Monday, January 31, 2005

Exhaustion is exhausting.

The Duff had a tough week. In between helping his elder brother move, he also had functions to attend, soccer to practice, work to do and food to eat. On top of that he had to fix up his own home, especially the supreme mess of the Universe, his room.

Time seem to be a very limited commodity to The Duff. He finds that it is getting out of hand. Time management is required in his life. Does anyone out there have any suggestions?

The Duff had soccer practice yesterday. Right now, he cannot feel his legs. They have disappeared from him, and are reluctant to return to his body because of the strain that he put them through. In spite of a rigorous warm up, they were still tortured into putting up a good show for The Duff's new colleagues. They are pretty sure the moment they return, he would put them through a regular exercise regime. They are sure of this. Very sure.

Right.

Nothing much going on in the Comics scene. A few good comic-based movies are premiering soon though. After the abysmal Elektra, the next one will be, woah, Constantine. Matrix with magic. Sin City is in April. Nice. Star Wars in May. Fantastic Four some time in the summer. Very exciting year indeed. And who can forget, BATMAN! The Duff wishes to watch all these at sneak preview weekends, and cordially invites all his friends. RSVP.

That's all for now. Till the next time The Duff gets more inspired, do share your Truths, right here in this blog.

Thursday, January 27, 2005

As the days go by

The Duff slowly finds his days being taken up, even after work. And this pisses him off. His so called free time to spend with whomever he wants is being spent on people that he might not want to spend time with, the decision being not his at all. When doesn life spin out of control, and out of your hands?

Just this week, 4 evenings have been booked. Now one might suggest that this isn't that bad, as it would seem a healthy social life is in place. Unfortunately, a social life beyond control is not what The Duff thinks of as ideal. One should have some time off each day free from committments, and to spend finding one's bliss.

Committment. Has it become a dirty word? Where do your loyalties lie? How do you prioritise? Can society as a whole destroy the individual to such as extent? Share with me your Truths.

Sunday, January 23, 2005

Give The Duff A Break!

The Duff had just gone through a break. No, not a break-up, but a 3 day long weekend break.

While most of it wasn't rest, The Duff somehow feels rejuvenated. On top of helping move some heavy duty furniture and getting his hands dirty, it was good clean hard work, and not of the cerebral nature. The Duff believes sometimes a little physical toil is what the body needs. Maybe the endorphins the body produces during phycial exertion cleanses the soul.

The Duff recently read a comic book (Planetary Issue 21) wherein the writer spins a yarn regarding how shamans and mystics manage to know so much about the afterlife and other things. Usually they indulge in some herbal concoction before performing their rituals. The writer suggests that its perhaps because the herbs come from the deep forest, with roots going way down, sucking nutrients from animals and even men who have died before, and thus retain the knowledge somehow. Good stuff.

The Duff also had 2 excellent nights with his gal. After all the hard work during the day, he can only manage sitting in front of a screen in pitch darkness with a whole other bunch of strangers, watching photons hit the screen seemingly at random. How this phenomenon coupled with timed sounds manage to whisk them to Neverland and the Marvel Universe must seem like magic to people from a 100 years before, but something everyone takes for granted now.

The Duff is constantly amazed at how magical technology has become. Has the world come full circle? Are the shamans of today the so called technological wizards? There will come a point when the technical know-how needed to understand how a certain piece of technology works will be way beyond the common man. Wouldn't that, at that moment seem like a magical object?

That is a Truth that the Duff is slowly learning to accept, much to his dismay. What do the rest of you think? Do you share in this Truth?

Thursday, January 20, 2005

Chapter 2

He freezes. He could feel his face turn white while he watches the blood drip from the carvings.

"Why have they come back?" He terrifyingly questions himself, when deep down he knows the answers. "How could they know?"

His hands begin to shiver, as the fear and reality grips him. The inevitable hard fact that he will never escape from the Organization hits him like a truck. His knees buckle and he crumbles to the ground.

All other matters that had bothered him in this new life seem trivial once again. No matter how hard he had tried to run, it seems they have found him. His eyes begin to tear as only hopelessness can bring about. In submission, his shoulders falls. In defeat, he surrenders to fate.

"Steel yourself, boy. I've spent too much of my precious time on you for you to be like a wet dog that you are!" A booming voice resounded along the stairwell. It was a voice he thought he'd never hear again.

"Have you come for me then, old man? Come to finish the job that they sent you to do? I always guessed it would be you; and in some ways, even hoped."

The old man begins to laugh, a hearty laugh from the depths of his body. In the distance, thunder ripples through the air.

"I have not come to finish you off, you little pup. But there is a need for you now, more than ever. The Organization is in chaos. It has become two halves with which one has decided the world is better off without you. I lead the other half. Now come with me. There is much work to be done."

He gets up from the ground and turns around to face the old man. Their eyes meet and they both smile. They embrace each other like old friends. There is much history between them.

Aeons.

Monday, January 17, 2005

Balance

The Duff has reached an intersection in his life, which is kind of fast, what with him being so 'young'.

