the cynical one

the faith

2011-08-16T01:09:00.002+12:45

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." - Hebrews 11:1

these few years, i have been trying my best to put all faith in God. more often than not, i always fail in that. i always try to depend on myself. even though i have been telling myself to trust in God and have faith in Him. but being completely human, i will fail. as i often look back on my life and how i came out thus far, it was nothing but God true providence and blessings. whatever that has happened, has happened for a reason that i initally could not comprehend. only when things happened the way it happened, then i would realised that it was all God's plan all along. how weak and undeserving we all, but yet God loves us so much. this is the grace and mercy of God that we all must learn to accept.

the past 2 weeks was a journey of faith and i thank You God. let my faith grow on ever stronger and stronger knowing that You have it all planned it out and to rely on nothing but You. in You i shall always trust and believe. i believe in You, Lord Jesus. my faith shall be placed unto You.

thank You for the fantastic journey to Pittsburgh.

the journey

2011-08-01T07:05:00.002+12:45

the journey thus far has been nothing less than based on the faith on God. only through His grace and mercy could have made it this far. His providence is abundance and His grace is endless. thank You for Your prvidence and i continue to pray for Your blessings and strength. thank You Lord Jesus.

ideals

2011-03-05T03:23:00.003+13:45

keep at it. don;t lose sight of it. this is what God granted it to you. even despite the circumstances, you must keep the faith and believe that it has all been planned out for you. it is difficult, but who ever said it was easy? this is the opportunity to try it out. the answers will come. hold on to God and trust in His timing. don;t ever change for people. change for God. the more tempted you are to change, the more you have to cling onto Him and pray for strength. learning how to accept strength and learning to trust are equally important.

trust in Him. accept His strength and blessings with wide open arms. even that needs to be learnt.

what do you think?

clearances

2010-11-08T23:38:00.002+13:45

the responsibility is immense. the pressure is high. the expectations are high. the passion is there. the interests is forever. the experiences...are simply out of this world. its been really mix feelings. never felt so mixed before. to do something you simply love, but yet have this apprehension that you are not up to it yet. the disappointment is killing. but the key is to live and let live. otherwise you will spend the whole time feeling lousy. important is to have the confidence.

let God grant you the strength, receive it with a thankful heart and pray for sustainance. the journey God is providing was never meant to be easy, but an opportunity which you have prayed for a long time ago. the prayers are answered, and this is the time for response. to respond with a thankful and greatful heart and praise Him for who God is. aviod the temptations to sin. maintain the faith to endure. this is what faith is all about.

battle

2009-01-30T06:36:00.005+13:45

a new year with new hopes and dreams. time to put words into action. years down the road, still the same old battle. a battle that hasn;t ended. sometimes the warriors get tired and needs to rest. the thing about this battle is that it is sometimes invisible. people will deny that this battle is relavant. but the ghost of the battle still lingers on. thus the fight lingers on.

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When someone prays for patience, does God grants them patience, or does He grant them an opportunity to be patient? When someone prays for courage, does God grants them courage, or does He grant them an opportunity to be courageous? This may be just the opportunity to shine the light and let the whole world see...

teamwork, determination

2008-11-25T04:59:00.002+13:45

the strength of the team is dependent on the weakest member.

there is no point reaching the peak without the team. no matter how slow your journey takes, as long as you do not stop, i guarantee you that you will succeed! no matter how much time you take, just keep moving. make that decision today to keep on moving and you will move on to the peak. success is suddenly simplified to only a matter of time. set that goal, and move towards it. you can stop and rest, but carry on and stive ever onward!

life

2008-10-25T02:20:00.002+13:45

what is your religion?

"when i do good, i feel good. When i do bad, i feel bad. That is my religion."

but also i walk with a clear conscience in my mind and soul. i like adversity because without it i am a lesser man.

be the miracle

2008-09-24T21:21:00.002+12:45

triumph is born out of stuggle, faith is the alchemist. to see a beautiful picture, one got to use dark colours. making a rabbit appear out of a hat is not a miracle, its a magic trick. a friend struggling with his own problems, finds time to help others in need. thats a miracle. a person late for an important meeting, stops by to help an old lady cross the street. thats a miracle. people always want God to do everthing for them, but what we don;t realise, is that we have the power.

faith

2008-09-05T21:06:00.002+12:45

"Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see" --Hebrews11:1

"Never confuse faith, or belief - of any kind - with something even remotely intellectual." --Owen Meany

unconditional love

2008-08-25T23:28:00.003+12:45

"only you can understand unconditional love. because in order to understand it, you must be hurt and wounded. and if despite the hurt and wounds, you still shower your love and not expect anything in return, what kind of love can be greater than that?"

"finally you catch of glimpse of what dear Lord Jesus Christ went through"

its not easy, but there you go, you got it. you understood what unconditional love means. its the most painful kind of love but yet should be more or less the greatest kind of love.

time

2008-07-29T20:07:00.003+12:45

time is a monster you cannot reason with, it response like a snail to our impatience, but runs like a gazelle when you can;t catch your breath. are you so rushed for the answers at the end of the road that you miss out the signs along the way? how would you know that everything was working out for a reason?

God

2008-07-24T04:03:00.000+12:45

Simon Birch: Does God have a plan for us?
Rev. Russell: I like to think He does.
Simon Birch: -Me too. I think God made me the way I am for a reason.
Rev. Russell: Well, I’m glad that, um, that your faith, uh, helps you deal with your, um…you know, your, your condition.
Simon Birch: That’s not what I mean. I think I’m God’s instrument - that He’s gonna use me to carry out His plan.

the truth

2008-04-18T17:22:00.003+12:45

Our world rates wealth over courage and comfort orver commitment. we think that nothing will ever disturb our lives. we are surprised when people get sick and die. we think that technology can fix everything. we take our safety for granted. we have more degrees but less sense. we have more medicine but less wellness. we;ve added years to life but not life to years. we build everything bigger, but not necessarily better. we have more convenience but less time. we have more communication but less understanding. we make heros out of actors but have no idea who the real heros are.

humility

2007-10-30T02:19:00.000+13:45

humility is not about denying your strength. it is about realising what are your weaknesses and recognising your strengths.

setbacks merely gives you an opportunity to show what strengths you have. you don;t become a strong persons without any setbacks. it comes with opportunity. success is enjoyed best with failure. if you never tasted failure, you never tasted success.

Being rejected for who you are is so much better than being accepted for who you aren;t.

what do you think?

living the dream

2007-09-30T02:11:00.000+12:45

we talked so much about achieving that dream. has anyone thought about living the dream after you have achieved it?

the journey starts with having a dream. you get inspired by that dream that you will set your mind to achieving it. you body starts to work towards it and you know that you are willing to toil thru every obstacle to reach that pinnicle you have been aiming for. the thought of reaching that motivates you and you don;t stop for anything.

you reach the pinnicle, you have achieved your goal and dreams. what happens after that is living the dream.

don;t ever swell in achievement for too long. you;ll lose you senses. meaning, your head only looks up and not around anymore. you used to look around you for support to hold on to while you climb that pinnicle. now that you have reached it, you tend to forget about whats around you and who were the ones who were there to support you and helped you along the way. you bask in your own glory that your mindset has changed the minute you reach that pinnicle.

living the dream isn;t as easy as it was reaching it. both have difficulties in their own rights. who ever said that life was easy?

what do you think?

there is no place i'd rather be

2007-08-27T06:47:00.000+12:45

a home is not merely a shelter where you live, eat and sleep. its a place where you grow up with your family and create treasured memories with loved ones, family and friends. a home has to have a special meaning close to one;s heart, as compared to other places in every part of the world. no matter the size, the location. it is the meaning that you hold to it that matters. the more meaning it has to one, the bigger is it. no matter the physical size.

hence, no amount of money would take away or buy that meaning. because it is priceless. the home has seen childhood days, teenage years and eventually adult times. its has great meaning because many people have walked thru the house and have contributed to the memories. you cannot buy it with mere monatary value.

the memories has more value than whatever you have offered. from a dollar to millions of dollars. the home is priceless.

what do you think?

dreams

2007-07-23T04:04:00.000+12:45

we all want to achieve our goals and dreams. but people will say that to achieve your childhood ambitions will not be easy.

but we generally don;t want it to be easy. we just want to have our chance. maybe we are not good enough, and maybe we are just good enough to be something small like a waiter. but we want our chance to find out.

"you know why people call it dreams? because it only happens when we are asleep"

what do you think?

meaning

2007-07-22T05:14:00.001+12:45

the last thing to do in your life is to lose meaning of what you have been doing.

sometimes it feels that whatever you are doing has lost its meaning. that is when things will start to become a drag.

if things you do are already a drag, you have never found meaning in what you have been doing.

if you initially enjoy what you were doing and starting to feel that it is a drag, you are losing the meaning of what you were doing.

one has got to find that meaning and purpose.

what do you think?

pictures

2007-07-20T23:49:00.000+12:45

why do friends quarrel? why do father and sons fight? why do couples argue? i think most of the time friction occurs due to conflict of interests. it is because each has their own viewpoints and cannot see what is common.

more importantly, i usually think why there is friction is because of lack of understanding.

when a father scolds the son, the son will naturally think his father doesn;t understand him. but when the sons talk back, the fathers will feel that their own sons don;t understand the main reason why he was scolding his own son in the first place.

thus, when there is mutual understanding, conflicts will not rise to a breaking point. there is always a bigger picture at the end of the day.

next time before you doubt anyone, or get into a conflict with anybody, think if you had considered the bigger picture, or are you still looking at your own picture?

the world does not revolve around you.

what do you think?

subjects

2007-06-27T04:33:00.000+12:45

there was an article in the himalayan times. its about what you learnt in school. subjects which we were made to take meant more than the contents of the subjects itself. i realised how short sighted we were and our focus was a little bit wrong.

school teaches us about writing skills. essays we write meant more than marks we had to score to achieve good grades. its to train us to write resumes to impress your future employers and reports everyone can understand. imagine if you didn;t develop your writing skills and how much you;ll stand to lose.

school teaches us about attention to details. mathematics teaches you not only to solve mathematical problems, but it requires you to pay close attention to the methods you use and the numbers. making sure you don;t use the wrong value for the wrong formula.

there are many other things about it. this is merely a tip of the ice berg. this article really makes one wonder if we have been focusing on the wrong aspects of learning in school.

what do you think?

the orphanage

2007-06-13T05:26:00.000+12:45

looking into their eyes, they know nothing about their parents. they do not even know why they are there in the first place. most probably they don;t truly understand their own situation yet. like most children here in this society, they have 3 meals a day and have clean clothes and a nice little bed for them to sleep. they have many toys and friends to play with.

what they lack, love and attention.

they get stuffed with food 3 times a day, some through tubes inserted in their noses. the clean clothes they wear is a common pool of clothes where everyone in the room shares them. regardless of boy or girl. they have nice beds to sleep in, they just don;t have anyone to kiss them goodnight. some are lucky as they don;t get tied to the bed. the toys they have a mostly broken, but still usable. friends they have are all in the same situation. they don;t have parents. they were abandoned.

another group of new borns, have hardly less than 6 months to live. they are suffering from the effects of a war that has ended 3o years ago. they spent the rest of their short lives bedridden. they will die with their stomachs full. thats they best anyone could do.

and even then, thousands of kilometers away from this place, children in this society still complains of everything else they have.

what do you think?

education

2007-05-23T03:13:00.000+12:45

keeping things in perspective, people say that education is all about opportunity and expanding your horizons. but some part of it is about shrinking people, about teaching them that they are not the measure of everything.

what do you think?

