Reminisce...
I was looking through my old blog entries and reading a book titled 'Blogosphere: Best of Blogs' by Peter Kuhns and Adrienne Crew when I realised that I haven't blogged properly for a long time. This despite the fact that I've been relatively free, compared to some of my workaholic friends who still manage to keep decent blogs. I regret that it has been decades since I wrote with a personal touch, because I've turned very cynical over the years. First, it was the racist blogger. Then, Mr Brown. Next, Youtube videos by NSmen. Gosh how can I be sure that I'm not infringing on any law?But I just realised that one doesn't need very interesting articles to attract readers. Actually that depends on one's target readers. For me, my target readers are friends (and some teachers) who drop by ocassionally to see how I'm doing. True enough, like what Blogosphere says, blogs are meant to be an instrument of communication and it is only polite to apologise when one is on a hiatus. Whoops... So now I shall touch on the non-sensitive issues...
Many things happened during my long absence. On one particular Tuesday in the last week of May, I had a vivid dream that my pet dog Happy passed away. The next day I confided to mum over the phone, who assured me that Happy will be all right and that her will-power would keep her going for a quite some time. Later that week, I booked out on Friday late night, had supper, and saw a void where Happy used to sleep. Intuitively I asked, "Where's Happy?". It was only then my family broke the news to me - she had passed away the day before. She was cremated, as I had requested a week before her death. The next Saturday morning I took the SAT, kept awake by two cans of Red Bull. After that I had a long long break.
Two weeks later I had my last chiong-sua. NDP started late June and I was meddling with spotlights and carrying sandbags for fireworks throughout July till August. It was during this period of time that I read two books which changed my life - The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom and Tuesdays with Morrie by the same author. Army introduced me the fragility of life, and the two books deepened my understanding about it. It was then I decided not to compromise relationships for academic excellence, or all-rounded development which I was so obsessed about in JC. The 5Cs in school - CCA (where I carefully planned my 'Pearl-chases' which is no longer a citerion today), CIP, Cert, Computer and Chio bu.
At the same time I was reading the Queen And I by Sue Townsend, a story about Queen Elizabeth being overthrown and forced to live in a Midlands housing estate. It was a re-enactment of what I was going through at that point in time.
Then I waited to become a clerk. Now three weeks into the job that gives satisfaction and have made new friends.
