timeless.

“Try to imagine a life without timekeeping.

You probably can’t. You know the month, the year, the day of the week. There is a clock on your wall or the dashboard of your car. You have a schedule, a calendar, a time for dinner or a movie.

Yet all around you, timekeeping is ignored. Birds are not late. A dog does not check its watch. Deer do not fret over passing birthdays.

Man alone measures time. Man alone chimes the hour. And, because of this, man alone suffers a paralyzing fear that no other creature endures. A fear of time running out.”

― Mitch Albom, The Time Keeper

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I find the quotation somewhat liberating, for I often find myself lamenting about age and achievement (or rather, my lack of), being constantly reminded of how time passing us by, and very much hypnotised and held captive by the tick-tocks of my bio-clock. what if the next thing I know is waking up to myself old and wrinkly and 80? but really, why should I fear it? I think I'm a closet worrier, that even myself am often oblivious that I'm one. is that possible?

on the other hand, time is running... I truly believe that the return of Jesus is imminent, and like every generation of believers before me, I hope in terror to see it happen in my lifetime.

These two videos are so beautiful and heartbreaking and they made my day, and I hope they do the same for you :)

Requiem for Romance from Jonathan Ng.

From Ng’s description:
In this “crouching love, hidden breakup” story, inspired by 50′s Shanghai water ink animation & kung fu films, themes of distance, tradition, art and longing dominate a telephonic conversation as a martial arts tango provides the visual backdrop.

A Letter From Fred from Green Shoe Studio.

96-year-old Fred submitted a song he wrote for his recently departed wife to songwriting contest advertised in the paper. Since Fred can't play any instrument and thinks that his singing "would scare people haha" (his words =), he only mailed in his lyrics which didn't meet the criteria of the contest rules, but the studio running the contest saw his song and read his story in the letter he attached and decided to have the song professionally recorded for him.

so yeah, The Phantom of the Opera was there..... inside my head! :P

the set's props and costumes were amayyyyzing! srsly, it's hands-down the best and most elaborate of any musicals I've been to. they made every cent of the admission ticket worth it. :) all in all, I enjoyed myself.

made this trip to Singapore with J but long story short, she had to sit out from the show (something to do with her forgetting to purchase the extra ticket for her dad's friend).. so yeah. mm I don't have much to add about the show, just want to post it here for remembrance's sake. :)

"How utterly ignorant!" she chastised herself. "You're all over the place, jack of all trades, master of none!"

She looked out of the rain-stained windows of the moving bus as it cruised down the highway.

"Look at those trees and shrubs. What do you know about them? Nothing. Not their names, not their species, not the climate they thrive in. What have you got to say for yourself? Look at your colleague, he's busy with work, taking the same diploma course as you, and he wants to embark on a master's course, while balancing his family life, and is even active in sports. And you?" 

The sky wasn't very pretty that day. The usually brilliant blue looked dusty as it was lightly covered by the white. The weather was great though. The sun was casting no shadows, and there was no indication of rain. Just quiet.

Well, it wasn't really quiet. Her favourite Chinese singers were taking turns singing in her ears, dictated by the recently created playlist. One and a half year after she found someone she could be inexplicably yet immensely interested in, she still couldn't fully grasp what it meant to be a fan of Chinese pop. She wondered if her interest in a subset of C-pop amount for anything. She wondered if she should even wonder about such topic, which she does on a regular basis.

She glanced over to her best friend who was totally engrossed in reading, and decided she should get back to her book too. 

[retropost]

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I am curious about everything and nothing at all. // That was the driest piece of butter cake I've had in a while; I can't believe it was allowed to board; oh the travesty. // 1950s, Des Moines, Iowa. // Entertain me, Phantom. // Died and came back to life. The laptop is here to tell it all. // When Men Were Horses. // 1970s, peat swamps. // Clair de lune, Claude Debussy, "Music is the space between the notes." // Narrow the gap by one pixel. // Wish you were there, but no, I won't be alone. // An artist who doesn't draw, sing, write. // Cats, sigh. // Everything and nothing at all.

It's been a really good long weekend thanks to the Hari Raya holidays. I hardly did anything more than eating and sleeping and laughing and lazing. Spent Raya evening at Z's house per custom every year, and had tonnes of fun playing Taboo (srsly, I need to buy a set of my own!) with Z, F, J, M and the husb, and helping myself to plates of Raya delicacies; spent the next couple of days with family cooking and eating as my bro and sis in law are back from Singapore; spent today having a lunch and coffee with S and the husb talking about theology and traveling plans. It doesn't get much better than that and I'm more than grateful. :)

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I haven't done much translating work recently, so this is my gift to myself to mark the end of a 96 hours well spent (plus, I'm doing well in blocking thoughts of having to go back to work tmrw). It's a short song, and I love how Ashin puts words together. Of course I really can't judge its quality, but by my standard, this is gold. So here's Mayday's Poetry of the Day After 后青春期的诗 and wishing everyone a good week ahead! XOXO.


