HDB: Houses Dat are Beautiful...

Hey peeps,

know my blog has been on the freezer for the past months. It was partly due to Blogger refusing to let me upload my pictures and my busy work life...But not to worry because I'm back!

Shall start over again by this post that has been swimming in my head since a long time ago.

I've heard people telling me that the Singapore landscape is blah... that everything looks the same and uniformed, especially the mass housing blocks we all live in called the HDB.

But I beg to differ.

A walk around the island and a closer look will let you realise that not all housing blocks are the same. At least for me, each of the HDB blocks below has its own unique character and architectural flavour. See if you can guess where they are! :)




I love rainbows!



This one is painted in nationalistic colours.




Reminds me of some modern surreal painting.

The shit will pass and Life will Glow...

You know how sometimes you have one of those days when everything just seems to go wrong? Well, I just had one of those weeks when Murphy decided to use me as a guinea pig to test out his laws!

At the end of it, this song I just sang today came to mind.
That despite everything, at least I still have Someone who is in control, who knows my thoughts, who sees my every step and loves me all the way.

He has been good to me and that is enough. Hallelujah! :)

If my heart has grown cold
There Your love will unfold
As You open my eyes to the work of Your hand


When I’m blind to my way
There Your Spirit will pray
As You open my eyes to the work of Your hand
As You open my eyes to the work of Your hand


Oceans will part nations come
At the whisper of Your call
Hope will rise glory shown
In my life Your will be done


Present suffering may pass
Lord Your mercy will last
As You open my eyes to the work of Your hand
And my heart will find praise
I’ll delight in Your way
As You open my eyes to the work of Your hand



(He decided to send me another one to cheer me up since I didn't manage to catch the last one on camera :))


As You open my eyes to the work of Your Hand...

In my life, Your will be done.

Inspiring...

Convocation address by Adrian Tan at NTU 2008, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information

Life and How to Survive It

I must say thank you to the faculty and staff of the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information for inviting me to give your convocation address. It's a wonderful honour and a privilege for me to speak here for ten minutes without fear of contradiction, defamation or retaliation. I say this as a Singaporean and more so as a husband.

My wife is a wonderful person and perfect in every way except one. She is the editor of a magazine. She corrects people for a living. She has honed her expert skills over a quarter of a century, mostly by practising at home during conversations between her and me.

On the other hand, I am a litigator. Essentially, I spend my day telling people how wrong they are. I make my living being disagreeable.

Nevertheless, there is perfect harmony in our matrimonial home. That is because when an editor and a litigator have an argument, the one who triumphs is always the wife.

And so I want to start by giving one piece of advice to the men: when you've already won her heart, you don't need to win every argument.

Marriage is considered one milestone of life. Some of you may already be married. Some of you may never be married. Some of you will be married. Some of you will enjoy the experience so much, you will be married many, many times. Good for you.

The next big milestone in your life is today: your graduation. The end of education. You're done learning.

You've probably been told the big lie that "Learning is a lifelong process" and that therefore you will continue studying and taking masters' degrees and doctorates and professorships and so on. You know the sort of people who tell you that? Teachers. Don't you think there is some measure of conflict of interest? They are in the business of learning, after all. Where would they be without you? They need you to be repeated customers.

The good news is that they're wrong.

The bad news is that you don't need further education because your entire life is over. It is gone. That may come as a shock to some of you. You're in your teens or early twenties. People may tell you that you will live to be 70, 80, 90 years old. That is your life expectancy.

I love that term: life expectancy. We all understand the term to mean the average life span of a group of people. But I'm here to talk about a bigger idea, which is what you expect from your life.

You may be very happy to know that Singapore is currently ranked as the country with the third highest life expectancy. We are behind Andorra and Japan, and tied with San Marino. It seems quite clear why people in those countries, and ours, live so long. We share one thing in common: our football teams are all hopeless. There's very little danger of any of our citizens having their pulses raised by watching us play in the World Cup. Spectators are more likely to be lulled into a gentle and restful nap.

