Fatherly advice from the World of Harry Potter

Being on the reciving end of some advice today.
Guess we could all use some.
A Father's Perspective

What to do with my life

Finally paid back my sleep debt just now. Know what is sleep debt? Theory is that every time u are woke before you wake up naturally, u own ur body a certain amount of sleep time, and u wouldn’t felt rested till u paid it back.(funny tis don’t seem to apply to out-field, but then we morph to super human out field anyway.)

Now, I feel really pressured about money. My mum has been asking me to look for a stable, high paying job. Reminding me about all the debt we have to pay.(“the house still must pay u know”). I grow up worrying about money; in fact I worry about many things. But I’m a laid-back kind of person. I don’t wan to work for money. What about dreams, passion, and all that crab? (From what i heard from friends, i'm not the only one)

There is a recent poll on the paper about if young people will accept low paying job if it is their interest. Well, I would. Really. But will I have the support of the people around me? I think now is the time (seeing that I’m getting out of ns soon), to “decide what kind of a person that I want to be.”

Want to be a teacher, can’t think of any things else worth doing, it’s such a noble job. I will die if I have to spend the rest of my life in front of a computer. Imagine going to the same gray place where everyone wear the same mourning clothes everyday for the rest of your life. The same lifeless ‘good morning’, the hurried lunch, the hopeless morning dash for the bus, heck even the temperature doesn’t change.

No way, not for the world. Still, we have to eat. True, I could go mad with the kids, but hey, someone got to do it. I’ll rather take my chances with them.

But all tis talk only. Who knows what the future holds?

“It will be a hard life, but you will find out who you are.”-Yoda (i think)

Instant Karma!

Karma Cards -- small enough to fit into your wallet, big enough to change the world.
What can I say? Opening the door to our heart, one at a time.

The Worst Birthday

No, no owl post. Got a lot of miss calls though. All from camp. As snoppy said: " i heard footsteps. Is there no peace?" My phone is filled with missed calls from camp. The curse of the encik.
Money matter does't seem too good. I don't know why I let myself get caught in the middle of all this shit.
The afternoon was nice nap was nice, called back camp after that. As expected, its about something totally unsolvable by me, and the ONLY person who can has wisely shut his phone the entire day. And then thats this meeting on monday, about some LRI thingy. Off burn again.
I was irritated in aikido class today, and i was annoyed.

"We are born naked, wet and hungry. Then things get worse."

It's my Birthday

Well, nothing special really. Still, you don't turn 22 everyday.

Love, Me

Bring a tear to my eyes.
"The love that we have in our youth is superficial compared to the love that an old man has for his wife"

-Will Durant

Love, Me
(Skip Ewing/Max T. Barnes)

I read a note my grandma wrote back in nineteen twenty-three.
Grandpa kept it in his coat, and he showed it once to me. He said,
"Boy, you might not understand, but a long, long time ago,
Grandma's daddy didn't like me none, but I loved your Grandma so."

We had this crazy plan to meet and run away together.
Get married in the first town we came to, and live forever.
But nailed to the tree where we were supposed to meet, instead
Of her, I found this letter, and this is what it said:

If you get there before I do, don't give up on me.
I'll meet you when my chores are through;
I don't know how long I'll be.
But I'm not gonna let you down, darling wait and see.
And between now and then, till I see you again,
I'll be loving you. Love, me.

I read those words just hours before my Grandma passed away,
In the doorway of a church where me and Grandpa stopped to pray.
I know I'd never seen him cry in all my fifteen years;
But as he said these words to her, his eyes filled up with tears.

If you get there before I do, don't give up on me.
I'll meet you when my chores are through;
I don't know how long I'll be.
But I'm not gonna let you down, darling wait and see.
And between now and then, till I see you again,
I'll be loving you. Love, me.
Between now and then, till I see you again,
I'll be loving you. Love, me.

