Marley & Me

It’s a life and love of a family to a pain-in-the-ass Labrador retriever. I spent 2 nights to finish the whole book. I laughed a lot on Marley’s mischievous acts and touched by his loyalty and unconditional spilling love towards his master and mistress.

It makes me want to have a Labrador… even though I am afraid of dogs and would be the one that stands outside the gate if there is a dog in the house. I guess it is just pure desire seeing the joy it brings to a family. But I don’t think owning a dog is a wise choice as it is really a life commitment – whether or not it’s a good or the world worst dog.

Like everyone else did, I lol reading Marley’s destructive act during thunder storms… I cried when the doctor put Marley to sleep with John holding him until it’s finally gone. You can almost feel the pain (but not quite), it’s sad.

It’s a good book, whether you are/ or you are not a dog lover.

Memorable Moment

A colleague of mine resigned recently, and now serving her notice. While she was busying backing up all the projects she in-charged of, browsing through all the folders to make sure that everything is there, it was like going back to the past. She emailed a picture she found which was taken 2 years ago, but it feels like it just happened yesterday. The subject of the email is "memorable moment".

This picture was taken during one of the interesting projects that we have done – a beauty summit, and there was so much to talk about; how we spent days cracking ways to meet the budget, how we spent nights planning and preparing for the summit, how our MD stayed up together to re-deco the props, how we set up throughout the day until 5am and all went home to shower and went back for the event at 8.30am (scolded by client because he was expecting us to arrive by 8am), how the heavy rain shaken the marquee and the whole temporary curtain wall collapsed, how we reacted to the crisis without creating any worries to the client and client’s clients… It was tiring and intense, but I must say, we had fun.

Looking back at our journey, I’m so amazed that we have been working so closely that we are more than colleague. The team spirit and the passion on the job are the driving forces that bind us throughout this journey. Some of us already moved on to other roles but we still remain close, even though we seldom meet up.

While there were argument and different opinion during work, the best part is we don’t bring in the emotion after work, i.e. how me and my manager fight over different opinions, how strict I was to my subordinates, but once we were off work, we are just a bunch of silly friends that laugh and make fun of each other. But I guess, in the process, we learn and grow together.

The most unforgettable part of this journey has to be those days when none of us ever went off from work during day light, most of the time, to be able to leave by 11pm is already considered lucky. Else, it might be 1 or 2 am. And it is everyday, not once a while. It was when the other colleagues found that the whole roll of cubicle was still occupied with PC monitor showing lots of numbers in excel sheet, and lots of papers pilling up at a side. It was because every week, we have to rush for reports for various projects that were running concurrently.

A lot of the colleagues in the team left, because of the tedious and fast pace of the account. But for those that are still around, we were not enjoying the 15hours of working everyday, but we just wanted to deliver, at least up to our standard, well… which is pretty high, and we like the fact that we work as a team and achieved the success as a team.

People come people go, but the “good” old time will always bind us together.

Vietnamese Cooking Class

It was the first time I attend cooking class.
Looks simple enough, but there were so many ingredients to prepare.

It’s a show-&-tell cooking class where you just have to sit and watch, but I got a chance to really prepare it guided by the chef.

1^st dish – shrimp salad, it looks easy, but to prepare the sauce is the key. My mum tried out 3 times to get the correct taste after the cooking class.

2^nd dish – beef roll, I volunteered myself to be the chef's assistant to try to make the beef roll myself. She said SURE. Yeah!

3^rd dish – seafood curry, it’s again show and tell, and it’s too hard for me to want to help her. So I just watched and did the food tasting part.

4^th dish – fried spring roll, special request by one of the aunties. We need to mix the ingredients together, and roll with the rice paper. With the Vietnamese Chef from Sheraton Saigon and Malaysia Chef from The Westin KL, I dare not fool around.

Tokyo

The place I never thought I’d be visiting, at least not this year.

Tokyo, how I imagine was what I saw in the Hayao Miyazaki’s animated featured films, even though I have seen in many documentary on how Japanese are leading in the technology. (Well, non-3G phone will not work in Japan, not even blackberry).

I have experienced Tokyo for 4 days, a short trip where I walked the Akasaka Mitsuke, Roppongi, Hasune, Tokyo Eki, Shinjuku Metropolitan Government Buildings, Japanese Shrine, etc. Walking alone in Tokyo at night can be so peaceful and safe even though the streets are busy with working crowd passing by with their black suits and briefcases.