materials

2007-05-08T23:40:00.000+12:45

the car is for transportation from one place to another. its not for speeding, and overtaking others just because they cut your lane. people will get killed if not careful, and its not being considerate to others anyway.

money earned is to buy what you need to live comfortably and not for buying what you already have and claiming that you don;t have enough. you have more than enough, you;re just trying to avoid being labelled as boring, and have no fashion sense. having a fashion sense doesn;t give you common sense. neither does it feed you. don;t spend it on going out to socialise and make friends. surely you didn;t spend your money to exhaust yourself till you can;t wake up the next morning without a headache right?

the phone is used to communicate with loved ones and friends. not to show off the latest model and the latest feature. it defeats the purpose if the other secondary and tertiary functions over runs the primary function.

try to understand that there must be some sense of responsibilities over the materialistic luxuries that we owned. its being abused by some, not all. certain level of maturity is needed to handle all things that we owned. take responsibility and ownership of your own items. because there are others who have none.

what do you think?

greed II

2007-05-07T06:05:00.000+12:45

don;t be too greedy, in your bid to get everything, you may just lose everything along the way. everything and everyone close to your heart. you may even lose yourself.

when you can;t acknowledge that, it means that loses are coming your way soon enough.

what do you think?

greed

2007-05-05T05:27:00.001+12:45

are we consumed by greed? everything that we do, somehow is never enough. we earn a sum of money, after a while, people want more and more and when will it ever end? some say its our goals and aspiration to earn alot of money but when would it ever be enough? sometimes i feel that people are easily consumed by greed. initially i thought it was their aims, but after a while, i felt it was greed.

this is an affluent society, there is enough food and clothes. nice homes and transport system. but we want classy food, we want branded clothes. we want bigger houses and sports cars. we want these, we want that. even that is not enough, we want more.

enough is losing its meaning because not many people understands it in the first place. some say they have big goals and dreams. and i wonder if there was an end point in that big goals and dreams. i wonder if satisfaction exists these days. people say i am easily contented, i say i;m not greedy.

what do you think?

the fish

2007-04-22T05:16:00.000+12:45

"Everybody is a genius. But, if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life believing that it is stupid."

--Albert Einstein

why must there be only one way to determined a person;s current estimated potential? as stated in the quote, we know that not every one can climb a tree. on the other hand, we know we need to climb the tree eventually to survive. but we also know that this quote is not a universal quote.

what do you think?

42 years

2007-04-18T05:21:00.000+12:45

things changes and it changes real fast. this society is especially fast in changes. in roughly 40 years, a nation rise up from almost nothing to something. however, the changes are just simply too fast. the pictures i see from postcards that are on sale in the bookshops are going to be outdated soon. what was there, won;t be there soon and what wasn;t there, will be there soon. few famous landmarks will be taken out, and buildings will rise from empty grounds.

somehow after all these changes, it tells us that we have to be adaptable at all times. we have to change to keep up with the times. the world keeps on moving and it doesn;t stop for anyone and we should not be living in the past. but look forward in the future. but sometimes, its the past that gives us the motivation and inspiration to move ahead. if the past was taken away, won;t it be like taking away the motivation and the inspiration that has brought us so far ahead today?

the society and environment has changed drastically, is it for the better or is it for the worst, only time will tell. but for now, the reality is such and treasuring whats left of it will leave us memories that will motivate and inspire. i wished things didn;t changed this fast. soon, i won;t be able to recognise it anymore.

what do you think?

wcp

2007-04-07T05:32:00.000+12:45

the uniqueness of the park is that it has a jekyll and hyde identity. the park is somewhat separated into 2 by a tunnel. which i call the tunnel of time. because when you go thru it and come out of it, you;ll feel you have either gone back in time, or ahead of time.

one side of it is bustling with activities. families having their picnics, father cycling with their sons, mothers skating with their daughters. happiness fills the air as there is a macdonalds not too far away from the big open space, where a huge unique playground that doesn;t even have a swing. a gigantic field with many football teams pitting their skills against one another, and numerous people flying kites ranging from a parachute look-a-like to a simple kite which you can easily make at home.

as you go thru the sea of faces, you;ll realise and feel the happiness in every one of them. makes you feel how peaceful the country is whereby you can feel the freedom. there is no tension of any sort. makes you feel so blessed because elsewhere in the same planet, the situation is totally not the same. comparing Iraq, this country is definitely in a much much better position. sometimes, i feel we do take the peace in our country for granted. we don;t face natural disasters nor any sort of political struggle. you feel the peace around you which should be cherished and thank God for it.

the other side of the park is virtually empty. the difference is the lush greenery and that it doesn;t have a macdonalds which attracts the crowd. there are many bird sanctuaries around this side, and there is a nice pond. this side of it is definitely closer to nature than its other half. its tranquil as its quieter too. time passes slower here as compared to its fast paced surroundings of the park. you feel the peace within yourself. you appreciate nature at its best over here.

there you have it, the same place, 2 different levels of activities.

what do you think?

making the difference

2007-04-03T03:38:00.001+12:45

there was one poster speaking about making the difference. it talks about many starfishes stuck on the beach. a little boy came up to a starfish and took it back to the sea. he wanted a save all the starfish but a man told him it was impossible because there were simply too many starfishes to be saved. the little boy told the man, at least i made a difference to that starfish.

its true that sometimes we want to help those in need. as much as we can possibly can. but how sincere are we about helping? everyone can say they want to help. its easy to say, but how much are we willing to help? the boy was sincere, because even though he said he wanted to save all the starfish, all he could do within his means was to save one starfish. but he made the effort, the effort which made the difference.

we should start asking ourselves, how much are we willing to help others in need? consider those complete strangers and even friends whom we aren;t close to. must one have reason to help those in need?

sometimes, we help others because it is convenient to do so. if it is inconvenient, we would reject them. its true, that we need to look after ourselves first before looking after others, but sometimes, it is worth the sacrifice.

what do you think?

pursuit of happiness

2007-03-20T02:59:00.000+12:45

living in this society has been a struggle. no doubt there were happy and good times, but there were times when you wished you weren;t alive to witness and experience it. it makes you feel down and out and extremely demoralised. but you also know that you just can;t simply stop there. you have to go on and on. carrying on with life with no morale and motivation makes it a struggle. but knowing that coming out of this ordeal makes you stronger, or will it?

competition is stiff and there is never any gurantee that you;ll ever win. sometimes, you don;t even need to win, just doing enough not to lose would sometimes be considered a great success. but is this what we are looking for? who wouldn;t want to excel and be proficient in what they do? everyone wants to feel important and useful. however, circumstances don;t always offer that opportunity for you to feel that way. of course, there were times when you took the center stage, and everyone was gloating over your success, but it doens;t last. and times like that don;t come as often as some others. but smile because at least it did happened in your life. looking back, you were once the successful one, now you;re left with almost nothing.

life is unfair and it will always be, but you just got to accept this fact. there are people who are born with the silver spoon, some not even a spoon to their name. but what can you do about it? life is not about complaining about unfairness, its the truth that you seek. believe in something, and go towards that direction. once done, find another direction. remember that it takes time. rome was not built in one day and you also cannot expect instantaneous results. most of the time, we all know this little facts and certainly someone would have told this to you before. but we always choose to ignore it and sweep it under the carpet.

find a motivation in life. what motivates you to live life? to earn money to support your child? or your parents? or is it to fulfill that childhood dreams of yours? living in a all too comfortable position with no life threatening situations nor anything that threatens your livelihood obviously doesn;t spur you on that extra mile which you really need. this is not an excuse to procrastinate what you are suppose to do to.

be true to who you are and your values. if you don;t know who you are, start reflecting on it. if you don;t have values, start looking for it.

what do you think?

tolerance

2007-03-09T04:58:00.000+13:45

there are so many beliefs, hundreds of perspective, thousands of ideas and millions of views. an individual is entitled to all of them and can choose which they want to believe in. and all of which can caused misunderstanding. how do we avoid this uncomfortable situation? its really simple but sometimes people just simply can;t bring themselves to do it.

i learnt long ago to tolerate others, rather than forcing my beliefs on them. you;ll realised that you can;t influence people without pressurizing them always. we live happier that way.

what do you think?

soc

2007-03-06T04:25:00.000+13:45

every obstacle is actually an opportunity in disguise. because it provides a chance to prove to oneself;s of one;s own capabilities. in fact the more obstacle one comes across, the more one will understand oneself. a life without obstacles gives one no chance to prove one;s worth. let it find one, or one;ll have to seek for it.

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1. there is nothing a cup of coffee cannot settle with one.
2. java games can amuse one for hours
3. cartoon still amuses one
4. simple is more than enough for one
5. one can;t stop flying
6. one can;t stop climbing

what do you think?

the hill

2007-02-21T04:27:00.000+13:45

when you push too hard for that little difference between getting what you want and what you can;t get, something had to give somewhere and getting what you want was not always worth the cost of what was lost. opportunity cost and the law of diminishing returns.

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something i remembered,

"why do we always want high ground?"

"a better view, better defence and better firing position"

"thats right. right now you;re standing in a valley and you can;t see very much. down and dark. really depressing man."

"don;t i know it"

"so we;ll have to get up that hill, don;t we? if we want to get a better view of things, be in a better position to get on with our lives"

"assualting a hill is never easy"

"don;t i know it......i took the hill"

"what?"

"you must want to take the hill, God, you must want to. life is full of hills we have to take. some are big, some are little. and to some extent we can choose which ones we will fight for, which we will let go of. but there;s one that we have to take, again and again and again."

"which is?"

"its called the hill after every failure"

"its going to be painful"

"every hill ever worth taking was painfull too"

"and when i have taken the hill after every failure?

"i hope you will not stop. there are many more to go"

"never ends does it"

"no, it shouldn;t, not if dreams meant anything and not if life was to be worth living"

what do you think?

trekking

2007-02-11T07:01:00.000+13:45

what is so nice about climbing up mountains? the view? the sense of fulfilment?or some sense of obligation? a measurement of success?

its the absolute simplicity, when one is climbing, your mind is clear of all confusion, one will have focus. then suddenly, the light becomes sharper, the sounds are richer and you are filled with the deep powerful presence of life.

what goes up must come down. going up is half the story. coming down completes the story.

what do you think?

compare

2007-02-04T04:44:00.000+13:45

there will always be a period of time whereby you would start comparing something from another thing. either you compare or being compared. the whole meaning of comparing is simply to see who or what is superior or inferior. its true we cannot avoid comparing from happening, and it is usually never fair. but we must always keep in mind, to be realistic and always remember that a mountain will always be higher than another mountain. it never ends and it usually doesn;t come to a sensible conclusion.

even if you;re being compared, and you;re known to be the superior one, be humble. because one can win today, but tomorrow, one may lose. things change. however, if you;re the inferior one, don;t let it get to you. be proud of who you are. being someone you are is more important than something you know, or something you have.

what do you think?

risks

2007-01-29T16:40:00.000+13:45

human life is such that it is always beset by risks. freedom risks its own abuse, thought risks error, whilst speech risks misunderstanding. faith risks failure and hope risks despair. the risk of life is death. we can;t avoid risk and never can. as such, i would rather choose risk doing something i;ve always wanted to do rather than to surrender to what the society wants me to do. no matter what happens we should not surrender to any adversity that we face. we must constantly encourage each other and encourage yourself. in this way, even if we have lost the battle, we would have gained victory within ourselves.

we have to take risks in life. that way, we would find what we are really looking for or find something that can replace what was lost. yet, there is no guarantee that you;ll ever find it. but you have to try anyway. maybe this is what life;s all about. would you want to look back and say ' i wish i had' or 'i;m glad i did'?

what do you think?

