My Life Choices

For my friends and family who are trying their best to understand why I make the choices I make, here’s a story that may help:

 

The Big Business Way

The American businessman was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them. The Mexican replied only a little while.

The American then asked why didn't he stay out longer and catch more fish?

The Mexican said he had enough to support his family's immediate needs. The American then asked, but what do you do with the rest of your time?

The Mexican fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full and busy life, senor."

The American scoffed, "I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds buy a bigger boat with the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise."

The Mexican fisherman asked, "But senor, how long will this all take?"

To which the American replied, "15-20 years."

“But what then, senor?”

The American laughed and said, “That's the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions.”

“Millions, senor? Then what?”

The American said, "Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos."

 

My dear friends, I’m already ‘living in a small coastal fishing village, sleeping late, fishing a little, playing with my kids, having a siesta with my wife, strolling to the village in the evenings where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos.’

 

I love my life! =D

Simplicity?

Remember a year ago, when I said Lone and I were moving in together to this blog address from Just Betty, and from his own personal blog?

 

Remember I said that was so we didn’t have to maintain so many blogs and just use one for the both of us?

 

Well, now we have dozens of blogs each, and I feel stupid for ever thinking I’d be happy with one.

 

Let’s see… I have this blog, my own book blog, another blog for my crocheting, and one for learning Chinese, and my health blog, and another blog for my book chats, and one over at Livejournal, and another one at vox, a private one just for me, and another for our music… And I kinda want another one for… stuff.

 

Lone has this blog, his blog for learning Japanese, another for learning Spanish, his guitar tutorial blog, and another blog for our original music, and another for original Chinese music, and well….

 

You’re laughing at us now, aren’t you?

 

You are. I know you are.

 

Stop laughing.

 

Please stop.

 

I said stop.

 

Hey!! Stop laughing!

 

Shut up!

 

Hmmpphhh!

 

Fine! Laugh if you want, I don’t care!

 

STOP LAUGHING!!!!!

 

=P

Drama is Overrated

Here’s a thought;

 

We all love drama. We are all busybodies who want to know all the tragic, shocking, interesting, embarrassing, romantic, whatever… things about people.

 

We want to know all these things because they make us feel. More.

 

Drama makes us feel more. It makes us feel alive.

 

Ok, stop, wait. Let’s backtrack.

 

Don’t you agree that human beings in general love drama? No? How about looking at the film industry and seeing how many of us are addicted to those ridiculously nonsensical Korean dramas?

 

Oh, let’s not even talk about the Korean dramas, we like any kind of drama. And in fact, now we’ve gone further down the abyss to the realm of reality shows. Real life drama, how could we not love it?

 

We definitely love real life drama, alright. Don’t we all love gossiping about that old classmate of ours who had an affair with her fiancé's best man right before the wedding? Or the one whose husband turned out to be gay? Or the bride who looks like she’s got a bun in the oven for at least a couple of months now?

 

Yep, we do. We love drama. End of story. Don’t argue.

 

Ok, now let’s talk about why we love drama. As I said, it makes us feel more alive. How?

 

By stimulating our affectations. Our feelings.

 

What do we feel when we talk about dramatic things happening to people? What do we feel when dramatic things happen in movies? What do we feel when dramatic things happen to us?

 

Shock? Hate? Disgust? Embarrassment? Pity? Empathy? Love? Wonder? Anger? Heartache?

 

Whatever. The point is that it makes us feel. Because otherwise, we would only have one feeling, and that would be ‘bored’.

 

There’s this saying, I don’t remember exactly how it goes, but it says something like you can only feel happy if you’ve known sadness, because if you’ve never felt sad, you wouldn’t know that you were happy, because you’d have no basis for comparison, or something like that.

 

I guess I agree with that. Because I’ve known great sadness. I feel very greatly. I love greatly, and I fall greatly, and I hurt greatly. And because of that, I’ve also known great happiness and great love.

 

I don’t think we could truly be alive, if we held ourselves back from feeling completely and totally with our whole body, heart, and soul, but at the same time, I’m not sure I like the way we’re handling our emotions.

 

See, I like drama. In books, in movies, in art. But not in my life.

 

I do not like drama in my life.

