A Homeless Blog

Sydney

2008-12-16T23:55:00.002+09:00

Very good first impression of Sydney

How do I stop?

2008-03-27T02:55:00.003+09:00

How do i stop...
working so hard;
moving forward,
accelerate so fast...

How do i sleep...
with so many thoughts;
mostly aren't mine,
so hard I fought...

How do i cry...
with no more tear;
these eyes so dry,
staring all year...

It's been how long...
to climb atop;
oh I don't know,
how do i stop?

Hans Rosling and statistics

2007-08-20T12:59:00.000+09:00

Interesting presentation from Hans Rosling from TED website.

(Reference - http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/92)

After the Rain

2007-05-03T03:25:00.000+09:00

a strange feeling
when it's rainy
so much refreshing
yet so lonely

Sakura in Kanazawa

2007-04-28T00:15:00.000+09:00

Sakura in Kanazawa

A little pond in Kenroku-en

Reflection!

Yes. I went to Japan again. And, here is a posting again after a long, long time. I have much to write, but no time to write it. Just photos. I took 2,121 of them. Only a few good ones to share...here and there.

Crying? No Problemo...

2006-12-31T15:10:00.000+09:00

Similar?

2006-12-23T03:19:00.000+09:00

I just find it interesting. That's all :)

Happy Father's Day

2006-12-05T23:35:00.000+09:00

It's been a while I haven't written anything here. Time has not been much on my side. I start to wonder how other people manage time. To me, time has been scarce. Work, work, and work seem to take most of it. A meeting with friends is not an easy thing to come by...or it's coming by too often with different friends.

Anywho... Today is Father's Day. So, I really wanna say only two things here:
(1) Long Live the King.
(2) I love you, Dad.

Pink Lotus in the Morning

2006-10-30T00:52:00.000+09:00

Just a pink lotus in front of my house. Just found out about it one morning. And, just wanna put something nice on my blog ^^

Sleepless Night

2006-10-14T02:36:00.000+09:00

Seek space
Short breath
Stiff neck
Lose faith

So weary
Voiceless fight
So sleepy
Sleepless night

Turn Back The Clock

2006-10-12T00:29:00.000+09:00

Somehow, this one makes me smile :D

Seasons Change

2006-09-18T02:12:00.000+09:00

I don't know how long it's been that I haven't written about a movie...maybe a year. Anyway, the movie I'm writing about is "Seasons Change: because the weather often changes" ...it's one of the few good Thai movies that you don't wanna miss.

Synopsis: Pom, a 15-year-old boy in love, follows the love of his life - Dao - into a music school with this talented drum skills. The thing is, Dao doesn't even know him. Plus, his father thought he's in a medical school (of the same name). While looking at Dao, who is very serious about becoming a great violinist, Pom met Aom - a girl who loves music but not very skilled at any of the instrument. Eventually, Pom will have to choose... what will he choose?

My Take: At first, I thought it's one of those teenage-love-dilemma movie. It turns out that I was wrong. This is one of the best Thai movie that I've seen. The details have been carefully paid attention to. The music has been coherent and in harmony with the story. And, the jokes has been just funny. No more, no less.

The movie starts with a scene where Pom looks at Dao, liking her in secrecy. He followed her to the music school by lying to his dad that he's going to a medical school. He asked Aom (and her father, whom is his dad's friend) to lie to his dad about him studying music.

Pom even follows the 'love of his life' to an orchestra band, even it means he'll just play timpani (which he thinks it's boring). But that makes him become closer to Aom, who plays equally-boring cymbal just to get to listen to the music she loves.

One day, he heard that Dao wants to get a scholarship to study abroad...Budapest. He suddenly become enthusiastic about going there too, as there can be only two students getting the scholarship. He practices nights and days, but the scholarship application requires his dad's signature. That's when his dad know about the truth, when his teacher called and talked to him.

His dad became furiously silent. Pom thought it was Aom, who told his dad about the school. They fought.

Towards the end, Pom's dad comes to peace with him with his teacher's help. Aom and Pom become good friends again. And, Pom realize that he likes music. Dao gets to go to Budapest, and Pom chooses to stay.

