masquerade; paper faces on parade

Monday, September 29, 2008

The boy shuffled around. It was comfortable here, dark and cosy, an apt getaway. This world was so much better than the previous one he had inhabited.

Noisy, dirty and polluted both in physical and psychological sense, it was no place for him, he decided.

This one, ah, it was so much better. Clean, quiet and comfortable. It wasn't as if his previous home hadn't been that way. It had.

Just a very long time ago.

He vowed never to let this world go that way.

Settling down for bed, he gazed at the stars. There were a lot more here. Or maybe less could be seen in his previous home.

The paper airplane landed gently next to him. He smiled. Every night, she would write him a letter.

"The sky's the same as your own tonight. Do you think of me? I hope the parks, and trees, and the leaves reach you there."

He glanced at the foliage above his head and breathed in the fresh night air. It all reached him.

But something was missing.

***
The girl said good night to her mother and closed the door to her room. She sat by the windowsill and looked into the deep blue sky. It was starry tonight. Rare, really. She knelt and said her prayers.

When they were done, and before she crawled under the covers, she crossed the room to her closet and opened the cardboard box.

Her pet wasn't asleep yet, and he looked restless. She reached in to pull the old rag over him and sang, softly, "And the sky's the same as your own, do you think of me? Do the parks, and trees, and the leaves reach you there?" Watching carefully until he finally fell asleep, she put the box gently back into the cupboard.

She knelt and said another prayer, before settling in for the night.
***

A breeze wound its fingers into his hair, carrying a light tune. The voice was familiar, comforting. The boy drifted slowly into slumber.

Up above, the stars reflected the prayer said for him.

© Chiang Lin
thanks: lyrics from Nerina Pallot's Sophia

10:26 PM

The girl opened the cardboard box and watched those large brown eyes turn to look at her. She grinned, happy to have this at last. Mother had never let her keep something for herself before.

She pulled the bottle of food pellets from the cupboard. It was brand new, purchased from the mama shop downstairs. Taking off the cap, she peeled off the "Freshness Guaranteed" foil. She dropped a pinch of food into the box, and then, unsure of how much her new pet would eat, she put in another pinch for good measure.

She watched him eat, slow but steadily. All the while, she was smiling happily. This had to be the best day of her life.

She heard the key turn in the front gate downstairs, and the smile was wiped away. She quickly capped the bottle and folded the box's flaps back down, before shoving the whole lot into her cupboard.

Ma was home.

© Chiang Lin

9:46 PM

please
refute those rumours

the search of something fresh
what History whispered in my ear
that I may falter in listening to my heart
but obey my head

I hope I'm not just for show.

Now I walk these streets like a stranger in my home town.

But
Passion, Silence
Every word, line, a measure
His books, they breathe a reason

and now I want to know.

9:29 PM

to be sure.

realise the amount of variables.
be ready to face the onslaught.

and remember what I believe in.

9:23 PM

Sunday, September 28, 2008

The past 3 days. :)

11:08 PM

Saturday, September 27, 2008

now
I don't care if the world sees you
so what if they don't understand
us

and when they say that you're just a terrible kite
I'll tell them I'm proud of your marvellous flight

flight

namesake shop.

5:10 PM

run, like a movie.
magic rainbow nomad bridge.
and paper aeroplanes.

thrill.

1:07 AM

Saturday, September 20, 2008

I guess that's just the way I am.

sorry, World.

11:12 AM

Friday, September 19, 2008

"I thought you said you weren't allowed to speak to me in public?"

"I don't give a damn to what they think or say anymore."

11:00 PM

Ben
most people would turn you away
I don't listen to a word they say

We both found what we were looking for
With a friend to call my own
I'll never be alone
And you my friend will see
You've got a friend in me

You've got a friend in me.

10:59 PM

Thursday, September 18, 2008

are you tempremental?
because you seem to have seasons.

and now it's winter, isn't it?

9:40 PM

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

The cast had rehearsed it countless times.

She would say her line, and then pretend to draw the knife across her wrist. The pouch of fake blood would burst and stream down her arm, then the boyfriend would catch her as she collapsed.

Opening Night dawned.

The play flowed well, like a fresh spring. The final scenes were nearing.
The girl stepped forth, stage front and center. She held onto the knife for strength, said her line, and slit her wrist. The dark blood flowed and its aroma sprang into the air. The boyfriend, stunned by what he smelt and saw - real - caught her for the last time.

The crew girl, who had been kissing the boyfriend backstage before, would forever be haunted by her deed and repercussion.

"I love you."

Through the cloud of mayhem of teachers, cast, crew and audience trying to save her ebbing life, she saw his face again.

Then she crossed the line, and flew.

© Chiang Lin
okay, I lied; I didn't find this; I wrote it.

