As a Muslim, I believe in kifarah. Kifarah is basically an Islamic term for karma. ‘What goes around comes around’. The good deeds that you do are the start of a cycle and a chain reaction that affect mankind, inadvertently. You may not experience the reward instantly, but eventually.
I’m gonna tell about a random moment of kindness that I’ve just experienced sometime around last month (or maybe last two months). I’m currently residing in an over-packed high-residential area where parking spots have always been the greatest hassle. It was always packed, and my last and most convenient resort is to double-park (no worries, I put my gear on neutral and have the handbrake down). I’ve always and still go out to work pretty early, way earlier than I should have, because I’m a nerd who live by the rules and routines (orz). Anyways, it’s almost never a problem for me when I double-park as I go out earlier than most people, so all I gotta do is start the engine and go.
However, that one fine day, my car was stucked in between 2 other cars (which was also double-parked) which was usually fine, but this time they were a little tooclosely parked to mine, bumper against bumper. And there was no way I could move my car except to push those 2 cars to a certain distance where I can make my way out. Given that those 2 cars were Kancil or Myvi or anything of that sort, I might be able to push with some effort. Unfortunately for me, they were sedans.
And shamefully, my ‘kudrat’/ strength as a girl (who have maybe about 20% body muscle) is not that strong to push 2 sedans out of the way. *facepalm*
Anyways, an uncle who was, I guess, rushing to work as well and was just pushing some cars which was double-parked in front of his, saw me. And he was just shaking his head and gave a faint smile (macam nak cakap ‘haihh kesian’ & ‘gerenti kau tak boleh tolak’) and went straight into his car to warm the engine. But somehow, maybe after witnessing my failure and how the 2 sedans did not even budged when I tried pushing, he rushed out of his car, and came to my rescue.
He was all like, ‘you pergi start engine‘ and started pushing those 2 sedans out of the way, which only took him seconds. *lol* I thanked him repeatedly, and could not have imagined if nobody was there to help, I might be late to work. Or simply call for Uber/Grab. Thank God for that uncle. I dont know who he was (although I do recognize his car), but I prayed that whatever his business, it will be eased just like he eased my way to work.
On the other hand, this reminds me that I really need to work on my muscles.
Little Miss Sunshine is a comedy-drama film, starring Academy Award, Golden Globe Award as well as Emmy Award nominees and winners, Steve Carell, Paul Dano, Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Abigal Breslin and Alan Arkin. The film itself was nominated for four Academy Awards and won two: Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor for Alan Arkin.
The film depicts the imperfections and issues faced by an American family and focuses on their road journey from Albuquerque, New Mexico to California just so that the daughter could participate in a beauty contest called ‘Little Miss Sunshine’. Hence, the title.
Before we start with the message and lessons learnt from the film, let’s look at the main and only characters of each member of this small family. The family consists of the following:
The Dad, Richard Hoover (played by Greg Kinnear), a self-proclaimed ‘life-coach’ who constantly and annoyingly pressed the family about ‘winners and losers’ and the 9 steps ’Refuse to Lose’ programme,
The Mom, Sheryl Hoover (played by Toni Collette), an overworked mother who was a divorcee before marrying the Dad,
The Uncle, Frank Ginsberg (played by Steve Carell), the Mom’s little brother, a gay, depressed and suicidal pre-eminent Proust Scholar in the US,
The Brother, Dwayne Hoover (played by Paul Dano), a Nietszche-loving 16-year old young chap who desires to be a pilot and has taken a vow of silence until he achieve that particular dream,
The Little Daughter, Olive Hoover (played by Abigail Breslin), a 7 year old chubby and spectacled little girl who yearns to become a beauty queen and participated in the Little Miss Sunshine beauty contest.
The Grandpa, Edwin Hoover (played by Alan Arkin), the heroin-snorter grandfather who also couched the little daughter for her routine on the upcoming Little Miss Sunshine.
