On the brink of a new year
The year 2007 is nearly over.
As the year 2008 comes upon whether we like it or not, I at least will enter it with the slight confidence of having learned one very important lesson of life this year.
I've learned to move on with my life, and don't look back. To write off my past mistakes as a sunk cost, if you will, and not cry over spilt milk. To move forward and not linger on and wonder about the 'what-ifs'.
Ok, technically I already knew all of these stuff. Who doesn't really? But somehow it never really sunk in within me until one insignificant, unmemorable occasion.
Somehow, I always thought that when someone learned one of life's major lessons, there would be like...a light shining from above, or some light bulb suddenly light up in my brain or something...well, MONUMENTAL to mark it. And somehow, I had the impression that revelations such as this took place only in moments of great importance or significance. That was all plain bullshit of course.
It happened when I was playing a MMORPG actually (Lineage 2 to be precise). I was halfway through my 1st job (palus knight) and was wondering about whether I should continue with this character or not. The basic reason was because I, once again, had messed up with my character and at the moment, he was neither here nor there. I contemplated starting over again with a new character and passing all my old equipment to the new one, while being able to enjoy the benefit of tweaking my character to the max thanks to my knowledge of the game.
While I was staring at the character creation screen, I mentioned this to my housemate who also plays a heck lot of MMORPG's. Why bother, he said. You should just play on. Lost gold you can recover. If you have messed up your stats, just play on, level up and balance it out. If you lost your equipment, just play on, save enough gold and buy new stuff.
Granted he made it sound a lot easier than it really was, but when he said these things, a spark went off in my mind. Suddenly I realised that life wasn't perfect, would never be perfect and no matter how many times I started over, started anew; I would still inevitably mess it up again. The best that I could do was to bumble on through life, sometimes sure of my road, sometimes not, and just hope for the best.
And far more importantly, not to dwell on those 'what-ifs'. Sigh. Oh well.
As the year 2008 comes upon whether we like it or not, I at least will enter it with the slight confidence of having learned one very important lesson of life this year.
I've learned to move on with my life, and don't look back. To write off my past mistakes as a sunk cost, if you will, and not cry over spilt milk. To move forward and not linger on and wonder about the 'what-ifs'.
Ok, technically I already knew all of these stuff. Who doesn't really? But somehow it never really sunk in within me until one insignificant, unmemorable occasion.
Somehow, I always thought that when someone learned one of life's major lessons, there would be like...a light shining from above, or some light bulb suddenly light up in my brain or something...well, MONUMENTAL to mark it. And somehow, I had the impression that revelations such as this took place only in moments of great importance or significance. That was all plain bullshit of course.
It happened when I was playing a MMORPG actually (Lineage 2 to be precise). I was halfway through my 1st job (palus knight) and was wondering about whether I should continue with this character or not. The basic reason was because I, once again, had messed up with my character and at the moment, he was neither here nor there. I contemplated starting over again with a new character and passing all my old equipment to the new one, while being able to enjoy the benefit of tweaking my character to the max thanks to my knowledge of the game.
While I was staring at the character creation screen, I mentioned this to my housemate who also plays a heck lot of MMORPG's. Why bother, he said. You should just play on. Lost gold you can recover. If you have messed up your stats, just play on, level up and balance it out. If you lost your equipment, just play on, save enough gold and buy new stuff.
Granted he made it sound a lot easier than it really was, but when he said these things, a spark went off in my mind. Suddenly I realised that life wasn't perfect, would never be perfect and no matter how many times I started over, started anew; I would still inevitably mess it up again. The best that I could do was to bumble on through life, sometimes sure of my road, sometimes not, and just hope for the best.
And far more importantly, not to dwell on those 'what-ifs'. Sigh. Oh well.
posted by Nemo at Monday, December 31, 2007
2 Comments:
I think it's a little wonky when you have to depend on an RPG to give you insight into life's workings. But I suppose since RPGs resembles real life in so many aspects (less the cutting and farming), you've got a point there.
zz. Whatever works man. Whatever works.
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