Surprise

You surprise me

a little more than words can say

You listen

when I think you wouldn't

You speak

and open up to me

You kiss

when I least expect 

You stare

while I'm asleep

You care

even when you're cold

You text

just when I think of you

You turn up 

even when you're dead

And slowly walk up to me 

Hugging me so sweetly, so warmly

Without expecting anything in return

So

I will listen 

when you speak

I will speak

when I need to let you in

I will kiss 

when you need one

I will stare

as you sleep

I will care

even if I'm pissed

I will text 

when you think of me

I will turn up 

in the haze

And walk alongside you

Holding your hand in mine

Without expecting anything in return

Because I want to surprise you

just as you did when you walked into my life

A Tribute Letter to Singapore's father, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew

Lee Kuan Yew, a household name in this tiny city-state we call Singapore.

Traditionalists, Gen-Xers and Gen-Yers alike all look up to Mr Lee as the

founding father of modern Singapore.

As the first Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee has governed his beloved nation

for three decades. Even after he stepped down as Prime Minister, he

continued serving the nation from ministerial positions (Senior Minister &

Minister Mentor), which spanned over 50 years. He finally announced his

retirement on 14 May 2011 at a ripe old age of 87.

Lee was hospitalized for severe pneumonia in early February and since then

news about his health condition was the talk of the town.

Celebrate life

As news of Lee’s worsening/deteriorating condition spread nationwide, many

of us fear the worst and are faithfully keeping Lee and his family in prayer. But

let’s not get bogged down by sadness and the fear of uncertainty. Instead, we

should celebrate life and accept the realities that surround it. Lee will be

turning 92 this year and has lived an amazing life. Let’s celebrate all that he is

and be confident of the days to come. Whatever the outcome, we should not

lose sight of Lee’s vision for Singapore. We were built from the ground up,

from the slums and humble kampongs to the thriving economic superpower

we are today. Singapore was not created by the vision of a great leader alone

but also by the blood, toil, tears and sweat of our forefathers and the

generations after. Do not forget that just as how Lee and his comrades built

this country, they have also crafted a nation of hardworking and industrious

individuals. Lee’s legacy continues in each of us, in each Singaporean. To the

younger generations, let’s continue to work towards a brighter future together

whilst incorporating our strengths, ideas and youthful enthusiasm.

Yes, we are a young nation, we still have so much more to learn and

understand. But on the bright side, we have far more resources than we ever

had compared to our forefathers and most importantly, we have 50 years of

trials and errors to learn from, a solid structure where we can build and further

improve on and a whole future to make Singapore a stronger and better

nation.

Thank You

Just as with any politician or great leader, there will always be supporters and

also people who disagree. Whichever way you swing, whatever mixed

emotions you have for the PAP or Mr Lee, no one can deny that without him,

we would not be the Singapore we are now. Good or bad times, the fact that

we wake up every morning with food on the table, a shelter over our heads

and an impeccable security system, I thank you. Yes you Mr Lee, thank you.

Thank you for your grit, determination and love for this nation. I wish you well.

I wish you happiness and peace. Be rest assured that you have garnered

more respect than you may think.

Onward Singapore! The best is yet to be.

“You know the Singaporean. He is a hard-working, industrious, rugged

individual. Or we would not have made the grade.

- 1977 The Wit & Wisdom of Lee Kuan Yew

Even from my sick bed, even if you are going to lower me into the grave

and I feel something is going wrong, I will get up.

- 1988 National Day Rally

On golfing: I used to play golf, but found it did not give me vitality

because it’s a slothful game… Nine holes of golf will take you one and a

half, two hours. I run in 20 minutes, I feel better off. So the cost benefit

made me drop golf.

- Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going

I have been accused of many things in my life, but not even my worst

enemy has ever accused me of being afraid to speak my mind.” 1955, The

Wit & Wisdom of Lee Kuan Yew

“You know the Singaporean. He is a hard-working, industrious, rugged

individual. Or we would not have made the grade.

- 1977 The Wit & Wisdom of Lee Kuan Yew

Even from my sick bed, even if you are going to lower me into the grave

and I feel something is going wrong, I will get up.

- 1988 National Day Rally

On golfing: I used to play golf, but found it did not give me vitality

because it’s a slothful game… Nine holes of golf will take you one and a

half, two hours. I run in 20 minutes, I feel better off. So the cost benefit

made me drop golf.

- Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going

I have been accused of many things in my life, but not even my worst

enemy has ever accused me of being afraid to speak my mind.” 1955, The

Wit & Wisdom of Lee Kuan Yew

Becky Quotes

Becky comes up with quotes on anything at random times or when she feels inspired.

1. Yes, I want something great, not mediocre. Just one amazingly great thing beats everything that is mediocre, small and passionless.
(love, passion)

2. If I were to spend time, effort and feelings on you. You better be great or make my feel great. Because when I am serious about you, I mean business and I will be loyal.
(love)

3. Nothing stays the same forever or more accurately put, you can never be a 100% sure if anything would stay the same forever. The only things that last forever are hope and faith.

4. In fact, if impactful enough, a short time spent with someone special could mean a lot more than a lifetime spent with someone ordinary...someone who is not so very special.

(love, romance, sarcasm)

5. And sometimes, just sometimes, you  don't need a whole lot of time to sass a person out, to figure out whether he/she has a good heart. It's instinct.

6. That is why friendship is like wine. The longer you have kept them, the more you can trust and enjoy them. 

7. Welcome mid-20s, welcome to the recognition of the real world and its increasingly shallow and boring way of life.

(age, growing up, humour)

8. I refuse to get sucked into this vortex of adulthood that robs you of your childlike innocence and the ability to find happiness in the simple things.

9.  The best relationships are the ones where your partner is your best friend too, you can poke fun at each other and laugh, dare them to do silly stuff and basically be as blatantly honest with them as possible.

10. Once a first date goes into an interrogation of my entire life or career plan, I am going to shut down.

(dating, sarcasm)

11. And if the guy is lucky, I will be able to control my discontentment and not tell him that he is boring to his face.

(dating, sarcasm)

12. I'd rather much be watching Pulp Fiction again in my room and eating yoghurt and cereal.

13. Quality and quantity go hand in hand most of the time. One cannot really live without the other for too long. They are like a married couple. One could be stronger by itself for a while but after some time, it needs support from its other half.

14. Your family members seem more like room mates than family.

(reality)

15. Romance: it might not take very long to like someone and eventually fall in love with them. But it takes time and patience to stay in love and to really understand that someone.

(love)

16. Things never stay the same, how u feel now may not apply tomorrow. So focus on the present and tomorrow will take care of itself. But when u have done your best, then you know u just gotta enjoy the ride.

money: a crushing disappointment.

When I was a child, I grew up in a loving Christian home.
I went to Sunday school every Sunday, from kiddie church to youth service and care groups.
I was taught many things, many values, and it has shaped the way I live my life, how I view the world.

Of these things, I was taught that the love of money is the root of all evil (1 Tim 6:10).
I was taught that you couldn't serve both money and God (Matt 6:24).
At a young age, this made perfect sense.
Money makes you greedy. Greed makes it hard for you to serve God wholeheartedly, because greed makes it about personal gain, and there will be no sacrificial love.
And it seems sort of true, money corrupts, so I came to the natural conclusion that money is bad.
This has not been a bad thing for me. Until now.

So it is fast approaching the end of my undergraduate degree, and as a soon-to-be arts graduate, there is a need to further my education to be relevant in this money-hungry soul-destroying world.
However, my personal choices of career paths are not legitimate to that of my parents.
I understand that they mean only the best for me, I understand that they want me to live a comfortable life, to have a well paying job, a nice house, a car that doesn't look like it's going to fall apart, to have stable finances such that I would be self-sustainable. Comfortable. I get it.

But it crushes me that at the end of the day, the success of a career in an Asian society is dependent on how much money the job brings in. Why? Why can't people see that sometimes, it's not about the money?

What if I chose a job that gave me more personal happiness and lifetime satisfaction and less money, than a job that has huge payouts but destroys my soul?

Which do you prefer?

Maybe I'm just too painfully idealistic. ):
The discrepancy between my formed values and the way of the world confuses me so much internally.
Now I'm left with, where did it go wrong?

25 Quotes YOU should read before your next birthday

1.  “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by

     the ones you did do."

