Only Time Will Tell - Jeffrey Archer

© amazon.co.uk

"Once upon a time, there existed a book thief wandering around the stacked bookshelves of a public library wondering what to read next. The best shelf to look into was the "best-selling" shelf. What a colourful shelf that was indeed, with various genres and captivating titles that made your fingers itch...."

I think that's enough with the dramatic effect, back to business.

    I came across the fourth volume of the Clifton Chronicles at a local book store hoping that it would be as exciting as its brief summary on the back of it. Little did I know that was the fourth book. For some reason I ended up purchasing it was boy wasn't it a hock to find out that it was the "fourth" book, FOURTH BOOK! Woah, that was a shock I couldn't contain. Upon the second visit, I was determined to get myself a copy of the first volume and wasn't I just lucky enough to get it. I have to admit though, this book sat on my shelf for quite some time before I mastered the courage of read it, and when I did, I read the first few chapters before deciding to keep it as a "second-hand" book while I read something else. Little did I know, little did I know indeed. Once the primary book on my list was read, I grabbed "Only Time Will Tell" and continued. Though for the time it remained untouched on my shelf I had this urge to read it, there was something about the story line, the plot, the writing, basically everything about it that got that feeling in me of wanting to read it.

    This was the very first book I read by Jeffrey Archer and to my surprise his books were all over the libraries I've been to and I couldn't help but ask myself "How come I've never heard of you?" and things like "What is it with your writing that makes you pop out everywhere?". At this moment, I understand why. There are a lot of writers out there that make your heart ache for a few chapters then you simply get sick of that and just feel it got too drifted away. Others will make you feel anxious and excited to know what's to happen next, but as things get taken too seriously and dramatically you simply stop reading the book. Jeffrey Archer is a whole lot different. I have to admit though, despite my intensive reading habit that's getting a little out of control now that I'm interning, I have never came across a mind gripping novel as this one. Literally, just literally from page one to that very last page of the book, I was simply living in an endless loop of excitement, anxiety, sadness, anger, worry, and shock literally! How can someone make you feel gripped till that last page of the book, how? Goodness this was simply beyond the best adjective in the entire dictionary that would fit in to describe this novel. What made it the best of the best is how the story line was carried out from all the main-character's perspectives, and that was smoothly done. Some writers focus on the perspective of one of the characters or two and fail to keep that goodness for the other character's perspective.  I fit weren't for the different perspectives approach, I would've lived the story from Harry's point of view only and that would've bored me to death. But Archer did not, he took the story from Harry's point, Old Jack's point and even Hugo's point of view and did so so very perfectly I could cry from the magnificence it brought to life. You get to taste the ultimate feelings of friendship, sacrifice, loyalty and unexpectedly hatred and power-abuse it's not joke.

    I do have to mention the fact that I couldn't wait to finish reading this book and start "The Alchemist". I remember half-way through the book I felt like I've got the entire basic idea of the Clifton Chronicles and decided to mark this as the last book I read and not continue with the entire series, but when I came to read the very last chapter of the book I was in complete I shock I simply lost  control on my thoughts, and most importantly my mental state. It was the most unexpected and most unanticipated twist in the entire book! How can I not read the second volume? Now that would simply be intense torture to my soul.  I don't want to get started with how magnificent the book cover by itself make me delighted to carry around, I haven't got the chance to carry a red book with an abundance of goodness to read.

    Now I know why Archer is all over the place, and he sure deserves it for the master piece he's created. This book is not like any other book with a story line told from all the main character's perspective it does not even give you a moment to doubt any of the characters for yourself it's pure grandness. That's the main reason I've without a doubt given this book a 5/5 stars without a single hesitation because it was more than that <3 

A little effort would do

"If so, then you know you can go your whole life collecting days, and none will outweigh the one you wish you had back.” Mitch Albom

    Over the past few weeks I've been keeping myself busy with all sorts of things. There's been a lot of reading for sure, writing, and many more. I've enrolled myself in a few online courses to broaden my knowledge in a few technological fields to keep myself updated and on the go for something new. This past week was supposed to be the very first week of work, however that had to be postponed for some confidential reason we should not worry about. Moving on.