journey to the promised land

2007-01-25T04:03:00.000+13:45

trying to look back into the last 14 years of my life. starting from pri sch. at that young age, there was nothing but play. there was school, but work was not very stressful. just do as you are told and nothing will go wrong. the emphasis was waking up early in the morning, greet teachers you meet and make sure you hand up your homework. probably the hardest thing was spelling and the chinese spelling. because you;re expected to know how to spell all your words. its basically a training to perfection. there is no room for spelling errors.

streaming was a curious process. kids were given different streams according to their level which they are comfortable with. or rather, streamed according to their abilities. kids with less capabilities goes to a lower class, kids with higher capabilities goes to a higher class. there was a segregation of kids. but it never mattered to the kid because there was only play on the mind. then came the final year whereby a major exam was to be taken. at first it was thought to be a summery of what was learnt in the primary level. but it was actually an indicator of intelligence. whereby again, kids get segregated into a more well known institution and into a less well known institution and according to the streams they are supposedly more comfortable with. but probably the highlight on the kids mind was the new uniforms, friends and environment. and the huge amount of books to be bought. jumping from 4 subjects to 9 or 10 subjects was probably a shock to the kid. but fortunately, it was still manageable because subjects were taught at the elementary level.

again came the streaming. this time, to determined which subjects you are comfortable to take during the british exams. initially, it was thought that you could take subjects you are interested in. thats what sch is for isn;t it? but streaming was actually another indicator of which subjects you could apparently score in. but it was still manageable because it was at an ordinary level. but it was 8 subjects that was supposedly ordinary. then came the british exams. funny thing was that it seemed we have done the same questions from some books that can be purchased from the bookstores. after that exams, came another phase of life where the decision to continue wearing uniforms or not. it is always an eternal battle between the 2 decisions. if one decided to continue wearing uniforms, then every subject became advance. if you decide not to continue wearing uniforms, then subjects became very technical.

taking advance subjects means more precision in answers and more practice exam questions that can be obtained from still the ordinary bookstores. but it wasn;t easy because of the pressure and tension. it was in fact difficult. because the contents are far much more detailed compared to the ordinary level. and it was squeezed into a period of slightly more than a year. its an illusion if anyone said it was 2 years. it was a battle of survival. its the survival of the fittest. it was torrid times, yet there were times that was memorable. and, after all these, the journey is still not done. the saga continues....

just for fun..

what do you think?

ambitions

2007-01-18T02:55:00.000+13:45

i heard someone ask this question, "when you were young, what did you want to be?" so whats the answer to that question? was there any answer in the first place. well, i also heard this somewhere else, "Don't feel guilty if you don;t know what you want to do with your life, the most interesting people I know didn;t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don;t." but you;ll eventually need to find out. one can;t be living a life not knowing what to do. surely at some point of time in your life, there has something you always wanted to do. its just factors that have been inhibiting you from doing it. especially money. if not, the freedom.

then someone mentioned, that people have given up their dreams to do what they don;t like to do for the sake of money. but is anyone prepared to do what they don;t like to earn money so as to achieved their dreams?

so what are ones dreams? is it still a dream? or is it forgotten? or is it on the road to reality? or has it already become a reality?

imagine someone asked you this question, "at anyone point of time in your life have you experienced failure?" how would you answer? if no, "then how would you have handled failure if it happens to you?"

if yes, "why did it even happened in the first place?"

what do you think?

systems

2007-01-10T02:06:00.000+13:45

went back to sch today. makes one think back of the good old education days. where one would just study the whole day and get good results for examinations and tests. in this country, results basically reflect how one is successful in school. one will noticed that it does not take into account efforts expanded in the process of obtaining the results. the result slip also doens;t explain whether or not it was a fluke result or otherwise. but i think people aren;t probably interested in the explaination. because the main focus is on the results.

people basically believe results explains everything. no one will ever believe that if despite putting in effort, the results won;t show. no one will ever believe it. but the truth is, things like this will happen and is still happening. but being humans, and demanding humans, if results show, means you have done well and you have put in effort in your daily work. if results don;t show, means you are lazy, and you have not put in effort. perhaps i might be generalizing. but i never felt encouraged to do better when i was putting in effort and my results don;t show.

thank God there were educators who have faith in what i was doing, which was the motivation i needed to go through the entire school term. i was never suited for a system meant for elitist. but i did tell myself that whatever the results in the end, i know that througout the painful process, it has moulded a character out of me. i have learnt how to fail, and more importantly, pick myself and carry on walking. not many schools in this country teaches their students how to fail and then carry on walking afterwards.

its really unfortunate, all these can;t be reflected in the results slip. no one will ever know what sort of person one is, till you get to know one. people like to look at pieces of paper made from pulp of trees. people are often interested in what results you got, and where you got the results from. no one seems interested in how you go about with daily chores, attitude and work ethics. they only become interested in that after seeing some pieces of paper. perhaps, by then, it might be a bit too late.

brand and household names are usually favoured over the not-so-well known names. but thats the only way how people can tell difference at one glance. its a pity people are usually judged before they can really show what they are really capable of. but thats life isn;t it. its a doggy dog world. fighting with elitist is always a losing battle. but if one is well trained, one will eventually catch up. thats called being a farmer. they work twice as hard to get the same result as a zhuang yuan putting in half the effort. hardly seems fair, but one will get used to it.

what do you think?

responsibility

2006-12-20T07:10:00.000+13:45

in life, there are many things that we can do. in fact, nothing is impossible. even defying gravity. look, i;m sure you;ve seen those magic shows about guys defying gravity. true or false? well, people do belive it, some people don;t but whatever the guy is doing, he sure is making seeing believing. also man has made it to the moon. if it was never a myth.

so, all in all, nobody can stop you from doing what you can and want to do. you can do whatever you want to do. as long as you put your heart and soul into it, things you want to do, can be done.

Hence, the moral is, you can do whatever you want to do. Just be responsible for it.

what do you think?

temasek

2006-12-14T20:23:00.000+13:45

the typical singaporean doesn;t really go out late at night, just to have some fun at some clubs. listening to loud blasting music. drinking berverages that in the end makes them puke everything out. go round looking at people of the opposite gender. showing off what they have and what they wear. neither does the typical singaporean spends all the hard earn money on materials that they don;t really need.

there is always a distinction between wants and needs. but apparantly, to all the atypical singaporean, all wants are taken as needs, and all needs are taken for granted. some atypical singaporean claims that not going out, not hanging out with friends, doesn;t have this, doesn;t have that, means no life. some even despair being lonely and bored for a few days. imagine the elderly individuals in Homes for the aged. they have been lonely for years and i bet you, they sure are bored.

another point to note is that atypical singaporeans will cry foul the moment anything doesn;t get into his or her ways. come on, a little setback has never killed anyone. the worse is these group of people wil fume and fume over the injustice inflicted in them, but never spent any effort in trying to change the situation. they seem to be waiting for something to happen. something which until today i can;t seem to ans that question.

i mean, its a little setback, and surely you can start all over again. maybe unless, you lose your 5 senses. sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell. that might be a valid justification to start wailing and complaining. but the weird thing is, there are people who don;t have either of the 5 senses but yet are even more optimisitic than those abled bodied individuals and will spend whatever necessay efforts to change their fates.

guess its time to start reflecting about the past. but don;t let it bring you down. let it inspire you, so that 5 years down the road when you look back, you can say that you did changed your own life. and you have all the right in the world to compare yourself currently and yourself 5 years ago. try not to compare yourself and another person, because the comparisons will never ever come to a sensible conclusion.

maybe out of this reflection, you may learnt some values that best education cannot.

what do you think?

repeated

2006-12-01T05:30:00.000+13:45

character is built upon both success and failure. no one wants to fall down during this learning curve. success is something that is hammered into each and every one of us, day in and day out.. it doesn;t just appear over night. there is no such thing as failure if you learn from it, make the adequate changes, and move on. many bumps will make life interesting, but soon they will be in the rear view mirror.. if you choose to look back. don;t let them phase you, i was supposed to be useless 2 years ago. thats why life is nothing but a game now. whatever doesn;t kill you only makes you stronger. i want to live my life to the fullest extent right now, without a worry in the world. that means making mistakes, and feeling displeasure at times. do everything you want- full out with conviction, and make life everything you want to believe in. sure, the future is extremely important-BUT.. living for the moment is much more fulfilling. ask yourself if you knew you weren;t going to see tomorrow, would you be prepared for it? would you be thinking of the last test you wrote, the mark on your last assignment? would you be thinking about your future then? you;d be thinking about who and what meant the most to you. you;d be thinking about the life you lived.. the friends you;ll never forget.. and how sweet life has been. so just live it up, you only get one chance to do it right. thats what moral fiber means to me.

what do you think?

failure

2006-11-26T05:33:00.000+13:45

has anyone asked themselves if they have failed before? definition of failure is an act of proving unsuccessful. and not when, the process didn;t come out as WELL as expected, or slightly less than perfection but still proven to work out. unsuccessful is when it did not work out at all totally. its actually a clear line which people often distorts it very badly. due to high expectation at times, certain level of success is deemed as a failure. however, in reality its really a success just that because it was not perfect, or there were slight hiccups, people will condemn it as a failure.

reflect upon the past and see if there was any instances in life defining moments when you have failed. if there was, then what did you do to pick yourself up. what corrective measures did you enforce so as to prevent the act to becoming another failure. sure it was painful to go thru it. but failure can either make you, or break you. depending on how you want the failure to affect your life.

make you in the sense, makes you stronger. knowing that you have failed and you have learn that something needs to be done and the problem needs to be solved. hence you;ll work out something that will improve the situation and avoid failure.

break you in the sense, failure has destroyed your fighting spirit, and then you give up. leaving the problem unsolved and nothing was done.

failure in certain sense does make you wake and shake you up abit to make you realise that life was never a bed of roses. however, you;ll never get to experienced it till you feel it. hearing from experiences is never good enough because thats simply a 2nd hand experience to start with. you never felt it yourself to know how it feels. its just the same as you;ll never know the kettle is hot till you touch it.

hence, after everything that was discussed, if you have never failed before. then its time to fail at one point of time and learn how to deal with it positively. and how you can pick yourself up and move on. keep on moving.

in all,

1. if it works out in the end, it was never a failure. it is a success. its just a less sweeter tasting success. stop harping on your high expectation and attempt to lump everything that doesn;t go your way as a failure.

2. if it never worked out in the end, do a reflection. find out the root cause of the problem. remember, the problem has to be solved. actions must be taken.

3. learning how to fail, is something which can;t be taught to you. you got fall to pick yourself up. anyway, you have to fall to pick yourself up anyway. there is no way you can learn to pick yourself up if you never fell...

what do you think?

difference

2006-11-18T19:41:00.000+13:45

looking all around, wondering if people knew what they were doing. do they know the reason why they are doing it? for interests? for money? or is it because someone told them to do it. or is it the pressure of the society, the uncontrollable urge to do what everyone else is doing? questions and questions without any answers makes everything look stupid. what is the point of asking if no one is going to answer the questions. the only person who can answer this questions is oneself.

if one can;t answer this questions, then question your objective on this planet. life is a gift, and its not to be wasted. if everything that you are doing doesn;t make you happy, then why on earth are you doing it? however, this only applies to long term effects. if you know you are going to be happy eventually but you have to go thru the unhappy process, then it is another situation all together. however, if you can foresee that in the long run, you won;t be happy, then really you got to go back to the drawing board to find out why. if you cannot forsee whats going to happen in the future, pls create a drawing board so that you can start to reflect and plan.

living your life in a daze is wrong. do not waste the gift that is bestowed to you. ask yourself, are you going to make any difference to others? at least make a difference to yourself. this makes the gift worthwhile. making the difference.

what do you think?

jack of all trades

2006-11-16T04:27:00.000+13:45

Coconut trees in a tropical country against a blue sky background. Coconut trees are extremely useful with literally a 1001 uses. something which the society demands from her people. no wonder a tree like the coconut, take ages to grow.

what do you think?

airplanes

2006-11-15T01:17:00.000+13:45

All aboard Western Pacific Airline

Amazing Thailand.

