Ghost Wise

New Blog

2010-04-05T08:47:00.000-07:00

I've moved on to a new blog.

I've started a new blog "Lost in Chinese / Found in Translation". :) Check it out and drop some comments. Thanks!

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Lets Listen To Some Music

2008-07-15T07:01:00.000-07:00

(I heard music in the rainforest.)

Lets listen to some music -

"Music, the greatest good that mortals know, And all of heaven we have below."

- Joseph Addison

"Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness."

-Maya Angelou

"Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life."

- Berthold Auerbach

"Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life."

- Ludwig van Beethoven

"Good music is good no matter what kind of music it is. "

- Miles Davis

When Was The Last Time You Danced In The Rain?

2008-07-09T19:07:00.000-07:00

(I'm going to the World Rainforest Music Festival in Sarawak for a few days.)

“Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain”

- Author Unknown

When was the last time you danced in the rain?

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~"

but now it is the rain Possesses us entirely, the twilight and the rain.

- Alun Lewis

There is something about rain, That arrest us entirely.

- Ghostwise

Find Good Fortune In Dragon's Wings.

2008-07-08T06:59:00.000-07:00

(I don't believe in fortune that came a-calling.)

Do not then stand idly waiting,
For some greater work to do;
Fortune is a lazy goddess,
She will never come to you.

- Ellen M. H. Gates (1834 - 1920)

Even when you beat it to her door,
She may not receive you:
For her suitors are many,
And her favors few.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

“To attract good fortune, spend a new penny on an old friend, share an old pleasure with a new friend and lift up the heart of a true friend by writing his name on the wings of a dragon.”

- Proverb

Why is fortune as hard to find as dragon's wings?

- Ghostwise

When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Takes A Holiday.

2008-07-07T08:06:00.000-07:00

(Today the going gets tough...)

When the going gets tough, the tough gets going.

- Knute Rockne

When the going gets tough, I try to remind myself how tough I am.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

Life is tough, and if you have the ability to laugh at it you have the ability to enjoy it.

- Salma Hayek

I laugh at Life, Life laughs back.
Who is laughing at whom?
Am I laughing at Life or is Life laughing at me?

- Ghostwise

Forget Regret Or Miss Life.

2008-07-06T01:11:00.000-07:00

(I tried not to have regrets in the life I live but sometimes I find they are unavoidable.)

“I would much rather have regrets about not doing what people said, than regretting not doing what my heart led me to and wondering what life had been like if I'd just been myself.”

- Brittany Renée

If I regret, let me not regret my actions or my reasons for doing them but just their outcome.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

“Forget regret, or life is yours to miss.”

- Jonathan Larson

If I must have regrets to live a full life; bring them on, bring them on!

- Ghostwise

May You Always Have A Roof For The Rain.

2008-07-03T07:17:00.000-07:00

(The night before, I caught two refugees hiding on my roof. They were not thieves. They did it for love.)

“May you always have walls for the winds, a roof for the rain, tea beside the fire, laughter to cheer you, those you love near you and all your heart might desire.”

- Irish Blessings

What more does one need?

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~"

“Rain does not fall on one roof alone”

- Proverb

But sometimes we only hear the rain on our roof.

- Ghostwise

A Teacher Is One Who Tries To Make Himself Unnecessary.

2008-06-30T07:10:00.000-07:00

(Today, I teach.)

“You are rewarding a teacher poorly if you remain always a pupil.”

- Friedrich Nietzsche

I hope all my students reward me by becoming teachers.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~"

"A teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary."

- Thomas Carruthers

When I've made myself unnecessary, it is task accomplished.

- Ghostwise

What The Butterfly & The Flower Have In Common.

2008-06-28T03:37:00.000-07:00

("Butterfly Wings" caught on a trip to the jungle. Of the 22, I was the only one gifted with this sight, because - I was looking for a butterfly.)

The butterfly is a flying flower,
The flower a tethered butterfly.

- Ponce Denis Écouchard Lebrun

Flower and butterfly,
What they share in common is beauty,
What they have in common is the gift to delight.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~~

I've watched you now a full half-hour;
Self-poised upon that yellow flower
And, little Butterfly! Indeed
I know not if you sleep or feed.
How motionless! - not frozen seas
More motionless! and then
What joy awaits you, when the breeze
Hath found you out among the trees,
And calls you forth again!

- William Wordsworth, "To a Butterfly"

I watched you for a full half-hour,
And did not realize a full half-hour has gone by.

- Ghostwise

Busy Making Plans While Life Is Passing By.

2008-06-26T06:50:00.000-07:00

(I've been looking at a lot of plans the last few days)

“It's an ill plan that cannot be changed”

- Latin Proverb

I must know Latin for I keep changing plans.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

“A man who does not plan long ahead will find trouble right at his door”

- Confucius

I'm planning long but will that stop trouble knocking at my door?

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

“Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans”

- John Lennon

I hope Life is not passing me by while I'm busy with my plans.

- Ghostwise

Making The Recent Past Better Than The Past Past.

2008-06-25T07:18:00.001-07:00

(Last night, I had a brush with the Past)

"One must always maintain one's connection to the past and yet ceaselessly pull away from it. To remain in touch with the past requires a love of memory. To remain in touch with the past requires a constant imaginative effort."

- Gaston Bachelard

The past is now part of me, good or bad.
And I would not forsake my past, just because it is sad.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

The past is our definition. We may strive, with good reason, to escape it, or to escape what is bad in it, but we will escape it only by adding something better to it.

- Wendell Berry

We cannot escape our past, we can only redefine it by making the recent past sweeter than the past past.

-Ghostwise

The Sparrow's Last Refrain Nests In My Heart.

2008-06-22T06:13:00.000-07:00

“Language... has created the word "loneliness" to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word "solitude" to express the glory of being alone.”

- Paul Tillich

When you suffer from being alone, that is loneliness.
When you enjoy being alone, that is solitude.
But I believe the one who enjoy solitude,
Has someone to go back to.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

“When the sparrow sings its final refrain, the hush is felt nowhere more deeply than in the heart of man.”

- Don Williams, Jr

For he remembers its songs.

- Ghostwise

The Sun Hid In Her Cave When She Deserts The Night.

2008-06-21T05:30:00.000-07:00

(When we all crawled into the cave.)

“The sun to me is dark
And silent as the moon,
When she deserts the night
Hid in her vacant, interlunar cave.”