One path leads upslope, up a hill with poison ivy and thorny bushes, with pebbles and landslides, pitfalls and perils, but also found in the distance, mansions and cars, nice clothes and all the other things good in material life. This path signifies the road taken by most who sacrifice much to further their careers, forsaking their innocence and friendships, their care-free lifestyles of the distant pasts.

The other path leads neither upslope nor downhill. It winds sideways, and in all gradients. It has less hazards, but also less mansions, and more of straw huts and brick houses with peeling paint. The dirt track is clear and distinct, with only light shrubs on the sides. This is the path taken by those who prefer to enjoy the finer things in life, to not let their jobs steal away their habits and wants. To have freedom as society allows, while at the expense of not having the full luxuries that life may or may not provide.

The Duff needs to decide which path to take, for once taken, the 2 paths seldom intersect, and a barb-wire fence borders the 2 paths.

The Duff feels that life is too short. Once the road is taken, there can be no turning back. For looking back means having regrets, as well as neck aches.

The Truth is needed. The Duff seeks it daily. Share your Truths.

Saturday, January 15, 2005

Chapter 1

He abruptly sits up in his bed. His clock is ticking away as he takes short, shallow breaths. His forehead has a layer of cold sweat,his heart beating like a korean drum.

The alarm goes off. He clicks on the 'Alarm Off' button. "Just in time," he thinks to himself," and not a moment too soon."

He could see the street outside his room through his blinds. Car lights filter through the dirty window, casting cold, long shadows across his ceiling. He gets off his bed and his feet automatically searches for his slippers. He hates cold floors.

The bathroom greets him as it always had each morning. His place of solitude. The man looking at him in the mirror looks oddly familiar. He goes through his daily morning routine, coming out of the bathroom ready to tackle the world.

He picks out his uniform and gets dressed. Getting his bag and shoes, he tries to leave home as quietly as possible. His family is still fast asleep. He closes the main door, and puts on his shoes. As he stands up, an iron tang in the air hurts his senses.

He looks up and sees the word "HELL" carved into the wooden door.

Tuesday, January 11, 2005

The Apathetic Shoe Salesman

The Duff keeps hearing things about the young people nowadays not caring about the world beyong their own. The do not participate in the political system, and they do not cherish what they have, having been living in a world relatively secure and untouched by the perils of the reality.

Apathy develops in people too much into their comfort zones. Without a challenge to their established realities, it is hard for them to imagine a life otherwise. How can they be bothered with affairs of the outside world?The Duff was thinking, what with the terrible tragedy of the tsunamies in the region, was all the help really sincere in all sense of the word? Were they really helping out to make the life of strangers better? Or were they just doing it for the credit, the recognition, the social pull of such an event and its 'rewards'? Or is The Duff just too skeptical? The appearances of roller blades and snowboards amongst the donations just didn't appease The Duff's cynical side at all, not one bit.

What about those who continued to sell vouchers, or collect donations on behalf of other charities? Did their 'business' decrease due to a shift in the tide of sympathy? What about the charity shows on television? Were their collections less, now that people have blown their tax-write-offs on tsunami donations already?

The Duff supposes that for us, the favoured in the eyes of the world, to truly appreciate the goodness that can be done, we have to really see and experience the tragedies. To walk among the fields of the dead, and to console the inconsolable. To step into another's shoes, as wretched as those shoes may be, without soles or spiked with thorns, those unbearable shoes. Simply giving out monies, and goods, as kind and well intentioned, cannot be compared with those who went over to the disaster areas, and to get into the thick of things.

The Duff salutes them. They are heroes. They are The Truth.

Monday, January 10, 2005

The Agony of Love

The Duff had recently been listening to another series of audiobooks. The latest was a series of interviews with Joseph Campbel, who was an authority on mythology, stories from the dawn of time to recent history, stories from all cultures, religions, geographies and philosophies.

In them, he found many similar themes from totally unrelated periods and peoples. It was as if stories were being tapped from a world ether that everyone shares. The innate desires and fears, trials and tribulations of all, except The Duff, seem to be the same, whenever and wherever we hail from.

One of the chapters described Love. And Sacrifice. Funny how both are associated together. In that chapter, he described love as being an agony, the agony of being apart from that special someone whom you yearn for. But with that agony comes bliss when being together. In life, there is always a balance.

Love is a very human condition. No other creature in the world could possibly fathom such an emotion. Some species of animals do practice monogamy, but love simply transcends such simple biological functions. There are many forms of it, from brotherly to romantic to familial.

Poems have been written about it. Movies made, songs sung, paintings drawn, lives lost, lives Lived, all for this simple yet unquestionably complex human condition. It takes years for one to come to terms with it. To truly appreciate and understand its function in its many forms.

Does one let it overcome oneself? Does one hold it back, in control on a leash? Does one live with it, side by side, or like an acrobat on a highwire? Is it overated? Is it understated? Its a conundrum to say the least.

Give me your truths. Give me your words. Give me your opinions. You Are The Truth.

The Duff? He seeks romantic love, lets it overwhelm him, then lives beside it, and slowly controls it. Its a ride The Duff enjoys, and thinks life is much more fulfilling because of it.
The other loves supports romantic love. But these pillars are also very important. Without them, it all fails. These are what The Duff opinionates.