Coming soon to Paya Labar Airbase this week.

what do you think?

back to the society

2006-11-14T02:07:00.000+13:45

we are generally ribbed with being whiners who complain a lot, but do nothing to attempt to escape our predicament. in contrast to those who have no choice, but looking on the brighter side of their lack of choice as still a form of means to achieving their goals.

Do you dare go down the road less travelled, or would you prefer to give up your aspirations for the well trodden path, or blindly follow the sole collection of material wealth to keep up with the Joneses?

what do you think?

Epilogue

2006-11-11T06:05:00.000+13:45

it really frustrates people when you tried to explain matters but people not only they don;t listen, they accuse you of not explaining. doesn;t sound logical does it? but its a doggy dog world out there and people will go all the way out to save their own ass. and will do anything even if it means sacrificing anyone to save their own face and image.

most of the time, complication occurs because there is usually a misunderstanding somewhere and when that happens, the common reaction is to point fingers at others. and accusing people of things they don;t intend to do, does not solve any problems. venting anger on others will make one feel better only for a while and only for that period of time. taking revenge on others does not show you how much superior you are, it only shows that you don;t have respect for others and yourself. jumping to conclusions will only irritate others and still doesn;t solve the problem.

take time out, sort things out peacefully and calmly. no need to rush into blaming people, because it only makes one very angry. it is indeed sabotage to wash dirty linen in public unless you totally dislike the person and want to get back to the person. not that it is wrong, but one will be more respected if you clarified matters privately. unless you feel that one should be shamed in public because you feel the person deserved it totally.

however, this society is filled with people who just loves to play punk with others. and it is not wrong, it is just simply another way of doing things. you just lose the respect of others, thats all.

what do you think?

The journal

2006-11-07T04:25:00.000+13:45

the amazing journey of military life has come to an end. from humble beginings from a recruit to a private. was a tough life as a trainee. had to train under the burning hot suns and the windy cold nights. braving all the elements and surviving through every single one of them. spending 5 months on an island is no means an easy task. being so near yet so far from home makes one go crazy. before promotion to corporal, was transfered to a cadet and it was a huge transformation.

demands of a cadet was high and it resulted in a lot of sacrifices. life was tough but with a huge learning curve. fruits of labour for a cadet was sweet. and the sweetness lingers on forever, because you have found friends through the process.

after earning the authority, the price to pay for the authority is responsibility. something which nobody taught you how to handle till you have it on your shoulders. and it was heavy. not only do you have to answer for your own actions but you also got to answer for those working directly under you. you;ll realised the importance of working together as a team and the pain of working for. you also learn how to survive by any means necessary. but nevertheless, you still found the friends worth working with. which makes everything nothing but worthwhile.

what do I think?

Advasary

2006-11-01T03:30:00.000+13:45

"You are my advasary, but you are not my enemy. For your resistance gives me strength, your will gives me courage, your spirit ennobles me. Though I aim to defeat you, should I succeed, I will not humiliate you. Instead, I will honour you. For without you, I am a lesser man."

Away

2006-10-30T02:50:00.000+13:45

Its important to treasure your loved ones around you. you;ll never know when they will not be around anymore. many a times, people take others for granted and thats when suddenly they are not around then they will feel very regretful that they never spend enough time with them and stuffs like that.

its hard to treasure every single one 24/7. because all is human. but i believe that as long as you did show care and concern and think about them once in a while. you did spend quality time that both will remember and that it will last till the end. thats the best.

but never ever bear grudges, because you;ll eventually regret it with time. conflicts may occur, but remember to resolve them. don;t leave the grudge hanging and waiting for the other party to give in. because sometimes, they will never have a chance to give in.

love, value it. smile, keep it.

In loving memory. My deepest condolances to you, my bestest buddy.

The reason

2006-10-26T04:24:00.000+13:45

the reason for this journal is not only for reflection, but reflections on the reflection.

that means to read thru what was written at different times of the year and to reflect whether or not it made sense at the current time of the year. and also to reflect whether you are still on the right track or still veering off course.

thats the reason for this journal. and not to write for fun and leave it forgotten. thats not why i kept this for the past months.

what do you think?

Mirrior Part 3

2006-10-21T15:57:00.000+13:45

everyone is human, and everyone does makes mistakes. however, sometimes there is really no room for mistakes in this unforgiving society. people would say, please give chance to prove their worth. the only time for you to prove your worth is the time before you make any serious mistakes. anything after that is almost considered as efforts in vain because you are already permermantly labelled after any mistake that you have committed.

of course there are nice people in this society who gives chances to people who makes mistakes. however, these people are really nice people. otherwise, normal people normally won;t give chances after the first mistake is committed. anything less than perfect is bad.

in order to have a good impression is to impress at first sight, suck up at first sight. once you have made the impact of impressing, no matter what mistakes you have made would be negligible. because after impressing, you also are permermantly labelled.

what do you think?

My final bow

2006-10-20T17:10:00.000+13:45

Everything that i have done went up in smoke.

i didn;t expect 10 months of work to end up this way.

it left me utterly disappointed.

Mirrior Part 2

2006-10-19T06:49:00.000+13:45

time to go. after many months of tiring support, you look back on what you have done. though it is true that there are many mistakes made, many miscommunication errors. but you;ll realise that they are all learning experiences. many are painful. frustrating. and some even unnecessary. but whatever it was, there was a learning point in each of every of them.

you learn how to manage the workload. you learn how to coordinate perfectly and you learn how to work with people, with a firm yet diplomatic manner. the last thing you want to do is to burn bridges with the people you are working with and you also need to maintain good working relationship with the people you are working for. many a times, desperate calls for desperate measures. and there times when you have to resort to underhand means to achieve or to accomplish your mission. it is a necessary evil and the risks must be taken for the bigger picture and for the success of the mission. never compromise integrity for personal gain because that is plain selfish. and people will question your moral values as a person.

working in the support core of the organisation, it is very important not to reveal your trade secret. because that is your authority over the entire organisation and never let others know what you have, because chances are people will try to exploit whatever resources you have. and you;ll eventually lose command and control over your resources. know your contacts well, because in event of an emergency, you;ll know where to seek for help. never try to handle the situation on your own, because most of the time, you cannot handle it alone. never fear of asking for help, have faith with the people working together with you. nobody wants to die together in a sinking ship. people would rather work together to save their ownself. note, work together to save their ownself.

help others, because you never know when you;ll need their help. and try to offer whatever help you can. because thats just a nice thing to do. help each other. however, do not try to be overly helpful, because you may end up bearing a responsibility that is not even yours to start with in the first place.

being a service orientated appointment, it becomes a joy to know that because of your support, they are able to carry out their mission without any much of a hassle. this is called the fruits of your labour. and it makes both side happy. this is called a win-win situation.

what do you think?

The final case

2006-10-12T02:03:00.000+13:45

the sight of a dejected father waiting anxiously for the return of his son, only to realise that the wait was to be delayed by nearly a year. he waited from morning till afternoon. to sit in a very cold room, shivering to keep warm, to see the verdict of his son. and to witness a process which took no more than 45 mins, and to suffer the cold room for 4 hours.

the verdict took no more than 30 secs. all the 4 hours wait for bad news. and to hear him say his heartfelt thanks, and to see him leave the place alone. seeing the lonely figure, walking slowly away from the building and disappearing into the concrete jungles of high rise hdb flats. the scene of a dejected father.

he never saw his son at home for almost 6 years. and after being punish for his past mistakes, he was taken away immediately after coming out, and only to delay his freedom for almost a year. the son already suffered 10 strokes, plus the fact he has never been to his own home for almost 6 years. seems like a cruel way to torture the loving parents who have not yet given up on the son.

what do you think?

Mirrior Part 1

2006-10-02T02:52:00.000+13:45

nine months have passed. nine months of a desk job. my reflections on it. too choose a desk job, you must make sure that the work that you want to do on that desk is something you want to do. do not do something that you don;t want to do. because when something happens especially if it is something bad, you are most likely to shoulder the responsibility. the question is are you prepared to shoulder that responsibility? of course, the amount of responsibility that you shoulder is also dependent on the pay that you receive. nevertheless, you cannot shrink away from the responsibility.

the people who work with you are also important factors which must be considered. of course, this is really by luck because you cannot really choose who you want to work with, but you can decide how good you want your working relationship with them to be. most of the jobs around are usually made up of the same philosopy. no man;s an island and you cannot work alone. teamwork is the key to alot of problems. if you want to fly solo, you must make sure you can handle it. because chances are usually you cannot handle it.

make friends with your colleagues. because, when the need arises, they will be helping you as a friend. if you just maintain a professional working relation, then don;t expect them to do anything more than they are paid to do. you;ll be lucky if you meet someone nice.

whenever you meet a problem, you got to ask. don;t expect help to fly down from the sky. and sometimes, you got to swallow some pride to ask someone. don;t try to be a hero and solve the problem. it would be good if you knew what to do and if you have handled the similiar problem before. but ask if you are unsure. at least, when the problem really cannot be solved, your conscience is clear because you knew you asked around and the more experienced people.

what do you think?

Professionalism

2006-09-24T13:42:00.000+12:45

superiors play a important role in any organisation because they are basically the decision makers and the nerve center of the organisiation. without them, the organisation will fail and become dysfunctional. if the nerve center is weak, then the entire body cannot work properly. there will be conflicting instructions and the legs, the arms and body will not in be in sync. it would be very weird if a body 2 hands refuses to support each other. hence, emphasises the importance of the superiors of the organisation.

but working for the nerve center are the subordinates. for example, the legs and the hands. they are there to support the superior in the decision making, and will do all out to ensure that whatever to meet the superiors intention. however, as a superior, it is important to have good rapport with the subordinates. if there isn;t, then its difficult to work. likewise, the subordinates must understand the superior so that they too will work hard towards a common intent.

however, sad to say that working relationships must also be considered. sometimes, the subordinates work purely because "he is the boss and i am the worker". hence things will get done, only in the professional sense, because it is not within the workers capacity to do more than he is expected. most of the time, people refuses to work harder than expected because of the pay grade that they receive. prefessionally, he has done his job. as strictly stated in the job scope and taskings. hence, sometimes workers will see who their boss is. if the boss has got a good rapport and also a has good relations with the subordinates, you;ll see that his subodinates will go out of their way to do extra taskings even if he is strictly not required to do so. in this case, i would say that it would be out of friendship to help the boss. it is now a different league because he is helping out within the workers capacity as a friend.

notice the difference if you had a good working relation with subordinates? although there too are cons, for example, if you become too friendly, then workers might start to take advantage of you. that is a thin line that the boss must learn to manage.

given a chance, if the boss is someone whom you respect deeply, then you;ll see that you;ll go all out to help him. as a working professional and a friend. you don;t only respect his appointment, but also honour his friendship. if the boss is someone whom you only respect his appointment, then you;ll see that the appointment is the only thing you respect.

what do you think?

