IF YOU ADMIRE SOMEBODY YOU SHOULD GO AHEAD AND TELL THEM. PEOPLE NEVER GET THE FLOWERS WHILE THEY CAN STILL SMELL THEM.

Good Times

Remembering Sam 

Death is a great teacher.  It is the greatest way to learn what you should never take for granted, what you should appreciate every day, and it is humanizing.  It brings people together and it displays our true compassion for one another.

*******

A lot of people knew Sam as a great TA, but his passing showed us that he was much more; he was a professor.  His untimely death rippled through to the lives of everyone he encountered on his journey through life.  We were all shocked at first, and then devastated, but in the end all the good memories overwhelmed us.  I remember getting the text and just sitting there staring at my phone in disbelief.  Naturally, my mind started racing and I wondered if I could have done more; if I could have prevented this.  It took some time, but I realized that none of us can play God; it is out of our hands.  I started seeing all the pictures, the smile and the headphones and it hit me.

*******

Life is about making history.  It is about meeting people and changing their lives.  It is about being so selfless that even when you are gone, you leave a little something behind.  Sam left a lot.  The one lesson I will never forget Sam teaching me is to stand up for what you believe in, even if it is uncool.  He was truly a man of character.  I hope I can take these lessons and pass them on and when we meet again, I can only hope he is proud of what I leave behind.

-RIP Sam

FIGHT FOR WHAT YOU BELIEVE IN

Massacre at Tiananmen Square

Thousands of innocent died for what they believed in.

Armed with nothing but heart and a point to prove.

Stood in front of tanks and refused to move.

What would you do, run or stand still?

When the life's on the line to test the man's will.

-Jin

THERE IS ALWAYS ROOM FOR A COUPLE OF BEERS

Big Beer @ Real Sports Bar and Grill, Toronto

Every day @ Hickory St., Waterloo

Philosophy of Life:

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous "yes".

The professor then produced two cans of beer from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

"Now," said the professor, as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things--your family, your children, your health, your friends, and your favorite passions--things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, your car. The sand is everything else--the small stuff."

"If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house, and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first, the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the beer represented. The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of beers."

-Unknown

LAW 9. WIN THROUGH YOUR ACTIONS, NEVER THROUGH ARGUMENT

The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene

The Sultan and the Vizier

A vizier served his master for some thirty years and was known and admired for his loyalty, truthfulness, and devotion to God.  His honesty, however, had made him many enemies in the court, who spread stories of his duplicity and perfidy.  They worked on the sultan day in and day out until he too came to distrust the innocent vizier and finally ordered the man who had served him so well to be put to death.  In this realm, those condemned to death were tied up and thrown into the pen where the sultan kept his fiercest hunting dogs.  The dogs would promptly tear the victim to pieces.  Before being thrown to the dogs, however, the vizier asked for one last request.  "I would like ten days' respite," he said, "so that I can pay my debts, collect any money due to me, return items that people have put in my care, and share out my goods among the members of my family and my children and appoint a guardian for them."  After receiving a guarantee that the vizier would not try to escape, the sultan granted this request.  The vizier hurried home, collected one hundred gold pieces, then paid a visit to the huntsman who looked after the sultan's dogs.  He offered this man the one hundred gold pieces and said, "Let me look after the dogs for ten days."  The huntsman agreed, and for the next ten days the vizier cared for the beasts with great attention, grooming them well and feeding them handsomely.  By the end of the ten days they were eating out of his hand.  On the eleventh day the vizier was called before the sultan, the charges were repeated, and the sultan watched as the vizier was tied up and thrown to the dogs.  Yet when the beasts saw him, they ran up to him with wagging tails.  They nibbled affectionately at his shoulders and began playing with him.  The sultan and the other witnesses were amazed, and the sultan asked the vizier why the dogs had spared his life.  The vizier replied, "I have looked after these dogs for ten days.  The sultan has seen the result for himself.  I have looked after you for thirty years, and what is the result?  I am condemned to death on the strength of accusations brought by my enemies."  The sultan blushed with shame.  He not only pardoned the vizier but gave him a fine set of clothes and handed over to him the men who had slandered his reputation.  The noble vizier set them free and continued to treat them with kindness.

What is in a name?

I like to believe that your name plays a large role in your life; it is your brand.  Not a lot of people know that I was named after the great Thomas Edison.  Thank God my parents are Asian and my name turned out to be Addison.  I really can't picture my life as an Edison.  Fittingly, one of my all-time favourite quotes is from Edison:

"Restlessness is discontent and discontent is the first necessity of progress. Show me a thoroughly satisfied man and I will show you a failure."

This quote speaks to me because I find myself never truly satisfied, but I have learned that this is not necessarily a bad thing.  It just means I am constantly trying to improve and progress as a person.  On a side note, I always get teased by a particular friend that I have a girl's name, but the meaning behind Addison is that he is the SON of Adam.  Although I will admit that it is becoming a more common unisex name. 

Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase

I read blogs all the time and find great inspiration in them and I have been meaning to start my own for awhile now, but I have pondered over what I would write about.  I have finally found the courage to just go ahead and write, I don't know where this blog will end up, but hopefully I will be able to inspire someone along the way.