Ash's Joys

Past few days have really been a blur. Just came and went by. So quickly. As a note, it's another 364 days to my next Birthday. Yep.

Wanna THANK everyone for their well-wishes and for the gifts as well.

My greatest wish this year, is as the song goes,
that our dreams will always stay big and our worries always stay small.

We will keep on moving on, treading onto new paths and directions, even though sometimes we might stumble, fall, and get hurt.

Enjoy!

Rascal Flatts - My Wish

I hope that the days come easy and the moments pass slow,
And each road leads you where you want to go,
And if you're faced with a choice, and you have to choose,
I hope you choose the one that means the most to you.
And if one door opens to another door closed,
I hope you keep on walkin' till you find the window,
If it's cold outside, show the world the warmth of your smile,

But more than anything, more than anything,
My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to,
Your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small,
You never need to carry more than you can hold,
And while you're out there getting where you're getting to,
I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,
Yeah, this, is my wish.

I hope you never look back, but ya never forget,
All the ones who love you, in the place you left,
I hope you always forgive, and you never regret,
And you help somebody every chance you get,
Oh, you find God's grace, in every mistake,
And you always give more than you take.

But more than anything, yeah, and more than anything,
My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to,
Your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small,
You never need to carry more than you can hold,
And while you're out there getting where you're getting to,
I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,
Yeah, this, is my wish.

My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to,
Your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small,
You never need to carry more than you can hold,
And while you're out there getting where you're getting to,
I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,
Yeah, this, is my wish.

This is my wish
I hope you know somebody loves you
May all your dreams stay big

Another example of erratic timings in my world now...
Night shifts aren't always eventful... but there's always something to be done.
I'm practically already conditioned into this kind of schedule. No worries for me :)

Some food for thought. Just a random piece-together of my thoughts. Hope it makes sense at all, 'cause I just wrote down whatever came to mind...

Wonder if we have all been caught up in this busy world and have forgotten the most simple things that actually bring us joy.

Many of us just spend our whole lives cooped up in work. We're the ostriches of the modern time, though we don't bury our heads in the ground; we bury them in our books, papers, computers...

Maybe it's just the age we live in now... a world so full of expectations, competitions and comparisons... just a few of the things that we have been conforming to for a long, long time I guess.

Someone always seems to expect something out of you, even if it might be yourself...
Then we find ourselves competing against others for positions...
At the same time, we're constantly compared to others' progress...

It's true, many of us do these in the course of achieving success and happiness.

But... What is true happiness?

Is it when we pursue after our dreams?
Is it when we start to make headway into fulfilling our dreams?
Or is it when we finally see ourselves where we want to be?

Truth is, you don't have to be successful to be happy. Look around you... there may be people who are much less fortunate as you are, YET, they are able to find happiness in many different ways, be it in the little that they have.

Has the environment really hardened many of us into what we are today?

The harsh reality is that we neglect many things around us in pursuit of our own warped ideas of success and happiness.

Having a few questions about a few simple things...

Why, have out priorities changed so much over the times?
Has success got in the way of family and friendship, so much that we value position over kinship?

Why, can't people slow down just to appreciate the rainbow as the skies clear after the rain?
Has society sped up so much that we can't take some time off the just enjoy our surroundings?

Why, does it seem that we lose things much easier than we find things?
Maybe we're too caught up in so many things that we don't notice the details?

Why, can't some people just accept failure as part and parcel of life?
Have we forgotten that what matters is what we have learnt and what not to repeat?

True happiness is shared with the people around us... having a passion and sharing a passion with others. Then, when we reach the top, achieve what we've set out to do, that we have people to celebrate with.

Consider the following. We humans are social beings. We come into the world as the result of others' actions. We survive here in dependence on others. Whether we like it or not, there is hardly a moment of our lives when we do not benefit from others' activities. For this reason it is hardly surprising that most of our happiness arises in the context of our relationships with others. - Tenzin Gyatso, The Dalai Lama

Also, happiness comes from the heart.

Happiness cannot come from without. It must come from within. It is not what we see and touch or that which others do for us which makes us happy; it is that which we think and feel and do, first for the other fellow and then for ourselves. - Helen Keller

Most importantly, don't forget that even though one door is closed, there will ALWAYS be another opened for us.

When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us. - Helen Keller

Don't always be in a rush to do things. Sometimes we take too many shortcuts to do things... we may grasp the idea of how things are done, but what about others' behind us? Are we really going to skip so many steps that others who are following get confused and lost? Sometimes, it doesn't hurt to spend more time going through the entire process. It helps in the learning process, and it's how you figure out where mistakes are made, and how to solve the problems you encounter. That way, everybody learns, and everyone benefits.

There's always a time for everything we do. Some things should be done now... others later, and others, maybe not at all...

From the Bible:

For everything there is a season,
And a time for every matter under heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die;
A time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal;
A time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to seek, and a time to lose;
A time to keep, and a time to throw away;
A time to tear, and a time to sew;
A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate,
A time for war, and a time for peace.
- Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

In the right season...
Find, and do things that are worth fighting for...
For the people around us...
For true happiness.

