Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Oh, if you could see me now

Happiness. What we always strive for. The reason for our existence I daresay.

Mad Men finished on a 'Zen' mode. Perhaps Don was always falling, for 7 seasons he was falling until he hit rock bottom. And then, there he is, sitting on a couch, watching his Coke creation. Death and creation. Beginnings and Ends.

I had a dream last night, a last hug with the one person I would trade my life years for, just for a while more. It seems surreal that it has been almost 2 years since pa passed away, and there he was, or at least a form of him was, all I knew was that I was crying in the dream and I woke up with my pillow soaked in tears.

If we lived in two realms, the one of reality and the one of imagination, then dreams would connect us. For, really it is there that all the hidden thoughts come alive and sometimes feels even more real than the waking world. 

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Balik Rumah

I'm back after 7 months away from home (the first since Uni days) and it was a good 'break' away. Granted, some late nights, a bit of stress and crazy people but hey, survived, learned, met new people, formed a new group of work colleagues. Realised that Singaporeans aren't that different from us Malaysian's and government in developed countries are sometimes equally as hopeless, in different ways. One actively and knowingly and the other just stupidly bodoh.

Heading back this weekend to experience Sg as a tourist again. Dropping by the milongas that have become my second home, buzzing around public transport which has become such a norm for me. But surprisingly, none of the nostalgia that came with leaving University.

Right now, semi enjoying the time off and looking forward to Dive trips, Tango Blitzing, Tango down South and Tango in Istanbul. Again, stabilising to a new norm with Tango at the center of it all.

Good times!

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Once

Una vez, sólo te vi una vez                One time, I saw you only one time
Y te amé, sólo bastó una vez.            and I loved you, one time was enough.

There are moments in my life where I look back and think that certain times have been nothing but dreams. 10 years ago, on the brink of GCSE's and with a totally different set of friends, a totally different set of problems. Fast forward these 10 years, 1 University, 2 jobs and countless numbers of people encountered in between. A couple of people lost as well and those who have had the biggest impact on me.

Plenty of secrets unearthed.

There was a moment recently looking back at old photos, at friends who are no longer connected to us daily for hours at a time, where I've realised how tired I've become. That I rather quick, fast food relationships ring fenced by activities rather than really knowing someone inside out.

In short, I am quite tired of getting to know people, and this may be a good thing too. Life is kinda exhausting to cling onto those that no longer naturally fit in.

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Strives

2 months into Yoga and I'm thinking this is my new Tango. I still entirely miss Bootcamp and would run back to it at once if I'm heading back to KL, but Yoga somehow allows me to connect on another level between my mind and body.

Results? A far conscientious effort to want to exercise and stretch. An awareness of what I am eating and putting into my own body. A need to want to overcome the harmful effects of sitting in front of a computer for 8 hour stretches. Above all, a damn determination to want to be able to do a headstand/split/wtv acrobatic balancing there is. Toes, you shall be my best friend some day.

I have always been curious as to why it is so hard to "do the right thing" when it comes to health and choices. Does it fundamentally boil down to what is easily accessible? Cheap? Self-gratifying? Addictive? All of the above? Likely.

But everything we do in life is a consequence of a choice, and ultimately, I am led to believe these are all choices within our control. Barring all talk on DNA or family or friends or life circumstances, everything we do has an element of our own choice in it, and therefore it is reversible. If we want to seize it with both hands and make it our own.


Monday, February 2, 2015

Throwback

Been wandering through old photos since my Iphone needs more storage space and really having #tbt moments.

2/4 weddings for this year, 1 from work, 1 from Tango, 1 from Uni and 1 from High School. A whole spectrum of my life activities for me to observe and realise how long it's been since all these checkpoints in life. Funnily enough also a reverse timeline for me.

That juxtoposed against some very sad news coming in from family. Ageing. We spend our teenage years wanting to be independent, we spend our college years "making the most of it" while still stressing over careers and the future. We spend our 20's and 30's climbing up an imaginary ladder that will lead us somewhere. We spend our 40's either worrying about teenage kids or wondering what went wrong if we're still single/divorced.

Pulling back is always something I need to do. Being the youngest cousin of the lot, I am encountering a lot of issues with this concept of ageing because so, so many of the relations are slowly falling apart. White hair showing, wrinkles showing, serious illnesses manifesting left, right and center. I sometimes want to run away from this all, I'm not even 30 but sometimes I feel, looking at the picture back then and now that there are imperceptible shadows and shades of weariness and tiredness that are starting to creep up on me. No longer the SYT eh? Nope.

Forge on. I'll fight perceptions the rest of my life if I have to.

