Dance The Night Away...

Life's Purpose...?

2009-05-04T22:33:00.000+08:00

Maybe I've too much time on my hands or maybe I'm just bored with studying and needed to think about something other than reserves, pricing, solvency capital requirements etc for a change...

Or maybe I'm at the crossroads of my life where I'm beginning to take stock of my life.

What have I achieved? What do I lack? What do I need to do? What should I do? And most important of all... Am I happy and content with my life?

Difficult questions... for which I don't know the answer.

No boyfriend/ husband/ children... Is that a failure on my part?

At the same time, I also wonder... is it really necessary?!

Sure, the upside of it is that I won't end up alone when I grow old and grey, but who's to say they will still be around then? :) There's always the downside of marrying someone totally wrong and you end up unhappy with your life.

So why are we here... alive on this earth? The idea of evolution really amazes me... How our ancestors were apes who roamed this earth. But have we questioned: Why were they here in the first place?! What was their purpose on this earth? To give birth to the next generation? To do what?

We live our lives day by day... but what do we all ultimately achieve in the end? For those who believe in God and his creation of all life on this earth, I'm sure you have your answers ready. But is that all? Is our purpose just to spread the word of God and gain divine immortality and live our after-lives in heaven? What then?

So many questions... so few answers...

How happy are you - really?

2009-04-25T22:22:00.005+08:00

Saw this article on MSN website.

Do you sometimes feel that your life hasn't turned out the way it should be. And no matter what you do, you're just don't seem to be satisfied with yourself.

Here's a list given on the website on how the author made 10 small changes in her life that made her so much happier now than before. Something worth trying... :)

1. Don't start with profundities. When I began my Happiness Project, I realized pretty quickly that, rather than jumping in with lengthy daily meditation or answering deep questions of self-identity, I should start with the basics, like going to sleep at a decent hour and not letting myself get too hungry. Science backs this up; these two factors have a big impact on happiness.

2. Do let the sun go down on anger. I had always scrupulously aired every irritation as soon as possible, to make sure I vented all bad feelings before bedtime. Studies show, however, that the notion of anger catharsis is poppycock. Expressing anger related to minor, fleeting annoyances just amplifies bad feelings, while not expressing anger often allows it to dissipate.

3. Fake it till you feel it. Feelings follow actions. If I'm feeling low, I deliberately act cheery, and I find myself actually feeling happier. If I'm feeling angry at someone, I do something thoughtful for her and my feelings toward her soften. This strategy is uncannily effective.

4. Realize that anything worth doing is worth doing badly. Challenge and novelty are key elements of happiness. The brain is stimulated by surprise, and successfully dealing with an unexpected situation gives a powerful sense of satisfaction. People who do new things―learn a game, travel to unfamiliar places―are happier than people who stick to familiar activities that they already do well. I often remind myself to "Enjoy the fun of failure" and tackle some daunting goal.

5. Don't treat the blues with a "treat." Often the things I choose as "treats" aren't good for me. The pleasure lasts a minute, but then feelings of guilt and loss of control and other negative consequences deepen the lousiness of the day. While it's easy to think, I'll feel good after I have a few glasses of wine...a pint of ice cream...a cigarette...a new pair of jeans, it's worth pausing to ask whether this will truly make things better.

6. Buy some happiness. Our basic psychological needs include feeling loved, secure, and good at what we do. You also want to have a sense of control. Money doesn't automatically fill these requirements, but it sure can help. I've learned to look for ways to spend money to stay in closer contact with my family and friends; to promote my health; to work more efficiently; to eliminate sources of irritation and marital conflict; to support important causes; and to have enlarging experiences. For example, when my sister got married, I splurged on a better digital camera. It was expensive, but it gave me a lot of happiness.

7. Don't insist on the best. There are two types of decision makers. Satisficers (yes, satisficers) make a decision once their criteria are met. When they find the hotel or the pasta sauce that has the qualities they want, they're satisfied. Maximizers want to make the best possible decision. Even if they see a bicycle or a backpack that meets their requirements, they can't make a decision until they've examined every option. Satisficers tend to be happier than maximizers. Maximizers expend more time and energy reaching decisions, and they're often anxious about their choices. Sometimes good enough is good enough.

8. Exercise to boost energy. I knew, intellectually, that this worked, but how often have I told myself, "I'm just too tired to go to the gym"? Exercise is one of the most dependable mood-boosters. Even a 10-minute walk can brighten my outlook.

9. Stop nagging. I knew my nagging wasn't working particularly well, but I figured that if I stopped, my husband would never do a thing around the house. Wrong. If anything, more work got done. Plus, I got a surprisingly big happiness boost from quitting nagging. I hadn't realized how shrewish and angry I had felt as a result of speaking like that. I replaced nagging with the following persuasive tools: wordless hints (for example, leaving a new lightbulb on the counter); using just one word (saying "Milk!" instead of talking on and on); not insisting that something be done on my schedule; and, most effective of all, doing a task myself. Why did I get to set the assignments?

10. Take action. Some people assume happiness is mostly a matter of inborn temperament: You're born an Eeyore or a Tigger, and that's that. Although it's true that genetics play a big role, about 40 percent of your happiness level is within your control. Taking time to reflect, and making conscious steps to make your life happier, really does work. So use these tips to start your own Happiness Project. I promise it won't take you a whole year.

Mad World - Tears For Fears

2009-04-10T18:16:00.010+08:00

All around me are familiar faces
Worn out places, worn out faces
Bright and early for their daily races
Going nowhere, going nowhere

And their tears are filling up their glasses
No expression, no expression
Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow
No tomorrow, no tomorrow

And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
'Cos I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very, very... Mad World

Children waiting for the day they feel good
Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday
Made to feel the way that every child should
Sit and listen, sit and listen

Went to school and I was very nervous
No one knew me, no one knew me
Hello teacher tell me what's my lesson
Look right through me, look right through me

爱。。。

2009-04-04T21:37:00.003+08:00

... 要两个同样用心的人。

Lyrics from Jacky Cheung's 情书

What did I do today?

2009-04-02T22:19:00.002+08:00

Ever had one of those days where you spent the whole day working hard at the office, and yet at the end of the day, couldn't remember what you actually accomplished that day?

Sigh, been experiencing that quite a lot nowadays... Not a nice feeling at all...

Do you have what it takes?

2009-03-28T15:31:00.001+08:00

Some people are born to do certain things. Musicians are born with a natural talent to sing any tune. Artists are born with the innate ability to paint anything they see. (Granted certain musicians and artists are self-proclaimed and their works of art are appreciated only by a select few. But I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right?)

I truly believe that people with certain types of personality and disposition are born to do a particular field of work.

For example, doctors require an excellent memory and also must have the desire to care for others. (But of course for some, it’s just for the money.)

Lawyers are born to argue. They see things not as black and white, but grey and they relish the opportunity to reason their way towards either end of the spectrum. Ever pointed to a stubborn kid who can talk his way out of anything and said, “Someday he’d make a great lawyer!”

Businessmen & entrepreneurs always think in terms of profit and sales – the quickest way to make a buck. The successful ones are sharp enough to see where the opportunities are and are quick to act upon them. And they have to be pretty shrewd and street smart too, otherwise they’d end up losing more money than not.

Thus my observation stands: That if you want to be successful in something, you must be born with the ability or the character suitable for that particular field. I’m not saying that if you’re born with the ability, you will definitely succeed. But it is a significant step towards that. The remainder would be the hard work and sweat that you put in, and to overcome any obstacles along the way.

So what about you? Does your personality suit your job?

I’m starting to wonder whether mine does…

13 Things I should've done when I was younger...

2009-03-26T00:01:00.000+08:00

Learnt to dance professionally!! :P
Continued with ballet lessons when I was in primary school
Continued with tennis training in secondary school
Be more assertive when I was in secondary school. I was quite a push-over when I was younger. Still one now, but much better than before!!
Spent more time to get to know my grandfather before he passed away
Talked to my parents more (which I shall do more from now on!!)
Completed my Grade 8 piano exam
Concentrated more on my actuarial exams early on in my career (then I would've finished them by now! Sigh...)
Learnt to play the violin
Learnt Spanish
Saved more money when I was working in KL
Learnt to use my money more wisely, like investing to grow whatever little wealth I had.
Dated more... :)

It's been awhile...

2009-03-21T13:04:00.002+08:00

Wow, has it been 4 months since I last posted an article? Time really flies... So many things have happened over the past few months. Babies born, exam results out (bad), another new year began, CNY, weddings, learning new dances, management changes in the company, recession... too many to recount in detail so let's just leave those in the past.

Of course I can't neglect to mention the birth of someone very special... my little niece Caitlin!! :) She's the most adorable little girl and the apple of my family's eye!! We all have a new darling in our midst! :P

There's a new craze on the internet called Twitter. It's a cross between chat and blogging where you can post a sentence or two about your current thoughts & comments about anything without having to go into a lengthy 'essay'. I guess I can do that here as well... so I'm not gonna sign up. So from now on, don't be surprise if I get lazy and start posting single-sentence comments or a post with a title but no content... ;)

So what's everyone been up to, I wonder?

Missing some of my friends & family back in KL... I miss those times when we used to hang out on weekends - watching movies, having dinners, playing badminton. treasure-hunting etc. Things are different here without those friends around. I sure feel it more acutely these days... I wonder why... Wonder if they miss me too... Is the 'itch' starting again? Hmm...

Happy Halloween to Everyone!

2008-10-31T23:59:00.000+08:00

Well, personally I have never celebrated this (mostly) American holiday. But seen many movies / tv shows which shows how the Americans celebrate it... where people dress up in costumes, have gory-themed parties, and kids go trick-or-treating... It's just another way to bring the family together, I think. And I think it's sounds like a grand tradition. :)

Here's a funny email I received. It shows what happens when a pumpkin starts drinking...
Hahahahaha...........

Singapore Da:ns Festival 2008

2008-10-16T23:00:00.003+08:00

I assure you I did not spell "Da:ns" wrong... :P But it does mean a 'dance' festival. :) It's main acts are from the Netherlands (not Never-neverland, as Joey thinks! Hehe...).

I've bought tickets to go see a contemporary dance this Saturday... can't wait to see if it's all the synopsis hyped it up to be. :)

I found a new favourite author!

2008-10-12T18:41:00.002+08:00

I've started reading storybooks again, and my favourite is still the chick lit genre. My favourite chick lit author so far is Marian Keyes, closely followed by Cecelia Ahern and Sophie Kinsella (not her Shopaholic series though!! I totally do not get the main character's pysch so never got past the first chapter of her first book).

Now I have found another author to read! Her name is Robyn Sisman. Even back in NZ, I've already seen her books, borrowed them a couple of times, but never actually read them before returning them to the library. 3 weeks ago, I borrowed one of her books (Perfect Strangers) right after my exam was over, and just finished yesterday. It was really enjoyable, easy to read, and laugh out loud funny at certain parts!

I just borrowed another 2 of her books, and can't wait to get started on them! :)

Great Eastern Dinner & Dance 2008 (4 Oct 2008)

2008-10-05T21:55:00.004+08:00

Great Eastern's Dinner & Dance 2008 was held on 4 October. Many many months of hard work has gone into it, to make this event a spectacular and memorable one. It was all the more important because this is the year that GE is celebrating its 100th anniversary. That's a really long history and not an easy one to achieve. :)

But this D&D will be unforgettable for me because I am performing in it. :) My friends and I got together to come up with a grand opening dance act as well as a competition dance for the talent show segment. For the opening act, we combined Elva Hsiao's 爱的主打歌 and Janet Jackson's Feedback. For the competition act, we used Lee Hyori's Toc Toc Toc.