- John Milton

I went into a real cave, But
I could just as easily go into an unreal one.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

Epimenides was sent by his father into the field to look for a sheep, turned out of the road at mid-day and lay down in a certain cave and fell asleep, and slept there fifty-seven years; and after that, when awake, he went on looking for the sheep, thinking that he had been taking a short nap.

- Diogenes Laertius

Don't sleep in a cave,
You could wake up fifty-seven years late.

- Ghostwise

Doing Nothing Is Better Than Doing Nothing.

2008-06-20T07:07:00.000-07:00

(Today I learned the meaning of bel far niente - "the beauty of doing nothing")

“Doing nothing is better than being busy doing nothing”

- Lao Tzu

You could be reaping the benefits from doing nothing;
Or you could be straining yourself doing nothing.
It is an Art, really.

- Ghostwise

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

“Sitting quietly, doing nothing, spring comes, and the grass grows by itself”

- Zen Proverb

Or you could be one with nothing.
It is Spiritual, really.

- Ghostwise

To Run Or Not To Run? That is the Question.

2008-06-19T06:46:00.000-07:00

(Today I've to dissuade someone from running away from home)

“Running away will never make you free”

- Kenny Loggins

Ironical since that the reason why most people run away - to be free.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~"

“Adventure must start with running away from home”

- William Bolitho

Looks like there is more than one type of running away.

- Ghostwise

I Wanted To Know What I Was Going To Write.

2008-06-18T02:29:00.000-07:00

(Waiting... for a story to unfold)

It is necessary to write, if the days are not to slip emptily by. How else, indeed, to clap the net over the butterfly of the moment? For the moment passes, it is forgotten; the mood is gone; life itself is gone. That is where the writer scores over his fellows: he catches the changes of his mind on the hop.

- Vita Sackville-West

A photograph may capture an image but it needs the accompanying words to bring the story to life.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

Writing became such a process of discovery that I couldn't wait to get to work in the morning: I wanted to know what I was going to say.

- Sharon O'Brien

You will be the one most surprised by what you have written.

- Ghostwise

We Determine Our Fate By The Way We Live.

2008-06-17T07:45:00.000-07:00

(I was told to leave it to fate. I ask shouldn't we try to determine our fate?)

There is no chance, no destiny, no fate, that can hinder or control the firm resolve of a determined soul.

- Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Should we leave our fate to chance, when we could perhaps determine its outcome?

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

“We create our fate every day we live”

- Henry Miller

I want to tell her that we create our fate every day by the way we live.

- Ghostwise

She Walks The Waters Like A Thing Of Life.

2008-06-16T07:45:00.000-07:00

(The boats that carried us up & down Tembeling River.)

She walks the waters like a thing of life,
And seems to dare the elements to strife.

- Lord Byron (1788 - 1824)

She sits in the water, and we sits in her.
She rides the water, and we ride her.
The water is to her what she is to us.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

“We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now.”

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

We all came from different places, but we trust the same boat to get us to the other side.

- Ghostwise

Many Paths, Same View.

2008-06-15T00:51:00.000-07:00

(This is the view of Gunung Tahan and the Tahan Range from Mount Terisek.)

“You can never conquer the mountain. You can only conquer yourself.”

- James Whittaker

That is why we feel so fulfilled, when we reached the top.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

“There are many paths to the top of the mountain, but the view is always the same”

- Chinese Proverbs

Did we climb the mountain - for the peak or for the view?

- Ghostwise

The Closest Thing In A Fisherman's Heart.

2008-06-14T01:48:00.000-07:00

(Caught this fisherman casting his net in Sungai Tembeling)

Three fishers went sailing away to the west,
Away to the west as the sun went down;
Each thought on the woman who loved him the best,
And the children stood watching them out of the town.

- Charles Kingsley, The Three Fishers

Much though the fishermen professed,
The closest thing in their hearts is not fish.

- Ghostwise

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

May the holes in your net be no larger than the fish in it.

- Irish Blessing

May the holes in his net be larger than your head.

- Fish Blessing by Ghostwise

The Miles I Traveled, The Things I Saw.

2008-06-13T06:42:00.001-07:00

(On the way to Taman Negara, we stopped to smell the flower in Lanchang like this bumblebee.)

The world is a rose; smell it and pass it to your friends.

-Persian Proverb

Your friend is a rose; keep him by your side.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

Too often I would hear men boast of the miles covered that day, rarely of what they had seen.

-Louis L'Amour, novelist (1908-1988)

In the haste to get to the destination, they forgot about the journey.

- Ghostwise.

The Road I Took & The One I Did Not Take.

2008-06-12T07:56:00.000-07:00

(This was the road that led us to Kuala Tahan, the gateway to Taman Negara.)

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

- Robert Frost

No mater which road I took
I sometimes wonder about the road
- I did not take.

- Ghostwise

I Will Share With My Enemies My Dread Of Bats.

2008-06-11T07:25:00.000-07:00

(Last weekend, I went into a dark, wet, slimy, smelly bat cave in Taman Negara.)

Bats, and an uneasy creeping in one's scalp
As the bats swoop overhead!
Flying madly.

Pipistrello!
Black piper on an infinitesimal pipe.
Little lumps that fly in air and have voices indefinite, wildly vindictive;

Wings like bits of umbrella.

Bats!

Creatures that hang themselves up like an old rag, to sleep;
And disgustingly upside down.

Hanging upside down like rows of disgusting old rags
And grinning in their sleep.
Bats!

Not for me!

- DH Lawrence

Bats! Not for me either, especially in a dark cave by the dozens.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~"

Alfred Pennyworth: Why bats, sir?
Bruce Wayne: Bats frighten me. It's time my enemies share my dread.

- Batman Begins

What they do for Batman, they do more for his enemies.

- Ghostwise

Somewhere Over The Rainbow Lies My Dream.

2008-06-10T06:03:00.000-07:00

(Today I saw a rainbow on my way to work and I was happy the rest of the day.)

Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high
There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby

Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true

Some day I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where troubles melt like lemondrops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me

Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly
Birds fly over the rainbow
Why then, oh why can't I?

- music by Harold Arlen, lyrics by E.Y Harburg

Somewhere over the rainbow
Lies my dream
I've been chasing it ever since
I saw my first rainbow
And my dream.

- Ghostwise

We Carry The River With Us.

2008-06-09T06:18:00.000-07:00

(Yesterday, I took a several hours boat ride down Tembeling river for the start of my return home.)

