Gosh it's December and there's so much to do.
I want to stop and reflect but there is so much overwhelming me. Work, meet-ups, presents, family... planning the year ahead.
It's just another crazy mad rush again.
Today was my last lesson for guitar of the year finally got approved of the piece I've been tasked to work on for the last 3 weeks then I rushed off for a secondary school gathering dinner...
In the midst of this dashing around with my presentation deadlines looming scarily close and my slides terrifyingly naked... I board a train with thoughts whirling in my head.
I sat down and continue to b busy and just beside me sat a calm old lady.
As her stop approached and she prepared to alight, she turned and said to me "Miss, you are very beautiful. "

I was so absorbed I said the only courteous thing I knew without processing it. "O thank you!"

so I lugged my guitar along since I was also alighting coincidentally.
Not feeling beautiful not glam and kinda fat reminding myself not to overeat later on.

And now as the whole hustling has ended and I sit in my room ready to restart on my slides at 1230am...I wonder if I actually met an angel today.

posted from Bloggeroid

一样的规律，一样的形式
变化中也带着千篇一律的乏味

突发的事件，突发的情绪
匆忙中皆含有沉重枯燥的累赘

千万的人群，百万个途径
层次分歧中终究朝往统一的结局

有人努力，有人懒散
有人追求荣华，有人追求快感
有人百病缠身，有人身无分文
有人信靠上帝，有人求问各方神明

其中之别可否果真有别

posted from Bloggeroid

There is no practical reason to pick it up.
It was merely an inclination toward this wooden gourd shaped bulky piece of furniture.
When I gave up the large cranky boring piano, I told mum "I'd like to play the guitar!"
"O no, you can't... it's too big for you. You're just 5 years old, my dear!"
but I didn't believed her. I'm sure there is one, just the right size for me! Why can't we little people have a go too? So I searched high and far, searching all the time.

One day. One day somebody would invent a mini guitar for us little people! It can't be impossible!

Along came one day, a well dressed little lady. More a lady than I was, she strolled across a busy street just 50m away from me.
"Look Mum, look! Just over there! A little lady slinging on a little guitar! It's possible!"
Mum looked up just when the little lady turned the corner. She didn't get to see it.

But she looked upon me with a look that said "Piano lessons didn't come cheap but you had no heart to put it to practice!"
I feel like I didn't deserve to play the guitar:(

Now 7 years flashed by and the PSLE was done. I have fared well in school and certainly deserve another try?
"What do you want to learn?" Mum asked.

"Well, I want to learn the guitar!!"

Curious was the age twelve that though you're fine you feel horrid all year round!
No I don't want to have group classes! The others won't like me at all!

But individual lessons don't come cheap and Mum didn't have that kind of budget.
So I limped on to secondary school guitar-less and aimless through it all.

5 more new years swept by and I met an incredible guy.
He taught me how to enjoy my life and be confident of who am I.
Because of Him I found some courage to pick up my old passion again. And this time I'd starve for the money to make my dream take flight again.

By the amazing twist of fate, a lovely neighbour asked me and said, "Why don't I teach you instead?"
My eyes brightened and my fingers stretched...it's not everyday you get a chance like that!!

And so my love rekindled like that.
It's just a beginning not an end in that.

What happened then was quite another 7 christmases ago.
Like I always told myself, better late than never and sad.

It's still a struggle with life and music.
But life stifling music will just be sick.

Today I finally worked to join the ranks of a true student. I've officially graduated from the induction course.

The road is long and I am old.
I'm here where I want to be a long time ago.
It's not sad, no no no.
I took those detours so my heart will know.

posted from Bloggeroid

And so, it happens almost like the well greased clockwork of a mechanical heart. Every Saturday as the sun rises high at noon day, the dormant carefree true self emerges from the mundane cocoon of society and ceaseless work.

Ironically, we cease for the mere 1.5 days before returning to find more has accumulated.
But we no longer live from moment to moment, like a student. We now exist from moment to moment and live for the weekend.

Ahh, shall bike so aimlessly around my neighborhood for starters.
And hum a tune on my ukelele through the evening. And yes, you pseudo life of Facebook shall pale in comparison to the real thing.

posted from Bloggeroid

It was the first time I was in the waiting hall of the Hong Kong International Airport after it had been renovated and newly furnished since I last came 16 years ago. Hong Kong has changed tremedously, and culture shifted inevitably closer to that of the central government in Peking.

The past 3 days have been hectic, but nonethelss enjoyable. Visiting the sights and tasting the local delciacies, with the friends I have not seen for years, it's a rare opportunity. But amidst it all, there was always a lingering feeling - intertwined with appreciation and disappointment - the feeling that I have never left home.

Everything in Hong Kong runs like a clock, the mechanisms of society unendlessly running through the fine-tuned gears of economic prosperity. The traffic comes from the same side of the road just like back at home, and the electric sockets need no additional adaptors to fit my Canon battery pack. The traces of the British have been too deeply rooted in both our societies, it cannot be simply negated at the whimps of political upheaval or the change of governments.Even the distance from the hotel to the Yau Ma Tei MTR station bears an uncanny painful distance from home to the Lakeside MRT station.

I reflect on my past 3 days, how I have skipped meals to make the best out of the trip, how I have forgotten the pangs of hunger to queue up for another ride in Disneyland or to rush to another factory outlet in search of goods I wasnted but never could pay for back in Singapore. Then again, the spooky resemblance to that back at home, where we work never-endingly even through our lunch breaks saying that there is no time sufficient and there is no end to work. Perhaps, it is the atmosphere on the two islands, perhaps its the anxiety that drives us Hong Kong-ers and Singaporeans alike. We never know when to stop,when to eat and when to prioritise physiological needs over psychological over-emphasis on the tasks on hand.

I look at my plate of Popeye's fried chciken, thankful that with globalisation I could have this familiar dish set in front of me, thankful that with economic growth the Hong Kong dollar-less Singaporean could purchase her last meal in Hong Kong with her Visa before boarding the budget airline back home. And I recall the days, where I strongly oppose globalisation and the dilution of the local cultures of the earth. Now I enjoy my meal abashed that it is because of this very dilution of culture and economic growth that I could fit so easily and comfortably in a place miles from home.

I had spent my weekend away from home, doing things I also could have done at home.

except Disneyland which was awesome. Then again, there's the new Legoland now just next door.

For there is a time for everything
But there is also a "best before" date
When they are is never known to Man, who also sometimes enjoy food that are past the expiry dates.
And on such a matter ignorance is the key to bliss and on the former counting one's blessings is instead.

posted from Bloggeroid

The drain of a full days labour upon my weary shoulders, restricted in a crammed tight carriage

With the drone of the engine ringing through my ears
without the spark of any anomaly

I shall re-ponder in my pursuit
of simple happyness.

posted from Bloggeroid

May it accomplish the dreams of Man