living-learning – Gajahbiru

I have just recently begun learning to cook, and I am bad at cooking. My technique is sloppy (overcooked most of the time), I tend to mess up seasonings (either bland or too salty), and my biggest cause of failure actually lies on my “creativity”. One such example goes, a soup was going alright, until I decided to make it a “fusion” and added last minute ingredients. Good thing I’m not too picky when it comes to eating, I’d rather eat my own bad cooking than starve.

But I won’t lie that there is a way to increase the chance of producing good food, the cheat lies in using good quality ingredients. The picture above shows how good and appetizing a salad can be as long as you use the best ingredients. The methods and seasonings were minimal and simple, but the results far exceeds the efforts given.

The same goes for other kinds of productive activities , it’s easier to make something good if you use good quality talents. A compact team of dedicated experts can create better results than a large group filled with people who think they know what they’re doing. It’s easier to have a good time if you are surrounded by great people who discuss about potential ideas instead of talking about other people behind their backs to compensate for their own insecurities.

Admittedly, most of the time the option to control who we work or surround ourselves with are out of our hands, there is not much we can do about it. Real life is not a fully-stocked supermarket where we can always pick and choose the best options, the resemblance is closer to a convenience store at 1 am when you’re hungry and desperate for food. You try to choose from the available options and make the best out of them.

Yesterday, my car refused to start at the gas station. I was on the way to repair my PC, and when I tried to make a phone call, my cellphone suddenly went blank.

the first thing that crossed my mind was, “why are all the things I own either broken or require constant repairs?” like any other normal human being, I complained.

And while I was sitting there, alone in my car, waiting for the battery to charge up, I realized that I really should be grateful

Looking back at those days when I don’t have a car, when I couldn’t even drive, or when the term “transportation” meant either Taxi or Bus, I should be thankful for my trusty old (literally old) car. even though he’s high maintenance, he’s actually quite reliable to take me places.

My PC might require a visit to the nearest service center every other week or so, but looking back at the old days when I had to go to my mom’s office just to experience internet, or when I had to wait till my mom gets home in order to type a report for school. Looking even more way back, there were even times a computer was only something I get to touch once a week at computer class at school. And I’m embarrassed when I realized that some people have never even seen a PC. I really should be grateful for that PC.

My cell phone has withstood 5 years of torment, believe me! it never leaves my side, and I go places. Even though it only has 2 spaces left at the messages inbox, and the camera can’t be used due to lack of memory, I can only play polyphonic ring tones, and say goodbye to mobile internet, I can hardly open anything from the WAP browser. But looking back at those pre-cellphone days, when a pay phone is all I could rely on for communication, I really should be grateful for my phone.

and stemming upon the realization of those things, I also realized that I should be grateful for other things:

I should be grateful that I’ve had enough experience from previous cases of broken cars to know how to push-start a car. And when I had to charge the batteries this morning I realized that I really should be thankful that my mom used to drive an old Mitsubishi minicab that required her to take the battery out and recharge it every month or so, learning from that experience i knew just how to take out the battery of a car. (I know it’s actually pretty simple, but I wouldn’t have known how to do it.)

I’m grateful for all those days working at an Internet cafe, it really gave me knowledge about computers. and when I found that this time it’s actually something that i can’t handle myself, I have the right connections to ensure that the PC is in safe and caring hands. And while the main board is being repaired, I am forced to rely on the internet stalls, which is a good thing, I needed the reason to get out of the house.

and after waves of other realizations, I realized that I really need to be grateful for many things in life, and also for many other past experiences, I wouldn’t be here, and things would not have been the same without all of them.

As I go on living, I continue learning, and who knows when a simple skill that I’ve learnt today would be useful in the future. And who knows how a thing that seemed like a bad thing in the past might actually turn out to be a good thing. One thing I’ve learned from the past 26 hours is that being grateful feels better than complaining. Why don’t you try it sometime?