Christmas, Season of Love

As my all time favourite plays,



I look back at the past 12 months and 3 weeks of my life, these quotes seem to resonate to me very much. Lucille Ball says, love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world. Self-love and appreciation exudes confidence that transforms into charm and this magnet that attracts everything in the world to me. I cannot explain to my friend why you cannot crush my self esteem. Maybe it's as simple as I am in control of what I allow others to make me feel. No matter what, people around me make me proud of them and myself. Got to say that my Christmas dinner with the family was inspiring for sure :)

Joseph Addison (whoever he is) also thinks that three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for. And hey, I have all these in my life, so full and so rich and I don't really cling on the the joyous days in the past. Something to do, check. Something to love, more than just something for sure, check. Something to hope for, yes check, I'm counting down to D-Day.

At the end of the day, life is but a brief moment. The years go by quickly and old age arrives suddenly before we have an inkling. People desire so many things and waste their days in vain. Some yearn for gold, others for power, yet others for glory and a higher station. But when death's moment nears and they look back at their lives they've lived, they realise they've been happy only during those moments when they've loved. I didn't write that, Borje Vahamaki did.

Even CS Lewis says, love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.

The more vulnerable I am, the stronger I will become. Nicely said that all I want is love and let loved. The rest will fall into place eventually. Yes, call me cheesy but love is my addiction and hobby.

And this is my belief,
A post from a woman in love.

28th day in October

May today there be peace within.
May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith in yourself and others.
May you use the gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.
May you be content with yourself just the way you are.
Let this knowledge settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.
It is there for each and every one of us.

Declutter

As much as I was trapped in a whirlwind of mind-storm after being overloaded with excessive information, I'm glad that I came across this little anecdote that helped me to move on immediately.

In ancient Greece (469 - 399 BC), Socrates was widely lauded for his wisdom. One day the great philosopher came upon an acquaintance who ran up to him excitedly and said, "Socrates, do you know what I just heard about one of your students?"

"Wait a moment," Socrates replied. "Before you tell me I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Test of Three."

"Test of Three?"

"That's right," Socrates continued. "Before you talk to me about my student let's take a moment to test what you're going to say. The first test is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?"

"No," the man said, "actually I just heard about It."

"All right," said Socrates. "So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second test, the test of Goodness: Is what you are about to tell me about my student something good?"

"No, on the contrary..."

"So," Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him even though you're not certain it's true?"

The man shrugged, a little embarrassed.

Socrates continued. "You may still pass though, because there is a third test - the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my student going to be useful to me?"

"No, not really."

"Well," concluded Socrates, "if what you want to tell me is neither True nor Good nor even Useful, why tell it to me at all?"

The man was defeated and ashamed.

So, are you sure that the information you got today is true, good and useful to keep in mind? If not, why not stop the passing on of such information so that the world has less clutter that does no good?

My parents were awesome

Sometimes, when I'm home sick, I will drop by this place, reminiscing on people's parents, and let my mind wandering how my parents could have looked like 50 years ago.

How's your day dream like?



The Awesome Site

Facebook-less - Cleanse & deactivate !

27 April 2010 2am in the cold morning, I officially removed my profile from Facebook ! At the same time, I made a brief record of the tedious process I went through get myself clean.

- Removed 57 photo albums and 6 video I posted
- Removed 2 Pages I administered
- Removed close to 400 photo tags and 8 video tags
- Deleted one by one of all 450 ++ friends
- Unchecked all control settings related to privacy control
- Change all privacy settings with View rights to "Only Me"
- Left all 89 groups I joined
- Removed some pages I "liked"
- Removed personal details, left my company's Network
- Renamed myself from Farg Bacebook -> No Bacefook
- And ... there you go - Deactivate Account and give a crappy reason and persist on deactivation despite the tricky pop ups from Facebook.

There are some steps listed above that might appear unnecessary. However, working all my life in IT industry, I do not trust Facebook for really deactivating my account in all databases. So, before I deactivated my account, I had to be sure by cleaning up my profile and ensuring there is no content left in it - no friends, no photos, no videos, nothing posted, no tags. Neither am I sure that my face in some friends' photos will still be tagged with the hideous name that I have changed my profile name to. So, all is clean.

Gosh, my social media footprint is shockingly scary.

Facebook addicts seem to live in a totally different world, speaking FBian lingo, engaging in FB activities. Unfortunately, that is not the life I want to live in.

Now, it's time for a picnic, a real picnic. :)

Dechinaphobia

You just can't imagine how much I fear and hate China at the same time for very good reasons that you have no right to judge. Unfortunately, I will be surrounded by these faces soon later and thinking of it seriously gives me creeps.

I pray.


