beauty
love
joy
peace
faithfulness
gentleness
patience
self-control
(1) The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in. His voice dropped to a whisper. "Let it come in. We think we dont deserve love, we think
if we let it in we'll become too soft. But a wise man called Levine said it right. Love is the only rational act. (2) Sometimes, in the mornings, that's when i mourn. I feel around my body,
I move my fingers and my hands--whatever I can still move-- and I mourn for what I've lost. I mourn the slow, insidious way in which I am dying. But then, i stop. I give myself a good cry if
i need it. But then I concentrate on all the good things still in my life. YOU. (3) The culture doesnt encourage us to think about regrets until you're about to die. We're so wrapped up with
egotistical things, career, family, having enough money--trillions of little acts just to keep going. We dont have the habit to stand back and look at our lives "Is this all I want?" You need
someone to probe you in that direction. It doesnt happen automatically. I have found my teacher. Have you found yours? (4) Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live. Listen to that bird
on your shoulder, if you accept that you can die at any time, you might not be as ambitious as you are. (5) Love each other or perish. Family-- nothing else can give you spiritual security. Not
money, not fame. (6) Learn to detach. Dont cling to things, because everything is impermanent. Let the experience penetrate you fully. That's how you are able to leave it. If you dont allow yourself
to go all the way through them, you can never get to being detached. You're too busy being afraid, afraid of pain, grief and vulnerability. Throw yourself into these emotions. Dive in, all the way.
Then, you will know what the emotions are, and detach. (7) You have to find what's good and true and beautiful in your life as it is now. Looking back makes you competitive. And age, is not
competitive. How can I be envious of where you are--when I've been there myself? (8) Devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community and people around you, create something
that gives you meaning. Do the kinds of things that come from the heart. When you do, you wont be dissatified, envious and longing for someone else's things. On the contrary, you'll be overwhelmed
with what comes back. (9) Love is how you stay alive, even after you are gone.Think of my voice and I will be there. (10) Respect, compromise and talk openly. Have a common set of values in life with
your partner. (11) The biggest defect we human beings have is our short-sightedness. Invest in the human family. Invest in those you love and who love you. In the beginning of life, when we were infants,
we need others to survive, right? At the end of life, you need others to survive right? (12) Forgive yourself. Forgive others. Tears are okay. Life is a tension of opposites. (13) As long as we can love
each other, and remember, the feeling of love we had, we can die without ever really going away. Death ends a life, not a rlnship. (14) I love you, Coach. He had finally made me cry.
Above-- excerpts fr Tuesdays with Morrie... (My entries, links and tagboard are in that order -> respectively.)
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Monday, December 05, 2005
i've turned twenty. ok, i will try to embrace it. stupid pk had to remind me the next time i have a 1 before all the other digits is when i turn 100. SHESH.. ok, i better embrace 20 before 30 comes. :) hahahaaha...
how i spent my twenty: going to the iPod centre at Wheelock to repair jan's nano and return her library books that were long due. went to Bedok to get myself a well-deserving lunch made up of mutton soup (yes, SM, again mutton soup) and fried oyster omelette. the rest of the day was spent nuaing at home. trying to read artic/phonology disorders.. haha.
well well... being twenty makes me 1 year nearer to my aim of financing my own car.. hehe. yes, the feeling is different. like for es (dunno if jiahui will be getting), she gets her new car but using her parent's $.. for me, once i grad n have my birthday (i will graduate on my birthday in 2008.. WOOHOOOO!!!!), i will be getting one based on my own finances when i work... i getta own the car.. and i dont have to answer to anyone about the car.. hehe.. rather, unlike ken, jh n lionel who are driving their parent's car.. i dont need to get my parents' permission to use the car.. i own it. heh. and i will go anywhere and anywhere with it.. irregardless of my parents' permit or objection.. haha. by then, es n jh will still be studying.. haha. ken, lionel n sm will still be studying.. and i will be working my keep, spending my own $.. haha.. yes, i am the first to graduate and start working amongst them!! :) :) woohoo!! :) hehe. and i can be the only one that go "yes, duh. i am driving my own car. hehe."
