Today is a special day - 29th Feb. It's a day which you get only every 4 years. However today I learnt quite a lesson. It was a humiliating experience. It is a humbling experience.
Before the story proper, I shall give an introductory story.
Who doesn't want to be rich? Who doesn't want to quit their job and stay at home, wait for their rich parents to feed them?
But what if you are born in a very poor family? Generally people may have these two kinds of behavior:
1) Childish behavior - you blame your parents for your own state. 2) Matured behavior - you know that everything is of no one's fault and you quietly help your parents to get out of poverty
So how?
If you really love your parents very much, you will not want them to be hurt. It really hurts a lot if you say the direct truth. And I think, the more you endure, it shows that the more you love them.
Although I'm turning 21 quite soon, I still have very childish behavior.
So what really happened today...
I initiated a meeting with my secondary school friends today. We were supposed to meet at his place for a mahjong session.
(This story involves me, Friend A and Friend B)
Then friend A was supposed to meet me at 10am for a swim. Then this friend overslept and replied me at 11 after she woke up. She said she can go to friend B's place at 12+. After that she said at 12+ that she needs to stay home for lunch and be only meeting us at 1+.
So of course I flared up because the whole meeting was delayed for 3 hours. But when I realised the reason I was quite ashamed of myself. She wanted to eat at home so that her grandma can cook lunch and have a proper meal.
Then friend B said why not we cancel the outing. But I managed to convince both of them to continue the meeting. Initially friend A wanted to stay at home to accompany grandma, and friend B wanted to study.
After that then when we were playing there were some unhappiness and misunderstandings. I realised that everyone was not really happy after all. They had better things to do than meeting out together.
Even if you think this meeting is of high priority, but others do not think so. Everyone has their own priorities. And I was looking for my own trouble when I organised the meeting.
I'm quite sad that things ended up like that. So many years of friendship and I think I still don't really understand what people want and how people feel.
I still have rather childish behavior. Why do I really need to insist? Why do I think I'm of a high priority? Why I did not think of the consequences and how others feel before I think of myself?
Maybe age is just a number. Mentality, mindset and maturity have no connections with age.
I hope this is just a learning experience and does not cost relationships.
I believe this is the title of an article that was shown one week ago.
And she's really the person to remember.
Lydia Sum (1945 - 2008)
I believe many Singaporeans are familiar with her, and I think nobody in Hong Kong doesn't know her. She's always there with her smile, she has never changed her hair-do, she has never changed her glasses. And of course, her laughter is priceless.
It's very sad for me to see her go.
I have been hearing her voice since I know how to decipher Cantonese. She's always present in a lot of variety shows, especially Hong Kong charity shows.
As how Mr Donald Tsang (Hong Kong SAR Chief Executive) has described her, she has the qualities that fellow Hong Kong people look up to - she's hardworking, passionate, and she brings joy to all of us.
Despite all the difficulties she faced in her life, she continues to bring us joy without fail. She is also a very responsible woman, she is a great entertainer, and of course she is a very good role model.
She is also a superb mother and has brought up her daughter Joyce very well. I think Joyce's singing is quite good, not as what many Youtubers said. I believe she has also inherited some traits from her mother.
Lydia in Kangxi in 2005
And I was really moved by her speech when she received her award from TVB in 2007. She is so determined to get back to the entertaining industry. She never gave up, and she is totally into her job.
Lydia's Last Appearance in TVB 2007
She's a great entertainer.
And of course she is a big lady, but with an even bigger heart.
My blog finally got rid of those javascripts and my blog now is back, fully functioning again, only using HTML tables!
I hope it still looks organized and everything will look normal.
I didn't go and type www.freefallingstars.blogspot.com for like 1 year+. I was quite shocked when my blog looks so disorganised and quickly decided to redesign the blog again.
I have learnt quite a lot of blogger HTML during this revamp. And now all the archives and previous post links are working well. All the previous posts are nicely displayed in the central window.
My blog is sticking to this colour scheme because at the moment I can't think of any good colour schemes. I am yet to be inspired. This time I took quite little time compared to last time (consider I started from scratch again) and everything managed to work! As of my previous blog, I prefer blogs that do not require massive scrolling , so I just make everything compact and I only need to scroll the central table to read the entire text.
I haven't thought of anything I want to put at the bottom window. Perhaps I will draw another flash animation again, or maybe add music...I haven't really thought of it.
