It feels great after the nice warm shower I just had. I don’t usually take a warm shower unless I get caught in the rain.

Caught in the rain, I was. It looked its usual as it has been doing so in the last few days. In fact “it”, the rain, that is; tapered to a few drops here and there – is sort of saying, “ok, you can come out of your house now. Don’t worry, these tiny drops that I am sprinkling in the air, these drops that are lighter than the flakes of powder that come out of a talcum powder container, they ain’t gonna hurt you (guess which English this is). So, come out, come out, wherever you are.

Out I went, to do my 10 kilometer walk. Though it was shortly after noon; the sun was blazing hot. Technically speaking, the sun is not directly overhead in Subang Jaya, at least in USJ 4 until 1.00pm Malaysia time (+8hrs GMT). This has been proven as a fact.

I walk a 1.56km distance each lap (loop), around my neighbourhood. Part of each lap involves walking between the side lanes between houses. The houses have been built in the direction that while the sun is rising in the east, it casts a shadow of that end (intermediate) house in the opposite direction in the west. When the sun begins to set in the west; it will cast a shadow of the opposite end (intermediate) house, in the opposite direction.

What we learnt in school is that when the sun is directly overhead us, we won’t have a shadow. But that does not seem to apply here. The shadow only disappears when the sun is at 1.00pm. This goes to prove the fact that the sun is directly overhead us at 12.00pm if we are on the equator. Which Malaysia is not. Malaysia, being near the equator does not count. I found it interesting because from school days, I always thought the sun was directly overhead us at noon. Now, I know it isn’t. Can we say the sun begins to set after 1.00pm?

We are so caught up in the big picture or looking for the big picture in life that we seem to miss out on nature which paints a new picture on it’s “canvass of the day” or a “photo snapshot of the day”, everyday.

My wife, Jeannie; will always comment on the beauty of the sunset. She is always thrilled, always in awe about it’s presentation each day. She says the sunset is different at the beach, up in Cameron Highlands when we sit on a garden bench at the Arcadia residence, different in Vasenello, Italy… My reply usually is, “it’s the same sun, any part of the world we are in” and will hardly glance at the sunset, taking it for granted. It is not.

The Sun is the same, yes. When you come to think of it, every sunset presents a different piece of art. The patterns, the hues and shades of the different colours in the skies at a sunset can be breathtaking.

One more step towards appreciating life – something that is often taken for granted.

I am beginning to understand that finding little things in life can make life interesting. Am I mellowing? I don’t know. What I do know is I am looking forward to how this evening will be displaying its sunset. Anyone game for sunset gazing?