Monday, July 30, 2007

Meaningless

1 The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem:

2 "Meaningless! Meaningless!"
says the Teacher.
"Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless."

3 What does man gain from all his labor
at which he toils under the sun?

4 Generations come and generations go,
but the earth remains forever.

5 The sun rises and the sun sets,
and hurries back to where it rises.

6 The wind blows to the south
and turns to the north;
round and round it goes,
ever returning on its course.

7 All streams flow into the sea,
yet the sea is never full.
To the place the streams come from,
there they return again.

8 All things are wearisome,
more than one can say.
The eye never has enough of seeing,
nor the ear its fill of hearing.

9 What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.

10 Is there anything of which one can say,
"Look! This is something new"?
It was here already, long ago;
it was here before our time.

11 There is no remembrance of men of old,
and even those who are yet to come
will not be remembered
by those who follow.

Ecclesiastes 1:1-11



I'm struck yet again by the futility of life. What REALLY matters?? Nothing, I guess, except things that last beyond Death. And what would those be? You tell me.



"Do you know what lies on that distant shore? Immortality! Take it, it's yours!!"
- Brad Pitt as Achilles, Troy (the movie)



Thus forever we search. Ah, immortality, wherefore art thou?

Standing out

One thing that I can say about applying to university is that it requires you to examine yourself and your life in great detail. You won't believe how much time you'll have to spend combing through your files, memories, and heart just to find that one thing that separates you from others.

And that's where my difficulties lie. For the life of me I can't seem to find one single experience, passion, or skill that might help me to stand out. So I'm a good student. So what? So are 3 million others. So I'm an okay musician. Yeah, yeah, plenty of those around. So I can write ok. Who cares? It's not like I'm a bestselling author or anything.

And I thought scoring 1600 in the SATs would make me stand out. Guess I thought wrong. Apparently academic results don't count for squat. What you really need to stand out is win an international competition or two, or collect 5 million dollars for a worthy cause. So guess what's on my list of things to do? Heh.

*sigh*

Boring boring me. Jacks-of-all-trades never get any credit.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Today

Is my sister's birthday! My fun-loving-picky-big-bullying-13-years-old-today-one-of-a-kind-super- duper-one-and-only-great-darling sister!

Here's an ode to her health.

May she
Never grow sick of cotton candy
Never tire of cheerful smiles
Never not have a tissue handy
Never again feel down

May she
Never lose her sense of fun
Never have a tummy-ache
Never ever come to harm
Never live for life's sake

Rather may she
Always know that she is loved
Always show her dimples
Always turn up when dinner's served
Always have no wrinkles

May she
Always fear nothing in life
Aways love the truth
Always (ok, maybe just sometimes) win her arguments with Jia Ahn
Always have a front tooth

May her
Yes be yes
And her best beat the rest
May her sunny zest for life never dim

May she love and know love
And give and receive joy
May she always go to bed contented
And her dreams make her smile

May she be happy always



Happy birthday, sister. =)

That's to publicize your pretty face. =P

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Why men are happier

Your last name stays put
The garage is all yours
Wedding plans take care of themselves
Chocolate is just another snack
You can be president
You can never be pregnant
You can wear a white T-shirt to a water park
You can wear no T-shirt to a water park

Car mechanics tell you the truth
The world is your urinal
You never have to drive to another petrol station toilet just because this one is too icky
You don't have to stop and think of which way to turn a nut on a bolt
Same work, more pay
Wrinkles add character
People never stare at your chest when you're talking to them

The occaional well-rendered belch is practically expected
New shoes don't cut, blister or mangle your feet
One mood- all the time
Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds flat
You know stuff about tanks

A five-day vacation requires only one suitcase
You can open all your own jars
You get extra credit for the slightest act of thoughtfulness
If someone forgets to invite you, he or she can still be your friend

Your underwear is RM50 for a three-pack
Three pairs of shoes are more than enough
You almost never have strap problems in public
You are unable to see wrinkles in your clothes
Everything on your face stays its original colour
The same hairstyle lasts for years, maybe decades
You only have to shave your face and neck

