Luck

As the Dog takes over from the Rooster,
And the lunar calendar resets to a new year,
As friends and relatives visit from far and near,
Here's wishing you prosperity, health and cheer.

Gong Xi Fa Cai

Ode to the old year...and new...

Before I begin, here's a confession - YES, procrastination will continue to weigh down on almost everything i do in this new year, as you can tell from the fact that it's already the 14th and here i am posting a blog on the old and new year . . .

Right then, after that little confession, here's my ode to the old year, and the new one:
To babies and births:
As your cry ring out in the maternity ward,
And your grandparents smile with joy,
Your parents must be wondering how to afford,
Your clothes, education and toys.

To the kindred spirits in my life:
To each one of you,
I don't say this enough
But you are truly the Wind Beneath My Wings,
And for the times where I've not answered your calls, mails or messages
Or the times where you've taken crap from me
I'm truly sorry as you deserve much better
But I'm glad you were there and is still here
Life would be impossible without you.

To a good friend who has gone, old friends whom I don't see as often and new friends:
I've heard it said that people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led to those who help us most to grow, if we let them
And we help them in return...

It well may be that we will never meet again in this lifetime
So let me say before we part
So much of me is made of what I learned from you
You'll be with me like a handprint on my heart
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have re-written mine
By being my friend...

I'm who I am today because I knew you
...borrowed that from Wicked, the musical

- thank you for all that you've given me

To my clients and (some) bosses at work:
"I gotta get outta here
It's like i'm being tied to the hood of a yellow rental truck
being packed in with fertilizer and fuel oil
pushed over a cliff by a suicidal mickey mouse"
... borrowed from Rent, the musical

Till my next blog . . .

Do you know?

Do you know where you're going to?
Do you like the things that life is showing you?
Where are you going to? Do you know?

I guess you can pretty much guess what I am going to blog in the next few sentences, huh? Can't help feeling melancholic and slightly lost on a not-too-sunny Friday afternoon, sitting in my cubicle here in the office.

Do you get that feeling where at times you're just standing at a crossroad and not knowing where to go, which direction to take, where the chosen road will take you and what you'll find there?

Have you also felt at times when you look back and wonder what you've achieved in life (it's an oxymoron to "ti-ti-kia", i know, don't remind me), whether you've lived life to it full potential and how the rest of your life will turn out to be?

Well, I'm afraid that I have no answers for you. I can only guess that we'll know the answers when we get there . . . which may be too late. As for myself, I'm still asking those questions with no clear answers in sight. Sometimes when I think that I've found an answer, something else will happen to cause doubt. In the end, I can only say that life is indeed fickle - one wrong move and things will end up how you plan it to be. But fortunately, life is also full of opportunities - opportunities to make up for all the wrongs that you've done in the past and hopefully an opportunity to set yourself up onto the right path. I can only pray and hope I don't miss those opportunities, but you'll never know do you - until it's too late . . .

Do you get what you're hoping for?
When you look behind you there's no open door,
What are you hoping for, do you know? . . . sung by Diana Ross

谁比你重要?

谁比你重要?
成功了败了也 . . . 完全无重要 . . . Leslie Cheung
Who's more important than you?
Success or failure . . . they're all unimportant

Nope, I am not going to post another blog on love, friends, etc (not in the mood for that) . . . what I really want to ask is why do some people at work expect us to treat them that way - i.e. to treat them with the highest priority, put everything else aside and nothing else matters. If they can have their ways, they will probably ask you to take the bullet for them as well . . . all in the name of meeting deadlines.

Sigh . . .

Roller coaster?

. . . life is a roller coaster, just got to ride it . . . sung by Ronan Keating

I guess life (be it work, personal or anything in between) is indeed like a roller coaster. You start off smooth and slow, working up the anticipation of a thrill as your life sorta goes uphill . . . and yet, once the thrill is over, you wish you had re-lived it more vividly and you wish you can go at it again . . . sometimes you'll get the chance to do it all over again but other times you only get to ride it once . . . and when the thrill is over, that's it, you gotta get off.

What else is there after that . . .
. . . the ferris wheel (where you're taken for a spin up high in the sky) . . .
. . . or perhaps the carousel (all nice to look at ... but they're only make believe horses) . . .
. . . or maybe it's time to leave the park . . .

At the end of the day, it's not what ride you managed to get onto, but perhaps who was beside you during those rides . . . as for me, I am glad to have taken that one particular ride with YOU, my friends. . . fleeting as it may be, but a ride nevertheless that I will cherish and remember for some time even as I leave the park.

Back to reality

It's monday again and as usual, am late for work...this is even more difficult as I've been away from the office the past week and away from clients' and colleagues' incessant phone calls and deadlines.

Well anyway, for some reasons, a few questions popped through my head today:
What really is happiness?
What will make you be satisfied or happy at the end of the day?
Do I really need to dread every Monday morning?
Why don't you go find something that you enjoy doing?

There's a chinese saying (I think) which says that each and every life consist of "Birth, Age, Sickness, Death". . . if that is true, then I guess the questions that we need to ask ourselves are how we are filling in the details in between. Wouldn't it seem more worthwhile to fill it with memories and moments of friendship, happiness, joy, love or maybe the smell of freshly baked bread rather than deadlines at work? But like most things, it's easier said than done.

. . . 525,600 minutes; 525,000 moments so dear.
525,600 minutes - how do you measure, measure a year?
In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee.
In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife.
In 525,600 minutes - how do you measure a year in the life?

525,600 minutes; 525,000 journeys to plan.
525,600 minutes - how can you measure the life of a woman or man?
In truths that she learned, or in times that he cried,
In bridges he burned, or the way that she died . . .

Seasons of Love, RENT

Why the name?

Finally, something which I've always wanted to do but never found the time to do it . . . sounds practically like the story of my life. A perpetual procrastinator . . . I should be proud of myself for starting this blog but then again, now that I've started it, I have no idea what to write. In fact, I even had a problem coming up with a name . . . desperation led to it being known as ti-ti-kia (at least I think that's how it's pronounced in hokkien) meaning "just go straight". Why the name, you ask? I guess it sounds a little philosophical like "move on" or "move forward" but with a twist. Weird hor?

So anyway, whoever is reading this right now, just go straight . . . and on with your life. Don't look back but always look forward. Life's too short to wallow in sorrow and regrets . . . or a receding hairline :P

. . . what the world needs now is love, sweet love . . . sung by Dionne Warwick