October 29, 2010

Some people come into our lives and leave footprints on our hearts....

Some people come into our lives
and leave footprints on our hearts
and we are never ever the same.

Some people come into our lives
and quickly go...
Some stay for awhile
and embrace our silent dreams.

They help us become aware of the delicate winds of hope...
and we discover within every human spirit there are wings yearning to fly. 
They help our hearts to see that the only stairway to the stars is woven with dreams...
and we find ourselves unafraid to reach high.

They celebrate the true essence of who we are...
and have faith in all that we may become.
Some people awaken us to new and deeper realizations...
for we gain insight from the passing whisper of their wisdom.

Throughout our lives we are sent precious souls...
meant to share our journey however brief or lasting their stay
they remind us why we are here.

To learn... to teach... to nurture... to love

Some people come into our lives to cast a steady light upon our path
and guide our every step their shining belief in us
helps us to believe in ourselves.

Some people come into our lives to teach us about love...
The love that rests within ourselves.
Let us reach out to others 
and feel the bliss of giving for love is far richer in action that it ever is in words.

Some people come into our lives and they move our souls to sing
and make our spirits dance.
They help us to see that everything on earth is part of the incredibility of life...
and that it is always there for us to take of its joy.

Some people come into our lives and leave footprints on our hearts and we are never ever the same.

~by Flavia Weedn~



October 9, 2010

Friends then & Now....

After 3 years of not having to have met each other, Jessica finally had the time to come by Sydney to meet up with her friends here. Jessica, myself and Elizabeth along with Grape, May and Montarin were a bunch of Postgraduate students who ventured to Sydney Australia to complete our degrees in 2006. Being away from home, we became a small little family, sharing the joys and keeping each other company when we needed to have a shoulder to lean on. We had awesome fun together. We would head out to BBQ, movies, trips around Australia, dinners and even musical plays and of course study for exams together which meant late nights together.

We had awesome girlie fun most of the times. We also had times when we had relationship or family problems and we kept each other company and stayed together through trying times. The best was when we used to sit around the Quad building at the University of New South Wales and enjoy afternoons with our Ice Chocolates, we would discuss on what our futures will look like. We had big plans. Some of us wanted to start our own business, become world or the best financiers, researchers, and so on. And now when I met up with Jessica I realised that not many of us actually realised our dreams and plans. I wonder how many groups of friends out there have faced a similar circumstance.

Looking back, we were these young  (and still a young bunch) with heaps of enthusiasms and eager to prove ourselves. But now, looking at the current situation, almost all of us managed to move on and achieve our dreams and turned it to reality. But there are a few, who are still discovering themselves. Jessica and myself started to reminiscence on the things that we did and looked back and longed to rewind time back to the joyful carefree days. But unfortunately that can´t be done.



But it is good to know, that the few who managed to achieve their dreams are happy and those who did not are not giving up. As or me, I am happy that I have set myself a plan and almost there in achieving it. I love teaching and I am currently hired within the University as a tutor (which is similar to an Assistant Lecturer ´s Job else where). I am keenly and progressively building up on my resume and so far it is looking good. I am still loving research and love how I handle teaching commitments along with the planning of the teaching curriculum. So at least for me, my direction and path that I wish to follow is taking shape and I am happy. As for those friends who are still seeking to shape their paths, I will always support and encourage you . Don´t give up ans be confident of yourself.  For those who had gotten the jobs that they wanted to...good on you and all the best....




And it was great seeing you Jessica...


xoxo,

10.10.10 , Diet & Work...

How awesome can that be? 10-10-10 @ 10:10:10am...truely a nice combination of numbers. It is the eve of my  nephew´s 1st Birthday  and I remember telling my sis-in-law how good would it be to celebrate his B´day on 10-10-10...haahaa...although he was born on the 11-10-10, my family back home in Singapore will still be celebrating his 1st birthday on 10-10-10. Firstly for the convenience that all in the family (apart fro me) can attend as it is a Sunday and secondly, I guess its heaps easier to get the whole family help clean the mess after the celebrations....lol...

The past few days has been good. I have been following with my diet plan accordingly. I have not eaten any cheese, ice-creams, chips or any fried stuff since my beginning of my diet plan. I did weigh myself and with a bit of cringe I looked down and found that I had lost 2kg! wow! I am sure the 1st kg would have been water but it was a good start. I have also combined my diet along with Zumba. It is awesome. Its dancing with heaps of hidden exercise moves that you hardly notice that you are doing exercise. This is so perfect for me. I hate going to the gym, for many reasons. One of them being ashamed of myself not looking the best and having heaps of fats within myself and looking sloppy among the six-packs around me, I normally don't have the motivation to go to the gym. I rather go for long jogs or walk to the beach or some where out of Gym. But since going for Zumba, its been awesome! I love dancing! I totally enjoy myself and feel good when I am dancing. I totally feel happy and love all the moves. So this is perfect. I sweat it out without realising that I have actually done 1 hour of vigorous exercise moves, sideways, shaking, hip swirling and running , jumping and so on. It just awesome. I just wish they were all at around 6pm or so. I tutor at the University and I end up teaching till 5pm on Tuesdays. I may have to miss it as the class strictly adheres to a capacity of 25 people. Ummm...but I have 4 other classes to join in and shake away my fats...love it....

