A little whisper in the dark

Bliss

While driving home last night, I noticed a couple holding hands, walking by the side of the road.

They looked happy.

posted by Chung Leong @ 1:20 AM 0 comments

Welcome to my playground

I spent most of Friday at Redcliffe, north of here, fishing with three other friends. One's a friend from Gatton, one's my ex-classmate, and then there's my housemate.

Seems like I am the common link to all of them. 6 degrees of friends, just like Friendster claims.

Like how Shuxian knows Peiyun?

Anyway it was the first time that I've held a fishing rod. They say its better to teach a man to fish, they just didn't mention that it costs $130 for a rod and $80 for a reel, not to mention the wide array of hooks, sinkers and floaters that you tend to lose (seemingly every 15 minutes).

We needed some live bait, and it wasn't too hard to land a few bait fish from near the pier, the dodgy part was extracting the fish off the hook, because they were struggling so hard. I would struggle too if I had a hook stuck in my mouth, my neck or straight through my eye. I didn't really enjoy pulling the hooks back out.

I managed to land 4 on one line (there was 5 hooks on the line).

Learning to fish starts from assembling the rod, attaching the reel, and then (I hate this part) tying up the correct knots to attach the required hooks and weights. Even the way the fishing reel works needs instructing. But complexity isn't something I am very averse to especially if its something mechanical - cameras are wonderfully mechanical and technical!

I guess I prefer taking photos of people than pulling sharp hooks out of other living creatures, especially when there are 4 twitching fishes dangling from the 5 hooks on my line. Fish don't have Friendster, but these 4 sure are linked by the fishing line they've all been hooked onto.

posted by Chung Leong @ 1:32 AM 0 comments

You reap what you sow

They say that if you work hard and put in the effort you will get your just rewards.

In Gatton, there's this 80-something year old man who is a neighbour of my friend, he planted a macadamia tree, waited to harvest macadamia nuts, but it took so long that he no longer had teeth with which to eat those nuts, so in the end, he had to give them away.

Staying close to the subject of nuts, what was making the news today back home was how a student from an elite junior college committed suicide because he felt he had a small penis.

Oh dear.

Its a fair bet that the old man in Gatton would have loved to have some teeth to chew his macadamia nuts, and the JC boy would have liked to have something a little more substantial in the basement department, but flinging yourself off a building is just freaky.

Might be happier just focusing on what you have, than what you don't have.

It's not having what you want
It's wanting what you've got......

- Sheryl Crow, Soak up the sun

posted by Chung Leong @ 9:40 PM 1 comments

Feeling like a cowboy

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." - inscribed on John Wayne's tombstone

I do wonder, however, what cowboys do that make it so important. Maybe its because I've never been one, nor am I likely to (the only horses you are likely to see are either at the Turf Club, or being fed in small pieces to the tigers at the zoo). Maybe if you skipped mustering the cattle today, their hind legs might drop off. Or something.

My honours thesis experiment is approaching a critical phase now, and I have to be in early in the mornings to check on the plants for signs of wilting daily, no skipping and slacking off. The rocketing petrol prices and the prospect of waking up at 5am to get into uni by 7am means its a better option for me to spend a few nights bunking with friends here in Gatton. But well, a year's worth of work culminates in this. Has to be done.

So at the end of each day, for the past few days now, I have left work and headed West (the wrong way - since my normal route is Eastbound) into Gatton itself. Now, at the end of the stereotypical cowboy movie, you'll find the hero saddling up on his loyal steed and riding off into the sunset. Cue the credits and turn on the lights in the theatre.

It sure looks pretty cool to ride off into the sunset, but I don't think many people know that when you ride off into the sunset, it also means the sun is in your eyes.

posted by Chung Leong @ 8:11 AM 0 comments

Take it easy

I drove this road last night (my favourite section in this area bar none). Its a lovely winding bit of road that covers the north western mountains backed up against Brisbane city.

The road is straight out of the Japanese anime/manga/movie Initial-D, with tight second gear turns, steep left-right bends and the guardrails bearing mute witness to the multitude of wannabe racers that come here on weekend nights for their "runs".

Having the self-imposed mission of showing Shuxian (who thinks that Brisbane is a boring place) around, I reckoned that the mountains would be a nice place to perhaps spot a few shooting stars, and look back down on the north side of the city. The bonus is the aforementioned road, which is always fun to go through, whether you've got a 300 horsepower sports car, or a 50 horsepower sh!tbox (mine).

The previous misadventures, both with the MX-5 episode (see earlier entries) and the recent accident when my friend got mowed down by an out of control car (see previous) weighed on my mind, plus having Shuxian on board.

Now I've never driven any twisty windy road slowly if I could drive it fast, but for the first time I did, and I gradually discovered that it wasn't that bad, and in fact I rather enjoyed the less stressful experience.

The kilometres melted away under the tires, the curves were smooth, conversation came easily and Jolly's Lookout arrived before I knew it (I actually missed it). Australia's probably too poor to provide even a few small lamps to light up their facilities, (which made me wonder where the money the hordes of overseas students bring with them went) and yeah, it was pretty much pitch dark. I am kicking myself for not bringing a torchlight, and wonder belatedly if Shuxian is having doubts about me bringing her to a dark deserted place.

But well, one can't control what someone else thinks, just like I can't control the night itself - the sky's too bright (moon was up) and it was a cold night (it hit 12 deg C later that night). Coupled with the chill factor, we didn't stay as long. The car's turned out to be an altogether more comfortable place, she liked the warmth from the air conditioning, the engine liked the cold frosty air, and I didn't want for anything more, both in car or company.

I'd like to do that again soon. Maybe I should check the moon phase and weather forecast beforehand this time, though.

posted by Chung Leong @ 4:57 PM 1 comments

Consequences

Its so easy to be carried away when you drive - the car is an extension of you, detached, but it amplifies your actions, yet remains under your control.

Most of the time, that is.

Recently one of my friends was involved in an accident where an out-of-control car ploughed into them as they were walking home on the sidewalk. It wasn't hard to figure out what had happened, I've experienced the effects of driving too fast down there. So it hits hard, when they tell me where that accident had occured.

It so easily could have been me losing control and ploughing into some innocent pedestrians on the side of the road. I was just lucky the car remained faithful for me. The amount of distance I cover a month is far and beyond what my other driving friends in Brisbane do, and I consider it nothing less than a minor miracle that I've thus far remained unscathed and unharmed from road incidents. If nothing else, just pure odds would dictate my number would come up sooner than the rest, wouldn't it?

But somehow me and my little old red car motor on, sometimes, when I'm alone in the car, I talk to her, I like to think that she listens, and that she does her part to keep me out of trouble, as long as I do my part and think of the consequences of doing something stupid when I drive.

Ultimately the problem lies between the steering wheel and the seat, and often it is too late for regrets, too late for guilt trips. I'm just lucky to have learned a lesson without paying for it, but at the expense of someone I know.

I wish you well.

posted by Chung Leong @ 1:17 AM 1 comments