I played basketball the other day. I haven't played in quite a long while and it was very amusing to me that after about five minutes or so of the first game, I was out of breath and needed to ask EJ to substitute for me. However, I was able to play again in the last 15 minutes of the last game and even made some baskets.
It takes a while to get back on your top game. To be at the optimum level, when your game is on and you are performing at the best of your abilities, you must practice and build up your stamina. After a long absence, you cannot expect that you will be just as you were before. But the important thing is, even if you are not in the best of shapes, you still persist and know that you can play.
In two weeks time, I will be playing at the badminton tournament. I have not played in a long time. I think, I will be scrambling for breath all over the place. I just hope that I will be able to get my second wind and be able to play well.
But even though I was dragging my tongue all over the basketball court and kept missing easy lay-ups last Thursday night, everyone was still very supportive and relaxed. I found this to be the best way to play any thing, sports or life. If people around you are encouraging and supportive, then no matter how bad you play, you will still end up having fun. Fun is the factor that helps us to keep going despite the difficulties or challenges we face. When we are out of breath, our muscles are screaming for some rest, our heart is beating like a galloping horse, and our hands are shaking from the efforts they have put forth, when we are enjoying what we do, then all of these fade into insignificance and you find yourself continuing on.
So, no matter how much I sucked, I played and will go again on Tuesday to play. Because I had fun. =)
Friday, October 30, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Fleeting
I was having dinner with my dad tonight, we were eating some mutton biryani that I got from school. When we had finished eating and was cleaning up, he said, "time sure does fly. Another dinner over and it seemed like we were just sitting here last night having our dinner."
It is irrefutable that time does not wait for anyone. It will continue to pass whether you want it to or not. When I was young, I saw this cartoon that showed a very magical perspective to time and memories. It showed that our memories of days and years gone by are captured in crystal balls and that it is stored in a huge library. When you want to remember something, you just take out that crystal ball and relive those memories.
I often wonder what really happens to the past. Does it really just vanish into thin air the instant a moment passes by? How can we assure ourselves that what we remember as happening really did happen and was not a dream that our mind has conjured up? Or does the past get stored in a divine flash drive and that nothing is ever deleted?
Sometimes, I have this unreal feeling of watching each second tick by. As if I am seeing how each event unfolds then watching those same events disappear as if some wisps of smoke were cleared and then having this feeling of emptiness knowing those moments are gone and I can never relive them again.
When I feel these, I feel a panic that swells in my heart knowing that our loved ones are really just on loan to us. That there will come that inevitable moment when they too will be just a memory. I don't know how to prepare myself for that nor do I believe we can really ever prepare for such.
I think, to make each moment count, so that when that moment expires, what we can do, is to release ourselves from our inhibitions and live each moment as if it is the most important moment in our lives. That way, the memory created in those moments are so strong and so powerful, that they will be etched forever in the heart and soul not only of yourself, but also of the people around you.
It is irrefutable that time does not wait for anyone. It will continue to pass whether you want it to or not. When I was young, I saw this cartoon that showed a very magical perspective to time and memories. It showed that our memories of days and years gone by are captured in crystal balls and that it is stored in a huge library. When you want to remember something, you just take out that crystal ball and relive those memories.
I often wonder what really happens to the past. Does it really just vanish into thin air the instant a moment passes by? How can we assure ourselves that what we remember as happening really did happen and was not a dream that our mind has conjured up? Or does the past get stored in a divine flash drive and that nothing is ever deleted?
Sometimes, I have this unreal feeling of watching each second tick by. As if I am seeing how each event unfolds then watching those same events disappear as if some wisps of smoke were cleared and then having this feeling of emptiness knowing those moments are gone and I can never relive them again.
When I feel these, I feel a panic that swells in my heart knowing that our loved ones are really just on loan to us. That there will come that inevitable moment when they too will be just a memory. I don't know how to prepare myself for that nor do I believe we can really ever prepare for such.
