personality test

ok ok.. i love this sort of stuff... especially if they says things that please me.. :p

Introspective
Sensitive
Reflective

You come to grips more frequently and thoroughly with yourself and your environment than do most people. You detest superficiality; you'd rather be alone than have to suffer through small talk. But your relationships with your friends are very strong, which gives you the inner tranquility and harmony that you require. You do not mind being alone for extended periods of time; you rarely become bored.

try it .. idiot-proof personality test..

finding nemo

watched finding nemo midnite show. run-of-the-mill disney storyline (aka. typical kiddy feel-good movie). but great animation (well done, pixar!).. i like marine life. :) yes, even if they talk. or sing. or talk and sing (and even dance). and even if it is way too much and they try to act.. err.. cute...

ya, it's cute. umm.. i guess that's why we watch it, huh?

made me want to go scuba diving..

O
o
.
.
-O_O-

secrets of making bak chang

click for my mum's recipe

the dumpling festival is here again! in singapore, we eat 'em instead of toss 'em into rivers for the fishies so they don't bite Qu(1) Yuen(2).

this site also marks the start of my sharing of my mum's wonderful recipes with the rest of the world, something i have been planning to do for a while..

ugly singaporean

Once again, the ugly Singaporean rears its frightful head. In a bid to quell public unease of every kind (as well as to make sure that Pasir Ris resident Ms Harleen Kaur, 18, has an unobstructed path to wherever she wants to go), the govt has terminated its humane sterilisation programme for stray cats and started culling them out instead, all in the name of public hygiene. In a rather nonsensical and contradictory statement by Minister of State for National Development Vivian Balakrishnan, we are told that “'Animal lovers should go out and adopt strays, take them home, care for them and organise a programme to take them in as pets”, all while the govt does absolutely nothing to lift the strict ban on keeping of cats in HDB flats. Is it not obvious that 75% of us folks do in fact live in these flats, even if we want to bring these cats home?? Or should I take this statement as a mockery of our compassion??

My point really is: what kind of values are we imparting to our future generations? That these animals around us are merely a convenience or inconvenience, as and when we see fit? Let us not forget that when God created animals, he made them to live among us, with equal rights of existence. More importantly, man was told to be a guardian of the beasts and birds on this earth, not as master over their fates.

As if this wasn’t irritating enough, we saw more senseless intolerance and unprovoked belligerence when dannybunny’s grand macswitch project was publicized in the papers and in ST interactive yesterday. With the more aggressive people blasting him for being “shameless” and “greedy” to those milder ones who said they’d rather donate to the SARS fund or charity than to his “silly, selfish” (or something along these lines) project, it almost looked as if the whole innovativeness and sense of harmless fun in this project was totally missed or otherwise ignored.

To say that one would rather give to A than to B is a clear manifestation of one’s scarcity mentality, which has lead to the typical kiasu behavior in many singaporeans, and is the root of many more serious problems society faces today. Just because he gets his laptop, the SARS fund gets less money.. where did that thinking come from? Were those people who give to him taking out from what they were about to give to charity?? Frankly, I’m not interested in what people would “rather” do. I’m interested in what they actually do. Who would not rather have world peace? But what are you actually doing to make it happen?

So to these people, I say shut up. Do something yourself, either to make the world a more interesting place (like what he did), or to lessen the suffering of others (SARS courage fund, Cat Welfare Society, World Vision..whatever). We don’t need negative and cynical people like you, sitting around and putting down other’s effort.

death & death

Algeria's quake toll hits 2000.. that's disturbingly higher than even the deaths from SARS (696 deaths reported from 28 countries) which has gotten a lot more of the world's attention..

with uncontrollable factors like natural disasters, diseases and epidemics already contributing more than enough to the world's suffering, i just cannot understand how mankind can still find sufficient reason to inflict more suffering through wars (see death toll from Iraq war) and other destruction? as Richard Matheson says in "The Path", "Though they are of one family, human beings have hunted each other with more ferocity and cruelty than beasts of the jungle.. Predacious animals hunt only for food. But men hunt to rob others of their possessions and to enslave them. Human law has been made by might and the law of might has been accepted as the law of right."

bleak.