Straighten your back

Every once in a while, u went to a class that rekindles your passion and wonder of aikido. Most classes I goes to now remind me of how much I don’t know, how much I’ve forgotten and how much behind I’m. But that’s ok. Really. I’ve never wanted to achieve or get something out of aikido anyway. To me, training is the fun. I also believe that smiling should be considered one technique.

Takizawa sensei, held a training section with us today, followed by a luncheon and Birthday celebration for him. I had a good day, enjoyed the training, and enjoyed the food. But there seems to be some points, or feelings I can’t put a finger on. Maybe it’s training with these extraordinary aikidoka, who shows you first hand what with hard training, u can also do. Or the joy and fun of aikido. How with patients and a grin, u can teach without words. Or the friends u have, although u meet once in a long while (I believe that aikido attracts the best types of people, I mean, just look at me;-).

My “unforgettable moment” comes just as we were going out of the restaurant, and my back was pulled back and straightens. I turned around and saw this weathered face with that bemused grin. In my 5 years in aikido, only sensei have slapped my back, and that’s only during training. Why, I myself have on occasions, corrected kids on their bended back. To be remained, in such a gentle way, by someone who I just met. I was blown away. Such concern. A gentle reminder to be mindful, always. And to think I don’t even know his name, all I can do is to give that stupid smirk.

What a day.

Latter, after a sound sleep (I hit the hay right after I reach home). I watched the nkf children fund raising program. I was touched by the courage and wisdom of all those wonderful people. Reminded once again that I must take care of my body, keeping it as well as possible, like straightening my back.

Booking of the Pit or The Perfect Pit or How I walk up and down East Coast finding the Pit.

The title says it all really.
The odds were against me from the begining, first recieve sms like, and i quote:

I think book the 20m, 1 pit enough. ... ... I feel 1 of the 20m pit is enough

I have to agree that one 20m pit will be enough, although the people at the ends will have some trouble hearing, or seeing each other. But i soon realise it's a typo, "the 20 dollars pit".
That done, I still have to make another call to another sleepy head who told me that the amount of people coming is uncertain. That's nothing new, so now it's up to "the man on the ground" as my encik would say "to sort it out".
Long story short, the people there were friendly enough, giving me all sorts of advise and diagrams, and gosh! maps! I leave my bag with them and recce the ground, considering the various factors that make a great bbq-ing spot. Top on the list are toilets, then the space, condition of the soil around the pit, distance between the pit, condition of the beach by the pit...finally decided on pit 29 and 30.
They are close to toilet b2, close to shops yet far away to be quite, they sandwich a sheltered hut away from the sun and rain, lots of trees and benches around, AND have a wonderful view of the sea. Perhaps, more importantly there are enough space for ANY amount of people. Pretty cool huh? Trust me, next time U book a pit at east coast, 29, 30 are really not bad choice.
Went for a swim & tan, feeling good about life.

rainy day and no one to watch spiderman with

Right, no one to watch spiderman with me. Oh well the rainy day is well spent. Basically, i just chill. Playing my abandonware: bof2. Watching TV(i still love Macgyver after all this years). Downloading extentions for my browser: firefox,(firefox rocks, as they put it: let's take back the web.) Sleeping...zzZZZ. But of course the day can't be complete till i got a few calls from camp telling me something is wrong and i got to go back...blah...blah...blah...what the heck.

But it's ok, funny how things work out. I promise to book 2 pits in east coast and the timming fit. I can go to camp, sort out the shit, take a bus to east coast, have a swim, plus a tan, a pinic(i went shopping and bought tunna and drinks, this seng shong chain really is something, things are cheap), then book the pit(yes rong, this is what i was planning to do all along, NOT because of your call, btw the pit 2 X 4m = 8m, roast pig is it?),and still be back in time for aikido. Look like another blissful day 2morrow. But then, we should all realise by now that the best of plans, go astray.

Han zi Gong

Language have never been my strong field. I sucks at all of them. That's part of the reason I attended this "learning chinese" talk. This Han Zi Gong programs they are talking about sound really good. I am impress. Makes me want to start learning chinese. If I have my way, all the schools will have it as a course. Make life easier for everyone.