A year has come to pass!

Yes. I revisited this site today and took a glance at the blog published below and Holy, almost a year since I have blogged! All kinds of emotions creeped in - nostalgia, guilt, little lost and dumbstuck (because I don't know where to start off after a year).

While others ferociously plugged away with wonderful stories on their personal blogs, I have to get into a commitment to start somewhere.

I recalled Jose Ortega Y Gasset's quote :

" We cannot put off living until we are ready. The most salient characteristic of life is its coerciveness: it is always urgent, "here and now" wihtout any possible postponement. Life is fired at us point blank." This moment is all we ever have, to do with as we will.

Somehow, the quote reminds me, we have to commit ourselves to live passionately in the present in the new year. Just like writing, its about commitment besides passion. No yeahbuts.

3 Philippians 13
But one thing I do : Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead

How has your New Year been?

Another year has gone and come. What a journey of little mounds and pathways, isn't it. Which direction have you taken last year? And what have you come upon along the travel? Have you gotten through all the miles alone, stumbled along the way, brush off the dirt and get yourself up on the roads again. Have you met wonderful friends, get into healing connections and a deeper appreciation of what is living life all about? Did you realise that precious time spent with family and loved ones are much more fulfilling and began to appreciate their presence? Have you have quiet time with God and recount the moments He has brought grace? Did you manage to hear a sound on the wind that rest on your soul as you walk along the park? Instead of falling into the quagmire of worries, fear of job insecurity, concerns of dire economic conditions, what are most instrinsic to you this year?

How will your manner of life in 2009 be?

Genesis 1:30And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so.

A novice attempt on cooking

Christmas Eve, I uncovered my 'hidden-in-the-cabinet-for-decades' pot and pan and decide to be good for once. Whisked myself into the supermarket for a quick grocery run of onions, garlic, ginger, cinnamon, spices and pork belly, I braced myself to take a adventurous stance in making braised pork belly, a traditional fav in the family. I wanted to cook something for my parents for a pleasant surprise.

Pleasant it is not. Oh, I cried and sob when chopping up the onions, frowning at the unequal sizes of the onion bits, fumbled with frying, burnt the garlic charcoal black, got my shirt and recipe book sprinkled with soya sauce, and finally got every ingredient in the pot for stewing in the next hour.

Every ten minutes, my curiousity propelled my head over the pot, poking the belly with a fork, get myself busy tossing and turning it, adding water, little more sauce, sprinkling a wisp of pepper here and there. And almost one hour later, I decide to cut of a piece of braised pork and try it. And it actually taste.......

BETTER than I thought! Gleefully, I danced a little steps through the kitchen, made some turns around nearing knocking into the sink, oh yes but still beaming with pride. What a feat for Christmas a novice's attempt.

Done with washing, I hastily called my mum, packed some more food stuff and head for home. My parents tried to keep their expressions as cool as a cucumber when I show them my final fueled piece. The moments are heart-stilling as I scrutinised their expressions to get obviously,any comments or feedback, at least a weeny compliment from them..please?

I asked almost hundred times "How was it? nice? Too salty? Meat too tough?!.....

Well, the final results said it all. They finished everything! The pork, the sauce, the rice.

I am so pleased.

That night, I attempt to stay up for silent night and attend a Church mass eurcharist. Oh I did not managed to. I fell sound asleep like a baby. I woke up on Christmas morning hungry, remembering that I have not eaten any portion but a piece of what I have cooked.


1 Corinthians 13
LoveIf I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.