Learn From Experiences

"Whatever does not destroy me makes me stronger."
-Friedrich Nietzsche

Drinks For Thought

I personally found some of the World Leaders' quotes are kind of
contradicting their everyday image.

Even though Prince Charles has the initials of P.C., it's difficult to imagine the Prince of Wales who is more well known for his love on greens also has some moments of thoughts on theology and technology: "... especially as we now face a world, in my part of it at any rate, which is increasingly without meaning, without roots, without a spiritual dimension and which worships the God of Technology."

"... You may not agree with everything that I did, but I did what I thought was right for the nation. Whether I was a good or a bad PM is, of course, not for me to say." Guess who said the above lines, Mr Lee Kuan Yew or Dr Mahathir?

Baby Expressions

Baby K is such a handsome-cute little boy, and he is full of facial expressions. When he looks at me, he always has that "I'm Happy" expression. He can turn on his own now. He can differentiate day and night. And the most interesting part is, he will listen attentively whenever I teach him a new word or explain some new concepts to him.

Yesterday, my mother bought him a new nursery rhymes cassette (there is a long story behind this cassette. In the nut shell, it was sold at half the price to my mother, and it has all our favourite nursery rhymes. The minus point is, it's not cd and difficult to rewind to Baby K's exact favourite rhymes). We discovered something very interesting yesterday. Baby K loves British accent nursery rhymes! Whenever the British accent little boys and girls talk or rhyme, he will give that (1) "I'm Thinking", (2) "That's Interesting" & (3) "I'm Happy" expressions.

Guess what I discovered this morning before work. My SIL loves watching Jamie Oliver cooking on Asian Food Channel!

It's Like A National Teacher's Day To Me

I was a secondary school teacher 13 years ago. Back then, all my students in secondary two were around 14 years old. Now they are around 27 years old. I have bumped into a few of them, and I couldn't recognise any because either their looks have changed, or they have behaved more mature compared to the time when they were crazy teenagers who refused to study and just giggled in class.

Many times, particularly in these two years, I had my ex-students walked up to me when I was having meals with my family in restaurants, and they came and greeted me, for example: "Teacher, do you remember me? How are you? This is my wife, and my son. I haven't seen you for a long time. All of us missed you so much after you left the school."

My mother was hospitalised last week for three days, and she has discharged last Saturday. One the second day of my mother in hospital, I had one young & hardworking female nurse greeted me, "Teacher, remember me? I still keep the photo we took with you before you left the school. How are you?". We chatted a bit, and found out more about the rest of her classmates whom she still keeps in touch. Then she walked away and told the other nurses, "She was my teacher, a good teacher. She looks just like she were 13 years ago."

That afternoon, I did a lot of reflections on myself and my life, and I thought to myself: No ex-student would bother to greet you, and no ex-student would bother to keep the photo she took with you if you were such a lousy teacher.

I summarise my thoughts:

"I believe I am a good teacher, and no words from the jealous people around me could change that fact."

Memory Bread

One of my favourite Doraemon's chapters: Memory Bread, I read it in comic form before.

I found it much easier to study than to scoff those tasteless-looking memory bread.

CJ7

This alien is cute! My brother is right. Stephen Chow should develop the CJ7 mechandise items.

Challenge

Pancake: The greatest mistake is giving up.
Anonymous: Huh?
Pancake: A great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot achieve. Do what you believe in, and prove to them they are wrong.

Awaken

I googled this morning at http://www.google.com.bn/ and hit the Saya Rasa Bertuah (translate from my language: I am lucky) button a few times.

Am I really lucky? I have been thinking of this question since lunch. The more I think, the more I feel I am in the wrong job. Of course, many good-intention friends would advise that everywhere I go, I would experience the same office politics. I almost had the spur of the moment decision to quit my current job, buy a ticket, fly somewhere and experience a different kind of life. Learn to be a chef, be a painter, polishing my photography skills, learn a new language, pick a new hobby that never crossed my mind before, etc etc.

Then, I thought of opening a family-friendly concept cafe/restaurant, and be my own boss. Everyday I will walk into a cosy cafe with strong aroma of good coffee, puffy low carb bread, and home made pasta. I will give loyalty cards to my good friends and good colleagues, and I will give discounts to children, students and retirees. It will be smoking-banned. Every last Sunday of the month, I will organise a charity day where 15% of all my earnings on that day will go to charity. There will be painting exhibitions, camera-phone photos exhibitions, Childrens' Activity Days, Respect Elderly Days, etc etc etc.

The more I thought about it, the more de-stressing I have become. Of course, the cafe is just a dream/vision that might realise after my retirement. I don't have that much money to invest in any business, yet.

May be I am lucky to be in this world, but I am not in the right job. I believe in my ability and idealism, but I also believe no one appreciates what I have contributed so far. My work and my presence have been taken for granted.

