kafka to bird chronicle

completed kafka on the shore today. took me 3 weeks to read cover to cover. and i'm listening to the beethoven archduke trio mentioned in the book.

plot of kafka on the shore is weird; unique if this is a better word to describe it. the story line is like a clockwork which gradually makes its full turn. you can't predict what will happen next. bits of the story gel together by a peculiar glue. definitely not your typical fiction read. conclusively, i like the read. i like haruki murakami's writing enough to line another of his earlier book in my next read.

huff puff

stepping into office each day is like stepping on a non-stop treadmill. you just run endlessly till into the night.

my mind is at a point blank at this moment. there are so many things to be done. it can be overwhelming.

there goes another exec. she tendered when we came back from the long new year weekend.

i wonder why i am able to survive? is it because i have stopped thinking what all these is leading me to?

there's little to look forward for now. promotion is a near impossible. chances of a meaty pay raise might be vanquished with the slowing economy. so what else can there be but tasks that are left to be completed?

time for myself becomes shorter as hours at work stretch longer.

i hate to lament.

a new project is starting. i have these mixed feelings. on one hand it is an opportunity to do something different. on the other, it means even longer hours. fast forward to end of it, question is asked if it adds value to my career. shrug.

alright, back onto the treadmill now. huff huff puff puff.

学不会

while watching 娱乐百分百, found out JJ will soon be releasing his new album 'Lost & Found'.

Been listening to 学不会over youtube on repeat.

nice.

xmas eve

it is christmas eve. merry christmas to all.

spent the morning cleaning the house. went to work. met mummy to shop. had dinner. walked to cq to help do some despatch for a colleague. and took a long walk from cq to outram park mrt, lugging 2 bottles of shampoo and conditioner in a shopping bag with laptop on my shoulders.

now i sit in front of my laptop drafting a letter for my mum to be sent to mom.

pretty uneventful day. but i did enjoy shopping with mummy. she bagged many dresses that can probably last her for half a year! =) i ranted to her about work and stuff, while both of us chomped down a big bao (which apparently wasn't that big) each. i like times like these because i get my mummy's full attention. life's so busy we don't really get to talk alot most of the time.

i'm glad the day is over. i want to plonk into sleep quick while awaiting for tomorrow to come. i am thankful for yenling, who is willing to spend the christmas weekend with me. if the weather holds up, we'll be running at mr, go for a good bfast before checking into citadines at 2pm. after that we plan to roam town.. let's hope we get to go for the morning run on monday to marina barrage too.

it's back to work on tues. back to the heaps of reports to clear.

kafka on the shore

done with the bloomberg mag and i'm back to my fictions.

next up, kafka on the shore by haruki marakami.

is it time to set resolutions for the new year already. i can't remember if i made any at the start of this year. i probably wished i could do well in this job and rise through the ranks. seems more unattainable now, just want to hang on and survive through the stipulated term.

my brain feels tired. i need to hold through this prolonged ot-ing nights for another 2.5wks.. i can't wait for the long weekend. the stack of work will welcome me back next tues.

back to finance

done with never let me go. it's a good book in its own sense.

now back to some decent finance reading. on with bloomberg markets nov'11 edition, courtesy of dearie from his school's library.

after that, it'll be kafka on the shore. =)

holiday tomorrow. it's been a very long week. tired. dying for a break. and really want to catch up with abit of running too.

yay..shopping too! =)

is it dawn yet?

i'm so done with the twilight series. concluding note: draggy. i got so bored with the whole storyline by eclipse, hoping for something better in breaking dawn. i was sorely disappointed. i have no idea how the story went on and on with the most uninteresting details..and such a bo liao fanfare of the volturi and the cullen gang. i'm just glad the series is done and it definitely stirred no interest in me to pay and watch the movie for now.

alright. so the next book on the list was actually this: never let me go but the pdf version i have in my kindle isn't in that a readable form. the font seems a little too stretched and i am not able to find another copy of it. sigh.

perhaps it'll be kafka on the shore first, till i find another copy of never let me go.

Update: Found a readable version! yay! so it's never let me go FIRST!

finding the lost

i thought about the old things i used to write and posted on diary-x. those were the time i was more literally inclined. i wrote better prose and sometimes in riddles. i remember writing short stories which i thought were pretty nice.

diary-x on wikipedia

"Diary-X (commonly abbreviated dx) was the name of an online journaling service which allowed Internet users to create and maintain a journal or diary. It was launched in 2000, and between half and three-quarters of its users were between 14 and 19 years old.Basic use was free, though for a small fee users could email their entries. The creator and webmaster was Stephen Deken. In early 2006, the server's hard drive failed. Since there was no backup, the entire website and all of the users' diaries were lost irretrievably^"

^{yea..that was about the time i started blogger.com.. i wish i had saved a copy of those things i wrote on my hard disk. argh.}

breaking down next

i thought i can save the last portions of eclipse for my journey home this evening. guess i was eager to read how it ends.

i'll start breaking dawn this evening.

the movie puts faces to the characters in the book; pretty faces i must admit. however, the book contains more details than what those faces can personify. in the book, bella was torn and that internal struggle she puts up between 2 loves, i think the movie didn't quite bring that out well. bella in the movie feels abit too distant and acts indifferent to how she feels towards jacob.

anyway, i thought it's a fresh storyline of a romance triangle between characters of a different world. surreal yet attention grabbing.

i think i've been talking alot about books on my blogs recently. what a nerd i am! i am glued to my kindle the moment i board the mrt till the time it reaches my stop.

weekend is here! rifle range! bt timah walk? or just bum at home!

