Look Away

After thinking and thinking about it, I decided not to buy a car.  I am going to drive the family’s old car until it ran down.   The great thing about this car is the stereo in it.   Got the car, left mom and dad’s I decided to stop by Lee’s store to buy a few CD to listen to.   After last visit to friends in Tennessee, I realized how bad my singing was.  So I will need to get back to singing again.  I look and look for a CD that has songs I can sing along to while driving.  I decided on love songs by Manit.  I bought Manit and Sombath CD’s.  Once back in my car I turned on the radio and there it was a song that shot me back to 1988.  Ok, 1988 is the story of “Look Away.”

No, I was not heart broken.  I just like the song because it’s passionate song by any person who want to tell his girlfriend to look away if they ever run into each other.  But here I am, I am going to tide this song to my history.  So it was 1988.  I joined the rest of the Lao world, in this case, Laotians in Georgia.

When all hell broke loose in Southeast Asia, Laos was in its path.  In Laos we have a lot of people and a lot of those people are a lot different cultural wise.  By the late 20th century land locked Laos was a home of so many people from so many root.  There were so many people who speak so many languages and they all have their own cultural.  Although the country was worldly recognized as a kingdom, as a country of many people of ethnicities living together as Laotians, many of those Laotians do not think otherwise.  They never agreed that they should be under any one rule or ruler.   Opportunity came  when  all hell broke loose  in  SE Asia as I  indicated.  Since when hell’s gate was closed.  So what happen after all hell broke loose in Laos.  Laos enjoyed their short live independent in which they declared from France.   So when all hell broke loose, everyone who was not part of the new regime fled the country.  All that fled first were the leaders.  After them everyone else.  It was then that the Lao(s) or the Laotians were clustered in one space called “soun” or zero.  Zero or soun is the new starting point for the Laotians of many faces, cultures, religions, and beliefs.  So all these people clashed.  They not only clashed there, they clashed again in the third country.  Each one of them, who were proud anyway, show their cultural and hold it dear.  They even promote it further.  Look around you, the people from Laos.

No, I am still on Look Away.   So what happen after this all American boy return home from the military service, met one of those Laos’ people, my girlfriend, sao Poo.  The Laotians called themselves this Thai and that Thai because the word thai simply means people of.   So sao Poo was a person from the northern province of Laos.  The story goes that her dad was part of the new Lao kingdom, joining the royal Lao kingdom meant you are Laotians.  But in reality they had their own thai name, thai Puan I believe.   How we met was through her brother’s soccer team, boy he got a strong northern accent.  Sao Poo did not have any boyfriend because everyone was scared of her brother.  I just want to date so I dated her.  We dated for a year.   At the end of our break up Look Away came on.  People who knew us thought Look Away was the song for the occasion.  Hardly I thought.   Meeting sao Poo and her family was when I see different culture, a different one I am use to.  After sao Poo, I went on to study the culture of many people from Laos.   I was fascinated by what I discovered.  People of cultures and colors too in Laos are very different from one another.  I am a Lao lume (lower land Lao), I always thought that everyone in Laos were one until the pile up in the second and then the third country anyway.

“Look away babe look away…”  What a great song!

P and P

When it comes to perspective and perception, I have an opinion.  I put my hundred percent into my work.  I expect the same from my co-worker who make the same amount of money I make.   Until recently that I realized I was so off. 

One, my co-worker who did not like to work hard took advantage of the fact that we have a lay back supervisor who let us sort things out ourselves.  Becaues we all cool with one another, we sort of let things slide.  I think I mention this young man once in my earlier post.  You know the one that almost die from a projectile shot at him.  What I learn from this young man before he was fired was, if you bring home the money, you are not lazy.  What happen was, my Indian friend was picking on him because he was really laying back.  One day the young man got really mad and wanted to fight.  My Indian friend shouted at him by telling him that he was lazy.  One reply was all it took to let us know he is not a lazy person.  The reply was, “How can you can me lazy when I take home 40 hours worth of pay every week?”

I was amazing with his mote of thinking.  After that we all take a step back and re-examine how we work.  The boss want the work done and done on time…and he want us to work as a team.  Being we don’t snitch on each other and the work is getting done, everything was fine.  It was us who got upset with the young man on our own.   His family don’t ask him if he was being lazy at work or not.  All they care was the direct deposit pay day.  How can we call a man lazy when he provide for his family?   He was let go on other charges, not for being lazy.

Two, we recently hired a few more employees from the temp agency.  A lot of them, I know, will not be offer a permanent position.  It has been two month since this older Hindi gentleman came on board.  So he is 59 but act as if he is 69.  He was one cocky old guy.  So they put him with me to be trained.  We have to show them how to do the work so they can help us effectively.  Normally, we would get a guy who has some to a lot of experience but this man.  I don’t know he got into the company.   He claimed he had work in this kind of field before.  He can’t even handle a simple tool.  He walked into the place expect special treatment.  It’s two months now.  What takes me 1 hour to do will take him 3.  Everyone on the department know he definitely came from a totally different field.  He seems to have a hard time whenever he has to focus on a task but when he is on break he is on a cell phone laughing and joking with someone all fine and good.  He seems to be using his age on me.   I help him as much as I can so he can be of help to us. 

