Ominous

This is a picture I found from AFP captured outside the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai. I've been following the siege closely during the past few days and I must say the attack echoes the ominous feeling I had when I saw the second plane crash into the World Trade Center live in on CNN. Below are some pictures from AP. It should give you a glimpse at the raw emotion and chaos.


They are the relatives of a 16 year old boy, Haresh Gohil, who was killed by the gunmen during the attack. What more can you say? (Picture from AP)


The sad truth is, as genuine as their plea might be, these kind of images are so often-seen that it's almost sarcastic. (Picture from AP)


I'm no saint and I tend to hold grudges, sometimes too much for my own good. But her expression makes me really wish "as long as you're okay," even to the ones who have hurt me the most. They are relatives of the Oberoi Trident hotel manager, reacting as his body arrives at his hometown. (Picture from AP)


Indian Muslims release pigeons during their anti-terrorist protest in Mumbai with a sign saying, "kill terror not terrorist." (Picture from AP)

Although a group has already claimed responsibility for the attack, it seems unlikely that the real culprits and their motives will be uncovered any time soon. As the authorities try to figure out which way to point their fingers and their blame, I'm reminded, oddly enough, of what Alfred, played by the great Michael Caine, said in The Dark Knight, "Some men aren't looking for anything logical. He can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn."

I really do hope we haven't crossed that point of no return where we have finally given up on trying to understand each other and just let the guns start blazing. With the economy and the environment already in troubled water, I feel like chaos is hitting our shores in waves. It feels like we're on a slippery slope to our own Armageddon and I hope for our own sake that we will hang on and not let the hate and pain sweep us away.

Jason Mraz ft. James Morrison: Details in the Fabric

Calm down
Deep breaths
And get yourself dressed instead
Of running around
And pulling all your threads and
Breaking yourself up

If it's a broken part, replace it
But, if it's a broken arm then brace it
If it's a broken heart then face it

And hold your own
Know your name
And go your own way
Hold your own
Know your own name
And go your own way

And everything will be fine
Everything will be fine
mmmhmm

Hang on
Help is on the way
Stay strong
I'm doing everything

Hold your own
Know your name
And go your own way
Hold your own
Know your name
And go your own way

And everything, everything will be fine
Everything

Are the details in the fabric
Are the things that make you panic
Are your thoughts results of static cling?

Are the things that make you blow
Hell, no reason, go on and scream
If you're shocked it's just the fault
Of faulty manufacturing.

Yeah everything will be fine
Everything in no time at all
Everything

Hold your own
And know your name
And go your own way

Are the details in the fabric (Hold your own, know your name)
Are the things that make you panic
Are your thoughts results of static cling? (Go your own way)

Are the details in the fabric (Hold your own, know your name)
Are the things that make you panic (Go your own way)
Is it Mother Nature's sewing machine?

Are the things that make you blow (Hold your own, know your name)
Hell no reason go on and scream
If you’re shocked it's just the fault (Go your own way)
Of faulty manufacturing

Everything will be fine
Everything in no time at all
Hearts will hold

Dashboard Confessional: This Ruined Puzzle

This ruined puzzle is beige with the pieces all face down
so the placing goes slowly.
The picture's of anything other than it's mean to be.
But the hours they creep,
the patterns repeat.
Don't be concerned, you know I'll be fine on my own.
I never said "don't go."
I've hidden a note,
it's pressed between pages that you've marked to find your way back.
It says, "Does he ever get the girl?"
But what if the pages stay pressed,
the chapters unfinished,
the storied too dull to unfold?
Does he ever get the girl?

This basement's a coffin.
I'm buried alive.
I'll die in here just to be safe.
I'll die in here just to be safe.
'Cause you're gone.
I get nothing
and you're off with barely a sigh.
I never said, "Goodbye."

but i've hidden a note,
it's pressed between pages that you've marked to find your way back.
It says, "Does he ever get the girl?"

but i've hidden a note,
it's pressed between pages that you'll read if you're so incline.
It says, "Does he ever get the girl?"

