December 31st

I will never forget December 31st of that year.

I Love You -- Sara Teasdale

When April bends above me
And finds me fast asleep
Dust need not keep the secret
A live heart died to keep.

When April tells the thrushes,
The meadow-larks will know,
And pipe the three words lightly
To all the winds that blow.

Above his roof the swallows,
In notes like far-blown rain,
Will tell the little sparrow
Beside his window-pane.

O sparrow, little sparrow,
When I am fast asleep,
Then tell my Love the secret
That I have died to keep.

[ I Love You by Sara Teasdale ]

In All Honesty.

There is a lie that I cannot tell.
One which we know too well.

I smile, I laugh but this I rue.
In hiding, in secret, I miss You.

I miss You.
And at some point, some moment,
Do You miss me too?

In This Vein.

Isn't it strange?

The people you talk and laugh with

Aren't the ones you cry to.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

Be the Light.

Illuminate the lives of others. =)

Unappreciated.

As mentioned in my MSN and Facebook status, I feel unappreciated despite trying to make someone happy.

Friend X had incurred financial losses amounting to a 6-figure sum.

Although her entire savings was far from being wiped out, it was, after all, a substantial amount. ( Apologies for the gross understatement. How many of us actually have 6-figured sums stashed away in cash? )

This coincided with the unprecedented (and untimely) end of a relationship, thereby harnessing the full potential of a meltdown. After recuperating in Paris (poor folks like me simply hibernate at home and shut the world out), she was soon back on her feet.

Having had the experience of a full-scale depression, I could empathise with her situation and kindly extended an invitation to Friend X. I didn't want her to be alone on Christmas Eve. This, she accepted readily.

Out of respect, I sought her opinion on dining locations & post-dining activities. Nary did a reply arrive in my phone. (History has it in the annals that she'd only reply when she deemed fit.) Despite numerous efforts in collating a decent programme for the night, there was scarcely a faint whisper on her part.

Suffice to say, I did not expect her to reply immediately but surely an answer within 48 hours was reasonable?

Days gave way to weeks.

Out of consideration for her feelings, I did not make a concrete decision nor secure a prior booking. (On a pragmatic note, hotels and chi-chi places usually require an upfront payment with a credit card upon reservation.)

It's now 23rd December, the eve of Christmas Eve.

Most hotels have been fully booked and last-minute scuttling would be bordering on futility.

My frustration stems not from lacking a nice place to dine (Sushi Tei would suffice,really.) but rather the inevitable striking notion of being taken for granted.

Perhaps in your opinion, I should have forged ahead with my own plans, thereby ignoring her whims and fancies.

However, I'm crippled by my innate inclination to make others happy, to put a smile on the faces of people around me, even at my own expense. Silly perhaps, but nonetheless, an integral part of me.

Friend Y gave his two cents' worth on the issue and declared that I'm "too nice", which was a backhanded irony, since I'd echoed the same sentiments about Del the day before.

And yes, I do feel Hurt.

I am, after all, only human.

It's All In The Meow.

I thought I'd give this a post with the rather catchy bling in my face.
Soon the World Health Organization was threatened with potential outbreaks of typhus and plague, and had to call in RAF Singapore to conduct Operation Cat Drop - parachuting a great many live cats into Borneo.So that's where our culled cats went to. And no, I did not make this up.Winning the Oil End Game
By Amory B. Lovins
E. N. Thompson Forum on World Issues

Let me tell you a story. In the early 1950s, the Dayak people in Borneo had malaria. The World Health Organization had a solution: spray DDT. They did; mosquitoes died; malaria declined; so far, so good. But there were side effects. House roofs started falling down on people’s heads, because the DDT also killed tiny parasitic wasps that had previously controlled thatch-eating caterpillars. The colonial government gave people sheet-metal roofs, but the noise of the tropical rain on the tin roofs kept people awake. Meanwhile, the DDT-poisoned bugs were eaten by geckoes, which were eaten by cats. The DDT built up in the food chain and killed the cats. Without the cats, the rats flourished and multiplied. Soon the World Health Organization was threatened with potential outbreaks of typhus and plague, and had to call in RAF Singapore to conduct Operation Cat Drop - parachuting a great many live cats into Borneo.

This story - our guiding parable at Rocky Mountain Institute - shows that if you don’t understand how things are connected, often the cause of problems is solutions. Most of today’s problems are like that. But at RMI we harness hidden connections so the cause of solutions is solutions: we solve, or better still avoid, not just one problem but many, without making new ones, before someone has to go parachuting more cats. So join me in envisioning where these linked, multiplying solutions can lead if we take responsibility for creating the world we want.

Imagine a world, a few short generations hence, where spacious, peppy, ultrasafe, 120- to 200-mpg cars whisper through revitalized cities and towns, convivial suburbs, and fertile, prosperous countryside, burning no oil and emitting pure drinking water - or nothing; where sprawl is no longer mandated or subsidized, so stronger families eat better food on front porches and more kids play in thriving neighborhoods; where new buildings and plugged-in parked cars produce enough surplus energy to power the now-efficient old buildings; and where buildings make people healthier, happier and more productive, creating delight when entered, serenity when occupied and regret when departed.

