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Nicholas Poulios's avatar

And it continues for a happy resolution.

The phone rang it was Auntie. I told her she is back and not to worry she will visit you and uncle soon. She wants to see you both. We of course want to her stay at our home longer so we can enjoy her presence before she jet sets away again to the corners of the globe.

The first thing you notice is that she looks much younger. Her skin is smooth and her complexion glows. And what has she done to her hair ? there is an out of this world sheen and luster it cascades down her shoulders like a gentle flowing river under moon light where all the magpies stare at her with envy.

The past issues you and we all know about with her mother seemed to evaporated and they are quite happy to talk about their personal history philosophically with patience, wisdom and understanding.

She is a transformed person as is she has emerged from a blurry portal, I know this sounds romantic but how else to explain it ?

Her mother can't believe it is her daughter and that she has changed. They have buried past grievances and spend time together. They plan on make up lost time and go shopping and dining. This is a shock to the system, yes people do change. Perhaps something monumental happened to her life and all the better for it. She is beautiful and we all love her lot. I feel shy but deep down I want to ask her if she can mentor me as I am deeply impressed at who she has become. But mostly, we are so happy she is back again.

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Nicholas Poulios's avatar

I laughed and laughed and rolled onto the floor with a spasmodic convulsive titters catching my breath in short gasps at the line:

"When you stare into the void, the void stares back"

( It has to be the best line ever in its simplicity and finality in a dead pan tone). So obvious yet so devastating brutal.

Indeed this is all amazing CY. It is a wild ride into complex diverse associations and themes one could not possibly thought of even in a month of contemplation --even using Niksen, the elusive Dutch art of doing nothing to seed the bed of creativity!

Bravo CY !

PS I read the book recently: The Lost Art of Doing Nothing, and it is very, very difficult to do nothing without expectation of a result, people can't stand it and are forced to do something meaningless to distract themselves, like stacking their schedule to the brim just to be busy or look busy to fool themselves - but really it is a distraction to avert pain and facing the truth about themselves, when in fact you get it right it is pure bliss without worldly concerns : Hahaha, did I just write that Hahaha)

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Camellia Yang's avatar

in chinese is called 无为 hahaha

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Nicholas Poulios's avatar

这是一门美丽的语言!

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Nicholas Poulios's avatar

https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/chinese-buyers-swarm-in-on-australia-s-housing-market/ar-AA1yiBnr?rc=1&ocid=winp1taskbar&pc=test&cvid=cd375d890b2d474b9316c215884bb23b&ei=14

I wonder if I am allowed to buy a house in Shanghai ? to live 6 months in Northern Hemisphere and 6 months in Southern Hemisphere. I wonder if they have relaxed the rules. It would be the perfect lifestyle.

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Nicholas Poulios's avatar

When I started writing it was mostly in a quiet place all alone. Ideas would take flight and it was enjoyable to be undisturbed and writing away loosing track of time. My cat Ruby would stretch out on the rug doing Pilates and would observe me for a while before having a snooze. She would do this all day. She would unexpectedly get up, have a stretch and fall back to sleep again. Ruby had no problems doing nothing all day without any purpose and she was happy. What a life , I should learn from her to get up and have a stretch and do some physical activity.

After a while writing felt being isolated with no human contact, it was if I was living, like in the film I saw, on the Mongolian Steppes in a yurt. True it was a lonely and isolated life, but that horse riding and falcon training broke up the day with physical activity. So that was when I decided to talk to like minded friends who liked to write also to form a writing group.

We had rules, we greet each other when we met at a cafe. We would sit several seats away from each other. There would be no talking as we had a set quality word count target. And no romance, can you imagine two writers living together each needing their own space ? how would that work out exactly?

We agreed on a fortnightly arrangement with a follow up to our local Fitness Club.

The owners of the Gym, Julian and Santos asked us if we would like to enter a community weight lifting competition for a charity event. We all agreed to have a go. I was never one to push the boundaries for the clean and jerk, I was more into body toning and burning off excess weight. A week before the event I saw a new entrant, she was elegant with her hair in a bun before the kettle bell rack deciding which one to choose. I asked Kim is she knows anything about her.

She said yeah, she is like us and writes and is working on a novel now.

So what does she write about ?

Fiction mostly, Clifi - climate science fiction.

Hearing this, it must be serious fiction as to what's going on in the world right now. I wondered would humor ever be in her writing ?

I asked Kim, is that all she writes about, only serious stuff, any humor at all ?

Kim said, no, mostly cerebral, theoretical interesting science stuff. I have read some her work and it is very good. She has been published.

why do you ask Kim said ? do you like her ... do want to have a coffee with her ?

I smiled and said you never know. Kim pretended to blush and blink eyes rapidly. I laughed.

Probably not I thought she is too serious looking.

Then Kim said let me introduce you.

Yeah, OK

Her name was Sienna and as soon as she spoke, I could tell she is an intense and analytical personality. An intellectual no doubt with a microscopic smile. Would she join our writing group though ?

Kim asked her that and she said maybe later.

Well I thought everybody is talking about DEI, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and maybe Sienna would be good to belong to our group no matter how serious she is.

Who knows she may even lighten up and be fun to hang out with.

Never judge a book by its cover.

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Nicholas Poulios's avatar

上海河畔美好的一天

Journal note: January 29th 2025

A beautiful day in Shanghai by the river.

OMG ! it's her ? I rubbed my eyes.