Their road journey started when Olive was eligible for the Little Miss Sunshine beauty contest at Redondo Beach, California and the whole family was forced to travel in a yellow Volkswagen microbus, a journey they can barely afford, just to see her compete.
The philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche.
Friedrich Nietzsche was a famous German philosopher, with great, well-known and powerful works among which includes ‘The Will to Power’, ‘Beyond Good and Evil’, ‘Thus Spoke Zarathustra’ etc. Nietzsche was known for his criticisms of the traditional European morality and religion, and he was often associated with a group of late modern thinkers such as Marx and Freud.
In Little Miss Sunshine, the association of Nietzsche can be clearly seen on Dwayne Hoover’s character, who was a Nietzsche-loving teenager. Dwayne, played by Paul Dano, can be seen reading Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra in bed before he sleeps as well as along the journey to California and a large portrait of Nietzsche hanging at his bedroom wall. He can also be seen wearing a yellow shirt with bold black words ‘Jesus Was Wrong’ printed on it as well as another white shirt with an image of Nietzsche printed on it.
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The concept of philosophies by Nietzsche highlighted in the film was of Nihilism, Will to Power and Ubermensch.
Nihilism came from the Latin word ‘nihil’ which means nothing. It also appears in the verb ‘annihilate’ which means to destroy or bring to nothing. From Nietzsche’s point of view, nihilism is ‘not only the belief that everything deserves to perish; but one actually puts one’s shoulder to the plough; one destroys’ (Will To Power). In simpler words, nihilism is the belief of extreme pessismism and radical scepticism, whereby a nihilist believes in nothing, has no loyalties and no purpose except to destroy. Nihilism is often an opposition to moral and religious values as it is a belief that denies the existence of truth and God by denying the validity of those values and their binding obligations upon humanity.
Will to Power (der Wille zur Macht) is one of Nietzsche’s greatest works, focusing on the human will. Nietzsche believes that the will to power is stronger than the will to survive as can be observed with martyrs willing to die for a cause that they feel gives them greater power. It is also considered stronger than the will to sex, as can be witnessed with monks renouncing sex for a greater cause that they believe in (sparknotes.com)Basically Nietzsche highlighted that the will to power is more of an inward force of personal mastery rather than the mastery over others. In a much simpler word, the will to power reflects the power exerted by human in the struggles to quench their desires.
Ubermesnch translated to superhuman/overman, a phrase from Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra. The concept of Ubermensch according to Nietzsche would simply means the concept of willingness to risk everything for the sake of enhancement of humanity. In a much simpler word, overman is someone who has his own values with the capability to affect others, values independent of others and of herd instincts.
In relation to Little Miss Sunshine, Dwayne’s character has successfully, though not perfectly captures all the 3 concept of philosophies highlighted by Nietzsche.
The concept of nihilism can be seen with Dwayne’s confession of him hating everyone, saying that they were losers and that he did not want to be like them. His shirt with a print of ‘Jesus Was Wrong’ was an association to Nietzsche’s view of nihilism although he did misunderstood Nietzsche with the act of hating everyone when what Nietzsche really tried to convey was nihilism is actually an affirmation of an authentic life unbound by false values.
The concept of will to power and Ubermensch can be seen with Dwayne’s vow of silence in order to achieve his dream to become a pilot. In one of the conversation between Frank and Dwayne in the film, whereby Frank questioned, ‘You don’t speak because of Friedrich Nietzsche?’ was the portrayal of Dwayne’s will to power, which he have gotten from reading Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Having his dream crushed towards the ending of the film reflects Nietzsche’s concept of Ubermensch, where Dwayne realizes that the only thing that matters is his individual will and power to be what he wanted to be regardless of the view of others,
‘…And fuck the Air Force Academy, If I want to fly, I’ll find a way to fly. You do what you love, and fuck the rest.’
2. Marcel Proust.
Marcel Proust was a French novelist, one of the most influential in the 20th century, well-known for his views on pop culture. His best well-known work was a novel of seven volumes, called A la recherché du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time) which he did not had a chance to complete before his death.