The Dice

2006-09-15T03:51:00.000+12:45

life is really filled with difficult decisions. sometimes you really have to decide on which one you want to commit yourself to. in order to cover things up you sometimes have to play with words, paint pictures and more importantly, give the impression you wish to impress upon.

there are many things that are definitely based on impression. because, facts are only facts when you know see. hearing and reading are considered as secondary and cannot be relied upon all the time. because, ultimately if you can impress and convince by playing with words, then you have achieved your purposes and intention.

sometimes, one simple object can have so many faces. just depending on which angle you look at it. take for an example a dice. it is basically a cubiod with 6 faces. numbered 1 till 6. so technically speaking, there is 6 ways of looking at a dice. when you throw it, and when you see the number 1, you don;t feel so much of an impact because the number is so small. but if you see the number 6, there is much more of an impression because of the large number. but did anyone realised that you are still looking at the same dice which is still basically the cubiod in the first place. one simple object that can give so many forms of impression. the difference is just the magnitude of things.

what do you think?

Road ahead

2006-09-10T14:40:00.000+12:45

Life is a journey. There will always be ups and downs. Just like the mountains in Taiwan, filled with uphills and downhills. When you are at the bottom of the ravine, and you look up, you see hope because you can a slope up. Similarly, when you are up at the top of the knoll, you look out, again you see hope because the scenary is beautiful and you find it worth climbing up.

So whatever you do, there is always hope. Just depends on how hard you look for that tiny tinge of hope. sometimes, you feel that things do get you down, but its always important how you always try to get up and carry on. its true that pace of life can be fast, if need be, slow down and take a break but don;t ever stop. i;m sure you don;t want your heart to stop. it has been beating ever since you said hello to the world, and if its tired, it;ll slow down. but it doesn;t stop. so why should you stop?

what do you think?

Logs

2006-08-21T04:05:00.000+12:45

Logistician must always plan ahead. But another important to take note for a logistician, is to plan for contigencies. because whatever has been planned ahead will cock up. and always know what assets you have, but don;t let others know. you;ll have the upperhand.

what do you think?

Human resource

2006-08-09T15:51:00.000+12:45

does one wonder why sometimes you do so much yet get so little in return? despite the fact that its gonna sacrifice your own holidays as a result. you work like a dog, but the appreciation from others is so superficial that you don;t even want it anymore. observation is that people usually wants to be appreciated, but has one come to a stage when you do so much that the act of being appreciated isn;t appealing at all? but yet you are still working hard at your job.

ever wonder what will happen when you come to that particular stage? it also means that you are working for no one but your own self. usually, when it comes to that stage, you basically feel that the bosses above you and your workers under you are people whom you feel are not fit working for. or rather, the respect you have for them is basically just for professional reasons and nothing else.

in life, the rapport that is to be built between both boss and workers must be strong. sometimes, its true that the job natuarally isn;t very nice, but if the people around you have strong rapport, then personally, they are worth working for. you would not mind working so hard. because of the colleagues around you that work together with you. that makes the difference.

what do you think?

Microsoft Motto

2006-07-31T04:26:00.000+12:45

in life, there must be a direction. you must need to know where you are going. if you do not know where you are going, then you just failed to plan and that is planning to fail. the question that usually bugs people is that, do you know what you want to do in life?

what jobs do you want to take that firstly earns you your living, then does it make you happy? is it what you have been wanting to do since young, or if you had the passion since young.

or you just want to do something, anything that brings you some cash. just to get by the day. and then carry on like this for the next 20 years of your life.

people study, and what do they study? they would usually reply, something that is pertaining to their future jobs. but in the end, they get a job that somehow is totally irrelavant to what they studied. they just want to study for the sake of studying. get the degree and get the edge.

stress in job is everywhere. but getting stress over a job that you don;t enjoy is misery. getting stress over a job you have been wanting to do is challenge. at least the passion in you will ignite the fire to overcome the challenge. and then when you overcome it, there is a sense of achivement. but when you overcome the misery, you will tell yourself you don;t wanna go thru the same shit again. see the difference? it isn;t the same at all. unless of course, you are being extremely highly paid to go thru the shit. since you are paid, you might as well work.

what do you think?

Surroundings

2006-07-03T02:25:00.000+12:45

company is very important. one thing that i learnt, is that no man can be alone. not for a very long period of time that is and definitely not when you are new to an environment. for example, if you are starting a new job or starting a new class, you come in alone, you feel strange and you would want to be alone, but however, as the job or class progresses on, you;ll realised that you need other people;s help. be it in helping you do something, or just a listening ear to vent out frustrations, you;ll need each other;s support.

another example which i can quote that company is very important, is that when you ask a group of good friends for a holiday, even if the place is very boring with nothing to see, but with good company, everything will still turn out fine and fun. but if you went to a holiday to a place with fun filled activities, but with a company which you don;t really like, then no matter how fun the activites are, the entire trip is ruined.

in fact think about it, if your workplace had some good people, and friends that you can relate pretty well with, and the imagine that they were not there, you would feel very down. company gives you certain strength that you can fall back on when you feel down.

however, the environment also plays an important part. for example, if you are already very comfortable with the environment, you can still survive alone. but do take note, you cannot survive for a long period of time. when you get used to it, company may not be so much an emphasis, but nevertheless, still an important factor.

what do you think?

Physics

2006-07-01T02:39:00.000+12:45

Newton's First Law states that an object will remain at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line unless acted upon by an external force. it basically applies to everywhere. when you have started, you would not want to end it. and when you have not started anything, you wouldn;t want to begin in the first place.

it also means that one does not like changes. changes are this particular external force. people generally don;t really like changes. once they feel comfortable in a particular situation, they generally don;t like to get out of that comfortable situation. unless, the environment is already bad to start with.

that is why, the most difficult thing is to take off...and then land. because taking off takes a great deal of effort. and if you had a choice not to do it, you would not want to take off. but after you have taken off, the feeling of flying makes you feel very great. and when it is time to land, nobody wants to land.

the reason why people don;t want to take off is not because they don;t want to feel the effect of flying, but because they are more afraid that they will not be able to take off even after spending effort in it, which also means that they are afraid of failing. and the reason why nobody wants to land is even more simple, they like the effect of flying and don;t want to land.

it happens all the time and basically it is human nature.

what do you think?

CAOS

2006-06-14T03:09:00.000+12:45

think long term. do not need short term because there are consequences which comes in handy when you think about it in the long run. never let your emotions get the better of you just because at the present moment of time you are unable to tolerate or understand people;s rationale.

tolerating is only a temporary solution. reflecting would only have a lasting effect if you reflect properly and with the correct steps taken to rememdy the situation. you may know what would happen now, but you never know what may happen later. you never know what are the turn of events that could eventually be in your favour.

when stumbled upon a sticky situation, it is always advisable to take a step back and appreciate the situation first. you never know what is coming up. after all, do expect the unexpected. but always always keep your calm. control your emotions and never let it rule your mind.

easier said than done, it doens;t come in with a snap of a finger. but one eventually has to start somewhere and thats for sure.

what do you think?

Dilbert

2006-06-06T02:05:00.000+12:45

never trouble trouble until trouble troubles you. to put it bluntly, don;t stir shit when there is no shit. recognise who are you enemies, and who are those powerhouses whom you cannot afford to offend. another word of advice is to be grateful to those who helped you. it is one of the little important things that could make your life easier. sometimes, when you meet into a little trouble, and you realise that it would be better if the trouble was left alone, then by all means leave it alone. certain problems will nautrally settle by itself. however, certain matters you got to address it, but remember, not all matter needs to be address. if it can be left alone then its better to leave it alone.

however, one note of caution is that whenever in doubt always consult and ask. remember saving your ass is just as important. however, if you assess that the problem can be buried without much of a fuss, don;t go and kick up shit for nothing. on the part of being grateful to people who have helped you is important. simple reason being that if they are the powerhouses that controls something or have monopoly over stuffs, its wise not to offend them even if they have sometimes cocked up your plan. or made you a little angry. powerhouses can afford not to have you but you cannot afford to lose them.

thats the power of monopoly. you simply need to suck up to them for help and yes, there is no choice but to be a sucker in this. thats how life isn;t it? either you are the powerhouse, or prepare to bow down to their demands.

however, there are times when you know you cannot meet to their demands. the situation become extremely complex because, you cannot reach to what they want sometimes and you are definitely limited to a certain level and cannot go further. this is where you really need to get down to some sort of compromise. however, if the demands become unreasonable high, then you must also realise that you are human and cannot go any further. meeting the impossible is good, but thats really impossible sometimes. you are definitely human with limited mortal capablities. after you cannot touch the sky with your bare hands standing on your two feet on the ground. the only defence to this diliemma is to throw the ball at someone else;s court. that is to simply ask for help.

calling sos is no big deal unless you got a big deal of pride. pushing the workload to someone is not mean unless one refuses to do the job. helping out means that everyone is working together to increases efficiency, and not to allow one to slack more then the other guy. thats one of the key skills one must pick up.

what do you think?

Crosses II

2006-06-01T03:42:00.000+12:45

do not be a hero. when you are in need of help, please ask for the help. of course, everyone wants to be overzealous and tries to solve your own problems. after all when a problem arises, its an opportunity for you to show what you can do and what you are capable of.

however, do not expect it to be pulled off smoothly. there is bound to be something that you would have overlooked. unless you have done the same thing many times over, otherwise, you are sure to have some screw ups here and there.

expect mistakes and don;t be afraid to make it. when a mistake is made, don;t try to be eager to correct it almost immediately. you;ll end up making more mistakes. when something is wrong, take a step back and organise your thoughts again. making a mistake is no doubt bad, but don;t be too eager to make the corrections because that eagerness in you to make the corrections will cloud your common sense. and hence makes things worst.

don;t let what people think of you affect you too. you are human and mistakes and errors are normal. pick yourself up and move on. moving on is very important. whining over spilt milk contributes to nothing but more misery. slow down if you need to but don;t stop. although stopping may be good, but speeding will only contribute to more damage. less reaction time.

be humble and learnt and admit from mistakes. its the first step to recovery. denying and defending only wastes time because in the end nobody is going to listen to your sad story and believe you anyway. so might as well suck it up and be stronger. however, fighting and defending is different. think about it.

what do you think?

Pizza Hut

2006-05-29T02:29:00.000+12:45

Have you done many things which you knew you put in effort, but unfortunately the outcome isn;t what you expected it to be? in this discussion, the outcome is not an outcome where it was better than expected, rather an outcome which was of below expectations. when something like this happens, the natural reaction is obviously disappointment. however, you knew you did your best, so do you feel more encouraged or do you feel more comforted? but what happens if you were reprimanded because the outcome wasn;t what was expected?

the cruncher comes in when you are in this particular situation. you have done whatever you can humanely do, by expanding all your effort, heart and soul in it. but still, things did not turn out the way it was expected, hence you are reprimanded. what is your feeling? confused? perhaps everyone in this society only expects outcomes. not processes. it doesn;t matter in the end how you did it. everyone is only interested in what happens in the end. because at the end of the day, if you cannot deliver what you are expected, you are almost deemed a failure and nobody is really interested in sad stories.

moral of the story, deliver something you can, otherwise don;t deliver. delivering something which you can;t but you managed to pull it off, makes you outstanding. but if you didn;t pull it off, then you are a failure.

however, most of the time, you are always expected to deliver what you can;t deliver. because in case of any screw ups, there is someone to be the target board.

what do you think?

