Meanings in Life

Philosophers have always been trying to understand what exactly is ‘meaning’ in life. Is it happiness? Is it success? Or is it love? It could well be one or more of these and others.

I am no philosopher even by any slightest means. All I could really do is to just pen my thoughts. I do not read and attempt to decipher any philosophical thesis on life, nor do I favour any particular school of thoughts. In my simplistic thinking, I place having hopes as an important aspect towards comprehending the ‘meaning’ of life.

To start with I shall quote one of my favourite verse from the Bible:

Rejoice in the glory of God
Rejoice also in sufferings
With sufferings come perseverance
With perseverance, moulds character
And character brings hope
In God, all hopes will be fulfilled

It is apparent that to me, hopes resemble meanings in life.

Imagine a person with no hope in life. There is nothing for him to look forward to, neither are there any futures in stall for him. What is meaning in life to him? I believe we live in the present to build our future, with hopes directing our time and efforts. Some people hope to be wealthy; some people hope to attain reputable status. Some people hope to live comfortably; some people hope to find a job they like. Some people hope for a family; some people hope for kids. Some people hope… the list can go on and on…

Different people have different hopes because we are all unique. However there is always something common. Having hopes propel us to be driven and motivate us to move forward in life. And I think there is nothing more joyful about, having another person working together hand in hand towards our hopes.

We know what our hopes are, and we are going to work on it together. I give praise to God for this special treasure.

first chinese song...

This is my first attempt on a chinese song...

你的笑容
带给了我一个幸福
你的温柔
渐渐的让我快乐

让我的宽容
包含着你所有的一切
而我们的爱情
是不能用一个字形容

我们俩相亲相爱，不能分离
就算是风风雨雨，我一然爱你
让我们手牵着手，臂对着臂
我一然是爱。。。着你

Of Pets And Pragmatism

As usual in an all-ladies group conversation in office, half of the time is non-work related. One was sharing about the loss of her pet hamster and the other became an eager beaver and enquired anything that could be asked. That’s when the antagonist walked in and made a self seemingly confident remark, added with a smirk on his face. “Like I said, let’s be pragmatic. Why take care of something (a pet) that doesn’t give anything back to you?” The sound of confidence shattered the discussion and lead to a heavy smile on my face. So often have I come across people who take no interest in keeping pets, but this is the first time I bumped into someone whom so strongly and thinks much ill towards pets.
I would like to quote a Shakespearean insult: Shallowest thick skin of that barren sort.

Let me share with you a story, my story. A few years ago my family welcomed a new member. No I did not get married and had a child, neither did my brother. My parents, already in their 60s definitely did not bear me a younger sibling. It was a black dog, to be exact, a mongrel. No one knows exactly what breed he is. The best bet was a Labrador and an Irish Setter cross-breed.

During the first few months, my parents were complaining non-stop about the amount of fur that has clad the floor. To be frank, my parent did most of the housework so I had the least to complain. It seems keeping a dog especially ours, who has pretty long fur, is quite a heavy upkeep. To make matter worst, medical bills aren’t cheap at all! Quite a reasonable amount of money is spent on him, coupled with the time and effort required to bathe, walk and groom him. Looking at these, an absolute pragmatic person would surely keep away from having a pet in his home.

It was only another few months later, when the ice between the dog and us had been fully broken, and then do we start to enjoy the fruits of our early labor. Our dinner table now reserves a special bowl (and a small area as well) especially for him. He started joining us for lunches and dinners. Our normally quiet dinning table became livelier with him around. There were active conversations and laughter to accompany our fiesta. At times he would commit something silly and makes us all laugh. At times he would throw a little tantrum when he finds nothing in his bowl. At times he would rush towards the dinner table at the customary timing and accidentally banged into nearby furniture. So many at times and the list could go on and on.

What I am trying to spell out here is, keeping a pet definitely needs hard work, hard cash and is time consuming. So why keep them in spite of these? I can assure you the reason my family keeps our pet is because of the little joys and laughter he brings us. Be it sleeping next to you when you are watching your television shows, be it welcoming you when you reached home after a tired day of work, be it…

If we were to look at the quantitative list of costs, it is indeed heavy. However sometimes we need to take a little step back and look at it from a holistic manner. There are many qualitative gains a family or someone can experience with a pet. I believe it is really up to us to place them on the measuring beam and check the balance, but with an open mind. A little bit of awareness, a little bit of being less calculative, quality of life can be improved.

So Mr Antagonist, while we must all agree to disagree, you hold your strong stand on taking only a pragmatic view on keeping pets, I hold mine as well.

Bored

The insects roamed

But no flowers bloomed

Dust speckle in the air

Rust found even on my chair

Cursed, is the place

Itches and scratches on a race

The lady in red singing

Yet no better than my humming

Always searching for a treasure chest

Only to find there is still no work on my desk!

Looking gloom...

The man who predicted the 1987 stock market crash and the fall of the Soviet Union is
now forecasting a revolution in America, food riots and tax rebellions - all within
four years, while cautioning that putting food on the table will be a more pressing
concern than buying Christmas gifts by 2012.

