Beijing social community enforcer

Beijing has groups of volunteers in Chaoyang qunzhong keeping an eye and ear out for anti social behaviour in neighbourhood like illicit drug seller,prostitution rings or criminal activities.thats social activism at grassroot level to ensure public security n public decency.just wish there is civic consciousness like this in malaysia.public space vandalised by crude graffiti,public facility vandalised like lifts,throwing rubbish in public sculptures n dumping toxic waste in river n lakes.malaysia is boleh land,everything also can. i was eating in coffee shop with plastic partition for social distancing.the young chinese guy on the other side suffer a malaysian syndrome called shaking legs.his sharp pointy shoe kept kicking my feet.im sure he knows there is a diner opposite him.what is the young man trying to do? it was on the tip of my tongue to reprimand his rudeness but i bit my tongue not to create a scene n spoil my breakfast. maybe he has early onset Parkinson disease,i empathise.the shaking leg syndrome affects movie viewimg when im engrosssed in a cinema when suddenly mr shaking leg has spasms.kicking back of my seat.this vibratimg free massage chair rivals the osim chair.now why dont mr shake leg shakes leg at home.public nuisance. nothing beats what i saw at Kiara park.some idiot literally leaves shit for others.i was exercising at park when i ran across a large brown dried leaf near the workout machine with a blob of fresh human shit deposited on the dried leaf.it was gross,disgusting n vile.its public indecency.its unhygienic.couldnt the gross malaysian hide behind a tree,dig a hole in the soil and bury his brown fertiliser in it.at least,the tree will thank him for the organic fertilser.this malaysian rivals the monkeys in public indecency as they go about fucking in broad daylite but shitting on leaf leaves nothing to the imagination when i went home,i quickly threw away the same dried leaf in my ikebana display.that could be some guys toilet paper.yucks a website should be set up to display malaysians award for shocking lack of civic consciousness.thats why the beijing chaoyang anti social club is good idea.i recall how my sichuan tour guide gave me a shock of my life when the handsome young guy james suddenly cleared his throat and spitted a glob of phlegm in the pristine snow on which a few seconds earlier i had lain on it to take a selfie.beijing should set anti smoking and anti spittimg laws.gross like no open shitting in parks.

Good friends,good food,good time

a wise buddhist monk says "when you love life,life loves you back".im blessed with recovery of health,supported by good friends,and able to enjoy reading,painting n cooking,able to exercise outdoors.im contented with what life is. yesterday,i caught up with oldhigh school mate i havent seen for over 40 years.revive old memories of younger days when in high school,we did silly things together.love swimming again after not being in pool for two years in lockdown.her bathroom is open air,sunlite streams in n you can view trees outside.i like balinese bathrooms. my friend took the trouble to cook delicious devil curry,and even shaped the meatballs into eyeballs with cheese and olives,she had a tough life growing up but has now made it in life after career as legal adviser to investment banking and now a businesswoman.im happy she generously still cares for old friends.but im saddened to hear my high school friend Wee Wee passed away from cancer last year in the US.sometimes we forget life is short.with covid and cancer this year,i feel ive a second lease on life.i do my own thing and not bothered by what others think.live for ypurself,not others.love life and life will love you back

Wonderful Sunday

this evening my bff hosted the halloween get together.there was so much good food.chicken devil curry which was so hot n spicy,the imaginative spaghetti with eyeball,roast duck,skeleton salad,pistachio ice cream.im so happy i got to swim 20 laps in her swimming pool.she has an outddor shower cum jacuzzi in the bathroom.so relaxing.i am blessed wiyh good food n friends

Simple lunch

i cooked buckwheat spaghetti bolognaise with chicken mince n bell peppers,a glass of hazelnut milk andba dessert of weightwatchers strawberry jelly with greek yoghurt n blueberries.portion control cause my good friend is cooking devils curry for dinner tonite.

