Science of LOVE

“If your love is merely an interplay of chemicals in my mind;
Chemicals that dance about to effect a natural high,
Then, let me be! I say.
Let me indulge and savor such ecstatic moments,
and reciprocate with my commitment of love;
Let us jazz, I say!
To the frequency of our chemical courtship,
and be mesmerized with our perfect harmonization;

If our love is merely an interaction between elements,
Let us forever be covalently bonded – a stable bond, a lifelong bond;
Me to you, and you to me.” - Written originally by Kev

The impetus to write this poem was to come up with a quote for the wedding photo album that I am making. The first two lines of the poem came to me pretty quickly, but what follows were about an hour of pain-stacking brainstorming. I wrote and deleted; some make sense while some don’t; have to ensure that phrases follow the ‘scientific’ theme of the poem … But, I’m glad it all turn out good. Not a bad attempt if I must say so myself!

HOME

Every now and then, I would either hear my friends, or overheard some young adults commenting on how they would love to migrate overseas, or spend a considerable amount of time abroad to see, feel, savour the world and make it their home. Indeed the pastures overseas might be greener then what our home garden offers, if you are wealthy enough to afford a garden in this land-deprived Singapore to even begin with, but where is the joy in appreciating such greenery alone?

The renovations within my Sydney residence can be easily replicated from my ‘slumpy’ HDB housing. Oriental-style food in Sydney are almost at every corner of the street, if not more. With advances in high speed Internet streaming, television programs from Singapore are just a few clicks away. There are even moments when I thought the geopolitical boundaries of Singapore had been extended to encompass my room. Atlas, I am always rudely awaken to the fact that I am about 6000km away from Singapore, and within Australia whenever I ‘venture’ out of my room.

Despite all these Singapore-like features to my room, I do not recognise it to be my home. I have no sense of home for my current place of residence, let alone some minute sparks of belonging to this foreign country that is providing for my education and living allowance – though I am thankful for their generosity. What is missing from my current place of residence then?

Humans. Not just any humans, but those that I love and am willing to share the good and bad with. What is the point of having the whole world beneath our feet if they are no one to share it with? What good is a home if I am just residing within alone? I do not need to ‘Singaporean-ized’ my current residences in Sydney, nor do I need to have oriental-styled food at every corner of the street. I do not need to pass my time each day by clicking on MobTV to see what was on the Singapore television channel. All I need is to have the love of my life with me.

She makes a home, a HOME.

columnic expression

I figured that this little weblog of mine can use some variation from poems. Since once in a while, I do feel about certain issues, I thought it might be good jot them down as I had them, be it positives, negatives, interesting, or boring stuffs. It might probably be a good cause – tracking my mental maturation over the years, provided it hadn’t already reached a plateau of growth!

This shall probably be a column-style entry, though I highly doubt my writing standards can be compared to a newspaper columnist. Then again, it can never harm to set a high bar to target after.

As with the usual disclaimer, the content herein reflects my own views. Readers should understand that the contents are not written to influence, but is a mere assortment of my thoughts of different flavors and colors. Constructive discussions are always welcome.

月

‘秋月之季, 家朋之聚,
游子之思, 千倍之时也’ - written originally by Kev

The thoughts of an overseas student in a foreign land, during the mid-autumn festival.

我

‘张氏狮城金猴诞，
伟业刻竹流史传，
贤智聪慧众慕闻，
吾言愧不先祖也。‘ – written originally by Kev

I have always wanted to do a poem based on my name. It seems to give more meanings and depth to my chinese name, than just remembering it by hard and not really knowing what it potentially signifies. Having written this poem, at least I have something to look forward to; to live up to the significance of my name; to do myself proud.

终需别

`曲终人散，人终得 – Eventually all gathering of men will part

良朋好友，终需别 – Even good frens are no exceptions

隔海观慕，同月缺 – Beyond distance land, but yet admiring at the same cresent moon

哀思情毅，何时序 – Sad thoughts of parted friendships, when will it rekindle?

望天数星，淡思愁 – Counting the countless stars to numb away the sorrow

催寝入眠，再像遇 – Hope that sleeps sets in quick to take one into dreamland where the friends are again`

- Written originally by Kev

My first attempt at writing a chinese poem. This is inspired by the departing of two friends, back to Singapore, that I hang out with frequently in Sydney. They (Cat and WeiSheng) had finished with their undergraduate studies and so were leaving for Singapore today (13 July). And in particular, I owe my gratitude to Cat – for she was the one who had roped me into the group of friends that I am so comfortable with right now. Without her, I might still be on my own till this very day – typical of a social idiot like me. And I get to know Weisheng through Cat. He is a very nice chap, and sometimes too nice to be true! He is knowledgable, and I do enjoy sharing and discussing intense stuffs e.g. religion etc with him as well, for he has his own unique perspective.

It’s sad to see two friends leaving, but that is life, and it is a path which they have to take. I have nothing much to offer as a ’safe journey’ gift for them, ’cept to dedicate this rudimentary poem of mine to them. Hopefully, they can understand what I am writing!

Cat and WS, good luck and soar! 

Will I ever see it?

‘With light, darkness lurks.
And in darkness I seek,
for that remote glimpse of hope,
a flickering photon that ushers in the end.
The euphoric end, a paradisic land.
A well worth journey, I reckoned.
But where is my beam of light?
I fear for my blight.
Will I ever see it?’ – written originally by Kev

This is how I had been feeling since I had undertaken my PhD from last year. It’s been a mentally taxing process, that stretches my passion for science and my sanity to the maximum at times. I had been depressed, but came out of it. I had grown to be numb of failure in almost every step I took in my PhD. But deep inside me, the fear of not seeing the light at the end of my PhD candidature is ever present, laying dormant awaiting the right opportunity to eat away my sanity.