{Throwback to the week between 3-10 February 2017}
I knew Sooyoung’s birthday was coming soon. Her birthday was on 10th February. It would be a special day for Taenggu’s pet dog, Ginger too. Ginger’s birthday was on the same day. So about one week before 10th February, I started making drawings for the both of them to celebrate this double special occasion.
On the days leading up to her birthday, I saw a few images of Sooyoung in my mind. She was wearing a pair of big round nerdy specs. Her appearance and actions were like a socially awkward girl. I didn’t understand why. I thought it was just her acting weird and funny. But it made me chuckle. Hahaha.
I wasn’t aware that she was going to have a birthday party until I watched SNSD’s Instagram live video on 7th February. In the video, Tiffany mentioned about Sooyoung’s upcoming birthday party. My immediate reaction was “Really? When is your party??” to Sooyoung. I thought it was one of those kinds of birthday party with fans at SMTOWN theatre which sometimes does not take place on the actual day of the artiste’s birthday. I went online to check and it turned out there wasn’t any news of it. So I guessed it must have been her own private birthday party.
That week, I remembered I was in love with a new filter on SNOW. It gives you an image of a big round rose gold specs with some freckles on your face. I even told Taenggu that it was my latest favourite filter. I loved it so much that I used it for a few days in a row. The below images were an example of how I looked like with the filter. They were taken on 8th February.
A few days earlier, I told Taenggu that I planned to go to the onsen on 10th February which was on a Friday. I asked her to come with me. That day, I left work early at around 4.30pm and reached the onsen at Kallang Wave Mall at around 6pm. At the counter, I was given a set of yukata to change into. The lady at the counter asked me whether I need a shower cap. I told her that I didn’t need it.
Awhile later, I got ready and prepared to go inside the onsen area. At this moment, an image of Sooyoung came into my head again. She was wearing a shower cap which I didn’t want earlier on and she was wrapped in a white towel, getting ready to walk in with me. I thought it was quite funny so I chuckled.
While soaked in the onsen baths, I had been talking to Taenggu the whole time. That day, when I was in the bubble bath, I also told her that I was inspired to make a poem about bubbles which I eventually made later on (read the poem here). Sometimes, I saw some images of her in my mind, wearing big round specs and acting a little weird and awkwardly. I didn’t understand why everyone in my mind were acting a little strange and different those days but I didn’t think too much about it.
Around 8pm, I left the onsen and proudly showed Taenggu a photo of my shoe locker number on that day. It was the number ‘309’. I chose it because it’s her birthdate and it happened to be empty.
While on the train back home, I decided to do a photo edit on my phone to show how Taenggu roughly looked like in my mind. I simply drew a pair of big round nerdy black specs on her face on a photo of her when she was covered in a towel/blanket. I did this edit to remember this special day when she went to enjoy the onsen with me.
Around the same time, the SNSD members started posting several photos on Instagram. When I looked at them, I started laughing. You will understand why.
It turned out they were all at Sooyoung’s birthday party that day. And the theme of the party was nerd. So they were all dressed like nerds that day. The funniest part was Sooyoung was wearing a blue cap that looked like a shower cap in my mind!
And Taenggu was also wearing nerdy specs and she had freckles makeup on her face. She looked almost like my favourite filter on SNOW!
Seeing these photos made me feel so energised because those mind images I had suddenly became so real and meaningful! It felt like they were finally getting validated. In comparison with these real life photos, those mind images were really abstract but had the gist inside them.
And to think that I actually started receiving these spiritual hints in my mind from a week ago, I felt that I was actually invited to the party too. It just turned out that in reality, I was having the party at the onsen instead. Lol. And I felt that I might have been unconsciously aware of the theme of the party all along because I found myself repeatedly using the same filter of nerdy specs with freckles for a few days in a row before Sooyoung’s birthday.
All I could say is I am really amazed by the power of the universe to connect all of us together somehow despite the distance and lack of direct communication. And these experiences have made me embrace those mysterious mind images even more! It’s all up to us to decode the meaning behind these images until they get validated or serve their purpose to you. Time will tell. <3