Singapore's reaction towards SARS

truly Singlish: Singapore's reaction towards SARS

Time Bank

Imagine that there is a bank which credits your account each morning with $86,400. You cannot keep a cash balance, and there is no carry-over balance from day to day. Every evening, the bank cancels any remaining amount you failed to use during the day.

What would you do? Draw out every last cent, of course! Well, everyone has such a bank. Its called TIME.

Every morning, you are credited with 86,400 seconds. Every night there is a write off, a loss, of whatever remaining amount you have failed to invest. There is no carry-over balance. You cannot overdraw the account. Each day you get a new account; each night the records of the day are deleted. If you fail to use the day's deposits, the loss is yours.

There is no going back. You cannot draw against the "tomorrow" deposit. You must live in the present on today's deposits.

You are required to Invest your daily deposit to get the most in health, happiness and success! The clock is running. Make the most of today...

To realize the value of ONE YEAR Ask a student who has failed his exam.

To realize the value of ONE MONTH Ask a mother who has given birth to a pre-mature baby.

To realize the value of ONE WEEK Ask an editor of a weekly newspaper.

To realize the value of ONE DAY Ask a daily wage laborer who has ten kids to feed.

To realize the value of ONE HOUR Ask the lovers who are waiting to meet . . .

To realize the value of ONE MINUTE Ask a person who has missed the train.

To realize the value of ONE SECOND Ask a person who has survived an accident.

To realize the value of ONE MILLI-SECOND Ask the person who won the silver medal in the Olympics.

Treasure every moment that you have! And treasure it more because you have shared it with someone special and doing something exceptional .... important enough to use your daily time deposit.

And remember time waits for no one.

abandoned purchases



i hate it when we find stuff sitting in the fridge for months and then no one admits to having purchased them.. so these 5 cans of soft drinks sit innocent and abandoned, orphaned, taking up precious fridge space, their fates undecided.. (none of us actually like soft drinks very much..), tormenting us everytime we open the fridge...

internet addict

why am i up at 2.30am surfing stuff like this..

Funny SARS collection

and this (SARS-related) is pretty dumb too.. though it's kinda witty in some way...

and also the harts (turn on volume - not too high if you are in the office)

but on a serious note, this article opened my mind: "They can't see why they are hated" ... an article about how ignorant the typical American is with regards to how the world sees them.. after all, almost 26% of all Americans believe that hatred against the US is a result of their "democracy and freedom" (brainwashing?) ... in truth: "Why do people hate America the US?"

"I believe every American should be forced to commiserate with people from other countries while they are growing up. Only when I talked to people from outside my borders did I realize how insanely myopic the entire establishment of the US is. People here really can't seem to understand why the world gets mad at us. It's not evil that's the problem here I think, just incredible, earth-shattering, incalculable, painfully entrenched ignorance." (so said someone)

anyway, this is apparently how the US looks at the rest of the world.. (i had a good laugh at how true it was!)

i guess even for us here in singapore, it's really important to realise that sometimes, the system can be so subtly manipulative that we could end up puppets of the system and going about our lives mindlessly without realising it. it's also about recognising that we are all but different parts of a common humanity (something we figured out with the SARS thing, i hope) and staying apathetic about global issues or just going with the common flow doesn't immune us from what happens around us..