But the hours they creep,
the patterns repeat.
Don't be concerned, you know I'll be fine on my own.
I never said "don't go."

Does he ever get the girl?

Why the fuck...

Why am I thinking about it again?
Seriously, I'm trying hard to be better, I move on and I keep busy...
and I make sure I change the channel in my fucked up head...
So why do I still feel every bit the same after all this time?
I can't help but think it's not fair,
What happens when you let go but the memories just won't leave?
No use apologizing, but it's suppose to be my story and I should get
to write the ending...
Not like this...
I realized how fucking useless I am,
let me forget or shoot me in the head cuz I've decided
the fuck with it all...

Not Again

Not again, you creep into my head
there's nothing familiar about this place,
so howcome when the rain starts to pour I still see your face?
not again, I thought I was done
on my way, on my own but still I realized you had won
long time ago when I decided I'd give you all I had
along with the will to hate
it was never much, but I suppose
this is why we're a world away

I was never a singer, maybe that would have been better
sing my heart our for you and make you love no other
I was never a painter, I'm sure that would have been better
draw the way you hide in your coat like that lovely winter
I was never too good a lover, maybe that's what really mattered
sorry for all the times I made you cry you deserved better

so is it too late to say goodbye?
what's the point anyway when you're not by my side
so is it too late to apologize?
somewhere down the line I hope you can still be mine

Not again tonight, I remembered how you are not mine
but that's fine, cuz someday you will still be mine
at least that's what I tell myself when I lie
not again tonight...

Transient ordered to pay $101M for setting fires

So, you sentence a HOMELESS guy who started two fires to prison where he gets free food and shelter and probably even makes a couple bucks an hour making license plates. AND THEN you order him to pay the state millions of dollar which he never had...Really, California?

LOS ANGELES – A homeless man has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison and ordered to pay more than $101 million for starting two fires, including one that burned more than 163,000 acres in California two years ago.

Fifty-year-old Steven Emory Butcher was convicted in February of starting blazes in the Los Padres National Forest in 2002 and 2006.

The 2006 fire raged for more than a month and cost more than $78 million to suppress. It injured 18 people, destroyed 11 structures and was the fifth-largest fire in California history, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

The 2002 blaze burned 70 acres.

Suing the gang next door: Yakuza dragged to court

I thought this was a very interesting article that depicts a very peculiar balance of societal norms in Japan and to a large extent, places like Hong Kong, Korean and Taiwan.

In these regions, "syndicates" are not always viewed in terms of black and white, good and evil. They sometimes operate just like any other businesses without little harrassment.

KURUME, Japan: Just like any other business, the Dojinkai was always attentive to the needs of the residents surrounding its headquarters here. Its members adhered to the sacred rules of living in a Japanese neighborhood by handing out small moving-in gifts, exchanging greetings with the neighbors and, needless to say, properly sorting out their trash.

Never mind that the Dojinkai has long been one of Japan's top organized crime syndicates, or yakuza. When it came to the all-important social rules governing Japanese neighborhoods, the Dojinkai was neighborly enough that a young hairstylist did not hesitate to open a fashionable salon, complete with music by Enya, a stone's throw away from the headquarters.

But residents began worrying two years ago after factional fighting spilled out onto the streets, one time with machine-gun fire and explosions.

More than 600 residents recently went to court to oust the Dojinkai from its six-story headquarters, located in a prominent commercial area near the main train station in this medium-size city in western Japan.

The lawsuit was the first of its kind in Japan, where the yakuza's offices tend to be out in the open. It shined a spotlight on how the yakuza - long considered a necessary evil, tolerated by, and sometimes politically allied with, the authorities - occupy a place much closer to society's mainstream than its American counterparts do. But it has also challenged that seemingly secure position...

