Kenichi Matsuyama again! But this time he is not acting a psychotic detective trying to decipher who is holding on to the death note. He is playing a nerdy role of a graduate student who wants to fulfill his dream as a pop star singing sweet love songs, but ends up with unimaginable occupation of being a heavy metal lead singer.
Japanese just love to dream, so they manage to come up with this manga/anime movie. The inspiring part about this show is that it brings a dilemma to the singer when he cannot sing the songs he likes to, but yet inspires others with the songs he himself disapproves. Yeah, subconscious talent or whatever you call it.
So in the end, does it matter if he plays the music he likes and doesn't get recognized? Or is it better to stay with something he can be good at and inspire others at the expense of his own dream?
Sometimes, fighting for your dream versus sacrificing your dream to make dreams for others.. it's really difficult to make a call.

Sorry guys for the late update. I will be linking all my blogs to a new website soon. Still pondering whether to continue this 3 year plus blogspot site...

Anyway, I'm emphatic. Some friends of mine decided to gather and start a business. I have never imagined myself to be in this kind of situation, because I have never dreamt of doing a business. And during this drastic period, I guess having ideas and fail is still a success compared to not trying at all.

"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."-Anais Nin

Next week, I will be going to Thailand and Cambodia with my friend for some sightseeing. Hopefully all will be fine as this will be the first time I fly alone. Well who cares. I have faith in AirAsia. Booked the flight from SG to BKK and from Siem Reap back to SG. From BKK to Cambodia, guess we have to take some long routes by land which may pose the most challenging. The flight is simply too expensive, considering the short distance between these two locations.

Ang Kor Wat. Here I come.

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes, but in having new eyes." - Marcel Pronst.

It's true that when you are doing something, you must be happy about it. Or else, don't do it. If you simply just do it to make people happy and you yourself are not, it's crap. Because people who are happy need you to be happy doing it too.

Now, what makes a person happy? To put it simply, anything that the person enjoys doing will make himself happy in the process of doing it. So in the end, it's your mindset. If you dislike drinking coffee without milk, you will put on a mask and hide the ugliest expression you can give even if your most beloved person ask you to drink it. But if you realize that coffee gives a great bitter-sweet aftertaste naturally, and you start to enjoy the greatness of it, you will be contented with it.

But what makes you unhappy about something in the first place? Usually, it's your past habit or experience that you have accumulated all this while that stops you from being satisfied doing something in a way you are not accustomed to. Or some people will deem it as "being forced to". And the fact that you have been in your comfort zone for so long without doing it, you will feel weird if it comes to you as a responsibility now.

Some people say life is about being happy. Well, people do things the way they want and they feel happy, but at the expense of others. Imagine a child wanting to give a try at an arts course, but parents want him to be a lawyer. For this instance, the child is trying to find his own happiness at the expense of his parents' comfortability in their vision of how their child should grow up to be.

Sometimes it's about being responsible. For you yourself, your family, your friends, for the environment you live in, and many more. Circumstances will make you unable to realize your dream as responsibility has stepped in faster than you have expected. But before that, a little bit more understanding of your own situation helps. So you can "enjoy" and absorb the responsibility.

Whether you are trying to achieve the goal set by you or by others, you must take full responsiblity for it. Whichever path ahead, responsibility is heavy. But without taking full responsibility for yourself, there will never be a day you can fend off all challenges in life and soar to the boundary that you have dreamed of.

I'm planning for a holiday trip. Why this time?

1) Oil price is cheap. You will never get cheaper flights than now.
2) Companies are forcing pay cuts and unpaid leaves. This should be the time to go on holidays with no impact to the business (in fact, they might be happier that you help them cut cost for the month).
3) Dollar exchange rate for certain countries should be quite worthwhile.
4) The increasing stress level escalated by the lousy economy should be channelled somewhere else.
5) Different environments and lifestyle might spur your creative ideas for your own business.

Life is an adventure. Before that, you need to be responsible for yourself and your actions. With this, you need not worry about (superficial) security issues in any aspect of your life. Mentally secured will be the key.

Cambodia anyone?