What is this four-letter word named LOVE?

All of us hold different ideals and perspectives of love, and more often than not, we tend to be self-centred and to us, love is all about fulfilling our needs and satisfying our happiness before anything or anyone else. We ought to learn from these kids who paints love in various forms, but their notion of love begins with putting others before self.

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  When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even though he has arthritis in his hands too. That's love.
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  When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.
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  Love is when my mummy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is okay.
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  Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.
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  If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend whom you hate.
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  Love is when my mummy sees my daddy smelly and sweaty but still says he is more handsome than Brad Pitt.
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  When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.

Makes you go "awww..." doesn't it? :D of course, these kids are still young, before their minds and behaviours are influenced by the pollutions of the world...*sigh* Makes you wish they would stay this way - sweet & innocent. Things become so much more complicated as you get older. Ask these kids the same question 20 years down the road, and I bet they either give you a jaded/bitter/cynical answer, or they will take eons to think, but nothing comes up. But notice one similarity? Most of them have such definition of love because they see love being practised by their family/parents. This speaks volumes. It all points simply to the fact that a warm, loving and happy family gives rise to a healthy child, mentally, physically and psychologically.

So which is your fav?

A Break from Monotony

Been a long time since I last blogged...Dunno why, just somehow can't find the time *shrugs* Was going thru some of the usual blogs that I read, only to find that they have gone "missing" (aka deleted) or that they will be stopping soon. Sigh...there goes some of my "reading" materials.

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Once in a while, we simply need to rejuvenate ourselves, and commonly, we do it by taking holidays. Yeah, I need my holiday soon. I don't think I can wait till the year end trip with Pauline, and I may possibly just go for one during July if I can't hang on no more...Ha!

Yap and boss has gone for her holiday with her parents this week, leaving just the few of us to hold the fort. Nothing major should crop up I guess...I hope...*grin*

Oh, and we just celebrated boss' bdae on Thurs and Isabel, Angela and myself tried real hard to make it memorable for her. Though things didn't turn out exactly as planned.

I suggested to the girls on Monday that we do something different for Cindy's bdae, and Angela gamely said yes. Isabel was alrite with the idea (though she was like, sian sian type of enthusiasm...hahaha). We skipped lunch on Tues to go to the nearby party store to get balloons. One big one and many small ones, plus something that says "Happy Birthday" to hang on the wall. By Weds, we were all getting excited and rather hyped up, because our plan needed major coordination, and luck.

You see, because all of us had stuff on at night, we couldn't stay behind to decorate her room. Besides, on the nites leading to Cindy's bdae, she stayed in back in office to clear her work (coz of her impending trip this week). Which means to say, the only other way is to come in real early in the morning and do her room. The tricky part is, she has the habit of coming in real early if she doesn't have any appointments, and we don't exactly have her schedule. And when I say early, I mean real early, like 730 in the monring. But as far as I knew, she didn't have any appointments though. Our editorial meeting with a client on Thurs was at 1030am. And then again, it could go either way, because on days when she didn't have any appointments, she will come into office late, like 10. I tried to sound her out though, by asking if I were to meet her at the client's place directly or she would be coming in. She said she would be coming in (means she wun be later than 930). I couldn't ask her outright what time she was coming in, and we couldn't take the risk that she would come in after 9, which means to say, the only other way is for us to come in real early. And that was what we did. Haha...it was a real laugh.

Coming from corners of Singapore, me from the west, Angela and Isabel from the east, we all had to wake up like 5 or 6 in the morning, in order to reach office at 7am...We had to play safe and be prudent, hence we assumed that she would come in early that morning as usual. Therefore, we give ourselves half an hr of prep time, assuming she would walk in around 730 or 8. Fortunately, on Weds late afternoon, Angela, Isa and myself were left alone in office, and we huffed and puffed the ballons first. That itself was a risk we took, because we didn't know what time she would come back to office after her appointment. AND, it was a big sacrifice on my part, coz I was terrified of balloons...haha. I found places around the office to hide the balloons first while Isa blew her thru 4 out of 10 balloons. I did 2 and Angela did 3 (One burst). The last big one - I did it, coz by then Isa was out of breath and her jaws ache. Haha..And guess what, the 3 of us were in her room discussing how to deco her room when she walked rite in on us - with me holding on to the biggest balloon. Horrors! Thankfully, Angela had the cool sense to pretend to be looking for something, and I quickly threw the ballon out of her room, upon which Angela kicked it under her table. Whew! But we knew she suspected something, which she confirmed later. Though she didn't know what exactly we had in mind. She thought we were intending to get her a CD and were going thru her CD stack in the room. Heh..

Anyways, on Thurs morning, we all went into office blurry eyed. Our plan was to deco her room, then hide inside while she walked in on us. It would be a huge surprise coz she wouldn't expect us to be in office at 730 in the morning and springing a party on her. Which means we have to lock the 3 layers of door as we come in, and worked in the dark, so that she wouldn't suspect anything. We had to cover all corners to ensure that we didn't give anything away. So, we deco, we put her presents on her desk and waited. I had gotten a tiramisu bdae cake the nite before, and we laid it on her desk with the candle stuck in. THough not lit. Our plan was to have Isa light the candle while we sing the bdae song as she walks in...And so began the wait for her.