A friend said that Shinjuku during the day is just like New York, except that the people in Shinjuku are Asian and not Mat Salleh. We walked along high court to the national theatre, taking the train to the Metropolitan Government Buildings. The Tokyo city view from the 45th floor shows how organized and well-planned the city is, and how technology has helped to cater to the 12mil people in the city.

The train station, some of them were built for more than 100 years, but their train system are still more advanced than other countries. There are departmental stores, supermarket, restaurants, etc in the train stations. A glance at it, you will think that it is just a shopping mall, not realizing that it is actually a train station. Auntie Hiromi said that this is to cater to the people who want to buy some souvenir before they depart to their destination.

In the short trip, the most unforgettable experience is the sushi. We went to this restaurant where a chef served only us at the bar. Before we start with the sushi, the chef prepared the wasabi. It was the 1st time I saw real wasabi, which is a root of a plant. He rubbed the wasabi onto a board with the surface made of shark's skin, turning the green root into paste. The fresh smell of the wasabi was very impressive.

Every piece of the sushi served was unbelievably fresh and delicious. We started with tuna to abalone, salmon roe, raw shrimp (or i would say.. the tail still moves when i bite the sushi), snapper, squid, Toro, sea urchin, scallop, and well... i just cannot remember all, but IT WAS SO GOOD.

One thing that I should not forget to mention is that, the chef gave me a mini shark's skin

board as a gift before we left the place.. too bad that fresh wasabi is so expensive, else I'll make my own wasabi at home.

Tokyo... I can't say much but just miss the sushi.

忙

最近很忙。
忙什么？
为什么忙？

每天的日子不过就是生活和工作，怎么忙？

忙 是因为每天的工作总是永无止境
忙 是因为想有更多时间和心爱的人在一起
忙 是因为需要分配时间给朋友和家人
忙 是因为想做自己想做的事
忙 是因为想要更多时间

忙 是因为不想见一些人的理由
忙 是因为该做的工作还没完成
忙 是因为把时间放在不该专注的事务上
忙 是因为有比你更重要的事物
忙 是个人的决择 而不是环境的影响


所以，我们是不会不忙的。

Sudoku

知道sudoku是几年前的事，也不晓得这个数字游戏怎么玩，只知道打开报纸一看，就可以看到这由一个大大的3x3四方格，每个四方格里有小小的3x3四方格以及格子里几个数目字。这个数字游戏看来挺复杂，虽然本身也算是个游戏迷，但就是没有什么兴趣。

无意中从手机里的游戏发现sudoku, 在无数次的尝试下，终于掌握了这个游戏的窍门，也因此迷上了这个数字游戏，从此每晚都埋头苦干的对着手机，不甘愿入睡。

在我独自享受sudoku的魅力时，发现除了我以外，爸爸妈妈也开始尝试这个游戏。只是，他们不动间中的窍门，所以都没有成功完成一盘游戏。回想三人坐在客厅，我解释这个游戏的规则及原理，再一步步地，和爸爸一起完成一盘游戏，到今天，他们两老在我每每下班回家时，都会坐在客厅里，各自手握一本sudoku埋头苦干。一向喜欢泡连续剧的爸爸也大量减少了赖在沙发上煲带。

看着他们这么的沉迷这个健康的游戏，也是一件好事，至少他们有老人痴呆症的机率会降低。曾经疑有老人痴呆症症兆的爸爸，也以这个游戏自我锻炼脑子，减少了一个顾虑。
只是没想到，sudoku是这么的令人沉迷，老人痴呆症是没有了，但却有了腰酸背痛，手掌发抖酸痛的征兆。哈!

29

I turned 29 a few days ago. I still remember before my birthday, whenever people asked me my age, I’ll say I’m 28… Well, I guess I’m just trying to stay younger while I still can.

Being 29 is scary to some ladies, as 30 is just around the corner and that marks the end of being “young”, and some ladies start to feel the pressure of still being single.

Last day @28

I’m not sure if I’ll feel the same like others when I turn 30… So, what I’m going to do is to cherish my 29 because next August 18 onwards, my age will start with a 3, instead of a 2.

Will it be scary? Well… err… scared of what? I’ll just be a day older than the previous day, and I bet the new chapter of my life will be even more exciting.

2 cakes for 29... not bad... not bad at all...