Gerald Celente, the CEO of Trends Research Institute, is renowned for his accuracy in
predicting future world and economic events, which will send a chill down your spine
considering what he told Fox News this week.

Celente says that by 2012 America will become an undeveloped nation, that there will be
a revolution marked by food riots, squatter rebellions, tax revolts and job marches,
and that holidays will be more about obtaining food, not gifts.

"We're going to see the end of the retail Christmas....we're going to see a fundamental
shift take place....putting food on the table is going to be more important that
putting gifts under the Christmas tree," said Celente, adding that the situation would
be "worse than the great depression".

"America's going to go through a transition the likes of which no one is prepared for,"
said Celente, noting that people's refusal to acknowledge that America was even in a
recession highlights how big a problem denial is in being ready for the true scale of
the crisis.

Celente, who successfully predicted the 1997 Asian Currency Crisis, the subprime
mortgage collapse and the massive devaluation of the U.S. dollar, told UPI in November
last year that the following year would be known as "The Panic of 2008," adding that
"giants (would) tumble to their deaths," which is exactly what we have witnessed with
the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and others. He also said that the dollar
would eventually be devalued by as much as 90 percent.

The consequence of what we have seen unfold this year would lead to a lowering in
living standards, Celente predicted a year ago, which is also being borne out by
plummeting retail sales figures.

The prospect of revolution was a concept echoed by a British Ministry of Defence report
last year, which predicted that within 30 years, the growing gap between the super rich
and the middle class, along with an urban underclass threatening social order would
mean, "The world's middle classes might unite, using access to knowledge, resources and
skills to shape transnational processes in their own class interest," and that, "The
middle classes could become a revolutionary class."

In a separate recent interview, Celente went further on the subject of revolution in
America.

"There will be a revolution in this country," he said. "It's not going to come yet, but
it's going to come down the line and we're going to see a third party and this was the
catalyst for it: the takeover of Washington, D. C., in broad daylight by Wall Street in
this bloodless coup. And it will happen as conditions continue to worsen."

"The first thing to do is organize with tax revolts. That's going to be the big one
because people can't afford to pay more school tax, property tax, any kind of tax.
You're going to start seeing those kinds of protests start to develop."

"It's going to be very bleak. Very sad. And there is going to be a lot of homeless, the
likes of which we have never seen before. Tent cities are already sprouting up around
the country and we're going to see many more."

"We're going to start seeing huge areas of vacant real estate and squatters living in
them as well. It's going to be a picture the likes of which Americans are not going to
be used to. It's going to come as a shock and with it, there's going to be a lot of
crime. And the crime is going to be a lot worse than it was before because in the last
1929 Depression, people's minds weren't wrecked on all these modern drugs -
over-the-counter drugs, or crystal meth or whatever it might be. So, you have a huge
underclass of very desperate people with their minds chemically blown beyond anybody's
comprehension."

The George Washington blog has compiled a list of quotes attesting to Celente's
accuracy as a trend forecaster.

"When CNN wants to know about the Top Trends, we ask Gerald Celente."
- CNN Headline News

"Gerald Celente has a knack for getting the zeitgeist right."
- USA Today

"There's not a better trend forecaster than Gerald Celente. The man knows what he's
talking about."
- CNBC

"Those who take their predictions seriously ... consider Gerald Celente and the Trends
Research Institute."
- The Wall Street Journal

"Gerald Celente is always ahead of the curve on trends and uncannily on the mark ...
he's one of the most accurate forecasters around."
- The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"Mr. Celente tracks the world's social, economic and business trends for corporate
clients."
- The New York Times

"Mr. Celente is a very intelligent guy. We are able to learn about trends from an
authority."
- 48 Hours, CBS News

"Gerald Celente has a solid track record. He has predicted everything from the 1987
stock market crash and the demise of the Soviet Union to green marketing and corporate
downsizing."
- The Detroit News

"Gerald Celente forecast the 1987 stock market crash, 'green marketing,' and the boom
in gourmet coffees."
- Chicago Tribune

"The Trends Research Institute is the Standard and Poors of Popular Culture."
- The Los Angeles Times

"If Nostradamus were alive today, he'd have a hard time keeping up with Gerald
Celente."
- New York Post

Love that defines everything

someday the clouds...

Like the clouds that merge and form, scatter and part. Ethereal is something that surely does not co-exist with materials. Materials, that are earth and beings, possessions and even emotions. Like a hard rock that is created by nature, yet nature itself takes it away someday. But the clouds do merge and form again, someday. This cycle is inevitable. Thus wait for them to scatter and part, someday.

I'm a day-dreamer?

Your result for The Perception Personality Image Test...

NBPC - The Daydreamer

Nature, Background, Big Picture, and Color

You perceive the world with particular attention to nature. You focus on the hidden treasures of life (the background) and how that fits into the larger picture. You are also particularly drawn towards the colors around you. Because of the value you place on nature, you tend to find comfort in more subdued settings and find energy in solitude. You like to ponder ideas and imagine the many possibilities of your life without worrying about the details or specifics. You are in tune with all that is around you and understand your life as part of a larger whole. You are a down-to-earth person who enjoys going with the flow.

The Perception Personality Types:

Take The Perception Personality Image Test at HelloQuizzy