Better Man

Feeling free after I made a major decision in my life...

Least I spent some time to arrive at my decision, rather than let nature takes its own course, or worst still, not even think about it! Even if it's a wrong one, it's still my decision.

Personally, what irks me is people who do not make decision when it matters most! More importantly, not even TRY to give one's best shot in life when he has attempted so many things. Very disappointing when the person matters to you...

Honestly, I feel the decision that one makes now does not mean that the person cannot "turn back the clock". If he realizes that it is not the right/best decision, it is fine to make a new decision to change the current state. At most, he can admit it is a bad decision made and put an end to it. Nothing complicated as it's all part of life-enriching process!

Besides, one wouldn't know the outcome or gain/loss if he doesn't even try.

Good news is it makes me a Better Man now:)

PS: Thankfully, little Eunice and baby Shawn always make me happy!

Yes Or No

Yes or No?

One would say that we are dealing with this question on a daily basis. Basically, it's a fundamental question to our decision making process.

For myself, it encompass many aspects in my life including:

Yes or No to a folding bike?

Yes or No to a relationship?

Yes or No to a job?

Yes or No to a holiday?

Yes or No to a house?

And the list goes on...

So if you are confounded by a decision and do not have the answer? Then let fate takes its own course if you concur with me!

Maybe

"Maybe" is a overused word in my opinion.

For many, if they don't care and only wish to have a quick exit to tough questions, often the word would be deployed.

To share a chapter in my life, I was checking with a friend if we could meet up today. Conveniently, he replied saying "Maybe we can later..."

Wouldn't life be easier if one could just reply yes or no? If he/she doesn't wish to meet up or has other obligations, then decline. It's that simple! Rather than saying "Maybe", which leaves the other person clueless about his/her plan to do for the rest of the day.

"Maybe" it's not such a good idea, after all.

I Love Myself

It's the weekend again!

Grabbing 2 friends, I rushed to the nearby cinema and bought the tickets to a romantic movie, Penelope.

Directed by Mark Palansky, the stars in the show including Christina Ricci (Penelope) and James McAvoy delivered their roles satisfactorily. The laughter medicine is also propelled by superb comic performance of Penelope's parents in the story. Equally commendable is one of the actresses cum producer of the movie, Reese Witherspoon, who played a rough-talking bike messenger credibly.

Honestly, I was quite charmed by this small fairy tale like movie. In brief, it's about a young girl's inspiring journey, a horrendous family secret and the power of love. In order for Penelope to break the family curse to be cured of her snout issue, she must find true love with "one of her own kind."

Surprisingly, the warm and funny adventure leads her to find out the simple cure in her life is "I like myself the way I am". The importance of loving yourself no matter how you look physically!

Does it sound familiar to you?

It's Up To You

I was invited by my colleague to attend an Infocomm Award for our school today.

As he has been with school for 6 years, I solicited his views on how I can improve the publicity for our school. Unfortunately, he shared more negative comments about the school unreservedly. More than I should know to do a better job in publicity..

Naturally, I was caught off guard. To counteract his school of thought, I suggested to him to always stay positive and make the best out of every situation. Then I quickly invited other colleagues who were present at the award to join in our chat to undermine the negativity.

I wish someone would invent a device that allows one to switch the conversation topic when things go astray, similar to a TV controller. I think that would be popular.

Candyman

Couldn't resist the temptation of candy sale from Spain today!

Gluttonously, my friend and I both picked up one pack each. For one pack, we were treated to a sweet concoction of almond and nougat-alike texture. Simply "intoxicating"! Guess the biggest draw was that we were enjoying 50% off the usual prices:)

Once again, a man of temptation need no prompting to surf for candy vendors in Spain. And found more candies from Flickr for your drooling pleasure.

Need I say more?

Image Source:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/B000NQDDPU/sr=8-7/qid=1214593195/ref=dp_image_0

Holiday

It appears holiday mood is in the air.

A couple of my friends are getting away in the next month (after avoiding the school holidays) to Bali and Japan respectively.

