The Conditions of Being Generous

Generosity has conditions and timing. We cannot be very generous at all times and assist anyone asking help from us or give out money to people without knowing where the money goes and how it is spent.

Someone criticized me when I post a comment on fb saying 'I normally don't give out money to beggars on the street.' He said that I should have a good heart and give out money to those beggars who cannot self sustain. I suddenly felt blamed. I was blamed that I didn't have a heart good enough to care for others. Perhaps I used to be so that embedded this thinking in him. Undoubtedly he thinks so as he has never seen me handing even a hundred riels to a beggar I suppose.

It's true that normally I don't give money to beggars on the streets as I don't wanna support them in this way. What if they simple feel motivated to just continue to beg for living? What if there is someone manipulates them to beg money and benefits the villains behind the scene? I really don't like helping in this way. First I don't know if I am really helping them. Second I don't feel I have actually helped them from their current situation. I have seen the same girl begging of the street every morning at a traffic light. I don't think I will help her out by just giving money to her every day. That's actually destroying her. And that's what I meant of not giving money to the beggars on the streets.

Generosity is conditioned. It is conditioned to the kind of people who we should help and at the time when we should help. I regret that I have not helped many people until now. I will when I can from this second onward if it is apparently for good cause.

Reflection on myself

I have found myself worried more than ever in these few months. I have been thinking too much of what would happen in the future involving my job responsibilities. That drains my energy. I have also complained too much about this and that and seen unfairness at my workplace. This drains my motivation. I don't look good in people and always complain how unhelpful and unsupportive people are. This faults my relationship. Although I have read several self-help books recently, I still find myself helpless and not improving in terms of personal development. This needs to be changed. I must change!

I need to feel motivated, contented, positive and energetic. I should not be drained by the surrounding adversity and negativity. Stop worrying, Jocelyn, and start living positively and having fun.

Smile,

Jocelyn 

2015.01.31

4:26pm

Imagine...

I closed my eyes and imagine that I was on a beach on an island in Koh Kong and was inhaling the freshest air blown from the sea coast and was listening to the dancing steps of the waves coming one after another and washing the shining big rock on the shore.

Imagine the I was strolling with my shoes off and opening my arms to embrace the very nature in the secluded area from the noisy world. Imagine that I can leave everything behind and live a very simple yet self-fulfilling and full life seeing the green and smelling its sweetness.

Imagine that I was chasing a dog, running hand in hand with someone I love so much that I don't wanna let go of, barbecuing on the beach late in the evening, dancing around the sparkling fire, sipping cocktail, and counting the stars. If only for one day, imagine that we were that the whole day, chatting, giggling, laughing, warming each other and relaxing under the blanket of nature.

Life can be this romantic and worryfree......

Cheers,
Jocelyn
2015.01.12
10:09 pm

The Ten Rituals of Rediant Living, from 'The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari'

I have completed more than half of the book by today. Here I find these 10 rituals worthwhile to be summarised here and shared with you guys.

For a better life, we shall embrace the following 10 rituals. Taking the idea from the previous article, each ritual shall be applied for at least 21 days in a row to be installed in our life as a habit.

1) The Ritual of Solitude: Maintain a schedule of a mandatory period of peace. Our mind deserves a rest after running hot for a whole day. Fifteen minutes will do for the period of solitude.

2) The Ritual of Physicallity: Invest at least five hours a week in some form of physical activity like going for walk, practising yoga, swimming etc.

3) The Ritual of Live Nourishment: Eat healthy food, preferably more 'live' food, that is, vegetables and avoid as much as meat and junk food. What we consume affects our emotions and physical ability.

4) The Ritual of Abundant Knowledge: Pursue lifelong learning and expand your knowledge base for the good of yourself and all those around you. This can be achieved by reading more. We don't read every book available, but we choose some good books to read. Some books are to be tasted, some books are to be chewed, but some books are to be swallowed and digested.

5) The Ritual of Personal Reflection: Reflect on what you did during the day and think of how you could have done better for the sake of yourself and others. Self-reflection can be done by writing down what you have been through in a day in one column and a review of actions you can take in the other column.