“People who have lost relationships often wonder why they can't just let it be "water under the bridge." It is water under the bridge - the trouble is we do not live on the bridge but in the river of life with its many twists and turns.”

- Grant Fairley

And we carry our experiences, good and bad; down the winding river.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~"

“What makes a river so restful to people is that it doesn't have any doubt - it is sure to get where it is going, and it doesn't want to go anywhere else.”

- Hal Boyle

I'm going where the river takes me,
Beyond that, I do not know where I want to go.

- Ghostwise

Adventure Is Without & Within.

2008-06-05T06:19:00.000-07:00

(Early tomorrow morning I'll be going to the oldest tropical jungle in Peninsula Malaysia for a few days.)

Adventure is not outside a man; it is within.

- David Grayson

Within or without, Adventure is about going outside the boundary.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

You can't cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.

- Rabindranath Tagore

And you can't hear the music of the forest by staring at the trees.

- Ghostwise

Others' Scandals Are Scandalous But Ours Have Reasons.

2008-06-04T03:57:00.000-07:00

(Out on the road yesterday, I slept in a hotel where scandal brought down a mighty politician.)

There is a lust in man no charm can tame:
Of loudly publishing his neighbour's shame:
On eagles wings immortal scandals fly,
while virtuous actions are born and die.

- William Harvey

We lecture on other people's scandals
And justify on our own.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

You find out who your real friends are when you're involved in a scandal.

- Elizabeth Taylor

You find them out by the distance they keep.

- Ghostwise

The Leader Leads & The Boss Drives A Mercedes.

2008-06-03T06:46:00.000-07:00

(BOSS!!!)

People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. The leader leads, and the boss drives.

- Theodore Roosevelt

The Boss drives - a Mercedes and his staff mad.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

“Sometimes it is the men 'higher up' who most need revamping – and they themselves are the last to recognize it.”

- Henry Ford

The one who needs the most revamping often ask the most revamping of others.

- Ghostwise

Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep.

2008-06-01T07:45:00.000-07:00

(Attended a funeral today and I was not sad.)

