Night Safari

The last time I could remember last visit to Night Safari was 10 over years. During that time, I was a bit upset by the place because all I could remember was to sit in the tram and I could see nothing else except the darkness and hidden night animals.

When my friend asked me if I'm interested to go to Night Safari, I decided to give this place a second chance, after all it has been 10 over years. We took bus 138 and it was a super crowded weekend, probably its a holiday season. We queue almost 15 mins and the buying ticket queue has not been moving at all.

Luckily, I went to a special counter to get the map and it sells the tickets as well. That shortened the waiting time. I overheard an auntie was complaining that her kids that they had to wait almost an hour just to get the tickets.

Anyway, as we entered the entrance, we still have to queue to go in. It took us another 20 mins. The silliest thing they did was they only allow one person at a time. People just refused to wait by then and tried to start pushing and cut queue. By the time we went in, it was already 8.20pm.

There were 3 main trails, compared to the past experience, at least this time round I get to walk around the trails and see much more night animals such as the eagle owl, bats, flying squirrel, hippo, pucupins, hyena, civet, leopard cats but most of the animals are resting. Fortunately, we saw the malayan tiger walking towards us and it was as close as 30cm away from us.

I wanted to snap some photos of the animals but my camera is obviously not good enough and no flash photography is allowed. I just let myself immersed with the nature and the walk. Although the website claimed that they had total number of 1040 animals in the safari, but we never get to see so many animals there, probably it was too dark.

The night show was quite entertaining and look at those cute little animals performing, thrilled me.

The ticket seller insisted that we must buy the tram tickets and we bought. However, by the time, we walked finished the trail walks and finished the night show, it was already 11.15pm lor... We hurried back to the bus stop to catch the night bus.

What a night! Probably I will visit again 20 years later lol...

Courage to LOVE

A friend shared with me about her dating issues and asked me for advice. After analysing her problem, I realise that she doesn't have the courage to express her love.

I just told my friend that we should have the courage to love. Not many people can do that... Most of them just give up without trying... Love may not be boy-girl relationships, it could be family and even friends.

In the past, I told myself I do not need many friends and I lock myself up. Keep everything to myself and suffer in silence. I can't blame anyone else because I choose it to be in this way.

I have learnt my lesson: the Courage to LOVE. Because when we have love in our heart. We need to love ourselves and others. We tend to care for the people around us. We tend to be more sensitive towards other people. We tend to recieve help from others when we need one.

Through this learning, my relationships in family and friends have improved tremendously. If you haven't start to love, start loving now. I want to share this message on the Christmas Day:

It's a gift to love.

Be like water

"Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way round or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves. Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be like water my friend." - Bruce Lee

This is useful not just in combat, but in life. If those who represent themselves as your enemy become your teachers -- teachers on how to be patient, on how to deflect, how to confront in a way that peaceably resolves the conflict -- then you learn the skill of being like water.

I used to blame myself and other people, why my life so unsmooth? Why all the bad things come to me. A friend told me we need to learn lessons in this life and that's why we are here.

Another friend gives me an insightful experience about his life. He told me we have to keep learning something until we have learnt. This statement has an impact on me and I totally agreed with what he said. I have never realised it until he said that to me.

I look at myself and the people around me. We all make the same mistakes over and over again until it comes to a time that we learnt our precious lessons these negative cycle will never appear again... Sometimes when I look back, it is us who always trap ourselves into these cycles and we choose to do that. Without learning the painful lessons, we can never able to appreciate the people and the things around us.

He told me not too think too much but I think I have learnt something from this statement. If we chose to be an unhappy person, we will always be an unhappy person. Even someone tries to be nice to you, you will choose to believe he has a bad intention. However, if we always chose to be a happy person, even when things are bad, we will use a positive attitude to turn the situation around.

Well, interesting insight to me at least. Life is not so bad afterall, if we choose to become water! Rite? :)

My little friends

I remembered my childhood dream was to become a teacher. I was inspired by my caring teachers in my primary school days. Most of them were caring, helpful and patient and best of all, I will be able to use the red pen to mark the students' work. Ah-ha :)

When I grew up, I know that I can't be a teacher because I have no patience with kids and I know that I will end up either being bullied by them or stressed up myself. I decided to give up this idea of being a teacher.

I was looking for a part-time job as I needed money for my melbourne trip. A golden opportunity came, knocking onto my door 5 weeks ago. CDAC is an learning environment and offer meaningful programmes to help students cope with their studies and social lives.

CDAC was looking for some part-time teachers, I went for interview and I got in. They just need teachers to teach maths and science for Pri 1-6, preparing them for the next year. Being pretty good in maths, I was assigned to teach maths for Pri2, Pri4 and Pri5 except there is one week, i have to teach science.

Having no experienced in teaching, I was so worried that I can't cope with it. However, I did spend time going through all the maths and science syllabus before the class. Of course goes without saying, for the first week, I wasn't that confident in teaching and I have to use the "math language" terms used by the schools, so that the kids are able to understand. After 2 weeks, I was able to teach the kids proficiently.

I almost wanted to give up when some kids were like monsters. However, some kids were like angels, that encouraged me to become a better teacher. Some were smart and fast, some were lazy and slow. No matter what, I have to gain their respect even if they were kids. When they realise you truly cares for them, even little monsters will be tamed by you slowly.

Although I was pretty under paid but overall, it was a very meaningful and fulfilling experience. With 88 students under my care, I did really enjoy myself with these 5 weeks of teaching.

First of all, I have learnt that these kids are pure at heart without any ill-intentions, they are just being playful or mischievious. Secondly, every kids are special in their own way, to be a capable teacher, I have to customise my teaching style so that they are able to absorb the knowledge better. Most importantly, I have learnt to be firm with my words and not to be influence by others.
Yes, I have fulfilled my dream of becoming a teacher and I have made quite a number of little friends. They did teach me something back in return when I have imparted my knowledge with them and I will cherish these memories.

Thank you, my little friends :)

点一把火炬

I always hear people saying, "letting go" when u experienced the negativity in life. It always said easier than done. I finally able let go of my sadness about a bad experience which i have been suppressing for all these years. Letting go and cried all my heart out is a good healing therapy. Now I feel light, carefree and happy again because I'm able to release my burden which i have been carrying all these years.

I have learnt not to supress my negative feelings. Yeah, it a wonderful experience of releasing my sadness. I want to thank my rubberband time friend for helping me to release the pain within me.

I want to share this song because I like the meaningful lyrics in this song."脆弱的世界, 人变得坚强因为有梦想" This is so true :)

点一把火炬
Artist: 林俊杰
Composer: 许环良与邢增华

天上的星星有多少数不清
承诺和许愿又多少能兑现
雨后的彩虹是真实还是梦
悲伤和快乐可以自己选择

忙忙碌碌转啊转盲盲目目从早到晚
喧喧闹闹是与非伤痕累累学会谦卑
听过自己哭泣才会懂得珍惜

点一把火炬 让爱和生命延续
用心用呼吸感应在黑暗中照亮风雨
脆弱的世界人变得坚强因为有梦想
让爱翻越所有围墙点燃每一个心房
照亮我们共同的家
照亮你我的家

Beauty of Life

Ger read about this "The Reality of Life"
Promises are meant to be broken
Secrets are meant to be shared
Friends are meant to be make use of

Not to pin point on what she wrote but I just can't agreed with it. Here are my own interpretation about these words.

My own interpretation
Promises are meant to be broken
- This shows that this person cannot be trusted

Secrets are meant to be shared
- This shows that this person is a gossiper

Friends are meant to be make use of
- This shows that this person is a devil under the angel face

If that is the case, why should I continue to be with this person? I can tell you that person will not have any true friends. Everyone will start to see that person true colors and will leave that person eventually. That person can fool everyone many times but can't fool everyone all the time.

This will ties in very well with my new xmas theme on relationships - The best of the most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must felt with the heart.

If you are sincerely true to your family and your friends, they will feel it. True hearts will meet together eventually.

Great Ideas

Most often when we see great ideas from others, we will start wondering why we didn't think of that? It can be a single, practical solution that solved the problem we have faced.

After attended a creative workshop called "Creative thinking makes easy" today, I realised that it is not about how much time we spend on the work but rather that how much work we spend on the time. As a human being, all of us are creative. We should constantly see things with an open mind and making changes to improve our lives. Even a silliest idea can be practical one if we just tweak and change into something relevant and useful.

Nothing is evolved with nothing. There must be some old ideas that trigger it, to make them into even better ideas. The speaker, John Teo told us that if we shot down our initial ideas from the start, it will be quite unlikely we are able to make a breakthrough. Creativity comes from constantly practising with an open mind and rearranging the old into new.

I really enjoyed his workshop and wished it didn't end so early. At the end of his workshop, he shared with us his life experience of becoming a successful magician. Of course, he did some small little magic performance for us.

This is just to prove ONE point -
IT IS ALL ABOUT BEING CREATIVE IN OUR MIND.

