Reflections of my life, the 07 edition

Many people review the year and tend to place the most recent memories as the 'highlights' of that period. Who can blame them? January and February seems a lifetime ago, so here is my low down of the year that has went by.

The Good

- The Friends that have been visiting me throughout the year in London has made it quite a good year in general. It has made me realise how central London is in Europe and how much I cherish the friendships of long ago.
- The Bike that has helped me feel much healthier than I've ever felt over the past 10 years.
- The Teaching course which I did that has given me hope that I will be able to complete my professional marketing papers with similar conviction
- The relatives visiting, again is similar to the visiting friends, only that its a time to heal old wounds and make new pathways into the evergrowing relationships.
- The Trips back to Malaysia, around the UK and to Europe which has made me wiser and appreciate the finer things in life. Like alcohol and cheese.

The Bad

- The Women, haven’t found what I’m looking for = BAD
- The comebacks: This is the year that brought back a lot of memories, simply because there has been the production of that Transformers movie. Not only that though, as it can also be remembered as the year that trilogies (I hate these = UGLY) ruled the cinemas. Musically, it can be coined the comeback year with so many groups coming back for 'one final encore'. At times the musicians on stage probably looked more like ancient relics being displayed in a museum. Why oh why do they allow themselves to be humilated in such a way? In this age, 'milking the consumers' seems to have taken a totally different approach with most producers identifying most 30 year olds as sentimental geeks, thus selling them items from their past = money.

While we’re speaking of comebacks, what about those two grandfathers that opened Planet Hollywood years ago. Coming back as the characters that brought them fame, please welcome Sylvester Stallone and Bruce Willis. Admittedly they did do quite well in the box office. They also seem to be doing pretty well in the boxed dvd's section, raking up good sales this Christmas.

- Facebook vs. Friendster vs. Multiply
Will also be remembered as the year when Facebook conquered all in networking sites. Anybody share the same sentiments as me: getting really boring with registering for newer sites just on the pretense on keeping in touch?

With me locking multiply from the world, the only problem is that unless people actually use multiply, who would know about my stories from a far? The dilemmas in life...


The Ugly

- The alcohol. Ok, I know this has a small place in the good, but 2007 has reminded me of one thing: don't mix Guinness with white wine.
- The trilogies, it just doesn’t work lor for me…
- The Marketers of the world: In a way it does make sense, but then again, its the commercialisation of our childhoods that make the idea sickening (or is it just me?). Picture this: meeting your well respected Form One teacher getting drunk and sweary in the pub down the road. It totally dismisses the myth of teachers being total angels. In the same vein seeing our childhood heroes being manipulated in such a way to make a quick buck from the consumers just takes the glitter off the whole idea. In a way it puts me off all of it. Then again, which item isn't part of the commercial world? Unless we all dress in leaves. Or all ride early 40s bicycles. But those are also on the list of highly priced items nowadays!

It seems that marketers seem to have really run out of ideas with talks of reproducing other reproduced movies. Case in mind - Batman. I do like Heath Ledger's new look as the lunatic Joker, BUT I just feel its a bit too much. Doesn't anyone remember how much a joker old Clooney became when he was the Batman?

First done in 1966, then rehashed with the Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson in 1989 to the Dark Knight with Christian Bale and Heath Ledger. Now we're seeing the Joker re-born again! (Though he's kinda hot though...)

What will 2008 have install? I don't know, I seem to have contracted Arsene Wenger's disease of myopia... But I sure do hope its one hell of a good year!

Just how are we supposed to know?

And when we finally know, is it an end all solution to the question?

The answer, my friend... I think you very well know. It is no. No, we are not supposed to know and no, it is not the ultimate solution to life's problems.

So many questions, such simple answers. But it is like food isn't it?

The main reason we eat is to fill up our stomachs. Be it plucking some fruits or fishing some fish. Or paying for the best foods. The end result is the same.

But why do we choose to enjoy the cultured environment and eat for 3 hours when we could have done it in 5 minutes?

It is all in the mind. And it is also the devil in our souls. We cannot change it, we just carry on assuming that there is a reason to our existance...

What do you want from this?

"In the constant rat race of life, don't forget to unwind..." *




* excerpt from Swimming with Sharks

how much do you love me?

How much do you love me?



This much?

For just RM20* per day, you can save up for a return trip to London to visit a cute little person like me!