Mathematics

2006-05-27T03:19:00.000+12:45

The thing about working is that each must be a problem solver and a practical person. skills aside, we discuss about the technical aspects of working. it doesn;t have to be about work, it can be about a school project or an assignment. its mainly about working with people.

when you work with people on a certain assignment, everyone must expect hiccups and problems. you cannot expect it to be a smooth one. thats just being practical. the only thing that you can do is to keep it to the minimal. and keep your mind alert to what you can do to rectify the problem on the spot for problems which you may have never thought of could happen.

and to be practical, you must work with constraints. you cannot expect heaven when you are grounded on earth. you must realise what is going on and accept the fact that things may not work the way you want and you simply got to think of another way out or live with you are facing. not accepting facts just simply means you are not being practical.

when a problem arises, the utmost importance is to rectify and solve it. pointing fingers and blaming people just simply isn;t going to solve the problem. obviously it makes one feel better by pointing some fingers, but what has happen has already happen and there is nothing you can do to turn things back. brainstorm a solution first and solve the problem rather than create more problems by pointing more fingers.

sounds all so practical and logical? something which you would say," of course i know all this. thats the correct method all these while and don;t take me for a fool by thinking i don;t know all these." easier said than done. be humble and take a look at what everyone is doing. far from what i;ve just mentioned. things on paper is different from things from the ground. the only solution to this problem is to be a target board and keep quiet. you;ll stand a better chance of solving the problem rather than arguing.

what do you think?

Microscope

2006-05-12T02:43:00.000+12:45

Focus is the key to everything. once you are focus, you will not lose sight of what you intend to do. there will be distractions that will cause you to lose focus. keep you mind at task. don;t let the mind go idle for it will be the devil;s workshop and you will not know what its going to cost you.

once you lost focus, its going to be tough for you to get back on track. you;ll end up doing something called fighting fire. you are not rewarded for being focus, but you;ll be penalised for losing it. simple as that.

what do you think?

Jack-in-a-box

2006-05-01T02:02:00.000+12:45

Expect the unexpected. you really never know what can happen to you. you may be prepared for something that you know that is coming, but has it occured to you that it what may happen is actually the tip of the ice berg? in other words, you may be prepared. but are you 100% prepared? the chances are that you are unlikely to be 100% prepared. the future is unexpected. but when it happens it is up to you to control the present.

the bottom line is that you must make the best out of the situation. people have choices, but when you made a choice, you may initially believe that it is the best choice. but you never know when the unexpected can occur. you maybe were expecting something else, but something which you never would believe can occur has occured. so what if you were prepared? being prepared means you have the ability to minimise the impact that you expect and hope that experience would help you overcome the unexpected situation. with tons of experience, it would also be likely you can also minimise the unexpected impact to a certain extent.

are you prepared? prepared for the unknown?

what do you think?

Distance divide by speed

2006-04-25T04:06:00.000+12:45

The trouble with living in a fast paced society is that we are pressured and stressed out easily. looking around us in this particular society, can anyone seem to slow down? the truth is, no one can actually afford to slow down because to everyone, time is of the utmost importance. every second gone means every second closer to deadlines and every second lost and can never be taken back. many wished that they can turn the clock back and re-do what they thought it could be even better or even utilised time to the maximum. but what makes them think that by turning clock back would change things for the better? other unexpected events can occur and the result could even be worse.

basically i feel that we live for the environment. put yourself into another environment and things would be different.

live simple. look at nature for a second. they take their own sweet time. without a care in the world. look at the natural world. noticed the beauty? has anyone felt a genunine sense of peace and tranquality before? when you do, you;ll realised that time is negligible.

what do you think?

Trojan Horse

2006-04-20T22:04:00.000+12:45

There are many challenges in life. you have to learn how to cope with it and sometimes, it is important to keep your practical mind at it. though it may be unorthordox, it may sometimes be the only way. rules and regulations are guidelines to solve your problems, but they are not the solutions to your problems. you still got to find your own solutions to your problems. things may get extremely complicated by this simple phrase: " Out one hole, in to another hole". it happens and it will happen all the time. you may have done something right, but something will definitely go wrong. why does it go wrong? the answer is simple, we are all humans. there is human error factor included in all that we do. so do not be afraid to make mistakes and learn from it, though this is actually a trap.

when things go right and correct, it is simply your job to ensure it happens.
when things go wrong and is screwed up, it is simply your fault and you did not ensure that it happened.

so therefore, do not expect to be appreciated, it is a bonous, it is a priviliage. but remember that it is not your right.

So that is why, if you want to earn more money, be promoted, be the boss, the trick is not to work hard and be a farmer. it is how you impress and jump and every opportunity that is open to you. lose that opportunity and you lose everything no matter how much effort or hard work you have put in. what matters is the time and opportunity. who seriously gives a damn about what you have done or achieved in the past?people only cares is whether you screwed up the job that is given to you at the present point of time. once that is over, it is over.

what do you think?

SOS

2006-04-14T03:49:00.000+12:45

In life, sometimes you may feel that the whole world is against you. and whatever you do is always wrong. even if you did what your superiors told you to do, its still wrong. it happens to sometimes. you may feel like you are being driven up to the wall. and there is no one that is going to help you.

Frankly speaking, thats the truth. no one is going to help you. thats because help is not going to fall from the sky. you just have got to open your mouth and ask for help. usually people in this society expects people to help them when they are in trouble. simply because they take people for granted and when no one else helps them, thats where all the whining starts coming from. with some guts and humility asking people for help and some effort put in in your part, the problem can be tackled in a happier way. and it will be solved. people just need to swallow their pride and start asking for help. it doesn;t hurt to ask for help.

as long as you are willing to learn and be helped, there is no reason why no one is going to help you tide over your problems. unless of course that person is a bastard and refuses to help. that is one example of a selfish person and there is simply nothing we can do about it but to live and accept them.

Also the you must of course ask the correct person. you can;t ask a person who is facing the same problem as you. its suicide as it is like the blind leading the blind. and together, everyone will whine together and only increases your problems and frustrations.

just think about it. when you face a problem, do you actually ask for help? or really just pray that someone will help you out and if no one helps you out, do you complain your heart out? and blame your superiors or teachers for giving you undue stress?

what do you think?

Crosses

2006-04-11T03:08:00.000+12:45

In life, we learnt alot of things. We always learn facts from school. we learn maths, formulae, concepts and many other stuffs. we learn our moral values from our family cultures. we learnt how to do things right. but has anyone learnt that they are wrong? i personally find it quite a skill to learnt that they are wrong. it certainly takes some courage and guts to learnt that they are wrong.

sometimes, they don;t even realised that they are wrong. some realises it, but because of pride they refuse to admit and even insist on they way. its suicide but these kind of people do exists and there is nothing we can do about it. we have to learn to cope with these type of people. there, you have another kind of learning. learning to cope with people who doesn;t learnt that they are wrong. sometimes when we make a mistake, we should be the lesser person and raise up your hand and admit it. it maybe humbling, but you will realise that it would make you feel alot better. people will respect you even more. no matter where you stand in this society, either one small student, or the highest politcian, its the same, sometimes we need to raise our arms up and say i;m wrong.

its a small gesture to tell everyone, "i am just human"

what do you think?

Summery

2006-04-04T00:53:00.000+12:45

You need something,
You need info,
Please kindly understand the fact that i am not your 7-11 convenience store .

I am not your handy man,
nor am i your genie from a magic lamp who can solve all your problems in a snap of a finger.

I am only human, repeat: i am only human

With tons of other things to settle and too little time on my hand
And please note that i cannot be at 2 places at the same time.
Nor can i work 24 hours a day.

I know its frustrating for you when you don;t get what you need. But believe me. It frustrates me even more when i can;t get the job done for you.

I don;t aim to please anyone, not even myself.

I don;t need to.
I just want to do my job, to sort wrong things right.

So please follow the proper procedures when looking for things.
Remember, this is not your father;s army

Formulae

2006-04-02T03:15:00.000+12:45

everyone wants to have power. that is why people are working hard to get their goal. some physically work, others mentally work while the rests pray hard. you can;t blame people for wanting to have power. that is because it all starts out with ambitions.

ambitions are easy to have, anyone can have a wish to be something. something conventional or non-conventional. it doesn;t really matter. as long as there is the element of ambitions. in fact, i can say that everyone has ambitions. but whether or not the persons think long term or short term makes the difference. the person may have an ambition for the next 10 years, while there are some who have an ambtion for the next 30 years. an average life span of a human is about 70-85 years old. we spent the first 10-20 years of our lives studying, the next 20-30 years working and the rest of our lives in retirement. so if you think about it, what level are you thinking now? the next 10 years? or the next 20 years.

its good to have ambitions. but it must be driven by passion. ambitions driven by passion will spark off a fruitful life. however, there are some with ambitions with no passion. or passions without any opportunity. the former being a waste of time while the latter makes one frustrated.

People with ambitions with no passion is the results of complaints and job quitters. if people have passions in their ambitions, they would be forever striving and would always find joy in what they do.

people with passions without any opportunity makes one frustrated. simply because the person would love to have made a difference in their job, but however, due to constrictions and restrictions, they are unable to maximise what they can do. they know that more can be done but he is unable to carry it out because he simply doesn;t have the power. that is where people wants to have power. so that they can always do what they wanted to do without any restrictions. when people are restricted, they can;t do all they can, hence power is something which would free up the restricted area. it is indeed hard to make a difference if one does not have power. there are different kinds of power, financial power, power of freedom of time and space etc..can anyone see where is this coming from?

ambition driven by passion requires power.

what do you think?

Left hand Right hand

2006-03-30T01:12:00.000+12:45

When should you do the right thing? You do what you do because it is the right way or is it because it is the pratical way? or it is simply because it is the easiest way?

Doing the right way means you have to follow rigidly to the book. it is usually the most troublesome and difficult way. it is going to cause alot of trouble and inconvenience to everyone in the world that is involved. however, whatever that you do would be done properly and it would be settled in a way that it is fail proof. you will not fail in what you do and there is no way people can spot out the weakness of your process.

Doing it the practical way usually means you do things with your head. you think of the most pragmatic solution that may not be the best, but it is convenient, and it suits the situation so perfectly that whatever you were doing will also be settled. and the job is done too. the process of the practical way would usually make more people who are involved happy. however, by doing it the practical way, there would be room for discrepencies. there would be loopholes where people in future could aim you for. you are leaving weakness in your process.

Doing it the easiest way is the most laziest way of doing things for you always take the easy way out to everything. hardly any effort is spent in the process and there would be obvious weakness in the process. however, you do save alot of trouble and time during the process. it is the fastest way to the process. you ultimatly get it settled. but it would leave too many question marks along the way.

in whatever you do, these are the 3 methods. The right way, the pratical way and the easiest way. all these 3 methods would lead to the same result. with 3 different process. so which to choose?

what do you think?

Avril Lavigne

2006-03-29T00:58:00.000+12:45

it is both difficult and easy to be happy. sounds paradoxical? yes it is. it is another fact of life. but more often than not, we always fail to realise when we are feeling happy. most of the time we are blinded from the fact that we are being in a position where we could be very happy. how to realise that we are happy? i don;t have that answer. we can always feel happy one moment, and suddenly the next moment we are not happy. even when it is status quo. it is an extremely queer situation but it happens all the time.

giving an example would be we got into a school. you are happy because people there are nice and caring. you are also happy because being in the school gives you a good feeling. but however, at the same time you realise that the diffculties you are facing is to meet up with the raising standards. you feel you cannot cope, it makes you frustrated and vexed. you feel unhappy. so what do you do?
But, at the same time, a poor person looks in the direction of the school in the opposite road. he cannot go to school because he does not have money. shouldn;t this gives you a reason to feel happy because you got a chance to study, make friends and have fun?

As stated in the example, people are unhappy with the way and standard of life. but they are also at the same time happy because of the family and friends they have here. but comparing the society to a society that is troubled and filled with tension. how would you feel now? sometimes we just need to look at the bigger picture.

to be happy, we need to do whatever it takes to make us happy, even in the process of doing so makes us so unhappy. it sounds complicated but we need to travel the road that is tough and rough. we chose the path we want. it doesn;t matter what other people say about your journey, but you must know where you are going. we also cannot be happy alone. we need people around so as to feel the happiness. sharing pain is happiness. what would you do if you had all the money in the world but no one to share it with and what would you do if you have no money in the world but with everyone to share it with.

what do you think?

