A Saturday Nightcap

 It's that time of the year again: it's beginning to rain almost everyday, everyone is in a holiday mood and work is more relaxed. I was at the mall this morning and people appear to be regaining their courage to go out, despite the rising Covid-19 cases in Malaysia. The numbers are worrying but the vaccine is on its way. People are cautiously optimistic. 

I was sipping coffee at Starbucks and relaxing with a book. It's been a while since I was able to do that. Work has been very hectic the past 3 months and this weekend is a respite from it all. Tonight is a good time to write since I missed my blog post last week. 

I am not exactly a whiskey fan but tonight I decided open my bottle of Macallan which has been sitting on my shelf for a while. The cool weather certainly calls for a nightcap. 

It feels a bit like my days in Singapore, two decades ago. I was always drinking and writing in my small rented HDB room, surfing the Net on my, at that time, state-of-the-art 3Mbit/second ADSL connection.  I was way ahead of my time, watching the daily streaming news from CNA, when everyone else was struggling to send emails with their dialup connection.

I've not changed much. I've never been one to put career as my number one goal--even to the extent of telling my boss that. My attitude has always been: leave me alone to do my job, and I'll get it done. I don't expect praise nor accolades. That has always been my bad habit and certainly a career-limiting one. I worked for knowledge and experience. Every challenge made me a better person. And that was reward enough.

When I decided to move to Indonesia, my earnings dropped by half. But it was the best move I'd ever made. I could have stayed in Singapore if I wanted to, and would probably still be there now because it was such a comfortable place. I led a simple life--eating and reading at the foodcourt, taking the bus to office, listening to my audiobook cassettes and going to the movies after work. 

Surprising it was in Singapore--that metropolitan hub of unabashed materialism--that I advanced my interest in spirituality by leaps and bounds. It was there that I formed the core philosophical principles of my life, which I still adhere to. My posts in this blog, I think, capture many of my philosophical beliefs--thoughts that had been brewing in my head since those free and happy days in Singapore.

Life is less carefree nowadays, but I take every care that consumes my brain as a karmic knot that has to be untied. I'd been steadfast to the spiritual principles I had worked out in my tiny HDB bedroom in Singapore, and during those many long hours waiting at airports and sitting alone in planes on my way to different countries in the region. 

Perhaps one day I'll regain my wanderlust again. But for now I am contented, sitting in front of my computer screen, barely even stepping out of my house here in Subang Jaya. I'll probably drop by in Cyberjaya tomorrow since now inter-district restriction travel has been lifted. But that's as far as I'd go. Life is not elsewhere. I'm happy sipping my whiskey here and now.