People who Matter
May 23, 2011Touched…
cos they drove five hours just to have a weekend with me
cos they were shouting my name even I wasn’t there
cos just to have that short amount of time with you, it’s worth it
Thank you =)
… finally Roma
April 30, 2011
Been wanting to visit Europe since I graduated from Uni five years back. My dream destinations were Paris, Barcelona, and Rome; and I always thought I needed at least two weeks for Europe. But ever since I entered my job, I never had the luxury to take that amount of time off work and I could only continue to dream of my European holiday. This time round, I only had eight days… I decided to do it… no second thought… just go… might as well… care less. And how well it turned out to be. The Amalfi Coast (Positano) and Roma. The Amalfi Coast is one of the most dramatic and breathtaking coasts I have seen; small, little roads weaving their way through and up and down the cosy, little towns built on rocks, swaying to the tune of old, Italian music. Roma is a great spectacle on its own, not without much grandeur and romance, and long-awaited too. “Positano!” Still… top of the world!
“You don’t Get Me?”
April 21, 2011I’m learning to do my part and care less. There’s too much to care about, much less what others want to think of me. Perhaps, I’ve been caring a little too much, my friend said. Got a piece of advice, maybe this is sometimes not a bad attitude to adopt:
“If you don’t get me, you don’t get me.” “I don’t get you too.”
True. For you to get me, first you must want to get me right? & it’s hard cos we need heart for that.
“You don’t get me?” “Sorry, but I don’t get you too.” =)
Wounded & Humbled
March 28, 2011Feeling a little deflated and winded…
Sometimes I have been hot-tempered and the one dishing it out… until i become the one at the receiving end of such ferocity do I realise how much it hurts.
Sometimes I have everything going for me and I might be beginning to lose it… it’s high time for some reality check and have me grounded again.
Sometimes I might have too much wind in my sails… it’s good to take some wind out of me.
Sometimes you forget that no one owes you a living…
Sometimes you get to level ten and forget that you started off from ground level…
Sometimes you begin breathing the air up at level ten and forget the sights you once saw when you were at level one…
Sometimes you get too big for yourself…
It’s time for some humbling. Eat some humble pie. Learn to practise restraint, tolerance, and empathy again. Learn to shut up, swallow some pride, take down some built-up walls and ego. A wounded animal learns. To lick its wounds, pick itself up, and move again. A man must not get too big for himself.
In the wake of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, we all learn from this unfortunate but immensely humbling experience.
Wounded and humbled, I’ll lick my wounds and move on, probably put back in place and in better stead.
a quiet sunday’s musings
February 27, 2011time for calm and quiet. to slow down and take a look at things around us. to step outside ourselves and get out of the rhythm we put ourselves in which we have so gotten used. it’s ok to be out of sync. it’s alright for that occasional stutter, or more. everything will be fine. the only thing you can know about life is that it always comes with its ups and downs, never constant, never reaching our ideal or preconceived state of equilibrium, unless we think it so. we can climb the highest mountain, only to find greater and newer heights beyond; we can get to the lowest low, only to realise there is always something else that will match or further it. is life a comparative or a superlative? i think it is all, and everything in between. nothing unchanging, even the comparatives and the superlatives we set for ourselves. at a perceived highest point, we strive to keep ourselves there, to maintain it, only to realise the futility of our efforts; at the lowest point, we fight and struggle to pull ourselves out, only to find the dawn of a brand new day after a good night’s sleep, nightmares and dreams. life takes us places, and when you can scale the greatest heights, you can also fall to the deepest depths. but know everything will be fine. the world out there can be harsh and moving at a pace far beyond you, the waters may be too turbulent for your liking, at times everything’s spinning, but i say learn it, ride it, you’re doing fine. we say be ready for the next high or the next low, or just change, but we don’t always have to be ready. get out of the routine, that monotone, that comfort zone, that solid ground, cos it’s not that stable or comfortable after all. sometimes tread on water, push some boundaries, go beyond. sometimes then, get back to that comfort zone. maybe in sync and out of sync are not so mutually exclusive after all. direction need not always be forward or right; a retreat can be a form of advancement, right may be “to the left, to the left”. life is a flux of all things. this is your story. this is your song. “how wonderful life is, now you’re in the world.” — luv, elvin.
That Shining Spark 你怕黑吗？
February 10, 2011
“The hour before dawn is always the darkest.”
They say there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Just keep going, you’ll find the light someday.
But even if the world around you is dark, inside of you there is a shining spark.
Never lose that shining spark.
“Cos’ you’re not lost, you’re only finding your way.”
You’re that shining spark.
“黎明破晓前的时段是最黑暗的.”
