Mmm~ I realised it's been quite some time since i've last written about myself, so here we go. Today's another particularly alone (not lonely) day, spent living like a retiree. Well, at least it feels that way to me. Sleeping till whatever time i like, doing nothing in particular except reading newspapers, watching TV, and sitting around trying to get fat, nothing strenuous, nothing too exciting, nothing to stir my emotions, and craving for Roti Prata. Easily contented, is Ah Heng. Well, perhaps grandchildren running around would be nice, hur hurr~ =D
So i started wondering... Since when did i start living and feeling this way? I know for sure sometimes people feel life can be so unfair, i do that sometimes. Believe it or not, i was born into a poor family, once being touted as a "野孩子" without proper manners, skinny, scrawny, sickly little boy that i was, hot-tempered, conceited, haolian, haughty, overconfident, unrealistic, irritating, shunned by kids of "proper" upbringing, given dirty looks by sec sch teachers, humiliated once even, getting slapped by one of them. If i did well for a piece of homework like composition, it was because i'd got a "JC friend" to do that assignment for me. Damn adults, they think they know everything. (I proved her wrong and scored one of the highest marks for composition during exams later, anyway) Ah, worse still, the presence of those perfect little beings, rich, well educated, well behaved, loved kids (i supposed i meant given by the same teachers), cute, good grades, no trouble. Pay attention to them, leave the sarcarsm and berating for those hopeless ones.
Life isn't fair. Expecting life to be fair is like expecting the Lion not to eat someone because he/she is vegeterian.
I'm happy i chose to change. I'll skip the boasting since it takes too much explaining and you all know me for the person i am now, hur hurr ;)
Short Dinner with Kuang, Zhaorong, Sio, and Jolene It wasn't anything much, but i really feel so happy and glad to have met some NPS peeps today, even if it's just a short dinner and small talk. I'm also glad that apparently i haven't lost my good sense of humour, Thanks Sio for being my guinea pig and scapegoat *shake* "Do you feel anything?" ha ha haa ;) Oh~ so fun~ but we forgot to take pictures... Mustn't forget that next time.
Interpreting Songs This (the gist of the Lyrics) was actually what i've gone thru before. Sometimes, it's not until songs are interpreted in another language that you realise how meaningful those lyrics can be... Have fun trying ;)
Ten Years - Eason Chan If those two (spoken) words weren’t trembling I wouldn't have realised that I'm hurting No matter how it is phrased It's still simply a break-up
If we have no expectations for tomorrow Holding hands would be just like a tour (With) hundreds, thousands of doors (*with so many choices) Inevitably one (of us) will leave first
Bridge Since embrace cannot be retained Why not at the time of parting Savour (the feeling) while we're shedding tears
Chorus Ten years ago I didn't know you; you didn't belong to me Weren't we likewise Staying at the side of some stranger Walking through the streets that slowly became familiar
Ten years from now We will be friends; (we) can still greet each other It's only that, that kind of warmth; will never again, find us a reason to embrace In the end, it's hard for lovers not to turn into just friends
Bridge Chorus
It's not until I've been friends with you for many years That I understand, my tears If not shed for you Will likewise be shed for another person
When difficulties arise... when bad things happen; I know it's difficult to go thru and easy for me to say, but the best we can do for ourselves is still to adapt (to the current situation), move on, seek, search, and find happiness in other ways that suit us...
Just wanna share some thoughts that occurred to me randomly at different times this past 2 weeks~ And another nice video clip ;)
Practicality vs Romancing The thought begins when one of my best friends Jimmy told me sometime last week (or was it the week before? bah~ nvm, haha) that he'd just proposed to his girlfriend of 2 years. No, this isn't about the details of that proposal (not that i really know~ Hur hurr). It's given me something to ponder over though~ Having heard many versions of (sg) couples' relationships from strangers to friends to bf-gf to husband and wife, i've found something that seems...... weird to me. And i'm kind of amazed how de-sensitized to this the people of our country have become. Read on.
