Have you truly felt passionate about something that you think this is what you wish to dedicate your life to? I always admire people who have this kind of spirit and determination to pursue what they believe in and possess the 'Ain't no mountains higher' mindset. We all have heard of the good old theory that to acheive our dreams, we have to be proactive and establish certain traits but how many people actually do it? Perhaps 1 out of 10 will do it, but only 1 out of 100 will grit their teeth and stay through the end.
I was tuning in to 100.3FM on my way home yesterday when Lee Wei Song started talking during the commerical break. By the way, Lee Wei Song is the founder of the Lee Wei Song School of music, where Stefanie Sun was discovered and groomed into a superstar.
Anyway, Lee Wei Song was dedicating a tribute to Huang Yida - the next up and coming homegrown singer. He was saying that Yida's road to become a singer had been an arduous one, and that he had been a student with the school when it first started 9 years ago. Throughout this 9 years, his dream of becoming a singer had never wavered and he was determined to do whatever it takes to get there. In fact, he dropped out of secondary school to take the path less taken to follow his passion in singing despite strong parental objections. He even came back to continue his training as an all rounded musician after serving his NS.
As a teenager who embarked on this journey at the tender age of 15, he had to overcome all the odds against him and face all the uncertainties in the future when his peers had already achieved much more by society's standards. After 9 gruelling years, at the age of 24, he finally realised his dream. As his mentor, Lee Wei Song was really happy that Yida finally made it after coming a long way.
Although it is common that the road to stardom is not as glamourous as it seems and there's always lots of obstacles involved, I still want to salute him for his success.
7 years ago, my girl friend and I were sitting outside Ngee Ann City while waiting to start work at Mandarin Hotel. Across us sat a group of guys who later came over to talk to us. Among them, Yida was one of them. Yup, Yida is his real name. At that time, this grungey and dreamy guy with long hair had already exuded a kind of X-factor in terms of personality & looks - a feeling that he was different and possessed the 'I-have-a-dream' kind of look. He left a deep impression on me because of what he said to us at that time. He mentioned he was learning music at this music school and that someday he will become a singer. My friend and I were quite taken aback by his words, but somehow we never really take it seriously because technically speaking, this is not politically correct at that time.
That was my brief encounter with him, although my friend knew him a bit better back then. Well, I have to say that I was quite surprised to see his new album and hear his songs on radio. Those words that he said last time meant much to him and he was not just saying it for fun. Well Yida, if you ever see this, I wanna wish you all the best in your singing career and don't ever give up on your 'never say die' attitude..you can be a very good source of inspiration for others!
Finding one's passion is like a needle in haysack. Yida are just one of the rare souls who has discover 'it' from young and make it the one thing to pursue in life. Most people never really know what they wanna do until much later. Some are forever searching for it, some never found it, some found it but never work on it, while some don't even know this thing call passion.
As for me, I can't say I have found my passion but I'm working hard to find it. The only way is to do the things I'm interested in, or going through trial and error in certain things to find out if this is really what I want. I think if you have not find your passion, it is important to never stop the search for it even though you might think there is none, at least this will give your life a deeper sense of purpose. Then again, perhaps I'm a restless soul who is just not contend to sail through life. I've got one life to live and I wanna live it well.. :)
Monday, May 17, 2004
Sliding Doors
Song playing now: Greenday - Redundant
If you have watched 'Sliding Doors'(1998), you probably will be thinking what will happen to your life should you take the other path at the junction.
A little introduction to 'Sliding doors': It is about the life of a young London girl (played by Gywneth Paltrow)who is being fired from her job. With nowhere to go except home in that depressing morning, she heads for the train station. When the sliding door of the tube starts to shut on her as she rushes for it,what will happen if she made it for the train? On the flipside, how will life turn out if she hasn't made it? The plot is split into these two scenerios showing both sides of the coin consecutively. One can expect two different endings to each scenerio and unexpected twists of fate in each storyline. Its a good movie..highly recommended.
Back to the main topic now, have you wondered where you will be and how you will turn out to be if you have chosen 'that' instead of 'this' years ago?
Sometimes I wondered how will things turn out now if I opt to study in a Polytechnic or Lasalle instead of going to College after my O' levels. If I go on to take a diploma, I'll probably choose Business or a design related course, have a different group of friends, received other influences, cultivated different perceptions and learnt different set of life's realities as compared to what I've been through so far.
Well if I graduated from Lasalle, probably I have a lot of funky friends who are the typical Zouk cheongsters, party like there's no tomorrow, filled the conversations with arty farty topics over coffee, working in the fashion industry and have aspiration of a well respected fashion designer, where young girls and guys look up to me! Hah..but this is just my self made reality..it might turn out worse than now..or maybe better...who knows?
Then again, have I not been to college, I won't get to know my 3 lovely friends - Gamie,Missy Lam and Kassy. The 4 of us actually knew each other in NYJC for 1st 3 months and we happened to sit next to each other in the assembly hall during the 1st week, and then somehow we managed to get this yearbook and so we start ogling over cute seniors in the yearbook! That's how we became a group, but subsequently Kassy went to VJC while the 3 of us went to CJC. I will say our friendship is pretty unique because of the way we met; how all of us didn't stay in NYJC but are still friends after all these years! Gosh..how time flies! Those memories are still so fresh in my mind..no wonder my accounts tutor keep saying I must enjoy my 2 yrs in college because time will pass very quickly and before you know it, you'll start missing the college days because it only happened once.
