theartoflife

our wedding anniversaries

2008-05-20T08:33:00.007+08:00

may 16th 2007, husband was away in london for almost a month. so he wasn't around for our little girl's birthday (which was on the same day as our wedding anniversary) as well as for our 9th wedding anniversary. but i had a surprise coming my way that day. our neighbor friend arrived at my front door with a beautiful bouquet of one of my favorite flowers - pink lilies! turns out that my husband had arranged for a bouquet of flowers to be delivered to me on this day of our anniversary. the bouquet was gorgeous, and it was a beautiful gesture.

so today's may 20th, and we had just celebrated our 10th anniversary (!) and our daughter's 6th birthday just a few days ago. wow, 10 years. sounds like a long time, but felt like it had gone by so quickly. particularly when your years has just been busy, busy, busy.

well, soon we will not be so busy, i think, i hope.

so we got married on may 16th 1998. let me look back on how we had celebrated our past anniversaries. 1st anniversary - vacation/business trip in los angeles, u.s. it was a greta trip and a great time with wonderful memories. we had our anniversary dinner in a nice restaurant by the lake. it was very nice.

2nd anniversary, can't remember. i'm sure there were gifts.

3rd anniversary, can't remember. just gifts and dinner i guess.

4th anniversary was a big do - the birth of our baby daughter. huge coincidence? no. we picked the date for her delivery shopping style. consistently in character with me. because i have had high blood pressure for many years since i was a teenager, my ogbyn just decided that i don't even need to bother with natural childbirth. that it would be too risky. so he just flipped open his planner and pointed out that i would need to deliver within a certain week, and basically asked us to pick a date, any date within that week. and our anniversary date feel within that week. so we thought, hmm, why not. one less date to remember. and we thought it would be nice to have a double celebration. so for our 4th anniversary, i went through surgery and pain and lots of discomfort, but also we celebrated with the arrival of our lovely treasure, baby girl. it was very nice actually, the physical fruit of our love together now a part of us and our lives together as a family. and the love between the 2 of us very quickly grew and spilled over to our baby as well.

however, since then our anniversary celebrations has pretty much been about her birthday, haha. which is ok anyway.

5th anniversary, baby girl's 1st birthday, which was quite a big do. we had a party in mum's house and had lots of people over. and gifts and dinner for us, i'm sure. can't remember actually.

6th anniversary, wasn't much of a do, although it was full of memories as well. we celebrated baby girl's 2nd birthday at macdonald's, and i was pregnant with my baby boy, and we were going through a very bad patch in our church. so it was intense and very, very emotional for us and our entire family.

7th anniversary, a very nice trip to perth with our family of four, now with little baby boy, together with mum and sanjeev. we rented a wonderful, wonderful apartment overlooking the river and beyond that, the city. we had an absolutely beautiful view day and night. and we had lots of beautiful fresh food and bought food in to cook and enjoy together as a family. on our anniversary we had dinner at a nice restaurant. i had a very nice gnocchi pasta dish and we had a very nice mediterranean salad with roasted aubergine, peppers and couscous. it was lovely! and even ayesha had a little birthday celebration in the airplane on our flight back. the flight attendants gave her some gifts and brought a platter of cakes for her to cut and pass around to surrounding passengers. and we sang happy birthday in the plane! it was pretty extraordinary.

8th anniversary, we went for a wonderful musical, saturday night fever, together with david and cat solomon. it was loads of fun.

9th anniversary, hubby was in london, and i got a lovely bouquet of pink lilies. and a few days later i joined him in london for a week. very nice.

and now for our 10th anniversary, we took a trip to melbourne. we had already planned for a nice trip away for our 10th anniversary. our initial plans were to go back to l.a. but the thought of such a long flight had put us off. then it was london but we didn't have enough credit card points to redeem for a flight to london. so we had just enough points for a flight to melbourne, which was great as well. we had a wonderful trip and time to catch up with family and friends there. and it also turned out to be quite a scouting trip and we ended up deciding to move to melbourne for a season. migration is not the plan, but rather a few years of working holiday. we had our anniversary lunch at the debortoli winery. i had a beautiful risotto and we had shared a beautiful tiramisu. it was the best tiramisu we've ever had. it cost a whopping aus$12. and worth every cent. and i had a lovely pot of peppermint tea plucked straight from the garden. no kidding. it looked and smelled great!

we had been making a big deal of our 10th anniversary because we wanted to celebrate the fact that we have lived in our love for each other and for our family together for 10 years. but also the fact that in this day and age, unfortunately to just pass the 10 year mark seems to be a feat and a miracle in itself. in fact about 4 of those years had been quite stormy for us as we had been on a roller coaster of fighting. and on top of that having to cope with having babies. but looking back it was a healthy process of learning to communicate healthily with each other on a plane of mutual undertanding. and we have come a long way and now we are on that plane of mutual understanding and we can communicate a whole lot better. but it took a decision from both of us individually to want to work it out for the sake of keeping our marriage intact and safe.

so our prayer is that may God bless us with many more years together with a healthy and growing marriage relationship.

baby girl's 5th - may '07

2008-03-19T11:32:00.009+08:00

yes, yes, i know my girl's almost 6 years old come may, and i'm still writing abt may '07! haha.

well i'm collecting memories, so there!

and every year we go thru the same cycle. a few months before we'll start thinking, hmm, how shall we celebrate our kids birthdays this year? better not spoil them with something elaborate (not that we can afford it anyway...). what would be biggish enough to include all the people she loves but affordable? and we'll usually end up with a little poolside party at our condo. quite ingenious, really. there's the pool for the kids to splash abt, while the parents can hang out and do their thang at the poolside cafe. simple, clean and fuss-free. i just couldn't be bothered with more otherwise.

except this year, daddy's away overseas during little princess' birthday, so mummy's not abt to fuss over a party with guests, no matter how small. we just decided on bringing a cake to school in the morning, and a little family dinner with cake in the evening. little did we know that dear old aunty lei wah had also organised a little surprise party for baby girl after school at her former kindy specially for her friends from church. that was a very nice and thoughtful additional birthday party, complete with cake, finger food, fun games and prizes, and of course, birthday presents. i learned how to set up a very simple game that can get a little messy but one that the kids really love - the sticky, squishy, gooey game. just place cheap corn flour in several plastic containers, mix with water till u get a slimy goo, and drop different food coloring into each container. so u end up with yellow, pink, blue, green and purple slime which the kids can sink their entire hands into and just have a good time. just don't let them do it with their best clothes on. they absolutely love it. ingenious.

and i also learned how to make a very simple kiddy decorative cake. thanks to the ever resourceful aunty lei wah. buy a regular round butter or pound or chocolate cake, spread warmed jam on top, and decorate away with multi colored smarties or m & m's. simple and again, the kids absolutely love how it looks and what's on top. simple and fuss-free is right up my alley. the other 2 nicely decorated cakes were provided by my kids "birthday cake fairy godmother". they looked great and tasted great - a rich chocolate cake for her schoolmates, and an orange poppy seed cake for the family feast, which included mum's wonderful oven-grilled lemongrass and turmeric chicken wings!

so while we thought we'll just have to settle with a very simple birthday do, turns out that baby girl ended up with quite an extravaganze - 3 birthday cakes, 3 parties, and lots of presents from her favorite friends. so, simple's not a bad thing, eh?

bad shot, good cake

2008-02-05T08:41:00.000+08:00

more of my cooking. i love to cook. have not always loved to cook. never used to cook anything fancy before i got married, apart from the common stuff that just needs some common sense to stir up. i remember telling my then fiance not to expect me to whip up dinner every night after we got married. he'll just have to get it from his mum, who btw is a great cook who can whip up a mini buffet on a nightly basis. and there was no expectation from him. but it just seemed natural that once i got married i quite liked the idea of having nutritous home cooked meals at my own home. so i got some recipe books and the rest is history. nope, am still not a great cook and cooking for anything more than 8 people stresses me out. but after 10 years of doing it, i find that i love it - the cooking, i mean.

i love baking. seeing the strange batter coming together to form an absolutely yummy smelling delicious cake is really a delight. there's nothing quite like the smell of fresh baking cooking in the oven. ahh, absolutely divine. my best cake yet is my kahlua cake that i make once a year for my husband's birthday. he loves it, and it's once a year cos the cost alone is a whopping rm40! love baking cakes, muffins, breads and spoon cookies. don't like making pastries and cut out cookies. quite obviously because i hate the fuss of handling pastries. been there, done that, don't like it. i can eat the pastries some other folks make.

this is my effort at one of nigella lawson's cakes. some choc fudge cake or the other. that's the batter coming together. and altho that's a bad shot (bad light, bad focus) of the finished cake, it tasted oh so yummy! at least my guests agreed so.

i like general cooking too. i love the rainbow colors of raw vegetables and fruit. i love them raw but i also love how fresh food gets cooked and it comes together to be smelling and tasting so good. warm food on steaming white rice...ahh...nothing much better than that. i hate overcooked food that's all mushy and have lost all of its color. what is the point? i'm not too big on meats, especially deep fried ones, but well cooked meats tastes ok i guess. well cooked chicken looks really good in presentation. my favorite meat is till fish as it's a lot lighter.

this is a shot of a sweet and sour fish i did, and watercress soup with spare ribs and sweet red dates. i'm not big on soups but my little chinaman son loves soups, so i got to have some soup whip ups up my sleeve.

well the last shot is one of my favorites - veggie. and also one of my favorite veggies - broccoli. this is just a simple fry with garlic, but just look at the deep bright green color of the florets. isn't it gorgeous? and so inviting.

