Bedazzled Boy

Bedazzled Boy

I'm glad to have a short break before my next project commences. It is a good time to sharpen the saw so that I continue maintaining a healthy freshness towards my work. There are challenges too, even in these easy-going periods between projects for I can easily get sidetracked by the many trivialities of everyday life.

Today I dug up and dusted my old collection of The Great Artists--a weekly publication by Marshall Cavendish, which I had dilligently collected during my university days. Each issue featured one great master, with colourful reproductions of his works together biography, commentaries and historical context. I owe it to this 96 issue collection for my knowledge of the different schools of art from Baroque to Rocco, from Impressionism to Expressionism.

At 4.50 ringgit an issue, it was beyond the means of a student (for my daily budget then for meals and transport, was only 5.00 ringgit), but I persevered for almost 2 years, waiting eagerly for each week's new release. That was twenty years ago; today, you can get the entire content in one interactive CD.

Flipping through this collection of mine reminds me of those heady student days of mine, when the hunger of the mind far exceeded that of the flesh. Even now when I'm mired in the worldly cares of adulthood, I try to remind myself ocassionally of the many diverse interests I had when I as a student, simply to keep my youthful enthusiasm for knowledge alive.

I think it is this enthuasism and spirit which drives me on especially in my line of work when staleness and fatigue can creep in so easily. I am happy that my curiosity for knowledge has not waned after all these years and I know deep down inside, I'm still a boy, in awe with the wondrous beauty of the world around me--a boy who "wandered lonely as a cloud", bedazzled by the occasional burst of daffodils lying on his path.