Dance, Dance, Dance

“Like we said, we'll do what we can. Trytoreconnectyoutowhatyouwant,» said the Sheep Man. «Butwecan'tdoitalone. Yougottaworktoo. Sitting'snotgonnadoit, thinking's-notgonnadoit.»

«So what do I have to do?»

Taken on top of Busra waterfall, Mondulkiri.

«Dance,» said the Sheep Man. 

«Yougottadance. Aslongasthemusicplays. Yougotta dance. Don'teventhinkwhy. Starttothink, yourfeetstop. Yourfeetstop, wegetstuck. Wegetstuck, you'restuck. Sodon'tpayanymind, nomatterhowdumb. Yougottakeepthestep.Yougottalimberup. Yougottaloosenwhat-youbolteddown. Yougottauseallyougot. Weknowyou're tired, tiredandscared. Happenstoeveryone, okay? Justdon't-letyourfeetstop.»”

― Haruki Murakami

a beautiful quote for today...

"Only once in your life, I truly believe, you find someone who can completely turn your world around. You tell them things that you’ve never shared with another soul and they absorb everything you say and actually want to hear more. You share hopes for the future, dreams that will never come true, goals that were never achieved and the many disappointments life has thrown at you. When something wonderful happens, you can’t wait to tell them about it, knowing they will share in your excitement. They are not embarrassed to cry with you when you are hurting or laugh with you when you make a fool of yourself. Never do they hurt your feelings or make you feel like you are not good enough, but rather they build you up and show you the things about yourself that make you special and even beautiful. There is never any pressure, jealousy or competition but only a quiet calmness when they are around. You can be yourself and not worry about what they will think of you because they love you for who you are. The things that seem insignificant to most people such as a note, song or walk become invaluable treasures kept safe in your heart to cherish forever. Memories of your childhood come back and are so clear and vivid it’s like being young again. Colours seem brighter and more brilliant. Laughter seems part of daily life where before it was infrequent or didn’t exist at all. A phone call or two during the day helps to get you through a long day’s work and always brings a smile to your face. In their presence, there’s no need for continuous conversation, but you find you’re quite content in just having them nearby. Things that never interested you before become fascinating because you know they are important to this person who is so special to you. You think of this person on every occasion and in everything you do. Simple things bring them to mind like a pale blue sky, gentle wind or even a storm cloud on the horizon. You open your heart knowing that there’s a chance it may be broken one day and in opening your heart, you experience a love and joy that you never dreamed possible. You find that being vulnerable is the only way to allow your heart to feel true pleasure that’s so real it scares you. You find strength in knowing you have a true friend and possibly a soul mate who will remain loyal to the end. Life seems completely different, exciting and worthwhile. Your only hope and security is in knowing that they are a part of your life."

— Bob Marley

that's what storm is all about.

Taken on the way from PS to BTB, where you can always see the wide opened bluest

and blackest sky with masses of floating clouds.

"Sometimes fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing directions. You change direction but the sandstorm chases you. You turn again, but the storm adjusts. Over and over you play this out, like some ominous dance with death just before dawn. Why? Because this storm isn't something that blew in from far away, something that has nothing to do with you. This storm is you. Something inside of you.

So all you can do is give in to it, step right inside the storm, closing your eyes and plugging up your ears so the sand doesn't get in, and walk through it, step by step. There's no sun there, no moon, no direction, no sense of time. Just fine white sand swirling up into the sky like pulverized bones. That's the kind of sandstorm you need to imagine.

And you really will have to make it through that violent, metaphysical, symbolic storm. No matter how metaphysical or symbolic it might be, make no mistake about it: it will cut through flesh like a thousand razor blades. People will bleed there, and you will bleed too. Hot, red blood. You'll catch that blood in your hands, your own blood and the blood of others.

And once the storm is over you won't remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won't even be sure, in fact, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm you won't be the same person who walked in. That's what this storm's all about."

