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24.3.08
/ 7:38 PM was reading some websites talking about a particular incident that's happening in Singapore right now. there were jeerings, people shouting double standards etc... as i was reading these comments, 2 stories came to my mind - When Zhuge Liang started his northern expeditions, his subordinate, Ma Su, boasted that he could withheld Sima Yi's advance. However, Ma Su failed in his mission, and Zhuge Liang had to call off his whole campaign. Going "law by law" as he always did and propagated, he put his beloved general, Ma Su to death. At the same time, after solving the military crisis at hand, Zhuge Liang, as the overall commander, wrote a report to the Shu court, admitting his mistake for using the wrong person for the job, after which he requested to have his salary cut and rank lowered by 3 ranks, while continuing his duties as the Premier boh pian, if u propagate certain principles, you gotta do it the same to yourself when things go wrong. - Cao Cao led an army on campaign. Seeing fields of harvests, he passed orders to his soldiers not to disturb the farmlands, those who broke the rule will be beheaded. Suddenly, Cao Cao's horse went berserk and chiong into the corn field, destroying many farmers' fruits of labour. After that, Cao Cao ordered his followers to pin him down and chop off his head. Obviously hjs followers wouldn't do that. Then his advisor suggested that he cut his hair as a 'ceremony' to substitute that of his head, since the army cannont do without Cao Cao's leadership. In the past, hair cutting is a major thing in life as it was considered something sacred given by parents. And so, Cao Cao cut his hair, before ordering his troops to move on. Many will say that Cao Cao wayang wayang only, but he did "punish" himself. Indeed, he was the ruler, the king, the leader, not some little foot soldier, as such his life may be deemed as 'more equal' than others, but the fact was that he punished himself in public before moving on. 以古鉴今? |
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/ 10:57 AM *takes in a deep breath on the bank of West Lake in the evening* wah, the sense of relief and freedom, the feeling of no-longer-being-watched! ----- haha and its so funny talking to miss teekay over msn! don't forget our date ah! =p ----- random thoughts: its hard to find someone nowadays whom you can really share everything from the bottom of the heart with comfortably and safely, coz you'll never know... however, in a foreign land where everything starts anew, somehow your heart opens up more to people ----- in comparison to the vast lakes and rivers, high mountains and magnificent buildings, all your personal unhappiness turns so 微不足道 ----- no more tibet, planning to go 3 gorges before it vanished! most prob ill be going alone! love exploring out alone. coz you don't need to take care of others, you don't need to plan for others, life and death depends on yourself, you're only accountable to yourself (esp when you get lost on the streets!), and it tests your wits and guts! haha ----- and now its time for a 5000 chinese word HRM essay! :( |
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19.3.08
/ 2:01 AM shanghai = singapore + hong kong! yeps! i really feel it that way! in Shanghai, there's lotsa singaporeans! the moment i step out of the train station, i was like, "wah! am i back in singapore?!" and its real happy for me. a feeling of being back home, when i hear pple saying in the shopping center, "eh, this shirt nice anot ah/ can meh/ wah sian", or simply speaking in hokkien! and there are lots of singaporean-designed buildings in Shanghai too, one classic example is the Raffles City, its really the exact raffles city back in spore!! then like hongkong, shanghai's night is decorated with neon lights throughout the city! and the food here is.... WOOTS! got sheng jian bao, chou tou fu, and lots more which i can't remember! and just like hong kong, the clothes here are CHEAP! and its nice staying with yang, shirleen, see toh, ernest (my long lost twin brother! haha), kar meng and wei wei! its like back in singapore! wooohoo! when i miss singapore, ill visit shanghai! =) and that will be in May! haha! |
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17.3.08
/ 1:24 AM just got back from Shanghai. Wah, Shanghai is soooooo cool! I shall blog more about it tomorrow! =) ----- didn't blog earlier in the week coz was busy with translation work, personal matters, and packing for shanghai trip im glad that my personal issue had been settled. not very sure of the extent of the damage, but at least i did what i can to prevent it from getting worst. and since it had been settled, there's no need in talking about it anymore. what's over is over, and we've all moved on. (: for the person who chose to remain unknown, thanks, i really feel that you possessed the maturity and wisdom that surpasses many people at your age and my age too. ----- i shall use chinese for the rest of this post, coz i feel that it can better reflect how i feel, not towards anyone or anything in particular, just general comments... - 每个人在一生中都会遇到让自己遗憾的事，遗憾不能补救，但我们还是可以尽力地用诚意和努力去弥补的。至少我是这么相信的。 -最近我在学象棋，因为我真的很希望想起能够训练我的耐心和谦让的态度。 下棋的人常说，“一子走错，满盘皆输”。但输了并不代表不能从新再来。走错了一步并不代表就要放弃这盘棋。不战到最后一兵一卒，胜负如何没人知晓。就算最终还是会输，我们也应尽全力下好那盘棋，享受那下棋的过程。 对那些肯学的人，难道就真的要一局定输赢，不让他多下几盘来练习吗？ 没错，举手不回真君子：走错了就要认。 下棋最有趣的地方，在于当你已经想好了接下来的几步棋该怎么走时，往往会发生令你意想不到的事。 人生如棋。我的棋艺不好，还在学。 起步棋已经走了。。。 这回要赢得不是别人的“帅”，而是自己的“将”！ |
