In remembrance

Dearest Ruby

 

It is hard to accept that you are not around anymore, and it pains many of us to learn about your passing. You have been a contant light in many of our lives; a light that holds true and dear. You welcomed us into your home whenever we come to visit. You allowed us bring forth truth and light in your humble presence time and again. For that, we are truly grateful.

 

You are in a better place now, a place where there is no sadness, no disappointment; only love. As we gather our emotions, and come to grasp with your loss, you will forever be remembered and loved. Thank you for coming into our lives. As the saying goes; the night is darkest before dawn. We mourn, but in acceptance, we heal.

 

Till we meet again, my friend.

Loss of a Friend

Nerissa Morton

A loss of a friend hurts
The loss of a best friend hurts more,
But it is never a true loss;
Everyday you will see something that reminds you of them
This will bring a memory;
A memory of the times you speant together
Followed by another;
A memory of how you went your seperate ways
They will always be in your mind;
They never really leave you.

Fortune Cookie Quote of the Day: "The hard times will begin to fade. Joy will take their place."

Not giving up.

No, I have not given up on this blog yet. =)

 

It has been 2 wonderful weeks since I started this job. The past 2 weeks has had its ups and downs. Ups being exposed to a myriad of different events, interacting with people and seeing an event through from beginning to end. The downs are mostly sitting infront of my desk and opening the same folders over and over again. It is very true, what a good friend has shared with me yesterday, that sometimes my job does not give me the challenge that I crave. Sitting infront of the computer waiting for emails to come in, or simply looking through a file and 'acting busy' can degenerate the brain cells a lot!

 

Perhaps it is still a honeymoon period for me. I am still learning the works of the organization, and at the moment, I am slowly absorbing the culture of the work environment, preparing for future challenges. But still, at times it is rather frustrating to be unable to set into motion some of the ideas I have, as I am not familiar with the procedures or what to do to set them into motion. Patience, my young padawan. You must learn to walk before you can run, and eventually soar.

 

This morning, I got a rather shocking piece of bad news just before going to work. I received a sms from my cousin, saying that my paternal grandfather had suffered a stroke a few hours earlier, and has been admitted into the hospital. The news hit me with a shock, but I did not panic. Good thing my cousin ended the sms saying that his condition is stable.

 

My paternal grandfather and me share an unspoken closeness. It has been almost 20 years since my father passed away due to stroke. When I was young, my grandfather has taken over the role of a guardian for my sister and me. Even though he is already in his late 70s, he still fondly remembers the times when I was young, when I was a pesky little boy who refuses to go to school (kindergarten). He will drag me all the way from home to school, and make sure I stay there, and never fail to be there to pick me up when school ends. My grandfather lives a very simple life. He is very happy with just coffee and bread as his staple food, and spends most of his time tidying the house and doing the household chores. You cannot detect a single tinge of worry in his eyes, only Love, for his children and his grandchildren.

 

Today, after work, my mum, sister and me went to the hospital to visit him. As we drove to the hospital, I hummed a silent prayer for him to be well and recovering. Just as we were reaching the hospital, I spotted a rainbow arching across the sky. It is a good sign! Telling me not to worry and my grandfather will be protected and well taken care of. Walking to the ward and his bed, it was reminisce of 20 years ago. Back then, after my dad suffered a stroke, I was brought to his bed before he passed on. That was the last time I seen him alive, lying on the bed sleeping in a slightly contorted position. Mouth open, eyes closed with a breathing device attached to his nose. When I saw my grandfather just now, he was in a similar position, mouth open, eyes closed and all.

 

I sat beside him, watching him sleep while my mum and sis chatted with my cousin. I tried waking him, but he was sleeping, even snoring at times. We learnt from my cousin that he had fallen down early this morning in the toilet, the cause is still unknown. The doctor suspects it is a mild stroke, and he suffered some cuts on his left hand due to the fall. I had to take a toilet break. When I came back, I was pleasantly surprised that my grandfather has woken up. He looked at me with his loving eyes as I walked towards the bed. It was as if I was 5 years old once again, from the way he looked at me. I knew he is very happy that we are beside him, and all I can try to do is give the same amount of love back to him, and more. He will be alright, I know it. There are many friends and guardians in the ward looking after him, I could sense it. He started chatting with us, and his hand is no longer pain. He can even move his arms and legs freely. 

 

Thank you God for looking after him. Let him recover well and soon.

 

Fortune Cookie Quote of the Day: "Success is to be able to spend your life in your own way."

Give faith a fighting chance.

I am such a silly billy. There I was, yesterday, starting to think it was all doom and gloom all over again. Faith is what some people throw away at first sight of fear, but bet cha did not realise that a little of it can go a long way.

I went to see my mum's regular GP yesterday afternoon about her giddyness lately. Initially we thought it was heat related, or maybe her daily dosage of medication was overworking. When the doc heard the word 'facial', she immediately said "Orrh! I know what is it."

