A song - Friends

As requested by Corinne, here is your song placed online.
Cheers!

A quote from 'happiness in a nutshell'

Recently, one of my friend tell me not to be too attached to people. I guess I am, but I learnt.

The following is a quote on 'Attachment' from the booklet 'Happiness in a NutShell' by Andrew Mattews.

The moment you get
too attached to things,
people, money...
you screw it up

The challenge of life
is to appreciate everything
and attach yourself
to nothing

A Song for you.

A friend has fallen ill, she has request for this song last week, so I hereby present this song and wish her a speedy recovery. This song is 阿杜's 下雪.

A early Birthday Gift

I watch the 2 musicals with my UK classmate, Florence, who also loved Musical. She is also having problem looking for friend to watch musical. Great, now you have partner to watch musical! On Wednesday, while watching ' a twist of fate', I mentioned that I am trying to mix cocktail and just now before watching 'RENT', I received my early birthday present from her (My birthday is in Dec, and I should be working in San Francisco during that time this year), it is a book on cocktail, what a great listener! I am deeply touched by attention and sensitiveness shown by her. Thanks, Florence.

Musicals

I have always loved Musicals since studying in UK. I have the opportunity this year to enjoy 2 musicals in this week. One a local production and another a Broadway production.



‘A Twist of Fate’ is a local production and it is also the 3rd time it is presented in Singapore before performing at the Broadway. It is Voted Best Musical of 1997 by The Straits Times.

Stars Laura Michelle Kelly (Mary Poppins - Laurence Olivier Award Best Actress 2005). Appearing on stage with Ms Kelly will be an all star Singaporean and international cast, including accomplished theatre actor and MediaCorp artiste, Adrian Pang.

Lyrics by Laurence Olivier Award winner Anthony Drewe (who has just written the lyrics for Disney/Cameron Mackintosh's production of Mary Poppins, currently on in the London West End), and music by Singapore's foremost composer Dick Lee. Book by Steven Dexter and Tony Petito.

In the tradition of Agatha Christie and the great "whodunits" of the 1930s, A Twist of Fate is a delicious musical comedy of twists and turns, false clues and dastardly deeds, set against the backdrop of a Peranakan family in Singapore. Dark and stormy nights, midnight rendezvous, an inconvenient murder or two and memorable times makes this an entertaining, suspense-filled evening at the theatre.

I enjoyed the show very much since it is a very localise performance and I really did not manage to guess the murderer. It is really fun!



On the other hand, ‘RENT’ is a Broadway Production that sweep all major theatre awards, including 1996 Tony Award for Best Musical as well as the Pulitzer Prize, RENT captures the heart and spirit of a generation. Inspired by Puccini’s La Boheme, RENT is a joyous, breathtaking and often heartbreaking musical that celebrates a community of young artists as they struggle with the soaring hopes and tough realities of today’s world. This is its 10th Anniversary World Tour starring Karen Mok.

This performance is consist of various performance like heavy metal, sentimental, Tango, etc. Overall, I think it is a bit heavy on the music and volume, unlike Les Miserable and Phantom of the Opera, but the 2nd part of the show is very nice and Karen did performed well. Songs like 'Season of love' and 'Light my candle' is very nice indeed.

Mixed Feeling Yesterday

Yesterday, some dumb users deleted production data, thinking they are at test environment, and yet they can yell saying the test environment did not have a BIG word saying it is test environment.
If a test environment does not match the production environment, then can it still be a test environment? Why blame it on the IT team? then, they can call and yell, 'Hey, I have been waiting! when do you finish restoring the data? I still have work to do!'.
I returned my 'fire' for the following Legal Reasons.
1st) Restoration Request not raised
2nd) So, it is not approved
3rd) depend on whether the tape is offsite, we may have to get them back
4th) According to Our service level agreement, restoration will be done in 2 days.
Although, in the end, I still help them restore the data in 4 hrs. What I hated it so much, is that you have work, so am I! And their dumb action caused me to waste my previous time and disrupted my work and yet they can yell.
I am so angry, but when I think twice, why angry, it only hurt myself, cool down and be happy. Yeah, I choose to be happy everyday, right?

Due to this dirty work, I missed a birthday celebration session in the office. What warm my heart is that my colleagues do care.
1) My neighbour colleague 'P' bring me nuts and nogart
2) My Project partner 'KH' brought me cake, knowing that I miss it because of his users.
3) My far away colleage 'C' reserved pancake and drinks for me.
They make my day.
I am a person who will remember who is kind to me and if I can, I will return the favour and more whenever I can.
I also learn to release myself from anger, because anger will bring us down and the people you dislike does not even feel it or feel bad about your feeling.

Yes, I choose to be happy everyday.

2 Movies a day

It is far passed midnight, so it is yesterday that I watched 2 movies.


