azure aka sky あおい

its been a long absence fr this .......

hhmm just wanted to share this, wondered if anyone has any view on it...

 

LOVE- the verb

Stephen Covey, the highly acclaimed author of “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” has this to share in his book,

At one seminar where I was speaking on the concept of proactivity, a man came up and said, “Stephen, I like what you’re saying. But every situation is so different. Look at my marriage. I’m really worried. My wife and I just don’t have the same feelings for each other we used to have. I guess I just don’t love her anymore and she doesn’t love me. What can I do?”

“The feeling isn’t there anymore?” I asked.
“That’s right,” he reaffirmed. “And we have three children we’re really concerned about. What do you suggest?”
“Love her,” I replied.
“I told you, the feeling just isn’t there anymore.”
“Love her.”
“You don’t understand. The feeling of love just isn’t there.”
“Then love her. If the feeling isn’t there, that’s a good reason to love her.”
“But how do you love when you don’t love?”
“My friend, love is a verb. Love—the feeling—is a fruit of love, the verb. So love her. Sacrifice. Listen to her. Empathize. Appreciate. Affirm her. Are you willing to do that?”

Covey states that love is a value that is actualized through loving actions. Love, the feeling, can be recaptured.

Tack så mycket, 谢谢， Thanks to U for all the great support !! haha never did i expect any readership.

人没有不散的宴席，perhaps time to end this la ....

 

Started out as a channel to talk nonsense .... laugh at all my adventures in the land of Nippon haha

Somehow the adventures caught more of me then the writings .... always so backdated ....dun think i can complete the last series of bon voyage haha.... probably set sail already by the time this one is launched.

 

So in the meantime, take care everyone.

Ha det så bra
Vi ses snart

 

This title sounds like preaching ... shiaks... but this was exactly how i felt in the recent road trip to Ulaanbatar again ... yes yes... wuu lannn duno how to spell ok fine, me neither....

 

The clear starry sky still very much well-kept in my memories of this vast mysterious land... the land of the blue sky.

The roads still unkempt, dry sandy and still retaining the post-war looked with Russian styled houses & seemingly looked make-shift (but not !!) geyers at the most unexpected places. One year has passed and perhaps the only thing that has changed is more & more cars, as well as, greater & greater greed.

 

The country, slashed across the inhibited Gobi dessert, but buried deep beneath its soil, gold & precious metals. While the luxurious bungalows were nearing its completion, more mining caves are dug & perhaps more locals are made to do the job.... Somehow, while the houses looked very much european styled & extremely fancy, it spelt of haunted hollowness...

 

It's strange contrast to see some ladies claded in sexy tight clothes & high heels or gentlemen in suits while others in torn & tatters ... or kids with cookie tins where they stuck a sticker - please give money in Mongolian or Russian.

 

As i dine in wine & beers with occasional unwanted guests like houseflies & grasshoppers baptising it as onsen, can't help not noticing the glares across the panels of cracked dusty windows. 

As i walked, i got threatened or supposed to be made afraid by the security guards flashing their electric rod, making the uncomfortable zapping sound of sheer electric power. The irony of having these beret capped guards, to protect or empower them to harm? For a long while, i haven't felt that vulnerable.

 

As i take a cab, mr hunk driver well decorated with bodily art picked me by the hotel - hey this guy is honest, at least he points to the meter and give me back my change !! The others, just give a girlish smile that says "Sorry no change." as u hand them the bbq-beef smelling Mongolian Turgs. One of the cabbie, even got stopped by the local police man and fined him (or should i say fined me) for doing an U turn ... erh u must be asking - is there any road/ regulation in the 1st place? well there are traffic lights that make no sense... cars still moving everywhere in strange directions. The air-con always look like an antique ornament - u get natural air - sorry, except coupled with the dust that created a havoc on my face.

 

Seems like its wedding month or so, as my room, just next to the restaurants get bombarded with music. The bride in white mongolian silk dress while the groom - a white guy?!?? yes, plenty it seems. And my mongolian friends tell me, hey lucky girl for her then, if she marries a white. Can't seem to understand why white man equate to happiness, even in Japan, this thinking seems prevalent or this is a FJ theory ?!??!!

 

Met up with some of the mongolian friends, these are the people riding in cool cars & flashy hippie life-styles.... But one of them told me that he prefers to escape into the countryside alone - back to the Mongolian grassland, riding horses, hunting the wild bears and boars, fishing in the streams and lying on the ground to see the stars. And he said that the countryside is the real Mongolian Spirit. Here, its so shallow. The next thing he said was, hey i do para-shooting & flight glides, good to die now, young & handsome. Die Handsome, was his motto. Sounds strange, indeed, for a young man who had been extensively educated in the states & well-travelled (btw, he even know singlish !! can or cannot !!), has a bright future ahead in the booming country of motherland, tells me that he wants to die ??!!? He says he bears the Mongolian blood, his genes from Genghis Khan, a proud Mongolian -- and like his ancestor, he prefers the countryside & the wild, although he has full command of an established bank.

