Wednesday, November 30, 2005

The Genuine You

It is good to laugh when you find something funny. It is good to cry when you are sad.

You are a beautiful, unique living person, with hopes and dreams, feelings, values, opinions, thoughts and visions. It is good to let all that shine through.

People sometimes think they can appear sophisticated by denying who they truly are. Yet real sophistication and value comes from fully expressing your most genuine sentiments and truths in the way you live your life.

You'll never find fulfillment by trying to be someone you're not. You'll never find fulfillment by following someone else's dreams.

Life is always best when you live each moment as the real person you are. Though it can be painful and difficult at times, it is far better to live the genuine truth of your own being than to run and hide from it.

Go ahead and feel the joy, the pain, and fully live the ups and downs and twists and turns of the rich and wonderful life with which you're blessed. Be the real, genuine you, and there's no limit to the fulfillment you can know.

-- Ralph Marston

Sunday, November 20, 2005

2005: the year when i try new things...

in 2005:
working full time ONGOING
gym classes DONE
making necklaces and earrings from beads DONE
snowboarding DONE
cooking from people's recipe DONE
japanese lesson DONE
dragonboating DONE
driving license test DONE

upcoming...
interior design lesson
piano lessons
dance classes
bikram yoga
makeup lesson
riding a bicycle? :P

i may not be good at the things i've tried.. but to me, the only thing that matters is that i've tried it!! =D

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

How does it feel...

... to have testicular cancer?
by Matt Elmy (Film Assistant)

September 10, 2003
My name is Matt. I am 30 years old. On September 10, 2002, I was diagnosed with testicular cancer. The original tumour was in my right testicle. It then spread to my lymph nodes, lungs, liver and brain. It was only really then that I realised how much people care about each other and how much people care about me. I also found out very quickly who these people are. Sophie tops the bill - my angel.

September 24, 2003
I proposed to my baby today; another amazing day to come from this horrendous illness. I feel okay which is maybe somewhat surprising seeing what they've pumped me full of. But remember if it goes for a year, it's gone for good.

September 27, 2003
Soph's been showing her engagement ring to everybody. I knew she was the one ages ago. I'm just pleased I carried through the courage of my commitments. The good thing is that it's a commitment on so many levels, most importantly to Soph and our future. Also, to never give in to this disease. We will beat it.

Matt died on Febuary 19, 2004. This is an excerpt from his diary.

-- Copied from my bro's Men's Health OCTOBER 2005.

Thursday, November 10, 2005

about blogging...

Today as I walk back home from work through the Melbourne breeze, I was reading "the girl most likely: a novel by rebecca sparrow", I can't help but start thinking...
'mmm.. Why do I have to get the Archie comics in S'pore Changi Airport whenever I got a chance (even bugging my mom to buy them when my parents are transitting there)? Why I am the way I am? Why am I such a creature of habit? Why do I get extremely worried when my close ones travelling by aeroplane? Or even why do I enjoy reading so much? Why do I have such high level of curiosity? Have I always been like this?' etc...

Anyway, from these thoughts I end up thinkin that this could be a good blog topic.. And I start to wonder if people get their blog topic the way I do, while walking home from work in the coldness n reading book... Trying not to forget this topic so that I'll remember to write the post... Then I start thinking.. mm what's the purpose of blogging anyway? Are we supposed to be writing for others or are we writing for us to look back? Mmm although after careful thought, I'm more towards writing it for myself... but with the consideration that someone else might read this.. :)

From there my thought skip back to the 'Why I am the way I am?', and I start to think wouldn't it be nice to have a book about how I am (my behaviours and habits) n why I am that way n be able to go through and read through it... maybe I can improve myself from there... and even if i can't... learning bout myself that thoroughly itself for me would be great... especially since lately, i feel that i'm just starting to get to know myself... :)

Ugh... All these thoughts evolve within 10 mins because of a simple sentence in that book I was reading... 'Betty or Veronica?'

What does that tells you bout me? Mmm...

