Saturday, January 19, 2008

staying awake..

I just watched ‘The Invasion’ (which is starred by Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, btw) about 2 days ago. And on one part of the movie, Craig told Kidman about ‘how one can stay awake for a week’ which I found fascinating since I want to be able to do that in order to finish typing up my undergraduate thesis –not all of them obviously, just the second and third chapter. The problem is everytime I want to do my thesis, I dunno why I always feel sleepy. I normally take a nap in order to recharge. Then after that I thought that I need to refresh my brain by doing fun things so I normally watch TV. Then watch some movies which I already watched before. Then web around the internet. Then click the refresh button over and over and over again and feel good about it. Then… Hang on.. maybe the sleeping part is not my real problem. Maybe I should just stop procrastinating and do whatever I’m supposed to do, which is typing up my undergraduate thesis…

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

wake up and smell the..... sms?

You know what makes me feel blessed everytime I wake up in the morning? Well apart from the fact that God has given me another opportunity to live, I also feel blessed when I receive some nice, thoughtful, encouraging text messages from my friends. There’s nothing like a nice text message (or is it a cup of coffee? Well whatever, I love them both) to wake me up in the morning.
So anyway, I just wanna share some of them:


B-egin ur day with
L-ove in ur heart
E-xpect blessing
S-hare goodness
S-hine like a sun
I-nspire some1
N-ever 4get that
G-od is with u all the time

Life is all about choices.
We choose how we react to situation
We choose to be in good/bad mood
It’s our choices how we live life
Make a good one.

Happy moments, praise GOD
Difficult moments, seek GOD
Quiet moments, worship GOD
Painful moments, trust GOD
Every moment, thanks GOD
Jesus is the answer

Guess who cares 4 u 1000000 times?
Hmmm… who could it be?
Jesus?
No! No! No! Definitely not Jesus!
Coz Jesus cares 4 u more than that!

Life is like a bible,
Everyday is a new page with
Adventures to tell,
Lessons to learn,
And parables of good deeds to remember
Have a good episode today!
God bless you.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

The 'F' Word


Hold those thoughts people.. I’m not talking about the usual ‘F’ word (yup, it is that word that instantly popped into your mind.. and don’t pretend like you didn’t know what word I’m talking about ). I’m actually talking about the new ‘F’ words, which is (drum roll, please) FORGIVENESS. Why did I decide to write this oh-so-serious-not-to-mention-profound topic? Well actually I was inspired (like always) by one of the episodes from the awe-inspiring Oprah Winfrey Show titled "The F Word". It’s originally aired on May 2007 but Metro TV just aired the episode last Saturday -they might have shown it earlier, but I might have missed it.

