Home

"Everything will feel better soon," he said, his voice choking on the words, "and you'll realise you're going home where you belong."


"Home? What are you talking about? Home is on Lookout Court with Bobo. Home is with my mother and friends." There were tears in her emerald eyes now. She brushed them away and tried to force a smile, but it came off a little crooked. Then she said, "And I was even beginning to think home might be with you.:

Between Tess Carroll and Charlie St. Cloud

有一天啊，宝宝。。。

这应该是我第一次完全用华文在部落格上写稿,想要如何下笔，还真是别一番滋味。自从中四高级华文会考以后，除了不时需要为牧师传道翻译而预备，及一次翻译一篇有关于“辅助生殖技术”的医学文章以外，似乎没太多用华文写作。阅读方面，除了圣经以外，也似乎没接触中文的书刊。也难怪总觉得自己的华文水平每况愈下，一日不如一日。

一位朋友借了我这本由台湾主播 蔡康永 著作的《有一天啊，宝宝。。。》。开始读的时候还不觉得有什么味道，但越读就越觉得有意思。接下来与大家分享一些 让我较有感触的字句：

《交换》
“但是宝宝，交换很难是一直这么心平气和的。因为你能提供的东西，别人不一定缺，而你想交换的那人，他想交换的对象可能不是你而是别人。我们不能太高估我们剪头发或除害虫的能力，在不需要的人眼中，只是多余的东西而已。。所以，我们也不能太高估，我们的爱。虽然我们常常觉得，那是我们仅有的了。”

《值得》
“反反复复会无聊吗？太阳每天都升起一次，降下一次，但只要我从对的地方望过去，日出和日落都还是让人目眩神驰。每一场雨都还是能让人狼狈或感伤，每一道闪电还是有魄力，每一道海浪、每一阵微风。。全都是反反复复，来了又去、去了又来的，宝宝，我对这些从来没有觉得无聊过。”

《演唱会》
“宝宝，我为什么一直对电视很有戒心，是因为电视老是让你以为，你听过那个歌了，但其实你没听过；老是让你以为你看过那个人了，但其实你没看过；老是让你以为你知道灾难与死亡了，但其实你不知道。。。
亲爱的宝宝，将来如果有你喜欢的歌手，你要想办法去听他的现场演唱会，去跟其他和你一样喜欢他的人在一起。你不知道那个歌手会有名多久，你也不知道他会愿意活多久。你只能趁他还在的时候，让他变成你回忆的一部分。”

正因此故，我常常都很希望能多去现场演唱会，但常去的话，对钱包的负担非常重:S
我还有一个愿望，就是能在Federer退休之前，在一次网球大赛的决赛中亲眼目睹他大显身手。但也不知道这愿望能否实现。

我几乎忘了华文表达巧妙、美丽之处。或许我该多尝试用华文表达。

For One More Day

You may not believe it anyhow.

But ask yourself this: Have you ever lost someone you love and wanted one more conversation, one more chance to make up for the time when you thought they would be here forever? If so, then you know you can go your whole life collecting days, and none will outweigh the one you wish you had back.

What if you got it back?

Another one of Mitch Albom's books. Don't really have much to say about it, having read Five People You Meet in Heaven and Tuesdays with Morrie not too long ago. Personally there wasn't anything fresh within the book which appealed to me. Hopefully, Have a Little Faith would have something new to offer.

The Five People You Meet In Heaven

I've been trying to read more recently. By that I mean reading more non-medical literature. I'll try to pen some thoughts if I have, or identify some quotes which mean something to me; not so much to sell the book to readers, but more to remind myself of what I've read and the thoughts which struck me when I read the book sometime when I revisit my blogposts in future. (Hopefully Blogger doesn't crash/close-shop in the next 20 years)

Didn't really buy or identify with the 5 lessons that the character was supposed to learn from the 5 people he met in heaven. Picked out a short paragraph which I liked.

"Lost love is still love. It takes a different form, that's all. You can't see their smile or bring them food or tousle their hair or move them around a dance floor. But when those senses weaken, another heightens. Memory. Memory becomes your partner. You nurture it. You hold it. You dance with it.

Life has to end, love doesn't."

Tuesdays with Morrie

"The culture doesn't encourage you to think about such things until you're about to die. We're so wrapped up with egotistical things, career, family, having enough money, meeting the mortgage, getting a new car, fixing the radiator when it breaks - we're involved in trillions of little acts just to keep going. So we don't get into the habit of standing back and looking at our lives and saying, Is this all? Is this all I want? Is something missing?"

"Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live."

"Why do people always say, 'Oh, if I were young again.'? You know what that reflects? Unsatisfied lives. Lives that haven't found meaning. Because if you've found meaning in your life, you don't want to go back. You want to go forward. You want to see more, do more.. You have to find what's good and true and beautiful in your life as it is now."

"I believe in being fully present. That means you should be with the person you're with. Really listening to someone - how often do we get this anymore?"

"Death ends a life, not a relationship."

So many lessons to learn, I wonder whether I'll get them all at the end of the day. I certainly hope that I don't get them too late.

To my beloved sister and friend, you and your family are in all our prayers. You are loved by many more people in many more ways than you know. Hang in there. Continue to live.

Law and Justice

Watching the first singles match of the ATP World Tour Finals, between Andy Murray and Juan Martin Del Potro. Quite an exciting match, with excellent and brilliant shot-making here and there. In summary, Del Potro fell to a 0-5 deficit in the 1st set, rallied to 3-5 before losing the 1st set 3-6. But he made an impressive comeback to win the 2nd set 6-3. Now third set.

Just finished reading Subhas Anandan's autobiography - The Best I Could. Have been wanting to buy this book since some time back, but due to some recent circumstances, I bought the book last week. Besides giving readers a glimpse of the events which shaped his character, worldview and philosophy, it also recounts certain high-profile criminal cases which have been featured (and which I've read) in the newspapers. I've got to say I found quite a bit of respect for him as a person and as a lawyer, from what he writes at least.

From what he described of his university days (and what some of our medical professors described of theirs), it seems that uni then was much more fun and happening. I wonder whether it's just me, or whether in general, university student life/culture has taken a backslide.

To the layman with an untrained mind in law, this book explores and discusses some concepts about law and the criminal system. I remember a friend (who is now in law school) once telling me that the most useful/important pre-U subject for law would be mathematics, and not literature or English, contrary to what many believe. Because more important than anything else, law is anchored on logic and extremely strong reasoning, even though many may interpret law differently.

Would just like to share 2 short excerpts from the book, something I feel worth thinking about:
"They say that sometimes justice and law are distant cousins. In the case of some countries, you'll be lucky to say that justice and law have the same parents. It is sad to say that sometimes we feel justice and law seem to be indifferent to each other. The law says something but when it is interpreted in the courts, it says something else."

"There are people I've defended who have been acquitted and walked out of court free men and omen. But in all honesty, they walked out free because the prosecution could not prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. The court does not at any stage say, "I am discharging and acquitting you because you are an innocent man." The statement is always, "I find you not guilty. Therefore I discharge and acquit you. It is a myth that everyone who is acquitted is innocent."

And Murray clinches victory with 6-2 in the 3rd set.
Now Roger will play Verdasco at 4:45am.