Welcome to the Quarter's Life Club!

Things been pretty happening lately, especially right after I joined the quarter life club. Some too privileged, that I do not have the privilege to post here.

From feeling like a celebrity with all the smses during my special day, to a mysterious story I'm working on, to a colleague who committed a very serious offence and was punished, a relative who passed away, to a brave girl who dared to take the challenge to wander off to a foreign land in search of her dreams... All in just a short one or two weeks' time.

Adding to the list, my secondary school classmate is getting married next month! oh so exciting. looking at her wedding pix, I realised, how we have entered a new phase in life, where more and more people around us would be getting hitched too. can't wait to attend her wedding lunch, gonna be a reunion of sorts. Ahh...

There are both ups and downs, both good and bad news, and my life has finally awaken from its deep slumber since about a year and a half ago. And I take that, as a good start to my journey through the next quarter. Cheers! :D

Passion and Motivation - What's the link?

Had a good game of table tennis yesterday, experiencing the same exhilaration when you smash the ball over the net and the opponent couldn't receive it. Which reminds me, how long have I not played it.

It's been at least two years, ever since I graduated. Really miss those days in the hall. You could play table tennnis to your heart's content, pitting your skills against better players and pick up tips and trick here and there.

When it comes to other types of sports, there might be bigger inertia to drag myself up from the bed early morning to go for a game. But when it comes to table tennis, it was natural motivation, which had me awake early morning and making my way to the sports complex.

Just the thought of being able to play my favourite sport, made me excited and I just can't wait for the next time I get to play it again.

Which brought me to this thought. When you have a passion for something, you do not need strong motivation to do it. Why? Because you are already naturally motivated. You already have this desire in you to do it, thus doesn't need a lot of outside factor to get you moving.

If, this principle is applied in our life, if you want to be successful, be passionate about being successful. If you want to be rich, be passionate about being rich. If you want to be slim, be passionate about being slim. If you want to be healthy, be passionate about being healthy. Logical isn't it?

Once you are passionate about what you do, you will naturally do well in it. Even if nobody is paying you anything, you will still do it. Because you like doing it. Simple equation, isn't it?

Moral of the story: Do something you are passionate about. You will find you need less push factor from outside, because you already have a natural pull factor towards your passion. Like what this book said, "Do something you are passionate about, money that comes by, is just a by-product."

Things I'm Grateful For

I'm grateful that I have a loving family, who cares, understands and loves me very much. My family, my parents, sister and brother, are all healthy and well.

I'm grateful that I have someone special who loves me very much too. Someone who cares and understands me, someone to share my dreams with.

I'm grateful that I have a good career awaiting me, in a good company, with good colleagues and bosses.

I'm grateful that the job I have, enables me to enrich my knowledge of the world.

I'm grateful that I have a cosy little room to call my own, a space I could do whatever I want, a place I love to be in. I'm grateful that, the landlady is a nice lady despite her usual nags and I love the location which is right smack in the central.

I'm grateful that I have some friends whom I truly cherish, friends who accepts me as I am. Friends who takes the effort to keep in touch, friends who sticks by you, no matter what. Friends who takes the trouble to understand you, who believes in you, who doesn't just leave and disappear, when trouble appears.

I realised that, friends who doesn't know you, who doesn't understands you, are the ones who hurt you most, with their words and actions. They doesn't take the trouble to understand you, they doesn't accept you, as who you are. They shy away when they sense trouble. They never take the effort to keep in touch, they never care.

In life, you only need a few gems, to walk through life together. Others are just there for a reason. They will leave when they have accomplished their mission. Whatever the reason is, whatever the mission is, time will heal wounds. But the scar will always remain.

So the lesson to learn: Never say hurting words or do hurting things to others, which you would not want done to you.

Just like the message that this year's Petronas Deepavali advertisement wants to convey. Those who have not seen it yet, catch it here

Never do unto others what will bring pain when done to you. What goes around, comes around.

The Ice Melted...

HAHa what a title..

What I want to write about was that, there's this observation I made during the window crash drama. Before that, everyone on the bus was very cool. No one talked to anybody, everyone was lost in their own world. There's even this girl sitting on the same row as me, reading some notes, and busy scribbling something during the whole journey. No one smiled much at anybody too. So I joined in the "coolness" and tried to go to sleep.

