Eight Below

If you were impressed with those loyal dogs in Eight Below, you would be even more impressed with my family dog Pickles. From day 1 when I come to know him, he has never failed to make me laugh whenever I saw him. When Papa scolded him, Pickles would bend his fore legs covering half of his face to ask for Papa's forgiveness. When strays dogs lined outside our house, Pickles would chase them away thinking he was bigger than them. In actual fact, he's the size of a toy dog, and those stray dogs are at least twice his size!

Pickles was a very wise dog that sometimes I doubt whether he’s a dog afterall. Mama cried this morning when I came downstairs and I knew immediately that something must have happened to Pickles. We heard Pickles cried of pain last night because he was bitten by stray dogs yesterday afternoon. Mama and I went to check on him and made sure he was in his house (worrying that rats might attack his eyes since he was rather weak last night). We made sure he had water and wouldn’t suffer from dehydration. When I was resting in bed last night, I heard him cry and it broke my heart. It was midnight and there was no vet clinic opened at that hour. I thought he could survive, I still could remember how he walked slowly to his house wagging his tail at me when I called his name last night.

I was more hurt when I heard from our domestic helper that Pickles was pacing up and down the kitchen floor waiting for us to wake up this morning. Papa opened Pickles's gate at 3am to let him out because Pickles liked to sleep on tiled floor when he was unwell. Pickles must have waited all night, endured the pain, waited for us to wake up and formally said Goodbye.

Pickles the Lion, he always believed that he was a lion and he fought with those big dogs. We must always remember he is a brave dog. I’ve informed the municipal office to remove those stray dogs near our house – to make Pickles’ sacrifice a worthwhile cause.

Don’t be too upset. Let's the fond memories of Pickles stay with us forever. Remember:
How cute he was when he rolled on grass when he had constipation
How naughty he was, he loved to nibble everyone's feet when he first came to our house
How ‘manja’ he could be when he wanted Papa & my brother-in-law to massage and comb his hair
How tamed he was when he “minta ampun, minta tolong” when we shouted at him when he misbehaved
How brave he was to protect our family when he didn’t allow intruders into our gate (don’t mention house, he didn’t allow accessibility to even the gate).




Rest well Pickles, you will always be in our heart.

Foot For Thought

These are respective photos of my left foot exactly 21 days ago and an hour ago. I must get my left foot to recover quickly because I dislike the feeling of "being looked down". Woofhams knows what I meant ;)

The Art of Happy Feet

I love my sister's latest posting on A Pair of Good Shoes. What Woofhams said is indeed true.

Few months ago, I thought I've found the other side of my shoes that I could finally call "A Pair". After a number of misunderstandings, excuses and unnecessary initiatives, I have come to realise it's not very comfortable to walk when both sides don't complement each other.

I absolutely love this e-mail attachment my sister sent me this morning:
'Love does not require two to look at each other but they are to look together at the same direction' - Antoine de Saint Excupery

Everybody Loves Pancakeism

In fact, my foot has recovered tremendously in the past 2 weeks. My pc here doesn't have a SD slot, otherwise I would have posted a photo of the latest development to my left foot injury. I'll try post one later from my laptop.

Yesterday I bought KitKat Cappucino Limited Edition (I d/l this photo from internet because the photo images of KitKat which I have taken with my O2 phone were not very clear). It tastes better than lemon cheesecake edition, but I still prefer the original flavour.

What is the new flavour that I am after?
May be - the KitKat original flavour with slimming effect! I know I have jumped on the slimming bandwagon. Orthopaedist has reminded me repeatedly that I need another 2 weeks before I could completely ditched the walking stick (honestly, the pain has subsided. I don't understand why did the orthopaedist make such a big fuss!?!?). The complete recovery might take another 2 months. Well, she added that it'd better for me not to run for another 12 weeks. I believe I'll be very fat by November, so I really need the KitKat with slimming properties, or at least with fats-burning properties to burn off the excess calories which I used to burn from boxercise and power walking, HaHa!

Deception Point

I love this joke that was sent to me in e-mail this morning.

