Birthdays

On my 26th birthday, the first thing the crossed my mind was that it was my first birthday without my dad although it was already 5 months ago that he passed on. Its the same thought that crossed my friend's mind too as she just recently lost her dad. But difference is that she is so much more positive about it. I'm very glad she has a very positive mind and has faith in God.

Having a strong belief in a religion definately has its benefits. It has helped my mom through the toughest times in her life. I am so thankful for this as I wouldn't know what to do if it weren't for her and her faith in God. I think it helped her find comfort and maybe some answers.

For me, I don't have a religion. I am still contemplating if I should formally accept one. Can one believe in God but do not go through all the formalities to proclaim to be a believer?

If I think I can, I can!

Shout

ARghH! I'd like to ask someone to get on with their life already. Stop dwelling on something that is already done. Obviously it is not the end of the world. Yeah sure it was an unfair decision for you. But you know, that is what you think and that's the only view you want to hear or see. If I look at it from the outside, I see it differently. Because I can see why the decision was made, the person just doesn't see the reasoning.

OooOoooh, how I'd like a change of environment now. I'd like to runaway from these negative people.

Compete

I have this urge to compete with anyone. Don't know where I get it from. The question is, is competing a good or bad thing? I'd like to think it is good (but I'm biased right??) To me, if you don't compete you'll just probably stay where you are, complacent and never bother to make improvements. But if you compete, some people say you are never happy with what you have or are. They say you should be happy with yourself and look at all the good things/traits you posses. Yeaaap, I'm happy but I want to be better than what I am now.

Here's what I read in one of those forwarded emails:

I'm going to beat so-and-so no matter what I'm better than him.
Problem: Competitiveness assumes that there is a small amount of gold to be had, and I need to get it before he does. It makes us into greedy, back-stabbing, hurtful people. We try to claw our way over people to get to success, because of our competitive feelings. For example, if a blogger wants to have more subscribers than another blogger, he may never link to or mention that other blogger. However, who is to say that my subscribers can't also be yours? People can read and subscribe to more than one blog

My view: Competitiveness doesn't always make u greedy, back-stabbing or hurtful ... It can make you strive for something better.
To get success, you don't need to claw your way over people!! You do it on your own merit.

hmmmm.. I guess there's always going to be different kinds of views for everything!

Awake

I was kept awake last night, reason? My own thoughts. Thoughts of the future. There is one thing that bugs me as time goes by. The next generation. Yup..children. Does everyone need to produce their own offspring? Argh stress. Children are great, don't get me wrong. They are fun and funny in their innocent ways, I like little people :) but they are more fun if they are not yours!

OH one day I hope to understand these baby issues. I hope that day will come soon..time is not on my side.

Boundaries

Most of the time, boundaries are man made. In your head you think, 'oh that's too difficult' or 'I've never done that before' but in actual fact you CAN overcome the difficulty or achieve something you've never done before. So, point is, YOU set your own boundary. YOU have to open up your mind and try! I wish I could drill this into a particular person's head. I've tried, but it seems his head is made of steel. You tell him and you show him evidence but something is keeping him from accepting. I just hope one day he'll understand and learn. Maybe there needs to be a carrot in front of him to steer him to the right path...

Anyway, let's look at how some people pushed their boundaries... the Kapas Marang Swimathon. Swim 6.5km in the open sea from Kapas Island to Marang beach. IT IS daunting, even to seasoned swimmers but there are still beginner swimmers that finish this event! Hat's off to them, they pushed their boundaries and experienced a new horizon.

Wrong Turns

Sometimes wrong turns lets you smell the roses (or this case orchids!). We were supposed to find some friends in Penang but made a mistake and ended up in the Botanical Gardens. Eventhough we were stuck in traffic all the way, it was ok after looking at lovely award winning orchids :) I like! Lesson learnt.. sometimes u may think everything turned out wrong but there usually is a silver lining if you let yourself look for it.

Penang

The most memorable thing about Penang... fabulous char kway teow at Kedai Kopi Sin Guat Keong! This is done in a rather different cooking style so it is unique, noodles are fried first and put aside, then the other ingredients are fried and finally everything assembled with egg which is still slightly runny. All this is done over a charcoal fire...awesome and affordable.