Love in the time of swine flu

I just finished reading Dance Dance Dance by Murakami, and as bizarre and confusing it was at the beginning, it ended up leaving a mark on me.

Forget about the annoying sheep man and all the call girls. What it all boils down to: If you want to see the sun rise on your tomorrow, you've got to stop poking around in your own personal darkness, dancing with the shadows of your broken past, dwelling on every detail of what went wrong.

And if I may throw in a line from Inception: - You've got to forgive yourself.

If you are anything like me, approaching 30, still single, and living in a nice, liberal society where divorce rates are now up to 50 per cent, chances are you will stumble upon a wreck or two. I mean, even some of my twenty-something friends have come full circle before I even manage to bag my first man!

And I have lots of gray hairs, eeek!!

How it feels to fly

For as long as I can remember, I've been dreaming of running around Singapore in a pencil skirt and clackers.

And ever since I watched Entrapment in 1999, I've been wanting to check out the back allies of Kuala Lumpur.

So, in March last, my colleague and I went to London, and happened to stumble upon a Malaysian who invited us to explore business in his region.

And this is how we found ourselves in a completely different time zone, in 30 degrees Celius, on the top floor at Le Meridien. 3 Norwegians, one Malaysian, two cities, 12 days and 17 meetings.

It was grand, it was overwhelming. This is definitely how life should be.

Now I hope it stays and lasts forever.

Identical brain-twins

I wonder if humans are transmitting signals to the world, about our background, what kind of people we are, what kind of lives we live, our likes and dislikes, our personality types and so on.

I still remember my first day at Kenya Times, and my first day at my current job. The people I shook hands with and how I was thrilled with excitement to have met them, cause I just knew, already then, that I would love them to pieces.

As I got to know them, turned out we have quite alot in common.

It was the same with my identical brain-twin, Isabel. She grew up in the metropolis that is Chengdu, China. Her father is a university professor and her mother is a Hollywood-film fanatic. I grew up, as we know, on a deserted island, with parents who did their best to protect me from all evils of the outside world.

The first time we met, I was lost on campus, and politely flagged her down to ask for directions. The second time we met, at dance class, we were already chatting away like old friends.

This doesn't happen too often, but the other day, it did. Mind you, I was resisting the urge to invite them to my birthday party the same day. Pity I didn't.

Quality of life calculator

Lol! Says it all.
Courtesy of WulfMorgenthaler

On being streetwise

Everything I know, I learnt on the streets of Nairobi. Or, Nairobbery, if you like.

Enlightenment

I'm sold! My sister used to have a huge light-blue version of this poster in her previous apartment, and my fond memories of it are all coming back now.


However, I never knew there was a book. More universal truths to be revealed if you look inside.


PS. Anyone got the link to the game?

Wuthering heights

And the storm came. It was only a two-minute walk, but my umbrella took flight and I could only follow. Now the umbrella is in the trash.

I love this time of the year. If I weren't at work, I would climb into bed with lots of blankets, switch off the light and just watch the snowflakes in the wind while sipping hot water and eating chocolate.

Hibernating seems like the only wise thing to do.