“… When ONE person is cursed, TWO graves are dug…”
Ooh… don’t be frightened… ^_^
It’s a manga/anime story… I’ve never read/watched one before, even though I did hear “good” comments about this anime…
Even the broadcasting company had already produced a short series based on the anime, of course, acted by real human!!
Japanese title, “Jigoku (hell) Shoujo (girl)”
Since I’ve only watched half episode (which is half of half an hour, ^_^) I can’t stay much about the story… the part that I watched was about this little girl who hated her so-called best friend soooo much, due to some incident (which I didn’t know what it’s about) so, “jigoku shoujo” appeared in front of her, gave her this little grass doll (those that people use to do curse) the price is… you can send the other person to hell immediately, but when you die, you’ll go to hell as well… oh!! In the end, one big happy family… +_+
I wouldn’t know whether there’s any ‘message’ that were to be relayed through this anime, however… ya…
I like it when the creepy voice said quietly “when one person is cursed, two graves are dug”… ^_~ how true!!
Here’s another quote
“ 闇に惑いし哀れな影よ・・・ 人を傷つけ貶めて罪に溺れし業の魂 ・・・ いっぺん、死んでみる？'
"Pitiful shadow clothed in darkness.Thy actions cause men pain and suffering. Thy hollow soul drowns in thy sins. How would you like to see what death is like?"
”
— Enma Ai.
2007-02-28
Aftermath...
Last weekend (Saturday) we gathered in one of our friends’ house for our annual gambling session (during Chinese New Year)
…
Let me deviate a little bit…
The other day, I was wondering, ah… when did we start such session… at first, I thought I cannot recall… then, I realized, it’s when her family moved to this new penthouse condominium… ya, that year, when we visited her parents (her parents are super friendly and opened… I mean, they don’t poke their nose into our business, they’re cheerful, oh, super cheerful, also her sis, and of course, SHE!! ^_^;; even when the father decided to “poke his nose” into our business it’s when he wants to be part of us, in the game… see!!! Where to find this type of parents!!! Kakaka!!! And then… oh… maybe I’ll sound very impolite and manner-less a bit… and we’re used to her kitchen and fridge… ie. She’s always welcomed us with her food and drinks in her kitchen and fridge… so, tell me, where else to go… ok… I’ll say, I’d do the same things to my dear friends as well… well… cos, I’ve stayed with her family zillion years ago, mm… when my car was involved in a minor accident and need to be sent for repair for a month, and that I stayed with her and family in their old house, for a month, I ate and dined with them, and she sent me to and from work… oh!!! What else can I say!!! ^_^)
Oh, back to the track…
That year, when we visited her parents, and somehow, a card game got started… from then onwards… every year, after we’re back from our different hometowns to KL, we’ll gather in such place, to err… ok… exchange $$$ hahaha!!!
I’ll have to admit, most of the time, I enjoyed the companion rather than the game… though, I do like to play card games from time to time… ^_^
Our game, started from big-D, to later.. the easiest one is blackjack… then, this year…
Oh, horrible… one of us introduced this “in-between” no-brainer game… (but shame to say, I kinda enjoyed it, again, I guess, it’s mostly because of the companion… this year, we’d an extra crazy gambling buddy!!! Though 1 usual couple quit, and 1 new couple joined… ha… people come, people go!! ^_^)
Ok… the aftermath was…
That night itself, I’m not sure if it’s solely because of my sitting position during the entire game THAT LASTED TILL 3 A.M. (we started from about 10 P.M.) my lefthand suddenly gave me this super-duper uncomfortable irritating pain, like it’s coming out from the bone… or some sort.. and it lasted me for 1.5 days… well… it could be because of my posture, or, because I carried my handbag (one that’s like doraemon’s front pocket, that contains a lot of things, ie. Heavy!!) with that hand the whole of that day…
The problem was… I woke up in the middle of the night of Saturday (well… not so middle of the night, it’s about Sunday morning already, since we only got home and got ready for bed around 4 A.M.) due to this pain in my left hand, really couldn’t sleep at all… I’ve never experienced this before…
Then, on Sunday, he’d another small gathering in his colleague’s house in the afternoon… so, I played my TAI-TAI part… trying to social-social with the rest of the TAI-TAI… with my painful lefthand… and lack of sleep…
Until after I talked to my mother about my ‘condition’ only I realized that, I should have put a salonpas on it… so, I did…
The next day, Monday, I went to pick up my letter of offer, and they asked me to go for a simple medical checkup… gosh… my blood pressure was high… which I couldn’t believe… cos, usually (well… the last check was in 2005 thou, when he’s still working in s’pore) OK… plus this and that, with some possible infection, on top of that I was still in the midst of recovering from my flu, which… oh!! Which I got when my dear husband went out till 3 A.M. still hadn’t come back to ‘blanket’ me… ^_^ that I caught the cold that day!!!
I was not satisfied with the result, so, I went to my own clinic, the one that I did my last check in 2005, result still come out similar, but then, the doctor bothered to explain a little bit more, which gave me a peace of mind…
Oh, anyway, these are all side-track stories… the point is I’m telling you, I HAD A PAINFUL LEFT HAND FOR 2 DAYS, due to the crazy “in-between” card game!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh, then, what’s this game about… basically it’s really a no-brainer game… each player was given 2 cards, opened… and the next card that you’ll draw is your bet, you bet if it’s a card in between your existing 2 cards, with a sum of money… you’ll basically win/lose the amount you bet… or to the maximum of the pool of money in the middle…
See… the point is… we all are very stingy people… so, our base bet is like RM1.00 only… so, the superduper game was dragged for such superduper long duration of time… compared to previous years, it’s because this year, there’re 1 + 1 superduper crazy gamblers where the 2 superduper crazy gamblers basically won the most money… as they’re willing to bet to the max… m~_~m huh!!
Ah… before we wrapped up… one of us (in fact, most of us, the male basically, who’re always lack of patience!! ^_^) insisted on raising the base bet, ie. RM10.00… for the final round…
Ya, the pool got to about RM100.00 at one time… however, as the amount was big, so, crazy people got less crazy (oh, that proves that, afterall, they’re not that crazy, ^_^) and in the end… I’d say… no loose no win…
The difference in our hands, from the real winner to the real looser, probably was about 10 odds to 20, something like that…
Ah!!! Sounded I wasted my entire night to gain a painful lefthand!!! Heh!!!
…
Let me deviate a little bit…
The other day, I was wondering, ah… when did we start such session… at first, I thought I cannot recall… then, I realized, it’s when her family moved to this new penthouse condominium… ya, that year, when we visited her parents (her parents are super friendly and opened… I mean, they don’t poke their nose into our business, they’re cheerful, oh, super cheerful, also her sis, and of course, SHE!! ^_^;; even when the father decided to “poke his nose” into our business it’s when he wants to be part of us, in the game… see!!! Where to find this type of parents!!! Kakaka!!! And then… oh… maybe I’ll sound very impolite and manner-less a bit… and we’re used to her kitchen and fridge… ie. She’s always welcomed us with her food and drinks in her kitchen and fridge… so, tell me, where else to go… ok… I’ll say, I’d do the same things to my dear friends as well… well… cos, I’ve stayed with her family zillion years ago, mm… when my car was involved in a minor accident and need to be sent for repair for a month, and that I stayed with her and family in their old house, for a month, I ate and dined with them, and she sent me to and from work… oh!!! What else can I say!!! ^_^)
Oh, back to the track…
That year, when we visited her parents, and somehow, a card game got started… from then onwards… every year, after we’re back from our different hometowns to KL, we’ll gather in such place, to err… ok… exchange $$$ hahaha!!!