 

I have had drama in my life, and it’s enough to last me a lifetime. I don’t want any more, thank you very much.

 

Ok, maybe I should rephrase that.

 

I do not want any more negative drama in my life, but I guess positive drama would be fine.

 

For the record, I don’t really think there’s such a thing as positive drama, but for the sake of discussion, what I mean by positive drama is just exciting things that are happening in your life, not devastating dramatic stuff.

 

I don’t want to emulate Korean dramas and have some tragic accident happen to the person I love, and then he loses his memory and forget about me, but I think he’s dead, even though I never saw his body (now, tell me, if you really loved someone, would you believe he was dead if you never saw the body?), and then almost marry someone else, only to suddenly bump into the person I loved and discover that he never really died after all, and then having a whole lot of stupid reasons why we can’t be together, which doesn’t really make sense, and drag on for OMG I forgot how many dozens of episodes, only to finally be together after all when he’s lost his bloody sight!

 

Stupid, Korean dramas.

 

Sorry, I digress.

 

Anyway, the point is, I’m not interested in all that. And besides, if you realize, they never ever shows what happens after they get together. In every love story, when the boy gets the girl, etc, that’s the end of the story. They never ever show the happy ever after part of the story.

 

But in real life, after we’ve found our soulmate, our story still continues. And honestly, if it’s still drama after that then I think you’ve got a serious problem. Drama kings and queens.

 

So anyway, I had my excitement when finding my soulmate, and the excitement of the chase, and the surrender, etc. No drama, but very exciting excitement.

 

And now we’ve gotten to the point of having a really stable relationship, hardly any arguments, but of course we have disagreements, which we solve with a lot of listening to each other and without screaming, yelling, and throwing things at each other.

 

But is our relationship boring? Hah!!

 

You have no idea how wonderful everyday is being with Lone! You have no idea how alive I feel everyday, how eager I am to see him, talk to him, be with him, laugh with him! It’s a joy! It’s plain and simple happiness! And I feel. So much.

 

I feel so much love, so much happiness, so much joy, so much gratefulness, so much excitement, so much, so much, so much! And I don’t have to have sadness in order to feel this happiness. I know how sadness feels already, I know how frustration, anger, loneliness, uncertainty, and all that feels, I don’t need to feel it again.

 

I don’t need to experience the pain of breaking up, just so I can experience the euphoria of making up again. I think couples that have to do this all the time have a serious problem.

 

I love the stability of our relationship, and I love that we never get bored of each other.

 

I love that we never take each other for granted, even for the little things, especially for the little things. I love that he will say thank you for some small thing I did for him that I don’t even remember doing, because I took it for granted that I should do it. But he didn’t take it for granted.

 

I love it that I always think how lucky I am to get someone as wonderful as he is, and yet he’s thinking the same thing about me.

 

I love how we can talk for hours about anything, and how although I know him so well, I’m amazed at how much more I learn about him when we talk.

 

I love how sometimes when we’re doing mundane things, like reading together without even talking, and I’ll suddenly feel waves of love and gratitude emanating out of me because I have someone who I can share the simple pleasure of reading and companionship with.

 

I love that I can be who I really am with him, and not worry that he will not accept me for who I really am. I love that I can show him the deepest, darkest, scariest part of me, and he’s not afraid to face it head-on. I love that the deepest, darkest, scariest part of me doesn’t show its face much at all anymore, because I’m so busy laughing and being happy with him.

 

Um, did I digress again? LOL!

 

Anyway, the point is, we’ve got an amazing, DRAMA-FREE, excitement-filled relationship. And we keep it drama-free. And excitement-filled. =)

 

We’ve got other ways to feed our hunger for drama. Like watching those stupid Korean dramas.

 

LOL! Hey, I enjoy them just as much as the next person! And trust me, seeing all their unnecessary, and honestly really stupid, pain on screen makes me even more grateful that I don’t have a stupid director making stupid nonsense dramatic stories out of my love life.

 

So sure, I understand the human need for drama. But I think we’ve got to understand that need, and I think we should find constructive ways to feed our desire to feel strong emotions. I think drama should be kept out of your love-life and your work-life. Especially out of your love-life.

 

Lone and I have got a great drama-free relationship, and I know there are many others with wonderful drama-free relationships. I worry nowadays that we’re being brainwashed into thinking that more drama is better. It’s not.

