As darkness falls...

These days, the sun sure goes home REAL early. By 6:45 pm, BJ is almost in total night. Had dinner at Sommerset Apartments last night and was TRYING to flag down the small yellow bus after but somehow, none was in sight. Hence decided to walk a bit in the direction of home.... when someone approached me to ask where is the nearest ATM. Cool, I actually look like I KNOW where I am and better still, live there. Have I been entirely assimulated or is it what I wore..... or just maybe, it was the creeping darkness :) So have I suceeded in what I set out to do? Which is NOT to be a prime target for kidnapping and robbery :) hee hee..... Anyway, never DID find a yellow bus all my 20 min walk home. It was a nice cool stroll and I even managed to find a stall to buy some peaches. This seem to be PRIME time to buy peaches as they are everywhere. I have changed my fav fruit from apples to peaches..... MUST eat one at least once a day. As some of those who know me will say : better than let her snack on chips and cakes and GET fat.....
Posted by Sakuragi at 18:51:44 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

2006年09月17日Sunday

Till death do we part

Found an interview rather interesting: I think it was regarding the plea to help a convicted drug trafficker given the death penalty to avoid it. Someone said you can't declare you don't believe in capital punishment but yet say terrorists deserve to die. There should not be exceptions to who deserves capital punishment and who doesn't. If you are not for it, then you are totally not for it. It is indeed a dilemma of sorts.... biblically speaking, thou shall not kill. Thinking abt it, it is no wonder that all those Americal presidents tried to plea for clemency for convicted drug traffickers but it is ironic that they can also start wars and claim many things for freedom. I am not advocating who is right or wrong but I was just thinking that I kind of support capital punishment for convicted drug traffickers and I think terrorists are bad to plan methodically to kill masses.... but I also believe in thou shall not kill. Today's values are so vague and confusing... I wonder what will we teach our kids? Indeed we live in an imperfect world where life is so fragile and death is so fleeting.

Posted by Sakuragi at 21:16:17 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

2006年09月16日Saturday

Sawadika

At least that is how I think they spelt it.... :) Do drop by Stuff in Albums (see left of blog) to view all the recent photos of the Thai Charity Food Fair today. Great food but the durian was a disappointment. Not that I eat durian.... I don't really eat unprocessed durian. Durian cake, ice cream, puff.... ok. Durian fruit.... nah.... the place was a tad sandy and all of us got our feet really dirty. Smoke from the satay BBQ and general cooking also filled the festive place and after 1 hr, most of us had sneezies . What is impressive is that they actually had quite a few dance performances and all in bright clouful costumes. Now NEXT week I hear will be Spore's turn to host a food fair. And THAT will be interesting considering there are at least a hundred Thai restaurants here to support the fair but only abt 5 Spore restaurants here in BJ.. and one of them is Bread Talk.....who sells bread in a food fair and that is our national food? I wonder if we can befriend M'sia and co-host the fair together..... I mean, there are quite a few M'sian restaurants here and their food is not bad mah....
Posted by Sakuragi at 17:20:48 | Permanent Link | Comments (1) |

2006年09月12日Tuesday

Bitter or Sweet?

An old woman was feeling pain and stiffness in all her joints one morn and she gritted out "Old age ain't for sissies!!". Barring the fact that no one knows when they will go off to meet God, what kind of old person do I want to be? For health, there are already stuff we all know like "you sow what you eat", "exercise goes a long way", etc. Just look at all the vegetarians out there and you almost admire them for their ability to eat for the future. I know i don't want to be one of those old, sickly, stuck in wheelchair types who need help to go to the toilet. Just WHAT IF I don't die before 70 like I hope to? And even if I do, I don't want a lingering sort of death - something fast and neat will be fine :) So can you be brave enuff to face a wrinkly self with parts broken down? What is there to get you to get out of bed the next morn? I so hope it won't be the TV :) Will you be filled with bitter regrets or sweet memories to light up your long days? I know some of my friends are still playing around with cigarettes and even that "I-want-to-try-at-least-once" dash of drugs. I just pray they will not regret it decades down th the road. A little step goes a long way to prepare yourself now - eat a little better, walk that extra traffic light and call that old pal of yours :) You never know who is going to hold your hand at the very end.
Posted by Sakuragi at 10:03:36 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

