Happy New Year

'When i m done for the dae, i shower and i shower and i still smell.

It is the worst smell on Earth. It is the smell of Death, the smell of Desperation, the smell of Sorrow.

It is the worst smell in the world, in what was once a paradise on Earth.'

This new year, not everyone will be celebrating. The vulnerability of Life...

Life is indeed short and precious.

We shld do all that we can to make sure that we will leave with no regrets, no matter when the breath of Life is taken from us.

Rest in peace for those who have left us.

For the living, live on with courage. Continue to have faith in Life.

May the New Year bring greater hope and joy into everyone's life.

May everyone learn from Life's Lessons for us.

Happy New Year.

Strength in Weakness 2

Thank you, PinVinBin (forgot which of the 3 part-nick belong to u)!

Wanted to inspire others, as much as myself.

Just a qn (tt sparked ALOT of debate among my colleagues and frens):

If you shld suffer a visible handicap, or a very visible flaw, and there's tis person who likes/luvs u very much, will u get tog with tis person still?

After all, it's not only the 2 of u in a relationship. there r tings to consider like family, society pressure etc?

BUT there's also other side of the coin like if the 2 of u r in luv, why not?

In reality, can tt b achieved, at the expense of ignoring everything else?

The imp pt to note is tt U r the flawed one...will u go into a relationship, noeing fully well tt u will b a 'burden', so to speak, to yr partner?

I suppose gg by the story b4 tis post, it means we shld, since no matter wat flaws we hv, there is some strength we draw from it still.

BUT is it tt simple REALLY?

Strength in Weakness

A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on each end of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the masters house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water in his masters house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to the end for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you." "Why?" asked the bearer. "What are you ashamed of?" "I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your masters house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don't get full value from your efforts," the pot said.

The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion he said, "As we return to the masters house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path." Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it some. But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again the Pot apologized to the bearer for its failure.

The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of your path, but not on the other pots side? That's because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, you've watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my masters table. Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his house."

Each of us has our own unique flaws.
We are all cracked pots.
Don't be afraid of your flaws.
Acknowledge them, and you too can be the cause of beauty.
Know that in our weakness we find our strength.

Funny Moment

The email began:

'Dear Joseph and Mary, .....

Date: 27 Dec 2004.'

That was an email i sent out yesterdae...

Christmas & 31st December

I noe this is abit warped, since Christmas hasn't even passed...but oh well, heck!

I have just discovered tt i will not hv half-day on 31st!! How sucky is tt! So there goes my long nap b4 heading over to Spinkypinkie's hse...=( i wun b able to stay awake thru the nite then...how disappointing..

Aniwae, MERRY CHRISTMAS to one n all in advance!

Wonderful Weekend

Fri:
Got a weird call from Greenie, asking for my personal details. 1st rxn was no, i m not giving. next rxn was to ask her not to sabo me. finally, i gave her my particulars not bcos i trusted her (heh...), but cos i wanted to save the hp time n cost. hahaha...sorry to disappoint. =)

following tt, MAD rush to finish writing and wrapping presents, until 2am (only 3/4 done) Not tt wonderful.

Sat thru to Sun:
Met up with acctancy frens, n gave out the presents n cards tt were written just the nite b4. did i forget to mention tt i was late, cos i was packing n squeezing everything into a bag, cos i was gg to stay over at my fren's hse? aniwae, had a wonderful time tokking n yakking away at kenny roger's - marine square. it's quite a gd place to gather, since there's few pple. we sat there from 1.40pm - 6.30pm, i tink. WOW!

went to raffles city toilet (cos more cubicles there than at Citylink), n discovered a band performance gg on. N guess wat? It was being conducted by a senior from my hall last time. dun really noe him, but my frens with me knew him. Imp pt here is i tink he's very Man!! i mean he's like 25-26 only, but he looks kinda cool n steady conducting..just tink of nelson, but 30-40 yrs younger? mayb tt's a bad eg. (ha!), but aiyah, Man lor...too bad i saw his gf b4, who looks older than him lor..

after tt, went to my fren's hse in Pasir Ris. Continued tokking n eating till 10+pm!! Curry chicken, chicken wings, wan tan, fried prawns, fried rice..wonderful spread..n i was late, but still had so many tings to eat!! oh yes, there was red wine n beer too!! hahah...tinking over it now, it's still so fun!!

mahjong session till 3+am, when we became too tired to tink coherently to continue playing. decided to tok instead, cos it uses less brain power? had a major debate/argument on some issue till 5+am!! We were shocked tt we could tok for so long on ONE issue only..but it was a gd topic to keep us awake. Cos we had tis bet gg on, tt whoever falls asleep 1st, will hv to pay for the MacDonald's Extra Value Breakfast Meal for the rest of us. no one wanted to lose, so we forced ourselves awake.

in fact, by the time it was 5+am, i was already incoherent..just tokked for the sake of tokking while lying on the bed. So tt as long as my mouth is moving, i can't sleep. but dun noe wat i was tokking about, n the rest of them were laffing over wat i was saying too, cos they couldn't make head or sense of wat i said.

in the end, no one fell asleep, but no one went for breakfast also, cos everyone was really dead beat. all of us took the 2nd bus home (once we heard the 1st bus from the window, we packed up).

