| Ride the waves of 2012. |
[Dec. 28th, 2011|01:16 am] |
In everything that we do, there is always going to be an inherent risk involved. Question is: What is it going to take to ignite that? By risk, it could be making a derogatory remark that might land us into the hands of defamation or simply tossing out the idea of using the traffic light 10 meters away to find ourselves jay-walking into a near death experience (or worse). We do a variation of these things everyday without thinking twice about it simply because the risk attached to it has yet to evolve.
It is with this mentality that has elicited numerous events that have been taken for granted on a daily basis. We indulge in binge eating and drinking, cursing without batting an eyelid and some even have the audacity to go against themselves by saying yes to the things their hearts dismiss. At the end of the day, what we lack is the eventual fear of the physical and emotional detriments that await. Most of the times, several of such risks have been clean forgotten prior to making the decision in which we act upon. The aforementioned will then lead to an assumption that everyone of us has somehow or rather managed to have lived life on the edge, except, to what extent?
As far as I'm concerned, risk and regret usually go hand in hand. You risk certain things when you make a wrong move and when that happens, regret sets in. Happens a lot when it comes to education. I, for one was never the most academically inclined. I never got straight A's and neither was I the sort who made it to an elite school in which my parents could brag about. All my life as an academic - Mediocre. And then i ask myself : Would it make a difference even if I did make it there? Probably, yes. Would I have experienced the same things I did today? Maybe not. Would I be a better person or would I be more satisfied with the status quo? Unpredictable.
I kept questioning myself and then one day, I stopped and my life changed. This paradigm shift was a much needed emotional heimlich. One that called upon me to simply go forward and ride the waves. Now let me tell you, that took risk. More than that, it took courage. Courage in understanding that the route our governments, our educators and our parents shove us upon might claim to be the safest, but it might not always be the most fulfilling.
This year, I graduate with a degree but so what? A million of you out there have it. My point is, at the end of each academic route taken, we all end up in the same place with the same level of competition. It's raw and it's going to require personal capabilities and experiences carved out from your own unique journey that no amount of classroom simulation can provide. It's the personal journey taken that makes a difference but the ultimatum will more often than not, remain the same.
So forget structure, take a leap of faith, embrace risk and take pride in being the underdog because that's the best way anyone can win.
Wishing everyone a positive 2012,
Amanda |
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| The world we live in. |
[Sep. 5th, 2011|10:57 pm] |
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I have come to understand that most of my Gen Y counterparts have formed a belief that creating a job is always easier than looking for one. Problem is, if all of us operate with a similar modus operandi, neither you nor I will get to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The truth is, none of us have thought of a business idea or done something that has not already been achieved. Everything we see or do today is derivative.
Just 10 years ago in Singapore, obtaining a University Degree would put you at the top of employment listing and have you riding up the corporate ladder in no time. Today, that’s almost the equivalent of an O level certificate. Academic inflation has taken a significant toll in our environment, making it an even tougher battlefield. Children of today are floating in an education bubble because society carved out rules that would eventually hurt us. Rules that forced us to take on tasks that would gradually increase with difficulty over the years so that with each generation that is being born, the one before can only watch as all of their collective efforts go to waste. Whether we like it or not, greed and money has taken over and it has now become the conventional state of mind. It has become a natural set up of our current societal structure. Advancement in entertainment and technology for self-fulfillment will continue to become the primary driver of our generation, blatantly disregarding the much-needed vision for the future of our Humanity.
Like what Chuck Palahniuk once said; whatever we want, we’re trained to want.
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 6th, 2011|12:49 am] |
I was told this is where it all begins.
The secrecy, the alibis and the constant war that fires up from within. |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 28th, 2010|06:58 am] |
Penning down thoughts for the new year has always resulted in the same thematic approach being used. As if goodbye was the easiest thing to do, we welcome a new 365 days without batting an eyelid. Instead of looking back on what was done, how about looking back on how much we could have done?
It’s always the same isn’t it? A list of ten made but realizing that most of it has yet to be achieved, eradicating vices for the 5th time in a decade, and then finally making the classic 1001 excuses to mitigate the subtleties of guilt gnawing on the state of your conscience.