being twenty means that you're out to seek relationships, friendships that last and/or stable.. this means, it will survive any distance (3818 miles away fr Singapore, brisbane lies there.).. alright, for me, i think i have further thought about it for a long long time.. guys of my age has slowly slowly disillusioned me.. haha.. i want a stable guy with a current and good working career and knows how to take care of girls as a gf/wife and goes for long-term companionship.. which is at a level higher more than those guys i know now.. who're just doing random things to random girls.. right on, but it will come at the correct time.. so no fear.. haha... ok lar, this means that in future, i will marry one that might be like 5-10years older than me.. but i want mature guys.. so, haha.. :) understandable.. but cant plan for such things.. maybe i will turn into a cradle snatcher.. whaha.. *evil thoughts* marry Shaun Collin's son.. :) hahaha..
being twenty also means one thing.. haha. and that is.. *drum roll* you're on par with ur friends. haha. :) since all the guys n me n es have turned 20.. haha. :) there's no longer a 19 hanging out with a bunch of 20 yr old guys. whahahaha.. :)
as a wonderful twenty yr old, i have done quite a number of things that 20yr olds in Singapore do not do.. i studied overseas for one out of four years, gone on plenty of road trips, gone on a holiday to a large large city and wandered around alone in that big huge dangerous city without getting lost, drove in Australia, travelled more than any one student would travel, explored many many things that people in Sg are not privileged to do, wave my pluggers at fellow road drivers in Aussie, play pranks on people in college, have heaps of fun n laughter despite studying fiercer than usual.. never regretted totally ( i will occasionally regret but not 100% regret) about my choice of studying overseas.. cause it is really sth that very few people in Sg can do.. and it is really a life experience that i want to continue.. ( and this means, staying out on my own once i start working.. its stifling to be a 100% home girl sometimes..)
as a twenty, i have hopefully grown to be more mature, more independent (as of me going overseas), a little more able to deal with emotional stuff..
this sem/year overseas have taught me alot of things.. taught me to be more outspoken, more independent, more NERD, more capable of handling things.. in the eyes of others, i might have become more "homely" cause i stay home often.. but do remember you guys go home in Sg every night of ur 4years. i only stay in Sg 4 outta 12 months in a year.. in the eyes of others, my sense of semantic-lingo super dark humour has increased heaps.. (i agree on that).. i have become braver and more daring.. i speak up for my own rights and for my own good.. i am not that coward as i was a few years back.. i dare to undertake more tasks... but not at the expense of other people.. and i sorta can put myself in my parent's shoes and TRY to think for them.. haha.. i learnt to cherish my friends and people around me... and for some people, i have learnt the aussie accent!! haha. (ok, there're like heaps of people who asked if i was a local and refused to believe i hold a red passport and a pink IC.)
but as a twenty, i still cant do alot of things.. i will learn as i age. haha. and this includes, learning how to depart from a country gracefully without crying.. learning how to discern friends from backstabbers.. learning how to deal with heartbreaks..
jan has a choir chalet on.. and it is her jc2 farewell chalet.. that girl is permitted to join that cause i told her, my birthday is every yr.. and jc2 farewell to her seniors come only once in a lifetime. haha. :) and i will be eating up her piglet. haha.. ok, inside joke.
anyway, thanks to those people who remembered my birthday.. kwun kit was the first person.. :) haha.. he was also very sweet with the foxtrot wing vid.. :) haha.. and everyone else.. :) Lionel, Es, Jason Lim, Mich, Chek Wun, SM, Jason Sng.. :) eepps!! :) so much love. and and and Ali from Aussie!! :) she was heaps sweet can? :) haha..
gwen just ordered a choc banana cake for my birthday.. choc is good. choc is great. but choc banana... i think everyone at home gotta finish it on my behalf.. the idea of mixing choc n banana is WEIRD.. like nutella on bananas.
-breeeee-
*brena*; timed 5:49 PM