为什么女人这么喜欢算命？

很多人不相信，认为一些科学无法解释的事物，如算命，塔罗牌，等等，就等于没有根据... 然而，科学无法证实的，能不能说是人类知识的不足，而不一概否定其中的可能性。

很多人在某种情况之下会去算命，一为失恋，二为失业，三... 没有了。
当人的力量无法除去面前的阻碍，很多人会去算命。可能就因为科学无法解释，更为它披上神秘的面纱。

我常想，为什么我们会相信算命，从一个我们素未谋面的陌生人得知我们的命运？当算命师准确地说出一些不为人知的事情时，那种赤裸裸的感受是我无法用言语可以形容的。

一个朋友告诉我，她又去算命了。
算命师很准确地告诉有关她的感情上的挫折，还说，她目前心属的男人，不是她应该继续拖泥带水的对象，三十四岁时的对象才是她真正的姻缘。

朋友认同算命师的话，可是，之前问的几个算命师也为她解读过她的“命”，告诉她同样的话—别在留恋过去的恋情，还给了她不同的方法去化解她姻缘上的一些障碍。

信则有，不信则无。一些朋友在尊从算命师的劝告后，感情上有明显的改变和进步。然而，这位朋友仍然徘徊在已逝失的感情当中。

她四处找寻高认为她批命，只是希望算命师能证明她和心爱的人未来能长相厮守。我们通常只是想听到自己想听的事物，即使不同的算命师都说，过去的是不会再回来，很多人会选择不听， 然后继续找寻其他的算命师，希望能从中得到一些安慰。

我说，在这样下去，她可以列下她所走访的国内算命师名单，并且推荐最佳人选。然而，她还是会继续地找寻算命师为她批她已知道的事实。

Phuket

I was in Phuket - a place for indulgence.

The impression the island has is not entirely what I expected. The whole island is really developed to be the heaven of tourist, other than the natural breathtaking scenery, the windy sunny weather, the smooth soft sandy bay and the crystal clear water with surfer’s delighted waves, every other things starting from the hotels, tourists spots, to the services by the locals are done to its best effort.

Arrived at night, we went hunting for dinner at 10pm. Most of the restaurants were already closed. While we were desperately searching for food, one of the off-duty hotel staff, which happened to pass by saw us and volunteered to bring us to the nearest restaurant with good Thai food. That was the “first moment of truth” for us – the impressive warmth from the locals.

The morning scenery from the balcony of the suite was simply magnificent – the 700m beach with clear blue water. It was so inviting that I almost forgot that I don’t know how to swim and joined the fun of surfing. With the waves hitting on me and swallowing me, it was scary. The believe that there are so many people there to save me if I drown, and the trust that I was in good hands brought me to slip myself onto the surf board and let the waves pushed me to the shore. It was simply great! This qualifies as the “second moment of truth”.

Thai food, it was so good no matter which restaurant we went, whether it is a small store, or a roadside stall, to a bistro or a pub. We had tom yam kung as and when we can find it in the menu, and none of them disappointed us. With the frequency of having tom yam, this is considered “repeat purchase” in Procter’s term!

Phuket is full of tourist; the number of tourist most probably outnumbered the locals. The scars from the tsunami in 2004 had been left behind… and the tourism industry has once again back to action. Everywhere we went; it was full with farangs – Mat Salleh. Fortunately, we were staying at the south of the island – Nai Harn bay, which is about 30mins away from Patong Beach – THE place where all the “farang”s go, shop and get drunk, it was not as touristy and crowded, thus, it was more relaxing.

This trip to Phuket has a few “first moment of truth”… hopefully; this leads to many more moments of truth.

Lovely Lone Pine

Lone Pine - the 1st and the only boutique hotel along the Ferrengi beach.

For me, it is a place with happy memories, full of love.
PKs gathered for a beach / garden wedding dinner. It was open yet private, small yet lovely.









The breathtaking sunset (you can only blame the camera & the photographer for not doing a good job)

PKs - a group of friends known since lil. It was simply amazing that we are all grown up and that i have one of PKs' son in my arms - Shu Nuo, real cute lil fella.

Chamang Waterfalls

I went to a waterfall over the weekend. It was about an hour drive from the city.

The waterfall is located at Bentong, a place that I only remembered when it comes to durian. After checking with a few friends that I realized it is also a food haven, from curry laksa to wantan mee, tao pok to homemade ice cream.

Well, everyone that knows Bentong, definitely knows Chamang Waterfalls. It is where local spend their weekends at. The day when we went there, it was a blessing that there were not too many people.

Seeing the force of the water rushing downhill, since I don't know how to swim... I know I'll probably drown if I fell into it. Still, I can't reject the clear cold water and so I chilled out beside a small kampung kid who was playing with sands.

I promise myself I will learn to swim and go back to the waterfall again, and this time, I'll join the fun, and not just taking photos of me standing in the water looking up at the sky.