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13.3.08
/ 2:11 AM thanks to yang's recommendation, ive found a better way to access blogs! better not post up the link here, who knows if the chinese authorities might track it down! and so, ive decided to get my tagboard up again. (easier for people to niao me too! haha *looks around for hock*) ---- hais, take back my words, life in zhejiang uni is not really that relaxed.. i've 2 translation assignments to be done in 2 weeks time! the worst thing is that everyone thinks that being a singaporean, translation from english to chinese is an easy feat for me! that's not really the case lor... anyway, im quite proud of myself when my chinese classmates praised me for my chinese! hehe!! (okok! i know i must not be proud! =p) yea! going to shanghai in 2 days time! planning to go tibet with yang in april/may! btw to all readers, if you're thinking of going to china, better be fast, coz china is opening up real fast and a lot of tourist attractions are getting too commercialised already, causing them to lose its authentic feel... the world is really getting smaller and soon assimiliating into one. i kept saying such things last time, writing it, telling people about it, but never really felt it. now being overseas, i really saw with my own eyes how this is happening! just take hangzhou for example, in a cultural middle-sized city such as this, in approximately every 100 people, you'll see one ang moh, in every 15 students in zhejiang uni, one of them will be a korean. in cities like shanghai, according to yang, singaporeans built a "raffles city" there! and there are lotsa Singaporeans in Shanghai!! so perhaps we should really think twice when we say that there are too many foreign talents in singapore. maybe its our own problem not wanting to step out of that comfortable island. but looking at the other side of the story, you can't really blame singaporeans for haiving that mentality too. the CEO that hock mentioned in his blog said that mainland chinese and indians often volunteered to go overseas to work. i feel that the education system in these countries had a part to play in shaping that mentaliy as well. this is because due to their countries' education system, they had been used to moving around from province to province to study since young, so leaving home to stay abroad is not much of a problem to them. ----- on the more emotional side: - 度过了严寒的二月，我终于了解了《冬夜》的意境：冬天晚上的雨滴，很小但很锋利，当寒风冰雨打在脸上时，再坚强的人也会低头, 心里想着的只有"赶快回家"四个字。"家"指的是开着暖气的宿舍房间... ... - i was in a bookstore after lesson one day, and heard lee hom's 《落叶归根》... go read the lyrics, the skies in hangzhou was really what's being depicted in the song |
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8.3.08
/ 12:59 AM 《这一夜，woman 说相声》@ 杭州剧院 hey friends in singapore, esp my female friends, if this play ever come into singapore, do go and watch it, i sincerely recommend it to all of you! its a show by 赖声川 and its damn good! brought out in a relaxed and comedy manner, this play is about the plight of women, both in the past and present. it depicts the struggle and search for female's identity in the modern, ever-changing world by women themselves. in between, the playwright brought in issues such as issues such as marriage, taiwan politics, taiwan history. i was quite touched by the story, and really sympathised with the plight of women, the unseen pressure and social norms that they have to comply to etc... 看话剧最令我感动的时候，是当帘幕落下时，全体目前幕后人员站在台上接受所有观众的起立与掌声。 ----- thanks hock for asking about charisma for me. haha, shall add what the CEO said into my research on it! ----- i've always and still believe that with effort and time, everything can be changed and can be trained. 这几天我一直在想：我应该在这个不停变化的世界里为自己找什么样的定点呢？ 也许我已经找到答案了 |
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7.3.08
/ 12:32 AM "做人只要有骨气，不吹牛，不打架，努力读书，就算穷，到哪里都会受人尊敬的" -CJ7 this statement is so confucian! but frankly speaking, have you thought of what you've been studying for? for degree? for money? or simply just for character development? have you thought about what you want to be next time? to make big bucks? to be successful? what is success? ----- in singapore, 2 hours seems like a long time in hangzhou, 2 hours pass by very fast... china is a damn good place to train your patience looking forward to the shanghai trip next weekend! =D |
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5.3.08
/ 10:34 PM qn: how do you know that you've been accepted and assimilated into your new place of residence? ans: when someone approached you and asked you for directions, and thanked you for the help. - yes, it happened on me.. is it a good or bad thing to look like a hangzhou-ese? hmm... |
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