Now go seek, and ye shall find, while The Duff goes singing in the rain.

Sunday, January 09, 2005

Good Food, Clean Living

The Duff had an enormous dinner today. 4 appetizers, 2 main courses, a dessert and a coffee. Caloric intake was estimated to be 100,000,000 kCals.

The Duff shall work out tomorrow.

Does this constitute as a good health practice? Do you first eat beyond your needs, and then work it out? Or do you first work it out, then replenish what you have lost or are going to need? The Duff supposes over-eating is never good, as wonderfully out of this world it may feel during the process, the after effects leave little to be desired.

Nutritionists suggest eating 6 small meals a day. The Duff thinks the Hobbits might have been on to something with their many meals. Perhaps that's why they are so small. Eating many small meals supposedly quickens your metabolic rate. Small meals constitute sandwiches, apples, high protein or carbohydrate bars, cereals, etc.

Not exactly great food in The Duff's humble opinion.

Nothing beats an oily sausage, freshly cooked bacon strips, a chunky hamburger, salty fries, bloody steak, cheesy hotdogs and any chinese dish.

Give The Duff your opinion on this topic. You Are The Truth. Share your Truth,share your Word.

The Duff, he likes food.

Saturday, January 08, 2005

Lost in dreams

Last night, The Duff slept. And I took over.

I was in a world of dreams. Dreams of all shapes and sizes, flavours and textures, emotions and ideas. It was wonderful.

I haven't had a nightmare in ages. The only ones I remember were the recurring ones from The Duff's youthful years. Although I'm not any older, he has, and I now seldom encounter nightmares. Perhaps The Duff has enough nightmares in his waking world, such that my world is his escape, and therefore less frightful.

I dreamt that life was all candy floss and festival musics. Bright lights from carnivals, and happy children running around. The Duff's friends were all happy and The Duff's girlfriend was the happiest. Free from woes and trials of life, they roamed the carnival, like children swimming in a sea of Skittles.

I turned into a darker corner of the party, during the middle of the night, and saw some vile creatures roaming in cages. The remains of criminals were on the cage floors. I chuckled at this, especially George Bush Jr's face lying in the corner, beside words like Crusade, and ideas like arrogance, and little creatures called fear, jealousy, conceit and .

I returned to the carnival at the other end of the alley. The Duff's friends were joined in a parade, circling the carnival on elephants and grand horses, camels, dolphins and whales.

All good things end in time, and soon, a ringing started in the background. It got louder and louder, and as the sun rose on the carnival, so did The Duff, and I de-materialised.

Thursday, January 06, 2005

Its impossible to find Duff for lunch......

So The Duff can't wait for his chariot to be delivered to his castle. In the meantime, the public carts and wagons shall suffice. Hard to believe that his place of toil is beyond the horizon, almost in the next kingdom. Every dawn brings forth an hour of buttnumbing travel and adventure. Tedious to say the least. All for the gold though, all for the gold....

So what else is new in this world today? Tsunami relief efforts doing well, and The Duff certainly hope that less lives are lost needlessly from now on. It really is time for the global community to set aside their tribal differences, and really get along.

One candle of life that was cast into the shadows, was that of Will Eisner. While most of you certainly haven't a clue who that was, let The Duff enlighten you lost sheep.

Will Eisner was a legend. A living legend. He was a pioneer, and a revolutionary in American Comics since the 30s. His stories were crafted with such intelligence, that for those who thought that comics were only for the kids, would certainly then not want Eisner's books to land in their children's hands; for they told tales of wonder, and tales of the human condition. From newspaper strips to The Spirit, from his many D.C. Original Graphic Novels, most of them semi-autobiographical, his professionalism and craftsmanship shone through the 4 coloured world and into ours. R.I.P. Will, a rest well deserved.

Were any truths uncovered by you, dear reader, today? You Are The Truth. Always remember that. Revelations are only a glance in the mirror away. Tell The Duff what you have learnt, and spread the word, The Truth.

The Duff had a hectic day in the labour camp today. The Duff is braindead, after having much information bamboozled into his thick skull. The job is coming along, and in time, it shall be conquered, and vanquished, by The Duff's overpowering spirit. Then, the job wouldn't be a task of terror, but an exercise in satisfaction.

Leaving with a note, The Duff says," Follow your bliss, find it, and never let go."
Words to live by, for sure.

Till tomorrow, go forth and plunder!

First Post!

NAH!

Its up. The Duff finally has a blogspot. And like most of his spots, its gonna grow. And leave scars. On himself and those who are unlucky enough to chance upon them. With physical revulsion and psychological invasion, this blogspot shall rule the world.

You Are The Truth! You are all that you know. All else are seen through eyes that only know what you know, that only what your brain perceives. You are your Own truth. Feel free to share your truths with The Duff. Go forth and live life, as The Duff has lived his.

The Duff has done so, and therefore practices what he preaches. Today, a new chapter in the book of his life is written. A chapter that would encompass much of his remaining life. He has started on his career.

Who knows what The Duff is gonna get. Stay tuned to find out he guesses. For now, seek out your truths, while he scratches his balls and falls asleep.

Sod Off!