All Quiet on the Western Front

I received a comment in my last post, asking me to please continue blogging.

In honesty, I hadn't decided whether or not my blog was to be put to rest for good, but certainly my posts are becoming increasingly infrequent. It used to be that I would update my blog with random flights of fancy, thoughts that had entered my mind unbidden, or perhaps, with a little disingenuousness, a turn of phrase I had deliberately engineered to provoke, or disturb.

I met up with someone I knew in junior college, and she said that no one has changed: we are all of us exactly the same as we were, six or seven years ago. Can that be correct? I write far fewer letters under my personal seal; I no longer hector at a suffocating educational system I am (for the most part) no longer bound by; and it has certainly been a long time since I tried to teach myself Latin.

But maybe, fundamentally, we are still the same sorts of people we always were.

In any event, I've lost this train of thought, and will have to catch another one. At the very least, I'm still blogging.

My Way

Regrets, I've had a few; but then again too few to mention. I did what I had to do, and saw it through without exemption.

Sinatra knew what he was talking about, and he didn't turn out so badly.

The more things change

It is a curious thing, how a single instant changes lives irrevocably. Much has happened since I returned; waves of change have swirled around me with alarming rapidity and intensity. Who would have thought it would come to this?

Increasingly, my foresight fails me. The future is obscure and pellucid, murky and dim as a slow-flowing stream. Ought I ford the water without knowing its depth, or does prudence call for a more measured approach - hewing to dry land until the narrower rivulets are reached?

Soft you now, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters. Something approaches us, through the trees, on padded feet. It will not be long ere we discern if that rasping breath, and that muted tread, herald our fortune, or our doom.

Lust, Caution

How do you know just by meeting a person that you don't like him or her?

Might it be the clothes they wear; but if so, what is it that provokes such distaste or even revulsion? Perhaps the cut of his suit and his out of place necktie, or her neckline which plunges half an inch too far.

Or perhaps it is his manner of speaking; the way he squints and contorts his eyebrows, making his face seem more expressive than his voice ever could be. It could even be something you do not see - her tone seems inexplicably discordant and ill-paired with the words that sally from her lips.

Is this instant, instinctive displeasure a fault, and if so, whose is it? His, for his overbearing and obnoxious manner; hers, for her servility and obsequiousness; or yours, for an inherent distrust and irrational prejudice?

Not Dead, Just Lying Down For a While

I'll be back in two months.

We, The Peoples

ASEAN launched the ASEAN Charter today. Apparently it was signed last year, so I've clearly been out of the loop for a while.

I remember being asked not too long ago whether I thought ASEAN would ever develop into a political and economic entity like the EU, an outcome I was very sceptical of. So I was slightly surprised when I read about the ASEAN Charter, which serves to confer legal personality on the Association.

On further inspection, however, it's pretty clear that the Charter does not accomplish very much, and it most definitely is nothing like the European Treaties. You can see the (very ugly) Charter here.

Article 2 sets out the principles of ASEAN, which, while containing some laudatory statements on compliance with human rights and international law, contains at least three separate references to non-interference in Member States' internal affairs and sovereignty.

Article 14 postpones any substantive decision on an ASEAN human rights body, despite the principle of "respect for fundamental freedoms...and protection of human rights".

Article 20 establishes "consultation and consensus" as the primary decision-making process, in keeping with the general theme of amity and cooperation.

The ASEAN motto is "One Vision, One Identity and One Community", which is somewhat optimistic.

I'm quite curious to see what substantive changes the ASEAN Charter will introduce, as there is an underlying and irreconcilable tension between the drive to greater economic integration, social cohesion and security cooperation on the one hand, and non-interference, sovereignty and consensus on the other.

One thing that's clear, however, is that ASEAN certainly will not become an Asian Union, or even an Asian Community, in the sense of the EU, in the near future.

Perchance to Wake

I've been plagued by dreams almost every night for the past week or so. They're never the same, but they're never very pleasant.

Last night it had something to do with me being taken captive, yet strangely all my captors were contemporaries from secondary school, who I managed to guilt-trip into treating me better than was normal.

Other dreams have included me having to do Chinese exercises, and other unpleasant experiences.

The most likely explanation is that I am suffering increasing amounts of stress as finals approach, as my mind exorcises my subconscious worries and woes from my waking moments to my slumbering hours.

It is also possible that I need a better pillow.