Turns out it is nothing serious, just a slight displacement of the occicles in the ears, that causes a disorder call Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo. As written, benign is good, as oppose to malignant, paroxysmal means it comes and goes whenever, positional relates to certain positions or sudden movements of the head, and finally vertigo is what some of us may experience once in awhile if we stay in a position for too long and change to something else. I experience vertigos once in awhile, most of the time after I get up from the chair after sitting down for a long time. It is a disorientating feeling whereby my vision gradually starts to go purple, and the mind spaces out.

The occicles in the ears are sort of the body's GPS system, where it send messages to the brain to tell it if the body is standing up, lying down or sitting down. Thus the doc was explaining to us that my mum may have displaced the occicles in her ear during or after her facial due to sudden movements after a prolonged period in a position. The cure is actually very simple; no medications required. Just a simple exercise routine to do everyday, and true enough after she practiced it on my mum, she immediately felt better.

Good news all round. Yay. But that was not the only piece of good news yesterday. Right after we came out of the doctor's room, I received a call from a prospective employer. I had gone for their first interview last week, and was shortlisted for a second interview yesterday morning. And yesterday afternoon, they called me to offer me the position! Looks like my days of sleeping late and waking up late are seriously numbered. I have informed another prospective employer, whom I will prefer to work for, of this offer that I have just gotten. Hope they can expedite their interview process and oh-please-God offer me the position tomorrow.

A little faith goes a long way; imagine if you have total faith, you can achieve absolutely anything you desire. =)

The lyrics of this song resonates my sentiment exactly, and it is also a really beautiful song.

I Hope You Dance
Lee Ann Womack
I hope you never lose your sense of wonder,
You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger,
May you never take one single breath for granted,
God forbid love ever leave you empty handed.

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean,
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens,
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance,
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.

I hope you dance, i hope you dance.

I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance,
Never settle for the path of least resistance.
Living might mean taking chances but they're worth taking,
Loving might be a mistake but its worth making.

Don't let some hell bent heart leave you bitter,
When you come close to selling out, reconsider.
Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance,
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.

Normally I don't like to embed youtube videos or songs into a post, will prefer to upload the song into vox, but have to make an exception this time, as the accompanied images and lyrics of this video are truly inspirational. Enjoy.

I hope you dance lyrics

Fortune Cookie Quote of the Day: "You get what you want through your charm and personality." Woots!

Be well.

Lately mum has not been feeling well. It started on Sunday, after she went for facial with my sister. Right after her facial, she mentioned that her head is feeling giddy, and will not be able to drive the car home. I did not think it was anything serious, probably just some heat trapped between her wig and her head that caused the headache, as her hair is beginning to grow. We asked her to take it easy and rest more over the next few days.

 

Things went back to normal for awhile, but the headache was still persistent, though not as serious as Sunday. Just awhile ago, she felt uncomfortable in her bed and started to perspire quite a bit. A wave of emotions and fear gripped my sis, and asked me to bring her to the doctor tomorrow. For me, I have been constantly praying for her well being, trying to be the altar of light for the family. But strong as I try to be, a sense of helplessness has crept into me. It truly hurts to see your loved ones suffering, and not being able to do much. I know she will be well, I must have faith; all I want to do now is to pray more for her.

 

Let her be well. Thank you.

Light

The darkness shant always remain
for in every darkness there is a light
but with every light there is a darkness
neither can strive without the other
for darkness is never darkness without light
and light is never light without darkness
with the essence of both we may find ourselves
no matter how dark we are there is always a light.

 

Fortune Cookie Quote of the Day: "Every artist was once an amateur."

Life is an attitude.

I took this from a friend's blog, who attended a course titled "Life is an attitude" some time back. Here are her thoughts;

 

Attitude. What kinda attitude do we all have?
The heck-care attitude? The bo-chap attitude? The Kiasu, kiasi, kia-bo attitudes? Positive attitude? Negative attitude? Everyone of us can display any kind of attitude. Why we show attitude, be it good or bad, is largely due to our perception of things. How we interpret and how we choose to react to it.

We all know the logic of how we can choose to be happy or sad. We can choose to look at one thing positively or think the worst of it. We can all choose to smile at something or cry over it. To let go or bear grudges.

One of the many things I took from this course:-

TECHNIQUES TO STAY POSITIVE
Here are some techniques you may wanna try?

• When you meet a friend, instead of asking 'how are you doing?', ask them to tell you the bright spot of the day?
  
• When anticipating what lies ahead in a day, think about the good things that can happen.
  
• Refuse to worry about those negative elements in your life that you an do nothing about.
  