 

On the plane, was reading abt Genghis Khan & how little was known about him except that he suffered extreme emotional upheaval from killing his brother and being bullied from young and being afraid of dog. Little was known about him except for his survival skills & optimism as he escaped while being a child slave from another tribe. When he died, he died in the warm & love of family, friends & counterparts. The most amazing thing is that no one knows where he is buried and that no text actually wrote and no painters ever drew his portrait when  he is alive?!?!? Usually with such man of immerse power, pride & also the desire to leave behind a legacy of records is common. He didn't, he just returned to Mother Earth even without a burial plaque. Cool rite...

 

My final cab ride to the airport - in the comforts of a hotel car with finally a working aircon , the radio was playing mongolian songs. As the traditional folklore music went on coupled with the horse headed violin or morin khuur, i felt sad actually, that the city is being raped of it's innocence every day as the miners dug deeper & deeper into the goldie mines ...

 

 

 

 

wow weee as again just zooommmed & its National Day yoohoos as again.
42th Birthday haha. sounds so old yet so young when compared to the rest of the world....

 

Yes once again azure takes pride in being a Singaporean, holding the red passport, globe-trotting on business or quirky adventures. Many have asked me, "hey, what's so nice about Singapore that makes you luv it so mucha ?" or probably more locale, "eh siao eh, damm bo liao leh u, ai Sin Gar Por, choon boh, mai siao la, wah piang !!!"

 

hahah okies, frankly, the 1st time i recalled feeling the love for Singapore was when i went on business to Sweden. Sounds strange, indeed.

 

Prior to this, i've been travelling on school field trips or on vacations to 1st - 3rd world countries but never did i have such thoughts. No no dun get me wrong, there is nothing wrong about Sweden, infact, it's a nice place where great friendships were forged.

 

Can't helped but each time as my flight land at Changi aiport, the feeling of tired relief comes vividly. The smile widens as the plane unlocked and as i walked to the immigration counter.

 

Home at last!

 

Still till this day, azure still shed tears of pride while watching the march-pass & also be reminded of saluting the flag during NPCC days.

 

Holding the red passport, visiting visas - never an issue. People who came across me, speaks of Singapore as a brand. The green parks, the urban planning and also the obedient citizens are just some common remarks that were mentioned each time my nationality is exposed. haha.

 

Frankly, i feel fortunate to be a Singaporean, where there are alot of things, so well taken cared of, that we took for granted. There is no perfect world, but here, meritocracy for the average Jane / Joe still exists.

 

Reading the articles about patriotism especially for the ones overseas is really inspiring. Whopping 55.7% will lay their lives for the nation. hahah just realised that i took part in that survey ... this is nice to know cos being such a young nation, where her citizens, being well educated and having a comparatively good standard of living, are always tempted to the greener pasture elsewhere. Deep down inside, indeed, you just can't take off the kopitiam within us.

 

To quote the article on the newspaper today - True patriotism is about turning that momet of silliness in to reflexive as well as reflective way of life, without having to finger national prayer beads while counting our blessing as a country.

 

Not attempting to explain the love for our country cos the more we try to explain, the more contrived and contingent our love becomes. Maybe we should learn from the American - when u ask them why they love their country, their response: " I just love my country."  and then, its a Period. Cool say.

 

now i sound like onboard a pirate ship....

 

Shiaks i havent watched the pirates of the carribean ..... alemak not even the part 2, its still in my external drive - can't believe tat i can be so busy. Dashing across cities wud be the things that i've done till date, probably the happiest guys will be the airliners counting the flights tat i took. Thanks to technology, which otherwise meant even longer journey. Hey, on hindsight, it maybe actually better.... to travel in a longer time & so more quiet time to myself & not rushing for a heart attack.

 

havent got time to write down my trips Hong Kong - Macau - Malaysia JB - Kota Kinabalu?? - Desaru - Utsunomiya - London - Paris ........ okies some are super super outdated, although i wanted to write it very much. time just flies isn't it.

 

so many jokes to share so many laughter here n there.... hhmm let me think wat to write or which one to write first. Let's theme this the VG Series in short haha.

 

in the meantime, so tired, i just wish for my bed back in homeland.

talk abt this after my next trip la. haha

 

shiaks getting more n more bo liao.