In the morning, I watched 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'. A exciting adventure full or mythical creature and wonderful special effect. This is the forth in the series and I will say it has done well, but I regret the death of Cedric in the movie, he is such a fine young man and friend with a bright future.


In the late evening, I watched 'Just like Heaven'. A sweet romantic movie about a doctor Elizabeth (Reese Witherspoon) who is so committed to work that she can work 26hrs in one shot, but when she meet an accident and the spirit left the body, she discover that no one actually know about her because she have no life other than work. She can only communicate with the man, David (Mark Ruffalo), who rented her apartment while she is coma. Of course, finally, she learn what life and love should be, and he learn to love again (since his wife's death).

Dinner.

I have dinner at 'Manhattan Fishmarket' at Plaze Singapura, the seafood platter for 2 tasted good, right, buddy?

Care

The following is a translation of the Chinese version written by SanWenJi.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To everyone that I will like to share,

It feels great that we can care for others. What I mean of 'care' is the ability to acknowledge and share other people's unhappiness. When we grow, the ability weakened. We will be glad to have dinner and drinks with others, but who is willing to listen to your life story?

If there is such a person around you, please kindly treasure him/her. You must understand the sacrifice that he/she made, because by listening, he/she is sharing your feeling or burden, no less than you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This week, I miss talking (real talking, from the bottom of my heart) to a very good friend that really care for me, because I am not sure whether I have annoyed him/her, if I did, I am really sorry.

A Wise Donkey (Story)

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally he decided that is was not worth retrieving the donkey as the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway.

He invited his neighbours to come over and help him. They each grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realised what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement, it quietened. A few shovel loads later, the farmer looked down the well and was astonished at what he saw.
As every shovel of dirt hit his back, the donkey did something amazing. It would shake it off and take a step up. As the farmer's neighbours continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, it would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and trotted off to everyone's amazement!

Life is going to shovel dirt on you...all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of a hole is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a stepping stone. We can get out of the deepest holes just by never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up!

当你孤单你会想起谁

你就是这个笑脸吗?

愛自己

Borrowing some words from my fellow bloggers to remind myself.

被人愛前﹐先要愛自己。就是因為別人的愛沒有了自己﹐就是不愛自己的表現。

不愛自己的人是愛不起的....

我們都在我們的生命中學習，互相分享就是愛。

但愿长醉不愿醒

李白：《将进酒》

君不见黄河之水天上来,奔流到海不复回。
君不见高堂明镜悲白发,朝如青丝暮成雪。
人生得意须尽欢，莫使金樽空对月。
天生我材必有用，千金散尽还复来。

烹羊宰牛且为乐，会须一饮三百杯。
岑夫子，丹丘生，将进酒，杯莫停。
与君歌一曲，请君为我侧耳听。
钟鼓馔玉不足贵，但愿长醉不愿醒。
古来圣贤皆寂寞，惟有饮者留其名。

陈王昔时宴平乐，斗酒十千恣欢谑。
主人何为言少钱，径须沽取对君酌。
五花马，千金裘，呼儿将出换美酒， 与尔同销万古愁。

Sense of belonging?

Is sense of belonging so important to you?
why are you so upset for not being invited?
Do you need to prove your worth in such a way?
Do you need to prove anything at all?

What you did is wrong today! Although apology accepted, the guilt will not leave you tonight, you will not sleep in peace. The guardian angel will not be there tonight, if you can sleep at all.

Learn well your lesson, you spoil your day and you spoil others too.
Do not do that again although you are upset.

Remember, you are who you are. You do not rely on someone to prove your worth, in fact, You need not prove anything at all.

I thought you have make it, you have make me rethink about this. You better buck up.

EARTH from above - Yann Arthus-Bertrand

In the last century, the population of our planet has been multiplied by 3, the world fresh water consumption by 6.
20% of the world population lacks access to improved water supplies.
40% of the world population does not have access to electricity.
Every week, more than 1 million people are added to the urban population in the world.
826 million people are under-nourished in the world.
The amount of oil consumed in 6 weeks, half of which is used in transportation, would have lasted 1 year in 1950.
Total world military expendititure : US$839 billion
Official Development Assistance : US51.4 billion
11 of the 15 majot fishing zones in the world are in decline today.
Half of humanity lives on less than US$2 a day.

The above are just some of the messages that was delivered through the photo exhibition by French Photographer, Yann Arthus-Bertrand.

Our Planet Earth is beautiful, but it is endangered due to human oversight and folly.
Save the earth, before it is too late.

Ugly Scene on Earth : IRAQI TANK GRAVEYARD IN THE DESERT NEAR AL-JAHRAH, KUWAIT

















Beautiful Scene on Earth : ICEBERGS OFF THE ADELIE COAST, ANTARCTICA

















Lovely Scene on Earth : GREATER FLAMINGOS ON LAKE NAKURU, KENYA

I am indeed blessed !

