Out

Reykjavik, from above. To know your place.

'Let's not forget Icarus, the Montgolfier brothers, the Wright brothers, Santos Dumont, Concorde, Zeppelins, NASA. Isn't it strange that we've always wanted to fly? Why are we the only animals who want to leave our natural state? Why do fish, although sometimes they jump out a bit, generally stay in the water? Why do birds, although sometimes they dive in water, generally stay in the air? Why do dogs and cows stay on the ground? And why have we always wanted to jump in the air? It might mean that from the beginning we knew that we would have to get out of here. Do whatever you might with the future, but the clue is that we might have to leave before the house burns down.'
~ Philippe Starck

Fade

Salad Lyonnaise and candle light

I tried but I failed. And the past refuses to be brought back, no matter how hard you struggle. First the colours fade and then the details follow, till it is all light and dark. I miss my midweek dinners. Simple food, cheap wine and plenty of hygge.

Yellow

Dreams. A flower wilts before it can even bloom.

There is a distinction between what one wills and what one feels. Often, I will myself to sleep but I just don't feel sleepy. There is a limit on how much the will can impose on a feeling. Feelings are strange creatures and we fear them because they are unpredictable and, as sleep would demonstrate, sometimes uncontrollable. But they are also our truest self. Aquinas believes that a right decision is made when the feeling and the will are aligned. How true.

一个人失眠
全世界失眠
无辜的街灯
守候明天
幸福的失眠

Peace

When I'm done fighting shadows
and filling empty boxes.
All I want is peace.
A warm hand to cradle my face
and light to show me the way.

Frostbite

Mrs Cold.

Hey baby, Mrs Cold
Acting so tough,
Didn't know you had it in you to be hurt at all
You waited too long, you should've hook me
before I put my raincoat on.

Hey baby, what is love?
It was just a game
We're both playing and we can't get enough of.
We're both playing and we can't get enough of.

Dew

Morning Star. Second to numb.

What is given can't be returned.
The cards are in our hands.
All that is living can be hurt,
And that's the end of innocence.

LSD

Lazy Sunday Drive.

Day breaking. Every cloud has a silver lining.

Colours

Couleur de vie, couleur de joie

I can't believe its been one year since my trip to Iran. Sitting at my desk today, I suddenly thought of this scene. I remember I was waiting for my driver to fill up the tank. I remember the colours catching my attention through the stained windscreen. But I can't remember why I took the photo. I guess the reason did matter then and it should not matter now. Now, it is all starting to blur at the edges. Fading to black. How time flies.

Chakchak

24-25

Dreams burn
but in ashes are gold
Dreams burn
but in ashes are gold

Ajar

Time to

I like how the clock seems off balance.
Time slipping up as it clocks the hours slip away.
And so, there is a time to love and a time to hate
a time for war and a time for peace;
Now, a time to breathe.

Red

Red Clouds.
From far away.

Nocturnes

Crooners, music and nightfall.

'Vittorio steered us round another corner, and suddenly there was laughter and music, and we were drifting past a large, brightly lit restaurant. Every table seemed taken, the waiters were rushing about, the diners looked very happy, even though it couldn't have been so warm next to the canal at that time of year. After the quiet and the darkness we'd been traveling through, the restaurant was kind of unsettling.'

The excerpts are from Nocturnes, Kazuo Ishiguro's latest collection of short stories. I've only managed the first story and it has already left its mark. What I saw as a story of two people in love but having to go their separate ways due to certain circumstances can also be seen as a story of how two people made use of each other to get ahead in life. Although I am in favor of the former perspective, regardless of the diversity in perspective, I think the story reveals the many feelings that are ancillary to love yet impossible to separate. Love will always be more complicated than what its four little letters reveal. Increasingly, it appears to be the case that it is not just enough to have that warm fuzzy feeling for someone else. You always need that and a little bit more. And there are, of course, the games we play and the battle of wills that are fought, but once it gets to that stage, all is already lost.

'I still don't get it, Mr Gardner. This place you and Mrs Gardner come from can't be so different from everywhere else. That's why, Mr Gardner, that's why these songs you've been singing all these years, they make sense for people everywhere. Even where I used to live. And what do all these songs say? If two people fall out of love and they have to part, then that's sad. But if they go on loving each other, they should stay together for ever. That's what these songs are saying. I understand what you're saying, friend. And it might sound hard to you, I Know. But that's the way it is.'

Batalha

Reason, Sapere Aude

Step into the light, away from the dark.
Fear God without being afraid of him.

Amber

Twilight in a foreign city

See the twilight sky
cloud the city lights;
As time passes by.
A star in death throes
a last stand sublime;
Darkness slowly grows.

Alcobaca

Light from Light; Layer by Layer

Of late I find it easier to borrow the words of others, finding my own lacking in meaning.

'People think a soul mate is your perfect fit, and that's what everyone wants. But a true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that is holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so you can change your life. A true soul mate is probably the most important person you'll ever meet, because they tear down your walls and smack you awake. But to live with a soul mate forever? Nah. Too painful. Soul mates, they come into your life just to reveal another layer of yourself to you, and then leave.'
~ Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love