Things That Machines Cannot Do.

(Spent the whole day looking at and discussing machines till I'm sick of them. Would rather be on a beach reading a book. So I feel compelled to hit back - at machines).

One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man.

-Elbert Hubbard


One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can think like one ordinary man.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

“There will still be things that machines cannot do. They will not produce great art or great literature or great philosophy; they will not be able to discover the secret springs of happiness in the human heart; they will know nothing of love and friendship.”

- Bertrand Russell


Yet some men love machines more than man.

- Ghostwise

Roam The World On Thinner Than A Beetle's Wing.

(The past few days I have been receiving New Year cards. Today I received a special one. Every year she will sent me a Chinese New Year card which is actually a stamp cover with a couple of delightful Animal Zodiac stamps.)



The postage stamp is a flimsy thing
No thicker than a beetle's wing
And yet it will roam the world for you
Exactly where you tell it to

- EV Lucas


The first thing you look at in a letter is the stamp.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

"Stamp Collecting dispels boredom, enlarges our vision, broadens our knowledge, makes us better citizens and in innumerable ways, enriches our lives"

- President Roosevelt


If the President says so. Revise that. If that President said so for not all Presidents are born equal.

- Ghostwise.

If For Ever, Then For Ever, Fare Thee Well.

(Today I had a farewell dinner for another of my staff. Seemed to be having a lot of them the last year. I remembered I won the secondary school story writing competition which I started with this line "We part only to meet again, When the flowers have a greater blossom And the birds a merrier song." Still wish this is true.)

Fare thee well! and if for ever,
Still for ever, fare thee well.

- Lord Byron Fare Well.


And if we never meet again,
My wishes remain the same.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.

- Garrison Keillor


Be happy, be rich, and remain a friend.

- Ghostwise

Each Line On A White Page.

(Today I received a white flower.)

“There's times when you'll think that you mightn't,
There's times when you know that you might;
But the things you will learn from the Yellow and Brown,
They'll 'elp you a lot with the White!”

- Rudyard Kipling


When you focus too long on the "White", you became snow-blind.

-Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

“As a white candle In a holy place, So is the beauty Of an aged face”

- Joseph Campbell

It is beautiful because it has been written all over. Each line a story on a white page.

- Ghostwise

Looking For Fortune In A Cookie.

(Chinese New Year is just round the corner. The mouth-watering aroma of freshly baked cookies wafted and filled the room. Cookies, anyone?)

“Dear Lord: The gods have been good to me. For the first time in my life, everything is absolutely perfect just the way it is. So here's the deal: You freeze everything the way it is, and I won't ask for anything more. If that is OK, please give me absolutely no sign. OK, deal. In gratitude, I present you this offering of cookies and milk. If you want me to eat them for you, give me no sign. Thy will be done.”

- Dan Castellaneta (The Simpsons)


With the right attitude, you can have your cookies and eat them too.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~"

“'You have no fortune.' I didn't need a cookie to tell me that.”

- Sarah Jessica Parker (Sex and the City)


One never find fortune looking into a cookie anyway.

- Ghostwise

Ghosts Are Like True Love.

(The past weeks there have been much talks about ghosts with forum members. I thought I was confronted by a real? ghost in a hotel in Siem Reap recently who held my hand and laid its head on my shoulder. That is the thing with ghosts. You still don't know if they are real, after you met it.)

Do I believe in ghosts? No, but I'm afraid of them.

-Marquise du Deffand


Am I afraid of ghosts? No, except in the dark.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

It is with true love as it is with ghosts; everyone talks about it, but few have seen it.

-Francois LaRochefoucauld


I have seen it, but I still don't know if it is true.

- Ghostwise

Sunset On A Long Boat.

(You can watch a sunset from a hill, from the plain or from the shore and the sensations are all different. But my favorite view of the setting sun is while adrift on a boat with nothing between me and the sinking sun. I had that opportunity again two days ago just after a timely rain cleared the air for the sun to display its full brilliance.)

Softly the evening came. The sun from the western horizon

Like a magician extended his golden want o'er the landscape;

Trinkling vapors arose; and sky and water and forest

Seemed all on fire at the touch, and melted and mingled together.

