A Box of Chocolates

I've always like movies bout life, or simply movies that give me the inspiration to learn to be appreciative about life. One of them is of course (I'm sure that you can tell from the title of this post itself :-) ), "Forrest Gump", starring one of my favourite actors of all times, Tom Hanks.

From the very first spoken line in the movie, "Life is like a box of chocolates. You'll never know what you'll get..." to the very last one, "I love you too, Daddy", this movie has never failed to make me think of what I want to achieve in life. Altogether, I've watched this movie more than 10 times now (and twice just this week alone) and everytime I watched it, I learnt something new about life.

One of the things that I learnt is that

In life, being smart is not everything.

To succeed, it takes a lot of courage, faith, perseverance and hard work too.

It's the attitude that will eventually lead us to achieve our goals.

Another lesson would be

Whatever is yours, will be yours, no matter what happens

Knowing that you have worked hard to get to as close as possible to the goal, then all we can do then is to pray and let fate/luck/destiny etc. to work their magics through :-) And I think that this applies to all things in life :-)

If you still haven't watched this 1994 movie, maybe it's a good time to put a pause to your current "LOST" or "American Idol" series and spend some time looking at life through the eyes of Forrest Gump :-)

OK...now that I have voiced my 'rant', I shall go back to my "Forrest Gump" ..... again :-)

May you get the chocolate that you have been hoping for :-) I hope that I'll get mine too...

Mark

A student, I was...

Exactly 3 years ago, this day, I officially started my postgraduate studies, never thought that my student life would continue during that time...hahaha come to think of it, how time flies! 3 years have passed just like that, without me realising and now I've reached the end of this road of mine, the road of a student's life of which I could never turn back, ever again...

Thanks to all that have been influential in one way or another throughout these 3 years, the support, love and courage that you have given me will never be forgotten and will be appreciated and cherished for a long time to come. Thank you for the new friendships that I made and also thanks for all the good times that I got to enjoy with you all.... really appreciate it from the bottom of my heart. :-)

Thanks for making the final years of my student life a great one. God Bless...

Mark

At the end of the journey...

CS & CM called out of a sudden today asking for a movie outing in the evening. Our regular meet-up every fortnight has turned to weeks of 3's and sometimes a month due to my busy schedule and also my PhD thesis write-up. Well, since the last time I went to cinema for a movie was during the CNY, guess I ought to pay a little visit to good ol' Leisure Mall today while proving to the gang that I was not being MIA :-p

So I left uni at 4pm right after the meeting with some colleagues and surprisingly, without jam and driving at my so-called optimum speed at 80kmph (yeah I know, it's slow hahaha), I managed to reach Leisure Mall at 4.30pm. Not bad actually.

So off we went to watch "Fast & Furious", just out today but it wasn't a great show. So should you ask me if it's worth watching, it depends. If you like cars and girls in skimpy clothes, then by all means go ahead. As for me, I didn't quite like it and I missed the colourful lit-up cars in the first movie back in 2001. Just a personal opinion from me.

After the show, the gang left for dinner at home and I got to spend some quality time with myself. Just strolling between the two buildings of the complex on my own, and I realised that I was walking way slower than usual today. Took me almost an hour to cover both wings of Leisure Mall. Usually, it took me just 20 mins.

Had A&W for dinner (never know why but A&W has always been my favourite fast food and its Root Beer Float has been my favourite drink all these years). At times like this, once every few months, I have this tendency to sit down by myself at some fast food joints, usually by the glass panels, munching the fries away, overlooking some areas from up high. Just watching the world from my seat can really satisfy my soul. The people on the street, the cars, clouds, sunsets...you know, life in general.

A satisfying meal :-) Oh man, just love the Float....much better than Pina Coladas :-p

Munching away while taking a look at a very important document for the very last time

Watching the world from my seat....no I'm not being kepo :-p

And it's always at times like this that I have a great feeling of being appreciative towards life. The feeling of being lucky to have so many things in life - a happy and great family (love you all :-) ), great true friends (you know who you are and thanks :-) ), a car to drive (albeit it's already 17 years old but is still going strong) and of course my education achievements. All this while, no matter what other people say, I've never looked at myself as a smart guy. To me, I am just a very normal geek who's been blessed with quite some luck in life to be what I am and to achieve what I have at this age. Throughout the years, I have learned to count my blessings and to be appreciative and contented with life when there are still many people out there fighting for a grain of rice to eat. I think all of us should be grateful of what we have.

I know that some people might call this an 'emo' post, but to me, it is through being appreciative and contented that we learn how to value our lives and also to make full use of the time given to us. After all, as the Chinese saying goes, "How many tens of years does one have in one's life?"

Life is short... cherish your loved ones... and most of all, be appreciative :-)

To a happier, healthier and contented life

Mark Gary Ng