Well, that just happened to be today. As I flipped the opening pages, I came to the Introduction which began:
How many times have you started a sentence with the words "In my lifetime, I want to ..." ?
You see, this is a book that contains close to 6,000 wishes, and which is meant to serve as a wellspring of ideas for things to do, have, see, taste, experience, achieve, give, be, learn, do for others, or try in this lifetime. Not all these wishes are necessarily world-changing, but some of them, humble though they may seem, may turn out to be something special to some of us individually.
I felt that for most of us who are 50 Years Young, this is a good time to reflect, recharge and revisit our lifetime wishes.
Don't worry, I'm not going to bury you by dropping all six thousand wishes on you at one sitting. I'll just share with you a sample - maybe 15 to 20 - each time. If you want to read them all, go buy the book and give Ms Kipfer some royalties.
Here goes.
In my lifetime, I want to ...
* try everything once
* have my "letter to the editor" published
* design, build and decorate my dream house
* milk a cow
* get an invention patented
* become a wine expert
* own a sensational sound system with speakers in every room
* ride a fire engine
* win the jackpot on a one-arm bandit at Las Vegas / Genting
* bunjee jump
* learn to tap dance
* study philosophy
* learn to repair my own car
* ride a helicopter to work
* help preserve a landmark
* drive a Maserati
* go around the world in 80 days
* take a course in sculpture
* learn to speak French (or other foreign language)
* swim with dolphins
Remember, these are just random samples from the book. I don't expect all of them to appeal to you. The idea is that this list (and a few more which I'll put up in the coming months) may trigger you to reconnect with YOUR lifetime wishes. And maybe you might consider doing something about it?
Do share what thoughts, reflections, wishes this posting brings up for you ...
* this is included to remind the wife (if she's reading this) that I do tidy up my study once in a while. LOL
Posts
another way is to write a "Bucket List". has everyone seen the movie?
ReplyDeletewatched the Bucket List.
ReplyDeleteI wish we can sack the entire Sarawak FA and bring back Alan Vest to lead. Sarawak got whipped again; this time 5-0 by Johore tonight.
Think drastic measure needed. Maybe S'wak team need to buy some more foreign talent, like Kaka or Ronaldhino.
ReplyDeleteI wish they'd have cancelled that DUN project and used a fraction of that money to revive the team.
My theory is that the S'wak team needs to be rebuild and start all over. They have to have a sustainable youth and school programs to find talent and get kids interested in playing football. When I was home, a lot of people told me that Sarawak kids are not that interested in football as during our time. That's sad. When I left Kuching in 1980, "Padungan United' were the best team and a few members could easily played for Sarawak,e.g Lee Hock Peng (Captain). This was before the semi-pro days but man, these guys were very good. "Pandugan United" recruited a lot of players from St Joe's "Juventus" team and as I recalled, nobody could beat that "Juventus" team or St Joe's team. Most of the guys are from the 1979 Form Five class. Sarawak would had a great team had most of these guys not gone overseas. These are great memories.
ReplyDeleteI grew up at William Tan Road, next to the Turf Club. I became friends with the jockeys and was quite well-versed about the horses and ponies of that time. I always wanted to ride horses but never got a chance. I hope in my lifetime to be able to ride a horse.
ReplyDeleteI watched the movie. Nice touching ending. But who has the money to do what those guys did?
ReplyDeleteI'd like to take 3 months off and travel around the world, stay in all the best hotels, sample the best food and wine in every country.
Since I can't do that, I guess I will just have to settle for eating the best chilli crabs in Singapore with WJ. :-)
Any of you guys wanna make a short trip to Singapore for a mini-reunion over a weekend?
Maybe S'wak needs to start a Sports School, where young sportsmen are talent spotted ad brought into a school with a special focus on honing their athletic talents thru rigorous training, while going thru education curriculum. Football would of course be one of the sports.
ReplyDeleteWanna travel on the cheap? Ever heard of the new phenomena called "couchsurfing"?
ReplyDeleteCheck out
www.couchsurfing.com.
Maybe if this Form 5 community of ours gets big enough and globally spread wide enough, we could have our own provate couchsurfing netowrk.
Want to milk a cow? Suspect there's something Freudian about that
ReplyDeleteRemember the early ambitions some of us had when we were very young or kids ? When I grow up, I want to be ...... How many can say they achieved them?
ReplyDeleteHi..WJ and all
ReplyDeleteDo think carefully what you say and what you wished for, Remember the "Genie in the bottle". For example, I won't want to "Try everything once", it might come true!!!!! PMSL!!!!.
Ya, agreed with George, lets make a short trip to Singapore for a mini reunion, eat crabs, catch up with WJ, Liang Fang, who else ha? Count me in Georgie boy, just let me know when.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a little boy, I and my brother Piruz, used to wish that when we have grown up and working we would like to fill up our 'tangki mandi' (sort of bath tub) with MILO and enjoy. This was because our parents restricted the amount of MILO we can have those days.
ReplyDeleteMmmm, sounds yummy, Anthony. Try swapping the Milo for champagne. I hear the bubbles are a treat!