It has two months, this man shows no sign of improvement.  I think because of the economy, the company decided to help out by give people job and let them stay on.  But for us who has to work for these people who don’t seem to appreciate at all what we had to put up with.   1 out of 4 is good now.   One guy got mad at me because I recomment him being move out of our department.  This guy move like pond water.   He took fours to do what we can do in 30 minutes plus he seemed to think he got all days.  We tried to tell him we do have time limit to get each job done.

Anyway my friend here are the same way, he shows interest in the job but he just has no skill or talents with tools and designs.  After we realized that our leadman, supervisor, and manager are ignoring the matter, we decided to do the same, just let them do what they can.  So what happen was, my Indian friend came and ask me what we can do about this.  I simply has to put him in his place and make him realize, “it is” is what it is.   I had to take him to a point beyond perception.  I told him to think about it.  I told him the older gentleman charge the company more money than we do to do a job.  He makes $40 while we make only $20 doing the same job meaning the longer it takes him to do something the more money he would make.   Why does he has to hurry when the job still getting done and done on time?  After thinking about what I said, my Indian friend got it.  He said to me in return, “So if I take longer to do the same task, my money will go up.”  I said, “That’s right.  You were complaining about the new hire works slower and do less but make the same amount of money or more.”  I agreed that he too can make more money by charging more for his time.  It just that he has to slow time on completing each task.  That way, he can feel he makes more or the same amount of money as the new people who just got hired.

You see, we got to go beyond the point of perception.  All the time, it was our mind that worked us.  The young man who screamed he is not lazy saw as long as he make money and bring home the bacon, no one at home will question.  Next, by looking deeper into the situation, we were able to realize that the old man did not work slow, he simply charge more for his time.  Since he is paid by time he work less.  

Both men work ethic is not important here.  They know that.   The young man actually thinks that his being at work helped out already.  The older man who probably had been there done that walked into the company with a determination to go through each day getting paid well.  Even paid well is the same as work less than his co-worker.  What works for him is he is charging more for him time being at work.

So I conclude that in order to be at peace we must look beyond our own point of perception and examine perspective of others.

The Legend of the Shadowless Sword

New Line Cinema in association with CJ Entertainment, a Taewon Yedang Entertainment Production: The Legend of the Shadowless Sword.

Master swordplay, epic battles and stunning martial arts action kick into high gear in this fantastical adventure set in ancient Korea. 927 AD. The Killer-Blade Army has toppled the ruling dynasty, plunged the kingdom into chaos. The only remaining heir, Prince Jung-Hyun is living in exile, unaware of his family’s dark fate. Still loyl to the dynasty, the beautiful and deadly warrior Soha sets out to find Jung-Hyun and guide him to become the great leader he was born to be. But with the Army’s greatest assassins and the criminal underworld hunting them, Soha and Jung-Hyun are swept into an explosive nonstop battle of swords, wits and bloodshed as they to reclaim the fallen throne.

At the end of the movie, after all said and done, the prince led his Army to the gate of Balhae. Before he put on his battle helmet, he turned to his soldiers and makes a speech. “We were robbed of our castle…our land…and our country. They even invaded our capitol…and changed the name of the palace. Our people have died. They beseech us to recover the valuable things they have lost. So, in this battle…we are not going to falter or fail! We’ll continue to fight. If our swords break, we’ll fight our hands. If we have no strength left, our eyes will pierce the enemies. If our eyes get plucked out…we will cry to the heavens about their sin. We’ll let them know…that they can never take anything away from us. This castle will once again be named Holhan Palace…and we will restore our country!”

He then turned toward his enemy and cried out, “Charge!!!!!”

The film ended there. The script came up after that scene:  Finally in the year 928 East Georan reverts back to Yodong. After that New Balhae and Junghan are established. These two are considered the descendants of Balhae.

The film is rated R for violence, supplemental material not rated.  I say that was a good Block Buster pick. I often hesitate when it comes to Asian martial film.  I hate to run into that same ole mumble jumbles.  Making the wrong choice would mean “Waste”.    This movie was fun to watch. I like their costumes designs. Each scene is highly prep and decorated with a good back drop.   It really showed they paid attention to details.  The extras are so funny looking, they’re the type you don’t see often in movies.   The martial is good not too much.  The delay of death is cool, the blood squirt and burst out shooting in different direction? Groovy awesome.  It was like, okay?  This is something new.    The over all production is great.  The actors and the actresses fit the part in the movie. In comparison to the Last Samurai, I would say that this movie is stronger in creativeness and artistic. The fight sequences are something new.   The Korean product is taking over the market: car, television, music, food, fashion, and film.

This is how movies should develop into.  Human drama is forever.  A movie that’s entertaining at the same time shows human quality is what I got out of this whole thing not the hatred and vengeance.   Guys, lets continue on this route.

