happy 2009

as the year draws to a close, i look back at all that had happened in the past 12 months. personal upheavals and financial downturns. who would have expected...?

it hadn't all been smooth sailing but i remain optimistic. i have hope for the new year. after all, like what i always say, what is life without hope?

my bags are packed and i'm spending the final weeks of 2008 on the road. it's time for me to explore asia and i hope to return with wonderful stories, beautiful pictures and sweet memories. i'll tell you all about it, i promise.

don't look back with regrets and don't look ahead with apprehension. be optimistic. happy 2009.

the rains came V

in french, i always confuse rain la pluie, pleuvoir with crying pleurer.

aren't they the same?

one with salt and the other, with thunder.

the rains came IV

i once read a chinese short story that talked about a young girl's sadness that coincided with the rainy season. i think it was written by a famous author though the name escapes me now. titled rainy season don't come again (direct translation from chinese), it described her emotions that were as cold and grey as the rain outside. happy ending - her spirits lifted just as the rain stopped.

from then, i've always associated rain with melancholy. i don't like the rain. not ever.

the rains came III

i never liked the rainy season in singapore . all my plans are soaked through and shelved for a drier day that never came. i looked in dismay at the gathering black clouds. the distant rumbles of thunder, awakened.

crawl back home! no better place to be than in bed when it rains all day like this. no flappy rain soaked shoes or dripping umbrellas to deal with. no crazy arctic blasts from badly set air-conditioning in the office. safe in the sanctuary of bed.

how anyone can set the thermostat so low is a great mystery to me. is it a design flaw? an act of defiance to the office workers? a desire to suffer? shouldn’t someone do something about it?

can't someone stop the rain?

can you?

the rains came II

my eyes were focused on the raindrops, the skies were a pale shade of white in the background. if my eyes were part of a camera, my aperture f-value would be set at the smallest possible.

sharp focus on the raindrops. catch the light off the curved surfaces. blur out the background for a shallow depth of view, it is almost a black and white photo in all its greyness with the CBD skyline in the background. sometimes I can see the sea in between the buildings. not today.

movement.

another droplet merged with a still one. they raced off to join the others.

i blinked. the settings changed: the tall buldings came back into focus as the raindrops shifted out of perception.

the rains came I

the grey rain come trickling down the window pane, making mini rivers meandering downwards.

the smaller droplets hung on to the glass, motionless, held in place by the cohesive forces between the water molecules and glass. i watched as surface tension battled to defy gravity.

it didn't last for long. another raindrop soon came rolling down coalescing with the motionless one. too big to be held by the weak intermolecular forces now, the combined drop raced down.

ever downwards.

like a speedy gozales snail with a silver trail... and then *drip* off the edge of the window. it plunged to the ground to join its rain-mates, some twenty floors below.

gravity wins the battle. always.