LOVE, Kloudiia

Tick Tock, Tick Tock, Tick Tock.

Second by second, the clock ticks and tocks along, and with it, our time on this earth.

The clock in our living room broke down for the past two months or so, and everyone at home felt ill at ease without this little mini antique-like teapot clock hung up on the wall, at one o’clock position from the TV set, doing what it was borne to do.

It is just a humble, little egg.

In fact, the humbler and more “tattered” it looks, the more substance it contains within it’s plumpish body.

When I stood before a stall selling this tea-boiled egg (茶叶蛋) for the first time in my life–eons ago, may I add–I peeked into this big pot of boiling blackish liquid and blurted out “Eee”. Countless eggs, half and fully soaked in the mysterious black liquid were popping their heads out like pebbles on a low-tide beach. My friend told me those were Tea-Boiled Eggs, and I went “What’s that again?”

What a year!

On this last day of 2010–where the first decade has passed in this new millenia–I’ve a few things to say.

This year has been quite a ride in many senses. I felt like I am on a new journey, and it’s all about searching, reflecting, discovering, learning and finally testing out. There were some fun moments, others were more trials and tribulations than joys and successes.

I watch as the world ticks by, as people around me flips out flags staking and announcing their achievements, and I had to hand-hold my own heart while participating in their celebrations and cheers. What a year!

What is worry? It’s a time, effort and energy-consuming activity that creates wrinkles, white hair and–when really allowed to manifest–heart palpitations. Doesn’t sound like something worthwhile doing, does it? Yet, how many of us are engaged in this unworthy activity as frequently as every day, every hour and even every minute?

The therapist felt around my stomach, and asked, ‘Do you eat very late?’

‘No,’ I replied without a moment’s hesitation, thinking about late night supper and how seldom I indulged myself in committing that crime. Then, I thought about it for like two seconds, and asked, ‘How late?’ He could be referring to an “earlier” night supper, perhaps?

He grinned. Aha! Gotcha, he must be thinking. ’2, 3 o’clock?’

‘You mean 2, 3 AM?’ My eyeballs glanced upwards.

He turned his head from my tummy to my face, and I could see the slight shock registered there. ‘No, 2, 3 PM!’

It was a carnival. Music was clapping through the air, sounds of basketballs looping through nets, small and big feet shuffling on carpeted ground and the voice of the emcee rang above all. Children and adults in bright orange, fuscia pink, lime green, pristine white and of course, the hard-to-be-sulky black spread out everywhere like streams coursing through the wide red plain. Camera flashes illuminate the Wall of Positivity, where people stood beside their cartoon selves to commemorate the birth of their penciled clones.

Check out mine!

Very timely, on a day that celebrates joy, laughter and hope, Health Promotion Board (HPB) launched their second and last installment of the Be Positive art campaign at The Cathay. So, I ‘toddled’ there on Children’s Day, 1 oct 2010 at 10.30am, exactly thirty minutes after the best timing–10am–to see the shadow effect of one of the slogans by the art sculpture: ‘worries fade away‘.

Why did I arrive late? Because my mind kept thinking that it was at VivoCity, where they had their first ‘SMILE’ there. See, this is what happens when we let our minds be preoccupied with worries and troubles! As a result, this was what I got:

He always amazes me. Really. Not only is he such a visionary leader, he is a family man. And now, I learnt another important lesson from him once again. There are certainly many reasons for MM Lee’s successes, and one of them is, I believe, taking action.

I had a sort of revelation this morning when I was praying. An anxious feeling just crept out of nowhere into my heart. So I prayed for God to take away my anxiety. At that moment, something just struck me.

You see, while I was praying, my mind had, once again, drifted away. This wave came out from my head and glided to my right at the two-o’clock position, where my notebook was on the desk in the hotel room. I felt little dots jittering in my notebook, bumping and shaking. I knew it was telling me that I had to write. I need to work. And I got anxious.

This friend I just got to know in Iowa has this dictum: “There’s no coincidence in life.”

Everything that happens in our life, every person we meet, every food we eat, every place we go all has a reason and a purpose. It’s not an coincidence, but meant to be. And that was how we met.