Loved it!

The expression of the urban

I'm researching on Art Therapy recently. I was inspired by the bilingual local newspaper, "My Paper". It has a section called "the person in the rain". The art therapist just used the drawing to analyse and identify the strength and weaknesses and any issues. She will provide some suggestions on how to cope with difficult emotions and feelings.

I believed that arts have the power to influence. Arts therapy has the ability to help to change and improve lives. We need not use verbal to communicate, we can use visual in art media such as drawings, photography and other forms of visual to express our inner struggles.

Art therapy is still a very new concept in Singapore. However, the local hospital such as Singapore General Hospital is using art therapy to help the cancer patients as well as disabled patients. I believe that it could really help people to open up themselves to be a mentally healthy and improve the quality of their life.

In order to feel what art therapy is all about, I decided to work on some paints. I have used lines as to depict sketches drawings and tried to use paints and shimmering to form the eye of the human, with the help of design software to do some graphics editing. These are various forms of expression on the relationship between the city, myself with arts. I called this piece of artwork - the expression of the urban.

Maybe in future, when i feel stress up, I will do some free expression painting lol Don't know is it because i did the research on this project. I do feel a sense of relaxation and freedom when I paints. Does it got to do with myself or the psychology part?

Typography in Helvetica

Being an inexperienced designer, I often don't care much about usage of typeface, as long as I like it. A typographer told me what kind of fonts and the size of the fonts I have used, simply by looking at my work.

To be honest, I'm kind of impressed. There are people out there who are so passionate about typefaces that they can breathe, eat and sleep with them. That is the vast diffence between a professional typographer like him and an amateurish like me. Of course, with constently looking at the details and study of typefaces, I'm sure in the years to come, I can be as good as him.

Recently, I watched a video about "Helvetica". It has bring me into another perspective. It is an interesting video talks everything about Helvetica, bringing the awareness to the designers about how Helvetica was created, its history. The famous typographers who take great passion in creating font types and usage of Helvetica.

One of the typographers said that most of the designers do not care about typography at all(which is absolutely true). But he doesn't care. A trend in design industry is that there is always a small group of people who pursue great design and large number of people are doing trash stuffs. If you care about your own works, you will care about the usage of typography.

I also realise that every typeface, like every one of us, has its distinguishing features. You might be forgiven for thinking that some fonts are clones, or identical twins. However, closer inspection reveals subtle differences and nuances that simply escape casual perusal. Something that can really help to heighten our sensitivity to those differences is getting out our magnifying glasses and really taking a closer look.

The two popular typefaces, namely Arial and Helvetica — faces that are often confused, and often the subjects of mistaken identity. But first let me re-introduce you to these two popular faces:



Helvetica
Designed in 1957 by Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann, Helvetica’s design is based on that of Akzidenz Grotesk (1896), and classified as a Grotesque or Transitional san serif face. Originally it was called Neue Haas Grotesque; in 1960 it was revised and renamed Helvetica (Latin for "Swiss").

Arial
Designed in 1982 by Robin Nicholas and Patricia Saunders for Monotype (not Microsoft), it’s classified as Neo Grotesque, was originally called Sonoran San Serif, and was designed for IBM’s bitmap font laser printers. It was first supplied with Windows 3.1 (1992) and was one of the core fonts in all subsequent versions of Windows until Vista, when to all intents and purposes, it was replaced with Calibri.

Sad to say, Arial was born of a hasty decision to avoid paying out massive licensing fees for a typeface that had grown to become the benchmark for most written communication.

I must say Helvetica is still always the prefered choice for mac designers, while Arial is for the pc designers. Most people do not know Helvetica is NOT FREE font. I should try to appreciate those fonts which famous typographers have created.

Credibility

5 months ago, I was engaged to design a website for my client's client, Mr X. This is my first time working with this new client. It's my friend's contact. This client was a sales manager. He was very sales driven therefore, he pushed hard for his sales as well as his project.

My client told me this particular job was urgent and required me to rush for it. Of course, I played my role and delivered the work to him. However, Mr X just doesn't seem to have any interest with his own website. Whenever my client asked him about the feedback, he always said that he's busy. Afterall, Mr X was the one who wanted to push the website to be ready 4 months ago.

3 months ago, my client felt bad about it and said that he will transfer the full amount to me first, even though the project has not complete yet. I told him this is not the way to do business. I told him I have to complete the project.

My client has told me that Mr X has decided to stop the project today. To be honest, this is my first time doing project without completing it. Although I still get paid for my service, I just don't feel good about it. Because the project was not complete at all.

I always think that credibility should play on our part but in reality, i think it works both ways.

Design Costs vs. Values

Two days ago, I got a call from my friend's whose girlfriend wanted me to design a web site for her image consultant business. She asked me how much do I charge per website. I told her that depends on my client's theme and requirements.

She told me she needs 10 pages of website. I told her $300 - $500 for customised design fee (not using any design templates) and $150 per page. Without even looking at my portfolio yet, the only reply I heard is, "That is expensive! You are limiting the amount of contents I want to put." and she continues saying that she will call me up when she needs my service. Apparently, she didn't. Of course, I didn't upset over it because it doesn't worth my time doing it anyway.

I’ve read an interesting article written by Chris Pearson on how much a site/blog design should cost and his experience when dealing with the customers and project costs.

After looking through the designers' comments from the design industry, I feel that my pricing is reasonable. Like most web professionals out there, they are charging $1500 or as high as $2000 just for the basic design cost. In fact, most of my designer friends have told me I undercharge most of my clients. To me, money is important but the experiences and challenges to do that is even more important.

Why is it okay for dentists, lawyers and a number of other highly-paid professionals to charge $200-300/hour for their services, why is it okay to shell out $100-150/hour to an interior designer, but it is a sin to pay that much money to a web/graphic designer?

And what’s even more intriguing and interesting to find out is why we never question and simply accept the high prices of dentists, lawyers, psychiatrists, interior decorators, plumbers... but behave so differently when it comes to building our brand name awareness in print and online?

What do you think should happen in order to change people's mindset on design costs and values? Or do you think that nothing should change, that it is the way it should stay, that there are no reasons why designers should get paid any more than those working night shifts at 24 hour drive-thrus?

Just simply because some people just don't know the value of the work of a good web/graphics designer. Quality creative designers go through the design thinking process while the designers just work like a factory worker. Everyone knows Photoshop but that doesn't mean they can be a creative designer.

Chris quoted that everybody wants a killer design, especially after seeing one that they lust over. Problem is, nobody wants to pay for it.

True indeed.

Harmless ";"

Last night, I was busy rushing my client's website. It is just a maintainance of the website. Finally, i finished all the updates and went to bed. I was rather tired because few days ago, because I was rushing other projects as well.

My client emailed about the whole website fonts are all screw up today. I was kinda puzzled, so I went to the site to take a look. It was indeed the website is screwed up. I recalled what did I do last night.

Thinking back, I did nothing MAJOR revamp to the website. Just a couples of information update. Then I remembered I did touch on the CSS style sheet because I want to tidy up the coding. I checked and checked, the piece of coding seems perfectly alright.

After half and hour of checking, I spot that harmless ";" hidding itself in the codes.

Now I know that 1 harmless ";" can be a silent killer that screw up your entire website. Thank god that my client didnt screw me up, they are nice people. Grateful!

To Lose Weight

On 24th April, I vow that I will lose weight within 3 months. Today is 7th Nov. I feel so guilty about it. I broke my own promise. I not only didn't lose weight. In fact, I put on weight!

Starting from 54 -> 56 -> 59!!! I can't believe it myself until someone placed a weighing machine in front of me.

Reasons for not succeeding:
1) I didn't exercise for 3 months.
Mistake: Wasn't enthusiastic to lose weight.

2) When I am super stress or happy, I eat much more than usual. Mistake: Never control diet.

3) Want to lose weight in 3 months
Mistake: Never set realistic timeline.

I know above are just excuses! Now i want to set it straight again.

Motivation to lose weight
1) Doctor says I have slight hypertension. I'm SHOCKED. I still very young, I don't want to spend money on pills!

2) I want to be HEALTHY. Reason: I don't want to fall sick easily.

3) I want to be LOVE myself. Reason: I want to be responsible about my own body. Take really good care of my body.

4) I don't want to be the fake pregnant lady anymore!!!

With these 4 strong motivation, I must SET realistic timeline:
1) Be choosy about food, no more fried food for me right now.
2) Exercise twice per week Tues and Sat eg Swimming, Yoga, Jogging, Gym exercise
3) Set exercise time.
4) Motivate myself.
5) Monitor my progress.

I must not break my promise to my body again. I shall set this as lifetime piority in my life.

Cross Cultural Friendship

Global village is a term coined by Wyndham Lewis in 1948 and Herbert Marshall Mcluhan in 1962 describes how electronic mass media collapse space and time barriers in human communication, enabling people to interact and live on a global scale.

