B is for Books

By Ernest Hemingway

I grew up with Ladybirds and Penguins, Hardy Boys and Nancy Drews. Before I could read myself, the most-repeated story was Cinderella. Teenage years were peppered with occasional Sweet Valleys and mostly my brothers' literature texts - To Kill a Mocking Bird, Flowers for Algernon, The Last Children, Walkabout, The Illustrated Man, Brave New World, Merchant of Venice (which was also my own lit text), Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Le Petit Prince...

My all time fave is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes adventures. These days, I have discovered Ernest Hemingway. I first read 'The Old Man and the Sea' last year and it was one of the best books I read for a long time and now working in the bookstore, I just completed 'For whom the bell tolls' which was again among my top best reads. The setting was during the Spanish Civil War and if anyone wish to read it, I can lend you the book.

Right now, I am reading 'The Luzhin Defence' by Vladmir Nabokov and it's been good so far.

There are books for interest and books for the heart and soul. Charles De Gaulle said, 'Don't ask me who's influenced me. The lion is made up of the lambs he digested and I have been reading all my life.' The Bible and William Branham's sermons has been a regular diet for the latter :)

A is for Apron

Spotted with all the right colours

I've always been on the lookout for a good apron and although I have not found the perfect one, this one is close enough. I love the colourful spots on it!

How the years went by!

The little black books

These black books were my security blankets at Level 23. I get a new one every year and there never was a day I went without it at work. There was always this panic when I could not find it (and the pass too)

Well, it's been a month of new found freedom. How the days went by! It may be soon that I will have to get a proper job but I will also be trying for the speech therapy course at NUS when the application opens in April. I tried it 4 years ago with Xin, but we weren't successful but who knows what may happen this time. 

So my initial intention of being a nurse has evolved to being a chiropractor or physiotherapist has evolved to being a speech therapist which was what I had considered just before graduation. A full circle. Almost.

Risk

Came across this blog by chance when I was considering to study Korean in Korea and was searching information on it. It's one of the best (if not the best) blog I've come to know.

Recently, the writer of the blog (who is also a Singaporean) posted these pictures of chanomeles (below) and other spring flowers taken in Korea. I do not know the names of all the flowers but these nameless spring flowers promise such sweetness and light.

Spring must be a wonderful thing. Such a priviledge to enjoy it here and it makes me wonder how much more intensely I would have if I were right there where and when the picture was taken.

 From Chaemii.blogspot.com

And Anais Nin's poem 'Risk' came to mind naturally:

And the day came,
when the risk to remain tight
in a bud
was more painful
than the risk
it took
to Blossom.

Blossom my friends, go ahead and blossom bravely,
as I wish to,
myself.

This or that?

There was an article titled - What may have been by Gary Hayden in this week's 'Mind your Body'. Was an apt and interesting read.

Excerpt taken from his article,
'It is a sobering truth that almost every decision we make closes more doors than it opens...Every decision brings with it the very real possibility of regret.'

He also quoted Søren Kirkegaard, a Danish philosopher. (This is a good one)

'I see it all perfectly; there are two possible situations - one can either do this or that. My honest opinion and friendly advice is this: do it and do not do it - you will regret both.'

It got me to thinking that the question would now then be how much more will you regret if you did rather than did not do. And how do you know unless you did? ;)

Almost famous

About one year ago, I was caught in a Just For Laughs act. My brother said he saw me on TV just now. I appeared for a few seconds. I'm almost famous now!!

Good luck H-san!

Subway in Akasaka! (from here)

Received some good news from H-san today. He has got an interview with Reuters in Tokyo. So I'm wishing him all the best that he may clinch the job and move to Tokyo as he had wished!

I hope I can be wishing more people that I think deserve much better jobs. Come on guys, fighting~!

Making Cahiers

Making these (Picture taken from here)

So these days, I'm working on making these thin cahiers (French for notebook). Starting with the folding part last week, and this week is the typing bit. Typing quotes on a typewriter called Hermes Baby. Such a fancy name! 

A nice one by Mencius (孟子)

Great is the man who has not lost his childlike heart.

Anaïs Nin

French author, Anaïs Nin 

(Picture taken from here )

New shipment of author pencils that came in yesterday. Each pencil is embossed with an author's name and this one caught my attention. 

When I wiki-ed on her, I realised she had some delightful quotes and my favourite is this:

"Each friend represents a world in us, a world not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born."

I'm so glad to be part of a constellation of new worlds.

Level 3

Level 3 (Picture taken from here)

Was mainly stationed on Level 3 today. Enjoy being on Level 3, but suspect I might even like it better on Level 2. Still at the first stage of journal making, folding papers into halves. One customer commented that I looked very zen folding the papers and in fact I felt the same. But it's not always paper folding. I am also shelving books, writing price tags, playing cashier, chatting with customers and...thanks to the ipod touch, I can wiki on the authors that I wasn't familiar with.

 Perhaps I will make a quiz one of these days and you can also test your knowledge on the authors and their books :)

More Thoreau

'Do not lose hold of your dreams or aspirations

For if you do, you may still exist,

but you cease to live'

***

'Be not simply good

Be good for something'

***

'Not until we are lost

Do we begin to understand ourselves'

- Henry David Thoreau 

(1817 - 1862)

Build your castles in the air

'Do not worry if you had build castles in the air.

They are where they should be.

Now put the foundations under them'

- Henry David Thoreau

(Picture from Wikipedia)

This is one of the many nice quotations I came across at work today, I will share more soon. I started on the first stage of notebook-making today. More about it soon too!

More information about Henry David Thoreau here.