speaking of inviting, all this talk and photos of food is making me very hungry. so i shall stop and have breakfast now.

beauty on my balcony

2008-01-11T09:11:00.000+08:00

since my journey of restoration, i'm surprised how once my burdens were lifted, or laid down, how the daily things around me suddenly seem more beautiful than when i normally wouldn't even notice that they are there. i guess that's what they mean when they say, stop and smell the roses. and that i did. and i loved it. and i still do it when i remember to.

one morning sometime last year as i was spending time alone at home, i went to the balcony to breathe in some fresh air and watch the greenery and try to look out for birds and hear then chirp. i suddenly realized that even just on my balcony i had some beautiful little things. there was life growing, there were colors, and even something playful. so i trotted back to the bedroom and got my trusty camera to catch the moment. and here's a sampling of what i have on my balcony

this is my little piggy windchime which my mum-in-law got me.

i love little piggy things, btw. and this delightful little flower is a little flower plant, one of three that hubby brought back for me from his trip to fraser's hill. and of course my cactuses. i started with one little one which i thought wouldn't need much attention. i basically left it alone but it just kept growing and growing babies although i didn't do anything for it. now i have too many of them.

and this pretty one is the young tender shoot from a mint plant that i have. they are incredibly easy to grow. you just cut a little branch off without any roots and stick it into some soil and it grows and grows. i use the leaves and boil it in some water with ginger root and some rock sugar and it's a good remedy for phlegmy cough. and this is a part of a huge tree with some berry-like buds that's snapped through my balcony grill.

so do stop and smell the roses. they are usually all around you!

OH, HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

2008-01-10T20:43:00.001+08:00

the artist's way

2008-01-10T20:07:00.000+08:00

(gosh, i can't believe i have not entered anything since october last! no wonder i'm itching...)

this is a book by julia cameron - an author, screenwriter, ex-wife of martin scorcese. i was recommended this book to read by ann clifford, who has since become a dear friend, who took the time to sit with me and pray with me and help discern with me what path i should take as i go on my sabbatical. that was more than a year ago and my sabbatical year has officially ended december last. and boy was it an amazing year! this book is called "an artist's way. a spiritual pathway to your creativity". it's a book on discovering or rediscovering your creative self and creative path, a self help book for one to start journeying creatively or for a blocked creative soul to unblock.

i loved the book. i was allowed to explore what my inner natural passions are, and i rediscovered quite a lot of loves that i had laid down or neglected for years. mainly the creative arts - dance, music and singing, painting, photography, cooking and baking, keeping fish, basically anything that's full of colors and movement and stimulating. i would say since then i have successfully unblocked, and am truly enjoying myself in my dance class, classical class, and dabbling in photography and painting. even cooking and baking has become more colorful. and the fish, while they come and go (poor things) is relaxing. i've also really enjoyed the opportunities to perform both in dance and classical singing. God has restored play in my life, amongst other healing emotionally.

i must say i can't paint well, perhaps not yet, but who cares, i enjoy it. so it doesn't matter what people may think of my painting, thank goodness art can be very abstract, haha. anyway, this was my very first painting. well, it's actually not much of a painting. it was actually one of the assignments from the artist's way book. to paint a statement that you would hold for yourself and to start living by - "treating myself as a precious person will make me stronger". it is not a self indulgent statement, esp for folks who we tend serve and attend to everyone else's needs but their own, or who may deny themselves pleasures in life in the name of putting christian ministry above all else. (we're called to put God above all else, not the church nor ministry). and God is a good God, who does hold us as precious beings to his heart, and do not deprive us of his pleasures in life that does our souls good, like play. the passions that he's put in us since our conception will never leave us, no matter how much we neglect it, over time it tries to get our attention to treat our thirsty souls and inner beings well. therefore now i treat myself well and as a precious being, and i do experience growing strength from Him, and his love, and his goodness.

my 1st bettas

2007-10-30T09:53:00.000+08:00

i've been keeping fish for some time now. i wanted to keep fish because for me, who's not much of a pet person, fish are perfect pets. they are pretty, peaceful to look at, and are not noisy. of course their tanks need cleaning. which pet does not need cleaning?

it all started with ayesha coming back from a carnival with a bag in hand with 3 goldfish inside. i thought, oh, i finally have a good reason to start keeping fish. so i went and got the necessary. my fish keeping has since then evolved quite a bit. started with plastic bowls to plastic tanks to now earthen pots and a proper glass aquarium. the fish too, have come and gone. i thought the goldfish wouldn't last over a week since i had heard that it wasn't easy to keep goldfish. you got to have a proper filtration system and be ready to clean their constant pooping all the time. but they lasted for quite a few months, till we did some travelling and they eventually died. since then i've had guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies and bettas.

bettas are probably the easiest fish to keep, because you do not need an air pump to keep their water oxygenated since they go up to the surface for air. the only pain is that you can't keep more than 1 male together in the same vessel. unfortunately the females are not as pretty so one would tend to prefer to keep the male types.

this was my first betta. was, because it has passed on some time ago. ayesha picked this one out with grandma for me. it's purple with tinges of maroon, but does not have much finnage. it was ferocious. the other blue one was my favorite. again, was, because he too has passed on since. this one had a fuller finnage, which i love, and was a bright blue with shades of dark blue and turquoise. he was very beautiful. unfortunately, one day i decided to place the two together briefly to see them in action. the ferocious purple one in an instant took at nip at the blue one and it lost a few plumes of its finnage. i guess it was injured and since then began dying a slow death. i was quite sad really.

afc

2007-10-20T21:18:00.000+08:00

so we have a new channel on astro. my current favorite is 703/asian food channel. it's wonderful! (for someone who loves to cook). it's not all just asian food. there's a lot of ang moh stuff too. and it's not just cooking. there are restaurant features, restaurant makeovers, docos on eating disorders. i'm hooked on it at the moment (while i've aimed at watching less tv, i guess this is not harmful compared to other programs that have too much elements of sex, violence and other silly media push on chasing glamor and success/prosperity and a certain lifestyle.

i feel very inspired when i watch the food channel - all the colors of different fresh foods, the color of desserts, the art of food styling, the photography, the sense of your mind and tastebuds imagining how yummy it tastes like. and of course the ideas i get on what to cook, how to cook better, how to serve it in a nicer way. ohh, i wish i could cook and bake everything in sight! well, some of you benefit from this fancy of mine from time to time. but i'm sorry, while i enjoy the food channel, i really dislike the programs from singapore.

btw, i baked a wonderful lemon poppy seed cake with lemon syrup. it was very tangy. raj loved it.

well, the photo is a dish i tried some time ago. fish with leeks, ginger and coriander. not very exciting colors, i know, but it worked. it tasted good. the sweetness from the leeks, and the tang from the coriander complimented the dory fish nicely. light and yummy.

stay tuned

2007-10-05T09:50:00.000+08:00

next up will be posts on my trip to london, which was towards the end of may 07

my last few yummy meals in melbourne

2007-10-05T09:10:00.000+08:00

this is my last post chronicling my trip to melbourne (yes, that was way back in april and it's taken me this long to finish it. well, i've enjoyed doing it). so i've decided to end on a sweet and yummy note.

this was over the last 3 days in melbourne. i went to the city to watch Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake, and before that i went to a nice little italian restaurant and gelateria called milano something or other. everything was rather pricy but i thought since i still had some money to indulge, why not. so i ordered a wonderful pasta meal with lots of pancetta, arugula and parmesan shavings with spiralli tossed in olive oil. it was worth every australian dollar. and of course, i had to have the gelati. i chose a wonderful nutty pistachio gelato. hmmmmmm.........it was wonderful. so after i finished every morsel on my plate and cup, i went with a full and conforted belly, to indulge in yet another show.

the next day i decided to have the morning in and just relax in my cousin's wonderful place before i was to leave the next day. when lunch time came around, i decided to have my first and last fish and chips meal. there was nothing much nearby but there was a fish and chips takeaway place. so i took a walk to the shop and ordered my poison. i took my cish n fhips back home and assembled it nicely on a clean white porcelain plate, and laced it with some leftover fresh salad from the night before. doesn't it look tempting? after tucking into the plate, i topped it off with a nice little plate of fresh strawberries which i plucked myself at the farm just the other day. you know, i've always dreamed of having my own fruit and veggie farm at my own backyard kind of thing and thus would be enjoying my meals like this. fresh salads from the garden and delectable desserts made from your own little orchard. will i ever be able to have it here in smoldering hot malaysia? perhaps i need to move to australia or uk for this....hmmm.....

and that evening i went to the city again for my last, last show - Varekai, which i can't tire from saying "it's so very good!"

the next day was really my last day in melbourne. i was eager to go home to see my family but at the same time rather sad to leave melbourne and the great time i had been having. i had to tell myself, "oh well, hopefully there will be future trips. better yet, a chance to live here for awhile. but in the meantime, i shall always cherish these 5 1/2 weeks of holiday in this great place called melbourne"

so my last meal before i hit the airport, was one of my favorite greek meals - souvlaki! at this great little souvlaki cafe in the next suburb of oakleigh. i had a combo souvlaki wrap - tender slabs of nicely grilled lamb and chicken, wrapped in a turkish flatbread with generous portions of fresh lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, onions, slathered with a great dip called tzatziki made with fresh natural yogurt. oh, i can still remember how it tastes. there is nothing much better than a good souvlaki. there is nothing much better than good greek food. mediteranean food...yummmm

then it was off to the airport, hugs and a few tears. raj's cousins, they were the greatest. their hospitality and generosity. their home was a safe sanctuary for me and my Father. melbourne filled me with a whole lot of inspiration and rest and refreshing and a renewed sense of passion in rediscovering who i am again. and that is what i came home with. and by now, 6 months later, i am a lot happier re-learning what i am meant to be doing - loving life, playing and having fun, painting, take photographs, singing, dancing, cooking and baking, writing, reading, spending time and journeying with people, loving. in short, living only as a child of God.

strawberry farm

2007-09-20T10:49:00.000+08:00

one of my high school friends was kind enough to bring me to a strawberry farm for one of the australian experiences. i loved the visit. it was quite a hot day though. from a distance, the strawberry plants didn;t look very exciting. you had to go closer and squat by the little shrubs to look at budding or growing or ripening strawberries for your heart to be delighted. we had to pay a certain amount and then given a tub to put the strawberries that we picked into. as you can see, the bright red of the strawberries against the sun was beautiful. then i had freshly baked scones with cream and fresh strawberry jam with some light tea. finished with the farm's award-winning homemade strawberry ice-cream. hmmm....

chocolates!

