I wanted to blog a little about PDA - Public Display of Affection (No, even though I am an IT geek, I am not referring to the Personal Digital Assistant)... but I guess I just let the pictures do the talking... :)
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Live from Station 1
Hey hey hey... never knew I could do this.... live blogging.... Yours truly and her clubbing gang are at Station 1... a cafe with live band (it's crappy-imagine a guy who had to do both the woman and a man's voice when singing... but hey it's live entertainment so we try not to complain too much) and alcohol (the live beverage) ...
Anyway, here's some pics ... pre-Deepavali celebration... whoo hoo....
Alright... excuse me for now... before the tower of carlsberg finishes .. haha and there's a lot to catch up to do on the hot gossips ... :)
Special note: the most juicy gossip for the night revolves around Kenson and the fishballs and Alex and his origami flowers muahahaha
Anyway, here's some pics ... pre-Deepavali celebration... whoo hoo....
Alright... excuse me for now... before the tower of carlsberg finishes .. haha and there's a lot to catch up to do on the hot gossips ... :)
Special note: the most juicy gossip for the night revolves around Kenson and the fishballs and Alex and his origami flowers muahahaha
Sunday, October 19, 2008
The stress releasor
I went for a stress management class recently. My boss appreciates me enough to acknowledge that I do have a lot of work and think that I should attend this class. That's positive thinking. The negative sentense to the same thought sounds like this, "My boss thinks that I am not handling my work well enough and thus creating a lot of stress for myself and sends me to this class to learn a thing or two to increase my performance."
Much like the "secret", which I discussed in my previous blog, this class emphasis the importance of positive thinking...Positive thinking is stressed over and over again as one of the main stress reliever. To change your state of mind is the basic step to overcome stress.
One of the exercises was to ask you to write down what your average day look, sounds, feel like. This is what I wrote:
"I wake up rested to the sound of my mother in law fussing over my son's getting ready to go to school. I go to work with the sun in my eyes, the sound of traffic horns and busy policemen in sight. I step into the office to hear the frantic buzzing of ringing phones and constant chattering of some busy colleagues. As I sit down, the dull drone of my slow PC fills my ears and I continue working to churn out solutions after solutions to help ease my customers with their daily manual processes. I return home to the smell of my mother in law's cooking and the hustle and bustle of the TV and my son playing."
The trainer asked me to read out my passage and she in turn change all those into negative forms.
"I wake up barely rested to the sound of my son, fussing and refusing to go to school again. My grumbling mother in law is not helping and my husband is complaining that his shirts are not ironned. I set out to work to find a horrendous traffic jam and the stupid policemen are not doing anything about it. I curse and honked at the cars beside me because there are a lot of donkeys behind the wheels. As I reached the office, the phones have already started ringing, signalling that there are more problems to be reported to me. I see colleagues running late for meetings while swearing loudly. I sit down wondering when my slow PC is ever going to produce the results which my screaming customers are already waiting for. I return home exhausted but I am forced to eat my mother in law's cooking. My couch potato husband will watching TV while my son will be playing instead of working on his homework."
So you see, the scenario is basically the same, but the CHOICE of words that we use are pretty powerful. If we look at the scenario in a positive manner, it does seemed like a good life to live, doesn't it?
While we may question whether this is living in denial, the trainer says it's not self denial but a CHOICE. We CHOOSE to look at the beautiful and positive side of things because the easiest thing to change is within ourselves and we should take that first step to look into ourselves and make that change. What she's preaching is that we try to see the brighter side of things so that it's easier for us thread along this path called life....
Of course, this change in the state of mind doesn't solve the problems that we have, but at least it clears the mind of negative thoughts so that our emotional brain doesn't take over to make irrational decisions. It clears the way for our Rational brain to evaluate the problems and the possible solutions while not being cluttered with negative emotional thoughts. When our emotional brain gets a rest, and our rational mind is able to solve the problems systematically, then our stress level will reduce.
Hope the sharing of this quick tip (positive thinking) helps..
