unresolved ,
Saturday, January 10, 2015 | 10:56 AM
I’m sorry for the hiatus since my last update. Though it’s pretty unforgivable since I didn’t have a complete post previously and I missed out on a “New Year Resolution” post. Any legit bloggers will give a “Resolution” post and share with le readers a summary of their year that passed and their plans for the year that’s coming. Should I do that? It’s still January, it’s still legit to write a “Resolution” post. Hahaha. (Though I admit it will be kinda half-hearted if I do it now because I haven’t really sat down and think about this, nor do I feel any resolve to improve for the better yet)
January is my favourite month of the year. I enjoy opening up a new organizer, clean and screaming to be used, with the possibilities of new adventures and events. (It’s not so clean now though. Hahah the first thing I did was to write down all my friend’s birthday dates and the public holidays hahahah) I love the idea of how we are now only at page 10 of 365, and that there are 355 days more for me to make a difference, rather than having to struggle to make something out of a 10 days left. (The thought of “there’s still a long way to go, let’s wait and see” convinced me to stay at my job. Hahah more on that later)
... Okay who am I kidding and pretending to be sounding so philosophical? I love January for one ultimate reason... It’s my birthday month! (I think I just sounded really shallow hahahha) I don’t know man, I feel really special in January, like it’s the time of the year for me to be selfish (Yes I’m usually a very selfless person, or I’d like to think I am LOL). And selfish was what I did as I texted a few friends what I’d like for my birthday and how I’d like to receive it. Yes there’s actually someone out there who plan her own birthday presents and “surprises” HAHAHAHA.
I’d like to think that there’s two side to this. I can appear to be really selfish and shameless. But on the other hand, I’m saving my friends the trouble to rack their brains on what to get for me (catch me being selfless again hahah). Especially since we don’t meet up as much now that school’s over, they might not know what I currently need in my life (yes I gave them a reason for the present after asking if they can get it for me LOL). And I give them the greatest joy in the world! The joy of giving! Hahhaha ...But then again... what gives them the obligation to give me the present in the first place...? Okay it’s just me being demanding and selfish. ): (But it is human nature to want to think about oneself in a better light, and that's how we end up giving excuses for our mistakes and flaws)
Maybe I will start my “Resolution” post in February because then I can add “be less selfish/be more selfless” to the list. If I write it now, I will be crushing that resolution like almost immediately (my mum is bringing me to buy a bag later for my birthday. I’m still deciding between H&M and Charles & Keith...) LOL my real reason for not writing my “Resolutions” was because I have no feels for it yet. (Yes this kind of thing calls for feels LOL)
31122014 turning into 01012015 was like another normal Wednesday turned Thursday for me. (Though I believe that had I stayed up and count down, I would have churned out a “Resolution” post) I didn’t plan for it to be any more special than any other day because there wasn’t anything that is significant enough to call it a watershed moment as 2359 turns into 0000. Nothing changed overnight for me that day (Unlike the next day, whereby I did something really different and my life is quite affected by it now. Also unlike 07012015 where I started my temporary job)
I think I started the first day of the year in the right direction though. I woke up early and went to MacRitche Reservoir for a run. MacRitchie Reservoir is a water catchment area in Singapore and is the oldest reservoir we have. The water from this reservoir supplies quite a significant amount of water we use in Singapore (I think, though the main one is still the water we buy from Malaysia. .... I think). Our island is tiny and lack natural resources so le government find alternative ways to source for water and this is one of them. And to fully utilize the limited land space, the reservoir is open to the public to carry out leisure activities such as running, kayaking, fishing etc.
I kind of used that paragraph from a conversation I have with someone (I will elaborate on this later so I will put it as “someone” for now. Pardon yours truly for her rudeness) And seriously the government does so much for us, created and sustained a system that has been comfortable and functionable for our daily lives but many take it for granted and rather complain about what they do not have. (And now I shall somehow digress into politics. I haven’t even started blogging about what’s on my agenda today omg)
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| At cousin's POP some time back. |
Citizenship is a privilege but also a compromise. This land provides you with what you have now but in return there are things that you have to give up. You want to feel safe? Okay, we need a good defense system and a strong military. But these are things that we cannot buy (amused by the sudden thought of the irony of buying loyalty), it has to be built upon slowly together (one single man does not make an army). And the last time I checked, compromise is defined as, “an agreement or a settlement of a dispute that is reached by each side making concessions” (i.e. I want this, can you make it happen? Okay I will help you with this, this and this), not “I am a citizen so the government should make everything right for me”. (i.e. I want this, can you make it happen? No? Okay I don’t want to vote for you liao.)
This just struck me but after 12 years of the government’s propaganda, I finally understood the meaning behind the omnipresent message “Play Your Part” during every National Day and Total Defense Day. On the surface, it’s like a message to ask you to DO SOMETHING for the country but between the words, it’s also telling us NOT to do certain things. You need not be a politician, a soldier, a police, an activist, a volunteer, a teacher, you need not contribute to the country in a significant way but at the very least, don’t threaten the balance and peace of the society, don’t create more trouble for the people around you (i.e. don’t steal, don’t vandalize, don’t rape, just don’t be a criminal LOL). So if I have to spell it out, it can be, “Play your part. If you can’t protect those around you, at the very least, give them one less reason for the need to be protected.”
