Happy New Year!

Hahaha. My second post of the year. Sorry, I've been over at the Shanghai blog the whole time now, well, minus those times when I could not get on the proxy servers to access it because effective Oct this year, Wordpress has been off limits in China too.

Today, I browsed for the first time the blog of a new friend, a Jew, and found myself mind travelling through the unfamiliar landscapes of Middle Eastern nations including the home of his ancestors. The stories are captivating, the writing compelling. I had no idea this new friend was a soldier for a while, actually up to as recent as this October less than two months before I met him.

Just last night, I chanced upon Green Day's 21 Guns after not hearing it for ages, and made the opening line my new year resolution, sort of: "Do you know what's worth fighting for?"

Sorry I've been so MIA

Gosh, I've heard this so much these days I really hate to say it myself because it hurts, but I'm saying it now because that's exactly what I am.

Sorry I've been so MIA.

I guess this blog is a part of my existence in Singapore. I left here when I left Singapore, and experimented with MSN Spaces, which closed and migrated to Wordpress. So I switched to Wordpress, which was accessible during the first couple of weeks in Shanghai, but was blocked thereafter. So around Christmas, my friend sent me a proxy server program so now I can get around the GFW and access everything from the outside world just fine (FB, YouTube, Wordpress, Blogger ... the works)

So technically, I can continue blogging here. But I really had started documenting my new life in Shanghai on Wordpress, and it does say A Collection of Wanton Thoughts in Shanghai. So I guess, for now till I don't know when, see you there.

Back for a few days ...

Hello my social network world.
Hello Blogger.
Hello Plurk.
Hello Facebook.
Hello Twitter.
Hello Picasa.
Hello Youtube.
I miss you guys so much!
And I shall consume you
with all my might
for I have till only
Saturday
before I shall be back
to being a hermit.

Moving blocks, blogs

Stepping on a moving block
Northward to The Bund
Where the Great Fire Wall
keeps the rest of the world
Out
So I'm moving blogs
So long, blogger, for a while
Hello, spaces, for a while
before you get shut down
Jan 2011
And then I'll seek out other
blocks on the blogosphere
to lay the building blocks
of my new blog yet again
But till then,
here it is
http://write-n-left.spaces.live.com
See you, See me.

10.10.10.10

Gonna take 10 secs
at 10.10.10.10
in tribute of those perished
on 9/11 at WTC

Why I still need my NB

Another sign of our over-reliance on digital technology, and the convenience of which, is the ability to modify travel plans at whim. Especially when everything is readily available online.

Just booked myself into a wonderfully sounding hostel "Wanderfalls Guesthouse" at Niagara Falls, plus Amtrak tickets to get me there and back into New York next week. This is, of course, after checking that everything agrees - the weather, schedules, prices, how to get there ...

All of that can be done on the iPad too, really, perhaps even more enjoyable for the hi-res photos that fellow travelers have posted. But the motion of filling in the forms, as of now, is still a mouse-pointing, finger key-in sort of activity, meaning laptops are still necessary. So on this wonderfully sunny and warm Saturday morning at Central Park, I wonder how forms might eventually evolve to indulge my spontaneous travel habits even more?

Maybe I should just be able to call Amtrak with that number on their website, quote my Facebook code, so they can retrieve my profile right away and have my reservation completed in under a minute.

Good to be back

But friggin tired. 20-hour flight + 2-hour layover at Frankfurt + 2-hour city tour on SuperShuttle from the airport ... kinda regretted getting that, but oh well, a city tour on whees wasn't all that bad.

I don't think New York has changed much since 2001. Not at least the bustling Times Square and Rockefeller Center. Only in the place of Virgin Music (if I remember correctly) is now H&M at Times Square. But in all my recent fascination with China, Japan and Asia, today I realised I've lost touch with the "western" or "American" side of me. Listening to the radio hits on the way in from the airport brought back fond memories. I haven't heard those songs for so long!!

Gee, really tired. Just checked into Jazz on the Park on the west bank of upper Central Park. I think I'm just gonna take it easy for today, check out some places to hit tomorrow and the day after and after ... but not before I get a quick nap. And ponder the implications of going to Shanghai in Nov instead of my beautiful 20.10 cuz HR screwed up and couldn't get my work permit processed in time. I don't understand though, why they require that we hand over the documents from China to the embassy here to issue the permit, shouldn't the China side have the final authority to issue or refuse since I'll be working there, not here ... oh well, red tape ...

New York, here I come!

Whoa, I'm finally going back to New Yorka after 9 long years. At the airport now, ain't got much time cuz was fiddling with the free wireless which had changed service provider and I didn't know that I had to use the new extension ... oh well, I dun hv time for that. It's been a very tiring day of mad rush - health screening, change money, pack ... looking forward to snooze a bit on board.

Ciao!

2 weeks ...

Can I believe it's just two weeks?
Two friggin' weeks left
I'm gonna miss all of you
I'm not sure already
I look forward to seeing you
What sort of conflicting
feeling is this?
I've never been unsure
I'll take each step in stride
Every step is a part of a journey
Once embarked on, I enjoy
No looking back
A new race begins
In just friggin' 2 weeks.

Three quarters gone

One quarter left
how much of your new year resolution
left?
Is it right to ask
what to do with all that's
left?

