Three Kingdoms

A few days ago, a colleague of mine passed me some music CDs which are a collection of Japanese anime theme songs. One of them happened to be the ending song for the Three Kingdoms animation series. For the benefit of those who are not familar, this part of China's turbulent era was set in 220-280 AD, and it describes the struggle for power and dominance between three kingdoms: Wei, Shu and Wu. Besides the gallant warriors and brilliant strategists of that time, the loyalty that existed between ruling warlords and their subjects, and undying friendships between bosom friends, are most profoundly and evidently set forth.

The song entitled The Wind as told by the Flowers, sung by the renown Japanese artist Tanimura Shinji for his soothing voice, is most beautiful. I've translated the lyrics of the first stanza from Chinese (which was translated originally from Japanese), though it does not bring out the full intended meaning as much as I'd like (still, I've tried my best):

The wind is howling over the sorrows and sadness of this world;

Within the dark and silent embrace of the constellations

If we lay bare our hearts, fountains of boiling scarlet

Will flow together into that gigantic, churning torrent.

Life is like a dream, so illusive and unpredictable;

Life is like a dream, so living and real.

Ah...who can tell?

Ah...even the flowers that shall wither tomorrow doesn't know!

and the ending goes like this...

The country is doomed, the citadel's breached,

And the grass is withered; but the wind continues its howling.

Ah...nobody knows the form of the wind;

Ah...the flowers shall convey the form of the wind.

Somehow, it's not hard to sense the emotional upheavals experienced by these ancients as they engaged in life and death battles, and witnessed the changing scenes around their lives of which they had no control over. It is so well expressed by the wind, which has no form but is capable of great changes and impact; and only the flowers' petals, swirling under its influence, is able to give it a visible expression, which otherwise would remain unseen by the human eye.

Ps: This will be the next Japanese song I'll be learning. Ganbatte ne!

Wanna Stay with You...

I've a hard time trying to think of a title for this article which I am about to write, so I turned on Winamp to listen to a little music, hoping to get some inspiration. The first song that came up was "Lion Heart" and the prelude was in English containing the above phrase. How appropriate, I thought!

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Well, today is the last day of stay for my nephew. He was unusually quiet as the evening approached, and when dinner was served, he did not display the good appetite he did the past couple of days. He just hastily finished his meal, went straight to my bedroom, lied on my bed and buried his face between the pillow and bolster. I don't really know what to make of it at first, thinking he was probably tired and want to take a nap before I send him home.

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It was only when my mum had cut some fruits and brought it to him, that I sensed something wrong when she delayed in coming out. When I went in to take a look, I saw that he was crying while mum was trying to console him. It turned out that he felt sad to have to leave us, but it can't be helped because the next day he needs to go back to school. Can't really blame him for reacting this way, because the past couple of days he's been sleeping in my room, and I'd shared my MP3 player with him, listening to those favourite Japanese songs, and singing him to sleep (I used to pat him to sleep sometimes when he was still a baby). I guess the bond between him and me is still there after all these years (sniff!).

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Anyway, I reminded him that he'll be going to junior high next year, and is no longer a boy but a teenager, so he should learn to be strong and independent. Compared to me, he is fortunate to have a grandma to visit and taste her cooking; when I was about a year old, my grandma already passed away so I didn't even get to see her in person. Moreover, it's not the last time he's coming to visit, and when he's more grown up he'll have the opportunity and freedom to visit us anytime. Those reasonings somehow fixed the leak.

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I guess it's never easy to say goodbye, especially for someone his age. And that'll only make our hearts to long to see him again. Until then...

Look who's coming over to stay...

My nephew (my sister's firstborn) had just finished his sixth grade final exams, and decided to put up at my place for a couple of days. His grandma (my mum), of course, is delighted. Standing at slightly over five feet and weighing about 110 pounds (he inherited his dad's heavy bone set physique), I can only wonder how much he's grown these years.

Back when he was just a newborn baby, he already weigh about 7.5 pounds (which is quite heavy for an asian). My sister used to deposit him at our place during the weekdays for my mum's safekeeping, as both she and my brother-in-law are working. I remembered rushing home from work just to take over the babysitting chore. Usually, I'd bring him out of the house just so my parents could enjoy some quite moments (he's a very noisy bundle then, but now he speaks little, engrossing himself with books or his favourite gameboy exploits - pokemon 'fireRed version', whatever that means).

I would normally choose a spot in front of shop houses, and let him sit on my lap watching all the bustling activities. He'd point at something that caught his attention, and I'd explain as best I could to him (I wasn't sure how much he'd understood, though, but who cares?). You may think that seemed like a waste of time, sitting there with a baby watching the crowd for an hour or so on ends. Well, maybe so, but hey, he's the first nephew I'd got back then, and nothing beats cuddling him close to me and observing his acute responses to the surrounding changes. At least it's better than letting the TV set do the babysitter's job, right? So it's no wonder that he's more attached to me than any other uncles he has.

And for that, I've taken a day off from work just so I can spend some quality time with him. I suppose that's the least an uncle should do, and he happens to be my favourite nephew (grin!).

Lion Heart

If you think the content of this article has to do with King Richard I and his famous crusades, then I'm sorry to disappoint you. I'm not an avid student of history, though I scored an 'A' for this subject in my junior high school years.