Though I desire a break heaps, I decide to delay my holiday plan for a couple of reasons:

- High air fare (due to rising fuel price)
- Lack of accomplishment to warrant a break
- Financial obligation
- Rising costs of living (in terms of food, transport and so on)
- Short of fun company
- Family members not well
- Graduation ceremony to attend

Guess one can always find something to add on the no-holiday list. What's yours?

Jaded

For some reason, I was feeling lethargic after work...

Put on my running shoes, I sprang towards the stadium with the hope of recharging my batteries. Somehow, the feeling of having free time at my expense lifted my spirits heaps.

An easy solution, one will say. Now how many people actually embrace this simple idea in their lives?

Let’s say you have a typical life and attempt to live it in the healthiest way. You may assign your day as follow:

Work: 8 hours
Eating: 2 hours
Travel: 2 hours (Personal/family errands)
Exercise: 1 hour
TV: 1 hour
Sleep: 8 hours

That leaves you two hours for other things and so on. If you have a class gathering or con-call to make, or concert to catch, that leaves you completely drained out.

To live a happy life is always challenging, if you do not paying attention to all the above-mentioned. Nevertheless, doing so is almost impossible!

For me, I have become happier by adopting an approach not to be so fussy over my time management. If it rains or I have to put in extra hours at work, I will ignore my exercise and make it up another day.

Another idea is to overlook the fact that you are slowly killing yourself by not exercising and napping enough. That frees up a few hours for you in a day. The negative side is that you will become obese and die of heart attack.

So how do you make yourself happy?

I Should Be So Lucky

My jaw dropped when I heard leading Kimmi had to settle for second spot at French Grand Prix, due to his exhaust pipe issue.

Guess when chips are down, one should not be discouraged and keep trying his best! As the adage goes "success comes to those who best deal with failure".

Personally, I believe luck remains to be the bigger component of success! Take myself for instance. I am reminded of the role of luck today as I am currently doing something I enjoy for a living. To rewind back on my mid-life career change, I only applied a few jobs upon completion of my part-time course late last year.

Everything happened so fast. Shortly after I applied for the job, I received a phone call for an interview. Then I was called in again for second interview but had to delay it, as I couldn't apply for leave during the peak period. Miraculously, the company was understanding and allowed me to attend the second interview much later. Following the job offer, I could only join the company two months later due to ex-company's notice period. Again, the employer waited for me to take up the offer patiently.

That's when I noticed the element of good luck.

Life Is A Rollercoaster

What a day, after going through up and down all on the same day!

Honestly, I was taking a gamble by baring my thoughts to a good friend about how I really felt about our friendship. It wasn't well-received on the cell phone, no thanks to my critical tone. And the call was even terminated half-way before I could finish...

Naturally, I was feeling blues and decided to send short messages to him to conclude my thoughts. Was glad that he took it positively in the end.

So here I am smiling to another beautiful Sunday ahead:)

Something Right

Start to play tennis with friends every Friday since 2 months ago.

For some reason, I still could not master the basic strokes of tennis fully. Luckily, the "masters" of the group are willing and patient to guide new comers like my friend and I.

Once again, useful links on internet are life saviours for green horns like I. So will learn to do it right next time and check it out!

If you want me
I must be doing something right
I got nothing left to prove
And it’s all because of you
So if you need me
And baby I make you feel alive
I know I must be doing
Doing something right

The Best Damn Thing

Finally, the news is out!

The long overdue TMC Graduation Ceremony 2008 will be held at Raffles City Convention Centre on 26th July.

In case you do not recall, I did a part time diploma in Mass Communication (MC) last year. And I will be graduating with an overall distinction in MC:)

My Happy Ending

To continue where I left yesterday, I really shouldn't put too much thoughts into something I am clueless...

But then again, how can one proceed without knowing the plans ahead?

Fading Like A Flower

Something is bugging me...

And it does not help as the "deadline" is drawing near! Hopefully, it will swing to our favor as I am unlikely to extend the decision any further.

In a nutshell, it has to do about re-evaluating one's priorities in life. More importantly, the commitment to uphold it following the decision.

Do you face the same issue at any point in your life?

One Way Ticket

The novelty for foldies in Singapore has also led to videos posted on YouTube.

Check out one of them on internet!

Keen to join Foldies Club now?

Car Wash

Was in Malaysia with family last Sunday.

