I Have This Thing About Sunsets

I have this thing about sunsets.

I like to watch the colours of the sky change and positions of clouds change. From a static-hued afternoon, the sun ironically get stronger and richer as it passes from the top of the atmosphere to the side. Shoots through the filter but cuts through more pollution - that's where the spectacular colours come from. I love the yellows getting darker into the oranges with hints of crimson. We see lovely pinks and purples too, before the blues take over.

Apart from the science, there's something emotional about seeing the sun set. When the colours are brilliant, I am in awe of nature and her strokes of artistic genius. It can get breathtakingly beautiful. I stop and stare. I can do so for the 45 minutes it takes for the colours to change into dark.

Back in NTU, a bunch of us used to tarpau dinner and sit at the corridor outside my room (in final year) to watch what we could of the setting sun while taking in sustenance. It was sort of peaceful and tranquil, a show in the sky to sum up the day we had, as a prelude into the night time. As the colours got darker, I would get this strange feeling of sadness though. A calm tranquility that gets sedated into a mild melancholy. I don't know what it is but it is a overwhelming sense. As the world around me literally seeps into darkness, I feel mildly claustrophobic as if part of the diminishing presence of light. Perhaps the loss of light as a symbol of goodness, happiness and all that mumbo jumbo is mirroring itself emotionally as a veil of sadness or emotional loss. Darker than the sky and clouds are like in the picture above. I also starting thinking about life and that's generally not pleasant either. Oklah, I get moody and then I see the first stars to pierce through the deep deep blues. It usually makes me smile. As the dark envelopes further, I seek out the final glimmers of sun and sunlight, a bright spotchy little glow on the horizon or between blocks and trees. Then I go turn on the fluorescents and the TV. End of day, start of night.

When I grow up moment - I would love to have a balcony high up and facing west so that I can get lost in a sunset every day. That would be awesome.