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline

Drifting on a long boat as the sky and sea burns, you do not witness a sunset, you are part of it.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

After a day of cloud and wind and rain

Sometimes the setting sun breaks out again,

And touching all the darksome woods with light,

Smiles on the fields until they laugh and sing,

Then like a ruby from the horizon's ring,

Drops down into the night.

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Hanging of the Crane

On the day you witness a setting sun, the night always appear a little kinder.

- Ghostwise

In The Hand Of One Who Had Been Through Rough Seas.

(Yesterday, I was taken on a spin on a fast boat for several hours through choppy seas by one who understands the water. For one whose feet are always planted firmly on the land, I view the sea with a mixture of awe and admiration...)

Most of us, I suppose, are a little nervous of the sea. No matter what its smiles may be, we doubt its friendship.

- H.M. Tomlinson


We are always a little nervous of what we don't understand.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~"

Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.

- African Proverb


Glad am I to be in a boat manned by one who had been through rough seas.

- Ghostwise

Like An Egg Learning To Fly.

(Yesterday, I visited a farm producing 500,000 eggs a day. I learned that cracked eggs are still good and there are still buyers for it and that eggs can only last about 7 days. Useful information used in today's post).

“A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked”

- Bernard Meltzer


I learned at the farm that most cracked eggs are still good but few will accept them as such.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

“It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.”

- C.S. Lewis


And that an unhatched egg can only last 7 days before it goes bad.

- Ghostwise

The Pearl,

(Last night I stayed in a hotel called Pearl View looking across at Penang, our "Pearl Of The Orient". Today's post is about pearl.)

“Contentment is a pearl of great price, and whoever procures it at the expense of ten thousand desires makes a wise and a happy purchase”

- John Balguy


It is said the best pearl is produced in a calm sea.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

“In the town they tell the story of the great pearl—how it was found and how it was lost again. They tell of Kino, the fisherman, and of his wife, Juana, and of the baby, Coyotito. And because the story has been told so often, it has taken root in every man’s mind. And, as with all retold tales that are in people’s hearts, there are only good and bad things and black and white things and good and evil things and no in-between anywhere."

“If this story is a parable, perhaps everyone takes his own meaning from it and reads his own life into it..."

- John Steinbeck ("The Pearl")


If you found a pearl of great value and thought it a curse of bad luck, would you throw it back into the sea?

- Ghostwise

Sex Is Like Having Dinner.

(Tonight, I'll be having dinner with MyKlang community, most of us have not met each other. There are 30 of us so should make it very interesting. So today's quotations are about dinner)

“After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one's own relations”

- Oscar Wilde


If they are footing the bill.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~~"

“Sex is like having dinner: sometimes you joke about the dishes, sometimes you take the meal seriously.”

- Woody Allen


We never joke about the food we eat, we always take it seriously. Does that mean we are not having sex?

- Ghostwise

The Footprints Of Crane In The Snow.

(Today I was reading "A Loyal Character Dancer" by Qiu Xiaolong when I came across the line by Su Dongpo, one of China's most famous poets below. I liked it so today's post is about footprints.)

Life is like the footprint left by a solitary crane in the snow, visible for one moment, and then is gone.

- Su Dongpo


I left my footprints on the sand, for the approaching tide.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

“Before you love, Learn to run through the snow Leaving no footprint”

- Turkish Proverb


Thread softly, love.

- Ghostwise

Keep On Walking Or Changing Direction Depends On...

(Today I have been giving directions to several members on how to get to a place. Hopefully, they understand the directions given. Here are more directions to help them along. Hope we all landed in the same place :)


“If we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking.”

- Buddhist Proverb


But start walking only after you have determine the correct direction.