     (Mark Twain)

2.  Good things come to those who wait.

3.  Carpe Diem.

4.  Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.
     (George Carlin)

5.  When the urge to exercise comes upon me, I lie down immediately until it has passed away.

     (Oscar Wilde)

6.  Don't assume malice for what stupidity can explain.

    (Confucious)

7.  “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
     (Eleanor Roosevelt) 

8.  The more you let yourself go, the less others let you go.
     (Friedrich Nietzsche)

9.  And now abides faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
     (1 Corinthians 13:13)

10.  “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the 

       really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”

       (Mark Twain) 

11.  “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”
       (Walt Disney) 

12.  “Every artist was first an amateur.” 

       (Ralph Waldo Emerson) 

13.  “The secret to staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age.”
       (Lucille Ball)

14.  “Man should forget his anger before he lies down to sleep.”
       (Mohandas Gandhi)

15.  “When angry, count to four; when very angry, swear.”
       (Mark Twain)

16.  “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”
       (Margaret Hungerford)

17.  “It is not beauty that endears; it’s love that makes us see beauty.”
       (Leo Tolstoy)

18.  “You are not special. You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake. You are the same decaying

        organic matter as everything else.”
        (Chuck Palahniuk)

19.  “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”
       (Gandhi)

20.  “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most
       responsive to change.”

       (Charles Darwin)

21.  “You know the only people who are always sure about the proper way to raise children? Those 

       who’ve never had any.” 

       (Bill Cosby) 

22.  “Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art… It has no survival value. Rather it is
       one of those things that give value to survival.”

       (C. S. Lewis)

23.  “Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” 

       (Abraham Lincoln)

24.  “It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages.”
       (Friedrich Nietzsche)

25.  “Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the
       imagination and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.”

       (Plato)

Quality VS Quantity

Quality beats Quantity's ass a 1000 times over.

Hell yeah! Or maybe I am not so sure either.......?

This age old debate just like Nature VS Nurture goes on and on and on....

It seems like a simple debate. On the surface, most of us would have easily chosen a side.

But if you delve deeper, there is more than meets the eye. 

Some things just need a little more time and patience to grow, to flourish. 

Sometimes, people too just need more time and experience to understand, to learn.

This is when 'quantity' comes into play.

(Quantity = Time) -> this shall be the equation that I will use in relation to this post. Many things, even with quality, need time to show how long the quality can last. 

If something is good but it only lasts for a short while, would you still say that the quality is good then?

What if instead of something, it is someone.

If someone you knew was really nice at the start but starts to turn unpleasant after a while, would you still say that this someone is a good person? 

I vote for Quality. That is only because life is unexpected. 

Nothing stays the same forever or more accurately put, you can never be a 100% sure if anything would stay the same forever. The only things that last forever are hope and faith.

Those two things would then determine the fate of whatever we hope to last forever. I hope so....

Reasons for why I chose and still choose Quality:

Romance

I guess now I realized that a short relationship shouldn't be undermined because despite its short 'life expectancy', a short relationship could be as meaningful and genuine as a long term one.

In fact, if impactful enough, a short time spent with someone special could mean a lot more than a lifetime spent with someone ordinary...

Someone who is not so very special.

Well, to incorporate facts and personal experience into this debate......

I miss someone whom i spent a couple of months with way more than I miss someone whom I spent a whole year with.

I felt more connected, learnt and grew more in a few months than I did in 'that' particular year.

Bottom line:

you could love and care for someone you knew for a shorter time more than someone you had been with for a while.

Maybe the reason why you stayed so long in the wrong relationship was because you (it really is me I'm talking about actually :/) were afraid of change and not because the relationship was a good one.   

The quality of a relationship or the 'experience with the other half' largely depends on the quality of the other person too. The quality of his/her character and his/her attitude towards life and others.

See, there is a difference being in love with a person for who he/she really is and then being in love with the idea of a person you want your other half to be. 

And sometimes, just sometimes, you don't need a whole lot of time to sass a person out, to figure out whether he/she has a good heart. It's instinct. 

Friendship

Hey hey hey! ( I don't know why but the song 'Blurry Lines" by Robin Thicke just came to my mind HAHA :D )

Okay, to be fair.

Quantity also comes to play here when it comes to friendships.

Friendships that I have made and sustained over my young life.

Why?

