You Know Who You Are

I was flying on a back to KK from Sandakan. During flights, if i'm not reading, i will be sleeping. On that day, there was a new Going Places magazine on the seat pocket. I love travels magazine! Came across this ad by Hard Rock Cafe which said 'you know who you are'.

www.duncanchannon.com

I'm amazed by the simplicity yet acute message of the ad. How would you interpret the ad on your own term? I'd really like to know what you think. Please leave your comments on this post. Your time here is precious. Thank you!! Muah!

Favourite Quotes from Into The Wild

credit: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/

I am really hooked with the movie Into the Wild, watched it twice. Basically it's about Chris McCandless a.k.a Alexander Supertramp, who is not afraid to be different and practice his belief while he's still alive. He hates rules but he's no trouble maker. He comes from a middle class family but he likes to go to the street and talk to pimps, prostitutes, homeless people, hungry people and give them food and advice on how to improve their lives. He believes in pushing oneself beyond reach and get more than one deserves. After college, he chose to leave home, burnt all his money, dumped his yellow Datsun and walk into the wild...

Dik and I went to Harris bookstore in 1Borneo 2 weeks ago and she spotted the book sitting in the non-fiction section. Yes! i bought it cause i know that there are some facts that are not shown in movies. Glad that i did! I'm at the last 2 chapters now. The author Jon Krakauer did an excellent writing. Along the way, i've marked quotes from the book that has its sense to me. Here goes.....

"I think maybe part of what got him into trouble was that he did too much thinking...." - pg 18

"Invent an utterly new life for himself, one in which he would be free to wallow in unfiltered experience..." - pg 22

"Master of his own destiny..." - pg 23

"Allowing his life to be shaped by circumstances.." - pg 29

"He learned to bury what money he had before entering a city, then recover it on the way out of town..." - pg 37

"living to the fullest extent in which real meaning is found" - pg 38

"Seemed like a kid who was looking for something, looking for something, just didn't know what it was..." - pg 43

Jack London: Call of the Wild (a fiction book most favoured by McCandless) - pg 45

"You don't need to worry about me. I have a college education. I'm not destitute. I'm living like this by choice..." - pg 52

These subsequent quotes from 1-7 are taken from Chris' letter to the old man, Ronald A. Franz:

1. "You really should make a radical change in your lifestyle..." - pg 58

2. "So many people live within unhappy circumstances & yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of SECURITY, CONFORMITY and CONSERVATISM, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind. But in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit of a man than a secure future...." - pg 58

3. "The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences..." - pg 58

4. "I fear you will follow this same inclination in the future and thus fail to discover all the wonderful things that God has placed around us to discover..." - pg 58

5. "Don't settle down and sit in one place. Move around, be nomadic, make each day a new horizon..." - pg 58

6. "We just have to have the courage to turn against our habitual lifestyle and engage in unconventional living..." - pg 58-59

7. "And you must do this economy style, no motels, do your own cooking, as a general rule spend as little as possible and you will enjoy it much more immensely..." - pg 59

"He was going to write a book about his travels..." - pg 67

"I have always been unsatisfied with life as most people live it. Always i want to live more intensely and richly..." - pg 91

"Came into this world with unusual gifts..." - pg 106

" Quit...after objecting to rules imposed by a high school band leader..." - pg 110

"He quit playing partly because he didn't like being told what to do..." - pg 110

"Chris had so much natural talent but if you tried to coach him, to polish his skill, to bring out that final 10%, a wall went up..." - pg 111

"Didn't like going through channels, working within the system, waiting his turn..." - pg 113

"Chatting with prostitutes and homeless people, buying them meals, ernestly suggesting ways they might improve their lives..." - pg 113

"You can read about this stuff, but you can't understand it until you live it..." - pg 114

"I was surprised, as always, by how easy the act of leaving was, and how good it felt. The world was suddenly rich with possibility" - pg 136

"if you want something badly enough, it is your God-given right to have it" - pg 154

"McCandless went into the wilderness not primarily to ponder nature or world at large but, rather, to explore the inner country of his own soul" - pg 182

Phewww...ok those are amongst my favourite quotes in the book...i like them soooo much!!

It's always to read the whole book or watch the movie on your own, you can better absorb the lessons taught us by McCandless.

