It's all the good things that God and my parents have been giving to me. I can't count it. The more I grow up, the more I am able to appreciate their kindness, that I may not be able to return them back, ever, especially to God.
To God, I can only wish. One of the wishes is to bless my parents for all their goodness to me, and also may all my good deeds become a ceaseless charity for them. And I wish that they won't be punished in the afterlife for my irresponsible deeds, naudzubillahimindzalik.
And I also should thank for my siblings, relatives, friends, even strangers that have given me all the good things.
This is going to be like an acknowledgement page in a book ....
Well, honestly, I can't remember any single of thing that I must consider as "the best gift".
I wish I am not attached to any material thing, at least spiritually, for as long as I am able to breath, I am physically dependent on various kinds of material things.
The most memorable thing I ever got in the mail
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| Bobo, your friend on playing and learning. |
Sad. But now I get plenty of chat pals online. Hurray! Most of them are males. Lol.
Well, the most memorable thing I ever got in the mail was a package of books from the UK Embassy. It was in the middle school when I started to think of being a writer. I was writing a story about a family from the US moving to the UK etc. I realized that I should do a research about the setting. How was I going to start? I sent a letter to the UK Embassy asking for any information about the country. I didn't expect that some time later they would reply me by sending a lot of thin, big books in different topics about the places within UK areas. That's really wow. Too bad, I didn't send any reply. At least I could just say "thank you very much!" But I didn't.
And I also didn't continue to write the story. I think the notebook where I wrote that is still somewhere inside one of the boxes in my old room.
Thank you, UK Embassy, and I am deeply sorry. I was just a young, naive teenager back then. Hope for your understanding.
Nicknames I have ever gotten or given
I have a nickname that my family and neighborhood friends call me. That's not my first name. The name is derived from the last three letters of my last name.
Most of my schoolfriends call me by my first name.
When I still lived in the old neighborhood, I had two close friends. We made up new names for the three of us: Lala, Lili, and Lulu. I don't remember exactly why we created these fake names. I got Lili because I was in the middle by height. The tallest of us got Lala.
In middle school, there was a friend who started to call me Dayeuh. It's a pun of my first name. At first, I didn't like it. But in high school, when you feel like you should have a "cool" name, I introduced this nickname to my friends. I began to like it. Some of my classmates back then still call me by this name until now. Often, it's just "Day".
In university years, when I tried to write regularly by blogging--among others--I used this name as the title. That's how I came up with A DAYEUH IN A LIFE for this blog. Blog was meant to be some kind of a diary, which you might write daily. So, "a day in a life" sounded right as the title of a blog. And also it's a song of The Beatles, which seemingly would make me a bit culturally literate (uh, what?).
What I have learned in my teens
In middle school, I learned that I was ugly and liked only by a wrong boy. I learned that I really liked to write, a lot, and also to read. I learned that I liked to be invisible, sitting in the bottom corner of my class.
In high school, I learned to be a different person. But my high school years were shorter than average, because I was in a "special gifted" class. I learned that I was the dumbest in the class and couldn't compete. I learned that my determination to change only lasted for the first few months, or a little bit more, and the rest was I just didn't give a damn. I learned that I couldn't stay in any extracurricular club more than a few months. I learned that I still wanted to be an author, and also to read books--both the dusty, oldies in the school library and the best-seller, brand new released teenlits.
In my late adolescence, ie the first years in university, I learned to practice regularly on writing, and to keep reading as many books as possible and to always review them afterwards. I learned to join organizations and managed to stay for some time. I learned to speak in front of many people. I learned to live far from my parents and siblings. I learned that eventually I have limitation.
To sum it up, in my teens, I learned about my passion, my nature, and also my position in society.
Personal achievements that make me proud
I am not a high-achiever. But I do have some achievements. I have trophies. I have good academic scores (not always, though). I have been reading, writing, translating, and clipping a lot. Almost none of my works is commercial, hence I wish I can be proud of my sincerity. But the proudness itself may harm the sincerity. So I should not be proud of everything. Instead, I may have achieved nothing but the gifts from the Almighty God. I just follow the flow, my passion. If the result is good, I am grateful. But if it is not, well, that means I should learn more or do something else that works well. What can I be proud of whilst I have nothing? Some day all I "have" in the meantime will be broken, dead, over, and such, or disappear, deteriorate, etc. Nothing will last forever. Only my spirit remains, like in that song of Dream Theater.
If I should be proud, then it should be for other people's achievements. I am proud if people are doing well, and not the opposite. If people are doing bad, especially to me, that will irritate me, for sure.
These are prompts from 500 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing. Tip: do one prompt each day to practice writing in English FOR 15 MINUTES ONLY.
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