reminiscence

my dad took me on a walk down his memory lane today.

he brought me to his childhood past, his house at 30 race course road. he took me to the place where he fell down the bicycle because his brother was not paying attention. he told me of the time he had to walk back alone on the first day of primary one. he brought me to the canal where his whole bunch of friends where catching fishes and then his sister came along with a cane in hand. we walked down the backlanes where he used to play badminton and marbles with his brothers and sisters. he showed me the very hospital in which he was born into this world.

we spent a whole 2 hrs walking and talking. it was sunny day but the heat did not melt away the connection we had. it was one of the most beautiful 2 hrs i have had in my life.

it made me wonder if i would eventually be able to share such a bond and experience the same thing with my own children..

vendetta

i've jus finished reading v for vendetta. anybody else read that title before? it's a compelling read; about a world set in the bleak near future (1998 in the story because alan moore created the title in 1981) where england is controlled by a totalitarian government. the government controls everything and rules with a iron fist. it is against this backdrop that the story is set upon. the "hero" is a terrorist, a sort of one-man army against the government. he fights for the freedom of the people and release from the mental prison that they put themselves in. imagine the hero blowing up parliament house and hijacking the tv station to broadcast him own message. all this in an effort to give the people a chance to rule themselves, to let freedom reign, instead of having a dictator rule them.

it struck me the similarity of the story with the situation our world is in at present. on the news everyday we hear stories of terrorists going about their business. we curse and condemn the terrorist for the inhumane things that they do.. but have we tried to look at the situation from their angle? to them, we are part of that totalitarian govenment and they are just trying to free us from oppression. i'm definately not saying their noble and their causes are just. it just struck me how accurate alan moore was when he created v for vendetta in 1981.

btw v for vendetta is coming out as a movie later this year. i'm definately going to watch it. anyone wants to come along?

England prevails.

Rambling Gambling

the chinese new year season always brings families together, for the reunion dinner, to catch up and basically re-establish relationships within the family. yet there is almost always one inevitable event that will pop up somewhere: gambling. it never fails with chinese families. as long as there's a group of ppl, a mahjong table or a deck of cards, some wise guy will bring out the coins and the rounds will start. it seems we are always in the mood to gamble, whether during a wake (mahjong session at the void deck, totally oblivious to the ppl that needs to sleep!) or a reunion dinners (dinner table will be cleared and on come the decks of cards). i have always wondered what is the fasination with all the gambling. i dun gamble and i have never felt the so-called thrill of gambling. i dun get excited trying to get the most number of cards while not letting the total value exceed 21. nor do i get excited trying to out-pair a person while clearing my hands of the cards. to me, the only sure thing about gambling is losing the money. no matter how much a person wins during one session, he will end up losing one way or another during some other sessions.

it also fasinates me how ppl can spend some much time and effort scrutinising about their luck. whether it's good or bad, what they gotta do to make their luck be good again, blah, blah, blah. cant they jus simply not gamble and get the whole problem over with? spending so much time and effort, not to mention all the headaches, jus to win that few dollars is simply not worth it.