Strangers and Cheesecake

We meet people everyday. Strangers who might be passing by in a shopping mall, the driver in the car next to yours at the red lights, a greeting with a friend's friend. Many will simply slip by without notice. When Chance decides to stop and allow an encounter, with some, there is an automatic click, where one goes "ah, we can get along". Perhaps this is the all-elusive "spark" that some are looking for. Others, we are more cautious in approaching or getting close, though that can certainly change with time. Yet others, we will instinctively avoid or even have a mild dislike right from the start.

While I do not personally believe in phenomenons such as love at first sight (how do you even know it's love when you don't know anything about a person? Can one really understand their own feelings within a mere few seconds of first sighting? I think not..), our power of observation and intuition is something we rely on more heavily than we know. The way we've been brought up, our prejudice, our bias, our preferences are all attributes to how we deal with the situation where we meet someone for the first time. Feelings are not irrational, they can be explained- if one allows it to be explained, but often, Denial pays a visit and Logic is cast out.

We all start off as strangers at one point, and perhaps after a certain period of time of getting to know someone and becoming friends/partners, we become strangers once more, almost like an expiry date stamped onto a relationship. 

From baKEE

On Loop

It's almost 2am. I've been listening to a live recording of Isaac Stern's playing of a Mozart violin concerto on loop for the past hour, silently celebrating the life he had and remembering back to the day he passed away nearly a decade and a half ago. At around 4 minutes, a distinctive sneeze is heard. Twice. A further third sneeze half a minute later. A fourth one at 5 minutes. And another one after that during the theme reprise.

Someone, please hand that lady a tissue.

Usually, this would annoy me and I'll change the track or listen to another version. While it is most definitely a pity that it is forever recorded into an otherwise stunning performance by a great master, the wonder of Isaac Stern's playing is that no matter what distractions there are, it doesn't ruin it, nor does it take anything away from the quality in which he plays. I'm not a big fan of Mozart either- my previous violin teacher knew that and never had me play any of his pieces. I wasn't given a choice and my current teacher's first suggestion was a Mozart violin concerto. Oh well, one can only learn and not complain- here's my chance to figure out why I cannot play a classical piece in all its simplicity. Minimal glissando, minimal flare, play the notes on the page, take note of the timing. Isaac Stern as a reference...

Repeat.

From fooood

Shoes

... the soles of your shoes are all worn down

The time for sleep is now

It's nothing to cry about...

It's no secret that I'm more keen on buying shoes than any other items. Clothes- I recycle through about 3 shirts, 2 jeans, 3 jackets, 1 scarf. Bags- I try not to even bring them around anymore, but I've been carrying only one brown backpack for the past month or so. Shoes? I'm not even going to bother counting. There are different shoes for different occasions. Badminton, running, walking, casual walking, different lengths of boots (thigh high, mid length, ankle), work shoes, comfortable work shoes, formal events, hiking, rainy season, summer season, beach, washing car (that's really just slippers)... you name the occasion, there's probably a pair of shoes especially for it.

From fooood

Choice of Communication; NZ3 FIN

Music or language? 

Or, more specifically, given the choice of knowing how to play every single musical instrument out there, or being fluent in all languages, which will you choose? For me, there's never a doubt in my mind- language. If I were to have any sort of magic, any sort of "superhero" power, it would be to master every single language and dialect out there in the world. A close second will be teleportation, but rather than being able to teleport, wouldn't time warp make much more sense? Then you can freeze time, go to another location, unfreeze time- that's the same effect as teleportation really. 

I digress. Back to languages... One of the components of my job is to aid communication through music, for those who do not or cannot speak or use words. To be able to play every single musical instrument out there and make them sing is a fantastic skill to have- one that I would love to possess, but for someone who can speak, being able to communicate fluently with anyone in the world must be one of the handiest skill to have. What can one do in a place that is completely foreign with no common language at all? I hardly think playing a piece of music on the violin will be able to communicate the question of "where is the closest restroom" to another person... To me, stepping out of my comfort zone is to go to a place where the language is foreign. That's something to do in the future...

From NZ 2014

The Cost of One & NZ2

So recently my dad told me to get life insurance.

Coincidentally, my brother was talking about how he was getting life insurance a couple of days prior to that too. Then there was the news about the MH17 passenger airlines getting shot down, with a devastating death toll of 298. And not forgetting MH370, the missing flight carrying 239 lives that simply vanished. On a smaller and more personal scale, I'm a self-confessed road rager (in my yearbook at the end of my high school, I was given the title "worst driver" of my year, though in my defense, the one and only accident I was involved in was not actually my fault); my field of work is not exactly the safest (being attacked by clients is definitely not unheard of); and I'm a bit too lazy to care very much when it comes to general self-care. Oh?Muscle strain? Stop playing badminton for a week? Yeaaaa maybe.... nah.

Make that very lazy. And head strong. You there, stop nodding please.

On a side note, it will be interesting to find out how much this life is worth to the insurance companies. I was always reminded that I'm an investment which my parents make on a daily basis, and I don't doubt that. In fact, I will never be completely aware of exactly how much investment my parents put into me. Looking at it retrospectively- there's the big stuff, like how they paid for my music tuition fees for years, some of my uni fees, but also the small- every square of toilet paper, every gigabyte of internet, every drop of water etc. Not just money, but time, love and effort... this defiant, stubborn child was never an easy one to take care of. While life insurance (money) can bring little, if any at all, comfort to bereaved ones, it can be considered a responsibility to get it. At this stage for me, it's also a note of thanks for investing in me. In the future, that will change when I have others depending on me, but for now....

New Zealand 2!

From NZ 2014