6) The Ritual of Early Awakening: Train yourself to get up earlier and rise with the sun will be at best. By rising earlier, you gain more time to do what you have excused yourself for not having time to do it like morning exercise.

7) The Ritual of Music: Get yourself some good spiritinually inspiring and relieving music and listen to it while you are driving or before going to bed. Music cures unrelived mind.

8) The Ritual of Unspoken Word: Create some mantras of your own. Mantra means freeing the mind in Sanskrit. A mantra is a phrase you will be using to speak to yourself to build positive thinking about your ability, emotion and spirit. A mantra can be something like ‘I am confident in myself, and I can do it.' Mantras are powerful because what you speak to yourself affects your actions.

9) The Ritual of Congruent Character: Take daily, incremental action to build your character. Strengthening your character affects the way you see yourself and the actions you take. Do the right thing. Act in a way that is congruent with your true character. Be guided by your heart.

10) The Ritual of Simplicity: Live a simple life. Don't live a life follow social expectation but your satisfaction. People tend to compare their lives with others and feel inferior when they are not using brandy items or live in a smaller house than their friends. From my own standpoint, as long as we are not struggling for a meal, I prefer a simple life using simple things and use the excess money to explore the world.

Excerpt and paraphrased from the book, 'The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari' by Robin Sharma.

Cheers,
Jocelyn
2015.01.04
10:37 am

The Five-Step Method to Attain a Goal, from the Monk Who Sold His Ferrari

From the book 'The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari', Julian visited John at his home and shared abundant impressive life lessons which are the legacy of the sages from whom Julian learned on the Himalayas Mountain.

I find the five-step method to attain an aim and realize a goal very interesting, and it will be more rewarding if I can share it to you all here.

The method is summarized as below:

1) Form a clear mental picture of your outcome

This includes being aware of what your aim in life is. 'The purpose of life is a life of purpose.' 'Learn what you excel at and what makes you happy.' Many people are just surviving a life by doing things they don't like to make a living and pursuing things as a fulfillment of social expectations rather than personal happiness and fulfillment. As long as we know what we are good at and what we love doing, we can achieve far more and far better.

2) Create a little positive pressure behind it

Many people fail to adhere to goals when commitment is faded by time. We need feel inspired and have some positive 'pressure' to continue our odyssey. The simplest pressure you may put on yourself is the announcement of your goals to as many people as possible, to your friends, family members, and even to the public. With this pressure, you will not let go of the goal so easily.

3) Set a deadline and committed in to paper

Julian suggested that we buy a journal and keep filling it with all our desires, objectives and dreams attached with timelines to complete them. We need to know ourselves better, that is, our strengths and our weaknesses. At the end of the day, write in the journal reflecting what we have done in the day and review how we could have done better.

4) Apply The Magic Rule of 21

A habit can be built into a person if he does the new thing consistently for a period of 21 days in a row. I am convinced that this is somehow real true. I have applied the 30-day challenge to write articles for this blog somewhere in the first week of December 2014, and now writing articles for this blog has become a job on my everyday to-do-list.

5) Enjoy the process

'A day without laughter or a day without love was a day without life.' In the process of achieving our goals, we should optimistically and happily enjoy the path we walk through though tough sometimes. We shall not regret what has happened in the past and worry what will happen tomorrow but live our lives to fullest today and right now. Don't push ourselves too hard when we feel that we have come to a limit. Take a little bit rest and continue the odyssey with hope and smile.

The lessons given by Julian are inspiring if you have read them. I might not have a good use of words to re-produce his ideas. If you are interested, you can acquire the book and learn the essence within it.

Cheers,
Joceyln
2015.01.03
2:00 pm

Password Format

I have an account with Gmail, Yahoo, Dropbox, Facebook, Twitter and many other websites. Each

and every of them demands a password from me for security purpose. My passwords used to be the same for every account; however, some accounts were used often and so the passwords have been updated from time to time; for those accounts I had left unused for some time, I cracked my head to figure out what the password was or simply re-set it after a few tries.

When there are too many versions and updates of passwords for different accounts, we are easily confused and don't remember them well. Luckily, I have received great advice from a friend who has a good sense of technology to formulate good passwords for each and every account I have, and I will never forget my passwords ever again.

