Goodbye Holland!

So long, farewell
Doei to Dutchies left and right
I hate to go and leave this pretty sight

So long, farwell
I leave on an AirAsia flight
I hope the plane won't crash when I sleep at night

Goodbye! Goodbye! Goodbye!

Smelling the roses...

We often take more things in life for granted than we should. Yet, during the moments that we don't, it's nice to see that in spite of all that seems horrible around you, there are still things which make you feel glad to be alive.

I scream, you scream, we all scream...

Life is like being at an ice cream parlour.

There are so many enticing flavours to choose from but only so many that you're allowed to pick at any one time. The flavours also get more and more complicated when you get older. When I was a kid, there were only vanilla, strawberry and chocolate. Now they have all sorts - forest berry, cookie dough, durian, tiramisu, lemon meringue...

So you're forced to make a selection among these sometimes foreign, multi-worded flavour names. If you're lucky, the guy/girl behind the counter gives you a break and lets you sample one to see if you like it. Other times, you just have to pick one and hope you do.

Invididually, the flavours could be genius. But once you combine them, there's a chance they won't go well together and it spoils the whole thing. Quite possibly you'll hesitate to pick those same flavours the next time you visit, when if you had stuck to just one the first time you would've really enjoyed it.

Then again, if only life was an actual ice cream parlour, we'd all be a lot happier. Who doesn't like ice cream, right?

I feel like smackin' overly cheerful people...

Happy people make me sick,
Suffering instead gives me great kicks.
How I wish more people would cry,
So that I could get really high.

To err is human, to forgive...well, I don't think that's a word found in a lot of people's dictionaries...

Perhaps it is due to my current disposition towards the pessimistic side of things, but I do not think there will be a good resolution of cowgate. Rather, judging from the reactions and the statements issued by the various actors from both sides of the socio-political divide (inclusive of politicians and leaders of civil society organizations or otherwise), there can only be one conclusion - we are edging closer and closer to what we had hoped would never happen again 40 years onwards.

There do not seem to be any rational minds among our politicians to lead us out of this mess in a graceful manner. Everyone is thinking about how to gain the most political capital from this 'crisis'. Both sides are clearly guilty of this. No one realizes that such political capital is of no use once it all goes to shit.

Grassroot organizations have taken the proverbial bait in reacting to the situation in a manner which, if based on Yasmin Ahmad's measure of what is good, is not at all borne out of love or compassion. Last I checked, holding a candle-light vigil requires that people 'light a flame' when there is one already burning.

No one is reaching out. No one is actually communicating to each other. There is a clear delineation between the voices coming out from either side. The current reporting of what 'he-says-she-says', usually written up in separate articles as well, has merely helped to consolidate this perception of division.

The combined formula of 'rational' politics and 'independent' journalism is a pretty damned good recipe for disaster.

God help us.

To He Hua Temple...

For now I leave for Amsterdam.
Since it's Ramadan I won't eat ham.
But then I'm Buddhist so I wont eat beef.
That leaves me with nothing to chew between my teeth.

I could not outrun her...

Alas, I could not catch the running lass,
For the huntress slows only for her desired suitor.
Perhaps I seemed too mundane and a little crass,
And I had no golden apples for which to distract her.

Being pessimistic and angry about life...

Life is not like a box of chocolates,
It's more like mass-produced chocolate chips.
Still it'll drain the money from all your pockets,
And won't even bother to leave a tip.

Life might just be like a bed of roses,
Though sans the flowers with just the torns.
It'll arouse and seduce you with its sultry poses,
But leave you alone with your internet porn.

Some sing about life being but a dream,
Well, it's a nightmare from which you can't wake up.
So I say row your damned boat, down that bloody stream,
But stop being so merry about life and just shut the fuck up!