JYSim for jobless-yokel Sim

Getting to grow up you’re rewarded with the freedom of making your own decisions - weighing your options available and making the best move to safeguard your future (sounds grave) or trekking your way towards a better life. Options - something we are not well-trained into weighting when we were small, came flooding to us once we leave home. Perhaps up to the point when you’re just about to enter U your parents may still have the authority to make decisions for you, but once into the ivory tower you’re completely on your own - options.
The decisions and options we have will directly affect what we will become in future. From big airliners ordering aircrafts (as in Qatar Airways opting to go an all-Airbus fleet or Singapore Airlines’ ambition to own one of the most futuristic jet fleets) to choosing which function to attend tonight (or attending both), we make decisions everyday, whether we like it or not. Here, in the territory of adulthood, you have complete grasp to become anyone you like - the homey who stays in his room playing computer games for 72 straight hours, the society activist who has Mondays to Sundays completely filled with functions, chess practice, tennis sessions etc or the moderate good-looking guy who sometimes stays in his room for up to 14 hours but is occasionally busy with activities (ahem, that’s me). Who you’d like to be will have a great impact on who you’d be among your friends and peers. Of course, sometimes people will just look at the skills you have - producing a 30-minute clip in 1 hour, writing dramas etc.
While I shall not comment on the best way to live your university life, there is always a simple golden rule to follow by - as long as you’re happy. And how you define happy is something even Einstein cannot do. So, as long as you feel right doing what you liked, and as long as you don’t feel that your time is completely robbed by some meaningless activity, then go ahead and be yourself. I may seek happiness (or ‘happyness’ in the Declaration of Independence of USA) in getting 98 for English (which I did, blush) and being appreciated in Choir (and possible nomination for president), while my friend may find happiness in breaking the record for staying the longest in a one stretch session in the library. Another may find happiness in playing chess (and forgets to hand Jun Yi his physics report), while no. 4 may find it in realizing a dream of building a miniature airport (which I promised I’d participate).
Nevertheless, at the end of the day you’d have to ensure that you’ve enough substance for a pass, or that the teacher likes you very much you can scrape a C with 19 marks. Options - we live beside it.
Here I felt obliged to define living an ‘enriched’ life and a ‘busy’ one. Sometimes both of them are easily confused - assuming that your life is rich just because it’s busy. Take the direct aviation translation - an airliner with a lot of destinations doesn’t guarantee it to be profitable. MAS at its prime flew to over 100 destinations across 6 continents - a busy airliner it seems, but it was bleeding ringgit. El Al Israeli Airlines flew to only 49 destinations, and yet with its out-of-the-way hub in Tel Aviv, it posted a USD150 million profit for the last quarter. Besides being profitable, El Al is also famous for involving in Jewish salvation operations - In 1991 an El Al 747 flew 1087 Jews from Addis Ababa to Israel, saving these beta-Jews an Auschwitz fate. The key to living an enriched life lies in being able to organize time well and choosing only those activities you have confidence in managing as well as the ones you like (and it should at best be meaningful).
Nevertheless, our life isn’t always confined in our own palm, and sometimes we may not have the choice to decide whether or not we are to be busy or staring at the sky for 5 straight hours. And while I’ve not been in situations like this (mainly because I just become downright rude by not attending the meeting for the meaningless activity), I think human beings are always rational when you talk to them with the matter-of-fact air as well as solid reasoning. Needless to say there are always other people out there who finds this activity interesting and are willing to run it for you - so start seeking a substitute.
At the end of the day how you choose to live your life is what that matters. Just as my Camel T-shirt printed - One Life, Live It! Nobody can ever question my decision of staying in my room watching youtube from 7 to 11, nor can I question my friend’s chaotic and sometimes-troublesome lifestyle. As long as I (we) are happy, and that’s what really matters I think.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 13th, 2007 at 2:22 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.