August Rush and Life is like a Rollercoaster

We are almost reaching at the end of the year..the year 2007 passed us by like chariots of wings where the tide of time waits for no man. There are good and happy times, undeniably also bad experiences throughout the year. Why, I reckoned life is akin to a rollercoaster ride, at a point of a time in your life, you feel as though you are on top of the world and nothing can stop you from achieving your dreams. On the other hand, at another turn of the ride you plunged down to the depths of your sorrows and disappointments. But not to worry, rollercoaster rides are naturally to be, life is not like bed of roses, trouble free and living happily ever after. Rollercoaster rides make a person stronger and more resilient..Don’t give up hope to move forward and anticipate the next point for more excitement in your adventures. 2008 is at the brink of this anticipation. How are we going to look at 2007 and evaluate where we stand..are we left battered and limping that we are not fully ready to gear ourselves for 2008? I guess this year has been really fruitful for me although I do not have a fully-fletched work or earn big cash or even have my house of dreams to share with my beloved, yet I’m happy because I have done my best for this year: done my thesis, learn loads of new stuffs, my violin now in Grade 5 although I know next few levels are gonna be pretty challenging, playing jazz and hankering away on the piano..hehe learnt new programming skills, have lots of good friends, came out with this blog, attended memorable concerts, conferences, conventions and many more..life is good ^^ although it has its downs too like my favourite fish died

August Rush is a film telling a story of a young musical prodigy, abandoned at birth by his mother, and his search to find his parents. It is an incredible journey moving at the speed of sound and the music is everywhere. All you have to do is listen. I really would love to see this movie but I know currently it has not been released in Malaysia. It just reminds me of how good life is and it is like the journey described in August Rush..it can be incredible although it can be a bumpy ride if you know how to listen. Listen to what I hear you ask..It can be listening to your parents, friends, and even God..or your inner voice of your heart that is guiding you towards your dreams..and again, life is like a rollercoaster that through its unexpected turns of events, it can be largely rewarding at the end.

For the trailer, go to: http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/augustrush/

The Magical Perspective of Love

Just recently, I have recovered the knack of blogging again – thanks awfully to wordpress i’m still exploring wildly on open source blog software and customization tools: for a more convenient way to blog..hehe! Magic of Love; a recent song I have just heard from accuradio (www.accuradio.com) by Russel Watson oh..wait! being distracted by Vocalise from Rachmaninov..*faint i’ll elaborate later..Ok back to the topic, what is love? what is true love? I guess the Greeks explain the word “love” more specifically into 4 distinct type of senses: phileo(friendship), eros(passionate, romantic love between lovers), storge(family love), and agape(divine love or love of God) p/s: You can refer to the book called “The Four Loves” by C.S Lewis to find out more for yourselves – so what is love and why we need to love and be loved in return? Haha..the web (if u know which web I’m talking about: not Charlotte’s Web – though it is an inspiring story with a sad ending..oops) is pretty ingenious and now everyone can check their compatibility scores with one another before match making via a love calculator..love calculator?? love trivia?? love horoscope?? so back to the question-> what is true love?

There’s no absolute mantra, a set of formulaes to a successful relationship, but instead to experience the magic of love, you have to know yourself that love is magical itself, love doesn’t explain itself a lot..you can just feel when there’s love around..the people around you, your family and friends..there are 2 good books I would like to recommend which are written by Tony Parsons..hm I can’t recall how I know about the books but I guess I stumble and chance upon it during one of my bookshop strolls Man and Boy; Man and Wife are both good reads from Tony Parsons..I guess from these 2 books you can know what is love all about as they are both very well written, pacy, funny, and heart-breakingly moving. Here are some of the excerpts or abstracts on the 2 wonderfully-written novels that you should get ^^

Man and Boy is a fabulously engaging and exciting novel about a man who has to learn about life and love the hard way. Harry Silver has it all. A successful job in TV, a gorgeous wife, a lovely child. And in one moment of madness, he chucks it all away. Man and Boy is the story of how he comes to terms with his life and achieves a degree of self-respect, bringing up his son alone and, gradually, learning what words like love and family really mean..

The next sequel, Man and Wife narrates about love and marriage – about why we fall in love and why we marry; about why we stay and why we go. Harry Silver is a man coming to terms with a divorce and a new marriage. He has to juggle with time and relationships, with his wife and his ex-wife, his son and his stepdaughter, his own work and his wife’s fast-growing career. Meanwhile his mother, who stood so steadfastly by his father until he died, is not getting any younger or stronger herself. In fact, everything in Harry’s life seems complicated. And when he meets a woman in a million, it gets even more so… Man and Wife stands on its own as a brilliant novel about families in the new century, written with all the humour, passion and superb storytelling.

A gingerly dive into friendship?

What does a best friend mean to you? I have just came across some meaningful quotes from Anon. I particularly like the first one which talks about a sacrificial and selfless act.
“If all my friends were to jump off a bridge, I wouldn’t jump with them, I would be at the bottom to catch them”…Wow, I’m amazed because initially I thought diving off the cliff would sound pretty heroic when you sacrificed yourself..but the author put it interestingly that you should save them from their fall and be there to catch them when they fall. Bear with them their troubles, lend your shoulder to carry their burden, lend a hand to help them (it won’t hurt to help to someone!), and endure together the pain your friend has gone through. This is supported with the next quote: “A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out”. Those who walked or chickened out when you are in trouble, they are actually fair-weathered friends. True friends stick like a glue through thick or thin.

What is the true meaning of friendship? What defines who are your true friends? There are no certainties in a relationship; greedy takers always have sad endings..A list of dos and don’ts from a relationship-guru won’t help you either because theories alone don’t actually mean anything unless you go out and take risks, through your ups and downs you will learn and cherish something. There are no shortcuts and gingerly effort or careful approach makes a superficial friendship..Fairweather friends are pretenders and they don’t last long..True friends are like rough diamond and though you have been cut or hurt several times, they will be rare gems one day. Share your likes and dislikes, interests, pursuits, and passion with your best friends. Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for awhile and leave footprints on our hearts. And we are never, ever the same.

Lastly, I just love the simplicity of this particular quote when it says that “Everyone hears what you say. Friends listen to what you say. Best friends listen to what you don’t say”. From this quote, I can conclude that having mutual understanding and empathy in friendship is equally important as having great listening skills in relating and winning the hearts of people. To cap it all, there is no such thing in order to be close to someone to dive gingerly with calculated and carefully measured steps to foster strong friendship.