Pierrot Men



Pierrot Men's black and white photographs of Madagascar are pretty awesome! makes me want to hop onto a ferry and just go to bintan or batam for a daytrip and take some cool pics of kampung children jumping into rivers from stilt houses.. haha... umm... i wonder if there really are such rustic scenes on the islands or is it just a figment of my imagination??

laurel canyon

ever so often, just as i have almost given up going to the movies for lack of quality big-screen entertainment (..to be honest, matrix reloaded was only so-so to me..), Hollywood surprises me with something like Laurel Canyon - a somewhat low-budget indie movie which nonetheless dazzles in its own right..

woven cleverly into a rich tapestry of human emotions, weaknesses, strengths, experiences and temptations, all in a a not-so-lengthy, comfortably paced, well-filmed no frills movie with a stunning soundtrack, this was one decadent RA movie that has human character protrayals that were as real as.. err.. orange peel skin on my thigh??? :O (hahahaha).. looking at the struggles they have, the difficult moral choices they have to make, the breaking down of idealisms and naivete, and coming face to face and coping with their deepest fears, repressions, taboos and mistakes, so as to become more human, mature and perhaps stronger, i couldn't help but relate it to my own experiences and those of many other people i know...

it's a much-needed breath of fresh artistic air.. if you can still catch it, please do. they have like one more show left at Balestier Shaw Plaza.. damn (pardon me) good... really..

mount everest craze

it's almost one week to the 50th anniversary of New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepalese Sherpa Tenzing Norgay's successful ascent of the highest mountain on the planet at 11:30 am on 29 May 1953.. and it seems like everyone wants to "conquer" the mountain at this time for symbolic reasons! there are apparently some 150 climbers queuing up to ascent the mountain now (when the norm is more like two to three teams every season!! ) :O poor Chomolungma, Goddess Mother of the World..

interesting diary of the trip by BBC to retrace the steps taken in 1953 by the British Everest expedition as they made their way up to base camp in preparation for their successful ascent.. good read for those who are planning an Everest Base Camp Trek this year or next..

haha.. could even include me!! :O here's a nice somewhat close-up wall-paper quality picture of Mt Everest for those armchair trekkers among us... :)

Practice Random Kindness And Senseless Acts Of Beauty

in my introspective wanderings (wahh...) over the past couple of job-free (err..unemployed) days, i stumbled upon this very meaningful and interesting statement that you see above. I like the words "random" and "senseless" very much..

according to this book: Don't Sweat The Small Stuff, "practicing random kindness is an effective way to get in touch with the joy of giving without expecting anything in return. It's best practiced without letting anyone know what you are doing." seems just like the way true generosity should be, albeit hard to achieve..

they suggested a couple of things that you can do. but ultimately, i think as long as it comes from the heart and is done in sincerity and with good intentions, pretty much everything goes.. "Your gift might be to pick up litter in your neighborhood, make an anonymous contribution to a charity, send some cash in an unmarked envelope to make someone experiencing financial stress breathe a little easier, save an animal by bringing it to an animal rescue agency, or get a volunteer position feeding hungry people at a church or shelter. You may want to do all these things, and more." Giving should be fun and doesn't have to be expensive. and the greatest reason to practice random kindness is that each act of kindness rewards you with positive feelings.. and also the wonderful thought that you could be part of a whole chain of positive things and feelings that are experienced by other people that day.. as a friend of mine once told me, "the best way to spend a day is to bring as much positive energy to yourself and the people around you"..

umm.. sounds pretty good, huh? :)

renegade "nations"

close friends of mine would know that i've always wondered about Tampines (which, according to Mr Brown is "a town that a lot of foreigners mispronounce as "Tam-Pines" or "Tam-pins" when is should be pronounced "Tam-(male organ") you know, the sprawling suburban town that seems to have just about anything else that you can find in the rest of singapore, even their own commercial district (big banks, CPF board etc), reservoir (if you consider the nearby Bedok Reservoir to be part of them), football team, share of shopping malls, public amenities of all sorts, and i recently even discovered, their own website. in fact, Tampines has even won some prestigious United Nations "World Habitat Award for Excellence in Housing Design" award and has been described as "indeed a place to live in and the intelligent town of the future", which justifiably makes the people living there somewhat proud to be called Tampinites (tam-pee-nites)..

