GRIEF

Life is so uncertain. When you contemplated death, it was something distant, something that happened to other people and not you. It may have an impact on other peoples’ lives, granted, but never yours. Because, like with most things unpleasant, we turn into ostriches: bury our necks in the sand, and hope that all the unpleasantness will just pass us by, harming not a hair on our heads. Well, here’s the deal: that’s not how real life works. Unpleasantness is a certainty, so is death. Death, in all its gruesomeness and cold harsh reality. It’s a leveller like no other, right: millionaire or pauper, it is inevitable and catches up with us all someday. It’s only a matter of time.

Why the morbid thoughts?

Let me share this:

I lost a couple of friends to a tragic accident only recently. Brothers, both, whom I'd known since childhood. We grew up together, the elder of the two, being in the same grade at school. There would be times we'd walk home from school together. Evenings were spent together, playing, riding bicycles, and as we grew older, taking walks by the sea and settling down to catch up on the day's news. Burning the midnight oil, as we studied for exams together, calmed each other when the panic of not having studied enough would set in. Childhood crushes, dreams, hopes and plans for the future were shared. While we weren't in touch very regularly as the years passed by, I always knew that they were there, in the back of my mind. Always a part of my life, and undoubtedly a very essential part of my childhood memories. And now, they're both no longer here, victims of an air crash.

Would it have been worse had we stayed more in touch? Would it hurt as much as it does now, to think of the waste of two young lives, and to realise that part of your own childhood has been erased, just like that, only to be charred beyond recognition? We'll never have them back again - that's when it sinks in, that death hits, and hits hard. Maybe it gets better over time, doesn't hurt as much - but who's to be the judge of that?

LIFE IS TOO SHORT

for what-ifs
for regrets.
for enmity
for feuds.
for anger
for hate.

It's also too short for not
telling someone how much you care about them
telling someone how much you appreciate them, and all that they do for you
nurturing and cherishing relationships
doing that one thing so close to your heart, but you are so scared to venture into

Make every moment count. You never know when it'll be too late.

DRIVER ASLEEP!

... And asleep he was!

REGRET

He was unsure about what he had done, whether leaving her was the only option he had. However, what could he do, in the face of threats from her family? Death threats, really, aimed at the both of them.

Was it wrong, he asked himself, to love someone? To be very sure about wanting to spend your life with someone? Was it equally wrong, he wondered, to give up so easily? Whether a little more persuasion, a little more time could have changed things.

Would rebelling have set a precedent in their community?

Now he would never know.

SINGAPURA!

Here's a few pictures from a recent holiday to gorgeous Singapore.

THE COLLECTIVE (NOUN)

Probably doesn't make too much sense as a blog post, but couldn't help smiling when I stumbled upon these collective nouns. (Gets even better in the head when you actually picture the said critters. Go on, try it!)

The Fun Loving Ones:

band of gorillas

cartload of chimpanzees (hee!)

parade of elephants

party of jays

The Meanies:

nuisance of (house) cats

rag of colts

unkindness of ravens

The Fancy Ones:

ascension of larks

exaltation of larks

culture of bacteria (ooh la la!)

kettle of hawks

storytelling of crows (as opposed to the more popular ‘murder’)

tidings of magpies

lounge of lizards (Don’t even want to go there – imagine a loungeful of them. Ick. Ick.)

clowder of cats

crèche of penguins

rumba of rattlesnakes

harem of seals

descent of woodpeckers (movie title-esque, eh?)

And here’s the more rowdy Downright Shady of the lot:

gang of elk

mob of emus/ kangaroos/ wallabies

murder of crows (moonlighting, for when they’re not ‘storytelling’)

skulk of foxes

deceit of lapwings

generation of vipers

sneak of weasels

And the Hardworking:

business of ferrets

memory of elephants

zeal of zebras

And the Structurally Sound:

tower of giraffes

tribe of goats

raft of otters

bed of oysters

parliament of owls (this one is so perfect!)

Those Aptly Described:

shrewdness of apes

glint of goldfish

prickle of hedgehogs

crash/ bloat of hippopotami

cry of hounds

charm of hummingbirds

paddling of ducks

congress of baboons (hahahahahaha!)

leap of leopards

mischief of mice

movement of moles

crash of rhinoceroses

ostentation of peacocks

scurry of squirrels

ambush of tigers

BARE IT ALL

On social networking sites, that is. Telling (virtually) the (entire) world where you are, what you are doing there, whom you are with and your feelings/ thoughts at that time is de rigeur. I confess, I've done that numerous times myself, having even mentioned the reason I was, say, at a fancy restaurant. And to take it a step further, adding pictures while there.

All the reports on safety aside, I'm now thinking this: is it really vital for all the people on my 'friend list' to know this? Or somewhere, deep down inside all of us, is an exhibitionist just waiting to get out? You'll notice that not-so-cool geo tags don't make their way out there - but what would be perceived as upmarket, or just plain 'with-it' very much are. It's almost as if we seek approval (and maybe even applause and admiration) for what we do.

And oh, just so you know, as do my friends on a popular social networking site, I was at California Pizza Kitchen last evening, with a friend, M. Bah.