Sunday, 19 August 2012

i wrote to escape

Music is my escape.
TV is my escape.
Somebody else’s story is my escape
Even if it isn’t mine
It is my escape

Junk food is my escape.
Sleep is my escape.
Even if I always wake
It is my escape

Shopping is my escape.
Feeling is my escape
Taking a walk is my escape
Even if I tire
It is my escape

Dreaming is my escape
Listening to music is my escape
Having a conversation is my escape
Even if words cease
It is my escape.

There are whole industries built on the human need to escape.
Whole livelihoods constructed to escape
Escaping for a living. How ironic.
Escaping to live.

Tuesday, 14 August 2012

I love how this year's UOB painting of the Year is... ' Just Let Me Sleep'


Done by a J1 student from Hwa Chong. Love love love it. Love the message, love the technique. I don't know much about art, never studied it formally but I really think the technique he went with really brought out the message of his painting. The chaos, the swirling lines, the whole textured effect. Just really good. Congrats Esmond!

Sunday, 12 August 2012

my next phone.


HOW CUTE IS THIS!??!?!?
I just have this thing for old tech.
typewriters. rotary telephones. old teles. old bulky qwerty keyboards that have certain keys in grey, others in white. u name it. i love it.
AND the best part is.... it retails at S$25. AHMYGOSH.
low opp cost there. (y)

there seriously is something regressive about my nature.

workspace.






Friday, 10 August 2012

for my 500th post: my narnia


Realised i get some of my best thoughts (next to when i am in the shower) when i take walks. This is the park i usually have to walk through to get to westmall (the nearest shopping centre to my house).  Also, optimal time is at night when all is calm, cool and collected. i love night walks. they are when i get my best ideas. alright, time to study now. ciao!


Saturday, 4 August 2012

On studying/learning

to me studying and learning is all about discovering the genius that isn't us.

was just thinking if life were like a drive we ought to be...

Shifting between the pedals of reason and faith to move us along.

the day we dont need belief or faith is the day we have perfect knowledge. the day we have perfect knowledge is the day our imperfect lives cease. hence, till that day comes, we alternate between reason and faith/belief to get us through life. 

Tuesday, 24 July 2012

I was just thinking about life when suddenly...

this floated/popped into my head...
the phrase, 'guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life...' but it wasn't phrased so clearly (my memory's a mess) so i went to google 'guard your heart proverbs' and found many versions of the same thing.

'Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.' - NKJV

'Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.' - NIV

Proverbs 4: 23

And then i didnt really get what 'keep your heart... with all diligence' meant so i googled the words. So... it looks something like this.

Keep (retain, maintain, preserve)  your heart with all diligence (steady effort, attentive care, earnest and persistent application); for out of it are the issues of life.

I love how the second part reads 'out of it are the issues of life' 
So true. 


And wellspring actually means : An original and bountiful source of something.
So... it'd be like... above all else guard your heart for it is the original and bountiful source of life.

okay now it sounds a little... i don't know... yoga-rish. (HAHA)
no disrespect.

I think it'd be interesting to study the... whatever language proverbs was originally written in (eg: hebrew word) for heart. I want to know what 'heart' refers to. 
In fact, i would like to know what this entire verse really means.  

I think language plays such an important role honestly.
Just look at the two translations.
They both project actually quite different images/meaning because of the choice of words used. 

This is why i really want to study the Bible in its original languages. 

English... ironically... is a very inadequate language. 
Doesn't have a wide enough vocab to accurately hit the spectrum of emotions/meanings. 
Oh this is why btw, english is an amalgam of many languages and this is also why in many parts of the world, for official world meetings, french is the preferred language (although it is very difficult to learn but precisely because it is way more accurate and precise a language as compared to english) for use. 

The bible should be in french. 

It probably is in france.
I should learn french.

I should learn more languages.
Languages are reeeaally inneresting. 


Saturday, 5 May 2012

There are somethings that will never die

Idealism. Optimism. a Refined Hope.

Monday, 19 March 2012

And after awhile you realise...

that it didn't matter whether you succeeded or failed, but that you learned.

Sunday, 18 March 2012

Sometimes we forget that....

Love hurts.
As much as it is about feeling complete, right, good... love... true love also hurts.
And I dont know if it is because humans tend to focus only on the good parts of things or whatever that we ignore and then almost completely forget that love hurts too.

I think this amnesia about this aspect of love has led to a lot of people being disillusioned with love and thereafter life. And I think it is really.... for a lack of a more accurate and intense word, sad. I think it is really really sad when people who become disillusioned with love and life just completely give it up altogether. It is almost like watching a movie about a guy who goes through thunderstorms, battles, hurricanes, deaths, whatever terrible catastrophe you can think of, and then, just when he is about to attain what he has gone through all that shit for, he comes to a clift that separates him and the treasure, he looks down and turns back.

Of course there are a ton of metaphors or whatever literally devices I was using in that analogy (hence an analogy) about the guy in a movie.

I think we are generally okay with sacrifice when it hurts a little and the benefits are almost instant. The problem with sacrifice only comes when it hurts a lot and the benefits are nowhere to be seen. A delayed action in the beneficial effects. And yes, if we are completely honest with ourselves, we do know that there are certain intangible benefits to sacrifice, almost akin to giving to the poor, I think it'd be naive and honestly quite full-of-ourselves to believe that humans are ever capable of altruism.

Mmm... so yes I think it is when sacrifice really begins to take its toil on people and when the benefits are nowhere to be seen, that most give up. Abandon the cause. Throw in the towel. Basically.... 'You are asking too much of me and I am really starting to question why I am even doing this in the first place'. It is when the intensity of the immediate and protracted pain outweighs the far-off but long lasting benefit.

I think what keeps you going then.... what happens between now and then is this little thing called........ F A I T H.
Between the crushing pain and the honestly... invisible and almost non-existent benefit, the thing that keeps you going is Faith.
To hang in there, to hang on, to not abandon what you have started on.
To believe, that, despite everything now..... the benefit of your sacrifice and pain will kick in sooner or later. Sooner of course would be much better and appreciated but the point is, to believe that it WILL eventually kick in, and then everything will be worth it.

I think for me... the hardest thing in the world... as of now... is to believe.

Tuesday, 6 March 2012

since we have to die someday...

why not die for something?
if we live for something already.... why not die for something as well?
rather than, 'she passed away peacefully in her sleep after living a good life and amassing a personal fortune of US$20 billion'...?
that...we might, even in our death, have a meaning, and an effect, a greater effect.

I know this is a super random post but this thought just struck me when I was trying to get some rest just now. I think this is an after thought from last night when I was revising economics and when i was suddenly struck with the thought that some people actually live lives where marginal social benefit outweigh their marginal personal cost. (ya i was studying public and merit goods... heheh) People who see an activity or an event where marginal social benefit will outweigh their marginal personal cost, and they do it. These are people who live life not for themselves but for the bigger picture. I think people like these typically go into professions like humanitarianism, teaching and nursing, yes the, in my opinion, under-paid and under-valued professions in and by society. People who see the point that their life isn't just about themselves (if not we would all be living in isolation on separate planets) but people who live for a greater meaning, a greater purpose than their singular existence. I think maybe this was the point both buddha and martin luther jr. were trying to get at... I think they both said something like that abut human destiny if i am not wrong. oh wells. just a thought.