And FYI, I have added 100 hits to my page just re-designing my webpage. I refreshed many times, tested many times, "templated" many times...
This question suddenly struck me. And it got me thinking again. Ask yourself. Is your life something like this?
Life begins when you come out from your mother's womb. Then you begin to attend kindergarten, then Primary school, then Secondary school, then maybe polytechnic or JC, then university.
At the age of 6, you ask your mother, "What is school for?"
Your mother replies you dryly, "It's for you to find a better job." Perhaps you will hear this over and over again in her nagging for many years to come.
And then you go to Secondary school, flipping your lecture notes, trying to study for the coming test. It's so much notes, and it's driving you crazy. And then you ask yourself, "Why am I studying so much for?"
And at the back of your mind, maybe you imagine your parents saying, "It's to help you find a better job."
For people whose lives are slightly more interesting, perhaps your parents (or maybe yourself) went to appeal for a better school to enter. You go to all the different schools with your parents, photocopying all your results slips, filling up forms...
"So what is all these for again?"
During your teenage years, there may be times you are surfing Friendster or Facebook looking at pictures of people that you like. Or you try to groom yourself better when you go out, hoping you will get some attention from a girl or guy of your choice. But at the end, you break up with your girlfriend or boyfriend.
When you think about all the gifts, all the hard work you put in for courting this girl, then you ask yourself again, "So what's all this for?"
After graduating from school, you get a job. Then you have to work at least 8 hours a day. Or perhaps some people would want to work for a few hours more to get more money for the family. But when the boss gets unreasonable, your wife nags at you, your children starts to get rebellious.
Won't you want to ask yourself, "What's all these for?"
Then you work for another 40 years and retires and wait for CPF to come. This question suddenly struck me. And it got me thinking again. Ask yourself. Is your life something like this?
Life begins when you come out from your mother's womb. Then you begin to attend kindergarten, then Primary school, then Secondary school, then maybe polytechnic or JC, then university.
At the age of 6, you ask your mother, "What is school for?"
Your mother replies you dryly, "It's for you to find a better job." Perhaps you will hear this over and over again in her nagging for many years to come.
And then you go to Secondary school, flipping your lecture notes, trying to study for the coming test. It's so much notes, and it's driving you crazy. And then you ask yourself, "Why am I studying so much for?"
And at the back of your mind, maybe you imagine your parents saying, "It's to help you find a better job."
For people whose lives are slightly more interesting, perhaps your parents (or maybe yourself) went to appeal for a better school to enter. You go to all the different schools with your parents, photocopying all your results slips, filling up forms...
"So what is all these for again?"
During your teenage years, there may be times you are surfing Friendster or Facebook looking at pictures of people that you like. Or you try to groom yourself better when you go out, hoping you will get some attention from a girl or guy of your choice. But at the end, you break up with your girlfriend or boyfriend.
When you think about all the gifts, all the hard work you put in for courting this girl, then you ask yourself again, "So what's all this for?"
After graduating from school, you get a job. Then you have to work at least 8 hours a day. Or perhaps some people would want to work for a few hours more to get more money for the family. But when the boss gets unreasonable, your wife nags at you, your children starts to get rebellious.
Won't you want to ask yourself, "What's all these for?"
So when your life comes to an end, isn't it very possible if you look back at what you have done in your life, you will still say, "What's all these for?"
"What's all these for?" "What am I doing in these 70 years?" "Why did I work so hard for?"
You go to school, get a job, start a family, and you have done so many things. But doesn't it seem very absurd when everything, every single thing becomes so pointless.
However, life gets into another perspective when you can answer ALL these questions with, "I'm already very happy with what I've done."
It is already enough when you have done your best. You don't need to push yourself so hard for that extra $100 more, you don't have to revise for another 1h when you already did enough revision. Whatever you think is enough, and you have worked hard for it, you don't really need to work for the extra ten miles.
It's important to know that you are already having a blessed life.
And make choices such that you will become happier. There are many people who have been telling me "Why am I studying this course, why not that school..."
I found my answer. I rather do something I like to do, not something that will get me more money. I also don't want to work so hard because I still want time to do what I like. And I also like my tutoring job so I will really try to make time for it when school starts.
So...
Only when people found what they want, their lives will then make their worth.
