As usual it is Sunday night and I am unable to sleep. Not that I didn't try... I tossed and turned and my mind started organising itself, planning an upcoming event I really should have sat down to plan. Anyhow, I finally turned on the light, waking poor Z up and finished my blueprints.

I thought I'd be able to sleep now, but my mind is still churning. Perhaps it is the sound of the rain. I can't sleep when it is noisy. Or perhaps the simplest explanation is the chocolate milk I drank 10 minutes to the end of the Buffy episode I was watching to wash down my Cheese Tasters. I'd put my money on the latter.

It is also conceivable that there have been so many things in the works that have been at the back of my mind, waiting to be planned, their deadlines looming. Or most likely it is the combination of all of the above.

In other news:

- A rather quiet Father's Day. We mistakenly celebrated last week. Everyone was busy for lunch anyway.

- I collected my new pair of red glasses. Very retro I have to say.

- I slept 4 hours in the afternoon (aha! Another reason) due to MSG overdose.

- I redecorated my garden (somewhat).

Weileng sent me this pic of Maggie (Sam and Kaku's brother from the same litter) all grown up and so much like Tuxie (who shares the same mother but Tuxie was from the first litter and Maggie the second). Here is a flashback old pic taken on Jan 10, 2004 of Kaku, Mystique (her sister), and Maggie (a Tuxie lookalike).


And Maggie today. Such a handsome boy! :D

One day your descendants, if they survive a swelling Sun and other cosmic and human perils, will have at least 960 hours to work with each day. On some nights, half the world will be able to stare up at a full Moon for what seems like days and days. Imagine the loony things they'll have time to imagine, the strange lore they might conjure.

~ Robert Roy Britt, Moon Mechanics: What Really Makes Our World Go 'Round

Cool Flash movie about another war. ;)

Cat owners warned over killer flowers

A national alert has been issued to pet owners after pollen from a bunch of supermarket flowers killed a cat.

When John Hartnett bought his wife oriental stargazer lilies, he was unaware that he was passing a death sentence on the family's 13-year-old Siamese, Catalina.

The cat brushed against the flowers then licked the pollen from its fur. Within minutes she started being sick and, within hours, had died after going blind, suffering renal failure and becoming virtually paralysed.

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals singles out the Easter lily (Lilium longiflorum), tiger lily (Lilium tigrinum), rubrum lily (Lilium speciosum), Japanese show lily (Lilium lancifolium) and some species of the day lily (Hemerocallis) as liable to cause kidney failure in cats.

The Feline Advisory Bureau, a charity based in Tisbury, Wilts, said: "Symptoms of poisoning from these plants include protracted vomiting, anorexia and depression and ingestion can cause severe, possibly fatal, kidney damage."

Cats can survive if taken to a vet within six hours but the chances of survival decrease rapidly after that. After 18 hours, the kidneys stop working.

(Source: Working with the Cat Welfare Society and Telegraph)

"A human being is a part of the whole, called by us the “universe,” a part limited in time and space. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security."

~ Albert Einstein, (1879-1955), New York Post, 11/28/1972

Sometimes I wonder if Kaku is like Drew Barrymore's character in 50 First Dates. This morning she stared at me like she didn't know me, and then after I fed her and she started eating, I petted her gently. She looked up at me in wonder, continued eating, and then looked up again, and ate. It was so endearing.

Later, as I grabbed my phone from the bedside table, she saw me and darted under the bed. Perhaps so. :) But the good thing is, she seems to be coming around a little bit, day after day, seemingly curious about this pale tree-like creature who feeds and pets her daily.

Before I caught the movie, I couldn't imagine why Jet Li took on this role. I mean, it was totally demeaning to himself and his own culture. But after, I totally understand why he did.

First of all, this is a French production. The French do spiffy movies. Weird (think: City of the Lost Children), but unique, and in that context, a story like Danny the Dog isn't too unusual. (I've watch enough French films to know.)

Secondly, Luc Besson wrote the script and produced it. Yuen Wo Ping was the action director. It doesn't get better than this. Plus, the story called for acting, and it proved to Hollywood that Jet Li can act, unlike all the other action-only flicks that he had done, no matter how cool. And it takes him straight to the lap of the European market.

Okay, now the review.

It was brutal watching a large chunk of the movie. For us who have grown up with Jet Li as our hero, it was painful to see him being treated like a dog, literally by his owner, played perfectly by Bob Hoskins, and his cronies. Justice is sweet at the end, that is promised by the rather predictable script. But that is exactly what the French excel at, taking a simple story and creating art out of it.

The fighting is brutal and gritty. The ferocity of his blows simply could not have been choreographed. Hence, kudos to Yuen for a superb job. Think Fight Club with no holds barred. He's made savagery into an art.

The transition from trained killer to feeling human was executed with kid's gloves. Morgan Freeman fit the role perfectly as stoic mentor who introduced Danny into the real world. Guided by his step-daughter, Danny learns what family means and finds out the truth about his mother.

A well put-together story, great acting, excellent fighting (especially in the beginning and in the pit). A must-watch for everyone, except kids under 10. Don't believe the PG crap.

"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored."
~ Aldous Huxley

(Source: Nanovirus)

Today after lunch as I was buying chicken rice back for the work mates, Dad and I got filmed by some huge camera with ChannelNewsAsia on the side. It caught us twice. Once while we were walking into the food court, and the second, as we walked toward the exit. I wonder what the programme is, but I asked Dad to check out the channel for fun. :D