Full Article at: http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/16/asia/yakuza.php

James Morrison- This Boy

This boy wants to play
There's no time left today
It's a shame coz he has to go home
This boy's got to work, got to sweat
Just to pay what he gets to get left all alone

Let's step outside
Let's go for a ride just for a while
No we won't get caught
Well that's what I thought until we cried

I'm still here
But it hasn't been easy
I'm sure
That you had your reasons
I'm scared
Of all this emotion
For years I've been holding it down
For years I've been holding it down

This girl tries her best every day
But it's all gone to waste
Coz there's no one around
This girl she can draw she can paint
Likes to dance she can skate
Now she don't make a sound

We'll play in the park until it's too dark for us to see
Well we'll make our way home
With mud on our clothes
She won't be pleased

For years I've been holding it down
And I'd love to forgive and forget
So I'll try to put all this behind us
Just know that my arms are wide open
The older I get the more than I know
Well it's time to let this go

I got to let it go
I got to let it go
I got to let it go
I got to let it go

James Blunt- Same Mistake

If I could do it all again, I'd do it in a heartbeat

Saw the world turning in my sheets and once again I cannot sleep.
Walk out the door and up the street; look at the stars beneath my feet.
Remember rights that I did wrong, so here I go.
Hello, hello. There is no place I cannot go.
My mind is muddy but my heart is heavy. Does it show?
I lose the track that loses me, so here I go.
And so I sent some men to fight, and one came back at dead of night.
Said he'd seen my enemy. Said he looked just like me,
So I set out to cut myself and here I go.
I'm not calling for a second chance,
I'm screaming at the top of my voice.
Give me reason but don't give me choice.
'Cause I'll just make the same mistake again.
And maybe someday we will meet, and maybe talk and not just speak.
Don't buy the promises 'cause, there are no promises I keep.
And my reflection troubles me, so here I go.
I'm not calling for a second chance,
I'm screaming at the top of my voice.
Give me reason but don't give me choice.
'Cause I'll just make the same mistake,
I'm not calling for a second chance,
I'm screaming at the top of my voice.
Give me reason but don't give me choice.
'Cause I'll just make the same mistake again.
Saw the world turning in my sheets and once again I cannot sleep.
Walk out the door and up the street; look at the stars.
Look at the stars fall down.
And wonder where did I go wrong.

Semisonic: Closing Time

Closing time - time for you to go out, go out into the world.
Closing time - turn the lights up over every boy and every girl.
Closing time - one last call for alcohol, so finish your whiskey or beer.
Closing time - you dont have to go home but you cant stay here.

I know who I want to take me home.
I know who I want to take me home.
I know who I want to take me home.
Take me home...

Closing time - time for you to go back to the places you will be from.
Closing time - this room wont be open til your brothers or you sisters come.
So gather up your jackets, and move it to the exits - I hope you have found a
Friend.
Closing time - every new beginning comes from some other beginnings end.

Yeah, I know who I want to take me home.
I know who I want to take me home.
I know who I want to take me home.
Take me home...

Closing time - time for you to go back to the places you will be from...

I know who I want to take me home.
I know who I want to take me home.
I know who I want to take me home.
Take me home...

1973

Simona
You're getting older
Your journey's been
Etched on your skin.

Simona
Wish I had know that
What seemed so strong
Has been and gone.

Chrous:
I would call you up every Saturday night
And we'd both stay out 'til the morning light
And we sang "Here we go again."
And though time comes by
I will always be in a club with you in 1973
Singing "Here we go again."

Simona
Wish I was sober
So I could see clearly now
The rain has gone.

Simona
I guess it's over
My memory plays our tune
The same old song.

I would call you up every Saturday night
And we'd both stay out 'til the morning light
And we sang "Here we go again."
And though time goes by
I will always be in a club with you in 1973
Singing "Here we go again."

I would call you up every Saturday night
And we'd both stay out 'til the morning light
And we sang "Here we go again."
And though time goes by
I will always be in a club with you in 1973
Singing "Here we go again."

I would call you up every Saturday night
And we'd both stay out 'til the morning light
And we sang "Here we go again."
And though time goes by
I will always be in a club with you in 1973
Singing "Here we go again."
And though time goes by
I will always be in a club with you in 1973

Maybe

I'm so sorry, I guess the time just wasn't right....