Singaporeans have a life expectancy of 81.8 years. Singapore men live to an average of 79.21 years, while Singapore women live more than five years longer, probably to take into account the additional time they need to spend in the bathroom.

So here you are, in your twenties, thinking that you'll have another 40 years to go. Four decades in which to live long and prosper.

Bad news. Read the papers. There are people dropping dead when they're 50, 40, 30 years old. Or quite possibly just after finishing their convocation. They would be very disappointed that they didn't meet their life expectancy.

I'm here to tell you this. Forget about your life expectancy.

After all, it's calculated based on an average. And you never, ever want to expect being average.

Revisit those expectations. You might be looking forward to working, falling in love, marrying, raising a family. You are told that, as graduates, you should expect to find a job paying so much, where your hours are so much, where your responsibilities are so much.

That is what is expected of you. And if you live up to it, it will be an awful waste.

If you expect that, you will be limiting yourself. You will be living your life according to boundaries set by average people. I have nothing against average people. But no one should aspire to be them. And you don't need years of education by the best minds in Singapore to prepare you to be average.

What you should prepare for is mess. Life's a mess. You are not entitled to expect anything from it. Life is not fair. Everything does not balance out in the end. Life happens, and you have no control over it. Good and bad things happen to you day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment. Your degree is a poor armour against fate.

Don't expect anything. Erase all life expectancies. Just live. Your life is over as of today. At this point in time, you have grown as tall as you will ever be, you are physically the fittest you will ever be in your entire life and you are probably looking the best that you will ever look. This is as good as it gets. It is all downhill from here. Or up. No one knows.

What does this mean for you? It is good that your life is over.

Since your life is over, you are free. Let me tell you the many wonderful things that you can do when you are free.

The most important is this: do not work.

Work is anything that you are compelled to do. By its very nature, it is undesirable.

Work kills. The Japanese have a term "Karoshi", which means death from overwork. That's the most dramatic form of how work can kill. But it can also kill you in more subtle ways. If you work, then day by day, bit by bit, your soul is chipped away, disintegrating until there's nothing left. A rock has been ground into sand and dust.

There's a common misconception that work is necessary. You will meet people working at miserable jobs. They tell you they are "making a living". No, they're not. They're dying, frittering away their fast-extinguishing lives doing things which are, at best, meaningless and, at worst, harmful.

People will tell you that work ennobles you, that work lends you a certain dignity. Work makes you free. The slogan "Arbeit macht frei" was placed at the entrances to a number of Nazi concentration camps. Utter nonsense.

Do not waste the vast majority of your life doing something you hate so that you can spend the small remaining sliver of your life in modest comfort. You may never reach that end anyway.

Resist the temptation to get a job. Instead, play. Find something you enjoy doing. Do it. Over and over again. You will become good at it for two reasons: you like it, and you do it often. Soon, that will have value in itself.

I like arguing, and I love language. So, I became a litigator. I enjoy it and I would do it for free. If I didn't do that, I would've been in some other type of work that still involved writing fiction – probably a sports journalist.

So what should you do? You will find your own niche. I don't imagine you will need to look very hard. By this time in your life, you will have a very good idea of what you will want to do. In fact, I'll go further and say the ideal situation would be that you will not be able to stop yourself pursuing your passions. By this time you should know what your obsessions are. If you enjoy showing off your knowledge and feeling superior, you might become a teacher.

Find that pursuit that will energise you, consume you, become an obsession. Each day, you must rise with a restless enthusiasm. If you don't, you are working.

Most of you will end up in activities which involve communication. To those of you I have a second message: be wary of the truth. I'm not asking you to speak it, or write it, for there are times when it is dangerous or impossible to do those things. The truth has a great capacity to offend and injure, and you will find that the closer you are to someone, the more care you must take to disguise or even conceal the truth. Often, there is great virtue in being evasive, or equivocating. This is also a great skill. Any child can blurt out the truth, without thought to the consequences. It takes great maturity to appreciate the value of silence.

