Thursday, September 30, 2010

A nice old song - Beautiful Girl

Found the high society CD my friend gave me inside my French for Travellers cd cover in my car today. This cd was given to me some time back when we didn't talk much, mainly cos i was avoiding him. So he gave me the cd and asked me to listen to the songs.I didn't know how we should communicate and it was quite a while before we slowly loosen up and be friends again. How could i let our friendship go? He has been such a dear loyal friend all these years...


Clarke Quay at night

Passed by Clarke Quay tonight and stopped for a while to admire the charming night.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Springcleaning

Found this note while spring cleaning my stuff the other day. The fun thing about spring cleaning is that sometimes you'll come across items that bring you down the memory lanes, or remind you of certain state of mind at certain period of time which you could have otherwise forgotten...

Monday, September 27, 2010

Postcard from Mongolia - Reflections

What better place to do some reflections than this tranquil lake in Mongolia? Where our earthly images are softly reflected back to us, where time seems to stand still, the expanse of the sky and land as our loyal companions.

Singapore F1 Night Race 2010

Was at the Singapore F1 night race tonight at the kind invitation of an ex customer. The atmosphere was awesome just like last year and we had access to all the zones. :)


 


 And here's me. Hello from the circuit park. :)


The view from the esplanade is beautiful isn't it? J'aime Singapore!



Mariah Carey's post race concert. 




Wednesday, September 22, 2010

A little chat with mom

Went over to my sister's place to keep my mom company the other day when my sister's family went out for some event.


I was chatting with my mom and teasing her that ain't she fortunate to have such a good daughter like i was when she commented out of the blue that "having a family is good", that she'll be happy if i can settle down. It was rather off angle from what we were originally chatting about but anyway i just replied that it's good only with the right person.

 
Normally, i do not like to talk about it and would usually appear slightly irritated and change topic. But that day, i decided to explain further to my mother what i think.


In my opinion, what's more important is whether i'm happy. And i was/ am. I'm happy and very much appreciative and contented with my life at this stage of my life. ( I should use "rather" but i felt "very", probably cos i'm taking a career break now. hehe) Happiness to me is not determined by some status or life milestone. It's not when one made that big paycheck, drove that big car or attained that married status. It's that general sense of happiness that one feels. And i feel that now. Of course, occasionally i may fall into moments of lows or sadness, but in a general sense, i am happy. :)


Sure, it would be great if i have someone to settle down with and i am not (i assured her) resisting either. But it would only be great with the right person and i would not be shortchanged even if i do not ever get married. I cited to her examples of people who were married but were not happy. People who in the end decided to divorce afterall, or those who stay married but miserable. Ultimately, what's important is how you feel inside, not whether you are this or not. So with that, i told her not to worry and ended the side track she brought up.


Indeed, i have instances of friends and my sister commenting how they envy me. The exciting lifestyle of a single gal, with all the possibilities and freedom to pursue all that she dreams of. Not having to deal with the demands as a mother or wife, or the mundaneness of family life. There's always two sides to a coin huh?


When we have this, we lose that (or some of that). We can't have it all. But it doesn't mean that we will be unhappy if we don't have this or that. We can look at the bright side and appreciate what we have instead of lamenting what we have missed (or think we missed). I believe that there is no one path to happiness.



Me and friends trying out "sister" dress for a friend's wedding. 
Hope everyone will find their own happiness. :D

Monday, September 20, 2010

Postcard from Mongolia


Loved the blue skies and the white clouds and the splendour of mother nature on this beautiful land.

Doggie trampled oil painting.

There's a chinese idiom, 塞翁失马 焉知非福, which roughly means blessing in disguise. The idiom comes from a story that goes like this:

A man who lived on the northern frontier of China was skilled in interpreting events. One day for no reason, his horse ran away to the nomads across the border. Everyone tried to console him, but his father said, "What makes you so sure this isn't a blessing?" Some months later his horse returned, bringing a splendid nomad stallion. Everyone congratulated him, but his father said, "What makes you so sure this isn't a disaster?" Their household was richer by a fine horse, which the son loved to ride. One day he fell and broke his hip. Everyone tried to console him, but his father said, "What makes you so sure this isn't a blessing?"


A year later the nomads came in force across the border, and every able-bodied man took his bow and went into battle. The Chinese frontiersmen lost nine of every ten men. Only because the son was lame did father and son survive to take care of each other. Truly, blessing turns to disaster, and disaster to blessing: the changes have no end, nor can the mystery be fathomed.





I have the mood to do some oil painting today and wondered for a while if i should continue the half-finish painting our doggie had trampled over 2 months back when i had left the painting on the floor to dry. The more i looked at it, the more interesting it looked(back) to me. Indeed, I had posted and lamented about the damaged work back then on my facebook and some friends had commended the damage as actually a plus point, like a finishing touch, an interesting twist to the painting.






And as i sat there studying the painting today, i found myself smiling at it. The painting with it's funny paw prints somehow just evoked a smile to me. Then and there, i decided to leave it alone as it was. It was as complete as it could be! Many things in life has a way of emerging better or worst than we think huh. Some seemingly unfortunate events can turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Likewise for good things... That's a good reminder isn't it? When things seem bleak, the thought of it as being a potential blessing in disguise helps us to look at the bright side of things. And when good things are going good, while we are riding on it, we can try to be mindful and not let overt optimism blind us to potential tripping. :)