flowers in bloom

I am delirious. My hard work finally paid off! The time and effort put in nurturing, tending and watering finally yielded beautiful flowers.  Oh, I’ve had so many trials and errors about it before but finally this time, they came out gorgeous.  No doubt the fertilizers helped, but I credit this to the learning experience. Learning from past failures about fertilizing, pruning and weeding, when best to do it, how often I shall tend to them?  Most importantly, I learnt a great deal about patience. The waiting period can be a torturous time, with anxiety growing every day. But alas, imagine the joy when a bud appears. And slowly, it blooms into a beautiful flower.  I am delirious. Still J

what do you call a nerd 15 years from now?

I read an interesting joke today. It goes something like this, “What do you call a nerd 15 years from now?” . Guess. I bet you won’t believe the answer. It reads, “A boss”!


Now, I am not sure about you, but I had a good laugh. Is there a friction of truth in this joke? You bet! Nerds or geeks as they’re used to be called in schools are no longer Losers (read with a capital L). In fact, they’re really the ones who are making it good in the world. They just happened to be a bunch of people whom when in school, devoted a lot of time and attention on their school work and read a whole lot more than the average school going person. Well, of course, all that, at the expense of social status and popularity in school. They’re the “outcast” deemed weird by the popular boys and gals. They’re the least popular and non-memorable people in school. No flamboyant styles to remember by. No exciting date nights to go. No cool cliques to hang out with. What they had was plenty of ridicules and insults as they lived with the “Nerd” label in school.

So, these nerds chose to pursue what matters in life even back in the school days. Theirs was a quest for academic qualification, a good exposure and a passion to make a difference in the world. Look at how many of them are great men and women of today. Bill Gates, for one. I personally know a few who end up being the best entrepreneurs today. Nobody would have thought that they be the ones who dare to take risks in a business venture. Nor to lead and manage multimillion dollar businesses. Who would have thought they'll be the ones today who faces matters head on with much courage and wisdom?  Who overcomes any challenges?  Or be significant in other peoples’ lives?

Scary as it may seem, but the nerds of today may really become your bosses of tomorrow. I am sure if we are generally nice to people, we wouldn’t have any problem being friends with all – nerds or not. And hence, it really doesn’t matter who becomes our boss at the end of the day :)

a new beginning

....phew!! yes! escaped!!....

I will be officially out of the rat race from 23rd Oct 2010.... yey!!
This is super fun! Amazing to say the least, as this was no ordinary feat for me to have the courage to leave a well paying job and just sit at home.  And, no, I am not quitting because I am pregnant or because of any health complications.  I just decided that I need a well deserved break after 13 years of slaving for the world. It does not mean that I am quitting work forever, it's just the right thing for me to do at this point of time.

I amazed myself.  I was so ready to let go of my commissions including one recent 3 year project at a turnover of 18mio. My colleagues called me an idiot. They thought that I was insane to not reap the rewards first before I leave. But, another 3 years?  That's too long!

Perhaps the 40 days prayer and fasting did give me the courage and peace to just let go of things. I really believe if it wasn't for this season of prayer for breakthroughs, I will be agonizing every minute of the day on the fact that I am loosing those substantial commissions, my year end bonus, career progression, blah blah... Well the longer I hold on, the tougher for me to let go and move on.

Ah, staying at home and finally doing the things that I like.... such bliss! But, can I really survive the "boredom" that many has cautioned me?  I don't know. Seriously. I am just taking one step at a time to enjoy this new phase of my life. Come what may, I will embrace them with a new found gusto.

inception

I usually dont blog about movies, but this one - Inception - was not just merely a movie. Watching it was a mind blowing experience!
The trick to enjoy this movie, is not to read anything about it first.
Don't even read the movie reviews, watch the trailers or twitters - just go watch it! It is so original, you'll be so amazed by Christopher Nolan's imagination and his story telling mastery.
Leonardo DiCaprio, was so convincing in his role that I truly appreciate his character and his egnimatic presence in Inception.
I can't write much here about the story unless I spoil it for you.
But, it's truly one master piece!
"INCEPTION - WOW!! "

i'm dreaming of ...

a very nice place like this....
aah, paradise!



"o, how I long for such a place,
where I can lay me down and watch the space,
such pleasure, such grace,
away from all the stress and race.

o dare i dream of a place so serene? "

I wonder...

