Another Wet Day

It is now officially flooding. The rain has not stopped since Feb 11th. The humidity is almost 100 percent. The laundry is suffering and I no longer have clean clothes. I think everybody has enough of my whining about the weather.

The office provided the staff rubber boots last night. Those are D’s. I doubt they have size as small as mine so I guess I will just have to swim my way home.

No plane has landed for five days in a row now. They would try to fly from Manila, but none has managed to land so far. The pilots would circle above the airport and then fly back to Manila. They said it is because of the visibility problem caused by the rain and fog, also by the length of the runway makes it almost impossible to land the plane in this weather.

It does make me appreciate the hot weather in Medan. Nowhere is like home, isn’t it.

Anyway, they said the weather should be clearing up by the end of the week. Yay!

Chinese New Year at the House of Red

Chinese New Year last week at home was as festive as usual. Lion dance group came and performed. Guests came for the show and communal lunch and dinner. My red pockets were at minimal amount – tough personal finance generally. But things are going to be good this year so hopefully will make up for it next year.  

mini mandarin oranges symbol of luck and gold

table setting at the house of red

living room of the house of red

main foyer of the house or red

lion dance group arriving

getting ready for the show

almost set

ready to roll

 lion dance at the house or red

more dance

 acrobatic moves

Where? When? Why?

I had been gone for a while. Below are my excuses. Please read on …

Shopping for Chinese New Year goodies till I dropped and burned a big hole in my wallet

Helping my mother decorate the house with red lucky trinkets – she was indecisive by nature, so after weeks of decorating, she still took them on and off, which was very annoying

Speeding up unresolved issues at work so I could leave for holiday in peace and come back in one piece. I actually worry people at work are going to forget about me because I have never gone anywhere for this long

Chinese New Year party at home lasted for 10 hours. Photos will be coming tomorrow - I forgot to bring my camera today

Trips to 5 airports in 4 different cities, 3 countries in 2 days’ time was not a pleasant trip. It left me exhausted and jetlagged for days

When got to Legaspi City, Philippines, we took road trip to whale shark watching. That would be two more days of instability without internet connection

D got serious food poisoning and we spent two days in hospital. Again, no internet connection

Now I am settled down nicely (hopefully, no more surprises there) and ready to begin posting and sharing. And armed with D’s office internet connection, things will be back to normal, I think. I’ll never know. Life is full of surprises I can hardly keep up with …  

Handwriting and Character

You have a pen in hand but you are showing something of your own character. The very style of one handwriting is an element in the determination of character. The way in which a man dashes of a letter is very much the way in which a man uses his voice. There is a modulated ease in the tones of the handwriting. Without professing to be experts like Messrs. Chabot and Netherclift, we can certainly gather a general idea of character from the handwriting. A minister was commenting on a very strong dispatch in the presence of his sovereign. “The language is strong” said the statement. “but the writer does not mean it; he is irresolute.” “Whence do you see irresolution?” said the King. “In his n’s and g’s, please your Majesty.” Only it is to be said that a great deal of humbug is often talked by people who profess to be judges of handwriting. I showed a professor of calligraphy a letter which I had received. He took a very unfavorable view of the handwriting. It was the handwriting of a man without learning, without genius, without feeling. “And now, Sir,” I said, “will you look at the signature?” The letter was written by Lord Macaulay. – London Society

From The New York Times , Published January 23, 1881

Lord Macaulay was a nineteenth century English poet, historian, politician and Member of Parliament, who wrote extensively as an essayist and reviewer, and on British history.

I had a difficult time today in accessing some cash reports handed in by administrative staff, prompted me to do some quick research on the topic. Some of the handwritings I encountered with today was quite illegible. It is rather upsetting to see how ones can be ingnorant and not realizing that when work to be handed to employer has to reflect the very best, if not in content, most certainly in appearance.

Maybe the article quoted above did prove that handwriting and character were believed to be irrelevant in judging one’s character. But in my personal view, it does. Handwriting says a lot on somone’s self expression, aside from the fact that this particular skill will be obsolete in fifty year’s time, with the falling prices of personal computer and printers. If one cannot express oneself clearly in simple handwritten notes, what else is there to be said? Written language along with spoken language are inseparable variables of linguistics. They are the very nature that make us the most special creature in the planet.

Bank Mandiri – Colonial Style

Last week I paid a visit to a local bank. I took pictures using my phone – hence not very good quality, as always. This bank is located in a very old Dutch-style building. The bank has not changed the interior of the building and make use almost all of the old structure.

It is an amazing building. They even retain the wooden panels for windows, colourful mosaic tile on the floor and even the ducting system is not changed. I just love it.

Cherry Blossom

With all the cost cutting going on around work, I managed to come up with a cheap solution for the shop decoration. I snapped a dead mango tree somewhere, painted it red. Using glue gun, I added some fake flowers. Add some cheap lanterns. And some decorative bread buns for personal touch. Voala … festive and cheap.

