Advantages of a dysfunctional family

Perhaps it's a blessing to be in a dysfunctional family.
It feels great to have bad parents. A bad father and bad mother are the perfect concoction for a great person, isn't it. They make you stronger, make you understand what is bad so you know what is good.

Thank you for the pain.
Thank you for the unhappiness.
Thank you for the negligence.
Thank you.

Missing you my friends

Received a message from my friend earlier that I will miss her wedding scheduled in November if I were to be in Japan at that time.
A close friend getting married! I realised how much I miss those days when I have so many friends around me. I have been missing so much of their lives these few years. I remember my brother once told me that friends are like clouds, drifting in and out of our lives. But I just wish some would stay.

Dreams are my reality...

Had an interesting dream a couple of days ago. I was supposedly in a train station in Tokyo, and when I stepped out of it, I looked up and there it was...the magnificient Tokyo tower. Wow..I gasped as I looked up at its incredible height. It looked so beautiful. And then I walked back into the station and suddenly, I happened to see a Japanese friend who is currently in Tokyo. I really thought I was right in Tokyo. so vivid, so real.

Well, a dream sometimes feel like reality to me and reality sometimes makes me feel like a dream. Today I was invited to a ceremony where Mitsui company, which generously funded my short trip to Qdai in 05, presented a $500,000 cheque to the President of my university. I was in awe...maybe it was the sheer sum of money, maybe the sight of those people incessantly exchanging namecards bearing their larger-than-life credentials (some acronyms still sounding in my ears: KPMG, EDB, GIC..), maybe it's the awkwardness I felt sitting amongst these "elite", maybe it's the feigned smiles and laughter, perhaps also the trays of mini choco eclairs and cute little fruit tarts...
Seems more like a dream to me. Honestly, I felt sort of like the little tarts and eclairs. small, fluffy and can be forgotten with just one mouth.

Goodbye 2006

Goodbye 2006.

I participated in a few running events - Mizuho 10km Run, New Balance Real Run, Army Half Marathon, Standard Chartered Half Marathon. And the Genting Trailblazer.
I like marathons. I think life is almost like one.
During a run, there are difficult times, especially steep slopes or sinking sand when you feel like giving up and slowing down. But you know you cannot stop if you want to move on. You pull through eventually. Then you feel relieved when there are downslopes. However, besides the highs and lows of a run, you will encounter mostly plain, smooth-sailing flat ground.

I experience a few personal downs. I failed to receive the Monbukagakusho scholarship, I could not enter the final round in the Japanese Speech Contest, my school results dropped for the first time.

I captured some beautiful moments. I had a good time working at Nirai Kanai, I shaved bald and raised some funds for children with cancer, I started volunteering at the Children's Cancer Foundation, I had a Big birthday celebration.

Just a glance at my life in 2006 tells me that it had been mediocre. I still feel very small in this world.

On the last night of 2006, I was at home watching TV. It was not all that bad. My dearest big bro decided to stay home to accompany me. He bought me mee goreng and Baron beer. Then, we watched the fireworks from the windows of our house.

Happy 2007.