In order to be wary of the truth, you must first know it. That requires great frankness to yourself. Never fool the person in the mirror.

I have told you that your life is over, that you should not work, and that you should avoid telling the truth. I now say this to you: be hated.

It's not as easy as it sounds. Do you know anyone who hates you? Yet every great figure who has contributed to the human race has been hated, not just by one person, but often by a great many. That hatred is so strong it has caused those great figures to be shunned, abused, murdered and in one famous instance, nailed to a cross.

One does not have to be evil to be hated. In fact, it's often the case that one is hated precisely because one is trying to do right by one's own convictions. It is far too easy to be liked, one merely has to be accommodating and hold no strong convictions. Then one will gravitate towards the centre and settle into the average. That cannot be your role. There are a great many bad people in the world, and if you are not offending them, you must be bad yourself. Popularity is a sure sign that you are doing something wrong.

The other side of the coin is this: fall in love.

I didn't say "be loved". That requires too much compromise. If one changes one's looks, personality and values, one can be loved by anyone.

Rather, I exhort you to love another human being. It may seem odd for me to tell you this. You may expect it to happen naturally, without deliberation. That is false. Modern society is anti-love. We've taken a microscope to everyone to bring out their flaws and shortcomings. It is far easier to find a reason not to love someone, than otherwise. Rejection requires only one reason. Love requires complete acceptance. It is hard work – the only kind of work that I find palatable.

Loving someone has great benefits. There is admiration, learning, attraction and something which, for the want of a better word, we call happiness. In loving someone, we become inspired to better ourselves in every way. We learn the true worthlessness of material things. We celebrate being human. Loving is good for the soul.

Loving someone is therefore very important, and it is also important to choose the right person. Despite popular culture, love doesn't happen by chance, at first sight, across a crowded dance floor. It grows slowly, sinking roots first before branching and blossoming. It is not a silly weed, but a mighty tree that weathers every storm.

You will find, that when you have someone to love, that the face is less important than the brain, and the body is less important than the heart.

You will also find that it is no great tragedy if your love is not reciprocated. You are not doing it to be loved back. Its value is to inspire you.

Finally, you will find that there is no half-measure when it comes to loving someone. You either don't, or you do with every cell in your body, completely and utterly, without reservation or apology. It consumes you, and you are reborn, all the better for it.

Don't work. Avoid telling the truth. Be hated. Love someone.

You're going to have a busy life. Thank goodness there's no life expectancy.


(After reading the convocation message, it brings to my mind the particular quote below. I discovered it many years ago together with a friend in a quiet neighbourhood bookstore. Because camera phones were not existent then, we had to manually hand copy it on to a scrap of foolscap paper, and make sure the bookstore owner wasn't looking at the same time! Those were the days......... But at least the quote still remains in my memory til today. Hope you find this as inspiring as I did and still do!)

"I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark
should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry rot.
I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow,
than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live,
not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them.
I shall use my time."
--Jack London, American Author

Interview With God

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I saw a rainbow yesterday evening. A big beautiful shining bow of seven multicolours.
And I was reminded that He is there, always. :)

Starswirlz presents: Mr Leon's 2008 perspectives

Just saw this video my classmate did and just had to showcase it here. So cool!

Okay, my geog classmates are officially some of the most creative sparks I have ever met.




I miss mulu!