Let me share you all with what I have learnt from him.

For higher security purpose, many websites demand users to create a password having a combination of numbers, symbols, small case letters and sometimes captalised letters. eg. P@ssw0rd, and a password shall have at least eight digits. If you don't have some good techniques in creating one, you might spend some times entering passwords that are either too weak or are not accepted by the site you are about to sign up.

To create a good password, you should think of a word that you can always remember, preferably having five letters, and this word will be used as a base for every other password you will be creating for every account. Let's say you like the word 'Blogs'. To make it stronger, we can replace some letters that resemble numbers with numbers, hence in this case, the letter 'l' and 'o' to number '1' and '0'. Then your base will be 'Bl0gs'.

This will be followed by some letters related to the account you are logging on. You will need to decide how many letters you want to standardize your passwords. Let's say you want 10 letters/digits, so you will need five more letters from the site's name for the password. For example, you are creating a password for your Gmail account. Then, your password might look like this -- 'B10gsGmail'. To complicate the password a little bit more, you may want to add a symbol to it. Something look like this -- 'B10gs&Gmail' -- or -- 'B10gs&Gmai' (if you still want it to be a ten-digit password).

A password for Facebook account can go like this: Gl0gs&Face
A password for Yahoo account can go like this: G10gs&Yaho
A password for Dropbox account can go like this: G10gs&Drop
A password for Outlook account can go like this: G10gs&Outl

To summarize, we can easily standardize our passwords by simply remember our base word and the format.

- Find your base word
- Formulate the base word by replacing one or two letters with numbers
- Add a symbol as a link
- Choose the first four letters from the site name you are logging on (You might also choose the last four if you like)
- You may capitalize any letter in the password, but make sure that you stick to the same format for other passwords
- Go to change all your regular used accounts with your new passwords.
- and yeah, you make it!!! Your passwords are standardized, and you will never forget and go and re-set them ever again.
- One last tip: Don't ever tell others your base word!!!

I find this very useful. Credit go to one of my dearest friends, and hope you like it too.

Cheers,
Jocelyn
2015.01.02
10:35pm

Where to find a man...?

Where to find a man who pays attention to every detail about you?

Where to find a man who remembers every important date related to you?

Where to find a man who never let you be the last one to leave a msg in a chat?

Where to find a man who is willing to share with you whatever feelings he has?

Where to find a man who swears not to leave you in any situation?

Where to find a man who respects what you decide?

Where to find a man who doesn’t force you to do what you don’t like?

Where to find a man who is a good listener?

Where to find a man who cooks for you and helps with the housework?

Where to find a man who loves you 100% and disclose your relationship without fear?

Random thoughts

I don't dream of being rich; I only wish for being sufficient, esp self-sufficient.
---------Richness gained from lucky fortune which is easily come but also easily go.

I don't dream of being an expert; I only wish for being smart and know what my best choices are.
---------Best in one thing comes usually along with with the worst in another.

I don't dream of being powerful; I only wish for being respected, esp from within.
---------Position power will disappear soon after the position is taken away.

I don't dream of being popular; I only wish for being loved and cared.
---------Those who make people laugh and smile mostly feel lonely within.

I don't dream of being the best of all by name; I only wish for being recognized heartily.
---------Heartily admired is the best recogition at all times.
 

It's All About Your Choice...

Just came across this picture while browsing fb and like the opinions on it...
Hope it works for you too...^_^

Something Behind That

What do you see in this picture? ‘It’s rain.’ You may answer. Is it simply rain? ‘Why not?!’ Certainly, it is, but only for you. For someone else, it is more than just rain. That’s when we come to define a thing with our own experiences.

A thing is more than what it naturally is, and how it exists in people’s mind varies depending on the unique or sometimes shared experiences of people.

Rain is not only a natural phenomenon but a precious gift from the God for those people who have been suffering from drought. On the other hand, for those whose house was blown away by a storm and whose loved ones died in a flood will find rain a threat or an inducement of sad memory.