I smiled at this strange coincidence -- could it be her. It was purely accidental and not my intention looking for her. I set out to travel to Shanghai and create a photo visual diary of the exotic city and explore its cultural sites, food and friendly people. It was a welcoming city and people remarked how impressed they were with my Mandarin. I told them I started learning Mandarin a few years ago during the COVID era and surprised even myself and so I kept learning. I thanked them for their kind comments.They in turn asked me if its easy to learn English as they one day plan to visit Australia and the Outback. If you speak Mandarin -- the hardest language around, then English will be very easy for you I said. They smiled and some took a snap and a selfie. A very friendly bunch of people that were curious about me.

She was seated by the river tapping away at her laptop. She occasionally glanced at the sky, river then typed some more. This was repeated several times. Is it be her ? I remembered that when she starts writing, she writes solidly for two hours.There was a glass of beer with a slice of lemon with condensation droplets on the glass. Maybe it's not her, she does not drink beer and does not write slow, in fact when she writes it is at a feverish pace as if possessed, capturing and expressing every narrative thoughts that form like DNA links in a hologram matrices. Miss Wei did a good job and taught her all the secrets of reading data from neural narratives.

If it was her then what was she doing ? it is such uncharacteristic behavior. I moved closer and could see the deepseek logo, she was writing a prompt it seemed. She lifted her eyes and saw me, it was not her, I was embarrassed and I said:请问火车站在哪里?

She regarded me with curiosity, perhaps it was my Mandarin and then gave me instructions. I smiled, thanked her and walked away. She was middle aged and attractive and resumed writing her complicated prompt. After ambling along the promenade for a short distance. I stopped and tuned back to look at her.The resemblance was uncanny. I understood that I am seeing connections where no connections can be made. Funny how the brain works. So I moved on wanting to see a red dragon this time.

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Nicholas Poulios's avatar

What is the Universe telling me? what a strange coincidence that has happened on my way to the supermarket ? but was it ?

I wonder and I suppose it is all my fault.

You see, I once told her when I met her that I would like to do anything for her. I was naive not knowing the subtle difference the Mandarin words: like and love, the English love used loosely raises suspicion when used in Chinese. I know better now. But it is too late I think.

Yes in hindsight this was a mistake. I can only laugh about it now. When she walks towards me or is nearby I can't help but suppress laughter or at least I try to make a smile. Because I know

what she is going to say or want me to do.

So I had to be creative and say something different tonight. I know it will be a busy Snake Year ( in case I forget: Xīnnián kuàilè to all colleagues; writers and friends) with my new schedule to write each month in 2025: a new story, a new poem; read six books a month ( sometimes two books at a time), learn new Mandarin words; phrases; characters; grammar ; sentence structure

and watch Chinese TV to learn more.

So I said to her as she approached me a rather innocent tangential statement like: Look how big the moon is tonight, the strategy failed. She always remembers what I said to her and always holds me to it. I suppressed a laugh again at my foolishness - I simply can't win this game with her.

She needed grocery items: oyster sauce; premium dark soy; noodles; spring onion; pork mince and bean shoots, I must admit she makes delicious meals. She said I can look at the moon as I walk to the supermarket.

I replied no problems, barely suppressing a laugh at my uncanny prediction of her actions. Oh and more thing she added, they are playing guitars at the back packers cafe. Make sure you do not listen and forget to come home.

I started walking with my shopping bag. The cafe and supermarket are ten minutes away. I had an idea to recall measure and function words and visualize radical characters. I might as well use this time to practice Mandarin. I heard the guitars playing and quickly walked past the cafe to the supermarket in case I stopped to listen and forget to do the shopping.I managed to do this and kept walking and saw ahead on the ground waiting for me to pick it up. It was money, a Yuan note in Melbourne of all places.

So what is the universe telling me ? To go to China. I like to go to Sichuan and see the Xióngmāo

in there habitat but I have a schedule to adhere to. China will have to wait, but how can I undo my original statement as I can't say no. It is always best to laugh, they say it is good medicine.

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Camellia Yang's avatar

happy Chinese New Year!

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Nicholas Poulios's avatar

Happy New Chinese Year CY

May the year of the snake will make you write a ton more than ever with your new amazing explorations.

Always have fun

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Ved's avatar

This evokes so many conflicting emotions within me that is also a culmination of similar realizations lately and some open questions. Trying to capture them coherently below:

- Do you think this would unlock a different dimension of creativity as a writer in you? Where you are free to expand your horizons even more and think across spectrums without being bothered about details/making them coherent? Because you know that AI would be able to do that much better.

- Does this impact the creative fulfillment you feel as a writer that comes from the writing process in itself? The process of going from the shitty first draft, restructuring, finding the shiny dime/having an aha moment, rewriting, and publishing.

- Will the role of humans then be the channel of ideas and giving shape to them/meaning-making based on their unique perspective versus giving final form to them that would be better done by AI models? When everyone is free from "expression anxiety", the source of uniqueness would be the perspective of an individual shaped by their experiences and life.

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Camellia Yang's avatar

1. AI frees writers to explore wild ideas without structural constraints, letting imagination lead while it handles coherence.

2. Creative fulfilment shifts but deepens, humanity thrives in the messy first draft; restructuring becomes collaborative, blending intuition with AI’s precision.

3. Humans become curators of perspective: our experiences shape the "why" and "how" of stories, while AI executes the "what". Uniqueness comes from lived insight, not polished prose.

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Nicholas Poulios's avatar

hey CY very cool beats

https://youtu.be/Rhm482cUZTM

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Nicholas Poulios's avatar

great to know CY - thanks

how do you do it ? 很多人爱你

无为

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