當煙霧(yānwù)隨晨光(chénguāng)飄散 枕(zhěn)畔(pàn)的湖已風乾
期待已退化成等待 而我告別了突然
當淚痕勾勒(gōulè)著遺憾 回憶誇(kuā)飾(shì)著傷感
逝(shì)水比喻(bǐyù)時光荏苒(rěnrǎn)
終於我們不再為了生命狂歡(kuánghuān)為愛情狂亂
然而青春彼岸(bǐ'àn)盛夏(shèngxia)正要一天一天一天的燦爛
(口白：然後呢 一起走吧)

As the mist vaporizes with daybreak, the lake at the edge of the pillow (pool of tears) has already dried up
Anticipation is reduced to waiting, just as I bid farewell to the unexpected
As tear stains outline regrets, and memory boasts of how it conceals sadness
Time is slipping by like flowing water
Finally we are no longer merrymaking over life or go hysterical over love
However, the midsummer on the other side of youth is becoming more and more splendorous
(Spoken: What happens now? Let's go.)

誰說不能讓我此生唯一自傳 如同詩一般
無論多遠未來讀來依然一字一句一篇都燦爛
讓天空解釋(jiěshì)著蔚藍(wèilán)　浮雲(fúyún)定義著潔白(jiébái)
落花鋪陳(pūchén)一片紅色地毯(dìtǎn)迎接我們到未來 精彩未完的未來

Whoever was it that said my only autobiography cannot be like a poem?
No matter how far, the future reads the same:
Every letter, every word, every verse will be brilliant
Let the sky explain what 'azure' is, and the floating clouds define 'pure white'
And falling flowers arrange themselves into a carpet of red
To welcome our future; our wonderful, unfinished future



后青春期的诗
五月天

作词/曲：阿信

當煙霧隨晨光飄散 枕畔的湖已風乾
期待已退化成等待 而我告別了突然
當淚痕勾勒著遺憾回憶誇飾著傷感逝水比喻時光荏苒

終於我們不再為了生命狂歡為愛情狂亂
然而青春彼岸盛夏正要一天一天一天的燦爛
(阿信口白：然後呢 一起走吧)

誰說不能讓我此生唯一自傳如同詩一般
無論多遠未來讀來依然一字一句一篇都燦爛
讓天空解釋著蔚藍　浮雲定義著潔白
落花鋪陳一片紅色地毯迎接我們到未來精彩未完的未來

hanging by a thread.

It's the pre-Monday blues. But it's also the burden of carrying thoughts that is looking for a voice that isn't to be found. I feel like I'm being evasive, feigning ignorance, like I'm running away from something, but I don't know what it is. I'm kinda sure I'm not lost; but if I was on that path, I hope I'd realize it early. There's also a growing sense of detachment; I pray it would lead to stronger sense of objectivity and not apathy.

my mind is dull and faded from these years of buy and sell

my eyes have seen the glory of this hollow, modern shell

sex is a grand production but I'm bored with that as well

Lord save me from myself

the electric sun keeps shining, ripen daughters of the chrome

this world is where I breathe, let it never be called home

well the vultures make the money, it's where my body fell

Lord save me from myself

the vultures make the money but I'm bored with that as well

Lord save me from myself

jon foreman :: Lord, save me from myself

anachronous.

This could have been the anthem of my life at one point. I'm just glad there was a happy ending for all of us. :)

Btw, The Bright Side hasn't seen an entry in a while. I've read a lot of things I've liked on Quora but it's quite a hassle to get them out from the phone to here (side note: I'm beginning to wonder if I'm spending too much time on Q). Nevertheless, this entry should make up for the absence.

I never thought I'd live to a very old age, but if I ever do, I want to spend it like this man..

Meet Hal Lasko, mostly known as Grandpa, a 97-year-old man who uses Microsoft Paint from Windows 95 to create artwork that has been described as “a collision of pointillism and 8-Bit art.” Lasko, who is legally blind, served in WWII drafting directional and weather maps for bombing raids and later worked as a typographer (back when everything is done by hand) for clients such as General Tire, Goodyear and The Cleveland Browns before retiring in the 1970s. Decades after his retirement his family introduced him to Microsoft Paint and he never looked back. Approaching a century in age, Lasko is now having his work shown for the first time in an art exhibition and also has prints for sale online.

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So yeah, every one of his amazing paintings was painstakingly dotted on MS Paint. Who would have thought! Watch this very inspiring video..