It all started off in late July, when we first got together to start practising for the opening act with only Feedback. But the music was only 1 m 15 s long, and we thought it was way too short to make any significant impact on the audience. So we decided to add another song to it, and started to use Hyori's music. For Hyori, we basically looked up YouTube and copied the dance steps from her music videos and live stage performances!!! It was really challenging and most of the hardwork was done by my friend where she had to learn the steps from the videos available online! All I had to do was to learn the steps. :P Though, I did do the 'DJ-ing' by cutting and piecing the music together. :)

We practiced at least 1-2 times a week just to get our moves right and to make sure that we were synchronised. We then showed our dance to the HR director for his 'approval' around end August, and I think he was (very) impressed. :) He suggested that we join the dance competition that they intend to hold as part of the evening's entertainment. The talent competition was to be called "Then A Staff... Now A Star!". :P

So work began on finding a suitable piece of music for the competition. We then decided that we should use Hyori for the competition and leave Feedback for the opening act. For one, the Hyori dance is much more provocative and would probably help garner more votes... ;) [Yes, the competition results are based on 50% SMS votes and 50% on judges. Hehe... something like So You Think You Can Dance or American Idol huh? ;P]

Another month of serious practice began and it was challenging to balance dance practice with studying for the actuarial exams. On top of that, we decided to beef up the opening act with another piece of music which involves some singing and background dancers (ie Elva's song). We basically did that in the final 2 weeks leading up to the D&D!! Those 2 weeks were intense as we decided to get 2 other guys to join us! Luckily exams were over by then. :P

Finally we were in the last week before the D&D. We had 2 full dress rehearsals in that week and that was really exhausting. There were 6 singing acts and 5 dance acts for the competition. (I was amazed at the response for the talent contest! The level of gung-ho-ness and enthusiasm showed by the GE staff was overwhelming. It was really great to see how involved and sporting the staff are. It was really really inspiring...) By the end of the second rehearsal, I was so tired and sick of the dance that I just wanted it to be over and done with!! I've been practising these dances for more than 2 months already (especially Feedback!), so much so that I could literally do it in my sleep!!

And then the morning of the D&D arrived... We were there by 10:30am for last round of rehearsals as this was the first time we've seen the stage. Some last minute changes had to be made coz the stage was smaller than we expected. But that didn't really bother us much. Rehearsals ran on till around 2:30pm (damn tired by then!!) and off we went to one of the reserved hotel rooms to rest a little and also to start preparing for the night. As we were in the opening act, we had to be ready for the event by 5pm at the ballroom. That didn't leave us much time to rest at all!! The few hours we had were spent taking shower, getting into our costumes and putting on our make-up!!! Hahaha...

Now I know how tiring those talent show contestants feel! And I would do it again in a heart beat. :)

The event finally began around 6:45pm. I was really nervous, as usual. No matter how many times I've been on stage, the nerves never go away. We did our opening act (Elva + Feedback)... and I must say, it was an absolute hit (especially when we removed our jackets at the end of Elva's song and started on Feedback... hehe...)!!! :P

We then had some time to rest and enjoy our dinner before we had to get ready for the competition at around 8:30pm. So it was good that I at least got to enjoy the D&D and was not just pre-occupied with the performance. :)

But by 9pm, we were itching to get on with our performance. :) By then, I was no longer nervous, and was just excited and couldn't wait to get on stage to do our stuff!!! It was really amazing the moment we got on stage when the audience started to cheer and clap! I was overwhelmed coz I didn't realise we had so many supporters!!! (Hmm... maybe it was our sexy costume... :P) The music started, and we did our very best, and I must say, it was the best performance we've ever done! When I reviewed our performance on the camera recording, we were really giving it our all and we were so 'together'!! Haha...

Towards the end of the evening, all the contestants were called to the stage for the announcement of the competition results. When it came to the dance segment, we nervously awaited the results. We thought we definitely did well enough to win, but was not sure how the SMS voting would go. As we all know, SMS voting is a popularity vote and the other teams may have many loyal supporters regardless of the quality of the performance. But as it turned out... we had nothing to worry about, as we were pronounced the WINNER!! YEAH!!! We were sooooo ecstatic!!!! :D (The winning group gets $1k, by the way! Hahaha...)

All in all, it was a most fantastic night! :) It'll definitely be a night I will remember for life! (And if my memory fails me, I'll have the videos and photos to remember it by! :P)

I can't wait for next year's D&D and to do it all over again! ;)

中秋节快乐!

2008-09-14T23:55:00.002+08:00

一个人过的中秋节... 好寂寞。
真想念过去的日子，跟家人一起吃月饼，玩灯笼... 多么开心和幸福。
疵疵的等待着十月未的到来, 就能和妹妹爸爸团圆... :)

Leona Lewis... from UK's X-factor

2008-04-24T23:40:00.002+08:00

This girl is damn good!! She sang at yesterday's American Idol results show, and she's got the most excellent voice. Read on Wikipedia that it was this song on X-factor that turned her into a superstar... and she really really nailed it! Have a listen:

Quirky Singapore - An Introduction

2008-04-06T01:40:00.003+08:00

I've decided that I shall start jotting down all the little things about Singapore... interesting information about events, culture, food, shopping etc... coz in the past 6 months that I've been here, there are definitely some quirky stuff that I've discovered here. :)

So stay tuned...

Giant Sudoku!

2008-04-05T23:45:00.001+08:00

For all sudoku lovers...

I got this from an overseas newspaper some time back. Took me ages to finish it because I kept making mistakes and getting stuck! But I did eventually finish it, and I'd herald it as one of my greatest achievements! (Haha... ok, I'm easily satisfied. :D )

Have a go if you're game. ;)

How to stop your boss from reading your personal email...

2008-03-29T01:38:00.003+08:00

Hahaha.... when I saw this at work, I really couldn't stop myself from laughing out loud! Hahaha... It's soooo funny!! :P

How fast do you type? - My best score so far!

2008-03-24T11:09:00.002+08:00

This is my best result so far, so I gotta post it... Hehe... Will keep trying until my score improves! :)

76 words

Speed test

ASUS Eec PC 8G - My latest obsession! :P

2008-03-24T00:04:00.007+08:00

I saw it at Courts today. I HAVE TO GET IT!! :D

Here's the official website of ASUS (link)... check out the Quick Guide. It's so small! And it fits my criteria for internet surfing, instant messaging, watching videos, listening to music. And it's light-weight (less than 1kg!!) and it's SOOOO cute! :P

Here's also a YouTube video which introduces the mini-laptop. Let me know what you think. :)

"Claypot" Yee Mee

2008-03-23T21:40:00.004+08:00

I might be able to give German Pub (Menara Haw Par, Kuala Lumpur) a run for their money! Hehe... Without the claypot, of course it's a little different, but tastes pretty good. :P

Bulgarian Idol - Mariah Carey's Ken Lee

2008-03-22T00:44:00.006+08:00

Bet you haven't heard this version before. :P

Bachata video... from En La Pasion 2008

2008-03-22T00:30:00.003+08:00

My friend just told me how to insert a video... so here it is! :P

Baked salmon & pasta... Yummy!!

2008-03-21T22:16:00.002+08:00

Yes!! Another dinner I made myself!! :P Ok, first try and I think the salmon was a little over-cooked. Mustn't leave it in the oven too long. 10 min should do it. The presentation looks good too, don't you think? ;) Aren't you feeling a little hungry now? :P

How fast do you type?

2008-03-18T22:01:00.003+08:00

Try out this test to see how fast you type. http://speedtest.10-fast-fingers.com/

I thought my typing speed was not bad, but just realised that it actually isn't!! Boo-hoo! :P

Give up your seat to those who need it more...

2008-03-18T00:30:00.002+08:00

Today I got on the MRT at Raffles Place to head home. As usual, the office crowd was all heading home and the train was pretty packed. At City Hall, which was just a stop away, more people crowded into the train. And in walks a pregnant lady. She must be at least 6-7 months pregnant, and to me is definitely classified as one who needs a seat on the train. So she squeezes her way towards the center of the train... close to the seats, hoping that someone would give up their seat for her.

Unfortunately for her, nobody budged. As I looked to those people sitting in front of her, I wondered. Maybe they thought that they deserved the seat more than she. Admittedly, the people seated were not youngsters. Yet they were not that old either.

Sitting right in front of the pregnant lady was a man who must be in his mid-forties, chatting away on his phone with a big backpack. Maybe he thought he was carrying a backpack, so needed the seat? After he put down his handphone, he turned away to look out the train window and chose to ignore the pregnant lady standing in front of him. How rude!

Then next to him was a working class man, possibly also in his forties. He was probably tired from working all day and thought, "I deserved to relax on my way home, so I won't get up. Someone else will probably give up their seat for her anyway." How inconsiderate!!

Then further down next to the working class man, who started to close his eyes and try to sleep, was another lady in her forties, with her eyes closed and sleeping (or at least pretending to). Ya right...

No one batted an eye. Only the ones who were standing around the pregnant lady were concerned for her... waiting for someone to do the right thing. But no one did.

A lot of people complain that it's the youngsters who neglect courtesy and do not give up their seat when the occasion calls for it. But I'd like to prove them wrong. More often than not, I see teenagers and young working adults who are the courteous ones, who willingly get up to let an elderly or pregnant lady have their seat. Is it because we're supposed to be young and strong enough to be able to withstand the MRT journey on our feet more than our relatively older counterparts? Are those in their 40's considered 'old enough' to be considered one of those who "need it more"?

The poor pregnant lady had to stand for 10 stops before the 'sleeping lady' got off the train at Ang Mo Kio. Sigh...

En La Pasion 2008 - Bachata Competition @ Upper Club

2008-03-16T21:56:00.000+08:00

I don't know how to insert a video on here, but I really really wanna show you guys the video of the winners of the Bachata Competition I watched on Saturday night. It was EXCELLENT! Oh my gosh, if you see that chick move, guys will salivate and girls will wish they can shake like that... You have to click on this link and watch it!!

Man walks through table??

2008-03-12T01:04:00.003+08:00

Quite amazing! See if you can catch the 'trick'... :) [Click Here]

Mosaic Music Festival Singapore @ The Esplanade

2008-03-08T23:35:00.001+08:00

The Esplanade is currently hosting the Mosaic Music Festival where for 2 whole weeks there'll be lots of foreign acts who are in Singapore to show off their music. The music on display ranges from Indie, Rap, Hip-hop, Jazz, Funk and many many many others.

I wasn't actually aware that is was on! Fortunately for me, I stumbled across it as I went to the Esplanade Library to study, and at the Singapore Arts Cafe (inside the Esplanade Library), they were having some showcases. I heard them singing and walked into the Cafe to take a look. And that's where I heard Andrea Hamilton sing.

She's from California, USA and she's only 23. Her songs are self-composed and lyrical. More of an Indie feel to it. It's lyrics are about everyday experiences (mostly her own, I think), emotional and mostly about love and life... it's ups and downs... the disappointments, and also about finding your way in the world. And her voice is a little husky and quite clear and brilliant. She sure can hit those high notes. I'm sure she can give those American Idol contestants a run for their money. :)

Anyway, here's her website http://www.myspace.com/andreahamiltonmusic where you can actually check out her music. I especially like "It'll Be Alright" and "Only Love". Hope you love it as much as I do. :)

Here's the EP CD that I bought after her performance, and it's autographed! Hehe...

