Back again

I know that pretty much nobody reads this blog, but to those of you out there, wherever you are, you may be glad to know that this blog has been revived. I don't know how long it will be alive again, but for now, I present this single post.

I have got a new motivation factor, and that is my New Year Resolution. While I was in Sydney for holiday, I rode a river cruise that went around the Sydney river. The cruise had a recorded commentary onboard that introduced the various places to us. One area that we went past was a residential zone located in front of the river. With a good view overlooking the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House, those houses were EXPENSIVE! According to the commentary, each one costs at least AUS$4 million! And thus was my New Year Resolution : To own one of those houses within 30 years.

4 million! Since I'm 16 right now, that would leave me until age 46. Since I'm a foreigner, and will not have to do National Service, I would get my bachelor degree at age 22. A master degree at 24 if I decide to do it. And a PhD at 28 if I achieve it. Give and take a little, leaving age 30, with 16 years left. That works out to 250 000 a year, and 20 000 a month. WOW. The most plausible ways to earn that much would be to start a business, invest wisely, or become a property agent. Whichever way it is, my next two years in the IB will be crucial. I have to do well these two years and beyond in order to get my house.

Yet, in life, things are easier said than done. First week of school has gone past without me studying much. Things have to change. The time that I spend on activities that are not goal-oriented have to be cut down. I have to stop thinking up lofty ideas that are simply too complex to excecute. Imagine all those plans I had to incorporate a study of Runescape into my EE! I guess in life, we have to be practical. Yes, we all have big plans to change the world. But there is nothing wrong with little steps that will pave the way for others. The movie Prince of Egypt is fairly accurate in saying that a piece of thread so thin and fine, plays its part in the grand design (of a carpet). The rock that sits on top of the mountain face, doesn't think itself greater than the one at the base. Why should we attempt to achieve goals through lofty means when a simple way will do just as well? In workplace jargon, the way to success is to KISS, which stands for Keep It Simple, Stupid.

Anyways, school has started, and for the first time, I see girls in the same school as me. So how exactly have the rest of us reacted? Well, I've seen some people socialize like no tomorrow. In the canteen, one boy was actually sitting with 3 girls! WOW! In a school with a boy : girl ratio of 5 : 1, that leaves us with 1/5 for each. And here we have a person having 3! Oh well, whatever floats your boat. As for me, I have almost no reaction at all. One of my friends said that he is not socializing much because he does not want to appear desperate, but for me, I don't socialize because I don't really want to right now. After all, I'm a self-proclaimed bachelor-for-life. Now, one of my juniors in SJAB said that I surely must "like" one of the girls, but he remembered that I'm a bachelor-for-life. That is almost polar opposite to someone I know, who told many people about his crush. In response to the latter, I told my friend that if I had a crush, I would hide it. One good way is to act as if I'm a bachelor-for-life! Haha. So in actual fact, do I like any of the girls or am I really a bachelor-for-life? That's for me to know and for you all to find out.

One thing that I enjoyed was watching Serendipity again. Channel 5 aired it about a week before Christmas, and it was nice to watch it again. In the movie, two people happen to meet each other by chance when they tried to buy the same pair of gloves that were the last ones available. They had a great time, but the female, decided to leave everything to chance by writing her particulars in a book and selling it to a store while asking the male to write his on a 5 dollar note before spending it. Of course, after a long wild-goose-chase and many other plot bunnies, they were finally together. Perhaps life is like that. If things are meant to be, they are simply meant to be. They will happen. But, I believe that destiny can be changed. We decide our fates. We humans are not robots after all. The difference between us and robots is in the word Willpower. Imagine a donkey equidistant between two bales of hay. If his actions are governed only by his desires and emotions, then he would remain there forever, since he cannot choose which hay to forgo. Of course, he will decide to forgo one for the other. Destiny is controlled by us. How we harness this energy called willpower determines our success in life. No matter what dreams we have, willpower will take us far and enable us to achieve them if we really want to. Dreams such as having a AUS$4 million house within 30 years...