Forgiveness, then reconcilliation. Next, resolution

An incident occurred a while back about how a friend reacted with another friend's response to an event. While both of them were striving to do what is right, and none of them sees themselves in the wrong, I guess the goal wouldn't be to point out who is right or wrong. Not to figure out who is more wrong either.

Wouldn't it be wiser to look at whether I can be more Christlike-thus be more merciful?

Because the goal isn't to be more right, rather to be more Christlike. That's why we strive to do what is right in the 1st place!

So we may have forgiveness.. Reconciliation may take place; but resolution... None whatsoever. Will life necessarily always turn out to be better when resolution happens? I guess it depends...

Lesson learnt! :)

Learning not to repeat my mistakes in running a half-marathon

I just completed by 21KM run this morning and I was really disappointed due to finishing the run 2-mins slower than last-year. It's my second time running this half-marathon, and I realized that I made much more good moves last year as compared to a more 'seasoned' me right now.

Mistakes I made: (which I really hope that I won't repeat them...)

1. Not eating bananas before the run... (it's really important.. I ran out energy!)
   
2. Eating only 2 pieces of bread and milo (well, if I had bananas... and 3pcs of bread....Hmm!)
3. Being late... I started the run at 6.50am, when everyone started at 6.30am!
   
4. Because I was late, I didn't spend sufficient time doing warm-ups... Duh!
5. I dropped my heat-rub tube. (I didn't check, and it was too late when I really needed it.)
   
6. Always drink 100-plus at every drink-points (water is good, but I already had water!)
   
7. Go to the toilet BEFORE the run... not during the run! (slows me down, and lost my momentum..)
   
8. Do NOT run 10-KM 3-days before the run... (I paid my price... my calf was so-so painful!)
9. Sleep at least 8-hours every-day in the week for the run. (Thank God weather was merciful...otherwise, I might have had fever!)
10. Practice-Practice-Practice for 3-months before the event... (My training was inconsistent!)
11. Prepare my iPOD... I was jogging halfway when I realized I ran out of songs + the songs were jumbled up! When I needed to speed-up, I hear some sleepy songs and I got distracted....
12. Concentrate on the run.. Remind myself why I am running the race!
13. Breathe consistently (I didn't and I was so easily out of breath!)
    

Good things I did: (As opposed to last-year...)

1. finding a suitable pacer during the run (keep looking around for people)
   
2. get a good pair of socks (I invested in 20 bucks for a new-technology socks)
   
3. wear a proper sized attire (last year, I wore everything XL...)
4. I ate breakfast...
   
5. I drank water more consistently... (I was properly hydrated) Had a gulp everytime I was slowed down by people.

With these, I think I will not join Standard Chartered Marathon for the next 1 to 2 years until they change their logistics and organizing team.. They are quite bad in my opinion. They really need to find someone more qualified to handle the management of the event and put some social sciences and planning into practice!

Life Mission Statement..

My new life motto in hoping to live life to the fullest:

Living life out loud to its fullest capacity!
Loving lives as deep as I could!
Laughing as much and as loud as I can!
Latching on to God's grace as tight as possible!

Learning to enjoy myself...

Was on the beach having coffee with wife this morning. Sitting on the beach-chair, thinking of what we're doing and what we're going to do later. As we were discussing, I realized how easy I was in getting myself busy even with the idea of relaxation...

Earlier, while trying to do my daily bible-reading, the temptation of the hurried-mind created a mental block in getting the insights I needed to fuel my soul.

Therefore, I decided, while taking the swing, to let things be as it is. I guess it has to start from letting things go as it should. I use to believe there is no such thing as letting nature take its flow as everything must/should have it's purpose and as industrious human-beings, we ought to take charge and manage. Well, however true that conviction may-be...NOT APPLICABLE TO HOLIDAYS!!! :)

As such, we took it easy.. I went on upload photos, did some emails, watching the opposite unit watching TV, listening to Joanne Wang and Diana Krall while wife took a dip on the tub. Hmm.. what a peaceful and easy-going sunday afternoon...

Deep flight challenger and the org of this planet

The deepest trench or depth of this world is the Mariana trench. And the deep flight challenger will be to undergo 5 missions to visit the deepest parts of planet earth to see what goes on beneath.

The company behind, virgin oceanic, funds such researches and the man behind. Died in 2007, now renewed by Welsh, who hopes to carry out this expedition in 2011.

I realized that excellence comes when we push ourselves-human, to the limit.

I also realized that there are many organizations out there who has the money n capabilities, but not the driving courage for the missions.

Putting their lives at stake for the sake of testing the human limits. Would I do that?

Afraid of being silly

I realized that people are many times afraid to be classified as 'not knowing' in today's society. I believe living in information age has made us fear to be labelled as one who doesn't know.

The other side of the equation is also true, where people in this age ARE expected to know! The demand for excellence is applied not to myself alone, but inevitably to people around as well.

Example was in my usual Sunday class. One of my student refused to acknowledge that she was not listening during class. Not that I will punish or scold, in my opinion, a student who wasn't paying attention will lose out in class in any-way to one who pays full attention and process those info into thoughts.

Another instance was another student who gave me a loss look yet unwilling to acknowledge that she is lost.

What's wrong with not-knowing?
Where are the values in honesty, humility and teachability placed in the ranking against pride, show-off and arrogance?

Discussing about the rules of engagement

Never realized the day would come for me to have a set of rules of engagement in the course of my marriage. I always see it as a form of legalism which marriage and love should be able to conquer.

Nonetheless, imperfect as we are, selfish as our hearts would be, we have no choice but to discuss and came to this conclusion; In order to allow and help each other to be better communicators and partners, we need to have some set of rules to allow for vulnerability..

And so we set some of ours:
1) when one talk to share our feelings, just listen and don't try to defend.
2) when we want to speak, we ask if it's ok for us to speak.