By http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattlinden/438051924/

45 Lessons

By Poe Taetum

I'm stubborn and rigid. I believe in only the ultimate correctness in everything I do. All actions can be analyzed and concluded in a one-liner hypothesis. I try so hard to see beyond what naked eye perceives and seek truth in all philosophical ideas. And throughout the years, what I understood and tried to apply in my life seem to have been summarized in the lessons here by an old lady. The lessons resonate with what I believe in. Learn from the old man, they say.

Everything doesn't have to be that complicated. I agree.

45 Lessons in Life

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words ''In five years, will this matter?".
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time, time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. The best is yet to come.
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44. Yield.
45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.

Life and life itself

I need to write about this. I need to remember this.

You will first lose something then only will you cherish it. This theory is most applicable to our precious life as well. On day to day basis, we have pushed the limits of not doing the safest bet for ourselves. We just don't. Human beings can be such a pain in a way that we tend to be ignorant of what's the best for ourselves, and go out of the way to push certain limits.

As I try to recall what happened this afternoon, the ambiguity that surfaced in my memory seemed to have wiped out what I tried so hard to remember.

It was the most inappropriate moment to read a text message.

Her hands were on the steering wheels when a mobile phone beeped along with a new message coming in. She knew for sure where the text came from and thus, shifting her focus to the phone while driving. I don't think this girl was that good at spelling "dangerous" at that time. That was when she noticed that she would miss a turn in the next 10 seconds if she did not switch to the left lane immediately. What's so ignorant about the driver was, she did not consider the factor that it was raining and the water has created the pool of grip-less slide right in front. There was also a cab right behind her car within close distance.

So, she stepped on the brake to slow down the car before she intended to slowly put on a signal and shift to the left. However, the weather and road condition seemed to ignore her intentions, lifted her car slightly above the ground and spinned her all around.

For one moment, she wasn't so sure anymore, if it's the world that spinned or the car that did. Then, the moment of confusion triggered her assumption that everything would happen just like in the movies when the car flipped and the driver got smashed against the windshield without airbag. What might come along with the package, could also be a bloody face, with permanent scar on the face, and she would ran away from the public and live alone forever.

When the car was pushed in such strong momentum, the wheel ran over the curb before it bumped over the other side of the road where traffic flowed in opposite direction. She couldn't believe it was happening so, she waited to hear a big "thud" or "bang" or other cars honking. Perhaps, the car would flip upside down. Fortunately, none of those happened other than the few thuds when the car bumped and slided over the big curb. She frantically observed her surrounding and noticed that there are no cars around at that time. That was definitely very lucky of her.

Once she has cooled down, a car started to put on a right-turn signal and turn into the lane where the car was landed. Without further ado, she slowly drove her car forward to the far right corner where she stared ahead in such absurd numbness and sat for 10 long minutes not knowing what to do.

Nothing's wrong. The car was fine. She was fine. The whole radio was bumped in such force that has unloaded itself from the dashboard frame. Then, her mind wandered off to think about her awesome evening plan ahead.As her thoughts and excitement picked up, she ignited the car engine and slowly drove ahead to continue her journey.

What's wrong with me?
Where is my fear?
Why isn't there any emotions but mere surge of adrenaline?
Is this "the" wake up call for me to re-evaluate the value of life?
Will I remember this forever or never?

This is my second time cheating death, by having such horrible accident in a scale that have taken other people's lives but not my own. Will I get lucky again for the 3rd time? I will not let this happen.

I would remember this as a good lesson learned. But what I wasn't sure is, how long will I store this in my memory. Will I be able to change my lifestlye/personality/mentality/habit drastically to avoid this again?

Trauma doesn't stay more than 2 days. Something is wrong with me. I can't feel. Can you?

The problem with consumers is...

We're just a bit lunatic sometimes. Have we lost faith in both humanity and the higher power that some might even turn to food to seek shelter and solace?

As Battlestar Galactica characters chant, "So say we all..." Then your "Cheesus" will bless you.

Extract from here:

It's partly a matter of luck, but it also takes a good eye for spotting the random edible miracle. You should also remember that context is everything: You might find a Shiva or an Apollo, but they're not going to be that newsworthy in the U.S., so stick with tried-and-true icons like Jesus or the Virgin Mary. A Cthulhu-shaped snack might net you some cult fame but probably not a lot of money.

Read Related on SeriousEat
In Videos: And Finally Tonight, Jesus in a Bucket of Spumoni

Open Door

Front door, originally uploaded by Craft & Creativity.

Knock knock? Anybody home?
Knock knock who?
Knock knock, it's just me.

Then, you open the door and let someone in.

Doubt

Doubt can be a bond as powerful and sustaining as certainty.
--- Doubt (Movie)

Because of this line, all the doubt that's been fluffing in mind has cleared away. If life is not a mess, what fun is left to it? Let me click play, and keep on watching.

