Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Introspection

Nothing like 2 conversations with 2 good friends over 2 days to get you into a contemplative mood, and to destroy your motivation to study for the test tomorrow.

It has been a week of relection, somehow most of the conversations I've had the past week have been about lessons learnt and perspectives gained in life; about how life is, and how we'd like it to be. Kind of like a review on the first principles of life, the universe and everything.


X says:

thought that in uni and all that i won't meet this kinda characters... uni was pretty pleasant until he came along!

X says:

*yawn*

tim says:

it takes all sorts lah

tim says:

no such thing as " i thought i wouldn't meet this kind of people"

tim says:

there will always be this kind of people

X says:

true...

X says:

reality bites...

tim says:

yeah

tim says:

tell me abt it

tim says:

over here also got the kanjeong spider, everything also must write down types

X says:

how's your day?

X says:

serious ar!

tim says:

haha

tim says:

yes

X says:

wow...

tim says:

my day was ok though

X says:

thought they were pretty slack about studying

tim says:

not in mcgill at least

tim says:

it actually feels a bit like jc to be honest

tim says:

it's just that i've learn how to not let it bother me

X says:

same here

X says:

everyone's very very competitive here

X says:

a bit unpleasant sometimes, but i'm just happy cos i know what i want out of this whole uni thing..

tim says:

yeah

tim says:

it's the same everywhere lah

X says:

except for today cos of the project =) heh..

tim says:

but as u said, u need to know what u want out of the whole uni thing

X says:

gonna sleep it off, and tm's a brand new day =)

tim says:

yeah


X says:

i think it's something that's important to learn...

tim says:

true

tim says:

very true

X says:

if not you'll just be irritated, obsessively competitive and discontented your whole life

tim says:

the grades are important, but u reakky should be focusing on developing your thinking and stuff like that

tim says:

really i mean

X says:

yeah... how old are your classmates there?

tim says:

anywhere between 17-20\

tim says:

most are 18-19

X says:

that's quite young...

tim says:

yes

X says:

mature?

tim says:

not as mature as me

tim says:

haha

tim says:

that sounds damn arrogant

tim says:

but, aiyah, different background, different age, different experiences, so not too surprising lah

tim says:

some more we have to do NS

tim says:

at least not everyone is like that though

tim says:

there's this mexican guy i know, only 19, but he's pretty mature

X says:

true...i think NS was a good thing

tim says:

yes

X says:

Now, being thrown back into the company of 19 yr old girls can be quite disconcerting...

tim says:

haha

tim says:

actually NS can be a good or a bad thing lah

X says:

bordering on mildly disturbing even...

tim says:

depends on the persono

X says:

that's true too

tim says:

like i realise that i draw a lot of lessons from my NS, but i also realise that not everyone does

X says:

yup... that's cos you went into it with a good attitude

X says:

making the best out of a bad situation at least

tim says:

no so much a god attitude, but yeah

tim says:

the most out of a bad situation thing is right

X says:

as opposed to just passing time... its good

tim says:

yah, but to benefit from NS u had want to make the most out of it lah

X says:

not many do though...

X says:

anyway...i'm finally done!!!! =)))

tim says:

that's also true

tim says:

haha

tim says:

good lor

X says:

would u do it all over again if you had the chance?

X says:

NS, i mean

tim says:

if i had the chance or if i had the choice?

tim says:

different leh

tim says:

knowing what i got out of it, and looking at where i am now, i would say yes, i would want to do it again

tim says:

but if i didn't know how i'd turn out, i wouldn't be so sure

tim says:

it wasn't something that i wanted to do

X says:

yup...

X says:

learnt a lot of lesson and grown up quite a bit...

X says:

but most of them through painful experiences...

tim says:

true

X says:

anyway, i better go sleep... 8am class'll be a killer

tim says:

that's why i wouldn't be so sure, but, then again, sometimes u need to have painful experiences to learn things

X says:

yup...

tim says:

i think at the end of the day i'm just glad that i turned out better for it lah

X says:

yup...me too

tim says:

nevermind whether i enjoyed it or not, or whether i wanted to do it, or whether i would do it again if i was given the chance



X says:

i know you'll make the right choices!

tim says:

hahaha

X says:

and if you don't..well

tim says:

but what is the right choice?

X says:

life goes on =)

tim says:

is there ever such a thing as a right choice?

tim says:

i don't really agree with the concept of right and wrong choices

X says:

really?

X says:

maybe not for everything lar...

tim says:

we make choices

tim says:

and when u look back on them, ur judgement on whether they were right or wrong depends on what u made of your choice

tim says:

so logically, if make the most out of your choices, they will always be the "right" choice

tim says:

and u never know what would have happened if u chose to do something else.

tim says:

it might have been better, but it just as well could have been worse

X says:

hmmm....

X says:

that's an interesting way to look at it...

X says:

=)


The majority of my conversations this week went along lines like these, and to be honest, I do miss conversations like these that I used to have late into the night. A bit of introspection does us good once in a while.

The harsh reality of life, however, reminds me that I have a test to prepare for, so it's back to the books now.

5 comments:

Cinderella said...

No right or wrong choice. you just make the best choice.

Hey why didnt the old english ppl spell "wrong" as "Rong". hahaha.

or they should have spelt "right" as "wright"..

Whats the point of the "W" anyway. just makes like more confusing.

tim said...

Erm... I also dunno why... I think the English chose to make the English language confusing on purpose...

but anyway, I don't really think there is such a thing as the "best" choice either, and the reason is the same.

When you're faced with choices, you can't really evaluate them when you have to make them. but, when you do evaluate your decisions after they have been made, you invariably look at where you are to decide whether the choice you made was the "right"/"best" one.

and if you've made the most out of your choices, you will always say that you did actually make the "best" or "right" choice. when you're faced with choices, you can't really decide on the basis of which is "better", and even when you look back on your choices, you don't know for sure if u did actually make the "best"/"correct" one.

on a related note, when you do look back on your choices, you will realise that the choices you made have brought about both good and bad consequences, and which ones you choose to focus on also have a bearing on your evaluation of your choices after they have been made.

so I think the bottom line is that it's really about taking what you want from your experiences - taking the positives out of any experience makes you a better person for it.

whew. that felt like a blog post. haha... why aren't I doing like philosophy or something like that right?

and anyway, since you said it, then I also must say right?

I miss you too lah!

Cinderella said...

i disagree. i think we can only try to make the best choice for ourselves at that point in time.
and at that point in time the best choice is the one we decide is a better option.
you measure up your options to see which one you think will give you a better outcome. Thats how ppl make decisions.

Anyway i think you are getting old. that comment was far too long winded.. hahah. too retrospective already. dont look back at the choices made, cos they were made for a different time. look forward. :D

tim said...

I don't disagree that we do weigh our options, and we do decide on what we think is best at that time. But what I am getting at however, is that we we THOUGHT was the best choice might not necessarily be so, but we'll never know for sure, because of the reasons that I have already listed.

I do however, agree that we should not be so retrospective. The point i was trying to make was basically to make the most of the choices that you've already made.

This whole thread stems from when I was talking with a friend about how we all ended up where we are, and how there were so many other choices we could have made along the way that would result in things being different.

And I am NOT long winded lah, just thorough in my explanations. Lest you forget, you are older than me leh. =)

Cinderella said...

haha.. maybe i was trying to get a share of the long conversation. hahaha.

you are so long winded!!!
hahahaha.
even though i am older.