Do Not Stand At My Grave and Weep

Mary Elizabeth Frye

Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sun on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there; I did not die.

~~~~~~~~~~"

We did not stand on her grave and weep.
We just stood there and wave goodbye.
For she lived a happy life
Up to ninety and six.

- Ghostwise

The Best Mirror Is An Old Friend.

2008-05-31T03:17:00.000-07:00

(Last night, we had a reunion of old friends in an old place.)

There is no friend like an old friend who has shared our morning days, no greeting like his welcome, no homage like his praise.

- Oliver Wendell Holmes

New friends are only good if they become old. For the passage of time always sift new friends to people you knew and friends you care about.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~"

The best mirror is an old friend.

- George Herbert

Friends come and go
Those that remained becomes old
Have their reasons to stay
Like a mirror they say -
"We're what you deserve
and deserving of you."

- Ghostwise

Tragedy Is When Man Is Nobler Than The Forces That Destroy Him.

2008-05-30T01:24:00.000-07:00

(Rescue crews carry a woman to safety after she was pulled out of the rubble of a market in Sichuan province.)

A tragic situation exists precisely when virtue does not triumph but when it is still felt that man is nobler than the forces which destroy him.

- George Orwell

More than 200 relief workers have been buried by a mudslide in China's Sichuan province, a week after a massive earthquake devastated the country.

- Picture Above: Reuters, Story/Picture below: Daily Mail Online.

( An elderly woman mourns as her grandson is buried under the debris of a collapsed building)

It often happens that the real tragedies of life occur in such an inartistic manner that they hurt us by their crude violence, their absolute incoherence, their absurd want of meaning, their entire lack of style.

- Oscar Wilde

There is often no answer for tragedies. But there must always be compassion. If we need reasons before we can have compassion for the sufferings, than that is a greater tragedy for mankind.

- Ghostwise

What Is Your Karma? Miss Sharon Stone.

2008-05-29T03:37:00.000-07:00

Picture source: san-fu.blogspot.com
(I was upset today by remarks not properly thought through which brought more sufferings to the victims.)

"I'm not happy about the way the Chinese are treating the Tibetans because I don't think anyone should be unkind to anyone else. And then this earthquake and all this stuff happened, and then I thought, 'Is that karma? When you're not nice then the bad things happen to you?' "

- Sharon Stone

More than 80,000 dead, hundreds of thousands injured, millions lost their homes and everything they owned; among them innocent children and new-born. Have they all not being nice to deserve this karma? Isn't karma one's retribution for one's deeds and not because of the deeds of others? Miss Sharon Stone.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~:

How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours.

- Wayne Dyer

What happened to us is not necessary our karma; how we react to it definitely is.

- Ghostwise

A Time For Every Matter Under Heaven.

2008-05-28T02:37:00.000-07:00

(There is a death in the family today.)

For everything there is a season,

And a time for every matter under heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die;

A time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

A time to kill, and a time to heal;

A time to break down, and a time to build up;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh;

A time to mourn, and a time to dance;

A time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to seek, and a time to lose;

A time to keep, and a time to throw away;

A time to tear, and a time to sew;

A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

A time to love, and a time to hate,

A time for war, and a time for peace.

- Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

How happy and successful our live is,
Is how and when we die.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave

Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind;

Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave.

I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.

- Edna St. Vincent Millay

I will look at Death as a friend, if he comes gently and kind.

- Ghostwise

If You've Two Ends, You Can Start From Either.

2008-05-27T07:36:00.000-07:00

(Visited a sausage factory today.)

“Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made.”

- Otto von Bismarck

One filled us up, the other is supposed to protect us. And we don't have the stomach to see them made.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~"

“Everything in life has an end. Only sausages have two.”

- German Proverb

If you've two ends, you can start from either.

- Ghostwise

I Remember The Time I Knew What Happiness Was.

2008-05-26T05:58:00.000-07:00

(Stir up some memories today.)

Midnight
Not a sound from the pavement
Has the moon lost her memory?
She is smiling alone
In the lamplight
The withered leaves collect at my feet
And the wind begins to moan

Memory
All alone in the moonlight
I can smile at the old days
I was beautiful then
I remember the time I knew what happiness was
Let the memory live again

- Musical "Cats" lyrics - Memory

Memories
Like the corners of my mind
Misty watercolor memories
Of the way we were
Scattered pictures
Of the smiles we left behind
Smiles we gave to one another
For the way we were

Can it be that it was all so simple then
Or has time rewritten every line
If we had the chance to do it all again
Tell me - Would we? Could we?

Memories
May be beautiful and yet
What's too painful to remember
We simply to choose to forget

So it’s the laughter
We will remember
Whenever we remember
The way we were

- Barbra Streisand - The Way We Were

Memory flows softly
Like wind through trees.
And where it touches,
The leaves quiver.
And my heart flutters.

- Ghostwise

Write Your Marriage In Poetry & Fairy Tales End.

2008-05-25T06:52:00.000-07:00

(I attended her wedding in the rain today.)

A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.

- Germaine Greer

Most thought they only need to fall in love once and when that stales...

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

Marriage--a book of which the first chapter is written in poetry and the remaining chapters written in prose.

- Beverly Nichols

Too often now, the last page is written in lawyer's ink.

- Ghostwise

When You Feel There Is No Escape, That's When You Must.

2008-05-24T06:26:00.000-07:00

(Went to the movie for a few hours of escapes.)

“I am an excitable person who only understands life lyrically, musically, in whom feelings are much stronger as reason. I am so thirsty for the marvelous that only the marvelous has power over me. Anything I can not transform into something marvelous, I let go. Reality doesn't impress me. I only believe in intoxication, in ecstasy, and when ordinary life shackles me, I escape, one way or another. No more walls.”

- Anais Nin

When the walls close in, make your escape...

- Ghostwise

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

“Maybe you don't like your job, maybe you didn't get enough sleep, well nobody likes their job, nobody got enough sleep. Maybe you just had the worst day of your life, but you know, there's no escape, there's no excuse, so just suck up and be nice.”

- Ani Difranco

There is no escape if you choose to sink in the quicksand of self-pity,

But even quicksand can't hold you if you can grow wings and fly away.

- Ghostwise

The Cricket Full Of Mirth.

2008-05-23T07:02:00.000-07:00

(Last night a cricket got into my room and kept me awake.)

Where glowing embers through the room
Teach light to counterfeit a gloom,
Far from all resort of mirth,
Save the cricket on the hearth.

- John Milton (1608 - 1674)

The cricket sang of blissful contentment
Oblivious of my sleepless resentment.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

I do believe that an intimacy with the world of crickets and their kind can be salutary - not for what they are likely to teach us about ourselves but because they remind us, if we will let them, that there are other voices, other rhythms, other strivings and fulfillments than our own.

- Howard E. Evans

I have nothing against crickets, except when they sang on my bed.

- Ghostwise

Why are so many rich men paupers?

2008-05-22T06:47:00.000-07:00

(How I hate working with a stingy man, especially when I had to.)

“A rich man who is stingy is the worst pauper”

- Yiddish Proverb quotes

Why are so many rich men paupers?

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

“The generous man enriches himself by giving; the miser hoards himself poor”

- Dutch Proverb

The generous man gives and lives a life; the miser hoards himself till death.

- Ghostwise

The Law Of The Jungle.

2008-05-21T06:36:00.000-07:00

(I accepted an invitation to go to the Jungle and must learn its law.)

The Law of the Jungle

Now this is the Law of the Jungle --
as old and as true as the sky;
And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper,
but the Wolf that shall break it must die.

As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk
the Law runneth forward and back --
For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf,
and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.

Wash daily from nose-tip to tail-tip;
drink deeply, but never too deep;
And remember the night is for hunting,
and forget not the day is for sleep.

The Jackal may follow the Tiger,
but, Cub, when thy whiskers are grown,
Remember the Wolf is a Hunter --
go forth and get food of thine own.

Keep peace withe Lords of the Jungle --
the Tiger, the Panther, and Bear.
And trouble not Hathi the Silent,
and mock not the Boar in his lair.

When Pack meets with Pack in the Jungle,
and neither will go from the trail,
Lie down till the leaders have spoken --
it may be fair words shall prevail.

When ye fight with a Wolf of the Pack,
ye must fight him alone and afar,
Lest others take part in the quarrel,
and the Pack be diminished by war.

The Lair of the Wolf is his refuge,
and where he has made him his home,
Not even the head Wolf may enter,
not even the Council may come.

The Lair of the Wolf is his refuge,
but where he has digged it too plain,
The Council shall send him a message,
and so he shall change it again.

If ye kill before midnight, be silent,
and wake not the woods with your bay,
Lest ye frighten the deer from the crop,
and your brothers go empty away.

Ye may kill for yourselves, and your mates,
and your cubs as they need, and ye can;
But kill not for pleasure of killing,
and seven times never kill Man!

If ye plunder his Kill from a weaker,
devour not all in thy pride;
Pack-Right is the right of the meanest;
so leave him the head and the hide.

The Kill of the Pack is the meat of the Pack.
Ye must eat where it lies;
And no one may carry away
of that meat to his lair, or he dies.

The Kill of the Wolf is the meat of the Wolf.
He may do what he will;
But, till he has given permission,
the Pack may not eat of that Kill.

Cub-Right is the right of the Yearling.
From all of his Pack he may claim
Full-gorge when the killer has eaten;
and none may refuse him the same.

Lair-Right is the right of the Mother.
From all of her year she may claim
One haunch of each kill for her litter,
and none may deny her the same.

Cave-Right is the right of the Father --
to hunt by himself for his own:
He is freed of all calls to the Pack;
he is judged by the Council alone.

Because of his age and his cunning,
because of his gripe and his paw,
In all that the Law leaveth open,
the word of your head Wolf is Law.

Now these are the Laws of the Jungle,
and many and mighty are they;
But the head and the hoof of the Law
and the haunch and the hump is -- Obey!

by Rudyard Kipling - from The Jungle Book

The Law of the Jungle is no cruel and much fairer than the Law of Man.

- Ghostwise

The Moon And Her Wondrous Tale.

2008-05-20T07:52:00.000-07:00

(Yesterday, I revisited Li Bai's Drinking Alone Under The Moon. Picture - Morning Moon In Lucky Valley, Pahang.)

Soon as the evening shades prevail,
The moon takes up the wondrous tale,
And nightly to the listening earth
Repeats the story of her birth.

- Joseph Addison, in the "Spectator"

The moon is at her full, and riding high,
Floods the calm fields with light.
The airs that hover in the summer sky
Are all asleep to-night.

- William Cullen Bryant, The Tides

The silver light, which, hallowing tree and tower,
Sheds beauty and deep softness o'er the whole,
Breathes also to the heart, and o'er it throws
A loving languor which is not repose.

- Lord Byron

The moon's beauty
Is best appreciated in silence.

- Ghostwise

Do Not Ask Questions Of Fairy Tales.

2008-05-19T06:30:00.000-07:00

(Today I saw a fairy tale.)

“Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.”

- C.S. Lewis

Just because you're grown up, does not means you do not need fairy tales. Because you're grown up, you're even more in need of fairy tales.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

“Do not ask questions of fairy tales”

- Jewish Proverb

Fairies will never appear if you do not believe in them.

- Ghostwise

You Can Do Worse Than Marry A Gardener.

2008-05-18T07:11:00.000-07:00

(Today I did a bit of gardening after my plumbing failed and flooded the bathroom. These are orchids from my garden.)

I have found, through years of practice, that people garden in order to make something grow; to interact with nature; to share, to find sanctuary, to heal, to honor the earth, to leave a mark. Through gardening, we feel whole as we make our personal work of art upon our land.

- Julie Moir Messervy, The Inward Garden,

A gardener is an artist of the land.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

The most noteworthy thing about gardeners is that they are always optimistic, always enterprising, and never satisfied. They always look forward to doing something better than they have ever done before.

- Vita Sackville-West, 1892 - 1962

You can do worse than to marry a gardener.

- Ghostwise

Did You Vote In A Lizard?

2008-05-17T08:13:00.000-07:00

(Yesterday I saw a lizard crossing the road. All the cars halted to let it pass.)

“At noon in the desert a panting lizard waited for history, its elbows tense, watching the curve of a particular road as if something might happen.”

- William Stafford

The lizard thinks it has all the time in the world to wait,
Or it thinks something is going to happen soon.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

“The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people.” [Ford Prefect]
“Odd,” said Arthur, “I thought you said it was a democracy.” [Arthur Dent]
“I did,” said Ford. “It is.”
“So,” said Arthur, hoping he wasn’t sounding ridiculously obtuse, “why don’t the people get rid of the lizards?”
“It honestly doesn’t occur to them,” said Ford. “They’ve all got the vote, so they all pretty much assume that the government they’ve voted in more or less approximates to the government they want.”
“You mean they actually vote for the lizards?”
“Oh yes,” said Ford with a shrug, “of course.”
“But,” said Arthur, going for the big one again, “why?”
“Because if they didn’t vote for a lizard,” said Ford, “the wrong lizard might get in. Got any gin?”

– Douglas Adams, So Long and Thanks for All the Fish

Did you vote for a lizard?
Or did you vote for the other lizard?

- Ghostwise

We Drove Our Gentle Mother From The Land.

2008-05-16T05:08:00.000-07:00

(Today I tried to get closer to Nature. Morning mist in Lucky Valley, Pahang.)

Nature, the Gentlest Mother
-Emily Dickinson

Nature, the gentlest mother,
Impatient of no child,
The feeblest or the waywardest,
Her admonition mild

In forest and the hill
By traveller is heard,
Restraining rampant squirrel
Or too impetuous bird.

How fair her conversation,
A summer afternoon,--
Her household, her assembly;
And when the sun goes down

Her voice among the aisles
Incites the timid prayer
Of the minutest cricket,
The most unworthy flower.

When all the children sleep
She turns as long away
As will suffice to light her lamps;
Then, bending from the sky

With infinite affection
And infiniter care,
Her golden finger on her lip,
Wills silence everywhere.