The movie ended with happiness, though it's not something like a "happy ending" type. Pom was the one who haven't choosen. Not girls, but his path in life. Dao already chose to walk toward her dream, her success. Aom chose to follow her love of music, though she cannot excel it. The key is Pom and his way of walking the path of his life.

In all, I'm impressed with the movie. It's very well in terms of techniques, theme, and storyline. It reflects very much the situation many Thai youngsters are facing nowadays.

Note: photos from http://www.seasonschangethemovie.com/

Why Japan?!?

2006-09-12T00:18:00.000+09:00

If there's one thing I'm crazy about, people around me would be able to tell right away that it's anything about Japan. Well, I'm not crazy about anything Japanese...but I admit it's almost everything Japanese. Though I can hardly understand a Japanese dialogue.

I like Japanese food, Japanese movie, Japanese song, Japanese etc. Whenever I watch a Japanese movie, I feel sentimental. Perhaps, I was a Japanese kid in my previous life. Someone even said why won't I find a Japanese girlfriend. Good question, but I don't understand it myself why. I guess it's just irrelevant.

Well, I want to go back and spend some time in Japan again. It was about a year ago that I spent 3 months there. I can say that it was the best 3 months of my life...being so free of everything.

But well... if I spend at least a year there, it'd cure my craziness :P

Eve

2006-09-04T22:49:00.000+09:00

Actually, there's nothing to update. I just feel like haven't written anything here for so long. Still don't know what to write, but feel like I shouldn't leave the last blog on for too long :P

The question is...

2006-08-14T01:14:00.000+09:00

I happened to pass by the movie "Alfie" today. Just some part of it. And a question made me pause and think for a long time.

"The question is...what do you want to do to the rest of your life?" An old man asked.

I guess it's the sort of question I've been asking myself over and over again in the past year, and I haven't been able to answer it to a satisfactory level. It can be said that I've done so much to prepare myself for a successful life. The thing is...I'm not so sure if I really want a successful life. After some decades of following the "appropriate" path, the happiness promised is not seen anywhere nearby.

So... "Now what?"

Population

2006-07-30T02:33:00.000+09:00

Well... I'm not particularly well-prepared for today topic. Really. In fact, I just read the news last week about Thailand's population growth rate may reach 'zero' by year 2015. The news made me think...gee...would the cause of human extinction be infertility?

Y'know. I've heard so much from friends and acquaintances about how hard people get pregnant these days. Good friends of mine had tried for so many years to finally get pregnant. And I heard that it's harder for a couple in developed countries to have a baby.

Anyway, I checked the trends and forecasts from Wikipedia. Here they are:

Population in most places are expected to slow down eventually...for whatever reason it is. And the growth rate is constantly declining over the years, and they are expected to decline further.

[Thanks for statistics from Wikipedia.com]

My hypothesis is that these people are too stressful, particularly because of work and /or competition. My crazy imagination is that, if world peace is achieved and there's no poverty, the world population will eventually come to a point of decline.

Maybe human won't kill each other to death with wars or nuclear.
Maybe human won't be eliminated from this world through a very serious and deadly disease.
Maybe the inability to reproduce is the thing...and we will become extinct no matter how.
And, maybe that's just the way how nature works.

[Note: A lot more on Doomsday argument from Wikipedia - a much richer and more thought out ideas]

{updated: August 1, 2006}
Yai, thanks for the comment na. I hope it's ok to put your comment here...

Premise #1: if world peace is achieved and
Premise #2: If there's no poverty

The conclusion was surely drawn from a very crazy imagination : )

I don't think it's the inability to reproduce per se...
I mean we're not genetically altered to be incompetent you know what I mean?
but it's the life-style choice or (not so much of a choice for some)

BUT the point is...
It all happened before (but dued to something else)
If we look at the number of the baby-boomers today, we'll see a pattern.
Onces the population goes down significantly, people will start to do something.

Some countries even paid you if you reproduced right?

love to talk more but gotta go out now...will come back to check your blog again later na.

And I like to add something, not really a response to Yai's comment, but rather another view I got from a Israeli biologist-turned-HighSchool-teacher (who got a PhD in some kind of myth-literature), whom I met on the plane from Chiang Mai. (wow...that's long!)