Basically, Proust’s In Search of Lost Time captures the sources of the meaning of life through the story of Proust himself, in his search for the purpose of life. The book was also an effort of Proust to help others, as his father, Adrien Proust did as one of the greatest doctors in France (thebookoflife.org).
In Search of Lost Time explore social success as one of the sources for a meaningful life. As someone who was born in a great and well-known household, Proust thought that life will be meaningful if he could join the social circles of those higher in hierarchy but was soon disappointed to come to realization that most of those ‘high-class’ society was not as extraordinary but rather, boring, cruel and mean. Hence, Proust highlighted that virtues and vices are scattered throughout the population regardless of income and social hierarchy.
The second source towards a meaningful life, according to Proust, was love. He believed that with the promise of love, came an understanding from one lover to another, and for that lovers can never be alone.
The third and most relatable source of a meaningful life, was art. Proust differentiated art with habits, whereby habits dull our senses and ruined us with familiarity, preventing us from appreciating the beauty of even the smallest things in life. Artist, as stated by Proust, are people who stripped away habits by looking at the world generously at a wider spectrum.
In Search of Lost Time taught readers to appreciate life in every moment while they lasts, the good, bad and ugly. Those moments are the monumental proof of what life really means and feels like.
In relation to Little Miss Sunshine, an obvious character portrayal would be Frank Ginsberg, the pre-eminent Proust Scholar in the United States. The film starts with Frank confessing his failed suicide attempt to Olive, stating that he was very unhappy. According to him, the events unfolding towards him actually tried committing suicide was falling in love with his male grad student who did not love him back-that boy he was in love with fell in love with Larry Sugarman, who is the ‘second most highly regarded Proust Scholar in the US’-he was upset and said things he should not have said and done things he should not have done-he was kicked out of his job-he was forced out of his apartment and had to move in a motel-the MacArthur Foundation awarded a genius grant to Larry Sugarman. Frank easily relates to the French novelist, Marcel Proust, as in being gay and his unrequited love affair with a guy, not to mention that he is actually a Proust Scholar.
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In the words of Frank himself in a dialogue with Dwayne about wanting to sleep high school, Marcel Proust was a,
‘French writer. Total loser. Never had a real job. Unrequited love affairs. Gay. Spent 20 years writing a book almost no one reads. But he’s also probably the greatest writer since Shakespeare. Anyway, he uh-…he gets down to the end of his life and he looks back and decides that all those years he suffered, those were the best years of his life because they made him who he was. All the years he was happy? You know, total waste. Didn’t learn a thing. So, if you sleep until you’re 18, ah think of the suffering you’re gonna miss. I mean, high school? High school – those are your prime suffering years. You don’t get better suffering than that.’
3. Beauty Contest.
Little Miss Sunshine in it’s infinite yet hidden wisdom, actually exposed us to the American beauty standards and how human beings, as young as six and seven year olds are not excepted from this standards through various beauty contests held.
Source: Tumblr
The opening of the film itself, showing Olive imitating a beauty queen from a television programme, reflects how the beauty standard set by society affects even those of younger age. Those age at which little girls should think of having fun and being happy and explore the world instead of diet pills, heavy adult-like makeup and staying skinny.
From the Little Miss Sunshine beauty contest, it can be clearly seen that the young contestants were hyper-sexualised, competing with revealing swimwear and excessive doll-like makeup. Most contestants have the same facial features and body figure, fake tans and skinny bodies – the American beauty standard.
Which brought us to the scene when Richard and Dwayne, after witnessing those young contestants on stage and how they were heavily judged, decides to pull Olive out of it, worrying that people would laugh at her as she’s not ‘beauty queen material’. The idea was however, rejected by Sheryl, with her saying, ‘Olive is who she is. She has worked so hard. She has poured everything into this. We cant just take it away from her. We cant. I know you wanna protect her, I know honey. But we gotta let Olive be Olive.’