The course objective is to help working adults look at things beyond our control from another angle. To teach working adults that we can be happy even when things going wrong. To remind working adults that WE CAN CONTROL THINGS. For things we CANNOT CONTROL, do not control. Do not even think about it.

Same logic applies in life. I learn to dump all those negative thoughts or move away from people who possess negative energy. If a friend is out to hurt you by saying mean things or treat you badly, why keep such a friend? In the first place, that person may not have treated you as a friend, right? Instead of feeling sad and hurt, dump this friend because we are all worthy of friends who care and love us, not hate and wanna hurt us. :) So we control what kinda life we want. A happy life with people who loves you, or a miserable life surrounded by mean and hostile people you so-call friends? You decide.

 

End.

 

Fortune Cookie Quote of the Day: "The person who masters change, masters happiness."

Ubin calling.

Dum dee dum dee dum..

 

Today's trip to Ubin, and subsequently Chek Jawa, has been a long time coming. I am currently doing a project for a good friend, which requires me to go around various destinations and take pictures, thus I'm not sure if the following pictures will be copyrighted. Back to topic, I have not been to Ubin for a number of years already. The last time, if I remembered correctly, was probably 3 or 4 years back, when I went with some friends to cycle and visit the quarries.

 

Come on in!

Stepping onto the island is akin to transporting yourself back in time, to a place where life is a lot simpler, yet untouched by modern capitalism, though some form of commercialism has crept into the few trades on the island, mainly the bicycle and minivan rental. The word that best describes Ubin, for me, is definitely, quaint. It is good to know that amidst the hustle and bustle of city life, a peaceful and nature-esque getaway is only a short boat ride away from the main island of Singapore.

 

While we were waiting at the Changi Jetty for the bumboat, silly me, I realised that I left my handphone in the car. Thus my good friend and me had to walk back to the carpark to retrieve my phone, whilst he made sure he had locked his car (side effects of modern technology). What was supposed to be a time-delaying absent-minded issue turned out to be a little blessing in disguise. We ended up sitting in the same boat as a family of 4 whom were going to Chek Jawa too, which we did not realise at that time.

 

After we got off the bumboat, and approach one of the minivans to bring us to Chek Jawa, we were confronted by a haggler. He attempted to extort money from my friend and me by charging us $24 for a return trip, which we obviously did not buy his story. He was putting it as if he was doing us a favour, hello, we are tourists, but we also have some sense. We hung around for awhile, until we met the family of 4, and decided to share a minivan with them with another driver on a cheaper price. Bless us all!

 

Information counter.

 

Where to go?

 

Watch tower.

 

Looks swampy, yah?

It was the virgin visit to Chek Jawa for me and my peace loving, nature loving friend, and we were greeted by various vegetation and marine life on the wet swamp lands

 

Mighty balls of fire.

Anyone remember the show, Swampman?

Swampman used to scare the freak out of me.

Boardwalk.

White, bald tree.

Stop masturbating with your right claw so much la.

Frower power.

Top shell.

Oh, barnacles!

Skippy's peanut butter.

Bird of a different kind.

It was a strange feeling I got after visiting Chek Jawa, a little part of me felt that what Chek Jawa was originally meant to be was gone. Chek Jawa is a wet land swamp that is teeming with vegetation and wildlife (or that is what they advertised), and humans are not part of the equation. I personally feel that the erection of the boardwalk for tourists, which I suppose was meant to minimise the impact of human tramplings, has inadvertently affected the ecological system of the fragile environment. I am not an environmentalist, but it does not take an expert to see the amount of human trash that are strewn around the areas, and human activity has affected the biodiversity of Chek Jawa (I may be wrong).

 

Nonetheless, every cloud has a silver lining. I believe Chek Jawa provides the current and younger generation with opportunities to learn about the beauty and fragility of mother nature, and perhaps use the knowledge to tackle environmental issues that may surface in the future. It has been an enriching and insightful trip for my good friend and me, and I wish to thank the universe for making everything smooth sailing.

 

Juicy, succulent white matter (why is there an ass in the background).

Islanders unite!

Ahhh...what better way to cool off after a long trek than with a nice cold coconut! Slurp! One more thing, many thanks to my friend for accompanying me, and giving me this cute cow piggy-bank (oxymoronic, hehe). Happy Chinese New Year one and all! Huat Ah! =)

 

Bye bye mouse, hi hi cow.

Fortune cookie Quote of the Day: "Don't be hasty. Opportunity will knock on your door soon."

A Dream Within A Dream

A Dream Within A Dream

Edgar Allan Poe

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow-
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand-
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep- while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

Hiatus.