 

We really don’t need drama in our lives.

 

In our books, our movies, our art. Fine. But not in our lives.

 

Oh, and I love Lone so much because he makes me feel alive! =)

The Magic

Hey everybody! I’m back! =)

 

With an English post this time. Finally!

 

Anyway, as you can see, I’m very into improving my Chinese these days. I’ve found the “magic” of it, you see, so I’m very encouraged and motivated to continue improving.

 

You know what I mean by “magic”? It’s like a breakthrough.

 

Previously when I was learning Chinese (on my own, because I always prefer to learn on my own than with a formal teacher, except for Lone, who’s my informal teacher now), it was a struggle to recognize and remember the words.

 

I didn’t get the breakthrough before, because I could only recognize and remember a few words, like “I love you”, “I miss you”, “How are you”, and the like. You could say it was a very basic, “tourist-y” knowledge, the bare minimum. I couldn’t hold a conversation with what I knew.

 

This time, I went out and bought some Chinese comic books, and learned from the comics! =)

 

You see, with comics, there are pictures, and the pictures tell you part of the story. So a lot of times, when I don’t know the word, I look it up, sometimes I have to look it up a few times before I remember the word, but sometimes, the picture gives me a hint of what the characters are saying, so I can guess some of the words easily too! =)

 

It helps a lot!

 

Of course, I still have a long way to go, and there are many words I still get mixed up, but the important thing is, I’ve broken through! I’ve found the “magic”! And that will keep me motivated to improve! =)

 

Ok, more stories to come later, when Lone’s posted up the pictures. =) We went to his friend’s wedding tonight, just came home, and we had lots of fun!

 

I didn’t know most of his friends, but they were such a fun bunch it was hard not to like them!

 

Post the pix up soon ya, Lone! =)

My Chinese Blog

I’d forgotten to give you the link to my Chinese blog, if anyone’s interested. =) Here’s the link:

 

Betty Learns Chinese

 

我昨天忘记给你们我的华语blog link. 如果有兴趣的，可以去看。=)

因为我可以

我知道我很久没有在这里写东西，因为我在忙学华语。=)

 

我有进步很多。我现在比以前会了很多字。我很开心！

 

如果你不会读华语的，你甭管我写什么。可能明天我用英文写blog. 看看我的心情。哈哈哈。。。如果你真的不会华语，你怎么样可以读到我写什么呢? 真好笑！

 

没关系，如果我有心情我可能也会写translation给你。=)

 

我好像addicted用华语写blog了。我也有在另外的blog写华语。

 

我要学嘛，所以写多一点。

 

好了，已经深夜了，要去睡觉。拜拜！

On e. e. cumming’s A Poet’s Advice

I'm reading R. Buckminster Fuller's Critical Path now, and in the Foreword, he included a piece by e. e. cumming entitled "A Poet's Advice". Here's how it goes:

A Poet’s Advice

A poet is somebody who feels, and who expresses his feeling through words.

This may sound easy. It isn't.

A lot of people think or believe or know they feel - but that's thinking or believing or knowing; not feeling. And poetry is feeling - not knowing or believing or thinking.

Almost anybody can learn to think or believe or know, but not a single human being can be taught to feel. Why? Because whenever you think or you believe or you know, you're a lot of other people: but the moment you feel, you're nobody-but-yourself.

To be nobody-but-yourself - in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else - means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.

As for expressing nobody-but-yourself in words, that means working just a little harder than anybody who isn't a poet can possibly imagine. Why?

Because nothing is quite as easy as using words like somebody else. We all of us do exactly this nearly all of the time - and whenever we do it, we are not poets.

If, at the end of your first ten or fifteen years of fighting and working and feeling, you find you've written one line of one poem, you'll be very lucky indeed.

And so my advice to all young people who wish to become poets is: do something easy, like learning how to blow up the world - unless you're not only willing, but glad, to feel and work and fight till you die.

Does this sound dismal? It isn't.

It's the most wonderful life on earth.

Or so I feel.

- e. e. cummings

 

It is very good advice, and is relevant for everyone, poet or not. What I like most about it is the being nobody-but-yourself part. It’s true that most of what we think or believe or know, have been taught to us by others, perhaps our parents, or our friends, or our leaders.