as a joke, i've always questioned Tampines' loyalty to Singapore, since it could so easily (relative to the others) break away and declare itself an independent nation (in which case we may see a civil war like we have never seen before here!) and eventually we will need passports just to go there, it'll have it's own police force and so on..

that was until i found out yesterday about the Federation of Damanhur, an amazing hidden "nation" in Italy which has about 800 citizens, it's own flag and currency and a really amazing subterranean temple". and about The Free and Independent Republic of Frestonia (see nice pics)a 1-acre slum community in London which tried to break away from the UK after it's inhabitants faced eviction by the Greater London Council, even issuing it's own postage stamps, having it's own parliament and athem and applying to the UN for membership and peace-keeping protection!! hahahaha...

matrix overload

no spoilers.. read on..

like just about everyone else in the informed civilised world, i found myself drawn to watch Matrix Reloaded as soon as it opened in the theatres last weekend. after all, with all the hype surrounding this hot sequel, plus having a Matrix fan of a sister who obsessively ('cos the blue tack keeps giving way) hangs posters of Neo (Keanu Reeves) and Trinity (Carrie-Ann Moss) posters on her wardrobe door, buys 8 Days just for the exclusive coverage of the movie and has seen the original like, er, 3 times (?), who can blame me? :)

admittedly, the movie impresses with its jaw-dropping action sequences, (somewhat exaggerated) kungfu stunts, clever use of glowing streams of falling katakana script (in mirror image), and outright attempts at philosophy. yet, what really amazed me, at the end of it, was not so much what was in the movie itself, but the many spinoffs from it. by this, i don't mean the game (Enter The Matrix) nor the manga (The Animatrix) or even the very popular book "The Matrix and Philosophy" by William Irwin.

instead, everywhere i surfed on the internet, i was bombarded by countless references to either the sequel or the original movie. suddenly, it was almost faddish to try to find affinity with it, for example, the hackers loved it, fans have found links in it to both Eastern and Western religions - Buddhism and even Christianity (??), Greek Mythology, Alice in Wonderland & Wizard of Oz and what have you.. apparently, some college philosophy lecturers have even started screening The Matrix to introduce to their students complex theories on religion and reality!

we even see head-spinning stuff like this: ...Chalmers, director of the Center for Consciousness Studies at the University of Arizona, likens the perceptual challenge offered by ''The Matrix'' to the philosophical conundrum of an ''envatted'' brain, a laboratory brain stored in a vat and programmed to receive stimuli from the ''real world.'' (huh??)

i don't think we will be seeing the last of The Matrix for quite a while.. and then The Revolution comes! :O

blogging

here's an interesting article about blogging.

"the confessional nature of many blogs had "redrawn the line between what's private and public."...

i guess i never really had that problem because to me, the blog has always been just another channel of expression, and not a means of venting my frustrations against anyone in particular that i cannot handle in my real life. i mean, it sounds pretty silly to me to think that just because the subject of your writing doesn't actually read the web that it's going to be "safe" to write anything you want (and even put your own name to it).. unless of course the person actually lives on an isolated island in some remote part of the world and will never ever have either access to the internet or access to people who care enough to tell him or her about what you have written..

in which case, i then cannot see why you cannot just leave this person alone and get on with your life??

ok.. morning ramblings.. :p

the three ants (by kahlil gibran)

Three ants met on the nose of a man who was lying asleep in the sun. And after they had saluted one another, each according to the custom of his tribe, they stood there conversing.

The first and said, "These hills and plains are the most barren I have known. I have searched all day for a grain of some sort, and there is none to be found."

Said the second ant, "I too have found nothing, though I have visited every nook and glade. This is, I believe, what my people call the soft, moving land where nothing grows."

Then the third ant raised his head and said, "My friends, we are standing now on the nose of the Supreme Ant, the mighty and infinite Ant, whose body is so great that we cannot see it, whose shadow is so vast that we cannot trace it, whose voice is so loud that we cannot hear it; and He is omnipresent."

When the third ant spoke thus the other ants looked at each other and laughed.

