LIVINGBLOSSOMS

One of my favourite authors of all time is Robin Hobb. Her first 3 trilogies, the Farseer, Liveship Traders and Tawny Man series were among the best fantasy books I've ever read. Her characters are all tragically scarred, her world brimming with magic and her plots are always fantastically played out. However, the ultimate ending was poorly executed. A tragedy, to end such beautiful novels with a wimpy half-baked finale. So it was indeed a happy moment when I discovered that she had written a two novel series, The Rain Wild Chronicles, which purportedly picked up where the three trilogies left off. Maybe, it would ease the disappointment after all these years. I had very high hopes for these novels and thank god, they delivered, kind of.

One major grouse I had with the books though- during the previous 9 novels, Robin Hobb has only hinted at the possibility of ermm 'gay' love between her characters but in these two novels, she apparently pulled all the stops. Imagine reading Brokeback Mountain but with a couple of dragons in it instead of horses. In fact, there were so many 'romantic moments' of that kind that I felt like throwing up. In fact, I distinctly remember throwing up a little of my tuna sandwich when one of the male characters remarked "your beard is soft as a puppy's". Seriously? That's the lamest/gayest gay pick-up line ever. And thanks, now I cannot see a beard on a man without that line popping up in my head. 

I actually googled like 3 times to reconfirm that Robin Hobb was indeed a woman and is married and not a gay guy in disguise. Call me traditional or close minded if you want but I firmly believe that a good fantasy novel's romance/romantic moments should always be between a hero and a heroin. Always. Its kinda like a unwritten rule or something, like you wouldn't want to watch Aragorn snog Legolas in LOTR right? (though in Aragorn's defence, Legolas was kinda hot, blonde and an elf..plus, he was damn good with his bow..hmm, mungkin dah terkeluar topic?)

Anyway, besides reading about dragons and gay dragon keepers, life is as usual I guess. I browsed through an ex-colleague's fb profile and saw some pictures of the IAD gang having lunch and celebrating birthdays. For one moment (actually, it went on for 10 minutes) I was immersed in my memories of the days when I used to join them. Laughing and enjoying baskets of yummy dim-sum. After lunch we would all hurry back to finish up the mountains of work which never seem to diminish. All of it seems like a totally different world now that I'm here in kent. Like today, I spent the whole day cocooned with my supervisor, debating and discussing about my latest work. I went back to my room and relaxed my tired mind by watching a few series of Modern Family or Supernatural. Outside my window I can see the tell-tale hints of the foreign-ness of this land. White people walking home from the library, the intense green foliage swaying in the wind, the strange birds that never seem to sleep at night, a fox prowling for rabbits and the sky that lights up at 4 a.m. It is indeed a different world here.

Its not that I'm unhappy, because I am, really happy. I am after all living my dream and all that. But it felt good to remember, you know, to reminiscence of days gone by, even if it was just for a moment (or 10 minutes). To keep alive the memories of friends, especially Zul. Good times they were. Good times.

"I dream of a better tomorrow... where chickens can cross roads and not have their motives questioned"