It is also Week 11 of teh University Term and its the final stretch. I have like 280 papers to mark. 3 different subjects, Managemnt, Organisational Behaviour and Legal Aspects of Employment. Although I am looking forward to having to complete almost all of them by the coming week, I wish to be more disciplined and get them done ASAP. I still have heaps on my other admin work associated with teaching to complete as well and get a few other stuff done. Geez, I am looking at a gruesome 2 weeks of non-stop marking, paper work and teaching of 12 hours....I need all the strength that I can get.




xoxo,

October 4, 2010

Canberra, Flowers and Friends

It was the long weekend here in Sydney. It was the Labour weekend which meant an extra day off to enjoy, eat and play. So, myself and few other friends of mine headed out to Canberra to view the Floriade that is an event that happens every year in celebrating the joy of Spring.

It was an early start at 5am and we were at the Central Railway station to catch our coach to Canberra by 6.30am. We arrived at Canberra at 10.30am and we were super hungry. It was extremely quiet. Most of the stores were still closed. Taking note that Canberra is the capital city of Australia, it really did not live up to the hype. I would not want to stay there. It was just too quiet for me.

After the brunch at the Pancake Parlour , it took awhile to get to the Floriade as it was like a 10mins walk. But it was all worthwhile. I had a great time marvelling at the beautiful Cherry Blossoms, Tulips, Pansies and Daffodils. I adored all of them . I love flowers and this was an awesome way to view them all. The colours were brilliant and although there were a couple of times the rain threatened to spoil the enjoyment, I and my friends totally enjoyed it to the fullest.

Here are a few pictures taken at the Floriade. Please click on on my Flickr Account and view the rest of the pictures taken.

The Cherry Blossoms


The Ferris Wheel & the Beautiful tulips in the foreground




I am not sure of what is the flowers name but they were so pretty. I love the colours, Raspberry Reds and Pink...


This Tulip had a mix of white in it and it reminded me of the Raspberry Swirl ice creams...




The array of beautiful and colourful tulips in the park.



The bright yellow daffodils.


I loved the potted plants...beautiful beginning to Spring...

I hope you liked the pictures...enjoy the Floriade if you are in Sydney or Canberra and intend to head out there...

xoxo,

Love should not be forced....

Before I start to delve on how my diet has progressed the past couple of days, I just wanted to have a say in how LOVE is not meant to be forced and it should come naturally.Love is something that should not be forced to develop , it should be encouraged to progress on its own or at least it should be natural. This was a discussion that I had with my friend.  How is it that Love seems natural and easy when we are together in person and not when we are far apart in different continent.  I guess its the expectations and the limitations that are presented to us makes it harder to deal and accept the long distance relationship.When distance is presented in any relationship, the initial set up is always strong and has promises that the relationship will work. But the duration of being apart tends to initiate one or both the parties to read too much into what is happening , why and who is responsible and so on when there is really nothing to worry about. But the distance and having not to see the person makes one wonder although keeping oneself busy can be advantageous in keeping things sane in between the couple but then length of  separation generally blossoms into needs in terms of individuals rather than as a couple.The boundary than becomes blurred and often leads to misunderstandings and often quarrels that leads to anger, frustration and most of the time break-ups.





If only the couples could have some sort of sense in the beginning if their love will be forced to be developed than being naturally progressed, I bet all the couples out there can have some distinct hint on what will work and what will not.

On the other hand, Love is experience and it give us insights into what to expect. Getting hurt is part of the process and thus if only we can have the strength to see beyond and accept the consequences, only than can we truly accept and fall in love. Start to live in reality and stop saying "Maybe". "Maybe" does not work for any relationships, its just empty promises and it only elevates the excitement of having to wait for the actual outcomes. But when that does not happen, the fading of love is much rapid than when you live in reality. Reality helps you to work on your relationship with the facts and figures. It is painful at times to see that nothing is workable and the only solution is to part ways but it is a situation that will help you to move on then having both of you stuck and not moving on to anything positive.

Remember, if you are meant to be, everything will work out fine. You will not have to lie to yourself or your partner to sustain the relationship. But it is a worry if you do not have a simple answer to the question : What is this relationship will be like in 3 years time? - If the answer is Who knows what happens in the future or let time decide or we will work things out when needed - then u are not ready and its is  Love Forced rather than Love Naturally. If its natural Love, you will muster up the courage to say, in 3 years time we will be together just that the location may change.Love forced : Such love is not going to stand the test of time. When there are challenges, the individual would abandon you because he/she never really loved you in the first place. True love does not expire easily but forced one does. It would never last for a long time; it disappears as soon as it came.


