I'm not too sure how it is in other languages, but for anyone who has tried to translate a Chinese love song to English can all definitely say there are too many things that have been lost in translation. I'm one of those people who just keep playing and replaying a song that I like until the next song I like comes along. Although this usually only goes on for about a few days.
So yesterday and today, I've been listening to this song called "Promise" by Guang Liang. See, when I listen to Chinese songs, I think in Chinese - so this songs is completely sweet and just makes my heart flutter. Then, I decided to see the translated versions for a couple of the lines I'm not 100 per cent sure about. This completely ruins the song.
See, sappy Chinese love songs don't sound as sappy or corny in Chinese. However, in English, it really makes you wonder what kind of a pathetic-loser-creeper- stalker-dude this guy/girl who wrote or sings this song really is. As my sister puts it, "It's so corny you wonder how any dignified person can sing it."
Anyway, for the sake of amusement and a good laugh, I will post up the translated lyrics. Don't get me wrong, this is a beautiful song. You just have to listen to it and understand it in Chinese - specifically Mandarin. None the less, I will go home and probably learn it by heart by the end of this weekend, if I'm not too tired after rock climbing and enjoying the first snow fall weekend this year :)
[Yue ding - Promise]
[Guang Liang]
[Agreed not to meet for 3 years]
[Use our love to hold the time]
[You laughed and said that this is a test to us]
[To our promise]
[3 years have passed just like that]
[I still return to this place]
[Close my eyes and wait for your appearance]
[Kissing your face in the air]
[I still remember our promise]
[Promise of happiness for whole life]
[The song written for you]
[He even shed tear in secret]
[I still remember our promise]
[I love you even more than before]
[Even the wind laughed at me]
[I think it will tell you that I love you even more]
[3 years have passed just like that]
[I still return to this place]
[Close my eyes and wait for your appearance]
[Kissing your face in the air]
[I still remember our promise]
[Promise of happiness for whole life]
[The song written for you]
[He even shed tear in secret]
[I still remember our promise]
[I love you even more than before]
[Even the wind laughed at me]
[I think it will tell you that I love you even more]
[You will remember our promise]
[Promise of happiness for whole life]
[The song written for you]
[He even shed tear in secret]
[You will remember our promise]
[I love you even more than before]
[Listening to the wind, I smiled too]
[It will sure tell you that I love you even more]
Friday, November 23, 2007
Saturday, November 17, 2007
The Memory Keeper's Daughter - a novel
********** SPOILER WARNING************
I just finished reading that novel by Kim Edwards. Actually I've recently been addicted to reading. I just finished reading "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hossieni and "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel. Right now I'm just starting "Breaking the Tongue" by Vyvyane Loh - a novel about Singapore during the second world war.
Anyway, I'm not going to write about all the novels I read about, but I will write about the ones that stand out for me. The Memory Keeper's Daughter is a beautifully written novel that is both very sad and hopeful. Basically it starts off with a young couple who are expecting their first child. The husband is a doctor and he is forced to deliver his children in the middle of a snow storm. The first baby was a healthy little boy but he immediately recognizes the second little with down syndrome. In the 1960's, it was common to send babies with disabilities to institutions, and that was what this young doctor did. He hands over the baby girl to the nurse and tells his wife that the baby girl died. The nurse proceeds to take the baby girl to the institution, but cannot bear to leave her there, and raises her as her own.
Perhaps the gesture of the doctor seems cruel, but we are soon given insight deeper reasons why this doctor chose to do what he did. We learn that his little sister had suffered from down syndrome and passed away when she was only 12 years old. Leaving sorry and pain for his family. The doctor was never able to come to terms with the pain and the loss, and in his action of giving away his baby, he only hoped to spare his beloved wife and his family of the same fate. We see that after this initial act, an invisible wall begins to form in the family, tearing apart the once happy couple. The doctor is withdrawn, ridden with guilt from his action and his wife continues to grieve her loss and doesn't understand the distance she feels from her husband.