In this sense, the globe has been turned into a village by the electronic mass media. The global village in this context refers to the power of Internet. With the help of upcoming improving fast technology such as facebook, msn, you tube and many more technology gadgets, the information is spreading much faster than it used to be. Perhaps very soon, we will able to do more Internet stuffs with our own mobile phones.

Because of Internet, I get to know many more friends online then I used to have. Recently through msn, I get to know a spanish designer. He is rather a reserved but yet a warm hearted man. But after chatting for some time, we have developed friendship between us.

He always loves to draw... When I was stuck with my own ideas about creating money packets, he drew and interpret his own ways. Although I didnt use his ideas at all, but I appreciate by his actions.

There was one time I helped him to resolve a personal problem. Out of gratitude, he drew this piece of work for me.


I asked him why does he draw this litte heart, he says when he felt lousy, I listen to him and share a piece of my heart. Lol :) That's how i inspired him to draw this piece of work. It's pretty, isn't it?

I am rather touched by his kind gesture. In fact, I think he helped me more than I helped him. I hope our friendship will grow stronger through the years.

女人真会自寻烦恼！

最近电视一直播放胸部健身，我又听到女人常说自己的胸部不够完美。

前两天我在地铁里，有一位二十岁的女孩跟她的女朋友说：“我的男朋友一直嫌我的胸部太小。我要整行。”虽然我也是女人， 但她这么一说， 我不经意的看她一下。她长的相当好看，身材满标准的，一点坠肉也没有。在我心里面，为她打抱不平，她的男朋友怎么可以这么说她。

今天我到一间衣服店里又听到，有一位四十岁的阿姨说，“我的胸部太大了，穿它不好看。”卖衣服的阿姨立刻说，“有些人要都没有，对吧。”我也不经意的看那试衣服的阿姨一下。我觉得还好，她的身材满标准的，只是有一点肉肉的。

我听了很纳闷。为什么无论二十岁的女孩或是四十岁的阿姨都要为自己的胸部烦恼。大一点或小一点有什么关系。最重要的是自己要懂得爱和接受自己，这样我们才能活得自信，自在。无论美或丑，百年后还不是一团灰而已。

女人啊，不要再为胸部自寻烦恼了！

Ichiro Films

I have attended my cousin, Robin's wedding on 17 Oct. I like the unique way that the videographer had shot the wedding process. Christopher Tay has changed a wedding into a piece of Film ART requires artistic direction in both shooting and editing skills.

Below is the short trailer of the thoughts behind wedding. Worth looking for them if you are lookin for a theme wedding videographer, http://www.ichirofilms.com

Amazing Dance

I was touched by this piece of dance, hand in hand. It was full of emotions and passion. I am really impressed by both dancers determination. There was truly amazing effort and their hardwork really pays off! They have inspired me that nothing is impossible when I want to do it. Enjoy the video :)

One Photo marathon, One Dream

Back for the second year, Canon PhotoMarathon Asia unites all amateur and professional photographers in the region by challenging them to complete a series of photography assignments under the pressure of time. One marathon with about 1,300+ participants took part in this competition.

The biggest catch of this contest, the top winner will get a chance to win a Photo Clinic in New Zealand under the lead of a professional photographer. It's a 7 days Photography trip to experience the Mount Cook – New Zealand’s highest peak.

The 3 themes are Change, Dreams and Freedom. We are given 3.5 hours to shoot each theme. Me and Siew as usual not knowing what are the winning prizes until we reached there. But we both know what our real purpose was to have fun hehehe :)

The organiser display some of the interesting shots taken by the contestants. Some were quite lame and crappy, and some were just too direct. I must say its not only just technical aspects but rather the creativity that will attract the judges' heart.

I did learn something out of this contest after such a long day of mental and physical exercising. The difference between a winner and just a normal participant is that he / she will be able to bring out the strong meaning of each theme in his / her own unique ways. I think mine was too simple and direct. I should try to develop the eye for creativity and endurance to complete the marathon for next year.

Despite I never win any prizes, I'm still happy to able to enjoy this contest with Siew and George who join us in the middle of the contest after his friends flew him kite. I start to believe enjoying the process is more important than the results.

The only thing i feel that the organiser should improved is the time management. They should be stringent about the time after all this is a contest. Somehow people just come back late for their assignments and the time is extended. The contest ended up quite late. Instead of 6pm, it ended up almost 10pm. We are just too tired to wait for the results to be released.

Magical 30

When I recieved a letter from Immigration today, my dad was curious why I had this letter. So I told him because I need to change my IC. He was puzzled and continue to ask me why I do I need to change my IC. Suddenly the fit of anger just come over me and I snapped at him and said, "Because I'm 30." Of cos, my dad said nothing and left the room.

I was wondering why am I so pissed when I realised that I'm 30. 30 is just a figure. Sometimes I couldn't even understand myself. When I started to think I realised that when you have reached 30, people around you will ask you and be very concern about your love life, your marriage and even your own career. Perhaps that is because everyone is doing it. People will start to ask you about the things they think is RIGHT to do: Get boyfriend, get married, have a good career and have kids!

Sometimes I really make me wonder is it really the RIGHT way to do? Not having a relationship or having a fantastic career in life is not a sin. Why must force onto others with their own believing. Doesn't mean getting married will have successful marriage, or doesnt mean working hard means that you will lead you to have a successful career.

Times have really changed. Everything around us have been changing secs by secs, just that we don't even realised it.

I just told CH last night as long as we don't hurt anyone indirectly, we don't owe anyone's explaination. I'm still pretty much enjoying my singlehood life and I'm making full use of my time doing meaningful things.

If you ask me what is my birthday wish, I just wish that just let the nature takes its course and good things will fall in place!

Jan's BIG Day

I have known Jan for 11 years and finally hear her wedding bells. Happy for her that she found her true happiness. It's a solemnisation held at Furama Riverfront. It's quite a wuloo place to find, luckily there is such transport called cab, dropped me off right at the door step of the hotel.

Although its a simple formality of solemnisation, I can feel the happiness from the wedding couple. I have met two of my ex colleagues. I can't tell any difference in their appearances but I'm happy that everyone is happy with their life :)

As I chat with the event photographer about photography stuff and end up we start exchanging our contacts. It's kind of funny to get such freelance job through this way hahaha :) I guess I must start making my own business card keke

China, Please WAKE up!

When the news of China's tainted milk scandal rumbled on Wednesday, there are few signs people are willing to blame their nation's top leadership despite evidence the health risks were covered up for months.

China has said 53,000 children have been sickened by milk contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine, which is normally used to make plastics.

It has led to four deaths so far and prompted a host of nations to ban, or at least scrutinise, Chinese dairy imports, further tarnishing the reputation of the "Made in China" label.

Melamine, when added to milk, can make it appear richer in protein.

In a frank editorial Wednesday, the China Daily said political leaders had succeeded by their crisis management to reassure the public while at the same time scaring local officials into more responsible behaviour.

When I heard about it, my first thought is our life considered that worthless to the China government's eyes? The milk scandal is not only affecting China people, its affecting worldwide...

I feel that China crisis management is to "cover up". Its an unethical act but no one seems to be able to stop these unforgiveable nonsense. Yes no doubt there are so many unethical businessmen around... but China government seem to be involved indirectly. It's kind of sad and anger to recieve such bad news from China over and over again...

Whenever there is a "BAD" News, First thing they do, is not to resolve it. They will try their best to cover up until it can't be covered up by then, it has become too late to resolve.

This kind of covering up incidents are not just one or two cases... its on-going cases. Just that the problems haven't been surfacing out at the moment. If you ask me, I have lost the faith in China products in terms of food industry... Where is their credibility and ethical values have gone to?

If China still don't wake up the idea, chances of losing international businesses will be very high. Can China dare to bear this heavy consequences?

Angpow Craze

Antalis Ang pow contest deadline is drawing near... and I haven't do anything much... trying to stay focus but can't find any relevant or good ideas on year of cow...

Anyway, I'm easily distracted... kinda of used to it already... Suddenly I have the urged to design wedding angpow for my good friend. The crazy part of me just wanted to do it.. Ok, okay i will do it... and tada...

Here comes my first wedding ang pow design..

Hope this ang pow will lead me to the real inspirations for the real ang pow design for the contest!

Encourage myself to TRY

Today I was SUPER busy and tired... but i was pleased with my printed photography project. I had been working on it for nearly 2 months and the fruit of my hardwork has ripen slowly.

It has been a long, long time since I felt such a sense of job satisfaction with my own work. The feeling is indescribable... Every effort and sweat that I have put in this project. I really believe hardwork pays off despite of many hipcups!

There are many "first try" in this project:

1) I really happy that I didn't procastinate my own thoughts and shot down my own ideas.

2) I shared with my parents about my work with excitement. At first, they thought I was photocopying someone's work. Until I told them, everything from finding information, putting things together till sourcing for right printer is all done solo by me! Then they give the impressed look on their face hahaha

3) Faced problems with the process but learnt to find other methods to resolve.

