THE WOODEN NECKLACE.

Hot chocolate. 

Let me acknowledge to type again. These few weeks have been rough and exciting in an oddly unpredictable way. I've been hyped, blind, and weirdly enough, calm after a long while of disappointment and discontent. When it hits the deepest it could get, something rises up in return. 

I cleaned my room today. God knows what the heck I'd been stocking. Everything was dirty, messy, some covered in stains, some stunk, some even stroke me with surprise for their unbelievable uselessness. However, some reminded me of home, the one I had ten years ago. In that exact corner of the room, with that exact jewelry, I was looking at myself in the mirror, wearing a cheap wooden necklace, and thinking: "Nope. Never again." It went straight to my childhood box for years and years, so one day, one random day, to be discovered again. That day was today. Sunday, 11th July, 2016. I stared at the wooden necklace for minutes, held it tight in silence, and put it in the throw-away box. In the process of cleaning, certain things are meant to remind us of ourselves and be placed proudly on top of the shelves, some, however, should be remembered in our heart not as an object but a dearly memory. Therefore, its past belongs to the trash. Its presence stays. Its future remains unclear. 

I threw away a lot of 'wooden necklaces' today. I also kept plenty. New 'wooden necklaces' will soon fill this room. A piano, a white table for pattern cutting, a sewing machine, perhaps soon, a mannequin.

A picture book of artist Bui Xuan Phai was found next to my old bookshelf. Such a beautiful product of technology and dreams. Written in English and French, full of paintings and sketches. I wasn't surfing the book. I was detaching it. Chunks of paper were glued by moss and dirt. The end of it had an ancient corpse of a young brownish spider. As if the grief of ruined beauty couldn't get any sadder, a Japanese notebook came up in the same condition. Goodbye friends. I will find you in another copy and we'll soon meet again. 

Tomorrow will be busy. I'm up for it with all my heart. Today has been a ride of sweat and smiles. I rewarded myself with a bowl of ramen, Earl Grey, and hot chocolate at Tadioto. You know I'm happy. Now is the time for a good sleep and a definitive enter. I'll hit Publish and on this side of the globe, we'll go to bed, while on the other side, people will close this post and go on with their lives. Some of them will clean their room today and find their own 'wooden necklaces'. Such random happiness, don't you think?

Earl Grey.

Miso, the saltiest option.

Reminds me of an African cult.

Is it some kind of mother goddess worshipping? 

An illustration in the Mekong Review.

I found it under this. Will try the yellow bottle next time.

They put a branch of leaves up there. Lime leaves?

"IT'S MIDNIGHT AND THE MIND WANDERS."

I wake up every morning and think "I'm so lucky to be alive today."

Even when I'm sad, I still think I'm lucky.

Sadness and happiness only exist in the mind. I can hold onto neither of them and they have no physical or mental influence on me. Those states of mind fuel the incognito personality that a person rarely shows. Whether he or she is a devil or an angel, it certainly represents something human. 

Most of the time I don't know what is the right thing to say. People I've met are messier than I am. 

It's a lie to say that creativity is original. The moment I do something creative, I commit a crime. If my work is an obvious copy, shame on me. If my work delivers a specific kind of authenticity, jokes on me. Whatever it is, as long as it's creative, it's not original.

France. The museums, the music in the streets, the pastries, the cafes, the buildings and rude people, thiefs. Singapore. Lively nightlife, various cultures, Eastern body with Western soul, MM6, $12 pack of cigarettes. 

"It's midnight and the mind wanders.", said my friend who I believe to stay up late a lot. My dear, best things happen at midnight. I want to do something crazy, risky and magical with someone in a strange place at midnight. Perhaps I only need to walk the streets with the right one. 

Midnight is happening. Open your eyes and charge your phone because crazy humans will stay up late and post something weird.