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Christmas is approaching but I dont remember much Christmas memories in my short, short 2o years of life. I've always wanted to see snow though on Christmas, as to me christmas associates strongly with snow. But then the only snow i've seen is in the snow factory thingy attraction cum thingy in Singapore and i cant remember what it was called for the life of me. Snow city ? snow factory ? whatever, not interested in artificial things.

Here in Brunei where I've been raised, the Christmas season is also the monsoon season and we get quite abit rainfall. Just today I went out for some walking around at the local malls and it rained. Half of me was totally drenched. Reminds me of the days when I used to cycle home in the rain, that was the best feeling ever - the adrenaline and the feel of rain pelting against your face just made it feel as though you were fighting for something really important - in this case getting home in the rain. Its interesting how much more alive we feel the more we believe we are doing something important. Ah, how purpose driven we are.

Another interesting experience of a rainy day was the time when i went hiking on a mountain trail with Lance in a weekly hash. So there I was running gaily through forests and jungle trek, with rainbows overhead and flowers and talking animals singing the sound of music and before i knew it i was lost. I tried vainly to move across the tall bladed grass (which cuts giving flesh wounds) and some deep marshy holes which u cant really see with all the thick vegetation covering it and also on which the ground gives way and you sink up to your knees if you arent careful enough. I wondered around for about an hour and i could see that the sun was starting to set. Somehow after a bit more while pandering around i found a father and son pair, father being some 45+ caucasian with his son, prolly a 6 or 7 year old kid. So along we went, me a 14 or 15 year old asian with some caucasian guy and his kid wandering through the most dense vegetation in the world. Man the amazon from what i've seen in TV doesnt even compare to the jungles of Brunei, Singaporean military servicemen actually come and train here and now i'am going through the same course without all the equipment and clothing. This might be an exaggeration but Che Guevera wouldnt have succedeed in his Cuban Revolution if Cuba had the vegetation we had over here. So anyways, we trekked around trying to find back our trail, somewhere around this point the Caucasian's kid grabbed onto a vine full of spikes. Now i'am not too sure how you can imagine a vine with spikes since we're all use to the smooth strong un-spiked vines that tarzan uses when he swings around in his disney movies, neither would i if i've never seen one, but i'am sure the kid's hands still have scars from when he grabbed onto the vine in attempt to pull his own weight up. Needless to say, his hands was bleedingly profusely and i was going like omg omg we're gonna die. We continued on having blood shed.

Anyway you must be wondering wheres the rain. So here comes the rain at about 6:30 PM just around when the sunsets and the 45+ year old caucasian whom i've now realized is a pilot of sorts is yelling directions till hes hoarse. I too was yelling, but mostly profanities :P, which i shall not disgrace thy pure ears with in this beautiful weblog. We've already climbed up to a mountain by then and we could see flickers of light and some shouting. I also vaguely remember seeing a chopper, but we were finally rescued by a team of Gurkhas (nepalase soldiers stationed in Brunei as defense) who tied us with rope onto eachother and led us through the dark forlorn decrepit Bruneian jungles.

Ever since then, i've been less adventurous and sticked to properly trekked mountain trails and have not participated in any hash.

Rain is good I like rain. It has been a stoic company through both hope and despair and is an embodiment of balance for which i so seek in life for without which, all things lack relevancy. Without despair there is no hope, and no light without darkness. And in between, harmony reigns.

And that is how i associate the Christmas season with, rain and peace of mind.