stereotyped

little A has us neatly classified.

she sees me and says, read!

she sees HOM and says, cashews!

eat cake - jeanne ray (2003)

warm cozy and sweet story line.

likable characters with relatable struggles. 

surprisingly authentic psychology.

as much tension as i can tolerate (minimal).

with luscious descriptions of cakes.

quite delicious.

pseudo-lunch

we stop by a ragged looking chinese place and become the only two asian-looking people in the (sparsely-occupied) place. our vegetable order turns out quite nicely i think (which is not what HOM thinks but then he has higher standards). the chicken dish (on the right) is unrecognizable.

on reflection, an establishment that advertises orange chicken to-go as their key offering is already suspect. we were forewarned.

yogurt ice cream

yasso. 

better than mini magnum.

yummo.

shopping

my boots from the online used goods circuit, purchased for a price i am embarrassed to repeat. intact waterproof and good lookin'.

there is asia with your lower cost of living and affordable almost-everything and then there is the thrift culture in the states which, if you couple with deal-of-the-day specials, can net you some unbelievable catches. girl ain't complainin'.

change of pace

so here we are at Ji and J2's and the focus emphatically switches from adult cares work weights various bypassing irritants and mature food options to elementary readers crumbs on every surface cheese slices and diapers. i vaguely remember i have another life somewhere else.

in other news, the cost of living here is stratospheric.

ff 3

• i still randomly and reflexly try to open the facebook app
• but having signed out and resolutely stayed out, my phone battery lasts a whole lot longer
• and my book is read a lot quicker

all the president's men - bernstein & woodward (1974)

a classic, people say. riveting reading. masterly investigative reporting.

this is all that and more. it pulses with action and connivance and plottings and maneuverings. although the sheer size of the cast of characters is enough to spin your head at first. at the end of it you feel like you just want to slap them idiot politicians. they really are the scum of the earth.

lunch

what shall we have for lunch? HOM asks. it's a joke of course. as if there was ever any question about it. protein style double-double! yeah!!

setting off

we pick up the car and start on the loooong drive to Ji and J2. we are apprehensive (a whole month in a support function!) excited (we meet E! and re-meet A!) low-grade anxious (loose ends at home and all over) glad (that J2 has traversed another eventful pregnancy) and thankful (how great is His faithfulness!).

a li'l bird tol' me

what i say is, if you are standing in line to clear the immigration controls, please do not also conduct a business meeting on your cellphone.

there is virtue in restraint and discretion and the peace is much appreciated.

ff d2

• many many occasions of accidentally trying to re-open the app
• twice asking myself if i can break the fast on weekends and special days
• read a whole chunk more of my book than usual
• played lots more squaredle

onwards!

facebook fast day 1

even i eventually reach my limit for doomscrolling. in the spirit of lent, i sign out of fb and fb messenger today and immediately notice:

• a series of cool posters on the pillars supporting the train tracks
• the abundance of greenery. we are really quite fortunate!
• i make good progress on my book
• yet my fingers reflexly open the app, randomly thru the day

on to another day tomorrow. i hope i do not accidentally sign back in.

no more tears - gardiner harris (2025)

sweeping account of recurrent unethical and wayward behavior on the part of big pharma that's enough to put you off your tablets creams medical care and your doctor to boot. if bad pharma was good bad (it was) this is the case study of the most loathsome of them all.

intensive care

the (geriatric) car is in the workshop.

it only takes us 3 bus and 2 train rides to make it home. we should live simply and reflect much but sometimes the opportunity cost is just prohibitive.

migration

HOM begins the painful process of transferring his life to the new laptop, whose size is eye-popping.

all i can say is, i'm not getting a pro anytime soon.

random thoughts

it is well and good to lift our voice in praise.

it would be good to be in tune.

although i am sure the off-tune also pleases.

new lease of life

the oven gets resurrected. it only takes five desperate calls over the festive holidays for us to finally get to our old electrician to beg him to show up to work the miracle. you are my first customers this year, he says. so happy to pay up! i want to say, with deep and heartfelt relief.

chinese new year fashion

observations this year:

• red (with shades and tones thereof) is the perennial favorite
• young families like to coordinate their togs. taobao is doing a roaring trade, is wot i say
• flowers are greatly popular this year. i see them on the gentlemen too, including the older ones
• the unseasonably cool weather allows more fancy togs this year, methinks

as for me, if i see you once a year, you would not know if i was wearing new or used, now would you?

extended family

time was when we met in someone's apartment on day 2, just two generations sharing a home made repast.

these days we swarm in, four generations with spouses and partners and various attendants to boot and we need the condo function room or the community gathering places for a professionally catered lunch, still on day 2. sans those who have departed.

it takes me 30-odd years to learn names and intricacies of relations that i meet once a year but i am getting there slowly.

rain

the wettest chinese new year in recent memory, is what i say.

lovely weather to snuggle under the blankets in,

or to have hot coffee and chocolates in,

or just to read a good book in.

but not for venturing out to visit in, unfortunately.

baby E

baby E arrives. through dangers toils and snares, it seems, to join her sister A.

be strong and courageous, child! be rich in faith and clear of mind! in kindness and in gentleness be your way!

the gladness does not fully sink in yet.

funeral wake

we always seem to meet long-lost friends at wakes.

the years are kind to some. grey suits them and they wear their lines well.

and not so kind to others. with more heft and sans hair. 

some are gracefully refined by time.

and some are harsh.