Libra

2006-03-25T19:09:00.000+12:45

Did anyone realised that the world is an unfair place to live in? there is no fairness in this world. sometimes no matter how hard you try, you;ll find that someone would be somehow doing better than you. the real unfairness comes in when you also learnt that that someone actually spent less effort than you and can even do something better than you. unfortunately, this happens to be a fact of life. sometimes this just simply fustrates you silly and eventually it just extinguishes your passion for striving for the best. because you know that no matter how hard you try, you;ll always be a seconder to someone else. actually, it still ain;t all that bad if you realised you;re seconder to someone else for the same amount of effort, but it would have been bad if the person simply has a talent for it and did better for less amount of effort.

talent is what people have that allows them to expand less effort for the same amount of work done. however, talent is what makes this world a very vibrant place. talent makes you what you are as. everyone has talents. you are definitely a way better than the rest in a certain aspect. if you feel that you don;t have a talent after so many years, don;t despair. you have a talent that is simply waiting to be discovered. these things do take some certain level of patience. you must have patience in what you do. patience is a talent which everyone has. it just depends on how much. it can be developed. all it take is patience.

what do you think?

S Eleven

2006-03-19T19:50:00.000+12:45

Financial still remains the major portion of our lives. there is no way you can escape from it and the harsh reality of it. financial power will make your live easier. but do not be mistaken that financial power will make your life happier. because if you do not know how to harness the power of it then this power will not serve you well at all. unfortunately, people will always abuse this power and this is when it makes your life unhappy.

of course with financial power, you can always buy what you want. do what you want and ultimately boosts your confidence in anything that you do. but when you really think about it, does it make your life any happier knowing or unknowingly realised that it doesn;t last forever? it can make you happy for that period of time, but what happens after that? will it cause any trouble after that period of time? no doubt you need this power so that you can eat, have shelter and have clothes to wear. these are called needs. and the rests are called wants. if you have extra, then you can start to have wants. otherwise needs come in first. its like fire, a good servant but a bad master.

what do you think?

Past Perfect Tense

2006-03-18T06:56:00.000+13:45

Humans act so strange. they only treasure things when they don;t have it. but when they have it, they don;t treasure it. it is usual that people work so hard to get what they want. they would go through many torturous process to earn what they have been yearning to get. and once after they earned it. they don;t treasure it. they would lose it the next moment.

think about it, let us set this situation. you have set a target to what you want to get or achieve. you think about getting it all the time. you devise methods to get through the process and earn what you want. but what happens after you have achieved your target? you would initially feel a strong sense of achivement. but you would then start to itch to get or achieve something better. then whatever you have previously earned becomes a thing in the past. i;m not saying that you should be contented with what you have and then do not strive for higher planes. but rather you should also treasure what you have already achieved. use the learning points and the defining moments to help you achieve your second goal or target. never ever forget what you have.

treasure what you have. imagine that it is suddenly taken away from you. would you feel the pain of the loss? or would you feel numb about it? if you felt numb about it, then probably you didn;t really want it in the first place. but if you feel the pain of the loss, then you;ll realised that it was something worth tresuring and you probably regret you lost it in the first place. think about it, humans are like that. when they have it, they don;t treasure it. but when it is lost, they start to regret here and there.

learn to tresure what you have before it is lost. because once it is lost, then you would start to regret. and regret only means you failed to do what you could have done more. but if you had treasured what you had and subsequently you lost it, then it know deep down somewhere, you did your best. do something which you always wanted to do. do you want to look back and say, "i wished i had", or, "i;m glad i did"?

what do you think?

Menus

2006-03-17T03:27:00.000+13:45

The decision you make is important. but did you ask yourself whether it was practical decision? or did you make the decision because you are pressured by other people and you don;t want to let them down? did you made a decision because you wanted it? or was it because others wanted you to make it?

these are bascially common dillemas that we face everyday because we don;t live alone. the choices that we make also do affect others too. there is always this domino effect. hence doesn;t it make life difficult? but you must remember that this is your life. choose it the way you want it and not because people want you to do it. sometimes, decisions are just not practically, but if it does make others happy, so why not?

to put it super bluntly, we are living in a world where we are almost puppets. but of coure, if you feel that you are being puppeted. you are also puppeting others too. the bottom line is, no mans an island. there is no way we can please ourselves and others at the same time. someone has to make a sacrifice. who shall it be? Your decision.

what do you think?

The phonebook

2006-03-14T03:20:00.000+13:45

imagine this situation, you are just doing your own normal routine stuffs especially in this society. nothing exciting usually happens apart from all the nonsense from work. when suddenly a long-time-never-heard-from friend drops you by with a nice postcard with nice words. how would you feel? up to your imagination.

another situation, you are just simply alone, soaking up all the challenges in life. when suddenly a good friend smses you for no reason, but just dropping to say hi. how would you feel? up to your imagination again.

and yet another situation, you are facing the blues. you just dread going anywhere. but when you see your friends and gives you a smile and a friendly pat on the back. and then invites you for breakfast.

will you smile?

what do you think?

Biosphere

2006-03-09T03:06:00.000+13:45

the environment decides who we are, how we react, what are we going to do, where do we go from there, and when do we start acting upon our decisions. the environment decides all. we cannot depend on our own. it is just not possible. no matter how much you resist, you;ll conform to the environment. the only thing that we can decide and change is the extent of how much we make better out of the situation or the environment. since we are already in this state, just how much we can make the best out of the environment.

most people don;t wish to accept the fact that we are controlled by this factors. hence will attempt to change the situation. it is a brave and courageous act that doesn;t work most of the time. otherwise all farmers would be CEOs by now. but i didn;t say it isn;t possible. it is possible. but i am unsure how you would be able to change the tide in your favour.

what do you think?

Well done

2006-03-04T16:59:00.000+13:45

I always have this feeling that people give up to easily and that is one of the main reason why people are always complaining. People often do not give enough time to judge things that happens around them and hence pass quick judgements. for example, someone who got a job. and is in fact barely on the job for a year and starts to complain. or even started to study a new course, and after a few months they would start to give up and even question their own decision.

Once one has made a decision, one should stick with the decision. the decision whether one has regretted one decision should usually come like after a few years on the job. because in this world, no one thing is 100% good all the time.there would definitely be times when there would be a downside to your decision. in fact, although the amount of downside may be more than that of the goodside, but if the sense of satisfaction of the goodside outweights the downside, i think it would be a good decision in the end.

all one has to do to experience the goodside of things is to perservere in his decision. one gives up too easily and hence doesn;t even wait for the chance to experience the goodside. it would be a tremendous shame. remember that every decision one makes is for oneself. hence perservere in your decision, and wait for goodside to come.

of course if it doesn;t come like after a long time, of course it would be wise to move on. this would take time to decide again. but this is life isn;t it? changes are the only constant thing in this world and one has to adapt to it. but the idea is not to be fickle minded. otherwise you would never find what you are seeking for. stick to your decision, give it some time to search what you are looking for. perservere on and you;ll find your pot of gold.

there is no problems in this world, only challenges.

what do you think?

Borrowed

2006-02-27T05:43:00.000+13:45

""Character is built upon both success and failure. Noone wants to fall down during this learning curve. Success is something that is hammered into each and every one of us, day in and day out.. It doesn't just appear over night. There is no such thing as failure if you learn from it, make the adequate changes, and move on. Many bumps will make life interesting, but soon they will be in the rear view mirror.. if you choose to look back. Dont let them phase you, I was supposed to be useless 18 years ago. Thats why life is nothing but a game now. Whatever doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. I want to live my life to the fullest extent right now, without a worry in the world. That means making mistakes, and feeling displeasure at times. Do everything you want- full out with conviction, and make life everything you want to believe in. Sure, the future is extremely important-BUT.. living for the moment is much more fulfilling. Ask yourself if you knew you weren't going to see tomorrow, would you be prepared for it? Would you be thinking of the last test you wrote, the mark on your last assignment? Would you be thinking about your future then? You'd be thinking about who and what meant the most to you. You'd be thinking about the life you lived.. the friends you'll never forget.. and how sweet life has been. So just live it up, you only get one chance to do it right. Thats what moral fiber means to me.""

Taken from someone

what do you think?

Reasons

2006-02-27T04:23:00.000+13:45

the question of why. why is an extremely powerful question. it allows one to understand the rationale of actions, find out reasons and the truth. it lets you find out facts and gain knowledge of many things.

why must be asked, if you want to find out facts and truths. sometimes, it is the question of whether or not you have the courage to ask why. it is a simple word yet it does requre a deal of strength and courage to ask the question. amazing how a simple word can be so difficult to ask?

the reason is that people often don;t wish to find out the truth, mainly because they can;t handle the truth. or they are not ready to find out. sometimes, why makes another person uneasy. even though one party may be ready to hear the truth, the other party may not be ready to give the truth. it is that kind of barries which will prove to be a huge obstacle.

this is life. asking the why is just as difficult as telling the why. it has got to be a 2 way passage. it can;t be one way. this is hugely controlled by human emotions. whether they are emotionally ready to receive and present. it is that difficult. but sometimes, in our own interests, people want to know why. but give chance to the people who are not really ready to tell. it is all about a 2 way communication.

what do you think?

Random

2006-02-25T04:40:00.000+13:45

""So, there you are, alone, on this spiritual journey to either find it within yourself, or find something that can replace what was lost. Yet, there is no guarantee that you will ever find it. But you have to try anyway. Maybe that is what life’s all about.""

""Life Lesson #12 million: Don’t expect common courtesy…especially from those you care about…you will only be disappointed.""

""So the main solution is just to be prepared for the unknown.""

thoughts i got from other parts of the world.

what do you think?

The first sight

2006-02-24T04:05:00.000+13:45

first impression. it is a something which is extremely tricky. because, one would judge a person even before you really know the person. and really, never judge a book by its cover for it would be unfair to the person. but then again, there is nothing in this world that is fair.

when you get to know a person, it is indeed important that first impression does matter. however, one should at least spend some effort to get to know and understand someone better. because it would be bad if you were to judge someone off quickly. it wouldn;t be nice. of course i would have to agree that it happens and there;s nothing you can do about it. it still depends on someone if one decides to spend effort in getting to know you.

but to get to know someone takes a tremendous effort on one part. every person has a unique character and it has its dept. you can never understand the rationale behind a persons actions until you can understand his character. however of course, if it happens that you cannot understand the rationale depsite the fact you quite understand his character, then this would be a classic case of a character clash.

if one is sincere in knowing someone, then take the effort and understand the person. give chances and provide opportunity. if you are lucky, you;ll find a good friend among the crowd. if you are not so lucky, of course then it would be sad. but take precaution. but time is an important factor. time plays an enormous part in everything.

what do you think?

MCQ

2006-02-20T05:22:00.000+13:45

its very weird to actually want to do something but somehow you just can;t bring yourself to do it. either we don;t have the energy to do it, we are scared of the outcome or really just don;t feel right doing it. its a weird kind of dillema sometimes we face. and how do we overcome this problem is a big question mark.

sometimes it boils down to decision making. whether or not we make the correct decision at the right time, right opportunity and right situations. people have this certain sixth sense that affects the decision. and sometimes this sense is strong enough to tell someone not to commit or commit a certain decision. even if somehow the decision may seem irrational. thats human nature isn;t it? who can make the right decision all the time and also the rational decision? somehow or other, people;s decision is always somehow clouded by human emotions and this particular sixth sense.

what do you think?