Maybe it's the moonlight, that set us free
Maybe it's the way you walk, I can still see
Maybe it's the way you smell, that light-scented sweet
Maybe it's just you and me, that makes it so easy...

Loneliness is a friend I should never have,
but I've come to live with it lord knows why
Perhaps one day you will understand,
Why I have to go, the burden is mine

I'm sorry you are a victim of my insecurity
I never meant to hurt you, that please believe
hate me, curse me, do what you will to ease
the pain cuz I can't change what's inside of me

Maybe one day you will see the world form my view
and understand why there is always a wound
in my heart, a gaping void filled only with solitude
I'm sorry I made you cry, made you feel the world is cruel
but please understand my pain,
I have a demon inside of me, insecurity is his name

Client Education

Barring recent events, I have decided to give my two cents on this subject.

Client education, without it we, as PR "professionals" are nothing more than mindless monkeys sitting in front of the monitor punching every single word that is being dictated to us.

In the relatively young business market of China, PR and advertising is a new industry that enjoys little regulation and a bright open space to run and play. However, that privilege also comes at the price of an understanding. Actually, it's more of a lack of understanding from the client's part on how exactly to utilize this new toy they have called "public relations."

Rather than valuing its indirect approach, clients in China should not demand the same media approach as "advertising," which is ALWAYS bought, not earned. PR can seem very obscure and even insignificant at times because it is about the manipulation of media to achieve a goal, not simply buying an outcome. That's what makes PR more effective than advertising interms of credibility. If the clients do not understand this key difference, we are nothing more than monkeys typing out a not-so-good novel dictated through our ears. We, as PR professionals, are here to give strategic consulting, creative solutions, not providing grammar checks and type jobs. We are the brains, not the hands.

Somebody please drill this into their heads. WOOSA.

He's Got the Whole World In His Hands

If you don't know what happened today, you need to come out of your cave, rock or whatever it is that you've been trapped in or under.

Barack Obama will be sworn in office in January, 2009 and he will be the 44th President of what's still the world's greatest superpower today. Oh, did I mention he is also the first African American to accomplish such a feat?

Obama's now-famous campaign slogan, Change We Can Believe In, is a testament to his historic candidacy and the belief he has instilled not just in America, but perhaps around the world. As a product in today's multicultural world, those in my generation knows no geographical bound and I often pride myself on being at the very least, open and aware to various cultures.

Today, however, I found out what it really meant to be "diverse." In Kenya, the government announced a public holiday for Obama as people danced and sang. In the UK, people watched the election in theaters and some expressed hopes that one day a Black Prime Minister may be the face of all Britons. In Pakistan, people expressed high hopes for Obama to improve the West-East relationship in the region. In Russia, where recent disputes have possibly launched the second Cold War, President Dimitri Medvedev expressed hopes to work with President-elect Obama. In Shanghai, offices stopped to listen to his acceptance speech as people hopes he will bring on a new age of partnership between the two giant gorillas of the world's fate.

I do not believe McCain would be any less of a leader had he won today. However, the world today paints a very different picture than when McCain served his country. Today, oil and stock has replaced missiles as weapons of mass destructions (well, in most part anyway) and the world is so separated that communication is no longer valued, only hostility and self-preservation. In times like these, we do need a leader whose background gives him a first hand experience at the different cultures in the world so that he may work with them in the future.

Obama is no Jesus Christ. He does not walk on water, then turn it into wine and god knows he has been dragged through the mud and shown weaknesses during this gruelsome election. But I belive his campaign has started something new. For starters, young people now are much more engaged in politics and it will certainly serve us better to have the "future" take part in the present.

More importantly, there is hope. The world is still too heavy a burden and perhaps too damaged to be carried even on Obama's shoulders, but I think he has started soemthign special and the belief that "anything is possible" will ripple through the world and encourage more changes for the better. There is no magic pill for the trouble we have brought onto ourselves today, may it be the economy or the environment, but I think the sense of hope has been rekindled.

