I told Dena how I was feeling rather gloomy about my volunteer work in KDM these past two weeks when strangest things happened: a request for a written interview from a tabloid and another request to speak in teens church of IES South. Both about volunteer work. And she answered, "The universe is giving back to you." A philosophical view from a nineteen year old. You are such an old soul, Dena. Totally cracked me up.
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| Doodle by Nayra |
Driving in a heavy traffic. Feeling rather annoyed to put it mildly. I was about to curse just about at anything within my eyes' sight when I saw an old lady sleeping in a precarious position on the back of an open truck full of fresh produce. Congested traffic, blazing sun, loud motorcycles, pollution from rickety bus and metro mini couldn't disrupt her peaceful sleep. It completely stopped me from lashing out and throwing a tantrum. A reminder to start counting my blessings.
A lazy afternoon in a crowded cafe. A baby, a year or so, hypnotised by a digital tablet in front of him. Three nannies. Yup! It's not a typho mistake. Three nannies. Two were busy feeding him (more like sneaking food into the baby's mouth while the baby was busy looking at the tablet). One was eating & smiling and looking rather amusingly at the other two nannies. Mom & Dad busy texting on another table. I wonder what kind of a person this baby would grow up into.
You think you pretty much know your daughter inside out by the the time she is nineteen years old. Then she moved 8289 miles away from home. About a year later she told me over Skype that; she moved to a house with some friends from school and others which was cheaper than the previous house; she is getting tired of getting paid under the table for design jobs so her friend is helping her to get a working visa; she opened another bank account because the bank is student friendly; she is applying for a credit card on her own. I think you should permanently be Vancouverites, Dena.
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| Photograph by Dena |
Lala Bohang. Jakarta Globe. September 13, 2013. "I always believe that 'becoming small' will make human more human. Nowadays, it's all about becoming bigger and bigger. It's like a trend, a must-do that has to be achieved by everyone. You have to become something, make something, be important. But life is not about that. Life should be about loving what you do, appreciate the people around you, and simply make it work for you in the best way you can. Otherwise these urges to become bigger and better will make the little soul inside us, the one thing that keeps us human, too tired."
Finally my running blog is up & running! Hello outodboxrun. It took me awhile to customize those ready-made-template. All night and half day to be exact. I should move all my running posts from this blog now. I wonder how long would that take. Feeling excited but a bit overwhelmed.
Hey! I've been blogging about running for nine days in a row now. Maybe I should start a running blog. What would be a good title for a running blog. Life is short. Run for your life? Love it but it's too long. Run Tina Run? Too pretentious. Outodbox Run? Doesn't make any sense, but it sounds good. Or not? Maybe I should sleep on it.
Happiness is to see friends who came to a race just to cheer me on. Six hundreds meters to the finish line. I heard someone yelling my name. I thought I was delirious from exhaustion and started hearing things. Then I saw them seating on a sidewalk waving their hands and yelling my name like crazy. I felt so elated I think I flew all the way to the finish line. Thank you Anna. Thank you Rina. You guys are awesome.
Rules are rules. It takes humility and honesty to respect rules and act accordingly. Going to a race after a cut off time is simply wrong (To call it merely late is an insult to everyone who made all effort to be on time). See rule #22. Asking for a medal after a cut off time is wrong. Posting a picture and tweet as if one following the rules is beyond wrong. Allowing someone to start a race after a cut off time is wrong. Giving a medal to someone who break the rules is beyond wrong. I wish the event organizer had more guts to stand up by their own rules. Next year they should put a little star next to rule #22 and print the following on the bottom. *Not applicable to everyone. We may give medals as we see fit. I think I'll pass.