2007-09-20T10:17:00.000+08:00

hmmm...chocolates! is there anybody who doesn't love them? i ABSOLUTELY do. so does my husband. and so do my kids. we love them! is there any reason not to? let's look at the reasons why they are lovable - they taste lovely, they are such a comfort for whatever mood you're in, they come in a thousand and one varieties, AND, have you heard how they are good for your health? a little square of dark chocolate a day helps you lose weight (no kidding!), is good for your heart, and is a perfect drug-free antidote for digestive problems like hyperacidity and gastric. i have digestive problems and i've tried this. it works like magic. my bio scientist doctor friend confirmed this fact as well. i like milk choc but i've switched to dark choc just because they are healthier for you. and have grown to like it. the ones with min 70% cocoa mass are the best for you. most commercial dark chocs contain abt 46%. milk choc only contains abt 23%. but anything beyond 70% is difficult to stomach. i once tried lindt's 85% and it couldn't get past my tongue. had to spit it out. but of all the chocs from different parts of the world i've tried, the winner is definitely SWISS CHOCS! better than belgian. swiss chocs for me, anytime! malaysian chocs (cadb, voch, kand) are sadly a waste of time and calorie allowance. if i had to have a choc emergency, it would be van houten milk choc with roasted almonds. that's the closest acceptable malaysian choc (don't know if they're made in malaysia, but available in malaysia la) because it has more of a chocolatey taste than just being flat sweet like local cadb. of course there's your other imported snickers and mars but i don't really like them. zip wafers are actually not bad. i grew up on them. love ferrero rocher. my dream choc will probably sound like SWISS 70% DARK CHOC WITH ROASTED ALMONDS. i never liked the fancy schmancy stuff like choc truffles with champagne and all those boutique nonsense. give me a simple ol bar and i'm happy.

pics above are some chocs i picked from melbourne. left are dark choc with hazelnuts and dark choc with almonds and orange from this fancy choc boutique and cafe called koko black. their choc drinks and choc desserts are to die for. be sure to visit one if you're in melbourne. have you ever tried a DARK HOT CHOC WITH ORANGE SYRUP DRINK? nearly knocked me off my seat. it's absolutely fab.

the ones on the left are from a gift shop up in mount dandenong. they have a catchy packaging (sorry pic a little blur) - the ultimate balanced diet: choc for breakfast, lunch and dinner; oral pleasure; and, choc makes it more bearable (this one a bit lame la). don't know if they tasted good. thought they's make good gifts.

simply fun and pleasure

2007-09-12T15:54:00.000+08:00

i tried my hand at origami when i visited a japanese festival called the Osaka Festival in melbourne one day. i was walking around and passed the origami tent and thought "why not" and so just sat down with a nice smiling japanese woman who obviously couldn't speak a word of english. she had me choose from an array of pretty paper and then choose what i wanted to fold. so i chose these 2. and i just followed her step by step. i definitely waould not have been able to do it on my own at all.

normally i would have just not bothered to try this, thinking it as child's play. but as i just loosened up and did something just for fun, it was just that! simply fun. so i've learnt that sometimes we just need to take our circumstances a little less seriously and that it's ok to sometimes do certain things just simply for fun and pleasure.

my first sketch

2007-09-12T15:36:00.000+08:00

my first attempt at sketching. i was sitting in an organic store and cafe at Brunswick Street waiting for my friends and decided to try sketching. never mind that i wasn't any good at it. just for fun. so i just sketched from my mind my home, the living room, with me watching tv. and the top bit something i had been doing quite a bit lately, in comparison to the past years when i had just been sitting around in the office being quite unproductive. and i had grown to like this bit of what i do - spending time with people. contrary to what people used to perceive of me and labelling that i wasn't a people person, i've instead discovered who i really am and been vulnerable enough to let that part of me live. i would not now proceed to label myself as a people person, coz there's just no need for labelling of one's personality in the first place, but rather just live one day at a time doing what i enjoy doing as God would lead

soul survivor melbourne

2007-09-12T11:57:00.001+08:00

i had the privilege to be a part of the soul survivor festival in melbourne in april. it was a wonderful time of retreat for me. i was given a nice room to myself at the speaker and team's lodge, away from the noisy campers. the lodge was in belgrade heights, which as the name indicates, is on a higher ground and therefore much cooler than the other parts of melbourne i've been staying in.

i wasn't primarily there for the talks or ministry time, but rather to meet geoff and lynne oliver for the first time and to spend time with lynne talking, but as God would have it, they couldn't make it. unfortunately because of a family emergency. it turned out very good for me tho, coz i think God just wanted me to have a nice quiet time with Him. i had a lot of time for solitude, and picture-taking. and talking with Him and journalling. at worship times, i strangely identified with king saul when david ministered to him with music. not that i was demon-possessed, but i was still troubled in my soul at that early stage of my sabbatical, and the ministry of music and worship was like "enjoying a spa". it was wonderful.

all these photos were taken from areas within the lodge, mostly at the backyard. i just sat there most afternoons, taking photos and journalling, and in the mornings kookaburras will come and beg you for crumbs off your plate. it was cool.

i also learnt, from my new dutch soul survivor friends, that van gogh and rembrandt were dutch, (excuse me if i'm the only one who didn't know that) and that the proper way to say their names were "faun how-oh" and "rum-braunt". and that they had their own museums in holland. would love to visit them someday, their museums i mean.

thank you God, for that wonderful retreat. and for the chance to see a persimmon tree. it was beautiful

geelong & great ocean road

2007-09-12T09:56:00.000+08:00

i have to say, there was nothing much to see and do in geelong, melbourne. thus this kind of picture-taking by the riverside.

i was there over the easter weekend in april to visit some high school friends, and it also happened to be my friend's birthday, so it was a special time. there were four of us there and we had our little reunion. it's funny how i have 3 high school friends in melbourne and they all didn't know that each other was there and it took someone from back in malaysia to reconnect them all in melbourne. it's good tho. i love it that we're reconnected at least through email after 20 years.

we had a easter picnic by the river and i took a walk to take some pictures. passed a couple of guys fishing, and this was one of their catch. he was a huge bugger just lying there choking to death. felt sorry for him, but hey, we enjoy the fish we eat, right?

of course, i went for the Great Ocean Road drive again, and of course it was still as beautiful. it was hot! but beautiful. i had a lot more beautiful pictures taken but can't possibly put them all here. i'll put them in my flickr account. and what do you know, you can still find someone's art piece out there by the ocean. someone or at least a couple of someones had jumped over to the restricted area to carve their impressions on the natural rocks. can't quite make it out, perhaps it's one of those i love so and so carvings.

i thought it was quite nice. etched in time.

my favorite quote

2007-09-12T09:53:00.000+08:00

work like you don't need the money

love like you've never been hurt before

dance like no one is watching

- anonymous

freedom

alamak!

2007-08-29T22:03:00.000+08:00

DYING TO BLOG, but don't seem to have much time nor opportunity to do so!

2007-07-24T10:26:00.000+08:00

april 5th, i went for a wonderful play called "exit the king" at the cub malthouse theatre. it starred geoffrey rush, if you remember him as captain barbossa from the pirates of the caribbean. i really enjoyed it.

firstly, i didn't know that geoffrey rush is australian, and a melbournian at that. i googled him and found out more about this brilliant actor. he's done a lot of work and got his break to stardom since pirates but in essence he still prefers to work with a few at the malthouse to inspire, build and develop the art of theatre at more local grounds like his own homeground. so i went to check him out. for a relatively cheap ticket of ausd20 i got a very good seat, 6th row from the stage. it was a small theatre to begin with. (cub malthouse is quite a huge place of multiple smallish theatre halls for different kinds of art work, some being the dark, abstract, experimental types. you get the picture)

the play had only a cast of six - the king, 2 queens, a doctor, the royal nurse/nanny, and royal guard. it was a semi-comedy about a has-been king whose kingdom had shrunk to just about the 6 of them. and his time had come to leave this realm. his first wife is seemingly cold and thinks of him as way past his expiration date. his 2nd queen is the one he loves - young, vivacous, beautiful, voluptuous, and they have full passion for each other (she's a recognizable screen actress too, i just don't remember her name). the story goes that while he was rapidly losing his health, wealth and vigor, he struggles and refuses even the idea of bowing out of all that he thinks is still his. and what is keeping him hanging on the lifeline is the strong false sense that he is still a strong influence and authority figure with a whole lot - a whole kingdom, or so he thinks. so his remaining subjects try to break it to him the reality that apart from what he has within himself, he has nothing left, and that it was ok to go, that in fact it was time. but not without opposition from his young and unwise 2nd wife who conflicts him by trying to prop him up with glorified thoughts of himself and to boost his confidence and pride. while trying to spare him of the harsh realities of death seemed like a loving thing to do, it wasn't helping. it was just time for him to go.

