Coolcat's Jottings

Hi, I'm back and am wonderfully refreshed! There was cool air, clear skies, sunshine, lots of flowers and greenery, good food and company, inspiring moments with God and friendly cats!

Turns out that the people (family) who followed us to Fraser's were really nice and fun to be with. I should have known that my friend's friends would be people I can get along with. None of us ladies wanted to end the night yesterday. We kept on chatting and chatting until our eyes started to droop with exhaustion.

We kinda felt like the prophet Elijah, running away from Queen Jezebel (city life) to an obscure and peaceful place and not wanting to return to town so soon.

Fraser's was wonderfully cool and relaxing. Upon reaching KL today, our hearts melted at the sight of the blazing sun. All too soon, it's back to the world of multiple showers a day and stress-filled days.

Note: I'm still waiting for my new camera to arrive and so, the beautiful pics taken in Fraser's will be posted later after my friend burns them to a cd for me. Shouldn't take too long

Mom smiled when she saw me reading a book this morning. Her smile turned into a surprised 'Oh' when she saw the title.



But mom, being mom, did not ask any probing questions. She just commented that it was an interesting title and left it at that. I guess mom's pretty cool that way. I don't have to be paranoid and hide things from her.

From our recent conversations, she knew that I was doing some emotional spring cleaning and any tool that I need to help me do a thorough clean-up is fine by her. And indeed, this spring cleaning which began on a tough note is starting to show some positive results. Nothing like facing some unknown skeleton in my cupboard and sweeping it away with God's love and grace!

For one, I am now reading again! For another, I am not slacking so much now. There's just something about being lazy that frazzles me. Laziness is like a black cloak that envelopes you and makes your limbs and mind grow heavy and kills all motivation to actually get up and do some work. For me, laziness is a sign that something else is preoccupying my mind and discourages me from participating fully in present day living. It is one my most bitter enemies that often disguises itself as my friend.

"Aiya, one more hour in bed won't harm you. You need the rest mah."

"You've already watched 2 DVDs, what's one more?"

"You can always do that report tomorrow. No one will hound you for it anyway."

Need to really look at laziness for what it is and give it a firm kick when it chooses to come knocking on my door.

Anyway, here are some quotes from Dick Innes, the author of 'How to Mend a Broken Heart' which I found especially helpful and profound. May it be a blessing to those who are doing emotional spring cleaning, too.

As rainbows are painted by rain,
so faith, hope and love
are all painted by pain

The pain passes
but the beauty remains
~ quote by Renoir when asked on why he kept on painting despite the pain of his arthritis-ridden fingers. It is a lesson on not to waste the pain that we have gone through, but to grow better from it that it may also help enrich the lives of others.

Life can only be understood by looking backward,
but it must be lived looking forward

Have a great long weekend, Malaysians. Will be high up in Fraser's Hills doing my reflections and resolutions for this coming year with my friend tomorrow. Glad to say that the tension between us lasted only for a very short while.

Last year, thanks to my 2-week sick leave, I read slightly more than 52 books. An average of a book per week. That's a Guiness by my standards

Now, I haven't read a book in weeks and am currently stuck at Page 100-something of Fellowship of the Ring. Am such a slacker when it comes to reading these days.

Come to think of it, am such a slacker nowadays when it comes to almost everything, too.

Is it because I need a break or because there's been a tad too many public holidays lately?

After all, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing being bad.

ho-hum

Got a call from Chris last weekend and he asked about my schedule for March since Thomas is only free for shooting then - he has exams in Jan and getting married in Feb.

Egads... I'll be acting with a married man! Good thing his fiance is a very understanding person. Otherwise, I'd be chopped liver by now

The shoot this time around is for the VCD version. Chris says it'll just be for the stage scenes and it'll take about 1 to 1.5 months with only a day in a week's shoot (because of my Elijah House counseling commitment). Future plans for other shoots are currently on-hold for the moment until some ministry matters get sorted out.

But the happiest thing is - we're shooting again!!!

Yippppppeeedooooo!!!

Related posts:
- Forgiven... Not Forgotten
- Forgiven... Not Forgotten (Part 2)
- Forgiven... Not Forgotten (Part 3)
- Forgiven... Not Forgotten (Part 3) The Pics!

I'm supposed to go to Fraser's Hill for a spiritual retreat in conjunction with the public holidays next week. Was looking forward to it but now I'm not sure anymore.

First, my friend told me that there will be three of us who are confirmed to go. Then didn't hear anything from her until just now when a strange name popped up in the list of people confirmed going. I got worried and asked her over msn who this person was.

For me, what makes a holiday great is not the destination but the people that I will be spending time with. And if I couldn't get along with them, then it will just spoil the whole thing. Might as well vegetate at home.

I got her at the wrong time for her initial explanations didn't make sense and she wasn't in the mood to talk and here I was telling her that I don't feel like going anymore. The conversation got quite tense and she told me that she didn't feel like talking anymore and I tried to appease the situation by apologising for adding to her headache.

And I told her that I won't be pulling out now that everything's explained and all. But she had already zoned me out by then.

So it looks like I'm going after all. But the next time I go for a trip, I'll ask more questions.