So take time and carefully think of the Love that you and your partner have been trusted into, especially if it is a long distance. Rather then having to force to have the relationship last even thou you had the inclination that it will dissolve sometime in the future, you rather do yourself and your partner a favour by not having to have this relationship continue. As for me, it turned out that we have become more of a good friend than partners, as we were not able to intertwine ourselves together as a couple through skype/phone/emails. Our feelings and emotions just developed into a friendship, a friend who will be there to talk to and get advice from...so, love here just did´t work...We are happy now, with much less hassle of planning and trying to sacrifice knowing that both of us will feel hurt or have one of our dreams of achieving our career or our future plan is only possible if one of us decides to let go and follow the other. The question than became who will be the ONE. Both of us have acknowledged that we both need to achieve what we set out to do in our lives but it is too important not to have the other give up on their dreams. But as friends, we can still go on do what we intended to do and still be proud of each other! We still have each other but as friends and we are happy now that we have decided on this.


Now back to my diet plan:
3rd day I was in Canberra. I couldn´t do much to alter to a lesser calorie food intake but I managed to stay on the healthy side. I had a brunch which was 2 pancakes with Grilled tomato and scrambled egg. Although the pancakes came with a good help of butter and maple syrup, I did n´t touch any of them although I was tempted. I had a cup of house brewed coffee without milk or coffee.


For dinner I had Soy Linseed bread and Hot chocolate as I was too tired to make my dinner.


4th Day diet was much better:


Had a Oats, Banana and coffee for breakfast. 


As for Lunch I had a mixed fruit salad - I added kiwis, oranges, grapes and bananas. All copped up and mixed together. I also had a 2 oatmeal biscuits with it and just had plain water.


Dinner was an egg omelette with mixed grill vegetables . Had mushrooms, capsicums and veges in it. Along with a 1 slice of toasted soy linseed bread and rose tea.


Both the 3rd day and 4th day of diet I did not manage to do any exercise. I will start on my exercise tomorrow onwards. 


That is all from me today....
have a great Tuesday, 

October 1, 2010

Day 2 of Diet plan

Day 2 of diet plan progressed well. I was afraid of Day 2 as my greatest challenge for the day was having lunch with my friend but I have to still stick with my diet plan. It was not something that I was looking forward to - I mean the lunch not my friend. I was afraid that I will be trapped by the croissants ,delicious cakes, sandwiches and my favourite Cesar salad....But amazingly it was not that hard actually!

I was squeamish at first when we set down for lunch. We chose a cafe at Bondi and just wanted to spend the afternoon chatting and catching up. So basically we both were not going to have a heavy meal. But the choices on the menu were the standard menu that you will find any where. I was keen to choose the wrap but was not too keen with the dressings. After contemplating for long and when the waitress came by, I mustered my courage and asked if I could design my own wrap fillings. She came back after briefly talking with the manager and she said yes! I was like, wow! My next question was ( I know I should have asked all the questions at one go...but...anyway) , is that going to cost me more than the price that they have stated on the menu. Again she went to ask the cafe manager and came with a strong NO! Wow! Not wanting to be known as the fussy customer, I just went ahead and ordered  wrap with shredded broiled chicken with lettuce, with heaps of carrot and cucumber (thinly sliced) , diced tomatoes and spinach. I didn´t want any dressing but I realised it will be too dry for me to eat it. So I went for the mustard dressing only.

It tasted good! I normally would have had hot chocolate or Mocha along with it but I decided to go for plain cup of coffee with no milk or sugar. It was a really good lunch. I wonder if this "make-your-own" versions of wraps and sandwiches are available at other cafes as well apart from their selections? I was too shy to initiate and ask if that is possible until my friend said, it will mean I would sit and just watch her eat her lunch...lol...or I would have to order whatever the menu had! I am glad I asked. Nothing wrong in asking I suppose. I feel really good that I managed to stick with my healthy diet plan ! Kuddos to me =)

For dinner, I wasn´t specifically feeling too hungry. I had a cup of orange and apple juice with soy linseed bread. I still have oats and oatmeal biscuits or the golden kiwis if I am feeling hungry later on.

But there is another crucial challenge for me tomorrow, that is the trip to Canberra. I´m not sure if I should pack lunch. I was thinking of a simple egg sandwich on a toasted soy linseed bread. Noting the success of what happened today, I am not sure if I should try and attempt to re-create the same situation again. Should I take the risk. I may feel horrible if that was not possible! But also the thought of having to get up so early in the morning say around 4am or so to have it done and packed, makes me cringe.... Ummmm...stay tuned to tomorrow´s blog to know what happens !

Recipe for today:

Brekkie : 1/2 cup oatmeal with 1 tablespoon of dried raisins. 1 cup Green Tea

Lunch : Tortilla wrap with shredded broiled chicken (approx. 2 tablespoon), cucumber and carrots, thinly sliced (approx. 3 table spoon), Lettuce (approx. 3 tablespoon) & diced tomatoes & a spinach with mustard dressing (1 tablespoon) with black coffee (no sugar added)
(please take note that this was ordered from a menu and I requested to specifically have these ingredients in my wrap. As such I am not too sure of the exact amount of ingredients used but from what I got, I assumed according to 1 large tablespoon measurement).

Dinner : 1 large cup of Orange & Apple Juice ( freshly blended - No sugar just water added to the fruits), 1 slice of Soy Linseed Bread & 2 oatmeal biscuits & Rose Tea (No sugar added).

