Went and caught Inception on its first day of screening here in Hong Kong. I went to a 9.20pm show and the theatre was about 70% full. Now to be honest, I’ve read many tweets beforehand that says it takes probably 5-6 viewings before one can fully understand the film. I am very surprised because I didn’t find it that hard to understand… In fact, the plot is pretty straightforward and there aren’t really that many twists and turns except for the final showdown, so I guess some of the younger audiences on Twitter are a bit too naive(?) or inexperienced in films like Inception to grasp it easily?I have to admit that I am really a nerd who love sci-fi and action and crazy exploration of the human minds and cyber punk kinda plot like this. I can’t even count how many times I’ve seen the Matrix since it came out when I was 16.

Anyway… it was quite an interesting film (nothing close to the Matrix and the intricacies of the Matrix universe, Nolan is no Wachowski), action sequences, while frustrating at times but there are a couple of really cool scenes that I really liked with Joseph Gordon-Levitt (my personal favourite since Third Rock from the Sun).His gravity-defying fight scenes are beautifully done though his movements crawling across walls and ceilings reminded me a lot of Nightcrawler in the second X-Men film adaptation, X2. Nonetheless, Arthur’s (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) character pretty much had the best action scenes in the film, I think.

Leo DiCaprio, I’ve like a few of his performances over the years, but this one seems to me a bit underwhelmed. His past few roles since Blood Diamond and The Departed, while solid, have seemed a bit repetitive to me. The same damaged man seeking for redemption. So I am a bit disappointed with him. Marion Cottilard, never quite the brilliant actress that she was with her Oscar-winning role as Edith Piaf. Her role in this film was interesting though, but could use a bit more fire. Ellen Page… now, she’s cute and it wasn’t as her performance wasn’t good, but somehow she annoys me in this one. All in all, the cast has a few gems but I think Nolan didn’t really used the great talents that he has on his hands like Ken Watanabe and Marion Cottilard.

As for the film, a lot of CGI as expected with pretty good pacing and editing, I like it well enough but I don’t think it merits repeated viewings. The script, sometimes convoluted with ideas and concepts, is effective enough and some lines memorable.

What’s the most resilient parasite? An Idea. A single idea from the human mind can build cities. An idea can transform the world and rewrite all the rules. (Cobb)

My personal favourite would have to be the way they frame concept of idea and how an idea can cause you to question reality, as per the premise of the movie, how do you know you are living in reality instead of being in a dream… Familiar though it is for the concept of reality vs the world that you think is reality (Matrix, anyone?), the rendering of the concept into the movie is neatly done.

I guess what makes this movie popular is the idea of the deconstruction of reality and the possibility of reconstructing reality that appeals to people the same way of Hollywood escapism did during the 30s and 40s with the fantastical sets and movie plots. To me, sometimes the movie looked like an extension of an MMORPG (Massively multiplayer online role-playing game) with the team of players (Cobb, Arthur and the rest of the gang) going into the subconscious of a target with the mission of planting a seed of an idea. Multi-levels of subconscious are like the different game levels that one has to go through in order to complete the mission.

Another tidbit with regard to the score for the movie is apparently, according to the composer Hans Zimmer, the entire soundtrack was different renditions of Edith Piaf’s (whose life story was brought to life by Marion Cottilard a few years back) Non, je ne Regrette Rien. Zimmer used some sort of complicated mathematical system to reconstruct different musical themes for the movie, by extracting “subdivisions and multiplications of the tempo of the Edith Piaf track”.

Interesting, no?

Went and saw SALT a couple of days ago. At the risk of sounding like a nerd, I have just two words, FREAKING AWESOME!!!!!!!
We all know how good Angelina Jolie is at action but Lara Croft can’t beat Evelyn Salt in utter kick-ass-ness (I think I need to invent a word just for Evelyn Salt). Angelina Jolie’s Evelyn Salt is tough, smart, edgy and nuanced. The character is absolutely moulded perfectly by Angelina Jolie in that you can’t help but want to know what else would happen next.
The next part, which happens to be my favourite scene in the movie, should be skipped for people who doesn’t like spoilers.