不知道有多远, 只知道曙光就在前方, 唯有向前迈进, 希望能看到第一道曙光的那一天.
那一道曙光, 你看到了吗？
其实, 那道光就在心中.
周遭可能是黑暗的, 但心中不可没有那一道光, 就算是微不足道的一点光.
“因为你不是迷失了, 而是在寻找.”
黑有什么好怕的?
Belief
January 20, 2011what i thought i saw or tried to believe in
eventually just turned to belief itself and something i had never seen
“real, raw, unedited”
January 17, 2011just some rantings… sometimes you just want to say, well, this is me, take it or leave it. no more pretence, no more fear, no more baggage. no more what the world wants of you, no more living in the eyes of others, no more living in expectation, anticipation, or approval. take away the hypocrisy, take away the worldly affair. why does the world want or make us to be “fake/pretentious, polished/coated/shelled, edited/pieced together/cut and paste” as opposed to what we are or can be? ” i want to be as “real, raw, unedited” as i can be. as i am. how else could i live life, or do i know how to live life, other than this, i asked myself.
Top of the World
January 14, 2011
a whirlwind trip, overwhelming, intense, spontaneous, how life throws surprises, what new world awaits, top of the world, philosophy, belief, intuition, redefining…
Living Honestly
December 18, 2010Unfortunately, honesty might not always be the best policy.
To me, honesty means being able to lay out both the good and bad sides of yourself. And being comfortable enough to do so, that’s courage. Not just busily trying to show or impress the good side of yourself and desperately covering up the bad side from people. As we all know that humanity is characterised not only by human strengths but human flaws as well, so let’s face it. Very often, we gloss up our history, put on a facade, tell a different story, and understandably so, because we want to protect ourselves and do not want others to think badly of us.
However, sometimes being too honest puts us at the losing end. Come on, let’s face it, it’s a cynical and harsh world out there. Who wants to wear their hearts on their sleeves, inviting trouble isn’t it? Perhaps, honesty is the best policy, only when used appropriately?
An example of trying to be honest: Whatever remarks and comments that come into my blog, whether they are good or bad, reasonable or not, complimentary or derogatory, I used to approve of all of them to be published. To me, it didn’t matter because there was nothing to hide and people could decipher for themselves what is right or wrong, true or false, whatever side to take or not. It’s like, nah, take it, this is me, as it is. But a friend advised me otherwise: “Why do you allow all the bad comments to be published? Don’t you know the papers will only pick out and focus on all the bad stuff? Take them down.” I thought for a while; and ever since then, I have done as I was told, more or less. “Why allow all these malicious and hurting comments the right to be published, especially when I have control over their “existence” in a way?” I thought to myself. Yes, take them down, don’t publish them, deny their existence, and no one will know about them right? Why make life so hard for yourself when it’s already hard enough?
Are we not content and comfortable to live in lies? After all, more often than not, isn’t the truth harder to swallow and causing some discomfort? The truth sometimes threatens the status quo which we are so comfortable in. And because some people who speak the truth rock the boat, they risk putting themselves in an endangered situation such that others seek to get rid of them. “In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” — Orwell, George. Just that it could get you into trouble sometimes.
Now, I’m putting away some of the less justified and favourable comments. But really, I don’t wish to do so. I still really think honesty is the best policy and I want to live honestly. Allow us to.
No Guarantee
The mouth is mine; the pen is the reporter’s. Whatever comes out of my mouth is controlled by myself; whatever comes out of the pen of the reporter is completely out of my control and none of my business, can I say that, because there is nothing I can do about it.
I can only work so hard and do what I can for what I do, and things will fall into place? Well, all the rest is not up to me, they depend on all the other things that are independent of me, hence beyond me, right? So what’s there to think of what’s beyond me.
One thing’s for sure. Fortunately my life is still in my hands. That’s perhaps the only guarantee we all have, isn’t it?
In life, who said there was any guarantee? =)
Hold on to Happiness
December 17, 2010A long-lost friend just sent me a message: “If U remember me… May you find happiness in the coming year.”
I just had to reply: “No if. I remember. I ll hold on to happiness in the coming year. Cos I hav alr found it. U too.”
We all have to hold on to happiness. Count our blessings.
Sometimes, we set out in search of that elusive happiness which is already inside of us. all along. The capacity and potential to be happy. Does happiness come from with-in or with-out?
A few days back, another friend sent me a message: “How do U stay happy?”
I replied: “(I don’t know about me being happy but I do feel happy) Smile. Know who U r. Love e pple around U. Stay grounded. Go along with Nature. Believe & feel.” That’s my version, what’s yours?
To find happiness; to find love. Believe you deserve it. & sometimes, it finds you.
Hold on to happiness. Hold on to love. =)