If It Is Ice Cream, Just Eat It.

(Today went with some friend to have ice-cream. Kicked a scoop of ice-cream someone drop on the floor.)

“Age does not diminish the extreme disappointment of having a scoop of ice cream fall from the cone.”

- Jim Fiebig


The lost of a great expectation is never easy to accept, whichever age.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

“My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither, but just enjoy your ice cream while it's on your plate - that's my philosophy”

- Thornton Wilder


If it is ice cream, eat it. Knowing what it is and how it is made does not make it taste better.

- Ghostwise

What We All Lost Growing Up.

(Today, I pass by a bamboo grove).

You rode up on your bamboo steed,
Round garden beds we juggled green plums;
Living alike in Changgan village
We were both small, without doubts or guile.

Li Bo (701 - 762) - "The Ballad of Changgan"


Innocence - what we all lost growing up.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

Young bamboo trees are easy to bend.

- Vietnamese Proverbs


Like old bamboo, old men cannot be bend without breaking a few bones.

- Ghostwise

The Things Missed Calls Want To Say.

(I've been having some missed calls and I wonder if they are important?)

I tried calling you,
but you didn't recognize my voice,
your words strangled my vocal chords,
I couldn't tell you it was me.

- FloweringRebel89 (A Missed Call)


How many times have you call but not speak?

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

One place, one place slipped away
Missed call, missed calls
I can't stay too late
She's gone
I will miss her voice, her eyes,
and love's first kiss.

- All American Rejects (The Cigarette Song)


How many missed calls have you miss without your realizing it?

- Ghostwise

Yesterday He Hadn't Time, Now He Has Eternity.

(Today I think I'm a modern man, and that is not good.)


“Modern man thinks he loses something - time
when he does not do things quickly.
Yet he does not know what to do with the time he gains
except kill it.”

- Erich Fromm


Why do we kill the thing we are afraid of losing?

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

Here lies, extinguished in his prime,
a victim of modernity:
but yesterday he hadn't time---
and now he has eternity.

-Piet Hein, poet and scientist (1905-1996)


When he has eternity, only does he realize how important are those things he hadn't time for.

- Ghostwise

The Succession Of Changes From The Cradle To The Grave.

(Today I visited my father's grave.)

“Nature gives to every time and season some beauties of its own; and from morning to night, as from the cradle to the grave, it is but a succession of changes so gentle and easy that we can scarcely mark their progress.”

- Charles Dickens


But the succession of living to the dead cannot be said to be gentle or easy, and we marked clearly the end of that progress.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

“If you're still hanging onto a dead dream of yesterday, laying flowers on its grave by the hour, you cannot be planting the seeds for a new dream to grow today”

- Joyce Chapman


I know I should be starting a new dream, but my heart says "hang to the old dream a little longer."

- Ghostwise

The Dragonfly With Its Million Eyes.

(As I alighted from my car, I thought about the Butterfly post I wrote last night. I don't know why it made me think of dragonfly. Surprisingly and coincidentally, I saw a dying dragonfly lying in front of my office. It was still twitching. Seeing it like that made me sad.)

Deep in the sun-searched growths the dragonfly
Hangs like a blue thread loosened from the sky.

- Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Silent Noon


I once saw hundreds of dragonflies hovering over me on a promontory jutting out into the ocean in Southern China. Until that day, I thought the mass of dragonflies pictured in Japanese cartoons are works of fiction for I had never seen so many before with my own eyes.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

This dragonfly came up to me. He was hovering right in front of my face, and I was really examining him, thinking, How does he see me? I became enlightened.

- Ziggy Marley


He saw me with a million eyes.

- Ghostwise

My Shoulder Is Waiting For The Butterfly.

(Yesterday, I caught this picture of a butterfly just emerged from its cocoon.)

May the wings of the butterfly kiss the sun
And find your shoulder to light on,
To bring you luck, happiness and riches
Today, tomorrow and beyond.

- Irish Blessing


My shoulder is waiting,
For the butterfly to settle on.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.

- Nathaniel Hawthorne


I sat quietly and waited for the butterfly,
But neither butterfly nor happiness came.

- Ghostwise

Do You Know Where You're Going To?

(On a lazy (and a little sad) Sunday afternoon, I found I've questions to ask.)

Do you know where you're going to?
Do you like the things that life is showing you
Where are you going to?
Do you know...?

Do you get
What you're hoping for
When you look behind you
There's no open door
What are you hoping for?
Do you know...?

Once we were standing still in time
Chasing the fantasies
That filled our minds
You knew how I loved you
But my spirit was free
Laughin' at the questions
That you once asked of me

Do you know where you're going to?
Do you like the things that life is showing you
Where are you going to?
Do you know...?

Now looking back at all we've planned
We let so many dreams
Just slip through our hands
Why must we wait so long
Before we'll see
How sad the answers
To those questions can be

Do you know where you're going to?
Do you like the things that life is showing you
Where are you going to?
Do you know...?

Do you get
What you're hoping for
When you look behind you
There's no open door
What are you hoping for?
Do you know...?

- Diana Ross
Theme From Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To?)