[spoiler]
You’ll want to sympathise with her when her husband is killed right in front of her but as you see her eyes taking note of each and every one of the people who is involved in killing him, you’ll know Evelyn is going to kill each of them … painfully. Her acting mettle is proven once again as you see her reining in her grief and shock as she looked on while her husband is killed, with a barely noticable trembling of her lips. It is reminiscent of Tony Leung’s character in Infernal Affairs (the original Hong Kong movie that The Departed was based on) as he saw the body of his boss and the only one who knows that he is a mole being thrown off the building and falling right in front of him. The brief shadow of grief as both these characters had to mask immediately as they cannot risk to be unveiled as a mole is an excellent show of control and a perfectly executed scene by a terrific actor.
[/spoiler]

The supporting cast, Liev Schrieber is excellent as usual, and Chiwetel Ejiofor’s character has actually quite minimal appearances in this movie but the character seems set for a more important role should there be a sequel. The only gripe I have in part of casting is the awfully acted part of the President by Hunt Block whose character is reduced into a rather bland performance that can probably be acted by anyone. His character does not exude any of the power that a President should have and all the lines are delivered in a way that makes me feel that this guy is sorely miscasted. He could probably play the janitor better.
The movie is edited to weave each twist and turn into a tightly woven ball of action that springs from one sequence to the next like the way Angelina jumps from vehicle to vehicle. There is no time to dwell on anything and it’s probably the best way to approach a summer action movie. But I did wish that there are a little more details that could be added to beef up the characters more and I think if there’s a director’s cut, it’ll probably be even better than the theatrical release.
Another gripe was the North Korean military at the opening sequence when Salt was being tortured. The language the actors was speaking was obviously with a South Korean accent so I was rather miffed that the director paid no heed to that. I suppose being Western, they saw no importance in that or didn’t even register the difference in doing so? And also as Salt was being released, the background blares of the speakers as per the norm of North Korea was curiously a delivery of Kim Jong-il’s propaganda, nothing wrong there BUT it was in ENGLISH! North Koreans are taught to loath anything Western (except whiskeys and cigars for Kim Jong-il) and now they’re listening to their Dear Leader’s pearls of wisdom in English? Details will take you a long way, Phillip Noyce…
My session was quite well attended, with the cinema about 70% full on an afternoon of a work day so I think it bodes well for the ticket sales in Hong Kong. A lot of youngsters and 20 somethings, a smattering of middle aged couples too, so the demographics looks promising.
But the movie is absolutely carried by Angelina and I can’t even imagine Tom Cruise in a role like this. I don’t hate him but I think he is probably better off doing half assed movies like Knight and Day (saw the trailer a few weeks back, thought it looked stupid). Angie is in every action sequence and the camera fixed firmly on her as she pulled off stunt after stunt. I don’t even think there’s any action star that comes close to her abilities in Hollywood.
I can probably write another 1000 words on the movie, dissecting scenes and costumes but you guys would not be interested. But this one is absolutely enjoyable, a good action flick without being thin on plot. Next up for me will be Inception, opening in Hong Kong next week. Hope it’ll be as good as the trailer looks.

It’s been a few weeks since finishing the final book but I find myself wanting to sleep on it a bit before I put pen to paper (or my hands on the keyboard in blogging life) my thoughts on this rather twisted tale of a woman often wronged and hunted vehemently due to circumstances not of her own making (most of the time anyway). It was, thus, by chance that I saw an interview by Charlie Rose (interview at link) with Larsson’s publishers in conjunction of the final installment coming out in the US (side note: I can’t believe it took so long for it to come out Stateside.). The interview wasn’t so much about the book itself but focused more on Larsson, I am guessing because of his rather intriguing life and the drama surrounding his will after his premature death and a secret, half-finished manuscript in a hidden computer somewhere. Ironically, these are stuff that one would expect to find in a novel such as his own and not in real life.

However, for all intents and purposes, I would rather focus more on Lisbeth (and a little on Mikael Blomqvist, main male protagonist and the books as well) rather than Larsson, interesting his life might have been. I would recommend to watch that interview though (and Larsson’s Wikipedia entry too) as it was most enlightening and I reckon it does better justice to Larsson than anything that I write here.

