Finally a post!

I have been really busy since I was back from Layang Layang two Sunday ago. Work has been never ending that I hardly have time to breathe! I was working from home till past 12mn yesterday!

So no photos, no updates…nor anything else for the past two weeks… (But I ought to say that I had great fun diving at Layang Layang during my 8 days there, not to mention that Dan and I were the few lucky ones to see a school of hammerhead sharks in the deep blue at 40m!)

But finally got a breather and thought to share somethig on a book that I am currently reading -“Listening below the noise” written by Anne D.LeClaire. I must admit it's pretty addictive food for the brain.

I’m not quite done with it, but here is a paragraph that stuck a cord in me:

Within each of us there resides our own muddy, messy space, our inner garbage heap where we toss scarps too painful to consider or confront, the loss, pain, grief, and disappointment that are all too real. In the hollow of our hearts resides the fault lines of our lives, the lies we tell ourselves to get by, and the space where narcissistic aspects of personality can arise. When we weed out extraneous stimulation and let go of the reins of control, these things claim our attention…… “In silence, all the deformed children that dwell inside come forward and say ‘Love me.’” And this is what we flee. Kathleen Norris writes of this…..”Any life lived attentively is disillusioning as it forces us to know as we are.”

Do you resonate with it?

Interesting book, I must say…. More to be read and explored…

Over the long weekend

The long weekend flashed past in a blink, and I wished I had more time. Fun times always seemed to pass the fastest…

Fri, May 1
Dan and I went to explore Marang Trail of the Southern Ridges in the late afternoon, walked through Mount Faber and onto Henderson Bridge once again... I ended up all sweaty in two hours, but still it was a new area to discover and experience. Went for early Mother’s day dinner celebration at a vegetarian restaurant that evening too… It is such a nostalgic restaurant for me as I used to frequent it when I was in secondary school.. Those were the times...

Sat, May 2
I tried beginner rock climbing at SAFRA Yishun at noon time with Dan and another 10+ people. Gosh, what an experience indeed.

See how high the wall is…?

Another angle of the wall.... this is an easy wall... There are other walls behind exhibiting greater challenges!

An attempt up got me panting and sweating- it requires so much strength and effort from me! I know it must be an easy feat for many people who had tried climbing on much tougher walls. Yet, I am proud of my own accomplishment - it was my first try after living for some decades, and I scaled the wall 3x and succeeded on reaching the top each time. But I must admit that I really struggled to stay on the wall on my 3rd attempt, as my energy was already low, and arms were giving way at one crunch point on the wall.

However, I soon forgot the pain that evening as I was eating my frog legs porridge at Geylang ( I had sudden craving for it, you see! Ha!) On top of that, I demanded for durians for snacks that night too! Triple wows for me!! :))

Sun, May 3
As usual, I did my run at East Coast Park with Dan in the morning… It was more than stretchy that morning, as our triceps, biceps and thighs were all aching from the rock climbing the day before. Luckily, the weather started cooling as it was raining before that… but obviously the happiness did not last long as the sun was out to play in no time. Nevertheless, we did about 16km before we cleaned up and made our way to Tampopo for ramen and my favourite tasty eggs! Yummy!

Yet, the best was yet to be! We had a scheduled massage and body scrub to pamper ourselves at 1pm. Shiok is the word after coming out of the room – whole body felt so much more relaxed, smoother, and better before we stepped into the beauty salon. Such sinful indulgence and addiction really…

The day was still young after my massage and we did a whole heap of things and errands thereafter before retiring in bed at 12 midnight…

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It had been a busy long weekend, yet I felt glad and happy to have such fruitful three days. I had discovered new places, tried new things and enjoyed spending time together, eating good food and doing some activities that I like.

Life is more than just work, stress, getting grumpy about yesterday, and all worried about tomorrow that has yet to come… It is about discovering, experiencing and living the moment. It may not be a simple or easy journey, but the greatest joy can come from simplicity and counting my blessings.