Friday, May 22, 2009 7:50 PM
Thanks to the government of a particular country, I cannot access YouTube & Blogspot unless I use YunLi's computer as her network is not exactly under Ch*na. And so here I am in her room blogging for most probably the last time for the next 2 months to come. I guess in the meantime I shall switch to Facebook notes function for the time being. And the photos will be uploaded there too I guess.
So I hereby sadly announce the temporary closure of my blog until I am back in S*pore with uncensured Internet access. I will try to check the tags if I can. And last but not least, I cannot get updates on all friends via blog at all... (wordpress, livejournal & now blogspot) Will try my best to get updates via other revenues!!!
馨玉儿~
Monday, May 11, 2009 9:08 PM
Life is so fragile... So fragile... I just received a phone call from my daddy, informing me that my uncle died while in China to visit my cousin. He died from heart failure. I broke down after I ended the phone call, I cannot control or hold it back any longer, lucky my room mate not in room... It just seems so surreal, so unbelievable as I was still talking to him during CNY this year at his house when house-visiting... I can only pray for him and hope that he has gone to a good place where his wife may be waiting for him... This really unsettled me as I thought about the possibility of more deaths back home when I am still far away at Ch*na... I am really scared... I can only pray that such tragic events do not take place for the next 2 months plus... I do not think I can handle it if it happens... 慈悲伟大的佛陀，希望您听到弟子的祈愿...
馨玉儿~
Sunday, May 10, 2009 9:11 PM
Celebrated Vesak Day with my Dharma class at a P*U lecturer's house. I think it was the 1st time I really celebrated this special day so elaborately. We chanted together, cleaned the Buddha sculpture with spoonfuls of water, and had a special skit performance too. The skit performance really was not easy as I was somehow arrow-ed to be the main lead so have to memorise script, and whatever else. Loved the songs which one of the seniors, Ivonne, composed to fit into the skit. They are like inside my head permanently already. :P Will post pictures as soon as I got them from other people as my camera ran out of battery. :(
It so happened to be Mother's Day also. As our shifu and the lecturer (female, a mother too) spoke with regards to this special day and the 2 occasions, I was deeply shaken. I suddenly missed my mummy very much and wished I was back in S*pore to wish her Happy Mother's Day. I fought hard to control tears that welled up in my eyes. I really have no idea what is wrong with me. I seem to have become more teary easily whenever Buddhism comes into the picture now. Do not really like me behaving this way. Maybe it is just the spirit of the religion that touches me, and not me being weak and emotional. Anyway, I feel that my faith is getting stronger. :)
馨玉儿~
11:09 AM
北大语言、文学、文化通选课（十）
- The 西方极乐世界 in Buddhism is actually Utopia as we know in today's language, there is no definite form or image of the place. It is just the place where people want to be, away from the realistic world. It is where people can have what they want, and can not have what they do not want in the real world. It is to aid people in their securing of religion. As for the place, it is only in existence if you believe in it.
- It is rather amazing how things work when something spreads to another area. The acknowledgement of beauty in the sound of Chinese words strung together arises when Buddhism spread from India to China. This is because the Buddhist believers in China wanted to translate the scriptures and thus realised that the way scriptures are chanted is nice on the ear. The scholars wondered about the workings behind the beauty of chanted scriptures and discovered that words (due to their different ways of pronounciation) put together in different manners can bring about different effects upon reading out.
- In the long time ago past, there is no such thing as burial for the dead. It only started to develop when past sage feel that it is just too much to leave the dead body out in the open like that. And there is an evolution process from just covering it up until the soil is on par with the ground, to making sure there is a small hill of soil over the body. This is to help in identifying the burial ground of the dead, where the next generation can then visit to pay respects.
- Now we only have 姓 and 名, unlike the people in the past with their 字 and 号. This is because 姓 and 名 is very important to a person, and it is disrespectful to call a person by their 名. Thus after the parents come up with the 名, they will come up with 字 which other people will address the person by. When the person grows up, he/she can come up with 号 which is what they hope people to call them by instead.
- I believe most of us have come to realise the fact that our brain normally likes to take the less taxing way out of new things, thus we link confusing and difficult concepts with the easier and simpler concepts which we already know. This can also explains the formation of prototypes (aka stereotypes). The way our brain works is good in the scientific sense as things can be more effective and efficient but the down side of this is the negative connotations which people associate with certain prototypes (like cancer equates to death thus should be shunned), bad impact on the emotional landscape among people.
馨玉儿~
Saturday, May 09, 2009 6:22 AM
Craziness.. I woke up to a S*pore 7am sky look-a-like & saw from my watch that it is only 5am! Had the intention to wake up earlier after sleeping in at 12mn last night but not so much! Anyway, was expecting the whole hostel to be dead silent, instead to my surprise found out that there are some people who are also awake already! Amazing. For the first time since arriving at Beijing, I witnessed the sunrise! Haha, okok, me shall go continue with my revision for the coming examinations!!!