Do you know your answers to these questions?

- Ghostwise

How Much Of Human Life Is Lost In Waiting?

(It seems like I've waited for a long time though I've just begun.)

“How much of human life is lost in waiting.”

- Ralph Waldo Emerson


For the time wasted waiting is not measured by the time spent waiting.

- Ghostwise.

~~~~~~~~~~"

All things come to him who waits - provided he knows what he is waiting for.

- Woodrow T. Wilson


Depends on whether he is waiting for a sunset, a rainbow or a shooting star streaking over an endless night.

- Ghostwise.

Till I Loved I Never Lived - Enough.

(In the mood for love.)

"Till I loved I never lived—enough."

- Emily Dickenson


There can be no need for more to be said.

- Ghostwise.

~~~~~~~~~~"

I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.

- Alfred Tennyson


Lovers try to console themselves the love is worth the sorrow in order not to lose everything.

- Ghostwise

Lonely Is One. Sometimes Lonely Is Two

(Here is missing you.)

If you think missing me is hard, you should try missing you.

- Author Unknown


I don't have to try missing you, it comes naturally.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

I'm not alone, but I am lonely without you.

- Author Unknown


Lonely is one. Sometimes lonely is two.

- Ghostwise

You Are As Old As Your Despair.

(Despair: I need someone to care who is not there.)

“The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing... not healing, not curing... that is a friend who cares.”

- Henri Nouwen


That is a friend indeed. Rare.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~"

“You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair”

- Author Unknown


When I'm as old as my despair, I need a friend who cares. Who may not be there. Despair.

- Ghostwise

Grace Without Beauty Is The Saving Grace.

(Today I learn the grace of accepting tragedy without despair).

“Beauty without grace is the hook without the bait.”

- Ralph Waldo Emerson


Grace without beauty is the saving grace.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

“There but for the grace of God go I”

- Proverb


I wonder: Did I go for the grace of God or did I go for the grace of my own?

- Ghostwise

Painting Is Silent Poetry, Poetry is Eloquent Painting.

(Today I wrote a story about a painting - The Painting of Endless Sorrow in The Ghosts & I).

If we could but paint with the hand what we see with the eye.

- Honore De Balzac


If we could but paint with the hand what we feel with our heart.

-Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

Painting is silent poetry, poetry is eloquent painting.

- Simonides of Ceos


They tell the same story in different ways.

- Ghostwise

The Bars They Call Reality.

(Yesterday, I chose to lose myself in idle fantasy.)

“The best thing about dreams is that fleeting moment, when you are between asleep and awake, when you don't know the difference between reality and fantasy, when for just that one moment you feel with your entire soul that the dream is reality, and it really happened.”

- Author Unknown


Engaging in fantasy is choosing to dream while we are still awake so the moment of magic stays with us in the mundane world of waking.

- Ghostwise

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

“'What do you fear my lady?'
'A cage. To stay behind bars until use and old age accept them and all chance of valor has gone beyond beyond recall or desire.'”

- J.R.R. Tolkien


They who would not dream choose to stay behind bars and call them reality.

- Ghostwise

When Frustration Sets In, I Need A Drink Of Water.

(When the time is tough and the going is rough and frustration sets in, I've to draw the water from the well deep within me.)

“All blame is a waste of time. No matter how much fault you find with another, and regardless of how much you blame him, it will not change you. The only thing blame does is to keep the focus off you when you are looking for external reasons to explain your unhappiness or frustration. You may succeed in making another feel guilty about something by blaming him, but you won't succeed in changing whatever it is about you that is making you unhappy.”

- Wayne Dyer


Let me deal with the source of frustration in me.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~"

“Our fatigue is often caused not by work, but by worry, frustration and resentment”

- Dale Carnegie


Frustration saps the energy faster than a marathon run.

- Ghostwise

Don't You Think It Was Time I Was Audited?

(Today I was audited.)

“I don't think there's a company, a management, an audit committee that hasn't gone back and re-looked at what they're doing. . . . People are really scrutinizing and (want to) really make sure their houses are in order and clean.”

- William Esrey


The best Quality Manual don't keep my house clean, cleaning it will.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

“The only stupid question is the one that is never asked, except maybe 'Don't you think it is about time you audited my return?' or 'Isn't it morally wrong to give me a warning when, in fact, I was speeding?'”

- Author Unknown


The one who asked to be audited, loved punishment and has a Death Wish.

- Ghostwise

Die For A Cause Or Die For Nothing.

(Today seen the death of a corrupt politician.)

Pale Death with impartial tread beats at the poor man's cottage door and at the palaces of kings.

- Horace (65 BC - 8 BC), Odes


Whether you live in a Palace or in a shack, Death will still come to claim you.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

It's a blessing to die for a cause, because you can so easily die for nothing.

- Andrew Young


For all his power and wealth, And all the good he could do with both, he dies for nothing.

- Ghostwise

God Often Gives Nut To Toothless People.

(Today we joked about Nuts - http://www.myklang.com/forum/all-about-nuts-t-787.html)

“God often gives nuts to toothless people”

- Matt Groening


The people with tooth ask "Why?"
The people without tooth ask "Why?"