Similarly, rain can associate with romance. Some people have described rain being a symbol of romance because loving couples hug to give warmth to each other; they walk under one umbrella under the rain or so. From their view, rain is sweet and wonderful. Some people might, conversely, describe rain as a symbol of darkness, loneliness and sadness because parted couples are no longer hugging each other. They feel cold inside and it makes them feel sick and helpless.

Every single thing has its concrete meaning, but for different people it symbolizes something else which is not known to others besides themselves. Even a single leave can make you feel sad or happy because there is an untold story behind it.

How to deal with unsatisfactory situations in a LOVE relationship?

Preface

*************

LOVE starts with a special feeling you have toward an opposite sex. He/She is someone who can make you happy especially when you are down; who can give you a secure and warm feeling; whom you think of from time to time; whom you feel like staying close to; and whom you want to build your future with. These are temporary feelings which may disappear after a period of time depending on whether he/she is your true love.

People have different ways of thinking and handling of love. What I am writing here is not research-based or formally experimented, but they do come from my own experiences and personal views on this particular topic. It’s at your own discretion to follow or not to follow. Since this is a female author, my points of views are more on the female side although to some degree it also works with males.

The greatest inspiration to write this topic comes from FACEBOOK.com, where I’ve seen so many heart-breaking status updates from my FB friends. I once posted those incomprehensible unhappy statuses too. Instead of making me feel better, I found that those statuses made me feel worse after I posted them. I have understood a lot about the disadvantages of posting unhappy statuses. They will not receive ‘LIKE’ or be commented much because readers do not like them, and they think that you will not tell them either on FB and don’t know how to comfort you, so they simply don't comment. I do suggest that heart-broken people should post anything that win applause and laugh, or at least a smile, and that can make them happy through comments with friends.

Keep in mind that do not let love rule over you but you yourself should have full control of it. I hope you enjoy reading my article and receive the messages I would like to deliver to you.

Jocelyn (T.L)

2012. 09.15

_______________________________________________________________________

LOVE is multi-faceted, and it depends on how we look at it and position ourselves in a relationship. Any love relationship will surely give the parties two feelings concurrently – happiness and pain. There is no such relationship that one experiences its good and sweet part without having to endure some degree of bitterness and suffering. It depends on how well and positively we treat the relationship so that happiness and joy will overwhelm any unpleasant feelings that might emerge from time to time. We can experience the feeling of being in love in several ways.

When you fall in love with someone, it does not necessarily mean that he/she will love you in return. In such situation, it will result in a single-sided love. As the words suggest, single-sided love is to love from one side while the other side silently or clearly rejects it. I shall divide single-sided love into ‘to love’ and ‘being loved’ single-sidedly. While ‘being loved’ by someone only makes the person feel disturbed and uneasy, ‘to love’ someone is more undesirably and inevitably painful if you don't know how to save yourself.

If you are lucky enough, you love the person who also has the same feeling toward you. This is called ‘mutual love’. Couples who have come into a love relationship generally wish that it can bear fruit as a result, i.e. they can form a family in the future and live happily. Reality is always cruel to most loving couples. After some times, when they just find out that this He or She is not someone whom they expected previously and so break up and find a new one; or when there might be family objection; or when they themselves feel that they are not good enough for his/her partner and so leaves the partner; or many other unsatisfactory factors, the once mutually-loved partners might eventually break up. The love they have built can be so profound for one side or for both sides that they will certainly feel like being cut pieces of flesh from their bodies when they do have to loosen their hand once having firmly held.

How to handle a love relationship when it comes to a situation that we don’t wish for? How should we save ourselves when we come to love someone single-sidedly? How should we treat ourselves after the relationship breaks up?

My theories of how to handle love are simple. 

-         Love is to sacrifice. You should not expect to get something in return when you give it away. It works well with single-sided love. If you do really love him/her, you will wish the person being happy without you or with someone else. To link to this, to avoid unpleasant feelings, you should not expect too much what the person will do for you. The more you expect to receive, the more you will feel disappointed, and then the faster you will break up and dump yourself into the valley of depression. Bear in mind that do not demand from your lovers, let him/her give you what they can and are willing to. Love is not an investment which you always have to weigh between risks and returns.

