Of sum ups

Phew, final week of the semester.

Autumn's here, winter's near. Hmm.. too chilly for my liking.

Oh bring back, bring back! Oh bring back my sunshine to me~

**

I have two more assignments due in the next two weeks. Exams will be from June 12th - June 23rd, then voilà~

Winter Break!

** Can't wait! **


Take away from Med yesterday:

Harmony ~
As a master I resonate with who I am. I am in tune with my companions at home and at work. I see the beauty and know the secrets of all situations.

=) =)
*

Had dinner with Noelle - a gal who's always, always bubbling with excitement! :D

Took the train back at 7.52 pm, came home and Skyped with Sara, my Globe! Also talked to my parents who gave me a lecture for having irregular sleeping patterns, so I surrendered to bed at 11.15 pm.

And woke up at 10 am today, such bliss~ ^^,

**

Okay anyway, here are some pictures of MT's first Sports Day!

[edit] ok no, pictures saved from facebook are very very very tiny. bummer.


To her many kai-ches, her pictures are on my facebook wall!


P.S. Wish I was there. Ah~
P.P.S. Everyday must be lived well.

Learning

These few days have been a humbling experience for me. In a good way.

Just sometimes, it feels as though the world was revolving around me, it feels burdensome. I whine, I complain, I wonder why people make it uneasy for me. I was unwilling to share, it was an "I" affair. I, I and I. Ridiculously self-centred in restrospect.

And that's when you realized you're overreacting. That's when from every situation, you realized how you're always the subject and never the object. How it's always others making life hard for you, but not because you made it hard for yourself. How you let yourself be affected by the pettiest issue you can think of. How everyone have problems (bigger ones in fact) and you're not alone. How problems are actually relative. They are problems because you made them problems. But they make you learn if you allow them to. They're not allllllll bad.

haha, ok I can go on and on but it sounds very vague.

But yea.

Sometimes you need to take a step back and look at your "problems" from a third perspective. Not mine, not others, but just as an onlooker. It's amusing to see yourself trapped in a concocted world that exists only in your mind.

PS: Ah.

Thomas Edison

A prominent leader quoted Thomas Edison today:

Be courageous. I have seen many depressions in business. Always America has emerged from these stronger and more prosperous. Be brave as your fathers before you. Have faith! Go forward!


You know, sometimes all it takes is to be kinder to yourself,
for we'll never judge others as harshly as we judge ourselves.

*

Take a day at a time.

Home

In retrospect, last week has been memorable.


Everyday, commuting is inevitable

yet as you walked up that stretch

and see the warm lights of your home from afar

and hear laughters from within

it puts a smile on your face

no matter how wretched you are

**

You might need to bunk together at night

having the tiniest spot to sleep on

while your granny snores (and rocks) the night away

your room is like a refugee camp

and you witness it shrink somemore from its already XS size


yet you listen to stories after stories before sleep

trying hard to surpress your giggles and never fails to fail

and have your mum come in to nag

only to have her hop in the bandwagon soon enough


I remember the distinct stillness in the early morning

when I had to tip-toe my

way thru the camp to go out

the quietness is not the one I'm usually accustomed to

as if you press your ears just gently against the doors

you'll hear some feet shuffling, some murmurring (definitely my sis)

and you'll set off to uni without further ado

for you'll want to get back ASAP


OH not to forget with a sandwich nicely packed

and a warm drink nicely tugged

by your grandma

who prompts you out of the house

before she goes back to more self-immersing house chores


**

and the routine repeats itself

when you come home and have your sister tugging at your feet

pleading to play hide-and-seek

only that she doesn't do either

but instead fills the house with shrieks

as she chases you around

while you play hard to get

**

And dinner comes

you'll cook rice three times the usual amount

and set the table with its full cutleries

and call out to the house

and you'll wash up later

with your granny watching over

eyeing the chance she could jump in and take over

**

and then you go out at 9.21 pm

all fit into a Tarago which fetches 9

and off you go for grocery shopping

and get stares from people

touring the supermarket, it's as if.

Yet a trip you'll never want to miss


**

11 pm, night is still young

and you facebook the night away

and then your dad steps in and nag

and next your mum

and next your aunt

and finally your grandma

then you give in.

