Sitcom

Sitcom is a combination of situation and comedy! Who knew? I am in the middle of one (or many) right now.

Flummoxed

I am flummoxed by how affected I am by the summer heat. Or by how I have forgotten how affected I was by summer heat.

Imagination

Meditating with a crystal ball when a WhatsApp message comes in. Checking to see WhatsUp.

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge

Here is a photo of a transitory ground of sometimes sand, sometimes water, sometimes foam. All three states of being can be seen within this photo.

Insight

How we choose to frame this world view ultimately determines how we see the world, and it really is as simple as that.

Rural Redux

Welcome the rural life redux and here I am back in the farming scene for a breather.

Missing Grid

It is strange when the clock strikes twelve (or whichever time depending on whichever location) and there is nothing to look forward to, cos time has come to a standstill on 31st May.

Ouch.

The finality of things. Today is the last of Daily Prompt. Ouch!

Feather

My All-Time Favorites would be the heavenly signs that appear when I am not in a good state of knowingness.

Mending broken ties

Coincidentally, today’s prompt has been a recurring conversation at my place the past couple of weeks.

Juxtapose

At times, we lose sight of ourselves or our senses, and Universe throws in an alternative reality as a juxtaposition to remind us of who we really are, or what we really want.

Ceremony

Of the (not many) years I spent there, I only attended one prayer ceremony once.

Values

He leaned against the window, pondering the full moon. His fingers inadvertently twirling the silk tassels of the Oriental lantern – another new decor from his travels.

Archaic

I discovered a very archaic notion today: that the best travel adventures are far far far away.

Guilty (or not)

Do you know that we can hold guilt in us unconsciously (or subconsciously), even though sometimes it is by no fault of ours?

To the Daily Post Community: Thank You!

Originally posted on The Daily Post:
Almost seven and a half years ago The Daily Post opened its virtual doors to the WordPress.com blogging community. It’s been an incredible ride, and incredible rides, too, sometimes come to an end. As of the end of this month (and 2,000 Daily Prompts, 380 Photo Challenges, 260 Community…

Twisted

I broke out into laughter the first time I saw these twisted cauliflowers.

Assumption

On the assumption that life keeps up this momentum, this shall be the view from my office before the end of 2018 ❤

Awkward

Awkward is the moment when you open up your Photo Library, and it shows endless photos of South America which you have never stepped in before.

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge

I have been following the entries for many of Cee’s Challenges, and finally mustered my courage to participate instead of merely watching from the sidelines!

Narcissism

Originally posted on Oh, border!:
Today is not a busy intense day. Neither was it a smooth day. It was like a tipper truck dropped little gravels all my path, and I was tripping over them one after another. How annoying was that! Needed to find something more interesting to make up for this lack…

Multi-D

Life is fairly simple to deal with at its two-dimension, or three-dimension. Throw in the fourth and the fifth dimension and it gets into a whole new level of complication.

Project Infect

Here’s to infecting this chaotic world with a frozen moment of zenness. Pause. Reflect. Enjoy the clarity. Peace, you are finally here. ❤

Liquidity of existence

I have very lucid dreams of being in my natural habitat of an infinite waterbody all the time, almost like an escape from the land-locked world.

Pedigree

We are a pedigree of selfie sapiens. Shhh, baby, don’t tell anybody.

The Return

The phone buzzed and the usual breakfast photo came in.

Bittersweetness

Manhandling the thorny hard husk into breaking open; acknowledging that it really stinks at the core of the matter; finally tasting the sweet (or just) desserts after.

Inner world

Here is a glimpse into the place in my inner world, which you can easily enter by viewing the A Card A Day I did in January.

Blingz

There is the real, and there is the appearance. It appears that my place in the world is in front of plates of food – mostly cakes.

Skewed

I love this gentle sunset but
the picture frame is a mess – all the skewed lines of different manmade elements, so harsh so unwieldy.

Urban forest

Taking the urban forest concept a little too literally. Here we have the Avatar trees~

Rebel

Channelling my inner rebel. Life is short. Wear mismatched socks.

The Bench

There is a place in the world where I have absolutely no business to be in, yet it feels so solidly comfortable, some place where I feel I belong.

Rapidly happied

The rapid route to happy mood is … caviar … in technicolours!

Unlikely

The bull horns is just a case in point that I can now appreciate the beauty of nature as it is, without judgement that this is creepy, that is scary, those are morbid, etc.