it got interesting when on one hand they would reminesce and show the glory of his hey days, and then contrast it with my favorite part, which was the ending. his seemingly cold and uncaring 1st wife, was through this whole time trying to help him face up with these closing moments of his life, albeit also through a wrong approach of doing it harshly. at the last scene of him dying, it was only she who was left with him. she suddenly shed her harsh exterior and sort of became this angel-like character who helps usher the king to meet his maker. (you got to imagine this) that scene was played out in slow-mo pace. she begins by slowly stripping him off his outer kingly garments - his kingly robe, cape/mantle (what's another word for that? it sounds so superhero, haha), sceptre, and lastly the royal crown, and naming them one by one for what they are symbolically to him as they come off. and then you see her proceeding to unchain him of invisible bondages and burdens on him, invisible shackles around his ankles, then around his wrists, burdens off his shoulders and lastly loads of his mind. as she is doing this, you see the king becoming more and more free in his limbs, and slumping more and more, and it was also amazing that even on his face you can see it all coming off him. and just when you think that he's finally ready to go, you see him slumping with this strange, weak and slight sneaky suspicious look on his face. she searches him again and realizes that his fists are clenched. "what is this you're holding?" she asks. he reluctantly lets her pry his fingers open and she eclaims softly, "ah, it's your kingdom". he finds this the hardest to let go off, although materially, it's been no longer there for ages. he finally lets go and you can see him totally weak, totally bare, but totally free. and it's amazing how geoffrey rush can make his whole being, including his face look like it's totally stripped of life! he looked like a dead person! and he begins to walk towards his maker, but not without looking back a few times until he has a glimpse of what's beyond him. then he goes without looking back.

geoffrey rush is a brilliant actor. but i also found the portrayal of a dying man fascinating. how really, when we leave, we bring nothing except what is within us, nothing else beyond our skin. we absolutely cannot bring anything that is of this world, even if we should try to clutch it in our mind's hands. it should give us a perspective of what really matters at the end of the day...

national gallery of victoria

2007-07-23T11:28:00.000+08:00

april 4th 2007, my day at the National Gallery of Victoria, in melbourne australia of course. i so enjoyed my trip to the art gallery. i had the same feeling that a kid in a toy shop had. everything i saw was like, "wow". the national gallery had 2 main buildings (separated by a street!). one is the Ian Potter gallery, which has 3 floors and houses mainly beautiful aboriginal art, photo exhibits, as well as special exhibits like fashion and designs, and when i was there, a renaissance art exhibit. the other bigger gallery is the national gallery, which is also a 3 storey complex of all sorts of art exhibits, ranging from the 13th century right up to 20th century art, modern art and abstract art. they also had a special kids exhibit where kids can participate in different arts and craft. just a wonderful effort to inspire and encourage our young. sigh, where were these efforts when we were young?...

my favorites has to be the stuff from the 13th and 14th century, which were mostly not paintings on canvases but rather art on mediums like wood and stone. and most of them were christian expressions in art form, i.e. they were parts of doors or windows or altar pieces from ancient churches or places of worship just salvaged, restored and put on exhibit for us to feast our eyes upon and marvel at. and i absolutely loved and am amazed at how marvelouslly restored they were. the colors were very deep and vibrant and solid. the condition of the colors looked almost brand new but coupled with very ancient style of drawing and imaging on very raw and natural medium. i loved it! unfortunately i don't have any photos of it because believe it or not i didn't know how to do non-flash photography yet on our camera which i was using on my own for the first time. i tried stealing a shot of the gallery, with flash, and was immediately

told off by one of the stewards. it was embarrasing but i just played the ignorant fool, haha.

i have not decided who my favorite artists are yet as i'm just learning about all the famous ones now like van gogh, picasso, matisse, renoir, michelangelo, raphael, rembrandt, monet, cezanne, dega, and da vinci now. but so far my favorite is probably leonardo da vinci's work. and since then i've been very inspired to paint and have been gathering ideas on how and what i can paint. have started painting but am not any good in it so i've decided to just paint for my own pleasure. perhaps one day i might have the guts to put up one of my swirls up here.

savor life being contented

2007-07-04T11:16:00.000+08:00

i hear many bloggers often say that they don't want to write something for the sake of posting something on their blog, which i agree with. but gosh for me it's the case of lack of abundant time for relaxation and comp to use compared to the many things i have to write about. so whenever i'm posting something, it would mean that i'm having a day to myself and a laptop to use. like now.

i came back from a wonderful 2nd silent retreat last week. seriously, i still highly recommend this to anyone. the solitude's great and you engage in wonderful conversations with God a lot better without the media noise and distraction around you on normal days. and please, it's not at all like being locked away in a monastery and not being allowed to utter a word.

anyway, during the retreat i was given a book to read - the contented soul: the art of savoring life, by lisa graham mcminn, who is a german christian sociologist living in america. it was a wonderful book! for the first time in my life, i finished a whole book from cover to cover in just 2 days. (well, it was only abt 173 pages).

in a nutshell, the message was a reminder that we were not created by a loving God to live frantic, frenzied, striving and gasping-for-air type of lives in this ever-more materialistic and consumerism-driven world. it reminds us of the fundamental truth that we belong to God, belong to one another, and belong to this earth he's entrusted us to live in and steward in this lifetime. and when we understand that, we will hold our life, possessions and relationships loosely, instead of with a tight fist. and that will help us to stop chasing after unmeaningful things to consume and try to satisfy our unsatiable hunger and thirst for something that we're not even very clear of. being contented is not the same as being satisfied, which can be shortlived. but being contented is far better, more sustaining and and is what God wants to teach his children. (and i'm sure there are verses in Proverbs that speaks of this, go look it up)

as a sociologist, lisa's writing brought in a lot of perspectives from the lifestyles, current trends, ideology and cultures of life. and also issues of social injustice, fair trade and ecological and environmental issues. it was very informative for me, one who is not well read nor keeps herself abreast with the news. firstly it made me look at myself and examine what are truly my values regarding how i live my life. one shocking and rather shameful discovery is that i'm actually still very much influenced by the media messaging re image and status, and not know it! one e.g., while i cannot afford and therefore don't indulge in designer wear or popular "branded" products, i do specifically seek out and purchase them from factory outlets stores. yes, they are much more affordable, but why really do i seek to have them? is it really because they are far superior in design and quality? maybe partly but only a tiny part, but to be totally honest with myself, to me i had this false sense of my having a better image or status if i were adorn with these. which i now realise is utterly unneccesary and unmeaningful. like a good friend said to me the other day, unknowingly (hopefully), most christians live no different than those who don't know God, they just do it in the christian context. no wonder people don't take notice of christians, there's nothing to look at! sounds quite funny actually. and meanwhile, the rich corporations who spur us on to chase after their products, keep getting richer, and the poor who are just begging for a chance at a better life, keep getting poorer. injustice. no, i'm not suddenly condoning piracy, nor will i give the evil eye to someone wearing an mng tshirt. i'm just starting with myself and realigning my own soul to God and learning to live my role as a responsible sister among my brethren of humanity.

the other interesting thing i learnt is a little about ecological issues. it reminded me of romans 8 and what l.t. jeyachandran recently talked to us about all of creation groaning for the full redemption of God. am i walking gently on this earth that God loves and created beautifully, not to serve our ever increasing appetites and take it for granted and drain it of it's resources, but rather to enjoy it moderately, simply and contentedly, sharing the pleasures of it with our fellow brethren in harmony? no, i'm not an overnight tree hugger nor am i turning strangely animistic. to me it's learning to be a participant of God's glory and given pleasures, instead of standing tall and proud as a consumer and consuming senselessly and discarding irresponsibly. i learnt about ecological footprint, which is (roughly) how much of the planet i need as an individual to sustain my life. i did the ecological footprint quiz and found out little old me needs a whopping 6.8 global hectares or 3.8 planets to sustain the rate i'm living. check out http://www.myfootprint.org/ or http://www.ecofoot.org/ now i don't know if these tests are accurate, neither have i studied about ecology or whether these people's intentions are genuine and even totally right, but hey, don't you feel like it's getting hotter every year and sometimes it feels like we're about to be snuffed out in this heat? perhaps us christians need to stop saying "no" to evils and start saying more "yes" to good. i wouldn't mind doing my part, however small it may seem. funny, our mothers were right after all when they would recycle every container they come across, when we would just throw them out. (just don't heat food in plastic tho, toxins are released into the food).

anyway, after all that, the point is, to learn to slow down, be still, and learn to sip and savor the good in life that is very much present, and very much has God in it, when otherwise in our frantic chase, we so easily focus on the lack that is still unreal, and totally miss the good that is real.

wedding

2007-06-13T21:23:00.000+08:00

on sunday night i went to my cousin's wedding dinner. my cousins were not christians so there was no church wedding before. and because there was no church wedding they could afford to splurge more on their wedding dinner. there were a few novel ideas i saw at the wedding. firstly, you know how some couples give a table or door gift to every guest and they place it on the table where they're supposed to be seated? well, my sisters and i got to out seats and there to greet us was a teddy bear. this is the first time i see a teddy bear as a gift. usually it's potpourri or chocs. a full size small teddy bear actually gives you a more warm and fuzzy feeling to receive. well, perhaps just to the lady guests. ayesha benefitted from the gift.