**

I truly miss that feeling.

Suddenly

Today I attended my first lecture for Creativity, Play and the Arts. It's my elective this semester, a subject of the Faculty of Education. Basically, it focuses on the integral connection between creativity, play and arts in childhood and beyond.

I'm not really sure of what to expect from this subject save for the major assignments (involving site visits) and group involvement in the final project/presentation (50%). I don't know a single person from the lecture - which by the way was mostly filled with the locals - I feel so introverted. Can I even speak of creativity? I'm starting to feel the jitters. Xenophobia settling in.

But I think I will stay on.

"We know that when kids play, there present no obligations, because they are naturally compelled to do so. As we grow older, most of us become more and more reluctant to play, when playing in fact improves our well being."


"Let's have a look at this picture of a playground. Parents often associate play with risk, and will try to remove any possible risk from their children play sites. Yet, without enough risk, there is nothing much play for children. Food of thought for today."


Hmmm.. ought to give it a try and get the most out of it.

尽人事 听天命

This verse was Xia's present to me. Thanks =)

If you can, take time to read the following article! =)

随缘是尽人事听天命

［ 作者: 佚名 来自：中国佛教寺院网 已阅：509 时间：2008-6-16 录入：zhangjingzhen

2008年6月16日 佛学研究网 随缘不是得过且过、因循苟且，而是尽人事听天命。 　　佛说："一切随缘。"随缘是一种解脱、无著与智慧的表现。我们最需要的，正是这种能善 观因缘而随机诱导的智慧。 　　随缘看起来不着痕迹，也没有任何勉强；胸有成竹，却不死执既定的计划；有所努力与坚持 ，可是又丝毫没有患得患失的不安。事成了，只是淡淡的欣慰，而没有过激的兴奋与成 事后的傲慢；事不成，也只有坦然的接受，而没有难堪的懊恼追悔。 　　总之，在谋事之时，虽然会尽力而行，却能随顺因缘而不勉强；在事情过后，会检讨得失 ，但又不会为成败而喜、忧。这些，多少都是随缘的相貌。 　　随缘常常被人误解为随便、不努力或麻木不仁。在这些人的观念里，所谓的"随缘"，只不 过是无能、逃避或懈怠的藉口罢了，岂是真正随缘的智慧 　　随缘不是得过且过、因循苟且，而是尽人事听天命。随缘是积极地运用智慧与经验，以检别 因缘、选择主法。虽然不执著一定的模式，却尽量在可控制的范围内，安排一组最理想的 因缘组合，而不是随随便便地任由因缘发展。 　 　贝特富德是帮助老洛克菲勒创建标准石油公司的老同事之一。但在一次经营活动中，他由于 急功近利，导致投资失败。然而他没有想到，洛克菲勒非但没有责怪他，反而对他的失败 进行了一番赞赏。那天下午，贝特富德正在路上走着，他看到了洛克菲勒就在自己身后的不 远处。但贝特富德并不想停下，也不想回头。他实在不愿意向洛克菲勒描述这次自己在南美 投资失败的经过。可是洛克菲勒却叫住了他，贝特富德没办法，只好停了下来。 　　洛克菲勒走过来后，非常友好地在贝特富德的背上拍了一下，然后说："你干得好极了，我 的老伙伴!哦，我刚刚听说了你在南美的事情。" 　 　贝特富德心里却认为这是在嘲讽他，想着洛克菲勒接下来会责怪自己，决定还是由自己来说 为好。"这实在是一次惨败，简直糟透了!"他沮丧地说，"尽管我们后来尽力做了补救， 可仍然只收回了60%的投资。""就是因为这一点，我才觉得你干得真棒!"洛克菲勒说，他 的神 情十分真挚，"我本来以为会血本无归的，真亏得你处置果断及时，才出乎我意料替我们保 住了这么多的投资。真的，贝特富德，你能干得这么出色，真是难能可贵啊!"贝特富德心 中一阵温暖，这是他一生中所得到的最好的安慰，他的精神重新振作起来，自信心大大增强 了。 　 　随缘是一种积极的面对，虽然不强求，但那是在运用智慧与经验的分析判断之后，了知一切 人、事、物、境内在因缘的不可抗逆性(人机、时机、处机、法机等等，一时无力扭转)， 从而避免了无谓的抗衡与勉强。他既已了解事件内在的因缘性，当然也就不再做不必要的扭 转，这是放下，而不是无能或懈怠。由于已经大略明白了事件有因缘组合，同时也尽了自己 最大的努力，所谓"谋事在人，成事在天"，对于事情可能的发展结果，多少也能事先了 然于心。于是对于成败、得失也就不再执著，这是坦然的面对，而不是逃避或麻木不仁。 　　生活中我们要"随缘"而不是"攀缘"，凡事不强求，尽人事，听天命。凭自己的能力，能 做到什么程度就做到什么程度，不在乎得失或别人的看法。 　　随缘是人生拼搏的另一种境界，它不是消极的承受，也绝非放弃人生应有的追求。随缘是无 为而有为，是无欲而有欲，是成熟的一种标志，是成功者的一种素养。 　　随缘是一种胸怀，也是一种觉悟，是对自我内心的一种自信和把握。能够随缘的人，总能在 风云变幻时审时度势，在艰难坎坷的生活中，收放自如、游刃有余；总能在逆境中找寻到前 行的方向，保持坦然愉快的心情。（信息来源：中国佛教寺院网） =)