The most happy thing is I have encourage myself to TRY! I'm grateful for friends who have helped me / given me good advices in this project :) NOW I can pat on myself that I did a good job :)

Sand Artist - Just Imagine

Just Imagine - Ilana Yahav

Ilana Yahav is a sand animation artist. Using only her fingers, Ilana draws with sand on a glass table. Ilana draws on sand, using only her fingers. As she weaves together sand, lighting and music, Ilana creates incredible three dimensional vistas they play out in perfect time with the musical accompaniment, Indeed, it is difficult to decide if the music accompanies the work of art, or vice versa Ilana's fingers dance in the sand on the glass to the music, the resulting aesthetic dynamic is powerful and moving.

I'm touched by her talents as she weaves the sand. She has brought us into her world of fantasy. She is a true artist!

RSAF commercial 2008

I am the wind.
On land, no blade of grass moves without me
At sea, every rising waves is touched by me
Wherever you are, I am high enough to see you
and strong enough to reach out to you
and placed strength in your hands
You may not always see me
But you always feel me
For I am here, for a higher purpose.

I think most of you have seen this RSAF commercial 2008 video commerical. In the past, they never use voiceover to describe the mission of RSAF. I feel that it is a well delivery commercial, using effective words like "moves, touched, strength, feel and higher purpose" to trigger our emotions and it sends a very positive message that "Civilians are safe in our AIR FORCE team."

Beyond riches and statuses

Once upon a time, there was a striped caterpillar which always thinks there is a much greater things in life that is yet to explore but she was afraid. One day, a yellow caterpillar crawls up the tree. She decided to follow the crawling trails of the caterpillar. When she managed to climb up the top of the tree and finds that there is nothing much out there. She was so disappointed.

The story challenges us to look beyond finding success and fulfilment as yellow caterpillar take a risk to discover and recognise the natural potentials that lies within and soar.

Know what happens to the striped caterpillar in the end? The yellow caterpillar told striped caterpillar that she will turn into a butterfly that she meant to be by simply being one self...

------------------------------------------------------------------------

I really, really like this story because most of us often seek for something more in our life but is that truely what we wanted? I finally realised that my TRUE happiness comes from my inner self and not getting for exernal sources... ONLY I can make myself BE Happy or Sad! Our life only live once...

New insights about marriage

A lady was sharing about her marriage life. People has told her that marriage is a 3-ring relationship: engagement ring, wedding ring and suffering.

I know its quite a negative remark. But to her, she view her marriage life as a movie journey. Before marriage, it was like a fantasy movie. After marriage, the journey becomes exciting, some times you get to watch romance, sometimes you get to watch a comedy movie or even a fighting movie. At times, we may need to watch horror movie, even we hate it.

I do agree with her that we can be selective what kind of movies, we prefer to watch. However, we should always try to make an effort to enjoy any movies that comes along our way... experience fully of our very own movie journey.

Crackpots...

A wonderful story that I feel that I must share!

Everyone of us is an unique individuals. Like what I have said before, we all have our own imperfection, and because of its imperfection, that makes us complete in our life..

Let's start to embrace and enjoy the little things in LIFE... =D

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An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which she carried across her neck. One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. At the end of the long walks from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments.

But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do. After two years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream. 'I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house.'

The old woman smiled, 'Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side?' 'That's because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them.'

'For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house.'

Each of us has our own unique flaw. But it's the cracks and flaws, we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding.

You've just got to take each person for what they are and look for the goodness in them.

To all of my crackpot friends, pls love yourself and remember to smell the flowers on your side of the path!

Move on

Most of my friends although they read my blog frequently but they never make any comments. It's alright as long as sometimes I could inject some positive thoughts or encouragement into you. I feel that it's good enough for me :) I saw the encouragment on my small setback today. I'm happy that at least 2 friends in this world still cares about me :)

A friend... msn to me and tells me that he wants to get on with his life. I am really happy for him. He has finally straighten out his thoughts. I have encouraged him and I know that he will able to move on. Time is all he needs.

Sometimes, we just need someone's support or encouragement. It need not be giving advice, just be a good listener will help as well. Our negative mindset will slowly destroy by our positive mindset and we just move on with our life. No one can live without friends or family, no matter how strong your willpower is.

Jia You! You know who you are :)

Small Setback

Today is the humorous speech & evaluation contest. It's my first time taking part. My speech was "Walking down the memory lane". Before the contest, I have been practising and thinking ways of tickling the audience's funny bone.

First thing in my mind was blank then next I was panic when i saw so many pairs of eyes staring at me. I knew I was going to screw up and yes I made my first glory from the bottom!

After i had reviewed my own speech delivery, mistakes I have made and I concluded that the biggest problem I really need to resolve, is to unlock myself. I have locked myself up too much until I can't even enjoy talking. When audience can't feel your emotions, they can't appreciate what you want to say and how would they able to laugh....

I enjoyed the evaluation part. The speaker speech title is "Fake Masters" about how toastmasters are teaching us how to be a fake person. After I evaluate the speaker with my sincerity, and just before the ending of the conclusion, I share with him that fake and sincerity is just one fine thin line. I guess my sincere evaluation has made the speaker come up to me that he has enjoyed my evaluation as well.

It's okay, it's just a small setback. For at least it's an interesting experience and I have the courage to try, isn't it?

I can't see, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist

I was looking at some abstract art paintings from 1900s today. Some of the meanings behind the paintings I can understand but some were too abstract that I can't tell what does the artist is trying to illustrate. Perhaps the artist was trying to hide something but he will still leave some clues behind for the viewer to spot.

"Cubism was a product of sight
New Art forms were derived from nature
Abstract Art was a product of thought
New Art forms were derived from mind & soul
Not a question of style but one's intention."

PS: The painting was painted by Picasso - Girl With Mandolin in cubism form. Cubism is a non objective school of painting and sculpture developed in Paris in the early 20th century, characterized by the reduction and fragmentation of natural forms into abstract, often geometric structures usually rendered as a set of discrete planes.

Now I understand NO ARTWORK is rubbish. Did we really SEE the real intention before we place our judgement down?

"I can't see, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist."

Olympian Spirit

It's once again my favorite sport games of all time. The Beijing Olympics 2008. Eight is an auspicious number in Chinese culture. The event started on 8th August 2008, 8:08pm. The Greatest Olympian of all times, Michael Phelps has achieved his dreams - 8 gold medals!

It is one of the greatest miracles I ever seen. It's very tough to get 1 gold, let alone a person getting 8 gold medals and breaking the world records! I'm amazed by Michael Phelps for achieving so much in pursuiting his dreams!

On the other hand, I have seen a documentary, "Little big dreams". It's about a Chinese 9 year old kid sent to Local Athletic School. His family was poor. Their dream was to make him into an Olympian in future. However, he doesn't have the advantage of a good body for learning gymnastic. He told the reporter that if other kids have to practice 200 stunts, he got to practice 400 stunts. His instructor hits him like mad whenever he makes a mistake but that's part of the tough training. He will throw big temper and crying but he is a kid afterall. His parents felt so sad for their own kid but they have no choice... 7 people have pin all their hopes on him!

They interviewed the instructor. He is not only imparting the skills but he also wanted to teach the kids about life lessons. If the kids cant even endure such pain, he will not be able to achieving anything in future. His instructor's aim is to push every students potential to the fullest.

True enough after going through tough training, they have to go through a test which held every year, to test whether he can make into the Olympic training school. The big dreams and hopes come the family were dashed if their kids did not make it to the school. Fortunately, this perseverance little kid made it and all the pain and sadness seems to disappear....

It's endurance. It's strength. It's pressure... I SALUTE to all athletics for making the impossible possible!!! That's the true spirit of an Olympian!

Food for thought: Jack Neo

I was watching Jack Neo's interview the other day. He talked about his background, his family, his likes and dislikes and how he turned his movie career into fruitful success.

It was amazing that a person without any O level qualification in these days can achieve so much. There was a time, he felt awful about himself when he can't complete his studies. He wanted to prove himself worthy when someone told him that we can never make movies in Singapore. He asked himself, "Why not?"

Qualifications can only bring you so much but eventually it is more important whether we can breakthrough our own thoughts and constantly changing ourselves for the better. I always tell myself that everyone can be an useful person and we have a mission in our life we need to accomplish. We are not successful because we haven't find our niche yet.

When the whole world thinks that it cannot be done but you go and do it. Prove to the world that it can be done. You have changed the perspective of people's mind. Isn't that amazing? Just need an idea trigger....

FOCUS

So many things to do
So little time...

Every hour, Every minute
Every second, every click
Each moment, each step
Approaching death a little closer each time.

Life is a snappy camera
Capturing memories and imagery
Of my happiness, anger, tears and joy

I always ask myself
What do i want in this life?
My future to hold?
What kind of masterpieces do I want to create or
A legacy do I want to leave behind?

