Hello,

Due to certain matters,

I will be shelving writing until Wednesday.

Till then,

Have a fruitful two-days ahead.

Yours truly,

Val.

♥

Simplicity to greatness.

Today, I have done something I have never done.

I was watching The Starter Wife on Starworld few days ago,

And got this line from Debra Messing resounding in my memory ever since -

(her resolution in life after her unexpected divorce) ‘ I will do something new everyday.’

This reminded me the difference between people is each’s

value-content.

I can only do as much as I am willing to try.

You know when I was a kid,

and being the only child,

I always kept myself busy with carrying out personal-projects-of-the-day.

For example,

I had:

‘ Today, I’m gonna learn how to tie a ponytail.’

‘Today, I’m gonna learn how to pleat my hair.’

‘Today, I’m gonna learn how to whistle.’

‘Today, I’m gonna learn how to crack my knuckles.’

‘Today, I’m gonna learn how to wink.’

Then,

Fold arms (when I was 3)

Write cursive fonts (7 year old)

Master the American-slang (7 year old)

Cry like how actresses do in dramas (no kidding. 10 year old)

Conduct an on-site interview (okay, all done with imaginative people. 8 year old)

Have my personal piano concert (haha. with an imaginary audience.9 year old)

Host my personal art gallery (my mini zoo of pets and late grandmother were my best guests. 5-8 years old.)

Read like a newscaster (14 year old. in the privacy of my bedroom, and a tape recorder.)

What a fulfilling childhood.

Today,

I’ve done something I have never done before.

But it was done not alone anymore.

It was in the company of a professional,

And someone who showed me what true love is by giving so much of her time for me.

I earned a precious lesson from this.

I don’t need to depend on anybody if I do what I know how.

If I want to do what I have never done,

I need to learn how to depend.

Independence shows maturity.

But over independence displays nothing but pride.

Pride stifles improvement. It chokes up growth. It shuts the door to breakthroughs.

Pride is self-sufficient.

Having done all I can,

Having tried all I know,

I surrender myself to people I can trust,

And Him who knows all.

And by them,

By Daddy,

There’s nothing I can not do.

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

I am certain I can.

I have a pimple on my forehead.

It must’ve been the ridiculous hours spent awake last few days.

Never mind though, cos it’s a pimple worth of working hard on writing. Grin.

 This week has passed delightfully fast.

I realise it’s especially so when the days are given to people around us.

Sunday brunch was beautifully lazy and warming. A few moments with Mom. Exchanging dreams and personal updates with Clarice. The best salads from Brewerkz and dessert at Wine Garage by the river.

 Dinner party at Yahlan’s was bliss. Then a few hours of very chatty gathering over sodas.

Organic breakfast with Mom yesterday. Subway lunch with girls. And then Aunt Zoe.

This week feels like fudge.

Everyday is sticking well to the next.

I guess that glue is love.

 It brings people closer.

Just a little slice of your day to give to someone won’t hurt.

But makes you and them smile.

Mm. Sweet dessert.

I used to like befriending only people who are like me.

Oh, they should be readers so we could hang out at bookstores together.

Oh, they should be theater lovers so we could watch as many as possible.

Oh, they should be musicians of any sort,

They should be shoppers,

They should be, they should be.

How foolish a teenager I was!

Eeek.

Being exclusive is really nothing but snobbish.

And ultimately foolish

Because how little impact we can make

When we are possessive over keeping our cirlces limited to people-like-us-only.

That’s really no wonder I had so few to share my life’s transformation with when I was 17.

I think it’s okay to dress different,

To pursue personal unique styles and tastes in my lifestyle.

But I’d be a fool to be uninterested and ignorant of people who doesn’t like the things I like.

New York Times bestseller and leadership speaker, John C. Maxwell

Always does his research before going to a party.

He’ll read up on the interests of his guests

So he’ll have alot to talk about when they meet.

So he can let them teach him something.

From this I learnt that everyone has a story to inspire us,

A knowledge to educate us,

And a testimony to encourage us.

Yes, kids and old mamas and papas. They’ve all taught me priceless lessons.