-         Love is to let go. In a single-sided love, you can choose to wait for the person or to find someone else. You might argue that ‘how I can find someone else when my heart is occupied by him/her?’ Believe me, what you should do is to open up your heart and expose yourself to more outdoor activities with friends and colleagues. You don’t have to try to forget him/her because this attempt will only keep reminding yourself of the person. You don’t have to find a substitute either because you may make a wrong decision. Just let it be and the right person will come up. Remember this, if he/she is yours, is yours.

-         Love is not everything. Everyone enjoys the sweet part of love but can hardly bear with its bitterness. Love failure does not mean end of the world. ‘How can I live without you?’ Yes! Of course, I can! And I can live very happily. A love relationship is just one of the experiences which make up a big jigsaw of your life. You can still see what the picture is despite losing a small piece of the jigsaw. Perhaps you might get a gold piece to replace a wooden one.

To say is easy, but to do is more than difficult. True love is like heaven and is almost a miracle. You might have to tour around the globe and still cannot find one. But when you are destined to get it, you can just turn round and find the person. Do not try to fight for someone who doesn’t love you in return. Force does not end up with happiness. Do not keep your heart closed because of a failure. It’s natural to feel depressed after a break-up or rejection, just cry out without shame. But do not forget to wipe away the tear, clear your mind and stand up again. The beautiful world and the right person are just outside the door and are waiting for you to reach out.

True love is to love unconditionally. – Jocelyn

Power vs Right

Cambodian Constitutional Law, Article 31, stipulates ‘Every Khmer citizen shall be equal before the law, enjoying the same rights, freedom and fulfilling the same obligations regardless of race, colour, sex, language, religious belief, political tendency, birth origin, social status, wealth or other status.’

I doubt the above article is practised in daily living. Are we equal? Asking this question, I remind myself of one quote from the ‘Animal Farm’ in which the pigs who represent the ruling bodies announce that ‘All of us are equal, but some are more equal than others.’ It’s true enough that all of us are equal mentioned in the law; in real life, however, we are not. The rights we can ‘enjoy’ are only those allowed by the ruling bodies and people with high social status because they are actually those who decide what we can do. Those people can otherwise enjoy the rights without restrictions. I am going to focus on road traffic in this writing.

What do you feel when you are stopped by the police for some high-ranking government official’s vehicles to pass by? Are we equal to use the roads while we have already paid the road tax? In this sense, we are not equal although we are said to be given the same right to use the road. There is such an resentful excuse that they are busy people who have to be in hurry to deal with important issues. Sometimes I feel that it’s just a kind of show-off. At the same time, I don’t think that all of us are actually fulfilling the same obligations. This morning I witnessed a bias traffic police officers did to the road users because of their differences in social ranking or political status. Two cars turned right one after another while the red light was flashing on. The first car was a Lexus with a note on the windshield that it’s a government official’s car, while the Camary following is a car of general public. To my surprise, the Lexus was let go when the police saw the note, while the Camary was stopped and the owner was invited out of the car and ‘lectured’ on her breach of the traffic law. It is apparent that they were treated unequally. This should be one of the reasons that I despise the traffic police officers, and please accept my apology if any of the readers here actually is or has a good traffic police officer as relative or friend. The traffic officers tend to seek to fine women and girls rather than men because they rarely complain and just give away money to settle the fine. Are rules of laws work better on women than on men? I guess so. I believe that there should be some officers who have conscience, who wish to maintain a society governed by law, and who also wish to serve the general public equally, but it is someone up there who distorts their belief, choice and commitment.

In this unequal society when power and wealth are valued, everyone seeks to obtain them so as to be feared of and to avoid fulfilling the same obligations as other people do. I resent this power. I wish for another holy power which can defeat it. We wish to be EQUAL and actually EQUAL.

How I define 'strong'...

I would define a strong person as not being physically muscular but emotionally steady and joyful at all times regardless of whatsoever happening to him.


He can still wear a pleasant smile on his face although his heart is bleeding.

He can enjoy the hardship with which he is dealing with hope and courage.

He can view blames as advice, failure as lesson, and hardship as development.

He can forgive and forget how hurt he suffered and lead a new life.

How many of us are strong? How many of us can do so?

