Dream To Fulfill This Dragon Year :)

The dreamer is back!!! :) (IG: Rimareyka.writes)

It required fate to form friendship. I felt very grateful that in my life journey, I had met many wonderful people with whom I could learn many life lessons from, especially from the older ones. It just happened that I had befriended many as older as my mom's age. One of them was my current boss.

It was fate that we worked together again after 20 years. In this small office, it was just two of us. I, the introvert, the quiet one, and she, usually she was the one who started the conversation - about her life, her family, her life experience, and so on. I had learned many things from her for the past few months - her calm encounter when facing challenges in life, her appearance (it inspired me to dress better even though no one saw me), her cheerful demeanor when telling the happy story, her generosity, etc. It just inspired me to be a better human being. 

To all my supportive friends and family, thank you :)

I met a group of friends recently for dinner. We did not realize that ten years had passed since we traveled together to Russia in a group tour. After the tour had over, we had met sometimes and usually for a meal. But for the past few years, I met them less often as I was busy travelling (before Covid), and after I started working (during Covid and after). 

So recently, one day when one of them invited me for the gathering and I happened to be free, I agreed to it immediately. I did not realize that it had really been many years since I attended the dinner gathering with them. And in between, things happened. I mean, all of us were getting older each year. Those much elder than me would obviously faced a physical change, such as: not being able to walk or hike as much as they were ten years ago when travelling and one faced greater challenge, like sickness. Luckily her positive attitudes towards life and the will to fight it had made her recovered.

There, they kept reminding me, to travel while I still young and could walk far. Time waited for no man. Health was the main issue for keep going in life. Taking care of health the best we could, if we wanted to walk longer in this life journey. 

From there, they too, ignited the sparks of hope in me, to travel again, to the destinations of my dream. even after I started working. I did not have many leave days in a year, so it was kind of constraining my travel lately and many priorities in life might limit my travel destination and dream places to go.

Dalai Lama quote - My all time inspiration :)

The word from young boy - to follow my dream - had also motivated me to be right on a track - of my dream - to travel to new places, place I had never been before. Actually I had this thought before but since I just started working, I thought I should not focus much on travel first, but to focus on my job, as I had not familiarized myself with the busy and less busy period throughout the year. I mean, I had to find out which period I could and could not travel since every job had different period of busy-ness. 

I was still in the cycle and few more months to go, but I could already see where I wanted myself to be this year. That group of travel khaki had already had places in their mind of where they wanted to go this year and hopefully, I could join them this year. Finger cross, let's hope that I could join them and fulfill my dream, at least for this current year :)

May all of you find what you want and fulfill it this year too - at least for now :)

Happy Dragon Year ahead, to all of us

Wish you all be happy

Just like how important every morning is (the mood), it applies the same with the beginning of the new year. One bad mood in the morning can spoil the whole day. And one bad starting day in the new year can spoil the whole month or even year ahead. 

It sounds negative, doesn't it? 

But it is life. It does not always have to be good, bright, and happy. Sometimes we too have to encounter sadness, gloomy, and moody kinds.

We can easily blame it to others, like people, things, surroundings, but never to our own self. Maybe we will, but it takes time. 

What we dream of, imagine, or visualize, may be different from reality. Because it always takes two hands to clap. And we are all created differently. We have different passions, likes, interests, and so on. So it is unavoidable when things go haywire. 

What we expect and what actually happens. The responses differ too from one to another. Some will choose to voice up, and some will choose to keep quiet, and let the day goes by. And some will swallow it until it becomes full and unbearable. 

At this point of time one cannot help but to think negative and think too much. The hormone changes does not help either. One may want to isolate and be in itself own company. 

Buddha teaches us to let go the past and to treasure present moments. To live and to love. To have a peace of mind, eventually to be happy. 

That will be the calm reminder. To be humble too. To lower our own ego. To loose that strong-headed wire in the brain. To give in. And to forget. Perhaps, a hug will be great. 

When things get hard, think about the good ones. Find anything that you can feel grateful about. I am sure there are lots of it. You just have to find it harder.

I wish all of you to have a more loving, peaceful, and happy Dragon year ahead. It may not start beautifully. But with a little determination to change for the better, I am sure you can make it better. Because nothing stays permanent, the good, and the bad. Just do our best, to make it better and happier. Take care and all the best.