So the story that inspired me to write this topic is went like this:
In November 1995, while taking a nap at a friend's house, Jackie awoke to find then 16-year-old Craig Sussek and 15-year-old Josh Briggs in the garage trying to steal her car. The teens forced Jackie inside and told her to lie on the floor. Craig placed a pillow over Jackie's head and left her for dead after shooting her at point-blank range. The teens fled, and Jackie's friend discovered her minutes later.
Doctors told Jackie's family she had only a 2 percent chance of survival. After spending six weeks in a coma, Jackie awoke with severe brain injuries. For the next nine months, Jackie lived in a rehabilitation center, where she had to learn how to talk, eat, walk and even swallow again.
Jackie is now partially paralyzed on the right side of her body, which causes intense pain. "I liken it to a thousand needles on my right side. It is constant," she says. Her speech is impaired and she is legally blind. Everyday actions, like tying her shoes, are still a challenge for Jackie. "When I was shot, that changed everything. They took away everything," she says. "But I got it back."
Despite the physical struggles she faces as a result of the shooting, Jackie says she forgives her attackers. "I think I would be nuts if I hadn't forgave them," she says. "I forgave them immediately so I could get on with my life." (from Oprah.com)
Pretty inspiring right and it did strike a chord in me. I’m the smallest kid in my family. So, by nature I’m the most stubborn. Whenever someone in my family said something that annoys me, I’ll resort to no-speaking mode. I have hard time in forgiving or asking for forgiveness. I liked to nurse my bitterness against that someone a lil longer because I thought by doing that I can make them hurt in the same way that I was hurt (have I mention how stubborn I am?). I felt like I'm empowering myself by holding onto the grudge. But just like what was said on her show: ”Not forgiving is like drinking rat poison and then waiting for the rat to die" (Anne Lamott). And that’s exactly what I feel when I hold a resentment. It’s eating me inside. Not only did I hurt the other person, but I also hurt myself.
So after watching the show, it was like a wake up call for me. I normally got upset just because something that someone said or did to me (often, jokingly). Or complains about small things, and aches, and pains. But this woman, she instantly forgave the man who nearly killed him and left her in the state which she is in now -which is incredibly inspiring.
So, the most chin-strokingly questions that kept poking in my mind.. How to forgive people who’ve wronged you? I mean, It’s easy to say ‘I forgive you’, but how to ease that bitterness that is still lingering in my heart even after I’ve said that I forgave them? Is there some kind of step-by-step program that I can take in order to do that? Well after doing some meticulous research (actually I just type the word ‘forgiving’ on the invicible Google), I have to say that I did come across some interesting articles regarding this matter. One of them imposes me to write a letter to the person that I'm angry at but not sending them. So what do you do to the letter if you don’t send them then, you ask? Well, there are several things that the article suggests:
  1. You can burn it. Although if you are a walking disaster like me, I would not recommend this option. I mean judging from my antics I might ended up setting fire to my house, burn it down, and then wind up blaming the person I wrote the letter to, thus hating the person more, and that’s not in the spirit of forgiving, isn’t it?
  2. You can bury it. Although it’s kinda risky because there’s a teeny tiny possibility that the person that you wrote the letter to might found it, and therefore she/he will wind up hating you for writing such letter after you said that you forgive her/him.
  3. You can shred and then eat it. The article didn't really suggest you to do it, it's just me trying to take the options to the next level. I mean, shredding and eating thing, it's just so top-secrety, you know. (notice: not recommended for kids and people with digestion problem).
Whatever option you choose, it doesn’t matter, because the bottom line is you’ve channeled your feelings through the writing and thus help you ease those bitter feelings. That way, you’ll be able to let go and move on with your life.
So is there someone that you haven’t forgiven yet? Don’t wait any longer. Stop drinking the rat poison. Stop looking back at the ‘small’ things that they have done to you -compared to nearly being killed by some stranger, some of the wrongs that someone did to me look pretty trivial now . Just forgive that person. Alleviate those bitter feelings. Then you can let go and move on with your wonderful life . I have. And it felt good .

 “The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.” --Mahatma Gandhi

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007)


Rating:★★★
Category:Movies
Genre: Action & Adventure
First of all, let me say that I really like the first movie: National Treasure (yes, to all of you oblivious people out there, there's a prequel to this movie) since I'm always been a big fan of Ancient History and Lost Civilization. So I did approach this movie with high anticipation, forgetting about the endless list of sequels that failed to compete with the original. And the pattern proven to be right again. It's like drinking a soda after it's been sitting out too long. It's flat. All the fizz, the sparkle is gone. Don't get me wrong, the movie is entertaining overall, but I just feel that there's something missing from this movie. It seems like the clues were too simple to solve, and some of the scenes were rushed. Especially towards the ending, where the clues were given out to open. I dunno, maybe I really miss the good old days where the crew would try to find and solve the complex puzzles by themselves.

Anyway, as I have mentioned before, this movie is entertaining. The movie repeats the same formula as the original crew follows a string of clues and puzzles which require some mathematical and scientific thought. The elments of the original movie are still there: the discovery of secret documents and artifacts, deciphering codes from monuments and arcane objects, some from various parts of the world, sneaking into the highest-security areas of the Western World, etc.

The casts are great and the characters are still likeable. Nicholas Cage has the right balance of smart ass and hero that works well. Rilley (one of the best sidekick and one of the reasons I watch the movie) provides comedy relief to the movie along with his smart-alec remarks, brilliant one-liners, and dumb comments. Ed Haris plays the part well as the villain. Ben's father ( Jon Voight) is very convincing, funny and endearing. Ben's mom (Helen Mirren) is a snappy yet lovely character. They both delivers classic and amazing scenes together. The action is superb. Some of it is worthy to be included in Bourne's movie (such as the car chase in London and the scenes from Mount Rushmore). It is played with humour and sarcasm that made it fun and enjoyable to watch.

At the end of the day, although I can remember some of the down sides of the movie, fun is fun. And I can easily forget all of that because the movie is still very enjoyable, thrilling and full of suspenses. With some great laughs and some really fascinating connections from history, you may actually learn something on the journey (3 Liberty Statues? Really?). So, if you want a quirky, ridiculous, treasure-seeking fun that picks up right where the last left off, this is your ticket. But, if you are looking for a sequel that can match the first movie, don't get your hopes too high.