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Only You Can Figure It Out

Today I brought a young visiting couple from Shanghai to see my version of the world in this tiny little city of Hong Kong.  They were not looking for comfort, they were not rushing, they were curious.  So I had the freedom to show them around not worrying too much whether they like it or not.  Imagine you had those young minds regardless of your age, you will have no shortage of teachers.

I was hauling 3 analogue cameras trying to spend all the films left in them, it was great fun, plain shooting at anything as I pleased.  At the back of my mind, there was this phone call from Mom being nervous about Dad's condition, whom called my name in bed with huge discomforts in the afternoon.  On my left shoulder, a camera bag from Korea I was testing, compact and light at relatively low price.  Bringing friends to shops I know, chatting with owners and telling stories, finding pleasures in every turn of events.  Finding tiny pleasures while I can, that's probably the single most important constant I can find in life.

Don't look down at them tiny pleasures, they always show you something beautiful.  When you taste that delicious feedback loop, you will never quit.  No matter how bad a trade show would look, I keep walking, and walking and telling myself "that's not it!" until I found something interesting or somebody worth chatting to.  Next week it is going to be a Taiwan trip, let's see whom I'll meet or what I'll find.

The secret of a balanced life?  There is no balanced life I figured, there is just constants, which ones you hold onto, it is just up to you.  Again, City Slickers quote "just one thing, you stick to it and the rest don't mean shit… that's what you have to find out."

A short time to regroup your thinking (Feb, Tokyo)

A beam of warm sunlight and fresh air from outside of an airport (Feb, Tokyo)

A burst of inspirations from objects (Feb, Tokyo)

A sense of peace at your desk (Feb, Hong Kong)

 

 

 

A glimpse of people's lives from photos (Feb, Tokyo)

That's all.  Tiny pleasures.

Shelves and Shelves of Treasured Things and Stories to Tell

If I were to have my own place (gee it is almost impossible now given the high property price here in Hong Kong and I am probably too late, too unwilling to work my butts off giving my entire salary to mortgage), I would have all walls filled with bookshelves, custom made or genuine trays of the letterpress shelves, boxes and blackboards etc to build memories, concepts and ideas.

In these shelves/trays, they hold small chunks of memories though collection of objects and visuals.  Each object tells a story of my adventures, places I've been to and concepts coming from my little brain.  A real life Akashic Record of myself open to everybody.  I don't know what it means in front of God, or if it means anything to anybody, but at least being able to see those shelves of my life in my mind already gives me the basic grasp of who I am, that's what life is about isn't it?  To discover yourself.  Now I accept donations :P

We Had No Idea What Was Precious

I feel terribly proud to live and be born in this magic place called Hong Kong.  The hub of many things, the opportunities it unveils, the speed and flexibility it embraces…. .  In the movie The Book of Eli, Danzel Washington acting as Eli said to a young woman "People had more than they needed, we had no idea what was precious or wasn't, we threw away things people would kill each other for now."

We are definitely in the era of abundance now.  We have things people before us (and after?) would be in awe of.  That's how treasurable these "things" are.  Well, refrained myself from being too far away in thoughts, here's what I got earlier this month from small shops here in Hong Kong: Waxed nylon thread @HK$50, leather buttons HK$63, Mink oil HK$36, metal rings HK$26.

The other stuffs I got earlier are just around HK$10 each.  Thank you for letting me to live in this time and this place.