Monday 29 November 2010

I should be somewhere else

Maybe “should” is too strong a word. Ok then, I “want” to be somewhere else. But life doesn’t always turn out the way we want it to. Usually something gets in the way. A “commitment” of some kind, whether time, or money, or attention, or some combination. We all have them. Our jobs; doctor’s appointments; class schedules; mortgage payments; project meetings; and the list goes on.

So I’m sitting here wishing all these commitments could take a break, when it hits me. I get it. I know why parents always want to “spoil” their children. Forget making them happy and seeing their smiles. Forget giving them a better future or more fulfilling life. It’s about living vicariously.

When else are you unburdened by commitments that hamper your free spirit? Only as a child do you have the freedom to go through your days without a worry in the world. Before there are timesheets, before there are examinations, before there are roll calls, before there are campuses to cross, before there are teachers, before there are homework assignments, before all that - there is exploration of your world. There is you - and there is the world. There are paintbrushes and colouring books, fields to jump in and slides to go down, butterflies to chase and gardens to water, toys to play with and the boxes that substitute - all there for exploration without concern for anything but that it’s there.

So if you want to eat something specific - fries, or ice-cream, or sliced apples - it’s there. If you want to go to a mall - someone will take you. If you want to go to a park - someone will take you.

And that’s what parents should do. Take care of the commitments. It’s what you do as an adult. Protect your child from the disappointments of life. They’ll come in soon enough, those disappointments. Can’t stop that; no way to avoid it. And when those commitments get you down, live vicariously.

Take care of the commitments so someone else gets what they want and gets to live life.

Thursday 18 November 2010

Where were you... when Aung San Suu Kyi was freed?

This post is part-diary, part-momentous-occasion-noting. It’s like that Zen question: “if a tree falls in a forest and no one’s there to hear it, does it make a sound?” (Ok, I checked; it’s not a Zen question, just a philosophical riddle. Same diff.)

In today’s electronic world, if you don’t blog it, or tweet it, or FB it, did you have any reaction? Were you even aware of it, whatever “it” is? Certainly there are benefits to this. At least, years from now, if I can’t recall the story, I can look it up. This is what I was doing when “it” happened.

So where was I when Aung San Suu Kyi was freed from house arrest?

It was Saturday evening and I was home after having sent A’isyah back. She had her certificate presentation day in the morning where she had performed with all her schoolmates, and we had spent most of the afternoon making Play-Doh ice cream. So I was sitting and drinking some warm water with honey for my sore throat when my koi messages me a CNN headline:

Aung San Suu Kyi release after 15 years of house arrest

She was asking me to remind her who that was. :-)

The leader of the democracy movement in Burma/Myanmar being released after decades of persecution by the ruling military junta is certainly a momentous occasion. After all, Aung San Suu Kyi was the symbol of the human rights abuses of the Myanmar leadership. That, of course, was always a thorn in ASEAN's side vis-a-vis international relations. What a different world it would have been if her party’s victory in the 1990 general election had been recognized instead of nullified by the military.

Of course, just because she’s been freed now doesn’t guarantee a different future for the people of Myanmar. After all, they just had (a sham of) an election days before her release. So the military government probably feels they have a mandate to lead. And they could just very well place Aung San Suu Kyi on house arrest again in a few months. It’s not like they haven’t done it before.

Still, let’s be optimistic.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

So yesterday was a public holiday (selamat Aidiladha to those I didn’t already greet) and a day off for me. The night before I had thought about catching HP7, the latest installment in the Harry Potter series. Yesterday was the premiere for Malaysia, so there were bound to be lots of screens showing it. It being a public holiday made it more likely that seats would be difficult to find, as opposed to a normal premier mid-week. When I checked online through GSC's e-ticketing service, I managed to find single seats easily enough. So I was off to the movies!

Of course, this made some people just a tad jealous. I’m not exactly the biggest Harry Potter fan. Yes, I’ve read the books. Yes, I’ve watched the movies. Yes, I’m quite familiar with the lore. But no, I don’t remember all the little details. I don’t go crazy about the latest news in HP fandom. So here I was, hardly a hardcore fan, going alone to watch the new Harry Potter movie on opening day. :-)

And it was a thoroughly enjoyable movie. To channel Ron: “Brilliant!” ;-) The mood was perfectly captured, with mounting dread weighing on the scenery and the costumes and the characters’ bearings. I thought it was a story well-told, with good pacing and nothing seeming out of place. It’s been ages since I read the book, so I can’t comment on how accurately it portrayed scenes from the book (other than to note some obvious parts that were different of course). But the script and the director really captured the essence of the story.

One thing to really appreciate are the special effects, which are there to help in the story-telling, and not as something tacked on for wow-factor. That’s what separates the great movies from the B-movies.

Even if you’re not a Harry Potter fan, if you know of him, you owe it to yourself to watch this movie. It’s that good. And then, of course, you’ll wait a year for Part 2 to be released; just like the rest of us.