One of the exercises was to ask you to write down what your average day look, sounds, feel like. This is what I wrote:
"I wake up rested to the sound of my mother in law fussing over my son's getting ready to go to school. I go to work with the sun in my eyes, the sound of traffic horns and busy policemen in sight. I step into the office to hear the frantic buzzing of ringing phones and constant chattering of some busy colleagues. As I sit down, the dull drone of my slow PC fills my ears and I continue working to churn out solutions after solutions to help ease my customers with their daily manual processes. I return home to the smell of my mother in law's cooking and the hustle and bustle of the TV and my son playing."
The trainer asked me to read out my passage and she in turn change all those into negative forms.
"I wake up barely rested to the sound of my son, fussing and refusing to go to school again. My grumbling mother in law is not helping and my husband is complaining that his shirts are not ironned. I set out to work to find a horrendous traffic jam and the stupid policemen are not doing anything about it. I curse and honked at the cars beside me because there are a lot of donkeys behind the wheels. As I reached the office, the phones have already started ringing, signalling that there are more problems to be reported to me. I see colleagues running late for meetings while swearing loudly. I sit down wondering when my slow PC is ever going to produce the results which my screaming customers are already waiting for. I return home exhausted but I am forced to eat my mother in law's cooking. My couch potato husband will watching TV while my son will be playing instead of working on his homework."
So you see, the scenario is basically the same, but the CHOICE of words that we use are pretty powerful. If we look at the scenario in a positive manner, it does seemed like a good life to live, doesn't it?
While we may question whether this is living in denial, the trainer says it's not self denial but a CHOICE. We CHOOSE to look at the beautiful and positive side of things because the easiest thing to change is within ourselves and we should take that first step to look into ourselves and make that change. What she's preaching is that we try to see the brighter side of things so that it's easier for us thread along this path called life....
Of course, this change in the state of mind doesn't solve the problems that we have, but at least it clears the mind of negative thoughts so that our emotional brain doesn't take over to make irrational decisions. It clears the way for our Rational brain to evaluate the problems and the possible solutions while not being cluttered with negative emotional thoughts. When our emotional brain gets a rest, and our rational mind is able to solve the problems systematically, then our stress level will reduce.
Hope the sharing of this quick tip (positive thinking) helps..
The Secret
The current buzz is all around "The Secret"....
The SECRET is OUT... everyone is talking about it...
What is it actually...?? Well, allow me to enlighten if you haven't already heard "The Secret". Rhonda Byrne, an Austrlian talkshow producer, discovered "the secret to the most powerful law in the universe" through a 100 year old book (The Science of Getting Rich, 1910 by Wallace D. Wattles). She captured all her findings in a book (and a film) to explain the secret to life where you can create unlimited happiness, joy, youth, love, health and prosperity.
While I haven't read the book nor watched the film, I can tell you a gist of the secret (*because everyone is talking about it and its even on Oprah!). It basically teaches you the "Law Of Attraction". What Rhonda wants to tell us is... "if you are thinking about how bad your life is, bad things will continue to happen; if you start thinking about great things, they will inevitably manifest." Rhonda explains that by POSITIVE THINKING will make your gloomy life brighter because once you think positive, it will attract the intergalactic forces of nature to work its way magically to give you whatever you wish for...
Ummm... let me forewarn that there are also writers ("The Secret: Ten Problems I Have with Rhonda Byrne's Best Seller" by Charlie Campbell and "The Secret Promotes 'Name It-Claim It' Theology" by Don Whitney) who ran into problems when they practised Rhonda's Secrets. I have also been warned by people who practices these so call "secret" to BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR.... because while your wishes may come true, you do not know how the intergalactic forces of nature works and it may grant your wishes in the most unimaginable way and bring unforeseen and unwanted consequences. An example quoted by "<cant remember the name, will update when I find it> " is; a poor couple practised the secret and wished for some money and the next thing they know, their child is dead and they get to claim a sum of money from his insurance. Sounds grim, doesn't it?
I am an optimistic person and while I agree that positive thinking is good, I am worried that people may take this Secret thing a bit too far. For example, are we saying those who are starving, isn't thinking about food hard enough or those in war-ridden or poverty-plagued countries isn't fantasizing about "blue skies and everything nice" with enough enthusiasm? I worry about the younger generations thinking that now they don't even have to work for their wealth, as they can just have to sit back and dream it into existence.