the next surprise was when the couple entered the ballroom. they entered to their theme song "if we hold on together" by diana ross. but the first to enter before them were 6 little ballerinas between the ages of 5 to 8, complete with tutus and flowers and dancing. it was very pretty. when the couple reached their main table, the ballerinas danced to the stage and presented a whole dance. it was very pleasant and quite befitting a wedding actually.

then of course was the big food entry and presentation, usually done to horribly rousing music like "the final countdown" or kitaro's "hot hit". theirs was simply done to a song of their choice which was just the first song of their night's repertoire. i think it was one of those big band jazz classics called "l.o.v.e". pleasant. not cheesy. in fact most of the night they played michael buble's classic big band numbers, which are my favorites anyway. so i like.

one more thing i liked was that although they had a couple of mcs - a girl and a guy, they hardly said much. they just welcomed the guests and people just started eating. and when it was time to run slide and photo presentations they just started running them unannounced and people naturally turned their attention to the stage. it was nice without having to hear the mc's voice cutting through our dinner announcing this and that. they just did the necessary minimal and let the guests enjoy their dinner and mingle with friends and the couple.

that's all, i think. well, since we seem to be about the business of weddings a lot this year, and next year, perhaps our young couples can learn from these ideas?

walter's wine bar

2007-06-09T20:12:00.000+08:00

walter's wine bar is, well, not just a wine bar. it's basically a snazzy restaurant, with a wine bar, by the yarra river at southgate. it's a nice place and it's sentimentally special to us because it was the restaurant we went to to have a celebratory dinner on the day we found out that i was pregnant with ayesha. actually we didn't choose the place but rather it was husband's business counterpart in melbourne who picked the place to meet for dinner. in fact he sprang a surprise on us when he offered my husband a position for work right here in melbourne. honestly, if i wasn't pregnant i think we would be there today. that was 2001. we sadly turned it down quite easily as we felt we couldn't handle a pregnancy and moving to another country at the same time. God really has his wisdom in his timing. i've always wondered especially when life and work back here sucked, how it would be like if we had made the move. turns out in this trip God answered my questions. my friends who had moved here all said that it was so tough moving here and having to bring up a family (babies) without any family to help or affordable childcare. the women folk had no chance of working at all. i think that would have driven me over the balcony. also my cousin who had been here many years said that it was good that we didn't take the job cos when 9/11 hit, the i.t. industry in australia got hit bad and many lost their jobs, migrants being the first to go. and in fact that's what happened to my friend's husband.

phew, that would have been bad. so God proved his ways and thoughts higher than mine once again. finally i found myself able to close this door of "if only". no regrets.

anyway, so i decided to go have breakfast one morning at walters. i chose a seat out at their lovely balcony. look at my simple but yummy breakfast of thick cut raisin toast and an awful looking but wonderful tasting health drink called green power. it looks like grass juice but tastes like banana milk shake. no kidding.

it was a pleasant morning already.

blessed

2007-06-09T19:56:00.000+08:00

i must say that while the day has been unpleasant on the front of me being ill, it's also been pleasant in the form of various ones who have been a help to me today:

1. doc friend who explained to me what was happening and calmed my fears of a stroke.

2. bro in law's girlfriend who sacrificed her sleep in to take me to hospital.

3. super mum in law who took care of the kids during her weekend day off.

4. pat who was a listening ear to me who was miserable to be ill and coming home to an empty house.

5. see lian who brought lunch for me.

6. ai may who checked up on me thrice and was also a listening ear while husband wasn't around today.

7. lei wah who came just to be with me while i rested, just in case if i should spin out of control again, and who came bearing loads of gifts like she usually does, and who even fixed up my dinner complete with fruit for dessert before she left and while i was sleeping. talking about serving others, she wins the prize.

well, you can tell that i'm feeling much better with hours of sleep. perhaps the lack of sleep was what triggered the vertigo. thank God for no further episodes. however still feeling a little miserable being alone in the house, just waiting for my kiddies to get home. then it will be cheerful and distracting again. being miserable is not common with me. usually i would welcome spending time alone at home. perhaps not when i'm ill. well, i'm allowing myself to be childlike again so, every child is miserable when they are ill, right?

anyway, the point is, i feel loved by God and loved by people.

vertigo. blah.

2007-06-09T14:19:00.000+08:00

i'm sitting here in my lounge alone moaning to myself. i'm stuck at home alone on a saturday with vertigo. i already had plans for today to bring my kids and my mum in law out for breakfast and then shopping at tesco, lunch and then visit some friends who's had a new baby. by strangely at 6am this morning i woke up from sleep and without even opening my eyes i felt very dizzy. i managed to go back to sleep but when my daughter came into my room at 7am i woke up, opened my eyes and the whole room started spinning and i felt very very nauseus. i picked myself up to go throw up but of course waking up with an empty stomach meant that there was nothing to throw up. i started breaking cold sweat. i started to panic and called a doctor friend. was i having stroke? (cos i have a problem with high blood pressure, you see). told him the problem, he said there's only 1 thing in the world that will cause the room to spin, a problem to the middle ear.

i had no flu, no fever, no pain, what caused it? i scrambled to get a hold of someone to bring me to the hospital. my little was brilliant. she helped me by bringing everything i needed and then just did not disturb me but went to do some coloring. finally bro in law's girlfriend came to bring me to the hospital. and before leaving the house my girl gave me a cup of water to drink. she has such a sweet and sensitive spirit. then grandma came to get them since i couldn't take care of them today, what with everything spinning and all.

got a jab, which is helping me till now. i'm just praying that the spinning sensation won't come back again when the jab wears off. it was a very awful feeling. u can't do anything at all when the room spins, you lose all sense of balance and you feel like puking your insides out. but now i'm feeling miserable sitting all alone at home, feeling generally ill and without any appetite to eat. trying blogging just to distract my mind off the discomfort. not sure if it's working. husband's down south for a speaking engagement. feeling bad that i can't have a nice day with my kids. getting a little sleepy. going to try sleeping again.

royal botanical gardens

2007-06-08T21:53:00.000+08:00

i love parks and gardens, particularly the ones with lakes or water features. so i went on my own to the famous royal botanical gardens. it was huge! and beautiful. probably because it was autumn. of course there was lots of trees, bushes and shrubs everywhere but the only recognisable trees to me were oaks and willows. there was a huge oaks lawn where families picnic-ed under their spreading branches and leaves. there were some trees with totally orange or yellow leaves. they were beautiful. there was a herb garden with parsley, coriander, thyme, lemongrass, chilies and other herbs. there was a glass house with tropical plants inside so everything looked quite familiar. the temperature in the glass house was adjusted to hot tropical temperature too. it was quite unpleasant to me. i left in a hurry. they even had a special garden dedicated to kids alone and it had a lot of water features and special patches where children can get their hands on gardening and learning about plants and such. unfortunately because australia was facing a serious drought situation, all the water features were closed. there were also several lakes with swans, ducks and birds, and there was a lake by the cafe so i had my lunch there.

aahh, i had yummy wholemeal tuna sandwiches and just-fried chips and i journaled while i enjoyed my lunch and the view of the lake. i remember sitting back and thinking, life at this present moment, is so good. and i prayed that i will not lose that feeling of peace and joy even when i go home and there's not always a lake view and gardens to enjoy. in fact there will be times when the going may get rough. but i'm happy to say that till this day, and i've been back home for a month and a half, i still have not lost the inner peace i feared losing when my holiday was over. as geoff oliver so wisely advised, i won't lose what God has recreated in me, and that my prayer should be that God will continue to grow what he's recreated in me and increase that, and that i will live in awareness of that. it's working out well so far.

after lunch i continued my walk and came across a nice patch with a bench to sit on and enjoy the view. so i approached the bench and on the bench was a sign that said "rejoice in the present" in memory of a lady called cheryle. thank you cheryle, for the wise reminder. and thank you God, for a word to encourage my soul. i was given permission not to worry about the future, but instead to rejoice in the present. such synchronicity.

unfortunately that was the end of the pleasantries of my visit to the RBG. i continued walking and i hit a quiet stretch and i encountered trouble in the form of an elderly greek man. he approached me from behind and started chatting with me and would not leave me alone even after i told him that i preferred to walk alone. he continued to walk with me and because there was no one around i didn't want to cause a scene with him in fear that he might turn violent. so we kept walking, me nervously, hoping that i will quickly reach a public area again. thank God we saw some people ahead and that's when he started behaving a little strangely. he asked me to meet with him again and when i said no he asked me to go with to nearby bushes and said. the good thing was that they replied promptly and would look into the matter seriously.

well, no more wandering parks alone for me.

one a day

2007-06-08T12:52:00.000+08:00

finally, a complete post today. today's my off day for the week and day at home. gosh i've been online since 8am this morning and it's almost 1pm now. and only 1 post! well it's because i've been at emails, facebooks, and other people's blogs. and i'm beginning to starve now so i must go cook some lunch. aah, it's nice to be alone at home, with the jazz channel playing. it's playing one of my favorites "the way you look tonight". beautiful. i think i can only manage 1 post today cos i still want to do other things today like read, journal, vocal training, read the Bible and catch a nap. no chance for a painting. in fact, what are the chances of me doing the rest of the 5 things before 5pm today? very slim i think. 5pm is when we need to get ready to go collect our cutie pie kids.

