Breathing life

Over the Vesak break, I met up with a couple of friends. Amongst them, are 3 friends who have recently engaged themselves in a spat - where one of them voiced out her displeasures with the other two. Two of them shared the same sentiments (let's call them A & B), while one (let's call her C) thought otherwise. I sorta became neutral ground for them.

A & B arrived early and met me first, whilst C was coming from another direction. When we crossed paths in the underground pass, the awkwardness that ensued was pretty uncomfortable. Nevertheless, our crappy nature got the better of us, and our mood livened up once everyone started jibing at me x( (*sigh..the perils of being neutral ground)

This incident sorta reminded me of a similar situation I was in earlier this year. Within a group of friends, I miscommunicated with one of them, but did not voice out. Through the things we said, we offended one another and when we went out as a group, we hardly talked to each other. Neverthless, I kept it to myself, stubbornly believing that things will work out if she had the sincerity to be my friend. And surprise surprise, after a few months, just as I was contemplating to tell our mutual close friend about how I felt, she went through a change of attitude and was very nice to me at one gathering. From then on, her attitude towards me stayed well (*let's all cross our fingers :p)

These incidents stirred something in me. Is it always good to voice out our displeasures? Are some things meant to be implicit? When you become explicit with certain things, will the situation take a turn for the worse?

From a bigger picture perspective, should I voice out too when such misunderstandings happen between my loved ones and me? (I hear a lot of "Of course!!" in the background) But by doing so, you may incur the wrath of your loved one or upset her/him. If that's the case, are you willing to risk telling them?

These are questions which are debatable. And even I do not have the answers to all of them for myself.

Collide

Current Wishlist: Song from Howie Day - Collide
______________________________________________________________

The dawn is breaking
A light shining through
You're barely waking
And I'm tangled up in you
Yeah

I'm open, you're closed
Where I follow, you'll go
I worry I won't see your face
Light up again

Even the best fall down sometimes
Even the wrong words seem to rhyme
Out of the doubt that fills my mind
I somehow find
You and I collide

I'm quiet you know
You make a first impression
I've found I'm scared to know
I'm always on your mind

Even the best fall down sometimes
Even the stars refuse to shine
Out of the back you fall in time
I somehow find
You and I collide

Even the best fall down sometimes
Even the wrong words seem to ryhme
Out of the doubt that fills your mind
You finally find
You and I collide

You finally find
You and I collide
You finally find
You and I collide

Gia

Life and death, energy and peace. If I stop today it was still worth it. Even the terrible mistakes that I made and would have unmade if I could. The pains that have burned me and scarred my soul, it was worth it, for having been allowed to walk where I've walked, which was to hell on earth, heaven on earth, back again, into, under, far in between, through it, and above.

Voila!!

After two weeks of tiresome planning, comparison of prices and tour packages, we have come to a decision. We are going to Taipei :D. Our effort paid off and we got quite a good deal to fly with SQ (though I can't say the same for the hotel, but Kimono says it's good enuf since we will be on our feet most of the time ;) ) *Sobz...there goes my fullerton...

It will be a short 4D3N trip and hence we have to plan our itinery carefully. But well, it's a trip, and we are supposed to enjoy ourselves and R&R (with R :p), so why restrict ourselves to a tight schedule? It's coz there's simply too much to see and visit. I guess what we can do is to shortlist, strike out and focus.

Many thanks to a fren of mine who came back from Taipei recently and gave us many valuable tips. I'm sure that these tips will save us much mindless wandering and wasted trips to generally undesirable places. :D We will continue to search for info on clubbing/chilling out nightspots and fine/unique dining experiences. Ahhhh...the fun of self planned trips. Free from complusory tips and the boring ol' monuments and temple visits, we will have more time on our hands to explore the more interesting places within the city. However, there's no free lunch in this world..for every fun moment that we enjoy we encountered frustrating incidents with impatient land stewards/stewardess and blur-like-sotong hotel management who do not understand the meaning of "is-your-hotel-within-walking-distance-from-the-MTR?" - they seem to think that long distance calls from Sg to Taiwan is free and we can chat with them for as long as our grannies can nag :p

Anyhow, I'm looking forward to the trip. Though it will be a short trip, the process of planning and preparing for it will be equally enjoyable ;)