Baking Dreams

"Someone once told me this: Love is a rubber band. It can either be stretched to its limit so that it can hold the most number of things, or it can be stretched till it breaks. If you stretch till it breaks, it means that the relationship will not last. The one who stretches the rubber band is reality. No matter how much two lovers love each other, reality will stretch that love. Whether it holds or breaks doesn't just depend on how strong the love is. It depends on how aggressively reality is stretching as well."

"Have you broken a rubber band before?"

"Who hasn't?"

- Low Kay Hwa, A Singapore Love Story

 
As a child, Whitney Houston was my best-loved singer. 

Whitney was a testament that true singers had a gift with the voice. She didn't need backup dancers, sexual innuendo, nudity, or the sound-effect frills that plague too many modern tunes these days. I felt great sorrow when she passed on on Feb 11, 2012. 

Her voice will always be loved and remembered by many. 

My favourite was the ballad, Didn't we almost have it all. 

Touching and deeply soulful, Whitney's voice belted out lyrics describing a love that was once pure and now gone. 12 years ago, soon after I broke up with my first love, I listened to it continuously for nearly a year (and on-and-off). 

The song still touches me today. It's a classic that I'll always return to. 


Watch youtube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfSTqtv1dc8





Remember when we held on in the rain
The nights we almost lost it
Once again we can take the night into tomorrow
Living on feelings
Touching you I feel it all again

Chorus:
Didn't we almost have it all
When love was all we had worth giving?
The ride with you was worth the fall my friend
Loving you makes life worth living
Didn't we almost have it all
The nights we held on till the morning
You know you'll never love that way again
Didn't we almost have it all

The way you used to touch me felt so fine
We kept our hearts together down the line 
A moment in the soul can last forever
Comfort and keep us
Help me bring the feeling back again

(Chorus)

Bridge
Didn't we have the best of times
when love was young and new
couldn't we reach inside and find 
the love of me and you
we'll never lose it again
cause once you know what love is you'll never let it end

Chorus:
Didn't we almost have it all
The night we held on till the morning
You know you'll never love that way again
Didn't we almost have it all
Didn't we almost have it all
(End)

 Here's a long overdue post on the fun stuff that happened during my Birthday :)

This year, the b-day fell on a Sunday. So on Friday, at the office, at exactly 4pm, my boss ushered everyone into the conference room with great urgency. I was like eh??? cause I had NO idea there was going to be a meeting or anything.

Except that when I entered the conference room, I was greeted by a pretty little cake, my smiling boss, and a bunch of staff who were more than happy to have cake in the middle of the day :D

The weekend flew by pretty fast. The family pretty much forgot (Dad went to vietnam, my youngest brother went to KL to see our other brother. Ok in all fairness my youngest brother did send his wishes on Facebook...). But meh...

Cause on Monday, my supervisor suddenly sent me a message, "OK, all the editors are going to bring you out for lunch! We will blindfold you - whatever we feed you, you must swallow today! We leave exactly at 12pm and get a cab to harbourfront!!"

I convinced them to skip the blindfolding, but everything else - trip to harbourfront, Pizza Hut for lunch - i even received gifts from my supervisor - happened in a whirlwind of laughter, smiles, and pizza-hungry editors.

I nearly cried. What did I do to deserve their generosity?

In all the (now) 26 years of my life, I never dreamed that I would have a group of co-workers as giving as those seated around my office cubicle. The rest of the day, I remained confused, stunned, mildly guilty, sad, happy, intensely appreciative and deeply undeserving of the people I worked with.

Stunned cause I didn't know that co-workers could be this good.

Confused cause I wondered where the hell they came from, and why the hell they'd be so good to me. 

Guilty cause of my previous preconceptions of working in super-kiasu-laden Singapore - where most people are bloody competitive - only to realize I was downright wrong to think some people were out to usurp when all they desired was to give me the best Birthday they could.

Happy cause... well, obviously.

Sad cause the people who I'd thought would remember, didn't. 

Intensely appreciative, cause, well..... whatever, you get it, right?

And typing all this, I deeply comprehend the circumstances whereby the mish-mash of entirely contradicting emotions will mingle together and smite you in the face with a thoroughly sleepless night.

Love.