Father: Why did you fail your mathematics test?
Son: On Monday, teacher said 3+5=8
Father: So?
Son: On Tuesday, she said 4+4=8 And on Wednesday, she said 6+2=8.
If she can't make up her mind, how do I know the right answer?

Cleopatra Effect

My sister Woofhams has recently coloured her hair in blue-black to complement her new fringe. I jumped on the bandwagon, and chose blue-black yesterday for a change. I must say it looked weird on me initially because my natural colour is brown, but after a while I found the blue-black tone brings back the vitality to my used-to-be lifeless hair colour.

Awaken The Giant Within

"Self-doubt doesn't help anybody" - House MD

I was in doubt three months ago whether I've made the right decision on one of my proposals about to submit. House's words have woken me and brought me to the state of rationality where I supposed to be.

I Wish For A Slimmer Me

I laughed so loud when I saw this picture for the first time. I hope this picture will give same happy effect to all of you.

Chaos Theory

One Heart No Chaos

I haven't learnt how to key in Chinese characters on my pc. The four words above don't have any meaning on their own. However, for those of you who know Chinese, when you translate them into Chinese - you know there is a powerful phrase behind. Is this another of my Da Vinci Code games? I won't tell you the answer now.

I like the philosophy of a Chinese economist. Last year when he passed away, I happened to read a special report on him in the newspaper and discovered some of his beautiful sayings:

Title: Talk About Encountering Difficulties

Don't worry
Don't be depressed
When you face with difficulties, align your thinking on a steady mode, you have to think calmly
Don't lose your objectivity
At the same time, maintain an optimal level of rationality
Don't despair in times of difficulty, otherwise you've lost 3/4 of the battle before even the battle starts.

This is what I really called "One Yi Heart Xin No Pu Chaos Luan".

The Mask

My sister Woofhams and I had many interesting chats when she was home for a short holiday last week. One of which was about the topic of friendships. I've shared with her that in the past 1 week I've come to see the true colours of my friends clearer. I've injured my left foot last Thursday, and I have been advised by orthopaedician to have a full cast on the injured left foot and walk with clutches for 4 weeks. However, instead of care & concern, three of my closest friends (I used to think they are my closest friends) have shown me instead the "reality bites" of rat race. I asked for help and one friend compared me with his mode of transport. Another friend asked me to check on his lost parcel when I was advised by orthopaedician to rest more. The third friend didn't answer and didn't return my phone call - till today.

Anyway, let's hope my left foot will have a speedy recovery and I could wear the two pairs of new heels I bought in Singapore two weeks ago.

Rebond or Reborn

I straightened my curly hair two days ago, and a number of colleagues told me they prefer my loose curl hairstyle.

Some told me I look young in this straight hair. Whatever it is, I believe stick to the easier, manageable hairstyle is the most ideal and practical for busy one like me.

All of sudden, I feel like I look like a Blythe doll, HaHa ...

The Science Of Square Root

Warning to Maths students: attempt this following complex equation at your own risk ;p

Da Vinci Code Versus The Sin Of Six

I Found You

Expansion Rule

A friend forwarded this pic to me early this afternoon - really inspiring ;p

Mind Your Manners

Thanks God I'm blessed with a rational mind, or else I would have picked up the phone and shouted loud & clear to a colleague now. He hasn't done his part of work, and yet claimed that my department is pushing the envelope on him. He could easily own up to the fact that he hasn't completed his work according to timeline set earlier, why waste time pointing fingers on others who are innocent? Really Kurang Ajar!

The Archer

Papa is a good story teller despite he might repeat & over-emphasise on the part of memories he likes best. So, you have to be a patient listener.

Few days ago when my step-aunt visited us, Papa told us many stories of Teo genealogy. Out of curiosity, I searched for related facts on the net this morning, and found that:

: the origin of this surname goes back 4500 years to a grandson of the legendary emperor Huang Di (2697–2595 BC), surnamed Hui. Hui invented bows and arrows, and was put in charge of their production. In honor of his deeds, he was given a surname which the character pronounced Zhang, which is composed of the symbols for ‘bow’ and ‘long’, meaning to ‘stretch open a bow’. Hanyipinyin Zhang or Hokkien ethnic called Teo has now become one of the most common family names in Southern China.

