A new challenge

In a bid to improve my sluggish physique, a certain very knowledgeable somebody educated me with his trove-worth of nutritional theories and details and urged me to give my body a new lease by introducing some *radical!* amendments towards my eating habits.

Radical it is. It’s like rejecting the cornerstone of Chinese cuisine – glorious white steamed rice.

So, I have had my first dinner just an hour ago without any rice – or carbohydrates.

How did it felt? Better than silly stuffing my system even more which has been working in full swing since early morning. In a strange and yet logical way, I felt less burdened.

Now, to fully implement it during my upcoming holidays.

Yes, I can make a difference. =D

Freezing Moon

Hmm. =)

One-liner #4

I hate the strange queasy feeling whenever a Christian friend pops online and the song playing displayed on my MSN nickname is – “Tormentor of Christian Spirits” by Dimmu Borgir or something.

Then again, who cares?

We live in a secular world, my friends.

Relativity

One week more to unbridled freedom. This is where relativity fails.

A barrage of tests can create the illusion of time slowing down tremendously.

E=mc^2.

Assuming the mass of the tests could amount to infinity, the mental energy of LingNemesis could only be x. The velocity of the passage of time would literally be stopped.

Thank you, Einstein.

Perhaps if speed of light, c, were zero, we could really see time, rather than stopping time.

Maybe… time might appear as a gooey plasma all around us, like the one we see in the film Donnie Darko.

————————

I need to stop mind-fucking myself any further.

Of Doctor Parnassus and a lighthouse.

Today saw a 12 hour outing with a friend whom I discovered to share much common interests and ideology with. It started with the witnessing the last Heath Ledger film – The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, which is directed by one of my favourite directors – Terry Gilliam. Yes, for Monty Python viewers, he is the trusty servant of King Arthur – Patsy.

That trivial detail aside, I immensely enjoyed the film as such a film does not come easy as such directors produce films at their own artistic rate which is one per 3 to 5 years, if you are in luck.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus had the, obviously, trademark flamboyantly visual imagery sequences that Gilliam so excellently excels in. Such sequences are nonetheless innovative, where any element of the scene can be used to develop into another series of another mind-bending visual sequence. Watching Gilliam execute such masterpieces of mind trips just makes me very pleased and inspired all over again. This film also included another element of trademark Gilliam motif which is the picking up of a stranger from the streets (Tony in Doctor Parnassus’ case). The dialogues were very entertaining and mostly offhand with a strange sense of uniquely Gilliam-esque humour. Loved it when Tony tried to promote his idea of a contemporary show for Doctor Parnussus and the introduction this ”contemporary” show, the most light-hearted portion of the film. Otherwise, the film could be rather stark with Mr. Nick lurking around at every possible corner, with no signs of relent, of the Gilliam constructed reality which proved itself to be a strange one again and again.

Towards the second and more enriching portion of the day – we ventured out to a secret location (he wanted to keep me in utter relentless secrecy before arriving to the venue itself). So the trip in oblivion ended in a positive note as I was revealed that the much hushed about location is a lighthouse breakwater at Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal. As I picked my apprehension of venturing into the increasingly dark portions of the wilderness (walking against what looked liked a forebodingly large forest, and he even wanting me to walk into the forest! Blasphemy), my anxiety was eased by the calmness of the night with the guiding moonlight.

So, we arrived at the lighthouse breakwater. I was immediately impressed at the location, as it was surrounded by no other structures at all, therefore only by the vast expanse of glorious undulating sea which spanned from as far as Singapore Flyer to the area near the airstrips at Changi Airport to beyond the horizon to Batam. Massive. Epic.

And, in addition, to listen to Agalloch’s Not Unlike The Waves and Immortal’s Beyond the North Waves at that location was perfect beyond any form of description. Pure unadulterated brilliance in every direction and in very decibel. I genuinely felt that the world was ending with those cacophonies battering my ears.

It blew my mind apart just to witness and behold that sight and I wished I had a camera with me to document that sight down.

I also realised the moonlight was actually really illuminating, of course, without the bothersome city lights and street lamps. I just wished the clouds weren’t there for the night, it covered a large majority of the stars.

