New Beginnings

It seems Mother Nature knew a little about what had been weighing on my mind these days.

The leaves of this lovely lush tree that grows right outside my kitchen window, forming part of the greenery outside The Cave which sometimes makes me feel like I'm living in a tree house, had initially started turning reddish brown, and then falling off in clumps (much like my hair has been doing...). I started worrying that a horrible disease might have gotten a hold of it, and that I might lose part of this green canopy, and contemplated whether I should call in the NParks people to have a look at this public property that is so greatly appreciated and enjoyed. Yesterday, my concerns were soothed. Out with the old, and in with the new, with tender young shoots sprouting throughout. Nature's periodic renewal process is in progress. My tree house is intact. So's my life.

Accomplished

It occurred to me recently that I no longer have the luxury of time. Time with which to pursue frivolous interests and hobbies. In a previous life, before I had embarked on my latest adventures, I had had all the time that was leftover after work and catching up with friends to explore whatever took my fancy. I'm not all that fantastic a multi-tasker. It's probably due more to the fact that I'm lazy, and if I don't have to, why would I want to juggle more than one thing at a time? I'm no energizer bunny, that's for sure! 

Without the luxury of time, where would I have found the opportunity and energy to research, explore, visit, compile, surf, look up, borrow books on, inspect, discuss, spend HOURS doing calculations for (and generally indulge in) my obsession? Heck, I probably wouldn't even have had the time to develop such an obsession in the first place!

Without the luxury of time, where would I have found the opportunity and energy to get what was necessary for me to now enjoy Bella and Lulu?

Without the luxury of time, where would I have found the opportunity and energy to learn to what had fascinated me about art and its creation? The translation of what the eye sees, into what the mind perceives, into what the hand could express, onto canvas?

With the luxury of time, I had even worked up a "shopping list" of things to get around to eventually, before I checked out from this life. I have good reason to believe that, had I not been given the luxury of time due to the choices I had made in life, I would never have been as "accomplished" a person (as someone from Jane Austen's era would have put it) as I am now. As a student back in school, I had never had the opportunity to pick up such basic culinary skills as baking. In fact, it was only recently that I had ventured outside of the (easy) comfort zone of "stir-fry"and "braise" into "roast". In spite of the fact that I've never been a confectionary person, I've always been fascinated by others' ability to create a dessert from a bit of flour, cream, sugar, butter, chocolate, what have you. So, baking's on that list. 

Having spent the past year idling and pursuing other goals, I was starting to wonder whether it was high time I got back to checking something off that list. Afterall, one never knows how much time one has before the bell rings to indicate closing time and it's time to head to the check-out counter. Trawling through various sites, most of which were too advanced/complicated/expensive/inconveniently scheduled or located, I was starting to become disheartened when I finally chanced upon this place. I scrolled through the various courses available and found one which promises to teach even aspiring newbies like me how to bake some "tea breads". Hmmm....

:D

The Other Obsession

Those who know me know well enough, know that my other obsession is criminal who-dunnit drama series/documentaries on TV/movies/books. So of course I had to click on this when I saw it...

*Chunk Chunk* :D

HortPark

Having gotten a little sick and tired of the South Ridge Walk, M and I decided we'd check out the Kent Ridge Canopy Walk instead. It was a welcome break from the usual scenery, and we thoroughly appreciated the fact that we didn't hv to zig-zag our way around the crowds who've taken to the South Ridge Walk every Sunday.

On our way back, we passed the glasshouses of the HortPark, testing out various types of blooms (some of which were surprisingly huge). With the sun setting in the background of the glasshouses, we felt like we were trespassing on some rich guy's ultra-contemporary mansion, sited on a vast expanse of manicured lawns.

Waking this morning to a gloomy morning, this was the sight greeting me - a timid sun peeking out from behind an enormous cloud of dust particles that have been enshrouding the island for the past few days. It's been hot and muggy, even at night. Apparently, according to the NEA, we cannot lay the blame for this on the doorsteps of our nearby neighbour and their incessant burning of crop land. So WTH is happening?? Yet another sign of global warming/warning unheeded until it's too late??

Where Angels Fear to Tread

Some fool's declaration of love via multi-coloured glow sticks carefully arranged on the ground under our block of flats. One was tempted to shout out the window, "I love you too!", just to see if anyone else would contest the claim to this declaration...:P

Refusing to have our wallets ripped right out of our pockets, we chose instead to eat a home-cooked meal of vegetables (such was the amount we whipped up, it qualified as the main course that night) with a side of well-done sirloin steak on the side. Well-done, because our friend insisted the germs needed to be annihilated before the slabs of beef could hit our plates.

Choya with sparkling water to wash all that down. *hic* Much merriment all round.

Last Lo Hei

It's our last Lo Hei of the year. Dragging a couple of friends along for the ride, we Lo-ed our hearts out at The Chinese Box, hoping for good news some time before the next CNY rolls around. More importantly, we wished for things to go well in everyone's personal lives. For we all know, money can't buy you happiness. :)

Naturally, all that "healthy" vegetables had to be "balanced" out with chicken fried to a crisp.

Let this be the year we focus and make progress on aspects of our lives which had been neglected in the past, in favour of more tangible stuff we could see in the bank statements. With the full moon as witness, a crime of littering was committed by some near the sea. :)

The Way We Live Our Lives

"When the end approaches and we look back on our lives, will we regret the mobile phone or luxury car that we did not acquire? Or would we prefer to die at peace with ourselves, knowing that we have lived lives filled with love, friendship and goodwill, that we have helped some of our fellow voyagers along the way and that we have tried our best to leave this world a slightly better place than how we found it?"

- Dr. Lee Wei Ling

A helping hand proffered. Maybe one day, when the same is needed, someone else would proffer theirs as quickly and without a second thought. And if the need never arises, then our lives would have been blessed. 

This is a footprint I'd have no shame leaving behind.

一本万利

The annual ritual to scare away whatever evil or ill-luck that is lurking about the offices and cubicles, and to ring in good fortune for the new year. Much more so this year than in the past.

If You Could Smell This...

The Western world have their Campbell's soup. Convenience food in an iconic image made famous by Andy Warhol.
In the eastern world, we have finally caught up in this area of convenience food. Not just "soup in an instant", but TONIC soup in an instant. Spotted this new line of products a couple of weekends ago, and finally decided to try it out. After some deliberation over whether I should go for the "balance", "nourish", "revitalize" or "renewal" condensed tonic soup (all the goodness of various chinese herbs, distilled into a little glass bottle), I settled for "revitalize" (reckon one could always do with some "revitalizing"!), which contains American Ginseng (cooling. Always a good option). Mm, if you could only smell the fragrance of all the goodness of a chicken soup wafting through the Cave! *burp* Satisfying!

Intact

New Year's resolution still intact. At the end of the walk along Labrador Park, which has been revamped and extended. We walked on, to the sounds of many good wishes being said as the members of the nearby club did their "lo hei-ing". Many folks toting big cameras were out in full force, capturing the brilliant end of the day. Naturally, I had to whip out my little SE C902. :D