Foresight (?)

Now, as a follow-up to my previous entry -- just in case people don't get cynicism and that I meant everything in the hyperbole.

I'm not really a believer of horoscopes and what-nots, being a skeptic and all, but hey, where's the fun if you don't usher in the new year with some faith on the astrological plane?

Btw, just in case you are curious of what the future has in store for you in 2010, here's a link.

Right.

I shall now dissect mine and analyse:

"The next year is going to give you the opportunity to use those sharp mental powers to focus on what it is you really want out of life."
Resolution #1: Enhance brain usage (good, good..)

"Saturn is also going to be bringing big changes as to your philosophical approach to life. This year, your life is likely to be a saner, better-adjusted place for it."
Oh, thank the stars!
Resolution #2: Stop being disgruntled at the world.

"The middle part of the year will see close friends and partners coming and going in your life, more so than you've seen in a long time."
Well, there will be a wedding...but only in October.

"The entire period of January through September will see dramatically improved luck; not necessarily "winning the lottery" type luck, though."
Awesome. I don't do lottery anyway, and luck is always good.

"Work in general will continue to be the same combination of grind and reward that you're used to throughout most of the year, with an overall slight reduction in pressure."
Rubbish. I know I'll be pressured to meet my personal deadline.
Resolution #3: Complete MSc thesis by June 2010

"Wherever Cupid finds you on your birthday, in the following year you will be ending up somewhere significantly different."
I'll be at home for my birthday, so hurm...this might be interesting.

It's your worldview, Aquarius -- make it the best you can! Sounds like it's going to be a pretty good year to look forward to :)

Happy 2010 everyone!

Resolutions

Last day to:

1) not be productive
2) bum around
3) maximise the usage of profanities
4) be disgruntled at the world
5) be a bitch to all
6) sleep late

I wanted to add "not run" but then seeing as it's the last day to rack up miles for Run for Hopenhagen that's not gonna happen. Besides, I don't want to break the regime.

In case I don't recall what I did to usher in 2010, here's wishing you all an advanced HAPPY NEW YEAR! Have a blessed and amazing one!

1 more day,

Potential

"You're alive. That means you have infinite potential. You can do anything, make anything, dream anything. If you change the world, the world will change.

Potential.

Once you're dead, it's gone. Over. You've made what you've made, dreamed your dream, written your name. You may be buried, you may even walk. But that potential is finished."

- Silas to Nobody Owens, The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman



Potential. Makes a good new year's resolution, don't you think? Fits all those clichés too: "realise your potential", "unleash your potential"... The perks of being alive -- the thought of what you do in your lifetime, really does matter.

2 more days,

Closure for the Year

Fare thee well, Year 2009. Thou hast been good.

I say this pretty often in my life so far, and I believe I will be saying it over and over again throughout the course of my lifetime: Oh my, time really does fly!

Hours melt into days. Days melt into weeks. Weeks melt into months. Next thing you know, it's the final few days of the year. The phrase "See you next year!" is applicable to seeing you on Friday.

Besides that, the big hoo-hah is on about the end of another decade. DECADE. 10 friggin' years. That went by amazingly fast. It didn't feel that long ago when everyone's worried about being hit by the 'millenium bug' and we were told to not go online on the 31st Dec 1999 because "all gadgets will go haywire and crash".

2000 came and my computer didn't hang at that time.

This year had some great stuff to offer:

- The comeback of Guybrush Threepwood! Yay to Monkey Island! After such a long long time (I reckon the first Monkey Island game I played was in primary school) this year Lucasarts and Telltale Games unveiled the five-chapter Tales of Monkey Island!

- The comeback of Arthur Dent and gang! I didn't expect the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy to have anymore new sequels (what with the death of Douglas Adams and all that) but whatdayaknow? "And Another Thing..." by Eoin Colfer, Part 6 of 3 of H2G2! I know, that sounds a tad confusing, but it's all good :) Yay to the sixth book!

- Mcker's Prosperity Burger made a comeback NOT during the lunar new year, and costing a bit less than the last time it was sold.

That said, I can't think of anything else for the moment. Hope something more substantial comes up before the end of the year.


3 more days,

The Season of Good Hope

Season's Greetings and Happy Holidays to one and all! We'll be ushering in the New Year in a week, so out comes the pen and paper: resolutions time!

I'll write mine down in my journal soon, so yea. But I can put up one of it here:
PUMA New Year's Resolution Challenge - one month to burn as much calories as I can :)

Apart from that, here's wishing a Merry Christmas to all, have a great time with your loved ones. I'll either party my heart out, or spend the night quietly with some good books, my bestfriend, and online UNO...depending on how I feel.

Most prolly the latter.





Blessed be and ♥ to all,

(NIKE) RED laces

Because I like to share cool stuff.

So irregardless of the fact that I'm succumbing to 'the system' and doing free publicity for them, I'll still post this up. Besides, I reckon they make good last minute Christmas presents at RM15 a pack.

And you all know me, I just cannot resist products that come with a cause (think The Body Shop campaign products, and their MTV-AIDS awareness stuff).

Ironic though, if you know the brand of my running shoes :)

So anyways, I was gonna write something a bit more here but somebody challenged me to MSN Minesweeper (which embarassingly I lost both times) hence I've completely forgotten what it was.