 

But what we feel is purely us. What I feel, despite what I know and believe and think, is purely me. Nobody-but-myself.

 

And here’s the thing, most of us, when we feel something other than what people expect us to feel, sometimes we lie about how we feel, so that they won’t judge us. Or sometimes we tell the truth, but feel the need to explain and justify our feelings. But mostly, we can’t explain our feelings, so we keep it to ourselves, knowing that most people will not agree with us, and will probably judge us for it.

 

What I’ve been thinking lately, and in fact, almost every time I encounter another human being, is how hypocritical we all are!

 

Yes, even myself!

 

I am a hypocrite, and so is everyone else in this world. Everyone! Anyone who says they aren’t is a hypocrite. But that’s another story altogether, let’s just stick with this one first.

 

Here’s why I say we’re all hypocrites:

 

Have you ever advised anyone else for them to “just be yourself”? Or perhaps you’ve told them, “be confident”, “believe in yourself”, “follow your heart”, “do what you think is best”, “don’t care what anyone else think”, or any other piece of advise in this vein?

 

Parents say them to their children, friends say them to friends, everyone else say them to everyone else.

 

But guess what? There’s a caveat, “just be yourself… as long as *I* approve of who you are”, “be confident… as long as you’re not as confident as *I* am”, “do what you think is best… as long as *I* agree with what you think is best”, “don’t care what anyone else think… as long as you care what *I* think”.

 

It’s sad, but it’s true. And don’t shake your head and agree with me that that’s how everyone *else* thinks, because the truth is, this is how *you* think. This is how *I* think.

 

That doesn’t mean that we can’t improve on our thinking, I believe life is all about improvement. Be better today than you were yesterday, and be better tomorrow than you are today.

 

Yes, sometimes I do think that some of my friends and family, and even some people that I don’t know personally, are stupid or crazy or weird or hopeless or whatever, because they don’t think like me. But I try to understand them, or if I can’t, I try to simply accept them as they are. I think that’s the least any of us could do.

 

The reason e. e. cumming’s A Poet’s Advice spoke to me, is because when he said you’re a lot of other people when you think or believe or know versus being nobody-but-yourself when you feel, I realize and understand that my thoughts and beliefs are a result of what family, friends, and society has taught me.

 

But sometimes I feel differently from what I think, and perhaps I can say the same about most people too.

 

Perhaps our feelings are where we can start to find the real us. The nobody-but-ourselves. Regardless of what anybody else thinks.

More Pic of LX3 Camera

Taken by Lone :

All pics below here taken by Betty!!! :)

This time me and Betty have few good shots with LX3, and wanna share with you guys..:)

Also with some "Macro shots" , have fun!!!

Pic of Betty and Me (Space Blaze)

Love this pic! :) Visit our video here at Youtube-SpaceBlaze

Twittering, and others

Lone and I have recently been re-introduced to Twitter.com, and we’re both quite addicted to it! =)

 

That’s my excuse!

 

It’s so much easier to tweet short updates on Twitter, than it is to blog, though of course, you can’t really compare the two because they’re quite different.

 

For instance, I like the convenience and directness of Twitter, but I love the fact that blogging allows me to be as long-winded as I want to be. And as you all know, I *am* long-winded. =P

 

Anyway, if you have a Twitter account, add me and Lone there. If you don’t, you can sign up for one. If you don’t want to sign up for one, you can just read our updates there, if you like. If you don’t want to go there, you can see my updates on the sidebar ------>> There! Um… further up near the top of the page.

 

If you do have a Twitter account and you don’t want to add me or Lone, well… ok then.

 

Other than that, my aunt and uncle from Canada has just returned home. =(

 

My aunt’s been here since January, my uncle came not long after that. Having them here for months, instead of days, you kind of take it a little bit for granted that you have plenty of them to see each other, and you end up not really spending that much time together after all.

 

I was supposed to cook my aunt’s favorite dishes for her, since she read on my blog that I’ve cooked them for my family before, and I kept thinking I had plenty of time to cook for her, but I didn’t get a chance to, so now I’ve got to make sure I go to Canada if only to cook for her! ;)

 

Our migrating plan is still on, the paperwork is tedious and slowing us down, but of course, we know it’s necessary to do them right or risk wasting more time. We’re not going to go until after our wedding next year though, well, obviously, so we’ve still got some time to plan and work things out.