In the end, reached home at 7am (so early, never seen my house in the morning light b4). promptly fell asleep till 4+pm! WOW! woke up to a meal of tom yam noodles with prawns..yum yum! read the newspapers, then proceeded to finish up the 1/4 christmas presents n cards tt i didn't finish on fri.

Now:

Mon lunch. Hving a wonderful time writing tis entry too..hee..sent out all the cards tt needed to b sent by post, n presents more or less wrapped. i m so well-prepared for christmas tis yr! =)

So many things to do, So little time!!

I guess tis must b a common complaint for all of us..however, i really feel as if i hv to complete so many things, n yet still experiencing inertia in doing stuff..esp after work!

Things to complete by tis Sun:
1. Decide once and for all wat present each fren will b getting, n wrap them up. if enuff presents hvn't been bought, hv to get my butt out to buy!!
2. Write in the Christmas cards that i will be sending/giving out.

[hmm, it does seem like i hv very little things to do..but the ting is i hv to finish all these tasks above, on top of gg to work, gg out (very imp!), watching tv (also very imp) and sleeping (most important!)]

N i will b staying overnite at my fren's hse on sat, meaning little sleep if any on sat nite. so sun will b dedicated to sleeping, n todae after work, i wun b able to get myself to start writing anything..which means, i hv no time to finish at all!!!! HOW?!!!

And yah, the qty involved in the tasks is also pretty daunting n not at all comforting..how to finish everything in time??

In other news, my dpmt is trying out a new system that supposedly will save us time n effort in churning out the tax comp. Gg fwd, tis may b the case, n if it does work properly, it will indeed b a gem...

Unfortunately, reality doesn't always work tis way..which means tt my colleagues n i r testing out the system..n finding more n more errors in the system as we go along. it gets abit scary, cos we hv to use tis system during the coming peak. n i hv a feeling i wun b tis free to correct n check n recheck each n every word n no. generated from the system, when i m being overflooded with work.

oh well, when i get there, tings will solve itself. who noes where i will b in feb next yr..

*stef, just wanna tell u tt we r hving lunch/tea with u on Christmas Day after the choir performance. There is no other dae to choose from, n u just hv to take tt timing. if not, u wun b seeing us at all when u r in S'pore. =) just delivering a msg from ivy n the rest of the gang!

Thought(s) of the Day

Thought of the Day 1:

Sometimes i wonder what is there to write about in my life that is unusual from yesterdae, or the day before, or the days before yesterdae...

When i realised that there may be nothing significantly different, i am then led to wonder if i shld b doing sth about my life to make it more interesting...

However, reading Sumiko Tan's article in The Sunday Times just 2 daes ago, has awakened me. It is not so much the BIG events in life that need remembering..rather, we should appreciate the little things in life as well.

Mayb it is not so evident to us since we r all so young...but things as simple as waking up in the morning, to be able to see and hear the mrt train pulling to a stop at my station, saying 'good morning' to the cleaner lady may all count under things to be thankful for.

Is life only meaningful n eventful when we do sth with a BANG? or does life alr hv meaning by itself, when we r able to study/work, n even complain about life?

Thought of the Day 2:

I noe it's only human to give names to others, but it irks me when i hear people referring to another person as The King Kong, or The One Stuck in Our Mothers' Era...although it may sometimes b their fault for having the size they have, it doesn't mean that because we have the ability to tok, we can just freely label them as such.

I noe this may b alittle ironic coming from me..n i m not trying to be the Voice of Conscience or watever..but when's the line drawn between being funny and being insulting?

I noe it's a jumble of thoughts in this post...but mayb i shld rem todae as being the dae when i did not open my mouth to give names to others? (until tmr)

The Day After

SLY lost...

In case any of you weren't on Planet Singapore yesterdae night, that is the devastating result at the end of Singapore Idol Season 1.

However, i must agree that Taufik winning, means we have a more presentable Idol on the World Idol platform. However, if we were to tok about an Idol who appeals to Singaporeans, ie. an Idol with a distinctly Singaporean feel, that is definitely Sylvester without any doubts!

Aniwae, like wat i was telling my colleagues (repeatedly, since so many came over to ask me if i m sad tt Sly lost), American Idol runner-up, Clay Aiken, eventually sold more albums than the winner, Ruben. So well, winning isn't everything?

N i must admit i hv gone alittle irrational, since i agree with everyone tt Taufik sang marvellously last nite, yet i persist in supporting Sly. Y? i even wasted $1 in the process. (though not much, it was the 1st time i voted.)

The show yesterdae was act quite moving at times, much to my surprise. i even suddenly felt patriotic, as i saw the eager and enthu people in the stadium, n esp when Taufik n Sly were singing I Dream.

Btw, tink tt song can b for the next Ms World. How apt..'regardless of colour of skin', or 'rich or poor'.

Enuff of idol (idle) tok...finding tt i really dun hv much to write, since my life really revolves around work, n not much is happening at work nowadaes.