10/01/05

Ah now is 30 mins before I sleep. I can safely sleep at my usual time hee. I have finally found another reason to type blogs. The reason is..... that i can practice my typing skills. I find that my typing speed is getting faster and faster. I could also structure my thoughts in English better and faster now. Even though some sentences are just simply broken in nature, but this serves as an avenue to practice English haha.

I like my AA201 class. The tutorial class is just amazingly active. All the questions and comments came back and forth. I have never seen students participated so actively in class. I have already developed a thinking based on this phenomenum. The facilitator (teacher) seems to be a critical determinant for active class participation. If one uses formal and strict language in delivering the course materials, students get intimidated with the level of language they need to use. Another factor is the type of response the teacher gives when a student gives a wrong answer. From my AC213 class today, the teacher is just simply ..... i can't find a word. Well, he is not as receptive to wrong answers as compared to my AA201 class tutor. Hmm conclusion... a teacher should have a little cuteness in them so as to encourage participation haha.

This week I'll be very busy because I do not have time to do my school work on sat and sundays because they are all full of things. Things.... refers not to leisure encounters, but work. Work... refers not to those that gives monetary compensation, but just something other than leisure encounters. Sat, a make up lecture in the morning, by the time i got home, its already 2pm. At night will be a concert performance by ntu symphonic band. On sunday, Westwinds required us to be there the whole day because of some performance for a minister in a GRC. OMG this week is bad. This means that I'll have to work double hard during weekdays again. Sigh.... as usual.

Yesterday, my mum brewed some tonic soup for the whole family. I drank quite alot.... and guess what. I'm full of energy and was sooooo hyper today. During the lessons, I kept wanting to participate. My mouth just has the urge to open and communicate with the teacher. I wonder how others think about me now. And... in the AC213 class, I kept on giving stupid answers. Practically, everyone laughed whenever I say something. Example, "why would a company invest heavily in knowledge work systems (KWS)". My answer was," Because Knowledge is Power!!" Dumb. Another example," what information systems does a company use to connect themselves with their suppliers?" My answer," The Intranet!!" The teacher then gave me a face and said,"ehhh try again." With less than half a second, i came up with another answer "extranet?" *everyone laughed* Why they laugh? Simple.... If its not intranet, then its extranet. in and ex, just soooo close. Ahhhh well, if you don't understand what i'm talking about then its ok. Its for me to remember it.

Slice of Life

Free Your Mind

Many years ago there was a young man living in Korea, who felt that his life was quite empty. So he shaved his head and went up into the mountains to live the life of a monk. He studied diligently for a number of years, but still felt that he did not really understand how to be free.

The young man had heard of certain Zen masters living in China so he gathered his meager belongings and started a long and arduous journey across arid plains.

Every day he would walk for many hours, and would stop only after finding a patch of land that had a source of water. Finding water was not a simple task in such dry lands. There were many times he had to walk until late in the evening before finding a suitable location in which to rest and be refreshed.

One day was particularly hot, and the monk walked on endlessly, unable to find an oasis. When he did finally find a shaded area he collapsed on the ground and slept for several hours. He woke up some time after midnight and he was tremendously thirsty. He crawled around on his hands and knees in the darkness, and ran across a roughly made cup that must have been left by a previous traveler. The custom of leaving a cup with some water in it, for the next traveler to drink from was quite common. He drank the meager amount of water in the cup and he felt very blessed and very at peace with the world. He lay down again and slept quite comfortably.

The next day, upon waking up, he saw what the night before, he had taken to be the roughly made cup. It was the shattered skull of a baby wolf. The skull was caked with dried blood, and numerous insects were floating on the surface of the small quantity of filthy rain water still left at the bottom.

The monk saw all of this and immediately started to vomit. He had a great wave of nausea, and as the fluid poured forth from his mouth, it was as if his mind was being cleansed. He immediately felt a deep sense of understanding. Last night, since he couldn't see he assumed that he had found a cup which had been left by a fellow traveler. The water tasted delicious. This morning, upon seeing the skull, the thought of what he had done the night before made him sick to his stomach. He understood that it was his thinking, and not the water, that made him feel ill. It was his thinking that created good and bad, right and wrong, delicious and foul tasting. With no thinking there was no suffering.

How about you? Is there some situation in your life where it's your thinking that makes for the suffering and not the actual circumstances you are embroiled in? If this is so, it's a great opportunity for you to cleanse your mind and be free.