So many things in my head
So little time...

I know that time won't wait for me
It's the race against myself and time
I will have to run ahead of time
Or it will control me...

I always hear myself this
I am going to do it tomorrow
next month.
next year.
and never end up doing it...

And when I look back,
Why didn't I do it?
Why did I miss the opportunity?
Why didn't I listen?

What have I learnt from my painful experiences
is to Focus now or regret later...

BEFORE and AFTER marriage

My friend sent me this sarcastic email about before and after marriage. I had a good laugh after reading it because it is true in some ways. I can't deny that some couples just don't value marriage as much as our parents generation. Our generations just have a bad habit of comparing and complaining.

Should we start to ask ourselves what is point of comparing? Does it make us feel good? No, I don't think so. I guess most of the time, when you start comparing, it will make you feel much worse and lousy. Stop comparing and complaining, you will start to enjoy your marriage life.

以前提到結婚，想到「天長地久」；現在提到結婚，想到「能撐多久」。

當初會結婚，說是「看上眼」；後來會離婚，說是「看走眼」。

戀愛時，一見面就「親嘴」；結婚後，一見面就「鬥嘴」。

戀愛時，「情話綿綿」；結婚後，「謊話連連」。

婚前，愛情是「神話」；婚後，愛情是「笑話」。

婚前，男人經常找女人「討論」；婚後，男人只告訴女人「結論」。

婚前，情侶做什麼都是「浪漫」；婚後，夫妻做什麼都是「浪費」。

婚前，「謊話」都是「情話」；婚後，「情話」都是「廢話」。

婚前，男人像「傳令兵」；婚後，男人像「指揮官」。

失戀不見得是世界末日：你的心也許會「泣血」，你的荷包卻可以不再「失血」。

Wedding. Gathering. Outing.

I believe you will notice me that I have been writing this blog not as frequently as compared to the past. Perhaps it a NEW chapter of my life. I have been quite busy with my personal life recently.

Just a quick update:
Buddy's Wedding
I have attended my buddy's wedding on 26th July! Yeah, finally see him going through Holy Matrimony. He is not an ordinary buddy to me. I have known him for 12 whole years since our poly times. I'm really happy for him. Though I'm not a Christian, I believe God will see him through his marriage smoothly as he has strong faith in him.

Very much wanted to take wedding photos for him, but there were 1 main wedding photographer and 2 friend photographers taking photos of the wedding. Although I took 3 pics of his vintage wedding car, I have enjoyed the process of his wedding :)

Farewell Gathering
Another colleague has left my company. Gosh, people are leaving practically every month. I hardly talk to the farewell girl in the past. She always keep to herself, sad looking face, and always find excuses not eating lunch with us! I thought perhaps she is a introvet person.

After she has tendered, she has changed back to her original self. I didn't know she is such a bubbly and fun girl to chat with. Yeah the funny thing is, I didn't know she is so chatty and we clicked well after she has tendered :) Although, ex company has lost a good staff, but I'm glad that I have made a new friend.

We ate our farewell dinner at Timbre. It nice ambience with band performances but lousy services and expensive drinks! But gathering with them for once awhile is FUN :) Because "Network through wonderful United Friendships, we will have FUN."

Bond Outing
As it is a new chapter of my life, I have made new friends within 3 weeks too :) I'm happy that this bunch of new friends are real and friendly people. They love building friendship bonds... They have organised a couple of "friendship" outings at various places, meanwhile can brush up my photography skills :) One stone hit two birds haha

That's all for now haha... Hope the next update wouldn't be too late... :p

World without Technology

Last week, my pc is giving me problems.... slow to react and sometimes I could hear the clicking sound from my harddisk.... I always have problem backing up my stuffs because before I could react on it, my harddisk just die on me. Then few years back, one of my friends gives me a good advice on checking the health of my harddisk. "When you heard some funny sounds from your cpu casing, your harddisk could be going to be burn out really soon".

This time round, I give it no chance, quickly backup my stuffs and format it. Strangely the clicking sound no more exist. I'm still wondering should I buy a NEW hard disk..

Here comes my handphone, I always wanted to put my friends' contacts in my SIM card. After I moved my contacts to SIM card, my handphone just go haywired, give me blank screen and all my contacts are gone... I was feeling panic, off my phone and restart a few times and all the contacts appeared. But all the contacts got jumble up... I had a hard time scrolling through the contacts that i wanted to call.

Thankfully, all problems have been resolved now.

My friend asked me what is the thing that is most important to me. It's obvious. My handphone! It makes me wonder what happens if one day, Im asked to go to a world without technology, will I still able to survive? I think probably I will feel so helpless and lost. I cant imagine myself, losing all the connection with friends...NO Internet, NO online games, NO blogging

But being a human, we have the ability of adjusting ourselves to the new environment. If that day were to come, I think I will have to force myself to do without them. Just like my parents who are trying to learn how to use the technology in the market.

Educate the wrong message?

一字之差，差之毫厘，谬以千里。卓越的传达设计，巧用文字艺术与文化语境，以画龙点睛。
The wrong use of words can be inconsequential or lead to an outrageous misinterpretation of the intended message. Exceptional communication design leverages on clear use of language within a cultural context to point the eyes of the dragon.

I saw this banner outside RED Dot museum. I was a little impressed by the chinese wordings but when i read the translated english language. I nearly fell of my chair...

Whoever did this, just merely translated directly without understanding the true meaning of "画龙点睛". "画龙点睛" means to add the finishing touch to the work. It is not what they have translated as pointing the eyes of the dragon.

I'm sure Design Agency's real intention is trying to educate the public about the wrong use of words can lead to misleading communication and but yet they don't even bother to translate the this whole message properly... isn't this ironic?

Living or sleeping our dreams?

I heard an interesting story about 2 brothers just now. These 2 brothers were staying on 80 stories flat. One day, they forgot about the notice that the lift is having maintenance. The younger brother says they should take the flight of stairs and the big brother agreed happily. At 20th floor, big brother says that they should leave their big baggage down so that they will not be bogged down by the weight of the baggage. They were happily chatting and feel relieved. At the 40th floor, they starts to get tired. Big brother starts to blame younger brother for not looking at the notice and brothers start to quarrel. At the 60th floor, both brothers were too tired to quarrel and they start to quiet down and support one another. Finally reaching the 80th floor where they stay, the brothers realised that the house key was in the baggage!

The morale of the story tells us that it is like a life journey. When we are young, we were filled with our dreams and goals in life. At age of 20, we are positive, full of energy. However, we need to attain a certain credential and status before pursuit of our dreams. At age of 40, we were busy struggling our daily life challenges, forgetting about our dreams and start blaming the society for giving us too many burdens. At age of 60, we are tired and wanted an easy life. Finally, at the age of 80, when we finally have the time to look back... we realised we have left our dreams at the age of 20. It's too late because life is a one-way journey.

Today is a day to ask ourselves... what kind of attitude are we using when we face our life. Are we sleeping on our dreams or living on other people dreams?

Use our Hearts deeply

I watch an interview with the chef on TV. He was asked to present his signature dish. The news anchor ask him what makes him a great chef. He reply was simply 只要用“心”去煮就可以了(Just need to use your heart when you cook).

I know a girl who has great passion in martial arts. When you ask her anything about martial arts, she will rattle on and on and you can see her thrills within her.

I look at myself, do I have passion in doing anything? Yah I do! I like photography and I like to do arts related stuffs, perhaps not as good as others YET. I'm NOT going to give up because I know that when I use my heart deep enough, I can achieve what I wanted.

Start using our hearts deeply :)

Yeppie I'm on LAN Connection!

Yes, I finally on LAN Connection now! No more ID and Password needed to login. Yeppie! Yah I know you guys might be laughing away because LAN is no longer a "in" thing to anyone...

I’m always procrastinating in changing my dial-up to LAN because I was too lazy to get network card, too lazy to install it and too lazy to figure how to configure it. All these excuses, I have made myself "suffer in silence" for almost two years!

Until last week....

I was complaining to Usu that sometimes I need to surf with my laptop, switching the modem around. He was thinkin that it's hassle to do that. Actually, I was quite okay with the switch... But he told me he can help me to get fix it up.

I must say Usu was super efficient, within a day got the wireless mouse, router and network card for my pc, at a very economic price. He fix it up everything less than half a day. I'm really grateful for his enthusiastic help and his precious time to setup everything for me.

After he left, I tried to login with my ID and password. Obviously, it doesn't work anymore cos I'm on LAN now! Silly girl....

Although it still did burn my pocket a little but I feel that its all worth it :) Everything has become so easy. Now I can surf with my pc and laptop at the same time! I know its kinda another silly thought...

Creative with handshakes Imagery

Today I went to page one to do my design research. I saw a book called "Bus stopping". It's about the daily life scenes in Singapore which were taken in the bus. The photos are disturbing... or at least to me because the photos quality is really lousy.