Celebrating with our new talents!

2008-03-07T20:39:00.003+08:00

Can you spot me? :)

Gonna be a bear!

2008-03-06T00:11:00.002+08:00

In this life, I'm a woman.
In my next life, I'd like to come back as a bear.
When you're a bear, you get to hibernate. You do nothing but sleep for 6 months. I could deal with that.

Before you hibernate, you're supposed to eat yourself stupid. I could deal with that too.

When you're a girl bear, you birth your children (who are the size of walnuts) while you're sleeping and wake to partially grown cute, cuddly cubs. I could definitely deal with that.

If you're a mama bear, everyone knows you mean business. You swat anyone who bothers your cubs. If your cubs get out of line, you swat them too. I could deal with that.

If you're a bear, your mate EXPECTS you to wake up growling. He EXPECTS that you will have hairy legs and excess body fat!

Yup, gonna be a bear!!

Yummy healthy dinner! (And yes, I made it all by myself!)

2008-03-04T22:19:00.005+08:00

It's been a long time since I made a pasta-bake dish. And since I've recently resolved to eat more vegetables, and cut down on meat, I decided to make a Baked Vegetable Pasta dish. :) And voila...! The dish you see above is the result!!

In the dish, I've put brinjal, broccoli, carrots and mushrooms. Healthy huh? ;) The brinjal and mushrooms were first grilled in the oven with olive oil. Broccoli, carrots and a little bit of linguini were boiled with hot water & a pinch of salt. Finally, it all comes together in the baking tray, layered with Prego's pre-bottled pasta sauce, topped off with mozzarella cheese. Yummy! :P It took me almost an hour and a half to cook it (preparation + cooking time), but it was well worth the effort!

*BURP* My stomach is still bloated from it! So much for trying to lose weight by eating less carbs and meat! :D

Happy Birthday Alexander Graham Bell!

2008-03-03T22:51:00.003+08:00

Everyone should be celebrating the birth of this remarkable man, coz without him, we wouldn't be able to communicate with each other as easily as we do today! Even kindergarten kids have a mobile phone now! Crazy!

And so creative of Google to create these icons! I'm sure during the Beijing Olympics they will have another series. Can't wait to see them! :P

More about Alexander Graham Bell: He was born on 3 March 1847. And invented the telephone (duh!) around 1876, for which we will forever be grateful! :) He and his family also made a lot of contributions towards helping the hearing-impaired.

Riding the MRT... the decision-making process

2008-03-02T22:38:00.003+08:00

Everyday when I ride the MRT, I actually have to make several 'important' decisions. I'm not kidding! (Ok, maybe only I think of these things, but they do make a difference! :P) It's kinda like betting, even though there's no money involved. What you do 'lose' is the extra energy that would have be expelled from either walking / standing longer than is probably necessary. :P

Ok, here's what I'm talking about:

First of all, when you go to the MRT platform, you need to decide - which section of the platform should I stand at to board the train? The front of the train, middle section of the train, or towards the end of the train? This decision will require an assessment of several factors:

Which MRT station(s) did the train just come from? - This will kinda influence how empty the various compartments of the train would be, and will determine whether you actually have a chance to even board the train!
Which MRT station are you alighting at? - You wanna be strategically located at your destination station so that when you get out of the train, the escalator to the exit should be right in front of you! :P
Is the door of that particular compartment positioned in the middle of the compartment? - This is so that you have more chance of accessing an empty seat. For example, if you enter at the door that is near the end of the compartment, one side would be the connector of the compartments and will have only 4 available seats. As opposed to entering in the middle of that compartment, you'll have more options to your left AND right. ;)

Now, assuming you've chosen which door to enter the train. As the train comes to a stop, you notice that both sides of the door you are about to enter have empty seats. Great! OK, the second decision you have to make is: Should you go left or go right? You look around and assess the people around you. You look to the OTHER compartment doors and assess the people there: Will they be heading to those same seats you are targeting? You would probably want to choose the direction that you think least people would head towards so that (hopefully) those empty seats will still be unoccupied by the time you reach it! :D (Ok, some of you are probably shaking your head at me right now... but bear with me. The 'torture' will end soon. :P )

And suppose the 'worst' has happened: You do not find a seat. No problem at all. But now you're required to make ANOTHER decision: Where should you stand? You may think that this is ridiculous, but this is actually the difficult part, as you need to gather all your past experiences and intuition, and of course with (a lot of) luck, to assess the people who are currently seated. Assess their clothing (work clothes, school uniform, housewives?) , what they are carrying etc, and try to guess whether they are going to alight soon... you want to be standing in front of these people so that you can take over their seat when they stand up and leave the train. :)

Ok, so this 'decision-making process' is not an exact science, and most of the time it's just pure luck. But it's something I thought is quite interesting (and funny!) and wanted to share. :P I'm sure everyone does it to a certain extent! Well, I know I do... :P

Goal in life...

2008-02-20T17:27:00.001+08:00

So... anyone wanna give an insight on how one goes about setting a goal in life? What constitutes a 'goal'? Something material? Something intangible? Spiritual? Something related to your career or personal life? About how much money you should be making by the time you're 40? That you are married and have 2 kids by the time you're 35?

And how far ahead should this goal be? 5 years? 10 years? 50 years?

Does everyone already know what their goal is? Or are there many people out there still searching for their meaning in life? And if you are, does that mean you're a failure or normal?

It can't be enough to just work day-in-day-out, making lots of money, to buy lots of expensive stuff... What's the point in that? You can't take it with you when you pass on. So what IS important in life? And what if that important thing is passing us by, and we can't seem to grasp it until it's too late?

Flowers...

2008-02-19T23:00:00.003+08:00

It's been awhile...

2008-02-19T22:49:00.002+08:00

Ya, it's been awhile since I've been here... not because I didn't want to, but somehow I felt like I didn't have much to write about. Well, other than the long-awaited move to S'pore, looking for a decent and reasonable apartment to live in, getting used to the new job... there isn't really much going on in my life. (Haha... ok, everything I just mentioned above does qualify for a blogpost on its own! :P)

Well, that was really a quick update on what I've been up to the past 3 months. :P

So, I guess I should get off my lazy ass and start blogging again! Stay tuned! :)

Someone for everyone...

2007-11-05T22:12:00.000+08:00

From Pat Brady's Rose Is Rose comic "Running On Alter Ego". Love his drawing, and the theme of his comic! :) [The unofficial website - link]

Tonto & The Lone Ranger

2007-11-01T00:57:00.000+08:00

The Lone Ranger and Tonto went camping in the desert. After they got their tent all set up, both men fell sound asleep. Some hours later, Tonto wakes the Lone Ranger and says, "Kemo Sabe, look towards sky, what you see? "

"The Lone Ranger replies, "I see millions of stars."

"What that tell you?" asked Tonto.

The Lone Ranger ponders for a minute then says,
"Astronomically speaking, it tells me there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets.
Astrologically , it tells me that Saturn is in Leo.
Time wise, it appears to be approximately a quarter past three in the morning.
Theologically, the Lord is all-powerful and we are small and insignificant.
Meteorologically, it seems we will have a beautiful day tomorrow.
What's it tell you, Tonto?"

"You dumber than buffalo sh** . It means someone stole the tent!"

David Copperfield Show - CANCELLED!

2007-10-24T01:30:00.000+08:00

Aaaaahhhhhhhh..... I'm so sad!!! I can't believe the show has been cancelled!! (link) :(

There are two seemingly isolated incidents that could have caused its cancellation:

The FBI are investigating some items they found in David Copperfield's Las Vegas storage (link), or
He's been accused of sexual assault (link)

Either way, the fact remains that I'm not gonna be able to see him live in action. Sigh... I so should've caught him in Vegas the last time. :( Ah well, just hope he comes by this part of the world again, coz I don't think I'll be heading over to Vegas again anytime soon.

As my friend said, he's so good that he did a disappearing act even BEFORE he does his performance!! Hahaha... Hilarious parody, but true... :P

Great Eastern Women's 10km Run

2007-10-22T22:36:00.000+08:00

It was early on a Sunday morning... *yawn*... and I dragged myself out of bed, coz I wanted to go check out the Great Eastern Women 10km Run. Why? you would ask. Haha... Thing is, I'm not even running in it. Hahaha.... Oh well, let's just say I was a little crazy and just wanted to go and check out the atmosphere. :)

So, by 7:30am, I was walking to the bus stop to take the 35min bus ride towards the Padang near City Hall MRT station. I got there ard 8:20am, and already I saw runners on their way to the finishing line! Wow... these are the 10km runners! They started around 7:45am, and already they are back. Amazing. I think if I went, I'd probably still be half-way... WALKING! :P

It was pretty amazing... there were SO many women who actually participated. So healthy! Some were really serious runners. They had their stop-watches to time their run. Others took it as a healthy Sunday morning exercise. Most were running with their MP3/iPods. Really quite fascinating. I actually did wish I was one of the runners. Well, don't think I'd make it running all 10km, but I should be able to do at least 3km run here and there, but walk the rest of the way. That's good enough for me!! :P

I'll definitely try to make it to next year's run. :) It's all for the spirit of participation. Doesn't matter if you get there first or last. :)

Even Great Eastern Malaysia sent a contingent of 27 all the way to S'pore to join!! :)

Kimi Raikkonen is the new F1 Champion!

2007-10-22T08:48:00.000+08:00

It was 1:10am and I was planning to hit the sheets already, but couldn't tahan! Just had to see the ending of the last race of the season. Since it was to be an epic finale to a controversial season, where 3 drivers were in contention for the F1 crown. It could have easily gone either one's way. One engine failure, would've given anyone of the three the coveted prize. If Alonso won, it would've been his third championship. If Kimi won, it would've been his very first, and if it was to go Hamilton's way, he would go in history as the youngest driver as well as the only rookie to win in his first F1 race! So I was rooting for Hamilton actually. But of course, since my sis is a Kimi fan, I hoped Kimi would win too.

Well, it was well worth staying up till 1:45am till the end. In the last 15 laps, Kimi was leading, with Alonso in third. Hamilton had a gearbox failure near the start of the race which caused him to drop back to about 8 placing. With that positioning, Kimi was leading the championship race by just 1 point (in front of Alonso). But anything could still happen. All Hamilton had to do was get up to 6th position, and he'd win the championship. The commentators were saying, as long as one of the cars in front of him breaks down, he'll win. So it was a pretty tense 15 laps. Exciting! :P

But it was Kimi's day. He won!!! :D Congrats May! You must be damn happy! Hehe... :P

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2007/10/7020.html

Singapore's new fleet of A380

2007-10-20T12:29:00.000+08:00

Gosh, I just checked out the website for the new A380 fleet, and it's gorgeous. Especially the Business Class and the Suite. Not that I can afford to fly on those classes anytime soon... but it's nice to admire them nonetheless. :P

The economy doesn't look as comfy though. The backs of the seats looks a little thin... so there can't be too much cushion support. Looks a little flimsy to me. The new LCD screens look great though. :D

Do check it out here. Anyone up for a trip to Sydney? :) I wonder how much it'd cost...

My first S'pore paycheck...

2007-10-20T11:31:00.001+08:00

Yeah! I got my first S'pore paycheck yesterday. I'm SGD rich! Haha.... Well, not that rich la, but at least there's a little bit more money in my bank now. :) What am I going to do with it? I'm going to shop. :) Probably check out the shops and see if I can get a nice dress for my sister's wedding. Maybe Daniel Yam again? Hopefully can find something decent this weekend.

