Good Quotes to keep you waken and inspired

Are you feeling stressed, down or simply lousy and not believing in yourself? Loosen up!

Here are some quotes that you may want to take note and remember.

"You have to believe in yourself when no one else does. That's what makes you a winner."
- Venus Williams

"What we think or what we know or what we believe is, in the end, of little consequence. The only consequence is what we do."
- John Ruskin

"It is our choices...that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."
- J. K. Rowling

"Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow."
- Ronald E. Osborn

"Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or to lose."
- Lyndon B. Johnson

"Achievement seems to be connected with action. Successful men and women keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don't quit."
- Conrad Hilton

"Victory belongs to the most persevering."
- Napoleon

"Always make a total effort, even when the odds are against you."
- Arnold Palmer

"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly."
- Robert F. Kennedy

And that's about it! There's plenty more of course...God Bless!

The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner is a good book and I just want to put this review here for those who want to read the book but do not have enough time to read and most probably lost interest in it.You can search Wikipedia of course but this is different. For those who are reading the book and not wanting to have their imagination spoiled by me, then back off although it doesn't really tell much anyway.

The Kite Runner

Amir, an Afghan boy has a life full of heart wrenching yet beautiful moments in his life. In this novel, he yearns to have the everlasting love of Baba, his father. He does try to please his father and to make his father proud of him. However, Amir does not have a heart of courage and defending himself, thus always letting his father down into thinking that he will hardly make it to be a real man in his life. Amir loves to read and compose stories but is not sporty like his father who happens not to like books. Rahim Khan, a friend of Baba, understands Amir’s plight and problems. He thus encourages Amir to follow his way and dreams.

Hassan, Amir’s servant, is a Hazara, a race discriminated by other races in Afghanistan. Most Hazaras are servants and slaves badly treated by their masters. Hassan is somewhat the opposite of Amir, always standing up for himself and Amir, also having a thick skin when people make fun of him. There are times when Amir gets jealous as Baba seems to treat Hassan like his son when he’s only a servant. Complications arise after Amir witnessed Hassan being cruelly raped by Assef, a strong supporter of Hitler when Hassan was fetching Amir’s kite after the latter won the kite competition. After the kite competition, Baba readily accepts Amir as his good son which is what Amir wanted always. Deep in Amir’s heart, there lives guilt about the incident he had. He knew he was foolish, selfish and lacked courage into helping Hassan. Amir began plotting to get away from Hassan, knowing that he was guilty. He finally manages to get rid of Hassan although he regretted later on.

War comes; Amir and his father escape to America. Adapting to America was tough to them; they were n’t living with comfort and had to start from scratch to feed themselves. Days passed by and Amir graduated, got a job and a wife and Baba died peacefully along the way. Many years later, he had a call from a dying Rahim Khan and went back to Afghanistan to his hometown, Kabul to visit him to catch up with the times. But he never knew a great secret would be unraveled to him…

Amir has to find Hassan’s son, Sohrab, to give him a good life; away from the terror and miseries under the new government, the Taliban. With determination and perseverance in himself, Amir seeks help along the way and touches many people’s hearts, finding Sorab in Assef’s hands. He fights with Assef and saves Sohrab from slavery and cruelty into freedom. There were hardships and misunderstandings to getting Sohrab to be accepted into America. They finally settled down as one big family. Amir has finally become a true man able to redeem himself of the mistakes he had commited.

The Kite Runner is about love between the relationship of a father and son, trust and betrayal in a friendship, the means of being loyal to each other and determination to redeem of one’s soul when in the wrong.

What am I thinking about?

There are times when I feel insecure or pressured or in other words, upset by something. I wouldn't be the one who's angry most of the times but sad and worried even though sometimes people don't see it. Then I'll say something that seems like I'm going to meet a dead end and most probably regret saying so. I remember the times when I did those actions I imagine the worst of the situation. Like when I argue with my brother, I thought that if something were to happen to him and if I don't say sorry or say that I still love him, I may be the one suffering in the end. I end up crying of all the thoughts I had even though my brother was the victim. I dislike to think too wildly. I just don't know what will happen before I make things right. And again, the other party has to make things right too. Things can happen, anything is possible. The thing is, I just need to watch my actions and everything will be right, and even so, I need to care about others. Who knows, one party gets angry over something small or something that doesn't involve me and I ask how he/she's doing and he/she flares up and I think I've wronged that person and I try to make it up to the person and the person gets irritated because I'm probably getting in his/her way. People, if you are like that angry party, you are making things worse for you and others around you. We don't need to be angry or cold over something like the other party hogged the computer for too long. Just throw in a joke(a little sarcastic) and gently tell that person to move it. And even if you don't know how to joke or can't control yourself, you just got to learn. If the other party spilled something on you, just think if it were to be you. Yeah! And help the other party clean up the mess too. Even if someone killed my loved one, I should not be angry and want the murderer to be hanged, I rather he lived even if it's life imprisonment. Change that person, ask him what's he thinking about, why did he do that, he's got a reason, be it a bad or a good one. Make him/her right before he/she dies(or hanged). People will always be softened somehow and change for the better. Being angry is tiring, you don't want to be hurt for long. No matter how complicated things may be, people can always work it out right if they have the faith and understanding in GOD to do so.