— Haruki Murakami (Kafka on the Shore)

Tuesdays With Morrie

Mitch Albom becomes one of my favorite authors now. I used to read, “For One More Day” long ago which lent by Nathary. And now “Tuesdays With Morrie” is another recommended by JenJen, my former colleague. I got my copy during mission to Siem Reap a week ago, and just finished few days ago during mission to Kratie. If you’re someone who interest in life’s lesson and wisdom, “Tuesdays With Morrie” is an exception to be recommended. It’s a last thesis together of the author, Mitch Albom and his professor, Morrie Schwardtz, while living but dying because of ALS disease. Please enjoy all the greatest quotes below attributed by Morrie Schwardtz.

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Culture:

- The culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves. And you have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn't work, don't buy it.

- People are only mean when they're threatened, and that's what our culture does...And when you get threatened, you start looking out only for yourself. You start making money a god. It is all part of this culture.

- Every society has its own problems, The way to do it, I think, isn’t to run away. You have to work at creating your own culture.

Tension of Opposites:

- Life is a series of pulls back and forth. You want to do one thing, but you are bound to do something else. Something hurts you, yet you know it shouldn’t. You take certain things for granted, even when you know you should never take anything for granted.

- A tension of opposites, like a pull on a rubber band. And most of us live somewhere in the middle.

Love:

- Love wins. Love always wins.

- Love each other or die.

-The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in.

- Let it come in. We think we don’t deserve love, we think if we let it in we’ll become too soft. But a wise man named Levine said it right. He said: Love is the only rational act.

- Love is when you are as concerned about someone else’s situation as you are about your own.

How Love Goes On:

- I’ve got so many people who have been involved with me in close, intimate ways. And love is how you stay alive, even after you are gone.

- Part of the problem, is that everyone in such a hurry, People haven’t found meaning in their lives, so they’re running all the time looking for it. They think the next car, the next house, the next job. They find those things are empty, too, and they keep running.

Forgiveness:

- Forgive yourself before you die. Then forgive others.

- We... need to forgive ourselves... For all the things we didn't do. All the things we should have done. You can't get stuck on the regrets of what should have happened.

- Accept what you are able to do and what you are not able to do. Accept the past as past, without denying it or discarding it. Learn to forgive yourself and to forgive others. Don’t assume that it’s too late to get involved.

- There is no point in keeping vengeance or stubbornness. These things I so regret in my life. Pride. Vanity. Why do we do the things we do?

Meaning into Life:

- So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they're busy doing things they think are important. This is because they're chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.

- Yet they gave up days and weeks of their lives, addicted to someone else’s drama.

Trust:

-...if you are ever going to have other people trust you, you must feel that you can trust them, too--even when you're in the dark.

Friendship:

- we’ll just hold hand... we've had thirty-five years of friendship. You don't need speech or hearing to feel that.

Feeling Sorry For Yourself:

- Sometimes you cannot believe what you see, you have to believe what you feel. And if you are ever going to have other people to trust you, you must feel that you can trust them, too–even when you’re in the dark. Even when you’re falling.

- There are some mornings when I cry and cry and mourn for myself. Some mornings, I’m so angry and bitter. But it doesn’t last too long. Then I get up and say, ‘I want to live . . .'

Death and Ambition:

- ...the truth is... if you accept that you can die at any time--then you might not be as ambitious as you are.

- Everyone knows they’re going to die, but nobody believes it. If we did, we would do things differently.

Family:

- The fact is, there is no foundation, no secure ground, upon which people may stand today if it isn't the family.

- If you don't have the support and love and caring and concern that you get from a family, you don't have much at all. Love is so supremely important. As our great poet Auden said, ‘Love each other or perish.’

- This is part of what family is about, not just love, but letting others know there’s someone who is watching out for them. Knowing that your family will be there watching out for you. Nothing else will give you that. Not money. Not fame. Not work.

