The Road Ahead

Trust me to be melodramatic about this. In the next 2 months, I will bury myself in my research. Need to get my conference paper ready by the end of May. I will eat and breathe everything oomphlib, and speak in C++. For leisure I will read journal papers. And when I am bored I will get on writing the paper. My writing and reading and pretty much all else would just have to go to the backburner. I need this done. And well.

And so now, being the diligent person I am, I shall go to sleep.

Preloved Books and the Black and White Keys

I went to the city on Friday and was killing some time at a second hand bookshop. I never actually thought I'd see anything nice. See, I always thought 2nd hand bookshops were with old crummy books that people read before. But to my surprise, there are a whole lot of books there that are still in good conditions. And a whole bunch of hardbacks. Also, I found a whole lot of old books. In the end, pressed for time I just bought 1 book, a hardcover copy of Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott. I shall go back when I free and bring a large bag. Books, lovely books.

And also, just watched a documentary on Alex Stobbs. He suffers from cystic fibrosis and still has great will and determination to achieve his goals in studying music at Cambridge and is doing so now. I guess if he can do it, and I can with my writing. Just need to be more focused and persistent.

Then with the music, it actually inspired for the first time in probably 3 years, to lift the covers off my piano and play. I found I've forgotten most of the songs I've learnt before. But there came an old familiarity. The music sounded beautiful again. I remember I stopped because I felt I did not have enough time to practice and be perfect. Everything I played sounded harsh and rude, like I was butchering the pieces. But now, It sounds right. So I've started playing again. Recovering the forgotten bits of Flight of the Bumblebee by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and I'm more than halfway through recovering my memory on that. It sounds pretty alright now. And also learning another piece by Mily Balakirev. I've just learned a line and a half. I'm a slow learner. But I love playing now. It brings peace to me, and the voices in my head quiet down. I have not had that in ages.

The Book Thief

by Marcus Zusak

There are great books. Then there are these books, which are on a level of their own. I actually read this book in about a hundred page and stopped reading it 2 years ago. But this time round, I did not stop. I did not know how I could have stopped then. This is one of the most moving books I have ever read.

The story is about a little German orphan, Liesel Meminger. Her little brother has died and she is adopted by the Hubermanns. This story is set in and around World War 2 Germany. Through her troubles, Liesel discovers the wonders of books and have the wonderful habit of stealing books. The story is narrated by Death.

This book had lots of moments which stirred my emotions. And for the last 50 pages or so, tears constantly rolled down my face. I will certainly read this book again. Wonderful.

...there would be punishment and pain, and there would be happiness, too. That was writing. (p557)