"The menacing look he had given me."

  Dark rain clouds were gathering in the sky. I was cycling as fast as I could to get home before the downpour. When I felt a few big drops on my head, I decided to head for a bus stop, about a hundred meters away. As I was nearing the bus stop, I saw a lady rushing towards it from the opposite direction, tugging a little boy behind her. The little boy was finding it hard to keep up with her, so, finally, she just picked him up and carried him.

  Suddenly, a motorcycle roared past me, almost knocking me down. "Hey! Are you mad!" I shouted at the motorcyclist. He turned to look at me, and for a split second, I saw his face - cruel, glaring eyes and menacing expression. However, he just sped on. Then, I realized that he was heading right for the woman and little boy!

  "Watch out! Watch out!" I shouted. I saw the lady turn to look at the motorcyclist, dismay etched on her face.

  In an instant, the motorcyclist had reached the lady. He stretched out an arm and grabbed hold of her handbag, hitting her on the back at the same time. The impact sent the lady hurtling forward. The mother and child fell on the road, landing right in the path of a van.

  "Stop! Stop!" I screamed at the van driver, waving my arms wildly in the air. Thankfully, the driver had seen what was happening. With a squeal of brakes, the van stopped a few meters from the spot where the mother and child lay sprawled on the road.

  I saw the lady crawling on the road towards the wailing child. There was blood all over them. Tossing my bicycle to the side of the road, I ran to help them. By the time I got there, the van driver had reached them. He was cradling the child and examining his limbs.

  "I think your little boy is all right. Nothing is broken," he said. "How about you? Do you feel pain anywhere?" "Please help me. I am pregnant," the lady replied, weeping. "Don't panic. You'll be all right. I'll take you and your son to hospital," said the man. The lady could not walk, so the man carried her and settled her in his van. I carried the whimpering child to the van. The man asked me to go along with them so that I could help make the police report. I realized that, by this time, the motorcyclist would have gone far from that spot, with the lady's handbag.

  A few days later, I was told that the lady had suffered only minor injuries from the incident. She had some rather deep cuts on her face and limbs, and her knee was twisted. Thankfully, her unborn baby was unharmed. The snatch thief was never apprehended and I doubt I will ever see him again. However, I will never forget the menacing look he had given me.

"when nothing much happens."

It seemed like it was going to be another one of those days when nothing much happens. Ken and his friends were playing their regular football game along the banks of the river near their small village. In the midst of the game, Ken's attention was drawn to a tourist boat passing by.Actually, tourist boats were quite common in their area. It was also common for some of the tourists to take potshots the birds and squirrels along the way. This is why Ken's friends were not really surprised to hear a few small explosions from the boat. They ignored the sounds and went on with their game.   However, they were startled when they suddenly heard loud cries for help coming from the boat. They could see that the crew were running about, panic-stricken. Some people were shouting to them. "Their engine must have blown up! Look, there's smoke and the boat's out of control. It's going towards the rapids," Ken pointed out to his friends.   Ken's village was located at the point at which the tourist boats turned around and headed back upstream. Three kilometers downstream were the rapids, which spelt trouble for the boats. "It's heading straight for the rapids! They're in trouble! The boat will be smashed against the rocks!" Ken exclaimed. "Let's get help!"   The boys sprinted back to the village for help. Along the way, they met the village headman. In a panic yet haste explanation , Ken explained the emergency to the headman.   The headman was a man of quick action. Without wasting any time, he yelled out to some men to help him carry his powerful outboard motor to the jetty. With the motor tied firmly onto bamboo poles, they rushed hurriedly down to the jetty.   Their haste was indeed necessary for, by the time the men had reached the jetty, they saw that the boat was dangerously close to the rapids. There was not a moment to lose! With quick hands, the headman attached the outboard motor to his sampan and then sped off to the rescue.Upon reaching the tourist boat with bare minutes to spare, the headman realized his mistake. How could so many tourists be packed into this small sampan? The headman was filled with despair. Then he saw the rope that had been used to tie down the outboard motor to the bamboo poles. It had been flung into the sampan in his haste. Quickly, he grabbed the rope and flung it to the boatmen on the tourist boat. "I'll tow you back!" he shouted. After the boatmen had tied the rope firmly to their boat, the headman made a swift U-turn and then, putting the engine on full power, he steered his sampan upstream. The rope gave a jerk and then, to everyone's relief and joy, the tourist boat moved forward, obediently following the small sampan.   Loud cheers burst out from the tourist boat and the observers on the shore. Thanks to the headman's courage, the cooperation from the villagers, and the quick action of the boys, the tourists were saved from certain death in the rapids.