Into The Wild book


Into The Wild Blu-ray DVD

Itchy Feet

My desire is set to step onto a new horizon, places i'm not familiar with, i often imagined that. There were mixed emotions of freedom, happiness, thankful and also fear. Walking with my bagpack on my back and maybe a map. I'd like to be prepared whenever i travel, at least for the first 2 or 3 days. It's what i called calculated risk. Prepared in terms of which area to go and where to stay. And i especially like to stay in a place where one can see many characters that shape that particular place. I used to think that a quiet place will help me to be alert of my surrounding but... i think i'm wrong, it seems i'm more alert to my ownself. I hate that kind of self-conscious. At times i laugh because of the irony of it. But now i notice that im getting better in eliminating this habit.

Going to loud and happening places often help me to be less self-conscious. I've gone to Khao San road twice, everybody seems to have their own agenda although everyone pretty much heading to the same bars, same food stalls, standing packed in a group. That was the best time to just sit on the sidewalk coffee stall and just watch people and feel the town's energy and that is just one agenda. I always find these things interesting to do:

• Walking as far as i can and enjoy the scenery, people, business etc (but i always ended up with sore ankles! hukhuk)
• Talking to the locals (especially those wth out of the ordinary jobs like a waitress@ tut tut girl, it's always interesting to know their why, when, how etc)
• Going to unfamiliar and infamous places where you get to see the other side of the country
• Bars, i especially like Bangla road in phuket (you get to see who rule the scene and who's the victims)
• Waterfalls (well i like water, coolness, nature and good sound = waterfall)
• Look for the best pizza in town..woohoo!
• Go to their supermarkets!

Thing that i'd like to do that i never try before (fun fun) is live in a local's house preferably in a village, cook with them, eat with them, chat with them etc yeehaa!

Usually i can only afford to take 5 days leave, plus 2 or 3 days on weekend, makes a great bagpacking trip but of course it's not enough. There are just so many to see and do. How beautiful it is to constantly see a new horizon. My friend said 'you will never achieve anything stable if you constantly move around or travel too much'. I disagree. But if it's true then let me taste it. Let me make mistakes and correct it, honestly.

Anyway, after all the bagpacking and new horizon, it always back to boring routines and sometimes stupid rules. And after a while, i'll have itchy feet again....

Oh how beautiful it is to constantly see a new horizon...

Enthusiasm of a child

Watch, she runs with her older sisters,
She could not understand why they are running,
They stopped in the kitchen and her eldest sister picked out a flower from a plastic pot,
The rest followed and the little one wants one too,
But she is too short to pick her own,
Seeing her sisters with flowers, she begins to cry telling them she wants one,
Her second sister scolded her telling her there are no more flowers,
But the little one insists and is now crying louder
The other sisters do not heed her cry, they instead comparing whose flower is the prettiest,
They laugh together when the third sister broke some petals,
The little one is still crying and sitting on the floor,
There are too much noise in the kitchen,
The mother comes, scolded the sisters for pulling out the flowers from the pot and ordered them to put them back,
All heed, the mother then takes the little one in her arms, comforting her not to cry,
Laughing, the three sisters race each other to the living room,
The little one struggling to be free, the mother let her go and she runs to her sisters,
Forgotten about the flower, she is now trying to understand what her sisters are doing,
Whatever it is, she is having fun..

Let the child take the wheel again

I am 12 years old. I love staying in grandma’s house and I am here almost every weekend. I always go hill walking, sometimes with my cousins, sometimes alone. But I prefer going there alone. I am not afraid cos’ I am familiar with the path and I know what I want to do up there. I usually walk slowly but sometimes faster. When I am walking faster, my aunt would shout from grandma’s house telling me to walk slowly so that I can catch my breath. But the reason I walk faster is because I can’t wait to feel the air breezing up on the hill. It is really warm down here. On my way up, I sweep the leaves on the pathway with the stick that I have picked up earlier near grandma’s house, so that I can have a smooth walk home later. It’s so fun!

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I’m 30 years old. I’d like to find time to stay in grandma’s house again. I miss being in the village. It’s been years since I last stayed overnight with aunty. And I definitely miss grandma the most, I know the Lord is resting her in peace now. I was at the village 2 months ago. I sat on the stairs overlooking the hill that I used to walk up when I was 12. I’d love to walk up there again and see the changes. I’m sure there are changes. But woohoo it’s too long of a journey, I’m too tired to walk. What if the path changed and I couldn’t find my way up? Impossible, the path will always remain there. Is the giant mango tree still there? What about the elephant rocks? It’s better to have companions to go up there. Maybe I’ll do that next week, right now I’m tired. But I really wonder the condition up there…

Let the child in us take the wheel once in a while…we never know what we will see and feel again…

Children of Kg. Tampasak, Tongod, Sabah