Eventually, Olive stayed to compete, in her own uniquely-ridiculous way. And that was one of the highlights of the film.
4. Family.
From the start to finish of the film, we are offered the views of a tense family on the verge of exploding. The issues of bankruptcy, stress and loss can be felt together throughout the whole story. However, each one of them was somehow overcame with the power of togetherness, family.
They might not be the perfect family. Each protagonist has his and her own problems to be dealt with. But having each others back helped them overcome each struggle that came their way.
For instance, their exceptional teamwork can be seen when dealing with the breakdown of the VW microbus. Despite their occasional lashings at each other, they still work together in order to get the van moving so that Olive can reach the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant on time. It can also be seen when Olive was almost threw off stage for her somehow ‘inappropriate’ dancing routine but the whole family came together to protect her and make her feel comfortable on stage.
Source: Tumblr
When it comes to the theme of love within the family, Dwayne was the character that portrays it the most despite the ‘i-hate-everyone’ demeanour he shows on the surface. When Olive was accidentally abandoned at the gas station, Dwayne was the only one who noticed her disappearance and alerted the other family members. He was also the one who instruct Olive to hug Sheryl when she cried at the hospital, revealing that he actually cares for his Mom despite his reluctance to show it. During his major breakdown, no one but Olive could soothe him, wordlessly at that too. And when Olive was about to go on stage to showcase her routine, he was worried that she would be laughed and judged at and decided to talk her out of it to protect her from the viciously-judgemental crowd.
In a nutshell, Little Miss Sunshine portrays some hidden yet powerful message about being yourself, achieving your dreams, appreciating life and the strength of family. Despite the countless and somewhat ridiculous beauty standards set by society or those who makes money out of it, every single one of us should be thankful for who we are. Beauty is not definitively fair skin, slim figure or long eyelashes. It’s whoever and whatever you are. And you are the person who should have notice it first before anybody else. Be an Ubermensch if you can possibly be, a person with an ultimate power of your own values regardless of the thoughts of others. Struggle and failure is an essence of life. Life is not all about winning. You don’t learn much without losing. So, appreciate each and every losing moments in life. The best love is family love. When nobody else have your back, family will be there for you through thick and thin because ultimately, to be strong is to be together. And that’s exactly what a family offers.
Quoting from Dwayne himself,
‘Fuck beauty contests. Life is one beauty contest after another.’
Regardless of how you look or how well you do in life, you will always be judged. So ‘do what you love and fuck the rest.’ The only judgement that matters is His.
It’s an underrated film, with witty, funny and ridiculously-scripted screenplay accompanied with a strong message for society of all ages. And like most underrated films, it’s definitely one of my all-time favorites.
I remembered watching this back in 2013 and it widened my perspective on learning and self-worth, and most importantly as the title stated, on ACCEPTANCE.
It’s a film that depicts the life of a high school graduate (Bartleby Gaines) trying to get himself accepted into various colleges, only to fail miserably. What he did in regards to the rejection is the main reason why this particular film turns out to be an interesting one.
Accepted has taught me quite a number of lessons, most of which I believe should be shared with everyone who’re willing to read this, especially to the younger generation going through all sorts of rejection in life.
YOUR EDUCATION DOES NOT DEFINE YOU.
A couple of months ago, I came upon several articles and ‘confessions’ posted through social medias by youths, or more specifically ‘angry’ youths of a particular university comparing themselves and their struggles against those experienced by students of other universities. A deliberate ‘debate’ was sparked up with students claiming and further comparing each other’s struggles about how other people got it easier than them and how the ‘product’ of university A is of lesser quality than the ‘product’ of university B.
We’ve been living in a society that compares about literally EVERYTHING. From education to who owns the latest pair of Nike shoes to who travelled to the most countries. Honestly, aren’t you people sick and tired of it?
I was once asked about what it felt like to be compared with students from another University and to be deemed ‘low quality’ in regards to my education.
