Freedom has never been so conspicuous

Went to watch One Life & Two Trails at HELP with Zona today. It is a Venezuelan film that is part of The 2nd Ibero Film Fest held at HELP Institute. Since I miss out on yesterday�s Black Orpheus, thought I should at least catch this one being the last day and all. I was trying so hard not to cough. The compulsion to cough was so bad at one time that I had to breathe past the phlegm and swallow whatever extra saliva I had. Zona heard me swallow. Sheesh� thankfully there were others who were coughing as well. But I still felt like I was in the �sound�light. *_*

One Life & Two Trails (Una Vida y Dos Mandados)
Venezuela, 1996, 100 min.; dir. by Alberto Arvelo
Dreaming about the death of his mother, whom he has not seen in years, Romer returns to the mountains where he grew up, and is led towards a heartbreaking silent encounter where the past returns in waves. Filmed in the Venezuelan Andes, this multiple award-winning film (shown at numerous international film festivals) portrays the life of a peasant community which since the 17th century has been trying to preserve its customs, language and dignity.

The film was very simple yet bursting with subtle details like the braids on the bridle, the Virgin Mary statue at a dirty corner of the hovel, and the house in the mountains set in a stark plain. It is amazing how a picture does indeed tell a thousand words. The film doesn�t get our hearts pumping, rather it slows it down to a point that is most uncomfortable as it made me think about how lucky and spoilt we all are in our technology driven world. The characters� life was so simple and uncomplicated. Questions are kept to the minimum, no whiny kids and no tire changes. At some level, I do wish for such a simple life where work is hard labour and pride. But I know I wouldn�t be able to live such a life after knowing what I know now. Ignorant is bliss. I look at my cousins back in my hometown and what they want in life is alien from my wants. Most of them are blissfully happy with a husband and children. That is the purpose of their life � a family. For me, having my own family is like eons ahead, at least until I�m stable in my career. I want to have a separate bank account from my spouse and having kids scares the beejeezes out of me. =P What am I?

Opps I forgot. I got a pedicure! About time I tried one I should think. Zona and I had an hour to kill before we had to leave for the movie so we decided to try a pedicure when we ambled past the store. It was great. My toes have never felt so clean and smooth in a long time. I almost didn't wanted to put on my shoes coz they might make my newly scrub toes dirty. But I had to wear my shoes. Darn it! =P

Missing out on� Life?

I�m feeling glum. Zona and Lydia went to watch Black Orpheus at HELP Institute without me. I was looking forward to it but I can�t go. Hopefully I�ll be able to get it on VCD/DVD soon. Will have to keep an eye out for it. Nothing is better than watching a romantic tragedy to make one all introspective and stuff, which I�ve been doing a lot lately. Adding more on will make my life just peachy. Gawd, I hate being sick.

Black Orpheus
Brazil-France-Italy, 1959, 106 min, dir by Marcel Camus
Transposing the ancient Greek myth (of Orpheus traveling to the underworld to bring back his beloved Eurydice) to modern day Rio de Janeiro during Carnival time, this bitter-sweet romantic tragedy has charmed audiences worldwide with its beauty, colour and above all its convulsive, infectious bossa nova music. A brilliant piece of filmmaking. Winner of the Best Foreign Film Oscar and the Golden Palm at Cannes.

Anyway, I was suppose to go but I�m still coughing like crazy to be able to be out in public what with the SARS thing going on. I�m liable to be stoned to death like that poor soul in China who coughed in public. It is amazing how fear is able to wipe out rationality in a snap. Snap is the operative word here. I can�t imagine how it would feel like to be the victim in the face of humanity�s terror. I�ve been suffering with this coughy phlegmy thing for 9 days now and finally I�m getting better. But I gotta put credit where credit is due and it is not on my shoulders. I cheated. I went to see the doctor on Saturday and she gave me puriton and bisolvar (I have no idea what this one is as I can�t read that horrible writing!) and some sort of cough medicine with ventolin mixed in. The Ventolin is helping me curb my asthmatic wheezing, but the cough medicine is making me cough non-stop. So many people have been nagging me to go see a doc, and in the end I must admit that it was Chuo Ren who got through to me�by scaring me! He diagnosed me over chat and then berated me for not doing something about it. He said I definitely had a bacterial infection. Then he said �You don't want it to be a strep throat and end up not treating it,� and that made me think. So I went to the doctor the next day and thank goodness it wasn�t anything bad. Lee Hoon couldn�t believe it took somebody on the other side of the world to convince me to go see the doctor. =P She muttered something about stubborn and bullheaded, dunno�go figure. Hee hee�

Chuo Ren is a childhood and family friend. He is studying medicine in Canada now and he�s a great guy. I think he�ll probably settle down in Canada with his girlfriend. I miss the guy. He used to be one of my closest friend but we sorta went our own way and sorta lost touch a few years back. Plus he is super busy with his studies and all now but we still chat online from time to time. *shrug* People come in and out of your life for a reason. Wonder what his is� or rather mine in others...

I.t i.s n.o.t w.o.r.k.i.n.g

Arrgh! Been trying to figure out why my comments section is NOT working! It's driving me crazy not being able to solve this. Someone has it out for me.. I know it....

...1 hour later...

Hah, I knew it. It wasn't my error but the template's. At the end, I couldn't take anymore debugging so I decided to change my template and voila, it worked. Sigh, if only I did this earlier. *_*

Enetation.co.uk I salute you

Zona finally showed me how to add on the Comments section after much confusion on my part and frustration on hers. All this time I din't know that I couldn't just take someone's codes and just copy it onto my site =P. This explains soooo much. I was cracking my head as to how Blogger was gonna host my comment site. Sheesh! I can't believe I showed my blond roots... Seriously appalling. Geez, thank goodness it was Zona and not some tech geek. But then some might consider zona a tech geek. And being a tech geek is cool these days too. =) But I finally have a Comments section! Cha cha cha cha cha.....!

zona marie says:
girl
Sharon says:
just went in and got from templates section
zona marie says:
you cant simply take someone's code n do it...
zona marie says:
enetation hosts the comments for u
zona marie says:
like a guestbook
Sharon says:
I SEEEEEEEE
zona marie says:
bleh
Sharon says:
hai
Sharon says:
no wonder
zona marie says:
=P
Sharon says:
I've been cracking my head thinking how on earth was blogger gonna host it for me
Sharon says:
sheesh
zona marie says:
(lots of laughing emoticons here)
Sharon says:
yes rub it in... laugh at me
zona marie says:
n i've been going crazy
Sharon says:
sorry
zona marie says:
was gonna jump into my comp to help u

Don't worry about it

Lee Hoon says that I say "Don't worry about it" and "No worries" a lot. It wasn't a critisism but rather an observation. I put it all down to time spent among aussies. However, after much thought, I concluded that that wasn't what she meant - the consistency - but rather the reason behind that consistency. My only answer is that I get dissapointed quite often by my friends. Wonder what that means in relation to me as a person? Am I not up to snuff that I just don't fit into others' plans or does it mean I'm a pushover? Should I be more aggresive, but then someone said I'm quite aggresive as it is already. Random thoughts all emerging from their banished corners; means I'm ready for bed. Nite all.... *big dog yawn*