'tis life.

bonus date

usual sunday dinner quandary: where and what, somewhat circumscribed tonite by the funeral wake we attend in the evening hour.

we end up in the neighborhood hawker center near closing time catch two of her last bowls of yong tau foo sit amongst empty tables to the accompaniment of chinese oldies blaring from another stall's sound system on a wondrously cool and breezy night.

memories are made of stuff like this.

the cult of we - brown & farrell (2021)

speed read. all i can say is,

• when the numbers go into b- and t-'s in magnitude, my eyes glaze over
• it's a cult of the talker of the hyperbole and symptomatic of larger society
• how can anyone be so greedy???
• he (neumann) sounds hypomanic

in other news, if they can toss around money of that magnitude one wonders why they cannot also do something about that national debt that beggars comparison.

affogato, homemade

our special reunion dinner, we tell each other. before the frenetic rounds of obligatory activities come up and swallow us whole. 

belated birthday thoughts

the little tornado we were not sure would see this age with this sentience has decidedly completed three decades and now nurtures a tornado of her own. how miraculous this is, i think. how undeservedly good and merciful of God. how generously he blesses.

sunday date

impromptu after-dinner affogato. arguably immensely more enjoyable than in younger days, on account of life. starting the work week on tuesday has much to recommend it.

everything is tuberculosis - john green (2025)

sweeping and informative (as befits a self-confessed OCD author), garnished with positive vibes for collective action, and run through with the obligatory feel-good human interest story (which works quite well). with mercifully short-ish chapters.

he is harshly critical of the DOTS program but here in the east we do not see it as the unmitigated evil he makes of it. perhaps it is more of a matter of matching the meat to the man.

be thou my vision

prayer should not be perfunctory not carelessly reflex or easy and rote

worship is not a duty it is the only response to an awful awesome God

HOM and i attend the inauguration ceremony. it is a more traditional ceremony than we are now used to, yet with none of the liturgy we are accustomed to. fortunately the hymns are familiar and beloved. the speakers are mostly sharp and precise. the messages are heartfelt and courageously encouraging. it is good to feel the communal commitment to a task, i think. sometimes we lose this sense of urgent mission in the sunday services where chatter predominates.

in any case, C is inaugurated to his position. may he run his race with diligence and perseverance. may he be excellent in his new calling.

side observation. there is a clear predominance of testosterone.

fairy seat

on a sedate street somewhere

you'll find

a magic faraway door

adulting

HOM and i make a trip to the bank to get new notes for the chinese new year.

this act, more than any other, confirms that we are responsible worthy members of society and that we are henceforth ready to celebrate! just to be clear, we do not however have lanterns or couplets or other red adornments around the home. although we should probably do some seasonal de-cluttering. and yes, we need to buy oranges soon.

78 years old!

 

grateful for all the blessings extravagantly provided.

and, as HOM reminds me, supremely grateful that this is where we meet and get married and (for a time) bring up our children.

spring garb

the old neighborhood is looking very pretty these days, as long as you don't think about the electricity bill.

afternoon joe

cuppa-to-go, from the stall run by the eager young man who wins my business with his enthusiastic solicitousness and courteous enthusiasm.

the coffee's not bad too.

simple pleasure

solo lunch from DDD as HOM goes to attend a talk. just me and the sashimi and my laptop.

with no offence to HOM, i do savor my one-person meals.

luvverly.

modern campaigns that we need

• no spitting in public 
• turn down the video volume on public transport
• or use headphones
• do not conduct 'phone conversations on the bus
• no littering (yeah, a rehash of the old one)

a crowded noisy week winds down.

sunday thoughts from rev. 4

holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!

worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.

how terribly awful is God on his throne

how impossibly perfect and unreachably holy

how amazing that i may approach Him

and say abba, father!

breakneck - dan wang (2025)

why i love this: it is as close to a chinese account of china as i can get in the english language. his insight on china being engineering-driven and america being lawyerly is fresh and largely convincing. his description of the lot of middle-aged chinese immigrants in u.s. suburbia is pretty much spot on.

why i take this with a pinch of salt: he is young and it shows and his bias is american and it shows. having lived through an attempt at zero-covid myself i think his description is quasi-accurate and the emotional impact may potentially be a little exaggerated. 

nevertheless this is a thought-provoking and well written book that actually has a different thought per chapter, unlike many books that struggle to say something fresh after chapter 2.

yummo

rich fruit cake with wensleydale cheese. 

boozy moist indulgence with nutty crumbly mild accompaniment. (okay it could be more boozy)

thanks to Ji and J2 for the suggestion.

dong dong qiang

the pre-CNY season starts with a bang. neighborhood fairs festive songs and seasonal deals abound. fortunately we do most of our grocery shopping online these days. otherwise i might burst an aneurysm.

ambush

the overhead bridge leading into jurong east mrt station has become the hunting ground of aggressively enthusiastic purveyors of skills future courses.

this is all very well for more energetic folk. i wish they would avoid middle-aged looking women who much prefer vegetating to attending improvement sessions during their free time.

ouch

one 50-meter shuffle two 100-meter dashes to catch the bus over three consecutive days with a day of power-striding around in heels and i am left nursing an ache over the front of my left knee on the lateral aspect.

memento mori, they say. mortalitatis nocet*, more like. there's no way you'd forget either.