I don't know if that photographer, Stephen Black did it on purpose but most photos are poor composition and some having handshakes! I think some of them used phone camera to take.

I don't know what it takes to be a "creative" designer but his style in taking these photos isn't my cup of tea.

You will be amazed that his book sells at 42 bucks! Oh my Gosh...

Amazing Technology From Japan

These few days, my mouse seems to be faulty and having problem navigating... How I wish we could faster obsolete the mouse with the latest technology in Japan. You won't know what's ahead of you until you have seen at least 4 pictures and read the explanation of what they are. Our future is here. It is so cool and incredible!

Look closely and guess what they could be..


Are they pens with cameras?


Any wild guesses? No clue yet?
Congratulations! You've just looked into the future... yep that's right!
You've just seen something that will replace your PC in the near future.
Here is how it works:


In the revolution of miniature computers, scientists have made great developments with bluetooth technology... This is the forthcoming computers you can carry within your pockets.


This "pen sort of instrument" produces both the monitor as well as the keyboard on any flat surfaces from where you can carry out functions you would normally do on your desktop computer.
   

Anyone can say, "Good-bye laptops!" in our next generation!

Finding 1 minute person

Someone ever said, "It has a minute to fall in love but a lifetime to forget a person."

I share with a friend about the 1 min person, he told me to chase after my happiness. He told me this, "If you dont step in right now, how do you know it wont work? It will be too really late by then and you will live with regrets." I told him sorry I just can't, it's against my conscious. That person knew me all these while and if he wants me bad enough, he would have say something. Afterall, a relationship cannot work on one's wishful thinking, rite?

Maybe some of you might think I'm silly to give up just like that esp both of us have feelings for each other or I'm being honourable enough for not making myself as a 3rd party.

Perhaps I love myself more than others and I don't want to feel a sense of guilt for the rest of my life. Yes, so what if I got my happiness? Is this happiness really belongs to me after all? Nowadays people change hearts like changing clothes. Who knows one day he might blame me for ruining his happiness? I really do not need to be with that person just to get my happiness. By knowing that he is happy, it is good enough for me.

I just need some time to let go of him and continue to find my next 1 minute person.

10 Promises to my dog

This movie is a very meaningful and touching story. At first i thought only dog lovers will like this kind of movie but xiao mei told me is a very sad yet touching show to catch, even guys will cry too. It is indeed it is a very touching movie. I cried at the last scene. Get ready your tissue before your popcorn turns into salty ones.

The 3 dogs (3 different ages of socks) really know how to act lor... even better than the actors! I like the puppy best cos it is so cute and lively :) I never had a dog before. But after watching this show, I wanted to get one for myself in future hehe :) Dog is always our best friend!

Story Plot
12-year old Akari fell in love with a puppy that had wandered into her house and adopted it. She names it "Socks" as its' paws looked like they had white socks on. The girl and dog are inseparable, and the pet was a great comfort to Akari while grieving her mother's death. However, as Akari grows up, her feelings and interest moves away from Socks. Year by year, their distance grows, which also leads to her physical distance as she moves to a far off city, and must leave Socks behind to a childhood friend. One day Akari remembers the 10 promises that she had made to Socks and her mother...

10 Promises to my dog
(The promises are not exactly the same as it was being translated in the movie.)
1. 私と気長につきあってください。
（Give me time to understand what you want of me.）

2. 私を信じてください。それだけで私は幸せです。
（Place your trust in me. It's crucial to my well-being.）

3. 私にも心があることを忘れないでください。
（Be aware that however you treat me I'll never forget it.）

4. 言うことをきかないときは理由があります。
（Before you scold me for being lazy, ask yourself if something might be bothering me.）

5. 私にたくさん話しかけてください。人のことばは話せないけど、わかっています。
（Talk to me sometimes. Even if I don't understand your words, I do understand your voice when it's speaking to me.）

6. 私をたたかないで。本気になったら私のほうが強いことを忘れないで。
（Remember before you hit me, I have teeth that could hurt you, but that I choose not to bite you.）

7. 私が年を取っても、仲良くしてください。
（Take care of me when I get old.）

8. 私は十年くらいしか生きられません。だからできるだけ私と一緒にいてください。
（My life is likely to last 10 to 15 years. Any separation from you will be painful for me.）

9. あなたには学校もあるし友だちもいます。でも私にはあなたしかいません。
（You have your work, your entertainment, and your friends. I have only you.）

10. 私が死ぬとき、お願いです、そばにいてください。どうか覚えていてください、私がずっとあなたを愛していたことを。
（Go with me on difficult journeys. Everything is easier for me if you are there. Remember I love you . . .）

More info about this movie if you know how to read japanese....
http://www.inu10.jp/

There is a fine, fine line

I told a friend that I was going for Hossan Leong's music performance. He says, "He is a gay, you know? I was taken aback by his remarks, so I replied, "What if hes's one, he is funny, witty and talented. You have problem with that?"

I watched him acting from the local TV dramas, up to recent years, he has spend most of the time in musical performances and now doing part time DJs at power 98 with Joe Augustin and Shareen Wong. I feel that he is a talented artist despite he is always on his funny side.

Last sat was his music performance called "The funny piano man", seriously presents by Hossan Leong. It was supposed to have 2 days performance but he increased to 1 more day and the tickets were completely sold out. He has earned his popularity through his hardwork and his funny jokes.

This song was introduced by Hossan Leong at the performance. The written lyrics is quite meaningful and having a pleasant music too. There is always the fine, fine line between our choices. Hossan Leong sang this song with full of emotions and empathy, too bad can find his version in the internet.

There is a fine, fine line Lyrics
There's a fine, fine line between a lover and a friend;
There's a fine, fine line between reality and pretend;
And you never know 'til you reach the top if it was worth the uphill climb.

There's a fine, fine line between love
And a waste of time.

There's a fine, fine line between a fairy tale and a lie;
And there's a fine, fine line between "You're wonderful" and "Goodbye."
I guess if someone doesn't love you back it isn't such a crime,
But there's a fine, fine line between love
And a waste of your time.

And I don't have the time to waste on you anymore.
I don't think that you even know what you're looking for.
For my own sanity, I've got to close the door
And walk away...
Oh...

There's a fine, fine line between together and not
And there's a fine, fine line between what you wanted and what you got.
You gotta go after the things you want while you're still in your prime...

There's a fine, fine line between love
And a waste of time.


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The lyrics was originated from Avenue Q which is a smart new Broadway musical comedy about a charming yet rundown outer-borough neighborhood where both puppets and humans deal with everyday New York challenges.
More about Avenue Q
http://www.avenueq.com/

Mixed feelings

Today is my last day going through the clearance procedure; my mission is to go to 6 different places to get the authorised signatures. I feel funny like I'm having company orientation, which I didn't have when I joined. Now I understand why I didn't need to have one on my first day, because I will be doing it during my last day. A few places I don't even know they exist until today!

I haven't been updating my blog recently because I have been busy with my farewell parties. I'm touched by Mich and Pat efforts in organising farewell parties one after another. esp Pat offers to prepare steamboat at her place, there are so many things need to buy and prepare...

Despite the ridge system and the layback way of thinking in this company, this is the place I felt the warm and friendliness from the people that I worked with. From strangers to good working colleagues and now we have become friends. esp. my Marcom team is so crazy and crappy and fun to work with. Sometimes I can't help but being influence by their craziness.

Whenever I'm leaving a company, it's always the people I will miss. Not that I can't meet them in future, but I no longer able work with such a fun group of people once I leave this place.

I always have sentimental attachments whenever I packed my stuffs. My fav office clock holder broke down out of no good reason... Was it a sign that it's really the time I should move on? My clock has been with me since I came into the office for almost 2 years. Time really flies....

Good memories will always stay with me and leave the bad memories behind. I will definitely miss the people here. I know that these farewells are not goodbyes but see them later... :)

Going forward or moving backwards?

Today I received an email requested me to revamp the whole corporate presentation slides, using the ugly template created by our parent company with immediate effect. According to the dictionary "with immediate effect" means "now!" which means i have to change the entire 70+ slides now!

I was abit shocked as we have been using our own templates created all these while and we agreed to make our slides professional as well as interesting in the design because all of us felt that the preso slides are boring and dull.

With the request from the parent company, all seem to change. The reason is because they want to cut down the ink on printed materials. Now they want to go back where it belongs to the old and dull template.

I still remembered a year ago, they wanted to change the whole corporate preso because they feel that it's dull and boring, lack of colors. It took me a long time going through the painful process of getting the informations and cracking my brain to design the backgrounds and layout of the preso.

The reason of having a creative design for the presentation is to impressed with the clients so that the clients will not feel too bored with the same design over and over and get excited over our products.

Can you imagine yourself looking at nearly 70 slides for the same boring and ugly design template when the contents are already quite dull?

Anyway, my boss agrees with me with the ugly template however she tells me it unnecessary to get so worked up. If there are no changes, there won't be an existance for our jobs. So just do what is being told.