I’ll have to admit, most of the time, I enjoyed the companion rather than the game… though, I do like to play card games from time to time… ^_^
Our game, started from big-D, to later.. the easiest one is blackjack… then, this year…
Oh, horrible… one of us introduced this “in-between” no-brainer game… (but shame to say, I kinda enjoyed it, again, I guess, it’s mostly because of the companion… this year, we’d an extra crazy gambling buddy!!! Though 1 usual couple quit, and 1 new couple joined… ha… people come, people go!! ^_^)
Ok… the aftermath was…
That night itself, I’m not sure if it’s solely because of my sitting position during the entire game THAT LASTED TILL 3 A.M. (we started from about 10 P.M.) my lefthand suddenly gave me this super-duper uncomfortable irritating pain, like it’s coming out from the bone… or some sort.. and it lasted me for 1.5 days… well… it could be because of my posture, or, because I carried my handbag (one that’s like doraemon’s front pocket, that contains a lot of things, ie. Heavy!!) with that hand the whole of that day…
The problem was… I woke up in the middle of the night of Saturday (well… not so middle of the night, it’s about Sunday morning already, since we only got home and got ready for bed around 4 A.M.) due to this pain in my left hand, really couldn’t sleep at all… I’ve never experienced this before…
Then, on Sunday, he’d another small gathering in his colleague’s house in the afternoon… so, I played my TAI-TAI part… trying to social-social with the rest of the TAI-TAI… with my painful lefthand… and lack of sleep…
Until after I talked to my mother about my ‘condition’ only I realized that, I should have put a salonpas on it… so, I did…
The next day, Monday, I went to pick up my letter of offer, and they asked me to go for a simple medical checkup… gosh… my blood pressure was high… which I couldn’t believe… cos, usually (well… the last check was in 2005 thou, when he’s still working in s’pore) OK… plus this and that, with some possible infection, on top of that I was still in the midst of recovering from my flu, which… oh!! Which I got when my dear husband went out till 3 A.M. still hadn’t come back to ‘blanket’ me… ^_^ that I caught the cold that day!!!
I was not satisfied with the result, so, I went to my own clinic, the one that I did my last check in 2005, result still come out similar, but then, the doctor bothered to explain a little bit more, which gave me a peace of mind…
Oh, anyway, these are all side-track stories… the point is I’m telling you, I HAD A PAINFUL LEFT HAND FOR 2 DAYS, due to the crazy “in-between” card game!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh, then, what’s this game about… basically it’s really a no-brainer game… each player was given 2 cards, opened… and the next card that you’ll draw is your bet, you bet if it’s a card in between your existing 2 cards, with a sum of money… you’ll basically win/lose the amount you bet… or to the maximum of the pool of money in the middle…
See… the point is… we all are very stingy people… so, our base bet is like RM1.00 only… so, the superduper game was dragged for such superduper long duration of time… compared to previous years, it’s because this year, there’re 1 + 1 superduper crazy gamblers where the 2 superduper crazy gamblers basically won the most money… as they’re willing to bet to the max… m~_~m huh!!
Ah… before we wrapped up… one of us (in fact, most of us, the male basically, who’re always lack of patience!! ^_^) insisted on raising the base bet, ie. RM10.00… for the final round…
Ya, the pool got to about RM100.00 at one time… however, as the amount was big, so, crazy people got less crazy (oh, that proves that, afterall, they’re not that crazy, ^_^) and in the end… I’d say… no loose no win…
The difference in our hands, from the real winner to the real looser, probably was about 10 odds to 20, something like that…
Ah!!! Sounded I wasted my entire night to gain a painful lefthand!!! Heh!!!
The Best Scheduler in town… ^_^
Recently, there’re many changes around me, around us… we’re coming back for good, but there’re friends who’ll be leaving the country… for a while (hopefully not for good ^_^)
Anyway… life still goes on, I still surf my internet, still watch my TV, and still download my favourite TV series (oops!!)
mm… what I’m trying to say is… there’re changes in our lives, there’re up’s as well as there’re down’s… both compensate each other, to form the beauty of life…
^_^
We went back to his hometown Butterworth for the Chinese New Year… and since he’s changing his job (so that it’ll be more ‘localized’) we drove his car (THE satria) back… after nearly 3 years “sitting” there at home…
We’ve scheduled to come back on Friday as we’re having our usual Chinese New Year gathering with our friends on that Saturday…
On Wednesday, we went out to penang island, and his brother suggested us to go up the hill… err… that hill with the big big temple up there (“Kek Lok” temple)… we’re driving his parents’ car… and went up the temple, came down, no problem…
The next day, when he went out for a morning walk with the parents… the car had some problem… where the clutch went “loose” or “light”… so when we went out again, we’re all in his satria… (which supposedly have been sent for service just very recently)… we had our brunch and then went to buy the new bottle of clutch/brake oil… while waiting at the road side, we heard some funny “knocking” sound coming out from the front of the car… while seeing the temperature indicator kept going up… OH!!!~~~ apparently the radiator got overheated and the rusty water (cos, the car’s been dormant mode for the past 3 years and that the inside of the radiator got rusty…) kept pouring out and hit on the cover of the bonnet…
Immediately we “dragged” the car to be checked…
Rusty pipeS were detected, checked and changed… we sent the car in the afternoon, supposedly to be able to pick it up in the evening, however… till 8pm, the car was still not ready…
We waited till the following day, the day we’re supposed to come back here… till 11am only we managed to pick up the car… (on the way, we’re forced to stop for about 3 times, as the radiator still got heat up, AFTER HE SPED!!!!!!!!!)
Anyway… the whole point is… how perfect and “graceful” of all these happening events that I’ve experienced…
If the clutch went wrong a day earlier, we could have been stuck on the steep slopes up on the hill in penang… stranded there for the whole night…
And if the clutch didn’t go wrong at all… we wouldn’t be using the satria at all until the day we’re supposed to drive it back and discovered that the car had such big problem!!!
If…
Same goes to my job-search experience… there’re many ‘if’s and ‘or else’s… and the timing…
I do feel, the zillionth time, the scheduler has done HIS work again, perfectly…
Yes, ^_^ the best scheduler in town, the best scheduler in our life…
While I was considered rejected by company H, I was… I’ve to admit, I was a little bit down, cos, they gave me so much false hope by getting me all the way to meet the country manager (I suspect, the one who’s reluctant and ‘slowed’ the process was the centre manager ^_^) and turned out, hesitated, reluctant, skeptical… etc…
mm… I have plans for myself… I plan this and that, I schedule this and that…
but I think, I, (I’m not sure about the rest of the people) am definitely not the best scheduler even for myself… we’ve plans, but on and off it comes out sour or rotten, or screwed up… or it’s just not too perfect…
Lessons learnt…
Sometimes, we don’t know why we’re doing this, but we just have to keep going… you’ll see the result one day, which you’ve never thought of, or imagined before…
Sometimes, blessings do come in disguise, or late… ^_^
Anyway… life still goes on, I still surf my internet, still watch my TV, and still download my favourite TV series (oops!!)