And probably go buy myself a nice durian pancake to eat. Hehe... :)

Disappearing act...

2007-10-20T11:00:00.000+08:00

It's just like magic... now you see it, now you don't! :) And no, I'm not talking about David Copperfield's upcoming show (though since I mentioned it, I'll just add here that... I'm going to watch him perform on 3 Nov in S'pore!! Woohoo!! Can't wait!).

What I'm talking about are guys who disappear. One day they are there, and the next thing you know it's as if they've dropped off the face of the earth! I mean, what the hell is that?!? I know, it's man's subtle way of telling you they've lost interest, that they're moving on with their lives and so should you, and to stop bothering them. Ok, I get that. I sincerely do. It happens. It's never happened to me this way before (obviously!)... but I've heard it happens. [OK... scrap that... after thinking a little more about it, it DID happen to me before back in KL. Alamak... how could I have forgotten that???]

But is this really the only way to do it? I mean, there MUST be a more diplomatic way to go about it. By disappearing like that, they are ruining any possible friendship. Am I supposed to just assume nothing happened? I mean, it's not as if we're dating or anything. So, you find that we're not compatible. So what? Can still be friends, right? I mean, I'm not that thick-skinned not to know when something is not working out. We're hardly teenagers anymore and I don't think we need to play these sort of games. Sigh... it's just weird. It feels like the rug has been pulled from under me. I'm sitting on my bum on the floor, bewildered... asking "what the hell just happened?"

But I definitely won't let this ruin my S'pore experience. Everything happens for a reason. I'm sure there's a good reason behind it... I'm just waiting to hear it, but I have a feeling I will never find out. :)

Life goes on.

Me? A Master?

2007-10-10T21:14:00.000+08:00

Oh my goodness... I have just been flagged a Master in TimeOut Solution's hunt website (together with another two of my team mates). Hahaha... I can't believe it. Ok, I know people expected it, but seriously... I don't think I qualify as a Master. Sure, I go to a lot of hunts and have done well in quite a few of them, but that's really kudos to the team, not the individual. If I were to hunt on my own, I don't think they will even know I'm there!

But be that as it may, I'm still elated that I made the list, and hope I get to go back to KL to hunt soon! :)

Rugby World Cup 2007 - Quarterfinals #1 & #2

2007-10-07T20:23:00.000+08:00

Australia vs England - Results : 10-12

What an upset!!! The poor Wallabies! The country is gonna blame them now... Poor things. But seriously, they just couldn't break through England's defense. Kudos to England. Though not entirely pleased that England's points all came either from drop goals or penalty kicks! Not as exciting as scoring TRIES!!

Wanted England to win, so that the All Blacks will have Australia as an opponent in the semis (I'm sure they are going to beat France!!!), but hope they don't freeze with England too. Hmmm....

New Zealand vs France - Results : 18-20

I cannot believe that another upset has happened. Not again!!! What is wrong with the All Blacks?!? Why can't they show their real stuff and perform the way they are meant to perform?! Why must they always fail at the World Cup, when it's their best chance to show the world that they ARE the true rugby champions of the world?! Sigh...

The All Blacks are going to get a lashing when they return to NZ. I don't think the newspapers are going to be too kind to them after this horrific outing. The first time they got knocked out in the QUARTERFINALS. Sigh... Just a really depressing day for southern hemisphere rugby. Hope South Africa can make it through, and retain some of the dignity of the Tri-nations.

WHY?!? :(

Apparently there was a 100-1 odds that it'll be an England vs France semi-final. Guess those that bought on that made tonnes of money. Sigh...

[PS - By the way, that last France try was SO a forward pass!!!! :'( ]

The Dating Game

2007-10-06T21:18:00.000+08:00

Is the dating game supposed to be fun? I've never felt that it was.

Well, of course it always starts out fun. All the conversations you have at the beginning when you start to get to know each other. I always have a great time... chatting and hanging out. That part is definitely fun. But after awhile, it's just a lot of wondering... when I get too 'hooked'. Does he actually like me, or does he just want to be friends? What if all this getting to know each other part makes him realise that, "actually, I don't like her at all". I hate that part of it. In my experience, it usually ends up that way... Either the other party loses interest, or they find someone else more interesting. Believe me, it's happened to me many times. Sigh... It's enough to make you lose hope and self-confidence. And people say I don't have a boyfriend because I'm choosy. :(

Makes you wonder: Is it me?

Must be me. I'm the only constant variable in all this. I must be doing something terribly wrong.

I think I've almost had enough of this nonsense. It's just not worth the worry and anxiety of waiting and wondering. And the fear that I'm not good enough. There is more to life than trying to get through the dating game. I should start taking the attitude of "don't care"/"take it or leave it"... and just do my own thing. No more trying too hard.

Every time someone shows a bit of interest, I tend to get attached to them too quickly... which opens me up to all this worrying and anxiety feelings, as I wonder if that person's interest in me will wane. You start to try a little harder, expect a little more.

Maybe the problem is that I'm not choosy enough? Or I always choose the ones whom I know will never like me that way. Did I just bring it onto myself?!?

Maybe I've gone about it the wrong way all this while. Though I don't know what other way there is. I wish I knew. Maybe someone can enlighten me on the "winning formula". Some girls always get what they want. They are the ones who break up with the guys all the time. They are probably the ones who enjoy the dating game the most. Maybe they can tell me what I'm doing wrong. I need professional help. Haha...

Conclusion: It's just not worth it. :)

Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof

2007-09-23T19:39:00.000+08:00

My first movie experience in Singapore: a marathon of film noir (black films) by Quentin Tarantino & Robert Rodriguez, Death Proof and Planet Terror respectively. Tarantino's Death Proof was the one that really caught my attention. It was surprisingly quite brilliant! I admit I've never really paid too much attention to Tarantino's films. Pulp Fiction was good, but I barely remembered it (I guess now is the time to watch it again!!), and after Kill Bill, all I remember was gore, gore and lots more gore!

But Death Proof was interesting... I like it because it was ironic. Haha. At the beginning, I didn't see where it was going, but towards the end, I really enjoyed the irony of it all. Being Tarantino, you really can't escape the gore, but if I can survive it, means it was quite tolerable. ;)

Well, I'm no film critic, and I didn't really analyse the movie as my friend did with regards to lighting etc (hehe). But it was good to hear his appreciation and take of it... on how Tarantino sometimes switches on & off the colours during the film. Ok, don't really get that whole meaning yet, but I'm gonna find out from him. :)

Do catch it if you get the chance. :)

13 Things To Do In Singapore...

2007-09-20T18:26:00.000+08:00

Take the MRT/bus everyday! :P
Visit the library and borrow lots of books to read
Shop!!
Catch a show/concert at the Esplanade
Cycle at East Coast Park
Eat yummy food! (There's a great durian pancake at Takashimaya!)
Catch up with friends
Salsa at Amara Hotel / Union Sq
Visit my (many) relatives
Watch S'pore chinese dramas in Channel 8!
Visit the Science Centre/zoo sometime
Go to Sentosa
Be there for the first F1 night race!!! :P

Do you care what people think?

2007-09-19T22:17:00.000+08:00

Are you one of those people who are affected by what people think of you? If you are not, congratulations. Life is more relaxing and carefree for you. But if you do care what others think, life can be pretty stressful. One frown, one look, one hurtful word... and you can bounce from happiness to extreme depression.

It's easy to say that you shouldn't care what others think... that all you have to be is happy with who you are and what you've done. It's a totally different matter to actually believe it and practice it.

Is it a characteristic that you're born with, or is it a consequence of upbringing, combined with peer pressure? Can you change it, and if so, how long will it take? Is it right to not care about what others think? As long as you live by your own standards? Will you be egotistical to think that your standards are always correct? But what if those "standards" you live by are not good enough? What if you really SHOULD change your ways so that you improve and raise your own standards? How will you know?

It's tiring, and depressing... I hope someone can figure it out and let me know.

Here's something to enhance my vocabulary:
Atelophobia- Fear of imperfection
Decidophobia- Fear of making decisions
Kakorrhaphiophobia- Fear of failure or defeat.

A full list is available here: http://phobialist.com/

Jacky Cheung's Concert

2007-09-14T01:30:00.000+08:00

In exactly 17 hours, I will be seeing Jacky Cheung... live in person, as he serenades (me) with his beautiful, melodic, romantic love songs... Sigh... (Ok, one can dream, right? ;P )

The day has finally come!! I wonder what songs he will be singing. I hope it's more of the oldies. Love them love them love them!! :)

A Fresh Start...

2007-09-13T15:06:00.000+08:00

Saturday is just two days away... Looking forward to a fresh clean start in Singapore. It should be exciting, and I'm eager to move to the next big thing. It may or may not be what I'm looking for, but it's worth a try. :)

So wish me luck!! For those whom I didn't manage to catch up with before I left, we can still catch up when I come back next. I will be sending out my new SG mobile number and will still be contactable via email and MSN. Catch ya all soon!! :)

13 Favourite Movies

2007-09-06T10:28:00.000+08:00

It's Thursday, and it's been a long time since I last did a "Thursday Thirteen". So on this Thursday, I will list 13 of my favourite movies:

Ever After
Independence Day
Forrest Gump
The Joy Luck Club
Harry Potter (everyone of them!)
The Matrix (first instalment only)
The Parent Trap (the one with Lindsay Lohan)
The Mummy
Centre Stage
While You Were Sleeping
Addam's Family Values
Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
Heart & Souls

Getting ready for the big move...

2007-09-05T15:31:00.000+08:00

In less than 2 weeks, I'll be heading down to Singapore. It's been a long time coming, but I finally got off my lazy ass and made the move. About 2 months ago, I got an offer from Great Eastern Singapore. It took me a significant time to decide whether to accept it or not, but in the end I think it's a change that I really need to make, and Singapore was the place I wanted to be.

Some people have actually questioned my decision to go down to Singapore. I think a lot of people have a bad impression of Singapore. But to me, it's a place which is familiar to me... like a second home. Maybe working there will be different. Maybe things have changed since I was there more 15 years ago. Guess I will find out soon enough. :)

I hope I find a nice place to live. :) Rental has increased significantly in the past few months! What timing, huh? Hmm... but I think where I stay in S'pore will be of utmost importance. It has to be accessible and convenient. Even if it's a little pricey, I think it will be worth it. :)

I will be missing Malaysia though (Happy 50th Merdeka, Malaysia!!). I'll miss my parents, my sisters, my car, my beautiful house, my friends and my treasure hunting weekends!!! :)

RMCC Hunt - Debate on Regular vs Novice

2007-08-29T01:57:00.000+08:00

There's been so much talk about this Masters/Novice issue recently, all because of the RMCC hunt... I still can't believe that it has blown up into such proportions.

Being part of the team in question, I feel that it's unfair for everyone to judge us when they don't even know us. Some have called us 'sharks', others questioning our conscience, and even asking for CoCs to blacklist us. What is the purpose of all these blaming and finger-pointing? It doesn’t seem to be in the good-natured fun of the sport. I don’t think anyone deserves the amount of criticism and displeasure that everyone is expressing towards us.

In the first place, we just want to point out that we did not ask to be put in the ‘Novice’ category. We were following the rules set by the CoC (refer to the entry form for RMCC), which by definition did put us in the ‘Novice’ category. When we were actually called into question on the day of the briefing, we didn't mind joining the Regular category, but eventually it was decided that they will put us in the Novice category instead. Were we wrong not to INSIST on being in the Regular category?? If we had known that the definition of ‘Novice’ in this hunt was supposed to be “first-time hunter”, we would of course not be so thick-skinned to have entered ourselves in the ‘Novice’ category!