However, after the shattering drama, suddenly, everyone seems to be talking to everyone, and everybody seems to know everybody. Suddenly, everyone became chatty, friendly, kind, concerned and bothered to smile at each other.

Voila! From total strangers, everyone became acquaintances. This was also also noted by another passenger, who came to Singapore for a business meeting.

And we started chatting. And he apparently knows a colleague of mine. What a small world! :D

Strange isn't it? Sometimes, I do think, everything that happens, happens for a reason. Maybe, fate wanted me to know this person, or the other passengers who were in the same bus as me.

If not for the drama, everyone would have still remained as strangers.

There's another queer observance today. I was walking home after work, taking my own sweet time strolling down the staircase to the MRT. Actually, I don't usually walk like this, there's some certain reason, which I won't divulge here, haha! :P

And then out from the trail of people walking out from the station, there's this girl who was smiling at me and hey, when I looked at her properly, I do know her! She's a friend I've not met for some time. So we chatted and caught up with each other, and even arranged to meet for dinner sometime.

The funny thing was that, I purposedly walked slower for some reason, but instead I met a friend whom I have not met for some time. If I have walked the normal speed I usually do, maybe I would have just missed her. Queer isn't it? :)

Saved by a Bar!

It was a smooth journey, all the way from Kuala Lumpur to Johor. In fact, it was quite a comfortable ride. I was dozing off most of the time, even thought the tv was on. din know what's going on in the movie too, cos was seated quite far from the tv. so i went to dreamland instead.

After we passed the Johor Checkpoint at the Second Link, as usual, we got onto the bus to be ferried over to the Singapore side for immigration checkpoint.

Most people were packing up, getting ready to bring their luggage down at the other side. As for me, I was on the phone, telling my mum I've safely reach Johor checkpoint. The bus driver started up the engine and slowly pulled out from the parking bay beside a pedestrian walkway. Who knows, that's when the whole drama started.

Out of a sudden, I was jolted out from my conversation with a series of loud bangs which sounded like gunshots from a machine gun. I saw the window next to me cracked and immediately, tiny shards of glass rained on me. I felt as though fireworks are showering on me. Where the tiny shards of glass landed, it hurts. And it's hot. My first instinct was to quickly move away from my seat. I thought someone attacked us, reminding me of those terrorist attacks.

When I looked towards the back of the bus, the windows were all cracked, and the last one was the worst hit. The glass looks as if it is going to crash down any moment. I saw a guy in green, looking dazed, still sitting in his seat, right beside the badly damaged window on the last row.

By now, the bus has stopped moving. Then came along the bus driver, with eyes wide open, looking shocked. He paced up and down the bus aisle, and then went to the back to ask if the guy in green is ok. I saw the guy nodded his head and the bus driver walked back down the aisle, looking at the windows.

He then disappeared down the bus. As for me, I was busy picking out glass pieces from my palm, and a girl sitting at the single seat, same row as me, offered me a tissue. I gladly accepted it and used it to wipe away the glass debris sticking to my jeans and my sweater. The other passengers were all standing up and trying to figure out what happenned. Some went down the bus to find out.

After I've gotten rid of the debris and gotten over the shock, my logical thinking took over. Immediately I took my digital camera from my bag and went down, snapping away at the damages.


As you can see here, this is what happenned to the window which is right beside where I sat. What's worse, there was a piece of metal (you can see the piece of metal on the road in the following pictures) which was sticking through the hole, before the bus driver removed. it.






This was what happenned to the rest of the windows behind my seat. See the cracks on the windows?






Then, this is what caused the whole incident. The walkway roof struck the windows on the right when the bus was turning round the bend. See the piece of metal on the road? That was the piece of metal sticking through the hole in the window right beside where I sat.






The earlier picture could not capture the severity of the last window, so here's another picture. Imagine if you were the guy in green sitting beside this window, would you be shocked?




A passenger exclaimed that she saw the bus driver's hand was shaking when he was making a call after the incident.

After the whole drama, all passengers (about 20) of us) proceeded on to the Singapore immigration before we were transferred to another bus which came about half an hour later.

Thank God, no one was injured. In fact, I felt luckily I managed to escaped unhurt.

Another passenger, sitting behind the girl who offered me tissue paper, analysed that the metal roof first hit the window beside me, and the window bar actually saved my face. If not, the metal piece could have just hit onto my face and hurt me. The bar stopped the metal piece, and it bounced out, before it went on to hit other windows.