Malaysia Dama

Love zumba

Hot fun zumba at park

Cooking a spooky trifle tonite

halloween is the western version of chinese hungry ghost festival when all hell breaks loose. should spooky trifle thrill with skulls n eyeballs set in bloody jelly,custard n swiss roll.ghouls n all creepy things coming tomorrow.

Gift of the gab

French president Emmanuel Macron has the gift of the gab.when US showed its remorsefulness for underhand deals with selling nuclear subs to Australia,that was reneging its deals with France,it created a rift in bilateral american french ties. macron remarked " Trust is like love.it must be earned" Spot on truism. "Trust is like love. Declarations are good but proof is better." ouch ,the americans did you get it ,that must hurt,aint it

Aging into awakening

watched the interview of a book review by dr connie zweig called aging into awakening.she talked on the memory loss of her aged father but somehow they never lost touch with the inner self thats aroused by music.the memory of his love for bossa nova brought him.back good memories of his younger self.there is a power to music that people never forget. she also listed changes to lifestyle n taking supplements to reverse memory loss.but the best part was how exploring our higher consciousness in our practice leads us to let go of our attachment to our roles and connect with the collective consciousness of the universe.when i think about it,my dialogue with the tree whicb manifested its life force on my brink of despair gave me renewed awakening to the power of the higher consciousness and our interconnection to the universe. i hope to get her book but the range of reading material in msian bookshops is deplorably limited to self help,business n romamce.im also following the talk by master shi heng yi of shaolin europe temple on how i could revitalise,reenergise and recuperate after two operations n hospitalization this year.gonna take it one step at a time.manage to improve stamina by exercising n yoga.now revamp diet by eating less and health food.i feel well again n my stamina is better than a decade ago.im making steady progress to regain my vitality.

Mandarin vs cantonese language

the tonal shifts of hanyu pin yin makes westerners find learning mandarin an uphill task.it brings to mind an old british friend Sarah Mary Fong who married her Malaysian Chinese husband who was a food technologist but worked in Schumberger later as the pay was good.he was away for long periods and she single handedly brought up her family whilst learning to live in a chinese area in Cheras.she was adaptable n fun.she told her hilarious story of speaking Cantonese to her mother in law.she had bought the famous chilli crab to let her in laws to eat.putting the crabs on the kitchen table,she hollered to her deaf mom in law in her best Cantonese, Nai nai, lay sik hai.now the rest of family quickly burst into tears and corrected her mispronunciation. sik hai in cantonese has a vulgar meaning in wrong tone.she invited to old lady to literally " eat Pussy*,instead of crabs.an embarrassimg faux pax just adding an extra word can change its meaning entirely.my son recounted the story of his mechanic,Ah Keong which means Strong guy in chinese.a little kid follow his grandpa to the mechanic workshop and heard grandpa calling Keong Chai to the mechanic.the little guy followed suit by adding an extra word Keong gan Chai to it and got a tight slap on his face by grandpa as he called him rapist man instead of strong man i myself have mispronounced words and got scolding from my late mom.the proverb,yi san hai bi yi san gao,qiang chien hai you qiang chien so.it means a high mountain will always be overshadowed by another higher one,a strong swordsmen will also be defeated by another stronger one. it reminds us to be humble and less arrogant of our achievements.but i mispronounced qiang chien to wrong tone and it means a rapst will be defeated by a stronger rapist.so a slip of the tongue in pronouncing mandarin n cantonese is comical so watch your words.

Climate change

in an article on project syndicate,it warns of imminent environmental destruction due to Chinas economic activity in the Himalayan region.it has built mega dams across rivers,done mining of copper and produced bottled drinking water from himalayan glaciers.such massive projects affect the water flow and monsoon patterns of Asia as the Himalaya is the mother source of the great rivers Salween,Ganges,"chao phraya,the irrawady ,the mekong in Asia.chinas own freshwater sources are polluted by heavy industries,agricultural chemical run off and deforestation so its activities in the Himalaya ensure steady supply of drinking water for the megacities and water for irrigation of its massive agriculture. in a way,Laurence Brahm was far sighted to set up Himalayan Consensus to spread th e environmental conservation awareness to the mountainous regions of the Himalaya and emphasis on sustainable development from the bottom up.but whether the NGOs social activism can impact on the business policies of the chinese government remains a debatable issue.even in the US, business concerns overides the environmental concerns as the big oil go about fracking and drilling the melting permafrost of the Artic.so how can the chinese government rein in the business first mentality.hopefully grassroot activism of social enterprises of the himalayan consensus is given a voice on the green policy of china.

