SF just got hit by a minor quake less than a minute ago.
It's a testimonial to the quake's "minorness" in that I'm happily tapping away at the keyboard instead of running away in panic.
I think this is one of the few times since I've been here where I've actually felt a quake and been conscious of the fact that it just quaked. Maybe it's because it's almost 5am and there's not much else going on tonight?
Friday, July 20, 2007
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Moments in my life
I just watched Ghost Rider last night, and one phrase that really caught my attention was what Johnny Blaze's dad said to him.
If you don't make a choice, the choice makes you.
And that set my mind to thinking how much of my life has been defined by choices that I made along my journey through life. It's like... You're on this grand-daddy of road trips. Destination unknown. Where you end up ultimately depends on which roads you decide to travel down, which junctions you decide to turn on, which side streets you decide to explore.
Which in turn made me think of moments in my life where I made a conscious choice to do something or be someone.
- When I was young, I read somewhere that there were two sorts of people in times of crises. One looked outward to friends or family or religion or the community etc for strength. The other looked inward inside himself to find tap on reserves he didn't know he had. I was 8 or 9 years old when I read that, but for some reason, I made up my mind that I would never be the first type of person, that I would always find strength inside of myself.
- I was in the infantry when I was 18. At some time during basic training (aka boot camp), I decided that I wanted to either be an officer, or I would flunk my boot camp so badly that they would have to make me a clerk or some other administrative type guy. I didn't want to be the "entry level grunt". I wanted to either be a hero or a zero.
- One Saturday night, I was going through my phone book and I realized that I had only ONE person that I could call to go hang out. And that one person was moving out of town in a month. I realized that I needed to learn how to make friends and fast. And guess where that road took me...? ;)
I could go on and on, but here's my point. At each of those "defining moments", I learned something about myself that has shaped me into the person I am. And when I looked back at all those moments, I realized that I am very proud of the person that I grew to be. I realized that I tend to take a lot of my success for granted and I don't give myself credit for those successes. I also realized that a lot of how I make decisions stems back to those earlier moments in my life.
So here's my deep thought for the day. Look back at your own life. Look back at how you have grown as a person. Be proud of the path you have walked. Take a good hard look at what made you the person you are.
It is only when we examine the past, that we can fully appreciate the future.
If you don't make a choice, the choice makes you.
And that set my mind to thinking how much of my life has been defined by choices that I made along my journey through life. It's like... You're on this grand-daddy of road trips. Destination unknown. Where you end up ultimately depends on which roads you decide to travel down, which junctions you decide to turn on, which side streets you decide to explore.
Which in turn made me think of moments in my life where I made a conscious choice to do something or be someone.
- When I was young, I read somewhere that there were two sorts of people in times of crises. One looked outward to friends or family or religion or the community etc for strength. The other looked inward inside himself to find tap on reserves he didn't know he had. I was 8 or 9 years old when I read that, but for some reason, I made up my mind that I would never be the first type of person, that I would always find strength inside of myself.
- I was in the infantry when I was 18. At some time during basic training (aka boot camp), I decided that I wanted to either be an officer, or I would flunk my boot camp so badly that they would have to make me a clerk or some other administrative type guy. I didn't want to be the "entry level grunt". I wanted to either be a hero or a zero.
- One Saturday night, I was going through my phone book and I realized that I had only ONE person that I could call to go hang out. And that one person was moving out of town in a month. I realized that I needed to learn how to make friends and fast. And guess where that road took me...? ;)
I could go on and on, but here's my point. At each of those "defining moments", I learned something about myself that has shaped me into the person I am. And when I looked back at all those moments, I realized that I am very proud of the person that I grew to be. I realized that I tend to take a lot of my success for granted and I don't give myself credit for those successes. I also realized that a lot of how I make decisions stems back to those earlier moments in my life.
So here's my deep thought for the day. Look back at your own life. Look back at how you have grown as a person. Be proud of the path you have walked. Take a good hard look at what made you the person you are.
It is only when we examine the past, that we can fully appreciate the future.
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