Closing Time

They cleared the alcohol shelf before shutting down the bar. 

I think they don't trust me very much.

There goes perspective.

A Little Perspective Goes A Long Way

Ever felt in the doldrums? Like nothing's going your way or nothing's happening, everyone's having it better, you're lost, frustrated, going in circle, caught in webs/poison ivy/vines/thorns? 

Maybe it's time to get some perspective. 

A little perspective goes a long way (in getting clarity).

One of the best ways to gain perspective, I find, is to leave my usual comfort zone and to take a little trip - even  a work trip. Packing is not fun, but taking off into the air/ hopping into the car for a long drive somewhere is fun. As the plane takes off, i feel like i'm zooming out of my life - into space - and gaining a different perspective. Literally. 

The runway and the airport start to shrink, then you see more and more patches of green. Light leafy green, dark musky green, super dark chlorophyll green. Houses become rows of concrete, you start to see long stretches of road with lines of cars resembling streaming lines of little dots (so small you can't see the colour of the cars). Then you see large bodies of water - could be a reservoir, could be a lake, a meandering river... then you don't see the houses anymore but just a large swathe of green.

Then the OCEAN (yes, i live pretty near the ocean).

Then you rise above the clouds, and are above everything else. Literally.

Then you feel like you're above everything. Figuratively. 

It's a good feeling (unless, of course, you are afraid of heights or small spaces. Then you'd probably be very freaked out by now.)

Perspective makes me a bit heady, then it makes everything look and feel so clear. Suddenly, it's not so hard to figure out what's important, and what's not. What makes me tick, and what gives me dread. What matters, and what doesn't. Then if by many strokes of luck, you meet some randomly wonderful people who have led random and wonderful lives, it makes you wonder about the things you sweat about in your life, the impact (real or imagined) of your decisions, and if your worries are justified at all.

And now, as I sit here alone by the bar at Ansara (www.ansarahotel.com), a small but very cute boutique hotel in Vientiane, Laos; sipping a glass of Baileys on the rocks and sharing my thoughts here, while 4 young Laotian hotel staff stand around the hotel front desk watching some video and chuckling to themselves, I wonder...

... when did some perspective hurt anybody?

Gordon Ramsay's Fight Against Shark Finning in "Shark Bait"

Watched this last night. It's not new, but it still baffles me as to the cruelty of finning. Unlike animals on land, the cruelty of sharks is less visible to the public because you basically just don't see the carcasses. As Ramsay says in the video, it's like going to an African safari, chopping the limbs off a lion, and letting it bleed to death.

Childhood, Imagination and Floorplans

(drawing not mine, but taken from a website)

As a child, I enjoyed looking at floor plans. I would create imaginary people in my head, and envision them walking through the curved doors, along the paper corridors, in and out of bedrooms, using the bathrooms, jumping into the pool and so on. I had a fascination for interior of homes, building and designing little pockets of cosiness, unique corners, hobby areas. I even created a world inside my personal drawer - the coin holder was a swimming pool, the piled little Minnie Mouse address books were steps to a platform, my erasers were people. I shifted furniture in my bedroom once every 2 months, pulling out the drawers of my work desks, draping blankets over the tables (with the drawers drawn out), to create a little private underpass from the bedroom door to under the bed (and of course, i then slept under the bed - for effect.)

I didn't grow up to be an architect, or an interior designer. Thankfully, my current profession still allows me to indulge in floor plans, design, textures and ambience of areas.

Imagination is such a powerful thing.

I Love Laughing! Do you?

Hello Fishie Fishie!

A very happy lion fish just chillin'

Here is the only one good decent picture I took from my two dives in the Maldives last week. The flash of my camera didn't always work - in fact only when I was very close to my subject; which doesn't always work depending on how effectively buoyant I am. I always thought it such a pity that we can never see the full beauty of the underwater world with our naked eye due to the seawater, sunlight etc. Imagine if we could see everything in their pure natural colours!! I hear that's what you get when night diving - but night diving doesn't quite work for (1) someone who's afraid of the dark, and (2) claustrophobic. Both of which, yours sincerely am.

A Peep into the World of Short Memories

Inspired by SneakyNiki's comment on the previous entry, here are some pictures from my dive today. The site is not great and I only had a regular camera, so pile on the imagination!

Where you going, big fella?


Who comes to disturb my slumber???

Just hanging out with the guys...

Life in the fast lane.

Oh, hello there, Master Shifu!

Sorry to disturb! Don't go!!!

A Fish Market. hurr hurr hurr.

Why do stars up above the world so high get so much attention?

What about the stars under the sea?

Looks like an office building of sorts.

This could be a waiting area for... the dentist?