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

“God gives the nuts, but he does not crack them.”

- Franz Kafka


He does not give you the nutcracker either.

- Ghostwise

Victory Is Sweetest When Least Expected.

(What a victory! No one in the country believes we could achieve such a victory. Yet each of us on the brink of desperation cast our vote not expecting much, just doing what we have to and hoping for a miracle. We did not expect millions of our fellow countrymen to have that precise sentiment. This is a defining moment in our country's history. At last, there is hope.)

What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight - it's the size of the fight in the dog.

- Dwight D. Eisenhower

It is easy to fight when one is assure of victory. I salute the underdog who fights with every bit of its strength staring in the face of defeat.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

Freedom suppressed and again regained bites with keener fangs than freedom never endangered.

- Marcus Tullius Cicero


We lost our fangs when we treasure our safety more than our freedom.

- Ghostwise

The Government Is A Temporary Servant Of The People.

(The early results of the Malaysian election showed a strong swing to the opposition. The people is expressing their dissatisfaction with the corruption in the country. This is one of the most significant landmark of Malaysian politics. Whoever wins know that they can no longer ignore the voices of the people.)

It was once said that the moral test of Government is how that Government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.

- Hubert H. Humphrey


When the government caters only to the rich and powerful, then it is a government that has lost its moral right to govern.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~"

The government is merely a servant -- merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn't. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them.

- Mark Twain


When a government forgets that it is the servant of the people, it is time to change that government.

- Ghostwise

The Foxes Luv The Chickens, They Said.

(Tomorrow is Election Day. Go out and do our duty and hope it is enough. Vote wisely for the future whether we think it will make a difference or not).

An election is coming. Universal peace is declared and the foxes have a sincere interest in prolonging the lives of the poultry.

- T.S. Eliot


The foxes are out declaring how much they love the chickens. And unfortunately, it is the truth.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

Politicians are like diapers. They both need changing regularly and for the same reason.

- Author Unknown


And everyone who has ever changed old diapers knows how badly they smell.

- Ghostwise

The Blues Ain't Notheing But A Good Man Feeling Bad.

(Today I'm feeling the blues so I listen to the blues.)

The blues comes right back to a person's feelings, to his daily activities in life. But rich people don't know nothing about the blues, please believe me.

- Jimmy Rushing


Rich people don't feel the blues. They can feel sad but they don't feel the blues.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

“The blues ain't nothing but a good man feelin' bad”

- Leon Redbone


I like that - for the thought makes me feel better.

- Ghostwise

Cause I Had A Bad Day.

(I had a bad day...)

Where is the moment we needed the most
You kick up the leaves and the magic is lost
They tell me your blue skies fade to gray
They tell me your passion's gone away
And I don't need no carryin' on

You stand in the line just to hit a new low
You're faking a smile with the coffee you go
You tell me your life's been way off line
You're falling to pieces every time
And I don't need no carryin' on

Cause you had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don't know
You tell me don't lie
You work on a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
The camera don't lie
You're coming back down and you really don't mind
You had a bad day
Oh, you had a bad day

- Daniel Powter "Bad Day"


Cause I had a bad day
And it's taking me down
I sang a sad song to turn it around
But the sad song that sprang
Out with broken wings, fell
Into the Well of Silence and drowned.

- Ghostwise

A Smart Rat Knows He Is In A Race.

(From today onward, I'm about to re-enter the rat race. Sigh...)

“Anyone can rat, but it takes a certain amount of ingenuity to re-rat”

- Winston Churchill


It takes a certain amount of ingenuity to be a rat. It takes more ingenuity to be a better rat than other rats.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

The smartest rat isn't the one that finishes the maze fastest; it's the one that realizes it's in a maze to begin with.

- Roe Fell


A smart rat is one who knows he is about to enter a race.

- Ghostwise

Two Men Looking Out Through The Same Bars.

(Someone told me today "You just don't see it, do you?" And I wonder if it is me or him who didn't see.)

Two men look out through the same bars: One sees the mud, and one the stars.

- Rev. Frederick Langbridge

I look through the bars: And sees freedom on the other side.

-Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

We see things not as they are but as we are.

- John Milton

How to change us so we can see better.

- Ghostwise

An Unpolished Gem Is A Stone.

(Today I saw a Discovery Channel about Jade - "The Stone of Heaven".)

“A Jade stone is useless before it is processed; a man is good-for-nothing until he is educated.”

-Chinese Proverbs


An unpolished gem is a stone.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

“Fill your house with gold and jade, and it can no longer be guarded.”

- Author Unknown


But no one wants to steal your education.

- Ghostwise

I Still Love The Past I No Longer Have.

(Today I visited my past and what I no longer have in the story I wrote.)

I love my past. I love my present. I'm not ashamed of what I've had, and I'm not sad because I have it no longer.

- Colette


I love my past. I love my present. I'm not ashamed of what I've had, but I'm sad because I have it no longer.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought.

- Percy Bysshe Shelley


They only sound sweet because they were of others.

- Ghostwise