How do one go about describing Lisbeth Salander? Bitter, brave, brilliant, cynical, paranoid, distrusting most people but loyal when one actually manages to win that trust, a misandrist with an almost psychotic need to be independent (utterly understandable of course, given her background) and deeply insecure. She’s probably one of the most complex woman characters that I’ve read in a very long time. Her character is very hard to like but so easy to empathise with as you read more and more of the books. Traumatised and victimised, every step of her childhood has been inundated with horrible treatment by male figures in her life. Her father, an ex-KGB defector who’s violent, self-serving, smart and completely devoid of a conscience, killed her mother in cold blood and ordered her half-brother to kill her and let him bury her alive. And in addition to that, her father was the catalyst to all the shit that eventually happened to her. I guess at one time or other, we all have our moments with our daddy/mummy issues but for Lisbeth, her father is the freaking mother (pun intended!) of all our teenaged emo and angsty-ness rolled into one big lifetime of disasters that had been slowly but surely heading to the green since the day Lisbeth threw a self-made milk carton bomb into her father’s face at 12. As horrified as some people might get at the thought of a 12-year-old brilliant enough to make such a bomb and battered enough to execute the plan, the circumstances of Lisbeth and her background, so painstakingly laid out over the course of the first two books and culminating into the unveiling of her childhood in the last, allowed the readers the grim satisfaction of seeing the destruction of her father (and the secretive group masterminding the sabotage of her life) and grudging understanding and respect towards the hugely broken personality of Lisbeth. Lisbeth, abused as a child by her father, mistreated by her government as a social case, mentally and sexually assaulted by her doctor and again, sexually assaulted by her case worker as a grown up, seemed to be living in a cycle of abuses by men, figures of authority that, by law and by common understanding, are supposed to be the supporter and protector of such a child and such a citizen.

It is of no surprise that she turned out to be such a hater of men and utterly paranoid and suspicious of any institution of authority, preferring rather to turn to her own devices and on very rare occasions, allowing Mikael Blomqvist to help. The most pointed example of such was how she clawed her way out of the grave her half-brother buried her into after being shot by her father and how she had, with a bullet hole at the side of her head no less, scared her mentally unstable half-brother to run away and put in a couple of shots herself into her dratted father. It is probably took something of a miracle for her to actually fall for Blomqvist in the first book. Male characters in the books, barring a very few exclusions, really do unearth the nastiest of misogynist out there in the world into the rampant path of Lisbeth.

Most, almost two-thirds, of the male characters in the series are so horribly sexist and single-minded in their hatred of the opposite sex that you would almost think that Larsson had painted an exaggerated picture that is too removed from reality, somewhat of a caricature even. But the fact is, sometimes when people are biased and prejudiced, they become so blindingly, unbelievably stupid and cruel that one could hardly believe so. Case in point, a certain Führer back in the 40s who put it his life mission to exterminate a whole race of people. But of course, in a dramatic plot, an exaggerated version of people is too often useful to establish an understanding and arouse the feeling of injustice and anger at antagonists, strengthening the readers affinity to the protagonists. And maybe, just maybe, with all the advances of feminine power in the modern times, the traditional patriarchal roots and beliefs of our society is simply not as shaken and restructured as we have thought to be and wanted to be.

I have long believed that when one writes, particularly in fictional works, there are pieces of the author or the creator of the characters that go into elements of the work. I think a lot of Larsson’s life and work have gone into his main characters, with his professional background, experiences and ideals going into shaping the character and life of Blomqvist. Something that Blomqvist said to his sister at the end of the trilogy is a blinding metaphysical presence of Larsson himself in this story when he said:

“…When it comes down to it, this story is not primarily about spies and secret government agencies; it’s about violence against women and the men who enable it…”

This is precisely, as I would suppose, his central premise of this saga. In fact, as his publisher said in the aforementioned interview with Charlie Rose, he wanted the book to be titled Men Who Hate Women (as it is titled in the original Swedish version of the first book). His beliefs and fight against discrimination is obvious in how he started each chapter of his first book by quoting statistics and factoids about crime against women.

In the end, with Larsson’s premature death, will these three books be his final act of activism against discrimination, his legacy and culmination of his life long fight against powers that poach on the weak and the helpless? I think this would be up to the readers to determine. As for myself, I think that it is probably more prudent to take these stories as it is and let the individual take away their own meanings, regardless of all the hype that surrounds the books and the films. Many have written that Lisbeth has reshaped the mould of feminist power in the media. I think it is rather difficult to actually gauge such influences and I am reluctant to make sweeping statements about how a character like Lisbeth can reshape feminine portrayals or even the thinking of the next generation of women. It is probably as complicated as the circumstances that moulded her character.