Numbers

Numbers are written signs or symbols for a particular quantity.   The Arabic symbols for numbers are the ones we use for our mathematical work and they have become part and parcel of the world of numbers. The Roman symbols for numbers use the letters of the alphabet. The Chinese use strokes and the number of strokes depict the number system. Do you know that some students have an illogical fear of numbers ? Mention Arithmetic or Mathematics and they go berserk! I was the burden of my Mathematics teacher. I could never understand why two minuses make a plus. It is most illogical but ask a mathematical pro and the genius would raise his eyebrow, look at me as if I am from outer space, an alien and from then on, would deem it beneath his dignity to speak to me.   Despite my fear of Mathematics, I had a fascination for numbers. It must be due to all the card games I played with my mother. Some educationists did say that exposing a young child to number card games would make him a gifted child. There has to be a short circuit somewhere for me not to lay claim to such a prediction. For all I know, it is some old wives' tale. However, I did get a distinction in Mathematics during primary school. It was either the paper was such an easy one or it was sheer good luck. Seriously, I think it was the gem of a Mathematics teacher.   From my personal experience, I believe that if a child is given the right grounding in the basics, the child would be able to do singularly well in the subject. Everyone is teachable and given the right opportunity, everyone can learn to add, minus, multiply and understand all the funny equations and formulae. A basic knowledge of mathematics is necessary in this world where everything has to do with numbers.   There are the queue numbers at banks, offices, and seat numbers for buses, trains and planes. Even hotel rooms are numbered, so too are the floors except that in certain high-rise buildings the 13th floor does not exist.   Our identification papers are numbered and not remembering them can be rather embarrassing. From MyKad to passports, birth certificates to registration numbers for cars, land titles, admission numbers -- all documents are printed with numbers. To the government we are figures, just numbers. To the police, we are statistics in accident cases. If numbers do not exist, the world would be terribly chaotic. Therefore, to make our life a pleasure, try to remember all the important numbers. It has been known that if your number is stolen and used by an impersonator, you might lose your identity.   It is no wonder that science fiction has turned to using palm prints, eye iris and access entry code to prevent impersonation and false entry into maximum security buildings. However, everything can be cloned so nothing is tamper proof or security proof.   The series "Numbers" illustrates how the various variables can be used to predict answer and solutions to crimes. A mathematical genius utilizes all the variables and promulgates a theory and proves the hypothesis right.   As long as man is a thinking individual whereby he does not allow the robot to manipulate and control his life, numbers will continue to dominate the fabric of daily life.