ReplyDeletePip, belum tido? hehehe
ReplyDeleteNorbert, I've only been able to locate Ngee Hong (now Richard), Choe Joeh (now Edmond) and Liang Fang (still Liang Fang :) in Singapore. Not sure about others.
ReplyDeleteAnon 14 Oct 7:52PM > Who cares? I've been waiting my whole life to find that "Genie in bottle" anyway. Not literally try everything once, of course have to be selective a bit la!
ReplyDeleteYeah, lah. Some things we would like to try many many times ... LOL!
ReplyDeleteHere a touching poem i ve read, given to me as part of a reflective course i attended a few years back. its called "I Wish" n was from Jenefar Alam.
ReplyDeleteI remember a friend. Two years ago she died due to leukemia, in that small, brightly lit ward number. I remember every detail of that day because it taught me the true meaning of life. She had squeezed a paper into my hand before she closed her eyes. The heading read- "I wish". My vision blurred as I read the words. Tears rolled down my cheeks and I knew what I had to do.
I WISH
I wish I had opened up to you, told you about the little things bothering me
I wish you would listen to me as I spoke with insecurity, say a magical word
I wish I could take you as a friend mom
I wish you knew to be a friend before being a parent
I wish you would understand- that little comfort made all the difference.
I wish I had spent more time listening to you excitedly go about the soccer results
I wish I had gone on more drives or fishing with you
I wish I could learn as much as possible those minute things you were eager to give me as a gift
I wish we talked about our interests
I wish we valued each moment we had together dad.
I wish I had known earlier what you meant to me friend
I wish I was grateful for that smile shining through my cloudy day
I wish I hadn't forgotten to thank you for accompanying me when I was scared to walk alone
I wish I had multiplied your goodness and not the mistakes
I wish you said the exact words at the desired moments
I wish you knew the depths of my heart
I wish I had forgiven yours for my mistakes
I wish I had told you how much I loved you
I wish I could make it up to every soul I met
I wish I could amend those mistakes I made mostly unknowingly
I wish I encouraged a person to go on
I wish I spoke a sweet word ever so often and made someone's day
I wish I spared another smile at the old cleaning lady at school
I wish I spent more time with my family
I wish I realized the meaning of friendship
I wish I removed that stone or every hurdle on other's way
I wish I listened to the birds singing and admired the waves splashing
I wish I remembered to thank God more often
I wish I could turn back time.
When life ends, so do our dreams, feelings and existence. Prevent yourself from wishing the wrong thing at the wrong time. Live in the present and wish for the best NOW.
And nowhere, absolutely nowhere in that wish list, will anyone ever say "I wish I had spent more time in the office".
ReplyDeleteTouched... great sentiments. Thanks for the reminder.
ReplyDeleteGeorge, really?????? What about that pretty young thing taking notes on absolutely everything you say? PMSL, PMSL. Oops, I just had a little accident.
ReplyDeleteI wish ALL (and I mean all...) the classmates of Form 5(1976) will come for the re-union dinner
ReplyDeleteI wish God had given me that extra 1 second to tell my mum that I love her before He took her away
ReplyDeleteAnon 9:30am, I know what you mean. My Dad was taken away so suddenly and unexpectedly, there was so much left unsaid. My eternal regret will always be that I did not tell my Dad how much I loved him while he was around.
ReplyDeleteLife is so fragile, our time on earth so short - we cannot put off the really important things for the sake of material pursuits. And, to me, spending quality time with the family is the most important of all.
Guys
ReplyDeleteI am struggling to manage my time and spend more time with my wife and kids.
The demands of our work and our lifestyle takes too much of my time away from my family. This includes weekends.
Its a pity cos I have such lovely kids.
Will do something about it and manage my time better.
QUALITY TIME? QUALITY TIME ??? Don't get conned about that one, my friend. The term "quality time" was invented by HR managers of companies who persist in making their staff work 20 hours a day, and then telling them that life balance is about spending 43 minutes of QUALITY TIME each day with their loved ones, so that they won't feel so guilty.
ReplyDeleteThere ain't no such thing as QUALITY TIME, man. There's either time spent with loved ones or time not spent with loved ones. PERIOD.
A little aggressive, but Anan 6:26PM does make a fair point. hehehe
ReplyDeletei wish i could work 2 days and pursue my interests the remaining 5 days, every week.
ReplyDeleteThanks a million WJ, hoping to see u guys over there soon, will keep in touch la. Ado, after reading all the wishes u all tulis, I felt like crying la, after all, I lost my pa 1st, 1979. Then my mum in 2004.I really wish they are still around. So u all, those whose parents are still around, make sure u love them, take care of them, for without them, u won't be around.
ReplyDeleteHi Norbert!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the sound advise.My parents just flew in yesterday.I also try to see them often in Cat town.
Reminds me, forgot to thank you for breakfast on Thursday.First time i met some of you.Had send the photos to George for approval before submitting to Jimmy for publication..
My wish list....
1)May we all and our family members be Happy & Well as we walk this journey of life together...
2) Take photos of all of you and family members and starting an autograph book
Cheers!