Children:

- There is no experience like having children. That’s all. There is no substitute for it. If you want to have the experience of having complete responsibility for another human being, and to learn how to love and bond in the deepest way, then you should have children.

Material Things:

- Don't cling to things, because everything is impermanent.

- You can't substitute material things for love or for gentleness or for tenderness or for a sense of comradeship.

Emotions:

- If you hold back on the emotions–if you don’t allow yourself to go all the way through them—you can never get to being detached, you’re too busy being afraid. You’re afraid of the pain, you’re afraid of the grief. You’re afraid of the vulnerability that loving entails.

- One day, I’m gonna show you it’s okay to cry.

- I thought about how often this was needed in everyday life. How we feel lonely, sometimes to the point of tears, but we don’t let those tears come because we are not supposed to cry. Or how feel a surge of love for a partner but we don’t say anything because we’re frozen with the fear of what those words might do to the relationship.

Dying and Living:

- When you learn how to die, you learn how to live.

- Don't let go too soon but, but don't hang on too long.

- Dying, is only one thing to be sad over. Living unhappily is something else.

Being a Child:

- We all know how to be a child. It's inside all of us. For me, it's just remembering how to enjoy it.

Youth:

- ...I know what a misery being young can be, so don't tell me it's so great.

-...in addition to all the miseries, the young are not wise. They have very little understanding about life.

Aging:

- Aging is not just decay, you know. It’s growth. It’s more than the negative that you’re going to die, it’s also the positive that you understand you’re going to die, and that you live a better life because of it. You know what that reflects? Unsatisfied lives. Unfulfilled lives. Lives that haven’t found meaning. Because if you’ve found meaning in your life, you don’t want to go back. You want to go forward. You want to see more, do more. You can’t wait until sixty-five.

- If you're always battling against getting older, you're always going to be unhappy, because it will happen anyhow.

- You have to find what's good and true and beautiful in your life as it is now. Looking back makes you competitive. And, age is not a competitive issue.

- How can I be envious of where you are--when I've been there myself.

Money and Power / Status and Showing Off:

- These were people so hungry for love that they were accepting substitutes. They were embracing material things and expecting a sort of hug back. But it never works. You can’t substitute material things for love or for gentleness or for tenderness or for a sense of comradeship. When you most need it, neither money nor power will give you the feeling you’re looking for, no matter how much of them you have.

- If you're trying to show off for people at the top, forget it. They will look down on you anyhow. And if you're trying to show off for people at the bottom, forget it. They will only envy you. Status will get you nowhere. Only an open heart will allow you to float equally between everyone.

- Do the kinds of things that come from the heart. When you do, you won’t be dissatisfied, you won’t be envious, you won’t be longing for somebody else’s things. On the contrary, you’ll be overwhelmed with what comes back.

Marriage:

- I've learned this much about marriage. You get tested. You find out who you are, who the other person is, and how you accommodate or don't.

- There are a few rules I know to be true about love and marriage: If you don’t respect the other person, you’re gonna have a lot of trouble. If you don’t know how to compromise, you’re gonna have a lot of trouble. If you can’t talk openly about what goes on between you, you’re gonna have a lot of trouble. And if you don’t have a common set of values in life, you’re gonna have a lot of trouble. Your values must be alike. And the biggest one of those values. Your belief in the importance of your marriage.

- I think marriage is a very important thing to do, and you're missing a hell of a lot if you don't try it.

Shortsightedness:

- No matter where you live, the biggest defect we human beings have is our shortsightedness. We don't see what we could be. We should be looking at our potential, stretching ourselves into everything we can be come.

Needing Others:

- In the beginning of life, when we were infants, we need others to survive, right? And at the end of life, when you get like me, you need others to survive, right? But here's the secret: in between, we need others as well.

Being Number Two:

- What's wrong with being number two?

Important Questions:

- As I see it, they have to do with love, responsibility, spirituality, awareness.