I am thinking loud to myself, perhaps if they stick back to the original dull and boring slides, I wouldn't even be hired here as a designer. Perhaps few months down the road, the co is too bored with the ugly template will change again, right?

It might be a good thing to KISS it. This company seriously don't need a designer.

The List

My colleague, Michelle is very crazy over her relationship now. She recommended me this book "The List" by Mary Corbett and Sheila Corbett Kihne. She keeps telling me, it works, it really works.

Alright, alright, Point noted.... It's my first time reading such relationship book. To me, its quite weird to read such "self help" book esp in relationships. Nevertheless, not harm reading it since Michelle highly recommended it.

It's grabbing statement is "For Single men out there: 30 Days or he's out. Only the strong one will survive!"

In this book, it says there are 7 list items that your Mr Right will do, if not, he will be out! Wow, that's intimating for the guys, isn't it? But then again, if that guy is not, he is not the right one. Why waste more time on him when I have better things to do, rite?

Here are the 7 list items that shows that he wants to marry you.
1) He makes the first move.
2) He calls you within 1-2 days make the first date.
3) He makes the first date fun, easy and relax.
4) He calls you within 1 day for subsequent dates.
5) He wants to talk to you every day and spend all his free time on you.
6) He demonstrates loyalty.
7) He talks about you in his future plans.

After spending one night of brushing through the contents, some of things mention does make sense. It's says "When the guy is not interested at you, don't bother with him and move on with your life. You are wonderful person, that person just can't appreciate you. It's his lost, not yours.

Don't ever use emails for dating: It's too lazy, impersonal and insincere."

However, I don't agree with rule #1 that guys must always make the first move. At this century, it's a fair game that girls can always chase after guys. What happens you notice him first, you have to let him notice u as well, right?

I just take a pinch of salt when I read it. After all, our relationship should build by our minds and lead by our hearts and should not follow a book blindly... But it does send me a reminder that I should get to know more guys hahaha :)

Logo Design Experiment

Whenever I come to see an interesting logo, sometimes it makes me wonder, "Why didn’t I think of that?" It makes me think deeper on how create an effective logo that creates impression.

I did a research on logo design. It says "There are four critical elements that can be seen in every great logo design:

1) It must be describable
2) It must be memorable
3) It must be effective without colour
4) It must be scalable i.e. effective when just an inch in size
Points 1 and 2 go hand in hand, because if you can’t describe what a logo looks like then how will you be able to remember it?

Point 3 is important because colour is secondary to the shape. Adding colour to your logo should be left to the very end of the process, because if the mark doesn’t work in black only, no amount of colour will rescue the design.

Point 4 is vital for things such as office stationery (pens, pin badges etc.). All those little things that people often forget about."

A good opportunity comes along, my friend wants to create an anniversary logo to be printed on the couple t-shirt. You know, girl normally tends to be more "hardworking" in doing little things for their partners. I thought it was a good idea to explore and apply the 4 techniques I have just learnt.

It's very difficult to design something out of nothing. I asked her what kind of logo design she has in mind. At first, she says nothing yet. With some knowledge of logo design, I propose to her simple and classy theme. After awhile, she gave me some ideas on what kinds of logo designs, she would prefer.

Pretty soon, I have inspirations about the kind of design she wants and start to draw some sketches...

Here are my ideas.


The couple initials are W and M. I was thinking of using them as the logo design.
I proposed 3 designs logo 1 to 3. She likes the elegant look but she felt these hearts were too open. I personally felt that Logo 2 is quite classy so I asked her why she didn't like logo 2. She says it's too domineering, she doesn't like him to be overpowered her (another independent woman haha).

Okay, it's alright. Since the logo is too open, I start to think how about interlocking hearts? I proposed the next 3 logos. Logo 4 and logo 6 are interlocking each other. Logo 4 design looks more dynamic. Logo 5 design is W is to embrace M. Logo 6 design top view of interlocking hearts.

Most of the people don't really know what they want, until you give them a few options. She likes logo 4 and 6. Finally, she chooses Logo 4 because that's the first logo that catches her eye.

I go back to my checklist about the effective logo
It must be describable -
Interlocking hearts

It must be memorable -
Intials of W & M. M could be seen as shadow, if use gray tone color. It looks dynamic enough to capture the attention

It must be effective without colour -
Have tried it with black & white

It must be scalable -
The curves are thick enough

Okay I'm done! I can't wait for my logo to be printed on T-shirt hehe. What are your views?

吉祥三宝

My mum introduced me this song few years back. I always wanted to download this song but never have a chance to find it. Until today, Xiao Mei played it on her pc and I got really excited.

I really likes the simple meaning of this song because mongolians cherish their family values deeply, which was reflected in this song. It created a warm feeling and expressed the wonderful affection among family members. It really warms my heart and brightens up my day. I will try to upload this mp3 in here :)

"My three precious" is a ballad by a Mongolian composer, Bu Ren Ba Ya Er. This song was originally composed as a birthday gift to his three-year old daughter. It was written as far as 14 years ago.

This mongolian song was converted into chinese version and is sung by a little girl and her parents. In the lyrics, the littler girl asks her parents what are the Sun, the Moon, the Stars and all other "silly" questions while her parents tell her they are the precious–three-treasure, painting a harmonious picture of life’s basic joys. At the end, the little girl knew not about what the heavenly bodies and the plants are, but when she asks about her family, she knows that it is a precious part of her life.

"My Three Precious" is not a pop music that you will hear on billboard, not a classical music that is worshipped by musicians. However, it is a song that is easy to remember, to sing along the first time one hears it. After all, a great ballad is not measured by how many awards it received, but by number of hearts it touches.

My Three Precious Lyrics

----- Mongolian song 吉祥三宝-----

Daughter: Papa
Dad: Yeah
Daughter: Does the moon go home after the sun’s rising?
Dad: Oh, yep
Daughter: Then where is the sun after stars’ appearing?
Dad: Oh, in the sky
Daughter: But why can’t I find them?
Dad: Oh, they’ve all gone home
Chorus：The sun, the star and the moon, what a happy family they three are!

Daughter：Mama
Mum: Yeah
Daughter: When will the flowers bloom since the leaves are green?
Mum: Oh, in summer
Daughter: Can we pick the fruits since the flowers are red?
Mum: Oh, in autumn
Daughter: Will the seeds bud when they are planted?
Mum: Oh, they will grow
Chorus：The flower, the leaf and the fruit, what a happy family they three are!

Dad & Mum：Honey
Daughter: Yep
Dad & Mum：Papa is like the sun shining on Mama
Daughter: How about Mama
Dad & Mum：Mama is like the leaves holding up the flowers
Daughter: Then me
Dad & Mum：You are just like the budding seed
Daughter: Oh, yep
Chorus: What a happy family we three are!

Breach of trust & professionalism

My friend asked me to help him with his company website because he no longer able to trust the webmaster. He did complain to me about the webmaster a few times before. That webmaster was always trying to smoke his way through. I have seen the website before, it was in a mess, wrong color combination, slow download and weird background sound, basically the webmaster has screwed up the whole website.

I suggest to my friend that he should backup the site before the webmaster tried to be funny. True enough before he could even asked, the webmaster was very unethical to remove the entire website.

I was shocked and disappointed by the webmaster's professionalism. How could he wipe off the entire website just like that? That's not the way to do things.

Why is it once we have breach the trust, professionalism has to suffer? When we are angry, we will have negative thoughts. We should really control our emotions, not to get the negative thoughts into negative actions.

I did ask myself if I were the webmaster. Will I behave in this way? No. I will not. I feel even if the trust is no longer there, professionalism should still uphold. With this kind of bad attitude in work, even he works else where he will have problems working with anyone...

Weddin planning

After stable dating for two years, my girlfriend is finally getting married this year. Congrats :) Happy for her but at the same time I find her amazing loh, having to plan her own wedding, her own house and even her wedding. It's not because she is domineering or she wants to do it her way but rather because her hubby says he doesn't know how to do it and gives her the full rights to go ahead with the plans.

In a relationship, there is no right or wrong, who should be the decision maker. As long as both parties are agreeable to the arrangements and that is fine. For me, I would prefer to discuss and plan together, cos wedding planning should be something fun and interesting. It's planning for you and I.

I felt that it's very draining if there is only one side that is contributing to the marriage. I really, really hope that he will appreciate what she has done for him.

New perspective

I read an interesting perspective today.

"Sometimes great knowledge lies in the discovery of something we did not anticipate, something that enlightens us to a new perspective. Then we are changed and enriched. Real discovery is a stairway that requires our participation and begs us to climb and climb some more..."

This reminds me of learning how to swim. Ever since I had phobia in water, I only dare to swim at the sides of the swimming pool, where I can grab the edge once I feel out of breathe. I have been doing that for years. I never believe that I'm able to overcome my water phobia until one day a friend told me that I could overcome it when I choose to do it.

