start of it all

Hey all,

Just started my blog today, after a long, tiring day. =) It is frankly rather exciting, to be posting your thoughts online where everyone can see it, and sometimes I will find myself at a loss for words to say, because you won't know exactly how much you can say, or how to draw the line at what you cannot say.

Anyway, the purpose of this blog is to update all of my loved ones on what I am doing, my thoughts of some stuff and all, and you are definitely welcome to leave messages, especially if they are reactions to some of my opinions...I would love to hear alternative views=)

I walked through Macritchie today with Sunny, and we walked all the way through from the entrance at Lornie Road to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, then we lost our way somewhere and exited at Swiss Club Road, which was about 16 km in all=) I have to say something about the beauty of our nature reserves here, because seriously I think they are one of the most under-appreciated resources we have here in Singapore. Throughout the entire journey, we were surprised by so many varieties of plants, leaves, flowers, sights and smells (of the flowers, though unfortunately there were cars in some stretches of the road.) We saw this amazing blue butterfly/moth which had a white 'tail' the end of each wing. It is such a joy to just perch on a log and watch these beautiful insects land on blades of grass with their wings folded up at first, and then to slowly open up to expose their beauty. We even had the good fortune to see a moth, shaped like a dead leaf, fly across our path, and perch on a plant just as though it is a part of it! And a brown, 1 m long lizard crossing our path with a determination and drive that was comical: it had its head down, and was staring straight at the road ahead of him, like he was never going to be daunted by any fellow traveller in the course of his journey, and just snaked across steadily. Two Cockatoos too(sorry for the pun), released by bored pet owners, make their presence known to all inhabitants of the rainforest with their piercing caw.

It was not all that physically exhausting though, because we even had time and energy to watch Vin Diesel afterwards. Frankly I think the movie is crap, just some rather slapstick humour, some even quite er...propagandistic? Or should we use the word, racist? Because as usual, the bad guys are North Korean Communists who are trying to steal US state secrets, for the perpetuation of their own nuclear weapons. I mean, how much more cliched can it get? One of my friends said," I am glad that they were not chinese," which made me grin at the unlikely prospect of it all, for which movie director wouldn't know the importance of cordial ties between US and China? But upon consideration, what if the movie producers did feature them as Chinese? Would we, Singaporean chinese, still watch and laugh, in the public's blind consumption of all things western and american? Perhaps I am being rather harsh in my judgement here, or thinking too much, for as they say, it is only a movie, and a comic one at that. Perhaps the greatest strength of a person, or of a people, is the ability to look at themselves, the stereotypes, and just to laugh it off as something totally ridiculous, or laugh at it as a reminder of some weaknesses.

Had a birthday celebration cum farewell party at home after that. Am dead-beat, but I am ever thankful for this wonderful lot of friends. Truly I have been blessed with many good friends, and i am just ever so glad to have them. Friends to do things with, to talk things out with, to get advice from, to comfort, to care for...these are all life's treasures. Frankly, Friends Forever is an ideal, that we can rarely reach to. However, that little time in one's life when you get to know a friend, to influence and touch him/her, and vice versa, is already a wonderful gift, which is something that one would treasure even more, especially when one realises the transience of this form of love.

Darn, I tend to spout out too much when I am writing, so chang2 qi4. But would just like to end off with this last message, to remind myself sometimes, if I ever forget...

"Friendship is transient, no matter how true it is. People may change, move to other places, or you may simply lose touch. Understand this, know this, and cherish all opportunities of maintaining this tenuous relationship..."

That's a leetlesometing for us to think about=)