It was 730, and I predicted she would come in at 8. I drew the blinds to her room, and we sat on the carpeted floor behind her desk (hiding). 8 came and went, and I guessed that she would come in at 830. Isa began to draw on the wrapper of the present she was intending to give Cindy (that girl can't keep still). 830 came and went, but still no sign of her. I guessed again that she probably would walk in at 915 (and be upset that we were late, when all the time we were hiding in her room). By then, still no Cindy. We were beginning to lose hope - that is, she wouldn't come in after all, and I would meet her directly at the client's place for the meeting. We began to think of Plan B, which was to spring the party after we come back from our meeting...but it would really be spoilsport, because by then the thrill is gone. We could only hope for the best.

Meanwhile, we waited and waited in the dark. Sleepy-eyed, yawning, stomachs growling...At this point, it was really hilarious. We began to sing silly songs to kill time - songs such as "Cindy come quickly to the office" (It rhythms, ok)..we planned how we should sing her bdae song - acapella, slow, act cute or what..we thought about how we would give a speech to her, and what we would say..we began fiddling with the stuff around her room. And each time, whenever we thought we heard sounds of the door being opened, we would jump and keep very quiet, thinking that the moment was finally here.

By 915, Huiying called to say that she was at the door of office but door was locked and she had no keys. We asked her to wait outside first (as a last desperate measure, we gave ourselves till 935), and should Cindy come by, she mustn't breathe a word about us actually being in the office.

Dunno whether to laugh or to cry, our phone rang at 935. Guess what? It was CIndy calling to tell me to buy some courtesy food for the clients we were meeting later and to meet her downstairs at 10am. She would be swinging by and picking me up from downstairs directly. *^&%$

We turned on the lights and with disappointment, returned to our work. Means Plan B would be executed. We went for our meeting, and all the time, I was afraid that we would be disappointed again. You see, our meeting ended at 1130, and I knew she had another lunch appointment at 1230. But one of our closer associates had bought a cake for her, and we had a simple celebration at the client's place. It was 1215 when we left there and I had this sinking feeling in my stomach, that we would be disappointed yet again. All this while, I didn't give anything away, but I decided that if she were not going to go back to office before going for her lunch appointment, I would have to drop some hints alredy. Coz if she went straight for her lunch appointment, there was an 80% chance she wouldn't be coming back to office - She normally gives herself the day off on her bdae.

Thankfully, she said she would have to clear some work before going off and back to office we went. While she was distracted, I smsed the girls that we were back. So yeah, everything went as planned. Everything was normal outside in the main office, but Isa was waiting in her room armed with the lighter, ready to light the candle. At that point she asked why the blinds to her room was closed and before she had time to step into her room Angela turned off the lights to her room, and so the bdae song started.

It was all hype and fun and we told her about our grand plans in the morning...She was visibly surprised (and touched too) and confessed that she was eating cheese toast and talking to her dad at home at the time when we were crouching around her room in the dark. -.- She exclaimed that we should have hinted or told her to come in early, but duh! How could we do that?

Anyways it was a great moment, a great day...looking back now, our preparation work - from the shopping, to the decorating...the Mastercard TV advert is very apt indeed.

"Cost of decos - $11. Cost of cake - $25. Cost of preps - our beauty sleep. The look on Cindy's face - priceless"

Wahaha...I love planning surprises...Photos in the following entry (below)

Photos!

Have You Missed Someone Badly Before? I always have.

You were the best. Or one of the best at least.

That handsome touseled hair, those doe eyes that reverberated your joyous spirit and soul within. That gentleness and yet toughness in you balanced perfectly like yin and yang. That playful glint dancing in your eyes. That smile which never fails to thrill me to bits everytime. The comfort you rendered me far more made up whatever inadequacies there were in my life. I could have just kept looking at you every minute, every second.

You held my hands when I was cold, you soothe my tears when I was upset. I laughed and you smiled with me; I cheered and you kissed me. Your strong arms provided the necessary support while your gutsy spirit gave me much strength. You stood tall and tough when I was afraid, you hug me from behind when we watched the stars.

You were athletic, and you played your games with such fervour while I devoured my books. You were my inspiration, my motivation. My advisor and yet my jester. Life wouldn't have been the same without you.

We celebrated our days together. There was no "you" or "me"...there was only "us". No one else comes close. And you left me with bitter-sweet memories. Sweet because your love made me a better person, bitter because you belong to someone else now.

I don't know why I started missing you all of the sudden, wishing with all my heart and soul that I can return to those days when I woke up looking forward to go to school, yearning to see your familiar figure waiting for me at the bus stop, and spending yet another day going through lessons together.

We were only in secondary school actually. To everyone else, one couldn't possibly have experienced love. They term it "puppy love". Admittedly, much as I was immature, that relationship was sweet and innocent. And that far surpassed anything else. And that was all that mattered. And know what? Much as one becomes mature and in many others' opinion, are better positioned to handle "real" relationships, these just are different. First and foremost, grown-ups complicate matters in other ways. It's not ironical, it's just the way the world revolves to balance things up. You win some, you lose some.

We've both matured and moved on. And much as I've gone thru other relationships so far, and all are unique experiences I must add, but really, he was the best. To me at least. I could have written more to dedicate this piece to him, but somehow words elude me. And I guess I won't ever complete the description satisfactorily too anyway. Anyhoo, wishing YOU all the best now. You have your own life, your own dreams now. You know you have a special place in my heart that no one can replace. You were the reason I smile. Never mind that you probably won't get to read this ever.

Though I will leave word about this entry to someone so that should I die tomoro or something, someone can let him know of this existence and tell him. Morbid I know.