The Times, They Are Changin'

Can you find your Uncle Prospero in this picture? The year was (yikes!) 1977. The show was Godspell at Woodrow Wilson High School in Levittown, PA. I was a a 15 year-old sophomore and already knew that the Theatre was going to be a permanent part of the rest of my life. The director was the brilliant Louis Volpe (the first adult to tell me upon graduation that being gay wasn't such a terrible thing). My then best friend, Todd Hartman, can be seen at the top of the pyramid, wearing the beret and pink shirt.

Thanks to Facebook, I've recently begun to reconnect with friends from those days. To be honest, most of the folks who've remained true friends were those I met in college and after - my darling Janet; my rock, K and my Dear D. A few others. Some of my high school classmates are long gone (the fellow in the yellow hardhat was gunned down in a senseless bar fight not too long after this picture was taken). Others were taken wherever the fates took them. I think of them more and more these days, especially now that my 30th HS reunion is coming up (yikes again!).

I'm not exactly sure what I intended to say with this post. I think time has been kind to me. I certainly like myself a lot more now, than I did then. And I certainly appreciate the difference that life experience has made in my artistic sensibilities. I've travelled the country since then, living in many places and doing theatre for many companies. I've acted, directed and designed for more shows than I care to remember (including a production of Godspell in which I played Jesus about fifteen years later). But there is something about this particular production that will always occupy a special place in my heart. Hell - maybe I'm just getting old.

By the way - In case you haven't guessed, I'm the one in the straw hat, all the way in the right corner of the photo. Damn, I was cute!

Moe, anon.

Prospero

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1000th hit on my blog

So, here it is, finally. My blog reached the 1000 hits. When I started this blog last year, I haven't updated it frequently, I just wrote about the things that interested me then, just some stories about my private life and the US election. After that I wrote about Malayisa. I remember I only had about 250 hits until then. And now, when I'm back from Malaysia, I literarly write about everything (as the blog description says) and I write a lot. So my hits increased rapidly in these 3 months. And due to the live tracker, I can see which things attract my blog the most: The Breitling posts get many hits by people from all over the world. Then there's the Create your own Southpark character. I don't know why this post is so popular, I guess many people search for that stuff. And the third most popular post these days is about Alexis Sy Go, the current miss Manila. I noticed that people who search for this topic are mostly from the Philippines. Interesting. The other thing that enhances my hits are my fellow bloggers, who regularly drop by and post a comment. They are all incredible bloggers themselves, their speak perfect English and always post some very interesting and funny stuff. I'm learning a lot from them. Most famous among them are: Tales, Prometheus and Junjie. They commented more than once. There's a number of people who only comment 1 time and never return. And the worst of them post some spam (usually Chinese), which I delete immediately. Let's hope I will get many more hits, but still remain myself and be true to myself and write about everything. Thank you, everbody, who dropped by. I appreciate. [Cartoon: Source]

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TV is dead.

Tuesday really sucks when it comes to TV. There's nothing to watch. I remember when I was a teenager, that was between 1990-1995, TV was number one. Nobody had laptops and internet, there was no chats, no Twitter, no Facebook, no blogging, no online news or You-Tube. Sure, these things are nice, but they make us estranged and isolated. Where are those saturday evenings when the whole family gathered infront of the TV and watched a show together? A show that would be discussed on Monday with your school mates? Or those Saturday night movies like Rambo or Die Hard or some Arnie flick. I remember how the discussion about the movie was more exciting than the movie itself. Have you seen how he punched him? Have you seen how he tricked them all? Those where the times when you knew that action heroes are real heroes with high values and morals. It was predictable and sometimes silly, but I loved happy ends. I loved those last scenes where the hero kissed a woman or where the kid said: Dad, I love you and he replied: I love you, too, champ.
And what we have now? A Batman full of vengeance, a blond James Bond full of anger? Most of the movies nowadays are sometimes so complicated, that you really don't get the begining and the end. Some just don't make sense and a happy end is rather exceptional than the norm. Movies nowadays are about special effects rather than plots. That's why you get something for the eye, but nothing for the brain and heart. There's exceptions, of course. But I'm talking about Bolly I mean Hollywood, the mainstream suppliers of movies. (Where's the difference anyway?) So, sometimes, when I off my laptop and sit infront of the TV, I just keep switching those channels and there's nothing to watch. Always, when I'm online on my laptop reading or writing a blog, I have CNN on. 10 years ago I would have MTV on... But what can I do? MTV is dead, too! I'm sick of those moronic 'reality shows' like Rock of Love or Paris Hilton looks for BFF. These shows are all fake and trashy. MTV should change its name, it's not a music television anymore. It's a freaking Freak show TV (what a sentence, if you use this one, please quote me). Anyway. TV is dead. It's shallow, fake and boring. One day I will tell my kids how it used to be. They will hardly believe me.
So, TV is dead. Internet is now about 15 years old, it's a teenager. Soon it'll be full age, then grown up... and it'll die around 2050 (my prediction). I'm sure something else will be born instead. But who knows... Ok, I'm switching off now. (Garfield)