In a desperate world, it seems that the hope of not just America, but the world rests in Obama's hands. I think, however, this shows how starved we are for a real change in the world...Leaders who does not rule with just their own prosperity in mind, but those who are willing to work together.

So, if a black man who grew up in an Indonesian orphanage and has the middle name "Hussein" can go on to be the president of United States, who's to say that someday you and I can't do something truly world-changing.

This, I think, is more powerful than any one of Obama's rhetorics or speeches. This is the most powerful attribute of his legacy.

Now, let's hope the changes that we believe in can turn out to be changes we see.

Coldplay: The Scientist

Come up to meet you, tell you I'm sorry
You don't know how lovely you are

I had to find you
Tell you I need you
Tell you I've set you apart

Tell me your secrets
And ask me your questions
Oh, let's go back to the start

Running in circles
Coming up tails
Heads on the science apart

Nobody said it was easy
It's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be this hard

Oh take me back to the start

I was just guessing
At numbers and figures
Pulling the puzzles apart

Questions of science
Science and progress
Do not speak as loud as my heart

Oh tell me you love me
Come back and haunt me
Oh and I rush to the start

Running in circles
Chasing our tails
Coming back as we are

Nobody said it was easy
Oh, it's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be so hard

I’m going back to the start

Keeping...Too Busy?

Things are really starting to pile up as the end of the year draws near.
More and more events are coming up, which generally means longer, if not more erratic hours.
I suppose right now being kept busy is better than unemployed even if I do wish for more free time.
But when I do have time, I don't know what to do with it.
So hopefully, these next few months will polish away my green horns.
Regardless, I have promised that I would never lose myself in the work, as rewarding as it can be sometimes.
Busy is good, but I chose still, to remember and not forget...

Numb

A lot of questioning has been going on in my head of late,
and it has been rotting me from the inside out.
Mostly I wonder, does she miss me? Does she think about me when she's alone at night? Does she see me when she looks at him?
But more than anything else, I ask, why?
There are so many ways to ask this question and no way to answer it.
The only one would be, why not?
The leo inside of me tears myself apart for losing something that I thought was mine.
But you have two faces, how I forget. Now I am on the outside looking in, at a face I don't recognize; a face not meant for my eyes.
Now, you're a wall. The more thoughts I throw at you, the more it bounces back.
The more I try to hate you for this, the more hate I get back for myself.
Why hate, when you can only love?
So I throw in the towel.
I have given up trying to forget everything about her,
because the more I try, the more I remember,
replaying every little detail over and over again.
So let it come, let it come wave after wave,
remind me, remind me, remind me...
Let me remember everything until the memories hurt me so deeply
that I'm just indifferent, numb...
Perhaps then my insides won't churn anymore when you and him creep into my head.
Let the waves come, I will stand my ground until I don't taste the salt in the water,
until I don't feel the cold running through my veins, let it come until I am numb.
Until then, I will sleep with the ghosts every night.

Gift and Curses

Mary belongs to the words of a song.
I try to be strong for her, try not to be wrong for her.
But she will not wait for me anymore, anymore.
Why did I say all those things before I was sure?

(She is the one), but I have a purpose,
(She is the one), and I have to fight this,
(she is the one), the villain I can't knock down.

I see your face with every punch I take,
and every bone I break, it's all for you.
And my worst pains are words I cannot say,
still I will always fight on for you.

Mary's alive in the bright New York sky,
the city lights shine for her, above them I cry for her.
Everything's small on the ground below, down below.
What if I fall, then where would I go, would she know?

(She is the one), all that I wanted,
(she is the one), and I will be haunted,
(she is the one), this gift is my curse for now.


I see your face with every punch I take,
and every bone I break, it's all for you.
And my worst pains are words I cannot say.
Still I will always fight on for you.