Coldplay Concert - Thought and Experience

Coldplay 'Music of the Spheres' (Pic source: Google.com)

Just 2 days ago I had a chance to attend the Coldplay 'Music of the Spheres" world tour. There were 6 concerts held in Singapore (23, 24, 26, 27, 30 and 31st January 2024). It was a big hoo haa when the tickets were being sold in more than 7 months ago. People was trying very hard using multiple gadgets, some even took leave from work (some took MC or sick leave) in order to get the ticket.

I heard about this band group long time. I love listening to music (and their songs) but I did not really put attention on who sang it, just like I watched many movies and dramas, but I did not know who starred it. I just listened, watched, and got entertained. Did not really give more attention on who played it. 

Other than being entertained, I listened to music for various reasons, such as: to lift my mood up (especially in the morning as I got myself ready to start my day - usually inside the toilet while poo or taking a bath), to calm my mind (especially when studying, preparing exam, getting ready to work or starting my day activity), to heal (from the broken hearts - mostly, from separation from loved ones), to motivate myself (from bad mood, bad occasions, or to get ready for something - new job, new class, etc.), to accompany my journey (I spent lots of time in the public transport and flights, so it was a really good accompany), also perfect companion when exercising alone (while running, walking, cycling, etc.), to express what I feel (many lyrics suited my mood - it could affect both ways - feeling more emo or stronger), to bring happiness (how many of you would suddenly smile when listening to song lyrics? heart thumping? suddenly knocking fingers following the beats? or shaking legs following the rhythm?

Chris Martin - Coldplay Singapore 2024

From this concert, I found out more benefits from the music. First, it brought people together. 52,000 people was there in the stadium. We all came from different countries, nationalities, religions, race, languages, background, and many more. But we all went there for one reason - to listen to music that Coldplay played!!! Wasn't it wonderful???

The concert was also one way to express what you felt (by singing along, dancing and moving your body with the music, by shouting out loud - really a way to release your stress too and forget about anything else that happened in your daily life - the job that you hate, the never-ending assignments and exams in school, family problem, relationship problem, etc. 

At mid forties, having been living in Singapore for more than two decades, I had only attended one concert before this, one of my favorite duo singers - Air Supply - which was held a long time ago, in an indoor old Kallang stadium (before renovation). That too, I attended because my husband and I got free tickets.

Despite living in a country with endless lists of world bands and musician performances and concerts, I used to tell myself that there was no need to spend substantial amount of money just to go and listen the 1-2 hours of music. I mean, I could just turn on the music in my mobile phone if I wanted to hear their songs. Why should I fight the battle to get the ticket so many months earlier, pay an exorbitant amount of money to get a good seat, and the enjoyment was only last shortly? I had to face a mass crowd upon entering and leaving the premises too. So, that was why I had never attended a paid concert before.

But this time it was different .I just felt that the Universe conspired to make me to attend this concert. To begin with, I met up with an old friend from the school in beginning of January this year. We had not met for over two decades (since we graduated and parted our ways). He currently worked organizing the food and beverage stalls whenever there was event in Jakarta. So he was familiar with concerts. He too had a pair of teenager twins and a younger boy. Despite their ages, the twins often requested him and his wife to attend the Korean bands' concert. 

I, who only attended one concert before, was having no experience or whatsoever with these days concerts and its related matters. As we chatted, we was talking about the light stick, that people bought to attend their favorite bands' concert. At that point of time, I could only imagine what light stick would look like and I thought it was just a stick with some photo label and name of the band and could produce some lights. Little did I know that the stick that produced lights was synchronized with the songs played during the concert and why people would buy it even if the cost was very expensive!!! One light stick, he mentioned, cost him one million rupiah (S$85) in Indonesia. In Korea, it might cost around S$50. So some people tried to get the cheaper one from online shopping stores, and they might get the fake or counterfeit ones. And how did he know if it was fake, was when that light stick would produce different light color from what was synchronized with the real ones. Lol!!! So when it supposed to be red or blue or green, that fake light stick might produce yellow or white. So, it would be obvious for people to find out that it was actually fake. Lol!

We continued our conversation. He mentioned that in one concert where various bands came and performed, the audience who sat not far from his wife, brought various light sticks (one light stick for each band). Wow!!! That audience must be a damn rich die-hard fans!!! Hahaha... 