According to http://www.ancestry.com, Teo first appeared in the US in 1869 and Teo families concentrated mainly in Iowa. Now, this is interesting!

Hello ... Is It Me You Looking For?

HaHa ... I must begin this posting with a great laugh & a nice stack of fluffy pancakes.

Yesterday, I got fed up waiting 6 weeks for the 1gb mini SD card for my O2 handphone, so I bought a 256mb SD card instead. I was busy transferring files from "My Document" to "Storage Card" from 8pm and by 11.30ish pm I heard dialing out tone from my phone which I ignored initially. Then, 20 seconds later I heard a friend called out my name and he asked:

Hey what you looking me up for at such "early" hour? My gf told me she has begun to see you as a threat haha ...

I checked my call history and was shocked to find out that my phone has a life of her own! Nah ... in fact, I accidentally tapped the sensitive screen twice on 5 names, and my phone dialled out to these 5 persons w/o me realising. I apologised for inconvenience if 5 of you happened to read this posting - I dedicate this posting to all 5 of you to express my sincere apology.

ps: Don't blame me, blame O2. :)

Learn To Fly

I always thought I'm good in giving relationship advice to my friends & students. May be I am, but I am certainly not good in giving advice to myself. It has nothing to do with my EQ, in fact I have such a high EQ that may be that's why I am determined, persistent & caring. I don't want a repeat history w.r.t Mr Scorpio, so I try my very best not to mark another regret in my life. Unfortunately, my determination is seen as over-bearing, persistency as pushy and caring as desperation.

Sometimes it's not sufficient that two persons are intellectually-compatible, they need to be on the same emotional plane too.

Green Tea Effect

A good friend asked me what do I look for in a relationship? I told him it should be like the green tea - relaxing, subtle, easily-digest, bitter to the rest of the world but it's sweet for both of you.

Another Side Of "Glass Ceiling"

I received an interesting message this morning from a colleague. So creative the letter! I would have given the employee a Creativity + Courageous Award if not a pay raise (just kidding ...).

One day an employee sends a letter to her boss asking for an increase in her salary!!!

Dear Bo$$,
In thi$ life, we all need $ome thing mo$t de$perately. I think you $hould be under$tanding of the need$ of u$ worker$ who have given $o much $upport including $weat and $ervice to your company.

I am $ure you will gue$$ what I mean and re$pond $oon.

Your$ $incerely,
Marian $hih

The next day, the employee recieved this letter of reply:

Dear Marian,

I kNOw you have been working very hard. NOwadays, NOthing much has changed. You must have NOticed that our company is NOt doing NOticeably well as yet.

NOw the newspaper are saying the world`s leading ecoNOmists are NOt sure if the United States may go into aNOther recession. After the NOvember presidential elections things have turned bad.

I have NOthing more to add NOw. You kNOw what I mean.

Yours truly,
Manager

Have A Break, Have A KitKat

My tailor has left Brunei for good. Last week I looked for a new tailor for my Baju Kurung, I am very disappointed with the cutting when I collected it yesterday. It looks like a maternity dress!

If choccy is not high calories, I really would indulge in a KitKat to cool down now. I AM NOT THAT FAT!

Que Sera Sera, What Would Be, Would Be ...

Funny! I asked Mama whether I look better if I am skinny. Mama told me:
You can never look too skinny. You look athletic!

HaHa ...

Btw, I love this lovely tube dress and skinny jeans.

Eastern Romeo

Mama rented a video two days ago, and Mama told us that the boy who played the male lead role Akira in Eastern Juliet is the youngest son of one of our family friends. Geez, time really flies. The last time I saw Jackie (whom Taiwanese call Wu Zun), he was only 5 years old, sitting quietly at a corner of 1 + 1 Saloon. Now, this Bruneian boy is an actor in Taiwan. I believe he'll look even better if he's slightly tanner - he would look even better than Lee Hom.

American Idol

One of my favourite sitcoms when I was a rebellious teenager was Growing Pains. Kirk Cameron was my first "American Idol". When he married to Chelsea Noble who played his girlfriend, Kate, on Growing Pains. I couldn't eat for 3 consecutive days!