We are not strong enough to do everything by our own. We cannot smile when we are down. We complain more or less when we encounter hardship and can be easily discouraged to walk on. We are sad when we are blamed because we never consider those blames are advice people are giving to us though in an unpleasant way. We fear of failure and don't want to try again because we don't want to be disappointed for the second time and especially we don't want to lose face. We fear of hardship and wish to do any routine jobs that are easy and comfortable. We want development in our skills and spirit, but we are afraid of being suffered from the difficulty after we decide to step out of the soft pillows we are lying on. We feel unfair to forgive and forget someone who used to do ills to us. As long as we feel like taking revenge, we will lead a life of sorrows and depression. Learn to forgive people or at least to forget that there used to be someone who hurt us. Open ourselves to the beautiful world again. There is always a colorful rainbow and fresh air after the rain.

HOUSEWIFE

I pity HER who is a full-time housewife who stays at HOME all day, 7 days a week, and almost 360 days a year. I feel sympathy that she doesn’t free herself from the cage of the house and go to enjoy the world she has detained herself from. In her mindset, she predetermines that the world outside the house is full of dangers and keep telling her family members who commute along the road each and every day to be more careful and wait at the front door anxiously and even nervously when they come home late.

She knows nothing besides housework, and it is the only thing she can perfectly manage, so when dealing with matters out of her scope, she has nothing to do but worries days and nights, keeps asking the progress of the issues, and only after they are solved, she then felt relieved. In her mind, she is suffering when she cannot hand her hand out.

Talking about businesses and politics, about education and technology, she is out of the crowd. Her children are very in, while she is absolutely out. They use words in connection with hi-tech which is so alien to her. She wants to learn those words so as to communicate or at least to know what they are talking about, but she blames herself for being so dump that she cannot catch any.

She feels so lonely at home alone while her children and partner are out to work. She has no one to talk to, but when they are back, they find her talk a lot and start to feel bored of her. She just wants someone to talk to or at least listen to her.

I feel sorry for this lady—a full-time housewife at all times.

My dear housewives, I know you have contributed your whole lives in managing the housework, but I love you more when you can enjoy your lives as I know I can take care of myself. Please think of yourselves now!

Housewives! I know you want to see the outside world. Please do feel free to step out! The world is not as evil as you assume. Perhaps sometimes it is, but only with the BADS we have experienced that we will know what the GOODS are and that we will know how to value them. Please! Do not too anxious and worried to keep yourselves waiting for them to come back from work or school. Believe me. They know how to take care of themselves and if there are bad things actually happen, they are destined. Again, they learn from their fault, so you don’t have to give too much care even though care is indeed needed. Please! Do not devote all your time to a family although of course a family is important, a personal time for you is also what your children wish that you could have and enjoy yourselves. Please do upgrade yourselves. I believe that it’s hard for an already-experienced full-time housewife to learn the things blossomed in this modern world, but more or less you should try to know what they are.

The best choice is that you should not be a full-time housewife. Please do not accept the request or offer to stay home after getting married. Perhaps you inevitably have to end your work, but please do not keep yourself at home all day long. You should not end your social life—interactions with friends and colleagues make life more enjoying and meaningful. You may also keep learning new things and following the footsteps and pace of the people around you so that you will be able to contribute ideas when things come up.

BE a PROFESSIONAL HOUSELADY!

Superstition Vs Choice of Partner

What does superstition do with choices of partner? In European countries, this might not apply, but in Asian countries, particularly, in Chinese tradition, matching of couples inevitably has to deal with superstitions.

In old Chinese tradition, parents are the one who decides on whom their kid should marry with or get married to. When parents from both sides agree to each other, they will find a master to review the birthdates of the children to see if they are a good match, if they live happily ever after and prosperously, and if they will bring good luck and fortune to the whole generation. He will come up with the ideas that a RABBIT should go with a PIG and should never with a COW, and a DRAGON will bring bad luck to a DOG if they form a family. This belief is still working in modern Chinese families, locally and abroad. A book about this kind of fortune-telling is yearly published and people buy it and learn about their luck and how to keep themselves safe.

