Every run is a different journey. The other day I learned that if I started a run with a negative thought I would most likely found myself struggling through out. What started as "This is too hard!" would snowballed into "I can't. I'm going to quit." Good thing I ran next to someone who kept shouting positive words at my face. Stay with me! Keep pushing! Focus on your breath! Faster! Faster! Keep going! You are doing great. Swing your arms! Although I must admit I felt like I wanted to kill him somewhere between You are doing great! and Swing your arm! :-) A mental note to myself: no whining, focus, focus, focus! Applicable to all areas of life. I think my heart grow a tad bigger.
She sounds different. She has green and blue streaks on her hair. She complains the hot and humid weather but wears two layers of clothing. She seems to enjoy the heavy traffic. She has more sophisticated music. She made two new friends on the way from Taipei to Jakarta. She awkwardly consoled a grieving lady in a plane. She laughs uncontrollably at my predicaments. She deliberately annoys me. Bussiness as usual. Hello kiddo!
Today a year ago my Dad passed away. I had been feeling rather restless and uneasy these past weeks. Tossed and turned. Lost sleeping hour. Millions of butterflies in my stomach. Unable to sleep. But last nite after a long conversation about death I slept like a baby. I had been busy and didn't have time to think about death or maybe I unconsciously deliberately kept myself busy so I could avoid thinking about death. Death is not the end of life. It's a start of another life. A much happier kind of life. It should be celebrated on a happier note. Like how birth is celebrated. Just like Jason Mraz says: Whether it's your birthday or your dying day, It's a celebration too Rejoice to use your voice, and give wings to any of your choice
Finally! A quiet place to recycle and reuse papers into handmade journals. A playground for my right brain. A haven to sew my journals and doodle all day. A temporary getaway from life's clutters, mess and drama. A mind spa. One big glass top table to do all the cutting, the gluing, the sewing. One sofa to daydream and procrastinate full time. Two closed shelves unit to store all my stuff. One cardboard shelve to house my journals.
I was in a toy store looking for a gift for my niece when I spotted something interesting. I just had to buy it. Not for my niece but for me. One part of the instruction says you can use parts and create anything you like from any kind of material. Big grin. I checked out their website. Bigger grin. Open ended play, allowing imagination run free. Love it!
Last Sunday during a half marathon race I saw a couple took turn taking pictures with their mobile at 2K mark. I saw a couple of people cheated; they shortcut a part of the running route. I saw four people quit the race, two went out the track and waited at a bus stop and the other two went to an MRT station. Then somewhere after 12K a guy in front of me stopped to assist another runner who was in pain on the sidewalk. A runner with a kind and generous heart, my kind of runner.
What is it about running that keeps me going back for more and more? Dena says I worry too much about what she called pasture, the past and the future. I worry to the point that I forget to live in the present. Running helps me practice living in the moment, to focus on now, no matter what my now looks like, with joy and gratitude and perseverance, one stride at a time. I can only move forward when I let gothe past and the future. Hello 21K!
You are a singer/song writer but I don't think you still love Avril do you? You are living in Vancouver, Canada. You are going to an art school just like I did. You have tons of friends. Have you found a clever man that is not too tricky and not too busy? You are having fun in life (a bit too much perhaps). Your hair is long. I wonder where in the world are Natasha and Jackie. Six out of eight. And it's not even 20 years. Not bad Dena.
Drawing a caricature is not easy. I tried, in color or in black and white, both took me forever to make. All from a photograph. I admire those drawing artists who can draw a caricature live on the spot, who use a few lines to capture a face they just meet in a matter of minutes. I found this old caricature of me in 1989 by Pramono, an artist who did a lot of political cartoon in a newspaper back then. I love the way he did details of my face, especially my eyes. They look so real. Almost too real for a caricature.
A box covered with left over pencils! An awesome gift from an awesome friend who knows I'm crazy about recycling. So inspiring! The trouble is I already threw away my left over pencils and I am not patient enough to wait for my pencils to get short. So I used my good pencil in my least favorite color to make a journal. What do you think Cianti?
Hello April, I have a mix feeling about you. My Dad passed away a year ago in April. Dena is coming home for holiday in three weeks. Love is coming to town to stay for good in less than two weeks. I'm running my first half marathon in a week. Life is Sad & Happy. Life is Sorrow & Joy. Life is Tears & Smile. Life is good. Keep running.
