0156. there are some boundaries you should never cross and certain comfort zones you should never break out of not because it's for the good of yourself but all for the good of the people whom you love and the people who love you.

0104. the copy on a tee shirt ms octopus got for me during her recent trip to bangkok reads:

"expect the best, be prepared for the worst, fuck what others think & do your own thing."

i think the best way to live life is to close our ears and open our minds. listen to opinions and comments but keep an open view on them. it doesnt matter, really, what other people think about you; the kind of things you do, the kind of clothes you wear, the kind of smile you put across your face. you do your own thing because no one knows you better and knows what's best for you other than you yourself.

as time passes by, i also found importance in enjoying beautiful moments in life, forgetting the ugly ones and all in all, learning from everything life has to throw at us.

this short few years we have, no matter how long we wish to live, is frail and fragile like ancient porcelain. it doesnt take much effort to break a life, but to make the porcelain a masterpiece artwork takes time, enjoyment, the ability to move on from undesired parts and learning from every experience.

0503. how many of us can safely say we have lived our lives without regrets?

i think there's almost none. but why regret?

"in life, regret is only the school. experience is the true teacher."

regret teaches us nothing. rather, learn from the experience of making mistakes.

and then, move on. because life always goes on, always.

0203. the best thing on earth is spending a quiet, rainy afternoon with the love of your life, sipping hot drinks and cuddling as the cold, gloomy world out there swirls in a pile of financial turmoil, threats of imminent disease and violence, and (a closer example to us here) political imbalance.

perceived safety is an imaginable sphere you draw around yourself; how safe will determine how thick this sphere is drawn. if you allow this enclosure to thin or leak, you damage yourself psychologically with anguish and anxiety.

dont worry and be happy! live everyday and cherish each moment with your loved ones. let them know that they are part of this safety sphere and make them feel the same sense of security.

that way, even if a catastrophe ends the world... you know you will always be in the arms of your loved ones and vice versa.

0254. life was meant to be simple. but we arrived and complicated it for ourselves.

we started out as the basic hunters and gatherers. then we herded our prey together and moved from place to place to seek pasture and water. then we made farms, domesticated the animals and cattle. then we used our cattle to plough fields for agriculture. then we sang and danced during the harvests. then we built shelters for our grain and even more shelters for ourselves. then we made cities. then we diversified ourselves into farmers, builders, musicians, inventors, astrologists, priests, doctors, teachers, etc etc. then our cities became civilised. then we grew hungry for more. then we fought wars, killed others, plundered their land and took their possessions.

and we are still stuck at the last two. we never moved forward.

humans are but a greedy and selfish bunch. apparently, being "contented" never manifested any great conqueror or any ceo of a corporate giant. humans always think of themselves, ignoring the fact that there is an entire universe outside, other than their puny existence.

in someway, im about to be left to fend for myself in this universe. why? cos i have been forsaken by a hunger so deep that the word "chasm" doesnt even begin to describe it; all because this hunger of the humans around me that never fails to salivate and snap at every chance for a fat, juicy meal.

im not even close to being human. im just a mere pawn in this power struggle.

0138. fridays, to me, are the best of all days. there is this unexplainable pre-weekend atmosphere in office and everyone's dressed down and out for fun. once the 8 hours of casual interaction and work ends, the weekend begins. and it aint even saturday yet.

but as i grow older and share my life with others, most superficially and a handful of deep relationships, i slowly understood the concept that our time here alive is short.

the arrival of friday, although is good because the weekends are nearing, only meant the departure of thursday. one day has gone and hence we have one less day to spend with our loved ones, friends and family. we have one day less in our lives, one day taken away from our existence.

whether we had made the most out of what has gone or not matters the most. have you made efforts to cherish the people around you? to express the love to your partner or spouse? to extend your gratitude to those whom have helped you or a helping hand to those who need your help?

time is slipping past us under our nose. what have you done yesterday that will spur you on today? and before today becomes yesterday... what will you do?

we keep moving on and we cannot never move backwards. cherish everyone and everything that you hold dear for you do not know when the day will arrive when we cannot travel with what we cherish any futher down this path called life.

2015. weakness is being unable to feel happy about yourself. weakness is being unable to be proud of your job. weakness is being unable to sense satisfaction with your life.

weakness is like the last soggy marshmellow in your cup of already cold chocolate. you wish to savour it but you know the taste is... horrendous.

weakness is like lost vanity, downtrodden pride, heavy heartedness and the nagging sensation of despair breathing down your neck and you with no ability to fight it, whatsoever.

weakness is part and parcel of being human, no different from ideal terms like courage and hope... just valiantly deviant.

enjoy your weakness while it lasts, then abandon it like moths abandon their cocoons.

you dont need it for your whole existence.

cheer up darling. the good days are just starting to begin. =)

0104. life is simply about birth, death and everything else in between.

1237. a few of life's simple pleasures are to acknowledge the fact that you are alive and well, have enough money to take a cab home from a faraway place in the middle of the night and not gripe about the price later.

money that has parted with me can be made again. but the time that has parted will never come back.

0339. as we drive along this course to our certain demise, do we look back and ponder on hindsight or do we look forward and stare death straight in the face?

we do neither. if we do not die now, we would die later. if we do not die today, we would die another day anyway. when we die, we bring nothing with us, not even the most bitter regrets or the happiest reminiscences. so why look either ways when all you should be looking at is your steering wheel?

live in the present. learn to improve yourself and evolve with the flow of time around us. dont let it bog us down and dont let ourselves bog others down. concentrate on what you have now rather than what you used to have or what you were going to have. a bird in hand beats two in the bush to a pulp. we achieve nothing whinning about the past and we will not have any surprises trying to predict the future.

we're all in this would-be-crashing wagon together. it's only a matter who falls off board first. everything has been written already. it's not fate, mind you... it's just life.

afterall, we all live then we all die.

ps: anyone wanna join venture and co-found www.siogimzuah.com.sg with me?

0252. when you put a fervent workaholic and a languid slacker together, one would expect major dysfunctional issues between them.

but nature, as always, has her own scheme about dealing with such matters. the two gelled perfectly fine together, like cornflakes with milk or meepok with bak chor. the strong will learn to be meek, and the weak will earn its strength. the bright will dim, and the dark will shine. never doubt the mysterious and unseen forces of mother nature.

and ultimately, all beings big and small, hardworking or slothful, clever or not, will attain a balance. and it's a cycle; balance, imbalance, balance.

afterall, everything in life, even life itself, is a cycle. a subtle, unending circle of equilibrium.

0032. in the words of the great zen maestro hon, "ask not what the lemon can do for you but what you can do for the lemon."

and in reply, the other zen maestro chup, "what lemon? there is no lemon."

then they went, "lemons are apples, apples are lemons."

finally, in conclusion, "there exist at first no lemons so there would exist no apples."

if anyone actually understood any of the above zen gibberish, give me a buzz!

0315. it is truly the end of the world when you want it to be so.

open your mind and accept all flaws, goodness and all the designs that you were meant for, be they completed or otherwise.

one day we will all leave this existence. the only questions are how and when. but dont ask rhetoricals no one can answer. live and let live these few short years.

peace.