Before Easter

Before Easter Sunday, it was wholesome Saturday. A run in the morning, trees gazing, reading a magazine, brunch at a bakery with Adrian, Kel & Ruth, hatching plans for a short getaway, bike shopping, enjoying 饺子 (dumplings) in the late afternoon, and watching a good foreign film at night.

Happy Easter!

Awake. Chase. Pause.

Awakening - beneath the sunlit sky from the east



Chasing - keeping to the madman pace



Pausing - looking skywards past the parallels

Thoughts on a rainy saturday morning

The toads' ceaseless croaking has finally eased somewhat, giving way to a quieter neighbourhood even as other early afternoon stirrings are emerging. There is still a drizzle falling on this last morning of March. They are the final drops from the downpour that started since 4am. I am guessing this was when the rain started as I was awakened by the loud pelting raindrops at that unearthly hour, only to slip back to heavy slumber shortly after. When I awoke again some four hours ago, at 7am, the blustery weather has still not abated. The Saturday sun was tucked behind a blanket of gloomy clouds that showed no signs of dispersing. It was perfect weather for sleeping in, but I was wide awake and couldn't get back to sleep.

After a breakfast of kway chap at the kopitiam, I returned home to enjoy the remaining cool weather. It is nice to stay at home on a rainy weekend morning, away from the air-conditioned office, cool breeze whistling, having time to think about things instead of working away as on most typical mornings. I read the papers - something which I can only do during the weekend now - and tidied my desk a little. Sitting in my room and sometimes staring at the space outside my window, I feel a very simple sense of elation within me, conscious through my own thoughts. It's a feeling of quiet comfort that one sometimes find in a moment of transient equanimity. You feel no sense of ill but experience quiet contemplation that can lead to a sense of inner peace.

I treasure my weekends very much these days. Not that they have suddenly more precious or that I was squandering my weekend life previously. But now that my weekdays are productively spent on work - very hard work - I find it so important that I get a good rest to recharge and refresh when the weekend comes. Perhaps this newfound sense of happy weekending is felt now because I was never quite able to enjoy my weekends fully when I was in my previous job. Now that I am freed of events, training sessions, clearing backlog work and a whole host of other programme-related work, I feel a greater sense of balance returning to my life. The most concrete evidence is the fact that I have been cycling more regularly; and not a weekend pass by without me either hitting the tarmac or the pool. And I love it.

The other day I was sharing with Eugene about my view of weekends. If our weekdays are spent working, and more often than not we are left drained and exhausted at the day's end, it means weekends are the only time we have to do things we like and pursue our interests: in short, to live life. This would work out to 52 weekends a year, a mere 104 days! This being the sordid reality, it becomes absolutely necessary that we spend our weekend time wisely.

I hope my healthy pursuits will sustain and become a habit. My other focus is to read more and finish the uncountable number of books lying around my desk. If you are a regular working folk like I am, I hope you've been enjoying every weekend doing the things you truly enjoy. And take time to do nothing and enjoy the rain once in a while when the morning is misty with pelting drops of water sent from the sky.

Promise of Weekend

Last weekend was quite a weekend. Though I didn't exactly do much, I set a record by swimming, running and cycling all in the weekend. It felt good. Today's Friday, and I can't wait for the weekend to commence and to take to the roads again!

Saturday Chill

De rigueur for  a chill-out Saturday cafe: polite crowd, preferably not too a big one; friendly staff and pleasant service; serves plain water; rotating fan to lend a rhythmic constant; chalkboards for an old-school feel; words about lustrous food and drinks; and well-chosen pictures displayed.

Of course, and good food. That's a no-brainer.

Last weekend of February: Facade

Last Weekend of February: Radiance

Of late

I did not have the most accomplished weekend, but it was a very decent one nevertheless, and I feel rested and ready for a new week of battles. Some of my friends have asked me how I have been doing in my current job. I tell them I am doing well: I am not unhappy in my current position, neither am I exhibiting much angst as before. I wonder if one can be truly happy in one's profession, for in any type of work there is bound to be both good and bad, both things that you enjoy and do not enjoy doing. Ideally, the enjoyable bits should greatly outweigh the dislikable parts. 