- Ghostwise


~~~~~~~~~~"

If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.

- Lao Tzu


And if you make a mistake, swallow your pride and change direction.

- Ghostwise

Buy An Inch Of Time With An Inch Of Gold.

(I was given some 'gold' today not real one unfortunately but just as sweet. Chinese New Year is just around the corner and friends and giving "Kam" (Mandarin Orange). So today's post is about gold of a different kind).

“An inch of time is an inch of gold, but you can't buy that inch of time with an inch of gold”

- Chinese Proverbs

The older you get the more value you place on time and less on gold.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~"

“Don't miss all the beautiful colors of the rainbow looking for that pot of gold.”

- Author Unknown

When you are only looking down, you cannot see the color of the sky.

- Ghostwise

Love Never Dies In An Accident.

Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don't know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of witherings, of tarnishings.

- Anais Nin


Love never dies in an accident. It dies an assassination.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"


Love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking together in the same direction.

- Antoine de Saint-Exupery


Too often, we look in the wrong direction.

- Ghostwise

Dolls.

(I've just written a post on Kokeshi, Japanese wooden doll in Ghost Walk. So I searched for something to write about dolls. I found this poignant poem about a girl who played with dolls. When she outgrew them, she puts them away in a box intending to give them to her children one day to play. But tragically, she made a vow to never wed when she buried the one she loved. A rainy day when she was old, she discovered the dolls again... This poem made me sad.)

DOLLS

She said: “I am too old to play
With dolls,” and put them all away,
Into a box, one rainy day.

I think she must have felt some pain,
She looked so long into the rain,
Then sighed: “I'll bring you out again;

“For I'll have little children too,
With sunny hair and eyes of blue
And they will play and play with you.

“And now good-bye, my pretty dears;
There in the dark for years and years,
Dream of your little mother's tears.”

Eglantine, Pierrot and Marie Claire,
Topsy and Tiny and Teddy Bear,
Side by side in the coffer there.

Time went by; one day she kneeled
By a wooden Cross in Flanders Field,
And wept for the One the earth concealed;

And made a vow she would never wed,
But always be true to the deathless dead,
Until the span of her life be sped.

More years went on and they made her wise
By sickness and pain and sacrifice,
With greying tresses and tired eyes.

And then one evening of weary rain,
She opened the old oak box again,
And her heart was clutched with an ancient pain

For there in the quiet dark they lay,
Just as they were when she put them away.
O but it seemed like yesterday!

Topsy and Tiny and Teddy Bear,
Eglantine, Pierrot and Marie Claire,
Ever so hopefully waiting there.

But she looked at them through her blinding tears,
And she said: “You've been patient, my pretty dears;
You've waited and waited all these years.

“I've broken a promise I made so true;
But my heart, my darlings, is broken too:
No little Mothers have I for you.

“My hands are withered, my hair is grey;
Yet just for a moment I'll try to play
With you as I did that long dead day.

“Ah no, I cannot. I try in vain.
I stare and I stare into the rain.
I'll put you back in your box again.

“Bless you, darlings, perhaps one day,
Some little Mother will find you and play,
And once again you'll be glad and gay.

“But when in the friendly dark I lie,
No one will ever love you as I.
My little children. good-bye. good-bye.”

-Robert Service


When dolls are all we have to play...

- Ghostwise

When A Mountain Of Rock Became Scattered Stones.

(Just came back from the ruins of majestic Angkor where we marveled at how great a civilization it must have been and how it could fall. Along with the wonder is the sadness of how ethereal life is when even a mountain can become scattered rocks.)

There is a temple in ruins stands,
Fashion'd by long forgotten hands:
Two or three columns, and many a stone,
Marble and granite, with grass o'ergrown!

- Lord Byron


Walking among the ruins accompanied by the feelings that nothing great last forever.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

Prostrate the beauteous ruin lies; and all
That shared its shelter, perish in its fall.

- William Pitt


The ruins left behind, reminded of the many that once lived glorious lives in them.

- Ghostwise

The Temple Of Stone Is Now A Ruin.

(Early tomorrow morning I'll catch a flight to Siem Reap & the ruins of Angkor Wat. Today's post is dedicated to the temples built by man purportedly for God. Ghost Wise will take a break until I returned in 5 days time. Hope to see you then.)

“I love you when you bow in your mosque, kneel in your temple, pray in your church. For you and I are sons of one religion, and it is the spirit.”

- Kahlil Gibran


That should be the spirit. But instead the selfish love of our own God divides instead of unites us.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~

" God wants his temple built of love, but men bring stones. "

- Rabindranath Tagore


Tomorrow as I walked among the ruins, I'll remember this...

- Ghostwise

When You Look Up & See The Monkey's Behind.

(Today someone told me a tale of 3 monkeys born in 3 generations and how much the tale meant to her. Today's post is dedicated to monkeys)

“I am not nearly so interested in what monkey man was derived from as I am in what kind of monkey he is to become.”

