Fiction

Katie Kitamura is a novelist who said this about fiction. More broadly, fiction can act as an antidote to authoritarianism. If authoritarianism thrives when people are isolated, fiction brings people together, she says. “In the most basic way, writing is about opening yourself to another person’s mind. The most intimate thing I do on a daily basis is pick up a book and open myself to another person.” And, while the Trump administration may be forcing one way of life on the world, fiction’s job is, as always, to remind people that there are “other ways of being”. With the anti woke rhetoric in the US and anti Sinic,LGBT and Islamophobia,it isnt safe for travellers of such categories to travel to the US as the otherness face backlash of hate crimes n potential detention on trumped up charges. I find that being alone with my thoughts is an antidote to the anxiety that ruminations bring about.Somehow the individual feels that his life is no longer in his hands but bound.by forces beyond his control whether its being shaped by career demands,family obligations or societal expectations. All the multiple roles disappear when you delve into the inner world and in a way,you come to face the inner demons and find out they were merely shadows not substantial. I feel that out of the chaos and disorder that living brings,being able to write is a way to create something new out of the depths of darkness.Out of something i heard from gossips or a chance encounter with a stranger or something i read in the news,a spark lights up and ideas flow as if it has a life of its own.My dream is one day one of these writing can be reinterpreted as a graphic novel manga or be turned into a play or movie so im just too crazy to even consider that this dream will ever come to materialize and my digital footprint will one day be erased and be buried by the passage of time.

Cognitive revolution and inner anxiety

Existence precedes essence. i viewed a discussion. between a historian Yuval Harari and a Peking University philosophy professor and i sense what the Chinese saying calls a chicken n a duck talking to each other.Both are the same species of fowls but vastly different in form and function.The duck can swim but the hen cant The wild duck can fly high but the chicken cant .the cock can fight with his feet and sharp spurs n talons but the ducks web feet cant. Both intellectuals share common interest in study of humanity and the past.Wheteas Harari looks at the past and its impact on the present and the future,the Chinese professor is describing the past and its influence on the present Chinese culture and worldview. What i found lacking is a good professional English translator for the Chinese philosopher.His misuse of certain vocabulary in English gives rise to misunderstanding rather than deeper understanding of Chinese thoughts.He seemed to imply that the advantage of humans over machine intelligence is the humans have desires,emotions and values which machines lack.But he uses the word human deficiency which has impilication to have emotions is a lack or liability in humans.It contradicts his optimistic stance whereas Harari has a more pessimistic worldview. Harari articulates his ideas well in English so maybe a Chinese translator can do more justice to his analysis which the Goggle auto. translate will mess everything up. I feel more than I think that both intellectuals share the same reflection on the underlying Taoist and Buddhist philiosophy of traditional Chinese culture. The Taoist looks at the balance between extremes,No way is the Way whereas Harari has a Buddhist bias in his explanation on the middle path as he doesnt pinpoint the good or evil people in his causative narrative but keeps to the neutral stance. Not being arrogant about ones knowledge is a lesson i get from Hararis narrative about being a gifted student in an exceptional school for the gifted.He shows the humility of Chinese philosopical worldview,that a high mountain is overshadowed by even higher peaks while a strong swordsman can be defeated by an even better opponent. Its a chilling scenario that Harari paints of the risks of overreliance on non human entity to run and take over human institutions like legal,military or financial systems .His caution to reflect should be heeded as the technology could be misused to our detriment.Hararis Buddhist view on reality is in line with the philosophy of existentialism and the individuals freedom to choose and act but ultimately humankind has to face the consequences of its own choosing. Even his parting advice is very Buddhist in its thinking on the interdependence of all beings as the breath unites us regardless of barriers of race and language.Thats a deep philosophical thought for a historian but i would have love to hear the parting remark of the Chinese philosophy professor on the meaning of history as the Chinese often flaunt their civilized status as bearers of a 5,000 year old history.That would be a balanced viewpoint indeed that would fit the title Understanding as an Antidote

