I'm not supposed to update but anyway, this is an exception. I have to pen this down before I forget it!
Last night I pulled an overnighter with Rox at the airport, settled in comfortably in Starbucks in a corner. Amazing, no? Hahahaha okay no, here's the more amazing part :
this old japanese man (he's 62 now), in a cap and with a scarf came by and asked "So what are you studying?" so we promptly replied that we were doing our History stuff. He went on to say something like that's a good thing to study, it makes you a more interesting person (hmmm) and was even happier when we told him we took Lit as well!
He was very fluent in his speech, very assured, very humble, and had this comfortable air about him so we wound up talking to him for quite a bit. (Which constituted like, more than an hour but it was really worth it) Turns out he's a writer. He was talking about his views on culture (like how the Western culture 'seduces' Asian morality and all that jazz) and spreading his message about the importance of reading good books, not commercialised trash for 'fools'. Interesting dude. And then he talked about life, and I really liked what he said about getting married..
"The right time for a woman to get married is when she starts to hate men."
"Lovers of the mind, not the flesh."
So true isn't it? Well I guess I can't really put into words everything he said (Rox and I were supremely amazed at his intelligence), but I'm sure I'll remember last night for the rest of my life. One of those surreal experiences.
oh and he said "publishers are puppets of the devil"!!!!! because he was talking about how writers are like artists.....and money destroys art. I guess I won't elaborate too much because coming from a secondary source, it'll dilute and destroy the intensity of what he has to say, and it'd be a shame....best to hear it from the man himself. (sounds silly, but really!)
It's admirable how he lets his passion bring him around the world, he's travelled to so many places and made many many friends along the way and even more importantly turned against the normal conventions of what you'd call 'an accomplished life' by being so radical. He's done everything, from covering journalism work in Afghanistan to sleeping on park benches.....to lecturing in SMU. It's so brave because not many people actually live out their dreams because they think 1. their dreams won't work out 2. it isn't pragmatic and it's sad how people actually give up their calling because of this whole pragmatism thing (and I might just do the same one day, who knows).....okay going off tangent back to the dude.
But recently he's had some airline problem so he's been staying around in Changi Airport. And he's hoping to sell some of his books (lovingly hand bound, by the way) to raise money for an air ticket, and like he's hoping to stay for 2 weeks more before leaving. So please, if you're free check out his site at www.hideoasano.com don't buy from Amazon they rip him off! I think you'll probably be able to catch him around the airport as well.
I don't know why but for some reason he has moved and inspired me immensely. Mr Hideo Asano, I hope I see you again soon. I daresay you are probably one of the most amazing and brilliant people I have met in my entire life, even though it was for slightly over 2 hours.
:)
(Oh and I bought a book of Haikus from him, yay)
Well, he left us amazed for the rest of the night.....before crashing at about 5am (couldn't take it anymore!!!!)
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