I was browsing through my photo album early this morning when I came across this photo. It reminded me of few things, but what it reminded me most was the homily I heard many weeks ago where the priest shared a story about a fearful mouse.

One day, a mouse was so frightened because she saw a cat. A magician took notice of the mouse and through his magic wand, changed the mouse into a cat. When the cat saw a dog, it ran and ran and ran out of fear. The magician whisked his magic wand and changed the cat into a dog. The dog then saw a panther and quickly hid as it tremble in fear. The magician, turned the dog into a panther. When the panther came across a lion, it succumbed in fear and ran away.

Landed almost midnight, checked-in at 1am and before handing me my room’s keycard, the bubbly lady at frontdesk, named Millie, said I have to play the lucky draw. My mind was detesting (please, just give me my keycard – you have no idea!!) The last time I was here and played the same stuff, I won a cup of espresso.

But before I could say ‘No, I do not want to play’, Millie already dropped a coin inside the machine. I turned the knob twice and a blue ball came out. Millie opened the ball and inside was a paper.

I said, ‘Make sure it is twenty thousand baht.’ Millie smiled and said, ‘Congratulations! You won a special prize. What colour do you like?’

‘I do not have a favourite colour’, I said. She said, ‘OK, I will get you the best one.’ She went inside a small room and a minute later came back and handed me a tiny stuffed toy.

‘What’s the name of this?’, I asked. The smile disappeared from her face and was immediately replaced by deep thinking. She panicked and uttered, ‘Hmm I don’t know.’

‘I will not leave until you give this thing a name.’ She called one of the hotel porters for help. They were panicking as I stare at them and as they stare at the stuffed toy. Then the porter said, ‘Hook. Call him Hook.’

I said, ‘OK. Thank you. Hook it is. Goodnight.’

I am now ready to sleep and I still have 1001 things inside my head. But as I retire for the day, I look at Hook and realised how much God has blessed me with tiny colourful unexpected surprises in life.

Dear God, thank you for the tiny, colourful and meaningful blessings, which sometimes I fail to take notice of. Thank you for Millie, who insisted that I play the lucky draw. Thank you for the porter, who gave the name Hook. Thank you for today, Amen.

I was walking along the streets of Central Hongkong when I saw this tram. I chased it until I was able to get a good shot.

It says – beautiful.

My colleague was puzzled why I had to chase the tram.

After I was able to take a relatively good shot, I asked my colleague,

When was the last time you saw something that is beautiful?

When was the last time someone made you feel beautiful?

When was the last time you received something that is beautiful?

When was the last time you chased something that is beautiful?

It could be a person, a place, a dream, an experience, a tram. It could be anything.

When was the last time?