Will i have the courage to dream the impossible dream???
Run the impossible race??
Oh Lord, give me the strength!!

how i feel now

totally demotivated and demoralized beyond words! Again, the same thing that happened to my commission scheme last year happened again this year!! Why did I never learn? Sacrificed so much for work, and this is how the company repay me.....sigh.... not worth it at all!! No more sacrificing health, personal time and family for this anymore. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!

a beautiful father's day story

This is a very beautiful story that touches hearts.

"A young man was getting ready to graduate from college. For many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer's showroom, and knowing his father could well afford it, he told him that was all he wanted.

As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited signs that his father had purchased the car. Finally, on the morning of his graduation his father called him into his private study. His father told him how proud he was to have such a fine son, and told him how much he loved him. He handed his son a beautifully wrapped gift box. Curious, but somewhat disappointed the young man opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible.

Angrily, he raised his voice at his father and said, "With all your money, you give me a Bible?" and stormed out of the house, leaving the holy book.

Many years passed and the young man was very successful in business. He had a beautiful home and wonderful family, but realized his father was very old, and thought perhaps he should go to him.

He had not seen him since that graduation day. Before he could make arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had passed away, and willed all of his possessions to his son. He needed to come home immediately and take care of things. When he arrived at his father's house, sudden sadness and regret filled his heart. He began to search his father's important papers and saw the still new Bible, just as he had left it years ago. With tears, he opened the Bible, and began to turn the pages. As he read those words, a car key dropped from an envelope taped behind the Bible. It had a tag with the dealer's name, the same dealer who had the sports car he had desired. On the tag was the date of his graduation, and the words ... PAID IN FULL.

How many times do we miss God's blessings because they are not packaged as we expected?"

Moving Up

A recent conversation with a friend came to a topic which left me puzzled.
What is the single most important indicator of you moving up in the society?
Is it by progressively moving up in your career and be famous at work? Or , by advancing in your studies to take on Masters or PhD? Or, is it by the branded and designer clothes and possessions that you single-handledly accumulate? Or, is it by how many invitations you received for drinks or dances in the nightclubs? Or , even how many friends you've accumulated over FaceBook?

It didn't help that my girl friend of twenty-something answered a big "YES" to all the above. Well, I on the other hand, can't help but think she has a skewed perception on what social recognition is and why it is important. I mean, seriously, what sense does it make to move up in the society by chasing after materials, qualifications, careers and popularity? These are, but fleeting moments of triumph in one's life.

I remember reading about the who's who in the Malaysian society. These are usually rich and affluent people (the Tunku's, Datuk's and Datin's) but they use their materials, name and status for the good by influencing the paths of the society.

Then, there are also those selfless individuals who contributed to humanitarian effort by involving themselves in disaster reliefs. Their sacrifice of time, effort and money deserves a recognition in our society.

How about those entrepreneurs who dared to live their dreams and in return brought huge investments to the country and created jobs for countless people? They mentor others so that the mentee can be better than who they are. Such selfless sharing of knowledge and skills will impact and change lives.

Now, shouldn't these be our benchmark in striving for social recognition?
Realistically, we cannot all be like these outstanding individuals.
But, if we promise ourselves to get rid of the shallow motivations and resolute to serve others first, then, I am sure we are on the right track to moving up in our society!

Yummy Foo Chow Food

I found these pictures as I was going through my folders. These are two of the many Foo Chow delicacies. Ooh, they're just so yummy and so out-of-this-world!


This is the famous sweet glutinous rice. The foo chows called it "sumee poan". It's made of glutinous rice (of course) , red dates, raisins and a lot more sweet stuff which I don't even know their names.... but the special thing about this, is that this dish is usually reserved for wedding dinners only. The old folks believed that eating this during your wedding will bring much "sweetness" into your marriage. Hence, the sweeter it is, the better. It was a real treat that we managed to order this for lunch when we took a trip back to Sitiawan not too long ago.


This is the famous pork fishball. well, as the name says it - there's pork, stuffed into the middle of the fishball. It's quite common now to find this even here in Kuala Lumpur (KL). You can call me bias, but the ones in Sitiawan always seem much bigger and taste better than the ones in KL.

Hmmn, this reminds me, I got to snap more pictures of our Foo Chow dishes. Next CNY will be a great time cause Dad, the Amazing Cook, will again exhibit his culinary skills for our reunion dinner. Yippee!

a close call

I almost killed something. Well, this praying mantis blended in so well with my floor mat that I didn't realise it was there. Almost squashed it with my feet...yikes!