John Lennon Quotes:

22 Sayings To Remember The Beatles Frontman 34 Years After His Assassination
  Natalie Roterman  | Dec 08 2014, 01:26PM EST



A manuscript written by John Lennon entitled 'Henry and Harry' is seen at Sotheby's, London March 21, 2014. Reuters/Paul Hackett
It was 34 years ago that one of the biggest musical sensations lost one of theirs. While The Beatles had split a little over 10 years prior, on December 8 they lost a member as John Lennon was shot outside his New York apartment. Fellow Beatle, Sir Paul McCartney remembers the state if shock he was left in when he heard the news: "I was at home and I got a phone call. It was early in the morning... It was just so horrific, you couldn't take it in and I couldn't take it in.
No less, the world became a sadder, less love-filled place when Lennon was gone, but luckily we were left with enormous amounts of wisdom and eye opening quotes from the genius. This is how we remember him:

• “Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.”
• “Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted.”
• “As usual, there is a great woman behind every idiot.”
• “Love is the answer, and you know that for sure; Love is a flower, you've got to let it grow.”
• “You don't need anybody to tell you who you are or what you are. You are what you are!”
• “Living is Easy with Eyes Closed.”
• “Surrealism had a great effect on me because then I realized that the imagery in my mind wasn't insanity. Surrealism to me is reality.”
• “The more I see, the less I know for sure.”
• “Reality leaves a lot to the imagination.”
• “Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it.”
• “If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there'd be peace.”
• “Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will be as one.”
• “Count your age by friends, not years. Count your life by smiles, not tears.”
• “I believe in everything until it's disproved. So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it's in your mind. Who's to say that dreams and nightmares aren't as real as the here and now?”
• “One thing you can't hide - is when you're crippled inside.”
• “There's nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be...”
• “If someone thinks that peace and love are just a cliche that must have been left behind in the 60s, that's a problem. Peace and love are eternal.”
• “God is a concept by which we measure our pain.”
• “It's weird not to be weird.”
• “Love is a promise, love is a souvenir, once given never forgotten, never let it disappear.”
• “I'm not afraid of death because I don't believe in it.
• It's just getting out of one car, and into another.”

http://www.latintimes.com/john-lennon-quotes

Now that you have it all...

Now that you have it all, you can sit in the comfort of an armchair and advise those on the lower rung of the ladder to see the bigger picture. We were all there, struggling to weather the unknown, dreaming of walking shoulder to shoulder with the Titans. You thought that, by being up there amongst the immortals, life would be a pleasure cruise, a walk in the park. Life difficulties, you assumed, would be a thing of the past. Oh, how wrong you were!
You discover that new powers beget newer problems which are just as challenging to solve. You realise that money is not the panacea for all your woes. Your worries were just beginning but how you fail to take notice.

Then it would hit you...

You then start questioning the meaning of life, the meaning of existence and purpose of it all. You would find that there are other things in life than just chasing wealth and prosperity. It becomes crystal clear that the coveted pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is just an illusion. Just like many things in life, it is all a mirage, maya...
But by then the people who were around you, supposedly through thick and thin, feel that it is their birthright to savour all the fruit of your success. Suddenly, it is their journey, their labour, their right to flaunt your success. And they have the cheek to show off their affluence to the same people who are yearning to be in your shoes.

Well, well, well... karma has a cruel sense of humour. Just wait and see...

https://asok22.wixsite.com/real-lesson 

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The widening gap...

I remember long ago when Penang was still very colonial in its outlook. Celebrations which were considered Western in nature were still much in vogue as late as late 60s and early 70s - street celebratory parades, chingay, flower arrangements, processions with local beauties and firework display during New Year.
Appa has taken the whole family for such celebrations many times when I was a kid, before RRF days and life was happy. I vividly remember watching the fire works from the streets along Duke Streets back in 1970. Of course, as in our dreams, memories of fireworks are in monochromatic hues. I do not remember any other colour appearing in that pitch black sky except for white but in various shapes and patterns.
After the show, the crowd, all watching from the streets slowly sauntered towards the bus stop to head home. Some, obviously dissatisfied with wasting the night away which was just beginning, would instead start their stuporous march towards their favourite hideout den to drink their night away. That was then, everybody watching the display from the same stand wishing each other in the spirit of the new year and singing 'Auld Lang Syne'.