Chronic Fatigue

I find myself always feeling tired.
After every smile, every time I laugh I feel a little bit more fatigue inside.
Every now and then what and who I shouldn't think about creeps into my head,
tearing open again wounds that I try very hard to conceal.
It feels like the butterflies, only....a lot heavier.
It weighs me down, body and soul.
I carry on, I do.
I walk, talk, work like I do every other day.
But what do you when you're half way around the world,
yet you are still reminded of her?
Read the memo, Andy...Read the damn memo...
The world owes you nothing and they'll give you nothing.
I tried to focus on your flaws,
yet what comes to mind are all that is good
I tried to forget, but all I do is remember
I tried to hate, but all I do is...
Just go, Andy why don't you listen
pack up your things, swallow your pain and go
run through memory lane and burn it, burn it all until you can't recognize it
stay out of your head because this is where you will come to die, my friend
here is the graveyard of all your strength, your will and your smile
where ghosts gather and haunt you until you become one of them
dump it all out and walk away,
Nobody asked for your story, and nobody will sigh for your sorrows
so why write it on your face?
Put a mask on it and wait until that becomes your true face.
Then you will be alright, then you will forget.
for now, write all you can and release it from your mind,
for now, let this be the only asylum of all your sorrow, your heartbreak
and all your pain...
Because, nobody knows and nobody's waiting to listen
You are your own man, a broken one, but your own man.
So be one.
Be a man that walks faster than his past, and not one that's dragged by it.
Look far and walk fast, my friend...

I am a fool, after all this I'm still staring at the ground, waiting for the courage to pick up my feet...
Someday soon, or so I think...

Memo to Self

Pick up your pieces and keep moving,
Time waits for no man, especially a broken man,
Why dwell on the past? It won't change
Nobody cares how long you wait for the train, as long as you're on it
I am your voice of reason, the way you should be,
My words hurt you and open up the wound,
But in time we will be alright,
I am your wisest friend, but why do you never listen to me?
In time the sun will shine I promise you,
But you need to pick up your feet and chase down that train,
in stead of waiting for the one that will never show up,
She's gone and so should you,
Pick up your feet and chase that train,
When you find out your best friend is me, you should go
Hit the road, no matter where you go,
Go down the road, take a left, another right and lose yourself
Forget where you came from and forget where you're going, just go
I am now your best friend, but I shouldn't be
You can lose anything but not your courage,
Please just go, chase down that train and ride it until the sun comes up again
I don't know who will be there when you get off,
But I know you should forget who was there when you got on,
I know you're tired but it's time to go again,
Nobody waits, and nobody loves a broken man...

Release

My own thoughts are my worst enemy,
We're not switches but we ought to be,
Can't see through the haze around me,
Into the wall is where I keep running,
Please give me the sweet, sweet release
In a pill, a bullet or a glass, make it two...

Just Feel Better

She said I feel stranded
And I can't tell anymore
If we coming or I'm going
It's not how I planed it
I've got the key to the door
But it just won't open

And I know, I know, I know
Part of me says let it go
That life happens for a reason
I don't, I don't, I don't
It goes I never went before
But this time, this time

I'm gonna try anything ta just feel better
Tell me what to do yeah

You know I can't see through the haze around me
And I do anything ta just feel better

And I can't find my way
God I need a change
And I do anything ta just feel better
Any little thing ta just feel better

She said I need you to hold me
I'm a little far from the shore
And I'm afraid of sinking
You're the only one who knows me
And who doesn't ignore
That my soul is weeping

I know, I know, I know
Part of me says let it go
Everything must have it seasons
Round and round it goes
And every day's a one before
But this time, this time

I'm gonna try anything ta just feels better
Tell me what to do
You know I can't see through the haze around me
And I do anything ta just feel better

And I can't find my way
God I need a change
And I do anything ta just feel better
Any little thing ta just feel better

I'm tired of holding on
To all things I ought to leave behind, yeah
It's really getting nowhere
I think I need a little help this time!

I'm gonna try anything ta just feel better
Tell me what to do
You know I can't see through the haze around me
And I do anything ta just feel better

And I can't find my way
Girl I need a change
And I'll do anything ta just feel better
Any little thing ta just feel better