New Year? New Day? New Beginnings? Pssfftt...

One of the biggest jokes of the year is the New Year. People begin the new year saying things like "This is the new year, I have a chance to start anew" or make ridiculous resolutions that they know they won't keep. The new year is just a new day. If we are ever begging so hard for an opportunity to change, why wait for the new year? To push it to the extreme, why even wait for a new day? If you want your 6-pack abs, or that elusive 24-inch waist-line, or the discipline to be a "good" student, or sleep with at least five guys this year, or find your dream guy, or to save enough money to travel the seven seas, why do you have to wait for a new year?

Nevertheless, all this is way easier said than done. But as usual, the first step to big dreams is self-awareness. Abraham Lincoln said in his "House Divided" speech in 1858:

If we could first know where we are going and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do and how to do it

Simply, it means that it is important in every decision process that we know where we are and not just where we are going. We can only know "whither we are tending" if we know where we are. So for those of you who still think you are in your lofty worlds with all these big dreams, I hope that after you have read this, you will re-think where you are, and not just about where you want to go. It is pointless to know where you want to go if you don't know where you are.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, a multi-talented writer from Germany in the late 18th-early 19th century added:

What you can do or think you can do, begin it.
For boldness has magic, power, and genius in it.

To translate, in the words of Nike, "Just do it".

Some of you may also remember Celine Dion singing about a new day and NOT a new year. I know that's lame but I am going to use it as an example to drive my points home. Here is a link to that song for those of you who were born too late to know who Celine Dion is:

A New Day Has Come - Celine Dion

If you try to see beyond the mushy lyrics of the song, I think it can be applied out of the context of love as what was intended by Celine. Anyway, here are the lyrics:

A new day has...come

I was waiting for so long
For a miracle to come
Everyone told me to be strong
Hold on and don't shed a tear

Through the darkness and good times
I knew I'd make it through
And the world thought I had it all
But I was waiting for you

Hush, love

I see a light in the sky
Oh, it's almost blinding me
I can't believe
I've been touched by an angel with love
Let the rain come down and wash away my tears
Let it fill my soul and drown my fears
Let it shatter the walls for a new, new sun
A new day has...come

Where it was dark now there's light
Where there was pain now there's joy
Where there was weakness, I found my strength
All in the eyes of a boy

Hush, love

I see a light in the sky
Oh, it's almost blinding me
I can't believe
I've been touched by an angel with love
Let the rain come down and wash away my tears
Let it fill my soul and drown my fears
Let it shatter the walls for a new, new sun
A new day has...come

A new day has...come
Ohhh, a light... Ooh

Hence, we don't have to wait for a new year to make changes in our lives. All we need is a day. My best wishes to you in your future endeavors.

Full Circle

This post is probably long known to be inevitable. My final semester at BU did not begin with a bang, nor did I expect it to. Life as I have come to know it, is only as exciting as we make it to be. It's not that I am not excited about what I need to study for this semester, in fact, I have the three most interesting courses that I have ever taken in my college life. They had to wait until the last semester to give me what I really love to do. But then again, maybe it is because I have only discovered what I love to do during my later college career. Anyhow, my college career is approaching its end and I'd like to think that the first quarter of my life is coming to a close. When I look back at how I have spent my college time, it is inevitable that there are a few kinks here and there. But I think I made the most of the opportunities that were presented to me. I had fun, made some cool friends, did everything a college student is supposed to do. Could I have done more?

Anyway, this is also a period for job hunting and my hopes seem slim. It would seem that the harder I try, the more I have come to realize that the chances of me being hired are not too good. Nevertheless, I have zero doubt about my abilities as a person. I just have huge doubts about how the system works. How can they send a representative and talk to you for about 30 minutes and then they get to decide if you should be recalled for a second interview. Well, but that's how life works and I just have to live with it.

My plans now are to secure a job in Melbourne. I will go there after I graduate and check out the companies and see where I end up. It will be exciting. Life is actually beginning! I have to find my own place, pay for my own food or cook, and pay bills etc. As intimidating as it may seem to some people, it actually sounds exciting and fun. The only thing that is left for me to desire is to be able to do something that I will enjoy. I don't have to love the job or anything, but to be challenged and to enjoy the challenge would be pretty ideal.

I have also realized that I have saved a decent amount of money now and I can afford to buy myself a few presents before I go home. I have also sold off some of my textbooks, some of them even at a profit after using them. I am just that good at sales pitching. What can I say? Hahaha... So my plans are to purchase a camera, a long-term investment for me. I also recently purchased a suit, which cost about 200 USD. According to the people I talked to, that's a good price to pay for it. In fact, it's a bargain.

You could say that I am on a kind of a splurge right now. But after four years of "hard" work, I think I deserve slightly more than a pat on the back and a "Job well done". Besides, I think the camera is more of a shared property between Ern and I.

With all that said, and a quarter of my life gone, I can foresee that this will be a good life. I just know it. Now let's go fall down so that we can learn all the ways to climb back up :)