Ironically, of late I have been just as busy, if not busier, at work. I am often wearied out during the week as I leave home when it's barely bright and return only when its deep into the night almost daily. Tired I may be, but I am not frustrated or upset to any degree that leaves me emotionally drained. This is a critical difference from what I was going through previously. In fact, I have started to enjoy what I am doing over the past two weeks. There is still a lot of annoying work that inevitably comes along with dealing with clients and managing multiple deadlines and requests. Yet there is also a sense of excitement in figuring out and managing tactical aspects of the work I am dealing with, while smart-talking colleagues and new learning areas have helped to keep my days interesting and fruitful.

Perhaps much has to do with the environment and nature of my work, which differs greatly from my previous job. Instead of writing endless minutes and polishing one draft after another, I now look at figures and try to decipher their meaning so as to tweak them further to achieve some magical results. I find that I actually don't abhor the idea of being a geek and quite like being one in fact. Working with a small team and having limited resources, I no longer have to contend with a stratified machinery; neither do I have to expand emotional energy to grapple with people issues and a thousand peripheral matters. Even more important, I realise, is that I have more weekends to myself than before. This has given me time to recuperate between one battle-weary week and the next, thereby helping to restore some degree of balance in a life that will never cease working. I can charge ahead and work my ass off during the week, but it is important that I have time to do other things in life, time which I can only afford during the weekend. 

Happily, I am starting to find myself living healthier weekends these days. That has also made me greedy and hungry for even more weekend time even as I try to have a productive weekend every week. For there is just so much that I want to do over Saturday and Sunday. It sounds like I have a lot to do, but the ingredients for a happy weekend for me are pretty simple: time for sleeping, time for coffee and food, time for exercise, and time for reading. I went for a jog on Saturday evening and felt so good after that, having tried, unsuccessfully, to catch up with a much older man whom I swear was running at a IPPT 2.4km Platinum pace (aka above Gold Standard pace!). Then on Sunday. I wanted to cycle and run and swim all at the same time, but needless to say I couldn't do it even if I were a triathlete. I swam in the end and made up my mind that I would not linger longer than the time needed to complete my laps, just so I can scoot off for a cuppa after that (it was already late evening then). I managed to do both, and you know how setting goals for yourself and achieving them gives a great deal of satisfaction. 

So now I am ready to plunge back into the depths of the work and I think I can handle all the crises that will be surfacing during the week. Just leave my weekend untouched and I will work hard over the next 5 days. Promise.

I hope you enjoy your work and weekends too. Gambate!


Late evening jog by the lake on Saturday


A heart gift from yesteryear


Aspiring to be owner of a chic van


Girl & Her Doggie


Coffee Grounder


Sunday Cuppacino


Sunday Cuppacino with Murakami's 1Q84


1Q84: Tengo visits his Dad & the Cat Story


Looking for its script writer


My trusty un-DSLR cammie


Potions in a wooden chemical holder


View in front of me


Hello Kitty.

微风漂流，此时此刻

夜晚的光灯照亮着，熟悉的歌曲重复寻味，我手里握着村上春树的作品，随着故事的情节将情绪给牵动。

黄昏的微风细细飘过，带来一阵畅怀凌静的感觉，让人心理感到非长舒适。总是在这种普普通通站在或走着路上的当儿，突然间会感触良多，想起一些人海生涯里琐碎的东西，通常都跟情感有关的念头。

过了不久巴士到了，我也收拾了心情上了巴士。周末傍晚的巴士乘客并不多，看到空无人的座位，我非常开心的往座位坐了下来，享受超舒服的冷气，继续阅读村上春树的神妙故事。

真希望巴士的路途遥远，路程不会那么快结束。这，是我常常在悠闲傍晚乘搭巴士时所抱着的秘密希望。

可它最总还是会辜负我，又能怎么办呢？只好专注目前的时刻，享受此时此刻的过程吧！

A little more, a longer time

"Still his father said nothing, his eyes fixed on the outdoor scene like a soldier on guard duty, determined not to miss the next signal flare sent up by the savage tribe on the distant hill. Tengo tried looking out along his father's line of vision but found nothing resembling a flare. The only things out there were the pine trees tinted with the coming sunset." 

1Q84, Haruki Murakami, p. 424

A few pages of Murakami a day makes me rather contented as a reader. I am quite liking the fact that this is a thick book with a long, if bizzare (as always), story that will take me a while to finish, such that I am able to always look forward to new developments in the plot, a few pages each time. It's a bit like how sometimes I wish a bus journey will not end so quickly; that the route is longer so that the pleasure of enjoying the cozy journey will be prolonged and not terminate so soon.

