Athena inspires the Prince

Whats an Odyssey? It's a journey.

Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns driven time and again off course, once he had plundered the hallowed heights of Troy.

........The Odyssey by Homer

The Runner

I remembered sprinting the 400m back in JC -- where i learnt that "sprinting" and "400m" do not go hand in hand. Back then, I was running alongside the fastest guy in my leg of the relay only to be outrunned at the last 100m. I was later told that he was a member of the school's track team and that I should have kept a small distance behind him and try to outrun him just as he's about to outrun me.

I kept that tip in mind up till today. This morning, while i went on a short run in the park nearby, I selected a runner to be my pacer. I kept a healthy distance behind him so as to not be accused of tailgating. After 500 metres at a decent speed, my pacer decided to outrun his "stalker". I couldnt keep up. I gave up and began walking. And 300metres down the track, he began walking.....

....... that old uncle began walking.

Simple pleasures

Coming home late after a day of bad quizzes.

The sight of my brothers doing differentiation, teaching one another made a bad day seem not too bad.

The simple pleasures in life are the ones that are right in front of my eyes.

Jealousy

Its funny to see how little actions by the mother can lead to jealousy among siblings. Just when i thought everyone's all grown up.

They shouldnt be jealous coz back then, I was jealous that our dad was a lot more nicer to them. It's only fair for them to be jealous of me now, right? Because of them, there's no more preferential treatment for me. It's so unfair.

Balance

Thomas Jefferson once said, "I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have." Comment.

I didnt get the chance to step up and do this impromptu. However, from the comfort of my seat, I did my own impromptu mentally.

I would say that the harder I work, the more disappointed i seem to be. I make up my lack of intelligence with hard work yet things do not seem to be going the way i want it to be. The amount of luck remains constant. The questions remains as hard. The amount of time I spent seemed forever. The grades i received seemed inversely proportional to the amount of hard work i put in.

Thus, the more disappointed i seem to be.

However, one must remember it is NOT about working hard. Rather, it's about working smart. As cliche as it may be, it's actually true. It not about the time spent on work but rather, how one approaches the work at hand. I have been and is still am in a quest to find the secrets to working smart. Only then, will i be able to achieve that balance in life.

And the session was capped with a fitting conclusion. In order to be successful, one has got to be persistent. With persistence, that day might eventually come.

Nevertheless, that said, I shall also remind myself not to be blinded by the hopes of success that may or may not come that i forget to live life day to day.....

Balance: It's hard ...

How time flies...

My profound apologies for the silence this past couple of weeks.

Time seem to pass a little bit faster this semester as compared to the last. Piles of notes for me to try and understand and as the weeks pass, the notes are not getting any lesser.

As i clear my to-do list one by one, an item will be added to it -- one by one. I'm not complaining for I know it's part of the job description for this 4 years. I dun think I'm feeling the pressure of understanding concepts fast knowing people around have already done so. Ok, maybe just a little.

Perhaps the brain's too preoccupied with school that it kind of suppresses the creative side of me. The brain's not doing much thinking. No more thoughts after thoughts after thoughts.

And although I dun think I'm experiencing a dull cycle, I seem to be in one week in, week out.

But I run every alternate days, have my weekly dose of weekend soccer, my TV time with American Idol, fortnightly chapter meetings -- all this amidst my never ending piles of tasks. So I do have my fair share of work and play. Yet something's not right somewhere.

And i wonder what it could be...