Choose to be happy

Sometimes I still envy people who had a great childhood. Who don’t come from broken families that themselves came from broken families. Who don’t have to deal with all the baggage and financial problems that weigh you down every time you try to make something of your life and overcome bad genetics and dysfunctional family relationships. 

That’s why my wife Ellen and I work hard to give Sam the kind of childhood we never enjoyed. To give her all the opportunities to follow her dreams and use her talents. 

We are blessed to have a daughter like Sam, and it’s our responsibility to give her the wonderful life she deserves. And Sam works even harder to use her talents to the fullest and make her dreams come true.

The good thing is that no matter what our backgrounds are, we still have a choice. We can’t choose what happens to us, but we can choose how to react. Yes, it hurts to realize what we have lost or never had, but the past is the past and dwelling on it will only destroy our present and our future.

“Either we die, or we choose to live.”
Whatever happens, we can choose to live. We can choose to be happy.

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Reinvent yourself

This is why we need to keep reinventing ourselves. The day we stop learning is the day we become obsolete. Got the book after reading about it on Forbes.

Here’s an excerpt from the article:

“The ability to shift and learn in many different areas of life is a skill by itself and it’s this skill that everyone needs in order to become successful at reinvention.”

Are you ready for ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’?

Yup, Star Wars: Episode VIII now has a title. What do you think of the title Star Wars: The Last Jedi?

Image credit: StarWars.com

Here’s an excerpt from the io9 article:

“It’s a suitably ominous title for the middle chapter of the new saga, but what could it mean? Obviously, despite the fact that Jedi can be a plural as well as a singular noun, many are going to see it as signs of an ominous fate for Luke Skywalker—passing down the Jedi teachings to Rey before meeting his own fate (or, shock twist that will never happen: Rey dies, leaving Luke as the titular final Jedi).”

Are you excited?

Image credit: StarWars.com

Beware of buying

Great reminder from The Minimalists about The Actual Cost of Owning a Thing.

“When you add it all up, the actual cost of owning a thing is nearly immeasurable.”

Image credit: Pixabay.com

Image credit: Pixabay

We meet again, Bangkok

Team dinner at P.Kitchen! Here in Bangkok with the whole e27 team for the next few days.

 

 

 

 

Of Mark Hamill, monsters and robots

A house filled with toys! How many of them do you recognize?

Wish they would make all the Mark Hamill’s Pop Culture Quest episodes available. You can only subscribe to Comic-Con HQ for Mark Hamill’s Pop Culture Quest and other original online shows if you’re in the US.

‘Scatter, Adapt, and Remember’: Pragmatic optimism in the face of mass extinction

I just finished reading Annalee Newitz‘s “Scatter, Adapt, and Remember“, which I highly recommend.

This beautifully written book has truly inspired me, which is somewhat ironic considering that it’s tackling the inevitability of one apocalypse or another causing mass extinction on Earth. Yet it fills me with pragmatic optimism that humanity will survive, not because of some vague hope, but through science and the strategies that our ancestors and different species have employed in order to avoid extinction.

“My point is that regardless of whether humans are responsible for the sixth mass extinction on Earth, it’s going to happen. Assigning blame is less important than figuring out how to prepare for the inevitable and survive it. And when I say ‘survive it,’ I don’t mean as humans alone on a world gone to hell. Survival must include the entire planet, and its myriad ecosystems, because those are what keep us fed and healthy.”

We are survivors. We must never forget that.