let's go for a walk some time

whenever i fish out my kindle from my bag and start reading, i feel enclaved into another world. stepping into this warped world of literature.

loaded my kindle with my books by jap writers. revving to finish eclipse followed by breaking dawn very soon.

work is starting to step up as it moves into the year end. i am wondering if i should pack a sleeping bag and supplies to work. it may just come in handy soon.

been wanting to plan out some races to do with yenling but haven't got into the right frame of mind to do so.

want to make time to go for a walk at bt timah. can't remember when was the last time i went there. i kind of miss mountain biking there..but i think i lack the courage to 'risk' my life/limbs in such manner these days. i was lucky that fine day, back 6 years ago.

alright. time to get to bed and snuggle in with dearie. =)

eclipsed

i'm 2/5th done with eclipse book. the movie is not totally true to the book. apart from ommisions, the movie makers made some changes to the storyline too.

i should be in good progress to complete the book by end of this week.

next up is breaking dawn.

then i start on japanese writers: starting with some books by kazuo ishiguro, recommendation by yenling.

mono at part time

i'm feeling like i'm suffering from mono with this part time job. just a little burnt out.

yenling and i have made plans to spend christmas together. we'll be extending the invitation to isabel too. it'll be like a girls night! hopefully bel doesn't bring her beetroot salad to the party..haha

what should i do? stop? quit?

i'm somewhat unsure how dec will look. pretty sure i'll be busy with work, ot-ing daily for an extended period of time.

i do not actually need the money that badly. it's extra pocket money and it's pretty brainless work too. just that sometimes the sacarsm from the boss can be a wee too much. on top of the flashing of her xx carat diamond ring (which almost blinded me under the sunlight) and gawdy fashion show parade of her branded bags.. all that in rojak comparison of how calculative and mercenary she can sometimes be.. shrugs. i try not to think about it too much into it.

yea, maybe i should not think so much about it. just move along for now. it's not painfully unbearable, yet.

eclipse next

i'm done with new moon. i thought the movie got a little draggy at the end, the book is way MORE draggy! but i think reading is alot less yawn+sleep inducing than actually seeing actors and actresses put up a show that making way too many detours.

i thought the twilight series started well with the first. the story kind of plunges into a boring drag in the 2nd. now i'm on to the third. not particularly excited about it; i'm reading it more because i want to finish what i started. a story should have an ending. i want to read the series in totality.

i'm giving myself till end of next week to finish eclipse.

the kindle is the best thing in my bag right now. without it, i will not be able to devour so many books. it's a gem!

read liberated

i never noticed how reading can be..liberating.

i can be that pair of eyes looking at someone's life. i can almost hear the protagonist's heart speak from the words. for a moment, i can almost feel like i'm standing at the cliff's edge. the next moment, feels like i've got a vampire breathing down my neck.

knowledge sets one free too. being in the know. understanding why things happen the way they do.

i've almost cleared out that stack of old newspapers underneath my workstation. i'm only left those dated a month ago. it should all be done by tomorrow.

i'm more than 60% done with new moon. i'll try to finish it by sunday. watch eclipse on sat or sun then read eclipse. the plan is to read breaking dawn..because it'll be a long while before i'll be able to catch the show itself.

the next 2 books will well bring me to somewhere close to year end closing, by then, i'll be so stretched at work to have much energy left for reading.

alright.. time to look into the cfmas exams which could be the new goal for 2012. fics..cfmas. hmm..next year might be a busy year!

seven billion

un leader, mr ban ki moon, has this to say on the birth of the seven billionth child.

where ever he or she is born, "will be born into a world of contradiction". "plenty of food, but still a billion of people going to bed hungry every night. many people enjoy luxurious lifestyles, but still many people are improverished".

"Seven billion people who need enough food. Enough energy. Good opportunities in life for jobs and education. Rights and freedoms. The freedom to speak. The freedom to raise their own children in peace and security."

"Everything you want for yourself - seven billion times over".

wow. seven billion.

7,000,000,000.

new moon

done with twilight. the movie was pretty true to the book. a sweet romance novel.

i'm suppose to slot a non fiction book between this but i think i may just end up with new moon next. haha.

not so lucky

i had 100/1500 chance of winning something..but i got none. -pout-

ok, i have to admit i never had luck with lucky draws.

the d&d programme was a little boring. the food was alright. the company was good though.

winning the lucky draw would have made the uneventful night fantastic.

bare some fangs

i am behind target for twillight..only slightly more than half way through the book..but i'm enjoying the book..it's one of those nice lovey-dovey romance novels..though it still lacks that sweep-me-off-the-feet kind of tryst in the judith mcnaught novels i love. maybe vampires and werewolves feels much too surreal..too far fetched than the dukes, knights and medieval dudes..

so target has been moved backwards to next week.

oh ya..review of the high fidelity movie we caught over last weekend.

it has 50% less vulgarities..it put up about 85% of what you can read in the book. overall a pleasant movie though dearie fell asleep half way through it.

twilight up next

this is next on the list. target to complete by end of the week.

maybe i'll hop back onto the catch me if you can bandwagon..then hobble back to this series again.

let's see how it goes.

after seeing so many good playing on the guitar through the weekend, i have an impetus to take guitar lessons..progress on from my G-C-D chords. then again..playing the guitar hurts my fingers. i get this tender to touch on my fingertips before hard skin starts to form. it makes playing the piano uncomfortable after playing the guitar. argh. i think i'll stick to listening to guitar music for the easier way out of things. hahahah

high fi done

High Fidelity done. funny book in a crude way. it was like reading into the author's mind.

what's next? should i start my twillight series now?