Chosen

I am sure everyone has watched plenty of movies before where some dude or dudette gets chosen by some group, God, people to be the Hero. Here is a list of some of them.

The Lord Of The Rings (frodo, aragorn)
Spiderman ( spiderman)
Green Lantern ( can't remember the name)
Harry Potter (harry potter)
Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief ( i don't have to put the name here again do I ?)
Hercules
Lion King
Transformers (all 3 of them, Sam Witwicky)

AND MANY MORE. BASICALLY ALL MOVIES HAS THIS THEME. (well not all but most) where a man rises to the challenge and be the hero. If I am not mistaken, J.K. Rowling writes that Harry Potter is the Chosen One.

Today, I am going to write from a more Christian view if you do not mind. At church today, the altar server asked me to light the Advent candle. For those who do not know, Advent candles consist of four candles. Each week leading up to Christmas, one more candle will be lighted. The priest (father) not knowing that I had been called by the altar server to light it called me again to light the candle. Twice in a day is never a coincidence. Deep down in my heart, I know I have a calling to be involved in Christian work in the future. I just do not know when or how.

Meanwhile, all of us have been chosen somehow or rather to do something for someone or some group. In the eyes of many, to be the chosen one is always a privilege not knowing that it is a challenge itself to the person. There will be some that feels threatened by the person's sudden meteoric rise in popularity and there will also some that will be glad. More importantly, the person must regard criticism and compliment of them as important tools to guide him or her. Compliment must never be underestimated as it gives a sense of encouragement and optimism to the person. Constructive criticism on the other hand is important as well to help you improve.

Here's a food for thought. How many times have you been the chosen one?  And how many times have you rejected it?

Rule #1

Sometimes you're wrong. I remembered watching NCIS season 7 finale. In the episode, Gibbs write his own new personal rule which is rule#51. It says, " Sometimes you are wrong". You must understand that Gibbs isn't always one to admit his mistakes as he is somehow or rather correct for most of the time.

My point here is that I feel the need to make this rule my own personal rule as well. This is what hinders us to look at things from a different perspective as our pride takes priority over everything. For us human beings, we never like admitting we make a mistake. We like to think we are correct. Don't get me wrong. There is a difference between sticking to principles and being stubborn.

I myself am a stubborn character. Being stubborn is my greatest strength and yet my greatest weakness. I always know that and it's just something I live with. We all would like to be right and say that others wrong. Proving that someone else is wrong actually gives you some sort of satisfaction for some reason. Unfortunately, that can't happen for everyone, would it? If everyone is right, who has made mistakes then? Conspiracy theorists would be rich if they earn a nickel for every thing they say if that's that case.

In a nutshell, you and I just have to humble ourselves and be brave to admit that rule #1 applies to everyone of us.

The end?

I have successfully made it through foundation studies. I got to say it was a whole new ball game for me. During this year, it was tough, enjoyable, laughable, difficult, fun, exciting and definitely a steep learning curve for me. There are some new things I have learned about myself which can be of aid to me or capable of becoming a disaster to people around me in the future. 

I definitely didn't expect myself to surpass expectations set by myself in the beginning but I did in the end which is a blessing and a welcoming surprise. There are still some things I am working on and I am getting there ( i hope). In situations that needed me to hang on and be strong, I manage to overcome the timid me and lead my own way. 

There is no greater blessing than to be taken care by loved ones while being abroad and I know I am lucky. I have come to know many people from different places and they were all very kind to me and some became really good friends of mine. Facebook, Twitter and Skype has certainly been a great tool for me to keep touch with family and also plenty of good friends. 

It has only been a year and I am sure there is more to come in the near future. Thank you Lord for another great year and to all those that cheered me up and prayed for me when I am down, thank you very much. :) 

p.s. no one reads this blog. it's just a tool to express my emotions. :D

A Difference?

I realised that my blog says the Life and Mind of Xuric. I haven't really posted much about my life so i decide to dedicate this post to it.

What major event has been going on this year?
Turning 18 has to be one of the biggest things.

As you know turning 18 here means:
a) clubbing ( don't need fake IDs anymore)
b) drinking alcohol (yes, it's true. you don't have to sneak out anymore to buy beer)
c) others ( you know what i mean, i don't have to mention it)

zone-chanteq-collection.blogspot.com

By the looks of (a), (b) and (c), it calls time for celebrations. Ring the bells folks! FREEDOM AT YOUR DISPOSAL!!!! 

