39 going on 40

Justin Bieber - a phenomenon us old folks will never understand. Story told to me by J, as we had our fairly decent coffee.
A good friend YM, when wishing me happy birthday, reminded me that this will be the last year we would both celebrate our 30-something. This had not crossed my mind. 

Since J and I have no children of our own, we are seldom reminded of our age. Growing old is something you often observe more in others than yourself. Whether in a child - "Ah, how tall you are... what, you are in Primary One already!" - or in your parents - "Wow, dad just turned 75, should really spend more time with him and take care of him." In this way aging is externalised. Until our bodies, flesh, start to fail us. 

Of course, this blog is also a marker of time. An external record of many internal journeys.

I took a day off from work. But unlike our more "adventurous" domestic travels in past years recorded on this blog, J and I settled for a more modest day of reading in bed, lunch at a Toa Payoh foodcourt, visiting the Singapore Tyler Print Institute and its gentrified neighbourhood where we had a fairly decent cup of coffee, before ending the day with a run and a home-cooked dinner...


What can never be repeated enough is this - that there is immense creative talent in Singapore, as with any other city or state - as long as we persevere and not let our environments or our insecurities and pride defeat us. And so it is with age. Until our bodies, flesh, lie to rest. 

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