I will be going on a hiatus, been rather busy since coming back from the Gold Coast. Need a short while for things to normalise. I will be back before long. Happy New Year one and all! =)

 

Parting with this quote taken from the latest season of Heroes;

There is good, and there is evil, right and wrong, heroes and villians.
And if we're blessed with wisdom, then there are glimpses between the cracks of each where light streams through.
We wait in silence for these times when sense can be made, when meaningless existence comes into focus, and how our purpose presents itself, and if we have the strength to be honest, then what we find there, staring back at us is our own reflection.
Baring witness to the duality of life, that each one of us is capable of both the dark and the light, of good and evil, of either of or.
And destiny while marching ever in our direction, can be re-routed by the choices we make, by the love we hold on to and the promises we keep.

 

Fortune cookie Quote of the Day: "All the treasures of the earth cannot bring back one lost moment."

Merry merry christmas.

Jingle bells, jingle bells....Run, everyone! It's christmas! =)

 

A very happy and wonderful christmas to all my family and friends. Wish you all the best of health, and may your wishes all come true in the year ahead.

 

My sister and me landed in Singapore just in time for christmas eve last night. 2 weeks of holiday went by in the blink of an eye! I am back for good now, at last. The final post for the holiday, with pictures, will be the next one, in a few days time soon. =)

Glitterati.

 

A merry merry christmas to one and all! God bless.

 

Fortune cookie Quote of the Day: "To err is human. To forgive is divine."

Big day out.

Saturday was the day my family and me have been waiting for, and the main reason for this holiday. It was the day of my graduation ceremony! It has been a long time coming, and I have been looking forward to it since I started my university life in March 2007. I have seen my sister graduate twice, in London and Boston, but this time I am the one receiving the honour, and I am tremendously proud that my family can be here with me.

 

The day started with a simple lunch at Sanctuary Cove with an uncle, who has been living in Brisbane for the past 5 years. He made reservations for lunch at George's Paragon, with his girlfriend and her parents. I have not seen him for more than 5 years, and we had much catching up to do.

 

Yummy seafood.

 

3-in-1 oysters.

 

Seafood combination.

 

Lobster mornay.

 

Customary before meal shot.

 

Family.

Both the company and food were great, especially the oysters and lobster mornay, which were going at $29.90 for the whole crustacean. Cheap! It was nice to indulge in great seafood once in awhile. My uncle's girlfriend's parents are also very amicable and accommodating individuals. They both stay at Mount. Kinabalu, and invited us to go over to their place for a holiday in March. My sis and I are very interested in taking up their offer, I am looking forward to it already! After lunch, I brought my family for a walk around the marina, while the rest of them went to HarbourTown in Gold Coast for shopping.

 

In front of marina.

 

Beautiful marina.

 

Gorgeous driveway.

We rushed home at about 3.30pm to get changed for the ceremony, as we had to be at the Convention Centre by 5pm. That was when my sis took a rather uncompromising shot of me getting ready in the toilet.

 

Fiddling something.

 

Outside apartment.

 

In front of lawn.

We proceeded to the Gold Coast Convention Centre for the graduation ceremony. I registered my attendance, collected the gown, and it was picture time!

 

With academic gown.

 

In front of convention centre.

 

Mum's got the hat.

My ceremony was the last of the 5 scheduled slots which lasted over 2 days, and there were about 500 students graduating with me. The convention hall was filled with a sea of people wearing square hats, together with many friends and families.

 

Sea of graduates.

 

Stage.

 

Getting ready for my turn.

It was difficult to get a clear shot from the front of the stage, as no flash photography was allowed. The university hired professional photographers to do the job, and the pictures will be available online at a later date. Must get my hands on them! The ceremony lasted for about an hour and a half, thereafter we went outside to have more pictures taken.

 

Flowers and bear.

 

Hip hip hooray!

My family and I did not hang around for long after the ceremony, as it was already 9pm and we were getting hungry. We went over to a Japanese cafe opposite the convention centre to have our dinner.

 

Wanna cha cha?

 

Pepper corn steak.

 

Steak don.

 

Yums.

It has been a hectic but fulfilling day so far, but it wasn't going to end just yet. My friends and I made plans to go out for drinks to celebrate the occasion. While the rest were still having dinner, my friend and I suddenly found ourselves with a lot of time to burn. So in the end, she suggested going to a strip club, as she has not been into one before. Funny I know, a girl wanting to go see naked girls, but I was okay with it. She wanted to "learn" some moves from the performers, and so we went! No pictures, sorry. =) The rest of them joined us at Melbas in Surfers Paradise soon, and thus began the celebratory toasts.

 

Hollywood showgirls!

 

Melbas.

 

Entry stamps.

 

Waiting for the rest to come.

 

Here they come!

 

Friend and sister.

 

Jagger Bombs.

 

Boh tah boh l** p*!

 

Girls.

 

Lobster red.

 

Fruity shots and my B52.

 

Cheers everyone! We did it!

Cheers! Here's to a great future for each and everyone of us! The best is yet to be.

 

Fortune cookie Quote of the Day: "From your garden of dreams, many things will blossom."