today’s lottery is the biggest in australian history (or so the ad posters in the lotto shop say.) with a total grand prize is aud 90m, even people who doesn’t usually buy the coupons like me took some effort to get some.

it is the hope that makes us human do something somewhat irrational. if we look at the bigger picture, we are more likely to be a horse/mule, lured by the promise of a carrot if we carry the trickmaster to his/her destination.

i was thinking to do some carricature about our current false euphoria. a picture, repeated four times with different texts, but hold similar context. but using a tablet to draw picture is not as easy as i thought, so i just make one picture, and label them with A, B, C, and D.

A = Advancing rider
B = Beast of burden (unsuspecting)
C = Carrot (reward)
D = Destination (of the rider, not the burden’s)

it is a very simple allegory. if you stop for a moment and think about it, you can have a different set of representation.

A = Ante organiser
B = Buyers (with hope)
C = Cash (millions of)
D = Dividend to the share holders

and put it further, you can have another different set:

A = “Apostles”
B = Beatific and devout followers
C = Celestial kingdom and afterlife
D = Domination over the country and people

was browsing through my old song folder. found this 汽車に乗って by yuki (from judy and mary). too bad they removed the music video from youtube. if you have a copy of the song, here’s the lyrics so you can sing along.

落馬した砂漠の民は
働いた　働いた
ふるさと離れ　ふるさと離れ
思い出すのは　君の事さ

待ち合わせは夕日が丘
アカシアの遠い木陰
君の小さな白い花びらを髪につけて

走り出した僕らの汽車は
虹を見た　夜を見た
星を探して　星を探して
蹲るのは　君の胸さ

もしあの日に帰れるのならば
思い切り　抱きしめようか
夢の場所へ揺られながら
汽車に乗って

幸せは二つの飛行機雲
カナリは歌を忘れた
君の小さな赤いくちびるを指で撫でて

もしあの日に帰れるのならば
手に手を取って　逃げようか
夢の場所は夢のままに
汽車に乗って

m told me about his conversation with his regular chat buddies about the deaths of michael jackson and farrah fawcett. the media is making MJ’s death far more important than FF’s. but as normal boys/men, we fapped to farrah, but not to MJ. we should have been more concerned about her death than her/him/its.

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and a forwarded email:

Michael Jackson passed away this morning from a massive heart attack. Authorities have released a statement saying that they will melt his body down and make plastic toys so kids can play with him for a change.

Micheal jackson has died.. To commemorate his musical achievements mcdonalds have released the ‘mcjackson burger’. It’s a 50 year old piece of aged albino meat shoved between two 8 year old buns.

yesterday was father’s day. it is an international day dedicated, apparently, to honour your father. while i think we should not honour and respect our father on a yearly basis, i play along with the international community, and created an art piece for the day. (yes, you have to click the link to see it.)

hopefully that would remind some people of the importance (or horror?) of honouring one’s father.

*disclaimer: the person depicted on the art piece above is NOT my father, biologically or otherwise.

$30 from target. replacing a tattered jersey (which was purchased back in 1995) from a souvenir shop in oxford.

if only more people buy new clothing as often as i do, the world will have much less garbage problem. and of course, the capitalistic economy will not be as strong and perversive as now.

clearing up my mailbox, sharing some interesting attachments with you readers.

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Why Chinese shouldn’t have western names:

Anne Chang => Dirty (Mandarin)
Anne Chin => Keep Quiet (Mandarin)
Faye Chen => Dusty (Mandarin)
Carl Cheng => Buttock (Hokkien)
Monica Cheng => Touching your buttocks (Hokkien)
Lucy Leow => You are dead (Hokkien)
Jane Tan => Frying eggs (Mandarin)
Suzie Leow => Lose till death (Hokkien)
Henry Mah => Hate your mum (Mandarin)
Corrine Tai => Poor fellow (Hokkien)
Paul Chan => Bankrupt (Mandarin)
Nelson Tan => Bird laying eggs (Mandarin)
Leslie Tong => Rubbish Bin (Mandarin)
Carmen Teng => Leg hair long (Hokkien)
Connie Mah => Call your mother (Cantonese)
Danny See => Squeeze you to death (Hokkien)
Rosie Teng => Screws and nails (Hokkien)
Pete Tsai => Nose droppings (Hokkien)
Macy Koh => Never die before (Cantonese)