John C. Maxwell’s success is like the cherry on top of a multi-tier cake of different layers of people.

He’s the cherry – his education, gifts and hardwork.

But it’s still only a cherry.

A cherry can be in the midst of a rubbish dump – smelly, flies encircling.

It’s really not about the cherry.

What will make the different is the cake the cherry rests on.

Maxwell’s cake is huge and tall.

He’s got vast connections.

You know, he respects people so much,

He actually prepares a list of questions he wants to ask

The people he meet over meal appointments.

Why?

Because he wants to maximise the time his guests offer him.

He wants to convert time to valuable lessons from valuable people.

I guess it’s all the same for every successful person in the world.

Mayors, senators, scientists, businessmen, pop-stars, producers, writers, models (yes.)

No hermit can be a world changer

When all his world is his shell and petty issues of his life,

Neighbours in his habitat, all homogenous.

Teenyweenymini-well of a living is the tiniest ambition anyone could settle for.

Metropolitan, multi-racial, multi-national is the totality of the universe,

Not me and my party.

I want a huge life.

And it shall take me embracing one person at a time.

Giving.

Sharing.

That I may win all.

I never thought I’d be interested in business.

 In fact, I was a business-phobic.

‘Cos I believed that it’s a gamble and Singapore is a bad market.

I guess it’s just fear of failure.

But I must say when I sat in with Mum in her business meeting,

I had a paradigm shift, a major one.

Business is actually fun.

We were at a classy restuarant in Vivo, in negotiation with its owner.

He’s a Mainland Chinese who majored in Literature and Theatre Studies in Arizona, USA.

This gentleman is as wise as a serpent.

His eyes are earnest as an eagle’s.

Business talk is truly an art.

And all that big numbers exchanged at the table were glamorous.

Business has almost no limits, unlike most jobs.

I just never liked fixed incomes. It’s too stagnant, boring.

 Anyhow, mum’s officially opening a cafe at Vivo level 4.

And I’m sure gonna help her out.

This is the first time, I feel included in the family’s ‘adult stuff

Because it’s the first time they actually heeded my ideas and suggestions.

Phwarh.

It’s cool to grow up.

I have finally clinched a freelance job.

Finall, finally finally!

It’s a documentary writing project with CNA

Which I kept sweeping under the carpet

Because I thought I’m not a competent writer for that level.

Anyhow, this is miles better than the MediaCorp Assistant Producer position

That I could have only exchanged peanuts with my precious time.

My time.

Urgh. To me, it feels like I invisibly murder myself

When I let time bleed away

Without earning any value, experience or change.

It tortures me.

Whether it’s an inspiring lunch with someone,

A girly-lounge time with girlfriends,

One delicious mind-dining with a cool book

Or simply getting cash for making myself useful,

I feed on purpose for every hour.

There has to be a transaction.

I firmly want that.

It’s either I exchange time for eternal value -

Giving love away,

Helping someone out,

Lending my attention,

Encouraging the downcast….

Or

I convert my capabilities and time

To hard, cool cash.

It feels good being up and about.

Dr. AR Bernard calls it ‘chasing donkeys’.

I’m so glad I’ve got one to chase now.

And afterwhich, I shall chase many more!

*May I add, thanks Mel for your plastic art-heart. Thanks powerpuffs Jen and Jaz for the very pretty notebook from your holiday trip. Ya’ll made my day.

When you’ve met Extraordinary,

It’s almost difficult to tolerate mediocrity.

And that’s what keeping me up lately.

I guess it’s okay to have drive

When you are under the right authority.

Cos I had so much drive few years back,

When I was my own god,

But all was vanity.

I thought I knew everything,

At least, what I wanted to earn and achieve.

But I had no idea how could I do it.

Draw a circle.

Where you and I stand

Is always at the smallest sector.

We can never understand the full circle,

 But only Eternity.

Everyone wants to know everything.

Me too.

But I don’t need to know everything before I believe in Everlasting.

Wise as serpents.

Harmless as doves.

I have Supreme

To live a superlative life.