Little House On The Prairie

Still remember the freckled, red haired Laura in the Little House on the Prairie was nicked half-pint?

What's Your Favourite Pick-Up Line?

HaHa ... I really like this guy DJ on channel 102.3 FM, which is usually the channel I listen to when I am brushing my teeth. I dislike listening to radio at other time, because it would be distracting for me.

Anyway ...

A day after the final match of World Cup 2006, a lady DJ was babbling on how French didn't and shouldn't win, and how Italian should win the World Cup. Absent-mindedly, this guy DJ (supporter of French team) said to her: now you are talking like a human who has spent too much time with the Malaysians-who-claimed-to-be-Italians.

HaHa, so- so-sour grape.

This morning when I tuned in to the same channel, the same DJ was asking listeners to think of creative pick-up lines (which he regretted for including this question in his script because he commented the response was overly corny!). Could you believe what came on top of the range?

Your father is a thief because he stole the beautiful stars in the sky and put them in your eyes.

geez, I got goose pimples the minute I heard the line!

But nothing beat the following pick-up line a guy told me many years ago:

I like it when you laugh - because you laugh like one of the boys!

To date, I'm still unsure if that was a compliment to my dimples or a complaint to me never covering my mouth (like most ladies do) when I laugh???

Anyway, to brighten up the dull mood today, these are two of the many paintings I like from Ken Done: Butterflies from Brazil and Christmas in Summer.

Curiosity Kills The Cat

I understand it was fictitious when Dan Brown wrote in The Da Vinci Code that Leonardo Da Vinci, Isaac Newton and Victor Hugo were once the Grand Master of the Priory of Sion. These men look geeky to me, they are scientists with an artist heart.

All of sudden I thought of Bill Gates and Charlie Eppes (played by David Krumholtz in Numb3rs)?! Hint: no Atash Cipher needed for above question.

Lovers In Paris

My latest idol: Park Shin Yang (the guy in PINK)

For the first time this year, I've finally able to afford time to watch two complete episodes of the Korean drama my Mama is currently watching.

I found the lead actor is really a huge highlight of this drama. He is a really great actor, not to mention he could carry my favourite colour so well and doesn't look a bit sissy!!! I like his straight and yet sincere face. For once in my life, I don't think it's time wasting when I spent 2 hours watchng "Lovers in Paris" yesterday.

Rainy Monday

I remember when I was 18, I always heard my Auntie Agnes sang this nursery rhyme to my cousin Belinda:

Rain Rain Go Away, Come Again Another Day

I have the same feeling today. I wish it is not a rainy + Monday. I took these photos from a flickr website. I am thinking all kinds of things today - be a freelance photographer + writer, family, friends, shoes, dry clean, exercise, things I want to do, things I want to buy, etc. etc.

A friend, Shiou Yin, is leaving for Dublin this Wednesday to join her husband who is taking a Masters there. I'll miss her, she's one friend that never pass on 'toxic thoughts' to me. I called a friend casually for coffee, but he never picked up my phone and never returned my call. I recalled I am yet to finish the last 67 pages of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. Then, I remember Mr Scorpio's wife should be delivering their first child around this month. Mr Scorpio and I were family friends, but somehow we were never friends till we met at Brunei airport 6 years ago today. Yes it's 10th July 2000, I still remember his words: I chose to study in UQ because I found out you are there. To date, I still don't believe what he said, but those are the nicest words a man has ever shared with me.

Tokyo Tower

With 333 meters, Tokyo Tower is 13 metres taller than its model, the Eiffel Tower of Paris, and it is the world's tallest self-supporting steel tower. It was completed in the year 1958.

I Believe I Can Fly

My sister has written an interesting comment in my blog yesterday discussing on the theme - "Dreams".

Here are my three dreams:
(1) My parents are busy with their own lives, they are happy with their retirement and they are laughing at photos their children have sent to their handphones everyday;

(2) My siblings each have their respective family and they run their family like a kingdom, and I'll drop by every now and then to have dinner with them discussing current affairs and laughing at our childhood memories; and

(3) I work as a freelance writer and own a cafe. Every morning I'll walk into my cafe with a happy & contented smile. I have two adopted children, the girl called Kiera and the boy called Keegan. I will send them to the best school I could afford, and I would take them with me whenever I travel.