Death :

- Death ends a life, not a relationship.

- The truth is, once you learn how to die, you learn how to live.

- Even I don’t know what ’spiritual development’ really means. But I do know we’re deficient in some way. We are too involved in materialistic things, and they don’t satisfy us. The loving relationship we have, the universe around us, we take these things for granted.

Relationships:

- As long as we can love each other, and remember the feeling of love we had, we can die without ever really going away. Death ends a life, not a relationship.

- There is no formula to relationships. They have to be negotiated in loving ways, with room for both parties, what they want and what they need, what they can do and what their life is like.

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By the way, I’ve googled around for the summery and I found its quotations and analysis. Click here.

The Little Prince

I finished a children book called, 'The Little Prince' by Saint Exupery last month and I re-readed during Khmer New Year days. Reading this book helps me withdrawing from the chaotic world of grown-up people for a while, and feeling as an innocent child again.

It's such a great philosophy kind of book.

The best quotes of this book I found very interesting are:

- It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye!
-It is time you had wasted for it which made it is so important!
-You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.
You're responsible for it…

To be exact, every parts of this book teaches us something.
And it mays break my heart a little bit.

Especially, the part the little prince lands in the desert on Earth. And he meets a cute little fox in a sand dune and tries to get the fox to come to him. The fox will not, because he’s not tamed. He explains this, saying, “To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we will need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world.”

I acknowledge the fact that we create the needs that we fill. We don't need one thing or another inherently. It is when we find ourselves needed something or someone, we just forget the fact that it's once like a bargain of the needs that we willingly become involving with.

Anyway.

I love this review question of a person in my Goodreads:

"One novel metaphor of looking at life and love through the eyes of an alien child. Beautiful philosophy of life and love communicated here, the wonder and the mystery of it. The boy's innocent, yet loyal relationship with the flower, leaves me with the question: Should we love only those whom are deserving of love, whom are capable of loving us back? Or do we love whole-heartedly whether we get love in return or not? And, how do we replenish the well of love if we keep giving out and do not receive it back?"

Who knows what’s bad or good?

There’s an ancient Chinese story, still known to most East Asians today, about an old farmer whose only horse ran away. Knowing that the horse was the mainstay of his livelihood, his neighbors came to commiserate with him. “Who know what’s bad or good?” said the old man, refusing their sympathy.

And indeed, a few days later his horse returned, bringing with it a wild horse. The old man’s friends came to congratulate him. Rejecting their congratulations, the old man said, “Who know what’s bad or good?”

And, as it happened, a few days later when the old man’s son was attempting to ride the wild horse, he was thrown from it and his leg was broken. The friends came to express their sadness about the son’s misfortune. “Who knows what’s bad or good?” said the old man.

A few weeks passed, and the army came to the village to conscript all the able-bodied men to fight a war against the neighboring province, but the old man’s son was not fit to serve and was spared...

The Geography of Thought
by Richard E.Nisbett

And yes, the world is constantly changing and is full of contradictions!

I keep reminding myself that what seems to be true now maybe be the opposite of what it seems to be.

Slow down my dear

2010 began, a drama has been steadily unfolding. I'm not entirely pleased with this. It seems harsh and hard, to say nothing of disappointing.

I suddenly feel like, every couple year, I have to fall back and start everything over.I t's ridiculous just to think of it. I feel like, "Shit! I keep coming back!". But keep telling myself not to lose my hope, which is what a friend of mine seriously told me once, "Don't lose yourself! Don't lose your hope!"

Well, I got a question for myself, which is what I have to think about "How to" broaden my ability and capacity on something I really put my head and heart on. Ok it's a very hard one.

Btw, right now I'm thinking about Kafka Tamura, who sees Miss Saeki as a smart person, which is exactly what I see in a certain person.