So there I was, looking through some of my numerous journals and snippets of writings that I’ve done over the past year and I found an old review that I wrote a year ago. A very short one and more of an opinion rather than a full-fledged book review of The Last Watch by Sergey Lukyanenko.

This was what I wrote:

The Last Watch will definitely appeal to the loyal followers of the series, even though the pace of the book is not as well written as the last three books.
In line with the last three books, Lukyanenko explores the theme of black and white, good and evil, though not as evident as the last book. Even more so, he weaved the story of birth and death, the cycle of life and the sacrifices/ misguided deeds of good and evil. The action is less gripping than The Night Watch and The Day Watch, but more time was spent exploring the thoughts of Anton as he chases after yet another mystery. There were less about the conflicts between the Watches as they had to work together (though only mentioned marginally) to stop the Last Watch from reaching their goal for Merlin’s last creation.
I remain still very much a fan, even though this book was not as good as I had expected from the genius of Lukyanenko. Even so, I find it difficult to say good-bye to the series after the attachment to it for the past few years. As Anton says to Nadya at the end, “You didn’t think this was the last watch, did you?” I do hope that he will continue this series though many have written that this is the finale to this brilliant series. Fingers crossed!

I think I do feel the same a year after reading the book in question and remain hopeful that Lukyanenko will write another installment though I have my doubts. Quitting while you’re ahead and all that. There are many a franchise whose quality of work suffered due to overkill after all. *cough*Harry Potter*cough*

I am contemplating on writing something about the Millennium Series by the late Stieg Larsson which proved to be a relaxing distraction after finally finishing the dual biography of Sartre and Beauvoir, Dangerous Liaison by Carole Seymour-Jones, which probably warrants another long, rambling post about open relationships, monogamy and feminism. But that is for another day, possibly when I am feeling particularly morbid and introspective.
Anyway, going back to Larsson’s trilogy. I’m currently in the final stretch of the second instalment and I find myself wondering if I should go out and buy the final book. It’s not that I don’t like his books, I do, but as I am reading the second book, it seems to be getting a bit too easy to predict the plot development. I might be wrong since I have been very good and haven’t skipped to the ending first as I am wont to do. With another hundred pages to go, I guess I’ll know soon enough.

]]> http://myfisheyeview.wordpress.com/2010/05/21/digging-up-old-posts-and-thoughts-on-books/feed/ 0 老人 lastwatch http://myfisheyeview.wordpress.com/2009/12/11/love-is-love-and-nothing-else/ http://myfisheyeview.wordpress.com/2009/12/11/love-is-love-and-nothing-else/#comments Fri, 11 Dec 2009 05:36:33 +0000 baka http://myfisheyeview.wordpress.com/?p=9 Continue reading →]]>

“To this day, occasionally I’ll have a friend who will say something about my ‘lifestyle,’” he said. “My lifestyle? I live with somebody I love. We’ve been together 23 years. We make dinner, we have arguments, he has to walk the dog, we go on vacation. It was important to depict that. Love is love.”   – Tom Ford -

Read this article about Tom Ford’s first film, “A Single Man” and I thought what he said about his personal life was spot on. Sometimes people overthink sexual orientation and I don’t know, maybe fear?, makes them bigoted and stupid.
What does it matter to others, who one chooses to love, anyway?
One should be so lucky to find love, let alone be loved in return.

Physically because I am sick and have been since Sept. 1, 2007. Which says a lot since it’s the day right after our much lauded big 5-0 celebration.

Mentally because after all my efforts in ignoring any articles that mention anything remotely to do with a certain individual with initials of K and J, I managed to read something particularly puke-inducing when I was reading up on our dear Marina Mahathir’s blog(I’ve been reading her writings since my school days so I am a fan, I guess). Apparently someone who is, IMHO, totally undeserving is going to hoist our beloved flag during the re-enactment of the declaration of Independence 50 years ago. I am so tempted to call the flag Jalur Temberang now… but I guess dear ol’ Zam will ask to have my sorry arse hauled to Bukit Aman for insulting our country’s symbol. But if possible, I would like to have their asses hauled to Bukit Aman for insulting my intelligence in all their years of ‘service’ in the government. Wishful thinking I guess.

As I read Marina’s posts over the last week about Merdeka and all that I have read over the past months (which weren’t much since I have been ignoring most of the ass kissing stuff that seems to be in the papers a lot) , I do feel a bit sad. The thing is, what I feel about it now is pretty much how I feel physically… nauseous.

