I got done by a speed camera earlier today. That will mean it's been a month since the last time I got done by a speed camera, and a week since I have run afoul of the law in general.
What happened the week before
I had done some grocery shopping in the city, around the Central Market. In a hurry to get back home, and pack things away into the fridge before I headed off to a Toastmasters meeting, I got pulled over by a couple of cops. I figure they just wanted to pull someone over for the sake of exercising the power, because honestly, how on earth would they be able to spot someone not wearing a seatbelt in a moving car, particularly if it was moving faster than 30kmph? $250 for not having your seat belt on, that is just revenue raising.
I have to wonder though ... two traffic offences in as many weeks is either incredibly bad luck. What is the world trying to tell me? I've been pondering this question most of the day. Both times I got it because I wanted to be in a hurry, and decided to flout traffic rules for expedience's sake. Perhaps it's a sign that I should slow down, enjoy life more.
I figured I already did that, but ... what, to just take it easy, stop and smell the roses?
Monday, July 28, 2008
Sunday, July 20, 2008
A new direction
It's been a long, long time since I've made an entry on this blog. Heck, almost five months.
Five months is a long, long time.
What's happened?
In that time, I've studied in accounting at night school, I've been attending krav maga lessons on and off, and went to my first funeral. It's ... wow, even when I think about it now, three months down the track, it's a powerful experience.
My aunt died of cancer in March, a withered, barely conscious husk. I think society, through its condoning of violence, has desensitised most people to the specter of death. You watch the news everyday, there's always news of murder this or soldiers fighting that, and you have to wonder what it's all in aid of. It's a surreal experience, having someone you knew die.
I suppose I have been lucky in the past that for all of the twenty two years that I have been alive on this Earth, I have only had to witness one death firsthand - my pet dog's, eating snail poison by accident. Compared to my aunt, that was mercifully quick. She was slowly dying, slowly decaying, over a long period of about seven or eight months, as the cancer slowly consumed her inside, organ by organ, until it metastasised to her bones and it was finally concluded as being terminal. I wasn't that close to her, but she was my cousins' mother, and I was relatively close to them. So I can say that she was someone that had been present in my life from the beginning ... and now, she's ... gone.
She has been for several months now.
I was one of the pallbearers at her funeral, carrying her coffin into the hearse from the Buddhist ceremony at the funeral home and then carrying it out of the hearse at the crematorium and taking it to the podium where the eulogies and final farewells would be given. Surprisingly enough, I didn't cry at the funeral, but I could feel the anguish inside, a tugging, a pulling, a ripping.
Life goes on, and we can't mourn forever. What's done is done.
When I think about that funeral, and the fact that the average human lifespan is about 20-30 thousand days, it really puts things into perspective.
I have been thinking about what I want to do with the rest of my life. One thing that would be the worst thing to happen would be to find that I am wasting away my life, wasting the days given to me by the universe, doing petty, stupid shit. I have found my passion - writing, and my purpose - to get those stories out so others can enjoy them. I am almost ready to start the actual writing on my first book.
That said, I want to change everything for the better as well.
So now, the typical New Year's Resolution thing.
I resolve to continue working on my book and stop procrastinating.
I resolve to stick to my diet.
I resolve to train as hard as I can.
If there is a wall, break it down.
If there is no road, I will pave it with my own hands.
That is the path that all great men walk.
It all changes here.
Today.
For today, this very moment, this instant in time, this is my point of power.
Right here, right now.
Five months is a long, long time.
What's happened?
In that time, I've studied in accounting at night school, I've been attending krav maga lessons on and off, and went to my first funeral. It's ... wow, even when I think about it now, three months down the track, it's a powerful experience.
My aunt died of cancer in March, a withered, barely conscious husk. I think society, through its condoning of violence, has desensitised most people to the specter of death. You watch the news everyday, there's always news of murder this or soldiers fighting that, and you have to wonder what it's all in aid of. It's a surreal experience, having someone you knew die.
I suppose I have been lucky in the past that for all of the twenty two years that I have been alive on this Earth, I have only had to witness one death firsthand - my pet dog's, eating snail poison by accident. Compared to my aunt, that was mercifully quick. She was slowly dying, slowly decaying, over a long period of about seven or eight months, as the cancer slowly consumed her inside, organ by organ, until it metastasised to her bones and it was finally concluded as being terminal. I wasn't that close to her, but she was my cousins' mother, and I was relatively close to them. So I can say that she was someone that had been present in my life from the beginning ... and now, she's ... gone.
She has been for several months now.
I was one of the pallbearers at her funeral, carrying her coffin into the hearse from the Buddhist ceremony at the funeral home and then carrying it out of the hearse at the crematorium and taking it to the podium where the eulogies and final farewells would be given. Surprisingly enough, I didn't cry at the funeral, but I could feel the anguish inside, a tugging, a pulling, a ripping.
Life goes on, and we can't mourn forever. What's done is done.
When I think about that funeral, and the fact that the average human lifespan is about 20-30 thousand days, it really puts things into perspective.
I have been thinking about what I want to do with the rest of my life. One thing that would be the worst thing to happen would be to find that I am wasting away my life, wasting the days given to me by the universe, doing petty, stupid shit. I have found my passion - writing, and my purpose - to get those stories out so others can enjoy them. I am almost ready to start the actual writing on my first book.
That said, I want to change everything for the better as well.
So now, the typical New Year's Resolution thing.
I resolve to continue working on my book and stop procrastinating.
I resolve to stick to my diet.
I resolve to train as hard as I can.
If there is a wall, break it down.
If there is no road, I will pave it with my own hands.
That is the path that all great men walk.
It all changes here.
Today.
For today, this very moment, this instant in time, this is my point of power.
Right here, right now.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