Colourful kolam

next week is deepavali,the festival of lights and tge colourful kolam is so beautiful decoration like th

e sand mandala

Eating 3 meals a day habit

i think i can control my diet by eating 2 meals a day.nowadays i skip dinner but force myself to eat out of habit.i cooked curry seafood laksa tonite but no appetite.just wanna drink a juice or shake.

South China Sea

Robert Kaplan in his book Asias Cauldron that south china sea territorial dispute over spratly and paracel islands would be a zone of potential conflict instead of aseans zone of peace,freedom and neutrality.What is Chinas agenda to build artificial islands on reefs in the disputed region with overlapping claims by littoral states like Phillipnes,Brunei,Malaysia and Vietnam.throw in Indonesias complaints of their fishing boats being harrrassed by chinese vessels,the picture looks grim indeed.China has claim territories based on its unilaterally drawn nine dash lines which it claimed historical evidence of early settlements.but asean nations refer to the international law to back up their claims. so why is China which for centuries were not interested in territorial conquest in south or east asia now starting to asssert its power by flexing its muscles.one reason is its need for natural resources like gas to fuel its energy needs to power its megacities and industries.like why Japan imperialist plans to tàp the natural resources of sputh east asia in world war 2 under so called regional greater sphete of co prosperity,so now China is playing the same cue cards.so if not militarization of south china sea,why did China build artificial islands,build runways n position navy ships there.surely its not meant to draw tourist attraction or set up fishing industry.thats too far fetched for asean to believe.the agenda but everyone pretends not to see the elephant in the room. Aseanitself is not so cohesive like EC.apart from its economic cohesion,the EC has common currency,common european law court of justice,common military solidarity in Nato.Asean only works in unison on economic integration but apart from that,its mind your own business.so none maritime Asean nations like Thailand,Cambodia or Laos would not dare offend china by calling out its transgressions as china gives lots of developmental aid to them and thailand tourism depends on china tourists. that shuts up one of the most vociferous stronghold of Asean ,Thailand and the other is Indonesia which doesnt want to rock the boat of China as it needs developmental aid and investment.so for the small fry ,they need outside allies like the US and Quad and Ankus before they risk being overwhelmed by the technologically advanced military of China. China has used its superior technology to map the ocean floor seabed of the south china sea and even the mariana trench.they can unlock the frozen gas in the seabed using their latest extractive technology.its not a matter of if china makes its move,then how but a matter of when. emboldened by fanning the fervour of nationalism of its government,the citizens jump onto the bandwagon as chinese fishing boats start intruding on fishing grounds of phillipines,indonesia,malaysia and vietnam.they know that their government will send back up if they are threatened so they violate international maritime borders without fear of being chased away. so when China pays lip service to cooperation with asean,its time asean take a step back,reassess its own security arrangements in this geopolitical tension and contribute to patrolling its own waterway from pirates,intruding military and rapacious fishing fleets.if not a spark can ignite superpowers fighting a proxy war in its own backyard and create millions of refugees like during the vietnam war.

Le Cordon Bleu

now if i wanna have life long learning,i would start on a culinary adventure and learn the skills of cooking Ftench cuisine at Le Cordon Bleu culinary school.jun enjoys my cooking so much that he asked me not to eat takeout food and eat home cooked food. i love the myriad techniques of french cooking,the vast types of ingredients n techniques.i would like to learn sous vide,flammbe or make chocolate mousse or bake a souffle.so far in pandemic,ive over cooked and overeaten so i work out everyday to eat more good food.i cooked chicken pate,coc au qin,cassoulet with beans,baked cherry clafoutis,quiche lorraine,french yoghurt cake.when i learn to cook,i domt need to go out to dine and eat all types of food. Like chinese cuisine,french cuisine is refined gastronomic experience.bon appetit.