 

We’ll keep you posted. =)

 

Check back soon because Lone and I are crazy over the LX3, so as soon as we buy the new camera, we’ll be taking a *lot* of pix and posting them up here. =)

Simply Adorable!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is just too cute not to share!

 

Look at the size of its head in proportion to its body! OMG!

 

*snuggles*

Short Update

Lately, I’ve been using Twitter.com a lot. It’s great for me because I’ve been so busy and too tired to write long blog posts, but twittering 140-word updates are easy and fun. =)

 

But just in case you haven’t bothered to read the twitter updates on the sidebar, I’ll just repeat myself a little here.

 

I’ve moved to Lone’s place. Ok, actually, I’m still moving. I’ve got lots of stuff, so we’re taking our time to organize before we go back for more stuff.

 

And I won’t even say anything about the amount of books I have that we have to move… =P

 

The last time we blogged was a month ago! Wow!

 

Honestly, you don’t even know how tired I’ve been lately, with all the planning, and cleaning, and packing, and moving, and unpacking, and cleaning. And Lone’s even more exhausted coz he’s doing most of the heavy lifting.

 

Just give us a little time to get settled, then we’ll be back and blogging again. =)

Wonderful life

I've been spending a lot of time blogging about books on my bookblog at Betty's Books lately, and not much time blogging here.

 

Obviously that means that I have been spending most of my days being a boring stay-at-home reader than a happening party-girl, LOL! But that doesn't mean that my life has been boring at all, nope!

 

It just means that I read really fast!

 

And also, my life is so damn exciting now, I don't even know how to tell you!

 

As most people already know, Lone and I have gotten registered, meaning we're legally married now, but the wedding dinner will only be in January next year because it was the earliest we could book a place, and the best 'feng shui' date we could get.

 

And we're going to be picking the gowns tomorrow for the pre-wedding photo shoot for next week.

 

Ok, here's the truth, we haven't actually done much organizing for the wedding dinner yet, we haven't even figured out the guest list yet! And it's not because we think we have plenty of time, I know time flies past faster than you know, but it's because we've been busy with something else much more important in the long run.

 

A wedding dinner is one night.

 

Many people would say that it's a special one-time occasion only and that we should make it a memorable night and it's extremely important and blah blah blah....

 

It's not that I don't agree, but ok, I don't agree.

 

It's just one night, sure it's special, but it's not *that* special. I'm not a sentimental kind of girl, nor am I superstitious, and I only do the 'feng shui' thing because of family.

 

In fact, if it wasn't for family, I probably wouldn't even care about having a traditional wedding dinner at all, and I'd just have like a small, cozy celebration with just a few close family and friends.

 

Anyway, I digress. The wedding dinner is important, sure. But what Lone and I are involved in right now is for the rest of our future, not just one night, but forever.

 

We're planning to migrate to Canada.

 

Seriously. We're just getting all the all the documents ready at this point, there's a LOT of paperwork to be done. And when we've got everything ready, then we'll submit our application.

 

It's really quite tedious, the whole process, and we're not sure how long it's going to take, but Lone and I have done all our necessary research and we're quite adamant about migrating.

 

So yeah, we're gonna plan the guest list for our wedding dinner, and probably everything else we need soon, but Canada's got the priority right now.

 

We'll miss our family and friends, and we'll miss Malaysia, but there are things waiting for us in Canada, and so much to look forward to there.

 

I can't wait!

As I'm Leaving by David Gray

It's been a while since I last found a song I loved so much that I had to post it here.

 

This song is by David Gray, titled "As I'm Leaving". Apparently it was featured in the movie Ladder 49, but I guess I didn't really pay attention to the song then. It's also featured on CSI, as Gil Grissom was leaving the show, but I haven't watched that episode yet.

 

I recently heard this on someone else's blog, and I loved it so much I went everywhere online to look for it. It's a simple song, but so haunting and beautiful and emotional.

 

There's no official video clip that I can find on Youtube, but here's a video clip featuring another movie. I don't know what movie this is, and I'm not sure if the song was actually featured in it...