    There are a few things that sometimes inspire me, impress me and shock me. What I'm going to write about in this post is surprisingly a mix of all three. There was this workshop about teamwork that I have decided to attend during this past week. The best parts about attending such workshops is the experience of sitting in an auditorium with a multi-major audience who's got so much to say and so much to argue about since everyone's literally got a different point of view. Some can agree, other can disagree, and others can simply negotiate in a friendly manner. Anyways, this workshop usually spans a 5 day period, yet it was narrowed down for a 4 hour session so that was understandable and quite beneficial. We were given the opportunity to dig in with the talk and ask whatever we wanted to ask. On my personal preference, I simply enjoyed listening for this time, and from that I came to learn a lot. I did not have much to say though as a participant because everything was being said by the speaker and agreed upon by the audience so that was great. The thing is about being part of an audience is that peaceful act of sitting back and listening to what the rest of the audience has to say, how they feel about what's being told and the fun part is, nodding to what you agree upon or simply saying " No that's not really it.". That's what I love doing at workshops of such kind.

    Anyways, right at the introduction, the speaker was introducing the topic in a very relatable manner since the audience was 99.9% college students. For that he really knew how to kick off his workshop really well. That's  when he started talking about GPAs. Everyone joined in with their experiences, thoughts and miseries. I never knew how GPAs were more like nightmares to everyone, though they never really mattered to me. How was that even possible? I never really thought of it, I just studied and whatever came out came, thankfully it was always satisfying.  The speaker was a certified trainer, an honour student and a very qualified speaker. What a grand mix, he was proud of who he was and where he stood, I bet it took a lot of hard work and sweat to stand on that stage,  I don't blame him because I know what it feels like to reach that moment after hard work. The process of reaching that goal is a private matter between you and yourself because no one really cares about it more than yourself, you should not bother and explain how you got there. It's part of the plan actually to keep the fruits of obstacles to yourself because you had your own way of overcoming them.  However, you do have the choice to share, but in the end you'd be thinking 'Why bother, let's just keep it to the final moment.'

    Throughout the introduction, GPA was a hot topic amongst the audience and everyone shared their thoughts. There was this one thought that drew me back and caused way too much tension and whispers in the audience. It was that one that took me aback for a second. The moment was centered around a Chemical Engineer student that basically hated what she was doing. She simply hated the fact that she has to do Chemical Engineering and just wants to get it over with and get a job. All she cared about was maintaining a GPA above 2.0 and getting ahold of her final bachelor's degree. Now I know what you must be thinking "Why? What made her speak up like this?" That's what I thought exactly, why bother spend the rest 5-6 years in misery just for the sake of a bachelor's degree? That's not going to buy you a job is it? That was simply the speaker's answer " Your degree is not going to secure you that job you always wanted" Yes you do have a bachelor's degree from one of the world's leading universities in the Middle East, but that doesn't mean you get a job because you might as well fail your first interview questions.

    What got me thinking was quite a lot. The speaker had the perfect reply to that one student "You're making the biggest mistake of your life, you won't secure a job like that." he said.

    "If I were you, I'd try to dig up and find the simplest acts that'll make me enjoy and love what I'm doing today" that was it, just like that, trying to find something that makes it worth the time and effort. This reflects on the fact that whatever time you spend in misery is not going to do you no good anyways so why not find productivity in that time span you spend?  That's split second you spend in anger and unworthiness will never come back, it turns to wasted time in basically nothing so why?

    This is very debatable but from a personal perspective I find it awful for people to live their lives that way, it's their life there's no doubt, but that's not the way it should be lived. Especially when you're given all that it takes to live it well and only a little effort is to be done on your behalf, then I don't think you have the right to nag really..it's just a waste of breath.

Do not rush

 © picturequotes.com

"Just be patient, let the game come to you. Don't rush. Be quick, but don't hurry." Earl Monroe

    There's this part of us that wants to get there really quick, no matter what it takes, we just want to be there right now this instant. We only target that moment we want to live right now, we don't care about the consequences that follow. You see that's the point of it all, we want to enjoy the excitement of that sweet moment, the rush it bring through us and the happiness within that split second. That's all that matters, whatever it takes we just want that one moment.

