What maturity taught me

My birthday is a very important occasion in my life. It is a special day to me, for it was the very moment that I was delivered to this world, and to my greatest mom, for it was the day that ended the nine months of hardships and pains. I really thank my parents who made me and let me see the beauty of the world. I have had energy and curiosity to learn about unknown things since I was little. 

When we talk about my childhood, I have to say it had been very awesome! Because I am the youngest one in my family, I’ve obtained many free toys, free clothes, and even free video games from my elder brothers, and I've been the most loved kid at home. 

My parents educated me about the importance of managing money when I receive my allowances. They also opened our eyes to the things we should not do. I still remember when my dad let me smoke a cigarette when I was five, so that I realize how bad it smells. It was a really awful experience to try smoking. I've never wanted to touch cigarettes since I knew how bad it smell. That's how they taught me to learn things that we are curious about.

Let's talk about my own elder brother! He is five years older than me, so we actually have a little bit of generation gap. My brother and I have totally different personalities. Honestly, by seeing my brother’s growth, I’ve always thought about  what kind of person I will be when I grow up. I think that’s the reason why I became a crazy thinker! 

Each of us might have experienced the period of rebellion as we grow older. However, since I am the youngest in the family, I took many examples from my brother, and I constantly remind myself to avoid making the same mistakes that he did before making any decisions. I became braver and moe independent when I saw my how my brother encountered problems and learned how to handle them. Sometimes, I think I am overly matured to plan things in life. It seemed like I don’t have any of relaxing time when making them, and my life would become extremely tight. That's weird that I enjoy it so much! 

Once, I encountered a chaos when I didn’t know how to realize my plans, since I got too many goals to achieve. I learned to focus on one aim at a time to be able to move forward.

Seriously, achieving goals one step at a time made me feel better. Even if I have too many interests, and I wanted to try a lot of new things in life, I am just one person and I cannot make everything happen at the same time. I will admit it If you say I am such a crazy guy.

Finally, I really thank my parents for always allowing me to try anything I want! Although they have contentions at times, they’ve never stopped me for doing things I like since I was at the right age to know the consequences of the decisions I make.

Thank you for raising me up! I love you!

Your son, 

- Timothinks

On goals and fulfilling them

Each of us has goals to achieve. It could be good grades at school, a job that we want, or a huge fortune. Do you still remember the last time you set a goal, and finally achieved it?  Do you remember the feeling of fulfilling your visions? Close your eyes and think about it! We've been working hard in life, but when was the last time that we did things that we are fond of? Maybe, we are currently in the journey towards our dreams, although sometimes it might feel like we’re off track, or lost in the crossroads of choices and regrets. Perhaps, we got doubted with our choice when we felt it was the right thing.

I have had many goals in my life, and planning before a new year begins have been my personal tradition. When I was 15, I didn't have a huge passion for studying. I played online games round-the-clock while my schoolmates studied hard for their high school entrance examination. However, I realized that I didn't like to study general subjects, so I needed to find out what my real interests are. Honestly, I participated in many hands-on classes during my last year in junior high school (the government provides hands-on classes to figure out what hobbies students are interested in, especially to those who plan to study in vocational high schools). I took classes in every different field: hairdressing, electronics engineering, computer science, word processing, catering, car repairing, performing arts, among others.  Guess what? My dream was to become a hair stylist when I was 15, but I finally chose computer science as my major in my final school year because my parents denied it. Recently, I was thinking that maybe, I would become another Timothy if I finally chose the road of hair styling. Later on, however, I ultimately realized it was just a temporary interest for me. I am not a person who easily gives up on things I choose, but then things, so do people, change.

You might be surprised why I am studying applied foreign languages and travel management. As a former computer science student, I must admit that I am not good at math and I don't have a genius brain to learn computer languages. (Trust me! It's really hard, unless you have a golden brain.) 

In the past, I wasn't able to speak and write in English. I had a very terrible grammar, even if it had been my favorite subject when I was a kid. Few years ago, there was an idea that appeared in my mind that I decided to be fluent in English. Therefore, I began to adopt many ways possible to be able to perfect the language, but I didn't see any improvement. One day, I watched a YouTube video that talked about how Taiwanese people learn English. Suddenly, I just figured out I had been using wrong methods in learning the language. I even remember that I messaged the woman who made the video via email to ask her how I could better my English. 

She showed me the site "Lang-8" which I had been used to write entries since October 2016. I have published 756 entries since.

(These are my first entry's corrections on Lang-8.)

I think I will improve a lot by practicing day by day for 4 years, and that's why I changed my major in college. Apart from this, I also love traveling (I will talk about it in my next article!). Now, what I want to say is that, our dreams and goals may change over and over again, but never stop dreaming and pursuing your goals! If you encounter challenges, overcome them and find the right methods. Good luck and always follow your heart! 

Best wishes,

- Timothinks 

First times

Seriously, it was a very wonderful week. After I finished being a ten-day class mentor, I still had a one-week-holiday before the new semester begins. One night, I was browsing the Couchsurfing app on my phone, looking around for a traveler visiting my country, in the hopes of giving him/her a tour or even host him in my home. 

As I mentioned, I am a wanderlust! I love traveling a lot, so I thought maybe I could give someone a hand by helping him/her tour and appreciate my country as his/her first time alone! I clicked the “traveler” option, and started looking for someone whom I think might match my schedule. Finally I found one, and I sent that person a message and I also did a brief introduction to tell him my purpose and what I can offer as a host.

He is a Filipino, and honestly I know the Filipino culture quite well! (I traveled there twice in 2016.) It was actually an awesome experience that we met each other on CS! His flight was at midnight, so I wasn’t able to pick him up at the airport. However, I guided him how to get to his hostel and how to take the train by himself. I know the feeling of being a solo traveler, having the same experience before. It is exciting but scary as well. We hung out for dinner for his first night, and I found out that he is such a great person who has unique viewpoints on current news as a social media manager.

That's really awesome for me! Even though I know the culture of the Philippines quite well, I learned and saw something different through him. He is young, but he's doing something big and brave! During the days he stayed here, I brought him to places he wanted to visit, taught him the local lifestyle by hosting him in my home. Honestly, it was my first time to bring foreign friend at home, and it was awesome to share thoughts with him! We talked a lot that night, and I didn't know that my family can be really hospitable, as they treated my friend like their own son! I was a bit jealous that they treated him even better than me! Just kidding!

Time flew so fast! His four-day trip already drew a period. It was really hard to say goodbye when you cultivated a friendship like that in a span of four days. That night, I sent him to the airport and we talked a lot in the food court before he checked in. We seemed like a super close friend who can share everything to each other! I will truly treasure the limited time we had. Wish you succeed in your job and achieve your goals after heading back to Manila!

Thanks you chose Taiwan as your first foreign country to visit! I always believe that everything that happened was pre-destined. I really appreciated everything in the past week. Anyway, I didn't cry by saying goodbye because I know it will not be the last time that we will meet!

Thank you for everything,

Timothinks

What is Timothinks?

My name is Timothy, a new blogger here to share my thoughts, imaginations, and viewpoints about anything. I’m also here to explore new things in my life. I am a crazy idealist who loves to think every single day. The name "TimoThinks" was created by a friend of mine. He combined my name "Timothy" and the word "thinks", which meant that I am a crazy thinker to share things with. Welcome to my blog and enjoy things with me together!