Hope

Here I am, awake earlier than expected because my handphone's time was an hour ahead. No idea how that happened, and how long it has persisted. =S

So I read about this 10-year-old girl off Jia Yen's blog, went to her homepage, http://jacklynwongcien.blogspot.com/ and found this,





It was really moving and I teared.

It's difficult to imagine the immense strength and optimism coming from a girl of such tender age, throughout the battle, till the very end.

Yet, respectable. =)


Makes me realized that if she did not give up hope facing her own death , nothing should make us give up ours.

Small..

All of a sudden, I feel so small.


Your very own partners in assignments and presentation, your tutorial mates, tutors (and their gfs in these cases), forum mate.. People who you smile and talk with every other day, even your own mum, cousins, sibling, friends come from startling backgrounds they don't speak of. Which make them even more admirable.


I wonder if those marvels are even within my reach..


Try typing in your name in your uni website (or in search engines in general) only to find out more about pig breeds. I digress.


PS: Small.

Day Light Saving

Tonight, the Day Light Saving will work its way again to take away an hour from Australia.

At 1:59 am tonight/tomorrow morning, we'll leap over to 3 am, and lose a precious 2.00am-2.59am on 5th October 2008. And the time difference between Australia and Malaysia will be 3 hours again. Bummers. Harder to find people online/call home at right time then.

This means that the day no longer lights up at 6 am but at 7 am, and the night will not fall at 7pm but at 8pm.

Hmmm..meaning that there would only be 23 hours today, while the other one hour does not exist in our dimension!!!! *excites*

Hmm.. meaning if I still want to get 8 hours of sleep and get up at the same time, I'd have to sleep an hour earlier. *de-excites*


On another note, I'm falling sick. Two nasty fat ulcers in my mouth and bleeding lips and a really sore throat. And still struggling to grasp what's happening to the interest rates to answer my assignment question.


Oh well. We'll see how it go.


PS to body: Please don't die on me this weekend, or the following. Just 2 more weeks, hold on. You'll be rewarded.

Weeks ahead..

Oct 6th - BPA Presentation

Oct 8th - Macro and BPA assignments due

Oct 9th - Accounting assignment due

Oct 16th - Gen Wealth final essay due

Then 2 weeks left of semester, followed by 1 week of study break.

Then Exam times: Nov 10th, 11th, 13th, 14th


*inner screams and shrieks* *looks at haggard self and hopes the world could stop for awhile*


Then end of 1ST YEAR BACHELOR OF COMMERCE!!!!! OMG.

Fly home on Dec 3rd. Shucks, if only I could alter my flight details.


Time flies, like literally.



ps: They'll all pass..

Hmm..

It's Jul's third day in Eltham now. She'll be my housemate for 2 weeks.

I guess this is how it feels to live with a friend.

=)

Hopefully she will not get tired of the more quiet and slower pace of life!