Is this a bread or cake

the recipe is like banana bread that uses eggs n milk.for pumpkin bread it uses 2 eggs and a cup of almond milk n all spices,nutmeg,cinammom n clove powder.so it taste like pumpkin cake and indonesian kek lapis,rich with warm spices n goes well with earl grey or english breakfast tea.

Pumpkin bread

baked a loaf of pumpkin bread with leftover pumpkin puree and all spice,nutmeg n cinammom powder.used naturel olive oil from Spain n omega eggs.topped with cameron strawberry n blueberry.let me see,it would hopefully last a week for breakfast.i should start hiding food before the food monster devours everything.

Restock

the larder has run out of stock .lucky pension was banked in and i rushed to restock food for stomach and brain.bought grocery healthy food like quinoa n milllet noodle,olive oil,non gluten bread mix,stevia n monk fruit sweetener and blueberry from south africa n cameron strawberry.gonna bake pumpkin bread w blueberry topping tonite cause jun eats like a pig.maybe make avocado tart for breakfast.the avocado puree simplot from mexico is pretty decent as an avocado mousse.cheaper and healthier to eat home baked goodies as i use stevia sugar n ome ga eggs. browsing thro bòokshop book excess,i saw a discounted copy of Kurt Vonnegut novel mother night.at rm 15,it was a cheap price to pay for a good laugh at black satire.i love irrevetential humour. the plot centers on the trial of a guy for war crimes as a spy for the US military.the question was provocative ,Can a black ot white verdict ever be reached in a world thats a gazilion shades of grey? vonnegut spent time as a prisoner of war in Dresden.but he mitigates the horror he saw by writing in comical understated trite comments . If we had gone above the underground bunker to look,we would have been turned into artifacts charactetistic of fire atoms:seeming pieces of charred firewood two or three feet long-ridiculously small human beings,or jumbo fried grasshoppers,if you will. .theres a clear moral to this tale,now that i think about it.When youte dead,youre dead. and yet another moral occurs to me now:make love when y

ou can.its good for you. he confirms my suspicion why American GIs have a high sex drive when they are on R&R leave during the Vietnam and Korean war.they left behind many mixed race kids borne from one nite stands with local prostitutes,the go go bars were where the Darwinian law was unleashed as survival of the fittest meant they had to preserve the future generations DNA and continue familial lineage because you never know during the next round of duty,they may be bombed to pieces.so they make hay or oops babies while the sun shines cause tomorrow may never come for some

Can Asians think?

