Smudges in the sky

The sky was intriguingly smudged a few days ago. It looked like a patchwork-quilt-patterned dome above the city. There were patches of sky that were different shades of blue, grey and white. Over there, a patch of greyish blue sky covered with flimsy, nothing-much clouds; a patch of steely teal in the corner of the horizon with puffy clouds in the foreground; bright aquamarine and the softest pastel-hues of blue; dark cobalt blue streaked with abrupt daubs of white. It was like a baby in heaven got a hold of God's art supplies, then proceeded to decorate the sky with the reckless abandon only children have.


The clouds were intriguingly smudged and haphazard as well. There were white, poofy, crisp clouds; like really pale cotton candy. And then there were really wispy and confused clouds; they looked like the strands you get when you tear a cotton ball apart with your fingers, and they couldn't decide whether to pull themselves together or if it just wasn't worth the trouble. Some grey-becoming-black clouds hung forebodingly in the air, heavy with the threat of rain; terrific thunder clouds. I could hear my imagination rumbling just looking at them.


I wish I had a camera in my head. I want to learn to bottle whimsy. That way, I could preserve it and have it for breakfast, with toast and coffee. I imagine pickled whimsy would taste sweet and tangy like jam, don't you?


This is Figgy, abruptly leaving.

YES.I.SEE

Dear reader,



Just a quick post to say I'll be really, really busy for the next two months doing something really, really important. So don't be surprised if my next post is in March or something. I'm involved in a youth project called the YES.I.SEE program, run by several parties: AZAM, Faradale Media and People Consultancy Systems. So anyway, the YES program is very different from other youth-oriented government-run programs. You know all of those endless workshops or seminars hosted by the government: go somewhere for a few days, have fun, learn a few things, then go home and continue to live your life the way you've always lived it. No change, no impact. In the YES program, there are about 5 or 6 groups of teens and young adults working together to develop their projects; real businesses, products or services whose main aim is to impact the society and state of Sarawak in a positive way. Yes, you heard me right. Imagine, an innovative and socially-beneficial business run by, developed by and launched by a group of Sarawakian teenagers. Thinks of the impact we'll make in Sarawak...we're change agents.

All our launch dates are set for early March, so...it's crunch time. Non-stop working til the end of February. I don't have the time to tell you about the other teams' ideas, so I'll just tell you a little about mine. We have decided on publishing a book on Sarawak. It's going to be called 'Past and Present Unite: Preserving Sarawak'. And our team...organisation...task force...group is called 'Borneo Birthright'. Got a nice ring to it, don't it? Watch out for the website, which will be coming out...soon. As soon as I'm done with the logo design and what-not. For now, you'll have to be satisfied with our Facebook profile (add us!) and Fb group (join us!).


So, this book is going to be about the cultures in Sarawak, all of them in one book. A compilation of stories and legends, biographies and photographs: a coffee table book, I guess. Oh, speaking of photographs, Borneo Birthright is hosting a photography competition. No huge monetary prizes or anything, but the winning photos will be featured in our upcoming book. Which will, hopefully, be sold to tourists, locals, whatever, online, all over the world. If you want to enter the competition, my photography-inclined reader, please email us at borneobirthright@yahoo.com for details. We'll release a prototype of the book on March 1st with all the final photos and stories, and hopefully get the Sarawak Tourism Board or whatever to sponsor us and get us published.


Are you excited?! Cause I am! I'm going to meet with one of my team members today to decide on the logo design...which I have to get working on right now. So, wish me luck! See you 'round the bend. Til then, I remain...




Yours,


Figgy the Change Agent