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Starting over, again

History repeats itself. Yep. I broke up again. This time me and my girlfriend, now already my ex-girlfriend, both agreed on it. It's funny... When we broke up last year, that was the initiating moment to start this blog (here's my first post). But this time is different. This time is serious. A year ago was a big shock, because I didn't expect something like that. It came out of nowhere. Now I sensed something like that's coming up and partly I was also thinking to break up myself. But I wasn't strong enough. I wasn't sure enough. Well, now it's done. I need to accept it. And I need to get over it. It was never the same since last years break up. We were single over 3 months before we came back together. I took her back because I loved her, even after she hurt me. I tried my best to make it work, but I saw it got harder and harder. Sometimes I wasn't like I used to be and she felt that. I was sometimes very moody and unsecure. It was hard for both to continue like that. We knew that. And while being in Malaysia, it was still mostly ok, we had a great time. And I'm sure we both won't forget that. Her family loved me and I loved them. All the nephews and nieces called me uncle Nino, hugged me. It was a touching moment when her 2 years old niece said 'Uncle Nino, I love you.' I will always cherish these moments. I am still lucky to experience so many unforgettable moments with her. Thank you, 慧凊。

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Genting Highlands images

Since a lot of people liked my post about my short trip to Genting from February of this year, I decided to post some more photos of Genting Highlands and the whole entertainment center together with the hotel and casinos. Here you go, enjoy my photos:

Almost at the top...

Hotels were surrounded by fog.

Lobby of the First World Hotel.

We had to wait 1h to check in.

First World hotel passage.

My room at the First World hotel.

View from my room.

Genting Highlands.

Main entrance for cars.

Shops inside the hotel's mall.

Sky train.

Carousel.

Dragon dance.

Another hotel named Genting Hotel.

Fog in the morning, view from my room.

On the way back...

[My MALAYSIA page][My BATU PAHAT page][All photos by MKL, 2009]

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I'm sick again...

These days I'm really worn out. No energy, no mood to do anything. My hay fever took it all away. And if that's not enough, I have a cold sore on my upper lip. It consists of 2 parts, one stayed on the lip, the other one worked it's way up, almost half way to the nose. It's now already drying out, it looks like a scar. And I didn't shave for few days, so I really don't look good. That's why I keep a low profile, I don't go anywhere. We have so much work at home, especially around the house. But I couldn't do much today, the whole afternoon I've been sneezing like crazy and my eyes were all sore. It's suddenly so warm, 22 degrees, all blossoms now. And almost every day there's a lost bumble bee inside the house, buzzing like crazy. I really hate them, because they're so noisy. The spring started few days ago, now all the animals go crazy all of a sudden. It's ridiculous.

I really miss Malaysian climate these days. I never had allergy problems there... If I could take a plane now, I'd be recovered by tomorrow. In one day I can be free of all the problems. No wonder, sometimes I feel like I travel to another world or another dimension, when I'm heading to South East Asia... I really miss it.

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I'm home...

I'm now home few days and besides the jetlag, that makes me quite tired, I'm a bit lost. The difference is so huge between here and Malaysia... The climate, the food, the people. I'd never imagine I would leave so many new friends behind in only few months. And of course my love life is now facing another period of great challenges. I hope the winter goes away, because I was really used to the tropical heat. So all I'm asking is 15+ degrees. I'm very modest in that regard. Please. Give me something.

[Photo by MKL, 2009]

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2008 is finally over!