mm… what I’m trying to say is… there’re changes in our lives, there’re up’s as well as there’re down’s… both compensate each other, to form the beauty of life…
^_^
We went back to his hometown Butterworth for the Chinese New Year… and since he’s changing his job (so that it’ll be more ‘localized’) we drove his car (THE satria) back… after nearly 3 years “sitting” there at home…
We’ve scheduled to come back on Friday as we’re having our usual Chinese New Year gathering with our friends on that Saturday…
On Wednesday, we went out to penang island, and his brother suggested us to go up the hill… err… that hill with the big big temple up there (“Kek Lok” temple)… we’re driving his parents’ car… and went up the temple, came down, no problem…
The next day, when he went out for a morning walk with the parents… the car had some problem… where the clutch went “loose” or “light”… so when we went out again, we’re all in his satria… (which supposedly have been sent for service just very recently)… we had our brunch and then went to buy the new bottle of clutch/brake oil… while waiting at the road side, we heard some funny “knocking” sound coming out from the front of the car… while seeing the temperature indicator kept going up… OH!!!~~~ apparently the radiator got overheated and the rusty water (cos, the car’s been dormant mode for the past 3 years and that the inside of the radiator got rusty…) kept pouring out and hit on the cover of the bonnet…
Immediately we “dragged” the car to be checked…
Rusty pipeS were detected, checked and changed… we sent the car in the afternoon, supposedly to be able to pick it up in the evening, however… till 8pm, the car was still not ready…
We waited till the following day, the day we’re supposed to come back here… till 11am only we managed to pick up the car… (on the way, we’re forced to stop for about 3 times, as the radiator still got heat up, AFTER HE SPED!!!!!!!!!)
Anyway… the whole point is… how perfect and “graceful” of all these happening events that I’ve experienced…
If the clutch went wrong a day earlier, we could have been stuck on the steep slopes up on the hill in penang… stranded there for the whole night…
And if the clutch didn’t go wrong at all… we wouldn’t be using the satria at all until the day we’re supposed to drive it back and discovered that the car had such big problem!!!
If…
Same goes to my job-search experience… there’re many ‘if’s and ‘or else’s… and the timing…
I do feel, the zillionth time, the scheduler has done HIS work again, perfectly…
Yes, ^_^ the best scheduler in town, the best scheduler in our life…
While I was considered rejected by company H, I was… I’ve to admit, I was a little bit down, cos, they gave me so much false hope by getting me all the way to meet the country manager (I suspect, the one who’s reluctant and ‘slowed’ the process was the centre manager ^_^) and turned out, hesitated, reluctant, skeptical… etc…
mm… I have plans for myself… I plan this and that, I schedule this and that…
but I think, I, (I’m not sure about the rest of the people) am definitely not the best scheduler even for myself… we’ve plans, but on and off it comes out sour or rotten, or screwed up… or it’s just not too perfect…
Lessons learnt…
Sometimes, we don’t know why we’re doing this, but we just have to keep going… you’ll see the result one day, which you’ve never thought of, or imagined before…
Sometimes, blessings do come in disguise, or late… ^_^
Bitter Sweet Symphony
Yatta!!! Yatta!!! (Tribute to Hiro in Heroes!! ^_^, he just loves saying this words, it means “I DID IT!!”… ya, when he finally managed to teleport himself or even other people, other things from place A to place B, and when he managed to stop the time, ya, Yatta!!)
^_^V
Tomorrow I’ll be starting work again, back to office, after… err… nearly 3 years(??? Come to think of it, I stopped in Mar, 2004, I kept thinking it’s only 2 years…) of hiatus… -_- and tomorrow, I’ll be a pretty cute OL in klang valley again!!! Kakakakakaka!!!
mm… in fact, my job hunting experience since last December is not considered THAT smooth… (ya!!! After being nearly 3 years of housewife, what does one expect huh??)
my very first interview, was with company F, went there, had a nice chat, but in the end… only discovered that, they’re looking for young and attractive ladies (sounds like looking for bar girls? ^_^ nah… but they’re looking for freshgrads) and I was thinking to myself, why called me then, didn’t I state my age CLEARLY on my online resume?? Fine then…
Then… when I was returning to my hometown, waiting in the airport, another company called me (company M) , I told her I’m on my way back to Sarawak, then, she said, she’ll check again with her manager… fine then…
When I came back from my break back home, company H called me… ^_^ it’s a big and prestigious MNC, and for people from my line, I think, that’s one of the ultimate place to work in… well… I suppose so…
First round, with my “possible” direct supervisor, another nice chat session..
After about a week, second round with the centre manager, well… not so nice chat, cos, she’s very very skeptical with my consistency in my job… and mm… she striked me as a very conservative and careful (a little bit too careful) person…
Then another week plus to wait… called me in for the third round of interview with the country manager, oh!!! Lasted for only 10 min, in San Francisco Café ^_^!!! (OK!! Fine!!)
Followed by this, came another period of waiting, till I couldn’t wait any longer, and I wanna show how much and how serious I want the job, I called the headhunter… his “advice” --- keep my option opened…
Oh, ok!! I know what it means…
Then… unexpectedly company M called me again to schedule an interview… well… I’ve to admit that, that’s not an employer that’s in my priority list… however, I still went for the session… another nice chat session with my future direct boss (a very cheerful lady)!!! The horrible thing was, I was given some IQ and maths test… (which err… I thought it’s not so related to the industry… I thought they’d had given me an aptitude test or some case study, but none!!!) and the test… gosh!!! Looking at the fact of how my brain got rusty throughout these 3 long-vacation years… I really really really felt that something inside my head was stuck and twisted and couldn’t function for a few time during the tests… the end was… I didn’t finish any of them, only did the best I could…
1st IQ test was something like, arrangement of alphabets and then you guess the next sequence, for eg. b c k l m d e k l m…
2nd IQ test (as well) was worst to me… it’s those little-little round, rectangular, triangular, shaded, half-shaded, halved, etc. of patterns, and I need to figure out the NEXT pattern… and GOODNESS!!!!!!!! SOME OF THE PATTERN SEQUENCES REALLY DIDN’T MAKE SENSE AT ALL MAN!!! I’m quite sure the person who created the questions is somehow PSYCHO!! ^_^
3rd Maths test… ok… I’ve to admit, this was my strongest part… thou still didn’t manage to finish in time…
However, overall… I’ve to say, the TEST session was quite fun…
After this… my headhunter called me again, maybe he’s extra helpful, or maybe he’s obligated, or maybe as a job agency, you really will get lots of rewards by successfully introducing an employee to a company… he suggested sending my resume to company I (competitor to company H) however, this time, it’s not a sales job that I’ve always wanted… but I told him, well… sometimes, it doesn’t matter… cos, I just want to join an MNC ^_^… and I thought I can handle the mentioned job after he’s described to me…
A week later, I got to meet up with my little friend who’s back from tokyo, went to karaoke… when I was happy karaoke-ing away in the room… the HR called me for the second session… ok… so, I went and met up with the director of the department, another nice friendly err… balding guy (oops, no offense ya!!). This second interview somehow provided me to opportunity to evaluate their company… ya, I evaluated them.. (at the same time, they evaluated me, of course!!) I came to a conclusion that, they (the company) comes to be quite a “clean” company… who earned their businesses through merit, rather than… arrrghh…
So… the day before we went back to his hometown for Chinese New Year, my direct boss (the cheerful lady) called me, asked me how’s the session with the director and bla bla bla… then, she told me, they planned to give me a big “ang pow”… and later briefed me with the benefits and stuff in the company… Yatta!!!