They say life is about the choices you make but I beg to differ. Subversive as it may seem, 2010 gave me no room for choice. In fact, it held the most unthinkable of events for me. Amidst dealing with the rapid adjustments after the death of my mother, my days as a youth were curtailed. It was without a doubt that I had to eventually take on duties and responsibilities of a full-fledge adult catering to the existing household but I never thought it would be this soon. The emotional impact, however inevitable never ceased to rest. Despite the lapse of time from then and now, all of it is still vividly entwined within me.
Everything good that once happened to me mattered to that one person who now only lives in my memory; the one person that may just be the only thing that’s left of my sanity; the one person that silently pushes me through the crowd, whispering words of encouragement when I think that all hope is lost. – A mother that once was.
She was the one who showed me that it is the negatives that give credit to what we deem, positive. And because of that, my vision and objectives shall not start or end in 2011. It will transcend the test of time and fester through the years. After all, it is as pointless to make specific plans as it is to fight a bull mindlessly when all we are certain of is the beginning and the end of most things. It’s important to not completely abolish the past just because it didn’t sail in the direction you expected it to; instead, foster the strength to take up challenges of life’s uncertainties for this is really the best we can expect from ourselves.
So, to 2011 and the years ahead, come what may. |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 20th, 2010|02:26 pm] |
Christmas; A season to be jolly or a joyful moment of folly? Folly because it has now become more of a practice that lacks good sense rather than commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ himself.
It's no rocket science and it most definitely doesn't take a believer to identify that this festivity has become more of a platform for getting gifts and partying the night away rather than internalizing the sanctity of what we should be in celebration of.
Over the years, Christmas has been so conceptualized that even non-Christians have attained a certain kind of need to mark it down on their personal calenders. It is therefore clear to see that the 25th of December can no longer be seen as a date by itself. Instead, it has been replaced with a construction of an event they call Christmas, distinctively positioned at the back of their minds.
Not to mention that children are making it a point to pick up a pen and paper (which they hardly do anymore ever since the inception of ipads and iphones) to make a wish list just so they can further satiate their hunger for technology. I'm saying this in conjunction with the general perception and knowledge of how kids nowadays no longer take an interest in conventional toys. Of course, that would be an entirely separate issue. With that aside, there are also the different themes for Christmas every year, made most obvious by the embellishments of trees along Orchard Road and organizations using this occasion as leverage for endorsements to achieve top line sales.
The approach taken has clearly banished the simplicity and initial idea of what Christmas itself should be. I, for one am a non believer. I do not disrespect nor objectify the beliefs that some people have in this. However, i am speaking with an immense sense of curiosity and shall pose this to people in the same state as i am:
If there is no need to be thankful for a faith that wasn't even there to begin with, then what are you truly celebrating? |
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 7th, 2010|10:32 pm] |
Mothers support certain illusions about their children and one of my illusions was that I liked who I was, because she did . And when she passed away, so did that idea.
-Mitch Albom Posted via LiveJournal.app. |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 29th, 2010|12:57 am] |
“It’s the sense of touch. In any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people, people bump into you. In L.A., nobody touches you. We’re always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something.”
— Graham, Crash (2004) |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 22nd, 2010|08:48 pm] |
There is a before and after for everything . Life is before death and death is after life itself. Then who's to say whats before life?
We believe in religions , in god, whatever or whoever it may be. We prepare ourselves well so that what is uncertain may seemingly be clear to us. Religion then becomes a kind of solution and answer to the big unknown - What happens after life ends?
Death is what it is called when our heart stops beating, when our brain stops functioning and our body goes into a state of rigor mortis. Everything else that you once held so close to you ends together with all of that. You too may already know that but then what? What happens ? What you believe today and hold faith in may not at all be the same as how it is delivered to you at present. Worst, it could all be a big delusion existing on its own.
The only thing we are certain of is that we are constantly learning, constantly breathing and thinking and improving our living conditions to fulfill what is needed but only till we die . Everything else that happens after will be left as the big unknown and no one in this dimension can tell you what occurs after we pass.
History has left evidence of things but it is never sufficient enough and even back then , the people had their doubts of where to put their faith in when they die but all they ever did was come up with different variations of it all around the world because of the differences in their way of life and exposure.
Nothing can be quite concrete and proven until you are already there. Preaching becomes pointless without experiencing the entirety of what you speak of .
We were born into this world and given the gift of life by our mothers but like death, it could have just been the beginning of an ending of a previous existence. |
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