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The flu

First it was the rib juggling cough. Then comes the sore throat. Yesterday was the full blown flu, complete with running nose, uncontrollable sneezes and high fever. Call me a masochist but I really enjoy having fever dreams.

But apart from Dali-esque melting objects and landscape, the most surreal fever dream that I ever had was one that started out quite serene:-

It was a starless sky and the full moon was high above the sky. I had a telescope and I was peering into the small peep hole. I saw the wonderfully scarred lunar terrain. Suddenly, I spotted something shiny. I zoomed in and I notice that it was a mirror. Perplexed, I increased the zoom and I saw the blue sphere that was the earth, reflected from the mirror. I looked further and I saw the continents. I zoomed in further and further until I can make out the shape of the Malaysian peninsular. I zoomed further and further until I can see my house and myself being looking up (or down) at myself.

In a way, I find it quite poetic. It seems to tell me that as I search further externally for answers, the answer had always been with me. It reminds me of a Shaker song that I’ve come to know and love:-

Simple Gifts (Joseph Brackett, 1848)

‘Tis the gift to be simple,
’tis the gift to be free.
‘Tis the gift to come down
where we ought to be.
And when we find ourselves
in the place just right,
Twill be in the valley
of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gained,
To bow and to bend
we shall not be ashamed.
To turn, turn
will be our delight,
‘Till by turning, turning
we come round right.

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La classe finale

Aujourd’hui est le jour final pour nos classes le Français. Pour trois semaines, il y aura des vacances de semestre.

J’ai appris beaucoup de Français. Mais, il y a plus à apprendre. J’ai aimé les classes parce que Français est une bonne langue. Le professeur a’été bon. Les étudiants ont été géniaux.

Je les manquerai mais pour maintenant, je pratiquerai ma nouvelle langue !

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SuprNova Down

I can’t believe it. The site that I visit without fail everyday is down…and this time, probably for good.

There was news that MPAA recently is going to crack down on BitTorrent sites. Most of the time I pay little attention to this sort of news. I mean, how can you stop a website that doesn’t (technically) break any copyright rules?

Take SuprNova:- it doesn’t host any infringing files. What it does provide is a link of all new and active torrents on the site. It also provides a tracker for these torrents. MPAA (or the Digital Millennium Copyright Act) claims that anyone facilitating the infringement of copyrighted materials is as guilty as the infringing party.

This is truly a disturbing development. Does it mean that if I provide a link to say another movie BitTorrent site that I would be liable too in the eyes of MPAA, even if I did not ripped, mixed, burned or shared any illicit copies?

Anyway, I look forward to the next leap in technology when someone would develop a server-less version of BitTorrent. This version would work like any P2P software and it can use the gnutella technology to search for torrent files. Trackers would be decentralized. Upon locating the required torrent files, the program would then download using BitTorrent.

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Free To Soar?

Ever looked at a caged bird? It’s desire to break free from the entrapment that we think of as its home is a natural predisposition to its species. Over the millions of years, it has evolved wings to allow it to fly. And fly away is what the bird will do when you open the doors of the menagerie.

For some of us, the fear of uncertainty is overpowering our courage to fly away. We cling on to our cages and look forward to our scheduled bird seed meals. As a result, the bird in the cage increasingly becomes complacent and dependent on the paltry meal consisting of broken seeds and discarded husks.

For those who dare, no longer will the restraints of bondage clip their wings. They are free to soar high above the clouds. Or they can chose to go the nearest tree. But most will go to another cage as a Pavlovian response, hopeful that this one will serve better seeds. After all, in a twist to the saying, familiarity breeds content

But those who really dare must also realize that being in captivity too long dulls one’s senses and sharpens one’s cynicism. The real test now is to see if we dare to discard the confining bearings of the cage of which we are used to and fly wherever the winds take us.

Only then will we be truly free.

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Connaissez-moi

C’est mon premier article en le Français!

Je m’appelle C.K. Je suis étudiant débutant Français à Alliance Français de Kuala Lumpur. J’aime l’ordinateurs, les livres, le rock, les films et le Internet.

J’ai trente-trois ans, mais je ne travaille pas. Pourquoi? Je n’aime pas mon travail. Pour dix ans, j’ai toujours fait la même chose. Pour ma sabbatique, j’apprends le français.

C’est difficile d’écrire- pas assez vocabulaire et grammaire !

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A week in French class

After a week, we had been taught how to conjugate verbs into present tense. I was told that this was something that French kids recite everyday in school (like how we Chinamen recite the multiplication table in school- remember?). Having grasp enough verbs and conjugation skills for French verbs ending with -er, we started to write and converse in French.

Body: Whatever we have learnt may seem pretty odd to someone who speaks, writes and reads the language. Imagine if you were to drop into our class and overheard a typical exercise:-

STUDENT 1: G-o-o-d Murning
STUDENT 2: Gud Mourning
STUDENT 1: Howe air you?
STUDENT 2: Fun. And you?
STUDENT 1: I’m unwell too. Do you like the chinema?
STUDENT 2: I adore the a cinema. And you?
STUDENT 1: No. I detest the chinuma.

and so on.

I wonder how it would take before we can have real conversations. Right now, we have learned the present tense so our grammar confines us to just a moment of present time. For instance, I can’t ask someone whether if they liked (past tense) something or to say something in the future.

Sigh….

– Vous aimez le cinéma? Le théâtre?
– Non, je n’aime pas le cinema. Oui, j’aime le théâtre.

– You like the cinema? The theatre?
– No, I don’t like the cinema. Yes, I like the theatre.