Because all my best friends come from the time when I was in school, some of which are friends I made back in primary school. When it comes to friends. I like to think of them as wine. The friendship gets better with time and age. My best friends are those who have seen me through puberty and my first love.

How awesome is that?

People that I do not need to recount my adolescent stories or embarrassing histories to. 

Unlike relationships (or boyfriends), friendships are not exclusive and do not come and go (as often). Usually, 'the more the merrier' applies in friendships.

So I add on new friends as I go along in life but I always remember the old ones.

For me, the older the friendships, the more memorable and special they are because unlike relationships, I can have as many 'partners' I want.

Furthermore, friends can go for months without contact but when you hear that familiar voice again, you could yak away like it was only a minute ago when the school bell rang, indicating it was time to head home. 

However, quantity could mean another thing when it comes to friendships. 

Quantity=Number. The number of friends (or should I say Facebook friends) you have.

Now, here is when quantity takes a backseat. It doesn't matter how many friends you have, it only matters how many are there for you when you need them. How many whom you really feel at ease with and can have a good time with....if you think hard enough...there probably isn't that many friends you could really call friends now hey?

That is when Quality wins the race. Quality of your friends sure beats the quantity of them. 

That is why friendship is like wine. The longer you have kept them, the more you can trust and enjoy them. 

Family

This is pretty straight forward.

Okay imagine this scenario:

you have been living with your parents and maybe your siblings and for some, a very adorable grandmother for a long time.

For way too long.

You start to grow up.

You become your own person.

But your parents always see you as their 'child',  someone who belongs to them.

Things get a little more tensed at home, you stop communicating much with your family.

Sometimes you guys greet one another but that is it.

No more chit chats, no more movie nights.

You come home and go straight to your room.

They get on your nerves easily.

Your family members seem more like room mates than family.

Then what?

Even if you spend many hours a day in the same house, there isn't much connection or a relationship. The close proximity and quantity of time spent together is too much to bear that you start taking your family for granted.

Maybe they too are taking you for granted.

Scenario 2:

You can't take it.

You move out.

You carve your own life out of the values your parents have instilled in you and make a living out of the opportunities and resources your family has given you.

You experience the harsh reality of not having your loved ones around you.

You miss them.

You call them to say hi, to ask how they are doing (something that never happened when you were staying with them).

You stop taking your family for granted.

You make an effort to visit or check up on them.

Yeah, those times might be few what with your busy schedule and distance barrier.

But hey, at least the times you actually speak to your family feel sincere and meaningful, unlike the old routine greetings that were more of a formality than real concern. 

Haven't you heard, absence makes the heart grow fonder? 

It isn't really about the time spent with your loved ones, it is about how the time is being spent. 

But ALL in ALL: Quality and quantity go hand in hand most of the time. One cannot really live without the other for too long. They are like a married couple. One could be stronger by itself for a while but after some time, it needs support from its other half.

Just like with Romance: it might not take very long to like someone and eventually for in love with them. But it takes time and patience to stay in love and to really understand that someone.

So I guess this is a tough one. The debate goes on. Guess it takes two hands to clap.

Disclaimer: (Yeah I am very bias, so don't just accept everything I wrote. No one experiences the exact same thing anyway. Tsk Tsk.)

in which I ponder about friendships

I was recently reading an article on the very humourous and entertaining Thought Catalog about the types of female relationships and I thought most of it was very apt. I went on to reflect on the various "types" of friends I had, and pondered on the relationships with my frenemies...

and then I decided it was too tiring and too much effort. Then I went to sleep.

---------------

I'm so sorry for the lack of posts. I was back in Singapore for my summer holiday, and whilst doing a correspondence Ethics unit (which meant assignments and more assignments), I also took a trip with my family to Taiwan and Bangkok, which was all very awesome and I did not want to leave my family and friends, and home, after being away for a year.

Coping with homesicky feelings and some bouts of "i-wanna-go-home"s but I am a lot better now, and will soon get back into routine.. I guess. Dread the start of the formal school term, but we will get there.

Many warm wishes (albeit belated) for the new year to all of you internet-folk.. (interfolk?) Happy new year! May more random things come our way so we have more random posts to post about. 

and um, 

Here's Little Britain Live to watch, it used to be one of Becky's and my favourite shows, and it's quite slapstick sometimes...

taa!