2 days have passed since my start of my diet plan. I have refrained from chocolates, sweet stuff like EasyWay/ 85C Hot Green Tea or having hot chocolate...no cheese so far or snacks or cup noodles. Excellent! Proud of myself for sticking with my plan so far =)

That´s all from me today,
Stay tuned for the 3rd day Diet Plan and have a fabulous Saturday!

September 30, 2010

1st Day - Diet goes well....

I am pleased with myself today. I had stuck to my diet plan and amazingly managed to say NO to Donuts, Chocolates, Yummy Mud Cake, Chips and most of all, I only had 2 cups of coffee so far. I am actually amazed.

The day started off quite late for me today. I only managed to get to bed at 5.30am and I slept all the way till 1pm. I know I have to get back into a good sleeping pattern as well!!! So I missed breakfast, which is the most important meal of day. Darn it! But I still started off the day with a banana and yogurt, went to the gym, came back and had strawberry & blueberry fruit salad. It is very easy to make. Scroll to the bottom to get the recipe. 

I had a big afternoon planned. Shopping for my nephew´s 1st Birthday present.  I headed out to Eastgardens and suddenly I was overwhelmed by the aroma of coffee, grilled cheese, burgers, Indian, Chinese and Japanese food....OMG! I really felt like walking out of the shopping centre. I just couldn´t see myself avoiding all these yummy smelling food.... So I quickly paced myself to Kmart, went stariaght to the toy section and browsed through. Then it was straight to Big W to get myself a few other stuff. Without me realising, I was sandwiched between an aisle that had shelves stocked up with all sorts of chocolates!!!!! It was the most challenging task - to avoid chocolates. You see, chocolates are my weakest point. I suddenly felt the sides of the shelves closing onto me...I had to get out of this place...and I did. I was just too afraid to wander about and so I just headed to the kids section again, got a few more colouring books and darted out. After a few hours darting from Kmart to Target to Big W, making sure to avoid places stocked with food, I managed not to buy any food  or snacks. I realised, I was able to forget about food by just sticking with my errands and smartly avoiding the food sections. But the downside to this was, I spent money buying myself a cute summer sandal, a top and heaps of goodies for my niece and nephew...but I felt good =)

I am now having dinner. Its really simple. I am having roasted eggplant with boiled sweet potato and carrot . and finishing it off is 2 golden kiwis... yummy!....and rose tea....Although the lunch and dinner are not that yummmy sounding, they filled me up. I strangely feel lighter, cos I did not have any meat intake today , just vegetarian. I will digging up more food recipies later on tonite and will post it tomorrow onwards. 

Here are the simple recipie:

Brekkie : 1 Banana  with 1 small tub (175g) of Yoplait Lite Yogurt

Lunch : 6 Fresh Strawberries ( depends on how many you would like) , halved with  1 small cup of blueberries. Just mix them up. You can add green salad to it, but no dressing. Had 1  slice of toasted plain wholemeal bread  (actually I was full , in fact I was trying hard to finish off the bread).

The fruit salad will look like the picture below. (This picture was not taken by me)



Dinner : 1/2 eggplant (roasted), a small 1/4 diced sweet potato(boiled), 1/2 Potato (boiled) , 1/2 Carrot boiled. Mix them all up and enjoy them plain. No dressings again. I actually enjoyed this and did feel full afterwards.

So far the diet plan is going well.....will keep you all posted. The challenge for the next couple of days is trying to stick with my diet while meeting up with friends for lunch and dinner. So yup....stay tuned...

Love 

September 29, 2010

Fruits are my new Love

Yes! You heard it right...fruits are my new found love. I love fruits but they were only part of my after lunch or dinner crunchies. But as of today onwards I have embarked on a new adventure, to loose 5kg! Yup, and as soon as possible as well. So as from today onwards, I will start on a high fruits intake diet, that will mostly contain in a juice form. I may decide to make it as a ice cold non fat, no sugar smoothie, if the weather keeps getting hotter.

Rewinding to episodes that occurred few days ago before coming to this drastic measures. Well during the weekend escapade with a couple of my friends and enjoying myself the delicacies presented in Sydney Surry Hills suburb, I felt myself on a heavier side. I weighed my self only to realise that I had gained 4kg!!!!! OMG!!! I am sure that was not the result of the weekend spree of indulging myself but it was an outcome of me having to indulge myself in too much of carb intake and very less exercise. I was really active with my running and heading to the gym, but the past month, I had been so stressed with my work and research , I totally gave in to every cravings I had. My cravings are huge and I always go for food that has high sugar and fat in it regardless what my mind says, I just gulp it down. Now I am paying the price for slacking off....

So now that you had a quick preview of what had lead to this drastic measure, this is what I am going to do. For the next few days to weeks, I will be posting yummy fruit and vege combo salads, juice and smoothies recipies that I had gotten out from the web or friends or family, give it a try and rate them on this blog. If you like, you can give it a try yourself and give comments on how it went.

Of course the first few days is to detox myself, which will mean heaps of green tea and munching on fruits and exercise. But after a couple of days, I will slowly add crabs to it, like wholegrain/multi grain bread, just toasted no butter added, along with a a single serve of a small tub yogurt for brekkie and than fruit -juice added with beetroot or celeries through out teh day and for dinner back to what I had for Brekkie.Once I have lost the 5kg off my weight, I will slowly add on a protein to diet.