Carpe diem

Someone taught me a phrase in Latin - Carpe diem that means living for the day.

What is living for the day? It sounds so simple to just live everyday, each and every moment to its fullest. Yet, most of the time, it doesn't work this way.

There are moments in life that we just resist to change or move on. Emotionally, it drains us. And we, who were in it, didn't see it. We just hold on to the remaining of the memories and hope that things will get better... or worst, hope for a miracle.

But we were wrong; things won't get better if we don't start living again. To make it right, it starts from within, the inner strength that wants to change, to let go and move on.

Well, it is definitely easier said than done, but with the will to take one step at a time, we might be surprise to see where it leads us to.

That's life, it's full of...... that all we can do is just living for the day!

p/s: 忽然间，我想起了张雨生的一首歌“我期待”...昂首阔步，不留一丝遗憾...对，这曾经是我的座右铭，可是，就是一时忘了。

戏剧与我

星期天去观赏造心厂的演出，发现自己有时还会怀念搞戏剧的日子。

虽然不再热衷于那一段日夜排练直到身心筋疲力尽，同时还要兼顾日间作业的日子，但看到一个个以前的剧团朋友时，那股热诚还是存在的。

搞戏剧的日子，是冲着一股创造一个从无到有，把虚幻转变成那一刻的真实，呈现的是我们那一刻最无烦恼，最不受约束的感受。

现在坐在观众席，看着同一期的团友，还在默默地为心中为艺术的信念，付出了他们的精神，金钱，心血，时间等等，心中除了一丝丝的怀念，还有无数的钦佩。

看着他们，我对自己说，身为造心厂的一分子，我会继续买票支持。

Just Love, Still Love

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

二姨

小时候，妈妈要工作，所以妈妈在上班前，都会把我和姐姐寄放在阿姨家。
大姨照顾姐姐，二姨照顾我。

每天早上，二姨会到路边打包早餐，有云吞面，ban chang kui等等, 还有她喜欢的kopi O. 我就会坐在餐座上吃热腾腾的早餐。

早餐后，二姨和婆婆一起读报纸，把新闻内容翻译成潮州话给婆婆听。现在回想起来，这可真是个了不起的技长。

而我，就会自己玩，在高高的长桌边，用木椅堆积成楼梯，建房子。我常常会招待我虚拟的邻居到屋子里做客。后来大姐生了侄女，我才开始有玩伴。

二姨常常在我们正忙着时，开始准备午餐。我喜欢吃的有很多，可是都记不起了，印象中有用黑酱油煮一种嘴巴尖尖的鱼和loh bak。说真的，也不是特别好吃，可是我就是喜欢。

后来，二姨随着大姐搬迁到北海后，就没有再照顾我了。

小时候常觉得二姨很凶，很严，很会骂人。在婆婆去世后，也不知道从什么时候开始，我开始把二姨当婆婆看待，二姨也会在妈妈带我去北海探望她时，特地煮一些我最喜欢吃的菜肴。

前几年二姨突然中风，在家里楼梯跌倒，还记得我一个人到医院探望她时，看到他无助的躺在病床上，我很想哭。还记得二姨醒来时，问我是否有男朋友，我毫不犹豫地告诉她，有。我知道，她想看到我结婚。

中风后，二姨从此行动不便，疾病缠身，脾气也变得暴躁。除了常会骂大姐外，她还常会骂大姐特地请来的女佣。妈妈说，如果不是病了，二姨绝不会责骂佣人，因为二姨自己以前当过别人的佣人。

工作后，更鲜少回去探望二姨。一年一步过那么一两次。还记得有一年新年，我在电话中告诉她，我会去看她，大姐说她提着凳子坐在亭子里等了我整个早晨。听了后，我觉得很心疼。我握着她的手，发现她的皮肤，开始变得没有弹性了。二姨不但病了，还一天一天老了。

今天放工回家，妈妈说二姨病得很严重，心脏肿胀，肾脏衰歇，脚肿张而行动不便，加上吃不下食物，情况很不乐观。妈妈说，如果这个星期六有没有重要的事情，该回去看看二姨。我没说什么，只是坐在地上，让眼泪随意的流下来。

二姨，你要加油！这样我才可以每个新年都回去看您，和您交换红包。

Scam - My 1st & Hopefully LAST Experience

You will never believe what happened today. I almost became a victim of a scam.

The stuff that we usually read in emails, i.e. snatch theft, phone scam, and what not, most of the time, we either trash them or just ignore them.

Only today, I feel the pain a lil...

