A pleasant surprise

I was pleasantly surprised when I received a letter today from Synovate and a cheque of $10. It may not seem like much but I was surprised because seriously lah....I didn't think they were for real. I mean it sounds kinda like those fakey advertising gimmicks to me initially. Well, I haven't cash the check yet....dunno whether it will rebound or not so I'm still crossing my fingers. But at least, it made me happy for 10 seconds. Though the cynic within me is still thinking that there must be a hidden catch somewhere.

Anyway, today I went to Coffee Club with Xinyi, Shannon and Andy at Hollond Village. Being the extra person that I am, I decided to order Tiramisu latte. Although it has such a super low alcohol content, I end up with my cheeks all flushed red. I guess my alcoholic tolerance is really low sia.

Shannon shared something regarding prophecy that gave me a fresh perspective. It's really interesting...what he just said. We end up having an interesting conversation about the Book of Revelation and the end times. Too bad Peiwen's busy with her cousin's wedding and Wayne is at his friend's birthday party and they both cannot join us.

Interestingly, I also saw Pastor Rony's books available for loan in the national library. I thought of borrowing rock foundation and firm foundation to prepare for baptism class but I decided against it in the end. One reason is because baptism class is already over, and the second reason is because I felt that it's actually better to buy the books. Some of the topics covered were pretty basic but there may come a time where I need to refer to the basic truths once more anyway. I shall not be so cheapo and borrow the books in case one day I will need them.

Sentimentalism

I'm a very sentimental person. Don't laugh, it's true. I spent a sizable amount of my time going through what happened in the past and reminiscing. I'm so bloody sentimental that I kept all the letters that anyone has ever wrote to me, kept my primary school autograph book, most of the story books I ever owned since young, the gifts that people gifted me with and yes...even the past semesters' lecture notes. I even wrote a diary when I was young, kept it even though I never updated it and occassionally flip through it to laugh at the antics of my youth.

As such, I'm especially sensitive to the flow of time. I often wondered about this strange thing called time: past, present and future. And I came to the conclusion that time only consist of past and future and present is something like a point that just keeps moving. And I used to wonder about time travelling and what will I do, if one day I wake up in the past. What events will I change? What kind of new insights will I gain, reliving what had happened with the "wisdom" I gained now? Will I do things differently? Or will I be contend to allow things remain as they are?

Then I realise that the reason why I think like this is because I cannot let go. To want to change something in the past means that somewhere in your heart, you regret something. An author once said that regret is the most useless emotion. I don't agree, but I do think that obesessing over events long past is pointless. And I realise that forgetfulness can be a gift at times, to help people to move on. It is quite foolish to waste your time on something you can't change instead on using it something you can.

The truth is, we only have a limited amount of time. The past memories are nostalgic simply because they are already gone. Therefore, they are perfected in our memories. To long for something already gone is fine, but not at the expense of the present. I would like to say cherish the present, except I'm of the opinion that you can never fully cherish something until it's gone. I guess it depends on your definition of cherish.

I used to remember people saying that food taste better in the past than now. I wonder if it really taste better, or because it's already in the past, therefore, it become "perfect" in our mind? I guess I'll never know the answer anyway, because past and present can never meet. Once past was present, and in time, present will become past. The truth is time never quite stop moving whether you like it or not.

Of course, I will wonder about the future also. About how I will think 10 years later. Will I laugh at what I'm writing now? Or will I smile nostalgically? I guess I'll know in 10 years time. Provided someone remind me lah. Things that matter a lot to me now probably will become pointless 10 years down the road.

The difference between blogger and lj

After spending some time exploring the functions of blogger and having been a past user of lj, I must say that there are really many differences between these two platforms. For one thing, I like lj better. Because lj is a means by which I interact and participate in communities. Yeah....if you are asking, yes, they are anime-related. Communities are fun because they all share resources freely and the people there are pretty nice. In this sense, lj is more interactive. Blogs are places where you post your own thoughts and reflections. Although people can take turns to write a blog also, (I have seen group blogs) but the amount of participation is usually less.

Another reason why I like lj is because there's such a thing as lj-cut. That means you can hide the rest of your post behind a cut and not have to worry about cluttering the first page. I usually use lj-cut if I want to post anything spoilerish. Cause I don't want people to complain to me how they are accidentally spoilt by reading my post.....Personally I eat and breathe spoilers for shows that I like to watch anyway.

The last reason why I like lj.....you can friend-locked certain posts. That means if an entry is too private, you can locked it so that only your friends can view it. I'm not sure if blogger can do that too since I'm not yet familiar with blogger.

But blogger does have it's advantages too. Layout is nice and easier to manipulate. And simple things like font changing and bolding can be done easily too. Blogger really allows you to change a lot of things very easily. If I'm not wrong, I think you need some html in order to change the fonts used in lj. The editor in blogger is far easier. I guess maybe because I start off using lj, lj will always have a special place in my heart. I'm such a sentimental person....hahah.....

My first post

After much prodding and poking by my dear friend Xinyi, I have decided to start writing a blog. Hope I can keep it up lah....cause I know I'm the kind of person that don't have much fuel one. It's probably going to be boring, you know, with the rants and ravings of someone who thinks she knows a lot but end up knowing little. But hey, guess what, at least I acknowledge that I don't know a lot. I'm just like Socrates this way. I guess it's true that great minds think alike. *ducks flying tomatoes*

Ahem, since it's just the first post, I think maybe I should explain the name concentrical. It's acutally the same meaning as concentric...according to dictionary.com, concentrical means having a common center; like for example "concentric rings"

If you think I'm trying to act smart, you are wrong lor. Anyone who watched the 7.00pm drama on Channel 8 should know this word. It's 同心圆 lah.....I don't watch TV I also know got this drama leh.......you watch liao still dunno the meaning then it's your fault for not being as nerd as me lor. Or else you must be very busy; no time to go www.dictionary.com to check up the meaning of this fascinating word.

Life is concentrical because I think we all have a common center. And hopefully we can discover this common center once more. By the way, this doesn't mean I endorse Channel 8 shows. I am still of the opinion that channel 8 dramas still need some plot tweaking. And less clinches. They better consider hiring me as their new scriptwriter sia.....hahahaha