AT FIRST SIGHT

This song 'Gigi Worth - Love Is Where You Are' is from the soundtrack of the movie 'At First Sight' (1996) by Val Kilmer and Mira Sorvino. Its quite a touching film and has a fantastic soundtrack! In fact, I was so enchanted by this song that I actually pressed the slow moving button when the credit rolled so that I can see what the title was and who sang it.

This movie is based on a true story about this guy named Virgil (Val Kilmer), who has been blind since early childhood. He's a masseur in a New York State resort town. Amy (Mira Sorvino) is a hard working New York City architect. The two meet when Amy visits the resort to unwind, and it's love at first 'sight', so to speak. The two soon find themselves in a relationship, dominated by Amy's wish that Virgil try cutting-edge surgery in hopes of getting his sight back.

When Virgil decides to go for the surgery and is able to see for the first time in his life, a whole new set of challenges present themselves. He dosen't know what the world looks like and is not prepared to see it. For instance, he doesn't know how a car is like and that it can kill him if he stands in front of a moving car.

This distorts his perception of living in this world. He doesn't just need to learn how to live all over again; he also needs to deal with changed relationships with Amy, his sister and his long-lost father.

Unfortunately, his successful surgery doesn't last long and he goes blind again, but this might actually do him good because it makes him feel 'normal' to live his own way relying on his 4 acute senses than having to live with this 'foreign' thing call sight.

While it's a fairly standard romance, At First Sight also manages to interweave disability issues effectively. Many of us who have not lived with a disability have a lot of trouble understanding how people with disabilities see themselves.

Anyway, check out its official website at MGM...the main thing here is that the entire soundtrack songs are listed and you can actually hear sample audio files on each song! This CD had to be my next item in my shopping list!

http://www.mgm.com/title_title.do?title_star=SIGHTUNS

Don't Worry, Be Happy!

Song playing now: John Durbar - Main theme (OST Dances With Wolves)

Recapping on the part where Jerry's life is in danger after the gunshot, it is amazing that he can remain so optimisstic about life and even made a joke out of his unfortunate situation.

Not long ago, I had a somewhat similar experience, of course its not a gunshot, if not I would have made news.

I had a bad fracture 2 months ago, where I broke my 2 bones in my left forearm (directly below the elbow). I fell down on my bum while roller-bladding and it happened as I instinctively tried to break the fall with my arms landing backwards. Yeah I know, it sounds silly but when it happens, it happens.

There was a loud cracking sound and at that moment I knew I was doomed. I knew people who broke their bones but I never thought this kind of thing will happen to me! Images of me lying on hospital bed, surgery and the operating theatre flooded my mind instantly. My friend keep pacifying me by saying my fracture might not be that bad but deep inside I knew intuitively that this can't be any better and an operation is something I can't avoid. Worse of all, I was supposed to depart Singapore for a holiday 2 days later and this thing happened so untimely!

Anyway, its a terrible experience and its quite gruesome if I'm to go into details of my ordeal during the 8 hrs interval from the time I fracture to the time I was wheeled into the op theatre. So I had an op to insert 2 long metal pieces abt 2 inches each in my arm and spent 3 days in the hospital. For someone who went through an operation and hospitalization for the first time in life, there is always a kind of loneliness and fear of the unknown.

After the surgery, I was quite upset to see my arm swollen like an elephant's leg, not to mention the horrible scars! What depressed me more was that my movements were very limited and I can't even do simple things like turning my arm, touching my shoulder and even unhooking my bra was a problem! I was also quite an active person all along who frequented the gym regularly but after this incident, I had to put a stop to my active lifestyle and this add to my depression as well.

Now I am proud to announce that my arm has recovered well and I've regained 90% of my movements, thanks to my weekly therapy session plus my own determination to do the exercises at home everyday. It is easy to lose hope when you get paranoid and keep thinking 'I can't do this and that anymore'. I just keep telling myself 'No! I won't settle for anything less than before and I want to be able to do anything I want!'

As for the ugly scars, they will never go away, although its a bit better now after all the massaging and putting scar patches.