In a way, I am glad that, I was not taken by company H that immediately, cos, the office location is downtown, parking fee is expensive there, and probably even limited… I was even contemplating if I were to get employed, I may need to consider taking the public transport, otherwise, I’d have to start my journey at about 6.30am everyday, cos, the office is horribly located right in the centre of jam place, and the traffic here IS getting more and more horrible after all these years…
As for company M… ooh!!! Hehe… it’s located in just another 2-3 neighbourhood away, at the same part of the city… Yatta!!
So, I thought, when I was not considered by company H, it’s a blessing in disguise, and for the employment from company M, it’s a blessing that came unexpectedly and late… ^_^
However… the “symphony” didn’t end there, immediately I got off the phone, my headhunter called me, asked me why I was engaged and told me that company I wanted to “have a chat” with me… and bla bla bla… then I told him (err… in fact, I didn’t plan to tell him until I officially sign the letter) I’ve just accepted a job offer verbally… and since I know I wouldn’t change my mind, I told him to help me to err… “turn down” the “invitation” for me “politely”… (I didn’t want to burn the boat, so, I thought, it’s better to turn down the “chat session” than after a few rounds of interview only tell them that I’m not interested… or, if it’s another way round that I’ve to reject the “verbally-accepted” job… I felt quite bad, cos, err… my direct boss was err… kinda excited when she’s talking to me… in the aspect… haha!! Well… HE said, usually boss won’t call the subordinate directly, it’s the HR job, ie. She either is damn free, or she likes me so much ^_^, well… however, I think she’s a very nice lady)
Then then then… tomorrow… I’m supposed to start work already right? My headhunter called me AGAIN (courtesy call) to tell me that, the offer from company H has finally come… still briefed me through the details of the package (well… I’ll have to say, it’s a sales job, the commission is very good, but not the basic, however, I wanted it badly cos, it’s a BIG company!!! Kaka!! Funny mindset huh??)… and of course, the result is still the same…
So… now, I guess, my bitter sweet symphony has finally come to an end… Yatta!!
^_^V
Tomorrow I’ll be starting work again, back to office, after… err… nearly 3 years(??? Come to think of it, I stopped in Mar, 2004, I kept thinking it’s only 2 years…) of hiatus… -_- and tomorrow, I’ll be a pretty cute OL in klang valley again!!! Kakakakakaka!!!
mm… in fact, my job hunting experience since last December is not considered THAT smooth… (ya!!! After being nearly 3 years of housewife, what does one expect huh??)
my very first interview, was with company F, went there, had a nice chat, but in the end… only discovered that, they’re looking for young and attractive ladies (sounds like looking for bar girls? ^_^ nah… but they’re looking for freshgrads) and I was thinking to myself, why called me then, didn’t I state my age CLEARLY on my online resume?? Fine then…
Then… when I was returning to my hometown, waiting in the airport, another company called me (company M) , I told her I’m on my way back to Sarawak, then, she said, she’ll check again with her manager… fine then…
When I came back from my break back home, company H called me… ^_^ it’s a big and prestigious MNC, and for people from my line, I think, that’s one of the ultimate place to work in… well… I suppose so…
First round, with my “possible” direct supervisor, another nice chat session..
After about a week, second round with the centre manager, well… not so nice chat, cos, she’s very very skeptical with my consistency in my job… and mm… she striked me as a very conservative and careful (a little bit too careful) person…
Then another week plus to wait… called me in for the third round of interview with the country manager, oh!!! Lasted for only 10 min, in San Francisco Café ^_^!!! (OK!! Fine!!)
Followed by this, came another period of waiting, till I couldn’t wait any longer, and I wanna show how much and how serious I want the job, I called the headhunter… his “advice” --- keep my option opened…
Oh, ok!! I know what it means…
Then… unexpectedly company M called me again to schedule an interview… well… I’ve to admit that, that’s not an employer that’s in my priority list… however, I still went for the session… another nice chat session with my future direct boss (a very cheerful lady)!!! The horrible thing was, I was given some IQ and maths test… (which err… I thought it’s not so related to the industry… I thought they’d had given me an aptitude test or some case study, but none!!!) and the test… gosh!!! Looking at the fact of how my brain got rusty throughout these 3 long-vacation years… I really really really felt that something inside my head was stuck and twisted and couldn’t function for a few time during the tests… the end was… I didn’t finish any of them, only did the best I could…
1st IQ test was something like, arrangement of alphabets and then you guess the next sequence, for eg. b c k l m d e k l m…
2nd IQ test (as well) was worst to me… it’s those little-little round, rectangular, triangular, shaded, half-shaded, halved, etc. of patterns, and I need to figure out the NEXT pattern… and GOODNESS!!!!!!!! SOME OF THE PATTERN SEQUENCES REALLY DIDN’T MAKE SENSE AT ALL MAN!!! I’m quite sure the person who created the questions is somehow PSYCHO!! ^_^
3rd Maths test… ok… I’ve to admit, this was my strongest part… thou still didn’t manage to finish in time…
However, overall… I’ve to say, the TEST session was quite fun…
After this… my headhunter called me again, maybe he’s extra helpful, or maybe he’s obligated, or maybe as a job agency, you really will get lots of rewards by successfully introducing an employee to a company… he suggested sending my resume to company I (competitor to company H) however, this time, it’s not a sales job that I’ve always wanted… but I told him, well… sometimes, it doesn’t matter… cos, I just want to join an MNC ^_^… and I thought I can handle the mentioned job after he’s described to me…
A week later, I got to meet up with my little friend who’s back from tokyo, went to karaoke… when I was happy karaoke-ing away in the room… the HR called me for the second session… ok… so, I went and met up with the director of the department, another nice friendly err… balding guy (oops, no offense ya!!). This second interview somehow provided me to opportunity to evaluate their company… ya, I evaluated them.. (at the same time, they evaluated me, of course!!) I came to a conclusion that, they (the company) comes to be quite a “clean” company… who earned their businesses through merit, rather than… arrrghh…
So… the day before we went back to his hometown for Chinese New Year, my direct boss (the cheerful lady) called me, asked me how’s the session with the director and bla bla bla… then, she told me, they planned to give me a big “ang pow”… and later briefed me with the benefits and stuff in the company… Yatta!!!
In a way, I am glad that, I was not taken by company H that immediately, cos, the office location is downtown, parking fee is expensive there, and probably even limited… I was even contemplating if I were to get employed, I may need to consider taking the public transport, otherwise, I’d have to start my journey at about 6.30am everyday, cos, the office is horribly located right in the centre of jam place, and the traffic here IS getting more and more horrible after all these years…
As for company M… ooh!!! Hehe… it’s located in just another 2-3 neighbourhood away, at the same part of the city… Yatta!!