I believe that a similar superstition is also widespread in Cambodian society because people here also seek some masters for calculating and reviewing the birthdates for marriage. Some in-loved couples just have to break up unwantedly because of the words of a fortune-teller.

This practice is no good at all. I don’t believe in superstitions and any traditional belief, and I don’t want superstitions to interfere my decision of choosing a partner. It’s arguably true that I am originated from a Chinese family and my parents might somehow be affected by superstition in my choice of partner. What if I choose a Cambodian man? I guess we would have to look at both Chinese and Cambodian traditions and superstitions. That’ll be of great complexity and difficulty to find a good match. However, as long as I love someone, I don’t think I will consider about this matter.

Bad things will just come as long as we expect it to be. Why not expect good things? Think and act positively. Please do not let superstitions destine you while your own destiny should be in your own hand.

What if I had lots of money?

When I studied the Second Conditional Clause at English schools, I would be asked how I would spend the money if I had plenty of it. My answer varied from time to time due to age and environment. My answers used to be that I would buy many things I had wished for; that I would save in banks; that I would give to my parents and friends; and that I would travel around the world.


What is my answer now? After going cycling in and around Phnom Penh these days, I found that I haven’t yet thoroughly known Phnom Penh City and not to mention the whole Cambodia. I wish to travel to every corner of the City and the Country. Buses are means to travel to long distance; bikes are means to go around the downtown and suburb; boats for going to islands; or just simply go hiking on mountains. Life would be so enjoying and relaxing. There would be no pressure of work and free from worry of no money to spend.

How big is Cambodia? It’s small geographically, but it’s big if you want to travel to every corner of it. How much money will we have to spend to achieve this purpose? Both money and time are crucial factors that do not allow me to achieve this dream. Hopefully, I could have some spare money and go to at least one province yearly.

What about biking around the Angkor City?
What about lying on the bench at the beach on Koh Sangsa with your loved one?
What about going trekking on Bakheng Mountain?
What about biking up to the Bokor Mountain?
What about sleeping in a tent on the beach at Sihanouk Ville (Orcheuteal, Sokha, Ream, Victory…)?
What about strolling with bare foots on the beach on islands?
What about exploring a mountain to find a waterfall?
What about sitting on top of a mountain to look at the sunset and sunrise?

There are still many places I wish to go to. Around the world? No, I prefer to explore Cambodia first! My dear friends, I need your accompany and support to achieve it. :)

A Crazy Draft of Love

I don’t really want to write about love, but the devil in my heart has pushed to me to write about it.

I have watched many love films and dramas. In them, love is so sweet at the beginning when both parts miss each other crazily and feel helpless when the other is not around. They want to see each other, talk to each other, or at least text to each other every day; losing sign of one part makes the other feel uneasy throughout the day. S/He may just truly smile from the heart although s/he is riding along the road or sitting alone when s/he thinks of the sweet moments they were together. They could even imagine the sweet moments that they may share in the future. How lovely the world is!

How long can this feeling last? How well can they maintain the relationship so that they are not sick of each other after they have spent times together?

When they have come together, they will not want to see their partner being close to any opposite sex. Jealousy is an enemy to any love relationship. No matter how much they have been in love, no matter how much they trust each other, the relationship can be broken once this evil comes in. Therefore, when you are in a relationship with someone, make sure that you are not too close to an opposite sex and that you are not trying to maintain two affectionate relationships simultaneously. If you break this rule, you will just end up with triangular hurt.

I have no idea how love feeling will continue as time passes by due to limited experience. One thing I’m certain about myself is that my feeling can be easily affected by a slight change of situation and environment, and I find hard to control myself. This is one of my weaknesses which I don’t think I should write here. However, I just want to let you know that when you are easily affected, make sure you don’t stay close to any opposite sex when your partner is not around because your heart and mind will alter. This is what I keep telling myself.

Just end here. Thanks to readers if there are someone who are actually following my updates.

First Time in Life

People value their first-time most for whatever it is—first time they learn to walk, first school, first job, first love, first kiss, first marriage, and any other first tries. It seems the most memorable although it may not be the best of all if they have the second and third time.

What makes a first-time so valuable?