Was I angry? Should I lash back at those who claimed so? Do I need to compare what I had gone through with what others had?
Well, here’s the big question. If I were to do all of that, WOULD IT HELP?
Instead of being angry and retaliate, all I got to do is to PROVE them wrong. Action screams louder than words, anyways.
Everyone and I mean everyone, should never be measured by their education. People should NOT be judged by their education but by their intelligence, character and attitude. You can graduate from the lowest ranking University in the whole wide world and you can still be the smartest and humblest person there is. Or you can be a graduate from the most prestigious University with an attitude that disregards other people’s opinions, feelings and sensitivities. Regardless of where you get an education from, it is never an excuse to undermine and condemn others.
The main point is education is not a measure of intelligence. So, why would people focus on the former instead of the latter? Where or what you study does not define you. You define you.
In relation to the film Accepted, even though Bartleby got rejected by every college he applied to, he went on to be the founder of another (South Harmon Institute of Technology), with creativity and passion-based curriculum, that ACCEPTS everyone. As opposed to the neighbouring ‘ivy-league’ college (Harmon Institute of Technology) who discriminates those whom they deemed not at par with their ‘standard’.
THE ROLE OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.
How many of you are studying a course that you’re actually interested in? Or are you just following the one and only path laid in front of you? Are you studying blindly just to secure your future, for the sake of getting a job and paying bills? Or are you applying your creativity and passion throughout the learning process? Does the educational system nowadays encourage us to follow our hearts or play it safe? I’ll bet on the latter.
In the film Accepted, South Harmon Institute of Technology offered their students to choose what they wanted to learn regardless of their grades. Since their curriculum focused solely on the student’s passion, learning became a fun and exciting process that each one of them look forward to everyday. Meanwhile, quoting from Bartleby’s speech in the film, ‘Harmon Institute of Technology’s tradition and curriculum puts so much pressure on kids turning them into stress-freak and caffeine-addicts’.
Educational institutions play a massive role in instilling knowledge by letting students express in their own creativity, not by spoon-feeding them with information just to prep them for examinations. How do you expect the younger generations to be great thinkers and changers when they are robbed of their own creativity and freedom of expressions? Victor Pinchuk once stated that, ‘Art, freedom and creativity will change society faster than politics’.
BE THE CHANGE.
Rejection hurts. Nobody likes being rejected, be it from your crush or from that dream job you applied to, or from your college applications. It is the nature of human beings to yearn to be accepted, to belong. Reality check, you’ll get rejected. Maybe just once, if you’re lucky. I got to say though, I’m pretty much unlucky.
Nevertheless, what matters most is how you deal with being rejected. Are you going to lie in bed and cry your eyes out for a month? Are you going to play the blame game and endlessly whine like it’s the end of the world? Or are you going to fight back with every part of you, change for the better and show the world what you’ve got?
I chose change. I’ve figured out that as much as you’d think that it’s impossible, it is possible to rely on yourself to make the big leap. Sometimes, all it takes is courage and believe it or not, you have it in you. Just have faith and search for it within yourself.
Rejection is not the end of the world. Life is full of possibilities. Rather than focusing on the fact of not being wanted, why not grasp the possibilities and make something out of them? Rather than waiting for the change to happen, why not be the change?
‘Everybody thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.’ – Leo Tolstoy.
When Bartleby got rejected from every college he applied to, he did not blame anybody for that nor did he beat himself up for the failure. Instead, he started his cunningly brilliant plan by starting his own college which would eventually made him realize of the possibilities that he had accidentally created for himself and for the students who enrolled at South Harmon.
All in all, Accepted taught us to accept ourselves even if nobody else does. Being rejected does not determine your self-worth and you are NOT the definition of those who have rejected you.
As the younger generation who will eventually be the future of our own country, we should embrace the differences between each other, the weaknesses and the strength. Let’s stop the comparisons and start building each other up. One that grows together will never be easily broken because ultimately, unity is strength.