So what is it all about? Well, to begin with, it's a song (and a Japanese one too) by a group called SMAP which hit the top chart when it was released in 2000, and further popularized when one of the group member, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, starred in a TV series Food Fight which has this song at it's ending. That's where I heard it for the first time and thought it was quite a nice song, though I didn't think of buying the album for keepsake.

It was not until five years later (which is really only recently) during one of those pressurizing moments of work, that the music of this song suddenly just started playing in my head, I thought to myself, "Hey, I need to learn this song." And you know what? It took me just three weeks to be able to sing it by heart; not the shortest time record though (that'll have to be Teresa Teng's japanese rendition of the chinese song I Only Cared About You, which took me two weeks).

The lyrics of the beginning stanza is really nice (don't worry, I'll put it in English for all you readers):

You're always my medicine box

How do you heal me?

Laughing beside me, look at that smile

And when you cry, tears really do fall.

Call me sentimental, but I think these are the simple little things that makes life bearable and worthwhile, because they are more than words could describe, or wealth could obtain. Sometimes in our bid to secure a better future, we lose something more precious in the process; and the saddest part is we may not even realize it until it is too late. Perhaps it is good to once a while take stock of our lives, and see if we have neglected those who are dear to us, whose simple expressions of care and concern are the daily showers and sunshine of our souls, and learn to appreciate such unreserved kindness which enables us to love in return.

Yes, it takes courage to love. It takes a Lion Heart (pronounced Raion HAATO in japanese).

Birthday in Absentia

No, it's not my birthday today. It's someone else's...someone whom I've regarded as a friend, whose simple words and little gestures can bring a sense of delight even on a day when I feel down and out.

Last year on this day, I gave her my first present - a pencil portrait of the two main characters (Haku and Chihiro) from the movie 'Spirited Away', all neatly framed up, and a ticket that entitled her to a personal rendition of the song Itsumo Nando Demo (which took me almost two months to learn and sing by heart).

This year, I bought her a book (after letting her choose from one of three sealed envelopes to determine what she will be getting for her birthday; she picked the book). But she did not turn up for work since yesterday, neither did she notify me of her absence.

The only thing I could do was to leave the wrapped birthday gift on her desk before I left the office today. But she'll have to wait till Monday, though...and I won't be in office on that day (as I'm working on a project somewhere else).

I remember part of the song goes something like this:

sono mukou de kitto anata ni aeru

Well, I'm not going to explain what that means, but if you understand what true friendship really is, then no explanation is really necessary. As for now, I can only wonder...

Still, o-tanjyoubi omedeto gozaimashita (to my friend, that is...)

Anonymous Publicity

(Pun intended for the title above. Copyright of author here, unless someone already beat me to it - grin!)

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Since publishing my blogs on the web, I've received a number of comments from my visitors. Besides those sincere appreciations and encouragements that prodded me to write further, I noticed something rather odd, or should I say, disturbing...

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Generally, we all agree that freedom of speech and expression are two valuable assets that help people grow and interact without fear, if such freedoms are used responsibly. This is the reason why I've enabled the 'Allow anonymous comments' option in my blog - to spare my readers the pain of having to register as a member in order to share their thoughts about my articles. Unfortunately, to date I've received a few anonymous comments that made use of my blogs to link to their commercial websites. This is, to me, an unacceptable (if not unethical) practice. I have since deleted these from my blogs.

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Any person who cares enough to share their thoughts and emotions in their own blogspots should be treated with some degree of respect and dignity, instead of being exploited by others for personal monetary gains. A person's lifestory is a sacred sanctuary that should not be desecrated, because that lifestory has the potential of making a difference in another's life. My earnest advice to all my readers is, if you have a fair comment to post, by all means do so; but please don't include links to any website that carries commercial interests (I can make do without such publicity, thank you), because most assuredly comments of such nature will only end up in one place - the trash can.

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Now that I've make clear my point, I do hope that people who happen to drop in will find some inspirations from the things that I shared, and if you do find my blog a nice place, feel free to visit as often as you want to: I'll be most glad to play host to you.

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onegai shimasu!

Chain Reactions

Recently, our public utilities board announced a 7% price hike in the electricity charges, citing the reason being the increase in oil prices. This brings to mind a recent TV news broadcast on the devastating effects of hurricane Katrina on the state of New Orleans in the US. Being on the other side of the world (Asia), catastrophies of such nature in gigantic proportion seem so remote to us, even though many of us sympathized with the victims.

However, the truth is we are living in an ever-shrinking earth, in which the repercussions of what happens in one part of the world, may just ripple its way across the globe. Such is the case with hurricane Katrina, and also the more recent Rita. Fears of oil fields stopping production due to the foul weather has sent the already high petroleum prices soaring further. Inadvertently, all industrialized countries which rely heavily on oil import felt the economic backlash. And once utilities and public transport charges go up, the cost of daily necessities of life will follow. One thing leads to another, just like a chain reaction...

So what important lesson does the Katrina episode has to teach us? On a worldwide scale, we are not isolated, neither disaffected by what happens to other people. There is a need to respond to such incidents instead of choosing to be morbid or indifferent, because one day when such a thing happens in our backyard, it may be our turn to depend on others to give us a helping hand. Closer to home, each of us need to realize that we cannot take things for granted, as if what we have and enjoy today will always be there indefinitely. The tides may change, and then suddenly we'll wake up to the fact that what we think we're entitled to, isn't.

Everyday from now on, we should learn to treat people nicely, especially those who care enough about us to share their lives with ours. It's better this way, don't you think so?

dozo okarada o taisetsu ni.