"Sometimes you cannot believe what you see, you have to believe what you feel. And if you are ever going to have other people trust you, you must feel that you can trust them, too - even when you're in the dark. Even when you are falling" - Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation. - Herman Melville

1. You know school is crap when you raise a question in the aim of being enlightened by your learned professor at law school and to which the response is:-

Professor: Enlighten you? Hahaha, if I am enlightened myself first...(those are not the exact words but somewhat close to whatever he said, can't really remember if he said if I can be enlightened first or if I am even enlightened myself etc etc)

2. You know school is crap when your professor dodge your question a few times (you had to ask the same question a few times, no, not even paraphrasing the questions, just repetition)

3. You know school is a complete waste of time for reasons 1 & 2 and last but not least, you walk away from the seminar not knowing the answer to your question.

Somehow times like these really make me feel a lot better that I was educated at University of Manchester and not locally, at least even though some of the seminar takers at University of Manchester (then when I was around) might not always be right or have all the answers at their finger tips, they make a point to go find the legal position on your question, discuss with the course directors and get back to you with what they've found and most of the time, they add on their two cents on the correct legal position, sometimes arguing against the legal position sometimes further justifying the legal position when in favour of it.

And at the very least, professors in Manchester law school never dodged issues that are uncertain or issues to which they have no answers to, at the very least, they give their point of views or what they think the direction of the law would be after evaluating all the possible options and burying their heads into piles and piles of journals/caselaw etc. I mean that's why you go to school for, yes no?

Just when you think lawyers are trained to think on their feet, professors as such proves you otherwise. Just when you think whatever that sets professors apart from those they teach is that they are a little more intelligent than the mean average of those they teach, times like these, you really wonder if professors are indeed wiser than the mean average of those they teach, I mean isn't he as clueless as I am? Making me teach my peers without first addressing my concerns on points that I myself am not clear of simply makes me wonder why am I paying him to make me teach, why not he pay me and my other peers since he's making us teach everyone (and that includes him too).

After so many years, who would have thought that I would still be missing him since the day Dad gave him away. Charlie's an absolute sweetheart apart from being my puppy and I watched him grew then, he was smart, accommodating, forgiving, he was my great playmate and he was the one and only pup I looked forward running home to every single day after school. I love him so very much. The good thing about reminiscing times spent with him is I get to relive those happy moments but the downside is I miss him terribly to the extent I feel my heart ache a little every single time I think of him. I miss him. I really do.

"I never realised I was so close to losing you until it happened. And then without a sign, everything that made me happy was gone. Reflecting, I often wonder what is it exactly that I've done wrong to make things between us go bad. Then I realised it's not about what I've done but rather what I've not been doing, keeping you close to my heart by cherishing you. Never thought you would actually leave me but when you did, I realised no one else in this lifetime can make me any more happier than you did and now that you're gone, all I feel is a void because you've filled up every inch of my heart since a long time ago."

Friend was complaining to me about his obnoxious girlfriend who seems to be affected by the many insignificant little things in life for e.g. Friendster account.

Friend's status on friendster is set as complicated ie. 'it's complicated', girlfriend was visibly upset with it and I can totally understand her exasperation for you are either in a relationship or you are not, what is so complicated about that?

Relationships are particularly complicated only when someone is not in 'a' relationship but in multiple relationships and/or they are seeing someone unofficially or on a casual basis with absolutely no strings attached.

I guess when you are in love and am involved with someone, the first thing you probably would do is to tell your friends about your new boyfriend / girlfriend, you will unequivocally confer that him /her the boyfriend / girlfriend status and there's absolutely no room for doubts that you might still be available somehow (which is why some girls do get upset when boyfriends stick with the status of being single: which reads woo-hoo ladies out there I'm still a swinging bachelor or worse change the status to being it's complicated: which reads well I'm sort of in a relationship hmm...then maybe not why don't you ask me and find out or I'm not in 'a' relationship but in multiple relationships.)