Remember the "Pregnancy" and the "Baby" dreams that I talked about yesterday. Well, I really have suppressed/controlled my emotions for a long, long time. I believe it's high time to make a big change in my life.

Life 2 Unfair

For the past two nights, I have been dreaming of pregnancy and baby. One of the more reliable sources deciphers "pregnancy" as "you have supressed many thoughts and ideas inside you", and "baby" implies "new ideas".

In a way, it may be true. There are many men and women my age, who don't have to work hard to get what they want. Some that I have come to know, even have good things fall on their plates without much effort.

Life is so unfair, to me. In the past 12 months, I have been thinking of this issue. I have blamed it on my capability a few times before, I have blamed on my luck, I have blamed on my networking skills, I have blamed on faith, I have blamed on time, I have blamed on many things, and recently I have just come to notice - even without those factors that I have put the blame on, outcome will still be the same for many of the things I am experiencing now.

My career is going nowhere. There are many who acknowledge my capability, and there are many who also putting many things dificult for me. I am friendly for I was raised to treat everyone as equal, and I am a firm believer of respect and not putting anyone down.

Yesterday I was very upset for two incidents. (1) I attended a function and was invited to sit beside a senior colleague whom I haven't met for 7 years. Her assistant wasn't aware of the invitation, and told me, "You can't sit here. These seats are for senior administrative officers" (note: no apology or equivalent words were mentioned). Then, (2) a friend was asking me for tips in running. I don't claim experts in this sphere, but I do read a lot in the past 6-7 months since I re-start my fitness regime. A mutual friend heard our conversation, and commented: No use you run on treadmill. That's not real running. That's just leisure.

Be it hobby, sports or leisure, as long as I am healthy, I don't care if it's "real" running or "fake" running!

My relationship sector is hitting the trough, not that I mind it as much as other sectors in my life. A fairly good friend of more than 20 years recently got married, and I am the last one to know in our circle. That guy used to go after me (in the last 3 years) until we had tons and tons of misnderstandings build up since last August. There weren't much going on between us, but I was upset when I heard the wedding news through the grapevine. Someone also told me Mr Scorpio recently has another new baby, and asked it I still stay in touch with him. What's the point of hanging on to the last chapter, when everyone else is eager to read the new chapters. And I also put a full stop to the tangle with a younger guy friend. I wasn't sure whether he was/is admiring me or he likes me as a friend or he likes me as a special friend. He wasn't and still isn't sure. I certainly not sure too.

Younger Guy Friend: I think you like me.

Pancake: I believe I likeD you, yes. I did.

YGF: No woman ever said that directly to me.

Pancake: Well, either you see it as I am wiser, or I am older.

YGF: How about now?

Pancake: The feeling has gone coz during those time when you were either unsure or you were avoiding me, I heard rumours about I was craze to be involved with you in "Demi-Kutcher" relationship. Actually, I have given it a thought, but I am not that serious in pursuing a fruitless relationship with you, so I have put a full stop to my feelings.

YGF: Can full stop be reverted into a comma?

Pancake: No. I don't see a future. Hobby wise, we click. Life wise, you are almost a decade younger than me. I don't want to be asked if I were your mother when I am 55. Ok, I think too much. I tend to think too much, but that's I am.

Well, I believe I am not the only one who found life's unfair. I am sure many found it the same way too. But that's life, isn't it.

This Woman Is Funny

Note the italic statements.

In a chat with British Vogue, the permanently stiletto-clad Victoria Beckham aka Posh Spice with her size triple-zero body said: "I would never put my health at risk. Obviously working out is important. I have joined a gym, but I can't bring myself to start. What do you wear on the running machine? I can't bring myself to wear flat shoes."

It Was There

Feeling is a strange word, and it is very abstract.

Yesterday at random, I stumbled upon one of the older movies of Takeshi Kaneshiro which described a love triangle involving Takeshi Kaneshiro, Gigi Leung and Karen Mok. I only watched the last 15 minutes of the movie, and didn't quite understand their relationship till the part which Karen's character died two decades later in the story. Karen married to Takeshi but divorced when she found out Takeshi was still in love with Gigi. Gigi married to another man, but she wasn't happy. After Karen's funeral, the pair chatted on the past, and GiGi found out Takeshi was at one stage very much in love in her. She also found out Takeshi is getting married to a young lady half her age that summer. She felt uneasy and felt something been "snatched" from her life which was once hers.

Another scenaro is, if two persons have mutual feelings but never disclose the feelings, is the feeling not real? (read also: May 23rd 2007 posting on There is "No Us").

Many of my friends don't manage to walk down the aisle with their Mr Right, they splited because of either differences in geographical location, nationality, faith or occupation. A few of them bumped into their ex few years down the road, and neither made initiative to greet each other. When a relationship doesn't end up in marriage, does it imply love/feeling has never been there?