Reason Why - Rachael Yamagata

Reason Why - Rachael Yamagata


I think about how
it might have been
We'd spend our days travelin'
It's not that I don't understand you
It's not that I don't want to be with you
but you only wanted me
The way you wanted me

So I will head out alone,
and hope for the best
We can hang our heads down
as we skip the goodbyes
and you can tell the world what you want them to hear
I've got nothing left to lose, my dear
So, I'm up for the little white lies
But you and I
know the reason why

I'm gone, and you're still there
I'm gone, and you're still there
I'm gone, and you're still there

I'll buy a magazine searching for your face
From coast to coast, or whatever I find my place
I'll track you on the radio
and I'll sign your list in a different name
But as close as I get to you
It's not the same

So, I will head out alone
and hope for the best
We can pat ourselves on the back
and say that we tried
And if one of us makes it big
we can spill our regrets
And talk about how the love never dies
But you and I
know the reason why

I'm gone, and you're still there
I'm gone, and you're still there
I'm gone, and you're still there

So, steal the show, and do your best
to cover the tracks that I have left
I wish you well,
and hope you find
whatever you're looking for
The way I might've changed my mind
but you only showed me the door

so I will, head out alone
hope for the best
We can pat ourselves on the back
and say that we tried
And if one of us makes it big
we can spill our regrets
And talk about how the love never dies
But you and I
You and I...
You and I...

know the Reason Why

Dreams...

When I was in secondary school, I tried to imagine myself in the future. I imagined myself working in an office, with people that motivated me to strive for the best, in a real job that makes a difference to lives. I have always believed that we should work for something that we believe in.
It's not enough to simply be good at what you do, we have to be good for something.
Coz if we don't believe in what we are doing, then whatever work we do becomes useless and irrelevant. The trick is to start finding out ways in liking the work that we do (that is if changing jobs is not a feasible option)

A decade later, I am quite happy to say that I have found a job that I believe in (even if people may think otherwise haha...)
Life has been great so far and I look forward to achieving new goals and learning new skills I never knew I had.
Life is all about choices and I choose to see opportunities where others see obstacles.

Only pity is that cameras are not allowed in my workplace which means a significant lack of pictures for this blogspace.
(This is especially saddening when I have biscuit snacks in the office named 'best tambons' that I cannot get a picture of!)

The Wheel of Life...

Life is a funny little thing.
I like to imagine it as this big giant Ferris Wheel that all of us are on.
Sometimes you're up high and sometimes you're down low.
When at the bottom, we take comfort in knowing that things will look up soon.
Conversely when at the top, we should not become proud and get too comfortable,
coz we may fall down at any time.

I realised that as we get older,
I see and learn much more about this wheel of life as we go along.
I've seen people meeting, people leaving,
people getting together, people breaking up,
people living their dreams, people dying.
Every ending is the start of something new,
since every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end,
just that we may not know it yet.

But throughout it all, what matters most are the people beside you.
Those who have been sitting along side on the same ride all this time.
Afterall, life would be much less fun and way more lonely if you don't have people to ride out the lows and enjoy the highs with.
What joy is there in being on top alone and having to face sorrows by one's self?


For that I wanna thank all those people who have taken that ferris ride with me at one point or another. Thank you my fellow riders! haha...
You have made my life a much more enjoyable ride to be on because of you.
For those who may be at a low point in their lives, don't worry,
the wheel will turn soon and things will look up once more.
Remember, you are not alone and that you still have people like me in that ferris carriage with you to give you all the support you need ok! Jiayou!













If Heaven and Hell decide

That they both are satisfied

Illuminate the No's on their vacancy signs

If there's no one beside you

When your soul embarks

Then I'll follow you into the dark

Then I'll follow you into the dark







"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."

- 1 Cor 13:13

Have a Heart...

A youtube music video that I happened to come across late in the night that gave me jitters coz she is really that good... Another one with a song that sends pangs straight to the heart man.. Listen for yourself...





Anna Bergendahl performs "Have a Heart"on Swedish Idol.
Can you believe she's only 16 years old?

Once again, the answer boils down to a four letter word.

The Perfect Heart

Author:Unknown

One day a young man was standing in the middle of the town proclaiming that he had the most beautiful heart in the whole valley. A large crowd gathered and they all admired his heart for it was perfect. There was not a mark or a flaw in it. Yes, they all agreed it truly was the most beautiful heart they had ever seen. The young man was very proud and boasted more loudly about his beautiful heart.