I'm not putting the blame on the CoC either; I think there shouldn't be any finger-pointing in the first place. The CoC's job is already hard enough having to set the questions and the route, than having to deal with issues on whether a team is a novice or not. It was just a decision made at that point in time. I suppose if we had not done as well as we did that hunt day, we wouldn't be in this debate in the first place! Everyone has their on-day and off-day. Anyone who has hunted before would know this. Some days, everything just seem to work out right. Clues are easy to crack; observation clues are just right in front of you where you stopped your car; time management was something we learnt the hard-way, so we knew not to linger too long in a sector. We’re definitely not what you label as “Masters”. We have hunted awhile, and have done well in some. But there are also hunts where you don’t even see our names on the winners roll, not even top 20. We go to many hunts to train ourselves to be better, and hopefully one day, we can be on par with the real ‘Masters’.

Why do we have to have this debate on who are Masters / Regulars / Novices anyway? When we started hunting, there weren’t any novice categories. So we just joined in with the usual suspects (whom we know now as “Masters”) and tried our best to pit our wits against them. Of course we didn’t succeed at first, but as you can see, after many many hunts we did manage to do well occasionally and gave them a run for their money, so to speak. But even when we didn’t win, it didn’t stop us from trying... because we love the challenge and we love the game. That’s why we are in it.

Please don’t make this about winning or ego. I hope we can all stop this debate and get on with the sport that we all love. All this can’t be good for the sport… the CoCs, organizers or the hunters. Why must everyone be pegged into a specific category? We get enough of this at work and in our social lives. By labeling someone as Masters or not, is just like whether you deserve a promotion at work!! Do we really want to complicate this part of our lives (which is supposed to be fun!) with incessant labeling and rules??

Another jigsaw... :)

2007-05-24T00:12:00.000+08:00

I bought another new jigsaw puzzle last week, and finished it over the weekend (with my sis and a friend)! :P It's beautiful...! And actually quite difficult! The sky was the last bit that we did, and it's more like trial and error. We had to arrange the remaining pieces according to their shape, so that we can fit what the shape looks like. We did pretty well on that! Hehe...

Amazing Race... So sad...

2007-05-10T22:01:00.000+08:00

What a disappointment! :( [You must already know that the Beauty Queens didn't win... sigh...]

But I must say, it was quite a fitting final task... The team mates had to literally be of one-mind! The first team mate goes in to answer a series of questions on their opinions of other teams in the race (eg Which team is the least trustworthy? or Which team is most over-rated?), and their answers will translate into a 4-digit code to be used to lock a safe with the final clue inside. The second team member will then go into the same room to answer exactly the same questions, and if they can match their team mate's answers, they will arrive at the same 4-digit code and thus able to open the safe. This task required team members to constantly be communicating with each other throughout the race, and to know how each other feels about other teams.

I thought the Beauty Queens would do well on this task, but unfortunately they didn't. On the other hand, Eric & Danielle did quite well, and as Eric mentioned it helped that Danielle talks & gossips a lot. Hahaha.... That was quite funny. :)

Jigsaw Mania!

2007-05-09T00:31:00.000+08:00

It's been awhile since I touched any jigsaw puzzles, and suddenly had the urge to do it. Hehe. So I went to Popular bookshop to buy a piece of cardboard to make my jigsaw puzzle on, then... let the jigsaw mania begin!! :P

On the first nite, I spent about 2 hours getting only this done (eh... it's harder than it looks, ok!! :P )... I always start with the borders first... Got system leh.. ;P
The next day, I spent another 2-3 hours with my sis, and we managed to get this done... The blue sea and sky didn't exactly make it easy at all.. sigh...
On the third day, we spent another 2 hours (I think) to give this:
And finally, finally... the MASTERPIECE!!
Now gonna go shopping for a new jigsaw.... :P

Amazing Race All Stars (Season 11) - Final 3!

2007-05-01T16:43:00.000+08:00

Finally, we're at the final 3 of the Amazing Race All Stars! Much as I'd have liked Romber (Rob & Amber... remember Survivor?) to be there, it's exciting nonetheless. They did make good television. :P

So here's the final 3:
1) The Beauty Queens, Dustin & Kandice
2) Charla & Mirna
3) Eric & Danielle

I'll be putting my money on the Beauty Queens! They proved that not all blondes are dumb! Haha... They are beautiful and street-smart. They were able to perform almost all their tasks without much difficulty. They were participants in the Season 10 Amazing Race, but due to a bit of bad luck, was ousted out jst before the final leg of the race. Now, they've been given a 2nd chance and I really hope that they WIN!!

With the hype of them being beauty queens, I wondered which beauty pageant they were both in. After some research on the internet, I found out that they were roommates while competing for the Miss America 2006 pageant. :) Dustin represented California while Kandice was Miss New York.

I'll be rooting for them to win the US$1m race this coming Monday!

Poetry in motion...

2007-03-09T12:13:00.000+08:00

New Rueda moves...

2007-02-21T21:49:00.000+08:00

More new moves from my second Rueda class last week:

Enchufla (y Dame) [Default Enchufla]
(Guapea) Cucaracha [Cockroach]
Cucaracha... Bulla! [Cockroach... with noise!]
Arriba [Walk forward]
Pael Medio... Bulla! [Into the middle... with noise!]
Siete ['Seven']
Para Ti, Para Mi! [For you, For me!]

Petronas CNY advertisement

2007-02-21T21:32:00.000+08:00

Check out this poignant advertisement done by Petronas for Chinese New Year. Do check it out. :)

Click HERE.

Mad about Hunting!

2007-02-10T00:57:00.000+08:00

I started treasure hunting in January 2004. I've heard about this 'hunting hobby' from some friends who used to do it back in 2003, but it was just ear-in-ear-out. Never really thought about joining or finding out more. Not until my company organised one, and some colleagues and I just decided to join it just for fun. Coincidentally, the COC was Chris Foo, one of the Master treasure hunters! :P Needless to say, I was hooked since then!

In that very first hunt, we didn't do too well. We only managed to answer about 60-70% of the questions correctly. But that didn't stop us! We started to look for public hunts online and found Ricky Koo's Hunter's World which gives a calendar year's worth of hunting events. From then on, we constantly checked it and basically signed up to every hunt that we were available for. :)

In all the hunts that we go to, there are always these recurrent hunters. When I say recurrent, I mean hunters that always seem to participate in every hunt. And not just that... the same ones also almost always end up on the podium. Before long, we realised that these were the MASTERS... the 'elite' of the hunting world. These are people who have hunted for at least 10 years and have perfected their hunting skills. The aim was to be as good as them, and I realised it's not an easy task!

Treasure hunting is a skill which can be learnt, but those with a natural aptitude for thinking cryptically definitely have the advantage here. A lot of us (including myself) tend to read clues at face value, and find it rather tough to think 'out of the box'. But it's not an impossible task... after many many many hunts, I find it much easier. It's like studying for an exam! The more practices you do, the easier it gets. Before you know it, one look at the clue and you will know exactly how to crack it. And being able to do that gives me a rush... that's why I keep coming back again and again.

A lot of friends are puzzled over our obsession with treasure hunting. "You're thinking the whole week at work already, and you still want to spend 8+ hours of your weekend solving cryptic clues?! Are you mad?" Haha... I hunt for the challenge... to try to crack the clues, and of course to win. :) There are days when the brain just refuses to function... and those days, we either do really badly or my team mates will have to work a lot harder! :P But there are also days where everything goes well... cracking the clues comes easy and on those days we manage to get on the podium ourselves! Which is a great feeling! Prizes are sometimes good, but most of the times we do not recoup the cost of participation. But even then, I feel it's a great way to spend a weekend. :)

My team and I have been trying to look for ways to improve our hunting skills. It would be great if we could see some Masters in action and to learn from them. Cryptic clues is still our greatest weakness, but I guess this can only be improved with practice. I wonder what the Masters do to get to their current level. I hope we don't need 7 years more of experience before we can reach their level now! :P

Treasure hunting is a lot of fun, for those who enjoy a brain challenge. It involves wordplay, cryptic clues, anagrams and also general knowledge. If you enjoy any of those mentioned, treasure hunting is definitely the pastime for you! See you all at the next hunt! :)

Thursday Thirteen

2007-02-08T23:59:00.000+08:00

I've been tagged at Thursday Thirteen! So here are 13 things about me:

I love to dance! Salsa is my passion now. :)
I'm mad about treasure hunting. My average is about 14 hunts a year. ;)
I can't live without my television or my computer. My favourite TV show is Friends.
I love to help people, even if it's out of my way. That's probably why I am swamped at work... trying to do things for others, then having to stay back and do my own stuff some more. Sigh...
I hate losing! :P
I have a Masters degree in Actuarial Science (incidentally, my career at the moment. :) )
I'm ultra sensitive... especially to criticism and to other people's opinion of me and what I do. A big fault, I know. Something I have to change.
I'm an introvert. Socialising does not come easy for me. I prefer to sit alone by myself with a book / computer / music on, than going out with groups of friends. Actually, I don't have many friends to hang out with anyway. Hmm...
I am a difficult person to get to know, because I do not reveal too much about myself. Only those patient enough will eventually get to know the real me. I have many friends, but only a handful of really really good ones whom I can really talk to.
I've travelled to many countries, most of them courtesy of my dad's passion for travelling and planning our annual family trips!
I lived in New Zealand for 5 years - 4 spent studying, another year spent working.
I was Vice-Head Prefect in secondary school... i.e. I was a goody-two-shoes in school! :P
I'm still waiting for Mr. Right to sweep me off my feet. Hope that happens soon! :)

Rueda de Casino

2007-02-08T22:57:00.000+08:00

After almost 6 months of salsa lessons, I was able to join the Rueda class at Havana Estudio. Yippee!! At the salsa clubs, I've seen small groups of Intermediate students dancing it and it looked really fun and interesting!

Basically, Rueda de Casino is Cuban style salsa which is danced in a circle. All couples form a circle and there's a 'caller' who will be calling out a series of moves which everyone will follow. It involves a lot of partner swapping and it's really great coz everyone has to work together to ensure that the dance goes smoothly! :P

The following are some of the moves we learnt yesterday:

Guapea [Basic Step]
Dame [Gimme]
Dile Que No! [Tell her no!]
Abajo [(Walk) Down]
Pa'el Medio [Walk to the middle]
Enchufla Que No!
Enchufla y Abajo

We will be practicing our Rueda at the Little Havana this Saturday night. Interested to come check it out? ;P

My new Canon IXUS 60!

2006-12-16T18:34:00.000+08:00

There was a Canon warehouse sale near Saujana Resort today, and I had planned to get a new digital camera there. Initially I wanted the Sony T10, but after testing it at the camera shop I wasn't really very impressed with the lagging of the viewer. Also, I didn't really think the anti-blur works that well. But maybe I was just using it wrongly. Hehe...

Last night I did a little last minute research online about all the Canon cameras available, and finally decided on the IXUS 60. It seemed like a good slim digital camera with adequate specs. So on we headed to the warehouse sale late this afternoon. We found that it did not appear to be a proper Canon warehouse sale! It was just a chance for the the retailers to clear their old stock!! The price was pretty much similar to retail, except that they added some accessories which would probably not be offered if it had been purchased at the branch stores (I think!).