Today, my dearest colleague presented me a powerpoint she make herself. She wanted me to know I am blessed and consider very fortunate. I have seen the verses before, and in fact I have been searching for this verses a few nights ago, trying to cheer up a fellow blogger who is also and still living in sadness. I am most touched by her act, also knowing that she have spent a lot of effort on it, evening selecting the right song for it. I am convinced, I am indeed blessed.

I hereby shared the verses with all of you :

You Are Blessed

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness,
you are more blessed than the million who won't survive the week.

If you have never experienced
the danger of battle,
the loneliness of imprisonment,
the agony of torture or
the pangs of starvation,
you are ahead of 20 million people around the world.

If you attend a church meeting without fear of harassment,
arrest, torture, or death,
You are more blessed than almost three billion people in the world.

If you have food in your refrigerator,
clothes on your back,
a roof over your head and
a place to sleep,
you are richer than 75% of this world.

If you have money in the bank,
in your wallet, and
spare change in a dish someplace,
You are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy.

If your parents are still
married and alive,
you are very rare,
especially in the United States.

If you hold up your head
with a smile on your face
and are truly thankful,
You are blessed because the majority can, but most do not.

If you can hold someone's hand,
hug them or even
touch them on the shoulder,
you are blessed because you
can offer God's healing touch.

If you can read this message,
you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world that cannot read anything at all.

火炬星

1. 命格优势:充满活力、乐观进取。
2. 命格缺点:欠缺耐性、情绪起伏大。
3. 爱情模式:爱就是要让对方知道！
4. 财　　运:85分，勇於冒险，理财很灵活。
5. 上班　运:85分，很有冲劲，颇受注目。
6. 您的信念：我就是相信人生就是要有理想、有抱负。

姓名星座属於 火炬星
命宫代表数字： 3、13、23、33、43、53、63、73

五行属性 火
姓名星座属性 开 朗 、 有 活 力 、 热 心 、 但 定 性 不 佳
代表人物 梁朝伟、翁大铭
星座优点 活 泼 、 开 朗 、 热 心 助 人 、 非 常 有 雄 心 、 拼 命 七 次 郎。
星座缺点 没 耐 性 、 情 绪 起 伏 大 、 决 策 不 精 细 。
人生信念 人 生 苦 短 ， 及 时 行 乐 。
爱情 IQ 90 分
爱情模式 有 花 堪 折 直 需 折 、 莫 待 无 花 空 折 枝 ！
爱情速配对象 地 牛 星 、 孤 木 星 、 己 土 星 女 性
爱情欢喜冤家 巨 浪 星 、 火 炬 星 女 性

Happiness is ...

"Happiness is a daily decision. Everyone suffers pain and disappointment and no one will be happy 24 hours a day. The question is, how quickly do we bounce back from disappointment?" ~ Andrew Mattews

Five Strategies for happiness :
1. Be flexible. If things don't go your way, tell yourself, "I wouldn't have chosen this situation but I will try to make the most of it."
2. Look for good things in people - and you will find them.
3, Break your goals into small steps. Achieve one step at a time and you will reach your big goals.
4. Understand that worry doesn't help. Worrying about tomorrow doesn't help. Do your best today and let tomorrow take care of itself.
5. Each day when you get up, tell yourself,"Just today I choose to be happy."

Watch 'Sky High'

I watched another movie alone last night (now is after midnight, so it is last night). It is 'Sky High', a very relaxing show about a high school training super heroes. It is definately not a serious movie, but I have enough of 'heavy' firms recently. So, why not? It is funny and quite unique in its story and setting, although predictable. I have a enjoyable evening, although it is again nobody seating beside me. Looking at the bright side, the better, no one challenge me for the arm rest. Haha, 'Ah Q's spirit'? may be. It lighten my mood and ease my stress, that is more important, isn't it? Yeah, I told myself.

I am reverting back to myself

6 and half months have passed since that painful day.

The pain is beginning to subside and numbed now. I started to reliase that I am slowly reverting to my old self.

Letting her have her ways, I have make numerous changes before, now I discovered that I am reverting back to my own personal habits, those I am used to.
Some of the habits :
1) HairStyle : She have always wanted me to keep my hair rather short, now I am back to side parting hairstyle (have not done that in last 5 years), occasionally, I will gel a spiky hairstyle too. I have had my length of hair back now.
2) I used to wear pyjamas when going to sleep, she have wanted me to wear shorts.
3) Now I am folding socks into rolls, she used to ask me folding them 'Squarely'.
and a few others...

Am I beginning to get use to it? I believe so, although she still appear in my mind occassionally, the image is getting less clear now. I have not seen her for months, other than photos, do I really wanted to forget her? I don't know.

Sudoku

I saw this Sudoku this morning, remembering the one I did recently from the blog, I am excited. Unfortunately, this one is far too simple, solved it in less than half an hours.