~~~~~~~~~~"

We drove our Mother
From the valley to the sea,
From the forest to the hill,
Till there was no place she could go.
She shed bitter tears on the barren land
And drowns us all.

- Ghostwise

We Cannot Forget Sleep In Food.

2008-05-15T07:01:00.000-07:00

(Three days after returning home, I'm still sleep deprived.)

Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleave of care
The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath
Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course,
Chief nourisher in life's feast.

- William Shakespeare, Macbeth

We can forget food in sleep,
But we cannot forget sleep in food.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~"

Life is something that happens when you can't get to sleep.

- Fran Lebowitz

Life is hazy motion, a blur.
Life is food without taste.
Life is emotion without edge.
Life is meaningless without sleep.

- Ghostwise

Took My Mother-In-Law To The Airport.

2008-05-14T06:50:00.000-07:00

(Newark airport, New York - Think I'll stay away from airports for a while.)

“Just got back from a pleasure trip: I took my mother-in-law to the airport”

- Henry Youngman

But the trip back was hell, she followed me back.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~"

“It's no coincidence that in no known language does the phrase "As pretty as an airport" appear”

- Douglas Adams

Only in the language of Hollywood in the form of Catherine Zeta Jones in "The Terminal".

- Ghostwise

Leaving On A Jet Plane.

2008-05-13T07:52:00.000-07:00

(Have never taken so many flights or fly so far in a week. Think I'll stay away from aeroplanes for a while).

All my bags are packed I'm ready to go
I'm standin' here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye
But the dawn is breakin' it's early morn
The taxi's waitin' he's blowin' his horn
Already I'm so lonesome I could die

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go

- John Denver

I'm leaving on a jet plane
And I won't be returning on a slow boat.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~"

So we'll open the throttle and gather speed,
For an Airman's life is a life indeed,
As the engine roars away;
Gone are the cares of the earth below,
As up through a gap in the clouds we go,
With an ever-increasing sway.

- AC Kermode, in Mechanics of Flight, 1956

The one flying the plane
And the one sitting cramped inside
May have different feelings about the same flight.

- Ghostwise

You'll Know When It Is Time To Go Home.

2008-05-12T01:37:00.000-07:00

(It is good to be back home.)

Another aeroplane
Another sunny place
I'm lucky I know
But I wanna go home
Mmmm I've got to go home

- Christina Conseco

Some places it may take a week
Some places two
Some places a month maybe more
But there always comes a time
When I long - to go home.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

To thee I'll return, overburdened with care;
The heart's dearest solace will smile on me there;
No more from that cottage again will I roam;
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.
Home, home, sweet, sweet, home!
There's no place like home, oh, there's no place like home!

- John Howard Payne

Somehow, I always sleep sweeter,
In my own bed, In my own home.

- Ghostwise

There Cannot Be An American Solution To Every Problem.

2008-05-04T00:41:00.000-07:00

(Ghostwise is taking a break. It is going to "the land of the free" for a week and hope to find that their people thinks and behaves differently from their government. See you when I get back.)