Without previous experience, you are so eager to get one. You may dream day and night of getting it. When it does come, you feel that your dream has come true. What is special in a first-time is that it will build a foundation for you to compare with the next chance if you will have it again.  People like to compare things and people. They want to know if they have a better experience or a worse one, and they also wish to know if they have made the right decision from one experience to the next one.


A first-time can end with either happiness and satisfaction or sadness and hopelessness. On one hand, once a first-time ends with good outcome, a second try will normally be wished for which however may depend. On the other hand, most people abandon their try and give themselves away after a certain failure, small or big.


There are many first-times for me in this year of 2011 which is the turning point of my life. Most of them are pleasant, and I wish I will always have pleasant first-times that end with happiness and satisfaction throughout my life.

“Regret”—Summary and Opinions

It might be too late to know something, and you will blame yourself for not having sought for the answer in the first place. It should not have resulted with the sadness you are enduring but simply because you were not brave enough or too dumb to comprehend something that was already so obvious.

“Regret”, a piece written by Guy de Maupassant, tells stories of an old man, Monsieur Saval, who was still a bachelor at the age of sixty-two.

The story starts with descriptions of Monsieur Saval’s life which has been so sad and empty. The author drew out his life as meaningless and colourless; he didn’t have great pleasure, success, and satisfaction of life. Perhaps he should have had a better life if he had grabbed good opportunities. He didn’t know that opportunities had already knocked on his door, but he unknowingly let it go. He used to fall in love with a married woman, the wife of his old friend, at first sight, but he dared not go beyond the friend relationship but keep it with him until this age.

The author creates an opportunity for Saval to learn about Madame Sandres’ feeling toward him. Monsieur and Madame Sandres and Saval together in three went for a picnic at the riverbank, and when M. Sandres fell into asleep after lunch, Madame Sandres and Saval took Saval’s arm and walked along the riverbank. She leaned gently on his shoulder and she asked him if she were as pretty as the wreath of flowers. However, M. Saval could not comprehend her actions, and he ended it without allowing a start.

Now, at this age of sixty-two, in this morning, he started recalling his past. Never before had he recalled and understood what had happened at the riverbank on that day. He could not help leaving this world without clarifying his doubt why she had acted like that. He rushed to her house to obtain an answer to his heart.

Madam Sandres was already fifty eight years old and she was still that pleasant and welcomed Saval as her friend. Saval took out his courage and asked her what if he had asked her for her hand, what would she have said? Madame Sandres’ answer would have been ‘I agree’. She had understood how he felt for her since the first time they had met, and she had given opportunity to him, yet he didn’t realize. Now that he had known the truth—the fact that he had let go of opportunity that would have changed his life.

The theme of this story is to tell us to beware of opportunities which might just knock on your door. Be smart and notice how others feel toward you. Be bold to say what you feel toward someone because s/he may feel the same way. You may torture your heart for years, and you will leave youself without anything else besides regrets once you know that you shouldn’t have had to be so. However, it’s not advisable to have an affair with someone who is married, and I don’t know why the author organised the protagonists in this way. All in all, we ought to fight for our love. To love secretly is useless because s/he will never realize it until it’s too late. Say it out and give her/him choices so that regrets will never exist.

The Nature of Human Beings

I wonder why human beings cannot live in peace with others and make the world a pleasant place to live. Why are we shadowed by anger, jealousy, and revenge? Looking at both local and international daily news, we can find articles about murders, rapes, injuries due to revenge, and the likes. What has this world become? Why has human's nature changed from being gentle and kind to as brutal as beasts?

A husband beats his wife to death because she came home late at night; a son kills his mother because she is too strict on him; a father puts his son in the washing machine; a boyfriend murders his girlfriend because she wants to break up with him; a teacher tortures her pupils for no reason; a student is bullied because he/she is not a part of the group at schools. These are examples of brutality. Humans can do such cruel things on those who are living closely with them every day.

I wish for a world of peace--a world where people can live happily together. In old times, we have rarely heard of such kind of cruelty. Why can't we live in brotherhood? Nature of human being has already integrated with that of beasts simply because of uncontrollable anger and jealousy. Is this nature curable? I don't want to hear those bad news anymore.

Let's say no to violence!