I think, to make each moment count, so that when that moment expires, what we can do, is to release ourselves from our inhibitions and live each moment as if it is the most important moment in our lives. That way, the memory created in those moments are so strong and so powerful, that they will be etched forever in the heart and soul not only of yourself, but also of the people around you.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
3 Little Words
I once read that one of the things you should never forego or be shy or embarrassed in saying is how much you love or care for another person because you never know how long that person will be in your life.
Saying I love you and letting them know you care does not cost anything nor require too much energy.
Don't miss that opportunity to tell your mom or dad or grandma or sibling that they are important to you or that you love them. Because life is fleeting. It is easier to say these 3 words than to live a life of regret. Regret that the important people in your life are no longer there for you to let them know how much they mean to you.
Life does not wait for anybody nor does death. Don't let each opportunity pass you by as you might not get them anymore.
Starting the day right
The best way to start the day is to wake up in this way:
1) while your eyes are still closed from sleep, yawn and stretch slowly
2) accompany your stretching with a smile..as you stretch, smile still with eyes closed
3) slowly open your eyes then take a deep breath and release it all the while not
losing your smile
4) give God thanks for giving you another day to be
5) get up from bed and say good morning to your dad or brother or mom or sister or
whoever you live with...even if it is only your cat...
1) while your eyes are still closed from sleep, yawn and stretch slowly
2) accompany your stretching with a smile..as you stretch, smile still with eyes closed
3) slowly open your eyes then take a deep breath and release it all the while not
losing your smile
4) give God thanks for giving you another day to be
5) get up from bed and say good morning to your dad or brother or mom or sister or
whoever you live with...even if it is only your cat...
The Danger of Words
A lot of times, we say something we wish we never had.
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but your words will never hurt me.
This is such a false statement. No matter how strong you are, a harsh word from someone you love always has the power to slice your heart into little bits. And no matter how much you apologize later and even though you have been forgiven for those harsh words, that person will always remember the pain those words have inflicted. There is no rewind and delete buttons when we say something.
Words spoken in haste and carelessness can sometimes, even after years have passed, suddenly catch you unaware and you just have to sit down and clutch at your heart until the pain subsides.
This then begs the question of what is there to do? I believe we cannot always prevent ourselves from expressing what we feel at that moment, anger, frustration, disappointment, but we can try to count to 10 before we say anything. In this way, somehow, it gives us an opportunity to calm down a bit and think our words through before we make them weapons of pain.
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but your words will never hurt me.
This is such a false statement. No matter how strong you are, a harsh word from someone you love always has the power to slice your heart into little bits. And no matter how much you apologize later and even though you have been forgiven for those harsh words, that person will always remember the pain those words have inflicted. There is no rewind and delete buttons when we say something.
Words spoken in haste and carelessness can sometimes, even after years have passed, suddenly catch you unaware and you just have to sit down and clutch at your heart until the pain subsides.
This then begs the question of what is there to do? I believe we cannot always prevent ourselves from expressing what we feel at that moment, anger, frustration, disappointment, but we can try to count to 10 before we say anything. In this way, somehow, it gives us an opportunity to calm down a bit and think our words through before we make them weapons of pain.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Term 3 Results
They finally released term 3 results today. I have been quite worried of having failed one of the finance subjects I had taken but thankfully I had cleared it.
Grades are just numbers assigned to measure how much you have learned. However, because it is a CP (CLass Participation) based, it is not the true measure of how much a person actually learns. IT all boils down to how much you can talk in class.
But beyond the grades, I feel that term 3 is one of the terms where I have learned so much. I read and worked my butt off and it paid off in that I can now actually read financial and economic articles and actually understand what these articles are talking about.
I emerge from my MBA term 3 happy and relieved but most of all grateful that I have learned not only from what I have done myself, but learned from the classroom and more importantly learned from the people around me.
I am so happy and relieved I think I am going to celebrate with some shopping.
