February 2010
10 posts
Dance & Bow.
Aquamarine sorbet.
The frothy blue sea calmed a tempest in me. I enjoyed the bouts of billowing breeze too. Almost like magic, it invisibly surrounded me and with its tender touch, it softened some wounds that have dried up and become scabby. Engaging with nature could be a purifying experience where you allow something beyond yourself do for you what you or another person do for you. When you...
Dancing Dancing.
You turned my mourning into
dancing.
You lifted me out
and
set me
dancing, dancing.
Free
now I am free
your love rescued me.
Fujiya & Miyagi ‘Ankle Injuries’ from Tom Lindsay on Vimeo.
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January 2010
14 posts
Casting Jewels.
2010 has been zooming by with an interesting assortment of people logged in my daily schedule.
In my encounter with these unique individuals, I notice an astonishing pattern.
In the bits and pieces of their lives, somehow, I discover a few bits and pieces that match my past experiences - especially challenging periods which I’ve now overcome.
Now, these bits and pieces are jewels.
...
Live Life.
What a great day to be alive.
Drink in the sunshine.
Enjoy the invisible magic of the wind.
Go out,
meet someone,
do something together,
give, share, laugh, care.
Live!
December 2009
11 posts
Unimaginably Beautiful
Watching Avatar convinced me that if one man
is capable of
imagining and creating
such a breathtaking product,
what more,
the Maker of man and the universe?
The three hour immersion of the beauteous new world
stretched my mind
how magnificent, wonderfully complex and mysteriously incomprehensible
God is.
If James Cameron,
an imperfect human being of four divorces, five marriages and an infamous...
YUM MUNCH CRUNCH.
I’m a closet kitchen goddess wannabe.
Growing up with a culinary school principal parent who ferries delectable leftovers of her day’s classes, desserts and extra food were comforting notes that mummy’s home.
We’ve got a library of cookbooks filled with gorgeous cakes, cookies, desserts and nationalities of cuisines. Childhood was filled with hours of bending over the...
Repackaged.
Come back, cherry pie!
This was offered before I popped onto Earth.
It’s been days since I last uttered a word in this space.
They’ve been spent on preparations for the year end.
2009 was a remarkable movie. The stories of every season have been breaking, re-arranging, stretching and shaping me into a bigger person.
I hope your year has done that for you too.
*
BREAKTHROUGH.
In 12 hours, I’m going to be doing something new.
November 2009
13 posts
Love Living.
For past seven years, every day I wake up to is a miracle.
I could have been six feet under had it not been that one encounter that saved me from what could have been an eternal rut to eternal hope, love and faith to live.
Gratefulness has carried me through each day since.
Everyday, I remind myself about my turning point.
Being thankful helps me cherish and make each day count.
Count for who?...
Liberated!
One word I used to hardly acknowledged and understood was
‘Joy’.
If my life were represented by a tree, and all the characteristics of maturity - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control, each a fruit,
Joy would be a bud.
Along with Joy, are the words ‘enjoy’, ’ fun’ and ‘HAHAHAHA’s.
Learning how to...
I See You.
One of the quickest way I relax and recharge my soul
is to lay all things aside,
look up into the sky
and slow down to appreciate the beauty of nature.
Nature is a gentle yet powerful reminder that my life is in the hands of a very creative, intelligent, beautiful and altogether perfect person.
The Sun, a glorious fireball that illuminates our days never fails to show up every morning, reminds me...
Desire, Discipline & Delight.
One change I’ve been desiring is to regain the physical health and fitness I had seven years back.
Spiritually dead and ferociously ambitious at 16 years old, I desired, disciplined and delighted in achieving a physical fitness performance that pleased my PE teachers, a wild intellect that impressed my older peers and unconventional relationships that made adults drop their jaws.
Body and...
Papa.
Mars bars, candy necklaces, bowling toy sets, sandy playgrounds, a milk- bottle of sweet and sour Ribena and the rattan rocking chair remind me of the sparse periods spent with my father twenty years ago.
One of my favourite times with him was sitting on his shoulders, as he paraded me along the streets. For fear of falling, my tiny fists would grab as much of his hair I could. He would yelp in...
Eat Together.
I’ve been rediscovering the bliss of sitting with friends over food and drinks. Past two years, yes, past two years, I’ve notoriously stacked other ‘priorities’ above the simple activity of dining with friends. The idea of sitting down to relax over a meal evaporated from my schedule.
Since the shock of my falling ill recently, I’ve been unlearning my fast and...
Double Deals.
In my lifetime, there’ll be two Valeries to handle.
I’ve to manage them with great attention, care and wisdom
because they disagree, sometimes,
and only one can have her way.
Without attention, I could be deceived very easily for the mind is a mind of its own when it is not tamed, disciplined and regularly led by truth. It would run stray far and wide and lose itself. It would...
Work Like Play.
I was offered a position at this film production house recently.
The office is a modernised pre-war terrace where a house cat, Sashimi, roams and purrs for food. Spacious, shady and lined with a menagerie of cameras, the ground floor is the polar opposite of second level.
First step in, I was instantly warmed by all the familiar favourite things in the room.
Drum and bass music, an...
October 2009
4 posts
Slow Down.
[Kabul, Altaf Qadri]
Cold weather unfailingly warms my heart.
Deafening thunder crackles as the sky clears his scratchy throat.
Grumble. Rumble. Roar.
Soon, rain is released to calm and soothe his nerves.
Relief. Comfort.
Warmth.
Rain reminds me to slow down, retreat and relax.
It makes me put things down and learn how to do nothing and enjoy doing nothing. I realize I can’t continually do...
Let's Eat.
I miss the glorious spreads my grandmother prepared at my childhood home.
We always dined at the coffee table where dishes and cups occupy the entire space.
Halved papayas to carve out with miniature spoons.
Runny half-boiled eggs which I’d pepper, guzzle and lick clean.
Fragrant bread with sweet and tangy orange marmalade.
Crispy dough sticks dunked in iced soya bean milk.
Cold milk...