A Dark Cloud

There has been a dark cloud in
the sky of my life

Should have responded earlier
To persuade the rainbow to peep through
But I procrastinated
And now the storm is brewing

I worry, I'm heartsick
I don't know how to make the hurt go away
And let the rays of sunshine
In again.

A little while back we were
All basking in the golden warmth
Now it seems eons ago.

All I can do is pray.

Joaquin Miller

I was surfing blogs, and I came upon this poem,
And I absolutely "connected" with it
So I decided to reproduce it here...

Its a poem about Christopher Columbus by Joaquin Miller:

Behind him lay the gray Azores,
Behind the gates of Hercules;
Before him not the ghost of shores,
Before him only shorless seas.
The good Mate said, "Now we must pray,
For lo! the very stars are gone.
Brave Admiral, speak, what shall I say?"
"Why say, 'Sail on! sail on! and on!

"My men grow mutinous day by day;
My men grow ghastly wan and weak!
"The stout Mate thought of home; a spray
Of salt wavewashed his swarthy cheek.
"What shall I say, brave Admiral, say,
If we sight naught but seas at dawn?"
"Why, you shall say at break of day,
'Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!'

"They sailed. They sailed. Then spake the Mate;
"This mad sea shows its teeth tonight.
"He curls his lip, he lies in wait,
With lifted teeth, as if to bite!
"Brave Admiral, say but one good word;
What shall we do when hope is gone?
"The words leapt like a leaping sword;
"Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!

"Then, pale and worn, he kept his deck
And peered through darkness. Ah! that night
Of all dark nights! And then a speck --
A light! A light! A light! A light!
It grew, a starlit flag unfurled!
It grew to be Time's burst of dawn.
He gained a world; he gave that world
It's greatest lesson: "On! sail on!"

Rezeki

Yesterday we decided to get a DVD player
Our old VCD player is that, OLD
Its not even ours, it was something that we "inherited"
from hubby's brother. He he he..

But it has served us well...
I think all newly married couples with brand new half-furnished flats
Could probably relate.. (and commiserate?) :-)

Anyway, we spied a good deal at Toa Payoh
Local brand (Ichiban)
Only $88
"Can it play pirated VCDs?" I asked
(For curiosity's sake only, of course)
"Oh this brand LOVES pirated VCDs!
Even better than original ones," joked the sales person.

So we grabbed one.
Another customer was also sold.
"Get one for me too."

So in high spirits we drove back home
With our brand new toy
And on the way, we heard over the radio
That there is an X-Box giveaway with Max online packages
If we sign up at the road show
That ends that day.

Now we've been debating whether to get broadband or not
For quite a while
We have been using SingTel dial-up.
And since we don't use often
It does not cost that much.

But hubby so wants the X-Box
I would rather not get one
But since he has been waiting for this offer for ages
I thought, Oh well, let him be happy

And so we went to Suntec
It was hell to get parking
The queue to the entrance of Suntec started
At Nicholl Highway

Nerves were fraying
"Should have come earlier"
muttered the old guy grumpily.

We managed to find a parking lot
At the other end of Suntec
From where the It Show was held.
Nevertheless, we gamely brisk-walked the whole way through
And reached the Show at 8.15 pm
(The IT SHow was to end at 9)

We reached the Starhub booth
There was a long queue
Snaking in three or four rows

"Are you sure about this? Its $70 a month"
That was me.
Grinning like a kid, nodding enthusiatically
was the ex-grumpy old man-turn-toddler with new toy.

So we queued.
We reached the beginning of the line at 9pm.
The place was still buzzing with activity
The queue still just as long, if not longer...

We settled payment, then was told
"Around the corner is a lucky dip"

So we walked around the corner.
Hubby was told to throw a ball which would land
In one of many spots with different labels:
"Zara voucher", "Brittanica" were just a few that I can recall.
Our ball landed in "Starhub"

I remember feeling disappointed
Thinking its just a voucher, or subscription reduction of sorts
The staff around was suddenly abuzzed
"Starhub, starhub" they whispered

We were shown 5 envelopes.
Hubby was about to choose the middle.
He touched it. I stopped him. "Let me choose".
I did.

My envelope was a 14 inch Thompson colour TV!
Joy!

Alhamdulillah!!

After 5 minutes of paperwork,
The Starhub staff took the TV out and handed it to my hubby to
Cradle, like a baby.

And so he did, all the way, as we took the long brisk walk back to our car.
His arms were aching
But his grin never failed.
He he he...

Cat woes

My cat is missing.. sob sob sob...
It was a love and hate relationship

Highly annoying when she mewed outside my bedroom door, wanting to come in...
And she would always bite
And appear at my feet when you don't expect her.

And she likes to sleep in the kitchen right in front of the stove..
I accidentally stepped on her a few times.. And woke her up from her snooze...
She must have hated me then.. he he he..

But she can be sooo affectionate...
And she will come running when we come home...

And she was so skinny when we got her
But we fed her so much she grew pretty big...

But now she is lost!
And we have not neutered her yet!

Oh dear...

New Skin

I've got a new skin, but I don't know how to activate the comment function..
My fiddling around with changing of skins depends largely on what is already inherent
In the skin I "shopped" for at blogskins...

But it is fun, like changing clothes...

He he he...