Suddenly, an old man appeared at the front of the crowd and said “Why your heart is not nearly as beautiful as mine.” The crowd and the young man looked at the old man’s heart. It was beating strongly, but full of scars, it had places where pieces had been removed and other pieces put in, but they didn’t fit quite right and there were several jagged edges. In fact, in some places there were deep gouges where whole pieces were missing.

The people stared - how can he say his heart is more beautiful, they thought? The young man looked at the old man’s heart and saw its state and laughed. “You must be joking,” he said. “Compare your heart with mine, mine is perfect and yours is a mess of scars and tears.”

“Yes,” said the old man, “Yours is perfect looking but I would never trade with you. You see, every scar represents a person to whom I have given my love - I tear out a piece of my heart and give it to them, and often they give me a piece of their heart which fits into the empty place in my heart, but because the pieces aren’t exact, I have some rough edges, which I cherish, because they remind me of the love we shared. Sometimes I have given pieces of my heart away, and the other person hasn’t returned a piece of his heart to me. These are the empty gouges - - giving love is taking a chance. Although these gouges are painful, they stay open, reminding me of the love I have for these people too, and I hope someday they may return and fill the space I have waiting. So now do you see what true beauty is?”

The young man stood silently with tears running down his cheeks. He walked up to the old man, reached into his perfect young and beautiful heart, and ripped a piece out. He offered it to the old man with trembling hands. The old man took his offering, placed it in his heart and then took a piece from his old scarred heart and placed it in the wound in the young man’s heart. It fit, but not perfectly, as there were some jagged edges. The young man looked at his heart, not perfect anymore but more beautiful than ever, since love from the old man’s heart flowed into his. They embraced and walked away side by side.

How sad it must be to go through life with a whole untouched heart.







Have you ever given a piece of your heart away?

Moments...

As the clock ticks noisily and the moments pass without a glance backwards, my mind wanders through a myriad of events. Past and present encounters flash pass the cinematic screen of my mind’s eye. I got to thinking about the topic of pivotal moments. Landmark events, life-changing scenes or crucial pit-stops in our lives that happened to turn our whole world around. That particular instance which steered us in a direction that would have been totally different if it had never occur.

Mainly, I was musing over the exact moment in relationships, be it friendships or love that sealed the deal. What was the drop that tipped over the barrel of water? When was the instant that it happened? The moment when you decide, “Yes! This is it. This is the brick that seals the foundation of our friendship. This is the reason why I’m entrusting my heart to this person, whole and completely.”

And after that particular moment in time when all seems to stop and revolve around that significant event, your relationship has not looked back since.

I’ve come to realize that I have had and heard about a few of these moments...

The moment when no words are exchanged in a time of grief and painful memories, only to have someone who cries silently beside you coz that is the only comfort he knows and the only thing you need.

To hear the words uttered in love that your heart knew but forgot.

To have someone whom you have been thinking about all day suddenly and miraculously appear before you at the most unexpected time and place.
Like a bus stop.

To feel a tap on your shoulder and turn around to meet the grinning face of someone you have been worrying about for the longest time.

The moment when you open the mailbox to discover a love letter sent from afar, together with a present made perfect in its imperfection just because it was delivered with love.

To have someone who not only stands by you when the rest walk away, but who also stands up against them and defends you in a time when you have no friends.

Small things that make a whole lotta of difference. It seems that the simple things are also the most profound. Maybe because when loving gestures, serendipity and fierce loyalty are concocted together into a potent mix, they cease to be mere things or coincidences.

They become the catalyst for souls to reach out and touch one another,

even if it is just for that moment.

The Road Less Travelled...