Driving Medan Style

What to expect when stopping at traffic light while driving in Medan, Indonesia

Somebody is definitely trying to sell you some water, cigarettes or snacks and toys. This is an amateur act by the salesboys and easiest to rid off, you just wave your hand to dismiss them.

A group of underage children will come and crowd around the car to ask for money. You can rid of this by using the tactic above.

Somebody will try to do a one-minute sing-a-long show and of course, the entertainment is not free. You will have to pay if you appeared to be listening.

One will even hurry with a feather duster in hand and give your car a quick brush and then ask money for the vigorous labour. I am voting this as my most hated stunt because I can’t get them to not do it. Of course I sit scared in my car, praying the light will turn green soon.

There is one fellow who walked around the main streets carrying a plastic bag full of something (I never have the priviledge to peek what’s inside). When the cars stop, he will approach the fancy cars and ask for money. If any refuses to give, he will scratch the car using some tin or he will put nuts and bolts on the hood of the car which sometimes ruin the paint of the car.

So far, I have not heard of burglary or carjacking at traffic light yet. I think that’s a good thing.

Fortune Cat

The beckoning cat seen in variety of Chinese / Asian owned businesses around the world is called Maneki Neko. In English it is called a lot of names as Beckoning Cat, Welcoming Cat, Lucky Cat or even Fortune Cat. Contrary to my original belief, it is actually a Japanese origin, supposed to bring luck to the owner. It takes a shape of a bobtail beckoning with upright paw with some sort of decoration around the neck, such as collar, bib, neckerchief or a bell. Most precious ones are made from ceramic or porcelain. Mine, as cheap as I am, is made from plastic pretending to be solid gold.

 The legend of the lucky cat is a story from 17th century from a temple at outskirt of Tokyo. The temple was rundown and kept by a very poor priest. He shared what he had with his pet cat, Tama. One day, a wealthy and important man was caught in the middle of thunder storm while hunting and he took refuge under a big tree near the temple.

That was when he noticed a cat beckoning him to come inside the temple yard. He was so curious that he left his shelter to have a closer look at the cat. At that very moment the tree was struck by lightning. He then became friends with the priest and showered them with gifts. He also used his influence to bring many wealthy people to the Temple, and it soon became very prosperous.

When Tama died,  he was buried in the Goutokuji Temple’s cat cemetery with respect and love. A statue was made in his likeness, reflecting the beckoning, raised paw that had brought so much good fortune and prosperity to the owner.

Since then, people began placing figurines of cats with raised paws in their properties, hoping that it would bring the same kind of prosperity into their own lives, as that Tama had brought to the priest’s.

This post is dedicated to Adit

Chick Flick Weekend

A visit to the local DVD shop, unknowingly and innocently I picked up these movies. Don’t do as I did. I am no movie critic, but these are bad!

I was looking for some nice chick flicks. Turned out that they were a waste of time, and a waste of money. I am sorry, Jessica. I am sorry, Amanda and I am sorry, Jessica. Nothing personal, but you all sucks in these.

Can anyone recommend me some good new flicks?

Melting Pot of Religion: Are We There Yet?

Pelopor wrote an interesting post on religious beliefs and practices, which raised a couple of issues on how I perceived the issues myself. As imperfect as we are, we naturally apply double standards on how we view others’ religions and how their own religious practices affect us. We accept those who are different from us, as long as they are not too different. We are totally not comfortable with those who conflict with our own beliefs. Of course this does not apply to everybody, maybe just me.  

Months ago, I came across an open forum on Indonesian Yahoo discussion group where people were sending religion-related hate messages. Whose religion was stronger, whose was the more ridiculous. I was shocked and scared to my very core. No wonder these people were killing each other! They were using the worse possible languages to describe others’.

There are three points to be worked on if things are to improved in this area; tolerance, understanding and respect. Tolerance is the easiest, we just need to live with the fact that our religion or belief is not the only one existed. Others do have the same rights to carry on their religious affair, aside of the fact that whether or not their practices conflict our own.

Understanding is more of a technical term in my point of view. To gain deeper understanding on roots of different faiths and religions not only testing the intellectual nature of somebody, but definitely requires logic and unconditional-unbiased-straightly objective views.

Respect is to do both things above together. Harder than it sounds, but it is the ultimate goal for all countries that act as a melting pot of different faith and religions. Indonesia, sadly to say, is still struggling at step one – tolerance. But things are definitely looking up.

Why are these so important is that if not carried out thoroughly, it will cost the minority beliefs and practices their future, which finally lead them to their extinction. People will be afraid to nurture their beliefs because they will be deemed as strange and non-mainstream. The lack of government support also not helping in the preservation of these unique individual expression. Do we want to live in the world of conformity where everybody is everybody? Or do we want our world to be as colourful as it can be where everybody is somebody? Interesting, isn’t it.