So, I thought, when I was not considered by company H, it’s a blessing in disguise, and for the employment from company M, it’s a blessing that came unexpectedly and late… ^_^
However… the “symphony” didn’t end there, immediately I got off the phone, my headhunter called me, asked me why I was engaged and told me that company I wanted to “have a chat” with me… and bla bla bla… then I told him (err… in fact, I didn’t plan to tell him until I officially sign the letter) I’ve just accepted a job offer verbally… and since I know I wouldn’t change my mind, I told him to help me to err… “turn down” the “invitation” for me “politely”… (I didn’t want to burn the boat, so, I thought, it’s better to turn down the “chat session” than after a few rounds of interview only tell them that I’m not interested… or, if it’s another way round that I’ve to reject the “verbally-accepted” job… I felt quite bad, cos, err… my direct boss was err… kinda excited when she’s talking to me… in the aspect… haha!! Well… HE said, usually boss won’t call the subordinate directly, it’s the HR job, ie. She either is damn free, or she likes me so much ^_^, well… however, I think she’s a very nice lady)
Then then then… tomorrow… I’m supposed to start work already right? My headhunter called me AGAIN (courtesy call) to tell me that, the offer from company H has finally come… still briefed me through the details of the package (well… I’ll have to say, it’s a sales job, the commission is very good, but not the basic, however, I wanted it badly cos, it’s a BIG company!!! Kaka!! Funny mindset huh??)… and of course, the result is still the same…
So… now, I guess, my bitter sweet symphony has finally come to an end… Yatta!!
'Cause it's a bittersweet symphony, this life
Try to make ends meet
Your a slave to money then you die
I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down
You know the one that takes you to the places
where all the things meet yeah
No change, I can't change
I can't change, I can't change
But I'm here in my mold
I am here in my mold
But I'm a million different people
from one day to the next
I can't change my mold
No, no, no, no, no
Well I never pray
But tonight I'm on my knees yeah
I need to hear some sounds that recognize the pain in me, yeah
I let the melody shine, let it cleanse my mind, I feel free now
But the airways are clean and there's nobody singing to me now
No change, I can't change
I can't change, I can't change
But I'm here in my mold
I am here in my mold
And I'm a million different people
from one day to the next
I can't change my mold
No, no, no, no, no
I can't change
I can't change
By “The Verve” (Urban Hymns)
Try to make ends meet
Your a slave to money then you die
I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down
You know the one that takes you to the places
where all the things meet yeah
No change, I can't change
I can't change, I can't change
But I'm here in my mold
I am here in my mold
But I'm a million different people
from one day to the next
I can't change my mold
No, no, no, no, no
Well I never pray
But tonight I'm on my knees yeah
I need to hear some sounds that recognize the pain in me, yeah
I let the melody shine, let it cleanse my mind, I feel free now
But the airways are clean and there's nobody singing to me now
No change, I can't change
I can't change, I can't change
But I'm here in my mold
I am here in my mold
And I'm a million different people
from one day to the next
I can't change my mold
No, no, no, no, no
I can't change
I can't change
By “The Verve” (Urban Hymns)
2007-02-20
Up is Down, Down is Up
There are two episodes from my favourite TV shows, Boston Legal and House, which had caught my attention lately… I mean, the stories tend to stay in my memory longer…
They are Boston Legal: s3e11: Angel of Death and House: s3e07: Son of Coma Guy
Two of these shows, again, posted an enquiry on morality of human… yep, again!!!! That’s why, I love these two shows so much…
Angel of Death, where Alan Shore had to defend a female doctor in New Orleans (post Katrina hurricane), who euthanized 5 of her patients. Her testimony was that, the rest of the doctors had already fled away, and that, there’s no help coming at all (they got to know from the radio) and that the 5 patients have no chance of surviving at all, suffering in bed, the condition of the hospital was actually like a death camp, human waste everywhere… and so on…
The families of the patients wanted to sue her for taking the right in her hand to decide to kill the patients, who, actually didn’t asked to be killed… according to the female doctor, they’ve already lost all their consciousness to think, or even too weak to make any decision… ie. ask to be killed. Furthermore, there’re doctors, who, fled from the hospital during that critical period, actually came back to the court to give their testimony against the female doctor… while they were never there…
Alan’s argument was… “these decisions were made in an environment that you had to be there to understand.”
In the end, Alan won…
I wouldn’t be able to say which is right or wrong, of course, if I go by the book… however, the beauty of a story of such, is that, it makes you think… ^_^, which, apparently is the best activity that I’ll have, for my pastime. As… most of the time, we tend to be like one of those doctors who fled, and came back to condemn the others… aren’t we???
Son of Coma, where, a coma patient was waken up (temporarily) by House so that he can get all the medical history of the son of this coma guy, as the son’s liver was failing…
After a ride (in Dr.Wilson’s car) to Atlantic City, to find that coma guy’s favourite sandwich, and after a long Q&A session/interrogation with the guy, House got the news that, the son’s heart is failing too… and will be very soon… as the son is an alcoholic, he’s forfeited his ‘right’ to get a heart transplant… however, the father, if dead, will be able to give his son his heart… all the parties knew that, the father will go back to his indefinite coma again, so, House said to him, “… hanging is the best way to preserve the heart…”, yep… cos, by regulation, House was already hand-tied… he told Cuddy, “… I’ll think of a way then…”…. And that’s the way, by ‘persuading’ the going-to-be-in-indefinite-coma guy to err… kill himself…
Sad… but practical…
Sounded immoral… but practical… however, in the end, it’s the father, who wanted to do something for the son… besides the fact that, he decided to go after THE sandwich in his memory, rather than stayed at the bed of his dying son… made the decision to kill himself…
While House stayed outside and waited…
Two dark stories… however, “Angel of Death” is slightly more pleasant to watch, cos, the dark message is already being ‘candied’ with the comedic nature of Boston Legal.
Again… something to think about ^_^
They are Boston Legal: s3e11: Angel of Death and House: s3e07: Son of Coma Guy
Two of these shows, again, posted an enquiry on morality of human… yep, again!!!! That’s why, I love these two shows so much…
Angel of Death, where Alan Shore had to defend a female doctor in New Orleans (post Katrina hurricane), who euthanized 5 of her patients. Her testimony was that, the rest of the doctors had already fled away, and that, there’s no help coming at all (they got to know from the radio) and that the 5 patients have no chance of surviving at all, suffering in bed, the condition of the hospital was actually like a death camp, human waste everywhere… and so on…
The families of the patients wanted to sue her for taking the right in her hand to decide to kill the patients, who, actually didn’t asked to be killed… according to the female doctor, they’ve already lost all their consciousness to think, or even too weak to make any decision… ie. ask to be killed. Furthermore, there’re doctors, who, fled from the hospital during that critical period, actually came back to the court to give their testimony against the female doctor… while they were never there…
Alan’s argument was… “these decisions were made in an environment that you had to be there to understand.”
In the end, Alan won…
I wouldn’t be able to say which is right or wrong, of course, if I go by the book… however, the beauty of a story of such, is that, it makes you think… ^_^, which, apparently is the best activity that I’ll have, for my pastime. As… most of the time, we tend to be like one of those doctors who fled, and came back to condemn the others… aren’t we???
Son of Coma, where, a coma patient was waken up (temporarily) by House so that he can get all the medical history of the son of this coma guy, as the son’s liver was failing…
After a ride (in Dr.Wilson’s car) to Atlantic City, to find that coma guy’s favourite sandwich, and after a long Q&A session/interrogation with the guy, House got the news that, the son’s heart is failing too… and will be very soon… as the son is an alcoholic, he’s forfeited his ‘right’ to get a heart transplant… however, the father, if dead, will be able to give his son his heart… all the parties knew that, the father will go back to his indefinite coma again, so, House said to him, “… hanging is the best way to preserve the heart…”, yep… cos, by regulation, House was already hand-tied… he told Cuddy, “… I’ll think of a way then…”…. And that’s the way, by ‘persuading’ the going-to-be-in-indefinite-coma guy to err… kill himself…
Sad… but practical…
Sounded immoral… but practical… however, in the end, it’s the father, who wanted to do something for the son… besides the fact that, he decided to go after THE sandwich in his memory, rather than stayed at the bed of his dying son… made the decision to kill himself…
While House stayed outside and waited…
Two dark stories… however, “Angel of Death” is slightly more pleasant to watch, cos, the dark message is already being ‘candied’ with the comedic nature of Boston Legal.