Reading

Ever since members of early civilizations used simple hieroglyphics to communicate their thoughts, hopes and aspirations, there has been a close connection between reading and refinement. For this purpose, the terms 'refinement' must be extended to include far more than 'good manners' -- otherwise, the only reading necessary to produce he 'refined' person would be a book on etiquette ! Refinement, however, really implies culture and civilization in the widest sense, a combination of those qualities which differentiate man from the animal world, and it is the bearing of reading on the development of these qualities which we must examine.   A high standard of personal morality and unselfishness is cultured man's first characteristic. This, he largely owes to the books of his religion, whether it be the Christian Bible, the Muslim Koran, the Hindu Upanishads, the Philosophy of Buddha or Confucius. Such books teach him the meaning of family life and virtues of honesty, peaceful living and integrity. But, the best of secular literature helps him to achieve the same object. The innocence of Ophelia, the nobility of Sydney carton cannot fail to impress and attract the reader.   Greek tragedy was intended to induce in the audience a 'Catharsis,' or purging of the emotions, primarily those of 'pity and terror'. But the general reader finds that all good literature has a salutary effect on the emotional side of his nature. Great emotional pleasure may be derived from a good novel, as we enter fully into the life of the hero or heroine, an the best of writing, whether it takes the form of poetry, drama, or the novel has an undoubtedly maturing effect on our emotional nature.   For most people, however, the 'refined' person is the 'educated' person, the person whose intellect has been developed through reading intelligent books. The clear, logical thinker owes much to his grounding in the school-room, and even more to the love of reading which this grounding has fostered. Reading becomes a stimulating function of adult life, and ceases to be a child's tool for passing an examination or getting a job.   Cultured living requires that people should be 'well-informed,' and wide reading has the added advantage of imparting useful general knowledge. Thus, the well-read man or woman is more fitted to live in the community and travel, profitably, outside it. Such knowledge is obtained from a variety of sources ranging from the newspaper and magazine to the many available volumes of specialized non-fiction books.   An added benefit of good reading is the development of a love of language for its own sake. Style, imagery and figurative language, the 'atmosphere of prose and poetry, its emotional intensity and its intellectual content-all these things inculcate a love of beauty, the mark of a truly civilized person.   No reader of good literature can fail to be influenced by the attitudes to life to members of the family, to the community and to the nation which it contains. He constantly checks his own philosophy against what eh finds, and in analyzing it, refines it. we do not necessarily try to behave like people in books, but at least we can learn from them. Sometimes, however, we rightly desire to model our lives on those of great men and women, in so far as we can, and in this connection, the importance of reading biographies cannot be over-estimated. it is a poor scientist who does not emulate the achievements of a Michael-Angelo or an Einstein, it is a poor nurse who does not admire the forcefulness and devotion of Florence Nightingale.   Today, we live in a cosmopolitan community, which has become sophisticated and matured by the admixture of foreigners, with their own languages, ways of life and special gifts. Furthermore, few of us nowadays, spend all our live sin our own small village or town. And so, it becomes increasingly important to know about other countries, other people. To know about other countries, other people. To know something about them from books, perhaps to learn their languages, at once smoothes the path to friendship, and it is a characteristic of a refined person to wish to make friends with other nationals -- not to regard them suspiciously as 'foreign devils.' The refined person is the mentally disciplined person -- the person who demands a full and intellectually satisfying life.

Mathematics is a language of perfection

  Strictly speaking, a language is a verbalized means of communication, enabling the speaker to convey thought to another person. However, the more complex the thoughts or ideas, the harder or more cumbersome language becomes. To explain verbally why 'the square on the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle equals the sum of the squares on the other two sides' would require a long and tedious paragraph or great math tutors. And this is the simplest possible example; anything more complicated would be unmanageable. So in this way mathematical symbols which nowadays are universally accepted, compress information in a way that no ether 'language' possibly could, and this fact supports the topic statements.

  However, this 'language' is only available to most people in it's simplest forms, i.e. arithmetic, algebra and geometry, and these are taught in schools because they have everyday usage. The shop assistant needs arithmetic, unless there is an automatic cash till, and technicians of all kinds need the other two; perhaps more, such as trigonometry, logarithms and the calculus, should he or she be dealing with quantities that vary in time and space. In this sense, of course, mathematics is a minority language, a language intelligible only to the specialists of all nations.

  The time may come when knowledge of higher mathematics is far more wide-spread, however. The 'new' mathematics is now being taught in many schools, sometimes alongside the traditional approach, and younger students find the new methods more intelligible. The principles of course have not changed; merely the setting out. However, there are great developments available to younger students enabling them to see the subject as a whole rather than as a series of separate compartments, and this should engender more interest in those whose natural bent is in the direction of the arts.

Mathematics has been described as 'the spearhead of natural philosophy', and this was certainly true up to about 1800. The subject grew up independently in China, India, the Arab world and Europe. For example, many of the Alexandrian and Greek schools of geometricians, represented by Thales of Miletus, Pythagoras, Euclid, Archimedes etc advanced propositions which were already Pythagoras, Euclid, Archimedes etc advanced propositions which were already known elsewhere. The West derived it's numbers system from the Hindu-Arabic world, which reached Europe in about 1000 AD. The West learnt mathematics from the Arab world and, from the 15th century, great developments took place.

  Descartes revived algebraic geometry, Napier invented logarithms, Newton and Leibnitz the calculus. Lobachevsky developed non-Euclidian geometry, and was followed by Einstein, though the latter was more of a physicist than a mathematician. From Newton onwards, mechanics and astronomy began to use advanced mathematics and, later on, physics came in for the same treatment. Both 'pure' and 'applied' mathematics became the indispensable tools of progress. Pure maths reaches conclusions by means of the deductive process, and may be independent of need. Applied maths consists of developments to meet the requirements of science and technology.

