Playlist: Skinny love’s born to die

Lately my playlist’s full of slow, soulful kind of music. It’s a nice change from the party dance K-Pop tracks a few months ago. Heh. I imagine this mood won’t last long, but I’ll savour it for now.

Skinny Love by Birdy

Born to Die by Lana Del Rey

Kiss Me by Ed Sheeran

Fast Cars by Boyce Avenue ft. Kina Grannis

Krabi

Krabi was amazing. Clear turquoise seas and cloudy skies merged somewhere in the horizon, and walking along on the beach was a dream with the clean, fine sands that felt like silk.

The photo editing for the trip is going to take a while, as I’ve been thoroughly distracted by the bromance known as Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. Sherlock Season Two just started airing a couple weeks ago, and ugh it is so good. I cannot wait for the final episode next week. #brbfangirling

Remembering

Sometimes it’s hard to remember. I wonder if my memories are truly my own, or a reflection of stories I remember remembering.

I sit on the steps and stare out across the river. The weather is marvelous – a gorgeous blue sky with cotton candy clouds. Is this what they call ‘azure’, I wonder, as the wind runs her fingers through my hair, mischievously weaving them into braids.

Closing my eyes, I pretend that I am a large, leafy tree, cupping small pools of sunshine in my outstretched palms. I hear the little tank of optimism inside me gurgle as it refills itself, and I imagine, as I bask in the sun’s warm embrace, that I can almost feel again. Continue reading

A running spell

The sky is a brilliant bright blue today. It’s clear with only a few large puffy white clouds and look like something out of a postcard. In short, it’s not what I imagine I would see in Singapore.

But I’ve seen it before on other similar sunny days when Mr. Weatherman felt he’d had enough of punishing us with dreary rain.

I’ve lived here slightly more than half of my life, and each time I head out for the train station, it still amazes me when I look up at this large, beautiful piece of sky. Still surprises me that it is possible to see a sky that is, thankfully, unmarred by cold, unfeeling construction cranes, ever-charting a concrete stairway to above.

I sit on one of the park benches nearby. It’s a running track that had recently been built, but I don’t remember seeing the construction work for it. It was like it had existed in its own world, appearing out of nowhere when the bubble popped and brought it to reality.

One day, a messy unwieldy field; the next, a black, curvy path as it followed the path the train tracks above had carved through this neighbourhood.

To my left, I see joggers running in their FBT shorts and cotton shirts. The light that falls on them is golden, giving their sweat-slicked flesh a tanned glow, as they huff and puff to the sound of bass pumping from tiny earbuds.

I want to run too, I realise.

I want to feel my heart beat faster as it works harder, supplying oxygen to my limbs like a good little machine it is. I want to feel the sweat that forms on my upper lip as I run. I can already hear the music playing in my ears, the woman’s soft voice and that thump-thump beat of the drums.

It was never this way. Had never been this way.

Perhaps a few nights ago, when the moon had been a perfect half, I’d cast a spell upon myself. A fever’s caught hold of me, and I must march to the sound of the beating drum.

Or run, to be more accurate.

Looking back at 2011

Right now, I’m sitting in front of my laptop eating a peanut butter sandwich. It still hasn’t been properly processed in my head that it’s 2012 now, and I sort of feel like Mr. Wind Up Bird. 2011 was a year of change, and so many things that’ve occurred feel like they belong to someone else instead. Or maybe I’m in a state of transition, caught in the in-between where days have merged into an endless passage of un-change.

I’ve wanted to do an annual review ever since I started reading Chris Guillebeau, and although I can’t really explain it, it feels like it’s something that I have to do in order to fully absorb what’s happened so far. Continue reading

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Quote

“Is it possible, finally, for one human being to achieve perfect understanding of another? We can invest enormous time and energy in serious efforts to know another person, but in the end, how close are we able to come to that person’s essence? We convince ourselves that we know the other person well, but do we really know anything important about anyone?” - Haruki Murakami

Leaving for Krabi

It’s 3.40am as I’m typing on my iPhone, on my way to the airport in one of the new-fares cab. There’s a grumpy, temperamental sister on my right, which makes for a volatile start to what’s hopefully a nice holiday.

It’s kind of a pity to miss Christmas this year round, considering I’ve always spent it here at home. But then again, it’s also kind of a relief, forced by circumstances to be unable to celebrate it.

This year is so much different from last year, and I’m not sure what I feel about it yet. A little pity, a little regret, a little relief, a little distress. A little of each.

On a happier note, I’ve changed my wallpaper for the better! Park Si Hoo is my current celeb-crush. How come you so awesome, PSH?

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