I can’t remember the last time I read anything with Malaysia Boleh tagged to it that made me feel proud since the ’98 Commonwealth Games. I mean, sheesh… who cares about the longest or biggest feast of some kind of Malaysian food that goes to waste after it’s been recorded in the dumb book of records when there are people starving or children who can’t afford to go to school in our day and era where the country’s economy is supposedly booming.

How can I feel proud of my country when I don’t even feel safe to walk in the streets after dark or even in my own home? How can I feel proud when I hear our people’s representatives in the sacred House of Parliament getting away scoot free after doing the most ludicrous of acts and a sham of an investigation? How can I feel proud of my country when people can’t even understand the mechanics of queuing up to get on a public transport and acts like some kind of uncivilized animal each time there is a crowd or when there’s free food?

On the eve of the big party, I actually managed to forget all about it and went to bed before it even occurred to me that I should be celebrating. And I can’t believe that I felt so little of it that I didn’t even remember to watch out for the fireworks. And I used to be such a sucker for Merdeka celebrations.

Each year since I was old enough to remember, I would be either watching the parade on TV or be a part of the parade. I remember the days under the hot sun where I would be practicing with my school band for weeks before the big day. I remember waking up at 4 am to get to school by 5 am because we needed to attend the rehearsals for the parade. I remember marching by our dear Sultan and I remember congregating on the Padang Ipoh afterwards with all the other contingents and singing along to Sudirman’s Tanggal 31 song (oddly a fave song of mine) while we were waiting. How much have changed since those days!

I love my country because this is where I was born and bred. I love my country because it made me who I am when I was born a Malaysian. I love my country because it is the only home I’ve ever known. I love my country because I am Malaysian.

I do not shout words that ring hollow while waving an ornamental weapon. I do not say Malaysia Boleh each time the opportunity presents itself. Heck, I don’t even have a Malaysian flag!

But I know the words of Negara-ku by heart, I still remember the notes of this song even though I haven’t played it on any musical instrument for over 6 years. I know the Rukun Negara by heart. I still have that tingling feeling when I hear our national song even though the tempo’s been changed multiple times for god knows why. I still remember the day when Tunku died and I stayed home and watched the funeral on TV even though I didn’t know much about him then. I remember the sorrow and solemnity even though I didn’t understand it then.

I remember all that should be remembered that is in essence what being Malaysian is about. I wonder if I can say the same of our leaders.

Merdeka? Yes, we gained independence in 1957.

Merdeka? I wish we have the same independence in our mentality in 2007.

A few years back when I was in Bangkok for a short holiday, I read in the Bangkok Post (or some other Thai English daily…) that Bangkok was plagued with poor roads and potholes… and that even one of the ministers who were inspecting roads fell into a pothole. Ironic and hilarious.

Poor roads and traffic jams, I guess, that’s one similarity that most people in both cities can agree on. How many times have motorists been stuck in a jam for god knows how long? My guess is, daily. And not only on federal roads. Highways, which are suppose to make traveling faster, hence the toll fares, are jammed. How on earth did that happen? Why are we paying to escape a jam just to get into another massive one?

And what about our periodic bouts of flash floods in the city? Each time there’s a thunderstorm, our dear ol’ KL gets flooded. Remember last year? Remember the year before last? Remember all those times that we saw all the pictures and footages of underground car parks and walkways being submerged in muddy water? And all those outrage and angry statements by various leaders? Has there been any change since the last time that happened? This question can be answered if you flip the pages of Malaysian dailies on June 11, 2007.

Speaking on which, SMART tunnel which was supposed to help avert traffic and flash floods, will start charging RM2 per trip on Friday, June 15. But how effective has this one-month trial been so far? I’ve traveled via the SMART tunnel a few times, mostly to KLIA and Puchong. My trips to KLIA, I think during non-peak times, I might have saved about 10-15 minutes? Not a whole lot. To and from Puchong, I guess, if I didn’t have to show up for work on time, I would have been able to reach my office in town within 25 minutes. But then again, I don’t have that luxury. So I was still stuck in a jam because hey, surprise, there’s a lot of people who has to reach the office by 9 too. However, I believe the trip was lessened by 20 minutes. Which is a whole lot less nap time for me in the car.

But the dumbest thing would have to be that the existence of this new tunnel means that Jln Tun Razak and Jln Bukit Bintang would be more jammed than ever. Correct me if I’m wrong, isn’t part of the reason for this tunnel is too help avert traffic?

