To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch,... Continue Reading →
Winning the battle, losing the war
The following passage was taken from the book 12 Rules for Life by Jordan B. Peterson, a good reminder on how long-term success may come at the cost of short-term losses, if you can call it that: You might consider judging your success across all the games you play. Imagine that you are very good... Continue Reading →
Training for a Marathon
For the past half a year I've been in the midst of training for a marathon. The decision to participate this year came after incessant badgering by a colleague. As I remember, when I finally agreed it came when my defences were low following a particularly stressful period at work, during which I couldn't think... Continue Reading →
On doing a great job, and not.
There's this post on Seth Godin's blog called "Avoiding the GIGO trap" that other than being brilliant as Godin's posts so often are, also reminded me of what I've always felt differentiated the people I've worked on the spectrum of face-slappingly awful to walk-on-water great. On the awful side of the spectrum, you have people who... Continue Reading →
The absurdity of running
I've clocked 80.76km so far in runs this month. That's almost 80.76km more than what I ran last month. The reason, I tell myself, that I have run so much is because there's quite a bit of a competition in the office. We've signed up for a marathon; we're tracking our runs; and being competitive... Continue Reading →
Life’s too short
Sometimes I think life's too short. There's so much I want to do! But then again, maybe it's just right, as said so beautifully by Lin Yutang in The Importance of Living: The situation then is this: man wants to live, but he still must live upon this earth. All questions of living in heaven... Continue Reading →
A single cloud leaves the peaks
From the book Master of the Three Ways (菜根譚) by Hong Zicheng: A single cloud leaves the peaks: Going or staying, with neither is it tangled. A bright mirror like moon hangs in the sky: Peace or noise, with neither is it concerned. I must have read the above passage twenty times before, without really... Continue Reading →
Not waving but drowning
"Just smile and wave boys," he said, as he walked out of the office door. We were going for lunch, and our poor colleague was stuck with the boss. It was a Madagascar reference. A cute, funny scene. But what it reminded me of was a poem by Stevie Smith; not quite as funny; not... Continue Reading →
To be like dirt
Flowers grow on dirt; manure. On diamonds? Never. May I be like dirt. May those who encounter me grow and bloom.
On reading novels and living the life you cannot live
I'm an avid reader, but have grown up reading almost exclusively non-fiction. Not because I don't enjoy them, or think any less of fiction than I do non-fiction; it's mostly because I can never remember the names of all the characters! (Especially in novels...) In non-fiction, the cast of characters tend to be ideas. And... Continue Reading →
Donn, fragments 