quaint melody

Dusk on the summit of Mt Eden click photo to enlarge.

I spent the mid-autumn festival afternoon on Mt Eden. It is always very windy up there. I started snapping photos while waiting for the moon to come out. The temperature was freezing and my fingers seemed to have taken on a life of their own after awhile, but still I kept on snapping. Funny how our passion almost always enable us to push through unfavourable conditions.

Standing atop the once volcanic mountain braving the freezing winds, my mind wondered off to those days where festive seasons spelled out fun and laughter. As a kid, I anticipated every traditional celebration. I remember walking around the suburbs back home with my colourful lanterns every mid-autumn festival, prancing around with my friends. The laughter and colours are still fresh in my mind. Those picturesque moments are permanently locked in the precious corner of my memories.

Life may throw me a curve ball ever now and then, but I soldier on the passages, continue to search for the buoyant nature in me as a kid, the simple bliss of life.

My photos tend to have dark undertones, or so I’ve been told. click photo to enlarge.

This photo disturbs me a little, but it’s also one of my favourites.
It seems so much like life. At times, it is like a bed of roses, but there will always be thorns lurking in the most unexpected corners;
When we thought things had hit their lowest, the lights often present itself during our most
forlorn state.
Sometimes. that little bit of imperfection is what makes it perfect.
That very shattered bits are what we need to put things back in perspective.

Disastrous yet hopeful, such is life.

click to enlarge

I pondered, over and over, searching for something that wasn’t there.
‘Let it be for now,’ a voice rang in my mind.
‘Just remember, this too shall pass.’

Click to enlarge.

Going through transitions. In search of one’s self.
Life is a never ending-road of discoveries.

What if you have someone in your life who will always be there for your?
What if they stick with you even at times you shut them out?
What if they will do anything for you at a drop of a hat?
What if you feel so appreciative that words fail to express the emotions?
What if thank you just seems to be such an empty word?

Ecstaticism came in a form of a cool black casing mechanism that is Nikon D80 this winter. An early birthday gift from my loved ones. Happy is not enough to describe the waves of emotions I’m feeling right now. Thank you so much! I am truly overwhelmed.

I’ve been using the good old Sony Cybershot T30 for quite a while. While it is a good little point-and-shoot camera, it is just not able to take those money shots. I’ll make sure to deliver some great photos and try to make full use of my new gadget from now on! The party is on!

Read an article the other day that left me pondering, have you ever had anyone told you that you’ve changed? I did recently, by a friend whom I used to be closed to. She told me that I’ve changed. She wanted to believe I have, saying that it’s the cause of us drifting apart. But I’ve always been me all these while, only we don’t speak the same language anymore. The truth is I’ve stopped sharing with her. What has changed is in fact our friendship, not me. I’m merely showing a different side of me. It has always been there, though she had never noticed. What bound us together is our past, the memories. I’m still content, though we’re on two different paths. The memories we have is enough to last me a lifetime.

As time goes by, we have to accept that people come and go, some are here to stay, and some only make brief stops, nonetheless, all leave behind memories for us to treasure time and again. Just make sure you grasp the moment, that’s all that matters.

Have you ever played the game of hide and seek when you were little? I remembered that I loved this game as a kid. A group of us would run around looking for places to hide on the count of 10. Though the point of the game is to hide, what gave me the adrenaline rush were the moments my friends found me. It felt good to be remembered and had people looking for you.

I supposed in the vast and seemingly illusory space of worldwide web, people grow accustomed to those who come and go. We seem to know someone online to a certain a level but there’s really no definite realness to hold on to. For the period of time this blog went into idle mood, I rested my mind holding on to this belief. Who in the world would care for the lost of a tiny dot on the supreme map right? Only I was wrong, for that I am truly sorry. Thanks for you who care and came looking. All these while I thought I enjoyed being alone, but your care broke that vicious cycle. It might not seem much but sometimes a little gesture can make all the difference. For that, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I guess such is life, sometimes we fall down, but what matters is to pick up the pieces and move on. There is always tomorrow to look forward to. Thank you for showing me that.

It took a while, but I am back.

It’s been raining every day lately, cold and wet winter days, makes me want to snuggle in my warm bed and do nothing all day. I always feel nostalgic in gloomy weather, thinking of the sound of heavy rain drops on the roof when I was a kid. Sweet memories.

In a nostalgic mood lately. I was chatting with Davin (who writes about his new life in Canada, with lots of interesting photos) over MSN and we started talking about our childhood and the things we used to collect in those years. Why someone so young is so nostalgic, I wonder? Maybe he has an old soul? Just joking Davin. (Eh, did I just imply that I’m old? NO! I’m youthful, I’m full of youth!)

Anyway, I digressed. As a young teenager, I used to collect a lot of things. From the usual stamps, first day covers, erasers, stickers to the unusual tissue paper wrapper. Major head-scratching moment on the last one. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, it’s those wrappers from small individual packaged tissue paper packs. Haha, lidat also want to collect. But you’d be amazed the various designs they used to produced back then. Not sure whether they still do, haven’t used those tissue packs for a long time. My collection was up to the hundred mark I think. I collected them from my friends and family, then flatten them in between pages of heavy books. It was quite a ‘in’ thing to do amongst the girls then.

Of course, let’s not forget about the ever-so-popular stamps and first day covers. I spent many years in my childhood collecting them. Well, I’m sure many have. Though towards the end it was not so much of me collecting but my mom. Heh. All these collections are neatly kept in stamp books and first day cover holders, and kept in a big box back at home now. I call it a box of memories. Along with the stamps and first day covers, are books of stickers, diary(heh, girly talks), some souvenirs, yearbooks, old address books, photos, letters and postcards. Every time I go back, I would open the box and look through its contents for hours, reminiscing the old days. Every single item in there represents a feeling, a momentous, a story, a part of me. They remind me the different facets of my life that I’ve been through.

Ever since I come to New Zealand, I’ve been keeping a box too. Inside, there are letters, postcards, dried leaves(yes, I collected those), dairy, photos and more letters. I used to write a lot when I first came here, when I was a lonely student with some language barrier. Not anymore, since I made new friends and abandoned those back home. Haha, joking! Everybody just became lazy and stopped writing eventually. Well, we still do every now and then. Just not the mountainous volume that was back then.

I treasure these boxes of memories dearly. For I imagine to pass them to my children one day, maybe many years down the road, when I have become an old lady. To let them know of my days and thoughts. To serve as some sort of memoir, a mark of my existence.

Memories, good and bad, all be treasured, all be buried in the deepest of my heart.

memories nostalgia hobby