Grades are just numbers assigned to measure how much you have learned. However, because it is a CP (CLass Participation) based, it is not the true measure of how much a person actually learns. IT all boils down to how much you can talk in class.
But beyond the grades, I feel that term 3 is one of the terms where I have learned so much. I read and worked my butt off and it paid off in that I can now actually read financial and economic articles and actually understand what these articles are talking about.
I emerge from my MBA term 3 happy and relieved but most of all grateful that I have learned not only from what I have done myself, but learned from the classroom and more importantly learned from the people around me.
I am so happy and relieved I think I am going to celebrate with some shopping.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
It's The Small Boring Things
I watched the animated movie Up I think about a month ago and found the story cute. Aside from it, one thing I remember most about the movie is when the little kid said that it is the small things, boring things, that you do with people you love that you miss the most. I agree. Even though there is this one quote I read from somewhere that life is measured by the number of times your breath was taken away, it is actually the small things that you do with people that stick most to your memory.
My grandmother, when she was still alive and I was a lot smaller than I am now, used to ask me to step on her legs as some form of massage. I would step on her legs until she feels so relaxed that she would start to doze off. Whenever we had shrimp, crabs or fish for a meal, I remember she would use her hands to eat and I would sit next to her and wait to be handfed. The food always tasted so delicious when she did this.
Whenever my mom would come home from the States, she would ask me to scratch her back until she falls asleep. I remember I always fell asleep before she did.
Before my sister left for the States, she and I used to go the mall and try on the ugliest and gaudiest shoes on display. We would have such a hilarious time doing this.
I remember, when my brother and I were about 4 and 6, we always relished really heavy rains because we would both run out of the house, after securing our dad's permission, to play in the rain. We used to tell our dad, we would like to take a bath in the rain.
So many little things that we do and think that these are unimportant trivial things that happen in everyday life. But when we look back, it seems these memories are the ones that stand out. It is the warmth of these shared moments that give us comfort that even through distance or even death, there were moments in our lives that belonged specially to them. The ordinariness of it just makes these memories extraordinary.
Look into each day and cherish the ordinary boring things. Because these are the things that make life memorable.
My grandmother, when she was still alive and I was a lot smaller than I am now, used to ask me to step on her legs as some form of massage. I would step on her legs until she feels so relaxed that she would start to doze off. Whenever we had shrimp, crabs or fish for a meal, I remember she would use her hands to eat and I would sit next to her and wait to be handfed. The food always tasted so delicious when she did this.
Whenever my mom would come home from the States, she would ask me to scratch her back until she falls asleep. I remember I always fell asleep before she did.
Before my sister left for the States, she and I used to go the mall and try on the ugliest and gaudiest shoes on display. We would have such a hilarious time doing this.
I remember, when my brother and I were about 4 and 6, we always relished really heavy rains because we would both run out of the house, after securing our dad's permission, to play in the rain. We used to tell our dad, we would like to take a bath in the rain.
So many little things that we do and think that these are unimportant trivial things that happen in everyday life. But when we look back, it seems these memories are the ones that stand out. It is the warmth of these shared moments that give us comfort that even through distance or even death, there were moments in our lives that belonged specially to them. The ordinariness of it just makes these memories extraordinary.
Look into each day and cherish the ordinary boring things. Because these are the things that make life memorable.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Motivation...Where are you?
Graduation is fast approaching but before that day comes, there are still exams to write, reports to submit, and presentations to slave over. There are cases to slog through everyday. These are not new, I have been doing these things for the past year. What's different is that now, I seem to have lost my zest to do all these with the same enthusiasm that I read each case back in term 1.
Now that we are on the last leg, it seems lethargy has set in. I wish I can drink some sort of energy drink to help me read through each case until we no longer have to read cases.
What to do?
Now that we are on the last leg, it seems lethargy has set in. I wish I can drink some sort of energy drink to help me read through each case until we no longer have to read cases.
What to do?
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