miss saigon

2007-06-08T12:42:00.000+08:00

ok, a few people have asked me what's happened to my posting since i got back. and i've gone to see the queen and back and still nothing. unlike a lot of people who temporarily stop blogging because they don't want to just put something there for the sake of blogging while they have nothing much to write about (which i feel is a good way of doing it anyway), i in fact have lots to write about from my travels and my journeying so far, but unfortunately don't have much time and don't always have the laptop around. so, since today my husband has graciously let me have his laptop for the day, i'll fire away. well, it's not going to be about london yet. i'm still on melbourne. while i like spontaneity, there's still this side of me who strangely likes chronological order sometimes. besides, it's a nice way to recall good times in the past in the form of my time in melbourne.

i'm doing this listening to channel 111, the jazz channel of astro, and each time i do i'm trasnported back in my mind to the time i went to my first proper jazz club in melbourne, Bennet's Lane. that little place was situated literally in a small, dark lane somewhere in melbourne city. it's got 2 jazz rooms. we were a group of 5 in the smaller and more intimate room. i had southern comfort on the rocks. one of my favorite hard-liquor type drinks which i haven't had for a long long time. since i left the advertising industry actually. gosh, 10 years. it was worth the long wait when local jazz artist yvette johannsen appeared and gave us 3 hrs worth of jazz. loved her singing. strong vocals and quite a natural at performing, dancing and interacting with the audience. i had a great time. that was may 31st.

the night before, i went for my 1st of the 4 stage productions that i saw in melbourne. Miss Saigon! i had forgotten that i had seen it with pat in sydney when we visited way back in 1995, but i didn't mind watching it again. the production in sydney had a an actual life size helicopter (a mock i'm sure) in the helicopter scene, which was very impressive. this one in melbourne, had a holographic helicopter in that scene. i was a little disappointed at first when i heard of that, but it turned out impressive actually. it was a hologram but somehow when they had the soldiers enter the helicopter they sort of disappeared inside, and it looked very real.i appreciated the storyline more this time. the songs were very good. but there was a lot of loin-gyrating dancing from all the prostitutes, including 1 male prostitute. i guess what else can you expect from dancing prostitutes? but unfortunately we see a lot of that nowadays in a lot of music videos as well.

i thought the direction did a good job also in portraying the painful circumstances through which the prostitutes of the viet war turned to prostitution, and also the pain of the viet commonfolk who were caught in the middle of the war. it also shed, to me, a very bad light on all the american soldiers who immorally spilled their seeds everywhere and produced a whole lot of eligitimate children and then just abandoned them anyway when they left for home! although later, according to the story there was a move started by one of the american soldiers to bring help to the abandoned children of the war. that scene with the slide show of the children really broke my heart.

even in the central storyline, which was the love story between this american g.i. and this viet girl, pushed my justice button. basically he was her first client, then they fell in love, wed, he promised to bring her with him but due to difficult circumstances eventually she was left behind. he went back to his wife (!), she bears him a son, they travel to reconcile with daddy, he and his wife meets her halfway and he tells her she can't have him. she begs them to take care of their son and then kills herself! poor victimised girl. i know it was just a story but surely it's reflective of what would have taken place during the war.

but anyway, i did love the production, and my favorite scene was when the last helicopter had to leave saigon and they had this scene of the helicopter taking off in slo-mo and all the vietnamese commonfolk who had their visas approved to leave saigon scrambling over the gate and fencing and yelling to not be left behind, all in slo-mo! such effect, and very emotionally provoking as well. and then the scene reverts to normal speed again into a culmination of their hope and desperation crushed into devastation and fury...

exploring photography

2007-05-11T00:10:00.000+08:00

look, an accidental M, which i can use as my signature.

i've been exploring photography, which i've always loved, and i'm quite excited about film shooting too. have done just a little filming in the past. thoroughly enjoyed it and i must say that my work wasn't all bad. but i've never really had the chance to indulge in this as a hobby, because serious photography can be such an expensive hobby! however i get to indulge and have a little fun with photography thanks to our bulky but trusty canon powershot camera.

i brought powershot to my trip and at first i felt quite embarassed about using a bulky camera since everyone else seems to be having cute little tiny ones. but i found out whenever i did flip it out, people would comment and say that i have a nice camera. oh. then i wasn't embarassed anymore. in fact, now i'm quite proud of it. i still need to learn to just follow my heart instead of being conscious and held back by what people may think of me. don't we all?

so anyway, i had lots of fun exploring photography in melbourne, and haven't stop since. i've started putting my shots on flickr. so if interested, check them out at www.flickr.com/photos/mzshots/

someone help me, pleeease...

2007-05-10T13:25:00.000+08:00

ah, solitude finally arrived. husband left for england this morning, the kids are with mum-in-law, and i'm spending a quiet day at home, all alone. and i love it. not that i don't enjoy being with my family, but i am one who absolutely believes in and needs her solitude. at least once a week. my first sign of deprivation of this is grumpiness.

so i'm sitting here doing this, with the jazz channel on, playing the song "better than" being sung by natalie cole, and i'm reminded of this song being sung by Yvette Johannsen while i was at the Bennett's Lane Jazz Club in melbourne. and now the tune's changed to a jazzy reggae number. hmm, it's a good day.

i was asked by a 13 year old girl the other day, if i was who she thought i was from church. she was very surprised that i actually blog, because just last year, i didn't know what an ipod was! yes, i'm a self-professed digital idiot. but i can learn, if i want to. and i have so far, with this blogging thing. but i'm quite stuck when it comes to this - CAN SOMEONE COME TO MY HOUSE AND TEACH ME HOW TO ATTACH OR LINK THOSE THINGYS LIKE CHATTERBOX AND SITE CLOCK AND SITE METERS TO MY BLOG. I'M SO FRUSTRATED TRYING! yes, i know you need to subscribe and then they give you your html code and you "just cut and paste" it to your layout page thingy blah blah blah. which i have tried and somehow failed for so many times. so! can someone come and do it for me or at least show me how to do it successfully before i get bored of my own blog. i'll feed you homebaked cake and let you watch varekai....anyone?

meanwhile, i'm going to take a nap.

it's bono's birthday!

2007-05-10T12:19:00.000+08:00

it's may the 10th and it's bono's birthday! it's paul david hewson's 47th birthday, and i thank God for him. i thank God for his wonderful music of course, he's the coolest 40-something rocker in the world. and i thank God for the work he's doing in advocating social justice for the poor, marginalised and dying in the world. at least he's not just a superstar rolling in his gold and crying for more love for himself.

funny, in the book 'bono on bono', when asked by mitchka assayas whether he is a preacher (because of his vocation), he said "no, because i don't practice" (relating preaching to christian preaching, and indicating that you need to be a practicing christian before you can preach, which is the correct order). it is a humble but not very accurate statement. because while some parts of his rockstar lifestyle may not be approving to the "practicing" christian, i would say that his belief and actions for social justice for all brotherhood is more christian practice and being Jesus than some established preachers may live out in their lives off pulpit. so is practicing and preaching closer than we think? we may expect preachers to practice, and exempt ourselves from practicing because we don't preach. yet isn't practicing more important than preaching? aren't we preaching when we're practicing? so what's the big fuss with stage personalities in the church, or anywhere else for that matter. it's just very unnecessary separation of the brotherhood of man. we're just all the same - skin, flesh, body parts, different looks, different abilities, same human being. our blood's the same, our poo's the same!

is somebody going, "so why are you idol worshipping bono?" haha...no i don't worship the air he breathes, i just appreciate the part he contributes to in the brotherhood of man. and u2's music is great!!! need i say more?

yes i do. shame on the radio dj on mix who said this morning "and now let's move on to something more interesting, lindsay lohan..." right after the dj before her just announced that it's bono's birthday. lindsay lohan more interesting than bono/u2? ARE YOU KIDDING ME???! CAN YOU BE MORE SHALLOW???

what's going on!

2007-05-08T22:11:00.000+08:00

how come i lost the paragraphs in my previous posting when i drafted it with several paragraphs. and i keep editing it and putting the para's back but it still disappears when i publish it! is there a glitch i'm not noticing?

romanza!