It has come to a point in time when there is an opportunity of choice.
A sudden plethora of paths to choose from,
multiple layers of tracks that lead to very different destinations.
Some seem broad and straight, while others are narrow and lead off to the dark unknown.
What they all share is this ambiguious quality, of a kind of distortion,
that you cannot be quite sure what it really is until you take it.

Narrow or Straight? That is the question.




“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -- I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”

-Robert Frost


Sometimes I think I just need to do what is in my heart instead of what is in my head.
And I do hope it makes all the difference.

Something's missing...oh yah it's you and you and you!

Just a short note here from London to whoever might be reading this. I miss you all! Haha..just went through a couple of blogs and facebook pictures just reminded me of that void I've been feeling. Then I realised it's coz I'm missing all you people back in Singapore after being away for so long! Oh man, the things I've encountered. (From almost having to spend the night sleeping at the train station coz I got locked out to having to use a plug out in the hotel corridor to boil water coz the bleddy room doesn't have a socket!) Long stories. Can't wait to spill it all out to you guys once I get back. Until then, don't do finish all the fun stuff without me ah!

See you soon when I get back on the 19th june.

Shivering in the kitchen,

Me

Ever since the last day of school...

in case you have been wondering what I have been up to,


I have been...




taking the time to just admire the seasonal changes,
as the trees turn from green to yellow and crimson.

Standing there in the middle of the windswept road laden with fallen autumn leaves,
just breathing and absorbing the nice weather of Melbourne.




exercising. (well, almost something like that!)

Doing star jumps just for the fun of it at the beach with a friend.





smelling the grass. taking a nap. just lying there for the moment at the park.




playing with kangaroos and getting back with nature. haha.




feeding the birds by the waterside.

Enjoying the harbour and the silhouettes of yachts' narrow sails against the Sydney city skyline.

Sipping a cappuccino while watching people waddle by.



lastly, just sitting still and reflecting,
gazing at the beautiful scene as the sun dips behind the urban icons of the city.

That, to me is what life is all about anyway.
Though reality has something else in store for me.

“When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; at such a moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened or in saying that we are not ready. The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back. A week is more than enough time for us to decide whether or not to accept our destiny.”

- Paulo Coelho

The Middle

Just got to listen to this classic song of my secondary school days again...
Love the lyrics, it never fails to encourage me.




The Middle- Jimmy Eat World

Hey,
Don't write yourself off yet.
It's only in your head you feel left out,
Or looked down on.
Just try your best,
Try everything you can.
And don't you worry what they tell themselves
When you're away.


It just takes some time,
Little girl, you're in the middle of the ride.
Everything, everything will be just fine,
Everything, everything will be alright. (alright)

Hey,
You know they're all the same.
You know you're doing better on your own, (on your own)
So don't buy in.
Live right now.
Yeah, just be yourself.
It doesn't matter if it's good enough (good enough)
For someone else.



Hey, don't write yourself off yet.
It's only in your head you feel left out, (feel left out)
Or looked down on.
Just do your best, (just do your best)
Do everything you can. (do everything you can)
And don't you worry what their bitter hearts (bitter hearts)
Are gonna say.

It just takes some time,
Little girl, you're in the middle of the ride.
Everything, everything will be just fine,
Everything, everything will be alright. (alright)

Self Reminder

In the midst of studying and trying to memorize all the facts about Singapore's geology, lithology and rock forms... I seem to have forgotten the Rock of my life.

Time to come back to relying on that ever faithful and reliable source of support man...

With me all seems impossible, but with Him everything is possible!

Jiayou to everyone stuck in this exam rut!



I'm gonna blow that horn for help righttt about nooow....

The Finishing Line...

1,2,3,4 years of uni.......going going gone.

It's almost coming to an end. I've been so busy enjoying myself that I've forgotten there's a finishing line to end all of this. That we are all in a cap race where most of us have started strolling to admire the scenery. Haha...someone told me that the funniest people also tend to be the most emo people. Well today as I'm writing my very last essay, my very last assignment in 16 years,
a flood of feelings are washing over me.

