Sight

"There are so many things that conjure up emotion...
The softness of dirt in Spring...
Clouds in the Summer sky...
The smell of the Autumn wind...
The sound of raindrops on a silk umbrella...
The chill in the air on the way home from school...
The scent of the chalkboard eraser...
The sound of a distant truck driving away in the night...
Or the safe and comforting feel of a convenience store late at night..."
~ The Voices of a Distant Star (Makoto Shinkai)

My Iifa Tree and Mr Smiley Face in a top hat on a earthly gray wall in front of a red house adorn with white window panes. Sometimes it is a wonder how much we never see because we simply have not stop to see. The hole between the uneven bricks of the ancient looking wall, that I never seem to notice for the past 6 months, now hides a new family of pigeons. Besides the purple petals of the Iifa, another flowering plant sits precariously by the upper story's window still never caught my eyes. The sound of clattering glasses which I have always assumed to be those of people emptying their recycling bins may actually be the sound of a worker pushing a cart of drinks to the bar downstairs. So many interesting nooks and crannies taken for granted and only in purposefully looking, one sees.

Perhaps before I surrender the keys and leave my room in Favell for the final time, I should spend some good time drinking all these in.

An angle, a point of view can change much. Before we consider the World Unseen, perhaps we should first learn to see the visible world that we have not seen.

What is the best thing of this new room of mine? I will say the window. It faces west, the direction of the setting sun. The usually empty car park with the encircling buildings create a sense as if it is a natural amphitheater. The real performer is none other than the air and clouds in the sky. The sunset never cease to amaze, if only because no two sunsets are the same. On a fair day like tonight, I am treated to a feast of ever changing colors in the sky. Further more, a passing jet or plane had grazed the clouds and drew a horizontal ribbon from east to west as far as my eyes can see. From vivid pink on deep cerulean blues, to greenish yellow tint in the distant horizon, I could only imagine how awe-inspiring auroras will look like.

To see.

When you are young, you think that there are plenty of chances in life, that there is always tomorrow to revisit places you have not perceived. When you are older, you realize that in life, too many are the places and opportunities we cross but once. When you are young, things that matters can be shove towards tomorrow, seemingly eons away. But when you are older, you know tomorrow have tomorrow's share of things that matters.

Now, if you have not shown yourself to be able to handle earthly responsibilities, how can you possibly ask to be given weightier burdens?

Carpe diem!