I was late for work this morning, and the house phone rang. Normally I will not answer the phone, cos the people I know only call my mobile.

Somehow, I picked up the phone and there was a recorded message from high court informing that I did not attend to the previous hearing thus I need to attend for the 2nd session. For more information, press 9.

The message was recorded in Mandarin. Weird.

A lady answered the phone with a very fluent Mandarin, which is very uncommon. I requested for more details, but she claimed that she needs my name and id to check whose and what charges is it cos she wasn't the one that sent out the voice message.

I was suspicious, but silly me... still provided the details cos the intended might be my family (cos people contact them using this no).

However, upon giving her my info, she reverted that the charges were on me. I knew it was not right, cos if high court wants me to attend to a hearing, they will not call this no!

I asked to speak to officer that can speaks English - so that I can understand better on the charges placed. The lady reluctantly provided a phone no for me to call.

The no given is not a registered no and noone pick up the phone. After checking around, I found on the net that this is a scam that happens recently at many places, that some victims lost thousands of $$$...

I was smart enough that I realised that it was a scam, but was dumb to provide my name and id to them.

Nothing much I can do, except lodging a police report - to protect myself if they use my name and id for something illegal.

Lesson learned:
Read newspaper
Never give your id to anyone until you have verified their identity

Long Lost Cousin

Today I met up with a cousin from US for the 1st time in my life.

The meeting was fun, we talked as though we knew each other for a long time, from the local food to places, the traffic and driving habits, our parents, slblings and relatives that we don't really know, our work, and that we all drink a lil, all in a 5-hour meeting.

Is it because we are all adults that have good socializing skill, talking everything and nothing? Or we are just 2 individuals that are related that can talk about everything and anything?

I think it is latter.

I have been really close to mom's side of the family, and I hardly know the relatives from dad's side. So, this part of the world is always a black hole for me.

Shame on me, I took lil initiative.. ok.. none.. to contact these people. And there was no avenue for it. Thanks to my aunt in HK that always prioritizes the connection in the family who insisted that the young ones should get to know each other.. even though we are a world apart.

So here we are, I finally met one of my many "anonymous" relatives, and I hope that it doesn't end here.

The technology has provided the accessibility, and it is us to blame not to do anything.

I am glad we met.

Crazy about LOVE

Sometimes people do unthinkable stuff when they are desperate. I always believe that people in nature are good. However, sometime in life, at one particular moment or period of time, we somehow find ourselves stuck with problem that seems so big that no other things seem important anymore.

And this, this is the time when we do crazy things... things that you will never consider doing when your mind is functioning... well.

When it comes to love, a decent person can suddenly change to hostile, and this leads to a sequence of actions that... hopefully grab the attention or get the love one back. But sometimes, it just went a lil overboard and then, it has passed the point of no return.

But at that moment, we just couldn't get it straight. Things just have to work as how it should be - just like what we wish for.

Well, we never thought we can be so selfish before, until that moment. Worst of all, we don't even think we were selfish then, it was just a MUST to do whatever we tried to do.

At the end of the day, will the love one returns? Well, that really depends on the degree of damage done.

大道理 - 奉承 vs. 信服

有时很不能理解，为什么有些人总是不能接受批评，
需要周围的人奉承？

或者我因该这么问- 为什么有些人总是不愿面对现实？
是不是因为“对”惯了，字典里没有“错”字？

身边就出现了这么一等人物，使我百番不能理解。
也因如此，对话总是在争吵下收场。

可能是习惯了不会对熟人作假，我坚持表明我的立场。虽然明知事实常都是刺耳的。对于极需被人奉承的，更是无法入耳。但试想想，如果连至亲的人都不能对你说实话，就好比让你自生自灭，好自为之。

妈妈常说，迁就一点，我常想，你情愿活在假象，还是现实？
因为到头来，你不会分辨是非，也不会晓得谁是真正为你好。

可能是年纪大了，或者是社会工作上的磨练，也可能是不向争辩了，争执对我而言是把我的想法告诉对方，而不再是歇斯底里的哭闹乱叫，然后无礼的盖上电话。

然而，我会常常点醒自己，现实可以让你了解周围的人对你的想法，让你从中改进，你可以把“奉承”变成“信服”。

我希望自己不会成为这等号人物。

A Party

I seldom let my heart speaks.

Sometimes the thoughts ran wild in me and there was nowhere to release. So, instead of letting the thoughts running everywhere, I have decided to pen them down somewhere, and it's here...

A party for them where they can celebrate this freedom. This party starts before this blog is created, and it will continue as long as I am still thinking.