“She is very different from you, she overcome all kinds of obstacles, and not what you’d call normal obstacles, either. She knows all kinds of things you’re clueless about; she’s experienced a range of emotions you’ve never felt. The longer people live, the more they learn to distinguish what’s important from what’s not. She’s had to make a lot of critical decisions, and has seen the results. Again, she’s very different from you. You’re only a child who’s lived in a narrow world and experienced very little. You’ve worked hard to become stronger, and in some areas you actually have. That’s a fact. But now you find yourself in a new world, in a situation you’ve never been in before. It’s all new to you, so no wonder you feel confused.”

Quoted from Kafka On The Shore
by Haruki Murakami

Keep playing this quote in my head, helps slowing down my pace of anxiety and vitalize my hope!

I'm also thinking of something fun, like going to swim with my ladies or play badminton to reduce some stress and anxiety. Maybe only after that activation I'm in. The late of FEB, probably. I hope I can make it! Yeh Yeh!

Hope abides; therefore I abide...

Source: Pheak

..... Countless frustrations have not cowed me.
I am still alive, vibrant with life.
I believe and still believe that,
the black cloud will disappear,
The morning sun will appear once again
In all its supernal glory.

- Author Unknown

DON'T

The most important thing is not to let yourself get impatient. This is the only advice for you: DON’T GET IMPATIENT. Even if things are so tangled up, you can’t do anything, don’t get desperate or blow a fuse and start yanking on one particular thread before it’s ready to come undone. You have to realize it’s going to be a long process and that you’ll work on things slowly, one at a time.

Do you think you can do that?

Norwegian wood by Haruki Murakami

My answer: I'll TRY!

10 principles

1- Everything you need to be happy is inside of you.
2- The purpose of life is for you to grow into the best human being you can be.
3- Change is inevitable, so stop resisting and surrender to life's flow.
4- All obstacles are lessons in disguise-honor them and learn from them.
5- Your mind creates your experience of reality, so make your mind your friend.
6- Fear will steal your aliveness-make your courage bigger than your fear.
7- You must love yourself before you can truly give love or receive love from anyone else.
8- All relationships are your mirrors and all people are your teachers.
9- True freedom comes from how you respond to life and not what life does to you.
10- Whatever the question, love is the answer.

Secrets about life every woman should know
By: Barbara De Angelis, Ph.D.

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When you read these 10 principals, you might be not really into it, unless you read the whole points described in this book. While you're reading it, you will think, "Oh! That's exactly me!"

Okay, it's definitely not a self-help, but it's about experience and lessons in her life and everyone's life.

I'm now on Secret # 2. It's been a hell of weeks to finish this number 2. Not because it's a very thick book, but I can read only a page per day.

And one sentence that I think it's an inspiring message is:
"Because I make a mistake doesn't meant I AM a mistake!"

Don't you think it's a wonderful phrase to remember?

Sometimes, do you have to live your life by chaining up yourself with too much questions and worries?

Questions which begin with 'how', 'where,' or 'when,' are comparatively easy to answer.Those that start with ‘why’ tends to be trickier. For every 'because' there's a 'but.' Usually, too, if you go down this road of inquiry, you find it soon leads to yet another, even bigger 'why?' Like it or not, you now have to scrutinize a bunch of reasons and 'justifications' that you normally allow yourself the luxury of taking for granted. Instead of asking 'why,' try restricting yourself to the slightly less impossible, 'why not?'

And, this is the only word I keep reminding myself.

Well, why not?

I really can't see why, but I try 'giving my all' to the journey rather than holding back and being half-hearted and try putting up with everything and ready to make mistake to be better!

Because I believe as soon as I set off properly, I'll see a dramatic improvement in the scenery. And I'll also be delighted to leave all those 'ifs', 'buts' and 'maybes' so far behind.

And I know it must take long time!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.
You're on your own.
And you know what you know.
You are the guy who'll decide where to go.
~Dr. Seuss

There is nothing more artistic than to truly love people

I've got these painting pictures from Lauren Nicole's blog which I found that is truly inspiring and awesome.