That 70s Show

I didn't aware I am "so-70s" until I compared pencil cases I've used when I was in primary school with pencil cases my younger cousins are using now.

Just like handbags I am having now, I used to own more than 30 pencil cases when I was a kid, and between the golden era 1976-1979, most of my pencil cases had Donnie & Marie Osmond on the cover. Most of my cousins' pencil cases are opting for minimalist concept now - monotone with canvas material would be most ideal for them.

How time flies. Do visit http://www.osmond.com / to find out more on the Osmond's 1st and 2nd Generation latest photos.

World Cup Olei Olei Olei

The following lines were played on radio when I was brushing my teeth this morning.

What did people sing when Argentina lost?
Don't Cry For Me, Argentina.

What were the three words people say when Brazil lost?
Ronaldo is fat!

Alright, the DJ was mean. Well, soccer game is a teamwork, we can't blame Ronaldo when others didn't pass the ball to him. Hey he is the 2006's Adidas Golden Shoe award recipient afterall!

Happy Communicating

I like these few paragraphs that I saw on 'Personal Development' website many months ago:

"Husbands and wives separate, friends become estranged, and coworkers refuse to cooperate. What causes these sad developments? More often than not, miscommunication. I have seen good people grow apart because of misunderstanding. They thought they were communicating, but they weren't. They were talking (arguing may be more accurate). What's the difference between talking and communicating? Communicating has two parts: talking and listening. The root of the verb "communicate" means to share. How can we share thoughts and feelings unless all parties in the conversation listen with understanding as well as speak? How do we tell our spouses we love them? Not by words, but by LISTENING to what they have to say.

We hear, but we don't listen. We don't absorb the points being made. What causes this breakdown in communication? It's simply because we have different backgrounds, experiences, and histories. The way we view the world and interpret events differs. These differences easily lead to clashes. Once tempers rise, we say what we choose instead of choosing what we say. These quarrels amplify the misunderstanding and further the separation. True, if we share the same ideas, there would be no disagreements, but what a dull world it would be!

The first step toward eliminating misunderstanding is to realise that we are all both different and the same. Because of our different backgrounds, we have different points of view. Yet, we are the same in that we have a need to be understood and appreciated. Knowledge of these simple facts is necessary to end misunderstanding.

The next time you feel yourself disagreeing with someone, stop and ask yourself how their world view differs from yours. Put yourself in their place. Try to understand where they're coming from. Always start with the assumption that, like you, they are decent people. When you think you understand (but don't necessarily agree with) their view, verify and clarify. That is, tell them, "So what you are saying is . . . and what you mean by that is . . .). The moral is never rush to judgment. Don't jump to conclusions."

I believe the best solution to eliminate misunderstanding is to seek clarifications and don't form your own judgement on others' words. If you knew what I am trying to imply.

Oh! Misunderstanding (誤解) .

Pictures downloaded from http://www.fotosearch.com/illustration/misunderstanding.html

Misunderstanding

Ardila's artistry has been featured on tv and in magazine articles. Ardila's painting titled 'Misunderstanding'

I was (am still) upset when I read this article on the net. No doubt Ardila is cleverer than other elephants that we've seen on Discovery Channel, but I still don't think it's right to have Ardila to work. Animals should do animal things, and human should do human things. I found it extremely intolerable when dog owners dressed up their dogs in baby's clothes or colour their fur. I was fumed about two months ago when I saw on tv that a Taiwanese entertainment show host dressed a monkey in bridal dress and told her to sing. She knew a monkey couldn't sing, even some of us couldn't sing in a karaoke, and yet she told the monkey to sing for her. Absurd! The more you love the animals, the more you shouldn't do what you like on them. Animals can't tell you whether they like their clothes in pink or orange. They can't tell if if they were uncomfortable in the alice band that made them look like they are in circus.

Am I over-reacting? Is this purely just a Misunderstanding???