bring out the old, bring in the new

I wanted to give a huge thanks to everyone who wished me 'Happy Birthday' today.

I also wanted to make it known that I'm only turning 21 - not 22 yet like some of you have incorrectly assumed; as much as I am honored to be bestowed with all the surely admirable qualities of old age, I assure you that I am not in that much of a hurry.

Still, it was extremely heartwarming to receive birthday wishes and greetings from those closest to you.

Not that I place much importance to such things but it really makes you feel grateful for the efforts which other people put even to remember your birthday, especially when I am bad with dates myself.

It also reinforces my notion that memories are one of those things that could truly and easily transcend the innumerable boundaries of space and time.

It is the one thing that could make you feel right at home in a foreign land, make you see familiar faces among an unfamiliar crowd or call up inherently recognizable smells, sights and sounds.

And even though it fades gradually with time, I believe that if you hold on to it hard enough, you can never lose it. Indeed, our capacity to remember and retain things from times long gone by must have evolved or given to us to serve some purpose.

By holding on to some cherished memories, we are able to move forward in the future with greater confidence, hopes and determination.

I mean, there are some people who desperately clings to their golden past and stubbornly refuses to move; on the other end of the spectrum, they are those who feel compelled to exonerate themselves completely from any association to their past.

Even if the memories are too painful or dreadful to be properly recalled, I believe that one cannot simply push it to the corners of one's mind hoping that it will go away as time passes by.

It needs to be confronted and dealt with for shoving it aside can only provide you with a short respite from it, if any.

Besides, repressed memories have a nasty habit of cropping up when you least expected it and its impact might be a lot worse the second time round.

No memories deserve to be forgotten - it is intrixicably linked to our character, it is what makes us who we are.

One cannot make a clean-cut escape from it; there will always be some 'residual' memories left and you may find yourself in a situation which those 'residual' memories will be triggered.

In George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, there is a party slogan which goes 'Those who controls the past controls the present; those who controls the present controls the future.'

I believe that validity and the truth of the core message of the slogan is blindingly obvious - if one could ignore the political totalitarian inclinations of the slogan for a while - one could not selectively chooses to only look forward to one's future whilst happily ignoring one's past or vice versa.

Therefore, on my birthday I wanted to thank God for the gift of insight, wisdom, knowledge and self in reasonable amounts to me, the gift of unconditional love, trust and support from my family, the gift of excellent and caring company of my friends and lastly the gift of hope, optimism and determination in facing the challenges of life.

It is fitting that my birthday falls on my first normal day in college; I pray that my hopes and desires for my birthday and the new academic year runs parallel and promises a whole new year of greater opportunities, thorough insights and closer collaborations.

It certainly feels good to get back to work and be 21 at the same time.

Dance one year in, kiss one good-bye; another chance, another start;

so many dreams to tease the heart.