Is there something that you really want to do in this world?
During my trip to South Wales, I was staying in this nice cosy hostel called the Old School Hostel. The hostel is owned by a friendly couple. The husband is a retired Railway announcer, those that report the incoming trains bla bla bla….not really sure the name for that job though. The wife is a school teacher. Both have grey hairs but they don’t look old at all. They look to be in their early 40s or late 30s.
Our first night there, the husband was busy showing off one of his favourite books to the other residents. It’s a book on space. They started debating whether human being actually landed on the moon. It was quite a funny conversation since some of them were quite stubborn 
Ah well, i didn’t join them. haha.
The next day, we went down for breakfast and met the couple again. My colleague started asking him what did he do for a living before this. So he told us his story and asked us what’s our occupation. My colleague said IT and he said “Whoa, that’s cool. Do you like it?”. My colleague said yes but i was kind of shaking my head in disagreement. Then the husband said “Oh, you don’t like it?” and my colleague said “He likes to draw and write story”. The husband said “Whoa, that’s amazing! You know what, you should always follow what you believe in. Keep your day job, and train up the artistic and creative side of you. Once you’re ready, push ahead in full force!”
And I can feel he really mean it.
Honestly…i didn’t expect that kind of response from a stranger. 
I believe he walked down that path before…from the way he said those words.
How many of us have actually lost track of our own life goals? How many of us have actually forget who we are? The world now is no longer the same like 10 or 20 years ago. It’s moving very fast and everyone needs to follow the pace. Some of us might focus too much trying to keep up to the pace….but maybe…just maybe… it’s good to just stop for a while and look at the world…….and look at yourself. What is it that you really believe in? Are you happy with what you are now? Or there’s still some emptiness in you that you feel you need to fill up?
I’m happy because i have a lot of things others don’t have. But I’ve yet to reach THERE…… and i’m finding my paths to go there. I hope that one day, I can be as happy as the owner of the hostel.
As for him, he looked very happy in the hostel. Perhaps it is his dream to run this hostel…to meet people from all over the world and provide a nice place for them to stay overnight.
But that’s him. What about you? Is there something that you really want to do in this world but you’re just not there yet?
Yes. You should listen to the owner of the hostel. It’s a scary road cos you don’t know how things will turn up if you follow your interest and heart but at least you know you’ll be happy in the end. It takes courage as well as it’s good to have people around you to back you up and motivate you.
Don’t worry. If you come up with your own comic maybe like Asterix hahahaha!! I’ll be the first 2 buy it. ;P
seaqueen00
28 Mar 08 at 12:20 pm
Hi Alvin, very true that what that man said. Its scary but if you really like what you do now, drawing and animation, why not look at some Japanese sites and see what they can offer you? One day you can even work for Pixar or Disney!
svllee
28 Mar 08 at 7:00 pm
@ seaqueen00
They will encourage you and not pour cold water on you. That way, i’ll be more motivated as well. 
Yea. That’s why I like to talk to positive-minded people nowadays.
Asterix? O_O very high standard leh !
@ svlee
Sent an e-mail to you actually. Hmm, what kind of Jap sites are you referring?
Alvin Lim
28 Mar 08 at 9:19 pm
Hi Alvin, not so sure actually, I just thought you can get inspiration from Japanese websites. Actually I met someone in KL who runs an animation studio, doing full FX and animation for US studios, if I come across his details I will let you know!
svllee
29 Mar 08 at 2:30 am
@ svllee
Haha, sure sure. Thanks in advance ya.
Alvin Lim
29 Mar 08 at 4:51 am
Alvin,
It is good to follow your dream but we also have to be realistic about life and have a backup plan.
A lot of times, we have to work towards our dream on things we do not really like first so we can achieve our dream later, and a lot of times, it is due to resources constrain.
I knew a guy from our town who becomes a MD when he is 62. He has always wanted to be a lawyer but never has the financial mean when he was young. And he got married and had to raise the kids etc. But, when his kids all grown, he decided to go back to school with his wife support , of course and our local newspaper did a post on him.
But, one thing I have to say is if there is a will, there is a way. My dad was nearly sold to his aunt cos his mom could not afford to have another mouth to feed but decided to keep him. When he was 13 years old, he took a boat (without $ to buy ship fare so he work for the ship owner 3 years in return for the ship fare, YAP, 3 years with only rice and some kitchup for every meals), talk about hardship , not many young people understand what is hardship.
He always wanted to be a housing developer but why got $ to do the developing ? How could bank give loans to a poor man to develop house. It’s a dream he always had. He worked very hard as a fish mongers for many years and used most of his hard earn $ to buy lands. And he did become a very successful developer.
I think most of us either dream too much (day dream) or dare not dream. I personally believe there is a balance between day dream and not dream.
Sometimes when you have a dream but do not have the mean to achieve your dream, then you have to be a tent maker, use the $ that you make from tent and funds your dream. A lot of pastor could not go full time because the church they serve are too small to support them,so they have a part time job to sponsor their calling, preaching…And when the church grows and have the means to support them fully, than they will resume a full time pastor. My pastor works as a piano teachers for the last 7 years and finally our church has grown enough to support him full time as a pastor and he quit his piano teaching job.
Yes, it is idealistic to work a job we love and passionate but unless you come from a well to do family, I think a lot of us have to work to buy bread and rice first before we can draw cartoon
.
I am not discouraging you as I have written a post about millionaires in US who are all under 21 because they follow their dream
. I think these young people are in a more advantage position than you because at least in US, everyone is given the same opportunity but not in Malaysia.
When I was growing up, I have many classmates who could afford to go shopping in Singapore every end of the year long holiday but I also had classmates who did not have $ to buy sanitary pad during their period. The gap between the poor and the extremely rich is very big but here we have more middle class and everyone has the same opportunity because of our constitution.
jamy
29 Mar 08 at 5:13 am
@ Jamy
Thanks for sharing your dad’s story. I can see that he’s a great guy
My dad started with nothing as well. Maybe i’ll relate his story one day in this blog
I’m a daydreamer…not too much though. I daydream of what i wanna achieve and how am i going to achieve it. not just sit there…HALLUCINATING things. That’s why i dont really believe in Law of Attraction
but i think those who dare not dream are worse. life is boring w/o dreams, IMO.
Yeap. In an ideal world, you will have the money to pursue what u want irregardless of whatever happens in the world.
U got no family to feed. U got no attachments. Nothing. Just you, your passions and your dream. If i’m all alone in this world, i might be able to do that. But i’m not, i, too..like many other people, have attachments.
Malaysia? Yea, the rich ppl here have better opportunities to widen the gap from us middle-class citizens.
to be honest, i donno whether i will make it or not. i’m going to write a personal post after this.
Alvin Lim
29 Mar 08 at 6:37 am
[...] jamy: Alvin, It is good to follow your dream but we also have to be realistic about life and have a backup plan. A… [...]
| Alvin Lim - The Dreamer
29 Mar 08 at 7:35 am