It is in this setting that the first family grows up. The doctor turns to photography and his work to try to escape his guilt and tries in vane to right his wrong. The wife is completely lonely, and turns first to alcohol to escape her sadness and her husband's distance. After wards, she gives up trying to reach out to her husband, she begins to be more independent and tries to work and commit herself to activities to forget about her dead daughter and her husband. Eventually, she turns to affairs. The son, grows up in a hostile home, with expectations to do well. He feels he never really knows his father, and when he discovers his mother's affairs, he doesn't understand why his father doesn't get angry or do anything about it.
At the same time, the nurse - who has never done anything risky in her life, makes a split second decision which changes her life completely. Raising the little girl, Pheobe, she moves to a new place and starts a new life, with Pheobe being her main priority. She struggles to fight for equal opportunity for her daughter in all aspects of her life, whether it be given a chance for education, for health care, for having a life of her own. Given that this was all taking place in the 1970's, it was no ordinary feat. But we see Pheobe, as a beautiful character. Although she has a disability, she is kind, smart and outgoing, and we learn to love her, and we love the nurse for the person she has become.
We observe almost 3 decades of these two families with alternating chapters. It's sad, but also hopeful. I think the theme of this novel is another universal one. The doctor never confronted his loss, and although he acted selfishly by giving up his daughter, he also acted love for his wife. He thought that by this action, he would be able to save his wife, himself, and his son from future heart ache and pain. The doctor eventually completely immerses himself in his work and and photography. He becomes a very famous doctor and his photography becomes widely recognized, but his life is empty.
At one of his exhibitions, he meets again with the nurse, and she says, "You missed a lot of heart ache, sure. But David, you missed a lot of joy." I think that is a central theme in this novel. You have to take risks for love. Love and pain are like ying and yang, you can't have one without the other. As human beings, I think we all try to protect ourselves from hurt and pain. We don't take chances because we are afraid of what may happen if we give all that we can give, and its not enough. And, so we don't do it. We give less than we can, so that if something fails, we believe it will hurt us less. In the case of the doctor, he was afraid to lose someone again, like the way he lost his sister. He tries to protect himself from it, and in the end, he ended up shutting everyone out - and hurting the people he first sought to protect. This is a quote from one of the doctor's reflections:
"David had tried so hard to give him everything. He had tried to be a good father. They'd collected fossils together, organizing them and labeling them and displaying them in the living room. He'd taken Paul fishing at every chance. But however hard he worked to make Paul's life smooth and easy, the fact remained that David had built that life on a lie. He tried to protect his son from the things he himself had suffered from as a child: poverty and worry and grief. Yet his very efforts had created losses David never anticipated. The lie had grown up between them like a rock, forcing them to grow oddly too, like trees twisting around a boulder."
Life doesn't turn out the way you plan them. But the important thing is to be true to your beliefs. I really like this quote from the nurse, upon reflection of her life after taking Pheobe, "This was her life. Not the life she had once dreamed of, not a life her younger self would ever have imagined or desired, but the life she was living, with all its complexities. This was her life, built with care and attention, and it was good." Life is complex, and it's messy but there is always hope - it may hidden and hard to find, but there is hope, and with hope, there is happiness.
This novel is also about forgiveness and accepting what fate deals us. When the wife finally discovers her daughter is alive, in some twisted way, she realizes the distance and the wall that she had once imagined between her and her husband was very real. And this secret was the foundation. The doctor had passed away at this point, and she has learned to move on, but the knowledge of daughter being alive is overwhelming. When speaking to her son about it, she says, "But you and I and Phoebe, we have a choice. To be bitter and angry, or try to move on. It's the hardest thing for me, letting go of all that righteous anger. I'm still struggling. But that's what I want to do."
It's hard for us to see any character as bad. I see the loneliness and the struggle behind each characters' actions, and at a certain level, I can relate. This is a great book, so beautifully written and elegant. Pain is something I think we can all relate to, but how we choose to deal with the pain, whether it be moving forward, or burying it deep inside us - is what defines our life and not the pain itself.