Fast forward 2015... Dateline: Kuala Lumpur, areas surrounding the vicinity of Petronas Twin Towers. People of all walks of life gather around to usher in the new year amidst the maladies that had struck the nation - the downing of its third plane from the nation's associate carrier and the immersion of half of its country by floods, hoping that the new year will symbol a new dawn.
Unlike my experience in Penang some 40 odd years ago, this time around, there was an apparent divide of its spectators.
Just like how John Lennon, while performing in Royal Albert Hall in front of the Queen and her royal entourage had said, "For the next number I need your help. People from the cheaper seat, clap your hands. And the rest of you just rattle your jewellery!"
People were all watching the same fireworks but the division of classes ensured that they were put amongst their own kind. The upper crust of the society had the privilege of viewing it in the comforts of a lazy chair perched at the edge of an infinity pool, sipping the favourite alcoholic beverage after being immersed in rendition of nostalgic retro music by the performing band to set the mood and a sumptuous new year meal. The commoners, on the other hand, had to satisfy themselves by shoving and scampering for a nice spot to view the extravaganza. That too, after braving the inclement weather and the stuffy unreliable public transport. Their misery does not end too. After all that revelling, they had to get back to life to meet the challenges of the new year in a two hour traffic kerfuffle. Do not even mention about the pick pockets and pranksters.
The haves, have to just move their bodies in the stuporous gait to the hotel room and enjoy the seed of their labour in the comforts of their plush beds in their hotel suites.

Waste of time...

Interview (2014)
Perhaps it was all just a stunt to catch everybody's fancy. The alleged hacking of a giant and threat of war and all. Anyway, what do you expect when a leader of a sovereign nation is ridiculed? Most Hollywood films would only make characters that resemble a leader of a small helpless nation, not point blank the very same name.
Sitting through the 1.5 hour of the movie which would make 'Austin Powers' seen as a classic, I realised that it not even worth the film it is printed on. The jokes are not funny with frequent use of explicit foul superlatives and adjective and 'in your face' sexual jokes which are not sexual innuendoes but descriptive pornographic gestures.
Over at the story department, it is nothing much. Dave Skylark (James Franco) and his producer Aaron Rapoport (Seth Rogen) are proud of their brainless TV show which features interview of worthless importance. Not surprisingly, it is a runaway hit in its ratings and is even liked by North Korean dictator, Kim Jong Un - as they later found out on line. To spice up their show further, they decide to embark on a mission to interview the man himself!
As their plan reaches feverish pitch, the CIA moves in to arm twist them to be part of their plan to assassinate the North Korean dictator with a poisonous resin.
When the jokers finally reach their destination, Skylark find Kim to be a regular kind of guy who enjoys American way of life and American music. On top of it all, everything is hunky dory there in the heavenly kingdom - no famine, no malnourished kids, etcetera.
Slowly, the truth surfaces and in spite of all their bumblings, Kim is killed and democracy is restored.
It is a complete waste of time which would spiral your IQ down by a few notches!

He thought he ruled the skies!

Above us only sky?

"Why is it that people get all emotional when a plane goes down in its line of duty?" complained a friend after viewing umpteen posts of the downing of a plane involving 166 and  hardly anything on the massive floods that submerged almost the whole of the east coast of the peninsular, affecting close to 200,000 people of all strata and tears that would fall after the aftermath.
Is it because traditionally flying involved people who are important performing jobs which would literally alter the course of mankind? Perhaps, it does not hold water anymore, since, now everyone can fly! The glitz of flying as being the domain of the rich and famous was relevant in mid 20th century.
Is that the reason so much of resources is spent on its search and rescue missions?
I tend to think that perhaps, man's ability to fly is one giant step in their civilisation. Being a biped, walking on land, ability to fly off the ground with no physical contact with Mother Gaia is a feather in his cap (pun unintended) and giant step in advancement. He, through generations, was fascinated with  the wing spanning feathered animals. He had tried disastrously to mimic them in many laughable and ridiculously failed manoeuvres.
Not being the one to succumb to the pressures of the forces of Nature, he constantly assesses and revises the shortfalls in his inventions to attain perfection.
So, when his dear invention meets failure, he naturally feels defeated and wants to get to the bottom of the matter!
P/S: Looking at the turn events of aviation mishaps of late, it appear that the passengers are actually travelling at the mercy of element of chance. Nobody actually seem to know exactly what is happening on air and where actually is the air craft. When all hell break, these deficiencies surface. 