I’ve had this thing when songs or music somehow define my feelings when I was at certain places. Something like a nostalgic flashback of when I was there, on what I was doing.
I’d associate the songs I was listening to on my way to any respective places and mark it as a memory. So that the next time I listened to that particular song, my mind will definitely wander back to that associated place.
It’s been more than a month since my trip to Bali. And as much as it ridicules me to admit this, I’m actually missing the place. The trip was not exactly amazing due to a couple of reasons, one of them including myself being reprimanded at Bali Airport on arrival for being a first-timer there. *roll-eyes*
Anyways, I’ve had a stressful month at work and that trip was kinda like a reward to myself, some sort of a short getaway. And I’m not even kidding about it being short. What would you expect from a 3-day trip to Bali? Well I can now say, not much. But still, I got to calm my ass down for those 3 days and let go of commitments at the office.
And I can now demand another place for honeymoon from my future husband because dude I’ve been to Bali.
I remembered taking a half-day leave from work to catch the flight to Bali. Took the ERL from TBS all the way to KLIA2. And that’s when I heard this particular song, a song that has been stucked in my head till now. A song I didn’t know it’s title until one day it randomly pops up while I was listening to some ‘Chill Hits’ on Spotify.
It was Zedd’s ft Alessia Cara, Stay.
They had that song at the mini TV? (idk what it’s supposed to be called) in the ERL. It was on loop and that was my first time listening to it. Did not gave it much thought.
But now, whenever I missed Bali, this song would just pops up in my head. And I’d miss Bali even more. Damn, the power of music.
Anyways, I guess I just missed being able to escape the stress and bullshit at work. How do people go through their life doing similar routine activities? I had to constantly tell myself that I have something to look forward to at the end of every week (that is not related to work), just so I can calm myself down. Just so I can feel like I actually have a life and I’m not a workaholic. Just so that I can keep myself, well, sane.
Life is indeed a tough crowd.
CR: A Clockwork Orange,by Anthony Burgess, pg. Introduction.
My week has been pretty boring and monotonous. Work has been slow and a wee bit relaxing after 2 weeks of rushing for tender. That’s definitely a relief on my part.
However as someone who listens to music pretty much on a daily basis regardless of my mood (an activity I’m not entirely proud of doing), I guess I’m just going to share the songs/music I’ve been shoving into my ears for this particular week.
As I’m writing this, my mind keeps on recalling the lyrics of Taylor Swift’s Never Grow Up, a song I used to constantly sing back when I was 17 years old. Back when I was literally living a hell of a life, back when I pushed myself through different types of crap shuffling in between getting myself kicked out of school, being a failure, being in denial of being a failure and questioning myself daily and excessively on which definition of a human being I was supposed to be.
God bless that golden age.
Growing up is a matter of perspective. Same goes for being childish. Each and every grown up should have a little child in them.
No, allow me to re-phrase that.
Each and every grown up should have, if not much, at least one thing, that brings out the child in them.
Search for it within yourself and give it a name. Does not matter if it’s an ice-cream, a balloon, video games, fairy tales, cartoons, old cards, a cup of hot Milo in the morning, a glass of milk at night, an old sketching from an early childhood, a photograph from your first trip to the pool, that report card from school that used to give you nags or rewards, the first storybook, that shy gorgeous boyish smile that seemed to hold the secrets of the Universe from your first love back in Primary 3, your first pet, that first Kad Raya you used to exchange with friends from class and a teeny-tiny 10sen attached in between the folds.
All those good times, sweet memories, layback moments, shrilling shouts, girly giggles before commitments and responsibilities came crashing in.
So, when was the first time I felt like a grown up?
I cannot answer that, not definitely.
Maybe on September last year when I first had a go at this ‘seems bloody exciting at first but not so much after a while‘ thing called work. Maybe for the past 2 weeks I spent without any weekends, concentrating on a seemingly endless task at the office. Maybe when I no longer have that privilege called time to catch up on TV series and Korean dramas, video games and even books. Maybe I pulled the panic cord maybe you were happy I was bored maybe I wanted you to change maybe I’m the one to blame (see what I did there).
