March 19th, 2006 -- Posted in story |
This is already the first hours of today, yet it is not yet tomorrow. Theoretically, once it’s past midnight, it’s the next day. Yet as long as the sun hasn’t risen, it is still today.
What brings us near towards tomorrow, when we feel less for today? We either feel delight in looking forward for a better tomorrow, or we dread it. Either way, tomorrow is treated with more attention than today.
Why not today? Why tomorrow?
Perhaps it is just our human nature… that we anticipate an improvement in tomorrow when today isn’t that great. Or, we try to drag today by wishing tomorrow may never comes (when it definitely have to) not realizing today is still today.
What about yesterday?
Yesterday is the culprit for making us remember tomorrow more than today. When we know what happened yesterday, we only think it may happen again tomorrow. But we forgot it hadn’t happened today.
Then we will sometimes remember too much of yesterday that we forget we still here today. And we often forgets that tomorrow is in our hand how it should happen.
Yesterday should be a lesson we learnt to help us to get by today, and tomorrow should be a target we set based on goods and bads of yesterday.
So we live today. And embrace tomorrow as another today when it comes.
Don’t rush… just walk.
January 12th, 2006 -- Posted in story |
The following accounts were written based on memories of my solo visits to Manhattan from Boston.
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The rising sun was low when it woke me, but I knew that it was already late in the morning . It was only hours since I boarded the Amtrak heading towards the Big Apple. Eryka Badu was still singing to me in the walkman as I leered out at the moving trees. Boy was it cold… the low sun and the stale smell from the old central heating within the car reminded me of the midwinter. Ah yes, it was indeed the midwinter break that gave me the opportunity to see the Big Apple… this time on my own.
I had always wanted to do a solo run through the metropolitan commonly known as “The City That Never Sleeps”. Most of my inspiration in songs and art in my younger days were from this very city. It is my Gothom and my Wonderland.
The reason why this was a ‘soloist’ trip was that most other exploration trips I had taken to Manhattan were accompanied by my fellow international students who’d rather venture around what they saw as a ‘fashion city’, heading to more commercialized venues such as 5th Avenue and SoHo. Not that I don’t appreciate the art streets of SoHo, but I just did not appreciate the focus on just shopping areas at the legendary art gallery street of New York City. The other reason for my soloist trip was my desire to digest the essence of the city as it is, rather than to hunt down specific air that suits my sense of smell or place destinated gourmet to suit my taste bud. I wanted to breathe the stench of the subway decay and walk in the cold and damp just to be part of the living city for one day.
When I arrived at Grand Central station, I expected the exit to look and feel just like how it was portrayed so many times in movies and novels. However, the welcome to the city was more realistic than glamorous. Being under renovation, we had to exit the station via the lower decks where more interstate buses were parked. Being on lower ground, there were little exposure of the sky, with an array of old buildings and constructions in progress.
Gloomy.
But that was exactly how I liked it. An old metropolis with wind chill and light rain, and the sky covered mostly by cobalt blue clouds. The sounds I heard as soon as I exited the station was exactly how I anticipated. Sirens and taxi honks. Clattering of footsteps. Standing at any one point around the station and you could almost feel the ground quaver with life.
After a short stroll, I decided that it will take years to walk every inch of the city. So I decided to head towards the next metro station for a subway train towards my destinations.
September 1st, 2005 -- Posted in story |
There was once a happy girl, whose name was Jane.
She came from a simple happy family. Mom and Pop were doting so she was happy. Her friends were caring so she was happy. She had a dog that loved her so she was happy.
Then she got curious.
One day, Pop brought home a TV set. And from the movies she watched, Jane began to notice the world outside her simple home and realized there were things in the world she never knew existed. Pretty things and beautiful people that caught the sparkles of her eyes. Songs of love and stories of movie stars that she’d never heard before. And somehow being simple just wasn’t enough anymore. She became not as happy as she used to.
