Musings (Seize the Day!)

I'll be putting a halt to my weekly guitar lessons in a week's time. My teacher said he's sorry to see me go, because he takes care of every student like plants, like flowers (in a cynical way, he's losing a certain source of income). I empathise with how he feels, but I can't stay - the fees are too high. I feel bad draining off my parents' hard-earned money.

I remembered the time I stopped piano lessons because I felt I was progressing very slowly, and had to deal with studies. Now, I find myself back in square one. Perhaps now I can devote more time to my choral activities?

Some people invest a lot of time while they were young to learn skills. Accomplished pianists can play any song you throw at them... I wish I had practised hard...

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*drifting off in my thoughts...*

The first skill I've learnt was swimming. When I was young, I would spend over 2 hours on Saturday afternoon, doing many laps of breaststroke. Sometimes, being suspended in the water felt like you were dead. I thought I was in a floating coffin, drifting in the middle of an ocean. I'm dead. Free from the physical pain in this world. Otherwise, I felt like I was a submarine... :)

... So that was a skill I invested in, and gave enormous payback.

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Sometimes I have a lot of ideas in my head. The air is full of ideas. I'd like to think about them, but I'll forget the next instant, like the passing breeze.

I just watched the Dead Poet's Society, which I actually did so by the recommendation of a friend (or as discussed in her blog) "Gather rosebuds while yo may..." Carpe Diem. From my perspective, the young boys in the movie have developed a wrong interpretation of their teacher's unconventional teaching. It was true that they were impressionable. Seize the day! as the film depicts, means making use of all the available opportunities in life. Misguided, they were. They did not see the big picture, that they were part of society.

It made me think about whether conformity would be best for our lives. As matured adults, we should take our actions into consideration and think of how we interact in society. But when I applied the concept to my daily life, it gave me adrenalin rushes. I was rushing for buses, asking lecturers questions, talking to strangers, etc.. I also wondered if any careperson in our poly was going to impress on their students: "make your lives extraordinary!!"

Currently, I see life as the pathway to infinity. The road of endless possibilities. I think that youths must be encouraged to step forward and challenge the future. The chicks must emerge from the nest and venture carefully. // Yet the eagle swoops above, circling for an opportunity. If by any chance, you get picked up by predator selection... most unfortunate. What are we living for anyway? Ourselves. But that's the hard and fast rule of life. How many people may make it, the amount of people who get distinction, there are the limits. As always, I have to remind meself that life is a big game.