“We must face the fact that the United States is neither omnipotent nor omniscient; that we are only 6 percent of the world's population; that we cannot impose our will upon the other 94 percent of mankind; that we cannot right every wrong or reverse every adversity; and that therefore there cannot be an American solution to every world problem.”

- John Fitzgerald Kennedy

The United States is a great country but it will only be a great country if it remembers it is one of the countries of the World.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

"America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great."

- Alexis de Tocqueville

Once many nations considered America great. Now many nations don't even consider America good.

- Ghostwise

All True Religion Starts From Compassion.

2008-05-03T07:41:00.000-07:00

(Some kind souls came to seek compassion for others at my door.)

There is no substitute for a direct concern for other people as the basis of morality.

- Thomas Nagel

Being religious without being compassionate is just following a ritual.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

Compassion is the desire that moves the individual self to widen the scope of its self-concern to embrace the whole of the universal self.

- Arnold Toynbee

If you've compassion, rest assure. You've feelings for others beside yourself.

- Ghostwise

Nothing I Never Said Ever Did Me Any Harm.

2008-05-02T07:04:00.000-07:00

(Today I ponder about silence in silence.)

"I have noticed that nothing I never said ever did me any harm. "

- Calvin Coolidge

That did not mean what others said about me cannot harm me if I said nothing.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

"Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life, but define yourself."

- Harvey Fierstein

I define myself in silence.

- Ghostwise

Statistics Said Birthdays Make You Live Longer.

2008-05-01T08:14:00.000-07:00

(My head is still swimming with the wine I drank in the birthday party.)

Birthdays are good for you. Statistics show that the people who have the most live the longest.

- Larry Lorenzoni

This time statistics did not lie.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~"

Let us celebrate the occasion with wine and sweet words.

- Plautus

I toasted with red wine but the sweet words, I keep to myself.

- Ghostwise

Grant Me The Courage To Change.

2008-04-30T02:23:00.000-07:00

(I look at change and whether I'm changing.)

"Lord grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

- Saint Francis of Assisi

I don't know which of the two is the more difficult to attain - the serenity or the courage. But I know which of the three is the most illusive - the wisdom to tell the difference.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

"Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me."

- Carol Burnett

And no one would either.

- Ghostwise

Be On Guard Against Silent Dog & Still Water.

2008-04-29T07:37:00.000-07:00

(Today I tried to enter a heavily guarded building.)

“Be on your guard against a silent dog and still water”

- Latin Proverb

Misfortune and malice strikes silently.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

“It is wrong to think that misfortunes come from the east or from the west; they originate within one's own mind. Therefore, it is foolish to guard against misfortunes from the external world and leave the inner mind uncontrolled.”

- Buddha

In the safety of our mind, we let down the guard on our thoughts.

- Ghostwise

On Earth There Is No Heaven.

2008-04-28T03:53:00.000-07:00

(I went to the hills, and I came back down to earth.)

The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance,
the wise grows it under his feet.

- James Oppenheim

I went to the hill to seek peace,
I came down from the hill to live peace.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

On earth there is no heaven, but there are pieces of it.

- Jules Renard

When I have picked up enough of the shattered glasses,
I'll make my own mirror.

- Ghostwise

I Seek Wisdom And Foolishness In Equal Measure.

2008-04-27T06:05:00.000-07:00

(I just came down from a Zen retreat - a little wiser, a litter more foolish.)

Spring has its hundred flowers,
Autumn its moon,
Summer has its cooling breezes,
Winter its snow.
If you allow no idle concerns
To weight on your heart,
Your whole life will be one
Perennial good season.

- The Golden Age of Zen, p. 286

I found that it was one season -
In the green of the tropical jungle.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

A little foolishess, enough to enjoy life
and a little wisdom to avoid the errors,
that will do.

- Osho

I went up the hill,
To seek a little more wisdom
And a little more foolishness
In equal measure.

- Ghostwise

A Balloon Steals My Worries.

2008-04-24T06:21:00.000-07:00

"Swishing on by" by JancyLi

(Today I thought of balloons after seeing this picture goes swishing on by...)

The Balloon

I went to the park
And I bought a balloon.
It sailed through the sky
Like a large orange moon.
It bumped and it fluttered
And swam with the clouds.
Small birds flew around it
In high chirping crowds.
It bounced and it balanced
And bowed with the breeze.
It skimmed past the leaves
On the top of the trees.
And then as the day
Started turning to night
I gave a short jump
And I held the string tight
And home we all sailed
Through the darkening sky
The orange balloon, the small birds
And I.

- Karla Kuskin (adapted by James W. King)

I was sad
I went to the park
I saw a balloon floating
- Away with my worries.

- Ghostwise

“Nobody can be uncheered with a balloon”

- Winnie the Pooh

Let Love Go, If Go She Will.

2008-04-23T03:58:00.000-07:00

(I believe - Let Love Go, If Go She Will.)

Let Love Go, If Go She Will

Let love go, if go she will.
Seek not, O fool, her wanton flight to stay.
Of all she gives and takes away
The best remains behind her still.

The best remains behind; in vain
Joy she may give and take again,
Joy she may take and leave us pain,
If yet she leave behind
The constant mind
To meet all fortunes nobly, to endure
All things with a good heart, and still be pure,
Still to be foremost in the foremost cause,
And still be worthy of the love that was.
Love coming is omnipotent indeed,
But not Love going. Let her go. The seed
Springs in the favouring Summer air, and grows,
And waxes strong; and when the Summer goes,
Remains, a perfect tree.

Joy she may give and take again,
Joy she may take and leave us pain.
O Love, and what care we?
For one thing thou hast given, O Love, one thing
Is ours that nothing can remove;
And as the King discrowned is still a King,
The unhappy lover still preserves his love.

- Robert Louis Stevenson

Let Love Go,
If you want Love to still remain.

- Ghostwise.

Friends Are Like Bras.

2008-04-22T05:10:00.000-07:00

(Today I talk about close and closeness.)

“The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.”

- Flora Whittemore

Do not let close doors deter you and make sure you close the doors you open.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~"

“Friends are like bras: close to your heart and there for support.”

- Author Unknown

Is that why those who wears bra understand the value of friendship better?

- Ghostwise

How A Story Writes Itself.

2008-04-21T06:33:00.000-07:00

(Today I try to explain how a story writes itself.)

“The universe is made of stories, not of atoms.”