Passed it!!! Haha.

If you're wondering what, it's the adv theory test for driving.

Was delibating whether to press the "End Test" button for a while... couldn't decide at all... but I finally did, and I'm happy :)

Now on to the practical test.
More lessons coming up!!!

xD

Have been putting a lot of smiley faces around here and there.

Yep, wanna keep a smile on my face wherever I go.

I'm really stuck here now. Adv Theory on Wednesday, and my book's at home... GREAT JOB Ash...

Ashley is so looking forward to the end of October.
Ashley is waiting for the middle of November.
Ashley is also waiting for the end of December!!!

Yeah, Ashley is still in camp today, and tomorrow. Means that he has 1 night... yeah ONE night to cram everything into his head. Yeah... CRAM... Teehee

:O

Crap.

He presumes he's kinda dead.

Hurhur.

Back to the waiting for the months... and Ashley has decided he's not gonna type in 3rd person anymore cos it's irritating him. Takes less effort to type "I" rather than "He"... even though it's only 1 letter.

Something's happening at the end of October.
Asia Conference in the middle of November.
Christmas at the end of December.

I'm gonna be like super free on those occasions.

2 weeks off during the Asia Conference, and I'll get to go for X'mas as well. SO HAPPAY!!!

Another 2.5 more months to go before the end of 2008. Wondering what will come this coming 2010. Many things have definitely taken flight this year, considering that so many new things have happened, and so many new opportunities have come my way.

Have begun to do some, doing some now, and completed others. I think this year has been a very fruitful year as it is already. Yup. There have been many changes here and there but changes would and will always be around all of us. Just a matter of how we adapt to them.

It has already been a meaningful year for me. Wonder how it really went for you guys reading this now. Hopefully, you've all experienced things that have enriched and empowered you.

2.5 months to go.

Don't really know what might or can happen during this period of time, many things that we might not have expected can happen and just suddenly change the environment around us. The changes may be drastic.

But guess what....
I'm ready for it and I'm gonna meet it head-on.
ARE YOU?

JIAYOU! JIAYOU!

Bic Runga - Sway

Don't stray
Don't ever go away
I should be much too smart for this
You know it gets the better of me
Sometimes
When you and I collide
I fall into an ocean of you
Pull me out in time
Don't let me drown

Let me down
I say it's all because of you

And here I go
Losing my control
I'm practising your name
So I can say it to your face
It doesn't seem right
To look you in the eye
And let all the things you mean to me
Come tumbling out my mouth indeed its time

Tell you why
I say it's infinitely true

Say you'll stay
Don't come and go
Like you do
Sway my way
Yeah I need to know
All about you

And there's no cure
And no way to be sure
Why everything's turned inside out
Instilling so much doubt
It makes me so tired
I feel so uninspired
My head is battling with my heart
My logic has been torn apart

And now it all turns sour
Come sweeten every afternoon

Say you'll stay
Don't come and go
Like you do
Sway my way
Yeah I need to know
All about you

Say you'll stay
Don't come and go
Like you do
Sway my way
Yeah I need to know
All about you

Its all because of you
Its all because of you

Now, it all turns sour
Come sweeten every afternoon

Its time, tell you why
I say it's infinitely true

Say you'll stay
Don't come and go
Like you do
Sway my way
Yeah I need to know
All about you

Say you'll stay
Don't come and go
Like you do
Sway my way
Yeah I need to know
All about you

Its all because of you
Its all because of you
Its all because of you

--

Beautiful song...
It's all because of you.

Night shift.

Explains why I'm still here at 3.15am.

Haven't been even feeling tired at all... guess I've been sleeping too much in the mornings xD
Nights aren't always eventful. Don't want things going on either... just leaving it the way it is now would be perfect.

Either way, haven't been putting anything in here lately. Don't really seem to have anything to anyway. It's already the weekend...

Saturday...

The week really went by so quickly. So many things have come and passed. Haha. Just finding myself relaxing a bit here and there now.

Well, anyway, back to the movies :)

--

Movie-addicted.

HAPPY CHILDRENS' DAY!

Well... there's always that kid in us right? Hahas. Enjoy this day as I believe that it belongs to everyone, young and old.

:)

Busy day today with the kids. Dunno why, but today felt different. Really different. The atmosphere was just perfect. Perfect.

Packed...
Seriously...

The turnout today at Children's Day Service was just overwhelming. Imagine the auditorium filled with so many kids, that there was almost no space to walk...

Woohoo.

Can't wait to see something like that happening in CG. Believe it's soon. Yeah... SOON!

I'm excited.

"If you create an act, you create a habit. If you create a habit, you create a character. If you create a character, you create a destiny." - Andre Mauro

I believe.

"Believe and act as if it were impossible to fail." - Charles F. Kettering

NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE