Simplicity

Doesn't take much to make me happy. Really.

Food. Simple, honest food.

I don't mind it. A plate of steamed chicken on fragrant rice cooked in chicken broth and ginger. Sweet pickled cucumber slices on the side. A boiled egg stained dark with sauce. A cup of plain-tasting soup, simple in its complexity alongside the rice and the chicken and the cucumbers.

A cup of hot sweet tea with condensed milk.

And on a humid, rainy day, it seemed far more than adequate to satisfy my many many wants and needs.

A light breeze blew in my general direction, bringing the heavy coppery metal scent of rain in the air. Cars tooted and water splashed everywhere as huge trucks ambled by. Power suits, black and grey, stained the sidewalks as brightly coloured umbrellas opened up against the heavens.

And amidst the busyness of the morning, I sat watching the tall bamboo plant drifting slowly, leisurely, remembering a time when life was not hectic. It was pleasant. Really.

Sometimes, I wonder whether simplicity would ever have a place in human existence. I honestly do.

And sometimes, I wonder whether I would be able to put my smartphone aside and turn off my computer and just be, without wondering how many emails I would be getting and that I have events on my calender that needs reviewing or what the latest news is in the world around me. I've forgotten that an entire world and atmosphere exists right in front of me but yet, I look to my phone to get my daily updates. Shocking, no?

I would like (and the emphasis, perhaps, would be on the world "like") to be able to wake up in the morning and not reach for my Friendstream on my phone to check up what everyone else is up to. I would like to wake up and not turn on my laptop. I would like to  be able to walk down to the bus stop without having music pumped into my ears. I want to be able to enjoy the simpler things in life.

But life is all about hurrying now, is it not? One after the other, a continuous to-do list that never seems to get done. Always something to buy, something to get, something to earn. And we never get enough time to sit back and actually enjoy what we have bought, what we have gotten, what we have earned with our bare hands and our intellect.

Hm.

I think sipping green tea in a slightly darkened room at work does this to me. Yeah, it puts me in more of a melancholic state than I would usually prefer.

And the girlfriend is down for our combined birthdays, yay!

P.S. I want to get a moleskine and start writing a la Hemingway. And I'm also drooling over this folio to store all my important stuff. Heh.

P.P.S I find it also ironic that I'm blogging about being able to let go and yet, I'm already craving something else to buy. LOL.