Back In Time

Have you ever had those moments that time all of a sudden stop and you feel like you are brought back in time?

Those are the moments when everything seem so familiar.

Those are the moments when it feels like things happened just yesterday but in fact they happened long before yesterday---the feeling of so close yet so far away.

Dejavu, a beautiful French word which literally means 'already seen'.

We have an equally beautiful phrase in Chinese, having the exact meaning. 

Human experiences surpasses races as well as time, don't they?

A dejavu brings back precious memories that are as light and short-lived as fog and as fragile as a soap bubble.

Whenever I come across such striking moment which always seem like to bring me back in time with its magical power, I get so taken away that I find myself holding my breath or breathe as softly as possible.

Those moments are so precious that I fear that the sound of myself breathing could break the moment and bring me back to reality.

Yesterday I had a few moments like that. 

So overwhelming that they made me speechless.

I was brought back in time in just a split of a second.

It seems like it was just yesterday that I was a student (and I still like to be one), but I could barely remember how it feels like to be one----so familiar but somehow so different now.

Interesting how a change in identity changes a person in just a very short period of time.
I knew time passes and life goes on, but I savored every second of my mental journey of going-back-to-the-past.

While certain things and people change as time passes, I'm glad certain things and people don't.
Reading at my withdrawing room, still one of my favourite and most soothing things to do.
The scent in the air, the sound of typing on a keyboard, the funny sounds that smart phones gives off, the comfortable silence, the calmness that is so pleasant and precious.

The familiarity of a dejavu gave me something that I have been lacking these days----
a deep sense of security as I shut the outside world out and a moment of peace though perhaps a temporary one.
It feels like time stopped but the truth is time flies.
Open and dive in a book, a few short chats and the next thing I know is that hours have passed.

My journey back in time empowered me.
As I was leaving the familiar place, back to the outside world filled with strangers' faces, I felt peaceful. So much better and more ready for the unknown.
Dusk is the time when feelings and thoughts are particularly powerful.

My mind wandered free with random thoughts.
But having a better mood means my brain comes up with nicer thoughts.

One of the many thoughts I had on my way back home was the flawless and timeless Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.
Earphones plugged in, the voice of Frank Sinatra brought me on yet another journey back in time--the time that I wish I were born into.
The good old glamorous times when manners mattered, when men were gentlemen and women were ladies, when music was better and dance was an art.
I'm very stubborn for certain things and values that sometimes I find myself an alien in this modern but rotten world.
You may say I'm old-fashioned in certain ways, but this is just me. :)

Oh Fred and Ginger, watching them dance is such a delight.
I could watch them hours and still feel amused.

The Way You Look Tonight

Cheek to Cheek

A journey back in time brings back memories so pleasant that I am grateful and humbled.
I dedicate this post to people who I can never seem to thank enough, for simply being in my life and making it so much better. :)

Love,
N

What's the Name of this Song?!

What is worse than getting distracted while you should be working/ revising?
Getting distracted by yourself.

Found myself humming familiar tunes when I was writing my papers and revising.

Could even sing with some of the lyrics but couldn't recall the name of the song.

Every time when I'm sure that 'I know it!' but my mind gets stuck and I couldn't name it, then my mind goes crazy and I will be totally obsessed with it that I couldn't just leave it.
I know it's gross but sometimes I describe such a situation as 'brain constipation'.

Running around in my place, humming and singing it to everybody and begging them to tell me the name of the song.

And the part of lyrics I faintly remember is the funny part,

'we won't have to let others know that we own a telephone'

Mum asked, 'A telephone? when were you born?' 

She never seem to grow tired of making fun of my obsession for anything from the good old days of 1920s or 1950s, anything old-school and vintage.
'Yea, mum, I was born in the wrong time. Before someone finds out I'm a time-traveler, I should go back to my room to wear my bustier, then go back to my withdrawing room and have a cup of tea.'
On a second thought, I do all of what I have mentioned. 

Anyway, so none of them know the song in my head and I'm not surprised.

As I sing it again and again, it sounds more and more like a cha cha.
Not the typical fast and hot cha cha, but more like jazzy, bossa nova kind of cha cha.
Oh, right! I used to dance to this song.
I still remember vividly my dance classes. I was so young.
The first time I dance to this song is a summer day, much like today.
I like how my dancing school is located on a building near the flowers market.
Noisy, crowded and full of flowers, but once I push through the glass door of the school and the bell hang on the door rings, I'm in heaven.
I usually have classes after school, in school uniform and my schoolbag, but I always have a set of sportswear or dance outfit there for change.
No matter how tired I am, once I'm in my dancing clothes and shoes, I'm blissfully energetic.

I still remember the little details:
how we stretch against the mirrored wall,
the sound of dancing shoes on the wooden dance floor,
that relaxing scent of the classroom and
the bubbly sound from the tank of goldfish.
Oh! And one of the goldfish has a broken tail.
Those good old times....

In a split of a second, I understand why none of them know the song and I understand why my parents always tease me for my liking for anything from the past...

The song is 'Tea for Two'.
It was a popular song in 1925, reintroduced and made popular again by Doris Day in 1950.

It has such lovely lyrics:
I'm discontented with homes that are rented so I have invented my own.
Darling this place is a lover's oasis where life's weary chase is unknown.Far from the cry of the city, where flowers pretty caress the streams,Cozy to hide in, to love side-by-side in. Don't let it abide in my dreams.

Picture me upon your knee,
 just tea for two and two for tea,
Just me for you and you for me alone.
Nobody near us, 
to see us or hear us,
No friends or relations 
on weekend vacations,
We won't have it known, that we have a telephone.

Day will break and I'll awake
and start to bake a sugar cake 
for you to take for all the boys to see.


We will raise a family, 
a boy for you, a girl for me,
Oh, can't you see how happy life would be?

As I finally recall the name of the song (and singing it right now),

partly blissful reminiscing my good old dancing times and partly miserable about my revision,
I guess maybe my parents are right,
I was born in the wrong time and place...
but who cares?! I'm blissful singing Tea for Two in 2012 :)

Love,
N