You can play with toys all your life
Your belly hides your big hips
One wallet, one pair of shoes, and one colour for all seasons
You can wear shorts no matter how your legs look
You can "do" your nails with a pocket knife
You have freedom of choice concerning growing a mustache
You can do Christmas shopping for 25 relatives on December 24 in 25 minutes

-Sathiawathy Veerasamy, The Star-


I'm in the middle of composing a reply to this dig. I'll post it up when I'm done. =P

Monday, July 23, 2007

Flag of Shame

I cry
When I think of it
I die
When I touch it
I'd rather fart in public than be seen with it
What could be worse?
Flag of shame

Oh flag of shame
Oh so divine
Ever Loving,
Tender flag
Oh flag of shame
Oh so divine
That makes
Angels cry

Malu
No face
Shame, shame, shame

-Nathanael Jaboh & Ivan Tan-


Man, I just love the part "I'd rather fart in public than be seen with it". A great line for insults. =P

Looking good

I watched Casino Royale on DVD the other day, and Daniel Craig made an interesting remark.

Daniel Craig (to Eva Greene): And by the way you carry yourself, I can tell that you are afraid that your beauty will offset your intelligence and cause others to take you less seriously, thus you overcompensate by wearing slightly masculine clothing and adopting a rather...prickly...demeanor, which unfortunately causes you get the exact same response that you were trying to avoid.

Not verbatim, but something to that effect. But what truly caught my interest was the "afraid that your beauty will offset your intelligence and cause others to take you less seriously" part.

As you know, Malaysians have two often used terms, "ah bengs" and "ah lians", referring to people who seem to be focused on outward appearances and have below average intelligence. But I'm puzzled as to where all these associations come from- "dumb blond", "ah lian", "empty-headed beauty". Its almost as if our societies equate beauty with stupidity. I wonder why? I know some good-looking people who are extremely intelligent but are often derided by others who know them superficially as dumb or immature based purely on how they look. Why? But its clear though, that many people fear that looking good will detract from their other qualities. To paraphrase Megan Fox in Transformers, "Do you think I'm shallow?" Unfortunately, many people would.

Maybe its stereotyping as usual. Instant judgement. Or can is it possible that beauty is in general inversely proportionate to IQ? I don't think so, but sometimes it seems that way.

I guess to some extent everyone judges books by their covers. I'm guilty of it as much as anyone. Such a shame.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Metamorphosis

In case you don't know, metamorphosis is the term they use to describe changes between the life stages of insects. For example, a butterfly metamorphosizes from a pupa to an imago (adult).

But you know, human beings have life stages too. Stage one is birth; stage two is school; stage three, puberty; stage four, university; stage five, work; stage six, marriage; stage six, retirement; and stage seven, death.

So I'm metamorphosizing. Kinda like Transformers, except theirs is mechamorphosis.

Funny, I don't feel any different.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Long distance friendships

The one thing that scares me the most about going away is the possibility of losing contact with people I hold dear.

I'll be honest, I've never been good at long distance friendships. When friends move away, they tend to drift away, and to my shame I usually let it happen.

But now I'm travelling half-way around the world, separated by time and space from everybody else I know. And I know that no friendship can stay the same after such a momentous event.

Well, I guess its all about evolution. Friendships must evolve like everything else. I just hope they evolve the way I want them to.

Monday, July 09, 2007

On uniqueness


How true. Something to think about.

Saturday, July 07, 2007

*Snigger*

This is an SMS conversation with my sis that I had while waiting in the airport.

EF: Got buy me present?

Me: No! Got buy books la.

EF: !! Buy me sweets from d airport

Me: Uh, maybe. No promises.

EF: Haiz...pretty Pls with a cherry on top. Buy the chewy gummy sweets oso can.

Me: Lol. We'll see.

EF: Sniff

Me: Snigger

EF: Sniff sniff...waa...

Me: Snigger snigger... haha....

EF: Buy me sweets liaw.

Me: Haha, you know it's just too little too late. I'm sorry I can't be perfect.

EF: Boohoo...de ko so bad...

Me: I don't want to be a murderer.

EF: Do u noe how 2 touch a gal

Me: You're beautiful, you're beautiful, it's true.

EF: This innocence, is brilliant.

Me: You're so vain. I know you think this song is about you, don't you.

EF: U're so ridiculous, i can barely stop

Me: I'm not crazy, I'm just a little unwell.

