Sunday Movie Sunday

After housework, it seemed natural to just veg out on the carpet and cushions in the living room and watch a couple of DVDs. I've been revisiting my bookshelf a lot lately and I thought I'd give the books a rest for the afternoon. Came up with a couple of options after rummaging through my supplies: Pirates of the Caribbean 3 and Atonement.
I love the third installment of the Pirates movie. That was the first movie I watched after I graduated from my NLP training. I finally overcame my nervousness of watching a movie thats not Chicken Run. What an experience it was, watching the movie in the the theater - the effects on the big screen - awesome.

Watching it on DVD gave me a chance to relive the script and catch the more subtle messages conveyed by the actors. An eye movement here, a quick glance there. What struck me most was what Captain Teague (Keith Richards' character) said to Jack Sparrow (his son) after they voted for the King of the Brethren Court. I think it went something like this:

Jack (to his father): you've seen it all, done it - you've survived..
Teague: It's not about living forever, Jackie. The trick is, to live with yourself forever.

Stayed with me, that remark.

Many things I have done and some of them I am not proud of. Some actions were misinterpreted. Out of these, there were one or two instances where I stepped up and sought clarification and set the records straight. There were 2 instances where I chose to keep quiet and let sleeping dogs lie. I decided that it was not worth my time and effort. Both of those instances proved to be miracles to me. They became my natural filter of the people I keep around me. They showed me people who cared would want to hear my version of things, to provide a more complete picture. Those instances differentiated between the people who care and those who don't. Those who don't care already decided on which reality they want to believe in. That's all right with me. We all have different channels through which data comes through and become messages that our mind accepts.

Basically, we're all entitled to our own opinions, and I don't grudge anyone theirs.

Now - as for Atonement, that's another story for another time...a story that explores the idea of an act of kindness - could it be cowardice and evasion, viewed from another person's eyes?

Gram better be in heaven now or else all this talk about faith is just a bunch of organized religion bollocks. So there.

Fire in the sky

New year's eve was an intimate affair this year. I accepted Ben's invite and we headed into KL at 6pm. Chris was already there, so he could clue us in on the best option to take to go into Jln Kia Peng, where Fred lives. By the time we got there it was 7:00pm, and the sky looked overcast - I thought it was pawang time and we all hoped the KLCC folks had had a good witch doc working for them last night :-)

We walked a bit to get dinner, and the mood at the hakka place was jovial. There was a group of Japanese people at the table next to us, and they celebrated their own countdown at 11:00 pm, going by Tokyo time, I suppose. After a lovely dinner of chicken, veggies and tofu with rice (it was fun watching Fred's uncle and his friend use the chopsticks, they were good sports!) we walked back to Fred's place. His uncle opened a bottle of the 'best German wine in the world' and we counted down the final minutes of 2007 and toasted 2008 at the patio. Granted, I had my lychee juice (Chris got me lychee juice, God bless his kind soul) in the crystal champagne flute, but hey, it's the thought that counts, innit?

My last view of fireworks display was when Ben and I caught the Merdeka 2006 show at the Curve. Fireworks kinda lost their appeal to me after that, and I wasn't expecting anything that would move me. I'm so glad to be proven wrong. The colours were beautiful and to me it really looked like they were sparks coming from the heavens (or Genting Highlands hehe).

Have a look at the photos, courtesy of William Cheng CC's collection on flickr.

Aren't they awesome?

Fred's uncle and his friend went out shortly after that. We changed into our shorts and sarongs and lounged about the pool, chatting about everything and nothing; basically just enjoying each other's company. So here's a record of our resolutions, just so that my friends can know that I do have a record of them somewhere ;-)

Fred: to graduate (finally) and finish his studies by summer 2008
Ben: to find a great job with the environment that suits him best
Chris: to enjoy the year and make it the best one yet
Faz: to be a great connector of people in her network of friends, colleagues and acquaintances

We got very familiar with the family kitchen (and their 3 refrigerators) and we left Fred's place at 5 a.m. It's Ben's birthday next week, so we'll probably get together again, just before Fred returns to Bonn, I suppose.

I have a good feeling about 2008. I loved 2007 - a bit of a roller coaster in the beginning, but in principal, 2007 was the year where I got healed. I loved being 35, and I'm so looking forward to turning 36 in April. I'm grateful for what I have, and this adds to the good feeling for this new year. Here's a big hug for 2007, and I've got the welcome mat rolled out for 2008!