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Making Music

Joined in for Beethoven's 9th "Ode to Joy" over the past 2 months with the Community Orchestra. Listening to an orchestra go full steam ahead at prestissimo x 100 was such an amazing feeling, that and the tremulous, swell of -

Seid umschlungen, Millionen!
Diesen Kuss der ganzen Welt!
Brüder, über'm Sternenzelt
Muss ein lieber Vater wohnen.
Ihr stürzt nieder, Millionen?
Ahnest du den Schöpfer, Welt?
Such' ihn über'm Sternenzelt!
Über Sternen muss er wohnen.
Be embraced, you millions!
This kiss is for the whole world!
Brothers, above the canopy of stars
must dwell a loving father.
Do you bow down before Him, you millions?
Do you sense your Creator, o world?
Seek Him above the canopy of stars!
He must dwell beyond the stars.

This embrace of the arts, of dance, art, music is such a trinity that deserves way more recognition than it does nowadays. 

Yet again, I find myself being more involved in communities outside of my own country, maybe being away from home really does spur me to want to seek interesting things to do, whereas home is so comfortable that I do not feel the need to do anything different.

1 month into yoga and I'm loving it! It's such a nice feeling to look inward and utilise the power of a simple stretch which makes me sweat even more than more "active" sports actually does. Maybe it's about tapping into the areas of challenge (i.e. flexibility) that triggers the body to react in such a different way. I can do a plank for ages, but chaturanga kicks my ass. Here's to triceps and abs!

And January is almost over. I think it's been a good pilot month, here's to an exciting February. 

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Hello 2015

It's been awhile since I blogged. I think I'm probably the last of the bunch who initially started with blogs over a decade ago, who's still turning to this to air her thoughts. My writing has veered from teenage angst to college woes and now I can no longer string decent sentences anymore due to consulting skills which require very funny sentence structures to fit everything in size 12 on one slide.

I have not been blogging as frequently due to a sheer lack of interest in wanting to express myself. Somewhere through this years project I started entertaining thoughts of just walking away. I have realised I'm turning into the exact hypocrite that I told myself I would never be, that I would never reach a stage where work becomes the all-consuming monster that eats into my time, my effort and my care. Well it did. It did for a fair chunk of the last quarter of this year and it started eating into everything else too, my want of keeping fit, with no more bootcamp times. My want of learning new things, it even started hampering Tango on a very serious scale and that was when I realised I have almost had enough.

Once this fuse finishes, let's see what next.

2014 was like a struggle through mud which soon turned into tar. As much as the airline tragedies have not affected me personally (thank you, whoever you are), it has left so much of a scar over the psyche of who we identify ourselves to be, our Nation, our people. Yes, the very nation that we often easily discard for the 'greener pastures' of other nations. Do nations die? I think they do, they die a slow, sad death when their people no longer believe in what they fundamentally stand for. Malaysia has been teetering on a very fine see saw over the past few years, but what next right?

And now, we have 2015. I almost wont to say, meh. MEH. 2012 was a year I recorded diligently, feeling extremely sad when it left. 2013 was the most horrible year on a personal scale to date, but 2014 took that and amplified it on a level beyond me.

2015, you will have to be extra special to be horrendous. I challenge you.

So many things have changed. I don't even know how to describe it, but if a family could collapse on itself both my literal one and figurative one, then 2013 saw that explode in the most spectacular fashion. 2014 seemed to just be a continuation of that, so you know what, 2015, you'll be my personal 2014.

What I have learnt through this period of my life is this. People come and go like waves, and sometimes you're close, sometimes they end up being the person who you don't know s*** about. Some relationships linger due to past alliances when they should just be buried, while some are like shooting stars, fleeting, but beautiful when they are around.

When you meet someone and you go, how are you? Often you search for exciting nuggets to tell them, big milestones of things, like oh, I'm moving countries, or I got a new job, or I have a bf/fiancee/husband/child.

Sometimes though, you realise there isn't much about your life that you want to share with them, or that, yes, things have been happening in your life, but you really just cannot be bothered to share it with them. Because? They haven't been around to see it happen. The death of these relationships tend to stack up, and sometimes I think they reflect in the very soul of the person you see standing before you.

Now how do I go about renewing myself?

2014 Resolutions

1) Travel to new places for Tango (...kinda failed at this)
2) Take up pole dancing (uh....for like 3 months)
3) 80% Bootcamp attendance (yeah, try 10%)
4) Learn how to code (absolute 0%)
5) Do a performance (ok quite a few of these so 300%!)
6) Consistent article writing (for about 5 months...)
7) Study for GMAT (absolute 0%)
8) Be more spontaneous (eh...50-50)




2015 Resolutions

1) Travel to new places for Tango (Istanbul! Korea!)
2) Take up Yoga
3) More performances for Tango
4) Continue Bootcamp
5) Take up new sport (boxing?)
6) Consider Grad School
7) Find something useful to contribute time to
8) Read more
9) Do a handstand