= Baz Luhrman : (Everybody's free to wear) Sunscreen =

This is a damn old song that I came across. Heard it back in the nineties, that's a decade ago. It used to be considered a bullshit of a song by me..but now..reflecting on the lyrics..* or rather..just a speech with music in the background* it's really cool. Enjoy!

--Baz Lurhman : (Everybody's free to wear) Sunscreen----

Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of ’97 
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering  experience…I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh nevermind; you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded. But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked….You’re not as fat as you imagined. 

Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday. 

Do one thing everyday that scares you. 

Sing. 

Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours. 

Floss. 

Don’t waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind…the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself. 

Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how. 

Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements. 

Stretch. 

Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life…the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t. 

Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone. 

Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children,maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary…what ever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either – your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s. 

Enjoy your body, use it every way you can…don’t be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own.. 

Dance…even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room. 

Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them. 

Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly. 

Get to know your parents, you never know when they’ll be gone for good. 

Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future. 

Understand that friends come and go,but for the precious few you should hold on. 

Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you 
knew when you were young. 

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. 

Travel. 

Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you’ll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders. 

Respect your elders. 

Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out. 

Don’t mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will look 85. 

Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth. 

But trust me on the sunscreen…

= An old chapter: Oh Seven =

Summoning the will from deep within my inner being; I sit, in the dark, before my trusty little laptop. Shielded from the chilly ventilations in the room by my red jacket, with the strong glare of the screen's bright wrath reflecting off my bespectacled visage; I finally write...

A.D Twenty-oh-seven is now a past, a chapter in the book we call our life story. Now the untiring motions of time through space whisks us into this relative unknown that is Zero-Eight. We can't foresee what lies in wait for us. We can't even be offered a glimpse of the person that we will turn out to be or the kind of people that we will encounter. Lest, a quality of humankind prevails and will be the torch that shines our way ahead : Hope. Optimism shall be the light that enables sight, the armor that protects us from the harsh environment and the sword that we pierce this never-ending darkness ahead.

With that, it cues for my personal nuggets of optimism for the year ahead. 

First of all , my physical well-being. Oh-seven was a relatively healthy year sans a few bad injuries to my limbs. Hopefully, the year ahead will present me with a better grip on things ( read: friction so that I stop falling ). Fitness has been crappier than ever, I'm getting well-fed and I'm getting lazier with my energy-burning routines. So here's to a generally fitter me, and hopefully work those extras that's becoming more and more of a burden.

Next, mental health. I don't presume I'm mentally unhealthy but all these late nights, activity filled days and mixed up biological clocks is starting to threaten my psychological constitution. Throw in the mounting pressure (external factors) of finding myself a 'someone' and the latent qualities possessed e.g procrastination, short focus spans; it sure makes for a recipe for disaster sometime soon. With that, I'm wishing for a little more discipline (maybe an external disciplinarian might help) and maybe an event/method that will rejuvenate me. I wish to recover my 'last minute extreme focus' skill that saw me through the past two decades.

Tres, social circles. Oh-seven added many more entries into my contact book. Leaving Army, entering the workforce ( albeit briefly) and finally coming into varsity has opened up a plethora of social networks. New faces entered. Old friends were rediscovered. People who were once-upon-a-time, just a face I can barely put a name to, now become a familiarity. More friendster-like links were invoked and the whole social network pattern just seem to become more and more like a complicated bunch of lines. I'm glad to have taken part in Orientation Camps for it have forged important friendships outside of my discipline circle. Moreover, they have eased the transition from mere outsider to being part of the whole community within the varsity. I must say, at least for me, it is mightily comforting to walk around school and be able to pick out familiar faces (and put a name to them, despite my ailing memory). For Oh-Eight, I'd wished to further strengthen these newly formed bonds. And also, for all those oldies whom I've neglected, I ask for the discipline to make it up to them. 

Oh-Eight marks the Fourteenth year for 6R'98, and some are graduating this coming year already.  Hopefully, we can all finally get together, no cliques, and relive some of the laughable past we share. 

Oh- Eight also marks the final year in the run-up to a decade milestone for RV2I. Probably the only bunch I see ever so often despite the years. Let's promise on a 1 x Good Chalet a'la the old times to celebrate our milestone. 

3/4 Clandestinians, well, so much for being the weakest link in the proposed 'Clandestine Monthly'...but its nonetheless a good idea to hit the roads together some time soon. 

Soccer Buds hailing from TGU/JJC, let's kick some serious ass for good. I know we are able to defeat Team Swiss Cott if we get our act together right.

Odacians, let's Ubin sometime.

FOC comm, especially programmers, we've got to kick up a storm. Let nothing stand in our way, not even the weather. (Well, on hindsight, its ironic to kick up a storm then...)

XV71- let's not restrict ourselves to this small circle... we've got to socialize more.

Dear 'siblings', I think Oh-Seven's passivity kinda vacuumed. Time's tight but should it permit, I'd be glad to 'ban mian' anytime.(Not necessarily must ban mian).

35Alpha-buncha-crapsters, there's much love and bovine-excretion being passed around. Though i think its overly evil, its good entertainment nonetheless... Keep swearing, cursing and ZomgodWTFhaxBBQpwnd and yes .... I think you already know but I'm really Surry I Sux and Lose but please show me some love by, eh , reducing the amount of Hate, Anger, Malice and (I forgot but was it Destruction?) (Sorry, Enigma, Deathbane and Courage.[and later, akhj, hellbliss,etc.] You didn't fit the sentence) /scared./thank.

Oh holy crap, Look at how that wishlist veered me off-course. 

Lastly, Misc. issues. I'll need more wealth control this year so maybe The-powers-that-be can be a little kinder and provide me with a small windfall. I'm not greedy, any amount of gain is still a gain nonetheless. Time can be a little kinder to me by being a little more consistent and not accelerate/decelerate when i'm having fun/going through hell , respectively.

Finally, WORLD PEACE. Because world peace doesn't hurt the economy. And when the economy is stable, my life is less one major unknown that is the rising cost of livings.

Oh-eight, You may only be four days into your infancy but please do not let everything around manifest into a monster.

With that, I end my prose. Be nice. And before I end, let's observe a moment of SILENCE for Achmed.