they are not alone
Asahi Shimbun on benjo-meshi:
… (for some students) it is better to eat in a toilet than to be perceived as friendless and spotted dining alone in the school cafeteria.
what I confess I possess or am i just princessed?
Why, if God wants to reward the faithful with material possessions, are so many believers in foreclosure?
not my best moment
t.w. chews enthusiastically recorded michael’s memorial on her newly-acquired Hubstation and was looking forward to a cathartic viewing, only to come home to find her wall-mounted flat screen television off the wall.
laid low, smashed and flat-lined.
she tried to revive it, to no avail.
try talking to it, i said.
tv are you ok, so tv are you ok, are you ok tv?
the day after michael’s memorial
(over a yakitori bento lunch at Cuppage Plaza)
me: michael’s music is really timeless.
exec director: yes, very much like the eagles.
long, long pause.
me: perhaps you shouldn’t say things like that aloud.
we cannot afford the helicopter to see the big picture from the sky
The government told us to see the big picture. It is junk talk. Fact is, we ordinary villagers are firm in our conscience to protect our dignity and livelihoods. We cannot afford the helicopter to see the big picture from the sky. We only have one weapon: human rights and community rights. For us, community rights translates as ‘our home’, and human rights is simply equal to ‘you’re a human being, I’m a human being’ (mueng kor khon, ku kor khon)
solution for disagreement
Tens of thousands of Buddhist temples have been built, many practically next to each other, because the solution for disagreement among members of the congregation is to build another one.
facts can be dangerous
Liam Julian via aldaily.com:
It is worth remembering that facts can be dangerous, for when they are unmoored, untethered to past experience and a larger worldview, they can bolster the very theories and systems that violate decency.
why can’t you set your monkey free
In “The First Word,” her book about the origins of language, Christine Kenneally describes the scene when two apes trained in sign language first encountered each other: “What resulted was a sign-shouting match; neither ape was willing to listen.”
Dying Inside by Robert Silverberg
51 – … and we are free to go about our daily lives, buying cheap and selling dear.
62 – I dig busty women: I often need a soft place to rest my tired head. So often so tired.
114 – The world is a might hymn.
160 – I make lists now of the things I once could do that I can no longer. Inventories of the shrinkage.
161 – I search for the joy that I know lies buried in the awareness of decline.
190 – The present state of the world and the whole of life is diseased. If I were a doctor and were asked for my advice, I should reply: “Create silence.” (Søren Kierkegaard)
273 – But listen. Listen. I loved you, lady, in my clumsy way. I love you now. And you are lost to me forever.
289 – On some ultimate level I just don’t give a damm at all. That is what I am, I tell myself. This is what I now shall be. If you don’t like it, tough crap. Try to accept me. If you can’t do that, just ignore me.
289 – “As the truest society approaches always nearer to solitude, so the most excellent speech finally falls into silence. Silence is audible to all men, at all times, and in all places.” So said Thoreau, in 1849, in A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers.
302 – Silence will become my mother tongue. There will be discoveries and revelations, but no upheavals. Perhaps some color will come back into the world for me, later on. Perhaps.
books on telepaths
in the Preface to the 2009 edition of Dying Inside, Robert Silverberg lists these books on telepaths:
The Hampdenshire Wonder by JD Beresford
Odd John and Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon
Slan by A.E. van Vogt
The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester
And these short stories:
The Mindworm by C.M. Kornbluth
Journey’s End by Poul Anderson
Poor Superman by Fritz Leiber
do not be caught up
Yeo Toon Joo remembers his brother Anthony:
One underlying message of his: live simply, do not be caught up with Singapore’s and Singaporeans’ frenetic urge to acquire more.
Anthony Yeo:
You can experience the richness of life without the riches of life. You can experience abundant life without the abundance of life. You can experience health and well being without wealth.
what’s wrong with cheap?
Time Magazine: So what’s wrong with cheap, in a nutshell?
Ellen Ruppel Shell: Well, in a nutshell, it comes back to bite us in the ass.
the cds vanishes
A whopping 6,000 orders have been made for the “Sinfonietta” CD of Czech composer Leos Janacek in just one week after the release of “1Q84,” according to Sony Music Japan International Inc. The CD contains the version conducted by George Szell and performed by the Cleveland Orchestra — the same classical piece that the novel’s protagonist listens to.
The record company says it had shipped the same number of copies of the CD over the past 20 years since the album’s conversion into a CD in 1990 as following the release of “1Q84.”
Haruki Murakami
The role of writers, I believe, should be to create a story that can counter fundamentalism and certain kinds of mystique.
this is not a prophecy, just experience
this weekend, pastors in some churches, for lack of maturity, material and good manners, will inevitably make stupid comparisons between the glory of michael and the Glory of God.
Michael Jackson (1958-2009)
And no message could have
been any clearer
if you wanna make the world
a better place
take a look at yourself
then make the change
i could be like him in 20 years
in the afternoon, a solitary man made a rather uncommon request at the library.
he asked for a list of the winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
he had to explain what the Pulitzer Prize was and while the librarian punched and crunched, he said to her:
i used to follow but i’ve lost touch since i started working.
the 70s had some great music, i thought.
eventually, he settled for just 3 books and when he had nothing left to say became what he was before, what i am always.
a solitary man.
i am one of them
Christopher J. Ferguson (via aldaily.com):
That is the root of the matter. Too many people have chosen to believe in what they wish to be true rather than in what is true.
it is
yesterday a boy-man entered the train, found a spot between 2 carriages, squatted down and mumbled to no one in particular:
this is a good place.