Well then, I have some ready-to-print bookplates to share.

Click here to get big file to to print out and paste on your favorite books.

Also these 3 bookplates, you can get from Helen dardik's site. Click on her name to get big resolution in her site.

When I look at these two-side of faces pictures, which I found at Matte Stephens's blog. I can't help but laugh hard at it. Maybe it reflects so much on me. Like the first one is when I'm in doom and gloom and the second one is the look when I'm at work. Ha-Ha

I really love Helen dardik and Matte Stephens's illustrations. those remind me all my lovely time and activities in bibliothèque at CCF, especially a French-English book which I learned English from.

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I've not yet get those bookplates printed. I'm really lazy to re-install my printer. And also I've not yet get my some selected photos printed to put in album and some to stick on my blue photo's board I bought yesterday, which left in ole car, because I have the car broken down last night somewhere too far from home. My big thank to a brother who came to help me! Whenever I have trouble, not to mention everyone in family, there are only two brothers who work with me who I can think of calling for their help, esp with car and motor broken down. Because I know they will come no matter what.

You know I really love people who have a big heart, who would go out their way to help others! For men, of course, I consider it as something so be called "Gentleman". And I'm trying to make my both younger brothers to have big heart like this. That's what gentlemen do.

So, there is nothing more artistic than to truly love people. And after the verb "to Love," "to Help" is the most beautiful verb in the world.

Word for today is:

A happy life is made up of little things-a gift sent, a letter written, a call made, a recommendation given, transportation provided, a cake made, a book lent, a check sent. - Carol Holmes

Art of Losing

The art of losing isn't hard to master; so many things seem filled with the intent to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster of lost door keys, the hour badly spent. The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster; places, and names, and where it was you meant to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or next-to-last, of three loved houses went. The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster, some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent. I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.



--Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident. The art of losing's not too hard to master though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

“One Art”
from The Complete Poems 1927-1979,
by Elizabeth Bishop,
which I got from a book called,
“The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing”

After finishing Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing book along with this poem last night, I become obsessed with it. That's because of the conversation with Pa yesterday about his regret of losing big sum of money and about how he gets so weary with life and wondering how we can live our life better. This great deal of money might appear as a small amount for others, but not for us, we worked and have to work hard for that. At every turn, there’s a wee little thing I’m glad about. Because it gave me chance to give a hand for family and chance to change myself for someone a bit more mature than I was.

Yes, losing is not too hard to master and I learned NOT TO regret. Because there are something to be said not to regret on what's lost is lost! Be strong. That's how I do it. Being a vulnerable type with a cover of laid-back character and being surrounded by people I love who is unable to let things go, I can't be vulnerable. I realized that the habit of acting laid-back did a great deal of help in developing myself for a bit better and a bit more mature. At least, when it comes to the term of losing, I’ve deliberately learned not to regret.

I used to lose money, times, chances, courage, people etc... I used to lose something small which is not too hard to get over and I used to lose something big which is not easy to forget. But there’s three major things I used to lose and I don’t want to lose anymore. It's about losing myself, hope and people I love.

Art of losing is not too hard to master, though it may look like disaster! Because the older you are, the greater the number of life lessons you will have under your belt, and the more resourceful and confident you will become about accepting new challenges.

We all walk in the dark and each of us must learn to turn on his or her own light

How is one to live a moral and compassionate existence when one finds darkness not only in one's culture but within oneself?
There are simply no answers to some of the great pressing questions.
You continue to live them out, making your life a worthy expression of leaning into the light.

Barry Lopez, Arctic Dreams

In the memory's telephoto lens, far objects are magnified...

To read it, you have to click on the picture to enlage.