What an experience. Waht an adventure. What a close call!

Petronas National Day TVad

Oh yes! finally I found the video online!

The first time I saw this national day advertisement by Petronas on TV3, I was struck by the message that it wants to convey. The meaning finally dawned on me after my mind went blank for a while. Oh my... What struck me most is the strength of the message that it wants to convey. It will hit people direct at their heart, esp Malaysians. Especially Malaysians with the same condition... well I shall not state too deliberately here what condition is that in case I got sued. haha... Well... siapa yang makan cili, dia yang terasa pedasnya.

My experiement on a Malaysian and a Singaporean colleague proved interesting. After I've pointed out the advertisement to them and explained the meaning of the narration, my colleague, who is a Malaysian went ahh....(got it!) while my Singaporean colleague wasn't so sure what it means.

I'm not trying to see who is smarter here; it is more because we Malaysians shared the same background, the same 'culture' and almost the same kind of 'upbringing', with about the same sentiments, if we are of the same condition. This common understanding enabled us to instantly know the deeper meaning of the advertisement.

I would want to tell the whole story of the commercial here, but it will spoil the suspense for you. So I shall keep the suspense and let you watch it for yourself.

Catch this meaningful commercial here Petronas National Day TVAd and feel free to share your feelings about it.

*Disclaimer: Comments in reply to the post posted here are not the personal opinions of the owner of this blog.


**Oh wow! really have to thank my colleague for pointing out to me where to get this commercial. Been searching for it online but can't find it, not even on YouTube.com. Initially wanted to post the video clip here for all to enjoy.

*** Happy 49th National Day my dear Country Malaysia! :D I will be flying the national flag in my room hehehehe :P Dunno what trouble public display of patriotism for my country in a foreign country would cause me...:)

Anyway, by spreading this little message of patriotism to my fellow countrymen is also a way of showing my love for the country~ :) So, you too can make a difference, spread the message of love to your friends and family. Refer them here! :D

The Story of Coca-Cola

I heard of a story today, about a can of Coca-Cola.

How much does a can of Coke cost in NTUC Fairprice? $0.65 probably.

How much does a can of Coke cost in a restaurant? $2.00-$3.00 probably.

How much does a can of Coke cost in a five-star hotel? $10.00 probably.

Why is it that a can of Coke, a similar can of Coke, can have such different value?

The environment. The environment the can of Coke is in, determines its value.

Do you want to be a can of Coke in NTUC Fairprice or a can of Coke in a restaurant, or a can of Coke in a five-star restaurant?

The PAU Principle

Pau? Eating pau? What principles can you derive from eating a pau?

Haha you will be surprised. Here goes.

A friend gave me a char siew pau yesterday, saying she bought it from a stall famous for its pau in Tiong Bahru. Oh, good things must try, right. So I gladly accepted the pau and started peeling off the skin. On the first bite, oh, the feeling of dejavu overwhelmed me. Oh my! I've never eaten such delicious pau! Felt so 'xin fu'.... and for the rest of the bites, I fully savour the sweetness, the juiciness and the taste of the delicious pau, bite after bite.

In between the bites, this sudden thought crossed my mind.

The pau,
if left on the table,
is just like any other pau.
Nothing gained.
But once you savour it,
the taste makes you feel on top of the world.
The feeling of 'xin fu' ness...
The expression on your face,
is enough to tempt anyone to also have a bite.
Just like in our life,
when we come across any opportunity,
If left untouched,
Is just a wasted chance,
No matter how good it is.
But once you grab hold of it,
Really appreciate it,
It can be the best thing you can ever find.

Of course, spare the thought of what happens after the pau go through your digestive system... :P

Lousy...

what do you do when you feel lousy? scream, yell, kick up a fuss? or whisk out the pen and diary and start penning away? or rather, in this new technology era, vent your lousy feelings onto the keyboard and let your fingers do the talking? how bout writing a letter to yourself? can writing be a therapy too?

i guess so, esp if a person doesn't have anyone to talk to... a bottled up volcano is never a very good idea i guess. what do you do when doubt start infecting your heart and mind? how to overcome it? how to make that damn cough go away? challenges, obstacle... pple say they are just a process... a process to make you stronger...

i always tell myself that i will become stronger every time my tears tumble down..

If You Want Something, EARN It.

