Random Act of Kindness

A-hah.. I'm on blogging spree lately. The year 2006, 2007 (and now, the beginning of 2008) felt like an exponential learning curve for me. Everyday, there is always new things to learn in life, to experience, and to feel. Which is great! But I have not taken enough time to reflect on these experiences. The learning points of it all have not truly sink in and I have not truly appreciated it. Which is a shame.

I read my old old old blog entries the other day. The days of old when freedom of speech was quite literal and know no boundaries. I realised that there are some things of me that have changed over time and some are still the same. Thanks to the good, bad and ugly of life in the past few years, yea. Then on the other side, there are things that still the same. It's funny to see how much you grow as a person but yet you are still the same person deep inside - if you know what I mean?

I have been contemplating on taking some "time off life". It has always been a constant on-the-go for the past few years where "What next?" is a seasonal question. A real time off would do one good, it is time for reflection, it is time to figure out life, to re-prioritise and re-energise. The flipside of it is while you are taking time off - the world doesn't stop revolving. The opportunities, the experience, the people and many many other things.

So... what next, eh?

Well, we should save this discussion for another time.

He is an old friend of mine. The kind of friend who you never made the effort to keep in touch with but the friendship never really fades and you quickly pick things up where you left off. He is the kind of person that I have that love-hate relationship with. In the sense that you hate him when he picks on you but you do respect him when he's being a good listener.

His Dad passed away near the end of last year. I don't know too much about his family but he became the head of the family every so instantly. He takes care of his Mum, work and finishing Uni all at the same time. Being the father of the house pretty much.

He told me all these today. It made me feel ashamed of myself. I laughed as I realised how silly I have become. Dwelling over practically nothing compare to what he has to go through. I thought he doesnt know anything about getting through and I have had enough of people telling me cliches. I was so wrong. He knows more than I do about handling "difficult times". He said, "I may not know what exactly that you have to go through, but I'm sure that you can get through it."

For that. I thank you.

Canterbury EB 05/06 Reunion

"Convene at 10 a.m on the 22nd at C Block parking lot by the Commerce Building". That was what said on the invitation I sent out to the other three. I got there early, giving me the chance to have a look around the university to see what has changed.

Obviously, it did not start bang on time. But good effort nevertheless. It's great to see Seetal and Wayne again after so long! Everything came streaming back - the jokes, the sarcasm, the silly little things that each of us do or say, the "team dynamic", the random conversation about nothing and everything. We just picked up where we left off!

The best part was the late afternoon. Wayne's place has always been known as the "party flat". This time was no exception. We had a little picnic at a park next to his flat. A big bowl of (semi) hot chips, a jar of dip, a bottle of Malibu, a big bottle of pineapple juice, and some beer for the boys and we're all set for the afternoon.

The weather was fantastic although being its own self, Christchurch weather blew cold breeze in the middle of beautiful hot sunny day. We sat by a playground and of course we won't miss the chance to release the inhibition of our inner child! The playground these days I tell ya. Soon we realised that either 1) We have lost the inner child in us or 2) The playground rides are just so badly designed we don't know what to make of it!

Eating, drinking, chatting, laughing and drinking some more, reminiscing thats all we did all day. It felt surprisingly good.




NYE

I came back to Wellington on the 31st. My NYE plan was to celebrate with Tee et al. in Raumati (In Pram - just an hour train-ride from Wellington). Where my Christchurch trip reserved not-so-strictly to my family, NYE this time was strictly friends-only celebration.

I heard the horror stoy of NYE last year - rain, no-fireworks, party died down even before midnight. I was quite anxious and came with low expectation. Come what may I said. It turned out to be one of the best NYE celebration I've ever had. Great crowd, just the perfect number of people, beautiful beach-side sunset, hot sunny day with bbq and teapot punch, fireworks attempt and of course Trivial Pursuit pre 1989! You can't ask for more than that!

What a great way to start a year. Good food, good company, good times.

Concluding thought.

I might just be repeating some dead-famous poet or philosopher, but I learned that no matter where you are it's the people that counts. So, I'm looking forward to the repeats of the above sometime in the future!