5 More Days To go

Standard Chartered, working in partnership with WWF, will donate USD 1 million to support vital environmental conservation projects which will benefit the three nations that generate the most pledges per capita. Currently, Brunei Darussalam tops the pledges chart.

If Brunei kept the top position till 17th March 2008, we stand the chance to have the fund in supporting our "Heart of Borneo" (HoB) projects.

So, be it water or air quality, climate change or forest conservations that are currently your main environmental concerns, help Brunei Darussalam through your pledge. Your pledge will make a positive difference and could also benefit your selected/supported country (of course, it has to be Brunei Darussalam in this case)!

Womenomics: The Hidden Asset

Conventional wisdom suggests that a shrinking or small population is unambiguously unfavourable for economic growth. Yet, in my opinion, not all is necessarily gloom if we can make better use of our most under-utilised resource: women labour force.

Public sector fairer to women than private
Reported by: Sobrina Rosli
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
Monday, March 10, 2008

BRUNEIAN women have fair access to jobs across the sultanate, but in the private sector, men generally get better pay, a university lecturer yesterday said.Brunei yesterday joined worldwide celebrations marking the International Women's Day. According to the Department of Economic Planning and Development, the percentage of women in the Bruneian workforce has grown substantially to 59 per cent in 2006 from just 20 per cent in 1971.

In an interview with The Brunei Times Dr Joyce Teo Siew Yean, Deputy Dean, Postgraduate Studies, Research and Development at the Universiti Brunei Darussalam, said that generally, Brunei does not have gender wage bias issues."Gender wage gap hardly exists in the public sector due to the uniformed pay scale," she said.Not so in the private sector, she said, men on average earn 28 per cent morein all occupations. "The gender earnings gap in the private sector could be a result of over-representation in some occupational groupings such as clerical and retail workers," she said. But Dr Joyce said research shows there is no rigid occupational segregation in the Bruneian labour market. "Yet, concern exists within the country that the local workforce needs to play a greater role in National Development Plans, through reversing the trend of using expatriate labour ... This necessarily means an extended role for women given their importance in the workforce."In Brunei, women would benefit more from a more equitable jobs distribution, suggesting that the government needs to address issues like giving women better access to non-traditional occupations.

"Women constitute a strong labour force, which need to be mobilised and encouraged to make an effective contribution to the development of the county," the UBD lecturer said.It is vital that females are encouraged to progress up the hierarchy of occupations as their male counterparts, "otherwise they might not invest in education and training sufficiently," she added.

"Ethnicism" Version Of Charlie's Angels

Not that I am a big fan of Lucy Liu. Just curious why her wax figure wasn't in this official unveiling ceremony at Madame Tussaud on February 19th? Or a bunch of highly efficient photographers didn't manage to capture her in this photo??

Decision

"Looking back, that might not seem to be the best decision. However, that was the best decision I've to make at that time in view of the situations."

- Pancakeism

New Generation PCs Design

Friend M asked me: Heard you've changed your hand phone?

Pancake: You are 50-50 correct.

Friend M: Why 50-50?

Pancake: I use my two phones "interchangeably".

Friend M: Oh, what's the new phone's configuration, what's the MP for it's camera phone function?

Pancake: It's 3.2 MP, same as my Nokia's E90.

Friend M: Ok, that's better. With technology advancing so fast these days, we can allow for upgrades, not downgrades.

HaHa. Indeed true. What a cute friend she is.

During my granny's generation, we communicated through land lines. I don't think my late granny would picture one day we could have a portable phone in this world that you could make calls anywhere you like, and take pictures using your phone etc etc etc.

I believe one day, husbands could sniff their wife's cooking through hand phone's sensor capability, too.

I stumbled upon these PC news this morning. Aren't they inspiring us to live our current life to the fullest!

Travels Lightly: Wearable PC

No laptop bag needed -- the Fluc PC system consists of a wearable bracelet that interfaces wirelessly with a portable display. The bracelet holds your personal, digital information while the display gives you a larger viewing area and connects multimedia devices. The system can also interface wirelessly with a portable display or with other computers.

Fashion Statement: Don't Leave It @ Home

What to wear to your next meet-up? Harmonious, a traditional jade necklace design of ancient China that signifies "harmony," is designed for young people and is suited to blogging, chatting and social networking. The device's mapping function shows the physical locations of the user's friends. If a friend is nearby, the color of the device changes to represent the personality of that friend. Harmonious is meant to be a fashion accessory with computing power. But, I am more concerned with the misuse of this gadget.

Yuno: Drink It The Media PC

Unlimited refills takes on new meaning with the Yuno PC, a mug that doubles as a media PC. The mug holds your morning beverage on the inside -- like any normal mug -- but its outside is a touch-screen interface displaying your news, e-mail and so on -- but just the content you might want to see when your day begins. "Everyone has a morning routine which usually involves drinks like coffee, tea and juice, also checking and watching for things like stocks, traffic or an e-mail from your boss," the developers point out.

Source: PC World.