P.S. If le readers don’t get why buying loyalty is ironic, it’s because you are asking for loyalty of someone who has betrayed someone else (be it himself, or another country/organization/institution which he belongs to) in order to be loyal to you.
....Funny how, once you buy something, be it intangible or tangible, its value depreciate the moment it’s paid for. (This line is a food for thought for le readers, it’s not a line that one can just “glance through”. But I shall not elaborate on it because after about ten paragraphs. I have still yet to touch on my agenda for today!)
Posting that photo reminds me of the recent saga between Xiaxue and Gushcloud (Google it if news of that has not reached you) that address the grey areas of the internet. It really makes one wonder whether we are really ready for the internet to integrate into our lives. Anyways, those bloggers have been using those photos to show statistics (compared to theirs, mine is pathetic) for a reason completely different to mine. Hahahha.
This is my recent statistics for the past week, from 03012015 to 10012015. And what’s really different from last year’s statistics is that there are more viewers from other countries! There’s not a lot but it’s still pretty cool to me for the fact that other foreign country is even listed there (though the U.S. one has actually been consistent /sheds tears of gratitude/). I mentioned that I did something out of the norm at the start of this year and this is actually a result of that. Well... I joined Interpal (on a whim). Hahaha
I first knew about Interpal when Brangelina (aka Vtan) was using it during our Junior College days (I make it sound like years ago LOL). And I’m sorry to admit that I was judging her for using it because the conversation with this girl (beyond our shores. ... I refuse to name the country to prevent offending anyone. ... Not sure if that means I’m risking offending everyone LOL actually I forgot the country that the girl was from hahaha) seems to have breadth but lacks depth. So it seemed like a desperate attempt to make friends to me. At this point, I would like to thank the people I met on Interpal who proved how wrong I was.
When I first started Interpal, I was skeptical and wary. I do not want to join to the list of people who have fallen prey to online scams, revealing too much personal information and photos that risk redistribution, and that meant that I had filtered a lot of information (other than my precious blog link) that I shared on Interpal and in conversations at first. And I was plain honest in my need (to protect myself) to do so, when I refuse to reveal my facebook link (which, if one is stalkerish enough, can find the link from this blog LOL), exchange whatsapp number or skype.
The first person who sent me a message, was a guy from Morocco. (I googled to find the place on the planet as I am a failed geography student and I abuse google again for countless times to check the time difference so that I don’t disturb him LOL. 8 hours time difference leh omg) And I would say that it was his sincerity that mostly convinced me that Interpal and the people from there are credible (not some hocus pocus you get from dubious dating sites).
I always thought the definition for hocus pocus is like something related to witchcraft but I realized it can actually be used like this too. Hahaha. The thing about meeting credible penpals is that you don’t only learn more about other countries but your own country as well. Funny right? Hahahha. Like how I was sharing about my trip down to MacRitche Reservoir with one of my penpals, I had a rough idea of MacRitche but to confirm that I was sharing the right information, I did a bit more research so that things tally and ended up learning more about the reservoir myself. LOL.
It’s not just about places. But the people you meet as well. Your horizons expand (virtually) but it’s a double-edged sword of course. Good things will happen but not-so-good ones will too. There are people who can sustain a conversation with breadth and depth, there are those without depth and sadly, some with neither. Much as I love to meet new people and make new friends, no miracles will happen when two are not on the same wavelength or at the same level of giving and taking. I can talk at lengths about myself but I can hardly continue the conversation if I don’t get engaging responses that I can reply to. (Though I’m up for a challenge every now and then hahaha)
That said, I’m grateful to anyone who bothers to send me a message and consider me worthy of your time. But I just started my 6-month-long 8:30am-6pm office job recently and I won’t have the time to surf the net as much now so my replies will be very much delayed (as with my whatsapp replies hahah but I’m looking into upgrading my phone so maybe I will download the Interpal App along with the Whatsapp app but no Instagram for me though, I cannot keep up with the constant (self-imposed) need to update an Insta profile).
Initially, writing about my new job was part of my agenda for this post but this post has gotten so lengthy that I needa stop somewhere. LOL. Personally, the amount that I wrote about my Interpal journey is quite unsatisfactory cause there’s much more for me to talk about but I don’t think anyone manages to read all the way until here anyways. And this makes another unfinished post along with the Malaysia post. This sort of things never fails to pile up man!
Oh and from this year on, starting from this post, I will add "Labels" to my posts. I figured it's an easier way for me to track what I've written before, how I viewed and phrased the same issues differently each time and it acts as a great summary of each post for le readers and myself (like overall, what was the main idea or event that I have written in a particular post, so if I've written about "Relationships" and you wanna skip it, you can see from the "Labels" which are the posts to skip! Though I'm sure "Relationships" is one topic that people tend to be more interested in. Hahaha.)
Labels: Birthday, Citizenship, Interpal, New Year
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