The point I am getting at is simple. Don't overdo with this secret thingy. We need to question ourselves, "Are we matured enough, both emotionally and mentally, if we are empowered with "THE GREAT POWER OF THE UNIVERSE"? It's one thing to think positive and another thing to RELY ONLY on positive thinking. You have to work towards the goals you set or the dreams you dream. Yes, the good things in live will manifest but you still need to do something about it instead of just sitting down there doing nothing but dream. Heed the wise words of Uncle Ben (Spiderman), "With great powers comes great responsibilities."
While I don't deny the power of "The Secret", I would prefer the teachings to tells us that we have the CHOICE to POSITIVE thinking and whether we WANT TO BE HAPPY depends entirely on us. I mean, it's obvious that threading on with our lifes with a positive outlook is always easier than a negative one. We can choose to dwell in anger and other negative activities but it's OUR CHOICE to snap out of it and channel that negative energy to something POSITIVE. I know it's not easy to just snap out of it so that's why I say it's OUR CHOICE; you can choose to be in any state you want because only you know best when you are ready (emotionally, mentally and physically) to switch from the negative to positive state of mind. This is no secret nor will it guarantee joy, health, wealth or whathever Rhonda Byrne promised in her book, but at least it will help make our lives a little easier to thread on. Don't you think so? (Oh...You better agree with me or Rhonda Byrne will say you're not POSITIVE enough, ha ha.)
Have a great positive week ahead!
Here's the official "The Secret" website for your reference. Sounds interesting but take everything with a pinch of salt. After all, it's your choice.
http://www.thesecret.tv/
The SECRET is OUT... everyone is talking about it...
What is it actually...?? Well, allow me to enlighten if you haven't already heard "The Secret". Rhonda Byrne, an Austrlian talkshow producer, discovered "the secret to the most powerful law in the universe" through a 100 year old book (The Science of Getting Rich, 1910 by Wallace D. Wattles). She captured all her findings in a book (and a film) to explain the secret to life where you can create unlimited happiness, joy, youth, love, health and prosperity.
While I haven't read the book nor watched the film, I can tell you a gist of the secret (*because everyone is talking about it and its even on Oprah!). It basically teaches you the "Law Of Attraction". What Rhonda wants to tell us is... "if you are thinking about how bad your life is, bad things will continue to happen; if you start thinking about great things, they will inevitably manifest." Rhonda explains that by POSITIVE THINKING will make your gloomy life brighter because once you think positive, it will attract the intergalactic forces of nature to work its way magically to give you whatever you wish for...
Ummm... let me forewarn that there are also writers ("The Secret: Ten Problems I Have with Rhonda Byrne's Best Seller" by Charlie Campbell and "The Secret Promotes 'Name It-Claim It' Theology" by Don Whitney) who ran into problems when they practised Rhonda's Secrets. I have also been warned by people who practices these so call "secret" to BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR.... because while your wishes may come true, you do not know how the intergalactic forces of nature works and it may grant your wishes in the most unimaginable way and bring unforeseen and unwanted consequences. An example quoted by "<cant remember the name, will update when I find it> " is; a poor couple practised the secret and wished for some money and the next thing they know, their child is dead and they get to claim a sum of money from his insurance. Sounds grim, doesn't it?
I am an optimistic person and while I agree that positive thinking is good, I am worried that people may take this Secret thing a bit too far. For example, are we saying those who are starving, isn't thinking about food hard enough or those in war-ridden or poverty-plagued countries isn't fantasizing about "blue skies and everything nice" with enough enthusiasm? I worry about the younger generations thinking that now they don't even have to work for their wealth, as they can just have to sit back and dream it into existence.
The point I am getting at is simple. Don't overdo with this secret thingy. We need to question ourselves, "Are we matured enough, both emotionally and mentally, if we are empowered with "THE GREAT POWER OF THE UNIVERSE"? It's one thing to think positive and another thing to RELY ONLY on positive thinking. You have to work towards the goals you set or the dreams you dream. Yes, the good things in live will manifest but you still need to do something about it instead of just sitting down there doing nothing but dream. Heed the wise words of Uncle Ben (Spiderman), "With great powers comes great responsibilities."