At that moment the man moved and in his sleep raised his hand and scratched his nose, and the three ants were crushed.

interesting people

i'm constantly intrigued by the fascinating people i come across in my life (both online and off) when i least expect to, more so since i have just been talking quite a bit in my earlier posts about the joy of meeting and talking to strangers.

for example, just today, i got to know this genius 19-year old guy Eric Chen who was featured in Sunday Life! (Nov 24 2002). Eric suffers from this autism-related condition called Asperger Syndrome which makes him socially awkward and slightly peculiar in his mannerisms. However, unlike the majority with Asperger's who are mentally retarded, he is intellectually gifted and loves philosophy, science fiction and thinking about the meaning of life. He describes himself as "belonging to all religions" and has pretty strong views about topics that a lot of us have not even ever pondered on, such as the failure of the Singapore education system, and the role of the state in a global world. Shortly after meeting him, he left me with photocopies of two somewhat lengthy articles he had written on these topics as well as another on a new Phonetic System he has invented to help people to learn languages.

on his website, i also found the following rewritten version of our national anthem:

The Next Civilization
We the citizens of the universe
Pledge ourselves as one united people
Regardless of species, traditions, or core beliefs
To build a meaningful civilization
Based on awareness and compassion
So as to achieve joyfulness, evolution and empathy for all lifeforms

- Inspired by the Singapore National Pledge

pretty amazing stuff.. i think the world certainly needs more of such people, who are willing to spend time thinking and talking about things that really matter..

the invitation (by oriah mountain dreamer)

some of you may have read this before somewhere else. nonetheless, i think it captures very well the idea of having deep, meaningful connections with people as a way of living life passionately and with integrity.. it's written in a pretty unpretentious, almost blunt, way but clearly reflects the writer's feelings of despair, frustration and hope.. i think something like that will be timeless and universal in its appeal..

The Invitation

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living
I want to know what you ache for
and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool
for love
for your dreams
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon...
I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow
if you have been opened by life's betrayals
or have become shriveled and closed
from fear of further pain.

(read the rest...)

tips for talking to strangers

while i normally try to avoid sounding too much like a self-help "guru", i have concluded that many conflicts and misery in the world are a result of the fact that people are becoming more and more separate from each other. even conversations between apparent good friends are becoming shallower and trivial, and the massive deluge of modern day entertainment (movies, tv, computer games etc) means that a lot of us can now surround ourselves with constant distractions, so much so that we no longer see the need to connect with others or even with ourselves and what really and deeply matters to us..

i like what the HH Dalai Lama recommends as the solution to the problem of conflicts in the world, and feelings of individual loneliness. he advocates developing a model of intimacy based on a willingness to open ourselves to many others, to family, to friends, and even strangers, forming genuine and deep bonds based on our common humanity

hence, here are some tips for talking to strangers that i found on the web.. tailor it to your needs. stay at any level as long as you like. in fact, some people spend months practicing, "Hi," in front of the mirror before they will dare it with strangers

Level 1: Glance up from your book to see who else is around. Say hello to the bus driver who has driven you to work for 6 years.

Level 2: Glance up from your book, catch someone's eye, and smile. Quickly, go back to reading. Smile at the bus driver, say good morning, and thank her as you get off.

Level 3: Comment on what someone near you is reading. Sustain a one-minute exchange. At the bus stop, say good morning to someone who has waited with you for the bus for years. Ask them how they are.

Level 4: Go to a gathering where there are only strangers. Only talk when you want to. Make up a bogus name if you need to. Promise yourself you can politely leave after half an hour if you are suffocating, angry, scared, bored, or sitting with people so much smarter or dumber than you that it's not worth your time.