- Loren Eisele


Don't make a monkey out of me.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

“An example from the monkey: the higher it climbs, the more you see of its behind”

- German Proverb


Not a pretty sight for all except the monkey.

- Ghostwise

The Ground Is Most Unusual Today.

(Someone told me a good news today that assailed me with mixed feelings. Today's dedication is thus to mixed feelings and what/who generates it.)

Mixed feelings, like mixed drinks, are a confusion to the soul.

- George Carman


When you know you should feel happy for her,
And you do, And you don't,
But you do, And you don't -
That is mixed feelings for you.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

The ground is most unusual today
It shifts and shakes around
Full of deadly traps as I try to fly
And reach the safety, of my thoughts.

- David Taylor (Mixed Feelings)


In the land of mixed feelings,
The ground always shakes around.

- Ghostwise

To Make A Great Flower Out Of Cactus.

(Today a friend sent me a picture of a cactus flower and asked "Isn't it pretty?" This is dedicated to those who appreciate its beauty)

I bought a cactus. A week later it died. And I got depressed, because I thought, Damn. I am less nurturing than a desert.

- Demetri Martin, New York Magazine, October 3, 2005


Some plants die from too much nurturing. They thrive better if left alone.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

“Who wants to become a writer? And why? Because it's the answer to everything. To ''Why am I here?'' To uselessness. It's the streaming reason for living. To note, to pin down, to build up, to create, to be astonished at nothing, to cherish the oddities, to let nothing go down the drain, to make something, to make a great flower out of life, even if it's a cactus.”

- Enid Bagnold


Have I answered "Why do you write?".

- Ghostwise

All Destinations Are Just Temporary Stops.

“The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same. Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination.”

- Don Williams, Jr.


All destinations are just temporary stops in our journey through life anyway.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

“Let your mind start a journey thru a strange new world. Leave all thoughts of the world you knew before. Let your soul take you where you long to be...Close your eyes let your spirit start to soar, and you'll live as you've never lived before.”

- Erich Fromm


Don't travel with just our mind or soul either, take the body along and make it a complete discovery.

- Ghostwise

The End Of A Turburlent Waterfall.

(Today, I visited the lovely Chamang Waterfall in Bentong, Pahang and was wowed by its ferocious beauty. I dedicate today's post to it. The visit to Chamang Waterfall will be described in a future post in Ghost Walk.)

“A strong man and a waterfall always channel their own path.”

- Author Unknown.


But when I stood before the waterfall today, I feel only its strength.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~~"

Many a calm river begins as a turbulent waterfall, yet none hurtles and foams all the way to the sea.

- Mikhail Lermontov


What does this say of our beginning? And what does this say of our end?

- Ghostwise

Squeezing My Heart Into Little Inkdrops & Posting It.

I am tired, Beloved,

of chafing my heart against

the want of you;

of squeezing it into little inkdrops,

And posting it.

- Amy Lowell, The Letter

Who still write letters anymore?

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

Sir, more than kisses, letters mingle souls.

- John Donne

That is what we miss.

- Ghostwise

An Island Of My Own Within Walls.

(Thanks to Island Girl for inspiring the theme)

She carries in the dishes,

And lays them in a row.

To an isle in the water

With her would I go.

- William Butler Yeats

Some dreams made in the daylight,
Are as sweet as those in the night.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"


An island always pleases my imagination, even the smallest, as a small continent and integral portion of the globe. I have a fancy for building my hut on one. Even a bare, grassy isle, which I can see entirely over at a glance, has some undefined and mysterious charm for me.

- Henry David Thoreau



An island of my own,
Within the four grey walls that confines me.


- Ghostwise

Footprints On The Sand Of Time.

(A new year begins. And this is my resolution - live life however I find...)

A Psalm of Life


Tell me not in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou are, to dust thou returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each tomorrow
Find us farther than today.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world's broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!

Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act, - act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God o'erhead!

Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sand of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us then be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.

- by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

I have traveled through here before,
But what footprints have I left behind?

- Ghostwise

I Have All The Petals But Not The Flower.

By plucking her petals, you do not gather the beauty of the flower.

- Rabindrath Tagore


I have all the petals but not the flower.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

Many eyes go through the meadow, but few see the flowers in it.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson


Some can't even see the tree if it is not blocking his view.

- Ghostwise