My Blog

Rain stops. Colours fade.

The sky is grey.

Not far away, the cheers of two children fill the air.

Note: The author begins his poem by describing the gloomy weather after rain. The two children are cheerfully happy because they can resume playing with each other again. The colours here are referring to that of a rainbow’s.

Heartbeat stops. Colours fade.

The mood is grey.

All over the place, the rushing of pencils and scrubbing of rubbers fill the air.

Note: The author writes about what’s most dreaded by every child – the examination, to bring out the time of schooling age of the two children. The colours here are referring to the expressions on a worry face.

Excitement stops. Colours fade.

The age is grey.

Between two familiar figures, the newfound silence fills the air.

Note: In this chapter of life, the two teen-aged children are starting to fall apart. They are not seeing each other as frequently as they used to be, and they do not talk to each other much. The colours here are referring to the excitement and fun they used to have.

Conversation stops. Colours fade.

The world is grey.

From time to time, the loneliness fills the air.

Note: The two children are now in their adulthoods, and they stop talking to each other eventually. For the author, the world seems dull and lonely at this time being. The colours here are referring to their relationships.

Time stops. Colours fade.

The hair is grey.

In silent nights, the memories of glory fill the air.

Note: The two children who fall apart in the process of growing up, are old now. There is nothing left from the relationship to hold on to, except for the glorious memories of old time. The colours here are referring to the colours of life without a best friend.

This poem is dedicated to my family and friends. I love you guys and have a happy and prosperous Chinese New Year.

The breeze is carrying a message,

A message that you and I have been waiting for to hear again,

A message that will unite you and I,

A message of happiness and joy.

The streets in the town are slowly changing,

Slowly changing into new faces,

New faces that are so red,

So red that they look cheerfully happy and blessed.

The plane is flying across continents,

The train is speeding through countries,

The bus is crossing over cities,

And they meet at one agreed destination.

The house is not quiet anymore,

There are whispering and talking everywhere,

There are giggling and laughing everywhere,

The house is not empty anymore.

The cheers echo through the air,

And the breeze is carrying a message,

A message saying you and I have reunited,

A message of happiness and joy.

Two strangers who have never seen each other before, when put together, can become the best of friends. Likewise, two friends who have known each other for a long time, when keep apart, can become complete strangers.

I couldn’t help but wonder, is distance really the "IT" factor in relationships?

1. The boy/girl friends’ chapter

I have seen many of my friends break up because of their LDRs — long distance relationships. According to them, not able to see each other when you need them is what killing them the most. When someone nice happens to appear before them, they make a move on that person, leaving behind their boy or girlfriends wondering how to move on with their lives.

However, I also have friends who are still in their LDRs, and what makes the magic work is the advancement of the digital technology — MMS, video calls, text messaging, instant messengers and emails. Perhaps if the technology were able to capture scents and send them to the receivers, this scent-sational idea may do the trick in spicing up their LDRs.

2. The friends’ chapter

I have lost contact with many of my friends, most of it because of our distances, and part of it because of our distants. When two people are apart in an icy cold environment, they couldn’t keep each other warm because of their distances. If they stop being distant and walk closer towards each other, their body heats may melt the ice.

So, to all of you out there, don’t let your distance come between your relationships, and most importantly, don’t let your distant get in the way of your relationships. A simple "Hello, how are you today?" is already halfway through the distance to the heart.

When I was in my acoustic class this morning, something my professor said halfway got me thinking and my mind was totally occupied with endless questions that I did not know what the rest of the lesson was all about.

He said, as students, you must know that the objective of study is not to survive exams, but to survive lives.

I couldn’t help but wonder, for all the years I’ve spent in the university, when I thought I was prepared for the exams in school, was I prepared for the exams in life as well?

I remembered my primary and secondary school life was all about memorizing the facts. The fact is, we can’t memorize all the facts for the rest of our lives because our "getting old" brains will erase them and leave space for fresh memories. And the older we get, the harder it seems to memorize things.

I have constantly compared myself to others who don’t like memorizing (but applying), and it seems that we have our own strength and weakness. When it comes to writing kind of thing, I certainly have the upper hand because I can pull more facts and information out of my head. But when it comes to application kind of thing, they are obviously running a mile ahead of me because a "calculative mind" definitely works better than a "cumulative mind".

The lesson I learnt from that absent-minded morning was that I can survive and do well in school exams if I memorize, but I can never do well if life exams if I continue to just memorize. The problems in real life are too big, complicated and time-varying, that we need a calculative as well as a cumulative mind to tear them apart into smaller and simpler problems.

The conclusion: If I can get a problem calculated using what’s cumulated in my brain, then I can answer not only questions in exam, but also questions in life.

Graduating students often ask themselves the same question over and over again– Do I want to work in a big company playing a small role, or in a small company playing a big role? No matter what their answers are to the above question, the salary they are going to get is more or less the same.

If you start in a small company, you grow and die with this company. A small company has a limited number of employees, and even a fewer number of bosses. Most of the time, you have to be "all-mighty" and do most of the work that is outside your field. The company has tight cash flows that you might not get the training and traveling you need. The company’s financial instability might cost you your work anytime. However, the good thing is, you get to learn a lot of things in a less stress environment and your skills and experiences are growing faster than the fresh graduates in big companies, not to mention you get promoted sooner than them if the company is making a tremendous progress.

If you start in a big company, you also grow and die with this company. The difference is, the company is stable financially and will not fall as long as nothing tragic such as economy crisis, natural disaster or fierce competitor come in the way. Your small role in the big company might take you long enough to get a promotion or a raise, usually 5 years, compare to 2 or 3 years (referring to engineering fields) for those in small companies. However, the big company has got sponsorships and scholarships for better training and luxurious traveling. The only thing is, the competition among employees is so great to the extent that you might not be able to handle the pressure.

Just yesterday, a couple of friends and I went for an interview with a big company at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur.The hotel was so big that I felt myself shrinking, or was it the pressure from the interview session? Having almost a day spent at the hotel, I realized that there were a couple of things I needed to work on, and a lot more things I needed to sort out as quickly as possible. That day, I walked into a big place and came out small. So, is it gonna be big but small, or small but big for me? I wondered.