A Final Posting
Yeah, that’s right. This is the final posting for this blog.
And to end it, I won’t go into much detail about what happened during my last few days in Canada before returning to Shanghai (where I am currently residing). But I will paint a few brush strokes.
The evening of Thursday, August the 31st, ended up being a good final meeting of salseros (salsa dancers) and a few non-salseros that just wanted to say goodbye. It was a long night, but some goodbyes take longer than others.
On Friday, I had a great phone conversation with a professor at UBC (referred to me by the venture capitalist I had spoken with earlier) about entrepreneurship, academia and my goals (he said for me, “it’s a close call”). I spent part of the evening with a former coworker playing pool. We shared each other’s stories of how we got to where we are now, and as normally happens when I learn more about a person, I developed a newfound respect for him. Remember what I said about the people I worked with?!?
On Saturday, I spent the first part of the day with my two youngest brothers and my dad. In the evening, I met with two friends for coffee and then drove home to pick up my brothers to go to a good friend’s restaurant where I was to have my final goodbye party.
There were about thirty or so people there. I felt I had to give a little speech once everyone had their orders served, and so I did. As time went by, one by one, and then in groups, they came to say goodbye. I left with my two brothers there and two friends that needed rides. We got home by midnight.
The next day, I was in semi-panic mode to get all the things I needed packed. With the help of my brothers, we got the job done. We made it to the airport with enough time for some pictures, and from that point on, I felt I’d be more alone than I had ever been before. As the story goes, I was right…
But this is not the right posting, or the right blog for it. “Anyway”, as I mentioned before, was a test for me. A test to see how well I could focus and be concise, at least in my writing if in nothing else.
How well did I do? I’m not sure. I have a feeling I’d be a tremendously bad judge of my own efforts if I were to do so myself. What I can say, is that it’s easier said than done. In a way, I think more importantly what happened was that the aim of my focus and efforts at being concise kept changing, leading to confusion not only for myself, but for those who earnestly wanted to help. For this, I am a bit ashamed. However, as result, I’ve come to learn first-hand a lot more lessons during this period of my life. In an effort to remain true to the aim of this blog, I will state them as points:
- The past is the past. (I know I’ve said this before, but it needs repeating, at least for myself).
- What people say can be very different from what they actually do or think. Today or tomorrow.
- Focus on one thing at a time, and you’ll have a better chance of doing it right.
- Really try to understand your motives. Then you’ll be better prepared to make wise decisions.
-Things happen in circles. History repeats itself. If it’s working for you, great. If not see the last point.
- Your reality can change. In the words of the Alchemist, so long as you "… pursue your personal legend the universe will conspire with you to make it happen."
And last, but not least:
- Dreams can die. This need not be bad news however. All it means is that once again, timing is everything. You may have missed a great opportunity to further your quest in life, but it’s far from the only opportunity.
And on that note, I will close this posting and this blog by saying “Take your blessings”, but also, don’t forget to ask for them too.
Take care everyone,
Tim Singh
P.S. For those curious about my next stage in life, I will soon start a new blog called “Life is”, but with no promises as far as content or frequency go.
And to end it, I won’t go into much detail about what happened during my last few days in Canada before returning to Shanghai (where I am currently residing). But I will paint a few brush strokes.
The evening of Thursday, August the 31st, ended up being a good final meeting of salseros (salsa dancers) and a few non-salseros that just wanted to say goodbye. It was a long night, but some goodbyes take longer than others.
On Friday, I had a great phone conversation with a professor at UBC (referred to me by the venture capitalist I had spoken with earlier) about entrepreneurship, academia and my goals (he said for me, “it’s a close call”). I spent part of the evening with a former coworker playing pool. We shared each other’s stories of how we got to where we are now, and as normally happens when I learn more about a person, I developed a newfound respect for him. Remember what I said about the people I worked with?!?
On Saturday, I spent the first part of the day with my two youngest brothers and my dad. In the evening, I met with two friends for coffee and then drove home to pick up my brothers to go to a good friend’s restaurant where I was to have my final goodbye party.
There were about thirty or so people there. I felt I had to give a little speech once everyone had their orders served, and so I did. As time went by, one by one, and then in groups, they came to say goodbye. I left with my two brothers there and two friends that needed rides. We got home by midnight.
The next day, I was in semi-panic mode to get all the things I needed packed. With the help of my brothers, we got the job done. We made it to the airport with enough time for some pictures, and from that point on, I felt I’d be more alone than I had ever been before. As the story goes, I was right…
But this is not the right posting, or the right blog for it. “Anyway”, as I mentioned before, was a test for me. A test to see how well I could focus and be concise, at least in my writing if in nothing else.
How well did I do? I’m not sure. I have a feeling I’d be a tremendously bad judge of my own efforts if I were to do so myself. What I can say, is that it’s easier said than done. In a way, I think more importantly what happened was that the aim of my focus and efforts at being concise kept changing, leading to confusion not only for myself, but for those who earnestly wanted to help. For this, I am a bit ashamed. However, as result, I’ve come to learn first-hand a lot more lessons during this period of my life. In an effort to remain true to the aim of this blog, I will state them as points:
- The past is the past. (I know I’ve said this before, but it needs repeating, at least for myself).
- What people say can be very different from what they actually do or think. Today or tomorrow.
- Focus on one thing at a time, and you’ll have a better chance of doing it right.
- Really try to understand your motives. Then you’ll be better prepared to make wise decisions.
-Things happen in circles. History repeats itself. If it’s working for you, great. If not see the last point.
- Your reality can change. In the words of the Alchemist, so long as you "… pursue your personal legend the universe will conspire with you to make it happen."
And last, but not least:
- Dreams can die. This need not be bad news however. All it means is that once again, timing is everything. You may have missed a great opportunity to further your quest in life, but it’s far from the only opportunity.
And on that note, I will close this posting and this blog by saying “Take your blessings”, but also, don’t forget to ask for them too.
Take care everyone,
Tim Singh
P.S. For those curious about my next stage in life, I will soon start a new blog called “Life is”, but with no promises as far as content or frequency go.
posted by Tim at 10:30 PM
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