The price I paid for it was RM1,180 and this includes accessories such as 2 x 1GB memory cards, a mini-tripod and a camera pouch. I guess these are normal accessories that are provided? Hmm... Anyway, not sure if it's a good price la. Maybe at Sungei Wang or Low Yat is cheaper. But anyway... too late now! Just have to make full use of the camera lor. Hope it's a good buy. :) Reviews seem to be good, so I guess I should be able to trust those... (?)

Anyone else has any opinions on these 2 cameras? Or maybe another camera that is better for the same price range??

Definition of 'Idiot Savant'

2006-12-13T01:00:00.000+08:00

What is an idiot-savant?

"Idiot savants are a group of humans that are incapable of learning, writing or reading, yet they have unlimited access to specific, accurate knowledge in the fields of mathematics, music, and other precise areas. Now the irony of an idiot-savant is that this group of individuals does not acquire knowledge by learning as the average human does. They mysteriously 'know' explicit, exact, correct information." - Dr. Lee E. Warren

Frankly, I didn't know the term 'Idiot Savant' has such a cool meaning! Hehe... (Quite obvious that I didn't come up with the name, right? :P )

BCSDM & MENSA Hunt 2006

2006-12-12T23:49:00.000+08:00

It's been a pretty slow year in terms of treasure hunting. There were months where there were no hunts to go to. But we sure made up for it towards the end of the year. :P In December alone, I have signed up for 3 hunts over 3 weekends. Crazy eh? Hehe....

Last week we went to the BCSDM hunt (2 Dec). We had won this hunt last year, and was looking forward to defending it, but somehow it was not meant to be. The points system made it such that should we miss even one treasure, you'd fall far far behind. Unfortunately, we were caught by the trickiness of the treasure question and we did fall way behind the leading teams. Sigh...

Over the previous weekend, we went to the MENSA hunt with a totally different team (10 Dec). We did pretty well and managed an 8th position. Again, we missed out on one of the treasures (what's up with us and treasures this year?!) . The results can be seen at Michael Pang's website. (The surprising thing is, he found me on my blogspot and linked it to my blog posts! Still in shock! Do check it out! :P).

One of the treasures was really interesting. Instead of cracking the clue and going out to purchase the treasure, we were GIVEN the treasure and asked to write down what this treasure is and what it is used for! Well, the moment we got the envelope containing the 'diversion treasure', we opened it but could not figure out what it was!! Until the end of the hunt, with an hour left to go, we went to Tesco and came up with the idea that we should just go and ask the information counter to see if we can 'buy' the item at the supermarket. Unfortunately, they couldn't help coz they had no idea what it was too!! Furthermore, we couldn't find the Milo 125 mlpack in Tesco, so we were close to losing 3 out of 5 treasures (that would REALLY be a tragedy!!). So off I went running towards Ikano, went to Cold Storage to get the Milo, and then to Ace Hardware to try my luck with the 'diversion treasure'. To my absolute surprise, the guy actually knew what it was! And proceeded to show me the area where I can purchase the item!!! Haha.... I couldn't believe my luck!!

(I will be posting a picture of this interesting treasure soon... and then you all can proceed to tell me if you know what it is!! :P )

Sushi Session!

2006-12-03T22:10:00.000+08:00

Have always wanted to learn to make sushi, and 2 years back we had a little gathering in my house with colleagues to have sushi party. Well, it's now 2 years later and I could barely remember how to do it! So last week my colleagues and I (different colleagues now, since most have already left the company/country!! :( ) planned another sushi session and boy did we have fun!! :) There were about 9 of us and we made SO many rolls!! We had smoked salmon (nigiri sushi and rolls), fresh salmon/sashimi, tuna mayo, salmon mayo, california maki... yum yum!! Anyone hungry? :P

Ok, some photos for you...

Yoga anyone? =P

2006-12-03T21:58:00.000+08:00

For those who said they haven't tried yoga, maybe this will show that they could POSSIBLY have done it without knowing it!! ;)

Wake up Malaysia!

2006-11-19T23:46:00.000+08:00

"While Malaysia fiddles, the opportunities are running dry..."

An excellent article by Michael Backman, published in Australia's The Age newspaper. The author has cleverly and succinctly described what everyone in Malaysia knows yet are afraid to say. The country makes excuses for the small things that go wrong, but ignore the bigger more important issues. We try to hide the obvious... which really serves no purpose except to make us look like bigger fools!!

Wake up Malaysia, and face reality. We can do much better than this. Otherwise, you'll find all your precious talents leaving the country to seek greener pastures.

Pretty pictures from the Grand Canyon

2006-11-14T22:57:00.000+08:00

Treasure Hunt Clue...

2006-11-07T22:52:00.000+08:00

A friend came up with this brilliant clue (for me):
"Perhaps, before starting the Annual General Meeting, negotiate first?"

A clue I came up with in response:
"To deal in short credit?"

See if you can crack the clues. :P
[ Answers will be provided to those who requests for it. ;) ]

Dilbert is genius!

2006-11-07T22:28:00.000+08:00

I absolutely love Dilbert! It's such a good way to describe how so many people feel around the office! And even if it doesn't happen in your working environment, imagining it happening elsewhere is just as comical. :P

[I was gonna post some of the comic strips I received via e-mail, then realised there are Copyright marks on it. So to avoid being sued for huge sums of money, I will instead give you guys the link to the Official Dilbert website. Or just recommend buying the book "The Dilbert Principle" (by Scott Adams). :P ]

Click here: http://www.dilbert.com/

There's this clip that describes 'How to scold your boss', and I think it's absolutely hilarious! :P So there goes Dilbert walking by his boss, and suddenly he starts spewing "You ignorant maggot! You disgust me!". The boss is shocked, and prepares to retaliate. Dilbert says, "I'm not talking to you. I'm using my handsfree kit." [Hahahaha.....]

Salsa Annual Dinner Video!

2006-09-30T11:03:00.000+08:00

Hehe.. I managed to post it on youtube. Click on the link HERE... (hope my dance team don't mind!! hehe...). Enjoy!

Welcome to America!

2006-09-22T15:58:00.000+08:00

Greetings from America! Have been here for about 5 days now. Arrived on Saturday nite (US time), and will be arriving back in KL on Monday afternoon. The itinerary includes San Francisco-Las Vegas-San Francisco. Just got back from Las Vegas this evening. Man, there's so much to see and so little time to do it all! And I have already maxed out the 128MB on my camera CF card. Hehe...

I went to the Grand Canyon yesterday and it was beautiful. I'm gonna need at least a few blogs to put everything down here, so that I can remember what and where I've been to. And also, a guide to Las Vegas, especially those interested to visit it anytime soon. :)

So stay tuned people!

Pictures from the Annual Dinner!

2006-09-14T23:08:00.000+08:00

Yeah, finally exam is over! How I did? Well, really not sure. But I do know that I wrote a lot!! Whether they make sense or not? Well, only time will tell! In about 2 months to be precise!
In the meantime, what's done is done, and all I can hope for is that the markers are kind and let me off the hook!! Please, please, please give me a passing grade so I don't have to go through that paper again!!!!! :D

Ok, what you have all been waiting for... PICTURES GALORE!!! Hehehe....

Annual Dinner @ Bukit Merah Laketown Resort (9-10 Sept 2006)

2006-09-11T01:02:00.000+08:00

The annual dinner for PAMB was held at the Bukit Merah Laketown Resort this year. Last year at Sunway Hotel, I guess I didn't really enjoy it all that much. But this year was extra special, because I was in-charge of putting up a staff salsa performance. So with my limited salsa knowledge and with lots of research (on websites and Havana Estudio!!), I managed to come up with a simple performance which I hoped could wow the audience nonetheless.

For a moment there, I was worried and stressed that I won't be able to pull it off. What with my actuarial exam around the corner (4 days after the annual dinner event!!) and work commitments: coming up with the choreography, organising the dance practice sessions, teaching the dance steps, coordinating the whole dance group... But I had a fantastic team of 'dancers' with me... enthusiatic, committed and fast learners. They made the whole thing so much easier. Thanks to my whole team!!!

So when the day came for performance time, we were ready. Ready to impress, ready to show our stuff... and most importantly, ready to have FUN! And the whole performance was FAN-TA-BU-LOUS! It couldn't have been better! I have part of the performance recorded and let me tell you now: It looked GREAT! ;) I will try to post pictures as soon as I get them. :)

Thanks team! For a fabulous night, a fantastic performance... and honouring me with your commitment, your enthusiasm, your friendship and hardwork! Couldn't have done it without you guys!! :)

Do You Need A Man?

2006-09-07T00:48:00.000+08:00

You Don't Need a Man, but You Want One!

You like having a guy in your life, and overall, you prefer not to be single.
You won't go out with a guy out of desperation.. you rather be alone.
However, when you're single, you do tend to obsess a little over dating.
Because no matter how good your single life is, it's better with a great guy around.

Do You Need a Man?

Aptly put! Describes me to a T, I think. :)

Broken Bridges

2006-08-26T23:45:00.000+08:00

Just came back from watching the locally produced musical, Broken Bridges. It's about a Ipoh-born young man who dreams big dreams... and want to explore the big city, wanting more than what small town Ipoh (back in the 50's) can offer.

One word: BRILLIANT! The songs were great, the lead actor was fantastic (love the voice!) and the story-line... heart-wrenching. Towards the end, couldn't stop the tears from falling. Absolutely brilliant.

If you like musicals, I'd highly recommend it. GO WATCH IT! It runs till this Sunday, so grab your tickets fast!

ps - Jo & Maybel, fantastic job! You should recommend it to Joe Hasham to bring it down to Singapore or even overseas!! I'm sure it'll be a sell-out! :) Fabulous! :P

A Smile Goes A Long Way

2006-08-26T13:12:00.000+08:00

We always complain about bad customer service in Malaysia. How you wait for ages in an extremely long queue that does not seem to shorten. The heat during the long wait and sweat is dripping from your forehead. And when you're at the end of the queue, you're faced with two possible situations: (1) The person at the counter tells you that you've been standing in the wrong line, and the queue you should've been in is as long as the one you were in! Or, (2) The person servicing you at the counter is so unfriendly and aloof that basically you wished you didn't have to be there. Sigh...

But I think it's much better now. Malaysia has evolved and customer service has improved a lot in the past 10 years. For example, many things are now automated such as the passport renewal service; banks have online and phone banking which makes banking a whole lot easier.

I think the most important improvement in customer service is "Service with a Smile". When the person over the counter serves you with a smile and a happy disposition, it makes all the difference and your whole experience becomes more enjoyable. It makes you want to come back again and again. It's amazing what a little smile can do. :)

But as the phrase goes: It takes two hands to clap. There are two parties in a "Customer Service" relationship: the customer and the service personnel. The service personnel plays their role in this relationship by providing "Service with a Smile". But what role does the customer play? To me personally, it's in the attitude of the customer. I've seen customers who are the ones who actually make life difficult. The service provider is friendly and helpful, but it is the customer who is aloof and unfriendly. They treat the service provider like dirt and as if they are beneath them. This hardly improves the "customer service" relationship.

For all the promotion of "Service with a Smile", maybe we should actually be educating the public to accept service with a smile. Customers should start treating service personnel with respect. Customer Service is a two-way relationship. Like any relationship, both parties have a role to play to make it a successful one. And the first baby-step for both is to SMILE. Believe me, a smile does goes a long way... especially when it comes both ways. :)

My new salsa shoes!!! :P

2006-08-18T23:16:00.000+08:00

I got my new salsa shoes this morning!! They are so comfy! Can't wait to try them out at the salsa class this Sunday! ;) Check them out!

What a beautiful post!