Speed

2006-02-18T23:22:00.000+13:45

patience is virtue. people in this particular society are rather impatient. everyone seems to be rushing into things and not taking time to actually appreciate and enjoy the process. i am not sure why people are actually rushing into things. is it because they are pressed for time? or is it they simply want to get over and done with the process and get the end product at the shortest time possible?

i realised that despite the fact that this country is small, you can practically get from east to the west in about an hour in public transport, but people are still out of time! isn;t this an amazing fact? both working adults and students in this society always find that they are always out of time. everyone is always rushing. ever wonder why? i have a few possible suggestions.

for working adults, one of the reason why everyone is rushing for time is because they simply had squeeze too many appointments, meetings and events on the same day hence it would be obvious that they are out of time. for this reason, it seems that people are overly ambitious and attempts to complete more they are expected of a normal human being. obviously people are trying to bite off more they can chew. or simply working adults have way way lots of work to be completed. or another simple reason is that they simply pushed all the work till the last minute to do. which i think isn;t really the case, because everyday everyone is rushing, so how would it be possible if they could have pushed everything to the last minute? or is it they prefer to pressurised themselves by setting unrealistic deadlines? this can only by people themselves.

as for students, i think it is also the content of the syllabus of the system. it could be too way too heavy for students to take it. or again, they love to push the workload to the last minute. but i also know that sometimes it is too heavy a content for students to handle. of course some talented students would have no problems in handling it, but more for the less talented students. for students, it is actually more challenging for everything course here is what i feel a crash course. everything is squeezed into the least possible time and even expects everyone to do well. of course, this education system is extremely contorvasial topic and hence i would not like to dicuss it.

basically, i feel that in a year, we have 365 days, 24 hours a day. surely we have more than enough time to focus on something and do it well, with appreciating and enjoying the process and to of course produce excellent outcomes. but to achieve this, one must take it slow and steady. one can;t rush into everything. everyone is rushing as though there is no tomorrow. if eveyone wants to achieve everything within the shortest time possible, then what are you going to do with the rest of your lives? one should be ambitious, but one should be realistic too.

back to the point of so much time in a year, when people complain a lack of time, i think it is usually their own doing that causes them to suffer from the lack of time, either they push eveything to the last minute or they bite off more they can chew by taking on more and even more work. if you think about it, everything can be controlled. if you plan your time wisely, you wouldn;t need to rush everything to the last minute. or even if one mentions that their superiors are pushing more work to them, still it can be controlled in the sense that you just got to spread out the work, or request for an extension of time. it cannot be that all the time the superior is a slave driver.

rather than hoping or wishing for more time, i would suggest people should cherish whatever time they have in their hands. people always rush, and hence suffer from the pressure. this is really a self inflicted process.

what do you think?

The first born baby

2006-02-16T01:39:00.000+13:45

'the higher you climb, the harder you fall, this does not apply to our unit' my ex platoon sergeant used to tell us that. you sense truth in that. in fact the higher you climb, the easier you fall. why? simply because of the responsibility. the question of whether or not you can handle the responsibilty because it simply becomes heavier the higher you go and hence it will pull you all the way back to earth if you are not careful.

in fact, the common idea is that the higher you get, the less you do. i do not deny that. but the higher is your responsibility. you think you can handle it? if you ask me, i;ll rather do more manual work than more responsibility. responsibility is not something which you can take with mere determination, fighting spirit or what. it definitely takes more than that to handle responsibility. it takes a person character of integrity, maturity and of course, a huge immense sense of responsibility. thats the difference with people who are reposed with special trust. in fact, it is a huge burden which someone has to undertake. hence thats why not all are given this special trust. some are really not suitable to handle power.

power is not given to be abused, rather it is to help you to deal with your work. given authority to carry out your task without fear or favour. some people fall in love with the power, hence do not understand the true meaning of its usage. instead they see power as a means to enjoy life and get special privilages. yes, people with power do have special privilages, but in return, have actually given up other things which is actually in the long run, something better than the privilages he would get.

yes, again people would say that one would be higher paid if one holds a high position. but the salary given would justify the amount of responsibility. in fact, this is the loophole of the situation. the money earned would pressure you to undertake your appointment properly and professionally. how other way would you justify the amount of salary the organisation is paying you?

ultimately, the higher your appointment, the heavier is your responsibility. who takes on the heavy responsibility is not anyone but a person of character. and among the people of character, not all is suitable to undertake. yes, it is that picky. for those who have chosen to undertake the responsibility, the question is 'are you ready?' even i have got a problem answering that question. that is the life of a working adult in this society.

'with great power, comes great responsibility'

what do think?

Illusion II

2006-02-15T03:18:00.000+13:45

perception is a very powerful thing. its not whether you can see or not, its how much you can see. something simple can actually be very complicated and something complicated can be something damn simple. the difficult thing about perception is that it is only how much your mind is capable of thinking. there is no way anyone can be in sync with your thinking. even though you may be about the same frequency, but you will never be in the same frequency.

its definitely the degree of your own vision. even if all the facts are presented to you crystal clear, it also depends on how much you look at it...there are 360°. can you ever reach that level of looking at things in 360°? in life, that can;t happen. of course, i won;t discourage you. i just don;t want to disappoint you. there are so many things in this world that we cannot understand.

sometimes ignorace is bliss. its sometimes better to know less than to know more. sounds familiar? i think this topic is kind of repeated.

what do you think?

Bravo

2006-02-13T05:38:00.000+13:45

people are born bias. there is no way someone can be fair. its all about the understanding we have. we are not born with that kind of capacity to be able to see things fairly. our understanding of everything is just this much. it cannot get any higher. people are racists, sexists, or whatever you call it. it boils down to one fact. people are bias.

once you have this perception of someone, and it somehow doesn;t agree with what you think, you would begin to discriminate against that person. a wonderful person would try to understand. but there is not going to be easy to understand the other party 100%. yeah, it;s good to try to understand. but still, inside somewhere, there will be discrimination. the factor now is to what extent do you discriminate.

tolerance helps. but how much can you tolerate? but sometimes, i feel its kinda the only way out at times. too difference in idealogy will cause friction. in fact, another fact of life, for every action, there would be a reaction. everything survives on friction. so we must not do without friction for the greater good.

a person becomes bias because he doesn;t really understand or simply he just doesn;t get the full picture. it comes with both ways. things get complicated when people starts to assume. in this kind of situation, there is no way anyone can get out of complication except to communicate. but is there an opportunity? create one? or as i;ve always said...wait and pray for one.

what do you think?

Plastic food

2006-02-12T23:10:00.000+13:45

What is pride? pride is a feeling of pleasure, a feeling of satisfaction in what you have done. what can pride do? it can boost one;s ego, confidence and one;s self esteem! sounds like a good thing? there is a dark side to it to.

firstly, because of pride, one would resort to any means necessay to achieve what they want. and hence in the process, hurt themself or others around him. because they focus too much on the end product, that they don;t really care about the process. is that bad or good?

secondly, because of pride, one tend to be refuse to be seen as the weak. as a result, they would act tough when they are not really prepared and ultimately hurt themselves. and if they fail, to achieve the results, they would feel depressed.

thirdly, because of pride, for the greater good of a larger organisation, one has to keep up to the standards of the greater organisation. why? for pride, you have to achieve this standard to belong to this greater organisation. and what happens to the poor individual? he becomes pressured. he will be driven to the wall. or he will feel left out of the organisation. it will hence have a negative impact on the individual. for pride.

of course, to have pride would be good. as i;ve said, it increases your self esteem, confidence and ego. but the level of pride should be left to the individual. the level of pride should not be deicided by the larger organisation. pride could also save your life. forget about face, focus on the process! you can have many end products, but the process is the most important. remember what happen to Thomas Edison when he discovered the light bulb? also, remember those around you. what is pride to you may not be pride to them.

Pride cannot eat. the next one would be bias.

what do you think?

The fifth element

2006-02-10T05:10:00.000+13:45

confidence is a special weapon that you must have. if you have it, it does wonders to you. it is your only protection in this society and gives you certain power. it also does make you a different person. once you have it, you feel different. and you can do alot more things with better efficiency.

comparing it with someone who doesn;t have it. you can tell just by how he lives his life. life will be sluggish, and he will become like a human doormat. which is not good. he tend to believes that he will not be able to do alot of things where actually, he is physically capable of doing it. he just believes he doesn;t have the strength. when you have it, there is nothing that can stop you. not only he believes nothing can stop him, he would even want to go further and futher till the end.

you can even smoke someone into believing that you can do a task.

you see what difference it can make?

what do you think?

Illusion

2006-02-09T04:53:00.000+13:45

you think you are the only one? unfortunately you are not. you think you are bad? there are worse. you are not special, you are not alone. it depends on how exposed you are. still stuck in that shell of yours? think you are out, but sometimes you don;t even realised that you are still stuck in it. in fact most of the time, we think we are out of the shell and looking at the real thing. how sure you are not looking at a diorama? or the beautifully painted picture? and the real question looms.

how can you tell if you are looking at a beauifully painted picture, a badly painted one or the window?

the world is filled with people. you think you are in a bad position. you;ll be surprised at how many millions of people are in the same boat as you are. and you;ll be surprised that your situation is much much better than even more millions of people. think you are bad? think again. in fact, everything that happens in this world is common. its only a matter of how many times you have heard of anything. there is no one thing in this world that is rare. everything is common. its just your own perspective of individual. how would you look at rare and the common. up to you to decide. but always remember that in this society, you are already on the green side. don;t bother about the other side. there is no such thing. your great achievement could be something common. and something common could be something great. the main idea? just do what you want to do.

what do you think?

Home Run in Oct

2006-02-09T04:02:00.000+13:45

Lonely house on the top of the hill, men resting among the shades of the trees. enjoying the cool and dry wind. catching up on the lack of sleep for the past few days. the weather is sunny and the skies are blue. inside the lonely house are a few men. not taking a rest but instead in deep discussion. the topic? the direction. after the discussion, the men awakes. gets prepared. loaded up and ready to move. all equipment good to go. line up and moves away from the lonely house on the hill. the skies are still blue, and its still sunny.

the men moves into the realms of the forrested. the men are quiet. faces are expressionless. thoughts are running wild in their minds. the branches, roots and everything else gets in their way. but the men presses on. they don;t stop. they look around, then move, then refer, then move again. the wind blows stronger now. the wind is more chilly. the sun is moving down but not that low. clouds are coming in. the men still moves. then something familiar looms in. one halts the rest, takes out his optics and looks. passes the optics around and say, 'they are there' he moves up and dispatch a team of 3. 'wait for my call'.' send in the shells' loud sounds were heard and others felt very very disturbed. the rests moves on. the sky grows darker, the wind blows stronger, the air is cooler now. the men still moves on. avoiding the eyes at all time.

the sun goes down, the area is dark. the silhouette becomes more obvious over the hills. the grasses sways in the direction of the strong wind, but the men stay upright. the men are tired. but still presses on. time slips on and on without any signs of stopping. they reached the bottom, someone said is on the top. everyone gathers. the plan is reconfirmed. 'ok lets go!'

one group starts to rush up. 'its there! its there!' the wind blows like it has never blown before. the sun has gone completely down. move up! follow me! form the line! watch me! stay low! the wind still blows, and it blows cold and chilly wind.'back up needed!' follow me! everything was shouted, the throats sores. confusion. chaos. mess. excitment. loss of team mates. the main part was overan in a matter of minutes. less shouting was needed. it was over. the mission was completed. the strong wind was still blowing chilly air. thats it. the best ever.