Courage consists in the power of self-recovery.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson, USA
Now, that was a tad too serious but on a more sombre mode, I am feeling a step ahead in recovering from my post-paradise withdrawal case.
I know, it's almost as tragic as Di Carpio and Winslet's potrayal of an undying love for something so unforgettable. But I think I may be less dramatic. No boy sinking into the depth of oblivion, no voluptuous bird on a sorry looking plank, and definitely no ocean fancy gems.
Thank goodness for that sabilulungan CD!
The real deal was that I got up, creaky bones and all that out of bed to two furry little ones that had faithfully left a few nice brown logs on the green carpet in the yard. Ever capable of making a stinky situation into one of a sincere offering, I accepted their goodwill and showered them with lots of morning hugs and greetings. Off they (the furry ones, not the logs) flying into the house, while I dutifully took happiness in cleaning up the place. It actually felt pretty good, kind of like possessing the simple power of changing a mess into a pristine display of cleanliness.
After a hearty simple breakfast, it was a full on power workout to open the sweat pores. Hey, time to kick the bad juice out, like how you would of an old lemon! Then it's a "He Man" moment when I was being bestowed the power of vacuum might that I danced through the dusty lanes of the walk-in wardrobe, the rooms, the hall, and the kitchen. Tommy went berserk as usual, Chewy just hung around me. I was in heaven, a trance, almost kecak-like.
The best thing I have found on returning home is realising how much there is to do and see, yet. When we returned from Beijing, I was brimming with pride of my ancestral land, I turned into a Mandarin language sponge, soaking it all in, and then Bali. To be precise, as I would be sharing in detail in my previous Bali entries, it was Ubud that captured and changed me. Outside of Ubud seemed too much like Phuket, in my own humble observation.
But Ubud got my mind thinking about a lot of things. About a lost culture in my own land, about where it all began, about how the smiles are so simple to come even if the people got so little from the dark looming clouds of corruption at the highest. Listen carefully and you will hear that each song, similar at first hear that it may be, actually share very individual messages that you can decipher, digest, and reflect on.
I am just glad that I came back richer.