I'm sure all the bloggers are now writing their personal resume of 2008. Well, I won't. You can browse through my previous posts to see how it was in 08 for me. I never expected I would still be writing this blog now, becasue I started blogging 2006 and I lost my interest after few posts.. This time is different. I've changed. Sometimes I have something on my mind, I just love to bring it 'on digital paper'. Anyway, I know this blog is not very famous or has many followers. But hey, the title is 'nino talking to himself'. So I don't really care who reads it. Not even my friends read it or my girlfriend. Ok, because I keep it 'under the radar', I haven't really posted many links to my blog on other websites. But..., I prefer it that way. I think there's so many blogs that are yet to be discovered. I hope mine will be something like that, too. Especially if one day I have children of my own. Let's say my children become teenagers somewhere between 2020 and 2030 (I persume) and one day they browse through their father's blog and say: Wow, dad, you started to write this blog so long ago, in 2008? Wow… That's like… ancient.

Because I'm someone who loves to look to the future and imagine how will life be in 2020 or 2050. I even wonder if I'm going to make it to 2060s. Will I still have this blog? Will it remain online? Will we actually still have internet the way we know it now? I mean, when I was a teenager, there was no 'ringtones', 'text messages', 'digital cameras' or 'laptops'… The most advanced thing was the TV. So sometimes I wonder how will we, as grandparents, somewhere in the 2050s, explain to our children, that we grew up without all these gadgets? I guess they won't be able to imagine an 'analog life'. Beacause frankly, I can't imagine it myself anymore… Sometimes I look back in the year 1997, when some people got their first cell phones. I thought they were just trying to impress others, trying to appear as very important. We used to make fun of them… One year later, more than half of the people had their cell phones already. I was resistant until the late year 2001. I don't regret it… Because frankly, I didn't need it at that time. But who knows, if I really need it these days…

So, we can't know, what will be in 50 years, but I'm happy I was there at the beggining of the digital era. I will have many stories to tell my grandchildren... Hmmm... But if I think, I guess they may check Wikipedia instead :-)

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Tropical rain in Penang

We had so much rain lately here in Slovenia. Luckily there wasn't any floods where I live, but it was pretty bad in Austria and Czech republic, whole towns were flooded. But the rain here makes me depressed. It just doesn't stop, it can go for days or weeks without a break. I remember few years ago, one October, we literally had 14days of rain. Crazy! Well, now it was like 4-5days, still bad, but not as bad as autumn rains. This rain made me browse my old photos and I stumbled accross my Penang pics from 2007. One folder says 'rain torrent'. Then I remembered: It was the heaviest rain I ever saw! It was May and one of those periods in northern Malaysia, when it rained a lot. It poured like crazy, but it stopped pretty fast. That's what I love about tropical rain. It's finished fast and it's not so cold when it rains. And few hours after the rain, everything is dry already. I like rain, but only the tropical one. I hate the rain here in the northern hemisphere. Here's the pics from Penang in May 2007. It was taken from Sunrise Tower near Gurney plaza, from the 6th floor, where I lived. Amazing view and a very nice part of Penang. 5 min from the fabulous shopping mall and cafés and condos. Full of tourists and locals, very vibrant... Especially because of a big foodstall area near by, every night was crowded. I have very fond memories from that time. So, here's the pics:

It starts off slowly...

...getting stronger...

...and stronger.

Soon the whole road is flooded.

Look at the bikers, they're like on water scooters!

Soon there's a lake...

Cars having a hard time...

They're almost sinking.

That rain started fast and finished fast. And the lake was gone fast, too. In the evening, everything was dry already. If this were in central Europe, it would take days. That's why I love the climate in Malaysia.

[Photos by MKL, 2007]

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Malacca City, Malaysia

I want to introduce to you one of the most beautiful and famous Malaysian towns - Malacca (Malay Melaka). I've been to Melaka in 2007 for just a day. I must say I didn't see everything, just the main part. Me and my ex came all the way from Penang to Batu Pahat in 1 night (took us 9h by bus accross whole Malaysia, that is around 1000km!). We only had to days to stay in Batu Pahat and visit her family. The next day we decided to go to a short trip to Melaka, took us 2-3h, I don't remember anymore. But it was a long ride, yet definitely worth it.

So why is Melaka so significant? Because it gave the name to the whole nation of Malaysia. The second thing so speacial about Melaka is the history. Melaka was ruled by the Portuguese, Dutch and British. And those influences are seen until today, be it in architecture, food and religion. Also famous from Melaka is the Peranakan culture also known as Baba-Nyonya. This is the culture of Chinese immigrants who adopted Malay culture and kept some of their Chinese characteristics and created a mix, which became a culture on it's own. Nyonya food is very famous everywhere in Malaysia and Singapore and can be found even today and offered as something special. The Nyonya people are declining in their number though. However, Melaka still has to offer a lot and you should visit it if you have the chance. It's one of Malaysia's top tourist destinations, you'll see many people from all over the world.