While I don't deny the power of "The Secret", I would prefer the teachings to tells us that we have the CHOICE to POSITIVE thinking and whether we WANT TO BE HAPPY depends entirely on us. I mean, it's obvious that threading on with our lifes with a positive outlook is always easier than a negative one. We can choose to dwell in anger and other negative activities but it's OUR CHOICE to snap out of it and channel that negative energy to something POSITIVE. I know it's not easy to just snap out of it so that's why I say it's OUR CHOICE; you can choose to be in any state you want because only you know best when you are ready (emotionally, mentally and physically) to switch from the negative to positive state of mind. This is no secret nor will it guarantee joy, health, wealth or whathever Rhonda Byrne promised in her book, but at least it will help make our lives a little easier to thread on. Don't you think so? (Oh...You better agree with me or Rhonda Byrne will say you're not POSITIVE enough, ha ha.)
Have a great positive week ahead!
Here's the official "The Secret" website for your reference. Sounds interesting but take everything with a pinch of salt. After all, it's your choice.
http://www.thesecret.tv/
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Bryan - attached to the computer or to me?
Bryan is sitting on my lap as I type this blog. It's a pretty nice feeling as only yesterday I was complaining to my friend that my son isn't attached to me. Yeah yeah, I know, it's all my fault that I don't spend enough time with him but no, I am not going to dwell on that right now... because I just want to enjoy this moment with him...
"Ok Bryan, it's time for me to play the computer. You go watch your Kung Fu Panda..."
"No Mom, I don't wanna watch that. I want to sit with you Mom. I promise I won't touch anything."
Those goodie two shoes words are bound to melt any mother's heart, even the strictest...
"Alright then. Do you want to play with my facebook? Like feed the werewolves?"
"But Mom, feeding them are SOOO BORINGGG! I rather go read my books..."
With that statement, I can't help but laugh...
Well well well, Bryan has grown up and has a mind of his own... no longer accepting everything I feed him... He knows what he wants online. He goes into Google and search for his own entertainment, be it Disney Channel, YouTube or online games like Scooby Doo, Spiderman or Batman. Yep, he started to surf the net at the tender age of 3, thanks to the online addicted Mom. My intentions isn't to make him technology savvy but to tap onto the advanced US websites such as Fisher Price and HIT Entertainment (Home of Barney and Thomas & Friends) whereby they have modern methods in making learning fun. Ok, ok I confess...I was also lazy. I let the web teach my son the ABCs and the 123. But hey, it works. My son even learnt about shapes and colours all through the web!
Ok, this leads me to another confession... this Mom is also guilty of leaving language teaching all to technology whereby his son learnt all the English phrases from Channel 613 - Playhouse Disney Channel on Astro. No regrets though, as his command of English is pretty good for his age and I liked the way he practises his English with me. I remember there was one night 2 years ago when I came home from work and he said with all seriousness and in perfect English intonation,
"Ok Bryan, it's time for me to play the computer. You go watch your Kung Fu Panda..."
"No Mom, I don't wanna watch that. I want to sit with you Mom. I promise I won't touch anything."
Those goodie two shoes words are bound to melt any mother's heart, even the strictest...
"Alright then. Do you want to play with my facebook? Like feed the werewolves?"
"But Mom, feeding them are SOOO BORINGGG! I rather go read my books..."
With that statement, I can't help but laugh...
Well well well, Bryan has grown up and has a mind of his own... no longer accepting everything I feed him... He knows what he wants online. He goes into Google and search for his own entertainment, be it Disney Channel, YouTube or online games like Scooby Doo, Spiderman or Batman. Yep, he started to surf the net at the tender age of 3, thanks to the online addicted Mom. My intentions isn't to make him technology savvy but to tap onto the advanced US websites such as Fisher Price and HIT Entertainment (Home of Barney and Thomas & Friends) whereby they have modern methods in making learning fun. Ok, ok I confess...I was also lazy. I let the web teach my son the ABCs and the 123. But hey, it works. My son even learnt about shapes and colours all through the web!