Superpower or curse?

Sometimes you feel that an elephantine memory is an asset. Remembering all those remotely insignificant events which may occasionally stir up emotions that were better buried in the crypts of time is no trait one like to possess. But then it does have its merits, however....
In a meeting of an old schoolboys' reunion, he could be the star who could rekindle old situations and pranks that would have been forgotten by all. Everybody would be happy that that suspended moment of time can be painstakingly reenacted in minute detail to savour.
In the wise words of Spidey granddad, "with great powers comes great responsibility", this God-given ablility is not all boon but a bane.
The reason the brain is wired in the way it is is to prune and rewire the thought processes so that potentially painful thoughts are kept at bay. Life and the joy of looking forward to potential good times can be enjoyed. If one to have recurring thoughts of the painful past, living can be painful and the future can appear nihilistic. With only the pleasant memories constantly bombarding you, you fail to look at the negative side of things. You leap and hope for the outcome each time. But then, did not Einstein mention that if one were to keep doing the same thing all the time and expect a different outcome every time, that is lunacy? But then again, inability to forget the past is a precursor to mental illness.....

Leaving a legacy?

Bumped into an old acquaintance recently. As there was too much time to kill, rather than looking at each other, we decided to talk about stuff. One thing led to another till finally he spoke about a book that he was writing. Having too much time in his hands with tip-top condition of his mental capabilities as evidenced by his previous gargantuan presence in the university and the number of journal research papers to support, just rotting away into retirement just because the state uses other people's yardstick to assess seem just too wasteful. Rather than let the Devil set up workshop in his mind, he had embarked on a journey to honour the person he held close to his dear heart - his dear mother.
His mother's single-handed attempt to uplift her family from clutches of poverty, she, with her wisdom, albeit her handicap in the education department but not the desire to learn, managed to struggle through the tumultous times of pre-independent Malaya to provide for her offspring. This, she did even after she was widowed when the author was 17.
A heart stopping event happened during the World War 2. Her house was ambushed by Japanese soldiers. With so much of carnage around, she stood shielding her kids like a mother hen would. She thought all her migration to the new found motherland called Malaya had all come to zilch. She thought all the escapism from the poverty of Mother India was to meet its end. Just when she thought all hope was gone, one of the Japanese soldiers spotted the vermilion spot on her forehead! He started asking her questions in a incomprehensible language.  He started muttering, "Gandhi? Gandhi?" pointing at the dot on her forehead. Then it suddenly made sense. The Japanese had just made a peace pact with India. So, they all escaped the tyranny of the Japanese soldiers!
The book would eventually be out somewhere middle of the year after getting the nod from the rest of relatives who are inevitably mentioned in the progression of their life.
Just this year alone, I have seen two other friends who have had the opportunity to jot down the struggles of their parents who migrated to then Malaya. One of their parents migrated from Jaffna, worked in various estates in young Malaya, experienced the good times and the bad to bring up their children to be people of stature in society. He presented the struggles of his parents in a booklet during her eulogy after living close to 9 decades.
Another published a pictorial coffee table book displaying her collection of her mother's memorabilia and snap shots over the years, predating post World War 2.
I am sure many citizens of this country has their own family stories of their struggles and sacrifices. We should start inking them down so as to make the rest of country be aware that this country was developed not by politicians but by ordinary folks who toiled the sun, the rain, the disease and the hardship to propel this once back-water native land to its current near developed nation! Let the truth be known, lest not the sanitised hidden agenda ridden his-"STORY".