Taken at Ratanakiri 2005 by Bong Roth or Bong Ratha [I don't remember]

Some memories are realities, and are better than anything that can ever happen to one again. Willa Cather

So this is what you CAN do

Reading Nathary recent post under the title of Department Of Twists And Turns about what she CAN do and what she WANTS, it gave me the realization that I have just done with what I CAN do, but NOT what I WANT. What I have done has nothing to do with the Certificate, but something to do with my ability of doing it. The point is, I CAN do what I CAN, even though it is not what I WANT! But still, I allowed my devotion to the things I'm doing and I want to see what I CAN do to be happened.

So here we go, Nathary, you are not alone and neither I am. We are on the same way of "What We CAN Do!"

I'm glad I have a chance to meet her in person. Because there is something I always love about Madam Chanthy is whenever I saw her in TV, to me, she just looks like an Apsara and Srey Krob Leak at Angkor Wat Temple and Prasat Bonteay Srey.

Just look at the way she speaks with her well sage manner, she's completely a very Traditional Khmer Lady. I do love her modest, gentle and soft manner.
Well, all in all, I love everything which is different from me. Ha-ha

All my growth and development led me to believe that if you really do the right thing, and if you play by the rules, and if you've got good enough, solid judgment and common sense, that you're going to be able to do whatever you WANT to do and what you CAN do with your life.

You listen to a piece of music and it will remind you of something

I indeed was not listening to any pieces of music, but I was just finding Shakespeare's quotes, and it reminded me of something too, it's Agatha Christie.

Agatha Christie is well-known as English Queen of Crime and her novels particularly featuring detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple. But I've not yet read Miss Jane Marple's series. As far as I know, most of her books, especially her best-selling books, always written along with William Shakespeare's quotes or epigraphs and even his songs. So I guess she must be a very big fan of Shakespeare.

I've read her two series books in Hercule Poirot's series which are and Sad Cypress and Murder In Mews attached with other 3 different short story which are, The Incredible Theft, Dead Man's Mirror and Triangle at Rhodes.

I like Sad Cypress better. But though, I still didn't really get the meaning of Sad Cypress related to the whole story. But here is what I just got to know is the title comes from a song from Shakespeare...

Come away, come away, death,
And in sad cypress let me be laid;
Fly away, fly away breath;
I am slain by a fair cruel maid.
My shroud of white, stuck all with yew,
O, prepare it!
My part of death, no one so true
Did share it.

I was immediately impressed by reading the first page of it, which is the answer of the question of "Do you feel guilty or not?"

Sad Cypress is written about Elinor Carlisle, who has been accused for crime of her aunt's death, Laura Welman and subsequent death of victim, Mary Gerrard. But after the Poirot's investigation and a sequence in court, the truth was revealed.

Actually, the story was not simple as I explained above, but it's utterly impressive. Just that I didn't really remember the story, since it's been a very, very long time read. teehee

It is bicycling baby!

The hardest part of raising a child is teaching them to ride bicycles. A shaky child on a bicycle for the first time needs both support and freedom. The realization that this is what the child will always need can hit hard.

~Sloan Wilson~

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

The most impressive, fascinating, beautiful, illuminated and even funny story about a nine-year-old boy, Oskar, who is an inventor, amateur detective, letter-writer to Stephen Hawking, whose dad died in World Trade Center by terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 in New York City. With the mysterious key belonged to his dad which got him in very heavy boots, Oskar struggled to find the open of 162 millions lockers in New York and meet many complete strangers who have the same last name, Black. Oskar Schells was finding his died father, Thomas Schells, just like when Thomas himself used to find his long lost leaving father who has the same name, Thomas Schells too.

That's very fascinating. The way author told the story and the style of the story's writing are really brilliant and intelligent. There are many sentences I like and I have quoted and noted. I also like the way the author used 'Heavy boots', "Lighter boots' and 'One hundred dollars!' to express the character's moods.

