the 70's

The 70's was a really special time. All my "first's" happened in that decade. First left home, first lived on my own, first love, first marriage, first break-up, first job, first world travel. My highest and lowest moments were born and played out in those years.

I lived life fully. That is to say, I lived life on the edge. I hung out with the fashionable party crowd of the drug-fogged brain. I rejected conventional and societal expectation, and it showed in my attitude, my lifestyle, my job. My sense of self was strongly identified with the counterculture of the 70's.

Desiderata is the written expression of those times.

The visual form is best expressed by the bright kaleidoscopic and psychedelic flower motif pop art of 60's icon Peter Max. I have a few of his early posters.

And every time I look at them, I still smile. For in our hippy-trippy mind-altered state, we were so full of hope and love for everybody...

Desired Things cont'd

I was a teenager in the early 1970s when I first came upon a Desiderata poster. The words that speak of inspiration and hope, gentle forgiveness, sense of self in the universe, struck a chord with me. I remembered seeking out that poetry whenever I felt hopelessness, uncertainty and confusion threatening my young existence. I even had the 1971 singles hit of Desiderata recorded on 45 rpm

I knew nothing of the origin of this prose poetry. I never heard of Max Erhmann. Neither did I know that Les Crane won a "Best Spoken Word" grammy for his recording of the poem in 1971. There was no internet then to do any research.

I just loved the poem in written and recorded form.

I thought Desiderata is a distant memory of a by-gone era like the flower children who first popularised it. I am surprised that Desiderata the poem is still very much around today (look up Desiderata with any search engine). Yet I should not have been surprised.

For the beautiful quiet truth that Desiderata speaks of is timeless and universal.

Desired Things

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and ignorant;
they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Max Ehrmann, 1927

Till the Next Time

The last of our visitor friends left today. We miss them already.

Until the next chance we have to come together, each of us will carry fond memories of these past two weeks.

This is a special friendship. This has been an exceptionally special time for us.

This is my way of letting you girls know how special you are to me.

First to Loh Hei Then to 4-D

Oh wow. This is a first for me/us.

We had loh hei. A fortune cookie with a lucky 4-digit number came with it. We immediately headed for a Singapore Pools stall and bought all combinations of the lucky numbers for all the draw days of this week.

One of the combinations came through for us today.

Winning a consolation prize is not going to make any of us independently wealthy. But it boosts optimism and confidence that the year ahead is fortuitous. Especially when I am one of the animals mentioned here.

It is a nice way to start the year...

Of Food and Friends

Everyone is talking about over-eating and moaning about weight gain during the long Chinese New Year weekend. It is not quite over yet. We have a few more days to go till we close out the season on Chap Goh Meh.

This once fabulous body has put on some 3 kgs since December (yes, I started my gluttonous indulgence early). And it did not help that the regular keep fit and trim routine was interrupted during the holiday seasons.

But hey, I am having a superbly grand time feasting on all manner of culinary delights in the company of homecoming friends. I stubbornly refuse to let a few kgs get in my way of fully living this rare luxury.

For now, eating and living sensibly can wait :)

Before PCs

This has been a week of reunion with old friends, re-hashing old stories, re-affirming long-standing friendship.

At some point, our do-you-remember-when conversation turned to typewriters (yes, typewriters, not PCs and microsoft WORD). This is the tool of trade that defines our generation.

Who remembers (or even knows anything of) that marvel of a typewriter called the Selectric from Big Blue? If you admit to having worked with one, you are of the same vintage as me. Remember when your position in the office pecking order was defined by the number of different typeballs you owned?

In my mind's eye I can still see: my IBM Selectric II was olive green and had dual pitch (10 and 12 characters to the inch). The fonts I used the most was Elite (12-pitch) and Pica (10-pitch). I would switch to Courier (10 and 12) when I wanted a different look.

Back then, most of us were trained to type by touch (as opposed to hunt-and-peck). I am particularly proud that at my fighting best, I typed comfortably at a demonstration typing speed of 90 words per minute (wpm) with 98% accuracy. 60 wpm with 90% accuracy was considered the minimum employable proficiency speed.

This is all historical trivia. It is sentimental trivia for me and it feels good to be talking about it with people who lived it...

Through the Years

We were colleagues at work.

It was a very long time ago
when we were so very young.

We lived up the good times,
we saw each other through the rough times.
Collectively, we share a colourful history.

Our personal and professional lives
took us down different paths, to different countries.

I have come home. They still live abroad;
they are back only for the New Year.

It is always a special time when we
see each other on these rare occasions.

So much time had passed. So much of us have changed.
And so much of us stay unchanged.

We will remember this day for a very long time.
We will see each other again.

When we are even less young than today...

Xin Nian Kuai Le

Something Round, Something Sweet

Of all the old-fashioned foods that must appear at the Chinese New Year Dinner table, tang yuan is my absolute all-time favourite.

I make them! I can tell you it is fiddly work all the way.

But this time of the year, I find it therapeutic to roll dozens and dozens of those sweets-filled balls.

It allows me to block out the thought of all the people I HAVE to see and be nice to over the next several days.