Then i ask myself, do I have to go clubbing? Do i have to drink lots of alcohol? Is there a difference between wanting to drink and go clubbing AND drinking and clubbing for the sake of "growing up". Sometimes I really don't have a clue. My friend who is younger than me, has a fake ID from some foreign country and goes clubbing frequently. Should I be part of that circle?

I guess at some point our lives, we have to try out stuff ( refer to lab rats post) but do remember there's a fine line between wanting to try out something new and being adventurous AND trying it because everyone is trying it. 

So each time we do something, ask yourself if the decision you are going to made is solely your opinion or is it because of pressure and influence from several people (i.e. peer pressure ... well peer pressure can be good and bad sometimes).  We are all afraid at times but sometimes we just got to take courage to face our dilemmas. I know i face more than a dozen of them and it bugs me the whole day. At the end of the day, we trust our instincts, the ones we love and God to guide us. :D

Have a nice day! 

Lab rats

I am sure we all been through it before. Yes we becoming lab rats. You never? OMG! I was. I remember i was abducted by a guy masked in black and being brought to a lab. I was laid on a shiny rectangular table, being strapped on to it. These bright lights (like those irresponsible idiot driver's car lights) were shining at my eyes. Dissected because of I had super powers. Oh, you didn't know. I can breathe and pea at the same time. Yea, IKR. It's a fantastic super power. Who am I kidding? I have never been abducted or whatnot before. Jokes aside. 

My point being at some time in our lives, we are going to have take that extra step to become lab rats ourselves. When we are at a new place, we got to try something new and go on an adventure. I am not asking you to smoke weed, do drugs and etc... As a matter of fact, a friend asked me today, have you smoked weed? I said no. His response was WHY? I said well, I don't want to. Other people try it doesn't mean I have to do it. Sure it looks cool on TV when famous music icon, Mick Jagger consumes it. But do remember there are consequences in everything. I do not need to tell you about those escalating accidents rates and suicides due to drugs. Nor do I need to mention about several lives of pop stars such as Lindsay Lohan and Amy Winehouse ruined by drugs and alcohol. 

What I am saying is that we should try become lab rats and take that extra step with caution and guarded optimism. Try new things and life will treat you better. But be careful no matter what. Anyways, that's all from me. Cheers! :D 

Close to home

Life isn't easy with so many complications and problems in relationships. We have to let go of certain things in life as we move on. To not change is to deny the existence of humans. As we aged, we change to

a) someone better

b) someone worse

c) or change the tiny things of life (habits, tradition....)

We are never satisfied with what we have. All the thoughts that run through our mind everyday is normally about a better life, a different situation and even wishing for a different partner. We constantly look at the other side of the field and forget about our own side that has already been filled with goodness and blessings. It's just something that we tend to do and it's part of us. Andrew Matthews, an author of how to be happy said that in order for us to be happy, we must be satisfied with what we are now. There is no point wishing for something different as you are not living in the moment. We would always be living ahead of ourselves and neglecting what is important currently.

When we were at "home", the place we were born or raised in, some of us are desperately trying to get out of there and wishing for somewhere else fancy like a metropolitan city. When we finally achieved what we wished, we want to go back to our "home" as we missed everything from the food to the smell of the streets. What exactly do we want?

"kiasu"

Kiasu is actually a very special word created back in 1953. It was used by Albert Einstein who himself was also quite kiasu. That's why he got so many theory come out. Theory this theory that. The word "kiasu" was created by Egyptians to be exact. Eh no. In fact the Mayans created it. Ok. fine, i know it's a pile of crap that i just made up. "Kiasu" actually means scared to lose. My friend once said that "kiasu" means ass. haha... well moving on. 1...2...3...

Question 1.

Have you met a guy who is very "kiasu"? (if you are one, then consider you met one then. :p)

Question 2.

Do you like "kiasu" people?

Question 3.

What's wrong with being "kiasu"?

These questions are self reflections about kiasu people. Ok. I have met a few kiasu people in my life and i myself is quite kiasu too. Is this bad or not? Well, basically, being scared to lose actualy causes us to be more competitive. It's not that bad a quality to have. That's how everyone persevere in the toughest of times. In fact, Donald Duck is a great example of kiasuness. Ok, back to reality. Being competitive and afraid to lose is good actually but sometimes people can get ... a little... to scared until friendships are lost and they become a sore loser. Just remember the fact that if we lose a game, we got to lose graciously and congratulate the opponent. Do not be a sore loser and get angry at the other guy for it is pointless. You accepted a challenge and you lost. So accept it gracefully and with that, your dignity is well preserved.

And that my friends was brought to you by 100 plus isotonic drink. Drink more to boost yr "kiasu"ness to 100. =D