Beautifully Imperfect

Speaking of letting the tears flow, I caught this ad (commissioned by the Ministry of Community Development Singapore and directed by Yasmin Ahmad) twice this week and I cried both times!

I will be enjoying the long weekend with my family and hope you’ll have a good one too. :)

Nothing Like The Present

Spoke to an old friend today and he told me how he missed the good old days. I told him that although my youth was good in general, I surely don’t miss them. Those were the days of shopping with friends, checking out boys, watching local bands play and getting away with many, many things. Those were also the days fraught with illness, sadness, and struggle.

Life has been a series of constant learning and improvements. It took me so long to realise this.  Everything “bad” that had happened was an opportunity for me to learn and better myself. So in effect, each new day is better than the day before.

The present is a comfortable place for me to be right now. The people I love are healthy and relatively happy and that makes me happy.  It’s funny how now that I live life fully aware of the present, every little “good” thing is magnified. “I’m having a funny conversation with my husband, how cool is that?”, “My cat is dreaming in its sleep. This is cuteness personified!”, “I’m eating a chocolate bar. What a delightful taste!”

10, 20 years on, when I look back on this day I hope I’ll still be saying  “those were the good old days.  And thank you for the present”.

Something to Remember

Life is a series of ups and downs.

(Again and  Again, Keane)

Lost and Found

The little break I’ve taken has done wonders. I’ve chilled out, contemplated, rejoiced.

Lost
My husband and I went to Little India, an ethnic enclave a few minutes away from the city centre, last week. We ate chicken biryani and samosas. Walked through rows and rows of colourful shop houses. After awhile, it became evident that we didn’t know the area that well.

We were lost. For hours we were wondering aimlessly, discovering quaint little corners tucked away from the main road. It would have been really fun if not for the 32-degree (90 F) heat. But that’s okay, a day like this makes an icy cold glass of coffee taste just that much better. And I need to maintain this positive mindset because we’re probably gonna get lost quite a bit come May. Why? We’re planning on going for a month-long vacation to Europe and I’m very, very excited about it. It will be our first time and I didn’t know where to begin! It would be nice to get some info from family and friends who’ve been there but the general consensus when we hinted about the trip to them has been negative – “better to save your money”, “it’s a bad time to go”, etc – so no, we didn’t get much help from them.

Found
I’m thankful to have people around me who cared enough for me to dispense well-meaning advice. I’m grateful too for the privilege of being able to make my own decisions. I decided that if I didn’t go now, I would probably regret it later.

Firstly, the exchange rates are very favourable now. Secondly, I have less work now. Yes, you heard that right. Less work. While I couldn’t possibly envision myself taking a month off work last year, there’s a definite dearth of projects in the coming months. Time, once a great luxury to me, has become more affordable now. Still I felt that I need a little reaasurance, and turned to my best friend.

“Just go,” said my best friend.

“But why?” I asked.

“Because,” she laughed.

Embrace the now, be spontaneous, grab the silver lining, get inspired, live without regrets – she summed it up with one word.

In Perspective

Yesterday was not one of the best days of my life.

I woke up late for an appointment. Got caught in the rain.
Fell smack on my butt. In the middle of a large crowd of kids. Twice.
Had to wait in line at two different queues for a total of 2 and a half hours.
I was so hungry all the while because the only thing I had eaten the whole day was a piece of bread.

By the time all that ended all I wanted was a nice, comforting plate of creamy pasta.

Went to the supermarket. Got a good deal on two packs of spaghetti and some sauces. Was feeling chuffed as I went back home. Got home and realised that I had left one of my shopping bags at the cashier’s counter. The one with all the ingredients I needed to cook my dinner.

Took 35 minutes to get to and back home from the supermarket. No longer in the mood to cook. Ended up having two burnt bagels for dinner (I set the oven timer 5 minutes too long).

At night I got news that one of my relatives is now jobless. The one I thought was in a secure, cushy position.

Then my brother called to say that his company is axing nearly a thousand workers next week. He said he’s losing sleep and hair over the news and asked whether I could recommend….. a shampoo to slow down hair loss. :o

Jobs can be replaced but hair loss is irreversible, he reasoned. That’s someone who got his priorities sorted out, though not in a typical order, I thought.

Yesterday was not one of the best days of my life. But it could have been worse. And for that, I’m thankful.

Different But Still the Same

I met the other half of my sludge worm fellowship a few days ago. So glad to finally see her again! All the anxiety I had about meeting her quickly melted away as we chatted about the old days and how much (or how little) we’ve changed.

On the surface we looked different – we’re no longer giggly schoolgirls in uniforms, we’ve grown a couple of inches taller and our fashion styles have evolved – but essentially we’re still the same persons. She described our reacquaintance succinctly when she said,

“Everything’s different yet nothing’s changed.” :)