  So mathematics has become a 'beautiful language' in several senses. Firstly, in it's ability to compress ideas, just as a great poet achieves desired effects by great verbal economy. Second, because it's tools, the symbols, are internationally accepted. Third, because it is entirely objective, and completely exact, allowing no room for prejudice or human emotion. Fourth, because it constantly provides the ground for new hypotheses. These in turn are checked by logic and observation. Often as with Pythagoras, mathematical conclusions can be checked by other means. So mathematics can lead man closer to absolute truth than any other means, that is in the categories of discovery in which it can operate.

  Mathematics means 'facts', verified by experiment, and these facts are true within the four dimensions in which the human mind can operate. The other dimensions, perhaps six according to Stephan Hawking, must be compressed into infinitesimal space, so are likely to remain the prerogative of the Creator!

Lived

  Far up in the mountains of Canada, there is an old abandoned log cabin. Once it was occupied by a young couple who wanted to distance themselves from the chaos of this modern world. Here they were miles away from the nearest town. Bob, the husband, made the occasional trip into town to buy supplies whereas Jan, his wife, spent her free time by the fire, sewing. Their life was simple.

  Then, one midwinter's day, Jan woke up from bed with a strange ache in her bones. Putting it down to overwork, Bob shooed her to bed and made sure she rested. Though Jan was impatient to get to her chores, Bob soothed her, "Relax, Sugar. You're overdoing things. All these chores will be here when you recover." 

  However, Jan seemed to be getting worse instead of recovering. By evening, she was running a high fever and in greater pain. In spite of his best efforts, Bob could not manage to ease her suffering. And then suddenly, she started to lapse into unconsciousness.

  It was then obvious that she was seriously ill. What could Bob do? He had no experience in treating the sick and Jan was getting worse by the minute. He knew that there was an old doctor in town but he lived three miles away, downhill. Pot-bellied and obese, there was no way the doctor could make it up to their cabin.

  Something had to be done quickly! But Bob was stuck in the moment of fear. The only thing left to do was to go to the doctor. In Jan's condition, she could never walk that far in the waist-deep snow. Bob would have to carry her!

  Bob searched his mind for a way to move poor, sick Jan. Then, he remembered. He had once made a sledge so that they could ride together over the mountain. They never got around to using it though, because the whole mountain was thickly covered with rocks and trees. He had never found a safe way down, not even once.

  "Well," he thought, "looks like I'm going to have to try it anyhow," as he dug out the sledge from the storeroom. "Jan may die unless I get her to the doctor, and life means nothing to me without her." With this thought in mind, Bob gently tucked Jan into the sledge, got in the front, and with a short prayer for safety, pushed off.

  

  How they got through that ride alive, Bob has never figured out. As trees loomed up in front of him and just as quickly whizzed by his side, close enough to touch, he felt relieved that Jan was not awake to experience the ride. It was all he could do not to scream as collision seemed imminent, time and again, with only inches to spare.

  At last, bursting from the mountainside, the town came into view. Barely slowing down, they sped through the icy streets, only losing speed as they neared the doctor's house. The sledge, battered through the journey, collapsed in the left ski as it came to a halt, spilling out its occupants. Bob picked up his Jan and made his way into the doctor's house.

  After what seemed to be a long winter, Jan recovered fully from her illness but Bob never recovered from his fright. They moved into the little town so as to be near help in times of crisis, and have lived there ever since.

illusionary world part VI

  I'm collecting scrap in effort of making life as how I had been made. "Do you want a friend? That make sense, you must be lonely all by yourself. I'm sorry." She's not entirely correct. It is not that I felt lonely. I thought it will be more fun if we had more of my kind. A more lively world.  "Let's give it a try, even if it is not possible."

  Our creation, friend was not alive at all. Not the single trace of life was found in it. Life is difficult to be obtained in a world like this.

illusionary world part V

 Some time long ago, or perhaps sometime in the distant future, I was in a different world. In a world full of life and happiness. I still retain memories of that world. The girl asked me if that world was a better place that the world we both live in. 

 A girl living alone in a world that has ended. An empty and still world.  This was a place that had nothing, that was void of all happiness. Perhaps that is why I was born here. To fill in that void that she had.