Seat location - Coldplay Concert Singapore Stadium (Pic source: Singapore Sport Hub)

Little did I know that in less than a week later, my sister-in-law said that she had an extra ticket of Coldplay concert to sell, but it was a single seat, which mean that if I was to purchase it, I would be sitting alone during the concert (She bought 6 tickets that was located in one area, sitting side-by-side, and 1 ticket that was located in another area, and only 1 seat. She bought it initially as she thought my nephew in Hong Kong would want to come to Singapore to attend it, but at the end he could not).

I heard about how good the Coldplay concert was. I mean, they came to Singapore before and I had close friend who loved attending it, as I saw his Instagram posts. I too knew how lovely their songs were. So, when she offered that extra ticket, I immediately said yes to the ticket, even before she showed me the location of my seat. It was S$134/ticket (still within my budget - I mean, I never put any budget for concert at all, but I felt that S$100 plus ticket was in fine range for me. Her was  S$200+/ticket. She already said that my seat was a bit far for that price range, which was fine for me because I did not even have the intention to watch at the first place and did not have much expectation on it. Just want to go there, be there, enjoy the show, experience it myself, get myself happy, have fun with the rest of the audience, and yes, I paid her immediately on the same day.

The concert was only two-week away and I felt that I had to get myself ready. Hahaha... 'Get ready' here means to get myself familiar with the Coldplay songs. Like I said earlier, I heard many of their songs before without knowing it was them who sang it :D So I downloaded their popular songs (20 of them) and put them into my mobile phone. I listened to eat on my way to and from work, whenever I was in toilet, and so on.

I felt that was not enough. I needed to get their lyrics too! Because I wanted to know the song in more depth and also I wanted to sing along during the concert :D So, I copied it from google and pasted it into my Samsung notes one song by one song so whenever I needed it, I could open it faster and easily. It proved to be very useful!!! :) I used them during the concert and sang along confidently hahahaha.... even my brother was surprised that I knew the song lyrics of particular song that he was not aware about.

On the day of the concert, again the Universe heard me. I was tired and did not have enough sleep the night before as I had to attend the night class. That day, my Boss came to office to have her quick lunch. At 2.30pm, before she left the office while opening the office door to leave, she told me this out of the blue, "Rim, today if you have nothing, you can go back early. It is a festive mood (Chinese new year is coming soon and she was busy preparing it - shopping here and there, and therefore, she was in good mood too that particular day)." I could not believe my ear when she said that. I just needed it!!! Time off early so that I could go home and rest (because the concert would only start at 8.30pm and I usually finished my work at 5pm. The gate opened at 6.30pm. So if I had to finish work at 5pm, it would be impossible for me to go home first and go to the concert place as to reach home itself, I would require at least 45 mins and to go to concert place would be another 45 minutes. Stayed idle in between would be tiring). Wahhh...... thank to the Universe for hearing my wish... I went home at 3pm. I managed to sleep for an hour, had quick dinner at home before leaving to the concert place. 

Coldplay Concert - View from my seat :)

I reached there in time with my brother and his families. We entered together and took some photos before we parted to our gates (we sat facing each other). To my surprise, my seat was actually good. Yes it was far from the stage and located at higher level, but I could have greater view (more complete view) of the stadium. I mean, with the light that synchronized in the bracelet that we were lent during the concert (we could actually bring it home, but they would appreciate if we returned it back to them so that they could recycle and use it for their next concert), I would be able to see more colorful lighting effect from my seat.

The person who sat on my left and right was also seated single seat, just like me. One came with her friend who was seated at the other side. Hahaha... I was not alone :D

Cut it short, the concert was awesome!!!! I loved it very much!!! Maybe it was my first time to attend world class concert, so I had nothing to compare (and as you all knew, comparison was a thief of joy!!!). And I was awed with the performance, the lightings, the music equipment, the arrangements (to control crowds and people to their seats, offer help with directions, facilities, etc.), and even the audience, everything was great!!! I was glad I was there, very lucky indeed, and million memories - although seating alone - would remain at the back of my head. 

In the future, I would love to attend again, not just Coldplay, but maybe some other amazing singers and or bands, with world class standard :D