Bubbles

Boo! Just a creepy picture of me posing with light bubblies~ Bwahahahaha.  

Mentors and teachers

Coincidentally, I very recently rewatched Tim Minchin’s UWA address from five years ago. I love his speech for the humour of course, the poetic rhythm, the wit, the wisdom, and the existiential realist he is.

Tide over time

Life changes; roles change; environs change; tides turn, over time.

If there are seasons

The freezing cold scare last night brought back the warmth of a song from decades ago. I think being brought up in the equatorial belt is cool , with so much room for romantic concepts like this song / musical.

Abrupt

My life came to an abrupt standstill last night, it was rather creepy. I was feeling really stuffy in office, with a throbbing headache, and a sore back like a million needles went through it.

Vine lines

Wine-tasting exercises averaging 25 types a sitting (or standing) is bound to have any person wear her heart on the sleeve.

Water lines

Took me a while to figure what kind of lines can astonish. I am pleasantly surprised to recall one such line – a Roman aqueduct in Segovia!

Construction lines

Want to watch me throw a tantrum about lines? Fine. Here are the pics of the unhappiest part of my life.

Gaudi-an lines

The most consistently rivuletine lines I have seen are those of Antoni Gaudí. His inspiration from, and mimicry of, mother nature is stupendous.

Wat lines

To get myself out of that pattern of dense thoughts and feels, I have put up this collage of pictures more in the form of “wat-the-heck” lines.

Parisian lines

This is Musée d’Orsay. Its steel arch structure with glass arch ceiling casts amazing shadows on itself as the light filters through.

Elaborate

The elaborate colour palette of mother nature meets (wo)man. Matchymatchy!

Bestowed

Necklace bestowed upon me by my Light Team. Isn’t it pretty?

Vaguely a painting

There was one thing I did during the Shanghai stint that my sis lost all respect for me over. It was an activity vaguely like painting, except it was done through numbers.

Partake

The delight from community development lies in the partaking in joint efforts to manifest from nothingness to many-thing-ness. ❤ The most precious reward at the end of the day – fulfilled hearts, and a fine sunset. ❤

The mallet dropped

Directly from fifth heaven. Lesson learnt: don’t whine too much about “trivial” things, don’t joke too much about higher beings.

Authentic Karen cuisine

I have no idea whether there really is such a thing as authentic anything/anywhere cuisine at all. As authentic as Mom’s cooking? But every mom is different.

Parallel

In a parallel universe 14,000km away in the other direction, is yet another Alhambra, and another Granada.

Prolific, really?

Hahaha. Sounds like an apt description of the T’oh family, my grandparents, the DNA down the bloodline, and the earlier three generations here in SG.

Arabian nights

So many crevices for Genie to hide. So many nooks and crannies for multiple genii to spring a surprise.

Fret not~

Fret not! There are so many lovely things in this world that we may not have noticed or known about. Such as dancing baby stingrays.

Lively song for a sunday

What better way to end an enjoyable Sunday than to share a lovely lively song that is so loveydovey. Here is a song about eloping to the moon!

Accidentally in love

Originally posted on Oh, border!:
I had a timeout during the Cannes/Nice weekend, and hopped off to visit Musée Matisse up in the hilly suburbs. I had been repeatedly advised (i.e. reminded) by my dearest mentor LTK to pay a visit. I did, and indeed, I loved it. What was more magical was that I…

Stealing sand

Here is a picture of us collecting pebbles from the riverbank. Sometimes we swam over to Myanmar, and then quickly back.

Glimmer

Glimmer of the setting sun from behind very old trees. I accidentally lived right behind an ancient Roman gladiator amphitheater for a week!

The disruptor

My teammates probably found me very disruptive. I could see them frowning, or their eyes squinting, everytime mine lit up with new ideas.

Early awakening

Proud as I could be when I woke up early enough one morning to say hi to someone before he left for work.

Froth-tea

There is this frothy tea that I would have whenever I travelled into the Shanghai city office for work.

Luminescence

Also vaguely known as that thing you do when you have no life living in a village.

Confusionism

The glorious academic plans were thwarted by an offer to develop a huge-ass farm in SzeChuan.

The Weir

A separate pilot new town project was inchoate and we were just waiting to get over the red tape to start on the detailed work.

The long haul

A long haul project of four years brought me to a city that now sits very close to my heart. I worked on Yangzhou, flying in and out every three weeks.

Hero

Hero hauling haversacks.
Heavy ones!