Education?

  What is an education? A teaching? If so, what does it teach? It teaches about the world? Perhaps it does. Right now, an education is required for anyone living in this era.

  We start of our educational journey from a young age. We learn simple ABCS and 123 from the start of our journey and difficult essays and complicated mathematical quadratic education towards the end of it. However, learning never ends. We keep learning no matter how old we are or where we are. Education is a fun and interesting experience indeed.

  If education is fun and interesting, why does it stress the students who are in their journey of an education? Aren't we all suppose to enjoy an education and to be excited about new things that we have learn? Why has an education cause many life to end?

  It could be that the system of education now is too much for students to handle. It could also be that the parent's of the students push them into studying for their future. In my honest opinion, life is about learning and experiencing what the world has to offer. But if we keep on studying for the sake for our future, are we really living?

  In the end, we are not having an education to learn and experience but rather to survive in this world and era we live in now. We are no different from our ancestors who strive for survivals. I think that, our leaders should find a new way to make education fun and interesting for not only students, but everyone. A better world starts of with a better education system.
 

illusionary world part IV

  What is this light? I would not know a sight like this. Strange lights floating everywhere in this desolated world. For this girl who stays here all the time, this light is part of nature. It does not bother her one bit. 

  This is a shadow I thought but a shadow is cast. So what had cast this shadow? I will delve deep into my memories. Some time long ago or perhaps way into the future. My memories are in a blur but I remember, I was in another world before. I was alive in another world before walking on the grounds of this world That is one sensation I remember.

illusionary world part III

   I  was born into this world to seek for the girl who lives in this deserted world. Sacrificing what I could have if I was born into another world. The girl made my body from scrap she had collected from this world. My memories were murky, I cannot remember very well. Where I had been going until now. Where had I been trying to get to? 

   I could not speak to the girl. But she was that one thing that made my heart feel warm. The warmth of this girl is indescribable. I could not feel that warm sensation with my body though since it had been made of scrap. What a shame though. 

illusionary world part II

   This is a world that has ended. Nothing is born, nothing dies. Not even passing time exist. If I were search for somewhere to be born, I would not choose this world. In this world such as it is, there is someone. I wonder if she can see me?

  I have not been born yet to this world. The girl living in a world that has ended. A girl living in this empty and still world. For some reason, this girl interest me. For what reason? I can't be sure of myself either.

  The girl's life is so lonely. No one else exist in her life. That is only natural though because nothing is born here neither nothing here dies. That is the kind of world this is.

Demons

   Before Mai moved to the city, she used to stay with her mother who was hospitalised. Mai love her mother very much. In a gloomy Sunday evening, her mother was about to leave to a faraway place that can only be travelled by death. Mai's mother had pass away. Mai started to cry and prayed for her mother to be alive while holding her's mother hand tightly.

   Miraculously, her mother was brought back to life on the next day. The doctor and nurses were shocked. The explanation of this stems from a magical power that Mai has within herself. When she cries, her tears carry incredible healing powers which even have the power to bring things back from the dead. 

   The media pick up on this, but Mai starts to get bullied and was called a freak. Eventually, Mai and her mother move to Kanon's city. 

   In Kanon's city, Mai met Yuichi during summer break and the two hung out together a lot for the rest of the summer, especially in a nearby barley field. When the summer break is coming to a close and Yuichi has to go back to his parent's home as he is here staying in his auntie's house for the summer break. Mai becomes very distraught due to losing a very close friend only just after meeting with him. Mai makes up the story that demons have started attacking the field of barley and that she needs Yuichi help to fight them off. Yuichi tells her that he is sorry but he has no choice but to go back to his home. Mai tells him that she will wait for his return some day.

   Seven years had passed, Yuichi had come back to Kanon's city to attend high school. He attended the same high school as Mai but the both of them did not know nor recognise each other. 

   Yuichi caught Mai one day swinging her sword in school at one breezy and cold night. Yuichi asked Mai what was she doing and Mai replied, "killing demons." And that was when Yuichi assist Mai on her mission.

   After a few months, Yuichi believes he and Mai managed to destroy them all, but Yuichi is later confronted by another demon. He ultimately sees that it is not a demon, but rather a part of Mai's own power that shows him what happened before and during the time he met with Mai. The story of demons attacking is true but in a misinterpreted way.

