A little whisper in the dark

How blessed we are, yet we do not know it

We're so absorbed in our everyday struggle to attain various things, money, career, friends, that we fail to appreciate the very basic niceties in life.

I recently met someone who was selling all of his camera gear, firstly because he could not use it any more, and secondly to raise money for his operation - his eye operation.

He was going blind, and there was nothing he nor the surgeons could do about it. At best, he could only maintain his present state, and at worst, he would go completely blind. I bought his gear, without bargaining, but I often think about him though I never spoke to him again.

Here was a guy who loves taking photos, and the very basic luxury of being able to see, is going to deprive him of what he enjoys doing. How would I cope if it was me that's gone blind? Or a runner who becomes a quadraplegic? A singer who's lost her voice? Or anyone who suffers from a deabilitating stroke.

Your mind is alert but your body no longer responds. Its a fearsome thing.

No one should throw away dreams, ambitions and long term goals, but don't forget to stop every now and again, and just savour the experience of just being alive.

posted by Chung Leong @ 12:14 AM 0 comments

The best laid plans of mice and men, but if you fail to plan, you plan to fail......

When I had just finished my diploma back in 2003, life was pretty much open ended - to be brutally honest, I hadn't had any idea what I was going to do after that other than a general plan to get a landscape architecture degree (how so, I didn't plan either), so absorbed I was in day to day affairs as well as picking up photography in a rather big way.

Someone special came along and changed all that, and all of a sudden I had a focus to do something, from a fuzzy idea materializing into crystal clear plan. However, reality tempered those plans into postponement, and eventually into a diversion, which is where I am now.

In hindsight, I wouldn't call it settling for second best, just making the most of what I have available.

Through the course of this next semester in Australia, I had plans to get around and about, high on the list being Fraser/Stradbroke Islands, Moreton Bay, and so on for the Easter Break, and the Snowy Mountains during the mid year. Paradoxically, one thing that I can't do is to make an early committment to go places, and so typically I end up not going. I want to make plans, but unexpected things happen.

Due to a timetable clash in my uni schedule, half of my July vacation will be spent on an 12 day field trip up to north Queensland instead of heading south to the Snowy Mountains, Mount Buller, etc. Anywhere with a ski resort, but timing will be tight, and given ski season's not that long up there, also means it should be pretty crowded.

And then I had to spend some money on a car, so the trip might have to be curtailed to something more realistic. Though *realistically* we can still drive to the snowfields instead of flying. But I'll see how that goes. Despite what everyone else thinks, I think a road trip is a pretty fun thing to do whilst I'm still a student with a relatively open-ended travel itenary. No job to return to, no income to forego......its all good. The big Dec 2004 roadtrip was big on fun and sightseeing, and small on the pocket, so I'll be looking for more of that.

I guess I shouldn't fret about small plans too much. The big plan is to get the studies sorted, and let everything else fall into place.

posted by Chung Leong @ 8:15 PM 0 comments