Just trying to translate what my friend is talking about in French...

She posted on her Blog, saying:

Les rêves des amoureux sont comme le bon vin
Ils donnent de la joie ou bien du chagrin
Affaibli par la faim je suis malheureux
Volant en chemin tout ce que je peux
Car rien n'est gratuit dans la vie.
Éspoire est un plât bien trop vite consommé
À sauter les repas je suis habitué
Un voleur, solitaire, est triste à nourrir
À nous, je suis amer, je veux réussir
Car rien n'est gratuit dans la vie.
Jamais on ne redira que la course aux étoiles, ça n'est pas pour moi
Laisser moi vous émerveillez, prendre mon envol
Nous allons en fin nous régaler
Et sortez les bouteilles, finis les ennuis
Je dresse la table, demain nouvelle vie
Je suis heureux a l'idée de ce nouveau destin
Une vie à me cacher, et puis libre enfin
Le festin est sur mon chemin
Une vie à me cacher et puis libre enfin
Le festin est sur mon chemin

And I created another Blog and added the translator and this was it:

The dreams of love are like good wine (Ils donnent de la joie ou bien du chagrin)
They give of joy or grief (Affaibli par la faim je suis malheureux)
Weakened by hunger I am unhappy (Volant en chemin tout ce que je peux)
Flying in any way that I can. (Car rien n'est gratuit dans la vie)
Because nothing is free in life. (Éspoire est un plât bien trop vite consommé)
Éspoire is a plât far too quickly consumed (À sauter les repas je suis habitué)
At skip meals I am familiar (Un voleur, solitaire, est triste à nourrir)
A thief, lonely, sad to feed (À nous, je suis amer, je veux réussir)
To us, I am bitter, I want to succeed. (Car rien n'est gratuit dans la vie)
Because nothing is free in life. (Jamais on ne redira que la course aux étoiles, ça n'est pas pour moi)
Never no redira that for the Stars, it is not for me (Laisser moi vous émerveillez, prendre mon envol)
Let me tell you émerveillez take off my (Nous allons en fin nous régaler)
We will in the end we enjoy (Et sortez les bouteilles, finis les ennuis)
And exit bottles, finished trouble (Je dresse la table, demain nouvelle vie)
I shall prepare the table tomorrow new life (Je suis heureux a l'idée de ce nouveau destin)
I am happy at the thought of this new destiny (Une vie à me cacher, et puis libre enfin)
A life to hide myself, and then finally free (Le festin est sur mon chemin)
The feast was on my way (Une vie à me cacher et puis libre enfin)
A life to hide me and then finally free (Le festin est sur mon chemin)

Yep! And that's how it sounds like...

The Secret

Oh...right after my net group lesson(youth church lesson in a group), we saw a movie, The Secret. The movie's directed by Jay Chou. My first impression was that the movie was just some couple dating each other and then the girl has a terminal disease that she will most probably die in the arms of Jay Chou(he's the lead actor too). But never did I ever know a Chinese movie so good! I was literally crying, I couldn't express myself at all, I didn't know if I should be happy or sad in the end. The movie was open ended. The plot was so different from what I expected, it was so surprising, like you can say that the lead actress was a ghost but then again, she's not. Everything's just so mysterious but towards the end, everything starts to clear up. I got goose bumps and heartaches too when I found out out the truth. Throughout the movie, many(or some)piano pieces are played and they may seem boring to some but it doesn't matter as the story goes on well. I suppose that if Europeans are forced to see The Secret, I bet they will love it in no time(well of course with English subtitles)! Then there's the famous song written and sung by Jay Chou, Bu Neng Shuo De Mi Mi, which was played at the end of the movie. Many people do play the song all over and over again. I embed it in the Blog and I hope people won't be irritated by it. I must certainly buy the DVD! You can choose to watch the movie if you like, besides, two thumbs up and two big toes up for the movie created by an amazing director, Jay Chou! The movie's beautiful, simply a masterpiece...By the way, I'm certainly not a fan of Jay Chou, though I almost became one after hearing his song and watching his movie. I think he's a Christian...

Somewhere round the corners of the World

Looking at amazing pictures all over the world really makes me wonder how they ever exist in a world which has lots of pollutants; air pollution, land pollution, water pollution and even noise pollution. Just somewhere on Earth, you know there's so many factories and heavy industries going on but round the corner, there are amazing features, living and non-living, which make people awed and speechless.

Circular Star Trails

Aurorae Patterns

The 12 Apostles

I should think there are only about 7 of them left due to erosion, great to have a bird's eye view of them when you take a ride in a helicopter. My heart was pumping really hard that time(you know how choppers swerve and all that such that you could almost fall out).

The London Bridge

Well of course this is in Australia. When the bridge began to fall, there happened to be two unfortunate tourists who were on it and were eventually picked up by a helicopter. I wonder if they are still living...

Other than the sky and the rocks, there's more to come! So wait up!