Level 5: Talk. Listen, Learn. At will. Feel at home in your skin. Feel at home in the world.

as this website says: Humans like to connect with other humans. We are social creatures. It's taken a lot of television and fear to convince us to stop doing what comes naturally. You have it in you. So have at it…

so the world didn't end

i woke up this morning and looked out of the window.

the sun was still there, looking pretty normal. no earthquakes, or at least i didn't feel any in my sleep..

so i went to Pulau Ubin for an enjoyable day of mountain biking with some fun-loving folks, visiting quarries, peacocks, prawn farms, mangrove swamps and deserted chinese temples. this last wild "kampung island" of Singapore is fast becoming a tad bit too tame but it's still a special place for those looking for alternative weekend/public holiday recreation.. well, at least i still like it..



so the world didn't end.. umm.. i wonder what the Panawave cult people are going to say now... are they going to refund the people who paid them to use the disaster-proof domes??

web finds

would you like to get married in the world's only inflatable church?

here's someone on a mission to save burnt sienna - very strange..

the end of the world

according to the Panawave cult of Japan, the human race will end tomorrow (May 15)

various responses from people when i told them about this doomsday prophecy:

- my daddy says it's not possible because tomorrow is Vesak Day (huh?)
- my daddy also said that if the world ends tomorrow, he intends to "carry on" anyway (huh huh??)
- one friend panicked 'cos she's got a date tomorrow as well as various appointments (and she didn't think the date was "hot" enough for her to die together with him)
- another asked if the source was reliable (umm...)
- my sister wanted to know if other astronomers had similar views (wah.. cheem...)
- kai asked if the panawave cult could perhaps postpone it in view of her upcoming trip to KL that she doesn't want to miss (i told her i don't think the cult can do that as the event had to do with the axis of the Earth changing - something which i don't think the cult could do anything about)
- one really sweet friend smsed me "err, in case it is really the end, i jux want to say u hav been a wonderful frd!" (so sweet!!!)
- one friend said simply "ok, so?" (wah.. damn cool...)

so, as they say: "Eat, Drink & Be Merry! For Tomorrow, We Die!"

great poses

someone sent this to me via email:

life @ a crossroad

yesterday, i bid Creative Hands farewell, bringing to an end a fulfilling three years of working in the most (at least that's what we tried to create) service-oriented art supplies retail shop in Singapore. As i recall, it was a period of time filled with much laughter, joy, wonderful co-workers, imagination, crazy ideas, meeting really interesting and artistic people, grand visions, and all the things that make a job worthwhile (putting pay aside :p).. much as we tried, the double whammy effect of SARS and the Iraq war had taken a serious toll on the business and it was no longer possible to keep me there without the business bleeding...

all at once, the universe of possible futures opened before my eyes like lilies in a pond. Thrown out of my comfort zone, i felt like i had just rolled out of a snug-fitting hammock in the middle of a nap. i froze for a moment, wondering what next.. after all, sometimes, the infinite possibilities in our lives, for what they're worth, fail to motivate, and instead terrify and confuse us, so much so that we may even deny them, reject them, and wish that our lives were simply dictated by others, just so we didn't have to max on our stress thresholds....

yet, as real as it was, i also felt a strange and inexplicable feeling of freedom and excitement. For the first time in my life, i don't know what the future holds for me. while frightening in some ways, I am now free to dream. free to fantasize. free to consider all of the crazy ideas and plans that were but part of my imagination before this. i realised that this could be a critical turning point in my life, or nothing at all...

maybe losing the job is the best thing that can happen to me now.. and it is really up to me how things are to turn out.. wow.. what a challenge.. this could be fun.. :)

trip pics



i've uploaded a few pictures from my south america trip. click here to take a look :)