Till then,

J

It's just 27 May and I have no words of wisdom for you

Life's a mess, and we have long known this but are just reluctant to accept the fact. Perhaps, when the childishness was lost that long long time ago, and when responsibility is what keep you going in your life, when the decision that seems appropriate is not what you wish, when all the happen is not what you imagine. It all starts when when you start learning the meaning of life.

Today, yours truly, me, have no mood for everything but the mood to write an emo post. Thus, my complaints below:
1. Politics are for power hunger people. You're either one of them, or the victim of the game.
2. Life's a bigger mess than you think it is. So, deal with it.
3. The more you want to stop thinking about it, the more it will stay in your mind. So do something else.
4. Do not forget dinner and Thursday night is for friends. ( You didn't see this one coming, did you? :p )

Post #101

For this 101st post made after the blog was revamped, all I have is something sad to say. Change is constant. And this realistic rule applies to friendship, relationship, and non-human relationship matter. That sounds exactly like a non believer of everything. Well ... meet "me".

Writing at an impulsive moment can be rewarding to capture some hidden personality/traits that you never realize you would have.

Smug.

Sharing with you some nice pictures behind the scenes of 007 Quantum of Solace.

Let's go Gaga

I wonder if Lady Gaga is the next fasion icon after Gwen Stefani.
No, Gwen is much better.

Money money money

It's about time for me to look into my personal finances! So, I made a very serious attempt by reading all these articles. However to put thoughts into actions is always...challenging. Until then.

Here's something I read recently.

Spend Less by Keeping Large Bills in Your Wallet: You're less likely to spend your cash if it's in large denominations, reports the authors of a paper published in the Journal of Consumer Research.

Everything You Ever Really Needed to Know About Personal Finance On Just One Page: Included in this ebook are a number of great tricks and tips for both spending less and earning more.

Make a list of the 10 most expensive things you own vs. the 10 things that make you the most happy: "Consumerist capitalism is the least oppressive system of mass trait display ever developed."

My Personal Credit Crisis - a New York Times' economics reporter's tale of financial disaster: Edmund L. Andrews says he willingly "joined millions of otherwise-sane Americans in what we now know was a catastrophic binge on overpriced real estate and reckless mortgages."

The Sun

I read this from The Sartorialist's blog. And this confirms my theory that the sun in Australia that lil bit different from here !

A few of you commented that the light in Australia seems very different. You're right. Actually, it is not that different - but since they are going into Winter the sun is much lower in the sky as opposed to in the Summer when it is very high and has a harsh shadowing effect. That's why I could take a midday beach shot without all of the hard light reflecting off of the sand.

The Rose

Some say love, it is a river that drowns the tender reed
Some say love, it is a razor that leaves your soul to bleed
Some say love it is a hunger an endless aching need
I say love it is a flower and you it's only seed

It's the heart afraid of breaking that never learns to dance
It's the dream afraid of waking that never takes the chance
It's the one who won't be taken who cannot seem to give
And the soul afraid of dying that never learns to live

When the night has been too lonely and the road has been too long
and you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows
lies the seed that with the sun's love in the spring becomes the rose

Written by Amanda McBroom
Sample this song | Read about this song

This song was played over THE saucy poppy bubblegum tv show and it struck a note in my memory that chimes till now. I can't remember when was the last time I heard this song. Oh, it should be the one time when the Taiwanese tv series The Rose ( or something ) became so famous and this should be in the soundtrack then. Perhaps.

Another off-topic note, I have been seeking a platform to mitigate and pent out all my frustrations and thoughts and even concluded that blog is the worst solution ever ( as what I usually commented on others' emo posts). Well, writing something here that might shoot back at you is just @)(*#$(&%$(* as you do not know who is reading. So, think about it, this is just terrifying yet thrilling for me, which I love. Since I made so many plans for this blog and never stick to one, we'll see what fits into my should-not-be-busy-but-turns-out-busy-all-the-time schedule.

Lastly, huge congratulations to J.A. for finally confirming her wedding dates! :) This post is for you. Probably, this is the most personal post ever, for the past year or two. Here you go.

To all the non-believers, let's just stay put.

几米 《我的心中每天开出一朵花》

人不是鱼，怎会了解鱼的忧愁。

鱼不是鸟，怎会了解鸟的快乐。

鸟不是人，怎会了解人的荒唐。

人不是鸟，怎会了解鸟的自由。

鸟不是鱼，怎会了解鱼的深沉。

鱼不是人，怎会了解人的幼稚。

你不是我，怎会了解我。

I need to pick one.

1-2-3, which one to pick.

Adulthood

I feel tempted to write a post about it.
But no, cos I'm an adult.

( P/S: And only if I'm still writing in modblog. Bah... )

Lessons learnt
1. Life's a bitch.
2. Never assume full trust no matter how tempted you are.

FUCK!
(clique ici )