Bryan Wong

Shakespeare has got this famous line: If music be the food of love,play on. So here we go..Food..Glorious food.Our greatest mate in times of hunger,pain,happiness and sorrow.Food be there for us in all occasions and all times..Food is our greatest alli when we are so very hungry and we needed the energy to carry on living or to conquer the extra mile.Food is our greatest enemy when we find ourselves weighing one too many and life takes a turn to being horrible when obesity haunts us as we struggled into jeans that used to fit. Oh food..glorious food..mankind worship you and abused you..but, the bottom line is, we can never ever do without you.So, instead of abusing you, we learned to embrace you..so much so that, a distinct culture exists in this world in dedication to one of your kinds: Noodles.

Frankly, i was never a great fan of noodles..well, can’t say that i love them, i could live without them..just think that they are just, well, long and slinky and sort of a bland and at times, has got that powdery taste and also at times, kind of a ammonia tinge to it.I used to think that they are just a substitute for rice and never considered them proper food.In terms of ranking, i felt that they are probably second class citizens…

BUT..was i ever so wrong..Never ever judge a book by its cover! Never ever allow yourself to be trapped in your own presumptions! After my encounters with the noodle culture of three different countries who held noodles in high esteem, i realised that, though a simple fare, it is th dedication and work of love that is being poured into evry dough, every strand of noodles that not only appeases our appetite but also our soul. To understand, to know..to comprehend every effort and intention behind any causes..even the most basic and plain subject would touch the deepest core of your heart….

this second last installment of destination most wanted went deep into the noodle culture of  Kyoto Japan, China and bolognese pasta from Italy Bologna..an episode that baffled me when we went about doing it..only now, as i just watched it on the telly, i pieced up the feelings and thoughts i have had then that i realised, this is not simply an episode about noodle culture..An underlying message came across clear to me, that, how  dedication and love could make such a major difference to our lives and how we conveniently ignored the beauty of simple things that we have so gotten used to have for granted..Perhaps its time to live for this exact moment, to appreciate all things big and small..learn to look at things from another perspective and not resort to the same pattern of definning things based on the same methodical ways that measures the worthiness of things.perhaps it time to reassess things..all things..including ourselves..

Rather kinky way to name a post but,yeah! the pain i am gradually getting feels really..hmmm…ooh..soooooooooooooooo GOOD! Maybe in a twisted sadistic way i kind of a enjoy pain..Well, at least pain in such a manner that it is not damaging to your health and of course your mental well being..

After a long spell of absence i finally made it back to the gym today and  the look on their faces ( my sort of a trainer and a fellow gym mate) made me wanna laugh. “What the hell happened to you? Where have you been? You have lost weight! You gone off to another gym?.Questions after questions came forth and eyes darting up and down my body ,eyes with questions and puzzlement written and flashing as their eyes scruntinized my virginal unworked body of almost nine months! I answered as much as i could, at the same time, my eyes were taking in the familiar yet distant gym..Hey, something is different about the gym somehow…oh yes, it is bigger as they have knocked down the yoga/aerobics room and one of my favourite apparatus now sits happily right smack in the middle.

Started off with my favourite exercise, the bench press. As i struggled with the total weight of thirty five kg, which is 15 on each side plus the 5 kg bar, i felt the blood rushing through my veins and my breast..hmm..i meant, my chest started throbbing and swelling and the rush of adrenaline is just so addictive that i did not want to stop. After my third set, my gosh, i started to feel the numbness creeping up my upper torso and after the fifth set i was ready to move on to my arms. How happy i was to once again feel the rough texture of the handles as i gripped the dumbells with my bare hands( got to buy a pair of gloves tomorrow..can’t find my old ones) every lift propelling the dumbells up and down engorged the sleeping muscles that once i called them my biceps. Now its my own eyes that is darting up and down, through the looking glass i eyed the movement of flesh up and down me arms, every rippling or the faintest movements of my make believe biceps sends a thrill through my entire body..Oh man, I think i am way sick!

And i got through my first day back in the gym doing a low dosage of what i used to do.As i went into the shower, the task of getting my top off proves to be a bit of a mission impossible as my upper torso felt so abused but yet, the pain brought forth a smile to my lips. I am now a confirmed sadist and i revel in this revelation! Lying in bed just now, i am just so conscious of the dull ache that is spreading thru my body and i am now simply awaiting for the engaging pain that i will get when i struggle to get up tomorrow morning and the ache that is going to haunt me throughout the whole day tomorrow when i am filming.I am now smiling as i am making this entry for i think this must be the most twisted,sadistic and well, rather graphic entry that i have ever done.

Don’t be alarmed by this graphic me,

for i have embarked on one of my resolutions for this year.

This is simply…

the euphoria of a sadist .