Learning a lesson in life

I met this person who told me a sob story. So to anyone reading this, it must be like wtf, it's just another sob story right? Well, listen up cause here's a story with a valuable lesson in life.

Ever since she knew what was going on around in her world, she's been living in a foster home. And her foster parents were abusive towards kids. She and her brother was then brought to live with their grandmother. Shortly after, her mum died when she was 8 leaving her with no knowledge of who her paternal father is. Her brother and her then moved into another house where they were locked down like prisoners. She had the common bout of drug issues during her teenager lifehood and was in several group homes appointed by Child Protection Services. She ran away from them repeatedly and her life was messed up totally by the guys she met and pretty much everyone around her. Despite so, she continued striving hard and attempted to get back into school when she was 18. But so it happens that she got pregnant and had to give up her studies once more. Now, she struggles to make ends meet working long hours each day and never forgetting her dream of completing her studies.

Sounds like the stories you watch on TV? Well, it isn't what happened to her that is surprising. It's her attitude towards her past and life that is pretty damn impressive. She ended her summary of her life by saying to me, "I don't ever dwell on the past, things happen for a reason and that's why I'm here today. It doesn't matter what decisions have been made wrongly previously, it's the actions today that matters now."

I couldn't reply her. She had so much maturity for a 22-year-old that's been through some shit. She makes me feel shameful of myself. I've been gribing and bitching about my life and thinking I've been through some tough shit and I shouldn't be deserving this or that. And she just looks at me and continued "Everyone has their own story to tell, whether it's tough anot it's all about perspective and how you look at it. I don't feel ashamed about my past and neither do I want people to pity me when I tell them about it."

It's probably also the way she views her past that really sends a bolt through my mind. It's awakening to me. Maybe you can't feel it reading through the words I type, but I really want to share this with people because I think it is probably the biggest life lesson I've ever learnt. And especially from someone I'd never thought I could learn things from.

Digital-D

Wah.. Today ah.. We went up the 秋明山 .. It was like DIGITAL D ah..
The curves of the roads coupled with the beautiful weather... Shiok ah!

Check out the pictures right here!!!!

Btw, the mountain is Catalina Mountains. Peak about 10000ft tall. Pretty cool.

Shopping Sprees!

Hah. Just washed and hung up my clothes and realized I've been shopping.. quite abit..
I remember buying 20pcs of hangers to put up my clothes when I first arrived.
I think currently the number hangs at about 50 hangers in my wardrobe!
Looks like I'll be needing to ship stuff back soon. Darn!

Mind vs The Sky

Was in my friend's convertible driving back home when I was staring up into the skies to enjoy the scenic view of the stars. Well, pretty much everywhere else has nicer night skies than Singapore because of its lack of cloud cover in the places I've been to. Then a sudden thought struck my mind:

Isn't the mind just like the night skies?
Where it seems so infinite and vast
Isn't the memories just like the stars?
Where some just stands out from the rest
Not forgetting the distant feel that seems to be the same

Los Angeles - Home of the Stars

Just returned from L.A. Had a whooping great time at the different attractions and ultimate shopping spree!

Day 1 - Outlet shopping the entire morning till late afternoon. Followed by City tour of L.A. where we drove through Hollywood Boulevard to take a quick peek at the street of Stars! Day ended with fabulous dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Restaurant down at Santa Monica Pier. (Scene from Forest Gump)

"Stupid is as stupid does"

Day 2 - Started off with thrilling roller coaster rides down at Six Flags - Magic Mountain. Being the standard kiasu Singaporeans, we reached there just when it opened and was rewarded with queue-free rides the entire morning! Played tons of carnival games and got too many soft toys with nowhere to put them. Proceeded on to visit the Ripley's Believe it a not museum, Guiness World book of Records and the Hollywood Wax Museum. Talk about information overload! Thereafter, we sped down the tracks of" Grand Prix" in a Go-Kart alike track named Speedzone. 0-60mph in 3 seconds? You betcha!

Day 3 - Went on a photo-taking trip to the famous Rodeo Drive where Hollywood stars love to be seen at and then to the "Hollywood" mountain. Couldn't resist a second round of shopping at another outlet store!

Check out the pictures!

第二次

人活在一生中, 能有几个第二次机会?

错过了, 还想重来是贪婪或者是不服输?

我不知道

过去的每一秒, 都已属于回忆中的一部分.

无论是美丽的, 还是残忍的, 终究无法挽回.

我享受过无比的刺激与快感,

曾见过屹立不倒的山丘, 也看过了缠绵不休的溪水,

只有爱情, 我不曾感觉过永恒的存在.