I have to let all know, who are reading this, you do need to substitute the loss of essential vitamins through taking Multi Vitamin pills and please do not starve yourself. Whenever you feel too hungry, it is okie to have broiled chicken, tuna from the can with your wholegrain bread. I am only going to follow this diet for the next 2 weeks with exercise to lose the 5kg and be back on a much healthier food plan that will be within the 1800 cal/day.

You should not follow a fruit only diet as a long term diet plan!!!!!

So good luck to me and good luck to those who wish to try the recopies that I post year for the next few days....


September 25, 2010

Quotes I love

Here are few quotes that I have come across. I managed to find photos on the web to compliment them. Enjoy =)


"This is the beginning of a new day, complete with 24 hours of opportunities, choices, and attitudes...You can waste it or use it for good. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever. This unique gift, this one day, cannot be exchanged, replaced or refunded. Handle with care."





‎"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen, nor touched...but are felt in the heart."





“Anyone can give up, it's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else has given up hope, that's true strength.”






“Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”





“Looking back you realize that a very special person passed briefly through your life. It is not too late to find that person again.”





The important thing is not to compromise who you really are, and settle for living a life that others think you should have.





Wine is bottled poetry ~ Robert Louis Stevenson~




Hope you like them....


August 26, 2010

Who are Real Friends?

Today I learnt a crucial lesson? I guess I have been naive all these times. This post adds on to my previous posts on "Friendship Sucks at time". Well its that time of the year where friends graduate and you get to see friends who you may not have seen for some time. My dear friend Jean from Singapore came by. She finally have conquered the PhD degree @ The University of New South Wales. I share her joy of completion of her degree.  As I am in the same degree program as she is, I truly understand the mental and physical challenges that she had to endure during the past years to complete her research. Congratulations to her!

I felt special when she came by and met me personally a couple of days before her graduation ceremony. Knowing that she has her parents here for her Graduation Ceremony, I really didn´t want her to take time off and spend time with me. After all, family comes first and definitely, knowing Jeanie, she would love to bring them around to places that she adored while she stayed here for 6 years. But it was such a heart warming meeting. She came by and we had our little chats, just like old times. She is one of the nicest friends, who depite her busy schedules, will always find time to text message me or drop by my room to say a quick Hi. She is indeed a real gem of a friend.

On the other hand, I heard about another friend´s graduation. I have known him about the same years as Jean. I didn´t know he was graduating today until Jean told me that she had seen his name on the Grdauant´s List. Although I know that all are busy in their own ways, I wish he had taken that extra effort to mention about his graduation. He was a friend I had become close to. We had shared quite a lot, both on a social and personal level. It hurts to know that he did not even think of mentioning about his Graduation. I would have been really happy to know that he is graduating, he had put a lot of effort in his thesis. I just don´t understand why someone who had been such a good friend, not in a emotional way but in a supportive manner, would not want me to share the joy of his DAY? What saddens me more is that I had at times taken time to comfort, share and talk things out with him when he had problems and this is what I get in return, a snub off the shoulder...sigh!

I know different friends translate and define friendship differently. But there are some common platforms that are needed to be met in order for that friendship to develop and continue. Thus I guess, Jean has built upon a friendship measure of maintaining while my other so called friend had decided that it was more of a short term. Indeed I was naive, thinking that all friends will remember me and the friendships that we had.I was naive to think that the friendships that I create while I am in Sydney will last forever. I was indeed naive that some friends meant more to me and had spent too much time , ignoring a few good ones during. It has indeed opened my sights into what true friendships are. Jeanie will always be my friend, she has indeed have proven her friendship to me, not by buying presents but by simeple emails, updates, and visiting me or calling me up for short catch-ups when she is in town....so yes, in return I will always remember her sweet and true friendship and be as true to her too.

Well Congrats Jeanie! You are an awesome friend indeed and you always have been there for me, not 24/7 but at least there for me when you can. Thats what matters.... I also would like to apologise to friends who I may have ignored for friends who I thought were an important aspects of my life. I am still figuring out who are my REAL friends and who are fakes...at least after today´s lesson, I can cross out one name from the list of friendship....


Signing off....

August 22, 2010

Good Morning all!

As I sit at my desk and vigorously attack the keyboards, I realise that its Monday again! With almost 60% of Sydney cuddled in bed and fast asleep and another 15% performing their graveyard duties and the rest either engaged in pleasurable activities and a few , like me, working hard on their Uni project/ research, I stop to take a moment to pen a few words before I head off to finish the rest of my thesis writing set out for the day.

This weekend has been good through out. I had very little time to question about life or any other matters. The weekend just came and left! But one good thing that happened was , I managed to download very old Disney favourites, Cinderalla and The Beauty the Beast and watched it! It was a sweet bliss. The Cinderella version was from 1937. The Technicolor then was so rich and the colours were so beautiful, not to mention the animation as well. I was amazed at how good the condition of that movie was considering it was dated 1937. It was truly awesome. I loved Disney all my life. It is simple, love rich and most of all, there is a credible story line that makes your heart melt.

