On a cold summer’s day, 2007, in Manchester, I sat down to work at my friend’s apartment. A beautifully brewed coffee warmed my soul. A freshly toasted bagel roused the room with the smell of breakfast. For some reason I can’t remember, I was very, very happy that morning.
Moved by ethereal joy, I picked up a pencil and wrote this:
“Cook a little, think a lot, go everywhere, do everything. But never lose yourself”
And that became my north star, guiding my actions for many years. Today, it still remains relevant and my own quote still continues to steer my life. Some people say I am impulsive. Reckless. Admittedly so although I try to rein in my impulses as I get older. However, I still believe that there are many things in life you will never do if you give it too much consideration. Decision paralysis is the leading cause of boring lives all over the world. I don’t want to sit down, an old wrinkled man decades later… or worse, find myself on the brink of death as a young man, regretting all the things that could have or would have.
My travels have made me very much the person I am today. I have been told that I could be fiercely independent. I loathe having to ask for help, preferring more to render help. Living on a suitcase and travelling alone suited me very well for a few years, and in that few years, I saw the world and some of its beauty and its beasts.
Since a tender age, I had been a firm proponent of being polite. The one thing that riles me the most, is rudeness. Politeness opens doors and makes the world a better living space for our fellow humans. Rudeness on the other hand, is a destructive behaviour and i believe firmly that it has no place in civil society.
This is my father.
I grew up a single child, raised by a single parent – my father. From only a few years of age, I was already camping at the houses of different relatives. I remember living in Telok Blangah, in Hong Kong Street and in Bedok South. My father held different jobs, earning a small wage as a mechanic. When he was in his mid-40s (and when I was 14), his blood pressure got the better of him and he ended up with a stroke. A stroke that left him bound to wheel-chair until today.
From a very young age, I was brought up by the sweetest 6 ladies in my life: 5 aunts and a grandmother. When I was 20, one of my aunts and my grandmother passed on. My aunt from lung cancer and my grandmother from diabetes. From a very young age, I have always wondered and sought to find ways to make the most money, in the shortest possible time so that I can help them live the most comfortable of lives, so that I can look after them when they age. Unfortunately, these shortcuts to wealth have led to disaster, and in my early 20s, I have had to seek their help to bail me out instead. At that age, I gave scant attention to the retirement machine we so often overlook called “CPF”. My aunts were hardworking individuals and were well prepared for retirement. Without a need for much words, they have advised me to focus my attention on being responsible for my father.
This was my cat.
Her name was Tash. I had her adopted from a caretaker from the Cat Welfare Society. Before I left for full-time employment in China, I begged a friend to look after her for me for a few weeks, until I was ready for her to be shipped over. When cats go exploring, sometimes they never make their way back home.
I’m very much happy with how I’ve lived till today, and if I had to live life all over again, I would not want to have done it any other way. Comedy, tragedy, drama and suspense, I think God has staged my life pretty well – in me was no talent, no wit and no intelligence to have anything done right, but yet every minute was chock full of excitement, never a dull moment.
I love to write and I welcome a voyuer or two to peek into my little corner of cyberspace. If you care to stay, drop me a mail at: [email protected] and maybe we could be friends 🙂