    But hold on for a second, what happens to the time spent to get to that moment you could die for? Have it a day or two, maybe a week or so wouldn't that be a waste? It definitely would, but for that rush moment you're willing to give up hours worth of spending. But then it all goes down to that moment again, pretty astonishing how the human mind works for what they really want.

    All about rushing through things and rushing to get to that moment is basic talking. Taking it from a different point of view could be interesting. Initially speaking, we all rush through different types of activities, incidents, and topics. Some people rush through things because that's the way they are, others rush through things because they have to and their lives depend of rushing, other do it for the sake of trying it out.

    The worst trait we human have is quick judgments. We judge people very quickly, way too quickly. When we're standing in line in a super market, and suddenly that one person stands next to you or decides to cut in through the line, we jump into conclusions and categorise that person as being reckless and ignorant. Wait a minute, why? Maybe they had a lot on their mind to the point they walk around senselessly. Maybe they just got a tragic call and lost focus on this entire world. Who are you to judge though? You're standing perfectly fine, nothing on your mind, nothing waiting in your list, you can stand in line for the entire day and not get affected by anything, but then you decide to jump into judging that innocent soul trying to survive through the day. That's a shame. Shame, shame, shame. Where did your human instincts go? Where did all the "think positive of people" type of ideology go? Somewhere through your lifetime, you could be in that person's shoe, so do not let your judgements take you far, just take it easy for once and figure things out bit by bit and have a little faith in humans.

Have a little faith.

We all are equal in the end.

The "My Myself & I" paradigm

© quotesgram.com

"Life does not revolve around you only, if it were you wouldn't of made it this far anyways." - E.B

   Well this is where you come out and tell me who that is. Is it only you or is it yourself as well? There's this well-known weird type of paradigm that's been obviously popular over the past few years. I'm sure everyone's already familiar with it, it's the me,myself, and I paradigm. It's becoming quite global, for those who are not familiar with it this is what it simply means.

The me,myself, and I paradigm:

1. You only care about you
2. You only care about yourself
3. You only care about you and yourself

   Pretty simple, but looking deep into it it's like the entire world revolves around you only. Now are you the only one in this planet of more than a billion soul? If you consider the animal kingdom itself, then that counts to a very large number of souls, when we get to the human part of the world's population, it's probably a double or triple. That's not the point though so let's stay with the humans. There's always that moment we all take every once in a while when we just look around and wonder what everyone's going through. What they're currently thinking of, what they've just encountered, how is it back at home, who are they worrying about the most, are they doing all the work, are they really satisfied with who they are right now. Ignoring yourself for a moment and appreciating the humans walking in front of you, the ones sitting next to you, the ones you go to class with adds up to what is known as "self-appreciation and respect." 

   You are not meant to be 100% happy or satisfied in your life, and that's a fact. We humans, sadly comprehend this fact in a very negative way. We simply think " why us ? " when god decides to test our patience. We always wonder "am I really jinxed?" when god wants you to look around and get a hold of yourself. That's just the way we humans work. The only difference between us all is how we really react, and that's where we stand out. Regardless of what good and bad you're currently in , you should just bless the fact that you're still better than someone else out there. That woman sitting on the bench reading a book could be going through a rougher time than you are. The girl walking by and smiling to your face must've had a rough night but still managed to draw that smile to draw that line between her personal and academic life.

   It's by human nature for us to vent and talk about what bothers us, but there has to be the right party that takes it in and eventually makes you feel better. Some people do not accept that and hold it against you, why do that though? If you've been able to toggle all matters and work hard, then there was this one time when you slipped, why would they hold that against you? Didn't they go through the same?

   You should always give what you take, but in return it always goes down to who you really are deep down inside. You should not expect in return, you just give give give for your own sake. Just remember that there will always be that one time in your life time where you can come out as a normal human being, just be careful who witnesses that.

   There is no "me" really, it's just all of us appreciating the other. In the end we all follow different paths, but in the end we all fall down the same one.

