2008 - The Year that Beijing gave Athletes Asthma

Hello! :)

So hard to believe it's already 2008. And last than half of it remains. Still, at least it's the interesting half, given that there's the Olympics, a whole bunch of birthdays, the time for year 12's to wrestle with the two Q's, QCS and QTAC (at least in Queensland anyways), and personally, my thesis submission to look forward to. That last one is really like a sarcastic "interesting", but I thought it deserves a mention. In fact, there are a plethora of miscellaneous events worth mentioning. But I'm no historian. So let's get on with the blog.

Can you believe I actually forgot what my own blog was called? Not like the title, but the address, so I didn't really abandon it per se, I just couldn't find it. Thanks to Steph, who has linked my blog on hers. Lets me slide on that awkward moment where I ask someone what my own blog is called.

-_-"


Anyways, I found it, as you can see, and seeing as how that whole fiasco stands as a testament to my slowly fading memory, it makes sense that I blog to keep the memories in a secondary form (the internet), which is more or less as reliable as the primary (my head).

As stated in the title, the year is 2008 (gosh, I hope that's right), and besides from the Beijing Olympics, it is a momentous year for another reason. I'm not referring to World Youth Day, the Obama vs. Clinton campaign wars, global warming, the continuing conflicts in Iraq, political turmoil in Zimbabwe, China's devastating earthquakes, Queensland triumphing State of Origin our third year running, or our local superstar Heath Ledger's passing. I'm referring to the day that I shed my shell.

I don't doubt for a second that this is very much a self-centered rant of a blog entry, but once a year shouldn't be a hard sell. To begin with....

I was born in a wonderful city called Hong Kong....


....


....


....



On second thought, I might save that for my autobiography. To be perfectly honest, my life I would describe as having been both great and crap at the same time. The silver spoon isn't quite there when I open my mouth and look in the mirror, but I've never had to worry about the clothes on my back or food on the table.

I can't
I. outplay Kasparov at chess,
II. outthink Einstein at physics,
III. outwit Letterman in a discussion, or
IV. outsmart Gates at computer design, but

I can
A. write fiction that doesn't suck, despite reading very little,
B. construct all kinds of weird and wonderful things with Lego, even at the age of five, despite having fat little fingers, and killing my nails each time I had to pull the pieces apart,
C. recite the multiplication table well enough that I would never get out in a game of "around the world" (grade 3), despite knowing the torment and ridicule maths nerds inevitably face, and
D. get an OP 2 in grade 12, despite never studying for any of my high school subjects (except Maths C, which, fittingly, I got a C for :D)

I am smart, when it comes to academics. However, as I progressed through life, I realized how pointless this intelligence was. It does its job, but its job is a very narrow one. A comparable situation that comes to mind is one from The Simpsons.

Homer: Let me ask you something: does your money cheer you up when you're feeling blue?
Mr. Burns: Yes.
Homer: Okay, bad example. So let me ask you this: does your money ever hug you when you come home at night?
Mr. Burns: Why, no.
Homer: And does it say "I love you"?
Mr. Burns: No, it doesn't.
Homer: (chanting) Nobody love you, nobody loves you...

Stupid brain, doesn't even do the first thing right. Anyways, I could go into a whole spiel about my brain and the things it doesn't do right, but then I'd run into the mind-body problem, which I suppose is the psychology equivalent of the predestination brick wall we crash into every once in a while at bible study. In any case, I have spent a good deal of my time on this planet focusing on the wrong thing. Intelligence is good, but it doesn't cheer me up when I'm blue, hug me when I come home, or say "I love you".

At some point in my life, some ways into high school to my memory, I committed myself to detachment from other people. Reason? I was an overweight, unattractive, awkward, nerdy boy. In all likelihood, my friends would decrease in number, not increase. So why not skip the long painful journey in between and just cut off all social relationships from the go? Save myself some time and focus on other fruitful ventures.

Unfortunately, I am still overweight, unattractive, awkward and nerdy. And I'm still a boy. But now, I think I see things very differently. However, do I now think that my friends will increase in number as opposed to the opposite? No, I don't. In fact, I don't think about anything even remotely close to this. Predicting what the future will be like, what may or may not befall you, how your circumstances may or may not change, I say leave that to the psychics and the gypsies. Reliving my failures, tormenting myself with memories of humiliation and embarassment, I say leave that to the historians and comedians.

That is not who I am anymore.

I can attest now, that I am not a psychic or a gypsy or a historian or a comedian.

I am a psychologist.

I am a Yau.

And I

AM

JACKY

What's my name? J-A-C-K-Y

J-ust
A-ccepting,
C-oncentrating on, and
K-apturing what he
Y-earns for

Well, I have a last name too I suppose.

Y-earns
A-fter
U-nreplaceable treasures

Yes, I realize the word is irreplaceable, but Yai sounds like crap :P.

I want to store up for myself treasures that will last for eternity, past a single lifetime. But to do that, I have to do one thing:

FOCUS ON TODAY

Our lives consist of three days:



Yesterday Today Tomorrow



But why write it like this? This is how it should be written:




Yesterday Today Tomorrow



In the face of TODAY, yesterday and tomorrow are a mere whisper. They exist and have value in and of themselves, but today has the greatest value of all. I've decided not to let visions of a lonely future or memories of broken dreams from the past crush my chance at the present. You could describe me as an introvert before, as RL would put it, crawling into my shell when I felt something was nearby.

But the shell has come off. From today onwards, I hope that you would describe me as an extrovert. Not because that's what I'd like to hear, but because you honestly see that in me. If that should happen, then I will have succeeded, and I have kaptured when I yearn for. Will I be a bit more annoying? A bit more unpredictable? A bit more inappropriate at times?

I laugh out loud at present, because I hope these will all be true. Because to me, this is what it is to kapture the present. I'm rambling now, because I write blogs like lightning: I strike wherever I can and try to make as big a hole as possible.

So let me end by saying


SVEN ROCKS - BUT -
THIS - IS - NOT - A - SVEN - BLOG
SORRY XD XD XD XD

I AM JACKY~~~~~$(&#$!(&^@#%

If you don't get this, good for you. Seriously.


Till next write --