Tag Archives: Leaves

New York, On My Mind

Operation Keep Smiling

1 Comment

When work and life were really, really challenging in Malaysia two and some years ago, my mum told me not to let it get the better of me. She told me not to let external circumstances take away my usual cheerfulness and joie de vivre. For a while, I did and it was terrible. I’m trying really hard not to do that again.

To keep myself focused on the present rather than worrying (too much) about the future, I started taking pictures of everything I see that makes me smile. Not only has this helped me remember what smiling is, but it has also provided a physical representation of what it means to feel happy. I’ve only been at it for four days, but I notice that I’m looking around a lot more curiously because I want things to smile about. It just feels better.

img_0216
Chess table in Tompkins Square Park. I immediately thought about how much fun I would have with this picture if I were an English teacher, or even a student in a creative writing class. I’ve always loved images as story starters and have used them with middle school social studies students. If I were to write a story using this image, it would involve two elderly gentlemen, a pair of small children, and at least one squirrel.
img_0217
I love cars. Old cars, flashy new cars, sports cars, muscle cars. But I smiled at this one because it was so teensy! That unfortunately doesn’t come across very well here because of the angle (note to self: perspective) but I smiled when I saw it.

Someone, or several someones, left chalk messages along Avenue A, around and south of 10th. The actual quote, which I really like, reads, “Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream by night.” Regardless, it was a good reminder to keep dreaming, even when dreaming stems from and results in pain.

img_0218
Artistic license . . . but sometimes the original works better!
img_0219
Sunday evening in Harlem on my way home from Manhattanville Coffee, where I ran into a friend I haven’t seen in five years who is apparently a regular!
img_0220
It took me a minute to catch the text over on the right. Couldn’t have said it better myself.
img_0221
This gave me a giggle. If I needed a haircut, I’d go there just because of the clever sign. Which is precisely the point.

I usually attempt to read the graffiti that I pass, but it wasn’t until I’d walked a few more feet that my brain processed what this wall said. I laughed and backtracked to take a picture because it precisely echoes everything I feel like saying to everyone.

img_0222

Operation Keep Smiling, over and out.

 

Singapore

To the treetops!

2 Comments

There’s a lot of green Singapore, the self-styled City in a Garden, but it’s a city all the same. After three weeks in wintery upstate New York and one week sweating in the city, a group of us decided to go for a hike to actually forget that we were in a city (and to reacclimatize to tropical heat).

We chose the Treetop Walk at MacRitchie Reservoir for this morning’s hike, which was swelteringly hot and really beautiful.

No city here, right?!

We exchanged road overpasses for a suspension bridge over a rainforest.

P1060352

View from the bridge, with the reservoir and Singapore Island Country Club’s golf course in the distance:

P1060357

City? What city?

A couple cool shots looking down off the bridge:

P1060360

P1060353

In addition to flora, we also saw quite a bit of fauna! Most of the monkeys scampered off through the trees as soon as they saw cameras, and one bounded straight towards my friend as she tried to get a picture with it. Another headed for a fellow hiker’s bag until other hikers’ yelling warned it off. This one, however, remained still enough and close enough for a quick photo:

We also met a lizard, a much easier photo subject:

P1060366

All in all, it was a very serene way to spend a morning, and we even managed to beat the tropical downpour by about 20 minutes. I was also pleased to see the trails populated with families. In a city that is so connected to technology, so much so that it’s rare to see someone walking down a street without his or her face in a phone, it’s really important to get outside and spend a little time in the real world.

Happy trails!

P1060364

 

On My Mind

Fall/Autumn/October

2 Comments

Fall

I heard on the radio this morning that it’s 10 degrees warmer than average for this time of year, which is a) exciting because it’s been just beautiful out, b) ironic because I work indoors during the school year and outdoors during the summer and I think it’s been nicer for the last couple weeks than it was for a good bit of summer, and c) scary because it means the cold is going to come on hard.

Happy hump day!