   Due to Mai's incredible power to heal things, an adverse effect that she created from this power were the "demons". The reason that she was getting hurt after destroying them is because she was killing off parts of her own self. After Yuichi tries to tell her that it is all over now, Mai blames herself for endangering her own friends, and thus stabs herself with the sword and is about to die. Just then, a fragment of Mai's own power appears before Yuichi in the form of a young version of Mai. Yuichi reassures her that he will not leave Mai again. Mai's own power saves her and closes the wound she had just inflicted which saves Mai's life. Mai's power believes that now she will be able to accept this power that she has. Later on, she was taken to the hospital and she has to stay out of school until the spring. 

illusionary world

   This is the world that has ended. A world that has no one else. In this room is a small table and chair. A wasteland beckons beyond the window outside. The house is old; I cannot say for certain when it was built. I have been living here all alone. For how long? I do not know myself.

   Sometimes I venture out, picking up things I need. There is not anyone else outside. Under the dim sunlight, there are so many small lights flying all around. I picked up pieces of wood, nails and many other things to create a friend. But, would it make my creation happy to be born in a world like this? Would it befriend me after letting it walk on the grounds of this world?

   While such a query echoed inside my heart. I am not certain what I should do or not. I do know that, I do not want to be alone anymore. I want a friend.

Racism and Discrimination

  Getting discriminated for who you are is no pretty walk in the park. There are quite a number people who are affected by racism. How would you feel if that was you? Getting discriminated against every day for you being you? Racism is like getting accused of a crime, it is unfair especially when you have done nothing wrong. 

  Discriminators have caused people to die. They have caused death because they can't take such racism comments. Just because of their skin colour, it can cause such havoc.

  It is simply barbaric for people to pull of stunts like this and cause death, to do a stunt like this and think it's alright. It's not and it never will be.

  Discriminators caused pain, death and war among races. It is absurd. What happened to world peace? 

  Racism happens daily and affects so many people. How can you live with yourself for causing someone so much trouble? How can you live a normal life and think everything's fine? Racism is causing death and too much pain it must be stopped once and for all. After all as said by Gandhi, "Be the change in the world YOU want to see."

Prejudice on children

  Children can suffer from a climate of prejudice. Prejudice creates social and emotional tension and can lead to fear and anxiety and violence too. Prejudice can undermine the self-esteem and self-confidence of those being ridiculed and make them feel terrible, unaccepted and unworthy. When that happens, their school performance often drops or suffers. They may become depressed and socially withdrawn and childhood can become a much less happy time. 

  It is critical that a child is helped by dealing with diversity in a positive way. Prejudice is learned at a very young age from parents, other children and people and institutions outside of the family. By about 4 years of age, children are aware of differences among people, primarily in characteristics like appearance, language and names, but later they are aware of religious and cultural distinctions as well. To some extent, children begin to define and identify themselves through their understanding of these personal differences. This is normal. 

  As youngsters try to make sense of these individual distinctions, they may hear and accept simplified stereotypes about others. When that happens, they not only develop distorted views of the youngsters and adults they encounter in daily life, but they may start to deny and overlook the common, universal human elements and traits that would bring people together and live in harmony. As a result, intolerance may develop where there should be friendship.

Music

   Music, one of the most beautiful or probably, the only beauty way to express feelings. Sometimes, words too. Magnificent sounds join into one creating beautiful sound to the ears. Music can even touch the heart of people and maybe animals too.

  Although it can be beautiful, some of it isn't. Music can express anger, hatred, sadness, and the ill feelings of human too. It is like a remote control which is able to control our emotions. How it works, is mysterious yet wonderfully amazing.

  Some genre music can people make people dazzle to it. The beat, the rhythm and the sound of the music is like a guideway for our actions. Dazzling to the enchanting waltz, feeling the vibe the music gives you, is just amazing. Feeling the music and following the vibe of it makes someone a different person. Not completely different but just, different. It is unexplainable but music changes you for that period of time.

  Music works differently depending on the genre of it and how we feel it. It can be beautiful but sometimes destructive. Destructive as in brings down a person's emotion. To me, music is one of the essential of living and life.

