Kusu Trip

For the past month, on my way from work to home, I will inevitably pass by a prominent board that about the Kusu Island pilgramage.

I remembered going to Kusu Island a number of years ago. The impression is an idyllic island. Thus I recommended to my friend to try it yesterday with her date. It will be likely more interesting than always going to watch movies or eat, I reasoned.

In the end, she asked me to go together with her instead.

Wow the ferry terminal is a brand new terminal at Marina South. Ferry ticket is $16 and we managed to catch the last ferry at 5pm. After 25 minutes, we arrived at Kusu island. Is a lovely small island with the coconut trees swaying gently in the breeze.

For those who view it only as a religious place and dismiss it, I think it is a pity as it is a great place to visit for its natural environment and scenic settings too.

I thought it is really great to see a toaist temple and a mosque there. Speaks volume of religious tolerance.

Sharing Steve Jobs' Commencement Speech

Just wanted to share part of Steve Jobs' Commencement Speech at Stanford in 2005.

The quotes are all copied from the below link. Go to the link for the complete speech if you are interested.

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html

The first story is about connecting the dots.

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Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

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I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

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Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.