Posted on 20 October 2008 @ 01:34 in Personal
I’ve been lazy about updating my blog. It’s not that I haven’t found anything of interest or intrigue to write about. Actually, there’ve been lots, maybe too much going on in my head, that I can’t begin to sort myself out. Also, I still have a nasty habit of thinking and not doing (or writing).
It’s an exciting week ahead, especially next Saturday, when Preeta Samarasan will be appearing in two events - the MPH Breakfast Club in the morning, and Readings @ Seksan’s in the afternoon. It will be exactly a year since she last read at Seksan’s. I’m looking forward to seeing her, and asking her to sign my copy of her book.
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Posted on 2 October 2008 @ 12:01 in Personal
17 was 33 years ago, but it was a significant year, not just because that was the year Janis Ian released what was to become the anthem for 17s all over the world, but because that was the year I promised myself I would never marry.
I don’t remember the actual event (if any) that caused me to make that promise, but I remember a later event that got me to re-affirm the promise.
It was 6 years later, and I was visiting my aunt and family. Her eldest son, his wife and their infant son lived with her (or was it the other way round?). I remember the baby cried and my cousin yelling at his wife cuz the baby was crying. And a while later, they found the baby playing with some AA batteries, and he yelled at his wife again for leaving the batteries where the baby could get hold of them, and maybe put them in his mouth and choke himself.
I looked at this domestic scene and told myself I’d never have it happen to me. And the only way not to have it happen was to remain single.
Which is what I am till this day.
Wow … this is the first time I’m writing about it, and reading it, that sounds like such a silly reason. But I had, and still have, other more valid (to me) reasons for remaining single.
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Posted on 8 September 2008 @ 16:55 in Personal, Writing
I keep remembering something Robert Raymer said at the July 2008 MPH Breakfast Club event. He said we should write for ourselves before anything else (not his exact words but what I remember of it). He said a lot of the time we are posting comments on other people’s blogs when we should be writing for ourselves. The time spent reading and posting on other people’s blogs should be spent writing for ourselves.
During my recent excellent panda adventure trip, I wrote most nights into my AlphaSmart Neo, which would be my personal offline journal. I also posted on the Pandas Unlimited group on Flickr. I’ve been home almost three weeks, and I’m not doing very well with posts I mean to write about the trip. Why is that? Is it because I have already written about the trip, altho not here, but elsewhere? In which case, maybe I should just repost what I have written elsewhere? I could do that for a start, as a way to jumpstart the posts I have in my mind that’s exclusively for here, and not elsewhere.
No, it’s not going to work. Different time, different place, different frame of mind …
*goes to bang head against wall*
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Posted on 15 August 2008 @ 00:24 in Personal, Reading, Stress Busters, Travels
Memories are not preserved in photographs, but in the heart and mind.
I’m on my last day of what Marilou calls “Chet’s Excellent Adventure”. I’ve spent 11 days helping out at the Bifengxia Panda Base, followed by two full days of Olympic panda watching at the Beijing Zoo.
I’ve taken nearly 600 pictures and at least 10 videos on my humble Nikon CoolPix 5900. Maybe not as much as I should but then, all I have in it is a 2GB memory card.
And then, on this very last day of my excellent adventure, I miss the two most important photography moments of the whole trip. Especially for the second one, in perfect hindsight, I realised I should’ve shot on video since the place was too dark and flash was not allowed.
It was then I realised that even without the photographs, I still have those moments etched in my heart and my mind. And I can still share them not in pictures but in words.
The first “missed” moment
Keeper Liu Juen was out in the public display with a pan of panda wowotou (bread) for 7 of the 8 Olympic pandas. I was not aware she had gone out with it, since the pandas were all asleep the last time I looked in on them (from the window of the keepers’ control room). So when I heard her voice, I went to look out the window, just in time to see her lead the pack of hungry pandas, trip, fall and get swarmed by the 7 black and white furry cuties. By the time she surfaced, the pan was empty. Usually, she would lead them on a merry jog before rewarding them with the wowotou, but today, they got their treats without having to do anything much.
The second “missed” moment
I’d asked to be allowed to watch the pandas come in after a day of public display. So at 6:00 p.m., Liu Juen said “we’re bringing in the pandas” and beckoned me to join them downstairs.
Three of the pandas were already in.
Duo Duo was in an enclosure of her own, and remained there even after the others had come in. She’d not been eating her bamboo and the keepers had kept her out of public display so that she could concentrate on some serious eating.
Feng Yi and Huan Huan were together in a second enclosure, where they’d undergone some training earlier this afternoon. The door to their enclosure was opened and they were led out to go into the big common enclosure. OMG, I was in the same space with two giant pandas and without any bars between us! One of them, sensing a strange presence (me), turned left towards me instead of right towards the big common enclosure, but was immediately blocked by Liu Juen and redirected in the right direction.
Then the hollering began. Now, the three keepers are all from Sichuan, and like people from Sichuan, they are LOUD! Even in normal conversation, they sound like they’re having a serious argument. So their lungs are in excellent condition for hollering for the other 5 bears to come back in. Four came in almost on cue, but the fifth, Tao Tao, lagged behind but finally showed up. The door behind him slid shut for the day.
In a moment, all 7 were lined up squatting in front of the divider bars. I’d had problems shooting without flash - I was told no flash because it would affect their eyes - so I decided not to take any photographs but just enjoy the moment.
Down the corridor, I saw keeper Gao Qiang approaching with a metal container. It was full of wowotou. As soon as the pandas saw him, their line broke as they stood up and jostled to get the wowotou. At one end, Chui Chui did not join in the “fight” - clever girl, as she knew the wowotou would come to her without her having to fight for it.
Soon, there was no more jostling as each panda settled back to munch on their piece of wowotou.
Looking back, I regretted not taking any pictures, and forgetting that I can take videos instead. I tried to console myself that even if I had video’d the moment, it would’ve come out too grainy. Then I realised a far more perfect recording machine than a digital camera - my heart and my mind. I may not have physical evidence of this precious moment, and my heart and mind may not have the capability to print out a hard copy, but the moment has been “recorded” and saved for playback anytime I wish.
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