RED laces are cool,

The 100th Entry

The blog has been quiet, except for the occasional random ramblings of petty matters. It's happening because I thought I have to live up to the "do more journalistic approach entries instead of the 'deep' crap involving emotions schemotions" vow I wrote in the very first entry.

That said, I apologise for not obeying that one single rule I made. I am sure a post with one sentence and a photo of the obscene amount of Body Shop products I have does not account for a 'journalistic entry'.

But then again, if you put 'journalistic' in another context...

The other day I read somewhere about the differences between a Diary and a Journal. Apparently a diary is a recording of daily events and you're supposed to write in it every day. I guess then mine would probably go like this: Woke up. Ran errands. Sat in front of the laptop. Read five academic journals *yawn*. Sat in front of the laptop somemore. Went running. Sat in front of the laptop somemore. Went to bed.

Dullsville, here I come.

A journal instead, doesn't have to be written in ever yday and you write when you feel deeply about something, some thoughts and stuff like that. My physical one is a lifesaver. I have a list of my pet peeves in there so that I know why I'm irritated with some people. Since I brought it up, here's a sneak peek:

- a negative perception of life and complaining too, too, TOO much
- repetitively asking me questions that I don't know the answers to
- expecting me to read minds (I can't always do it, okay?)
- being a punching bag, physically

On the first pet peeve, I actually do listen to people and their problems, but there is a limit, and especially when one is not of the exclusive inner circle I'd rather you spare me already known facts that the system sucks and what not. Come on, I'm not Aunt Agony.

As the year rolls to a close, looking back, I think there isn't much to regret for this year. Whatever I did were stuff I wanted to do. Sometimes I do lose focus. I have doubts about decisions I've made. Passion dwindled, novelty wearing off, that kind of things. But I reckon everyone in graduate school feels the same. No wait. I think everyone feels that way in Life. There are times that I did thought of the "What ifs.." and the "If onlys.." but then I know very well those thoughts aren't going to help in any way. What if I have made a different decision, in a different place, surrounded by different people? One can only wonder, but most importantly, I reckon, is to be happy with what you have and what you are doing.

Also that it satisfies your conscience.

I know that along the way, I have been taken advantage of but I believe that everyone gets what they deserve in the end.

For the most of it, 2009 has been pretty filled to the brim with adventures and experiences. I have been high several times -- High on Life. It's a very good feeling. Better than weed. The kind of high that brings tears of joy and this feeling that you're just very happy and thankful that you are ALIVE. (And no, it didn't happen in Amsterdam where in some places the air may be saturated with secondhand weed smoke.)

Some New Year's Resolutions that I can think of for now:
1. Get out of the comfort zone (or something in that sense...I haven't really figured that out yet, just that I want to do Something next year)
2. Run more (not like I'm running any less at the moment, but yea, running is good fun)
3. Complete thesis by June 2010 (this is a Very Solid Resolution)

I have more to write, but I know a lot of people get annoyed with too many words (although that's silly seeing as this is a blog, and it is for writing). But then again, people also complain if there's too many photos. Go figure.

People are stupid.

As if I'm not one.


Cheers all,

Week 2 Training

I'm training for the Borneo International Marathon next year, with thoughts of entering the half marathon...but perhaps 21km is a bit too ambitious? Maybe I should only do the 10km?

Underachiever. LOL.

Let's see how I am by April 2010. In the meantime, second week of training means a new playlist for running :)

No One - Alicia Keys
Crazy In Love - Beyoncé ft. Jay-Z
Thnks Fr Th Mmrs - Fall Out Boy
Sexyback - Justin Timberlake
Stronger - Kanye West
Makes Me Wonder - Maroon 5
How Far We've Come - Matchbox Twenty
Suddenly I See - KT Tunstall
Let's Get Retarded - Black Eyed Peas
Beautiful Day - U2

It sounds like a good mix so I'm looking forward to trying it out!

* Just in case anyone's wondering: I've been running on and off but thought I'd start on a proper 10-week training regime beginning this month. Something along the lines of an early new-year resolution perhaps.

** I'm tempted to get another pair of running shoes. We'll see how the funds are doing first :)

Happy New Week,

6 Dec 2009

About 3.6 more weeks to the end of the year. That's insane.

One year of grad school down.
One year more to go.
6 more months to thesis submission.
2 more weeks to seminar presentation.

Ha. Annual reminiscing has to come some other time.


Cheer's y'all,

Hello Geekdom!

Yes I know. Paper to write. Due date tomorrow. wth.

Came across this post on Wired:

What kind of geek are you?

Loving Music Geek's (fig. 2) mismatched shoes,

Because I was up early today

Which is a very aptly thought up, 'original to the boot' title.

It's not like I went to bed at 9pm (which is highly unlikely, although I am reminding myself not to feed the insomniac-self by going to bed at 5am) but I guess it just wasn't a very good night for sleeping. Definitely not when one kept waking up and almost fell out the bed once.

So I decided to lug my lazy ass out of bed at 5.45am and went running instead.

Firstly, no, running at 6am is not crazy here because it is already bright. Running at 7am requires shades and running at 7.30am will bring about a sunburn (and carbon monoxide overdose).

Secondly, today I have trumped the unpredicatable weather which causes diabolically hot afternoons and insane stormy evenings. The park sucks though, but beggars can't be choosers.

Which kinda make me miss Vondelspark and Tiergarten.


Which leads to wishful thinking and a need for reality-check.


Good day to all,