Ok, this leads me to another confession... this Mom is also guilty of leaving language teaching all to technology whereby his son learnt all the English phrases from Channel 613 - Playhouse Disney Channel on Astro. No regrets though, as his command of English is pretty good for his age and I liked the way he practises his English with me. I remember there was one night 2 years ago when I came home from work and he said with all seriousness and in perfect English intonation,
"Where have you been, Mom? I am so glad to see you... I missed you."
However, I didn't get a hug or any emotional display of the intense missing feeling, so I assumed it must have been some line he picked up from the Playhouse Disney Channel. Still, he certainly made my day and has touched my heart with that line and you bet I'll remember it for the rest of my life!
While I am proud that he's had a head start, just a word of caution to the parents out there - Just be sure that they don't play or stare at the monitor too much. Too much of a good thing is always bad. And try to get an LCD monitor, if possible. I think my earlier cathode tube monitor and cathode tube TV may have caused some short sightedness in Bryan. Although some may argue that his short sightedness might be hereditary, it never hurts to be safe than sorry....
While I am proud that he's had a head start, just a word of caution to the parents out there - Just be sure that they don't play or stare at the monitor too much. Too much of a good thing is always bad. And try to get an LCD monitor, if possible. I think my earlier cathode tube monitor and cathode tube TV may have caused some short sightedness in Bryan. Although some may argue that his short sightedness might be hereditary, it never hurts to be safe than sorry....
Saturday, October 04, 2008
What makes me happy?
Seeing his squinty eyes,
telling me all kinds of adventure,
in all its silliness.
His small little hands,
holding on to my weathered hands,
asking me for protection.
His inquisitive mind,
bewildered by all new things,
Daring to try and experiment.
His cheeky little smile,
His chuckly bursty laughter,
His mischievous style.
Yes, all these little things
means the world to me,
and simply makes me happy.
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
Movie Experiences and it's not THX
My movie outings are never short of "extraordinary" incidents. Yesterday I went to watch Painted Skin with my girlfriend, MissS. Since she's single, I decided to play cupid to get her a date. Furthermore, I owe a guyfriend, Mr.G, a treat for helping me out with my dead car batteries. No no, I am not saying I am giving away MissS as a treat, but hey, if she's willing, it's a bonus ha ha. Anyway, he wasn't very keen at first, as he was already getting ready for bed, but who could resist when I said I would bring a beautiful girl along. He even cancelled his earlier supper plans with his friends, just to meet MissS.
While I appreciated their spontaneity, I had only half an hour to pick up the 2 of them, get to 1Utama, get a parking lot, get the tickets and get the popcorns - so much to achieve, huh? Well, we made it there around 9:35 (show scheduled for 9:45pm) so I had to ask MissS and Mr.G to get the tickets first while I park the car. MissS insisted that she can get the tix by herself and had Mr.G accompany me to the carpark.
"Aiyah, you girls are so fickle, I can't be in 2 places at the same time, so I will just stay put." With that, Mr.G remained seated at the back of the car, laughing, teasing and making me look like Driver Ahmad... Darn!
If you thought that was the worse thing that could happen, brace yourself. S came back with the tickets, all separate seats! She rationale that there was only front row seats left and she wanted to have good seats in the centre of the cinema and dont mind seating separated from us! So she got 2 seats for 3rd row from the screen, and 1 for the centre of the cinema. Mr.G couldn't believe it and wanted to take a picture of the tickets as he's never known anyone who would buy such tickets. (but MissS wouldn't allow me access to the tickets in case I force her to sit with him... silly woman!) It was really an embarassing predicament for me, but since we were already late for the movie, we quickly move on to the confectionary counters to get our popcorns and rush to the movie.
Luckily (or unluckily for me?), Mr.G didn't fall asleep during show despite being so tired. He kept himself busy by guessing the script/dialogue and telling me aloud (much to the chagrin of my neighbour). As for me, I just couldn't wait to get out of the cinema due to my full bladder!
So much for the movie outing with Mr.G and MissS but that is not the silliest I have experienced.
My silliest and most embarassing one would be the time when I was way younger and my date didn't tell me our seat numbers. I went into the dark cinema and my eyes couldn't adjust and I just stood there while my date went to his seat. When my eyes finally adjusted, I couldn't find where he was seated and so I had to just stand at the back of the cinema until he came back to guide me. It was so embarassing but somehow darn funny when I look back now!