I just finished reading that novel by Kim Edwards. Actually I've recently been addicted to reading. I just finished reading "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hossieni and "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel. Right now I'm just starting "Breaking the Tongue" by Vyvyane Loh - a novel about Singapore during the second world war.
Anyway, I'm not going to write about all the novels I read about, but I will write about the ones that stand out for me. The Memory Keeper's Daughter is a beautifully written novel that is both very sad and hopeful. Basically it starts off with a young couple who are expecting their first child. The husband is a doctor and he is forced to deliver his children in the middle of a snow storm. The first baby was a healthy little boy but he immediately recognizes the second little with down syndrome. In the 1960's, it was common to send babies with disabilities to institutions, and that was what this young doctor did. He hands over the baby girl to the nurse and tells his wife that the baby girl died. The nurse proceeds to take the baby girl to the institution, but cannot bear to leave her there, and raises her as her own.
Perhaps the gesture of the doctor seems cruel, but we are soon given insight deeper reasons why this doctor chose to do what he did. We learn that his little sister had suffered from down syndrome and passed away when she was only 12 years old. Leaving sorry and pain for his family. The doctor was never able to come to terms with the pain and the loss, and in his action of giving away his baby, he only hoped to spare his beloved wife and his family of the same fate. We see that after this initial act, an invisible wall begins to form in the family, tearing apart the once happy couple. The doctor is withdrawn, ridden with guilt from his action and his wife continues to grieve her loss and doesn't understand the distance she feels from her husband.
It is in this setting that the first family grows up. The doctor turns to photography and his work to try to escape his guilt and tries in vane to right his wrong. The wife is completely lonely, and turns first to alcohol to escape her sadness and her husband's distance. After wards, she gives up trying to reach out to her husband, she begins to be more independent and tries to work and commit herself to activities to forget about her dead daughter and her husband. Eventually, she turns to affairs. The son, grows up in a hostile home, with expectations to do well. He feels he never really knows his father, and when he discovers his mother's affairs, he doesn't understand why his father doesn't get angry or do anything about it.
At the same time, the nurse - who has never done anything risky in her life, makes a split second decision which changes her life completely. Raising the little girl, Pheobe, she moves to a new place and starts a new life, with Pheobe being her main priority. She struggles to fight for equal opportunity for her daughter in all aspects of her life, whether it be given a chance for education, for health care, for having a life of her own. Given that this was all taking place in the 1970's, it was no ordinary feat. But we see Pheobe, as a beautiful character. Although she has a disability, she is kind, smart and outgoing, and we learn to love her, and we love the nurse for the person she has become.
We observe almost 3 decades of these two families with alternating chapters. It's sad, but also hopeful. I think the theme of this novel is another universal one. The doctor never confronted his loss, and although he acted selfishly by giving up his daughter, he also acted love for his wife. He thought that by this action, he would be able to save his wife, himself, and his son from future heart ache and pain. The doctor eventually completely immerses himself in his work and and photography. He becomes a very famous doctor and his photography becomes widely recognized, but his life is empty.
At one of his exhibitions, he meets again with the nurse, and she says, "You missed a lot of heart ache, sure. But David, you missed a lot of joy." I think that is a central theme in this novel. You have to take risks for love. Love and pain are like ying and yang, you can't have one without the other. As human beings, I think we all try to protect ourselves from hurt and pain. We don't take chances because we are afraid of what may happen if we give all that we can give, and its not enough. And, so we don't do it. We give less than we can, so that if something fails, we believe it will hurt us less. In the case of the doctor, he was afraid to lose someone again, like the way he lost his sister. He tries to protect himself from it, and in the end, he ended up shutting everyone out - and hurting the people he first sought to protect. This is a quote from one of the doctor's reflections:
"David had tried so hard to give him everything. He had tried to be a good father. They'd collected fossils together, organizing them and labeling them and displaying them in the living room. He'd taken Paul fishing at every chance. But however hard he worked to make Paul's life smooth and easy, the fact remained that David had built that life on a lie. He tried to protect his son from the things he himself had suffered from as a child: poverty and worry and grief. Yet his very efforts had created losses David never anticipated. The lie had grown up between them like a rock, forcing them to grow oddly too, like trees twisting around a boulder."