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Caller : Hello, can I speak to Annie Wan (anyone)?
Operator : Yes, you can speak to me.
Caller : No, I want to speak to Annie Wan (anyone)!
Operator : You are talking to someone! Who is this?
Caller : I’m Sam Wan (Someone). And I need to talk to Annie Wan (anyone)! It’s urgent.
Operator : I know you are someone and you want to talk to anyone! But what’s this urgent matter about?
Caller : Well… just tell my sister Annie Wan (anyone) that our brother Noel Wan (no one)has involved in an accident. Noel Wan (no one)got injured and now Noel Wan (no one) is being sent to the hospital. Right now, Avery Wan (everyone) is on his way to the hospital.
Operator : Look if no one was injured and no one was sent to the hospital, then the accident isn’t an urgen t matter! You may find this hilarious but I don’t have time for this!
Caller : You are so rude! Who are you?
Operator : I’m Saw Lee (Sorry).
Caller : Yes! You should be sorry. Now give me your name!

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- Marriages are made in heaven. But so are thunder and lightning.
- If you want your wife to listen and pay strict attention to every word you say; talk in your sleep.
- Marriage is grand; and divorce is at least 100 grand!
- Married life is very frustrating. In the first year of marriage, the man speaks and the woman listens.
In the second year, the woman speaks and the man listens.
In the third year, they both speak and the neighbours listen.
- When a man opens the door of his car for his wife, you can be sure of one thing: Either the car is new or the wife is.
- Marriage is when a man and woman become as one. The trouble starts when they try to decide which one.
- Before marriage, a man will lie awake all night thinking about something you say. After marriage, he will fall asleep before you finish.
- Every man wants a wife who is beautiful, understanding, economical, and a good cook. But the law allows only one wife.
- Marriage and love are purely matter of chemistry. That is why wives treat husbands like toxic waste.
- A man is incomplete until he is married. After that, he is finished.

checked this new discovery of baboon’s social behaviour.

crap, i might be a baboon in my past life, and carrying the unfathomable habit with me now.

in almost all contests, there will be a lot more losers than winners. that’s taken for granted, for there is only one place for winner, and virtually unlimited amount of runner ups and umpteenth places.

the easiest way to deny one’s own defeat is to shout ‘cheater!’ when the result is announced. no matter how badly you fail in an exam, you can always shout that magic word, and somehow people are forced to reexamine your paper, and in politics, re-examination means more opportunities to bribe a certain officer which could mean a better result.

the iranians had voted, and the result is out. and the result is not preferrable to the western ‘democracies’, and to the losers, obviously. the oppositions claimed to have seen a lots of irregularities in the election, (which might be true, but on the other hand, might also be not true,) but that is not an excuse for a violent riot. i believe iranians are not violent people by nature. they haven’t been attacking other countries since last provoked by the american-backed iraq in the 1980s. the riot could be incited by third parties.

so why do the oppositions prepare to reject the recount offer? because they believe they have the backing of foreigners to topple their foe. rather pitiful and contradictive, i think, because cooperation with a stranger to bicker among your fellow countrymen is weakening your own country. the eager foreigners, as always, ready to cooperate because they smell profits for their pockets there. selling your own country for the benefit of other is hardly nationalistic.

when dubya won his second term, there were many angry responses. there were irregularities, including the use of the questionable voting machines, but there was no violence. is it because americans are more ‘peaceful’? i doubt it, considering their love of ‘violent’ games such as american football and hockey. the lack of violence in usoa was because there was no foreign intervention.

so here is my suspicion: the violent in iran is seeded by foreign parties. prove me i’m wrong, and i can probably prove you that i’m right. welcome to conspicacy game.

* PS: this doesn’t mean i support the current/previous iranian president. my reaction to him is indifferent. i wrote this to show how easy people (as a group) is being led (or misled) by bombardment of information.

this blog is now using wp 2.8. it’s been a while since i last upgraded the blog engine. hopefully i’ll receive less spams in the future.