admiring mother

As I was walking back from the swimming complex this morning, it struck me that it must be rather unusual for anyone to still admire one’s parents at an age like mine (the 25 – 30 category).. i mean, i know most of us still love and care for our parents dearly, and usually (but not always) try to be as “un-disobedient” as possible (i fear to use the direct verb, for the fact that it sounds strangely incorrect).. At the very least, most of us have learnt to hold our tongues and to avoid unnecessary arguments, even if it’s, more often than not, more for harmony’s sake than anything else. Yet, the fact remains that, having finally gotten done with our education, and having spent a considerable amount of time out in the “real world” experiencing and see what the world is really like, and even suffered a couple of hard and soft knocks here and there, most of us really do feel, as the Chinese say, that our “wings have grown hard” (i.e. we are ready to leap off the cliff like grown eagles and take off into the world). Suddenly, our all-knowing, all powerful parents appear like they have shrunken in stature, but yet by the same measure that they now seem less tolerant of every single one of our decisions in life (careers, relationships, etc) and find it necessary to poke their fingers ever too often and nagging way too much... maybe it’s an Asian thing, but as far as I know, most of us (who are still single) yearn for that independence and wonder why we are not getting it, even when we are no longer pimple-faced teenagers…

Yet unexpectedly, I found myself actually rather fascinated with my mum today as I accompanied her to the pool and she struggled with intense determination to get her swimming strokes right. My mother, in all my memory, has always been rather afraid of water, let alone of swimming. However, much to the surprise of everyone, she started a 10-lesson course to learn swimming halfway through my south america trip and has since been practicing really hard, resting not even once in the two hours we were there today. She even practices her strokes when she is watching television!! The last I heard, she is wondering when she will be ready to learn the front crawl!
Way to go, mommy!

the route of my journey

collected the slides of my trip and found a couple of gems which i shall be uploading as soon as i get my prints back :)

in the meantime, here is a map of the driving route that we took with the jeep. click it for a bigger map (that may take up to 40 seconds to load if you still run a 28.8kbps modem.. hahaha.. :p)

obsessive blog

i can't believe some people could be this obsessive about what they eat! :O surely there's a better way to spend one's brain power??

trip lag

i woke up two mornings ago at 4am and started playing with my magnetic poetry set. my jetlagged body (not to mention my mind) were awake as if it was already day, despite my having gone to bed a mere 4 hours before that. funnily enough, adjusting my body clock from the time zones of London and Rio de Janeiro (8 hours to 12 hours away) has proven a hefty lot more difficult than when i did it the other way around flying into Rio some 2 1/2 months ago. Somehow, my poetic juices refused to flow and i lay back in bed, semin-conscious and in a dream-like mood, thinking back over all that i experienced on my trip, the many principles and values of life that i learned or became "suddenly enlightened on" amidst the stunning splendour of nature, and the new projects conceived out of inspirations gathered on the journey that surely has moved me along the path of life..

postcard-like images swept into my mind. the brilliant multi-coloured skies of Patagonia, bending as if they were conforming to the southern dome of our planet. Guanacos bouncing over the fences that ran for miles alongside flat, arid private farmlands that one could easily mistake for the steppes of Africa or Mongolia. Rheas scurrying out of the way as our four-wheeler kicked up fine sand and dust on the dirt roads that ran like ribbons for hundreds of painful suffocating miles at a time. Camping to the twinkling lights of a thousand glow-worms and the millions of stars in the clear dark skies, and the mysterious sounds of the nights. the mind-blowing sight of the Perito Moreno glacier as it pierced my heart and soul. the thunderous roars and white fumed mists of the 275 waterfalls that make up Iguazu falls. The uninhibited smiles and laughter of the happy children of Brazil. the well-toned, beautifully oiled bodies exhibited on the stunning crescent beaches of Ipanema and Copacabana. the adventure stories of other backpackers we met on our trip. Meeting UFO researchers like Mr Marranti. Seeing for the first time in my life pink flamingoes, rare Patagonian geese, pelicans, woodpeckers, hummingbirds and raspberries growing in the wild. The craggy peaks and slopes of the Andes. The grandeur of Mt Aconcagua perfectly reflected in the lake fronting it. The surprised sighting of Powerpuff girls and other popular cultural icons on sale in the shops of Ushuaia, the southermost city in the world.

I breathed the fresh morning air deeply and closed my eyes. And for a moment, if just for a moment, i almost imagined myself still on the journey. And far away from SARS...