FIRST

(1) Someone once told me that it's all about knocking the first chip. That once you knock the first one, no matter how small and insignificant that is, all the rest follows suit. She told me that that's literally how life works. The first, and perhaps the only, condition is for you to start somewhere. Just start at something. No one else is capable of filling in for the first step, it needs to start from and with you. Or else, nothing will happen.

(2) Reminder: Smile.

(3) I saw that white streak some weeks ago. It's always an interesting sight. It gives me the feeling that a couple more people will probably notice it too and that's always interesting, how all of us are connected somehow.

P.S. Shout out to my sister who's celebrating her birthday today! Sigh. Yay. We're all getting older.

LO AND BEHOLD

Take. I may be bad at taking criticisms but I'm even worse with compliments. It's like I have this need to constantly oppose what people think of me, positive or negative. This trait has been more apparent ever since I got into this job, where both criticisms and compliments run back and forth like bullet trains. The former arrives on a more regular basis.

Focus. When I was in Grade 5, my adviser would always write the word "Inattentive" on my quarterly report card. I guess my problem with focusing goes way back into history. I wonder now what seemed to be more fascinating to me than the Math problem written on the board.

Understand. When I was a kid, I thought I was really smart. When I grew up a little bit, I realized I had to be hard-working in order to be smart. When I grew up a little bit more, I thought that if I was innately smart, I shouldn't have to be hard-working. I ended up neither. True story.