- Muriel Rukeyser

The story of mankind would be rather dull if it is told from atoms.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

My subject is beginning to oppress my mind as a nightmare does the body. My head is full of ideas, of which the order is not yet clear to me, and which I must consider singly. I should like to run, but I can only drag myself slowly along. You know that I never take up my pen to support a system, or to draw, whether wrongly or rightly, certain conclusions. I give myself up to the natural flow of my ideas, allowing myself in good faith to be led from one consequence to another. Therefore, till my work is finished, I never know exactly what result I shall reach, or if I shall arrive at any"

- Alexis De Tocqueville

At last I could explain how my stories are written.

- Ghostwise

The Grass Grows By Itself.

2008-04-20T05:10:00.000-07:00

(Today I cut grass in a light drizzle.)

“Sitting quietly, doing nothing, spring comes, and the grass grows by itself”

- Zen Proverb

Life goes on, even if you don't.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

I come here to speak poetry. It will always be in the grass. It will also be necessary to bend down to hear it. It will always be too simple to be discussed in assemblies.

- Boris Pasternak

If you don't lower yourself to the grass, you'll not hear the sound of the earth.

- Ghostwise

Why Do Willow Weeps?

2008-04-19T09:18:00.000-07:00

(Today I wrote a story about the tears of weeping willows that filled a lake).

Weeping Willow (From “My Girl”)

Weeping willow with your tears running down,
Why do you always weep and frown?
Is it because he left you one day?
Is it because he could not stay?

On your branches he would swing,

Do you long for the happiness that day would bring?
He found shelter in your shade,
He thought his laughter would never fade.
Weeping willow stop your tears,
For there is something to calm your fears.
You think death has ripped you forever apart,
But I know he'll always be in your heart.

by Laurice Elehwany

But I weep,
Because he is always in my heart.

- Ghostwise.

I Shouldn't Need A Visa For Beautiful Days.

2008-04-18T03:30:00.000-07:00

(Today I applied for a visa to a land far far away.)

“It has been said that a pretty face is a passport. But it's not, it's a visa, and it runs out fast.”

- Julie Burchill

A visa can always be renewed, but a pretty face...

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

Open all the roads of earth

Open all the locks of the borders

Me I have my visa for the beautiful days

I have my passport colour of love

- Celine Dion (The Collection 1982-1988

I am told I need a visa the color of gold

To enter the land of the free.

- Ghostwise

Have You Made Use Of Both Hands?

2008-04-17T08:05:00.000-07:00

(Today, I went out of the way to help a colleague the way I hope others would help me when I'm in need.)

Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm. . . As you grow older you will discover that you have two hands. One for helping yourself, the other for helping others.

- Audrey Hepburn

I have two hands, so I try to make use of both.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

None of us has gotten where we are solely by pulling ourselves up from our own bootstraps. We got here because somebody bent down and helped us.

- Thurgood Marshall

When you help others, you're remembering and paying tributes to all who had helped you.

- Ghostwise

If Napoleon Did Not Envy Caesar.

2008-04-16T05:29:00.000-07:00

(Today I have a little bout of 'good' envy.)

“Envy consists in seeing things never in themselves, but only in their relations. If you desire glory, you may envy Napoleon, but Napoleon envied Caesar, Caesar envied Alexander, and Alexander, I daresay, envied Hercules, who never existed.”

- Bertrand Russell

If Napoleon did not envy Caesar, he would not be Napoleon.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

“Who among us hasn't envied a cat's ability to ignore the cares of daily life and to relax completely?”

- Karen Brademeyer

I don't think the cat envy us.

- Ghostwise

Love Is As Dangerous As The Sea.

2008-04-15T08:14:00.001-07:00

(After a couple of days in the sea, land looks to be a bit different.)

“The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore”

- Vincent van Gogh

Love is as enticing and as dangerous as the sea.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

For whatever we lose (like a you or a me),
It's always our self we find in the sea.

- e.e. cummings

I search the sea -
And found the sea.

- Ghostwise

The Eye Is Not Reliable For It Can Only See.

2008-04-14T01:54:00.000-07:00

(Today I listened to the explanations of an eye doctor.)

“There are many things in life that will catch your eye, but only a few will catch your heart...pursue those.”

- Michael Nolan

But too often we don't try to see further than what the eyes can see.

- Ghostwise

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

“The loveliest faces are to be seen by moonlight, when one sees half with the eye and half with the fancy”

- Persian Proverb

Where we cover the blemishes and enhance the glow.

- Ghostwise

Darkness Reigns At The Foot Of The Lighthouse.

2008-04-13T00:39:00.000-07:00

(I just came back for a lighthouse.)

“We are told to let our light shine, and if it does, we won't need to tell anybody it does. Lighthouses don't fire cannons to call attention to their shining- they just shine.”

- Dwight L. Moody

The light from the lighthouse is easy enough to be seen, but the light that shines within; now that requires you to look more carefully.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

“Darkness reigns at the foot of the lighthouse”

- Japanese Proverb

I discover that the lighthouse only shines for those far away.

- Ghostwise

There Is Nothing Romantic About Sacrifices.

2008-04-11T00:47:00.000-07:00

(Sacrifices sounds honorable but what are not painful are not sacrifices. There is nothing romantic abour sacrifices.)

Part of the happiness of life consists not in fighting battles, but in avoiding them. A masterly retreat is in itself a victory.

- Norman Vincent Peale

When we retreat, we sacrifice our pride.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

Life does not require us to be consistent, cruel, patient, helpful, angry, rational, thoughtless, loving, rash, open-minded, neurotic, careful, rigid, tolerant, wasteful, rich, downtrodden, gentle, sick, considerate, funny, stupid, healthy, greedy, beautiful, lazy, responsive, foolish, sharing, pressured, intimate, hedonistic, industrious, manipulative, insightful, capricious, wise, selfish, kind or sacrificed. Life does, however, require us to live with the consequences of our choices.

- Richard David Bach

Life doesn't even guarantee us that a 'good' choice will have 'good' consequence.

- Ghostwise

The Sound Of Basho.

2008-04-10T06:11:00.000-07:00

(I was still troubled. So I sat quietly in the room and listened to silent sound of the haiku of Basho. It was a time for listening so no word was spoken.)

All along this road
not a single soul - only
autumn evening comes

Heard, not seen,
the camellia poured rainwater
when it leaned

This dark autumn
old age settles down on me
like heavy clouds or birds

- Basho (translated by Sam Hamill)

It Was Not Pride That hurts Me.