It's not about being all superficial judging your girl/guy's affections with friendster account but it does say something yes no? Well at least it does to me, which reminds me I have to get my guy to change his status to being in a relationship soon before my imagination runs riot or before friend starts labelling me as the psychotic girl who's disillusioned and demented again because apparently I am the only one in the supposedly relationship who thinks she is in a relationship with him where in actual fact, it's a one sided affair, haha!

I mean come on folks, you love that person enough to want to be involved with him/her but you can't just unequivocally declare you are in a relationship with him/her? It's a little farcical, it's like how the preacher once preached that if a man loves you enough to be with you but loves you not enough to tell you he loves you then you are better off without him. (The preacher is damn cool la, he says he tells his wife he loves her in the morning, in the afternoon and in the night because he loves her but I think he's doing that to remind her in case she forgets)

Sometimes in a relationship, it's not the big wayang things that matter but rather the little insignificant things that matter most. And before you go on and argue superficiality or what other preposterous reasons you can come up with for insisting on putting up your single / complicated status, just put yourself in the other person's shoes. Or maybe let's forget about friendster let's just change the situation a little, say someone asks your girlfriend if she's attached, to which she replies, well you know it's complicated or well it's just status does it really matter? Now it shouldn't be too difficult to see why it matters yes no? Interpret it in 101 ways (1) she's not sure if she's with you (2) why should she go around declaring she's all snapped up (3) you don't matter (4) it's really just status honey, does it matter if friends know?

FYI: It's complicated status is not meant for gays. Gays do use in a relationship status too. Don't get it twisted!

Don't Leave Me In Love -Dierks Bentley

I know things haven't gone like you planned
And for that I'm partly to blame
You didn't want to fall in love not yet
Cause you've still got so many dreams to chase

And love is a double edged sword
It lets you walk though life feeling content
But that's a feeling you say you can't afford
And you'd be better off bein lonely again

Chorus:
But please don't leave me
Leave me in love
Before you walk away break my heart
Let me give you up
If you need your freedom
To find yourself
Release me from these chains of love
Lord knows I need your help

But please don't leave me
Don't leave me in love

You ask if you can hold me one last time
Sweetheart, you know I can't resist
You say tonight we'll fall asleep as lovers
But tomorrow we'll wake up as friends

Chorus Bridge:
How can I ever love somebody new
If I can't get my heart back from you

So please don't leave me
Don't leave me, don't leave me
Don't leave me in love
Don't leave me in love
Don't leave me

Once in a while, just once in a while, I like to be excessively indulgent in being nice...and sometimes that drives people nuts and sometimes cloy them out completely...and....

pssst....here's my secret, I like driving people bananas!

Happy new year everyone! Happy 2007, may you guys have aplenty of laughter, love, luck for the coming year and treasure and cherish what you have :)

From the adorable owner of this blog --> LibBy~2006 lots of hugs and kisses

Merry Christmas!

Christmas, to me, has always been just another ordinary day, it has not been particularly significant but it has not also been particularly insignificant.Perhaps in some way, the festive season is all about doing something for someone you care about, about gathering with others, giving something to someone in need of your help, about toasting with others, about being cosy at home, about dreaming, you know all those good stuff.And everyone has their own unique way of spending it, however they choose to do so is really their personal preference and nobody really should be able to comment on the way Christmas (be it eve, day or boxing day) is spent, for to do that would be to impose your own idea of Christmas on others, which may be a very subjective notion altogether.

I am a very homey, home-like sort of person, I enjoy spending quality time at home with people I care about, doing perhaps the most ordinary things as I would every other ordinary day because I think it is more important to be nice to people you care about every other day rather than just on special occasions / days. Then again, because home is such a comfortable place for me that I don't really see the need to go out and indulge in the commercialism of the festive season. Then again, maybe the reason why I'm thinking the way I am now is perhaps attributable to the fact that I've once celebrated Christmas eves, days like never before when I was then a teenager. I would hit the town with my friends, be where the crowd would be and join in the crowd in the countdown to Christmas day, you know, the really typical things you do when you are a teenager.