Watching The Beauty & The beast brought sweet memories of my childhood. It was in the 90s and the whole family made a beeline to the cinema in Yishun 10, in Singapore, and had a fabulous time watching it. It was awesome. The big screen with surround audio, popcorn and of course, feeling like a VIP as kids were given special goodies bags . I loved it, especially when the Beast and the Beauty danced. It was so magical for a little girl, who always dreamed of becoming a real princess in life. I had the same glowing warm feeling when I saw it again the other night but this time, the Beast was not scary looking, in fact , I liked the Beast before it was transformed into a prince...ummm... probably I have grown up and understood that its the personality and character of a man is important than good looks!?..haahaa...

So, yes the weekend went by as quickly as it began and now I am struggling to finish most of my writing that I intended to complete but lazily put it off. But I´m not regretting it, it was a nostalgic weekend, re-visiting my favourite Disney movies...ahhhhh...

Well good morning to all, have a great Monday,







August 16, 2010

24 hours in a Day is never enough!

Have you ever had a day pass by where you wish you can instantly freeze time and finish everything that you set out to do? That's exactly how I feel today.With only less than 2hours away to Tuesday the 17th Aug, I'm extremely exhausted, still have heaps left to complete, not to mention another 5-6 hours worth of paper work. Well, you may say, stop blogging and get back to your paper work...True...but I am in a state where I need to vent out my frustration and this seems a good avenue to do it.

The day started pretty well. Waking up at 7am with sun streaming into my room, it looked like its going to be a great day. In fact, it was not half bad, everything went smoothly according to my teaching schedules, meeting with students, emailing important documents until when I saw the clock and it showed 4pm! I was like, WHAT? 4pm? Where did most of the day disappeared to? Suddenly I had a panic attack, to my left was my thesis to proof read for a meeting with my Supervisor ( which I managed to push to Wednesday!) and to my right was a bundle of student scripts waiting to be marked!!!!! OMG!...I wish I had a clone.

As much as I love being in the academia world but I loathe marking papers. It just takes a chunk of my time and hate it when students give me half attempted papers, especially those who had done it last minute. It just doesn't make any sense at all. That's what I hate. Its like my head is rallying to fail them but being a compassionate person I am, I'm giving them extensive feedback so that they can improve. Writing those feedback takes time, heaps of time as you need to phrase the negative aspects as positively as possible so that students will take them as a constructive feedback rather then a "shoot me  down " feed back....get what I mean? That's the art of being a good teacher. You need to motivate them and also be honest without hurting their feelings. That's where most of my time goes. Although I have been told by my peers not to delve too much on these feedback, I just feel that it really works. Students see me as a advisor, a friend and a educational guide. I cannot just throw in feedbacks that lacks any sort of direction. These are 1st year undergraduates, they are as lost as the scripts that they have submitted. They need some form of guidance. I cannot be advising them on a one-on-one basis, that will take just too much time. A well thought and written feedback that will guide them and give them some sense of focus is better then having them repeat the same mistakes in the next assignment!!!!! which undoubtedly will add on the same problems that I am facing now.

Well that being said, being a research student myself and working is really a difficult balancing act. I just wish to finish my PhD and graduate but some how problems surrounding my research area is slowing down the progress...as mush as I want my students to thrive, I want to do good on my thesis as well...so yes, time is a challenge for me. As much as myself and quite a a lot out there who wish to have more then 24 hours each day, all I can say is "May the Force be with you"....

As for me back to my 5 hours of paperwork, coffee and sleepless night ahead ....

Signing of
M

August 15, 2010

Friendships sucks sometimes....

"No one is rich enough to be without friends. Make new friends but keep the old. New are silver, old are gold." ~ Unknown

I have a huge doubt on the saying above...I had been thinking of my friends the past few days. Ever since moving to Sydney, I had made quite a few friends who made me feel safe.But lately I have been asking heaps of questions about what is Friendship. Is it for one's gain? Is it to have someone when you only need them? Is it something that you develop on and be there for each other.... Although I wish it was the latter...its not been like that, sadly :-(

And this lead me to think:
Do I always have to initiate a get together?
Do I always have to be the 1st to say Hi on Facebook/email them and update them of what's been happening and ask them about their life?
Do I always have to be the 1st to go and visit them at their home or call them out for a casual coffee chats?

Its seems like I have been taking the initiatives, even when I am bogged by heaps of work and research. Why me? I am sick and tired of this. Seriously!!!! I know this is a small matter but to me, I feel that all have an equal contribution whether in a relationship or in friendship or in family.

As the saying goes "old are gold"...well I know who are "gold" and who needs to be tossed out as their gold lining has faded. I'm not musing that all the friends that I have near and far needs to always keep in constant contact. I mean, I know everyone are busy with their work/social/self commitments. But all I am asking is if I initiate a chat/email/Facebook message, please take time to reply and say Hi at least...makes me feel that I am indeed a "welcome" than a "unwanted" .

Than, there are those who only seek me when they have problems. I mean, I love to be of any form of help or just be a listening ear, but, please, when I call and email you just to chat for fun or catch up and you scuff me off and you want me to make time for you! Forget it! I have enough of this "taking me for granted" stuff. I am human too and I have feelings. So don't hurt my feelings and expect me to run over to you every time you have a problem. That is not friendship , its making use of someone who always been nice enough to say "NO"....

