Your Rules

"Guard that commitment you have. And by the same nature, you must abide by those boundaries.

When you are on the train tomorrow, listen to Lady Gaga and ask: what exactly makes Jason, Jason. What are your rules, what are your boundaries and what are your principles.

Whatever happens you need to be able to face yourself and say: I have conducted myself well."

And to be able to live with the reflection on my mirror.

If

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

- Rudyard Kipling

Singapore's Summit

I read today that Sitting is Killing You. And thus, I was motivated to get off my butt, away from my computer and up Bukit Timah Hill.

I kid. I already made plans to climb to Singapore's summit before reading that article, but it makes so much sense. We weren't made to sit down for long hours at a time and not even spurts of exercise changes that fact! (I hit the gym in the morning too.) I hope all the small things add up - walking, not sitting while on the train, extended periods of outdoors like these...

I underestimated the climb to the top. And it amazed me when I saw an elderly couple make their through the trails. I think they'll live to a hundred!

My legs. They are killing me. I hadn't exercised much during Feb and Mar and now I'm paying for it!

I'm going to indulge in this lifestyle - freedom and the great outdoors - for awhile before I start working. Then it'll be a whole different ball game.

Cheers (Drink to That)

My friend and I were chatting a few days ago and we came across the term "best friend". How do you define it? What constitutes a best friend? Do you have someone to call your best friend?

I learned very early on that it's hard to have one best friend. Everyone's different and you just find that you enjoy different things with different people. The chemistry's different with different people. You talk about different things to different people... and different people fulfill different needs.

My take is that a friend is someone who would support me through my nonsense. It's difficult not to judge, especially when I'm not very sensible even at the best of times. So to me, a friend would simply be someone I feel comfortable talking to when the going gets tough.

I don't view friendships as transient but they're certainly hard to hold on to! They take a lot of time and effort and sometimes even with that, you just grow apart, for no reason. Priorities change, opinions differ, throw in a conflict or two and sometimes... sometimes you find it easier staying at home staring at the computer.

Perhaps it isn't that complicated. It doesn't matter if we're friends for a day or a year. Just as long as we've crossed paths, made each other smile and made a moment in life happier, we're friends.

Cheers, I'll drink to that.

Rebirth

With her performances of the track and her arrival in the vessel during the Grammys, Gaga challenges the audience's idea of what it means to be "Born This Way". Is birth finite or infinite? Does it happen once or over again? Can you be reborn?

In the interview with Fuse, she also mentions that one has to honour his creativity or "it will tell you to fuck off and it won't come to dinner any more!"

Then it struck me. I haven't been honoring my creativity. I feel uninspired. I haven't been writing. I haven't been creating. I haven't been working hard at mining the ideas that came to me. And now they won't turn up when I need them to.

So the solution is this - a rebirth. A fresh start. Which was why I changed the skin of the blog. For a clean slate. To represent a new era and new ideas. It's a return to a passion and a lifestyle, to be sharing thoughts. I find that I learn more about myself when I sit down and go through this process of writing.

May this (new) journey be a rewarding one.

Era

It feels like a new era in Singapore politics. WP won a GRC. MM and SM announce that they will not be in the up-coming cabinet.

It feels like a lot of frustration. Studying for the last paper. This Internet & New Media is abstract. I guess it's my fault for not attending the lectures but these slides - they are not understandable.

It feels like music is coming alive again. Especially with Lady Gaga. Born This Way. Judas. Edge of Glory. Britney's fantastic Till The World Ends is being followed by I Wanna Go. Kylie is coming for a concert in June.

It feels like something new is in the air. A lifestyle change because someone has promptly made his presence felt.

It feels like a different stage in life. I'm going to graduate. I'm going to find a job. I'm nervous. It's scary. I still don't know what I want, but the difference is that I'm going to have to take action! Not sit around waiting for things to happen!

And maybe you're right after all. There's no happiness in the future, only in now.

Rejuvenated by the Sun

Went to Cafe Del Mar last week. Finally a bit of sun, sand and sea. A great prelude to Bali in June! Can't wait.

Your Criteria

I'm not here to tell you who to vote because that is clearly the job of the candidates.

However I feel the need to say this: Vote on who you think is best for the country. Vote for the country's interest. Vote because the policies will have impact on your fellow countrymen. The people you see every day, your family, your friends, the man on the street... Singaporeans will be affected by your vote. Vote logically and vote because you feel that what you're doing is right for the nation.

We can all believe different things and that's what makes a democracy. To me it's fine that we disagree. In fact, maybe it is the most interesting thing that we should disagree - we have no idea how the polls will turn out. It is the choice of the majority that will prevail.

But the most important thing is to think. Do not take what you hear from the Opposition at face value. Do not accept everything you read about the PAP from the Straits Times. Hopefully by now you'd have attended rallies, read widely, watched videos, discussed with your friends... the conclusion however, is entirely your own, and whichever you decide, so long as you have done it with thought and you are convinced that what you are doing is right, I am convinced that your vote means something to the election candidates and to the nation.

Do not vote on petty things. Do not base your vote on only emotions. Do not just base your vote on rational thinking. Reject all that is limiting. It is not good enough that the country has money but no heart. It is not good enough that the country has a heart but starves to death.

So make your best decision, a decision you can be proud of. Make a decision that you know will make your country a greater one for everyone around you. Make a decision for the future you want to see.

Make a decision for the nation and you only need to account to yourself. That is my greatest wish for all those voting this election.