Life doesn't turn out the way you plan them. But the important thing is to be true to your beliefs. I really like this quote from the nurse, upon reflection of her life after taking Pheobe, "This was her life. Not the life she had once dreamed of, not a life her younger self would ever have imagined or desired, but the life she was living, with all its complexities. This was her life, built with care and attention, and it was good." Life is complex, and it's messy but there is always hope - it may hidden and hard to find, but there is hope, and with hope, there is happiness.
This novel is also about forgiveness and accepting what fate deals us. When the wife finally discovers her daughter is alive, in some twisted way, she realizes the distance and the wall that she had once imagined between her and her husband was very real. And this secret was the foundation. The doctor had passed away at this point, and she has learned to move on, but the knowledge of daughter being alive is overwhelming. When speaking to her son about it, she says, "But you and I and Phoebe, we have a choice. To be bitter and angry, or try to move on. It's the hardest thing for me, letting go of all that righteous anger. I'm still struggling. But that's what I want to do."
It's hard for us to see any character as bad. I see the loneliness and the struggle behind each characters' actions, and at a certain level, I can relate. This is a great book, so beautifully written and elegant. Pain is something I think we can all relate to, but how we choose to deal with the pain, whether it be moving forward, or burying it deep inside us - is what defines our life and not the pain itself.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
I Have Nothing - but Inspiration
And it's a great thing. I don't have anything to lose, and nothing to tie me down and prevent from doing - well, anything that I want, actually. These past couple of months have been a bit of a crazy roller coaster in my mind, although I may seem calm and somewhat collective on the outside.
On the brink of graduation, only less than 6 months away, a lot of my friends are frantically applying for jobs or post graduates studies - or both. And myself, I know I should be doing something, but I really don't have that much to show for my efforts. I've been doing a lot of thinking and researching, and my plans keep changing and evolving. It's like there are so many options out there, and every time I think of something new, it becomes yet another possibility. I almost want someone to just tell me to stop thinking of new options so that I can start to evaluate the options that I already have! But, it's a great thing to keep dreaming of new options, as frustrated as it can be :)
This past weekend, after a spur of random encounters, I was given the opportunity to attend the Impact Leadership Conference 2007 at the Sheraton Center. It was just AWESOME. I can't explain how I think this is what I really needed at this moment in my life. Although a lot of of people asked me if I was excited to be done university, I actually really wasn't. I was more scared because it seemed that school was such a safe place to be. But now I have to step out into the real world, and I was afraid of the "mundane-ness" of it. I was afraid to be stuck. I almost feel like I have to know what I want in my life, and I still don't.
Anyway, this conference had a panel of who I think are some of the most motivational speakers in the world. Two of them being Michael Lee Chin and Craig Keilberger. I still can't believe they came and spoke to us. Those two individuals are so extraordinary in so many ways, and their speeches were so inspiring and moving. They inspired me to make a difference, to help people who are less fortunate than myself using my skills and passions, and to surround myself with people who are positive and passionate themselves.
I realize that I am such a great position to be trying new things now. There is nothing stopping me. I should just go out, and try everything and then go from there. Post graduation is more than just landing that 6 figure salary - its about discovery what you want to do with your life. It's about not settling for what people are willing to offer, but creating opportunities that meet your expectations and that can make you a better person. I want to see what I like and what I'm passionate about, and then continue doing it - maybe even find a way to make it better.
*******
Now that I got that out of me! I have to go on a side rant. I'm not much of a clubbing person, but I enjoy a night out dancing every now and then. What I CANNOT stand are guys who just go up behind you and just start pumping away like no tomorrow. DUDE, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!? Go hump a tree, for goodness sakes!! I mean, I like dancing - it can get good, it can get sexy, but it doesn't start like that. Show a little self control, if not some respect.
On the brink of graduation, only less than 6 months away, a lot of my friends are frantically applying for jobs or post graduates studies - or both. And myself, I know I should be doing something, but I really don't have that much to show for my efforts. I've been doing a lot of thinking and researching, and my plans keep changing and evolving. It's like there are so many options out there, and every time I think of something new, it becomes yet another possibility. I almost want someone to just tell me to stop thinking of new options so that I can start to evaluate the options that I already have! But, it's a great thing to keep dreaming of new options, as frustrated as it can be :)
This past weekend, after a spur of random encounters, I was given the opportunity to attend the Impact Leadership Conference 2007 at the Sheraton Center. It was just AWESOME. I can't explain how I think this is what I really needed at this moment in my life. Although a lot of of people asked me if I was excited to be done university, I actually really wasn't. I was more scared because it seemed that school was such a safe place to be. But now I have to step out into the real world, and I was afraid of the "mundane-ness" of it. I was afraid to be stuck. I almost feel like I have to know what I want in my life, and I still don't.
Anyway, this conference had a panel of who I think are some of the most motivational speakers in the world. Two of them being Michael Lee Chin and Craig Keilberger. I still can't believe they came and spoke to us. Those two individuals are so extraordinary in so many ways, and their speeches were so inspiring and moving. They inspired me to make a difference, to help people who are less fortunate than myself using my skills and passions, and to surround myself with people who are positive and passionate themselves.
I realize that I am such a great position to be trying new things now. There is nothing stopping me. I should just go out, and try everything and then go from there. Post graduation is more than just landing that 6 figure salary - its about discovery what you want to do with your life. It's about not settling for what people are willing to offer, but creating opportunities that meet your expectations and that can make you a better person. I want to see what I like and what I'm passionate about, and then continue doing it - maybe even find a way to make it better.
*******
Now that I got that out of me! I have to go on a side rant. I'm not much of a clubbing person, but I enjoy a night out dancing every now and then. What I CANNOT stand are guys who just go up behind you and just start pumping away like no tomorrow. DUDE, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!? Go hump a tree, for goodness sakes!! I mean, I like dancing - it can get good, it can get sexy, but it doesn't start like that. Show a little self control, if not some respect.
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
The Little Things...
"When I left, I didn't think I was making a choice. But it turned out I was." - Kim Edwards, The Memory Keeper's Daughter
The little things matter. Sometimes even more than the big things.
We all want to do important things, to do things that matter in the world. Sometimes we forget about the little things, but I am a true believer that it is the little things that define who we are. The decisions and choices we make - especially those which we keep to ourselves, are those that define who we are. And maybe we even rationalize to try to convince ourselves that our decision is right, with evidence and proof, so that we can feel better and try to find peace with our decision. And these are the decisions that start to shape our lives, and define our character and true self. These decision affect the people around you, whether it be with the best of intentions, or not. These decisions bind people to one another.
It's easier to make good decisions when you are in a position of comfort. But to able to make fair and just decisions in the face of adversity takes real courage and strength.
The little things matter. Sometimes even more than the big things.
We all want to do important things, to do things that matter in the world. Sometimes we forget about the little things, but I am a true believer that it is the little things that define who we are. The decisions and choices we make - especially those which we keep to ourselves, are those that define who we are. And maybe we even rationalize to try to convince ourselves that our decision is right, with evidence and proof, so that we can feel better and try to find peace with our decision. And these are the decisions that start to shape our lives, and define our character and true self. These decision affect the people around you, whether it be with the best of intentions, or not. These decisions bind people to one another.
It's easier to make good decisions when you are in a position of comfort. But to able to make fair and just decisions in the face of adversity takes real courage and strength.
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