09/12/04

Day started with band teaching again. Slightly sleepy because of late night yesterday. Luckily, the task I was given wasn't difficult. Its hard to play a straight note on the mouth piece ehh. I think i need practice on that myself.

When I got home, I watched 1 disk again (you know what i mean). I just enjoy watching the emotional scenes. It just shows that guys can be as agitated and emotional as girls. Why hide emotions? To all cool guys out there, please don't wear a mask anymore, it'll reduce your life.

After that, I went to jog. I really think that i need to start jogging. I'm getting fat because I've been eating too much. And, time isn't what I have. 3 weeks more and school hell starts again. Ran about 3.2km today. I think thats my standard distance. I am not like my friend who can run marathon!!

At night, I went to teach a friend how to play a guitar. Its not that I'm very good with it but I can teach the basics and things to take note while playing. I can't play any song on it. Not in my memories. The friend wanted to continue learning on sunday, but I think I have nothing to teach anymore, and guitar is some sort of pain for me.

The friend actually asked me about the kind of girls i'm looking for... I said,"I don't know". After some real thoughts, I really couldn't spell out anything. I'm just wondering why people set the requirements? Would it be the same if you set requirements and then you find the person, as compared to you find the person and see if he/she fits into the requirements. Or in the first place, should you have requirements at all? Why am I talking about all these crap. Or perhaps its numbness? I guess so.

Hmm let me do a bit of advertising for a great band. Phil Winds having concert on 20th Dec, 1930 at esplanade, conducted by a world renowned conductor. Its a world class band. Must watch. Check out the sistic website if you want.

Slice of Life

"The Airport

The moments before a loved one leaves for a long period of time are intensely powerful. So are the moments following a loved one's return. At the arrival and departure halls of the airport, grudges and annoying habits are forgotten, differences, insecurities, and selfishness put aside. Our eyes linger for one last look, we breathe in more deeply, hug more tightly, and kiss more affectionately. We scan the crowd for our loved one, our hearts close to bursting and when we finally meet, our emotions just explode.

At the airport, the light in which we see our loved ones is one of utter love. But how long does that light last? How quickly we slide back into our tangle of doubt, jealousy, selfishness, and anger!

Life and death are very much like the arrival and departure halls of an airport. A mother looks at her newborn with pure love. The feeling that we have at the beginning of a relationship is one of absolute bliss. At the deathbed of a loved one, we too become loving, forgiving, and wistful. But why do we have to wait for those times? Why can't we love our loved ones purely and unconditionally on ordinary days?

That's because we take them for granted. We get caught up in our own affairs. We think about our problems and imagine that somehow our loved ones are to blame. But think about the feeling you had at the airport. Wasn't it wonderful? How fantastic it would be if you could learn to constantly remind yourself that your loved one is due anytime on that plane with a one way ticket! Imagine how much more love you would experience! And how much less time you would waste on being angry, fussy, or proud!

When I watched the movie "Big Fish", what struck me most was not the fact that the father Edward Bloom was able to add more colour and joy into his and others' lives by spicing up his adventures and stories. What moved me the most was how intentional and focused his love was for his wife. To find her, he spent three years working for free at a circus just for information. He made a field of daffodils for her. He endured the beating of his life because she told him not to hurt her rampaging fiance. He took on every hazardous mission he could during the war in the hope that he would be injured and return to her sooner. And he spurned the advances of a young girl saying that his wife was "the only one".

Of course this is fiction. But how wonderful if we could love someone like that. Even if we could only try, it would be a good start. Pure love may not be achievable for everyone, but if we remember the airport, remember the light in which we saw our loved ones there, and remember that one day, they too will be bound for a flight never to return, we will cherish every moment with them."