Pass me not

I love this song and the way they are singing it feeling the pain of yearning for salvation. For me, the pain I have felt has brought me back to this point or wanting more life in it's risky unknown raw version. A photography geek view would be wanting a RAW file instead of processed jpegs for my photos. It's a lot more work but allows you to tweak the images with less loss of quality.

If you're lost with my geeking out just now, know that this song is how I feel now.

Unexpected quiet

It's not easy to think in the city with all the sights and sounds to distract us: both good and bad. You can get lost in the action. There have been moments when I lived in the quiet of solitude. I learned to hear the voice of wisdom and comfort that is there even beneath the distractions. It's a little like the cat staring at me asking me to take a photo only to notice the sign above it.

Similarly, truth and joy often come from unexpected quiet moments.

Taking life for granted: blinded by money.

I pass by a one legged man who lives under a public stairway in a small hidden park surrounded by buildings. I go swimming so early I catch him sleeping with a cat everyday. But I will not take a photo because it just does not feel right.

Remove the tendency to judge him or feel sorry for him and the image of him sleeping with the cat who seemed like he was protecting a companion haunted me. I don't know how to get to know him and don't feel an invitation to do so.

I could cast him as an anomaly or try to rescue him. But I don't think we are much different except for the walls and roof that make our home. Inside, we deal with the same predicament but probably complicated by the requirements of family and finance. Security is again clouded by money.

I can't solve his problems but I can see myself and how I live more clearly when I think about life in his skin. We both get up and face the day not knowing how life will turn out. We both must make a living. We both need companionship. And we both can make the most of what we have.

He just has less to take for granted. Money can blind us to life.

Timidly anxious and bold fear

I was battered by circumstances to be timidly anxious for too long. I'm filled boldness to face coming fears posed by an unknown future that has yet to be written. And so ready to celebrate.

China's history has been depressing for so long. My stomach is in tangles thinking about how chaotic and aimless the past few hundred years has been for my ancestors. The pic is of a Sun Yat Sun statue by the pool I'm using most mornings.

I then took one of him superimposed on the tall ICC. Not sure what it symbolizes except that the flats around it may look impressive, but I wonder how pleasant it is to live in a high density area despite the expensive shopping, hotels and the high speed train that is being built underneath it. This is a far cry from the ideals we remember of the founder of the Chinese republic...

History is still working itself out. I want to do a little to empower the leaders of tomorrow to make something beautiful and enjoyable for the little man and woman who make up our world. Instead of being obsessed with over-sized and extreme display of wealth, there is more treasure to be found in working out tomorrow together.

Any joy and pleasure from cooperation to create something we believe in and want, no matter how small is better than over-the-top proclamations of wealth and power. Simple pleasures, new meaning, moments of improvement, glimpses of beauty... These are things worth celebrating.

Open!

Living in the high rise jungle of Hong Kong for most of my life, I've noticed that most people live with the curtains shut. It was a little more open when I was a kid when I used to chat with the kids in the facing window in the next building. I even saw them being spanked with a duster that was common practice when I was a kid, although my parents never did it. But nowadays people don't mind posting their private lives on the Internet but do not want their neighbours to see them watching TV.

The cat on the old wall is so relaxed, I got pretty close to it to take the picture. I'm more open now too and decided to push the curtains aside in my home office so I can get as much light inside as I can. After all, I'm mostly working, reading and chatting anyway... nothing much to see should those with facing windows choose to spy.

People can shut the curtains or live without light if they want, but I want to be more open and at least not shut out the light just so I can hide my normal life. For me, it's about confidence, resting in who I am and loving life. A little like this cat. I guess that's why I'm writing my feelings on this blog. Nothing to hide.

More light

Relaxing just before an early morning swim. I feel like I'm basking in the light and the water. The picture says it all.

Sunny and poised

Feelings that have been tainted with clouds in my heart for so long are back to their full colour and depth. Despite the heat, the light is so nice. The cat is alert and poised just as I feel an anticipation like a 5 year old getting up to face the day. But I also feel a deeper drive to invest in lives using all the resources I have in my mind, heart, experience and vision. Hard to really put in words. So the pictures reflect how I feel inside.