Have I not been to college, I will never relate to 'The Teenage Textbook' and carry those silly 'act cute' accessories from Far East Plaza that are so popular among CJ gals. I will not know how stupid college Vdays are and how sweet and funny college crushes feel like, and how we make college life fun by 'bioing' the cute guys and gossiping about others..haha
Lastly have I not been to college, I might not even go to Perth to study Mass Communications, it a course which I didn't consider all along until one fine day I felt that since everyone is taking Business, I should take something different and difficult to get in! What did I get out of it? Not only was I exposed to lots of humanities studies but also a different way of life, which opened up my mind, expanded my thinking substantially and changed my entire personality upside down! Ultimately, I grew to like Perth a lot and I still missed my carefree and slow paced days there..
So here I am, a Murdoch Grad in Mass Communications who still don't quite understand what I've studied so far! Sometimes I still think that I'm lagging behind somehow and has not achieved much, and that I should discipline myself to focus on some goals in an attempt to straighten my life.
Anyway, life is too short to ponder hard over such things. There are always paths to choose, decisions to make and things to prioritize. I used to be those 'what-if' person who often look back at things when things go wrong and start to sulk at my perceived 'bad' decisions. I have since learnt that everything happens for a reason and that whatever things we do, people we encounter and things we experienced along the way are the means for us to grow. All I can say that I'm still in the process of learning about myself. We may feel like we have made a wrong move or do not like what we see now, but as long as we treat every lesson and encounter a learning experience cum fine-tuning of self, I believe we will feel proud of what we have become someday.
If you have watched 'Sliding Doors'(1998), you probably will be thinking what will happen to your life should you take the other path at the junction.
A little introduction to 'Sliding doors': It is about the life of a young London girl (played by Gywneth Paltrow)who is being fired from her job. With nowhere to go except home in that depressing morning, she heads for the train station. When the sliding door of the tube starts to shut on her as she rushes for it,what will happen if she made it for the train? On the flipside, how will life turn out if she hasn't made it? The plot is split into these two scenerios showing both sides of the coin consecutively. One can expect two different endings to each scenerio and unexpected twists of fate in each storyline. Its a good movie..highly recommended.
Back to the main topic now, have you wondered where you will be and how you will turn out to be if you have chosen 'that' instead of 'this' years ago?
Sometimes I wondered how will things turn out now if I opt to study in a Polytechnic or Lasalle instead of going to College after my O' levels. If I go on to take a diploma, I'll probably choose Business or a design related course, have a different group of friends, received other influences, cultivated different perceptions and learnt different set of life's realities as compared to what I've been through so far.
Well if I graduated from Lasalle, probably I have a lot of funky friends who are the typical Zouk cheongsters, party like there's no tomorrow, filled the conversations with arty farty topics over coffee, working in the fashion industry and have aspiration of a well respected fashion designer, where young girls and guys look up to me! Hah..but this is just my self made reality..it might turn out worse than now..or maybe better...who knows?
Then again, have I not been to college, I won't get to know my 3 lovely friends - Gamie,Missy Lam and Kassy. The 4 of us actually knew each other in NYJC for 1st 3 months and we happened to sit next to each other in the assembly hall during the 1st week, and then somehow we managed to get this yearbook and so we start ogling over cute seniors in the yearbook! That's how we became a group, but subsequently Kassy went to VJC while the 3 of us went to CJC. I will say our friendship is pretty unique because of the way we met; how all of us didn't stay in NYJC but are still friends after all these years! Gosh..how time flies! Those memories are still so fresh in my mind..no wonder my accounts tutor keep saying I must enjoy my 2 yrs in college because time will pass very quickly and before you know it, you'll start missing the college days because it only happened once.
Have I not been to college, I will never relate to 'The Teenage Textbook' and carry those silly 'act cute' accessories from Far East Plaza that are so popular among CJ gals. I will not know how stupid college Vdays are and how sweet and funny college crushes feel like, and how we make college life fun by 'bioing' the cute guys and gossiping about others..haha
Lastly have I not been to college, I might not even go to Perth to study Mass Communications, it a course which I didn't consider all along until one fine day I felt that since everyone is taking Business, I should take something different and difficult to get in! What did I get out of it? Not only was I exposed to lots of humanities studies but also a different way of life, which opened up my mind, expanded my thinking substantially and changed my entire personality upside down! Ultimately, I grew to like Perth a lot and I still missed my carefree and slow paced days there..
So here I am, a Murdoch Grad in Mass Communications who still don't quite understand what I've studied so far! Sometimes I still think that I'm lagging behind somehow and has not achieved much, and that I should discipline myself to focus on some goals in an attempt to straighten my life.
Anyway, life is too short to ponder hard over such things. There are always paths to choose, decisions to make and things to prioritize. I used to be those 'what-if' person who often look back at things when things go wrong and start to sulk at my perceived 'bad' decisions. I have since learnt that everything happens for a reason and that whatever things we do, people we encounter and things we experienced along the way are the means for us to grow. All I can say that I'm still in the process of learning about myself. We may feel like we have made a wrong move or do not like what we see now, but as long as we treat every lesson and encounter a learning experience cum fine-tuning of self, I believe we will feel proud of what we have become someday.
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