2007-05-08T21:29:00.000+08:00

i'm finally back with something new since i came home! been busy with the family. have also finally started painting. will post them at some point. they're not a beauty but, after all, i'm a baby at painting. and the good news for me is that art is very subjective. one man's art may be another man's junk. and i enjoy painting because it makes me happy, so there!

and now that i'm feeling reborn and happy, it's also amazing how i now notice the colorful and beautiful things around my own house as when previously i didn't notice them even tho they've been around for yonks! the beautiful green of my plants, my stunning bettas aka siamese fighting fish with their blue, purple and red finnage. photos of my fishies will come later. and photos of my own home-cooking and baking, specifically a nigella lawson chocolate fudge cake which everyone loved, especially my daughter, who loved her homebaked birthday cake.

yesterday, i went with a couple of friends to my first local classical concert, titled Romanza. as the name implies, it showcased a collection of love songs from various italian and chinese operas. there was a selection of compositions by rossini, puccini, verdi, mozart and others i don't remember. of course, i don't who the chinese composers were, since i can't read the chinese synopsis. there were songs from the opera Ernani, Figaro, Don Quixote, the Barber of Seville, and Othello

i enjoyed the concert! and i must say that i am very impressed with our local artists. it was a small and intimate concert, featuring 2 soloists and 1 accompanist. the highlight was ms cecilia yap, malaysia's top soprano, and my very own vocal trainer, mr cha seng tiang, malaysia's top baritone. they were great and very skilled. they made beautiful classical singing look so effortless, when i'm finding out in class that it's training in every sense of the word!

i loved cecilia yap's singing. a fantastic power machine but superbly controlled and emotionally expressive. when she hit the high notes her head tone was marvellous. i could hear the ringing in my ears, a good sort of ringing. i think that's resonance. her singing was very pleasant to the ears. which to me is of utmost importance cos unskilled classical singers can be a real ear sore. as for mr cha, of course he is excellent, he's my teacher!

so...i'm gonna pay more attention to our local artists. we may be surprised at some treasures we may have after all. here's to malaysian artists.

varekai

2007-04-21T06:45:00.000+08:00

OH MY GOODNESS, VAREKAI! IT WAS SO OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD, AMAZINGLY AND SUPERBLY TERRIFIC!!!

of all the shows i've ever seen in my whole 30 some years of life, this has to take the prize. dare i say, it even trumps The Phantom of the Opera, which i thought was the best production i've ever seen.

the imaginary and gorgeous costumes and sets, the highly skilled acrobatic and artistic performances, the live and haunting music and singing,
the intimate small tent and high tech lighting, i felt like i was transported
to an imaginary wonderland. it was truly satisfying. the performers were very, very skilled. cirque du soleil is a human circus production, but don't be fooled. they are not your normal run-of-the-mill circus acts that you have seen as a kid, with a bunch of clowns and flying trapeze acts and torch blowers and stuff. yes they have comic actors,

and also contortionists, little kids acrobats, jugglers (have you ever seen a man juggle with his tongue?!), flying trapeze folks, and dancers and singers, and even a handicapped athlete who was great. even their contraptions are artistically designed. these are some of the greatest athletes as well as artistes in the world. i've heard of cirque for a long time and always wished i could see a production live. my dream came true.

i have such high respect for all who are involved in cirque du soleil. truly a world class act. (simon, josh, if you thought Alegria was very good, Varekai was even better. i have the dvd, you can come by my house to watch if you like).

i thought yesterday's was my last post but i just couldn't resist it today after watching Varekai. my whole trip has been the greatest orange poppy seed cake, with lots of poppy seeds, but Varekai has been the orange syrup topping or the cream cheese topping. in other words, it was the icing of the cake, the best highlight of the trip. thank you cirque du soleil! what a great way to finish my trip.

so goodbye Melbourne. you have offered me so much of what i love. hope to see you again real soon.

going home

2007-04-20T12:57:00.000+08:00

*sigh* i'm leaving for home tomorrow morning. today's my last day. i still have one more show tonight - Varekai by Cirque du Soleil. am excited about the show, but i learn now not to have any plans on the last 2 days of my vacations, especially long ones, because i realize i just lose the mood and just want to laze around and prepare to go home. found myself going to sleep last night feeling a little blue about going home. am excited about seeing the family again, but sad that the travel will be over soon. i always love my travels

i actually thought it would be a good idea today to head out to the city earlier and kill time at the Queen Victoria Market, since i need to be there for tonight's show anyway. got all dressed up, took a train heading to the city, stopped at the next suburb for my last lamb souvlaki meal, and strangely after lunch just really felt like coming home instead. tried to shrug it off, hopped on the next train to the city, and changed my mind and hopped off the next stop and took a train home instead! thought i'd put in my last post before curling into my comfy bed and doona (aussie for comforter) for awhile. my husband says maybe it's because i've done it all. perhaps.
i wish i could teleport myself to tonight's show instead of walking to the station, take a train, then a tram to the Oval. oh well....

anyway, here's one of the best fruit i've ever tasted. fresh figs. straight off the tree at my niece's garden. i've only ever had dried ones, and i didn't like them. but look at the colors on these fresh ones. and they're really sweet and yummy, and oh so good for you.
they're packed with antioxidants and fibre. gorgeous.

now to bed for an arvo nap.

antipasto!

2007-04-19T20:14:00.000+08:00

here comes the first of the food shots! we swam through this in a cafe in healesville. it's a huge antipasto to serve 2 persons, but it did right by the 4 of us. i have grown to love greek food! this antipasto has 5 kinds of dips - tzatziki, hommus, eggplant, avocado, garlic. served with torn pieces of foccacia bread and crackers. there's also 2 cheeses, smoked salmon, cold cuts and terrines, feta and spinach tart pieces, olives, potato salad and some other leafy salads.

guess how yummy it was?!!! i'm hungry thinking about it now. i think i'm gonna go get some food...isn't it wonderful that art if applied in food too? my photo doesn't do it justice. trust me, it was good!!!

the vineyard

2007-04-19T19:47:00.000+08:00

march 29, the Yarra Valley vineyards. wished hubby was here 'cos he would have loved this so much. that's his cousin in the photo. australia as a nation is going through serious drought problems at the moment. it's hit some farming areas really badly. but as you can see, this area still looks great! there has hardly been any rainfall, and if at all, it's just been very light drizzles lasting for 5 minutes. in fact i just heard on the radio just now that the people are asked to pray for rain. wow! perhaps those from outside australia should pray for them for rain too. and this autumn hasn't been cold at all. it's only between the range of 9C-25C. hmm, global warming. i've decided my favorite temperature is 18C, distinctly cool yet no need for additional clothing.

i enjoyed the cheese and wine tasting immensely. we tasted about 5 different good wines, complimented by a cheese board with a variety of 6 cheeses, served with wafer crackers. the best of the lot was the goat's cheese soaked and infused in olive oil and black pepper. and it was crumbly like cream cheese. the taste, oh my goodness! and they had this homemade bread that had a crispy rock-salt topped crust and pillow soft inside... truly so good you can eat it on it's own. which we did.

what good view, what good food!

flower & garden art

2007-04-19T11:45:00.000+08:00

well! so i'll be going home day after tomorrow! it's been 38 days here in melbourne so far, and i would have been here for a total of 40 days when i leave. and i have loved it! absolutely.

it's a lazy day in today. listening to a jazz radio station while i'm bloggin. also with the idea of going home being just a day away, i pretty much don't want to do anything else but just hang back, reminesce, and savor the last bits of it. i think i will always treasure this trip. it's great to have been able to do lots and gone to see lots of wonderful places and experienced wonderful enriching experiences, and have had lots of time to do it, unlike short vacations where you tire yourself out by trying to do and see everything at a maddening pace, then go home and feel like you need to recuperate from your vacation! i've had great food, seen great art, audienced 4 great art productions, seen beautiful vistas, had reunions with long lost high school friends, and experienced all these through the eyes of the Father. wonderful. complete. abundant. blessed. joy.

and more than half of my melbourne savoring is still not posted yet, which i will. this is really for me to keep the great memories of the trip alive.

march 28. i went to the melbourne flower and garden festival at the Carlton Gardens. there were loads of stalls for retail, which was not applicable to me since i don't live here. although, i did buy this unique hydration crystals, which works like our clumpy gooey water gel things for plants. except these ones look like lovely tiny crystal balls. i'll let you have a look when i go home and use them, hydrated.

then there was the 2nd feature of the show, which was garden designs and landscaping. most of them were very interesting, but this one captured my fancy the most. i couldn't capture the whole thing in one shot, so you need to visualised it a bit

in your mind. imagine your garden or courtyard or backyard with a soaking pool (check out the canoe designed deck beds!), and outdoor lounge next to it (with the fuschia sitting things). you can sit with

your friends and sip cocktails there while you catch up. to it's left is a little al fresco dining area where you can have your breakfast or tea. and, in front of the dining area, the outdoor tv lounge with a big screen and surround sound system. relax for a movie, or clear the place, pump up the music and kick
up a party! i can hear someone saying, "mosquitoes la!".

of course there was the parade of flowers. a sampling here.

one other favorite feature was the flower artistic designs and arrangements. check these out... a piece of art on canvas that's "painted" entirely with fresh flowers and grass, and an inspired floral bride's room.

so far

2007-04-11T08:22:00.000+08:00

before i sign off for 5 days, let's see, the 'back dated' chronicles of my melbourne holiday has brought us to only march 27. i arrived on march 13 and it's now april 11. wow, i've been here for a month. felt quite fast. i'm sure my husband and kids will not agree.

i started out the 1st day of my trip(travel day aside), with a gung-ho 25 min walk to the next suburb where the nearest shopping area is, did a 3 hr browse in between, and ended with another 25 min walk back. i think i nearly ended my existence. that route never saw me on foot again. in between i also had wonderful home-cooked vietnamese meals (and i'm bringing the recipes home, so sam, more dinner party ideas for us), finished the whole of season 1 of heroes. you saw the mt dandenong experience, the aquarium, the zoo. browsed in the biggest mall ever Chadstone (seriously, would i only browse?). the japanese dress-up, wonderful greek food. also went to a food and wine festival where i tasted a spanish hot chocolate that is to die for! and of course the ice-cream, hmmm.....

had a peek at Williamstown where there was yet another art and fun festival going on. williamstown is kind of like a maritime town. i thought it was going to be like a boys town but it turned out to be very quaint and pleasant. sorry, i mindlessly didn't take any pictures. also toured St Kilda beach where it was so windy and after that my hair was all in one place, held together by sand and sea breeze. and had dinner at the legendary Lygon st aka little italy and even visited a local institution, Brunetti's, a quite out-of-this-world coffee, cakes, choc and gelato place. i'm sure you can visualise it just by it's name? husband would absolutely love this place. perhaps someday, hopefully soon, we can come together.

