We do not go: we are borne along like things afloat, now bobbing now lashing about as the waters are angry or serene. Every day a new idea: and our humours change with the changes of the weather. We float about among diverse counsels: our willing of anything is never free, final or constant.
* * * * *
âThere is every possibility of speaking for and against anythingâ⊠âŠ
What has he gained if he then goes and provides his enemy with the means of recovery? What hope can a man have of daring to attack his enemies later, after they have rallied and re-mustered and are newly armed with vengeance and anger, when he did not dare to hunt them down when terrified and routed?
* * * * *
When he is threatened with a blow nothing can stop a man closing his eyes, or trembling if you set high on the edge of a precipice.
* * * * *
His dazed silence served them as a confession⊠it was not memory that was defective, they thought, but a case of guilt bridling his tongue and making him so feeble. What a good argument! Even when you merely aim to speak well you can be dazed by the place, the audience and their expectations. What can happen when you have to make an harangue on which your life depends!
* * * * *
When harmful things are compelling then, it seems, is the season for vain ones; in an age when so many behave wickedly it is almost praiseworthy merely to be useless.
* * * * *
It is not one deed that I see, not three, not a hundred, but morals, now commonly accepted, so monstrous in their inhumanity and above all in their disloyalty (which are for me the worst species of vice), that my mind cannot conceive of them without horror. Almost as much as with loathing they strike me with amazement. The practice of such remarkable wickedness is as much a sign of vigour and power in the soul as of error and unruliness.
~ Montaigne, The Complete Essays (1587-88)
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Into the neg
» talfryn.net
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I shot less and took more
» talfryn.net
Evil-eyed wabbits
Che Kong Temple festival fair
The unexpectedly Zen and Chinese-Japanesque Nan Lian Garden
Chi Lin Nunnery with not a nun in sight
From the top of the (Needle) Hill
12km hillly hike from Fo Tan towards Tsuen Wan
Small fish in small packagesMore on Flickr: HK 2011 photoset
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Moving along
» talfryn.net
For some reason, I feel much more alive and world-aware, in Hong Kong. Everything here keeps you on your toes. Itâs a competitive, unforgiving city. Itâs is a place of character, and it forces you to find your own. Here, youâre not allowed to simply exist. Youâd be tossed around like a plastic bag in a typhoon. Here, you gotta take a stand, pick sides. Youâre either for or against. And if you abstain, youâre just created your own side, an enemy of all. If you love all, well, it just doesnât work that way.
* * * * *
A week seems to be my limit â any stay longer than that, and an affliction by some sort of ailment is almost guaranteed. Relatives like to joke that Iâm allergic to a certain aunt. Of higher plausibility is that Iâve been too tamed by Singaporeâs sterility, and am no longer used to the plethora of undesirable micro-organisms that inhabit Hong Kongâs overpopulated streets, on which I roam from morning till night. The crowds! The jousting! The â[can't breathe]! And the food, so dense, so full of MSG, preservatives and enhancers.
This time, it was food poisoning. A bad case, as it were. For most of the day I was stuck outside with filial obligations in the evening from which I had no escape, feeling miserable and wondering what was the matter with me â I was a stranger to the symptoms. The next morning, revelation came and I wasted the day curled up in bed and feeling all pooey. I had never been more in love with Po Chai PillsâŠ
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Kyƫshƫ
» talfryn.net
Holiday post. Way overdue!
The great thing about holidaying in Japan with my family is that my dad does all the planning, since he brandishes Jap like a native. Heâd rattle off a few place names, ask if weâre ok with it, and off weâll go. I usually have just one key criteria: it must be somewhere that I havenât gone to before. They love going to Tokyo, whereas Iâm a little bored of big cities â itâs shopping plus more shopping.
It was a miserable first few days with the drizzles unwilling to cease at the rather curious theme parkish Huis Ten Bosch, an imitation of a small Dutch town thatâs engineered on eco-friendliness.
Japanese White-eye, Zosterops japonicus. Hmm⊠ZosâŠOk⊠Iâm not really sure of what else to say since I donât feel like rambling these days. Suffice to say that the weatherâs gone cuckoo â weâre on the southernmost main Japanese island and it feels almost like Hokkaido. Brrr. Oh, and snow! A very rare occurrence in those parts.
Nagasaki was a meaningful visit. Iâve always felt like I should drop by either this city or Hiroshima; like a tribute in remembrance of the victims of the atomic bombings and war. The museum was thoroughly educational, disturbing, and touching.
