向外

Saturday, July 29, 2006

《西湖梦》

红花瘦，黄叶浓

本是沧海与桑田

无理构成愁

古松间，断桥旁

飘絮随意意随风

挥袖傲江山

前生情，今世缘

三生石上刻不完

望那一脉水系

荡入暮雪千山

我欲潇洒如点水蜻蜓

湖泛涟漪听新雨

偶一回头

惊觉黄昏泪

却已落入你眼里”



最近看到了一些西湖的风景照，突然有种想游中国的冲动。西湖、江南、山东，再上武当、少林、五岳... ... 背包旅行应该不错。兄弟们，开始计划吧。

Envoy of the Stars @ 2:36 PM
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Baptism

Friday, July 21, 2006

For the past few weeks I have read a few inspirational books that have really motivated me and rekindled my passion and interest in certain aspects. Or maybe, like what "Blink" suggests, my subconscious has always kept those things well protected, but hidden from the conscious mind. It is really enlightening to be able to clear the fog from the obscured mind at times, and that's what I want to do (or have always wanted to do) for the rest of my life. I found all the answers, or rather, the answers in my head found me. Finally.

"Tuesday with Morrie" was a really touching read. I must admit I was deeply moved, having developed that common cynicism and apathy due to well, "troubled times" during these teenage period. Of course, some blame it on hormones. Haha. Anyway, I haven't read something so sincere and direct in these commercialised "best-sellers" for a long time. So here I have to thank those people who "sponsored" this little gift for my birthday. You know who you are. Thank you guys! Anyway, it's really interesting to find that in all humility, I do share some of the same thoughts and feelings as the book protagonist, Professor Morrie, who imparts life lessons in the form of sharing sessions with his long-parted student during his last few months of his life. Like how our culture is created such that we are forever following it, rarely questioning why we are, partly because we have given up after initial attempts, or we have become drawn to the things that it offers (materialism, need versus want...) , or because we have become so deeply seated within that we no longer notice this trend at all. After all, what's wrong? Well, probably the fact that this thought should occur to you is telling enough.

Then, he shared on the fact that he hated law. I used to remember telling my teacher I wanted to be lawyer when I was naive. Haha the fact I used "naive" explains how much I have changed now. Naive because we never know what the ambition we wanted to take up was actually like when we are young. Naive because we only see the glamorous side, the good side of things then. I don't hate law (I always thought "hate" is too strong a word, one that has caused enough grief on this earth), but I have come to realise it's out of the question for me. Medicine is out, like duh, though I do respect doctors who become doctors to help patients, and not to help fill their own pockets. Business is definitely a no-no. Morrie said he didn't like to exploit people, and I share his sentiments that business, much as it is much sought after in the world now, is after all, about exploitation. And so, what else is there to do for people who like to talk and inspire?

Teach.

I always thought I will teach, eventually. It's just a matter of when.

Another book I read was "Superman: Never-ending battle". Interestingly, the book talks about something deeper than what a cartoon will offer. In one section Superman was trapped by his enemy who told him how similar they both are, and told him how "good" (for him) it would be if they could join hands to bring more chaos to an already chaotic world. He asked Superman why he wanted to "help" the people on earth, a group who has become so corrupted by greed and self-centredness. In response, Superman said something like "I agree these people are not exactly perfect, and what I am doing might not do much good to help this world. But I will do good anyway." The paradoxical commandments. Interesting.

The Paradoxical Commandments
1. People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.

2. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.

3. If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

4. The good you do today, will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

5. Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.

6. The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.

7. People favor underdogs, but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

8. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.

9. People really need help, but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.

10. Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.

Kent M. Keith

I am getting addicted to inspiration.

Envoy of the Stars @ 9:25 PM
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我本楚狂人

Sunday, July 09, 2006

有人说：

“所谓好人，只是总能把邪恶控制得很好的人而已。”

感觉近日邪气有点越来越重了...

Envoy of the Stars @ 12:32 AM
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零

Saturday, July 08, 2006

是哪家看了就忘了的店里面

看了就忘了的老板低头碎碎念

看了就忘了的店门前

小小的女孩

蹲在不新的玩具机器旁边

手中小小的零钱

卷出那

一张张闪亮的卡片

卷出我

一片片零碎的童年

看了就忘了的老板低头碎碎念

在看了就忘了的琐碎世界

女孩看了一眼

忽然就不见

Envoy of the Stars @ 3:16 PM
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A few things

Friday, July 07, 2006

Youth Day came and went, and I realised while I have been able to spend this day idling away last year, it suddenly dawned on me that I now have to go back to camp as part of the routine and live my life following a monotonous training programme. Last sunday I passed Bishan MRT Station and saw this small group of Worker's Party people issuing small "Happy Youth Day" cards... No doubt another propagandaistic approach to to get into Singaporeans' good books to further increase their votes in the next elections huh? Haiz... one year has made me realised how much I have missed and how much older I have became...

Joined the A13 seniors for dinner last saturday. It was really coincidental. I was supposed to meet my choir senior Lionel to go for something like an Arts trail, but found Yirui with him at Sculpture's Park, which was a pleasant surprise. So we spent the afternoon looking at paintings (both abstract and the chinese ink ones) and a few creative arts exhibits that were pretty thought-provoking. There was this huge box made of sponges and you can enter it and experience some discomfort. (something like a mix of claustrophobia and awkwardness) The artist wanted to bring out the discomfort and uneasiness that immigrants will feel when they first migrate to a new place and I still don't know how he did it but one will find yourself tearing after a few minutes in that box. Cool. We lingered around at that place because the guide was a very amicable (and pretty, lol) lady who is just a bit older than us. (said she was from VJ. Hmm.. no wonder..) But I must say I really have to hand it to these people who volunteered to help out all for the sake of Art. Their passion is probably the reason why there's still hope for the Arts scene in Singapore.

Anyway, we went to Coffee Bean to chat abit and I realised I am frequenting such places more than often nowadays. For people who don't like to window shop or walk around (there arent many places to walk and anyway, when you have walked 28km at one go you won't feel like walking too much) and there are just so many movies that you can watch, having a reasonably comforting place to sit down and catch up with old times seems like a more than ideal thing to do. I would prefer a less expensive place but since there are obviously none in town, I guess I will have to settle for Coffee Bean.

After that, we walked back to City Hall where Yi Rui was supposed to meet the rest of her class. I saw them and since I didn't have plans and they didn't mind, I joined them for dinner, as a "special guest". It was nice to see them again after so long, asking the girls (ella, cailing, gracia, yirui, ming wei, yee soo and shiyu) about uni life and filling the guys (ziqian and heng hui) in with A-organisation stuff. Somehow, going out with seniors is a different feeling. They automatically seem more like big brothers and sisters, and I felt like back during the days in J1 again. It's the feeling of being looked after and the feeling of being younger. I must really want to rejuvenate pretty desperately... And oh, we went to TCC after dinner, once again emphasising my point...

Envoy of the Stars @ 11:19 PM
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