We are only in the business of making memories.

Inside every cynical person, there is a disappointed idealist.

Thursday, November 26

愚公移山 (Yu Gong Yi Shan)

In ancient times, there was an old man in front of whose house were two high mountains, making it very inconvenient for him to come and go. He gathered his family and started to level the mountains. His neighbor scoffed, "You are foolish. You are too old and weak to level a small hill, let along two big mountains." But the old man said, "I have sons, and my sons have sons. I will have endless progeny, but the mountains won't grow any higher." The spirit of the "Foolish Old Man" moved Heaven, and it sent two immortals to move the mountains away.

This idiom describes an indomitable will.

Source: http://history.cultural-china.com/en/38History892.html

Wednesday, November 25

I have quit DotA.

For good.

Wednesday, November 11

I am feeling pretty bloated after my lunch. At least now I understand what others mean by a heavy meal. It is raining outside. Such cool weather, just after lunch, is sure to lull me to sleep. And to sleep I shall go, but not before I blog.

So the examinations have begun. I still have a long way to go, but I am still brimming with anticipation. I have never been one who bothered myself with the future - I always tell myself that whatever will be, will be. But now I am filled with dreams of post-examination life, bursting with enthusiasm for what will be.

Time to take a step back and take a good measure of the situation I am in.

I detest worrying for the future. Worrying does not solve the problem. Worrying does not make it go away. Active work does. As the song by Bobby McFerrin, Don't Worry, Be Happy, goes: In every life we have some trouble when you worry you make it double. Practically speaking, is the most inefficient thing to do. I still think that worrying is useless.

Similarly, we can hope for the future, and be enthusiastic about it. Is there any use of hope, then? If we always compare the bright future with our pale present, we stop living in the present and always try to reach the intangible future. We fail to recognise the joys we already have currently because we are all too engrossed in the unknown future. Given that what we wish for comes true, does it mean we become happy? Would we still be happy if we had some thing new, some thing better to hope for? Nothing will give us back the days we wasted pining for the future.

Wastage. Both cases, worrying and hoping, boils down to wasted time. I believe that there is a limit to which a person should fret and dream. Upon hitting that limit, one should immediately translate the thoughts into positive action. Excess of any would result in useless time wasting. Time that can never be retrieved. That is what I will do. I will make full use of the time I have during my examinations to prepare myself for the post-examination period.

I know my friends share my excitement as well.
But I also know that not all of them treasure all the time they are given.

Monday, November 9

How many people do we come across every single day?

If I walk down a busy street, like a rushing stream, face after face move past me. I do not acknowledge them, as they similarly ignore myself. Why should either of us approach the other? Why should we bother? We are but strangers, not knowing each others' quirks or penchants. As the distance between us becomes further and further, I quickly realise that I am once again lost in the sea of pedestrians, always moving, heading for some destination unknown to me. Our paths, however close they came together, never crossed.

What would it be like if we had stopped to chat? To bother to learn more about each other? I start to wonder, who are these people I have never met? What are the stories of their lives? Countless memories and rich expanses of experiences that made them who they are today, I will probably never know. My own life, my hope and dreams and aspirations remains unshared yet another time.

What joy we find in the company of those we love. Yet we choose to keep that circle small and exclusive. Why? To realise the potential of a friend in a stranger is one thing. To seek out that friend and multiply the happiness is another.

How many chances to brighten up hearts - not just others' but our own as well - do we come across every single day?

Thursday, October 15

What is the difference between living and existing? The former involves going through life with open eyes.

Do you go through life blindly? As a mere face in the crowd? As a dead fish floating down the river? No! We disagree fiercely. We are actively in control of our lives, making autonomous decisions at every instant to chart the course of our destiny.

But are these decisions sound? Are they made carelessly or after much contemplation? It is paramount to stay myself for a moment before rushing into a decision concerning several years - if not the rest - of your life. Without this period of reflection, how would I know if I am being true to my self while making the choice? The undeniable fact is that I can easily be mistaken due to my ignorance, my fantasies or my guilt.

If you want to live, never choose out of ignorance, fantasies or guilt.

When we were young, we naively decided that we would act on our parents' advice when in doubt, because we did not know better. Which school to go to, what clothes to wear, what food to eat, what friends to keep. In due time, we may realise that either this was what we always wanted, or that we found ourselves at odds with the now imposed lifestyle dictated to us.

If I wanted to be rich, famous, good looking and eloquent, then I started a successful business, went for a plastic surgery and completed a public speaking course. What if, at the end of the day, I still find my life empty and hollow? Are these fantasies of mine what I really want out of life, or are they just delusions of what I think I want?

How about times when, out of guilt, you decided to succumb to the pressure and allowed others to manipulate you? Sure, sometimes you feel that their demands are reasonable and so you willingly comply. That is not acting out of guilt. Acting from guilt is when you transgress against your own nature in order to appease someone else. When all is said and done, what is left is only a bitter taste in your mouth.

By recognising these trappings, we can make precautions to avoid them. Never rush into decisions that matter. I have to take time to understand my nature and self. I have to consciously choose a path that agrees with me, and my life would be richer and deeper. I would live, not exist.