Imagine a world where oil and coal are nearly phased out and nuclear energy has disappeared, all vanquished by the competitors whose lower costs, risks and delays have already enabled them to capture most of the world’s market for new electrical services - energy efficiency, distributed renewables, combined-heat-and-power - and by advanced biofuels that use no cropland and move carbon from air to topsoil; where resilient, right-sized energy systems make major failures impossible, not inevitable; where collapsing oil demand and price has defunded enemies, undermined dictatorship and corruption, and doused the Mideast tinderbox; where energy policy is no longer a gloomy multiple-choice test—do you prefer to die from (a) climate change, (b) oil wars or (c) nuclear holocaust? We choose (d) none of the above.

Imagine, therefore, a world where carbon emissions have long been steadily declining - at a handsome profit, because saving fuel costs less than buying fuel; where global climate has stabilized and repair has begun; and where this planetary near-death experience has finally made antisocial and unacceptable the arrogance that let cleverness imperil the whole human prospect by outrunning wisdom.

Imagine a world where the successful industries, rather than wasting 99.98 percent of their materials, follow Ray Anderson’s lead: they take nothing, waste nothing and do no harm; where the cost of waste is driving unnatural capitalism extinct; where service providers and their customers prosper by doing more and better with less for longer, so products become ever more efficient to make and to use; where integrative engineering and biomimicry create abundance by design; and where elegant frugality turns scarcities and conflicts in energy, water, land and minerals into enough, for all, for ever.

Imagine a world where the war against the Earth is over; where forests are expanding, farms emulate natural systems, rivers run clean, oceans are starting to recover, fish and wildlife are returning, and a stabilizing, radically resource-efficient human population needs ever less of the world’s land and metabolism, leaving more for all the relatives who give us life.

Imagine a world where we don’t just know more - we also know better; where overspecialization and reductionism have gone from vitally fashionable to unaffordably foolish; where vision across boundaries triumphs, simply because it works better and costs less.

Imagine a world secure, free from fear of privation or attack: where conflict prevention is as normal as fire prevention; where conflicts not avoided are peacefully resolved through strengthened international laws, norms and institutions; where threatened aggression is reliably deterred or defeated by nonprovocative defense that makes others feel and be more secure, not less; where all people can be nourished, healthy and educated; and where all know Dr. King’s truth that “Peace is not the absence of war; it is the presence of justice.”

Imagine a world where reason, diversity, tolerance and democracy are once more ascendant; where economic and religious fundamentalism are obsolete; where tyranny is odious, rare, failing and dwindling; and where global consciousness has transcended fear to live and strive in hope.

This is the astonishing world we are all gradually creating together. It’s being built before our eyes by a myriad world-weavers, half of whom are women, many poor, many linked via millions of grassroots groups. In their many ways, they’re mobilizing society’s most potent forces - businesses in mindful markets and citizens in vibrant civil society - to do what is necessary at this pivotal moment, the most important moment since we walked out of Africa: the moment when humanity has exactly enough time, starting now.

Running through this emerging tapestry is a bright thread: a small group of unusual people who - with humor and fearlessness, chutzpah and humility, eager enthusiasm and relentless patience - are composing their lives and combining their efforts to make it so.

Here we are. And now imagine the power of all of us together to make it so.

>>http://www.prairiefirenewspaper.com/2008/01/imagine-a-world

The text of this speech was delivered on Aug. 10, 2007, at RMI25 Celebration in Basalt, Colo. Streaming video of the presentation is available at www.rmi.org/sitepages/pid276.php.

Choosing Not To Remember.

Memories belong to Yesterday.
Dreams are the gifts of Tomorrow.

In their own time, the reels do play
The laughter shared a while ago.

Promises broken along the Future
A choice made not to Remember.

In The Box.

in the box where mirth once lay,
corners meet from disarray.
drenched in halts with smears of sheen
lazy musing feeds chagrin.

patience streams where dreams don't play,
wait in line to ebb away.
one and two, three and four,
a dance of chance but nothing more.

time stands still in holding gaze,
carving laughs from yesterdays.
a crinkled smile, a shaking head.
the gift of nought duly paid.

Waking Up Of A Different Sort.

I've got to snap out of this which chews me up within.

A futile war.
The lot has been cast.

Why does hope linger?
Why do I dream?
All that glitters
How little they mean.

When will I wake up?
When will I see?
It's not to be.
You. And Me.

Through The Laughter & Tears.

This week , You've made Mich really, really Happy.

Yet,

When You make Mich laugh, she's afraid.
Because she doesn't know when You'll make her cry again.

These Days.

When these days are gone,
I will remember.

Yes, I will.

今晚的对白，我会永远记得。
因为，那是我俩在这空间所穿的句号。

你所问的问题，不是我不要回答，
而是我无法坦白地对你说，

“ 是， 我会 ”

These Dreams That Hang Over.

The clouds scarce dim the water's sheen,
The moon-bathed islands wanly show,
And sweet words falter to and fro -
Though the great River rolls between

Ssu-K'ung T'u
AD 837 - 908

Know-tion.

You know.
I know.

You know that I know.
I know that You know that I know.

You act like You don't know.
I pretend that I don't know that You're acting like You don't know.

You know that I know that You act like You don't know.
I know that You know that I know that You act like You don't know.

Yet, I don't know.
While You, yes, You, know.

Why then, will You not let me know?