高兴

Forbidden City, Beijing, China

很多事情感到了便我高兴。

看看星星便我高兴。

清晨去海滩散步让我高兴。

拍照东西便我高兴。

老人交谈便我高兴。

身体好的, 我也高兴。

我成为一名医生，我非常高兴。

Without Borders

Heard of Medicine Sans Frontier? They are the Doctors without Borders. Similarly they have the Reporters Without Borders. Apart from these well known ones, there are other similar "without borders" groups that are working for one cause or another. 

The A-Z Guide of World's "Without Borders" Groups discusses the many other groups that individuals have formed for one cause or another.

Some of the few interesting ones were:

Bees Without Borders

Geeks Without Borders

Braille Without Borders

Mothers Without Borders - this came about as they were trying to reduce the number of children who were being orphaned.

Bands Without Borders

Clowns Without Borders

And many more at The A-Z Guide of World's "Without Borders" Groups. 

Check 'Em Out. Chances are you might end up signing up for any one of them. :-)

There are no such thing as limits to growth, because there are no limits to the human capacity for intelligence, imagination, and wonder. - Ronald Reagan

Freedom to Sue

Suing one for defamation charges seems all fair and square. But repeating the same charge on different people, on some cases, regular individuals who might just be expressing their opinions... 

What happened to our Freedom of Speech? The Right to Express? Democracy???

How far does this freedom extent to? Where does it start and end? The fact that freedom has to start and end at some point is pathetic enough. 

An UK Author was charged for his book on Capital Punishment in Singapore and the feedback he is now experiencing, is in the form of a prison sentence and a massive fine.

Are we acknowledging his claim then?

Repeat Mode: Temple of Soul

Courtesy of Stockvault

The sun, the moon, the stars, the twilight
The wind, a breath of life in our heart so soft
Can life be so beautiful now
Peace is in the air

So why, oh why, am I so much in despair
The light won't reach my heart and I'm torn apart
I don't know if I could smile anymore

Won't you please tell me what was lost inside of me that day
I cry out in dark dismay
I'm covering the tears in rain
Red memories remain

You're the key that stops the rain
You're the vision still the same
But deep inside I know
Without I'm left alone, in a cage called life

You're the one that stops the pain
Your love is in my veins
Forever you will live inside
My temple of Soul

The smile, the wound, the sand, the heart inside
Wind blows life within our heart so slow
Yes, nothing to be afraid, of now
Peace is in the air.

But why do I feel, the world is so so unfair
Your touch is lost, oblivion darkness and
I cannot stand the solitaire

Tell me why I was left instead of you
Please talk to me
Can I stand up when it rains
Tears penetrate my heart with pain red memories still stay

- Temple of Soul - Kazuhiro Watanabe - 

Tokyo Crossing in Shanghai

Around Huai Hai Lu, the expensivo street of Shanghai filled with brands that are beyond my purchasing ability, stood a junction. What I hadn't noticed before was the junction was very similar to the crowded Tokyo junction. Given it was broad daylight, you could see the crowds moving in all 4 directions and diagonally as well. What completed the picture was the traffic police who was doing his dance in the middle of the junction. Ok maybe not dance dance, but signalling for the vehicles to pass and the pedestrian to stay could very well be a dance. 

No I haven't got pictures. I left Maria at home. :( However, I did find a similar one online. :D

Tokyo Crossing by Duncan McKenzie

Now the junction at Huai Hai Lu was almost the same, except you will have to imagine the streets to be much narrower, a lot more people, (I barely saw the black and white zebra line), and in the middle; instead of an empty square stood a "dancing" traffic policeman. :-)

A Changing Horizon

So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. - Christopher Mccandless

Shane

Shane

She is the musically inclined one in the family. I have been learning to strum her for a while now. Although the attempts are proving largely difficult and literally painful for me phalanges.

And I love her...