2008-04-09T05:34:00.000-07:00

(Today I was hurt. I have not learned not to be hurt.)

... pride is not a bad thing when it only urges us to hide our own hurts — not to hurt others.

- George Eliot

Call me "proud", I hurt alone.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

To live is to hurt others, and through others, to hurt oneself. Cruel earth! How can we manage not to touch anything? To find what ultimate exile?

- Albert Camus

And even when we live in exile, we have not lost the capability to hurt ourself.

- Ghostwise

Have You Got The Mail You Want?

2008-04-08T05:45:00.000-07:00

(Today I go mails but I miss one.)

“I turn on my computer. I wait patiently as it connects. I go online. My breath catches in my chest until I hear 3 little words, "You've got mail." I hear nothing, not a sound on the streets of New York. Just the beat of my own heart. I have mail...from you.”

- "You've got mail" (Movie)

It is amazing how a mail can brighten up even a cloudy day.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

“President Bush said for security reasons, he's sworn off all e-mail communication. He will not be using email at the White House at all. Is that a good idea? I mean, it's not like that speaking thing was working out so good.”

- Jay Leno

Unlike speaking, e-mail can at least be checked first before sending.

- Ghostwise

Some There Be That Shadows Kiss.

2008-04-07T03:52:00.000-07:00

(Today, I was engaged in some shadow play.)

Some there be that shadows kiss;
Such have but a shadow's bliss.

- William Shakespeare, (The Merchant of Venice)

I seek substance in a shadow's kiss;
And was thus undernourished.

- Ghostwise

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

To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

- William Shakespeare (Macbeth)

I played with shadows for so long,
That I could not tell,
Which is me and which is the shadow.

- Ghostwise

A Palace Must Be A House.

2008-04-06T00:58:00.000-07:00

(Spent the whole morning taking pictures of palace.)

“Poetry is certainly something more than good sense, but it must be good sense, just as a palace is more than a house, but it must be a house”

- Samuel Taylor Coleridge

I would like my house to be a palace, but if it cannot be; I rather stay in a house than a palace.

- Ghostwise

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

The youth gets together his materials to build a bridge to the moon, or, perchance, a palace or temple on the earth, and, at length, the middle-aged man concludes to build a woodshed with them.

- Henry David Thoreau

The wise man realize the most important ingredient for the construction of a happy home is warmth and not grandeur.

- Ghostwise

You Can Always Go Shopping Again.

2008-04-05T05:29:00.000-07:00

(Today I went shopping for One Fathom Bank.)

Were buying and selling your history
How we go about it is no mystery
We check it with the city, then change the law
Are you looking forward?
Now you want some more

Were s-h-o-pp-i-n-g, were shopping

Its easy when you got all the information
Inside help, no investigation
(no investigation, investigation)
No questions in the house, no give and take
Theres a big bang in the city
Were all on the make

Were s-h-o-pp-i-n-g, were shopping
Were s-h-o-pp-i-n-g, were shopping

Our gain is your loss, thats the price you pay
I heard it in the house of commons: everythings for sale

Were shopping
Were shopping

- Pet Shop Boys: Shopping

How sad this describe our recent history.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

Try me on
Take me home
The tags are on
It's still a loan
Warranty is in the sack
You can always take me back
Go window shopping again
Window shopping again

Scan the shelves for something red
It's different
It's brighter than the ones you had to have
They didn't last
They just fade
And you go window shopping again
Window shopping again

- Lisa Loeb (Window Shopping)

You can again always buy
What you stopped to like
And you don't have to pay
The credit card company says.

- Ghostwise

Two Minus One Equals Nothing.

2008-04-04T06:12:00.000-07:00

(Today I could think of nothing.)

“In the arithmetic of love, one plus one equals everything, and two minus one equals nothing”

- Mignon McLaughlin

In the multiplication of love, one times one equals eternity.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

“I love talking about nothing. It is the only thing I know anything about.”

- Oscar Wilde

But it sure makes a lot of sound.

- Ghostwise

When Fatigue Sets In.

2008-04-03T06:53:00.000-07:00

(I am exhausted.)

“There is no fatigue so wearisome as that which comes from lack of work”

- Charles H. Spurgeon

That is a little difficult to accept when your fatigue is caused by too much work.

- Ghostwise

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

“A little flattery will support a man through great fatigue”

- James Monroe

I need a lot of flattery now.

- Ghostwise

Like A Snake Trying To Swallow An Elephant.

2008-04-02T07:56:00.000-07:00

(Today, I saw what ambition can do to a man.)

“Ambition is like love, impatient both of delays and rivals.”

- Buddha quotes

The symptoms of Ambition may be like love,
But their hearts could not be more different.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

Ambition is so powerful a passion in the human breast, that however high we reach we are never satisfied.

- Niccolo Machiavelli

As the Chinese says - "Like a snake trying to swallow an elephant".

- Ghostwise

Is Your Plan Better Than The Grasshopper?

2008-04-01T05:55:00.000-07:00

(We caught a huge grasshopper and released it into the wild. Today, I did not see the grasshopper but I saw the leaves being eaten again.)

Summer Day

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention,
how to fall downinto the grass,
how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed,
how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

- Mary Oliver in New and Selected Poems (Boston: Beacon Press) 1992

I echo: what is your plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

- Ghostwise

If It Is Ice Cream, Just Eat It.

2008-03-31T03:08:00.000-07:00

(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.

2008-03-30T05:33:00.000-07:00

(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.

2008-03-29T04:46:00.000-07:00

(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.

2008-03-28T03:30:00.000-07:00

(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.

2008-03-26T07:59:00.000-07:00

(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.

2008-03-25T04:18:00.000-07:00

(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.

2008-03-24T07:26:00.000-07:00

(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?

2008-03-23T02:30:00.000-07:00

(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?

2008-03-22T04:30:00.000-07:00

(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.

2008-03-21T09:02:00.000-07:00

(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

2008-03-19T06:09:00.000-07:00

(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.

2008-03-18T07:03:00.000-07:00

(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.

2008-03-17T08:12:00.000-07:00

(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.

2008-03-16T03:18:00.000-07:00

(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.

2008-03-15T17:59:00.000-07:00

(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.

2008-03-14T06:56:00.000-07:00

(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?

2008-03-12T06:52:00.000-07:00

(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.

2008-03-11T01:49:00.000-07:00

(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.

2008-03-10T08:47:00.000-07:00

(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.

2008-03-09T01:26:00.000-08:00

(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