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

today's quote

Happiness is not in our circumstance but in ourselves. It is not something we see, like a rainbow, or feel, like the heat of a fire. Happiness is something we are.
-- John B. Sheerin

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

being content with what u've got currently vs stubbornly fight

this has been a question in my head for quite sometime now.. and funnily, when a question is stuck in your head for sometime, everything around you seems to revolve around that questions.. your surrounding just coincidentally keep on offering things or events that are related to that question... :P

i'm the eldest child in my family.. eversince i was a kid, i've always have to share things, and deal with not getting what i want and most importantly, i had to learn well how to be happy with what i've got...

or maybe it's because i've had to move from my hometown in Medan to Jakarta when i was 10 yrs old, then from Jkt to Penang when i was 16 yrs old, and then from Penang to Melbourne when i was 18 yrs old and in Melbourne alone, i've moved house 5 times... :P mmm that could be why i tend to make do with whatever it is that i've got...

or maybe it's my personality.. i've always been an easy-goer especially when it's related to other people.. only sometimes when i'm in the stubborn mood to have one of my crazy cravings, i'd fight for my desire..

whatever it is.. this is how i am...

i really dislike people who WAIT stubbornly for some things...
fighting for your desire is one thing, but regretting what they currently have and waiting for the better things to come along... mmm i dun really think u'll get anywhere...

and i'm thinking.. being the way that i am... being content with what i've currently got, is that good? or only the ones who STUBBORNly fight for the best will be successful?

sometimes, being the way i am, i realised that i feel content too easily... i'm way too happy in my skin that i dun push myself enough in improving myself... there are times where i feel that i could and should improve my career, my personality, my physical look, my hobbies, etc... but most of the times, i'll be "stuff it... i'm happy the way i am.." and it doesn't really help that most of my surroundings are very acceptance toward whatever it is that i'm doing.. my family, my boyfriend and my best friends have been a great supporter.. they rarely questioned my decisions... they've always have so much trust in myself and whatever it is that i do... so there are points where i feel... "mmm.. i dun really need to improve much, why bother?"

mmm i need to clarify though... i feel lucky that i have such great people around me... they are the one who made me the way i am right now... but maybe i could do with a little push? :P

well, i guess i can always push myself... but pushing your own self is very difficult... even more difficult than pushing someone else.. :P

yesterday in the Japanese lesson (2nd last one!!! i can't believe how quickly it went), my lovely Japanese teacher, Kaori sensei talks about the structure of the Japanese lesson - for students who feel like continueing, it's roughly 6 years lesson of 1 wkly 3 hrs sessions.
anyway, she was saying that there are no compulsary tests in her classes. she passes everyone because she believes that however bad you are in Japanese, as long as you keep learning, you'll definitely get better.. (Persistence is the key to success ie. Never Give Up!)
i get what she's saying and i agree with her.. well, if you've got to go to Japanese class every week for 3 hrs session for 6 years, i'm sure u'll get something out of it.. =) but i'm not going to continue the lessons... because i figure, i could spend the rest of my 6 years learning Japanese, but if i'm never going to use it, i'm simply wasting my time, and i'll be better off learning chinese and piano :P
but i surely do not regret the Japanese lessons which i've taken and paid for.. in fact, it's one of the best thing i've done for myself. i finally fulfill my curiosity on Japanese and their culture.

well... i know i'm not getting anywhere with these things that i wrote... it's a jumbled message everywhere.. hahaha as always... lately i found blogging difficult.. it's tough to put all the thoughts in writting and put them together in such a way that i can pass on the message... it's even more difficult when you feel like writting 1000 different things in a short page... :P

the summary: which is better, Fighting for the best or being content with what you've got? i personally think that it's a matter of adjusting between the two.. sometimes.. for some things you just ought to fight for the best because that's the only way you'll be successful, but with some other things, you should learn to be content with whatever it is that you've got... especially when there is not much you can do to change it...

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Real world experience

Somehow i felt that this is soooooo for me! =D
the right motivator at the right time....

Fully prepare yourself, make the best of plans, and take the most effective actions. Then, accept whatever happens, learn from it, and adjust your approach accordingly.

Sometimes things will go exactly as you have planned, and yet many times they will not. So what is your best option when plans go awry?

There is nothing to be gained by becoming bitter, depressed, angry or immobilized by frustration. Instead, realize that you have just made a sizeable investment of your time and resources, and have received from that investment something of real value.

You have learned firsthand a little more about what does and what does not work. You have gained valuable, real world experience, and because of that you are in an excellent place from which to move forward.

Will you squander that valuable experience on feeling sorry for yourself? Or will you pick yourself up, adapt and adjust, and move enthusiastically ahead?

When plans go awry, it's not the end of your world. In fact, if you choose, it can be the beginning of your real success.

-- Ralph Marston
Copied from Daily Motivator site