I hope that those who started this race with me will finish it together with me.
And as we walk pass that finishing line,
we'll continue walking beside each other
not as classmates anymore, but as lifelong friends.

Who's with me?






P.S: yo Lcc you Tissuepaper! if ur reading this pls give me an sms! I need to see that you are alive!

Just for entertainment...

Okie... I have been contemplating for a while now on whether I should post this here. It has a high potential of wiping away whatever scrap of reputation I have left and may probably make some view me in a different light. I'd like to make clear I'm still the same as before, maybe just more misunderstood than ever. (Haha... oh well, whatever makes people happy.)

聪明的人喜欢猜心，

虽然会猜对

但往往失去 自己的心。

傻气的人常常给心，

虽然被人笑

但却得到了 别人的心。

I guess I don't mind sacrificing a bit and be a joke,
if it lets someone smile for a while.


This is for all those who have just completed long strenuous essays (HTs/Isms), or those who are still in the midst of more work, whoever who may be in a need to de-stress or something to laugh at...







Presenting Clarissa's classic (mis)qoutes!............................

Mulu, Sarawak fieldtrip

(As the class was taking a break, we were waiting for two of my project mates who went with the guides to find the intersecting point where the rivers meet, so that we could test the geochemistry of the waters with a multi-channel probe. The two of them (Ms S and Mr Hy) came back a while later, looking slightly flustered with all the rushing of things)

Me to them: So did you find the part that joins?

Turns to Mr Hy: Did you manage to put that (stick ie. probe) thing in?

Geolab

(I wanted to transfer some photo files from my friend’s laptop)

Me to Ms J: Can I stick my thumb in your drive?

Ms E: I also want!

Me: With so many stuck inside, will become congested a not?

At the bookstore, Popular

(I was searching for a replacement eraser since I lost mine and happen to come across a box of the type of erasers recommended by my brother）

Me: Ooooh…my brother uses this type of rubber coz 比较好插!

At Din Tai Feng

(While eating a delicious xiaolongbao, the juice of that bun shoots out of the spoon…)

Me: Arrgghh…it squirted wrongly!

Cue stunned silence.

Me (being oblivious and irritated): I should have put the whole thing in my mouth!

Later……as I began to tackle the larger size shrimp dumpling…

Mr H: So are you gonna try to put the whole thing in your mouth this time?

Me: Cannot lah…it’s too big!

The next time you see me in class, I'll most probably be wearing a mask and not answer your call. But considering that tomorrow is the last geog lecture of my life, the odds are on my side that I wouldn't have to put a paper bag over my head for too long..ahah~!




P.S: See evil-tofu, my chinese can be power also too!

P.P.S: For people who don't get the jokes, it's okay... it's actually better this way!

Differences...

What happens when you find someone or something in someone that is so different from you that you just find it difficult/ impossible to accept?


How do you cope with it?
Do you avoid? Reject completely? Fake being nice while secretly cursing and be like what someone told me, "smile nicely outside and die bitterly inside"?
Haha...



Maybe if we just bothered to bend down our heads and take time to get to know others who we deem to belong to another "species", we may actually achieve a level of understanding, then tolerance, and over time... acceptance?

Pure acceptance is not tolerance.
If we accepted it, than there's nothing to tolerate in the first place!

I guess tolerance is not condoning what we don't like but still accepting the person for who he/she is. Not liking what we see but still treating the other person as a person.
Easier said than done but we still need to try.
Who knows, if everybody tried than we can all be like that nickelback song:

If everyone cared and nobody cried

If everyone loved and nobody lied

If everyone shared and swallowed their pride

Then we'd see the day that nobody died












That will be the day when we are

"Acknowledging differences, accepting differences,
until differences make no difference anymore."



*pardon me coz I just completed a philosophy paper on tolerance that drove me into ponder-mode*