The Art of Failing

Nobody likes to fail. Everybody i know strives to do well in life. In their career, family relationships and even getting front row seats at Christina Aguilera's concert. I wil have it! I must have it! i will beg borrow and steal to get it! Well i must add that i am fan but not to that extreme.
My recent failure came in the form of failling my 2.4km run in IPPT. (See how i mentioned that i failed my 2.4km run only but not that i failed my IPPT on a whole. This way i am assured that people know that i pass the rest of the stations. Not everyone takes failure very lightly.)
I have not failed my IPPT ever since i pass out from BMT mind you. It struck me harder than i thought it would. I felt like i was trash and rubbish for having failed my IPPT.
Nevertheless, it was a wake up call. A call to action to regain my fitness. A call to take control of my discipline level. A lesson that should have stuck with me after the rigorous training in OCS. It is strange that i only grown to appreciate such training on hindsight. As much as i don't want to admit it, it did me good. It push my threshold for pain further than i thought i could acheive.
Through the failure of my 2.4km run and only my 2.4 km run, i've come to realised that failing is probably an art. Something that not many will learn to appreciate and appeals to different likings.
It is perhaps an acquired taste that not all connoisseurs would grow to love. It is like Smelly fried bean curd and Paris Hilton's song, something that you know you shouldn't like because it stinks and everybody agrees but deep down you like it.
Not that you want to fail and fail again, but you actually grow to accept it as part of life and move on with the newly acquired lessons learnt.
Failure gives you reason not to fail again. When you fail again it gives you more reason to push yourself further. Many people in life have tasted failure and never wanted to go near failure ever again. That's a total mistake! It should push you further. It should be like cold calling, you are afraid the first time second time and even the third time, but as you do it long enough you become accustomed to it and you actually fail less after that.
Not that i have lots of experience on failing but i am actually learning this fine art of failing in my life now. I will always fail in areas in my life, but the most important thing of all is to learn to fail so that you succeed .

The pursuit of Happyness

What defines Happiness? Who decides who is happy and who is not? Happiness means different things to different people. To a mother, it may be seeing her child grow up strong and healthy. To a Son to see his mother and father enjoying each others compnay even in old age.
The truly weird thing about happiness is the fact that most of us think we know what will make us truly happy, but the fact of the matter is... we don't.
To me, happiness is not earned but rather given. Most of the time it is the smallest and most insignificant things in your life that truly makes you feel that you are living in happiness.
Happiness catches you in the most unexpected way, u could be down and out in your work life or in relationship but when you stop pursuing your definition of happiness and let go just for one second. Suddenly you will start to realise that happiness starts pursuing you. Impossible as it may sound but it happens.
My definition of happiness would be that i will have enough money to allow me to stop working for the rest of my life and pursue what i always want to do that i have no money and no time for. Then you hear stories of people who have achieved that and can't wait to work again simply because their life got too mono and too boring. What gives?
Life is like dancing they say, you take a step forward and you may take one or two steps backwards. Ultimately, you end up where you started.
If there is a conclusion that i want to put to this post is that, be happy and when things don't turn out the way you think they should, don't fret, let go. Let happiness pursue you. Being happy could be sharing a drink or two with good friends and good company at fashion bar :) or even a good movie that makes you laugh and cry at the same time. Savour that moment when it comes but learn to let it go to welcome that next moment.

The Bund

6 days in Shanghai, 3 days of preparations, 3 days of exhibition. Preparations includes sitting in a fancy bar on the 6th floor on the Bund overlooking the night scenery better known as "Ye Shanghai." This is to prepare the mind, give it some rest and you will have less stress.
Sitting there overhearing the many different travellers (Japanese, French, Germans etc.)who had stumbled into the same bar as i had made, wonder about the possibilities of travelling to the many other cities in the world. New York? Paris? Moscow? Tokyo? I'd love to travel more. In fact, i want to!
It is tiring to travel. Long hours in the plane, watching movies after movies, plastic cups of orange juice after orange juice. Especially when you are travelling to work, work will always be at the back of your mind even when you are enjoying your "Xi Li" (Heineken in Chinese) At this part i just got to credit mention Jacintha for handling most of the details of the trip. Without you, this trip would not have been a success. You go girl!
Sitting there overlooking the Whampoa river, reminded me of the Singapore river, somehow... The Singapore river is tiny compared to this one!
Well, if its any consolation, the whampoa we have in Singapore serves much better food then they have in Shanghai. Do not try the Hainanese chicken rice that they serve in the restaurants, i repeat... no i warn thee, DO NOT TRY! It is not even close. It is like they are trying to copy what we have in Singapore and duplicating it in the most horrible way ever. Period.
Piracy is pretty bad in Shanghai, they are selling the Channels and the Yang Siao Lings like nobody's business. They have shops that share similar colours and name like the real brands. Let me quote you an example, they have the brand Crocodile in Shanghai, a few steps down the same road after the authentic Crocodile boutique, you walk past another shop called "Clio codile" Same colour but with a more animated croc. Its pretty ridiculous but hilarious at the same time.
There are many toilets in Shanghai, the best part is the fact that they bothered to build many "toilet buildings" every 5-10 minutes of walking. I would have taken a picture of the toilet if it weren't for the fact that i was too worried that i would be mistaken as a voyeur if i stood too close to take a picture outside the toilet. Instead i took a picture of the map!
There were things during the trip that reminded me of my shortcomings. It is a resurfacing rther than new lessons. Guess i never really learnt my lessons well. All in all, Shanghai has been alright.