 

Enjoy!

 

Love is in the Air

Since it's Valentine's Day, I thought it would be appropriate to post about our marriage registration today. =)

Yes! Lone and I have registered for marriage, we're legally married now!

Please don't cry, Johnny Depp, you know you'll always be in my heart! =D

No, we didn't register today, can you imagine registering on Valentine's Day, and forever after having to share your anniversary with every other couple in the world and paying exorbitant prices for a nice dinner and/or flowers and chocolates?

Nope, don't want that.

I'm actually not a fan of Valentine's Day, and I make sure Lone *never* buys me flowers or anything at all on this day. Do you know how many books I could buy with that money? Wasted on flowers that are going to wilt and die?

LOL!

Ok, let me clarify that I'm actually quite the hopeless romantic, and I love romance and love stories perhaps even more than the average girl! I just don't think there's anything romantic about our now very VERY commercialized Valentine's Day, though I actually love Valentine's Day itself.

But I digress! Today isn't a day for me to complain about the commercialism of a perfectly great Saint's day that was ruined by the modern man, today is a day for me to tell the world that we're no longer single. =)

But always available!

Anyway, we've registered, but the wedding dinner is only going to be held next year in January because we couldn't get any good dates this year.

I wanted to post the pictures of our registration too, but I have no idea where Lone put them. We'll ask him to post the pictures later, ok? =)

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

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I still love you, Johnny Depp! Hugz and kisses! =D

Show, don't tell... well, kinda

You know what's the best thing about having a blog?

 

You can say anything you want, preach all you like, talk about what you ate for breakfast, where you went last Friday, and pretend to yourself that people are actually interested in what you have to say.

 

Or perhaps you don't even care if people are interested in what you say, you're just happy that you get to say whatever you want in the first place.

 

I'm actually one of those people.

 

I have lots to say. I think that I'm a very well-informed person and that my opinions are very damn important. =P

 

And most importantly, I love to lecture.

 

Poor Lone!

 

Luckily for him, I have many blogs! And I can lecture in my many, many blogs, so I don't actually lecture him as much as I probably would without a blog. =)

 

Anywayyyyy, it just occurred to me because I was reading an author's autobiography about her writing and the way she writes. In the book, she repeats the often mentioned RULE of writing: "Show, don't tell."

 

I realized that I would make a really lousy writer, because I love to tell! And I have no idea how to show!

 

Then I started to really, really appreciate my blogs, because I'd probably die if I didn't have an avenue for my thoughts and my urge to lecture people about my opinions!

 

LOL!

 

And I remembered that I haven't been blogging here as much as I should have, and I decided it was time to show this blog some TLC with more blog posts, so...

 

here I am!

 

Like I said, I think my opinions are very damn important, so I'll impose one on my blog now. =P

 

I was saying earlier that the good thing about blogs is that you get to say whatever you want, and I think that's a very good thing.

 

Not just for me, mind you. For everyone else too.

 

We, as social human beings, usually need someone to talk to, a sounding board, an avenue for our thoughts... and sometimes we just need someone to just listen.

 

We all know how important it is to be a good listener because we've all loved it when we found a person who is one.

 

The point is, sometimes in real life, you don't find someone who you can talk to about things that really matter to you, because mostly you talk about mundane things, or things that you have in common.

 

In fact, sometimes it's not even about the things that matter, sometimes you just want to talk about what you ate for breakfast because it's the first time you fried an egg for yourself and you're so proud you just want to tell people about it.

 

But of course, tell someone about it in real life and they may just look at you blankly and smile.

 

Write about it in your blog, however, (and add pictures!) and you get kudos and congratulations from your online readers.

 

I remember when I wrote and posted pictures about the time I cooked for my family. I was so proud and happy that my aunt and some of my friends actually commented on it. (Thanks, guys!)

 

But even if you don't get a response, that's ok too, because a listener doesn't have to comment, and you will still feel that your words are being heard, because there are plenty of blog readers who lurk and read without commenting.

 

The important thing is that you feel like your thoughts and opinions are validated. Just by blogging. Because we all need to feel validated as human beings.

 

Don't you agree?

 

Oh, well, it doesn't really matter if you don't, because I do think my opinion on this matter is *very damn important* anyway. =D

Why I Didn't SMS Anyone During CNY

Whenever we go a long time in between postings, we usually have very good excuses reasons for it. =)

 

Well, I said usually, not always.

 

Anyway, our reason this time is because Lone had been working on a 2-week project to get ready for a particular company's launch in the music industry. Nothing really to do with us, just that they enlisted Lone's help for those 2 very hectic and rushed weeks, and so Lone had been very busy and couldn't post much online.

 

As for me... because Lone's time was taken up with this launch, I had to cover for him in our own biz. Also with last minute shopping for CNY, and various other stuff which I may or may not tell you about later. =)

 

Most significantly though, for everyone who hasn't heard from me for CNY, and who've wished me a Happy CNY but never got a reply back, please DON'T think that I've forgotten you or that I don't care about you!

 

I have a *very* good reason! And in fact, it's a very annoying thing that's happen, but...

 

OK, my phone conked out on the eve of CNY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Nothing was getting in, and nothing was getting out. I sent so many sms-es out, and I didn't know until the next day that they weren't getting through. And I also thought that none of my friends had remembered me because I didn't get any sms-es at all!!

 

I was complaining to Lone the whole night, "How come none of my friends sms me to wish me Happy CNY? Have they all forgotten me?" So sad!!

 

Then I found out that my phone was the problem! =P

 

So I'm glad to know that my friends did not forget me, but I'm so terribly irritated that my phone chose the eve of CNY to bail on me!

 

Now I'm using Lone's spare phone, and I don't have any of my friend's numbers there, and I can't get into my stupid phone to get them, so it's like I have to start from scratch and collect everyone's phone numbers again.

 

I'm not doing it now though, because I haven't bought a new phone yet, and to tell the truth, I don't really feel like getting a new phone at the moment. I'm feeling too lazy to go through the motions.

 

I wanna have a nice long rest this weekend, then I'll be ready to start working again. =)

Big Long Meme

Stolen from Strixaluco's blog, with a slight twist.

Bold the ones you've done, italicize the ones you want to do, and strikeout the ones you will never do. Leave the ones you're not sure about alone. =)

 

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you could afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo.

11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child (What about if I adopted dogs?)
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset

31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (I've been to China, but only parts of it.)
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied  (Keyword: "had". Back when I was 12 years old, probably)
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David.

41. Sung karaoke.
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight (Yes, it was every bit as romantic as I thought it would be...)
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

51. Gone scuba diving and snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial

71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book

81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox.
89. Saved someone’s life.
90. Sat on a jury.

91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a lawsuit
98. Owned a mobile phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day (7 books a day actually, for two weeks. Though I was 12, they were YA books, and it was during a two-week school break.)

The Year 2008

Last year (2007), Lone and I reflected on the things we achieved in that year and what we were proud of. It's time for us to reflect again, on the year 2008, and the things we are proud to have achieved. In no particular order, 13 things we are proud to have achieved in 2008:

• We performed in Planet Hollywood.
• We got engaged.
• We got sole distributorship of a very good guitar pedal brand for the whole of Malaysia.
• I started a book club in Klang Valley.
• I started an online book club with real-time chats.
• Getting more than 1000 visitors to our blogs.
• I made so many new friends, both in real life and online.
• Creating a great company site for our business.
• Learning new things everyday.
• Performing in KL for Christmas and New Year's eve.
• Giving health talks and presentations to my dad's customers at his office.
• Finally getting started on my book project.
• Loving much and laughing often.

2008 was a great year!

As I've said before, there are a lot of small and intangible things, and some which are difficult to express, but as per my now famous motto: As long as I'm better today than I was yesterday, and better tomorrow than I am today, no matter how small the improvement, I'm doing great. And I am proud of all the things we've achieved last year.

I am so looking forward to more great stuff in 2009, and believe me, 2009 is going to be spectacular!

Right off the bat, I can tell you that next year when I write the list of things we're happy to achieve in 2009, one of them will be that Lone and I got married. =) Ok, I know that's cheating, but it's still an achievement. LOL!

It is great to be alive!

Happy New Year 2009!!

Happy new year to all our friends and readers! Let's have another amazing year of love, happiness, health, prosperity, and friendship!! *toast* To the future!