Now, all I want to do during Christmas is to spend time with people I care about, be it watching some cheesy chick flicks or just a simple not too elaborate dinner would be fine.

Christmas is sometimes a tad too overly immoderated, celebrated and overly commercialized and sometimes it makes one think for a second that the season of giving is but a mere euphemistic way of describing the celebration of materialism. I mean people (in particular, in Singapore) no longer celebrate Christmas the way it should be, it's a spending quality time with people you care: it's calling people up (or texting/emailing) wishing them well and going to visit some of them, it's renting cheesy Christmas movies or cartoons that depicts the story of Christ so that we can appreciate his sacrifice for us a little better and also facilitates as a form of reminder of the purpose of his sacrifice and how we should all become better Christians, its about seeing your loved ones' smiles. In my humble opinion, that is the spirit of Christmas. Not the rushing and gushing down to malls to wipe the shops' shelves clean, it's not some expensive dinner at a swanky restaurant in town, it's not even about how much cash you've got or what your beliefs and experiences are, it's much more than that.

Christmas is really just spending time with people you love with that touch of coziness and sense of happiness, and whoever you are, I sincerely wish you from the bottom of my heart that sense of happiness and coziness for you and your loved ones on Christmas.

Merry Christmas in advance everyone!

I'm not someone who's exceptionally good with words or compliments, so whenever I pay someone a compliment, I mean it and whenever I say something that's so not me, I mean it too. Sometimes it's hard to tell what's real and what's not because of one's preference in seeing / hearing what one wants to see / hear, thereby becoming all so oblivious to the patent truth but then sometimes its just because one's been fooled one too many times, so much so that, he/she is afraid to trust what's said and done.When that happens, the best thing to do is to sit around a little longer, observe and draw conclusions on your own, I believe time is always the best measure / proof for anything said /done and actions often speak louder than words.

I'm not someone who's exceptionally good with words or compliments, so whenever I pay someone a compliment, I mean it and whenever I say something that's so not me, I mean it too. Sometimes it's hard to tell what's real and what's not because of one's preference in seeing / hearing what one wants to see / hear, thereby becoming all so oblivious to the patent truth but then sometimes its just because one's been fooled one too many times, so much so that, he/she is afraid to trust what's said and done.When that happens, the best thing to do is to sit around a little longer, observe and draw conclusions on your own, I believe time is always the best measure / proof for anything said /done and actions often speak louder than words.

It's funny how the past haunts you in a variety of way, leaving you with the deja vu feeling when something happens or when history sort of repeats itself. It's scary how you can't sometimes shake off those feelings when you vowed a long time to start anew and forget all about those feelings and I desperately need to change my mindset before I turn to someone whom I'm not.

"Note that Law students who do not participate in the feedback exercise will NOT be able to access their results via the phone, and access via the internet would only be available FIVE DAYS after the official release of the examination results."

Never have I ever in my life felt so compelled to fill in feedback forms and mind you, not because I want to but because I HAVE to. Talk about living a life of choices, times like these makes me feel like I have none.

It's bounderish to reduce women to nothing but mere body parts of certain sizes and/or shapes. Regardless of what they have said or done, nobody is entitled to pass rude remarks that degrades women in such a way that nothing else but the size of the boobs matter.

Get a grip, be more cultured and civilised, pinpoint only what the person has said or done but not the person's physical attributes, it is what she said that matters not what she has as a female.

PS: I'm not on her side, elitists like her disgusts me through and through. I will post my views on this whole drama when I'm done following it, at least enough to make some responsible comments.

Faith, the musical

A very dear friend of mine, who's also one of my favourite friends, Kelv, a raw talent, fresh on the musical production scene, is in the midst of staging Faith. Faith (http://faiththemusical.blogspot.com).

