Life by the beach

It was raining heavily yet I kept my driving speed constant. Straining my eyes to stay within the lane, oblivious to the cold topped by the car air-conditioning, my mind was probably calmer than the weather. A car overtook, went over a puddle and splashed a stream of water onto my windscreen. For a split second, I couldn't see anything. I hit on the brakes and slowed down. If you spent a significant amount of your time on the road like I did, this was just an echo of your experience.

I don't want to talk about the rain although it was the rain that everybody talked about these days. Front lawns flooding, a truck chocked off smokes after braving a submerged road, drains and pipes overflew. The downpour merely calmed and cooled but the driving was my real therapy.

For some of us, not excluding myself, shopping is a form of therapy. Buying things on impulse or simply getting something you have been aiming for quite a while, and buying it made you feel good. And when the buying power is on the low, window-shopping is another healthier (to the pocket) alternative.

Writing could also be a form of therapy. You could write anonymously, you could write your hearts out or you could be babbling impersonal matters to invisible audiences (such as this blog). You could write your problems off your shoulder and temporarily keep it safe... until the next time you revisit, read it as if it was someone else's problem. It might help to see the situation in a different light.

Allow me to write... to keep you reading.
Authorize my writing, and I will write my way to your hearts.

A friend asked if I have something special prepared for the coming new year celebration. New year? I thought we ARE already into the second week of our new calendar year, 1431 Hijrah. But yeah, 2010 is another new calendar year.

I guessed, you should already be writing down new resolutions at the end, and before the new year cycle begins. It is time to look back and reflect. What happened in the course of the 365 days that was better? what was there that wasn't in the previous year? About.com Guide listed top ten new year resolutions. How does this list represent you or me?

1. Spend more time with family and friends
To some, 2009 had been a great year because time spent with family and friends improved either in quantity or quality wise. Talking about quality, you could be sitting in the same living room with your family while working on your laptop catching up with unfinished office work. You were there, but you weren't.

I can count with my fingers, the number of outings, social gatherings and meetings that I had with friends. Last year had been the worst in history. Maybe I will look into the matter seriously this year!

2. Fit in fitness
Uh? say what?... I have been avoiding sports for quite a number of years. How about you? I know a friend who started walking beginning this year...and I said "Keep it up, be it slow, never stop." Another friend ran nearly every evening after work.

The only time I wore slacks and sport shoes was last June when we went jungle trekking at Ulu Temburong. I need to find that shoes or get a new pair!

3. Tame the bulge
Hahahahaha ahahahahah no comment on this. Gravity seemed to be more friendlier as you add another 365 days to your time spent on this planet. Get out of that chair, peel your eyes from the television and start doing push-ups or sit-ups.

4. Quit smoking
I know that I don't smoke. I am not sure whether this is a gender thing or not, but it is Makruh is Islam. Do you smoke? I guess its a personal choice but if its something that is better (for our health) avoided than we have got nothing to loose.

5. Enjoy life more
Yeah, I wrote something about this before (refer to past post) on how I spent less working on office work after work hours. This is a serious matter... yes, I am talking about you too.

6. Quit drinking
Yeah, 'drinking' for us will have to refer to non-alcoholic beverages... and yeah, I really have to reduce intake of carbonated drinks. It is definitely very friendly to the bulges but not to our well-being. This have to be included in my top 10.

7. Get out of Debt
Yeah, this is everyone's target.... I still have my loans to cover, but this is a very important resolution to include every year, hahahah until you are really debt-free.

8. Learn something new
This is my favourite of all. In fact this have to be included in your list too. I was happy that in 2009, I learnt to bake mexican bread and pizza to near perfection. Cooking is simply a necessity for me and never a hobby, but 2009 has been a great year because I had the chance to test my skills in bread making. I am happy that this enthusiasm did not stop halfway because I am going into cake decorating at the moment. So, 2010 had me start a blog called Sengkarai Baker. Hahaha don't get excited just yet, I just uploaded 2 photo posts of 3D cakes. If this is not a 'hangat-hangat tahi ayam' thing, you will see more coming.

Our (another friend and I) top learning aim is to understand and converse in Arabic, which I haven't the opportunity to do properly yet. The Arabic learning for me at the moment was to read verses from the Quran and read the translation. Will look into this matter....

9. Help others
I don't know about you, but I have been doing this ever since I know how to do this. Nothing to be gloating over... either done out of responsibility or compassion. Hmmm maybe I should consider taking this out of my top 10, huh?

10. Get organized
Definitely in my top 10. I am very disorganised in most things! It is my weakness. Rather than trying to change, I should device a new plan on turning this weakness into a strength..... hmmm that's a thought.

I should stop here....