Another funny experience would be the one when my guyfriend came in late and had to traverse through a whole line of people to get to his seat. First, he was already silly to get in from the side where there were more people. Second, he had to choose to go through these people with him facing the seats rather than facing the screen. So, midway, when he lost his balance and fell on one of the women (stranger), we couldn't help laughing our heads off!
There was another time when one of my movie partners couldn't stop talking the whole movie! I could only laugh as I was concentrating on the movie but I could hear something about Bourne Identity's Matt Damon being greater than Jackie Chan!
Of course there are those who goes to the movies and starts sleeping. It is fine if he goes around the world (*head tossing and turning around as he dozes off) but it can be both embarassing and distracting if he starts snoring! You would never believe that one can sleep and snore through an interesting and explosive action-packed movie (The Red Cliff). I had to poke him a few times to stop him from disturbing other viewers!
There was also one time when MrB went to the movies with me in kitchen slippers (*See pic). Boy, I couldn't stop laughing at him.
I guess I better stop revealing too much of my movie experiences before I scare away all my movie partners. Rest assured, your movie outings with me will never be a boring one!
While I appreciated their spontaneity, I had only half an hour to pick up the 2 of them, get to 1Utama, get a parking lot, get the tickets and get the popcorns - so much to achieve, huh? Well, we made it there around 9:35 (show scheduled for 9:45pm) so I had to ask MissS and Mr.G to get the tickets first while I park the car. MissS insisted that she can get the tix by herself and had Mr.G accompany me to the carpark.
"Aiyah, you girls are so fickle, I can't be in 2 places at the same time, so I will just stay put." With that, Mr.G remained seated at the back of the car, laughing, teasing and making me look like Driver Ahmad... Darn!
If you thought that was the worse thing that could happen, brace yourself. S came back with the tickets, all separate seats! She rationale that there was only front row seats left and she wanted to have good seats in the centre of the cinema and dont mind seating separated from us! So she got 2 seats for 3rd row from the screen, and 1 for the centre of the cinema. Mr.G couldn't believe it and wanted to take a picture of the tickets as he's never known anyone who would buy such tickets. (but MissS wouldn't allow me access to the tickets in case I force her to sit with him... silly woman!) It was really an embarassing predicament for me, but since we were already late for the movie, we quickly move on to the confectionary counters to get our popcorns and rush to the movie.
Luckily (or unluckily for me?), Mr.G didn't fall asleep during show despite being so tired. He kept himself busy by guessing the script/dialogue and telling me aloud (much to the chagrin of my neighbour). As for me, I just couldn't wait to get out of the cinema due to my full bladder!
So much for the movie outing with Mr.G and MissS but that is not the silliest I have experienced.
My silliest and most embarassing one would be the time when I was way younger and my date didn't tell me our seat numbers. I went into the dark cinema and my eyes couldn't adjust and I just stood there while my date went to his seat. When my eyes finally adjusted, I couldn't find where he was seated and so I had to just stand at the back of the cinema until he came back to guide me. It was so embarassing but somehow darn funny when I look back now!
Another funny experience would be the one when my guyfriend came in late and had to traverse through a whole line of people to get to his seat. First, he was already silly to get in from the side where there were more people. Second, he had to choose to go through these people with him facing the seats rather than facing the screen. So, midway, when he lost his balance and fell on one of the women (stranger), we couldn't help laughing our heads off!
There was another time when one of my movie partners couldn't stop talking the whole movie! I could only laugh as I was concentrating on the movie but I could hear something about Bourne Identity's Matt Damon being greater than Jackie Chan!
Of course there are those who goes to the movies and starts sleeping. It is fine if he goes around the world (*head tossing and turning around as he dozes off) but it can be both embarassing and distracting if he starts snoring! You would never believe that one can sleep and snore through an interesting and explosive action-packed movie (The Red Cliff). I had to poke him a few times to stop him from disturbing other viewers!
There was also one time when MrB went to the movies with me in kitchen slippers (*See pic). Boy, I couldn't stop laughing at him.I guess I better stop revealing too much of my movie experiences before I scare away all my movie partners. Rest assured, your movie outings with me will never be a boring one!
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