So we sat and faced the great expanse of sea and talked literally anything and everything under the sky, he recounted his Brunei jungle survival stint from his army days. I sat there amazed, at how myopic my life experiences are and the incredible things he had pulled off. Respect!

All in all, great day spent. Much more vivid than my prior habit of card flourish meetups which was spent talking about a very limited scope of happenings and many hours focusing on our hands which I can do it at the comfort of my own abode. Maybe I have outgrown that phase. Maybe.

I foresee many more outings in this similar fashion, with the guy mentioned above.

One-liner #3

“Life without music is a mistake.” – Friedrich W. Nietzsche.

Now you know where that line came from although you probably used it for n number of times.

One-liner #2

Sometimes, once you stop the vicious cycle of resisting and yearning, the most incredible things come your way.

Life teases you like that. How funny.

On a less related note, I have not consumed a single morsel of Subway sandwiches in a long time. And, what I meant by a long time is 20 odd days, yes, that is a long time, I insist! Something is terribly and irrevocably wrong!

Alright, that is not really exactly a “one-liner”.

One-liner #1

After reading a certain chapter off Murakami’s Wind Up Bird Chronicle, I am attracted to the idea of going down to a well to think.

Hmm.

21

So the freshly amputated head came rolling in from the gallows at the midnight hour, signalling the arrival of my 21st birthday if you want to put it in a politically perfect term. But, what it really meant is it has been 21 unceasing long years of me, this ephemeral soul plucked from the nothingness, inserted into this shell of flesh, skin and bones, weathering 21 years of good days and bad days.

Like what I mentioned in the post to welcome the year 2010, I found it is getting increasingly disappointing to hold expectations towards this increment of age. For, such expectations would only meant greater possibilities of lost hopes. Pessimistic yes, but it’s only realistic.

21 years of existence. I am just glad I can proudly say I did not regret the majority of the things I have invested my time and effort in. And, I shall continue such a momentum and to enhance on life in general, to read more, to be amazed with things, to listen more music, to watch more films, to expand my mind further, to learn, to laugh, to dwell in peace, to embrace (warmly, or the lack thereof?) the upcoming phase of life as a working adult in the very near future.

I am unsure. But I am sure about being excited as life will present itself with many opportunities and miracles to continue writing my own linear biography. To continue drawing the artwork. To continue creating the masterpiece belonging to a strangely enough individual whose origins so ephemerally strange, whose existence, like many others, so common, you call Ling Xuan.

Stay tuned.

The urge to write; the lack of content.

Right now, I am facing this urge to write, to see words coming out from the screen from the typing of my fingers upon the keyboard. Many words, paragraphs, passages of words. To feel my mind, my fingers and the textbox working in perfect synchronism.

However, unlucky enough, my mind is utterly devoid of content to report to this digital journal. My week has been most mundane, I contracted an unremarkable bout of fever and cough, and spent dozens and dozens of hours in an purgatorial state of somnolence and short-lived unproductive spans of transient wakefulness. Thus, perhaps, upon my recovery from the plague of passivity, the sudden influx of renewed clarity of my mind and my body caused the desire to produce something, to write, to do.

Have you encountered such episodes prior as well?

Since the scant amount of momentum has began, like the freshly decapitated head considerably slowing down after some distance from the gallows, I might as well continue my ramble farther. Yes, I like to relate analogies to mildly grotesque imageries, it makes life more visually appealing and bearable.

I must also, on a side note, thank my sister, Ling Senior, for the lush notebook, for it certainly added on to the urge to write, to record, to produce words. It is certainly healthy to start decapitating heads to create the much-needed momentum. =)

It will only be a matter of time that my 21st birthday comes rolling in like another freshly amputated head from the gallows. And, I am still undecided what to do with that occasion. Though I am relatively sure I won’t be inviting a host of people to an event of endless feasting and mindless chattering, juggling different groups of guests, making them feel at ease. Then, inadvertently, tiring myself out and wanting to amputate my own head instead.

Macabre descriptions of decapitated heads and gallows aside, I think I will look forward to a day of tranquillity as I treat myself to a worthy movie, to consume a hearty meal with my brethren and the such.

There, I have quelled my urge to create words from the typing of my fingers.