2006-08-17T14:17:00.000+08:00

And it's all about me! Hehehe... Please read it at Kea's blog. :P

Oh... what a beautiful day!

2006-08-14T23:59:00.000+08:00

My birthday couldn't have turned out any better!!! :D Ok, so what if when I woke up this morning I wasn't really ready to go to work. I wished I could've slept in a little longer. But getting to work, I had a steaming hot cuppa cappucino from Coffee Bean. Then I started getting sms wishing me 'Happy Birthday!'. Hehe... It's such a nice feeling to know that people remember your birthday.

Then my sis called, to tell me that... my blog article was chosen as the RM50-winning entry for today [Whose fault is it anyway?]!! And it's actually printed on theStar!! Check out page N46! If you didn't get a chance to, dun worry... I have it photocopied and possibly gonna be laminated! Hahaha.... ;) How good to know you actually wrote something people feel is publish-worthy! Guess I will continue to post my blogs on theStar. I may get lucky again! :D

During lunch hour, my colleagues actually bought me lunch at Hanabi. Yummy! It's not the food I guess, but the company that counts! We had a great one, just sitting there eating and chatting. There were 15 of us there in total... almost everyone was there. :) I think it is a first that we actually went out to lunch to celebrate someone's birthday for the dept, so I felt so honoured and touched. *sob sob*. Seriously...

Then after lunch, my best friend from US called me and we had a good chat. Upon arriving at the office, there was a bouquet of flowers waiting... from my parents! Another first!! What a great surprise that was!! I think I was the envy of the dept, having such great and cool parents!! :P

The afternoon went on without much event... and towards the end of the day, the dept got together to present me with my 'present' (which I bought for myself! Hehe...) together with flowers. But then another surprise came, when a colleague of mine actually picked up his guitar and sang Man Bai's "Kau Ilhanku"... a song that I had mentioned I loved! It was beautiful! And so sweet! *sigh*

After that, was dinner plans. 2 other colleagues had booked me for dinner, and so we headed to Chilli's, where I was gonna have my margherita. When we got there, I was shocked to see that actually my sis, cousins and Balan were there!! Hahaha... Gosh... really surprised!! Later they made me down my margherita, and since my alcohol tolerance is extremely low, I... err.... hmm.... actually puked it all out in the toilet!!! Yucks!! :D Well, something I can remember my **th birthday by. Hehe.... :D

All in all, it's been a fantastic day! And thanks to everyone who helped make it so very special and memorable. :) Thanks to all!! Love you guys! :)

And how can I forget! My little sister's cute and sweet card!! She wrote it bout a month back when she was back in KL, and left it with my mom. How sweet is that! It is now sitting proudly on my office desk. :P
And also forgot to mention that it was my second sister that organised the whole surprise party! :) What more can a girl ask for! :)

2006-08-14T00:00:00.000+08:00

Your Birthdate: August 14

You work well with others. That is, you're good at getting them to do work for you.
It's true that you get by on your charm. But so what? You make people happy!
You're dynamic, clever, and funny. And people like to have you around.
But you're so restless, they better not expect you to stay around for long.

Your strength: Your superstar charisma
Your weakness: Commitment means nothing to you
Your power color: Fuchsia
Your power symbol: Diamond
Your power month: May

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

"Superstar charisma"? Errr... I don't think so! And I'm not THAT bad with commitment!!

Salsa... when it all began...

2006-08-13T22:12:00.000+08:00

Let this be noted as the day I officially started my salsa lessons. Previously, it was just learning moves from a friend (and he is good!). But today, I finally signed up for my first salsa lesson at Havana Estudio (TTDI). And it was mighty fun, even though today's lesson was more of a refresher for me, since I know the moves already [ie, the Cucaracha (means cockroach!), the Mambo (which is the basic step) and the Right-Turn]. I even stayed back awhile after class to practice with a friend I met there. I'm really looking forward to the lessons later, where they will start teaching moves and routines. I also saw the Intermediate class in action, and boy, one day I will be just as good as them. That's my promise to myself. :)

I've signed up for Beginners 1, which comprises 8 lessons. After I complete that, there'll be Beginners 2, Improvers and finally the Intermediate. Can't wait, can't wait! :P

So if and when I'm a salsa expert, I can look back to 13 August 2006 and say... that was the day where it all began. ;)

New pic...

2006-08-12T18:35:00.000+08:00

Since some people call me 'hamster', here's my new pic! :P

And in case some of you didn't notice, I have a new section in my right-hand column (just beneath 'My Links'). It's a chatterbox, where you can post messages there... anything you want to shout out to me which may be unrelated to my blog posts. So feel free to express yourself! And heed my warning: No annonymous messages please!!! If you want to use a nicknam, let me know what it is, so I know who is posting what comment! Otherwise, it'll be deleted! This is a warning!! ;)

Funny maths...

2006-08-09T23:26:00.000+08:00

Ok, this probably won't seem funny to most people, but for maths enthusiasts, this is REALLY funny! Hahaha.... (These attachments have been circulating the mailboxes for awhile now, so some of you probably have seen it already... but it doesn't stop it from being funny! Haha...)

Intelligence Test

2006-08-06T00:10:00.000+08:00

Click here for an interesting IQ test.

It's quite simple. If the question is "24 H in a D", the answer would be "24 Hours in a Day". Some are obvious like this. Others are not so kind. :P

It's quite a fun one. I think it was part of a MENSA test before. I know they used a similar concept in one of the treasure hunt's crack-a-pots. Tried this ages ago so I knew some of the answers already. I did manage to scrap a 19 this time though! Hehe... Do try it and see how you go.

Sudoku Combat!!!

2006-08-05T18:22:00.000+08:00

I found a new addiction online. It's Sudoku Combat!! The website allows you to pit your sudoku skills against a friend or stranger online. You start off with an initial rating of 125 points. And you gain or lose points based on how many games you win or lose respectively. There are 4 levels of difficulty (Easy, Medium, Hard and EVIL!).

Check out SUDOKU COMBAT!

My sudoku skills isn't that great. I still take about 6-7 mins to finish an Easy one, which is quite slow I think. I have a friend who can probably complete it in about 2-3 mins. Sigh... I will have to improve on it by playing LOTS of Sudoku Combat. Kekeke...

What is your hidden talent?

2006-08-05T11:57:00.000+08:00

Your Hidden Talent

Your natural talent is interpersonal relations and dealing with people.

You communicate well and are able to bring disparate groups together.

Your calming presence helps everything go more smoothly.

People crave your praise and complements.

What's Your Hidden Talent?

I like my hidden talent! :P Not sure if it's true though. Hehe...

Customer Service... Malaysian Style!

2006-08-01T17:02:00.000+08:00

The soft-serve ice cream at Ikea is just absolutely fabulous! Today after a hard-days work (studying... haha), I decided to reward myself with one. :) As I arrived at the Ikea food counter, there was a long long queue there. But for my ice-cream, I was willing to wait. Hehe...

There were about 15 people standing there waiting to make their order. Most of them only want to order a curry-puff or the ice-cream or the hot-dog, so it shouldn't take long. But it did. And you know why? There was only ONE counter open. I wouldn't be complaining if they only had one staff on duty at that time. But no... there were at least 4 people working. One poor soul was the only person manning the counter. Another was an ice-cream 'specialist' whose job was to fill those yummy ice-cream cones. OK, I'll give them points for promoting field specialising. Spread the work out, and make it a well-oiled machine. Brownie points!

But what were the other two doing? One was a back-room 'specialist'. Lord knows what he's doing in the backroom! I could see him through the door, but can't tell what he's handling in there. The 4th person was in charge of another counter that checks out other packaged food items. But the thing is: they share the same check-out counter. Now my concern is with THIS 4th guy. He was just standing there LOOKING at my extremely long queue. Then he looked away, and started using a cloth to CLEAN HIS HANDPHONE. Why can't he just walk over, open the other vacant counter and help out his fellow man with the crowd??

I think it's the attitude of most customer service providers. No one wants to do extra work. If it's not my job, I'm not gonna take initiative to help out. Keep out of other people's way. Why volunteer to do more work when I'm not getting extra pay for it.

Something similar happened in the Langkawi airport about a month ago. Our flight back to KL was delayed about an hour. But when that hour was up, there was still no news. My friend who actually works for MAS went to the counter to ask about the situation. All the lady said was "Saya tak tau (I don't know)". That made my friend pissed off. He called the KL office immediately to ask for himself, and found out that the flight was going to be further delayed another half hour. This lady's job was to provide details about the flight and CUSTOMER SERVICE to passengers. Yet she didn't even try. More importantly, she didn't even care!

That's the point, I guess. When you don't care about your job or what you do, you just can't be bothered to do more. A job becomes routine... something to get you through the day... to get you that monthly paycheck. Now that isn't living, is it? :)

Chivalry... lost forever?

2006-07-31T19:54:00.000+08:00

I was in Coffee Bean this afternoon (study leave as usual), and there was this couple standing in the queue in front of me. They were ordering something... or rather, the LADY was ordering. And the man with her was just standing behind her, checking that what he wanted was ordered correctly. WHAT IS THAT?? Arrrghh...

Similarly, as soon as I was seated and enjoying my cappuccino, a young couple in their 20's walked in... but it was the very attractive girl that walked towards the counter, while the guy walked outside to get a seat. Then her guy friend popped his pretty little head in, and told the girl to order him the ice-blended mocha... WHAT IS THAT??

Even at work, whenever we got into an elevator, whenever the elevator door opens, it's usually the GIRL who holds the door open. WHAT IS THAT??

When did we girls start doing the bidding for our male counterparts? Where did the days of gentlemanly behaviour go? What happened to opening doors and laying down your coats so that our pretty shoes don't get wet?

Ok ok... Maybe we no longer require those levels of chivalry. I mean, what kind of times we are living in right now, right? And with feminist fighting for equality and all, we should no longer expect such 'special treatment'.

But is chivalry really dead? Should men really forget about doing these little things for us just because we want equality? Or is it us? We actually volunteer to take over these tasks. We offer to pay... we offer to drive ourselves... we willingly take it upon ourselves to do all these things ourselves. Is it to make a point to show that we can be independent? Maybe we did bring it upon ourselves.

I PASSED!!!

2006-06-23T05:21:00.000+08:00

I PASSED! I PASSED! I PASSED! I PASSED! I PASSED! I PASSED! I PASSED! I PASSED!

Hahahahahahahaha........

It's 5:15am in the morning now, and there's no way I can go back to sleep! Hahaha..... Forget what I posted last nite! I'm too elated to think about anything else!

I PASSED! I PASSED! I PASSED! I PASSED! I PASSED! I PASSED! I PASSED! I PASSED!

OH MY GOD... I still can't believe it!!!!

Results coming out....

2006-06-22T23:59:00.000+08:00

Results are out tomorrow morning. This time around, I'm not even anxious at all. Maybe I'm in denial... or maybe it's just nonchalance. Or maybe I'm so sure of the result that I can't be bothered worrying about it anymore. Somehow I feel that whatever the result, it does not impact me at all (ok, ok... I admit the salary increment that comes with a pass does offer some form of utility. :P ).

I wonder how I would actually feel tomorrow morning.

Killer Hanjie!!

2006-06-22T20:25:00.000+08:00

Oh my god... I just found the "Killer Hanjie"!!! I didn't realised it was THIS BIG! (Cissyn, seriously, when you told me you finished it, I had no idea how gigantic this Hanjie is! Haha...)