Updates

Busy busy studying and working! Life's simple but pretty enjoyable here. Everything is going on pretty smoothly so I guess that's a good thing.

Been hearing this song quite alot recently. Just ironically stirs some thoughts.

Rihanna - Take A Bow

Oh, How about a round of applause
Yeah, A standing ovation
Look so dumb right now
Standing outside my house
Trying to apologize
You're so ugly when you cry
Please, just cut it out

Don't tell me you're sorry cause you're not
Baby when I know you're only sorry you got caught
But you put on quite a show
Really had me going
But now it's time to go
Curtain's finally closing
That was quite a show
Very entertaining
But it's over now
Go on and take a bow

Car Servicing

Finally took some time off to send the car for some basic servicing. I had already noticed my front right tyre having a leak so told them (mechanic) to do a patch at the same time.
When I returned an hour or so later, another sales assistant was standing at the counter to serve me. So he told me, based on the work order form he has, the tyre patching wasn't possible! I was pretty upset and disappointed as the tyres here costs pretty much and I know that I had to change a set of 2 minimum.
Luckily, after checking again further with the original sales assistant who served me, it was verified that the tyre was patched.
Apparantly, the initial finding was a nail stuck at the side of the tyre, thus making it not possible to patch it up. However, the mechanic then found another nail in the middle of the tyre and he patched that one up and realized that the nail at the side was very short and thus did not damage the tyre itself at all.
I was just thinking some random thoughts about this incident and I just felt that sometimes in life, there are those things that never really matter but will always be there. Whereas there'll always be those that did matter which can be patched up.

Phoenix Trip 03/07

It was the independance day weekend so we had a long 3-day break which was pretty refreshing. Instead of heading up to San Diego which we initially planned, we decided to drop by Phoenix (Arizona) because there were only 3 days and a 6-hour road trip to SD just wasn't worth it.

So we ended up heading towards Phoenix for its amusement park which turned out to be pretty disappointing. It was made more for kids and the rides did not look attractive at all.
However, we still had a great time playing arcade games for about 2 hours. It was nostalgic to be playing these games at 20++ years old. (ahem, our age is a secret).

Subsequently we pressed on for lunch at the all famous American Steak House - Texas Roadhouse! The portions were huge naturally and we almost died eating! But that was good of course. I must recommend the Ribs in this place, it really melts in the mouth. Just above the standard of Tony Roma's in my opinion.

The next and most fulfilling destination of the trip was Factory Outlet Shoppings! The prices were ridiculous. Apart from the usual lower prices in the factory outlets, there were further discounts! Could you imagine discounts on discount is like.. CHEAP! Anyway, we all had great fun shopping like crazy. Walked for almost 4 hours plus. Made the 2 hour drive to Phoenix all so worth it at the end.

So that was the beginning of this 3-day weekend. And I believe more is to come tonight!
Check out the picture links I added in at the side.

Car Wash

I think I haven't washed a car in years maybe. As in really scrubbed and wash and dry and vacumn. But yea, that's what preoccupied my entire afternoon today. Put on a good scrub on the white Mustang and well, I must say I still can't make it look brand new of course. But probably made it look at least a 5 year old instead of a 9 year old. Well, but if you really want to put a definitive statement on the difference, hell it just makes me feel better thinking it's younger!
But this time round, I put it through the machine wash though. Hah! So perhaps next time I'll be scrubbing this baby myself.

Settling In

I think after a week of staying in Tucson, Arizona, I've pretty much settled in. Looking forward to the long weekend that's coming up thanks to Independance Day. As of now, the plan would be to take a road trip down to San Diego and enjoy the beautiful beaches.

Could never forget the time I visited SeaWorld in SD when I was 7. Something that happened there had deeply etched a memory in my mind. But I could never recall what was it. I only remember it was a fun-filled place with nice performances by dolphins and other sea animals. And of course mentioning about the 1991 USA trip, I could always remember this pretty 19-year-old girl then (I was 7) who took great care of me throughout the trip. How I wish I was young again!

Will be starting work tomorrow after a long break (Almost 2 months?). Everything really seems like a new lease of life at the moment. I pray it's falling on a good start.

First week in Tucson

Finally arrived in Tucson after a long wait. A fresh start for everything. Here are some pictures of my apartment and car!

Here's the car I bought for just 7k USD. A Mustang Convertible!
It's pretty old but still able to kick some ass. But of course it loses to the Porsche Boxster my friend's driving. Damn!