Zumba hari raya cum potluck

Dance is joy

In the face of uncertainty,laugh

What we need right now in the face of war in Europe n Gaza,natural disaster in Myanmar and trade wars between super powers is a good laugh.How i miss Stephen Chows the king of mo lei tau or nonsensical farce that makes us roar with laughter. Stay calm and carry on laughing.How about a plot of a Western ship from America carrying hazardous environmental waste that breaks down nearing Hong Kong and the company pays hush money to villagers on Lantau islands to secretly dump the waste in the hills nearby.The fishing villages supply seafood restaurants in the city of Hong Kong and find the fish that has octopus tentacles or shrimps with glo in the dark designs on the shell and godzilla pincers and Hong Kong chefs have a contest to see who will win in creating the best fusion food in Hong Kong.Battle of the kung fu chefs.wow.Diners who sample the dishes have sudden superpower.skills that their teeth is razor sharp ,swim like a shark and handle weapons with 10 tentacle hands or a tai chi master who has the glo in the dark skin exoskeleton ,pincer like hands and looks like a sea dragon disciple. From a war of words,they descend to war for the oceans.Especially for those who refuse to comply with international mari time regulations,the battalion of super kung fu aqua mutants re deployed against ships that cause environmental pollution.They seize the ships and sink them into undersea vocano that incinerates the toxic shit.So if you cant watch Aqua man in the cinema ,wait for the new release of The rise of the Aqua Mutants,the superhero saves the ocean from ecological disasters.We need the mo lei tau of Stephen Chow in these challenging times.Kung fu master of the snapping turtle or kung fu of superstrong mantis shrimp or multiple handed fish cum octopus.My late mom disliked Stephen Chows nonsensical style but thats theatre of the absurd,a nihilistic worldview.aka Franz Kafka the Metamorphosis.i read kafka in varsity as an exam subject but now when i reread the Metamorphosis my maturity n wisdom led me to feel the despair of a young working salesman who is transformed into a cockroach ,is despised n rejected by his own family members.his eventual death is rejoiced by his family who can now lead back a normal life.This resonates with my understanding of a young man crippled and disfigured in an accident n is object of scorn by society and a burden to his own family.the dehumanizing effect of alienation is told thro an absurd tale of how the character eats rotten food ,has hideous exoskeleton and legs and crawls up the walls.looking at the absurd in a new light as only European writers who lived through two horrifying world wars can come up with the concept of existentialism and the surrealists of Salvador Dali.to understand reality look at the underpinning of the subconscious mind. But Stephen Chow style according to my mom is ngap sam ngap sai or talk three talk four.its kong ye mo tap sap talk things in a nonsensical way or kong lap sap or talk rubbish.Moms worldview is realistic n pragmatic and she prefers mainland Chiinese movies that are realistic and convey ideals of Chinese culture like filial piety,loyalty,be straightforward not cunning and shows the struggles of the working person against an unjust system of feudal landlords n greedy capitalists who look for quick riches so she finds Hong Kong movies on underworld,gangsters n rich CEOs and materialistic girls as conveying the inferior values of a shallow society. My late grandma loves Cantonese opera,bàk suet sin ,yam kim fei with classical tales like the Lotus lantern that showcases forbidden love and filial piety. but i admire Stephen Chowd creative reinterpretation of classics like journey to the west,monkey king and the flirtatious scholar tong pak fu.He appeals to the young people and reinvents the old by injecting comedy and action. but the future of screenplays will. be taken over by AI and the animation done by Stable Diffusion is fast.James Cameron says AI can reduce production cost,increase profit margins and speed up production process but no they cant come up with original screenplay as it needs creative human scriptwriters to have funny wordplay like Stephen Chow and artificial language doesnt know humour. Stephen Chow showcases keung. si,yit lou yit geng.the older the ginger,the more kick it has or as for the vampire ,the older it gets,the more awesome it is.the homonymn of keung si means sliced julienne of ginger or vampire .so im looking forward to a new Stephen Chow comedy as the best has yet to come.

Traditional Chinese food

im returning to traditional chinese food.falling leaves return to the roots.luo ye gui gen. its braised meat balls with lettuce and pan fried long bean omelette.i love string or long beans more than french beans.A classic long bean dish has funny name lun kwan dar sie ngu mo wong.it refers to monkey king legend Sun Wu Kong who fights with a very long pole that he twirls around.His arch nemesis enemy

is the.bull king demon so the dish of stir fried long.beans with strips of sirloin beef is symbolic of the long pole of monkey king beating to death the bull king demon.we put black beans or taucheo fermented bean paste. ginger ,a bit of chilli paste to cook it in sizzling hot oil.yummy

My pampered puss who is all the fuss

i adopted a stray kitten more than a year ago and he has changed our lives,sometimes.for better or sometimes for worse.He is so demanding for attention as he is spoilt like crazy.There are so many cat toys i bought to stimulate him but he gets bored of them all after a while. He is a picky eater and refuses to eat cheap kibbles or wet food of chicken n lamb as he only l ikes fish,shrimp or shellfish.in China there are special pet cafes whete they can eat cakes or even mala hotpot with real meat.what a dogs life to so enjoy. He doesnt like to drink so had infection of the urinary tract n had to be operated on to flush out the hard crystals.now i have to buy expensive cat food with medicine for urinary health. Not only toys ,kitty has an array of pet clothes and cap n.bow ties.he hates dressing up but looks so cute in clothes. This lazy kitty hates to catwalk so although i put a long cat leash on him,he is bloody inactive.He will avoid playing in t

he hot sun and run to lie down in the shady bushes so it ends with me having to carry a 5 kg cat on my shoulder all the way to the park and back home.real back breaking but its tougher than gym workout as he squirms and scratches my neck. Even as a kitten ,Captain is terrified of thunderstorms and howls n screams loudly when he hears thunder,see lightning or heavy rain lashing on the balcony.The other day,he woke up Jun who had to comfort him by playing toys with him or comforting him on my bed. Bloody dirty cat has tick n fleas although we send him for grooming every 3 months.The grey sofa and my bed spread has ticks n fleas that bit me alive .im allergic to insect bites,itch like mad and scratch like crazy.it takes me 3 weeks to recover so its not fun to have a cat when they have a tantrum and kill the plants,break the vases and pots and piss everywhere with increase in my aging body,i may need to put him up for adoption as im drained tired from looking after this attention seeker who has expensive taste.Next i may need to find a good cat hotel if jun and i go for long vacations.thats the hassle of having a pet who has separation anxiety. How bad is the cats separation anxiety?he is exactly like Jun as a toddler.When i went to the loo to poo,the cat will wait outside the toilet door until i come out.Sometimes Jun the toddler will slip pieces of paper under the door or poke a stick under the gap.very emotional ,sticky creatures. in the vet hospital he screamed so loudly that the clinic nurse had to cover his cage so he cant see people and try to grab attention.Travelling overseas with a cat is impossible.i envy my friends who are now in Japan and Korea to view the cherry blossoms and floral season.i think even if i take the cat to Sabah n Sarawak by plane,we wont be able to clear the customs and immigration .to quarantine an animal is too tedious with lots of paperwork.