If you want something, earn it. How I wish I could hammer this into teenagers nowadays who just rely on their parents or elder siblings for handouts.

And each person should take responsibility for their own life. Whatever happens is a direct result of actions and decisions in the past. If you want a good life in the future, do something now to make sure you achieve that in the future.

If you now find yourself saddled in huge debts, reflect back on the things and decisions you have made which might have led you to where you are now. Who's fault is it? You might ask. Remember, your life is in your hands.

If in the past you have spent lavishly with impulse shopping, ask yourself, at the point of buying, don't you have the choice of whether to buy or not to buy? Yes, and you made the decision to buy. In the end, do you feel remorseful? Depends.

Do you have the choice of eating in high end restaurants or the common hawker centre? Do you have the option of taking the taxi or the bus? Do you have the choice of taking the plane or the bus? It is entirely up to you.

But after that, you have to shoulder the consequences. Don't complain when you no longer find yourself having the luxuries in life.

I was so heartened by the changes I see in a superior-turned friend recently. She was someone who used to spend money like water. She won't eat at places less than high class restaurants. She always have nice accessories donning her wrists and matching blouse to go with it.

But the last time I saw her, she has stripped off her gold chains and bling-blings. Her reason: Afraid of being robbed. She now budgets $300 a month for food and attempts to spend less than the budgetted amount if she can. Shw would now think twice even if she finds a blouse she really like. And now so proud of the cheapest travel she has been on.

She even advised me to spend within my means and save up for retirement. Even at my age. Yah, drastic change, and I find it a change for the better. Now I see a person who is less conceited and less high-and-mighty. She has become someone more humble.

Probably circumstances has changed and forced her to become like that. Maybe she changed willingly. I couldn't bring myself to ask. No matter what's the reason, there is a lesson to learn here.

Why wait for some disaster to happen before you change for the better? You can still be thrifty and earning all the money in the world. What would you do then with so much excess funds? Realise your dreams, go around brightening up other people's lives. Isn't that more meaningful?

Post-trip blues and Love

It has been about a week since we came back from a discovery trip to Hong Kong and Southern China. It was so enjoyable and indeed a whole new discovery for me. It was my first trip overseas, (not counting Singapore) and I truly enjoy every single moment of it. Surely I'll want to do it again and again! I want to discover the whole of China, the whole of Asia and the whole of the world! More updates and chronicles of the trip after I'm done with the travelogue. It is indeed worth recording every moment, don't you think so? ;) So keep coming back for news when it's done and up, complete with pictures.

Now, back to the mundane working life again. Was feeling really great the first day back at work, but after a few hours of the usual routine, I'm bored to death. And the adrenaline seemed to have stopped pumping. Everything seemed so dull again. Argh.. what a lousy feeling. Need to shake that off. And my eyes seemed to have some problem adjusting back to the long hours of looking at the computer screen, something which I have the luxury of shirking while on holiday. My head throbs, eyes water and vision blurs. Are these symptoms of some occupational hazard?

On a different topic, I've always been amazed by the power of love. But also intrigued by it. I couldn't comprehend why some people can love so intensely at one time and then forget totally about the feelings after that. And these people could do really hurting things to people whom they have once loved so deeply.

But then again, love is something so complex. There's a saying, you cannot force love, what you get is just a broken heart. How true, because in the end, the person who would hurt the most is the person who loves the deepest and appreciates the relationship more.

After going through such events, how should one let go and move on? Especially when the other party is unsure and afraid of commitments? Isn't it selfish for the other party to ask one to let time be the test of whether it is true love? And, how should one let go, such that one no longer feel hurt by any actions from the other party?

One, would have to dive deep into one's conscious and unconscious mind, make a choice of how one would want to lead one's life in the future. If given a choice between happiness and sadness, which one would one choose? If given a choice between being appreciated and being neglected, which one would one choose? If given a choice of seeing one smiling in a loving environment and seeing one crying in the darkness, which would one choose?

In life, we have a choice. No matter what happens, we have a choice of how we want to feel. We can choose to feel happy or lousy by it. We can choose how we want to respond to it. We can choose whether we want to control our life or let circumstances and environment move us along aimlessly.

How we feel, is entirely up to our own self.

On a related note, when one found a gem, treasure it, cherish it. Appreciate the blessings in one's life. Never take things for granted. Tell your loved ones that you love them. That's the greatest joy one can find. And maybe the only meaning of life.