Smile

Smiles – big and small. Good prompt for a bad day. Kthxbye.

Explore

Well, I really explore all sorts of weird things. Here is one of them: ever wondered what a carrot flower looks like?

No warning

We had a lot of fun fooling around. Without any warning, babyboo started bawling.

Rise / set

I woke up at 3am to make it in time to watch this sunrise at Angkor Wat, Siem Reap.

T’oh Quartet

Messy music was what we played. We are the T’oh Quartet, conducted my Tiger Mom, and run by Floor Manager T’oh. 

Micro

Squeezing a micro thought into a micro window of time before I get back to swimming in a macro pool of words in so many different languages. 

Like a Swallow

There is this one song I really love, and it’s called Like a Swallow and was the theme song for Little Nonya, a local TV series.

Exotic fruits

Apples growing on trees is a foreign concept to me. Logically, I know they grow on trees (!!!), but I had never imagined what its tree looks like nor how they grow on it.

Talismen

To me, they can jolly well be placebos, but as long as they make me feel good or better or at ease, I am happy to continue using.

Selfish or Selfless?

Originally posted on One day at a time:
To call someone selfish is quite vague. There are several ways in which the word selfish can be defined. Depending on the context of the word, it can be considered derogatory or positive. Degrees of each kind of selfishness also vary widely from person to person, some…

My favourite place

My favorite place is an inconspicuous beach which had no name and unmarked on the map, and shockingly so close to home.

Here spring the cheery blossom

I cannot really call it a cherry blossom when it has yet to blossom to that point. More of a cheery blossom, I even added sparkles!

MyFam

Sis remarked today how these two peeps have such dramatic reunion everyday. 😀

Patience, my dear

I got a little annoyed one day, when a few different decks gave me the same answer. So I thought to myself, “maybe it is imperative for every deck to have a Patience card”.

Incubate

Today’s prompt Incubate brings to mind two things – the fat chickens we reared who gave us fresh eggs everyday; and what Eckhart Tolle wrote in Stillness Speaks.

Off-grid Connection

Having a 3G modem was enough to maintain sanity, and I was happy to go off-grid on everything else.

Provoke

How I (unwittingly) provoked my teacher into having me co-teach her class. 😀 

Literal shadows

I’ve always had a fascination with shadows. The latest observance being what I would consider white noise.

Grasping the line

When some event pops up (let’s say an unkind bully surfaces) that makes you feel angry or resentful, do you ever wonder what Universe intends that to be?

Captivating

“I just can’t stop thinking about waffles.” Bawls my soul, as expressed by this poor little girl. I feel you!

Life

Life and its meandering journey is surprising and sometimes with enlightening comes the wistfulness of “why didn’t I realise it earlier”.

Wonder III

Final sequel to the trilogy (or so I hope). The most important reason for discovering if you carry the thalassemia trait is this: If two people who each carry the same form of thalassemia trait have a child, there is a 25% chance that this child will be born with a severe form of thalassemia….

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Wonder II

Another curious day/night. I woke up with blurry, puffy eyes, and for no reason at all, I cried all morning, so I assumed I must have cried through the night without knowing (what, why). It was not any better that the daily prompt took me to such a touching turn, which was like yanking a…

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Wonder

Daily prompt is being very educational once again. I googled Wonder and saw that there’s a movie, and then ended up buying the book. I will take a while to read, and have a feeling it is going to be a teary-eyed experience, just judging from the author’s interview here. Sounds like a lot on kindness…

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Story of a boy

Story of a busybo(d)y.
Before he could even crawl, babyboo was already “helping out” with housework.

Fact

Alright, tonnes of work today. Fact. Short post it shall be.

Branchie streams

Branching Streams Flow in the Darkness was the first Zen book I owned. It was written by Shunryu Suzuki, the guy who brought Zen teachings into the US.

A typical energy vampire

You know how sometimes we feel suffocated by certain people or suffocated after certain events? You know how we call some people and some environments toxic?

Any surface

I am so random when it comes to painting that I just take any surface and mess around with them. Sometimes I draw on my hand, sometimes on my leg. Strange habits, tsk.

Horror vacui

Took some timeout to play around with perspectives today, and it matches the saying “nature abhors a vacuum” perfectly.

Worm moon

It’s full moon again! No wonder messy emotions are rife these couple of days. A name like The Worm Moon serves up an extra garnish of queasiness.

Hermeticism

“As Above, So Below; As Within, So Without” is a phrase that calls to my mind the 1 Magician. We already have all the tools to guide and direct us in our lives.

