If - Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream---and not make dreams your master;
If you can think---and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings---nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And---which is more---you'll be a Man, my son!

this came across my mind today; which brightens up my gloomy day! :)

recent happenings

home.

i have been missing home terribly. i am having recurrent dreams of my mum, home, and whatever that lies in Malaysia, this beautiful piece of land which its peace is accentuated, after experiencing the riots that are happening in London. perhaps the riots made me miss home even more. my heart would startle, at the faintest sound of police siren; my eyes follow, wherever the police van goes, in fear that my intended destination has ongoing riots. surprisingly, i have seen a empty few police vans outside fisher hall as i leave for work at 7 this morning. 莫非是空城计？还是三十六计，走为上计？ :)

work.

i am currently working as an undergraduate researcher (rather more likely to be an ASSISTANT) in hammersmith hospital. it is not one of my most favourited campus, but i have gotten accustomed to it and have even liked it for the cheap groceries i can buy from Tesco's in hammersmith. workwise, i have been 'diligently' at work, more like a manual worker and learning stuffs as i go along. i am envious of those who are doing independent research work (which sounded so much more fun and chun), but understanding that researching on animals and humans has serious ethical issues to be dealt with, and seeing that i am enjoying both my animal part and human part of research, i have often tell myself to be content with what i have. not to mention, i was rewarded with chocolates for helping researchers with their work and the news of the stipulated increase in the amount of stipend which i am yet to receive lighten up my spirits a little. 3 weeks more. i will definitely miss this place by then.

life over here, in short, is peaceful. each day is merely a repertoire of work, reading/ watching movie/ facebooking/ chatting/ travelling (occassionally). on an honest account, my life here is boring i have to admit, with the separation from friends and family, loneliness does creep in at times. it definitely does not sound extremely wonderful, but i truly appreciate for what is given and try to make the best out of it. it is after all, the art of life, to see through the complexities in life, and to view it in the most simplest form, its most purest form. And then, to embrace it with the most determined manner, to make a difference.