A little whisper in the dark

Effort and result

"That's a nice bike you got there. Does it go fast?"

I looked up from fiddling with the bike lock at the railing at the owner of the voice. Usually I ride a beat-up bike into campus but today I'm riding my good bike. Its 3 years old, but looks "swish", as the locals might call something stylish, what with the suspension and disc brakes.

I have a standard reply for that:

"It goes as fast as the motor that's on it." He smiled, nodded and moved on, I suppose he was as late for his lecture as I was for mine.

As nice as my good bike is, it doesn't mean I have an easier time riding it. Riding is one of the things I find meaningful enough to put all of my effort to doing it. Riding the beater bike I put in all my effort, I go slower. Riding the good bike, I put in the same effort, I go faster. Simple, really. I don't really care about how fast I go, my heart, lungs and legs tell me if I'm putting in my full effort.

As I move along, I'll have to keep telling myself that if its worth doing, its worth doing it well, and it doesn't matter how easy or hard it is, as long as I've put in my best effort, I should just accept the results of my endeavours.

Its fairly easy to know when you've hit the wall as far as cycling goes, but in other things...... I guess I'm still finding where my limits are.

posted by Chung Leong @ 1:17 AM 0 comments

Yourself

Of late I've been taking more photos of the people around me, and have been finding that people generally aren't used to seeing themselves in photos, video clips or hearing themselves on an audio recording. Weird, but I feel the same way too.

Perhaps the image we see is one we are so familiar with yet it is so foreign; when we look at a mirror we see a reversed image but when we look at a photo, its not. Can we come to terms with the person we really are? What if we had to live with a person exactly like ourselves, what if you chose a life partner that was like you?

I'm more comfortable in front of a camera now, though I still spend most instances behind it. But I don't feel ill at ease anymore. Maybe I've come to terms with myself, but I'm not sure I could live with someone who's like me either.

You never know what you're going to get, and you never know what might just fit.

posted by Chung Leong @ 4:18 AM 0 comments

QWERTY

I just realized that though I can type without looking at the keyboard to hunt for alphabets, I couldn't remember where each particular alphabet is if I had to draw the QWERTY keyboard layout again. Odd. Its like my fingers have eyes.

posted by Chung Leong @ 5:24 PM 0 comments