So far I have made them with peanut/black sesame/tau sar-fillings.

And of course I also made the red-dyed no-filling ones for good measure.

I can be so traditional when the mood strikes.

Valentine's

I love it that otherwise shy and reticent lovers
openly declare their love on Valentine's Day.

I would be very flattered if that special someone
made awkward attempts at being romantic.

I admire courageous souls who willingly
make fools of themselves to woo the object of their love.

And I am just as happy to hear him tell me yet again,
"I love you".

Hafla by Serene

Madgy El-Leisy (L), Elias Nachef (R), Claribel (Front)

The dance workshops ended.

But we were not ready to end the weekend - not just yet.

We wanted more time together - share a meal, have some drinks, more bellydancing.

This was made possible by Serene who so graciously arranged a hafla for us.

It was a farewell party we will remember for a long time...

How can like dat?

It was raining cats and dogs.
I left my very wet umbrella outside the dance studio.
When I came out, my umbrella was GONE!

It was still raining cats and dogs.

What kind of low-life mingle among us?
(Got people so bad like dat meh?)

Bellydance Week

This is the week we bellydancers have been waiting for.

Elias Nachef is in town this weekend and is available for private/group percussion lessons. Contact him directly on +61418907113.

The first of this year's master-teacher workshops conducted by Claribel happens next weekend. Details of Magdy El-Leisy's workshops are at www.claribelstudio.com.

Magdy is a highly regarded master-teacher, dancer and choreographer of middle-eastern dance. His classes are always fun, instructive and has a feel of good energy.

To finish off this exciting week, there will be a hafla with special guests Magdy and Elias at Sanobar on the evening of Sunday 11 February. Party starts at 8pm. Do come down and celebrate this evening with us.

I look forward to seeing many of you this whole week.

Forever Tiffany

...with your hand resting in mine...

She has an infectious vivaciousness and practical sensibility. She is a successful career woman in the highly competitive corporate world.

But there is also the little princess in her who dreams of the day her prince will come into her life. This fairy tale love story came true in the form of a tiffany ring.

She smiles ever so shyly every time she glances at the ring. Her eyes light up whenever she talks about the ring. She so obviously adores the ring which holds the promise of a lifetime of love.

In this world of change and uncertainty, this couple reminds me that some constants still hold true.

I know that theirs is a love that will grow, mature and deepen.

COMP UNPLUGGED

The computer went down right after I published Come to the Kazbar. Life without the internet felt so ... unplugged.

There was little difference in how we spent the evening hours. We saw friends for dinner. We watched some TV. We had our day's-end chat. We read in bed. Life went on. But there was a sense of disquiet that one was not quite plugged in.

After four days of internet-less living, I know this: I want internet access at all times...

COME TO THE KAZBAR

It was the sort of night bellydancers LOVE.

Food. Drinks. Friends.

Bellydancing through the night.


It happened at Kazbar last weekend. The pictures tell the story.

Kazbar is at:

25 Church Street

#01-03 Capital Square 3

Tel: 6438 2975

Bellydance show on Wed, Thurs, Fri

ALL THINGS BELLYDANCE

The year is starting out with many exciting events for bellydance enthusiasts.

Gaia is the only bellydance team in the Channel 5 dance competition The Dance Floor which premiers on Sunday 21 January at 8pm. Watch out for Gaia fans in the audience and cheer along with them. Gaia consists of long time friends Belinda and Angelina.

Bellydance classes are resuming after the month-long break in December. I will be at Claribel's, and I look forward to her new and exciting choreography for this term.

I am happy to learn that Ghram has decided to start teaching again. Her class starts in early February. Email ghramg.mok@hotmail.com for more information.

Egyptian tabla player and singer Elias Nachef will be performing at Cafe le Caire from 2 February. This will be a great time for bellydancers to jam at their favourite chill-out joint.

There will be a series of bellydance workshops taught by the much loved master-teacher Magdy El-Leisy (also affectionately known as Mr Bean) on the weekend of 9 to 11 February. See Claribel's website for schedule and registration detail.

And a last reminder that Hafla@Kazbar is on Saturday 20 January.

I will be happy to see you at these events!

HAFLA @ KAZBAR

You are invited to:

Hafla @ Kazbar

hosted by Ghram and Angelina
on Saturday 20 January 2007
from 8:30pm

RSVP ghramg.mok@hotmail.com by January 11.

A deposit of $15.00 per person (fully refundable at the door) is required to register your reservation.

Grab that hipscarf
Dress middle-eastern
Come bellydance the night away

2006/2007

Our elaborate party plans for New Year's Eve started to run into trouble a whole week earlier. There were just too many changes about who does what, where and when. We tried to accommodate everybody by juggling guests and venue but in the end, nothing was going to work out satisfactorily.

We settled on having just family over for dinner. When they left to make their rounds ringing in the New Year, it was one hour before the magic stroke of midnight.

It was an hour of intimate quiet reflection of our life together - a life so emotionally, physically and intellectually intertwined that we could not remember a time when we were not together.

At 0000 hrs, he leaned over, kissed me and said, "This has been a good year. There will be many more."

And I believe him...