Well after talking so much, the most important thing I learnt from this experience is that forcing yourself to think positively and not rejecting what has happened will allow you to have an easier time. It gives you the strength and courage to face what you will be going through next. Although fracture is a common thing but when it happens to you, things are different.

From the start when I'm in tremendous pain, I tried to take things easy by talking to my friend, who drove me to the hospital and even make a few 'cold jokes' along the way. Of course I didn't take it so easy all the time, but everytime I start wallowing in self-pity, I will tell myself that things happen for a reason - to make me more independent (both physically and emotionally) and stronger, to cherish my life and stop procrastinating on things I always feel like doing after all these time 'wasted' during recovery.

When I think of my ruined holiday and spending the days in hospital, I will imagine this crisis is to prevent me from going away because something bigger will happen if I do so! I know this sounds morbid but sometimes I think you haven't really live till you know how this massive pain taste like! Well, it sounds silly but this is what I call the power of positive thinking!

I don't hide my two 9cm long scars and I don't mind looking 'ugly' because I don't like to restrict myself. Just like Jerry, whenever my people ask me about my arm, I will 'happily' show them my scars and let them feel the metal and screws - only if they dare! I even joked that I can camouflaged my scars as a cool tattoo in future.

Anyway this is not the end as I still have to go through another operation to take out the metal pieces probably 1 or 2 years later. All I can say is that I'm better prepared this time round and I'm ready to face another round of operation and skin healing.

Yes I'm gonna resume my weekly exercise soon, although I still can't do strenuous workouts. In case you might wonder, I will still blade in future but this time with full protective gears on and someone to hold my hand along the way till I feel secure enough to blade on my own again! Afterall, the cliche 'Don't Worry, be happy!' isn't really that cliche...don't you think so? :)

You have two choices.

Below is a 'feel good story' that was forwarded to me by a friend. I feel that the person who wrote this thinks the same way as me, so I'm really keen to share this with everyone. I believe if you train yourself to think about life this way, you will find that sometimes life isn't really that bad at all. :)

YOU HAVE TWO CHOICES

Jerry is the manager of a restaurant. He is always in a good mood.When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would always reply:

"If I were any better, I would be twins!"

Many of the waiters at his restaurant quit their jobs when he changed jobs,
so they could follow him around from restaurant to restaurant.

Why？

Because Jerry was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry was always there, telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Jerry and asked him：

"I don't get it! No one can be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?"

Jerry replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, I have two choices today. I can choose to be in a good mood or I can choose to be in a bad mood.

I always choose to be in a good mood.

Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be victim or I can choose to learn from it. I always choose to learn from it.

Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life.

I always choose the positive side of life."

"But it's not always that easy," I protested.

"Yes it is," Jerry said.

"Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk every situation is a choice.

You choose how you react to situations.

You choose how people will affect your mood.

You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood.

It's your choice how you live your life."

Several years later, I heard that Jerry accidentally did something you are never supposed to do in the restaurant business. He left the back door of his restaurant open. And then ???

In the morning, he was robbed by three armed men. They want?

#123*+!@$%&*~

While Jerry trying to open the safe box, his hand, shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination.

The robbers panicked and shot him. Luckily, Jerry was found quickly and rushed to the hospital.

After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body.

I saw Jerry about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins. Want to see my scars?"

I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place.

"The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door," Jerry replied.

"Then, after they shot me, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or could choose to die. I chose to live."

"Weren't you scared?", I asked.

Jerry continued, "The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine.

But when they wheeled me into the Emergency Room and I saw the expression on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared.

In their eyes, I read 'He's a dead man.' I knew I needed to take action."

"What did you do?" I asked.

"Well, there was a big nurse shouting questions at me," said Jerry. "She asked if I was allergic to anything."

'Yes,' I replied.

The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply.

I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Bullets!'

Over their laughter, I told them, "I am choosing to live. Please operate on me as if I am alive, not dead."

Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude.

I learned from him that every day you have the choice to either enjoy your life or to hate it.

The only thing that is truly yours - that no one can control or take from you -is your attitude, so if you can take care of that, everything else in life becomes much easier.

So are you going to let yourself be happy or unhappy today? The choice is yours...