"It's essentially a love story. Whether about loving yourself, loving someone else, loving a friend, and the kind of relationships that evolve. and through the eyes of the characters which i have created, my life appears in a whole new perspective. All that I have loved and cared for, is that the kind of love they want, and is it the kind of love they expect. and what kind of love do i want." - Kelv

SO if you are in UK and am reading this, do visit the website and more importantly, go watch the musical for not only is it a musical you wouldn't want to miss but it is also a charitable event, whereby the profits goes to Singapore Children's Cancer Foundation's Wishlink programme. Now that's what I call entertainment with value.

Balance

Believe it or not, living a life of balance is a lot of hard work, it's not something that happens by default but something to be lived with a lot of effort. A well balanced life requires constant thoughts and energy and changes, we should always change something when we can.

This runs totally parallel to the thought that if you want to do something right, there's no easy way, but once you get it right, everything is well mapped out for you.

So, I am going to work towards living a well balanced life from now on. It's probably a lot of hard work but well, need to manage it somehow.

Someone please hand me a battery pack so that I can maintain my effort to lead a healthy balanced life!

Friend: "What happens if I don't know if I'll ever love anyone?"

Me: "Don't worry, the right one will help you figure all that out. You'll love like never before and you'll enjoy a love that's ever so blissful"

Friend: "Really?"

Me: "Yes, really."

The groundless things I say...

Stop whining and do something

People who incessantly complain about how life is unfair and that how unhappy they are with people who supposedly live a very charmed life should just all shut up and/or give themselves one tight slap on either side of their cheeks.

Sure, we all whine, do we not? But just whining alone is not going to change anything, neither is it going to help make yourself feel better. The only way to bring about changes is to DO SOMETHING constructive or at least something that appears to be constructive.

Whenever I see people whine about how life is unfair and how others have it better than them. Babies, grow up, LIFE IS UNFAIR, who told you life was ever fair? It is your responsibility to effect the changes, either to change the thing at hand or to change the way you think about something. And believe it or not, someone must have worked hard to get to where they are today or at least their parents / grandparents must have worked hard to let their children / grandchildren lead an extravagant life.

And not everyone is smart, just because you are not as smart as A doesn't mean life is unfair, we are all made differently to achieve different objectives in life or to fulfill different roles in the society. A rather good friend of mine once told me, because he is not as smart as the rest, he tries to make up for his inadequacy in the mental faculty department by working hard, that's his secret for doing just as well as the other bright dudes around him. He made an effort to level the plain fields. What did you, the whiner do apart from ranting like some madman on the loose?

When I was in polytechnic, some several years ago, I was envious of my friend being listed in the business school's director's honours list but I didn't just stop at being envious, I worked my ass off to be listed on that same list consecutively for straight two years (which happens to be my penultimate and final year), thus graduating as one of the top 10% students in my cohort for my diploma. My other close friend of mine wanted to beat me in terms of studies because he was too envious of my status in the Dean's list, too worked extremely hard and graduated as the top student for one particular subject and was offered the most prestigious scholarship at SMU, look what doing something did for him. Had we both just happily stuck ourselves in the perpetual state of envying others, would we have gotten this far? No, for all I know, we might both turn into some jealous freaks who only know how to whine.

I particularly hate it when all people do is to whine / bitch about how someone is leading a better life, how someone is richer, how someone is smarter etc etc and more importantly, how life is unfair because of whatever reasons they conjure up, seriously, stop making excuses for your inadequacy, just admit you are not as good as others and from there move on and do something to change your life, make it a better one so that others can whine about how unfair it is that you lead such a good life or that what a smart guy/girl you are. Period.

'Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you.'

'If you forgive others, you will be forgiven.'

- From the Bible, Chapter Luke.

In bad times or darkest moments, all that I can think of is to hope and pray that the Lord will always be with me and see me through these insufferable times.

In bad times, I tell myself that God has made me a much more stronger person than who I really think I am and I tell myself that I must only become stronger and stronger with each passing day to survive and to live.

In bad times, I tell myself to have a grip of myself and to have constant faith in the Lord.

In bad times, I never give up on myself, I continue to live life as fully as I possibly can and seek to enrich my tortured soul with good deeds.

What do you do in your bad times?