and of course, the occasional Bourke St Mall, and Brunswick St where the atmosphere is bohemian, retro and arty. kinda like the famous hippy Haightashbury of San Francisco, except that brunswick was not as big and buzzing as haight.

i will pick up again with the melbourne flower and garden festival when i get back from camp.

japanese art

2007-04-11T07:35:00.000+08:00

on my second weekend here, march 24, the lazy saturday morning brought us to an absolutely yummy souvlaki lunch at orexi's (and i'm going there for lunch in a bit before i head off to 5 days of soul survivor food). for aud7.50 you get an "ang moh" size portion of what looks like a 1/2kg heap of gorgeous tender grilled chicken (or lamb if you prefer, or both!), topped on a huge flat turkish bread and generous amounts of crispy lettuce, fresh tomatoes, onions and greek yogurt tzatziki. oompa! btw do we have any greek food at all back home?

after filling our tums till i was about to hurl, we headed off to Docklands, which is another waterfront area in the city where various events and festivals are usually hosted. it was the Osaka Festival this time around and it was very colorful. there was hawker style jap food, origami activity, a stage for music and parades, tea cremonies, and the highlight of the day

- free dress-up-in-a-yukata-and-snap-photos-like-crazy

booth. a yukata is a summer kimono, which is a lot lighter but as beautiful and as breath-restricting around the waist as the traditional thick kimonos that we know of. the last bit is to adorn your freezing toes in one of these little kittens, and then you have your little personal parade infront of a camera, trying to remember to walk daintily like little japanese women instead of flopping around. nothing i've ever done before. it was a lot of fun
and everything looks so pretty

question

2007-04-10T10:20:00.000+08:00

nothing on art, but just a burning question - can someone tell me why the toilets and bathrooms in australian homes DO NOT have locks on them?

i keep fearing someone will "catch me in the act"!

this little light of mine, i'm gonna let it shine

2007-04-07T08:03:00.000+08:00

march 21. melbourne zoo. i was wanting to whiz in and out of the giant maze-like aviary at 2:30pm 'cos it was super hot and i was way beyond stinking. (it was hot in my early days here. 33 degrees! now it's mostly autumny 20's). i'm not much for birds, but this little guy caught me in mid-stride. it was just sitting there, quite hidden by leafy trees, but knows enough that he's very pretty and that just being will do. it's almost like he's singing, "this little light of mine, i'm gonna let it shine. this little light of mine, i'm gonna let it shine. this little light of mine, i'm gonna let it shine. let it shine, let it shine, let it shine. hide it in the treetops, no! i'm gonna let it....". couldn't help it but had to stop 'tho sweaty just to hear him sing.

here's a little one who knows who he is. and it didn't matter if he was in an extra-large-cage man made sanctuary, he is free when he learns that he just needs to be who he is created to be. the beautiful and absolutely lovable and worthy creature that he is. we could learn from this lot. lofty men who suffer from low self-esteem, daily struggling to find himself a place of reckoning in this world. if only we'll take time, and courage, to look inside to find that this little light of ours is indeed created and birthed within us, and it's beautiful and absolutely lovable and worthy.

"look at the birds. they don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. and aren't you far more valuable to him than they are? can all your worries add a single moment to your life?" - jesus christ. boy, i still have so much to learn.

art is for playing and for learning

fish art

2007-04-07T07:31:00.000+08:00

have you seen a shark egg before? not until march 20 for me. the one on the left is mrs xx shark's piece of art. she has to wait for a year to see her baby? a longer time than we take. well at least she doesn't have to carry a ton of pregnancy weight around.

so this display is at the melbourne aquarium. i was amazed to not only see shark eggs for the first time, but to see that they came in different odd shapes and sizes. this one of the port jackson shark looks like a rubbery piece of seaweed intertwining and spiralling itself around the baby shark to protect it. then there is an opening at one of the ends la. not very pretty, but quite beautiful.

the one on the right are just a bunch of starfish in an open touching tank, just lazing around below the shimmering waters. my photography's not the least bit professional, but it'll do for my kids to see this sunshiny piece of ocean art.

someone's piece

2007-04-07T06:40:00.000+08:00

this is a piece done by an unknown artist on a part of the walkway along Southgate, which is a buzzing commercial waterfront area right next to the yarra river. it's where i end most of my days in the city, with a yummy gelato in hand from trampoline, whose parade of gelatos looks like a beautiful food artist's pallete. southgate is kind of like that famous stretch in shanghai. what is it called again? i think most major cities have one, recalling those i've been to in cape town, rio de janeiro, hong kong, phnom penh, singapore, sydney, bali, even kuching.

there are numerous art pieces like these all along the sidewalk, usually surrounding lamp posts. they're all done in pastels, i think. and they're beautiful.

this is someone's art. a piece of someone's life generously given for the fulfilment of another. an expression of one's life and play. tho we're strangers separated by oceans at most times, our lives get to intertwine. after all, we're just a huge brotherhood of mankind, born by the same Father, who gives us a beautiful playground. if only we would play nicely together...

i believe, and have discovered, that art is not for the elite few. art is not only found in galleries, or theatres, or philharmonic halls. we are surrounded by art. it's in the experience of life. the clothes i wear, the toothbrush i use, the pc i'm blogging on, the beautiful cup of latte my bro-in-law is sipping (and photographing). it flowed from an artist somewhere whose creative brilliance was given by the Great Creator Himself.

so, i am an artist. not necessarily of paint and brushes. but at this moment, blogging is my art. i am playing and creating a sort of life force if you will, and a positive one i hope. perhaps one day in the near future, i will also be an artist of paint and brush, or of the opera, or of the flamenco!

what art have you seen or done in life today?

where's the giant

2007-04-07T06:02:00.000+08:00

is there a giant in mt dandenong? 'cos there sure is a giant's chair! i'm not sure why. forgot to read the story behind the giant's chair. anyone sitting there gets a great view of the dandenong ranges. God's art in display. God's play in exhibition. and we get to enjoy this bit of art in life.

i imagine an elusive gentle giant, keeper of the mountains aka mr dande nong, who sinks into his favorite chair at the break of dawn to enjoy the view, with a latte or a vegemite sandwich in hand. (that reminds me i must try the institutional vegemite sandwich while i'm here. don't think i'll like it tho). and he goes into invisible mode at the sight of the first soul, and watches with a smile on his face, as little ones like me get to play on his favorite chair. imagine how small i look in that chair.

perhaps, mr dande nong himself, is God...?

fire engine

2007-04-06T22:20:00.000+08:00

so i've been in melbourne for more than 3 weeks now. aah...the lovely autumn weather. and the colors of orange, red and yellow. but there's also a special and pleasant burst of...whites! autumn weddings in australia, when it's not too hot nor is it too cold. i've seen 5 weddings already in just 3 weeks. and all in the lovely gardens here. this is an interesting one up in mt. dandenong where i was on march 17. amidst the beautiful greens and the flowers of the gardens, and the beautiful people around, there stood a majestic structure in glowing red - a fire engine! no, there wasn't a tragic fire or a cat up in a tree. the fire engine was the royal carriage for the king and queen of the day. most original i've seen by far. none of the usual rolls royces or beemers or mercs or volvos.

guess who's the fire fighter? or was it just the groom's (or the bride's) childhood fancy?

happy good friday

2007-04-06T21:54:00.000+08:00

so what am i doing on good friday, here in melbourne? let me see...the easter weekend is a major public holiday here. it's a four day weekend, friday till sunday. strange that i'm not in church, where i usually am back home this time of year. however, did have my little moment of worship and contemplation back in the magnificent st paul's cathedral in the heart of the city yesterday, surrounded by beautiful icons, high finely architectured ceilings and lovely stained glass windows. chatted with the Almighty in my journal.

"it's the mystery of the universe. you're the God of holiness, yet you welcome souls like me" - matt redman. you did all this simply because i am your child. one of your own. it's simple. if i was in a situation where the only way my own children could live was if i perished, would i be willing? i would think that i would say yes without a doubt.

so, thank you Father, for your heart that's for me. and thank you Jesus, for being willing.

and today, i tried the art of blogging. not bad for a late "e-bloomer".

reborn

2007-04-06T10:30:00.000+08:00

finally, i'm starting a blog, in melbourne no less. strange, but strangely nice. i kept saying that i will not blog, since everybody does it, and i don't have the time to, but at this point in my life, i'm up for anything new, any sense of adventure. and while you lot of expert bloggers may find this old school, i'm a total novice.

some call this mid-life crisis, i call this being reborn. 'cos that's what it feels like to me. i'm a wife and mum of 2 little ones. been stuck in a very conservative and "un-mainline" job for 10 years, after an exciting 5 years of advertising. i had forgotten myself, my passions, and my dreams for too long. thus it called for a long extended leave of 6 months, which i may extend up to 1 year. can't imagine not working for a year. it feels wonderful. i could get used to this. but the money bit makes me a bit nervous though...but God has been providing so far, so i should trust him to continue providing, provided he's ok with me doing this.

so this is where my come-up-against-a-wall journey has brought me to. self-rediscovery to find my true self and doing it justice to let her live again, reviving my true love for the arts and daring to let-it-rip and pursue it with zest and as though i'm not getting any younger (which i'm not), and just paying attention to life where for the longest time i've let it pass by me with speed.

i don't intend for my blog to be a daily journal, but rather pages of my savoring the art of/in life
, and for other art enthusiasts to help me in my exploration of it, and also for it to be somewhat of a support group for new art enthusiasts like myself.

after all, as i've discovered, life is art
, and i've just been reborn