Here are some quotes I like the most:

"What if the water that came out of the shower was treated with a chemical that responded to a combination of things, like your heart-beat, and your body temperature, and your brain waves, so that your skin changed color according to your mood? If you were extremely excited, your skin would turn green, and if you were angry, you’d turn red, obviously, and if you felt like shiitake, you’d turn brown, and if you were blue, you’d turn blue? Everyone could know what everyone else felt, and we could be more careful with each other, because you’d never want to tell a person whose skin was purple that you’re angry at her for being late, just like you would want to pat a pink person on the back and tell him, ‘Congratulations!’"

"No, that’s not it, it’s not about my joy, the relief of my burden. I like to see people reunited, maybe that’s a silly things but what can I say, I like to see people run to each other, I like the kissing and crying, I like the impatience, the stories that the mouth can’t tell fast enough, the ears that aren’t big enough, the eyes that can’t take in all the change, I like hugging, the bringing together, the end of missing someone, I sit on the side with a coffee and write in my day book, I examine the flight schedules that I’ve already memorized, I observe, I write, I try not to remember the life that I didn’t want to lose but lost and have to remember, being here fills my heart with so much joy, even if the joy isn’t mine, and the end of the day, I fill the suitcase with old news. "

"When I no longer had to be strong in front of you, I become very weak. I brought myself to the ground, which was where I belonged. I hit the floor with my fists. I wanted to break my hands, but when it hurt too much, I stopped. I was too selfish to break my hands for my only child. "

"The longer your mother and I lived together, the more we took each other’s assumptions for granted, the less was said, the more misunderstood, I’d often remember having designated a space as Nothing when she sure we had agreed that is was Something, our unspoken agreements led to disagreements, to suffering… "

"'I feel too much. That's what's going on.' 'Do you think one can feel too much? Or just feel in the wrong ways?' 'My insides don't match up with my outsides.' 'Do anyone's insides and outsides match up?' 'I don't know. I'm only me.' 'Maybe that's what a person's personality is: the difference between the inside and outside.' 'But it's worse for me.' 'I wonder if everyone thinks it's worse for him.' 'Probably. But it really is worse for me.'"

"I spent my life learning to feel less. Every day I felt less. Is that growing old? Or is it something worse? You cannot protect yourself from sadness without protecting yourself from happiness."

"She said, 'Believe it or not, I used to be idealistic.' I asked her what 'idealistic' meant. 'It means you live by what you think is right.' 'You don't do that anymore?' 'There are questions I don't ask anymore.'"

"I felt suddenly shy. I was not used to shy. I was used to shame. Shyness is when you turn your head away from something you want. Shame is when you turn your head away from something you do not want."

"Isn't it so weird how the number of dead people is increasing even though the Earth stays the same size, so that one day there isn't going to be room to bury anyone anymore?"

"I'm sorry for my inability to let unimportant things go, for my inability to hold on to the important things."

"There’s nothing wrong with not understanding yourself"

"I regret that it takes a life to learn how to live."

"When you look up 'hilarious' in the dictionary, there's a picture of you."

"The end of suffering does not justify the suffering, and so there is no end to suffering."

"...Sadness of not knowing enough words to [express what you mean]..."

"The secret was a hole in the middle of me that every happy thing fell into."

"There is nothing wrong with compromising. Even if you compromise almost everything."

"I still couldn't figure out what it all meant. The more I found out, the less I understood."

"Even if I don't like what I am, I know what I am. My children like what they are, but they don't know what they are. So tell me which is worse."

---
There is the last sentence which I don’t like but I also like, which I disagree but I also agree which is: "He had a wall of mask from every country he’d been to, like Armenia and Chile and Ethiopia. ‘It’s not a horrible world,’ he told me, putting a Cambodian mask on his face, ‘but it’s filled with a lot of horrible people!’"

===

For all the collected quotes from Jonathan Safran Foer, you just can simply click here to get.

ANYWAY

People are unreasonable, illogical and self-centered.
Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness made you vulnerable.
Be hones and frank anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you help them.
Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you will get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have got.
ANYWAY.