And to those out there who think that they have the best opinion about everything including the friends I have, well, you don't. You can never judge a person from their looks, you have to get to know them and believe me , you yourself is of no good in many ways too.....so try and be fair to all or just don't say anything!

But on a brighter note, I still treasure my friends back home, a few but truly gems of friendship...no matter what, regardless of the distance we always stayed together through all our problems and tough times including happy moments as well. They are my true friends. No matter how busy they are with work/social/family/kids & self...they always drop me an email, sometime with just a single sentence..."How are you?' and that alone fills my heart with joy even when I am at the lowest of point in the day/week/month or it just adds on to my happiness...so I am thankful to you girls...love you all heaps...

Signing off, 
M




May 24, 2010

Define Success

During a casual talk with a friend today, he asked me how will I define success. It took me a good while before I could reply him. To me success is not how much you earn or the number of publications or even how big the place a I live in. It simply boils down to the fact , whether I am happy at the end of the day. If I am than I have been successful in whatever I had done for the day. I mean, its simple. If I know I have had a good day or even helped someone else feel happy for the day along, than I had been successful in being a good human which translates to how I feel at the end of each day. If I do not feel good about what happened in any day, than I have not been successful in achieving what I set out to do.

Success is seen and felt in different ways. To me, money stays and goes, its not permanent, so are the things that comes with it. It just evolves and never stays the same and if you were to associate your success with money and things that you own, you will never be happy, you will never be successful as you keep moving the bar of expectations up . It will always seem higher and higher, making you doubt in yourself that you may never be successful.

Don't mistake Success with Goals. Success takes many forms, you can be a successful teacher, friend, cook and so on. But goals are different for everyone. Its intertwined with ambition, love, passion, dreams, plans and sum all of them up and you have your GOAL...having to achieve your goal is one form of success....

So yes, my answer is, success lies in the all simple forms that happens and takes place everyday that without you knowing, starts to build up " Success" as seen in your own world...

Have a great evening all...
~M~

May 19, 2010

Rain Rain Go Away

It has been raining for the past 3 days!!!!! Its been gloomy, wet, moody, depressing and even making me sleepy all the time. Rain is not helping at all. Getting wet in the autumn season in Sydney, makes it shivery cold. Its cold and I have been wrapping myself with layers of clothes and feeling heavy walking around. The best thing is I can wear my boots that I love so much. I bought a year ago and I simply adore it. Worth the $25 that I spent on it. I should be getting another, as I just realised today that the soles are wearing out :-(

Being moody and gloomy, its not making me any productive either. I simply did not have the energy to conduct the classes this week although its the best tutorials that the students will have. Its an activity base tutorial on leadership. Even I find it intriguing but because of this wet weather, even the interesting activity like that has become awfully dim and not at all happy.

There was a bit of sunshine ray in the afternoon that allowed me to quickly head out to chemist to get a few needed stuff which I had been putting off as I hate getting wet in the rain especially when I have heaps of errands to run which constitutes walking outdoors. With this chilliness," nope-no-way-snap" I will be heading out to complete my errands.

I found this poem on the web :

Rain, rain, its always raining,
Rain, rain, I end up saying,
Rain, rain, please go away now,
Rain, rain, just leave right now,
Rain, rain, don’t know how,
I don’t care how,
To make my rainy day just go away… 



So rain,please stay away just for few days ...let the sunshine rays brighten up my days...


~M~

May 17, 2010

My Mother my Best Friend :-)

Your arms were always open when I needed a hug. Your heart understood when I needed a friend. Your gentle eyes were stern when I needed a lesson. Your strength and love has guided me and gave me wings to fly. 
- Sarah Malin

I have been asked many a times, who is my best friend? It is always assumed (wrongly) that you need to choose one from your group of friends…No, not in my case. I beg to differ….To me, the best friend is someone who cares for you dearly, someone who puts themselves last when making a decision, someone who will truly give their life to save the other and most of all, someone who do not give a damn who you are, how you look , what you do for a living.

Someone who is ready to take over your burden, someone who holds you tight when you cry,someone who knows you are in trouble even when you are in silence, someone who does not get tired leading you and staying awake all night through when you are sick. I can keep going on and this list will never end.

And so, I always respond with pride, that my Best Friend is My Mother who I affectionately call Mommy Dearest. She is my role model, my confidant, my advisor, my joy, my love and most of all, a quite achiever. She says a lot with her hugs, kisses, and smile. I know I have not been the easiest child to be looked after but she endured everything with no complaints.

I know I have not done much in return but all I can say is Thank You for everything. Thank you for keeping me close to your heart. Thank you for not giving up on me even if I had many times. Thank you for sitting by me when I’m sick and making sure I feel better. Thank you for knowing when I’m down or in trouble and ask about it. Thank you for listening and being there for me. Thank you for putting me first before your needs. I miss you so much and the distance makes me yearn for u even more…

Love you mummy dearest, have a great day and you deserve the break cos u took on the world’s biggest hardworking, unpaid, no holiday job and carried it out immensely well.

