Building Up Ourselves

Building up Lego blocks to match each frame seems easy to many of us. But to children, it requires patience and skill, and a wide range of learning processes.

When it comes to building up relationships, many of us have a hard time getting ourselves into the game compare to youngsters and teenagers or compare to the time when we are younger.

In fact, building up wisdom and knowledge among those with unpolluted mind, unselfish heart, and supportive will is always easier and better than teaching those having a certain mindset, a rebellious heart and a stubborn will.

When we are building up Lego blocks, we can always dismantle everything and start all over again.

But when we start building up our career, our relationship, our family, our life....., we can't.

We can only mend our way, correct and improve ourselves...

But we can never restart or start all over again....

Instead, our every decision or action continues to leave behind feelings of regrets, disappointments, guilt, fear, indecision, and .... to ourselves and others.

Sometimes I wonder whether this is the main reason why we hesitate and avoid to accept more people as friends or partners....

Oh! How careful and sensitive we must be when building up ourselves.... and others....

Break Away

Walking through a new city or township, a new neighborhood or community, a new mall, store or building....., everything everywhere looks so strange and unfamiliar.

Some of us like and love these wonderful and refreshing experiences!

And we look forward to them with yearning love and desire, with sparkling eyes and hearty smiles....

For a change, we can escape from the boring routine or the long hours of working and doing the same thing day after day.... that is slowly draining and killing us.

And we feel relief and release as we step into a whole new world, seeing new things, and doing a whole new thing in a whole new way.

And the usual greetings and salutations, the cordial or grave handshakings, the monotonous and boring exchange of words, smiles and laughter, the small and petty talks, comments and criticisms.... have all disappeared and gone.

Ho ho ho...

We can now have the time, the money, the energy, the peace, the joy, the fun .... to ourselves to immerse in our dreamland and enjoy all we aspire, desire and admire, without any restraints, regards and rules, and away from the prying eyes and ears of others....

It is wonderfully nice to break away and enjoy a well-deserved rest or vacation, and go to a whole new place to enjoy a whole new life.

Oh! what a break away.... and relax

Free like a bird in the air, having got rid of the chains....

Oh! Break Away....

If I Had Been More Friendly....

I was watching my friend as he enjoyed puffing and blowing a stick of cigarette.

I observed him a few times as he took deep and long drags on his cigarette and expelled the smoke slowly, with style....

He looked blankly, and he was quiet and in deep thought; his mind might have wandered millions of miles away.

He had aged fast with white patches of short hairs.

And he looked dejected and rather tired.

He was more sad and blue than before....

I wondered whether he still spent many late nights over games of mahjong.

I used to mix around with him and his family in the past.

His wife was from Taiwan and to my knowledge all his children had grown up by now....

I looked at him again....

He was holding a cup of hot brewed coffee to his lips.

I could smell the nice aroma coming from my big mug of hot brewed coffee that was in my grip.

The fragrant and rich smell of coffee had really woken me up from my sleep and slumber.

I was once again ready to write my blog.

And he was ready to run his motorbike repair shop....

Then he turned around and looked at me.

We greeted one another, started some small talks, and smiled and laughed....

My coffee tasted really nice this morning after taking a big bowl of hot dried kuey teow.

And my friend had taken a plate of "long life mee" fried with cangkuk manis (a dark green leafy vegetable that tastes sweet and usually is fried with egg)....

It's amazing how life has challenged and changed all of us, making us what we are today....

But the passing encounters and the fleeting moments that we have with our family, relatives, neighbors, friends and colleagues, make us find great values, meanings, yearnings, joy and satisfaction in our lives and our love and care for one another....

If I had been more friendly....

Poor Sandals

One of my sandal straps torn off yesterday!

I joined my family shopping in a clothing complex when I realized that my sandals were getting loosened.

I continued walking until my feet couldn't carry my heavy body anymore....

Hurriedly I looked around for place to sit down...

Then I discovered the front edge of the building had some place to sit down.

My wife was busy shopping for bed sheets and curtain fabrics, and my two daughters were busy helping and disturbing.

But my son decided to follow me....

While sitting on the edge of the front porch, we had a long and nice chat.

We reasoned on some issues and we analyzed things together....

As the saying goes, two brains are better than one.

We reached consensus on certain things and we disagreed on other issues.

I made it a point not to press further...

Certain things need to learn through personal experiences...

But deep inside I was very eager to help... to save him the pain....

But nothing comes easy in this life; there is always a price to pay for everything we gain.

While talking, I got into the habit of massaging my leg and my foot....

Then I took a careful look at my sandals and discovered that the sandal straps were in bad shape and the glue was gone....

No wonder.....

I reminded myself to be extra careful with my sandals....

Just then, I saw my wife and my two daughters coming towards us, carrying big bags of things, and smiling and laughing away...

We greeted one another and we made plan....

We decided to visit another complex.

Then quietly I told my wife about my poor sandals.

We walked together slowly towards our van....

But one of my sandals decided to break....

Huh...Sad day.

My helpful family got me a new pair while I waited in the car.

The new sandals looked elegant and trendy.

But I missed my old sandals... and I told me I must glue it back....

Oh, poor sandals, I wouldn't give you up that easily....