Thunder & Lightning zzzzzz

As I am writing this now, flashes keep appearing from the corner of my eye. I guess it's a kind of enjoyment, in an inexplicable way, to be up at nearly 2am with the constant company of lightning and thunder. The night sky's been set nearly ablaze by the furious lightning. I swear if this were converted into usable energy, the entire island-state could run on electricity for a good, say, 10 minutes? Gee, the Lightning God just doesn't get tired. At this hour.

The thing about crackling thunder and zig-zagging lightning is that it's best enjoyed snuggled in bed and in sleep.

So why am I not doing just that? Blame it on a long work day. As usual, I am trying to find some social indulgence at an hour when it is least social. Life's like that sometimes: you live in an irony, and the irony just takes you further in a self-perptuating way, till it becomes sardonic or downright grievous. If you can't change the course of things, you can take respite by enjoying the simple things in life, like hearing the rumble of thunder and seeing the beauty of lightning flashes.

22 May Evening

I woke up from my afternoon nap to find this stunning view outside my window. Like the mornings that I miss almost daily, I wonder how many such gorgeous evenings I have missed and will continue to miss.

21 May, Saturday

a white jet


A day spent working from the morning till night. I was glad for a respite in the evening, to be ale to catch a glimpse of the sunset.

Adr's Garden Project

My good friend Adr is showing signs of becoming domesticated. Armed with a huge yellow canvas Ikea bag, he was shopping for equipment to build his latest project: a garden. While I know the outdoors and nature run in his (green) blood, I didn't know he's taken a liking to gardening.

I think Shyuan asked if snails could be grown inside the bottle garden. He said no, because they will eat the leaves. We ventured further and suggested other insects. Somehow the conversation ended with a lion being grown (or should it be reared?) inside the garden of mystique. Shyuan also managed to get herself a free garden, courtesy of her newly domesticated man. In the meantime, Shyuan and I amused ourselves by trying our best to capture a shot of Adr in domesticity. We both succeeded. A photo was uploaded promptly by Shyuan. And being very wise people, we know about his reputation and was prepared for a tsunami of responses.

Last I checked, the photo has garnered 16 comments/likes. My friend can become a popular garderner soon.

A beautiful day

On those days when I'm not working and get to spend my mornings outdoor, I am often reminded of how beautiful mornings are and, consequently, how much I am missing each day. So I am grateful that the perfect morning weather today was not wasted.

Unseen Moments #10: Changing Seasons

7 May 2011

Meanwhile...

It's been another busy week, except this one was charged with the adrenalin of election campaigning, my fellow countrymen, especially the young ones, participating passionately in online platforms, streaming opinions and news updates faster than you can digest them.

Meanwhile, I am nearly done with my sunshine album, waiting to be uploaded to Facebook. It shall be titled: Into the Wind: Riding on Sunshine.

Emptiness

"So that's how we live our lives. No matter how deep and fatal the loss, no matter how important the thing that's stolen from us - that's snatched right out of our hands - even if we are left completely changed people with only the outer layer of skin from before, we continue to play out our lives this way, in silence. We draw ever nearer to our allotted span of time, bidding it farewell as it trails off behind. Repeating, often adroitly, the endless deeds of the everyday. Leaving behind a feeling of immeasurable emptiness."

- Sputnik Sweetheart, Haruki Murakami

Unseen Moments #9: Gentle Whisper

The wind blows.
I take a deep breath,
inhale hope and refresh.
Gently you stir,
my troubles drift away.

a foreigner's sense of wonder

"I walk across the park, on a narrow path at its edge, in the autumn sunlight, and feel a foreigner's sense of wonder: the convenience stores placed along the small, shiny road, as if they were just more vending machines; the two-story houses, tidily guarded by their walls, lined up along the narrow streets like salarymen in their business suits waiting in a receiving line for the future. Every trace of the old expunged as efficiently as once the trees and the rice paddies were, here in this place where hope means the West, and tomorrow."

- Grandmothers in Sun After Dark: Flights into the Foreign by Pico Iyer

Sunday trails

Cool breeze. Warm sunshine. Kids in a field. Two roti prata plain with 100+. Scorching heat. Winding roads and quaint blocks. Kaya Butter toast with tea. Chocolate Fudge cake and cappuccino. Meeting a good friend.

That was my Sunday.




The orange glob follows me wherever I go.


Shadow bridge




Lucky me. I met an incoming train!


I love the fern-covered tree. Gorgeous.


A permanent goal.



White & Black

Not quite Cupid

Saturday dinner was Chinese food with JpW and SM. Only two weeks ago, I received a sms from JpW after midnight informing his good friends that he's proposed, and SM has accepted his proposal. Over dinner, I managed to find out more about their uneventful proposal - nothing fanciful, just a simple affair between themselves.

I am happy for both of them. In one of the mysterious ways that life works, I have a somewhat small hand to play in bringing them together more than a year ago. No, I didn't introduce them to each other; neither did I play cupid by trying to bring them together. In fact, it was JpW who, out of the blue, noticed SM and became kind of romantically interested.

My small role was this: as a neutral and, if I may say, credible friend to each of them, I joined them for dinner at their first meeting. Thereafter, they went out on dates. SM then did not know JpW well and was suspicious when he suddenly asked her out for dinner. Knowing that I hang out with JpW, she put a condition to meeting him - that I join both of them. While I was reluctant to go along, I relented at the persuasion of JpW.

The dinner went well in the end (we dined at a restaurant in Duxton), we had a pleasant evening, and I could tell both of them were equals to each other. One funny moment that could have come out of a scene in a movie was when either of them went to the restroom during our after-dinner drinks. While one was away, I would be giving my 'sound advice' and responding to the other's queries, especially SM's. She was in doubt that JpW was genuinely interested in her, though I certainly think that she must have secretly relished the idea that she's being pursued.

Both of them are intelligent and highly eloquent, and it wasn't before long when SM reciprocated JpW's love. Along the way, I did my fair share of brother duty by allaying the fears of SM and singing not a few praises - all honest and candid - of JpW. I could see them getting along with each other really well: one who is romantically blinded, the other waiting to be romantically bound.

The rest, as they say, is history. I began to see less of JpW as his social life soon became SM, and he her social life. The three of us would meet up for dinner and tea now and then, though admittedly I am usually the one who's unavailable and could not meet.

Their engagement and marriage was a foregone conclusion long ago, seeing as it is how they enjoyed each other's company. JpW was moreover a most devoted and loving boyfriend to SM, there's little doubt that SM's happiness is in safe hands.

Come twenty twelve, I would witness their happy matrimony, and I know they will enjoy each other's companionship as they make the remaining journey in life together. Congratulations again, JpW and SM!