Kishore Mahbubani ,a Singaporean analyst wrote a book on Can Asians think? That is a sweeping statement because of course Asians can think but not in the paradigm of Western thinking as our cultural context is different.Reading between the lines,our approach is inferential,not blunt and direct.As Andrew Sheng in his column Think Asian poses a very provocative question " Can the great powers avoid war?".it seems to be like a canary in the coal mine giving a warning that when a hegemonic power faces internal instability,it may try the weapon of mass distraction by starting a war in a foreign nation.Samuel Huntington asks " Can the West renew itself or will sustained internal rot simply accelerate its end and subordination to other economically and demographically more dynamic civilizations?"Arnold Toynbee saw that collapses are not necessarily due to barbarian invasions but whether the ruling elite can overcome their own greed or interests to address the new challenges.After the Jan 6,2020 insurrection in Washington DC,many are inclined to believe that fratricidal tribalism is happening now inside America.Andrew Sheng opines that there can never be one Grand Narrative by the elites until there are enough dialogues between the many. When the meek are weak,they suffer because they must.But when the strong are insecure,that is when war begins. Jacques B Gelinas in his book Juggernaut Politics (Understanding Predatory Globalization).On the one hand,he maintained "nothing is more difficult for the human mind than to change a paradigm-that is to change mainstream common sense and the worldview provided by those in power.Today's neoliberal religion requires that economic activity,society and life itself be ordered and revolve around the global market.In later chapters,he argues that change is possible when a crtical mass is formed through solidarity and single mindedness.Throughout the history of civilizations,all those who struggle to broaden the scope of liberty and justice were,in their time,called idealists by the powers that be.And yet,thoroughly convinced that they could not live in a world where those values were not possible,these stubborn idealists succeeded in havingb their impossible dreams prevail.This was the case of abolitionists who fought for decades to end slaveryThe same can be said of the anti colonialsts.From Bolivar to Ho Chi Minh,they were all idealists who in struggling against the current radically changed global geopolitics,given that at the start of the 20th century ,barely 10% of the world's population live in an independent nation. Another,still unfinished struggle is that of the feminist movement launched by women driven by an ideal of justice that clashed head on with a male chauvinism that has prevailed for thousands of years and that all secular and religious powers have defended tooth and nail.In Canada,machismo was so deeply rooted in political culture that women had to appeal to the supreme Court of the British Empire to be recognized in 1929 as human beings in the constitutional law of their own country.The forerunners of the ecology movement were also accused of unmitigated idealism since they were challenging powerful interests.Today Rachel Carson The Silent Spring is hailed as an avant garde,intelligent, and courageous environmentalist. All these pioneers bring us back to fundamental values,such as solidarity,sharing and co-operation which has been lost to an amazing degree in our civilization of self interest and greed. A sociologist ,Edgar Morin writes in Introduction a une politique de l"homme on preparing our societies entry into the 21st century "the new concept of revolution needs to be tied to that of conservation,which also needs to be purified and developed.We must preserve nature,preserve cultures that want to live and preserve ourv past human heritage because it holds the seeds of our future.We need to rethink and refine the idea of revolution,which has become reactionary,and most of the time is a disguise for domination and oppression.We must revolutionise this world in order to preserve it." A cause forvthe 21st century " It is now our time to accept responsibility for our freedom or perish as a species that failed to find its place of service in the web of life." David C Korten

The black cat

Jun bought the cat ears from Shopee for my Halloween date this Sunday.it only cost rm9.cute to be a witchs pet cat

Light lunch

simple mango dragon fruit salad,steam siew mai dim sum n a glass of hazelnut milk for lunch

Flowers are blooming.

the heat made the flowers bloom like mad

Pistachio milk with belgian chocolate

jun indulges my health food craze by buying imported Thai brand 137 degree pistachio milk with belgian chocolate.its supercreamy n fragrant.love it.then outdoors for fresh air n sunshine.life is good to me

Cold foot bath that i love

i love stony foot bath outdoors.one day i will be brave to try skinny dipping

in the ocean at nite on a calm ,moonlit nite like the crazy white people.

A natural cold reflexology foot bath.

My legs are sore from exercising so when u saw the gushing brook with stones,i quickly removed my trainers and dipped my feet in the natural foot bath.luckily no leeches to suck the blood out of my toes.i hate blood suckers like mosquito n leeches

Interior architecture

i like interior architecture that reflects the ethnic and cultural identity of its inhabitants.when my best friend sponsored our stay in victoria angkor hotel in cambodia,i admired the French colonial intetior decor that pay attention even to the use of antique elevators,cast iron and filigree.the tropical vibes from wooden furniture,bronze basins n lotus floral arrangement created a soothing ambience.so was the cultural ambience seen in the interior design of bhutans chiwa ling hotel with colourful tibetan carving,cabinets intricately carved n painted,thick carpets. so when i came across good cheap bargains of books at book excess sales,i grabbed them including decorating asia and great escapes of asia(hotels) published by taschen. i love the interior design of red capital club and residence in Beijing.the ornate bed is so exquisite like the one at the peranakan museum.the wooden bar stools with curved seat remind me of arched roof of chinese temple.i guess the stools are not mass produced stuff from Ikea but custom made by local artisans.theres something in vintage furniture that shows the pride of craftsmanship.