The peace statue: the right hand symbolises vigilance against danger from above, the left hand appeals to eternal peace; the folded leg signifies meditation, and the other a readiness to actionThen we spent a few days in the Mt Aso region, before heading towards Fukuoka for the final leg of the holiday. Mt Aso is the largest active volcano in Japan, and we drove as close as we could to the peak where there was a volcano museum, and hiking tracks and boardwalks that would bring you right to the edge of the caldera and you could look down into the bubbling pot. If only I could⊠!
Onsen, snow, tatami beds, horse meat, and a very hoarse me (I sounded like Marge Simpson for a few days) are all else I could remember.
Sulphuric steam coming from the largest crater
Slopery hills
Break OâRays
Sunset in the land of the rising sun. Ok. Lame. -
Itâs 2011
» talfryn.net
An Edward Monkton 2011 calendar now hangs from my shelves. This is the wisdom that January brings:
A most pragmatic and inspiring start to the new year. Nothing more helpful than getting a firm grasp on reality. :D -
Holidays
» talfryn.net
Gone again until 3rd Jan â Fukuoka, Nagasaki and the rest of Kyushu that we havenât yet explored. Mmmm⊠just canât get enough of Japan.
And *gasp* I wonât be bringing my laptop!
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Jam(b) packed
» talfryn.net
If thereâs anything Iâm rather good at, itâs keeping myself busy.
Hardly had time to eat, hardly had time to breathe. Lost a couple of kilos over the past week.
Time for yet another camp and time to zip about like a headless rabid husky. Till next weekend!
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Not now
» talfryn.net
Everythingâs collapsing at the last minute, before my marathon of events. A button cracked. One of a pair of something went missing. Tuxera NTFS has given me a ridiculous âauthorizationexecutewithprivileges failedâ error. Even my Snow Leopard hard dive has somehow managed to drain every digital ounce out of itself and Iâm left staring at a âZero KB freeâ label, although the machine is still humming and running. Goodness knows. Thereâs still so much I need to do. I could really do without such nonsense now. Some other time⊠please?
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Tangled
» talfryn.net
Itâs a bit embarrassing to have to confess that I seem to have lost the basic ability to perform one of the most routine of personal grooming activities: blow-drying my hair. I flipped the side of my parting after a visit to the hairdresserâs, as is my practice to do so once every few years. Now I fumble with the roller brush like a toddler with an⊠almost everything really. Itâll most likely mean that Iâll have to go running to my mom for aid â sheâs a whizz with these feminine things (too much of one, in fact) â if I donât want to be seen sporting a Yetiâs hairdo again. I usually wouldnât care, but this Friday is⊠nevermind.
Vanity aside, just loookiiit that chameleon (fourth trailer from the top)! I bet itâs the cutest reptile ever to have hit the big screens.
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Mind the gaps
» talfryn.net
I donât know why itâs so bloody difficult to speak with him. As if we havenât learnt that anything at all can ignite explosions. Has happened countless times before, and it will happen again. A helpful earworm to have at that point would be one of the Black Eyed Peas: âShut up, just shut up shut upâ. It might save my skin.
He never listens properly; he hears what he wants to hear, says what he doesnât mean and means what he doesnât say and expects me to know when he does mean what he says and when he doesnât mean what he says he doesnât mean, twists my words, and dismisses my views as illegitimate. It is not that my opinions are ânot validâ, it is that he doesnât like them. Canât my stand be one of impartiality? I see pros and cons for each choice and I would much prefer to make an informed, collective decision after discussing with all who are involved. I would be happy with any outcome, since I hold no particular preference. But no, if I have no sided opinion of my own, I am apparently a person of poor conviction and a follower like 99% of the rest of the world, and I am âçČâ.
And then, when I exasperatedly repeat what I had originally said, he questions pointedly, âWhy didnât you say that at the beginning?â The more I assert that I did say so in the very first place, the more he says I am lying.
I could do with a dictaphone as a friend. Seriously.
When Iâve had enough of being yelled âé»ç·!â at or being accused of âKćâ thinking, I just want to barricade myself in my room and avoid all confrontation while I calm down. And until he calms down.
* * * * *
But no, 10 minutes later he takes his keys and barges in, no matter how desperately I try to distance myself.
Then, part deux.
* * * * *
Am being driven to self-destruction no thanks to the great generational and cultural divides. Itâs all so overwhelmingly suffocatingly Confucian, the roots of their chagrin. And Cantonese can be a sharp, harsh language and its words can pierce like no English can.
Anger? A little. More of sadness, perhaps.
