the little prince.
when i first read it, i was really mesmerized and drawn by the simplicity of the children's book... but yet in the simplicity lay impt life lessons that we often overlook. i especially like the part when the little prince meets the fox.

"Precisely," said the fox. "to me, you are still only a small boy, just like a hundred thousand other small boys. And I have no need of you. And you in turn have no need of me. To you, I'm just a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you shall be unique in the world. To you, I shall be unique in the world."

This statement embodies the beauty of friendship. how true, that we are special to one another precisely because of the experiences we share, how friendship grows in the process of interaction. i never fail to be attracted by the truth of this statement whenever i re-read this book. there are so many other beautiful sentences and instances in the little prince.... i totally love the book. some ppl dun understand why this book is so popular... but sometimes i guess we as readers hav to think more about what the author is trying to say... or maybe in other instances they way we interpret the sentences make them mean a lot to us.

driven by herd instinct to start blog.
guess it's really nice to pen down all my thoughts, but somehow i dun think i will record all my feelings cos ultimately there are personal things that u never want anyone to find out, no matter how close they are to you.
oh well.... but still.. i will just give this a try =) and see how long i can maintain this for...

hmmm what should i talk about today.....
find that i am not all that cut out for city and regional planning after all... guess the syllabus here is geared too much towards the US scenario.. with little insight into planning internationally and the details of it all put me off a little. plus my classmates all seem to be super on and informed about planning in the US, while my interest is somewhat shallow as compared to them. somehow the material is starting to lose its appeal.... my IAS 45 lecture on decolonialization was really invigorating on the other hand.. some history professor from a college in massachusetts came to give a guest lecture... he argued that roots of decolonization lay in colonization itself... that the ideologies preached by the colonizers to the colonized peoples led to these very ideas used against them.... the power and influence of ideas!!

i suddenly realized that people think that i speak very softly... ok maybe not suddenly, cos some ppl hav told me that before, but i just think that it's strange how u urself cannot really gauge the volume of your voice.... and just a little baffled how the way i speak projects a certain image of me...

made the effort to 're-establish' old ties.. typed an email to Chen Lao Shi... and she replied! quite happy. will try to write to her in Chinese and prevent further deterioration of my already lousy Chinese. and can ask her to introduce chinese books to me.. haven read any chinese books for such a long time, really quite sad. posted a birthday postcard (March Chagall, I and the Village) to Joyce and Jeannice... speaking of I and the Village, i think i can claim back my painting, but i guess i wun get it back eventuall... sometimes i am driven by sudden impulses to do art, paint, sketch, and images of nice pictures and sketches on my wall just flood my mind. but i never get down to doing it... well maybe this summer, when i stay in Berkeley to bum around.... plus learn to cook.. (though no one would try my food =( ) there's actually so much to do... but just that i wonder if i would ever get down to doing all these things.