I told him about this crazy idea, and he said it is almost impossible. From history, when a civilization is in peace and prosperity, people just reproduce! Hmm...that makes sense. In that case...it's very unlikely that human population will gradually shrink to zero. What you (anybody) think?

Better Busy, Better

2006-07-23T01:45:00.000+09:00

Every time I complain through my blog, I think I have an obligation to tell everyone when I feel better. Otherwise the world would think I'm still miserable when I actually recovered.

Well... I do start to feel better now. Not that every problem resoved, but I think I've come to (to an extend) make peace with it. Actually, with myself. And I'm getting busier now with work (not sure if that's good or bad :P).

I actually considered writing on 'population growth' issue (doesn't sound like me, does it? :P), but I guess I'm keeping this one short for now ;)

Will...gone

2006-07-21T00:31:00.000+09:00

Notice: Once in a while, I just complain here. And today I will do it again. And. It's gonna be about me, me, me. So it's ok if you guys skip this one <;

Now... I have a feeling that, recently, my will has been weak. A will to do anything...to work, to talk, to walk, even to write this blog. I'm still trying to find out why, though. Maybe I've been writing too much each day I don't wanna do anymore of it. Maybe.

Well, don't worry. I'm not that bad yet. I just feel that time is scarce. In fact, I feel that I have less time than others. That's odd, isn't it?

I'm just writing here and there. Ideas scattered. Not making sense. Well, just bear with me a little more if you already read up to this point.

Maybe I just need a getaway. That would probably temporarily solve it. Or a massage. Hmm...that won't do anything much.

Anyway, I don't think there's a quick fix to this. Maybe it'll just go away someday. Maybe I'll be like this forever. Maybe I'll just get used to it. Maybe...Maybe...

Cha-am Trip

2006-07-16T21:46:00.000+09:00

It was a long weekend, and my uncle and his (daughter's) family visit us from China. So, we decided to bring them to the beach. My cousin's 7-year-old daughter, Tian- was in the sea for the very first time. She appeared to be very excited...and happy...to play in the sea all day.

As for me, I didn't do much...except driving around, eating, and taking photographs. Not exactly a type of my usual trip with friends. But hey...it's family business. One should contribute more or less ;)

P.S. Sorry I haven't been writing lately. My only excuse is 'work' ...but I guess the real reason is that I don't want to write 'complain' anymore (or at least for a big while). Don't really want to bring it to the sad-side :P So...I guess I'll bring it back to food & travel soon. Because philosiphy and economics are also boring and unpopular :P

The Bridge

2006-06-19T01:25:00.000+09:00

Rama VIII Bridge - A view from the cruise ^^

(p.s. this blog is becoming a photo-blog, isn't it?)

From the 15th...

2006-06-06T02:23:00.000+09:00

It was from the 15th floor of the Shangri-La Hotel - the one by the river.
And, it was the longest 2 seconds without a tripod!

I feel like an evening

2006-06-01T00:10:00.000+09:00

I feel like an evening,
stuck in the traffic.
Just like the sun,
looking so dramatic.

The day has passed,
the day was long.
Like a music video
without its song.

Looking against the sun
not so bright,
But somehow, strangely,
my eyes cannot fight.

Like feeling sleepy,
Like dreaming,
Like lost items,
Like an evening.

Nothing else to do !?!

2006-05-23T22:42:00.000+09:00

Well...my life has been busy,
but so-so.
No exciting story,
just photos.

A mixture of things.
Flower...traffics...
Even a ceramic kid...
But mostly, the basics.

This thing is getting too long,
and pretty much non-sense.
Better stop it now,
or at my reputation's expense :P

My Niece !?!

2006-05-19T03:06:00.000+09:00

Well...her name is Maggie. My sister and her husband just adopted a 3-month old Basset Hound into their family. Isn't she cute?

Baan Talay Dao, Hua-Hin

2006-05-07T23:11:00.000+09:00

I just come back from Hua-Hin today. A one-night seemed to be a little too short for the family trip, but I had a good time. The photos can be found here (my flickr album). Most of the photos were taken in Baan Talay Dao - the resort we stayed in.

Evening by the parking lot

O...Orchid

Chill Chill

Somewhere by the beach