So goes the story of the typical courtship in Singapore. Guy meets gal (or vice versa, sui bian la huh), they develop good impressions for each other (or they bicker) and fall in love, they get together, and after a few years, either "it's about time", or out of the blue they decide to try applying for a house together. Whoops!! They actually DO get the home they applied for. Ok, maybe after two or three tries, whatever. They make some plans for their future, the days roll by, guy proposes to gal, she says yes (hello? was she going to reject anyway?), they go for ROM, and when everything's in place they have their wedding dinner, hopefully they live happily ever after. Ewww~ Nice and practical, Familiar? ;)
Now listen to MY preferred version of sequence of events. Guy meets gal (or vice versa, sui bian la huh), they develop good impressions for each other (or they bicker) and fall in love, they get together. After some time, guy decides that gal is the right person he wants to be with for the rest of his life. He decides, he prepares, he springs a surprise proposal! Wowww, what courage, to propose not knowing if gal is gonna accept. (If gal loves guy enough to want him for the rest of her life) Gal is pleasantly surprised! She's gonna love guy much much more for this surprise anyway, she probably accepts on impulse, but she's never, ever, going to forget this. She'll still decide later that it was the right decision anyway. They're fiance and fiancee now. There's this fresh, new wave of mushy mushy muack muack lovey dovey tian mi qi with each other. Then they make plans together for their new home, family, whatever. This, my friends, is what i call romancing to a marriage. Just look at the difference!! I'm sure you all get what i'm trying to say, Hahaa ;)
Perceived no-needs and dun-wants Ok, so much for being a hopeless romantic, Hahaa. Next thing concerns pretty much about myself. It was a weekday while i was on a bus on my way home. Was looking at cars zooming past and for some reason, i started wondering why i'd never found being able to drive as something important or indeed, a need at all. Truly told, it wasn't even halfway up my wants list. How the hell did i grow up to be so different from others?
So i did some checks on myself. Hell, numerous times and occasions over the years, i'd complained to myself about darn Singaporeans driving when they could've just taken the public transport and lighten the traffic (of course la, i was probably anxious about possibly being late whenever this comes to mind), keep the air cleaner, and reduce the number of traffic accidents. Moreover, i find cars to be an expensive luxury item, not to mention the ever increasing ERP and petrol prices. And i tell you what, Add to that my principle of not "doing something just because everyone else thinks it's necessary", or quite simply my dislike of social conformity without first convincing myself of it's logic or necessity.
And then my bus reached Old Boon Lay Shopping Centre. This was when i realised the real underlying reason for not feeling the need to drive throughout all these years. I live walking distance to a Shopping centre surrounded by coffeeshops, hawker centre, accessible transport, 24hr stores, etc. I can get just about anything i need or want so easily. If i'd lived somewhere any less convenient all these years... needing, perhaps, to take a bus just to get some food, or tidbits, or groceries and stuff... i think i would have wanted to drive long ago... Time to change my thinking, i suppose ;) And they say an inch of gold couldn't buy one "an inch" of time... Owning a car does invariably save one lots of time, so i guess it's gonna worth it after all.
Just How did it take me so long to realise this!? Haiyo~~~ LOL
The EriAm Sisters Honestly, i was quite astonished and pleasantly surprised when i first saw this video of The EriAm Sisters. I think it was probably their first appearance on American's got Talent [edit] just recently. And man! They're really fantastic!! ;) And then i also appreciated the way the audience stood up and clapped/cheered/grooved along once they realised how talented the young girls were, God, they really DO know how to appreciate and enjoy watching raw talent on display!! Really, trust me, take some time to watch this, it'll be well worth your time :) And Ooo!! I love this song!! ;)
Quite strangely, i felt so touched and so proud of them for their parents everytime i watch this... Hahaaa :p Weird
[edit] You might want to watch with much higher resolution and completeness from intro to judges comments from the following link... Pity embedding's disallowed for this one :p Skip the first part about the freak (it's funny with the emcee though hahaa) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQg3MrMLLRw
First thing to remark after my last post, NO, i shall not blog more frequently, because somehow i find myself soooo drained of energy everyday. Every so often i think of blogging, mostly when i see or hear something intriguing, and yet i'd decide against it due to my lethargy. Mmmmm~~~ I'm really getting old and feeling it. I miss all the energy and drive i've had as a youth. And yet, "Youth" doesn't seem that long ago, if i look at it in that sense.