Hong hab Kak

A long time ago a nice couple in a Lao Kingdom said to the other one, “Honey let’s call this room, hong hab Kak.”   The other one replied, “Sound good to me!   What else can we call it? It’s to receive them.”   The thing a bout Laotian and naming is there is a history to everything.   A long time ago we received a lot of Kak.   Kak is what Laotians described a person who supposedly came from the Continent of India.   Hong is a Laotian word for a room and hab is to receive. So hong hab Kak is literary a “room to receive Indians” or a guest room.  Like most homes in the world, a Laotian home would consist of a praying room (since we are mostly Buddhists, bed rooms, living room, dinning room, kitchen, bathroom, and a guest room (hong hab kak).   It is customary for Laotians to host their guests with pride and dignity offering their guests quarter and all that good stuffs.

The story goes that a lot of Indian people come to visit the Laotian people to trade, exchange culture, and what not. They normally came in some type of envoy, their “truth and non violent” way.   They always have a good reason to visit especially with the leaders. The Laotian always had to be prepared to receive these out of town and country guests.   They dressed up their hong hab Kak to impress the Kak.   “We have got to show them we got culture too,” said great great great granny.   Nowadays, to receive a kak simply means to receive a guest, any guest.

Laotians often joke around, “Oh, you came as Kak today?”   The statement means “You came as a guest today?   This saying refers to a person who came to a function or an event as a guest.   Some people can say this in joking way or even in sarcastic way to their close friends who always come over to eat but never help prepare the meal.   You may have heard some people say, “Kak boh mee nuat” meaning Kak without a beard.   This usually refers to a Laotian who acts like a Kak. A Kak to Laotians also means a guest or a dignitary of a sort.   Today, “Mee kak si ma” means “We will be receiving guests today”.

What is your hong hab Kak looks like?

Soul II

I saw Block Buster new release Vinyan last night. I give it two stars for story line.  Four stars to the actors.   The film takes me places I never imagine.   Somewhere in Burma and Thailand border I think.

Anyway, as I have written before, after my return from SF, after broken one of my CD on the plane, I went on a search for some CDs to listen to. I ran into exactly what I wanted. It caught my attention because its label said History of Viengchanh (Vientiane). It was a rare type of music that I have not been listen to in a while. I bought one CD and one VCD. The VCD was exactly what I need. I wanted to hear this mor lum leuang’s story of Viengchanh. I want to feel its magic it possesses. When I got home, I sat and watch the whole presentation with amazement. I listened to the story tentatively. I was paying attention to the singing more because I want to hear the sound of the singers’ souls and the souls of the masters their predecessors…many generation of mor lums reaching into the present, me the listener. After I saw Vinyan, I listen to my mor lum VCD by myself, oh my gosh, my skin crawled for a minute. I actually was feeling it. Creepy……..

As I have written before, I consider mor lum leuang to be one of the wonders of this World. I think so because not everyone can be a mor lum just because they want to. It has to be given to by a master mor lum. Same as mor khean, no way. Give your soul to the art and you will be able to memorize all those lengthy folk stories. Possess the power that is beyond human normalcy. Be able to yang people and capture their mind. No, don’t be alarm. I am not asking you to like it’s an advertisement or something. Like I said, it’s an art.

It is tough to be mor lum these days. Even though the word mor means doctor. A long time ago, mor lum were the light where there’s darkness. When they appeared, they brought news from other far away regions. They were like the CNN of today’s. Mor this mor that. There is a mor for everything in Laos. Mor lum is so valued and respected to tell you the truth. What happen nowadays is younger artists shine from it because they think it’s un cool or too out of date. Well it is but it’s still can be renovate or something. Just run with it. It’s your inheritance. Like I said before, I was just old enough to catch it. For what I know is they are the bearers of stories or histories…burdens passed on by their masters and their masters’ masters rather. History weren’t very safe written down as you know. What written down can be manipulate or destroy in a fire. Memorizing them and passed them down to the mor lum was the best way to go, then anyway. There are some master mor lums in Laos and Isan region of Thailand today who offer their service to people who want their story to be told in lum format (a form of singing or remembering). They will compose your story for you in kon lum (lum story). They will create a lyrics accompanies by a khean (bamboo flute or Lao musical instrument) instrument and recorded it in a CD for you. They are so good at what they do. If anyone has a story need to get off your chest, mor lum is the #1-A choice to go. But your story has to be really dramatic and so sad though. It is the best kinds you want to leave you. Mor lum will carry the burden for you. Believe me, other culture has this too.

Mor lum is a lot like Lao rappers, there is jit and vinyan of those unsettle souls in their voice and lyrics. But the two are not quite the same. Mor lum Lao are usually older while Lao rappers are younger and more stylish. Mor lum Lao is one of the world endanger species, IMO. Buy their CDs or DVDs or VCDs the next time you are in a Lao store, please. Well, lets expand on this later.

Thank you