Before we returned to Singapore, we pulled over at nearby petrol kiosk to top-up the fuel. One thing led to another. My brother decided to add on the car wash too.

Frankly, I did not know that it could be quite an experience to sit through the entire car wash process!

First, the sevice station crew (2 in a team) rolled up their sleeves and splashed water over our car readily. Indeed, a unique pre-wash soaking always ensures that even hard-to-clean areas are reached.

Then they moved on to scrub it thoroughly with car washing shampoo. Foam on the glass windows impaired my visibility. Before I knew what's going on, they have rinsed away the dirt and moved on to wash the tyres.

From the cool comfort of watching the cleaners inside the car, I felt like my bad hair day was put to an end gently. Especially the wash service costed a mere SGD4:)

Ooh, do do do do do do do
Car wash, car wash
Ooh, do do do do do do do
Car wash, car wash

Rough Ride

Was out with a friend yesterday.

Then we took a train back home. Guess what? I bumped into 2 proud owners of the foldies. For those who don't stay in Singapore, our land transport authority (LTA) has released a trial called "Fold It and Ride It" to approve foldies on our public transport officially.

Being keen to buy a foldie myself, I surfed the net to check out the general response from the public. Most felt they welcome the move, but the hours permitted on the train (only after peak hours) actually work against working adults who need to travel during office hours.

Personally, I feel it will certainly encourage more commuters to switch to cycling. Albeit the key issue in my opinon is thelack of space in train. Attached is the *picture of the recommended spot for parking the bikes in NEL trains limiting to the first and last carriages.

Your feedback or suggestions are welcome.

*Source url: http://www.mrbrown.com/blog/2008/05/folding-bikes-o.html

Bizarre Love Triangle

Something bizarre hit me today.

Was out with a friend. Then my handphone rang! Shockingly, the caller ID revealed the name of the dialer to be...

Alright, it turned out to be my friend next to me! Well, it wasn't arduous to crack the case. As I suspected, she forgot to lock her handphone.

So the call went off to me by chance:)

Home

Couldn't wait to get home today!

For some reason, I felt like going home immediately after work. Especially after my kid niece, Eunice called me on the phone.

Coincidentally, I was already in the home lift when she buzzed. Deciding to play a game with her, I proposed to her "Just count 1 to 10, and you shall see me".

And I just felt so good when I saw the big grin on her face upon seeing me in the doorway:)

Another summer day
Is come and gone away
In Paris and Rome
But I wanna go home
Mmmmmmmm
Maybe surrounded by
A million people I
Still feel all alone
I just wanna go home
Oh I miss you, you know

Where Is The Love?

With fuel and food prices going up, the world is protesting vehemently!

From our South East Asian neighbour country, Malaysia to Hong Kong in East Asia, headlines are splashing across media including:

* Spanish stockpile food and fuel

* Malaysia PM offers package to placate key allies

* Demonstrations in India show signs of fading

In Hong Kong, a demonstration by about 500 minibuses, lorries, garbage trucks and coaches was staged, calling for fuel taxes to be discarded.

Now the question is what the government can do about increasing oil and food prices due to high demand and low supply? Especially when these two things are linked together.

The increased oil prices in turn creates higher costs for farmers. It does not help when the cost of shipping, food and almost everything else is also rising. Overall, these escalating prices are going to have knock on effects throughout the economy.

Guess what we can do is to learn to operate using less oil and humming along to:

Where is the love?(love)
Where is the love?(the love)
Where is the love?(the love)
Where is the love, the love, my love
it just ain't the same
old ways have changed
new days are strange, is world insane?

Complicated

Today is not exactly a perfect start to the new week...

Guess life always get complicated when two people do not communicate properly. To cut the story short, I was asked to provide some urgent information to Acting Chair. For some reason, the email was brief. So I was led on to think she was requesting for information pertaining to Subject1.

Unfortunately, it turned out that she was looking for details on Subject2 after I replied to her email. How very wrong of me!

I could almost hear her frustration on the other end of the phone, while I couldn't stop singing:

Uh huh, life's like this
Uh huh, uh huh, that's the way it is
Cause life's like this
Uh huh, uh huh that's the way it is