Happy Mother's Day Mommy,
Hugs, Love and Kisses.
Your one and only daughter who is always proud of you :-)
xoxo
~M~

May 15, 2010

Sunshiny Day...

Its a beautiful Saturday...I was happy to wake up today to sunshine – I don’t know what it is, but it has the ability to completely set my mood for the day. I am the most happiest on a sunshiny day...It is so uplifting. I just love the outdoors, may it be, walking about at Newtown or just laying about at the beach reading a good book, or ahemm....watching a handsome six packed running around ...awww....anyway...back to this :-P


It also gives me another day to dress up and get myself a good dose Vit D. But yes, amidst all this, I had to control myself and say, I have heaps of "To-Do" list that's been waiting to be cancelled out. Much to my dismay, that list has been growing since last week. Its staring at me right now, and only if it had a face on it, probably its not a happy one either. I'm wondering when I can complete all those tasks when there are so many temptations around me, whispering and encouraging me to come over and enjoy...darn it ! Its Saturday for goodness sake, I wish I can just allow some sort of pampering...


Although I can ignore my "To-Do" list just for today and head out and do something ( which I just might for the next few hours ;-)). It is the guilt feeling that is bestowed on me that I do not like. 


Having said that, sometimes that guilt feeling helps you to attain what you need to complete much faster than you expect and to perfection as well. Its a basic human instinct to satisfy and overcome the guilt...


So...lets just have a good Sunshiny day and hopefully what ever things "to-Do" list you have gets done or at least looked at to remind you that it will keep haunting you till it gets completed...


Hugs all...


~M~



May 14, 2010

Quotes...I love them

I love quotes...some how, they seem to make me feel good. Not sure if that is the same for all, but for me, it's a Wow! factor. How did these people create or come up with such good ones...I tried a few myself, which of cos' turned disastrous or became a joke...

Here are a few quotes that I love. They are from different websites, personal goals and quotes, speeches from famous people, writers, sports people, movies, characters and so on....

Enjoy :-)

"We spend our whole lives worrying about the future, planning for the future, trying to predict the future, as if figuring it out will cushion the blow. But the future is always changing. The future is the home of our deepest fears and wildest hopes. But one thing is certain when it finally reveals itself. The future is never the way we imagined it."

"At the end of the day, there are some things you just can't help but talk about. Some things we just don't want to hear, and some things we say because we can't be silent any longer. Some things are more than what you say. They're what you do. Some things you say because you have no other choice. Some things you keep to yourself. And not too often, but every now and then, some things simply speak for themselves."

"Who gets to determine when the old ends and the new begins? It’s not on the calendar, it’s not a birthday, it’s not a new year. It’s an event, big or small, something that changes us. Ideally, that gives us hope, a new way of living and looking at the world, a way of letting go of old habits, old memories. What's important is that we never stop believing we can have a new beginning, but it's also important to remember that, amid all the crap, there are a few things worth holding on to."



Your arms were always open when I needed a hug. Your heart understood when I needed a friend. Your gentle eyes were stern when I needed a lesson. Your strength and love has guided me and gave me wings to fly. - Sarah Malin


"We are defined by opportunities, even the ones we miss"

“It’s a funny thing coming home. Nothing changes. Everything looks the same, feels the same, even smells the same. You realize what’s changed, is you.”

"Beauty can be defined in a collection of moments, or memories more often than it can be defined by someone's appearance"

"The heart shall always know, even in silence, when one has found its soulmate..."

"There's no man, alive or dead, who's going to fault you for living."

"You measure yourself by the people who measure themselves by you. "



Hope you like them


~M~

Smile and the World smiles with u :-)

Hi all,

It took me a long time to figure out how my previous blogs have gone missing. Hope to get them back and running soon. But in the meantime, to all my friends around the globe and family as well, just read on this fresh new look that I have created....

So, how's life u ask? Its been good. Its like those days that has been blessed with kisses of sweet surprises, wonderful weather, good friends, listening to music, loving the work and of course, every one that I walk into have good positive attitude that just rubs on you...and that's how I have been feeling the past couple of months.

I can't really pinpoint and say this is exactly what's keeping me happy. So yes, life is treating me well and hope its the same with you.

Yes I know, I sound all so positive, happy and cheery but guess what, definitely, its not been a chocolate coated days all the time. There were few days in between that was tainted with dark , cloudy and unhappy moments. But I have learnt that, there is no point in having to cry and feel too upset about them. Well, I would actually but I guess it only drains my energy just to keep thinking about it.

My new motto is "Everyday is a brand new Day"...so start it that way. Look back at the problems but don't keep brooding on it. It just wastes time and makes you feel so unhappy. Its best to look at the choices and solutions and pick one that suits the most and go with it. Yes, it can mean re-doing it again just so it did not conceptualise the way you wanted it to be, but at least you will know to what extent it really worked!

So yes, overall all has been good. And I'm as usual looking forward to the next few days with a big smile and see how it will all turn out...

So have a great weekend all...

I will try and re-connect to the lost blogs , otherwise, this will be a brand new start to a new blog of mine...:-)