True enough, I have not only overcome my water phobia and I could swim better that I could imagine. Now, I am always looking forward to swim every week whenever I have the time.

Although swimming is an exercise but its the learning process I have learnt to adapt. When we change our mindset and give ourselves time to learn and develop new skills. There's nothing that we cannot learn.

Ironically, one of my girlfriends is trying to overcome her water phobia too. I encouraged her just like what my friend has done the way it to me. I can tell that she's trying hard... and I encouraged her even more... I tell her don't give up. If I can do it, she can do it as well. Hopefully in no time, she will overcome her phobia just like what I did.

When we have fear and worrying in doing something we thought we are incapable of doing, we will rather not doing it. Hence, we are limiting our own capabilities. Sometimes we just need to have just a little bit of confidence and courage to do it and enlightens us to a new perspective... just like the statement above :)

We are not alone

A young child is taken into the forest by his father. He is blindfolded and left alone. He is required to sit on a stump the whole night and not remove the blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shine through it. He cannot cry out for help to anyone. Once he survives the night, he is a man.

The boy is naturally terrified. He can hear all kinds of noises. He was thinking that maybe all the Wild beasts are around him or maybe some human might do him harm.

The wind blew through the grass, the earth shook his stump but he sat nonchalantly and never attempted to remove his blindfold. It would be the only way he could become a man!

Finally, after a horrifying night, the sun appeared and he removed his blindfold. It was then he discovered his father was sitting on the stump next to him.

The father had been watching and protecting his son from harm throughout the entire night.

Few weeks back, I saw the news that a mother after divorced with her spouse, tried to commit suicide with her son. Unfortunately, her son didn't survive. I felt sad after hearing it. Dying is not even a solution. She will leave her life with regrets, a huge regret that she will never able to forgive herself.

When we faced life challenges / problem, we must always remind oursleves that we are never alone and there is always an alternative.

80s fond memories

You would have remember these things if you are born in 80s:

You grew up watching He-man, MASK, Transformers, Silver Hawk and Mickey Mouse, Ninja turtles, Carebears, Robocop, My Little Pony and Smurfs.

You grew up brushing your teeth with a mug in Primary school during recess time. You would squat by a drain with all your classmates beside you, and brush your teeth with a coloured mug.

You hated or loved the school nurse (she was either pretty or mean).

You know what SBC stands for.

You paid 40 cents for cartons of Chocolate or Strawberry milk every week in class.

Everyone's wallet used to be the velcro type

Your pencil case is hard core type with lots of compartment

It was cool to have pagers in primary school

SBS buses used to be non-airconditioned. The bus seats are made of wood and the cushionwere red. The big red bell gave a loud BEEP! when pressed.

There were still bus tickets and bus conductors would come up to check them.

Envelopes were given to us to donate to Sharity Elephant every Children's Day.

You've probably read Young Generation magazine.You know who's Vinny the little vampire and Acai the constable.

Penpal is a very IN thing during that time.

Writing lines and caning hands were common, esp if you failed chinese spelling (caning was actually allowed. no shit).

You were there when they first introduced the MRT here. You went for the first ride with your parents and you would kneel on the seat to see the scenery.

Movie tickets used to cost only $3.50.

Gals were fascinated by Strawberry Short Cake and Barbie Dolls.

You learn to laugh like The Count in Sesame Street.

You bought tidbits called beebee (20 cents per pack, 10 cents in MGS), and mamee (30 cents), that had a different sticker in it every time.

You carried a lunch box to school but either threw away the food or brought it back home again.

You watched TV2 (also known as Channel 10) cartoons because Channel 5 never had enough cartoons for you.

Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, VC Andrews, The Three Investigators, Famous Five and Secret Seven were probably the thickest story books you thought you would ever read.

KFC used to be a high class restaurant that served food in plates and had metal forks and knives.

Soft drinks are in glass bottles instead of cans.

Catching and pepsi-cola was the IN thing, and twist was the magic word.

Your English workbooks were made of some damn poor quality paper that was smooth and yellow.

You came to school 15 mins before the bell every morning just so you could copy someone's homework.

CDIS was your best friend.

The only computer lessons in school involved funny pixellized characters in 16 colours walking about trying to teach you math.

Waterbottles were slung around your neck and a must everywhere you went.

Boys loved to play soccer with small stones or tennis balls in the basketball court.

Girls played five stones and boys played with marbles.

Science was fun with the Balsam and the Angsana being the most important plants of our lives, guppies and swordtail being the most important fishes.

Who can forget Ahmad, Bala, Sumei and John, immortalized in our minds from school textbooks.

We conducted experiments of our own to get badges for being a Young Zoologist/Botanist etc.

Every Children's day and National day you either got pins or pens with 'Happy Children's Day 1993' or useless plastic files with 'Happy National Day 1994'.

You wore BM2000, BATA, or Pallas shoes.

Your form teacher taught you Maths, Science and English.

You went to school in slippers and a raincoat when it rained, and you find a dry spot in the school to sit down, dry your feet, and wear your dry and warm socks and shoes.

There would be spelling tests and mental sums to do almost everyday (you hated them).

Your friends considered you lucky and rich if your parents gave you $2 or more for pocket mone everyday.

You saw Wee Kim Wee's face in the school hall.

Boys liked catching fighting spiders, earthworms or tadpoles.

Collecting and battling erasers was a pastime for boys.

Class monitors and prefects are known for teachers' pets and they loved to say, "You talk somemore, I write your name ah!"

You got booked for muddy shoes in class.

There were at least 40 people in one class.

You brought every single book to school, even though there was a timetable.

There was a pro-yo/bumblebee, digimon craze at some point in time.

Anyone wants to add in more memories here?

如果

I was listening to this song, like the lyrics and I want to dedicate this song to someone in my heart.

不瞒你说 我真的有想过
从今以后不再跟你有任何联络
不要再试着暗示我
后来你发现什么

不瞒你说 并不特别寂寞
接下来的几个周末节目特别多
偶尔会有人喜欢我
但并不代表什么

现在的我 不缺什么
认真的生活 偶尔会难过
新朋友很多 他们(都)不够了解我
问了太多 我只是微笑的带过

未来的我 没有如果
不相信星座 能预告什么
假设那么多 过去会不会复活 (过去能不能来过)
最好没有如果 (我不相信如果)

不瞒你说 经过几次风波
你不能再从我脸上读出些什么
要适应的事越来越多
改变的不只是我

President's Forum

Every half a year, my Co will have President's Forum. This is the 3rd time, I have attended, which means I have worked in this company more than 1 and the half years. Time really flies...

In President's Forum, my Co president will share with us our achievements, our company directions and his own philosophy. When I first joined this company, I was thinking to myself, why this president talk until so ah beng?

When I get to know him better, he has a warm and friendly personality. He likes to crack jokes. He has a set of basic principles in Business Dealings: 信 义 仁 which means whatever business that we do, we must have Integrity，Commitment and Compassion.

Yesterday, he shared with us this line:

一万军离心，不如百人同心

He shared with us the importance of teamwork. He always try his best to align everyone's mindset together, so that 4000+ of us are heading the same direction as him.

What I always enjoyed is the Q & A session because this is the best time where you can whack any questions and Co President look into the matters. There are always a few jokers coming out with funny questions and asking him for his answers or opinions. Eg some minor complains about the toilets, carpark lots and canteen aunties. Of course, our Co President has never failed to reply them with his humor.

Compared the leadership from the past to our modern days, leadership has evolved from strict and ridge way to a democratic and liberal way of leading the people. Once you have gained strong leadership skills, your people are more than willing to work for you whole heartedly with dedication.

Perception

I went to attend Jill Lowe Image Presentation recently. She asked 3 long hair girls to go up to the stage and just give them a rubberband each. The 1st girl was asked to tie her hair right to the top, the 2nd girl was asked to tie her hair in the middle and the 3rd girl was asked to tie her hair at the bottom.

Which girl do you think looks like cheer leader?
Which girl do you think looks like office girl?
Which girl do you think looks like tsunami victim?

Turns out to be the first girl looks like cheer leader, full of vibrant, the 2nd looks like office girl, just a plain normal girl and the 3rd girl looks like tsunami victim, looks so drained out and weary

And Jill asked them to change the position of rubberband and the 3 girls immediately switch roles.

She said "See, a 20 cents rubberband can change your life." and everyone laughs :)

The morale of the story is image is quite important to a certain extend because it is the first impression that a stranger will receive when he looks at you. Because he doesn't know you, that person will based on the first impression and the way you talk and started to judge you on his perception.

I know it's lame and shallow to judge a person just on image perception. But sadly, most of the time people do that. That's why some people willing to spend thousand of dollars on image makeover or even on face surgery.

When you think back, you can't really blame them because they don't know you yet... So it's our duty to let people get to know us better so that the first bad impression will not become a permanent perception.

Nowadays I try not to form my personal perception until I really get to know that person.