Life's an echo

 © twitter.com

"Why the sadness and shock when that is what you give." Echo Bliss

    Growing up as a child, my mother always raised me on the basis of  "you get what you give". Nothing more, and nothing less. At that time, a child at such a young age would not really know what that meant, but as I grew up into the adult I am right now, done with high school successfully and now almost done with college, I came to learn the fact behind it all. My mother always knew what she was doing, she was that type of person that drew her life's path and goals clearly and worked to achieve them, no matter what obstacles and set-backs she faces, she got over them and go there. That' what I admire about her so much.

    She always said, if this is how you're treating people, then that's what you should expect from them in return. If you're nice to them, then do expect they would be nice to you at some point. If you've got a temper and threw out on them like it was their fault, then they'd throw their temper fists at you in return. However, the catch in it all was not to really expect anything, but to give and move on. She used the give and receive paradigm as children to make it easier for us to understand what she was aiming at, but as we grew, she emphasised on our Islamic principles more often by saying Allah will give you what you deserve and he always knows what your intentions are. As a senior at college, I cam to learn to do what I want to do and help people and respect them if I want to and not expect the same from them. Just do and move on with a smile on your face. You feel good about you do really and the best part of that little pleasure is that no one knows about it except yourself and Allah.

    When it comes down to someone hurting you and disrespecting you, you do not do the same, yet you do not keep it quite and just nod your head. There are always other way to express the hurt that's been indulged on you, and that's where most people fail. Their tempers always get the best of them, my temper gets the best of me sometimes, but I always revert back and try to deal with whatever it is in different ways.

    It all falls back to what you really want to do and what intentions you have, have them good or bad, you will - and I guarantee you with a 100% confidence - get what you give.

Think well of what you do because you only live once, so make the best out of it.

The nice person she always was

"Life is filled with ups and downs, regardless of how happy, or how sad you currently are. That is why you should always be thankful to God - Just keep that in mind" Echo Bliss

It has always been like this for her but she never took it to heart. She thought she was doing good because that's how she was raised and that was how she really was...by god's nature..she was just like that. The good thing about it is that she actually accepted herself because she was who she was.

How can a person live happily ever after if he/she is not very satisfied with who he/she is? That's just a waste of time to live like that isn't it? For her it was not a waste of time because she always accepted herself, but what she detested the most was being taken advantage of.

That was a human trait that hurt most of them, especially her. 

Why would they do that..she would think to herself.

Was it really worth the time...she would regret.

Eventually it was time for her to put an end to it because nothing lasts forever. She knew she'd hear hurtful statements but she didn't care. It was just like the having the words come through an ear and leave the other with no impact whatsoever because she was living to satisfy herself and not satisfy them. They have themselves to satisfy she was held responsible about herself and no one else. 

That is how..she finally decided to live and the people that really care will understand and support her to be who she really is.

Blessed.

Different Perspectives

My photography during our Winter Break family vacation

Back where I live, it rained heavily this morning. Quite surprising since it's actually summer and the weather for the past couple days was really windy. No objections of course, I'm just saying.

We humans have no control on the weather, we're just good enough in coming up with conclusions and always blaming mother nature.

Anyways back to the point of this post.

Like I mentioned earlier, it rained. I saw it as a gift from god and a blessing,others saw it as something scary, well some of us do fear the sound of thunder, but I actually liked it as much as it scares me a bit. Let's not forget the fact that it's Friday, the blessed day to us So this adds as a positive point to me at least.


As people with different beliefs, we see rain for example differently. As I'm typing this, it's raining heavily in Singapore, it always rains there. But back here, rain is not our best friend well as geographers would explain it as " Being on the Equator makes this country very hard" I do not believe that at all, well I do to some extent but I believe there is another reason to that. Some of you might not agree with my reasoning, but that's ok because just like the title implies "Different Perspectives" . I'm very fond of that idea to be honest, it makes me enjoy talking to people from all around this globe, different people living in different areas, experiencing different problems and different beliefs...it makes me really curious about their backgrounds, their beliefs and all the things like that.

I'm trying to keep this post as short as possible, whoever is reading it right now might be a little lost I assume, because I'm just spilling out what my mind decides to throw away.

Thank you for taking the time and relating to this! :)