馨玉儿~
Friday, May 08, 2009 12:35 PM
Time flies!!! I suddenly realised that there is only 3-4 more weeks of lesson plus 2 weeks of examinations before my academic exchange in P*U ends! Oh man, and I feel like I have not learnt as much as I would love to as yet! Although not all lessons are interesting and enriching everytime, it felt so generally most of the time! How I wish I can stay here on exchange for one more semester but I know that it is not possible and I have to return back to N*S eventually. Even though the stress level here is higher, work is harder to complete and comprehend, grades only barely making the mark, I enjoyed my learning journey here. It is an experience of an lifetime and I will never regret coming to exchange despite all the things I missed out. Shall go rush my assignments, deadlines and revision for 2 examinations in the coming week, people back in S*pore, enjoy your long holidays!!!
馨玉儿~
Sunday, May 03, 2009 11:22 AM
北大语言、文学、文化通选课（九）
- The world famous teacher Confucious did not have it easy when he first started out. As he was in the time where there are teachers of other beliefs, not all people can accept what he teaches. Thus, he used to have to be chased around from one place to another when doing his teachings. His students will follow him wherever he goes everytime to listen to him.
- As we know now that a lot of Chinese words have more than one meaning, some of which was inferred from the basic and original meaning. The way words developed to have different and inferred meanings is due to the way humans expressed ourselves creatively at times, making inferences when describing or talking about things. Some of these ways become popular and people do not get tired of them even after hearing it said that way for many times. After some time, these new meanings of words get recognised and is included into the dictionary. For example 硬件 and 软件, no longer meaning the computer parts and software but also of the infrastructure/facilities and people/human resource of company/organisations.
- In the past the Chinese have special ceremony when a child comes of age. For males, it is wearing of 帽子 during 加冠礼; for females, it is wearing of 发钗 during 加笄礼. The wedding ceremony is seen with utmost importance as it is perceived as the first step towards continuation of the human species (reproduction), unlike what we see in society nowadays.
- At the time of 毛主席 leadership, as he wants to totally abolish all superstitions in China, the 拜天地 during 拜堂 was changed to 拜毛主席 instead! So the newly married couple will bow towards a portrait of 毛主席 during the ceremony, quite corny when we come to think of it now but that is how powerful and extensive his leadership was at that time.
- 闹房 during marriage is a common practice which we may do so now too. In the past, it is mainly done to make the bride embarassed but there are also instances where it is the groom who gets embarassed. This may seem like a fun thing now, but in the past there have been instances when it is overdone and the bride gets killed in the process.
馨玉儿~
Thursday, April 30, 2009 10:34 PM
My 1st official dance performance ever in my life magically ended tonight!!! The last time when I danced was for Rag 2007. After that time, I never imagined myself to be able to dance on stage in front of an audience again. :P I must say it took me quite some time before I took up enough courage to commit to the dance practices leading to the performance today. And it was not just one but two dances! At first, I was very afraid that I cannot dance well enough and harm the whole team or something... Really scared. Thankfully, there was Kelvin & 2 other exchange students, Shu Jing (right) & Siew Yin (left), from NTU who kept encouraging me & walked together with me through this whole wonderful journey. :)))
馨玉儿~
声明之言
欢迎来到我即隐私又公开的空间！
这是朋友窥探我内心世界的管道之一。
如果能留言通知到来就再好不过，非常鼓励！
谢谢光临，有空再来。:D
佛光菜根谭
福，如银行存款，除了惜福，更要培福；
福，如良田种子，除了培福，更要修福。
事，无法要求“完美”，但至少“完成”，
才算尽到己责；
人，无法要求“万能”，但做到“可能”，
就能堪受担当。
讲话不要做“乌鸦嘴”，要做“喜鹊报喜”；待人不要做“相扑鸡”，要做“凤凰来仪”；处事不要做“木头人”，要做“喂小米了”。
发源作一支蜡烛，燃烧自己，照亮别人；
发源作一支画笔，彩绘世间，增添美丽；
发愿作一盏路灯，照破黑暗，指引光明；
发愿作一棵大树，枝繁叶茂，庇荫路人；
发愿作一本书籍，展现真理，给人智能；
发愿作一方大地，普载众生，生长万物；
发愿作一朵鲜花，吐露芬芳，给人清香；
发愿作一阵和风，吹拂枯槁，抚慰创伤；
发愿作一缕白云，遮蔽炎威，带来清凉；
发愿作一弯彩虹，光华万千，照耀寰宇；
发愿作一轮满月，高挂夜空，辉映人间；
发愿作一个冬阳，温暖大地，成熟万物。
物不在奇，缺之则珍；才不在高，适用则优；施不在多，及时则归；道不在深，应机则妙。
人生经历
~ 培新小学'94-'99
~ 安德逊中学'00-'03
~ 圣约翰救伤队'00-'03
~ 福利部门'02-03
~ 1/3'00 & 2/3'01
~ 3/4'02 & 4/4'03
~ 华初'04-'05
~ 语特'04-'05
~ 04S73'04-'05
~ 黄城夜韵'04-'05
~ 道具组'04
~ 编审组'04
~ 行政组'05
~ 歌坊'05
~ 国大中文系'06-'10
~ 27届管理委员会'06-'07
~ 28届管理委员会'07-'08
~ 探索云南之行'08
留言板
喜欢游览的网页
jeremy nick tiki michy camyy amanda bingde
doris xiaohui sandra xiuwen cherie serene rabbit
ArtsClubOfficialWebsite ArtsClubOnlineMagazine
过往云烟
May 2005
June 2005
July 2005
August 2005
September 2005
October 2005
November 2005
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
February 2009
March 2009
April 2009
May 2009