Loneliness

   Loneliness, it has to be one of the worst feelings I swear. Different people feel loneliness differently. Some feel lonely when they have nothing to do, some feel lonely when they do not have someone by their side and well, some feel lonely every time. I guess, you can't really give a definition to the word 'loneliness' because different people have different perspectives on it.

  I wonder, why do we have to feel this way? Why can't we control this terrible and sickening feeling? Is like, we're fine for a period of time and suddenly, the loneliness sneaks into us and mess us up big time. We humans have so many things to do, accomplish or aim in life yet, the feeling of loneliness can come to us anytime and we just can't fully control it. Is like a demon.

  Cheerful people, motivated people, happy people and positive people, do they feel this way too? They always have a smile on their face but is it a way to mask their loneliness? Even if is, I'm amazed at the fact that they are doing a wonderful job doing so. Maybe they have really found inner peace and abandon negative feelings such as loneliness.

   I have so many questions, wandering around my mind, waiting to be answered and it keeps coming when I'm alone. I despite such feeling. I want to be truly happily occupied because is one of the way I can keep the ill feeling away for a period of time. It'll be nice if there was a way to completely abandon it though. Not just a remedy but, a permanent cure for it.

Limits

  In the beginning, you may seem alright, strong and motivated. After awhile, the things you do because you wanted it, has started to become a heavy burden. It might be easy and all but later on, it gets more complicated, hard and challenging. You want to stop because it has been too long and you start getting tired and worn out. That is when you know, you're at your limit.

  Some people, at their limit keep going on. That is how powerful their will is. How much they really want that thing. Anything can be possible once we're focused on our aim. However, it doesn't really work out well and it starts changing the person. Change in a bad way because, they've been struggling for too long until they slowly lose their own self.

  The mind is a powerful thing when you fill in positive thoughts. That's how these people keep on struggling because they're motivated. But, everything has its limits. Like a car meter or the running distance of an average human. Sometimes, limits aren't meant to be broken.

  No matter how much you go on and you keep falling, try harder. That's people advise to the one who is down. They don't know though, that some people have been doing this for a long time and achieve nothing but failures. No matter how many times they try to succeed. The variation of ways. The time they sacrifice. It's good if they stop though because, it might not be the thing they were meant for. Same goes for people. Sometimes, you're better off without the one who you so desire for. There are limits to everything and to everyone.

Hope

  Hope, a belief that could possibly bring someone closer to what they are seeking for, or the other way around. When one hopes too high, it could possibly lead to where they never wanted to go, the end of the road. The end of the road, as in there is nowhere left to go and you didn't find what you were seeking for.

  Hope could also be a wish for someone to get better, a chance to start over a new life, for someone to come back after a long period of time and it could also lead to love. However, we shouldn't expect much cause expectations lead to disappointments.  That is hope, it could bring your desires or the unwanted. The unwanted could be good but not at first. Is funny how hope works.

  Hope is not just a wishful thinking and the conviction that something will turn out well. It's unexpected, sneaky and odd. Hope is a strange invention, a patent of the heart and mind in unremitting action.

Valentine's Day and Love

   Valentine’s Day is a day of love and romance for some, a day of chocolate and cards for others, but for many, it is a day of bitterness. Every year when Valentine’s Day comes around, I hear my friends whine about how they don’t have a Valentine. They go on about how much better the day would be if they had someone with whom to share it. Well to be honest, it is quite lonely and sad for those without a Valentine on that special lovey dovey day. But the singles can do many other things to feel love too.

   Though this holiday makes big bucks for candy and card companies, they did not create the tradition. The holiday began with a priest known as Valentine, his illegal activities, and the price he paid.

   A long, long, time ago, in a place known as Rome, lived an Emperor named Emporer Claudius II, but for the sake of brevity we’ll just call him Claud. Now, Claud wanted to have a big, strong army but unfortunately, the men of Rome didn’t really want to fight in any wars.  Anyway, Claud got this brilliant idea that the men didn’t want to fight because they were married and had kids and whatever Tom Dick and Harry you can put on it. So, Claud decided to ban marriage for young men.

   Here is where St. Valentine enters. A bishop and rebel who believed in love, he continued to marry couples in secret. That just makes it all the more exciting, in my opinion. On the other hand, how much would a secret wedding feel like? It would just be you, Valentine, and your fiancee.