For the millions that have been spent on building faraway sport complexes in England and millions paid to send two fellas up to space to play batu seremban and drink teh tarik, why aren’t our tax money being channeled to develop better public transport (which IMHO, would have been able to help avert traffic much better) or even hire some competent city planner or civil engineers to actually help plan the city better? Sometimes I wonder why am I slogging over my tax returns every April. Besides the fact that law requires me too, of course.

Public transport while not that far reaching or efficient, do serve the purpose for those who has access to it. Not too expensive and quite convenient if you want to go to the city, I can’t really complain that much. But if you do live somewhere without access to the LRT or Monorail or even the Komuter, tough luck.

How do you survive the traffic jams, floods or potholes (I still snicker when I think of the minister who fell into the Bangkok pothole…I wonder when our dear Samy is going to fall into one)? My advice, learn to fly or swim. Or remember that sometimes walking short distances are actually more effective than taking a taxi or driving. Traffic fumes aren’t as bad as you thought here in KL, especially in the evening. Sometimes it can be enjoyable.

Take a walk, open your eyes and look at the city you live in. It might be dysfunctional but there are sights that you might not have noticed. Look at the beautiful little white flowers that are being planted around the sidewalks. Look at the Twin Towers which is really quite majestic, especially all lit up in blue at night. Look at the beautiful blue sky (well, not during our hazy months of course). Look at the butterflies and dragonflies and birds and bees and those frangipani trees by the roads. I think I spotted some squirrels flashing by in trees and the odd electrical line (fried squirrels anyone?)…

For all the flaws and imperfections, KL is not that bad at all. In the mean time, learn how to swim…it’ll be handy during rainy seasons.

It doesn’t matter, not really, that some of those poor unfortunately souls (like yours truly) who have been stuck waiting at the platform at the train station for the past 20 minutes and have already seen 4 trains pass by. Some, well mostly young, immaculately dressed ladies and middle-aged ‘executive-looking’ ladies, feel inclined to turn a blind eye to most people queuing up. For all they care, we’re just organisms blocking the direct route to the train as it rolls up to the platform.

When it comes to crunch time, no one, and I really do mean NO ONE, come hell or high water (or in this case, old pakciks and pregnant moms), stands in the way of these people. They are really, really good at taking positions to bypass everyone else who feels the ‘incomprehensible’ need to queue up. I mean, in my line of work, I’ve seen how reporters, photographers and cameramen take positions and it’s not pretty. But these people, they are better than the pros. It’s like watching poetry in motion when you watch these people slip in through the queues and effectively taking up places meant for people who are actually stupid enough to stand in one. And not to mention the shoving and pushing.

Sometimes I think I’d rather be an ant. Ever seen an ant cut queue or pushing other ants away to get to the front?

But then again, I’m digressing. How to survive Kuala Lumpur really when you have to take public transport? You’ll just have to go with the flow, I guess. The flow, meaning which the fella who’s being pushed by the fella behind who’s being pushed by the other fella behind him/her…

For what it’s worth, it’s always fun to see the bemused expressions of tourists (especially the Westerners…most of the others… are just as good in the art shoving and queue cutting as any local here) .

Photo courtesy of Sean Eng

In the silence I’m left,
Pacing, pacing.
Roaming in the deafening silence,
Grasping and clawing.
The air is closing,
My breaths are quickening.
I can’t see,
I can’t feel.
All I know is the silence is pressing,
Waiting and lurking,
To pull me the moment my step falters.

My steps grows quick,
Click, click, click.
I only hear the rythm of the fall of my feet.
Thud, thud, thud,
My heartbeat grows as my step quickens,
The only sound that fills my ears are my own.
The road is ever reaching,
Into the endless darkness.
I can’t know,
I can’t think,
What chases behind and what awaits in front.
Smirking and scheming,
Ready to pounce the moment my mind wavers.

The rain’s pouring and the wind’s howling,
I’m pacing, just pacing,
In the dark alleys of the unknown,
With the dread of nothingness swallowing me,
And wrapping its icy fingers around me.

This is me

My restless soul rises once more

Seeking to wander along lives yet unexplored

Seeking to experiences that gives me new perspectives

Seeking to meet people who inspire instead of demoralise

Seeking to inspire and not dishearten

This is me