I just printed it out, and will try my best to complete it. As the website said, "If you complete it without tearing all your hair out, kudos to you!!". :P

http://hanjie.co.uk/killerhanjie.html

Try try try!! :D

Hanjie

2006-06-21T23:58:00.000+08:00

No no... it's not some Chinese word I'm trying to teach or anything. (I'm probably the last person to even try to teach Chinese!). This is a Japanese puzzle... yes, another one of those logic puzzles. It's not numerical in nature, like Sudoku or Kakuro. It's more like filling in the blanks to form a picture in the end. Imagine a box of n x n squares. And at the end of each row and column, they give you a series of numbers which represent how many boxes in that row/column are to be filled.

The following is a simple example to start you off:

Puzzle: "Musical"

How To Play:
Let's start with the last column. The number '8' in the last column means that 8 boxes in a row must be shaded. Likewise in column 5, "1, 1" means that 2 boxes must be shaded, and these must be separated... one box at a time. So there cannot be 2 boxes shaded together. They must be separated by at least 1 spacing. Basically, that's all there is to it!

There are of course some basic tricks. Like, where do you start first? Personally I would start with the last column. In the last column, it says that 8 boxes out of the available 10 boxes must be shaded, in which case there would be some overlapping such that we can say for certain which boxes MUST be shaded. IE, there are only 3 possibilities for this column:

You start at the 1st box from the top. This will mean that the first 8 boxes will be shaded, leaving the last 2 boxes blank; OR
You start at the second box from the top. This will mean only the 1st and last box will be left blank; OR
You start at the third box from the top, leaving the first and second box blank.

You will find that under all 3 options, the 3rd till 8th box is ALWAYS shaded. Thus we can fill in these boxes for certain. There, you now have your starting point. :) Now, you can proceed to fill in part of Row 3 with the "1, 4" combination. Since the last box in that row is now filled in, you know for sure that the "4" boxes in a row has to end there. Thus you can fill in boxes 7th-9th in Row 3.

Another trick is to mark boxes where you know for sure should NOT be shaded. This will reduce the number of "eligible" boxes, thus making it easier to determine which sections should be shaded.

Do try it! It's really quite cool!! And extremely addictive!! :P

Adventurace 2006

2006-06-18T21:04:00.000+08:00

Today was Trek #1 of the Adventurace 2006. The Adventurace is like the Amazing Race and Trek #1 and #2 are like some kind of audition. The top 3 winners from each Trek who will join another 6 finalists in the Final of Adventurace 2006, a race from KL to Langkawi. Since there's no hunt this weekend, I decided last minute that I should go try my luck. There were only 65 participants in today's Trek, and I thought I might have a good chance of making top 45 qualifiers who will win at least RM100 petrol vouchers.

The race started at the Malaysian Tourist Centre at around 10 am (I was there by 8 am to register, mind you). There are a series of 9 checkpoints we are supposed to get to within an allocated time to obtain stamps on our answer sheet. Missing any one of these checkpoints will effectively end your race! The checkpoint clues are pictorial. For example, a picture of Ronald (McDonald) should tell you to look for a McDonalds fastfood store. But of course, some of the other pictures were not so 'kind'.

Checkpoint 1 showed a picture of the Petronas Sains Centre (KLCC), so off we went on foot, solving some pictorial questions along the way. But it was upon reaching KLCC that we already encountered our first challenge... finding the darn checkpoint. Our first thought was to go straight into KLCC to the top floor where the Sains Centre actually is. But it was no where to be found! It was only much later that we realised the checkpoint is supposed to be OUTSIDE KLCC. Arrghh... So on we ran down to the other exit/entrance, and the checkpoint was actually at a bus-stop.

Next, we were told to take Rapid KL (bus) to Terminal Titiwangsa (Checkpoint 2), and the next picture clue given was a man sitting on a river bank fishing. We thought they wanted us to go to Taman Tasik Titiwangsa! But luckily it was just by the river bank at the bus station itself. After getting the stamp there, the next clue told us to take the Rapid KL again to Kompleks Pertama on Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman. By then, I was already panting and sweating like mad! My shirt was already soaked with sweat (eeewww...!!!).

Onto Pertama we went. Finding the Pertama foodcourt (Checkpoint 3) there also took us awhile (coz the checkpoint station was not open when we got there, so we went walking one big round around the foodcourt! More panting and sweating! :P ). Next we had to walk down Jln Tunku Abdul Rahman towards Jalan Tun Perak, while solving another 4 pictorial questions.

At the end of Jalan Tun Perak, we had to find the next checkpoint where a picture of a burger is shown. We went to Burger King, but no one was there, and in the end we found it in McDonalds instead (Checkpoint 4). After getting our stamp, the next clue told us to take the Putra LRT to KL Sentral to find the next checkpoint, this time a picture of Ronald McDonald is shown. When we arrived at KL Sentral McDonalds (Checkpoint 5), the checkpoint was not yet opened! Which meant that it allowed a lot of latecomers to catch up to us. Sigh... Not good, not good at all. :(

Next, the instruction told us to either walk or take the monorail to Jln Tun Sambanthan where a picture of Ray Charles was our next clue. Since we were way ahead of time, we decided to take the monorail to at least rest our poor legs and possible save some energy for the final part of the race. The clue took us to the Malaysian Association for the Blind (MAB, Checkpoint 6) and there we were to make our donation and get a 'treasure' in return.

The next checkpoint was back to KL Sentral where a picture of a chicken is shown. There we made our first mistake, where we were waiting at the wrong checkpoint (The Chicken Rice Shop). By the time we found the correct checkpoint (Kenny Rogers, Checkpoint 7), we were already behind quite a lot of other racers. :(

We then headed on to the Putra LRT again and onward to Kelana Jaya LRT Station we went. By the time we got to Checkpoint 8 (7-Eleven), there was already a long queue waiting. That caused us to miss out on the free shuttle service to the final checkpoint. In the end we had to take the feeder bus to Sunway, which took about half hour.

Upon arrival at Sunway Pyramid (Checkpoint 9), we ran down to look for the final pictorial clue, which was just a picture of a box of Pharmaton Multi-Vitamin Capsules. My initial thought was that it must be at a pharmacy, so straight into the mall we went. We looked into Watsons, GNC and Guardian, but the checkpoint was still eluding us. We must've been running around the mall for like 20 min (too long!), and still could not find the location. Eventually, I resorted to asking a fellow hunter, and he told me that it was OUTSIDE the building, next to the lion's head. ARRRGGGHHH!!! NOT AGAIN!!! So off we went, and by the time we got to the checkpoint, we were clocked in at 47th & 48th position respectively, thus missing the qualifying cut. :'( I mean, the Pharmaton sign was actually put up by them on that day itself! How the hell should I know to look outside first?!?! :(

I was so, so, so disappointed. All that work for nothing in the end. Sigh... All because of one silly mistake and bad luck. Sigh... But I guess all in all, it was a good day. I haven't run so much since... don't know when! That's my exercise enough for a whole week!! And also now I know what bus to take to Kompleks Pertama, Terminal Titiwangsa and Sunway Pyramid!!! Hahaha...

There's still Trek #2 to go on 9th July (which I will miss since I'm going for another hunt that weekend). Anyone who's been dying to try the Amazing Race phenomenon should give it a go. It really is not as easy as it looks on TV!! :P

Check out the following website for more details: "Adventurace - Advance Dreams"

Hunting... and more hunting...

2006-06-04T00:14:00.000+08:00

I went to two consecutive hunts in the past 2 weeks. The first is the Sun Motor Hunt and another is the Kiwanis "Chill Out" Hunt. Ok, here's where I start bitching about hunting... Haha...

Let's start with the Sun hunt... There were like 280 teams who signed up. We thought... no problemo... this should be a relatively ok hunt. We expected most teams to be newcomers or amateurs so probably we would have a good chance. Moreover, last year we did pretty well and managed a 9th position. We got 9th coz of a few silly mistakes. So this year, we resolved to be more careful and better last year's position. However, we were sadly disappointed. Wait, wait... that's understating it. We were devastated...! First, we made 2 silly mistakes. That really cost us. And also, we underestimated our opponents. A lot of people did better than us! I am ashamed to even say this... but we only managed... *sob*... *hiccup*... 26th... SOB SOB SOB!!! Why? Why? Why? You wouldn't believe how desolute I felt. [ Oh, and may I say how sorry I am to the friend I brought to the dinner with me. I believe he was literally bored out of his mind... Hahaha....!! ] I hope next year they can upgrade us to the Masters category. With only 17 teams there this year, you'd be guaranteed good prizes. And also the glory of being classed a "Master"... ;)

Ok, now to the Kiwanis Hunt. Alright, alright... the hunt was good. We did pretty well. Granted, we also made one or two mistakes, but at least we were still somewhere close behind the Masters. We managed a 13th position, which was not bad at all. The prizes weren't that great, but at least it was great fun. We went up to Cameron Highlands for about 3 days, and had tea and scones (how English!) at the Cameron tea plantation. Nice, nice...

Now to my complaint: As with every Kiwanis hunt, there's always some extra events you can take part in, just for fun. This year, the theme was "Chill Out", and contestants were required to build a chill out scene... anything that can remotely be linked to the theme "Chill Out". They gave some suggestions: a hang-out place, where you 'chill out'; a 'chilling' murder scene; an ice-cold ('chill') igloo... Anything at all. So we decided to join... just for the heck of it. We brainstormed out this brilliantly idea... and this is what it looked like:

Ok... please say you all get the joke?! I mean, it was brilliant! I still can't believe they didn't give us the prize for this!!!

Well, for those who didn't get it, here's what it's supposed to be:
On the tray, is a bowl of Vanilla Ice Cream. It is supposed to represent "Vanilla Ice" the person. And there's this hot, blazing sun, that's slowly melting him away. Thus, the 'Murder' of Vanilla Ice (cream)!!

What's more... we have a poem written on its 'tombstone', which says:
"Here lies Vanilla Ice (cream) who once was a 'pop'.
But the sun came up, and poor Vanilla Ice (cream) melted... drop by drop!"

Now tell me that isn't brilliant?!

Well, looking at who we lost out to, I guess we shouldn't be complaining. Since this is a family event, we should've known better to stick to 'family themes'. The eventual winner was one family who built this make-shift "Chill Out" mall. And they had their teenage daughter explain the whole scene, which is supposed to signify the Sunway mall that they visit, as a family, every Sunday. And it shows all the shops that they would go to. "Uncle Lim where Dad loves his kaya toast... MPH where we love to buy our books. And the rental shop were we rent books that are too expensive to buy... *blah blah blah*" [ Ok ok... now I'm just being bitchy and bitter... :D ]

Now... how can we beat that?! :( I can tell you for sure... family-themes always win. We shouldn't have bothered. Sigh... All I can say is: ours is still the cleverest idea. But guess they don't give points for cleverness in this event.

Tips for 'desperate' singles?

2006-05-14T23:26:00.000+08:00

A friend 'recommended' this blog post to me (to possibly help me out of my single status)? :P The blogger did suggest some very interesting ways to hook yourself up with a man. More specifically, since most of the good men are taken (and handsome men are gay), the best way to hook yourself up with a good man is to 'steal' them away from their girlfriend. :D It's true... how often have you thought: 'What a nice guy!', only to find out that they are attached?! [Alanis Morissette: Isn't it ironic? Don't you think?]

To find out more on what tips she gave, click here.

Well, I only said it was interesting but don't think I'd ever try it la! Haha... I always think, if you don't want it done onto you, don't do it onto others. What goes around comes around. If you steal it from someone, someone else will steal it away from you. It was never yours to have in the first place. Sigh...