Collect Moments

Venice, Sunset at Rialto bridge Cover the earth before it covers you.  Was searching online for a suitable tagline (as usual) for the upcoming post and came cross this, I thought it's rather humorous, and so very true. For we all will turn into a pinch of dust and return to the Earth, someday. Anyhow, Lnr and I took twelve precious (more precious to me for he has plenty) annual leave and embarked on a nineteen days trip to southern Europe - spanning across seven places in two countries ( or three if we consider Vatican is a city-state of its own). As with the past trips, it was two and half happy weeks spent with Lnr as we gazed at the marvellous marble status in amazement; watched the same sun sets into the horizon; revelled in palatable local cuisines; and snapping a thousand pictures. We booked the flight tickets five months in advance and spent the next couple months planning our itineraries, booking train and accommodations one weekend at a time. All of a sudden ...

I don't think I have ever felt so inferior until I have started working. Yes I was the last few percentile in VJ, my CAP never went over 4.0 all the four years in NUS, I never scored a single goal during the 2 years in soccer, I have seldom compared myself to others, at least not academically. But the working environment was a big reality check, I started questioning myself a lot. Why was I so inefficient? Why do I feel incapable and lost a lot? Why do I take so long to find a damn email in the archive? Ofcause I know the answers very well too. Inexperienced, poor computing skills, lack of a sharp mind, horrible memory, nervousness. There is a lot of flaws and shortcomings I see in myself through work, through living with lnr. Sometimes I wonder what went wrong while I was growing up. It's definitely unfair to infer that my mum/aunt was slack in discipline me, the effort and time they have spent on me was overabundance. All the beating and scoldings I've received from mak...

Great inspiring show. Though. Is it ever possible to be free of gender discrimination in this society? Much as society has by and large progressed towards equality. Equality and freedom are ultimately socially constructed too. Fairness is a fallacy. But indeed, there should always be freedom to allow change to happen. Just, what a world and life must it have been before rise of feminism movement in 19th century. How lucky I am to be born as a woman today. 

Quick browse through the social media and seems like everyone is wrapping up their  year on a great and happy note~ What a wonderful thing hehe at this age and time. To think back to the old and emo teenage day seems so far away. I have had a great year too. Much laughter minimum tears. No one of importance left my life but rather met new kind and genuine colleagues on my first job. No major setback in all aspects of life. Happy nest satisfying wife. Learnt to cook a lot more than my entire life and manage to hit the gym thrice a week for the record. Whew. Travelled far, ate well and slept enough. Another ordinary and peaceful life that I ought to be grateful for. In the coming year. Here's a few wishes from the 25 y.o me to the 26 y.o me. 1. Continue to hit the gym thrice a week, and pushing myself a tiny weeny bit more at a time.  2. Don't let watercolor, pole dance or social dance with lnr slip away from the weekly routine.  3. Consume less. Step into commerc...

I love to read quite a number of Murakami's works, Norwegian Woods, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki, The wind up bird chronicles, Hard boiled Wonderland and the end  of the world, to name a few. While it's not difficult to figure out his unique style of narratives, most of the time I could never fully understand his writings, but I enjoy reading them nonetheless. Talking cats, queers, desires, loneliness, other worlds, lost feelings, seemingly disjoint timelines in the books. Reading his works makes me want to be in that strange world he have imagined, I wish I were the characters, I feel a strong tie (tho fictional) with the feelings and lives he has portrayed. A seemingly monotonous life, a fixed bar/restaurant to frequent, unconventional conversations with strangers, rawness of human desires, everything plays out evenly in his stories. I have always loved queer things, not psychotic but just.. different liking. Perhaps it was a conscious choice to become weird even I don't kn...

'You are wonderful, there is no need to rush. Please take your time to polish your talent'. What if there isn't any to begin with. What if you are good for nothing. It was a mess. Your brain could no longer catch up with the voices around you. You forgot simple spellings. Your mind were drifting away to nowhere. You rushed to your desk scrambling for the exact drawing you needed but you just couldn't find it. Eventually you returned to your seat wondering how did you become what you are today. All the bad habits during your adolescence days, disorganised, short term memories, sometimes you ended up doubting your own intelligence. You can't judge a fish by its ability to climb trees. But what are you really. ...

X in chào !  Instead of heading to Lombok for a 3D2N Rinjani trekking and some snorkelling by the Gili islands, Lnr and I made last minute cancellation to our flights and changed our destination to Viet Nam in early Sep after several powerful earthquake struck Lombok weeks before the trip. While I was a little disappointed and concerned about the change, the trip turned out to be very favourable and we had a really fond week there, fortunate enough to be showered by kindness and friendliness from the few local point of contact we had. We were highly recommended by my colleague to consider trekking the tallest mountain @ Viet Nam - Fansipan for its breathtaking above-the-clouds sunrise views, as well as visting areas near Ninh Binh for it's tranquillity and karst mountain/cave formations, nicknamed the inland 'halong bay'. We thereby planned our trip hastily to cover 3 places, namely Hanoi, Sapa and Ninh Binh.  We spent just half a day in the capital city Hano...