{the bird with feathers}

Hey again. So it's my third post actually for today, and by no means is that a bad thing. Unless of course, I'm wasting my time. But I don't think so. So.. I'm having a very bad running nose and my eyes are watery. Now, what I want to include in this blog post are the little bits and pieces that have happened these past few days. Haha!

On Tuesday, during our afternoon Physics class, our tutor Mr. Nyiau asked us whether he had told us "the bird story". So some of us were like, "no, not yet" but some others were like "what bird?". Ha-ha. So he said, "bird with feathers" - just to clear things. So when he had confirmed he had not yet told us the story, he began to tell it:

(More or less lah ah this one..in passive form.)

There were 2 bright fellas who had the opportunity to travel to Japan. So they went to Japan with the intention of seeing a wise old man to test him.

So off they went, first by plane, then by bullet train, and then by taxi. Then they had to travel by foot through the forest and up the mountain where the old man lived.

So when they reached the old man's place, they decided between them as to how they would test the old man.

One fella said to the other "we should catch a bird". The other agreed and so they caught a bird. They then called out for the old man.

"Old man, old man, well you are the most intelligent person on the face of this earth. We have but a simple question for you." One of the fellas was holding by the neck the bird they had just caught. They asked the old man, "Is this bird dead or alive?" The old man called back out:

"Young man, young man, I know what you two are up to. If I say that the bird is alive, you'll just twist its neck and it'll be dead. But if I say that it's dead, then you'll just let it go and it'll fly away."

The 2 fellas got caught by the old man's foresight. The old man continued,

"So you see, the decision is in your hands. It's not for me to decide. You decide."

-----

Philosophy.. Oh and I have got a new phone. It actually used to be my father's phone (not dad). So now, after only exactly 2 months, he's got guess what? Another brand new one! A Nokia smth smth. So naturally (ehem) his 'old' one falls to me. It's a Motorola Q9h, PDA sorta thing. QWERTY keypad. Lama sudah keluar lah, but anyway:

Hmm.. very you know, executive sort of thing. Not very..friendly as of yet. Functionality..good. Thin. Okay lah. Hehe.

So during PS this morning we were telling jokes. There was Christopher, Vivek, Zaim and myself. Not the usual crowd eh but anyways. Okay this is starting to get lame. But what am I afraid of? Uh lemme go to sleep.

{uhuh}

Hey ya so I've been around to some blogs from my friends' blogs, and a lot of Pre-U1 blogs too and it's amazing to see how careful I am when I blog. Like why do I wait till I have a good idea then I edit and re-edit it before I blog? Why do I need to make it look like something from the newspaper? Why does it have to have no mistakes? Why do I even need to correct my typos, like I'm doing now? I wanna be smth like the Pre-U1 blogs I just went to, where they rant abt their daily lives and it's sometimes really cool as to how much insight you can get into their circumstances. Like, wow, ranting about life can be so interesting and ppl will read it and come to appreciate life and look at it from another perspective, while I'm just sitting here thinking how stupid it is for me to talk abt my day. Things are gonna change man and it's abt time I dropped the poshness of my GP-standard blogging and start from sea level where I can talk abt anything and everything and it doesn't have to qualify as good because it all is good because it's my life. Now that past sentence was complex but you get the vibe right? Just blog. It's good. And it's worth it. 'Cause you'll get readers like the blogs I went to just now got readers. Now this is not abt readership but abt changing attitudes. I don't need this place but neither do I want to get rid of it completely. Let it be at my disposal as I please.

Alright the next part of my post will be an advertisement which I hope gets passed around. I'd like to find a running partner but I don't want to join a club. Most of the time I run/jog alone and sometimes with a friend, but hey, why not get a person to run with? Like on a regular basis? So here it is:

Two or three times a week, say 5km everytime. Afternoons, back at home before sunset. Any surfaces, preferably tarmac, my average is say 8km per hour, max. 14 but only for short distances below 2km. KB area?

Now looking at it this is --- but ---. Anything goes man.. Emm and I aim to increase my lung capacity.

{watch over you}

This is more or less the text for my speech this morning:

Good morning.

This is a prepared speech.

My speech today will be about integrity. I’ll talk about what integrity is and why it’s important for us to have it.

My dictionary says that “integrity” is the “quality of having strong moral principles” as well as “the concept of basing of one's actions on an internally consistent framework of principles”.

So basically if I say that I have integrity, it means that I have strong moral principles and the more integrity that I have, the more do my actions align with my set of inner values.

You know how in mathematics we call whole numbers ‘integers’? Both ‘integer’ and ‘integrity’ come from the same root – they mean wholeness, and as applied to human beings, they mean wholeness of character.

Now, why would this be important? Why, when I have the golden opportunity to speak about anything on this fine morning, would I want to give this lecture?

I admit it’s because I’m idealistic. But it’s also because if we live without integrity, it means we live without sound principles. It means we live by something other than sound principles.

Now, that’s not good. Without principles to guide us, we lose our direction. When we lose our direction, we can no longer see the thin line between what is right and what is wrong; between what is good and what is bad. Our moral compass has gone haywire. We start to do bad things.

We’ve lost direction when we lie. We’ve lost direction when we cheat. And we know we’ve lost direction when we steal.

Ladies and Gentlemen, picture integrity as a suit of armour, which when you put it on, you become a person of character. With it on, you are able to deal ethically with the tough decisions of today, be prepared for the challenges of tomorrow.

Now my challenge to you is simple. It is by far a challenge to my own self, for my mouth is closest to my own ear: put this armour on and wear it – this armour of integrity. As with real armour, it is difficult to change into. But once you’ve got it on, it will protect you. Remember that.

Before I pass the microphone back, I’d like to share a quote from our still-relevant TV show host, Oprah Winfrey. She puts a lot of things into simple terms, and this quote basically sums up my speech:

She said that “Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody's going to know whether you did it or not.”

Thank you.

{pink linen on white paper}

My friend Zaki once said that if you have a pessimist girlfriend, don't give her perfume as a gift 'cause she'll think you gave it 'cause she smells..

{C & C}

Complacency is my enemy.
Contentment is my friend.

{with arms wide open}

Creed live with "With Arms Wide Open"
Goes a long way back...

{tomorrow}

I got hold of some bad news today so I'm feeling quite sad.