EF: I don't wanna run away but I can't take it i don't understand

Me: So much for my happy ending.

EF: Keep holding on.

Me: I'm flying without wings.

EF: So shut up, shut up, don't wanna hear you

Me: We'll carry on, we'll carry on...

EF: I'm not missing you...

Me: Go on, get out of my head.

EF: Nobody wanna c us together but it dun matter

Me: I'm with you, I'm with you.

EF: D ships have come to carry you home

Me: There will be no white flag above my door.

EF: Juz another day, n d best day of my life

Me: Baby I'm coming home. =P Boarding liaw.

-End of conversation-

You can actually tell what songs we listen to from that. =P

*snigger snigger laugh out loud*

Number Two

"It is 1979, a basketball game in the Brandeis gym. The team is doing well, and the student section begins to chant, "We're number one! We're number one!" Morrie is sitting nearby. He is puzzled by the cheer. At one point, in the midst of "We're number one!" he rises and yells, "What's wrong with being number two?"

The students look at him. They stop chanting. He sits down, smiling and triumphant."

-Extract from Tuesdays with Morrie, by Mitch Albom-


Man. Big life lesson for me there.

What's wrong with being number two, indeed?

I need to learn how to be number two.

Thursday, July 05, 2007

Passion

If any of you guys ever need an American visa, just one lil' piece of advice: Go early. I mean REALLY early.

Bah, bureaucracy.

Anyway, on to my main topic.

Do you ever feel that life is empty, devoid of colour and meaning? Oh sure, your mind tells you otherwise, but your heart doggedly refuses to be jump-started. Well, at least that's me at the moment.

Grey, grey, blurry, misty emptiness.

Life seems to just pass me by sometimes, despite all my efforts to insert myself into it.

The cold, cold void looms.

Gah, I need an injection of passion. And that reminds me, I've had three vaccinations in the past week. Three. My arms are still aching.

Wanted: One (1) Paradigm Shift and One (1) Injection of Passion.

Heh.

Monday, July 02, 2007

Confused

Bewildered, that's what I am. So many things seem to happen behind my back. Curious querying notwithstanding, I'm at a dead end.

Nobody tells me anything.

*sigh*

I guess if you're not in the know, you're not in the know. Fustrating, but not worth harping over.

Life goes on.

Sunday, July 01, 2007

Who I want to meet

This is taken from Richard's friendster profile. Never fails to make me laugh.=P

  • Who I Want to Meet:

    Somewhere out there,
    Where the grass is green,
    Where girls are mean,
    Where laksa is not hot,
    N people all sot sot,
    Where lek tao suan is sold cold!
    N our sai is gold!
    There's a person i wanna meet..
    Just a normal person indeed..
    May be you,
    May be him or her too,
    Who, I will never know,
    Juz Gotta wait 4 time 2 show.

    So Bye Bye!
    But no need 2 cry..
    You can be my very new friend,
    N i will make ur day grand!!
    =P~


A fitting tribute to a really cool dude. =)

Goody goody two shoes

Heh.

Seen the Zits comic where Hector is horrified when he's labelled a "good boy"?

Hector: (horrified look) But I don't want to be a "good boy"! "Good boys" are not cool!

Hilarious, yes, but brings up something to ponder on. Concerning image, that is. More specifically, the question is, are "good boys"/"nice guys" ever cool?

As I'm constantly being labelled a "nice guy", I guess this particularly concerns me. Not that I want to be cool or anything, I've accepted that I'll probably forever remain only on the edge of coolness, and I'm fine with that. Still, I don't want to be unattractive or unappealing, nor do I want to be unapproachable or uncool.

So I'm wondering, does my "nice guy" label automatically qualify me for any of the above?

Hmm.

I guess is a matter of opinion again. Some people like nice guys, others don't.

Still, in romance novels, or any novel for that matter, nice guys never get the girl (or at least they hardly ever do).

In fact, "nice" guys are the ones who (usually) get DUMPED by the heroines for more "exciting", "mysterious", "wicked" and "passionate" guys.

Dang.

What's a "nice" guy supposed to do?


p.s. The label "nice" is not my own. I'm no better than the next guy (but no worse, either =P). So why am I a "nice" guy?? Aargh!