House of Zheng

Living in a big city has more variables and constant changes than living in a hidden village.  City folks have more needs, and varying degrees of living desires.  In short, city folks have complex lifestyles.  This is a trade-off for the conveniences offered by living in a big city.

City dwellers are usually (if not always) in the hunt for new things or fresh ideas.  Along with many other issues, these are causing fluctuations in mankind’s survival.  Among the fluctuations, unfortunately, one that has been heavily affected is relationship, and more precisely to another level, is friendship.

Oh, how friendship changes with the change of times.  Today you can be best of friends, the morrow you can turn worst of foes, just over some tiny misunderstanding or disagreement.  Some people maintain their friendships with others according to the fluctuations of the economy.  Materialism and selfishness too often than not reign over the simple, pure, and loyal characteristics of friendship.

Some build frienships by wearing masks.  When something happens, the mask is torn off to reveal the true face of a so-called “friend”.  Some just simply abandon a friendship to avoid the emotional or mental strain of having to face a friend over some problems.  Some friendships are build on shallow waters so that one can easily run away from troubles.  Some are “touch-and-go” friendships…

(Note: “Friend” is not equivalent to “acquaintance”)

One good thing happening however, is that there is an increasing amount of parents being more and more open-minded.  These parents would not only build a parent-child relationship, they would build a friendship with their child as well.

How will the future shape friendship-building?  Will we build friends over robots (or “surrogates”)?  Will the Internet be a more definitive medium of friendship-building?  Will the world as we know it come to an end on Dec 21, 2012, therefore rendering everything meaningless?  Though I seriously doubt the world will end soon, I don’t know how friendships will be sustained in the future.  Like a fluctuating puzzle perhaps?

Who would have thought, that moving to this town would not be as easy as imagined.

Body weight dropping from 47kg to 43kg was something really unexpected, and worrying too.  That’s why I had decided to stop following what people here usually do, and returned to the way how I lived through each day in PJ.  A few days ago, I had breached 45kg.  My health is better now, able to withstand flu without Vitamin C tablets.

Not being able to do what I can do, can be quite testing to the bone.  Doing instead the things that I had no whatsoever experience about, are even more testing to my DNA.  Seems like I’m getting more derailed than ever.

It’s not that easy conquering a tradition.  A tradition born out of a custom, which was born out of convenience.  A tradition which has defined an identity, and shaped a culture of near-stagnancy.

How do I see myself in everything that surrounds me here?  It can be very frustrating, sometimes.  By identifying the common point in everything, it seems that I am serving as an auxiliary for the moment.  This puts things into perspective for me, and it’s all about kairos that I have to wait for.

And I need a lot of pistis, elpis and agapé too.