in favor of chinese flavor

on the day i was assigned at this desk to be in charge of the affairs with east asian nations, i had no idea how high the mountain i was to climb was, or how wide the landscape to be observed was. but then, from daily routines to occasional events, i learned the entire picture is wide enough to include a figure like myself. i gave all sorts of reasons to those kind of activities, and i feel neither guilty nor happy about it.

now while i continue to learn about the game as much as i learn about myself, i discover some interesting facts about chinese flavor. for instance, the most populous country in the world is also home for old, old cultures, with a tremendous sense of curiosity and established civilization. they have concepts for almost everything. they value face. and they symbolize complex things into daily matters, and turn daily matters into a complex of symbols.

those ideas try to invade my mind from day to day. leaving a small room to sneak into the thought of other things... luckily, our minds are made extremely hospitable to such investigation, and i feel small each time i realise this.

hometown of tammama

the mountain blue, the ocean, the sky, the coconut trees, the fried bananas and rice pourige. ah, the cool breeze that sneaks through the small holes on the wall...the yellow fish and other intricate animals you see there. i wish i could visit your island too, sister. this year when the tide is low and the wind is friendly. maybe we can sail to see the place called larantuka on the whale hunting season, wouldnt it be something memorable?

on that day

on that day you taught me some new words. so that i could understand, listen and speak in a language that you use. to me those terms are foreign. even though my daily work is dealing with foreign affairs, but those words you taught me are foreign in a different way. i shall not elaborate here what kind of foreign that was. but the point is, i am glad to learn about them. and i know now how to react or just to response when i hear, or read, somnolen, soporous, or even jamhuur...

thank you for sharing.

because of a few tales

because of a few tales, which i haven't been able to complete so far; and some paper assignments i have yet to accomplish by the weekend; as well as two or three additional pages i must prepare for an article in a magazine due in this month; plus one photo album that has become my responsibility to assemble since two years ago; i have neglected so many minutes i could have otherwise used for sitting here, and reading my new books, that of noam chomsky and some russian authors, playing my favorite pc games, rearranging and decorating my room, going to my hometown and visiting a library there with my dearest old friends, listening to vangelis or mark knopfler in the afternoon, sleeping until midday, eating instant noodles with egg, washing my shoes, watching quality movies avec mes amies, watering my small garden, chatting with little birds, singing some old tracks of bob dylan, tony bennett or just anything that jazz... dum de dum, tum te tum...

because of a few tales.

for travel's sake

in a writers' museum in edinburgh, november 2005, i found this sentence written on a wall, close to the ceiling of a small bathroom.

by a man who once traveled for travel's sake...

this sentence is short. but i can picture the man's face when he wrote it. and this impression stays in my head ever since.

this short sentence has since then traveled far within my mind. it escapes its original place in scotland. i took it home. i store it in my notebook. i reread it. and here it is. it comes again as a new page, for anyone who has interest in traveling for its own sake.

blinded by rainbow

...try to make a saint of him.

café au lait - part ii

and 24 hours later. friends come in bringing surprise. spicy sti, hardy (le japonais), the q's, bouncing bonnie, riando, ajeng as well as imran. all of them came into this place and suddenly my double expresso tastes somewhat richer.

happy new years!!! again!!!