   Needless to say, Valentine got caught. No more secret midnight weddings for him. Claud ordered that Valentine be put to death. During his imprisonment, however, he fell in love with a girl. Yes, there is always a girl. Before his death on February 14, 270 AD, he wrote her a letter and signed it “From your Valentine.” Looks a bit familiar, doesn’t it?

   There is some speculation as to how St. Valentine died. Some say that he was stoned and beheaded, others believe he became heartsick in jail and died. Not that it really matters..maybe it does.

   The above is only one of many versions of St. Valentine’s story. By now it’s probably so mixed-up that we will never really know what happened, but that is how stories normally goes through generations. What is important is that St. Valentine died for love and marriage and all that mushy, cheesy and lovey dovey stuff. Some people would probably die for the same things. But actually, love is about trusting, compromising, dedication, honesty, forgiving and working as a team. Because two is better than one. Not most of those mushy tumblr post you see nowadays on the internet.

Chinese New Year

   Chinese New Year is an important traditional Chinese holiday celebrated by the Chinese race. In China, it is also known as the Spring Festival. Chinese New Year celebrations traditionally run from Chinese New Year's Eve, the last day of the last month of the Chinese calendar, to the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month, making the festival the longest in the Chinese calendar. The Chinese New Year is often referred to as the "Lunar New Year" in the lunar solar calendar.

    The source of Chinese New Year is itself centuries old and gains significance because of several myths and traditions. Traditionally, the festival was a time to honour deities as well as ancestors. Chinese New Year is celebrated in countries and territories with significant Chinese populations. Chinese New Year is considered a major holiday for the Chinese and has had influence on the lunar new year celebrations of its geographic neighbours.

    Regional customs and traditions concerning the celebration of the Chinese new year vary widely. Often, the evening preceding Chinese New Year's Day is an occasion for Chinese families to gather for the annual reunion dinner. It is also traditional for every family to thoroughly cleanse the house, in order to sweep away any ill-fortune and to make way for good incoming luck before Chinese New Year. Windows and doors will be decorated in red and with popular themes of "good fortune" or "happiness", "wealth", and "prosperous". Other activities like lighting up firecrackers and giving money in red paper envelopes.

FACEBOOK

  Social media is the most hottest trend of our generation. Social media like Facebook, Twitter , Myspace, Friendster and many more. Facebook was the first ever social media to become such a hit, compared to the other social medias. Even though Facebook sounds amazing, it has it's own advantages and disadvantages.


   One of the advantages of Facebook is, it's useful for finding long-lost friends and acquaintances. It's also somewhat useful for assembling groups of people (e.g. likers of Facebook fan pages) interested in a topic, and distributing information to them. It's a good way to distribute images too. Who knows what else its proprietary algorithms do (or how they do it) to help users find stuff that they're likely to be interested in, and weed out what they are unlikely to be interested in. Facebook is designed to be an easy way for procrastinators, or those who have a few idle minutes to fill, to find stimulating material or information. There is always something new and entertaining on the feed, and it's coming from quite a number of sources, rather than being monotonous. 

   The fact that random people can't post messages, but have to be added as friends first, is against the kinds of vandalism, spam, and other improper behaviours that requires people to vigilantly play the role of moderator on wikis and blogs. Facebook lets each person have a venue for personal expression, without requiring themselves to set up, maintain and publicise a website. It can work synergistically with one's personal website; one can post status updates and create fan pages linking to the website, and one can post on the website links to Facebook profiles, fan pages, etc. 

   Facebook has quite a disadvantage too as it is a social media website with lack of privacy. Facebook user's status update feed for example. Some users post a lot of interesting statuses, but there are some status that might be able to get someone in trouble. Facebook is also quite an addiction. For some people Facebook could be more addicting than cigarettes. Using Facebook for your need is actually good for us but when we waste most of our valuable time then it becomes harmful. The biggest disadvantages of Facebook is it's addiction which causes many problems, mostly because it kills our precious time.

  Facebook can be a good thing and a bad thing for us. It might be able to help us and also might be able to harm us. We should also not over exceed with the usage of Facebook as we can get addicted to it and forget about the real world. Facebook too might be able to get us to know more people but in the same time, it might be able to get us into trouble by mixing with the wrong kind of people. We should be really careful when on social media websites.