archive of March, 2009
From my bedroom windows and from the balcony bordering the den I can watch a dozen tiny, brown birds bathing at the edge of the kids’ wading pool below then shaking themselves dry and preening in the three small pine trees which are very close to the apartment. The palm trees of various species, with fronds waving in the wind, aren’t suitable perches for the birds. They favor the textured, skinny, horizontal branches of the young pines which aren’t moved much by breezes. »→
Humans are amphibians – half spirit and half animal. As spirits they belong to the eternal world, but as animals they inhabit time. ~ C. S. Lewis
I just watched a Formula One race on television – the season-opener in Melbourne, Australia. The race began at 5 p.m. there – 2.p.m. here in Malaysia. Racers of Brawn GP, formerly Honda F1, Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello had qualified Saturday to start in positions one and two! An auspicious start for Brawn GP, which as Honda F1 had been languishing for years. »→
I had my first vehicular accident this afternoon on the way back from Penang Hill. I’d thought that I’d wreck sooner or later amidst the zaniness on the roads here. I thought maybe at night, on a wet, oily road, that I’d have to dodge someone and would lay-down the bike. »→
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God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing. ~ C. S. Lewis
Malaysian motorcyclists’ credo: Anything goes. »→
You don’t have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body. ~ C.S. Lewis
The parish will have a blood-donation day on April 5. Until then, I’m an involuntary donor. Mosquitos love me. The ankle-biters visit me each week. They like my neck, hands, ankles and feet, perhaps because they don’t have much hair for the skeeters to avoid. I think that they get me when I sleep. We leave windows and balcony door open day and night for airflow through the apartment, and Asia doesn’t have window screens, so the bugs are free to come in. Oh, well. Small nuisance.
Well, mail doesn’t take too long to arrive here (unlike the Philippines). A friend sent mail from Baguio City on Monday, March 16, and it arrived here on Saturday, March 21. My brother mailed a small parcel from Tampa on Friday, March 13, it arrived in Malaysia on March 19, then I received it here on March 23. I sent postcards in February from Kuala Lumpur to U.S. and Germany, and transit times weren’t long, so I was glad.
A New York Times travel section article in January pegged Penang as number 22 of ”The 44 places to go in 2009.”
Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws. ~ Plato
Man’s way leads to a hopeless end – God’s way leads to an endless hope.
I woke feeling worn-out. I suppose that it was from excessive swimming and motorcycling. When I arose, I could see rain clouds, and I thought that maybe the incoming weather helped to make me achy. I stayed home to await the apartment’s owner and a floor tile installer who wanted to see the cracked, uprising tiles and plan a repair job. I’m having a slow, easy day so far. I walked along the promenade beside the channel. Penang kids are enjoying their spring break by playing in The OceanView pools, bicycling and roller-skating along the esplanade and in their neighborhoods.
After four days of ownership, someone stole my motorcyclist helmet and left in its place a flimsy, small, yellow hard hat with a ribbon chin strap. It seemed to be made by Fisher Price. I was peeved. I knew that I should have parked the bike within sight of the restaurant. After twenty minutes in Sushi King, I emerged to walk around the corner to my bike, and I could hardly believe my eyes. A midget’s PlaySkool hard hat with a small headband was perched on the bike’s seat as if that were a fair trade.
Filipino experts in poor customer service in 2008 and 2009:
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Ace Hardware in SM City mall in Baguio City
Air 21 in SM City mall in Baguio City
2Go in Patria de Baguio building in Baguio City
C. A. Optical beside Mabini Street in Baguio City
Columbia Digital Sales Corporation
Curamed pharmacy – west side of Session Road in Baguio City »→
Weather here is warm yet breezy, sometimes overcast, sometimes cloudy, occasionally with a light rain shower. Most apartments in The OceanView have 1-3 small air conditioners. Dominic’s bedroom has one, mine has one, but the guest bedroom and den have only ceiling fans. Dom and I don’t use air conditioners, because the breeze coming from the channel between us and the mainland is sufficient. When breeze slows at night, ceiling fans can be used. Our apartment is on the third floor, at treetop level, and we easily get airflow through the apartment, unlike the one in Tuding.
Peace can only last where human rights are respected, where the people are fed, and where nations and individuals are free. ~ Dalai Lama.
After two days of demolition — Malays using a pneumatic hammer to destroy the tile floor in the apartment beside ours – some of the beautiful, white tile in our den has cracked and bulged upward between the heavy TV and the balcony doors. I heard cracking/crackling sounds while reading on my bed, so I rushed to the den. I assumed that the weight of the TV was overstressing the particle-board TV stand and that it was about to collapse. As I lifted the TV from the stand to set it onto the floor, I relieved weight on the TV stand and the floor beneath it, so the tile on my right cracked more quickly then buckled upward so that I knew what was happening. »→