10:36 PM

Saturday, September 13, 2008

given
time = money ...(1)
girls = (time)(money)...(2)

sub. (1) into (2)
girls = (money)(money)
girls = (money)^2...(3)

given money = root of all evil
money = (evil)^(1/2)...(4)

sub. (4) into (3)
girls = ((evil)^(1/2))^2
girls = evil

prove (n)(girls) = evil.

let Pn be the statement (n)(girls) = evil.

when n = 1,
LHS = girl
RHS = evil
LHS ≈ RHS
because picking any random person off the street in our world today can probably give you someone evil, so polluted our world is.

looking at RHS = evil
given money = root of all evil
squaring both sides
(money)^2 = evil
RHS = (money)^2
RHS = (money)(money)

given time = money
because in this stupid world of ours to be free and have nothing to do means you are a poor loser. (not true)
RHS = (time)(money)

therefore Pn is the statement (n)(girls) = (time)(money)

LHS = (n)(girls)
assume Pk is true
by definition, you need time and money for girls (not true)

when n = k+1
LHS = (n)(time+money)
RHS = (time)(money)

hence LHS ≠ RHS

since P(k+1) is not true
and because the workings are full of fallacies
therefore by Mathematical Induction, Pn is not true.

and I have too much time on my hands.

1:57 PM

time = money ...(1)
girls = (time)(money)...(2)

sub. (1) into (2)
girls = (money)(money)
girls = (money)^2...(3)

given money = root of all evil
money = (evil)^(1/2)...(4)

sub. (4) into (3)
girls = ((evil)^(1/2))^2
girls = evil

1:15 PM

30 August 2008

Ah, you're really unpredictable. First you let me down,

then you pick me up.

1:06 PM

Monday, September 8, 2008

I went to the bookstore.
I want the entire series.
Not because I love the saga.
Not because I like the stories.

But because I want to know
what's to become of you and me.

4:48 PM

The man, no, the boy - for Pete's sake, he was just a kid - was standing at the edge of the beach, dropping pebbles into the sea.

One, after another, after another.

The girl walked up behind him slowly, unsure of what to do next, what to expect.

"You should walk faster, so you can ask me the question faster. This world doesn't need any more delay," he said. She was caught unawares.

But she didn't show it. "Why are you doing...this?" she asked, gesturing to the constant drip of pebbles from his fingers.

"I'm hoping, if I drop enough pebbles, I can cause a tsunami on the other side of the world."

The wind grew cold. It tasted delicious.

The boy turned slowly to face the girl and stared into her eyes, unblinking. The girl felt a sudden change come over her, as spring changes to summer, or autumn to winter.

The boy stopped staring and continued dropping pebbles.

The girl picked up a pebble.

© Chiang Lin

4:46 PM

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

The man, no, the boy - for Pete's sake, he was just a kid - was standing at the edge of the beach, dropping pebbles into the sea.

One, after another, after another.

I walked up behind him slowly, unsure of what to do next, what to expect.

"You should walk faster, so you can ask me the question faster. This world doesn't need any more delay," he said. I was caught unawares.

But I didn't show it. "Why are you doing...this?" I asked, gesturing to the constant drip of pebbles from his fingers.

"I'm hoping, if I drop enough pebbles, I can cause a tsunami on the other side of the world."

The wind grew cold.
It tasted delicious.

© Chiang Lin

9:14 PM

I went to visit Peter Houghton. Grafton County Jail isn't a pretty place.
Then again, where's a pretty place in this world?

I was glad to be Peter Houghton's friend, if only for one day.

"It felt nice, sitting there, being able to eat, drink and do as I pleased without having to fear them coming for me. I didn't have to shrink, hide or run. I was alone; I was safe; I could eat in peace.

When I was eating this time, they weren't around me, taunting me; I wasn't on the floor, crying. This time, they were the ones on the floor, bleeding.

I didn't finish the cereal because I remembered the game wasn't over yet. There were still more prey in hiding. I had to make sure I won, just as I did when I played it on the computer.

I told you. When it happened for real, it was spectacular, wasn't it?

Bang. "

- Peter Houghton

© Chiang Lin

8:44 PM

10.01am, The Day of
When the only people left in the cafeteria were dead or wounded, Peter turned in a circle. He moved down an aisle, pausing here and there. He walked up to the table beside Josie's and put his gun down. He opened an untouched box of cereal still on a cafeteria tray, poured the cereal into a plastic bowl, and added milk from a carton. He swallowed five spoonfuls before he stopped eating, took a new clip out of his backpack, loaded it into his gun, and left the cafeteria.
- State Exhibit 522
Peter Houghton's Trial

"...Then, as the wounded were sobbing and dying all around him, do you know what Peter Houghton did? He sat down in the cafeteria and he had a bowl of Rice Krispies."
- Diana Leven
Public Prosecutor
Peter Houghton's Trial

from Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED.
I just think you're brilliant, Ms. Picoult.

8:39 PM