Pushing boundaries

With blinkered eyes, it is easy for many things to be out of this world of ours.

Dimmyme

Dimmy-me nodded off during the warmup kriyas and it felt like *lights out* for my consciousness which went off to some still quiet space for a break.

Time lag

Have you ever considered premonition being something happening in real-time, and it being a “a strong feeling that something is about to happen” is because that was how long information took to reach us?

Progressive imagination

My meditation started out as a form of “imagination”, then to “visualisation”, and now “witnessing” His wisdom.

Written in the stars

Some things are written in the stars. Yet it takes so many different conditions and factors for the life to play out as astrally-scripted.

Stardust

Astrally speaking, we are all stardust and wherever we are, what matters are not our physical locations but the frequency we are vibrating at.

In-conversant

Last night closed with a very touching youtube video clip I was watching, and I went to sleep with the thought, “It’s good to be loved. It’s profound to be understood.” Yup, it was Portia’s pressie to Ellen.

Anon faces

My self-centredness took over, and what stood out in my gallery of photos was my face in a crowd of people I do not know!

The sound of food

After a full week of Chinese New Year feasting, I cannot believe that the first thought that comes to mind for today’s prompt is more food.

Constancy

Here is one of my favourite drawings. It is unsigned and undated, so I have no idea how many decades it has been. Each time I look at it, Sarah Mclachlan’s Angel starts playing in my head.

No compromise

I never liked the word compromise, it feels like there’s some negative vibration hanging onto it.

Presence

The best present is your presence! Thank you for being around  ❤  in the shivering cold, in the sweltering sun, in state of confusion, in state of exhaustion, in state of bliss.

Disney Prince

Funny how I was just on the phone yesterday with someone and retelling the story of Oliver being such a “Disney Princess”.

Courage | Strength

The immediate association with Courage in tarot-speak is VIII Strength. However, I see Courage as only part of what Strength is about, while at the same time, Courage also speaks for more than what Strength is about.

Big familiar

This is my family! Three generations, and we gather at this scale twice a year. It is no surprise that we are unable to recognise one another (for some).

Too Sweet

Yay, I managed to get a cake for Dad on the second day of Chinese New Year when 95% of Singapore is closed! Even though it turned out to be an extremely sweet-pink-coloured one.

0 Fool

I found this boy 0 The Fool setting out on his journey to see the world! I like how he appears to walk with a little swagger, almost like a blind confidence in the new/future world he is partaking in.

My neighbour Totoro

Oliver always looks very befitting in a Totoro costume. Maybe it is the big white patch that matches the baby tummy perfectly, and it is a “cannot-miss” target for tickling him, especially after his meal.

Unsweet

Yikes! I forgot to get Dad a birthday cake. My last minute scramble to get one by pulling strings was nowhere close to success.

Some things don’t change

8 years later, I am still doing the same pose at the same place, with the same bunch of people. Some things don’t change.

Why I write

As I type, I understand more about myself, and the world, and life, much more than I started out scraping the surface with each post.

Gobble-lin

The Goblin wants to lead you astray and whispers the negative spell of fear, anger, resentment, self-righteousness, arrogance, selfishness, greed, glutton, procrastination, and addiction.

Blossom-ing

This one here is a cherry blossom that has yet to be completed. It is just short of a few strokes of the brushes, but I have no idea what is holding me back.

Times when rest is best

Memories of this place was of very sweet nothingness – it was helluva good respite during the exhausting one month backpacking.

Breaking free

Dance like no one’s watching. Dance like the human feet can’t.

Coral sea the blues

One of the most poignant lines was 爱深埋珊瑚海 – how the love was deeply buried in the coral sea.

Forgive

Being unforgiving also has alot to do with judgement. Based on the past, we have a pre-judgement of how person will react / respond, and all the negative, unreal situations start playing out in our head.

Roll flamingo

My dream is to paint a full-sized wall mural of sunset filled with wild flamingoes in the foreground, and the glitter of setting sun merging with its rays at the horizon.

Warm snow

I started this one because I wanted to experiment with different colours projected on white, i.e. the snow.

Creatures

My favourite creatures are the giraffes. For some reason I cannot remember, I have always called them tall blondes.

Oh my beloved

We come to this world guided by a purpose that appear not as an earthly “to-do task list” of being an architect to build the most amazing building in the world or a planner to take care of all humanitarian needs or a chef that innovates a new definition to eating.