17 Who is your favourite super-hero?

I think this topic will have to suffice for tonight’s post. After another two weeks I am seriously struggling to find some semblance of consistency in my schedule. So here I am, at near-midnight focusing all the attention I can muster and typing on-the-fly to hopefully churn out something decent. Sometimes you got to give distractions and procrastination no room for quarter, y’know? Now, back to the topic at hand.

Super-heroes are an interesting bunch. They yield amazing powers like the Hulk with his anger-management issues of epic proportions and perhaps even photosynthesising properties. I guess the female version would be Jean Grey’s Phoenix force which I recall from X3 is pretty angry too. Then there’s Batman who everyone seems to love because he’s got a gruff, inaudible voice and a penchant for nifty gadgetry. His female archetype would probably be Lara Croft (wait, she isn’t a super-hero, or is she?). Then there’s the billionaire with swag, Tony Stark, and his crazy-awesome iron-man suit; Optimus Prime; Wolverine; Mystique for her, uh, yeah…the list goes on and on.

But if you asked me which character I can relate to on a personal level, beyond mere admiration, I’d have to say Spider-man. Why do you ask? Apart from having a cool suit, fast reflexes and a mode of transportation that always beats rush-hour traffic, it is his human character that draws me in as well. You see, behind the mask is a guy who has stepped out of the comfort zone of school and into the big bad world where he has to be like everybody else – find a decent job, win over the girl of his dreams, fight bad guys.

And now that I’ve just finished my undergraduate studies, I feel like I can relate with Peter Parker more than ever. In fact, there’s this one quote from the first Spiderman film that I can still vividly recall and it goes like this: “You’re smart, Peter Parker, but you’re lazy.” Talk about the story of my life.

And so with that I shall end by saying life is a tough gig, with or without super-powers.

18 Hell Hath No Fury

Barely two posts in and I’ve already broken my personal vow of one post per week. Well, as recompense (yes thank you Avengers for teaching me a new word) I’ve prepared this fancy little chart:

Before you start bashing me with your superior math/gender/font/broomstick, I just want to say that it’s just a joke, mmkay?

19 “The Time You Enjoy Wasting Is Not Wasted Time”

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3 hours a day of commuting time = 3 hours* a day of spotting time.

*unless I’m inside the city loop.

20 A myriad of thoughts

I remember this one time when I was with a group of friends from church, bunkered-up in this small hotel room in the then sleepy town (maybe it still is sleepy?) of Miri, Malaysia. It was, as far as I can remember, the very first church camp I had gone to although my recollection of it now is quite hazy. All except for that night when a bunch of teenagers spent a couple of hours chatting the night away covering a bevy of conversation topics.

There was of course the usual stuff like BGR (boy-girl relationships for the uninitiated) and, uh-… …okay, actually that was the only interesting topic I still recall from that night. To be more specific, the question that really got everyone’s brain ticking was ‘what [did we] look for in a significant other?’ Seemed straightforward enough. I probably blabbed something naive and vague like “Christian, intelligent, hot.” Sorry, I was joking about the last one (but I don’t doubt for a second that that particular criteria was on my mind). So surely enough we went around the room, each having his or her own say and maybe asking a question or two. Then came one of the girls’ turns. This person had -shall we say- great expectations. Not ridiculous or over-the-top, but definitely great. One of the criteria concerned financial status.

“…a six-figure annual salary.”

The reasoning behind it was that is in this day and age it is getting quite difficult to raise a family without such a financial foundation. I thought to myself, fair enough but I doubt many will come across that amount of money. And so I turn my gaze from the shadowy recesses of a distant memory lost in time back to the present day and think to myself: how am I still here? If that person was right, how are so many of us (including myself) managing to survive? I’m not trying to say that she’s wrong. By looking at the state of events around us and the volatility of pretty much everything, I would think that she was being quite reasonable.

To be honest with you, it’s sometimes a surreal experience to have a financial status that brings to mind the saying ‘between a rock and a hard place’. Teetering on the brink of financial collapse can really change one’s mindset with a lot of things. The obvious stuff such as bills are given the utmost priority, and expenditures are scrutinised and streamlined to such a degree that I could even say it becomes an art-form in itself. And from time to time this perspective can really highlight and contrast with many trivialities such as people trying to ‘find’ themselves, relational issues and relatively minor complaints (e.g. public transportation, anybody?). I’m not excluded from this group, and once more this isn’t a jab to say all those things are silly – issues are issues and should be dealt with appropriately. But being in my position, I can’t help but lose sight of the minor gripes and keep my eye on making ends meet. It even frustrates me that people get worked up over the smallest things i.e. #firstworldproblems.

To be preoccupied with this so-called tunnel vision sometimes means that I don’t allocate the intellectual capacity to answer the many pressing questions posed by the people around me; other times it means conceding an argument for the sake of conserving energy that could be used to get through another day; maybe it even means excluding myself from social events every now and then. Sometimes, it’s almost like a bad joke to think that I survive on the little that I have. But the fact of the matter is that despite all this and all the planning in the world, I am thankful for what has been given to me, and when good things do come my way I can’t help but know that God’s providence is at work. And if knowing that may be the only thing left that gives me hope, then things’ll be all right.