be someone that your kids will be proud of

確定會勝利才拼命的勝利得到也沒啥意思，夢想之所以動人，教人熱血沸騰，總是因為它們明明看來都沒有可能，然而我們卻以不為甚麼的堅持與勇氣拼盡全力，結果改變局面，用血和汗打開勝利之門啊。

sweetness bursting at the seams

Monsieur Lazhar

“I rejoiced, at the thought that I was going to live upon bread and milk, like a hermit in the Thebiade, plunged in the world of books and ideas, in an inaccessible sphere, in the midst of all the tumult of Paris, the sphere of work and of silence, in which, after the manner of a chrysalis, I was about to build myself a tomb, in order to emerge again brilliant and glorious.”

–Honore de Balzac

Monsieur Lazhar is a beautiful film about teaching as well as facing up to death / any other tough questions. The teacher (Monsieur Lazhar) faces up to his own past as he encourages his students to do so. He likens children to caterpillars, who must too build their own chrysalis and burst through on their own account.

It tells us very poignantly that shying away from problems is not going to make them go away. It shows us that children are mature enough to rise to challenges simply because they will naturally grow when required. Though some might deem it saddening that children should regard the stark reality so early on in their lives, I prefer to think that it is precisely these kids who will become the greatest of people when they grow up.

A Trek around the Peak, Mother’s Day, and the case with smart phones

Yesterday was the annual day of celebration for the unconditional maternal love that almost every human being experiences and can associate with.

It started out quite horrendously with waking up at 7am after a late Saturday night, and some grumpiness from everyone. Anyway, it was much better once we started walking (sports puts people in good moods again), but I’m sorry to say that my heart was not in the event at all – I was thinking about all the times I have had trips to the peak in the past few years – with Red Tokens during orientation, with the ex-co’s from other halls for 20hr Famine event organized by JHDC, with Beethoven (from which a photo with R was framed into a puzzle by the sons and daughters). It’s funny how going back to a place can trigger memories so poignantly. I found myself missing both S and R – people leave their marks, I’m not surprised, and I ain’t gonna refuse to admit these feelings either.

“Every man has within his own reminiscences certain things he doesn’t reveal to anyone, except, perhaps, to his friends.  There are also some that he won’t reveal even to his friends, only to himself perhaps, and even then, in secret. Finally, there are some which a man is afraid to reveal even to himself; every decent man has accumulated a fair number of such things. In fact, it can even be said that the more decent the man, the more of these things he’s accumulated… Is it possible to be absolutely honest even with one’s own self and not to fear the whole truth?”

Anyhow, we finished the trek, enjoyed a great ferry ride to TST, and had lunch at a Thai restaurant which Mum ended up really liking. However, we didn’t do much more for her. In fact, I had thought about making heart-shaped eggs for her, but just never got round to it? Sometimes I do think that I am the most lazy and ungrateful daughter in the world…

“I even believe that the best definition of man is this: a creature who walks on two legs and is ungrateful.”

At night I accidentally erased all the contacts, photos and whatsapp history from my phone while syncing it to my itunes. Brilliant! Why do I do this every time without learning from my mistakes? Remind me again of how the hero keeps making wrong judgments based on his fixated view of the world. Want to do something to instill more life in my life again. Maybe we can start with some sports tomorrow? ;]

QUOTES from Notes from Underground By Fyodor Dostoyevsky

為了想要得到自由，我在我身上插上翅膀
飛過高山，飛過河流，才發現我的自由全都只是想像
其實我都一直在逃避，逃避全世界最難以面對的自己
I just want to get away from me
I just want to get away from me
如此而已

為了無法忍受寂寞，我從你手中要走愛情
過了兩年覺得累了，我又在我身上插上翅膀
下一次我要走到那裡？逃避全世界最難以面對的自己
I just want to get away from me
I just want to get away from me
如此而已

H i i i i
H i i i i
H i i i i
Hide, hide away from me

And I just want to get away from me
And I just want to get away from me
如此而已

H i i i i
H i i i i
H i i i i
Hide, hide away from me
Hide, 我躲不掉我自己