Again… something to think about ^_^
2007-02-06
Say a little prayer…
I learnt that, physically dirty, is cleanable, but not what’s in our hearts…
I learnt that, whatever it is that I do for YOU, it’s always between me, and YOU… (I do not have to bother too much, to prove to the others)…
I learnt that, if one day I will be ill, my physical health may deteriorate, but I would pray that my spirit will be the strongest ever…
I learnt that, before we say what others SHOULD do, we may sit down and think what we can do for others…
I learnt that, before we start to condemn the others, we may look into the reflection in the mirror…
I learnt that, our very own excuse is always justifiable, and other’s is unforgiveable… (how ugly!!)
And I learnt that, when a life is perished, a new one will be born… however, the story of a life, maybe told forever… and hope be seeded again…
Tomorrow, will be… a sunny day!! ^_^
I learnt that, whatever it is that I do for YOU, it’s always between me, and YOU… (I do not have to bother too much, to prove to the others)…
I learnt that, if one day I will be ill, my physical health may deteriorate, but I would pray that my spirit will be the strongest ever…
I learnt that, before we say what others SHOULD do, we may sit down and think what we can do for others…
I learnt that, before we start to condemn the others, we may look into the reflection in the mirror…
I learnt that, our very own excuse is always justifiable, and other’s is unforgiveable… (how ugly!!)
And I learnt that, when a life is perished, a new one will be born… however, the story of a life, maybe told forever… and hope be seeded again…
Tomorrow, will be… a sunny day!! ^_^
2007-02-05
~~Women are “GOOD” PEOPLE~~
Please give me a chance to explain!!! ^_^Y…
(OK, by now, you must have known that, my ‘learning gateway’ is TV… ^.^)
Come on!! Since it’s such an MCP world and since most leaders are MALE, and since most problems now are caused by MALE leaders… that’s how I reached my ‘conclusion’!!!!!
Of course, there’re “bad” women!!! However… besides those (a handful) in the history, the rest… come on!!! Are just MEN!!!! (who’re bad)
The other day, I watched CSI, the pathologist said, “women are 7x more likely to be a victim as compared to men, and men are 10x more likely to be a murderer as compared to women!!!”
How sad huh!!!
Of course… there’re “bad” women, in the history, now, and in the future.. but most of the time, what we do, is just nag nag nag, and manipulate, manipulate, manipulate, the one who will finally EXECUTE them, is always THE MAN!!!
Blame the woman, you can!!! But men are usually (thou not always) the one who execute…
K??? just accept the fact!!!
And of course, there’re real BAD women who kill, who murder… mm… but has the number outnumbered the male murderers, serial killers yet???
I remembered when I was small… there was a song (chinese song) singing about this place, where it’s ruled by women… well… the song basically gave you a picture that, such place will be a very peaceful and beautiful place…
And for your information… if man IS never in the picture, women CAN live peacefully and happily together…
However… realistically, such place, won’t really exist… right?
mm… anyway, this is just a short notes after I came across a trailer of some war documentary on TV, I think.. can’t remember the details… however… suddenly, I felt like slapping all THOSE MEN (who cause havoc here and there) on their face!!!... that day…
(OK, by now, you must have known that, my ‘learning gateway’ is TV… ^.^)
Come on!! Since it’s such an MCP world and since most leaders are MALE, and since most problems now are caused by MALE leaders… that’s how I reached my ‘conclusion’!!!!!
Of course, there’re “bad” women!!! However… besides those (a handful) in the history, the rest… come on!!! Are just MEN!!!! (who’re bad)
The other day, I watched CSI, the pathologist said, “women are 7x more likely to be a victim as compared to men, and men are 10x more likely to be a murderer as compared to women!!!”
How sad huh!!!
Of course… there’re “bad” women, in the history, now, and in the future.. but most of the time, what we do, is just nag nag nag, and manipulate, manipulate, manipulate, the one who will finally EXECUTE them, is always THE MAN!!!
Blame the woman, you can!!! But men are usually (thou not always) the one who execute…
K??? just accept the fact!!!
And of course, there’re real BAD women who kill, who murder… mm… but has the number outnumbered the male murderers, serial killers yet???
I remembered when I was small… there was a song (chinese song) singing about this place, where it’s ruled by women… well… the song basically gave you a picture that, such place will be a very peaceful and beautiful place…
And for your information… if man IS never in the picture, women CAN live peacefully and happily together…
However… realistically, such place, won’t really exist… right?
mm… anyway, this is just a short notes after I came across a trailer of some war documentary on TV, I think.. can’t remember the details… however… suddenly, I felt like slapping all THOSE MEN (who cause havoc here and there) on their face!!!... that day…
I just won’t speak & You just won’t listen!!!
*_*
^_^
The other day, after he showed me his many “trophies” from his recent china trip, we chose to watch “Babel”… among all the others… (some of them, are just too old, for eg. “Stealth”, don’t know why he bought it, some are expected and predictable… ^_^ only “Babel”, besides the fact that I know it’s nominated for many awards in the Oscar, I didn’t know what it’s all about in fact… oh, besides another fact that, there’s Brad Pitt and other actors actresses all around the world)
Ok… we started the DVD… and I was multi-tasking in the beginning of the show, then, I went on to read the sypnosis on the DVD cover… err… he asked me, what does it say… my response was, “don’t know… don’t know where the ‘point’ is…”
After we watched for about 15 min, his turn to read the sypnosis… and his turn to say, “don’t know what’s the point!!”
There were 3 mini stages in the movie… Morocco, Mexico, and Tokyo… serious, for about 30 min, I seriously still couldn’t see any connection… so, I GRAB (with rage!!! Kakaka!!!) the DVD cover again, and had a glance at the chinese version of sypnosis!!! Eh!!!!!!!! It’s all totally different from the english version… (Light Bulb lit!!) oh, now, I know the ‘connection’…
I was frustrated throughout the first half of the show, cos, I still couldn’t grasp what the director was trying to deliver… (ooh!! Since when I’m so high-level… hehe, I ALWAYS AM!!!)
Now then, I was right on the track…
(it’ll contain spoilers!!!)
First, morocco, a nomadian family, father, mother, sister and 2 brothers… it all started with the father of the family passed a gun to his 2 sons, who helped look after the herds… then, 2 of them, started to shoot aimlessly and meaninglessly just to see how far a bullet can go… the younger one kept telling the elder brother that, the bullet can really go very very far, for eg. 3 miles!!! And he proved it…
On the other hand, there’s this couple of husband and wife on tour (brad pitt and cate)… where we can see that their marriage/relationship was under great tension… the first thing the husband said was something like he chose (for them) to come here, is because he likes it there (ie. Morocco) and obviously the wife didn’t enjoy it very much, or not at all!!!! She felt very insecure and uncomfortable in this type of place…
Then… there’s this pair of cute sister and brother kid, blonde, taken care by a mexican nanny, who’s planning to bring these 2 kids away to mexico for a short trip, to attend a wedding…
Far east, there’s this pair of father and daugther, where, the daughter handicapped with deafness… his wife/her mother has just killed herself without reason… and that brought even more ‘cold air’ and tension into this small family… (however, wow!! I’ve to say, the condominium that they stay, must be of a few million or even billion yen!!! It’s huge, the lobby was like big commercial building lobby… spacious, security system implemented… that’s never appeared in my daily japanese drama series…)
From wikipedia,
Babel (Hebrew: ???????; Bavel) is the name used in the Hebrew Bible for the city of Babylon (Akkadian Babilu), notable in Genesis as the supposed location of the Tower of Babel.
In Gen. 11:9, the name of Babel is etymologized by association with the Hebrew verb balal, "to confuse or confound": Balal is regarded as a contraction of earlier *balbal. The name bab-ilu in Akkadian means "gate of god" (from bab "gate" + ilu "god"). The word "bab-el" can also be seen to mean "gate of god" (from bab "gate" + el "god").
Genesis
Babel is mentioned in Genesis 10:10 as the home city of Nimrod.
[10] And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. [11] Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah, [12] And Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city. (KJV)
According to Genesis 11:1-9, mankind, after the deluge, traveled from the mountain where the ark had rested, and settled in 'a plain in the land of Shinar' (or Senaar). Here, they attempted to build a city and a tower whose top might reach unto Heaven, the Tower of Babel.
The attempt to build the Tower of Babel had angered God who, in his anger, made each person involved speak a different language which ultimately halted the project and scattered and disconnected the people across the planet.
Of course… some of you may have already known the meaning/cotext even better than me… ^_^
Anyway… years ago, I’ve watched another japanese drama called “babel” as well.. however, it’s not much to do with languages, rather, mm… again, I was trying to understand what the production team was trying to say… I reckon, it’s more like… FIGHTING GOD!!! Cos, it’s a medical drama, where the 2 surgeons in there (an underground hospital) can do miracles to whoever came seeking for help. For example, they helped produced Olympic atheletes by injecting some drugs, but the side effect was, after a few years, the gal who got it, would become bigger and fatter… but what she wanted was to be an olympic winner once in a life, so, that’s the price she paid for… another case that I remembered was, another gal got fixed with a pianist’s hands who’s passed away, and thus she could play piano… ok… I know, it’s more like unrealistic story, but then… it’s interesting…
And now, there’s this movie…
The ‘ideas’ that I gather… were
The 2 brothers, the younger brother… mm… I reckon, he was born err… ‘bad’ (in chinese, there’s a say, everybody was always born ‘good’… however… mm… I tend to think that, the percentage is 50-50, some people ARE born ‘bad’, some ARE ‘good’, that… I supposed, is the ‘decision maker’ in each and every individual, if one is exposed to a bad environment, whether he/she’ll become bad from good, and vice versa… sometimes, we like to blame on ‘influence’ surrounding us… however, why?? are there people who’re always not influenced… but yet, can even bring changes to othres)
Oh… back to the 2 brothers… so, the younger brother insisted on his ‘skill’ to shoot the gun… and eventually… they caused some ‘accident’…
The elder brother tried to stop the younger one for all his crazy act (he’s one of those who really like to prove himself to others, and he peeped while his sister, not sure if it’s real sister or not, was changing… see!!! Bad nature!! Cos… in the wilderness… no internet, no TV, no commercial brochure, only 1 family in the middle of nowhere… a kid, probably less than 10 years old, how much “bad” influence from outside he can get???)
Brother tried to stop him, father tried to lecture him and bring him back on path, he just won’t listen…
After a short argument the husband & wife went back into the tour bus and started their journey again… then… suddenly, a flying bullet out of nowhere, shot into the wife’s neck…
As for this couple… they just won’t communicate properly… he won’t listen, she already refused to speak anymore…
As for the japanese father-daughter… she won’t and she can’t speak… (due to hearing, she’s mute as well) and the father… wouldn’t know how to communicate with this problematic teenage daughter…
To her, she can’t hear, and others won’t ‘listen’ to her anyway!!!!
And lastly… the mexico side of story… the nanny, brought the 2 children (hehe, they’re the children of the husband & wife far in morocco), her nephew drove, to mexico… after a happy, noisy and enjoyable mexican wedding party.. they’re on their way home (super late at night)… and at the border, the car was stopped by the border police… however, maybe the nephew was drunk, maybe it’s because he’s a gun, or maybe it’s because he was just getting impatient, the police tried to get him to cooperate, he just won’t listen (oh!! By the way, police was american police, and they’re mexican… ie. Language barrier again!!) and he’s trying to explain, police also just won’t listen (cos, it’s 2 mexican with 2 american kids behind the car, looks like a kidnap)… in the end… he drove away ‘illegally’ and when he found out that, the police was chasing him… he dropped the aunt and the 2 kids in the middle of the dessert…
These stories in different sites, some happened parallelly, some happened just a few days, or a while ago/after to each other… but I’m sure you won’t get to see the whole movie in chronological order… ^_^
Well… this is as far as I can get… I mean, trying to ‘understand’ the movie… ^_^
I’m sure there’s more… but this is as far as I can get….
I’m not a linguist myself, and I definitely won’t understand the beauty of understanding languages and languages…
Like many of the others…
(let me side track a little bit!!! I remember in this japanese dorama series “TRICK”, the mother of the girl Yamada always likes to say “Words/Language” has its own power, don’t misuse them!!”… ^_^ she’s a caligraphy teacher!!)
Anyway… my understanding is… language is supposed to be used to ‘communicate’… (oh!! Just for your information, I didn’t attend any communication class as well.. so, I may say something wrong yo!! ^_^)
Therefore… mm… in actual fact, as long as you understand… understand the true meaning of what’s in my head… it doesn’t matter if the language is correct, or if it’s beautiful, or if it’s powerful…
Thanks to the poets and great authors that we see the beautiful side of languages being used in different way, but also thanks go the poets and great authors (especially those chinese ones) people are ‘cheated’ into the trend of deceitful and fully decorated pretentious languages… ^_^
And therefore… language, as for now… instead of being used for proper communication, … is used to attack, to deceive, to poison, to hurt, to cover up, to pretend, to sell and so on…
Worse is… when it’s used onto our loved ones…
mm… I supposed… we will never get to the day to see the Tower of Babel!!!
^_^
The other day, after he showed me his many “trophies” from his recent china trip, we chose to watch “Babel”… among all the others… (some of them, are just too old, for eg. “Stealth”, don’t know why he bought it, some are expected and predictable… ^_^ only “Babel”, besides the fact that I know it’s nominated for many awards in the Oscar, I didn’t know what it’s all about in fact… oh, besides another fact that, there’s Brad Pitt and other actors actresses all around the world)
Ok… we started the DVD… and I was multi-tasking in the beginning of the show, then, I went on to read the sypnosis on the DVD cover… err… he asked me, what does it say… my response was, “don’t know… don’t know where the ‘point’ is…”
After we watched for about 15 min, his turn to read the sypnosis… and his turn to say, “don’t know what’s the point!!”
There were 3 mini stages in the movie… Morocco, Mexico, and Tokyo… serious, for about 30 min, I seriously still couldn’t see any connection… so, I GRAB (with rage!!! Kakaka!!!) the DVD cover again, and had a glance at the chinese version of sypnosis!!! Eh!!!!!!!! It’s all totally different from the english version… (Light Bulb lit!!) oh, now, I know the ‘connection’…
I was frustrated throughout the first half of the show, cos, I still couldn’t grasp what the director was trying to deliver… (ooh!! Since when I’m so high-level… hehe, I ALWAYS AM!!!)
