Small and simple things

The thing about people these days, is that entertainment can be easily bought. Boredom can be easily solved by spending a few dollars. It is not a bad thing considering living in a metropolitan city is fast and stressful. However, this phenomenon cultivates the inclination towards instant gratification in youngsters nowadays. Everything they want, they wants it fast. And for most things, it is technically possible, with cash! This post could go on to describe how youngsters would and only know how to indulge themselves by spending money on things that they do not need. But I wont go to the boring topic. What I want to focus on in this post is how people seems to take small things for granted. It took me a fall from the swing on top of A block rooftop to realise that. (Pain makes good inspiration)

I always jumps, a la superman, into my bed. Well, thanks to the ungraceful dismount from the A block rooftop swing, I couldn’t do it anymore due to my injured elbows. This saddens me. This made me think, why does it saddens me? I realised that the skin-deep injury stop me from getting my daily cheap thrills. Cheap thrill that I ceased to appreciate because life is just full of distractions. Same situation applies and extrapolates to other small things in life. It is like how we are distracted shiny new toys and gimmicks that do not matter that we forgot about small simple things that makes life worth living, like spending time with loved ones. It is the same for academics as well. We all get caught up and fussed up with assessments and tests that we forgot to enjoy the process of learning. And for those desperate singles out there, instead of searching far and wide for the special ones, please don’t forget to appreciate those who are around you now. There is no way by trading those that you already have for things that you might not get. It is the same with time as well. Try not to sulk because the good things the future may offer is not here yet. Likewise with the past, there is no point living in past glories. Instead, enjoy and create good moments as you live in the present.

As I stopped in the middle of studying for my midterms and started writing this post, I started thinking about things that I misses in my life now. There are a lot of things that I enjoyed doing, but now is a chore. Things like writing, making crafts and writing calligraphy. I got too distracted with the flurry that is School and Hall that I forgot to stop and breathe. And it takes me a fall from a badly engineered swing to realise that. So, what are you missing now?

2 am in Mac Donald’s, Terminal 2

I was scanning through the MacDonald’s patrons when I felt a sharp pain to my chest. Spending the first night of Chinese New Year in the airport in foreign land may be depressing, but it is not that depressing the extent that I will suffer an intense heartache. Seeing a bastard hogging the only working computer terminal in Mc Cafe after combing through all three airport terminals for power plug for my laptop doesn’t make me sad, it can only piss me off. Filtering through all the possibilities, I reluctantly accepted that it was because of a girl sitting diagonally across the café from where I am enjoying my Mc Nuggets. It was not the espresso that she sips when she was chatting away with her companion. It was not the fluffy brown jacket that she had on her shoulders, not the white beret resting on her jet black long hair. It was not the red paperback lying near where she rested her elbow. It was the expression she wears, the way she moves her lips and the way how her eyes shined when she got excited. It was the caramel coloured complexion and how her hair wavy long haired curls. I hadn’t thought that it was possible until I saw her. She’s a perfect amalgamation of two special persons that affected my life in more ways than I could ever imagine.

Her complexion suggested that she was born from a Chinese-Indian parentage, reminding me of a dear old friend of mine, Penny. It couldn’t possibly be Penny as she is currently residing in a place which is at least 10 hours of flight from this particular airport. Penny had the same glow in her eyes as the espresso girl every single time when I share my crazy theories about multiverses and afterlife. She’s special because of that. She inspired me to dream up crazy ideas and convinced me that no matter how crazy an idea may sound, there will be someone out there who will appreciates it. it is partly due to her that I came to a conclusion that crazy ideas are ideas that will eventually be the ground breaking sciences of the future. A few years later, I found out that Albert Einstein had a quote that says something along that line. How long has it been since I last saw Penny? Was it 4 years?

She has the same small lips as Fanny. The peculiar way her lips curved when she smiled was identical to Fanny as well. Fanny is the second girl. Fanny is a quiet girl with a quirky but cute personality. She is a very independent girl, and happily lives every minutes of her blissful life. You could almost believe that she will live the same way even if she the only person left in the world. A browse through her Facebook pictures never fails to cracks me up whenever I’m feeling down. She is not being caged by other people’s expectations and shackled by social norm and what other’s think about her. This is something I hope I would be able to achieve some day.

As I put down my pen, I felt a drop of hot tear rolling down my right cheek. I realise at this very moment, I missed them sorely. Maybe one day, fate will allow us to meet again? Until then there is only 1 thing i could do: go on living.

^{Note: Penny and Fenny is not the real name. It is for illustration purpose only.}