So she took on a journey. A journey to find the happiness she’d seen on TV. The happiness she felt from the couples who lived happily ever after in love stories. The joy of young starlets who caught stardom unexpectedly. She wanted to become a star. She started walking the path of the Stars.
o-o-o-o-o-o
After walking for a day, Jane came across a rabbit named Cotton. Cotton had a beautiful fluffy tail and Jane liked it.
“What a pretty tail you’ve got,” Jane told Cotton. “I wish I could have a nice little tail like this.”
“It’s not really that hard to get a tail like this,“ said Cotton. “All you have to do is wriggle your nose like this, and shake your butts like this.” And she demonstrated a little rabbit dance to Jane. Jane tried the rabbit dance and POOF! a nice fluffy tail appeared at her hind. She felt pretty with the little fluffy tail and was happy. She danced happily as she walked on the path.
o-o-o-o-o-o
On the second day, Jane met a deer named Dawn. Dawn had nice slim legs, strong enough to let her leap across the air gracefully and yet stay beautifully shaped.
“How beautiful and strong your legs are,” said Jane to Dawn. “I wish I could have nice legs like them.”
“It’s not that hard to have legs like these,” explained Dawn. “All you have to do is to leap like this all the time instead of walking pace by pace.” And she demonstrated how she leaps two paces at a time. Jane tried the deer leap and POOF! her legs became lean and long. She thought they were pretty and felt happy with her new legs. She leaps happily on along the path.
o-o-o-o-o-o
On the third day, Jane ran along a swan named Princess. Princess had a exquisite crown on her head, making her stands out like a true princess.
“I’d do anything to have a crown like that,” said Jane to Princess. “I wish I have a crown on my head like you do.”
“No problem,” said Princess. “I can loan it to you for a while. You may return when you are tired of it.” So Princess placed the crown onto Jane’s head and wore it on for her. The crown was a little heavy for Jane but she felt like a real princess and loved it. It was too heavy for her to leap now so she only wobble on the path, trying to keep her balance.
o-o-o-o-o-o
On the fourth day, Jane saw an angel who had no name. The angel had a pair of angel wings that kept the angel hover above the ground.
“I would die for a pair of wings like these,” said Jane. “I wish I can have such beautiful angel wings.”
“It’s not impossible to get wings like these,” the angel spoke to Jane without moving his lips. “All you have to do is to close your eyes and leap into the sky, giving all your heart to the love of your life…” With these words, Jane started leaping high into the air without letting the angel finish what he was going to say.
The wings did not appear immediately as Jane expected, so she went leaping and leaping and leaping. A few hours passed, Jane was still leaping and now gone far from the angel, she finally felt the tips of a pair of wings coming out of her back. Happy and eager about the new wings, she kept leaping harder and higher.
o-o-o-o-o-o
After days of leaping hard for the wings, she came across a black widow beside a pond and suddenly stopped by the spider and said.
“Eww, what ugly spider you are.”
“Who me?” asked the astonished spider.
“Yes, you. You are all black and small with long sticky legs. Not a pretty sight at all.”
“Why you little…” and this got the little black widow really mad and cursed and swore at Jane. “You are not any better yourself. Haven’t you looked in the mirror and see how you look?”
“I don’t have to. I know I have a nice fluffy bunny tail, nice pretty legs like a doe, a beautiful princess crown and a pair of… EEEKS!!!” and when Jane saw her reflection by the water, she screamed. What she saw in the reflection was nothing different from the black widow, only bigger. Sure she had grown the wings, but as she did not leap with love in her heart but with egocentricity, she grew a pair of stick-like crawlers from her back. As she only thought about the wings, she had forgotten to clean her other pretty things. Her fluffy bunny tail had now turned all black and hard with dirt. Her fawn pretty legs had turn all scrawny and dirty. Her crown worn too long had made her neck and body shortened. Even her pretty girly self had now turned dirty and black all over, only to make her look like a giant spider.
x+x+x+x+x+x
So what’s the moral of the story? Similar to how minishorts opened her moral of story to readers, do tell what you feel the moral is.
This story was inspired by the literary style of minishorts and her Animal Story.