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another upgrades: my wow characters. shaman beha has just joined a singapore-based guild, and already got her first T7 shoulder last night. things are looking good. mage waj might be joining the guild soon, as her current one is pretty much dead.

i’ve heard many rumours that ‘indians are good programmers’, indicating that the specific race is more capable in handling computer codes than others. far too many rumours that it sickens me. no doubt that some of them are good and capable, but surely the number is less than ‘many’ in terms of percentage.

i hope this story could help enlighten some people. more population means more idle people to train, and therefore, more specialists. simple as that.

finally, the heater is working again. it hasn’t been working in the past two weeks, and the house was very cold. so cold that one of my extrimities (my right little finger) turned dark red and swollen. it was 5C last night, btw.

that was the seed of the following thought: the nature of hell.

a lots of people are convinced and trying hard to convince me that there is a punishment place called hell, and it is very hot. and their attempt to ‘prove’ the existence of that particular venue is some ambiguous old texts from middle east (which can be interpretted non-literally.)

i believe (from many casual conversations) many people prefer summers to winters. they prefer bright, full of light, and hot days, rather than stormy, dark and cold ones. the celts and the chinese associate winter with death, and i’m pretty sure they are not the only civilisations that do that.

summer is hotter than winter, therefore, if a hot hell does exist, summer is much closer an environment to hell than winter. could those billions of people there yearn to live in hell?

unless of course, there is no such place.

a mid winter noon
hot and tasty pempek
mild diarrhoea

冬の昼
辛いペムペク
下り腹

the event was yesterday. made this haiku while being grateful for the free pempek* from flatmate’s mom.

* pempek = an indonesian dish made of fried fish paste and sweeten chilli sauce/soup.

this time, apparently he is killed by himself and not by the five point palm exploding heart technique.

he was a legend, and i’m going to keep it so. will get/download his kungfu series later.

is it just me, or there has been quite a few articles about young/first time parents? like this one, and this one, and a few videos about breastfeeding technique on youtube.

perhaps i got this feelings since my gf was talking about her colleague who is about to deliver a baby, and how clueless she is about the whole issue. for example, (and this could be additional info for those who might not know,) keeping mother’s milk in a fridge for a week is not a good way to feed your baby.)

all their advice seems to be an elaborated common sense, but knowing our average society, it might be good to read those articles and think a bit more.

britain got talent competition is over for this year. lots of ‘talents’ were displayed there; most notably dancing and singing. but some were not as popular as other, like imitating a saxophone’s sound, or eating as many ferrero rocher as possible within one minute.

there is actually a ferrero rocher challenge (just found out about it). the current record holder, according to guiness book of record, is a guy from denmark who can eat seven. might want to test myself later, if i got enough money to experiment.

anyway, that got me thinking, what constitutes a talent, and what’s not. for example, my late high school principal/math/physics teacher could write two different academic questions, using both hands, at the same time. now, that would be a talent, imho. but i don’t think he would win such talent competition. he would probably a star in some circus or freak show, but not a talent show. where do we draw the line?

in this morning’s dream:
my dad, mom, bro, and i went to buy a new bed for me. in the showroom, i tested the bed that i want and bought it. afterwards, there was a mildly foul smell. we, including the shop’s staffs, scrambled to find the source of that unwanted aroma. turned out that from one of the legs of the bed that i just bought, emerged a swarm of tiny insects.

at first, we thought they were ants, because they moved out of the leg in a column. but they were rather too big to be ants. once the first column were gone, another swarm of insects (of the same type) came about from the very same leg. this time, they didn’t go away, but rather stayed on the floor and surrounded the leg in a fashion much like overflowing water from a glass. upon closer inspection, we found that they were dead. and they were cockroaches.

not long after, a big, fat, deep red cockroach (around 10 cm long) emerged and just ran away from us towards the disappearing column of its brethren.

- end -

maybe this is a sign that my newly-bought bed has some dark energy in it? or, considering the insects escaping the bed, maybe it’s a sign that the bed is now ‘purified’? how did it get purified? by my mojo, perhaps?

soft moisted flesh
emerge from small slit opening
sweet delicious cockles

柔肉が
小さい穴から
鳥貝の

dreamt of eating some cockles this morning (or to be exact, yesterday morning.) in that dream, i made a poem or haiku, to depict the enjoyment of the dish (and at the same time portrayed the analogy of cunningulus), but i can’t remember what i made, so i recreated it.

there have been a lot of dreams lately, but can’t remember most of them.

[music]: bear on the beach [a camp]