Choices

I choose...
to live by choice, not by chance;
to make changes, not excuses;
to be motivated, not manipulated;
to be useful, not used;
to excel, not compete.
I choose self-esteem, not self pity.
I choose to listen to my inner voice, not the random opinion of others.

《金玉良言》

This is my favourite song for quite a while. Like it the first instance for the tune, then the lyrics.

The MV isn't that well done in my point of view for I do not like the storyline featured in it, but the song itself is definitely well sung. 很赞的一首歌，意境丰富if you let your imagination run with the song.




在书店翻阅了一整天
在咖啡店和朋友聊了一整夜
文字语言占满心中 每一寸空间
就是填不满 你的缺

那么多的道理在规劝
遗忘的方法似乎随处都可见
爱情是否历久弥坚 也像推销员
好过不好过 还得自己发现

说思念 太丢脸 说明天 太冒险
除非我们还有机会破镜重圆
想再约 太随便 痛言犹 在耳边
再见 是最好的 金玉良言

那么多的道理在规劝
遗忘的方法似乎随处都可见
爱情是否历久弥坚 也像推销员
好过不好过 还得自己发现

说思念 太丢脸 说明天 太冒险
除非我们还有机会破镜重圆
想再约 太随便 痛言犹 在耳边
再见 是最好的 金玉良言

说天气 没重点 说昨天 太狂野
除非我们的事已经事过境迁
想问你 的一切 还是停 在嘴边
再见 是最短的 金玉良言

我们 最好还是别再 再见

Running...yet again..

I love this article that I read in the Saturday papers on running. It is a piece so apt really. Let the extract from the article itself does the talking:

The camera’s eye
Does not lie
But it cannot show
The life within
The Life of a runner (Excerpt from “Runner” by W.H Auden)

..Running, after all, is an activity that comes free and allows you to feel free. It is the easiest of sports and equally the most available. It has no need for rivals as in football, it does not depend on a specific arena with marked lines like tennis, it is not hostage like golf to weather….

Running is also a sport at its most deeply profound where even on the busy road the athlete can discover his personal space...

Here, you exit the house, you can turn left, or right, run up, run down, literally and metaphorically make your own journey. Here, you make your own pace, you challenge no one but yourself, you have room to contemplate unlike football or tennis where the brain is tuned to tactics and quick responses…

The lure of running is that every man can chase his own cause…

To the outsider who sees no wisdom in solitude, no virtue in the mind’s ability to suppress a litany of aches, no attraction in the idea of man against himself, a clock, a road and a dream, running can seem boring. Yet as a sport, it is alive with theories, with gadgets, with personal preferences...

So enough now, stop reading, go on then. Find the shoe that fits. Choose your music. Strap on a Fuel Belt. Plan your run. Set the alarm. Join the tribe. Look out into the distance at dawn and breathe. Listen and you will hear the quiet call of the road. Then put a foot forward, run, eat up the cement, fly. And let the words of the runner John Bingham drive you:

“The miracle isn’t that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start.”

Run Dolly Run...

Ideally I would like to end 2011 with a run (which I did when this was eventually posted).

Yes, I have finally started to run again, after almost a 2 year break. Getting started is difficult; finding time for it is even worse. To make sure that I will make conscious effort to find time to run more regularly, I have made myself sign up for a half marathon happening this May. The initial conversation was doing a half marathon in this Dec, then it was shifted to Aug and eventually to May. So much about intention and more time doesn't mean better huh? LOL.

Why I would like to end 2011 with a run? It is simple – it grounds me. I always feel running is very closely related to the journey of life, and it is a sports full of learning for me at all times, in terms of understanding myself better and how best I could improve such that I get better at doing it. I have stated a lot of times that I am not built for running and I can never excel in it. But it is precisely this reasons that I kept running - I shouldn't give up just because I think I am not going to be good at it.

Running to me, just like life, is a journey full of sweat, pain and possibly tears, and sometime the end is nowhere in sight. However, the key is to keep going, focusing on the end point, and have each other (i.e. my running partner and life partner) to motivate when the going gets tough. When I think I have consumed all the possible energy in me during crunch time, I always still manage to find another burst of renewed energy to keep going thereafter. Though we may bitch about the toughness, the satisfaction lies in crossing the finishing line that we have set for ourselves. Not to mention the endorphins thereafter (+ the aching actually! Ha.).

I would certainly would like to do more runs in the new year. It is an avenue for stress release to me, and this translates to a healthier me both mentally and physically possibly.

Happy 2012, folks! Have a great year ahead!