Alright, i should kill the culprits of all these lethargy - late nights that mean i sleep only about 4-5hrs everyday? But i guess it still has to do with... age. And then there's also that organization that's world class in starving one's brains of wits, drive and optimism. Zzzzzz......... Hahaa. Alright do me a favour and don't ask me about it - really, nothing bad has happened.
Social life. Honestly, HELL, i miss everyone. I miss all my NPS friends, poly friends, ITE friends, soccer friends. Human beings are social animals - we crave friendship and company. Hmm~ Why don't I jio ppl out, sms, or call anyone pro-actively anymore? Why am i so different from the Ah Heng everyone's accustomed to????
*Alarm bells sounding out* tneh! tneh! tneh! tneh! Signs of age spotted!! Signs of age spotted!! Grumpyness from Ah Heng, Grumpyness from Ah Heng!!
OK OK i know!!! Enough about my own complaints, hehe. Now for the good stuff~
Good stuff 1: If you're a follower of 超級星光大道, i suggest you watch this Taiwan Chinese New Year variety show - 牛轉乾坤旺旺來. The following is a link to the first of 24 videos... It's super nice!! :) If you've the patience to watch the whole thing, you'll find quite a number of fantastic performances. There's those cheeky comments, and things like Lin You Jia vs Xu Jiaying kind of stuff, performances from dance groups like the reigning cheerleading champions of Asia. Fantastic! Then again, there's 24 videos, hahaa :p Stick to the clips that start with 中視除夕特別節目 for better sound though!
I absolutely love these kind of Happy shows!! :)
Good stuff 2: I'm lucky because recently i've found quite a number of songs that i really really like. Mainly it's songs from the Band called "Queen". I think everyone knows them for songs like "We will rock you" and "We are the champions", but these aren't really their best songs, at least not in my opinion. Not that i've heard many of their songs, but i listened to a few due to one of the performances in 牛轉乾坤旺旺來.
I really really like songs like "I was born to love you", "Don't stop me now", "The great pretender", "Bicycle race", "Lazing on a sunday afternoon". There's many more of course, but i can't elaborate cos i haven't heard them all. But i'm not embedding the videos of this band because erm, they seem quite gay. Damn it. Well, still, the songs are nice anyway. On a side note: Shut up, Edward Cullen - by evidence of these songs, music in the 70s weren't all that bad.
Good stuff 3: This song by Mayday, or 五月天 - 你不是真正的快樂 The lyrics are simply fantastic, especially the last parts about letting go and living a renewed life. I'm sure that sets many people thinking about their lives and experiences they've been through, well, people who notice the lyrics the way i do, anyway.
Good stuff 4: (But only if you're an Arsenal fan like me) I've watched Arsenal in the Emirates cup match yesterday, they were fantastic!! Jack Wilshere was super super remarkable - He can dribble, he has that rare vision to create opportunities with through passes, and, my oh my, he can shoot too! i tell you he's the Fabregas who can dribble and shoot, and soon he'll be Arsenal's next Dennis Bergkamp and the answer to Barca's Lionel Messi - you mark my words. Merida seems to be a potential to fill the void left by Flamini, cos from what i saw he was quite an aggressive player who's totally not shy of challenges, though he wasn't employed in the defensive midfield position. Overall Arsenal was simply fantastic!!
Clips of Jack Wilshere here, if you're interested. But don't waste your time if you're not a soccer fan.
Good stuff 5: (Again, only if you're a soccer fan) And speaking of Dennis Bergkamp!! My 心中的神. Watch his goals, then skills and assists. The timing of his through passes!! Whoa, the stuff shown in the video just gets better and better with each second. He is super Fantastic!! It's no coincidence that Arsenal's stopped winning things ever since he retired. Sigh~ Really wish he's still young and still playing in the team lorrr~
I say all these are good stuff, but then again it's not everyone who appreciates things the way i do!! HAHA :p Conceited pig, Ah Heng is... Hehe ;) Whoaaa long post again after so long, compensation effect, i guess? *chuckles* Ok! Till next time!!