Give and You shall Receive

I was climbing the overhead bridge when I passed by this rather old lady who was huffing and puffing carrying two plastic bags which obviously looked rather heavy while muttering some words that sounded like "oh so heavy". I was messasging on my handphone then and intuitively I just turned to look at her and asked her "do you need help?". She smiled shyly and gently declined. So I went on with my way over the bridge and head towards the bus stop.

After some time, the lady finally conquered the bridge and came down the stairs looking at me, smiling. I was shocked, because there's this stranger who was smiling at me. So I smiled back and then we started talking, getting to know each other and coincidently, we were both waiting for the same bus.

Along the bus journey, we went on talking and finally exchanged numbers. It was amazing how such a small gesture of altruism could in turn, generate much more random acts of kindness. She pointed out to me the correct bus stop to alight and even offered her help.

After alighting, I went to meet my friend and we sat in a McDonalds chatting, catching up with each other. After chatting for a while and sipped about half a glass of iced lemon tea, my bladder was full. When I walked over to the ladies, I had another shock. There is now a counter for collecting fees to enter the toilet and it is priced at $0.20, while previously it was free. So I shelved the shock aside and went in.

To cut the story short, I went to the toilet for the second time and this time as I was walking in, I saw the old man who was taking care of the counter was already starting to close the counter. I took out a 20 cents but the elderly man shook his head and said, no need, and asked me to go in and use. So I asked him, whether he is working for a company or is he working for himself. He answered, he doesn't receive salary, but the 20 cents are his salary. Upon hearing this, I insisted that he take the 20 cents. What I received in return, was a smile so beautiful, it could warm anybody's heart.

It is just so wonderful how such small gestures could have made me receive so much more in return. Warm smiles from strangers and the continuity of kindness. What you give, is what you receive. Give and you shall receive. How true.

Sometimes, when we feel our life is filled with nasty people, stop for a while and reflect, whether you yourself has been a nasty person yourself. You will realise if you change your own self, you can change the people around you.

Keep the random acts of kindness going.~ :D

White Tiger and the Fishes

I've finally stepped into the zoo here after setting foot on this island 6 years ago. Went with my cousin, her husband and her 4-year-old daughter. Throughout the duration there, there's a few things which I observed and got me thinking.

1. My niece just suddenly burst out crying when her father brought her near the walkway leading to the tiger's den. I was shocked because I saw other children in the walkway. What I'm curious about was what made her just burst out crying.

The first thought that leapt into mind was bad spirits. Can she sense certain dangers near there which made her react by bursting out crying? haha maybe I'm too superstitious. It is only later that I spotted a monstrous-looking fake tiger at the entrance to the dim walkway, which I think, scared her. She kept on saying she doesn't want to go there and we almost just pass by the place.

However, curiosity got the better of me and I went nearer to take a loook. The white tigers are separated from the visitors by a moat. I overheard a visitor asking her friend whether the tiger will just jump out. And hey, the same exclamation was also expressed by my cousin. I wondered whether the same thought is also playing in most visitors' mind, because for me, this thought never crept into my mind until my cousin exclaimed it. Is this how a human being influence another, by putting a possible idea into another person's mind through their words?

2. By now, my niece is already inching near to have a look too. Another thing which I noticed was that when one of the tiger walks around in the moat, a school of fishes just follow the tiger around. When the tiger heads right, the school of fishes followed. When the tiger turns around and head left, the school of fishes also turned and head left. Amazing isn't it? Why is it that way? Tigers are carnivors, and carnivors eat meat. Fishes are meat too, but why doesn't tigers eat fishes? If you have answers to these questions, do leave me a comment. :)

3. We managed to catch part of the animal show which started at 1.30pm. I really enjoyed myself throughout the show. What amazed me was how well-trained those animals are. The orang utan who can garner clap supports for himself, the sea lions that can jump like dolphins and the otter that can clean up things. These are animals doing things which are not of their normal behaviour.

Throughout the show, the trainers there did explained briefly how they train the animals, mostly using food reward. If it works for animals, does this strategy work for human beings too? Let's say, we want to train ourself to be good in something or to pick up a new skill. If we reward ourself each time we do something correct and good, and ignore when we don't perform, will it be as effective?

Just some food for thoughts! ;) Happy thinking!