Now then, I was right on the track…
(it’ll contain spoilers!!!)
First, morocco, a nomadian family, father, mother, sister and 2 brothers… it all started with the father of the family passed a gun to his 2 sons, who helped look after the herds… then, 2 of them, started to shoot aimlessly and meaninglessly just to see how far a bullet can go… the younger one kept telling the elder brother that, the bullet can really go very very far, for eg. 3 miles!!! And he proved it…
On the other hand, there’s this couple of husband and wife on tour (brad pitt and cate)… where we can see that their marriage/relationship was under great tension… the first thing the husband said was something like he chose (for them) to come here, is because he likes it there (ie. Morocco) and obviously the wife didn’t enjoy it very much, or not at all!!!! She felt very insecure and uncomfortable in this type of place…
Then… there’s this pair of cute sister and brother kid, blonde, taken care by a mexican nanny, who’s planning to bring these 2 kids away to mexico for a short trip, to attend a wedding…
Far east, there’s this pair of father and daugther, where, the daughter handicapped with deafness… his wife/her mother has just killed herself without reason… and that brought even more ‘cold air’ and tension into this small family… (however, wow!! I’ve to say, the condominium that they stay, must be of a few million or even billion yen!!! It’s huge, the lobby was like big commercial building lobby… spacious, security system implemented… that’s never appeared in my daily japanese drama series…)
From wikipedia,
Babel (Hebrew: ???????; Bavel) is the name used in the Hebrew Bible for the city of Babylon (Akkadian Babilu), notable in Genesis as the supposed location of the Tower of Babel.
In Gen. 11:9, the name of Babel is etymologized by association with the Hebrew verb balal, "to confuse or confound": Balal is regarded as a contraction of earlier *balbal. The name bab-ilu in Akkadian means "gate of god" (from bab "gate" + ilu "god"). The word "bab-el" can also be seen to mean "gate of god" (from bab "gate" + el "god").
Genesis
Babel is mentioned in Genesis 10:10 as the home city of Nimrod.
[10] And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. [11] Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah, [12] And Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city. (KJV)
According to Genesis 11:1-9, mankind, after the deluge, traveled from the mountain where the ark had rested, and settled in 'a plain in the land of Shinar' (or Senaar). Here, they attempted to build a city and a tower whose top might reach unto Heaven, the Tower of Babel.
The attempt to build the Tower of Babel had angered God who, in his anger, made each person involved speak a different language which ultimately halted the project and scattered and disconnected the people across the planet.
Of course… some of you may have already known the meaning/cotext even better than me… ^_^
Anyway… years ago, I’ve watched another japanese drama called “babel” as well.. however, it’s not much to do with languages, rather, mm… again, I was trying to understand what the production team was trying to say… I reckon, it’s more like… FIGHTING GOD!!! Cos, it’s a medical drama, where the 2 surgeons in there (an underground hospital) can do miracles to whoever came seeking for help. For example, they helped produced Olympic atheletes by injecting some drugs, but the side effect was, after a few years, the gal who got it, would become bigger and fatter… but what she wanted was to be an olympic winner once in a life, so, that’s the price she paid for… another case that I remembered was, another gal got fixed with a pianist’s hands who’s passed away, and thus she could play piano… ok… I know, it’s more like unrealistic story, but then… it’s interesting…
And now, there’s this movie…
The ‘ideas’ that I gather… were
The 2 brothers, the younger brother… mm… I reckon, he was born err… ‘bad’ (in chinese, there’s a say, everybody was always born ‘good’… however… mm… I tend to think that, the percentage is 50-50, some people ARE born ‘bad’, some ARE ‘good’, that… I supposed, is the ‘decision maker’ in each and every individual, if one is exposed to a bad environment, whether he/she’ll become bad from good, and vice versa… sometimes, we like to blame on ‘influence’ surrounding us… however, why?? are there people who’re always not influenced… but yet, can even bring changes to othres)
Oh… back to the 2 brothers… so, the younger brother insisted on his ‘skill’ to shoot the gun… and eventually… they caused some ‘accident’…
The elder brother tried to stop the younger one for all his crazy act (he’s one of those who really like to prove himself to others, and he peeped while his sister, not sure if it’s real sister or not, was changing… see!!! Bad nature!! Cos… in the wilderness… no internet, no TV, no commercial brochure, only 1 family in the middle of nowhere… a kid, probably less than 10 years old, how much “bad” influence from outside he can get???)
Brother tried to stop him, father tried to lecture him and bring him back on path, he just won’t listen…
After a short argument the husband & wife went back into the tour bus and started their journey again… then… suddenly, a flying bullet out of nowhere, shot into the wife’s neck…
As for this couple… they just won’t communicate properly… he won’t listen, she already refused to speak anymore…
As for the japanese father-daughter… she won’t and she can’t speak… (due to hearing, she’s mute as well) and the father… wouldn’t know how to communicate with this problematic teenage daughter…
To her, she can’t hear, and others won’t ‘listen’ to her anyway!!!!
And lastly… the mexico side of story… the nanny, brought the 2 children (hehe, they’re the children of the husband & wife far in morocco), her nephew drove, to mexico… after a happy, noisy and enjoyable mexican wedding party.. they’re on their way home (super late at night)… and at the border, the car was stopped by the border police… however, maybe the nephew was drunk, maybe it’s because he’s a gun, or maybe it’s because he was just getting impatient, the police tried to get him to cooperate, he just won’t listen (oh!! By the way, police was american police, and they’re mexican… ie. Language barrier again!!) and he’s trying to explain, police also just won’t listen (cos, it’s 2 mexican with 2 american kids behind the car, looks like a kidnap)… in the end… he drove away ‘illegally’ and when he found out that, the police was chasing him… he dropped the aunt and the 2 kids in the middle of the dessert…
These stories in different sites, some happened parallelly, some happened just a few days, or a while ago/after to each other… but I’m sure you won’t get to see the whole movie in chronological order… ^_^
Well… this is as far as I can get… I mean, trying to ‘understand’ the movie… ^_^
I’m sure there’s more… but this is as far as I can get….
I’m not a linguist myself, and I definitely won’t understand the beauty of understanding languages and languages…
Like many of the others…
(let me side track a little bit!!! I remember in this japanese dorama series “TRICK”, the mother of the girl Yamada always likes to say “Words/Language” has its own power, don’t misuse them!!”… ^_^ she’s a caligraphy teacher!!)
Anyway… my understanding is… language is supposed to be used to ‘communicate’… (oh!! Just for your information, I didn’t attend any communication class as well.. so, I may say something wrong yo!! ^_^)
Therefore… mm… in actual fact, as long as you understand… understand the true meaning of what’s in my head… it doesn’t matter if the language is correct, or if it’s beautiful, or if it’s powerful…
Thanks to the poets and great authors that we see the beautiful side of languages being used in different way, but also thanks go the poets and great authors (especially those chinese ones) people are ‘cheated’ into the trend of deceitful and fully decorated pretentious languages… ^_^
And therefore… language, as for now… instead of being used for proper communication, … is used to attack, to deceive, to poison, to hurt, to cover up, to pretend, to sell and so on…
Worse is… when it’s used onto our loved ones…
mm… I supposed… we will never get to the day to see the Tower of Babel!!!
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