i'm still beaming from the afterglow of something which feels a lot like the Amelie Effect.. you know (from the really amazing french movie Amelie).. where Amelie did an unexpected good deed for someone and then felt so good that it set her off on this life mission to create chain reactions of other good deeds to people around her (which even spun-off back to herself eventually).... have decided that maybe my calling in life is to make a difference to people i meet everyday and where-ever i am, with whatever i have rather than trying to do some really "grand" and earth-shattering things.. maybe little differences that make these people's lives better and which helps them along in what they are doing.... wow... it even sounds good.. :)

helped someone today to come up with a novel and "out-of-the-box" solution for a troubling problem which first looked like it was "unsolve-able", and which had been causing her sleepless nights for the past couple of weeks. what was most interesting was that the solution came up almost out-of-the-blue when we were jesting and toying around with the most absurd possibilities.. all at once, there was great hope again and things started looking up.. it felt really good for me as much as it was for her...

then met up with a good friend for lunch and we had a fruitful time updating each other on the latest happenings in our lives and what we have learnt and experienced since some three months ago when we last met. we exchanged some of the new thoughts and ideas and dreams that came up for both of us over this short time.. quite inspiring to be able to knock ideas off someone... and he remarked that it was really good that we had dreams cos "strangely enough, it is really rare to find someone with dreams even among our peers".. can't agree with him more.. everywhere we turn, everyone seems to be so discouraged, in careers, in relationships.. everything... it seems like the economic crisis has taken a blow in almost every aspect of our lives... but then again, maybe we're all just making excuses not to do anything at all.. as someone (i think it was one of my lecturers again) once asked... what do you see in the line below:

OPPORTUNITYISNOWHERE

you could read it as "Opportunity Is Nowhere" (pessimist)... or you could also read it as "Opportunity Is Now Here" (optimist)..

every day offers more food for thought...