2006年09月09日Saturday

Bummer

I love cool winds even if they are of 5 deg and blowing sand around. I love them more on a sunny day when I am walking outside even tho I will have to take a bath immediately when I get home due to the dust in my hair and face. What I hate abt them now is how they have turned my tummy upside down. I am not well again.... some tummy upsets and diahorrea.... P thinks it's the change of seasons..... but I was FINE when winter turned to spring.... and I have no fever, no muscle aches.... just tummy upsets. The chinese doc thinks I have a weak spleen and it is especially "cold" so I probably made it worse by drinking one whole pot of sugar cane and eating one big pomelo by myself. The drink and fruit was supposed to "cool" in summer heat but how was I to know the winds would whirl autumn in so fast? Really hope I can be well tomorrow.... i hate walking up at 6am to go to the toilet again....

Posted by Sakuragi at 19:09:52 | Permanent Link | Comments (2) |

2006年09月07日Thursday

Breath of cool

Finally the cool winds are here in BJ and in the morns, it is nice to wake up early to take a deep breath and enjoy the sunlight. But when the afternoon sun decides to work ver hard, the temp can go back up to 35 deg again. Dilemma of clear cool skies vs unaopposed hot sun. Just changed some photos in the album so do take a look :) Today I will collect my roller blade (left shoe) which I sent in for repairs at Hong Qiao coz the buckles broke. Not sure whether it is from wear and tear or the dry weather... really, the weather is THAT dry since wooden containers in my place (bought from Hanoi) have CRACKED apart. Was a bit aprehensive abt leaving my blading shoe at Hong Qiao since I am not sure whether they will repair the buckle AND take the whole shoe apart to remove the bearings and other more valuable parts. It has happened before to me in other parts of BJ and I still shudder to think of it. The thing is I can't SEE what they do and I sure don't trust them anymore. Too many lessons have sadly hardened my view against them and made me more cautious. Not sure if I am happy abt losing that usual basic trust in pple.... I am not an INNOCENT babe but you just don't question someone's integrity when you first meet right? But here, unfortunately, I really do. If they CAN cheat you in some way, they will try. And if caught, they will bluster their way out of it and even sometimes, lie without blinking. Like taxi drivers taking a longer route or a shop owner trying to sell you a smaller sized shirt.... I'm sure there are exceptions and I have met them too but somehow, instead of innocent until proven otherwise, I take it they are guilty until proven otherwise.
Posted by Sakuragi at 09:22:35 | Permanent Link | Comments (1) |

2006年09月03日Sunday

Hide and Seek

Was trying to help my aunt find her karaoke DVD/VCDs since she claimed they are dirt cheap in BJ and seem to be plenty around. That is not so true since the first 2 shops I went to only have those oldies by Teresa Teng and classics from China's local music scene. Not exactly the Tanya Chua I was supposed to find. I had noticed that the display of movies had changed somewhat. Gone are the rows of recent popular English movies but instead I see multiples of 60s classics such as Casablanca and An Affair to Remember. It seemed as if someone had broken into a public library and copied all those movies I used to flip thru in the library's media section (where you can check out a movie, put it in the player and use headphones to listen in). That was how I first watched Sound of Music and My Fair Lady.... great classics. But that is not my point. I decided to venture all the way to the west of BJ to find my aunt's music so off to Xin Jie Kou I trooped under the hot sun (of course with help of the subway). Again, all the shops I visited have the same "affliction" - only classic old English/Russian movies and local Chinese dramas on DVDs. I couldn't even find my fav Jap pop drama serials but instead chanced upon Akira Kurosawa films - you know, the Seven Samurai? Very very old classic. However, I found some wierd covers of the songs my aunt was looking for - bought them since there is nothing else. Interesting..... going home, P 'enlightened' me on the reason - American VIP visiting BJ recently and hence the "clean up"..... I want my CSI.....
Posted by Sakuragi at 21:55:10 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |