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Gibberish
Comments (3 Nov 09)
Black or White in Sight
Bitter or Dry in Taste
Happy or Sad in Life
Restlessnness or Contentment in Practice
Craving or Bliss in Time
Peace or Turmoil in Mind
Good or Bad in Kamma
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In
A Glance
I had the following in Jul 2010:
Click here
to see previous records. |
My
Mental Blog |
26 Jul 10 - Declaring Blog Free For 3 Days!
Spent my 32nd birthday with Sally and my mother on Friday. It was nice to spend some quality time with loved ones.
With the very busy 2nd quarter out from my mind, I started planning out the trips which I am going to make in the later half of the year. With Philippines, Myanmar and India in the pipeline, life seems good so far.
p.s.: Been trying to complete my blogs as there was a backlog due to my work. Somehow, I had managed to caught up and now I had finished all my blogs including The Great Drive. This means I will have no blogs to write till I come back from my Manila trip. |
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12 Jul 10 - Waiting For The World Cup Final
Not sure why am I so excited about the World Cup Final (kick-off will start in exactly 45mins) especially when it will happen every 1,461 days; some team always gets to win and the other one will lose...
Meanwhile, if you are waiting for the match as well and had chanced upon this site, why don't you take a look at the travel blogs which I had written for Cairo (Reprise) and The Great Drive (West Coast)? :) |
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29 Jun 10 - We Celebrate Birthdays Every 365 Days (Sponsored Entry)
It is interesting to note that we have all sorts of dates (in a year) which we try to attach special significance to it. For example, birthdays, new years, Easter Fridays, wedding anniversaries, death anniversaries and so on. Perhaps these are checkpoints in life and give a reason way for oneself to stop what he/she is doing and reflect.
(Sally): Happy Birthday (!!) and thank you for being around in my life. I love you. |
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18 Jun 10 - Staying Free Of The Bubbly "Self"
To be frank, this blog should had been written about a week ago (I am on a flight back from Chiang Mai to Sillypore). But after months on a crazy schedule (i.e. shifting of office, musicals, a carnival and a meditation retreat!), this blog had really been on the lowest priority. With all these activities being cleared one-by-one, I hope there will be some decent time off my work rather than just to bother about banal things like finding air-conditioner remote controls and clearing up choked toilet bowls.
Well,
this too will pass somehow...
Anyway, just about 9 days ago, I formally crossed over the one-year anniversary of me being free from alcohol. It may not have been a big deal to some but I like to think of this as a very important milestone in my life. Not sure if I would ever start drinking again; but then again I wondered if it really matters thinking about the future where I should be thinking about the present.
I was talking to my traveling mate today about this alcohol-free thinge - never thought I could ever stop drinking alcohol but Buddhism (which includes a heavy dose of precepts and meditation) HELPED and instill the confidence in me. This is quickly turning into an exciting spiritual journey for "me" - in quotes because when I understand more about "myself", the more I doubt if there was a self in me.
Paradox huh? I guess this is the fun part about the discovery itself. |
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25 May 10 - Dreams Of The Trans-Siberian Railway
Was just having a chat with Sally on how life sucks currently and told her I should spend some time in re-reading all my travel blogs again (especially those on Argentina). I recalled that I had a dream to visit the End of the World and realised the dream after my adventures in India.
Perhaps I shall have a dream again; on the Trans-Siberian Railway... *more later*
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22 Apr 10 - Rabbits, Beds, and Carrots
Once upon a time, there was this bunch of rabbits (they were staying together) who were preparing to shift their house to a new forest. As of any typical group, some (I call this the O Rabbits) were alot more interested in making sure that the move is done well (so that everybody will have a nice hay bed to sleep on) while the others (I call this the G Rabbits) were more interested in making sure everything was done according to the rules laid down by the rabbit police. So when the G Rabbits realised that the O Rabbits had actually promised more carrots from the common carrot bank for a better quality hay without their approval, they picked up a great rabbit debate about obtaining proper approval for governance. To be frank, the G Rabbits were not wrong and the O Rabbits knew they should have consulted everybody first. But hey, it was not as if the O Rabbits took the better quality hay to make the beds for themselves.
Well, everything will fall into its place. The O Rabbits apologised and decided to exchange the better quality hay with their own carrots (and thus the carrots from the carrot bank were left intact). Somehow, all the rabbits (especially the G Rabbits) became smiley again. And all of them get to sleep on this better quality hay. Yeh!
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21 Apr 10 - A Rest Day
After working for 16 days consecutively, I finally got managed to "steal" myself an off day so that I could hibernate in my room. Was trying not to think of all the work piling up in the office. Perhaps I am still not managing stress well. Whatever the case, I started on my travel blog for Aswan/Abu Simbel (Egypt). And somehow, I am not at all excited in going back to office tomorrow and working throughout the weekend again. |
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1 Apr 10 - This Is Not An Aprils' Fool Joke
I finally got my Egyptian (1st out of 3) blog out today after struggling with it for the past 2 months. It is high time that I should diverting my energies to playing Café World on Facebook and write the blogs in a more decent pace. |
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9 Mar 10 - It Is Indeed A Bad Bad Day
It is one of those days where every lousy thing just feels like coming at you in all directions. Shitty emails, wrong expectations, silly administrative work, power cuts and incorrect accusations. You name it, I have it.
Yah, it was a low for me. And I glad I could let my tired mind rest before the next dreadful day creeps in exactly 6 hours and 26 mins later. |
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6 Feb 10 - 2 Years (Sponsored Entry)
What did you do 2 years ago? Was it fun or boring? Was it high or low? Was it enjoyable or unbearable? Was it memorable or forgettable? How did you feel about the past 2 years? Was it long or short? Was it fast or slow? Was it happy or sad? Was it fulfilling or disappointing?
There are really no right or wrong answers here. Whatever the answers will be, it will lead us to reflect on how our lives might have changed if events had taken another course. However, the most important aspect is how we move on from here. What had passed would be considered as the past. What have not passed will be considered as the future. "Now" is the present moment.
(Sally): Thank you for being around. I do not really care about the past, nor am I interested in the future. This is already good enough. What is important is now; and now is the time to say I love you. |
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4 Feb 10 - Busy Busy...
Started out for 2010 with a very busy schedule. Before I knew it, a month had just gone by and Chinese New Year is coming real close. My blog on Perth (trip done in end Oct 09) is almost done (really picked up pace for the past 2 days) and I hope I do not lose steam on this. |
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1 Jan 10 - Hey, We Get To Celebrate The New Year Every 365 Days...
As lazy as I can be, I slept through (with the help of the wonderful cough syrup) the first moment of the new decade - only to be awaken by the cheers of those party goons who celebrate the new year every 365 days. Stirred by all these noise, I got up, drank a glass of water, called Sally and wished her happy new year. Could hardly call this a new year celebration.
Went out with mum and got a Samsung LCD TV (the old TV just choose to fail before the end of the decade). There was not alot of people out in town. A new year is a new year after all; we get to celebrate it every 365 days. |
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22 Dec 09 - The Egyptian Patient
Perhaps it is the effects of the jet lag, cough syrup (YES, my cough is back!!) or just feeling plain lazy, I am all groggy and drowsy. Just feel like lying on bed all day and not moving. :(
Sometimes I wonder if we go for holidays to make ourselves recharge or to get more tired? |
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5 Dec 09 - 5 More Days to Cairo
Rushing to get all my work done before I go to Cairo (via Dubai) for a short 12-day backpacking trip. Feeling really busy but is pretty excited actually... |
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3 Nov 09 - Spending 11 Days In Doing "Nothing"...
On board on the Tiger Airways flight flying from Perth to Sillypore; if everything is in schedule, I would probably get back home in 4 hours. The ascending was not the smoothest and perhaps if something really (or did not) happened, it would just be my kamma at work.
While it was not all bliss for the past 11 days managing a
group of 60 different people doing the retreat (in Jhana Grove, Serpentine), at least I did learn something. Did not exactly made everybody happy during the proceedings; though the egoistic me would had like everybody to grade me full marks for my efforts. In fact, I was kind of bothered by this mindset and it had affected my practice during my trip extension (in the end, I decided to stay back n meditate some more instead of wasting my time in Perth). Ego is a bad bad craving indeed.
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23 Oct 09 - Land Down Under After 10 Years...
In just less than 3 hours, I would be boarding a flight to Perth (Australia) to co-ordinate a meditation retreat. Though I am on official duty, I would get a chance to do some meditation and get a good recharge. :)
I recalled the last time (in 1997 and 1998) where I actually step into the Land Down Under was when we were there (on the east coast) for 3-week training stint as part of our national service. The strict customs rules caused my mooncake (a kind of Chinese pastry baked for the Mid-Autumn Festival) to be confiscated! Life was so much different then; beers, music and dreams of getting a girlfriend. It had changed so much since then. Went through my tough university days, fear of not finding a job during the SARS scare & finding jobs (eventually) and realising it was not what I wanted. It was certainly interesting to reflect sometimes that how the emotional changes could affect oneself.
Fans: Do look out for my next travel blog (about Perth). Hopefully I could get it started soonest after I get back! |
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11 Oct 09 - Coughing The Whole Weekend Off
Been having this persistent cough for almost 3 months (since the trip to Kuching in mid Jul 09). In a way, I contributed to the conditioned by drinking "excessive" amounts of coke (standards set by Sally) and eating all the wonderful durians my dear mother could get.
For now, all I could do is to cough the nights off; though at least my Kuching blog is up. This would be the first time since Dec 08 that I have no blogs left outstanding! :) |
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20 Sep 09 - Just A Nominal Update
Having come back from a rather "stressful" one week trip in Ubon Ratchathani (brought 24 people there for a show and tell), I came back to Sillypore and its usual routine. As this was a long weekend (the Muslims were celebrating Hari Raya Aidilfitri), I stayed at home and did a catch-up on my Kuching blog (just completed page 1 out of 4). In the midst of it, I am also trying to plan for my December trip to Egypt. That would no doubt be a big trip in my travels. But before that, I would go to Perth in end October to coordinate a group participating in a meditation retreat. While I would get a chance to do some meditation, I am also looking forward to retire my very first pair of Converse Chuck Taylors. Oceania would be its last continent where it had stepped on.
Fans: Do look out for that blog entry. :) |
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23 Aug 09 - The Difference Within The Last 48 Hours
Filled with various insights and discovery,
it had been a relatively good week for me.
Spent the first half of the week (17 to 20 Aug 09) in the village of Chaung Gyi. A typical Burmese village that is right smacked in the Ayeyarwady Delta, people here lived a lifestyle that would be so remote to most Sillyporeans. There are none of that comforts which we are so used to; air-con, cold drink (damn, get me a can of coke!!) or hot shower for there is no electricity or supply of running water. I slept on the hard wooden floor, during the humid rainy season, accompanied by my dearest mosquito net and the dim light that came from a nearby diesel lamp. Needless to say, flush toilets were a luxury; I relieved myself by squatting in a stuffy hut that was just beside the river. The food was the best (by local standards) but I was pretty bored with eating the same old rice, fried eggs and vegetables everyday.
After coming back home on Thursday, I hid in the blankets on my large bed (who needs a mosquito net here?) with my personal air-con blowing cool air at me. Drank cans of ice-cold Coke (in fact, I drank one immediately after getting out from the village) and enjoyed all the good food in Sillypore. The weather was worst here but it really does not make a big difference if I could hide in my office, home or any shopping malls. I really felt blessed.
It was amazing to note such differences, especially when all it took was just a 3.5 hour flight to connect to one destination or another. While it was easy for me to traverse to and fro between 2 destinations, for some of the villagers, it might actually be just a dream...
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8 Aug 09 - When We Were Not Together As One
My sincere apologies to Sara, for not being together as one. |
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5 Aug 09 - Remembering The Days Where We Were "Happy Together"
My friend (a fellow Venezuelan fan of Wong Kar Wai) recently did a short write-up of my travels about Argentina. Come to think about it, it had been a while (2 years!) since I did the all-important journey to the South American country to retrace the route done by the characters in the movie "Happy Together". It is kind of crazy to travel to the other side of the world but it was also this trip that I realised no matter how far one travel, happiness would not be found if it does not exist within oneself.
Do read the series of blogs (starting from Buenos Aires) again if you are interested.
p.s.: To Juniper Girl, thanks for making me remember about Argentina again. :) |
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2 Aug 09 - May As Well...
Just arrived back to Sillypore from a quick weekend business trip to Jakarta. It was relatively uneventful though I did not get any spare time to do anything. May as well, I should say. One less blog to scribble anyway. |
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16 Jul 09 - Kuching Meow Meow And Clearing The Backlog Of My Travel Blogs
Together with Sally, we are flying to Kuching (Malaysia) for a short getaway (or one could call it a birthday celebration for both of us). Hope it would be fun and I could steal some rest...
My travel blog fans must be very angry with me for not providing fast enough updates on my travels. For example, I am supposed to publish my travels in Chaung Gyi (Myanmar), Ubon Ratchathani/Hua Hin (Thailand) and soon-to-be Kuching (Malaysia). I am also travelling to Jakarta (Indonesia) at the end of the month and if I still do not start writing, I would have a backlog of 5 travel blogs!
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lost? Having a "mental blog"? Don't know what
am I talking about? Perhaps that is precisely what LIFE
is all about. What goes around, comes around. Check out
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