Thursday 15 May 2014

Beware the ides of May

1 week.
That's only 7 days.
But within 7 days I lost my car, my blog, and my life partner.

Maybe there is a reader out there who would agree that this was a bit much.

But I will not wail, whine, whimper or wallow, because that helps not a single soul, except maybe the occasional sadist stumbling across this blog (Put on list: check blog titles for keywords that might attract sadists ;-)

I'm sure this utter lack of ability to un-make this last week (lack of omnipotence? impotence? helplessness?) is a good learning experience.( Is this why people by SUVs? To feel powerful ?)

So please humour me when - even though it is an utter exercise in futility to lessen the severity of that week (What's the point of subtracting one from infinity?) and with a slightly better awareness of my importance in the grand scheme of things - I bring this blog back to life.

Tuesday 6 May 2014

All good things must come to an end

What a year ;-)




I started this blog on February 10th, 2013, Chinese New Year and beginning of the Year of the Snake.   

















I wonder what the year of the Horse will bring ;-)



But now the Year of the Horse has arrived (or rather is 1/3 gone), I started to wonder whether it was time for this personal account of my Year of the Snake to retire.  It was a spectacular year for me and I did

 'see things I thought I'd never ever see'.












The original intent behind this blog was to create a kind of personal diary. I felt that I wanted to make my Year of the Snake a special and memorable year, and I wanted to make sure that I could remember it well 10 years after.  I accepted the fact that I would have to keep some kind of diary for this year after trying and failing to remember in which cities I spent the nights on my motorcycle trip through the western US (Berkeley through Yosemite & Death Valley to Las Vegas and then on to Santa Fe & Los Alamos and back to Vancouver through Colorado, Utah, Idaho, etc) in the 90s. While some locations are easily remembered, others are lost in the haze of the years, as is the year of that trip ;-(  All I know is that it was maybe a year after Jurassic Park started playing in the theatres (1993).  Alan, in what year did that red (?) minivan overtake me on a motorcycle on a highway in New Mexico?


And everyone who has ever tried to find a particular photograph (of the printed variety) filed or stashed away in those Drugstore envelopes in some shoe box at the back of some drawer (a dreadful task in an over-stuffed storage locker) will instantly recognize the brilliance of storing the pictures together with the written memories, i.e. in a blog.




But this 'personal diary' has taken on a life of its own, in directions I could never have foreseen.. Over this year, this blog has picked up readers among my family, friends, associates, and even people I have never heard of. While in the beginning I just wrote stuff right from the top of my head (gut feelings spilling onto electronic paper), I noticed over time that I was paying more and more attention to being careful not to step onto anyone's toes.  This trend would only continue as this blog would pick up more readers in the future.  But that also means that either I have to keep stepping on the toes of people  (Hey, I AM AN OPINIONATED BASTARD ;-), or that this blog would turn into a 'pretty pictures blog', something I feel has started to happen already. The primary raison d'etre for this blog is its use as a vehicle for me to express my feelings to myself. Through recent months, I have noticed that this blog has lost that functionality for me.  And I don't want to be in the business of publishing a coffee-table book.  
But I do want to thank everyone who ever read this blog. I was surprised, flattered, and most importantly honoured to have all you as readers who thought that this was worth your time!



But I am taking this Year of the Horse as a signal to end this blog (for now). I am grateful to all of you who accompanied me through the Year of the Snake and I maybe this blog has managed to add just a tiny touch of something positive to your life. That I would like.  






Time to go



Thursday 1 May 2014

The end of an era

Relax. It's just a car.  But it's a car that has served me well since 2002.  I was in my mid 30s when I bought that car ;-)  But it's not running and the repair costs by far exceed the value of the car. So it was time to call a tow truck and have it moved to a scrap yard.    It will take some time for this to really sink in. Even when I'm looking at the below picture, my brain still registers seeing 'my' car and somehow I expect it to be parked in front of my door.


When I tried to remove the little bracelet with red wooden beads that I received at the Chinese New Year parade 2012 from the car's rear-view mirror, the string broke and the little red beads that read Long Life and Luck were scattered all over the interior of the car.  Good thing I am not superstitious!