Chasing the Sunset - 12 Feb 2012

The train rumbled out from the tunnel. Pressed to the train door on the other side of the MRT, I made do with the little standing space I had staked out. Car showrooms went by, followed by the familiar HDB flats and small towns. Two stations later, the evening sky finally loomed in the horizon, but it continued to disappear and re-appear again from behind the urban jungle that slid past like a continuous motion picture as the train journeyed on.

My attention was completely transfixed on the sky and the falling sun. This was the best part of the day to capture the soft hues of a city and the golden rust of dusk. If morning light gives off rays of hope and impresses with its raw and nascent energy, evening light is its western cousin that charms with its expansive and gentle warmth, soothing the city and its denizens as it gradually fades into twilight before the moon emerges and seduces with its coy mystique.

Last Weekend

I spent a long and tiring week at work the week before, staying late in office on most days till past 10pm. So when Friday finally arrived, I was filled with tremendous relief and joy. The punishing week was bad, yet it was bad in such a way that made me eager and determined to enjoy a carefree weekend. That means getting a good dose of rest, taking things easy and slow, and doing things that I like. In fact, because the entire week had been so bad, it wasn't difficult at all for my weekend to be enjoyable. On Friday night, after clearing up the last hurdles and leaving the office, my mind drifted into the realm of silly thoughts as I waited at the bus-stop. It had made an effortless switch from work mode to a 'I'm done for the week and I care not for anything in the world' mode.

While waiting for the bus and during the short bus journey to the train station, I began to entertain thoughts of what a perfect weekend should be like after a harried week like this one: it would be kind of nice if my weary body ought to be delivered into a Sleep Chamber. Somehow, the idea just came to my mind. I can only guess that it's fueled by a deep craving for a good, long sleep. A sleep chamber sounds enticingly welcoming, for not only would it enforce a sleep regime, but it also allows for an uninterrupted period of rest. It's a bit ike how the top pugilists in the pugilist world would periodically retreat into some secluded cave so they can't be disturbed while they are harnessing some deep inner powers. (Of course, in every show these old worldly elders always ended up being disturbed, often right at the last day of their retreat whereupon they would emerge with new levels of powers.) But I digress. I just needed a lot, a lot of sleep to rejuvenate my tired body.

Saturday and Sunday came and gone by nevertheless. They were, however, a splendidly lovely pair of S-days that can be summed up by three things: favourite snacks, relaxing sport, charming places. I would have liked to have more time to catch up with reading and sleep even more, but a weekend is a weekend is only a two-day interlude. Often I thought about this: The irony of wishing to spend a quality weekend is that you need to do some advance planning so that precious in-between hours are not wasted and scheduling clashes are avoided. Because the weekend is so short, you feel like you need to squeeze every minute out of it and do something productive or fruitful. Otherwise come Monday you will feel a sense of betrayal and regret at having squandered precious free time. Yet the whole point of a weekend is not to be sucked back into a semblance of routine and planning. Yes, you need to have a sense of how you want to spend the time; yet you don't want to feel obliged to plan and then stick to it like how the weekdays are bound and run on a scheduled engine. My personal experience tells me that those who are highly disciplined, decisive and determined often have things planned out in advance and tend to adhere to the plan. Those who are more lackadaisical, accommodating and less forceful, on the other hand, are the ones who go with the flow. I like to think I always try to find a balance between over-planning and under-planning, though in the case of weekend I tend to not make plans in advance at all.

I managed to be a bit of a bum over the weekend, and I felt really relaxed at not having anything on my schedule. No more Chinese New Year gatherings, no more reports to worry about. I travelled to places that I always wanted to check out, ate some super yummy favourite food, and took photos of lots of nice things. In place of running and cycling, I managed to swim not just once but twice over the weekend. This was quite a record, since I've not swum during the weekend for a very long time. And as a result of this happy weekend, I find myself a pretty contented worker this week so far.


Dawn. Friday. 


Espresso Haus


A Bright Opening


I can keep on eating this. Dozens. Every day.


Kaya Butter Toast done the perfect way. Absolute delight.
 

Coffee is consistently good.


Leaves. Freely.


Imagination Expired


S-A-L-E


Doggie Trio. Hello!


Vacant


Cashier Chic


Red Against Blue


A Charming Fat Lady