*mortality hurts

for old times' sake

played the piano for church service today with my usual guitarist partner (HOM) different drummer and a worship leader and singers that we have not buddied up with for years.

how lovely it is when old friends play together, i think. the old camaraderie returns, unforced. the old understanding rears its head. old signals pop back into place like a beloved old garment.

time passes and things change but sometimes one is gifted with a chance to revisit the previous magic.

isaac's storm - erik larsen (1999)

tragic and grand and sweeping but ponderous too. fascinating account of the hurricane that brings galveston to its knees and equally impressive narrative of global weather systems. i am left with an impression of a remarkable amount of work that goes into the writing of this tome.

enjoyed it. almost gave up midway.

my first real finish for the year. (if you discount the thoroughly enjoyable j. d. robb murder binge from december and the forgettable this is why we can't have nice things (abandoned after chapter 2)).

back to earth

there you go!

extended break over and done with. dried and dusted.

journey's mercies good company beloved children great food.

grateful and missing it all already.

blessings all mine.

da list

birds eaten on this trip:

• goose (roasted better than braised; liver is tolerable)
• duck (jiangmuya magic is real)
• chicken (roast, in guangzhou, mmmm)
• pigeon (too scrawny, so just meh)
• quail (just the eggs)

bonne nuit

our last nite, in xiamen. we fly back to our real life tomorrow.

wuz a lovely prolonged paiseh-inducing trip of a vacation.

coffee

another place, another cuppa.

of all the benefits that gentrification brings possibly my favorite is a dependable cuppa joe in every port of call.

another one, not so ubiquitous, is a jap-inspired patisserie.

light show

we attend a light show.

so do lotsa other people.

so we watch their screens.

they spare our necks.

chaozhou

 

our penultimate stop and possibly the least prepossessing yet. the streets teem with humanity the air reeks tobacco the hocking and expectoration are back the hand of commerce is heavy but the ware is limited.

in additional news, the cars toot their horns with blithe abandon.

gateway to the shoppes

el cheapo's shopping haven at wholesale prices, if you ask me. our traveling companions spend today visiting the parks to appreciate the seasonal colors. HOM and i unabashedly support the local economy instead. 

zipline!*

i commit to a ride before i fully grasp what it is. and then it is too late to uncommit.

'nuff said.

*at baiyun scenic area

notes on foshan, guangzhou

• considerably fewer clouds of tobacco smoke than elsewhere
• as well as more controlled hocking and expectoration of sputum
• more relaxed and lived in but still cosmopolitan
• cantonese is a most melodious dialect, in speech and in song
• and the food! the ambrosial food!

i still love shanghai hands down, but guangzhou is coming a close second.

booze

baijiu-laced latte.

shades of bailey's irish cream, served icy cold.

wong fei hong

we visit the wfh museum.

fellow had FOUR wives.

that's a couple wives too many, if you ask me.

furniture malls of foshan

sprawling complexes selling everything you need to muscle up your home. and your office. fortunately we do not have a new place to shop for, HOM and i tell each other. otherwise one could go crazy shopping.

new coffee friend

so much for brand loyalty. on account of getting our directions mixed up we end up at cotti coffee which turns out to be cheaper than and just as satisfying as our previous mvp, luckin.

going green

the hotel does not turn on the heater at this time of year, the girl at the reception murmurs. but we have put you in the room with lots of sun to warm you up!

that's all very well for the day, girl, but what is one to do when the sun sets and the body shuts down?

i am all for energy efficiency and responsible consumption but man, is the cold bone chilling before the sun comes back up.

then and now

35 years apart almost to the day and i am amazed at how the place has leap-frogged into the modern age and beyond.

you can read all you want about sleeping dragons awakening and stuff but until you see for yourself the wonder does not sink in. and when you finally see it looks so in situ that you think it must have been like this all along. but actually it was not. not by a long shot. and if you are fortunate you get to realize that at least once in your lifetime.

final junket

on to our final trip before the nose returns to the grindstone. HOM and i quickly seek out supplies to augment our stay. we are clearly well-rehearsed and have a coherent focus.

dîner pour deux

back to tropical humidity E the dog our own bed and my trusty kitchen knife. traveling is fun but coming home is good too. HOM says we will plan actively to travel aggressively more in the coming year.

new day new year

to quote something from social media, the first resolution of the year should be to remember to write 26 instead of 25.

in other news, am jet-lagged brain-fogged and achy-bodied from the flight home yesterday and the neighborhood idiots shouting happy new year to all and sundry just after i manage to fall asleep last nite.