Perseverence Estate

Perseverence Estate is a plantation somewhere around Geylang to Ubi area today, and they grew lemon grass (aka citronella), owned by the Alsagoff family.

Okay whatever, not very important haha.
I’ve been going on into late nights almost every night for the past month, it really isn’t easy trying to manage so many things, from family to school to Hall to work to grassroots to a lot more stuff. When I look back decades later I would probably kneel down and cry and be in awe at what I have been doing.

There are bound to be setbacks to whatever we do in life. Contrary to popular belief, I also have times where I feel dejected, where I need encouragement. It is not easy to keep that positive outlook all the time (as much as I like to whine and stuff, I aim to change the things I don’t like and that’s why I never ever whine about things that can’t be changed, like the weather).

In 1998 (I was Primary 2, what an old man indeed!) I watched this film at home called Money No Enough 《钱不够用》 . I remembered it was a hit during that period because the economy was in a mess and a lot of people kena gaogao. Despite not knowing Hokkien then we watched the movie at home anyway (pirated VCDs woohoo) and till today I remember this song which is really meaningful called 《不要怪老天不公平》 “Don’t Blame the Gods for Being Unfair”. It’s a pity that such a meaningful song never went beyond the movie so I don’t think you can find it on Spotify?

Okay some live band playing this song for some MLM convention haha

不要怪老天不公平
Don’t blame the Gods for being unfair,
怪別人比自己幸運
Blame others for being luckier.
人生本來就是這個樣子
Life is like this anyway,
有時候輸有的時候贏
Sometimes you lose, sometimes you win.

不要怪老天不公平
Don’t blame the Gods for being unfair,
也許這次讓你最傷心
Perhaps this time it hit you the most?
人生如果不是這個樣子
If life isn’t like this,
你又怎麽會好好反省
How would you reflect upon yourself then?

高高低低起起落落
Highs and lows,
風風雨雨點點滴滴
Rain and shine,
實實在在不需要你從此就倒下
Can’t stop you from rising again.

來來去去走走停停
Stop and go,
上上下下日日夜夜
Day and night,
分分鐘鐘等著你從頭再出發
Time is waiting for you to start afresh.

恍恍惚惚迷迷糊糊
Being lost and mindless,
單單獨獨吞吞吐吐
Being lonely and hesitant,
完完全全不是解決問題的辦法
Is not the way to solve your issues.

老天要降大任於你
The Gods will give you a mighty plan,
唯有一招不惜自己
So you shouldn’t hesitate,
千千萬萬不要忘記古人說的話
Never forget what the predecessors have said.

Okay my own translation (don’t quote me) so hahahaha later people say this place too much Chinese again.

A lot of submissions are piling up (OMG it’s week 10!) so I will be really really busy. But then again I don’t sleep as much as what other humans do so I guess I have more time? My theory is very simple:

You have all the time to sleep after you retire, say age 60?
After which, you can sleep and don’t have to wake up, say age 80 when I enter the wooden box?
Oh and be sure to come to my wake, free flow curry chicken and non-stop EDM. I demand a full colour page obituary on Zaobao as well.

Morale in Hall is still high I think, at least things weren’t as intense as before. I think this batch of freshmen is very enthusiastic and it is indeed a pity not being able to accommodate all of them in our activities. Nevertheless I aim to provide more opportunities for them to engage each other more in the second semester where intense stuff like Inter-Hall Games and our Annual Dance Productions are over.

That said, here’s something I want to share:

在选择你为之骄傲的东西时要小心——因为这个世界会千方百计利用它来与你作对。

——埃默·托尔斯《上流法则》

Be careful when choosing what you're proud of--because the world has every intention of using it against you.

--Amor Towles, Rules of Civility

谦受益，满招损。
共切记之，共勉之。