Here are my photos of Malacca (Melaka):

The famous Dutch Mill.

A nice roundabout.

The Christchurch of Melaka.

The interesting Dutch paving.

A lovely fountain refreshed the air for us.

We went closer to the fountain.

Here are also many museums.

Famous A Famosa fort from the 16th century.

This famous ship is a Maritime museum.

[My MALAYSIA page][Photos by MKL, 2007]

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I could never learn these lyrics...

I remember as if it were yesterday. We layed on bed and you tried to teach me these lyrics...

天天都需要你爱, 我的心思由你猜, i love you,
我就是要你让我每天都精彩.
天天把它挂嘴边, 到底什么是真爱, i love you,
到底有几分说得比想像更快.

I tried my best to learn, yet I failed miserably... Chinese combined with singing - that's a too tough combination for me to master...
Yesterday I found the notes and your handwriting of the lyrics. Made me think about last year, how things were, made me melancholic. I miss the closeness. Most of the time I distract myself with various things. But some days emotions gush out of me like water from some old broken pipe. I feel so pathetic. Seems I'm losing my senses. I need to forget these days and regain my strength. I need a boost, a success. I want the job I applied for, at least something to give me some confidence and strength. This week will be crucial. My hopes are set: let's anticipate and see what will happen. Keep your fingers crossed...

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It's been 5 months...

Tomorrow marks an unhappy anniversary.. 5 months since Vienna.. Crazy, how time flies... I feel gloomy all day... Memories crawl inside me from some back of my mind straight to the core... I don't wanna think about past.. but I guess I can't run away... These days I'm listening to Katie Melua's sad songs. The song What I miss about you keeps playing in my head... Especially the first few lines make me remember how it used to be... Missing the train every morning at 8:52, sipping coffee from the same cup as you. The sharing of secrets we thought no one else knew, that's what I miss about you. (Melua)
When you think back in your life, you see all the mistakes you've made and you ask yourself, how could you've been such a jerk at that time. Later we are all wiser. When you're young, you wish you had the wisdom of an old man, when you're old, you wish you had the carelessness and youthfulness of a young person. Maybe now in my late twenties I am somewhere inbetween.
Time is really merciless... And it doesn't happen often that we get a second chance. The second time it's usually very different as it used to be. You try to see the person he/she used to be, but deep down you are scared of how he/she has changed, moved on. I think in core we are same people thru time, but we change our perceptions. We set higher standards. Maybe we are more demanding. I'm currently totally lost about my own perceptions and wishes. Especially in this days and weeks... My birthday made me think a lot... I realized I'm not the person who used to look forward to be 20, 24, 25.. 26 was still ok.. now at 28.. ahh.. I think I share this with many twens, once the decade slowly starts ending, you start focus on the 3. And you start pondering about what you've achieved in your personal life and career... And if your list is as empty as mine.. I'm sure you wouldn't be happy either... I wished I had at least 1 thing in order.. my relationship or my career.. Why do I have to have both so undetermined? So open, so uncertain? It's usually like this. When you feel so down and nothing seems to be right. Then you really fail in every aspect. But when things start to go better, then everything goes smoothly. It's ridiculous!
And now I can only hope that I start getting a better hand in order to win this poker we call life. I will still hold the Vienna memories in my heart, I will still listen to Katie Melua, but I hope with a smirk on my face, not bitterness.

[Photo by MKL, 2007]

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One year ago I was in Penang

These days I remember my last year's Penang trip. Browsing thru the nice pictures brings back memories. It was a great time. I just graduated and after a long winter of studying, I said to myself, you need to indulge. And I chosen one of my favourite passions: traveling. I followed my feelings and tried not to think too much. Well, that's quite hard, if you are me. I had a lot emotional baggage with me. But aside of all that, I had fun. I saw how life is in Malaysia and I really liked it. It has it's pros and cons, but the pros prevail. The photo shows Batu Ferringhi (Westerner's stone), a famous stretch of beaches on the northern part of Penang Island. I'm happy that I captured this marvellous sunset, it's certainly one of my all time favourites. When I see it, it makes me daydream about a place far far away, where I could enjoy moments like this and just be happy. It's a perfect getaway. Don't you agree?

[Photo by MKL, 2007]

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