Maybe when I started thinking in silent and out loud, about the future.
THE FUTURE.
That endless, long winding list of the what ifs and the it would be great ifs.
Let’s just cut this morbid crap and admit that I am in denial of growing up and growing old. I think everyone is. At some points in your life, you just wished that time would stop and you would stay that way forever. Stay at the age where heartbreaks, sadness, stress and discrimination have not even existed yet in your dictionary of life.
But then again, one of the many things that always reminds to never forgetting being a child is Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. The book have taught me sooo much about the feelings I’ve forgotten as I grew up to be who I am today. That child-like curiosity about almost everything and how a child will never let anything stand in his way of achieving what he wants even if he understands nothing. And to put his heart in everything, because:
Regardless of the nature of cities being bustling and hectic all the time, I’d still prefer living my life in them as compared to you know, by the sea-side or among the smell of greenery somewhere in the countryside.
If I were really, really ridiculously wealthy, I wouldnt buy a mansion, just tiny apartments in every city I love. – Mara Wilson
I cannot exactly explain how I could always somewhat find my peace and the surprising calmness amidst a surrounding that have always been known by most to offer none. All I know is being a part of something huge and the convenience of having almost everything easily accessible within my reach.
I remembered just sitting in the train or subway, and let it bring me from one end to another while I witness the growth of the city with my own eyes. I remembered joining in an educational visit to the rooftop of the Binjai tower with a couple of friends from class and getting the wrong building for an interview at the headquarters of JKR as a blessing in disguise as we were able to experience the magnificent view of Kuala Lumpur. I remembered the night view with the colors of lights from when I was at Double Tree by Hilton, that one time having sungkei with my family.
I’ve always imagined what the view would be like at the top floor of the Petronas Twin Towers. I’ve yet to reach the sky bridge connecting both towers even though I’ve been planning to do so for quite some time considering my frequent visits to KLCC.
So whenever I got questions asking me where I’d like to live my life, I’d certainly say the city. And being a realist and a very logically-thinking person, I’d choose the close vicinity of a city to most facilities rather than the sweet calmness offered by the beach or the fresh unpolluted air in the woods. I’m just not a nature-lover. I do love being among nature for once in a while but I dont think I can survive in it.
That being said, one of my biggest dreams that I have yet to achieve (or nearly impossible to achieve considering me being an 87% realist and 123% procrastinator) is to live in a loft. Somewhere in any city where I can witness the ever-magical view of dawn and sunset from my bed, somewhere I can just stare outside my window at the numbing sound of 3am when the city goes to sleep and ultimately, somewhere I can just easily get chicken nuggets in a couple of minutes so that I can Netflix and chill in content.
A rooftop with a greenhouse would be a massive plus.
I guess basically rooftops are one of my favorite places on Earth. And I have all the TV series and films to thank for putting these ideas and pretty views in me.
Beastly (2011)
Like how Kyle built a greenhouse from scratch and filled it with roses and shit to win over Lindy’s heart. He even proceed to reading her some sort of a poem right there and it was cinematic-ally beautiful.
Friends With Benefits (2011)
Remember when Jamie showed Dylan her favorite place on Earth after his interview and he ruined it later on when they had a fight at the same place about how Dylan told his mom about how Jamie is emotionally damaged when she indeed admitted being one? It was at the rooftop of 101 Park Avenue.
How I Met Your Mother/The Robin
Or when Barney confesses his love to Robin in the probably one of the most geniusly-scripted screenplay in my history of watching a bunch of TV series. This was like the only episode in HIMYM that have managed to move me to tears. Oh wait, then there was the one when Robin talked to her imaginary kids after realizing that she could not conceive any.
And etc.
If only I can have access to each and every rooftop in the world. I’d very much love the view. I wonder in 2-5 years from now, am I going to share these views I had in mind with someone that I cherish or will I just enjoy them alone?