Delighted by mooncakes on CX

Haha, there were mini-mooncakes on both flights, TPE-HKG and HKG-SIN, putting a silly smile on my face. I wonder if it's because of CX's HK connection, and if SQ serves mooncakes today too on their Asian flights at least. I kinda doubt it, but I may be biased because I'm still sore from the times that I've failed to get my choice of meals on board. Haven't they noticed that certain meals are more popular and stock up accordingly? What annoys me even more is being asked if it's OK if I took whatever was left; only after I said that I didn't really have a choice did I, that she asked if I might prefer some instant noodles (to make up for the unavailable noodles of my choice). Couldn't that have been offered as a probable choice along with the set meal in the first place?

Well, enough of ranting. I'm getting grumpier by the day. Must be approaching menopause or something ... lol ... but anyway, coming back to this beautiful Mid-Autumn night. Although we took off into the cloudless sunny skies of Taipei, we landed in cloudy Hong Kong, then took off again into torrential rains (and I doubted for a moment if the control tower might seriously delay the flight beyond the one hour that we had already waited since the scheduled take-off), and landed in overcast Singapore. The moon here at home is blurry, definitely not caressing the foot of my bed with her graceful luminous fingers.

Wake me up when September ends

Well, it ended with last year,
But I'm still in deep slumber.
Time to use the present tense,
Wake me up when September ends.

Sleepover, 中秋节快乐

Two friends came to sleep over last night ... it was great to talk, watch tv, eat and laugh together, AND PLAY FIREWORKS! When I saw them off this morning, my eyes were sorta welling up ... but then, I'm really in the mood for tears these days ... but anyway, I'm really gonna miss them. Hope I'll have many more chances to return to Taipei. And I know the same tearful farewell will replicate itself in Singapore as 20.10 draws near. And then another tearful ... and I don't even wanna think about it. It's gotta stop now. My Mid-Autumn resolution is ... FIN.

怎么那么准

这个星座算命的电视节目看了好多天，今天的特别准。偏偏就是今天，是的。它说，双鱼座的人，下半年运程很好。为什么好？因为他们好像脱胎换骨，切断感情，切断工作，切断还不知道什么，可是前面两项就超准了。把旧的切断，新的好事才会来。希望是这样吧！这段感情困扰实在延续太久了，太累了，真的很希望切的干净。更希望新的工作，新的角色，新的地点会带来新希望。哈哈，我还没有想完，星座老师又说双鱼座的最近感情上遇到错折，导致心情低落。又bingo。切断后就会ok了。因为还有另一个部分说我会心想事成，美梦成真哦。切断后就可以重新开始。嗯。

Typhoon day in Taiwan

Typhoon Fanapi landed in Taiwan at 08:40 on 19 September 2010. Elsewhere on the island, harsh winds and rain lashed cities and villages. But here in Taipei, it was all calm. At nightfall, though, the wind speed picked up just as the weatherman reported the typhoon was spinning out of Taiwan. Traffic light posts sway in the gale. Motorbikes parked along the road fall on their sides. Strange occurence, but tough luck for a typhoon holiday as the mayor has already announced 上班上课 for tomorrow.

Another first

That's why I like flying. No matter how often you do it, you can always look forward to first-of-a-kind experience. Today, for the first time, I had duck congee on a Cathay Pacific flight. That was delightful :)

08:05 flight on CX

Another early morning flight ... *yawn* ...
but actually 08:05 is a quite decent hour ...
for regional travels,
you leave in the morning, arrive in the afternoon ...
with plenty of time to do anything to your heart's content
if only the 2-hour pre-flight check-in can be reduced,
or eliminated altogether
so now, goodbye Singapore
for now, hello again Taipei.

A warm old familiar voice

It's always awesome to hear from an old friend whom you haven't seen for ages, whose number you always wonder if you should call and if it's still in use. Today, this old old friend called. It's delightful to hear that motherly familiar warm voice again. Way back from university days. Wow.

The easier choice

Is it easier to learn to love someone you do not yet like but who is physically near, or to retract your love for someone you already like who is physically far?

Which would you rather, or can you accept?

For me, love is just love. Physically near or far, I'd give it a shot. But I've learned that not everyone thinks the same. When it comes to love, even love, yes, not lust, physical distance also spells emotional and spiritual distance. Why do I always want to challenge the probability of long distance relationships? Am I too "western"? But it is true that I have friends who have had fruitful relationships with western partners. But eastern ones? We're all learning it the hard way, I guess.

我是一个普通人

不知道为什么突然想起六月份在上海的时候和一位老奶奶和她的小孙子共用一个餐桌，然后和小朋友交谈的对白。

小男孩说，我不是男孩，也不是女孩。我只是一个普通人，喜欢科学和数学的普通人。当时还真的有点惊讶，那么小却那么成熟的思想。年纪轻轻就知道平等的概念，平等的价值，我感到很兴会有缘遇见这位聪明有智慧的小朋友，与他交谈。

人本来就是平等的，最后会有人比别人强就是靠自己的努力付出去争取的。所以我很认同这位小朋友的想法，太有智慧了，因为我的偶像Walt Disney曾经也说过一句话: "We allow no geniuses around our Studio."