Transported

Spent a good 50 minutes or so earlier this evening in the USA, in Michigan, the Great Lake State, to be specific. Was taken there by Sufjan Stevens's wonderful album Greetings From Michigan, The Great Lake State. From the mordant opening piano chords of Flint (For the Unemployed and Underpaid) I was happily lost, taken out of myself, transported. And what a good thing that was, the Toad, work, having rendered me cabined, cribbed, confined, bound in to saucy to-do lists and all that stuff all of the live-long day. It's been a long time since I played these songs and I really don't know why that is.

The lovely cover for the CD helped me on my journey, by the way - lovingly naïve art work (originally hand-painted it says, and it looks it) from one Laura Normandin. Don't know who she is, but she's good.

Heating Up

It was a hot day here in Melaka yesterday. Fortunately the enervating heat didn't deter Noi and her many accomplices from ensuring the kenduri went well, with everyone more than amply provided for.

Having surfeited during the day, Hamzah and I took ourselves off in the late evening for a quiet cup of coffee at the White Coffee place near Cheng, where we found ourselves contemplating the futures of our different nations through, I think it would be fair to say, fairly jaundiced eyes. To be specific, Hamzah believes, as do a lot of folk in these parts, that Malaysia faces something of a watershed moment in the election due on 9 May. I suspect he doesn't really believe the nation will choose the path he thinks is best come the event, engendering a mild despair: We old men can just go fishing and drink teh tarik together, being the best he could think of as a remedy.

The most visible sign of election fever here manifests itself in the form of flags representing the various parties involved which have sprung up everywhere. These, by the way, are likely to be left behind as litter when it's all over, adding to the nation's ills. At least, that's Noi's prediction.

On my side, I think my recounting of the events that led to Brexit served to make Hamzah a little more cheerful about the likely election result. To realise that the March of Folly extends beyond one's own nation is oddly comforting. But contemplating the real possibility of something beyond temporary decline that stretches into outright catastrophe is unsettling, even over a friendly coffee. 

Family Time

Now happily, tiredly, in Melaka, in Rachid's apartment at Cheng Heights, to be precise. We're here for a family kenduri ahead of the fast-approaching fasting month (pun intended.) We arrived in the very early hours this morning, with the Missus heroically performing driving duties, having survived an epic jam at Tuas, and coped with a Friday of non-stop action on and off the road.

The best part of yesterday was the bit after waking up, captured below by the Missus, heroically performing camera duties:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beyond Tired

The year before I went to university there was a brief period when I was working seven days a week. I had a Monday to Friday job labouring in a factory, and I was still working the weekend job as an industrial cleaner that I'd been doing for a couple of years whilst doing 'A' levels. I think my seven day weeks lasted for a month and a half, and then I knew I had to stop. Even for a relatively fit teenager it was too much, a kind of tiredness you couldn't recover from.

I'm feeling a bit that way now, but nothing close to that extreme. There's an element of physical tiredness involved, but the mental variety I'm suffering from now doesn't have the devastating quality of true physical exhaustion.

Which leads me to wonder how those guys who work two jobs, the minimum wage crowd, often with families they're looking after, get through it all. Painfully I should think. Certainly with a deep, crowded, unforgiving weariness.

A Bright Spot

Outrageously busy day - which is still not over for me - with some consolatory bright spots. Difficult to select the best, but a photograph that arrived in the evening of my beautiful grand niece, Imogen, probably edged it.

Distractions

When I got to the gym earlier this evening there were two guys already there, using the treadmills adjacent to the trainer I use. Normally the place is deserted when I go there - a fact I tend to take for granted, but which is a reminder of how privileged I am to have the whole place to myself so often. Anyway, I duly got on with doing my thing just now, trying to find my usual rhythm despite the distraction of having other folk training quite close to me for once.

I realised quite quickly that the guys were doing some kind of interval training, and it was obviously serious stuff for them. They varied the speed of the treadmills, going from quite a gentle pace to a really high speed, and then coming back down again. Then they went and did some quite intense stuff with weights, involving real huffing and puffing, only to come back to the treadmills. Initially I found their stint on the treadmills a wee bit off-putting. Their variation of pace made it a bit difficult to get a firm fix on my own. But it wasn't that much of a problem and, somewhat to my surprise, I found myself a decent rhythm with some ease. I might add that all this was accompanied by the music they'd put on, which itself kept switching between various tempi.

They left the gym about five minutes before I finished my stint, and I found the silence refreshing - but I can't honestly say their presence there had bothered me. In a curious way it had helped me focus in the mild challenge it posed. In fact, I spent quite a few minutes as I exercised meditating on the value of distractions as offering the possibility of developing a conscious discipline related to focus. I don't exactly welcome obstacles, but they can be surprisingly useful.

Fame

Apropos yesterday's all too brief thoughts on not being desirous of a substantial readership, today I spent a couple of minutes contemplating the strange idea of fame and people's seeming desire for it. How strange! The thought of one's folly being apparent to one and all!

Messers Bowie & Lennon put it nicely: Fame, puts you there where things are hollow. And, of course, they knew more than a thing or two of what they were talking about.

A Certain Reluctance

We enjoyed a good old, wide-ranging confab with Duncan last night, before he boarded his flight back to blighty. His work involves a fair amount of on-line activity, and social media of one sort or another occupied some of our attention. Interestingly Duncan objects quite forcibly to pictures of himself or his family being posted on-line so none of the snaps of our encounter will feature here. I can see where he's coming from on this issue despite not sharing his reservations.

Similarly he showed an intuitive understanding of my reluctance to increase the readership of my on-line efforts (i.e., this blog.) It seems his wife, Jane, is writing a blog relating to educational issues and is understandably seeking to increase her readership and thinking of eventually publishing a book derived from her work. Confessing to being a blogger myself, I felt it was better to make clear that the notion of increasing my readership filled me with something beyond reluctance - more akin to a mild panic.

Funnily enough, I can't really explain this reluctance, but that doesn't make it any less real.

Catching Up

We're off to the airport soon to see off Duncan who's been over here for a week. Sadly we haven't been able to catch up with him until today. I've not been checking on my non-work email recently, as dealing with my work email is a full-time occupation, so I missed the one he sent just before he set out to let us know he was over again. And when we did get in touch it was very tricky finding any time at all to get together. So I'm grateful we've been able to manage this evening, late in the day, or the week, rather, as it is.

I suppose I'm moaning again about being busy, but it's just a dreary fact of life that underpins everything at this time of year.

Staying Alive

Managed to get out this evening for some live music - as performed by some of the young people I teach. More than worth the effort. Thought I might nod off, since I felt so tired, but came alive, brought round by the life in the music.