*estimation based on duration of 6 months savings.

The Past

Essentially reflections are recollections.


And recollections mislead. The giggling. The way she waved her hand. Talked.


The past is the past. It's gone. What's there to say that it ever happened at all? Nothing much.


And so a new dawn.

iced...

Just yesterday the splendor of sunshine from the frozen greens brought warmth to my heart.

So much for that beautiful image.

This morning as I was racing downhill in the cold and misty park, my bicycle lost control as I was making a turn. *Reminder to self and to all cyclist: Slow down when making turns during times of icy roads.*

Prelude the ultimate sack of potatoes crashing to ground.


Like the professional stunt master that I am, I was fortunate to escape unharmed, though my rear light popped and I couldn't find the missing bits.

Still giggling at the image of me sliding through the pavement and catching up with my bicycle moments later...

Ahhh... the beauty of being born with big backsides.

Essence of the morning

sunrise...


...dew on the grass surface transformed into a white sheild across the whole park as the weather went sub zero, creating a glitter and a flutter to my heart



winter is here.

Why do I feel like, somebody's watching me?

It’s amazing how the internet makes the world seem so small. I have tried very hard to disguise my internet identity with various pseudo names and have little mention about the college on my personal website. That is until my recent carting event in which we won the 2nd place. Now generally speaking it’s not really a huge achievement, but coupled with meeting Les Ferdinand, I made the first mistake by putting my college's name in the description section. Because of this, I have been forced to revoke the transparency of this site.

First I get told that my superiors now have full view of my website. Secondly, another colleague suggest that some of the kids that went for the carting event may also search for news, to see if they appeared in any newspapers website. Lastly, but then the more worrying aspect was that some other 'not-so-close' colleagues would have similar access to view all and sundry about my personal life.

In a positive/negative aspect, it does show how efficient advertising with Google really is as they informed the college in real time the moment I put my article up. It also shows how easy it would be to collect information about someone from the net.

Not that it really matters, but it really curbs my freedom of speech. So over lunch the other day, I made the decision to limit my site to friends and family (and their networks) which would be cause of inconvenience as they would now have to sign up in order to view the photos I have collected throughout the years. But I suppose it is for the better as I won’t have to worry about snoops going around thinking about calling me or mailing me…

ah... C'est La Vie!

Dreams

There is one term that stuck in my mind came from Sam. Talking about being fit for the job and trying to build up enthusiasm, he cracked up a term always coined by the boss, "Wake up, still dreaming ah?"

This then led to our response that everyman should have dreams and that most you see today are stuff that is made from dreams.

His retort was to say that if we continue to dream on like dreamers we are no different from dead men walking. that we are still day dreaming and there is a whole lot of work that is waiting to be done.

In some ways there is some truth in what he says. When we dream, don't just continue dreaming of it, do it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HlvwkesRbo

Back to this song, "... Dream, dream, dream, dream Dream, dream, dream, dream

When I want you in my arms, When I want you and all your charms, Whenever I want you, all I have to do is Dream, dream, dream, dream

When I feel blue in the night, And I need you to hold me tight, Whenever I want you, all I have to do is Dream

I can make you mine, taste your lips of wine, Anytime night or day, Only trouble is, gee whiz

I’m dreamin’ my life away

I need you so that I could die, I love you so and that is why

Whenever I want you, all I have to do is, Dream, dream, dream, dream

Dream

I can make you mine, taste your lips of wine, Anytime night or day, Only trouble is, gee whiz

I’m dreamin’ my life away ..."

dreaming = dead man walking

Supply and demand

Propelled by a subtle query from a friend, an old saying comes to mind – “good things no cheap and cheap things no good” (my friend Sujit used to quote his belated dad)

However a similar saying was quoted by a visiting Korean before his trip to India and he was describing his first experience in one of the rivers near Mumbai – “beautiful from far, but far from beautiful”

Using this as the basis for my argument, for a ‘civilised’ Korean city to the poverty stricken area near Mumbai, it is really hard to see the beauty of something totally foreign. Which would also be similar the other way round when one of the spotlights for the 2002 world cup in Seoul was the fact that these ‘barbarians’ actually eat dog meat!

But sometimes, although there seems to be obvious reasons why something, or someone may not appeal to another person, given time perception can change. Another example would be my initial dislike for the preserved Korean cabbage – Kimchi. However after working for them for a bit more than 3 years, I did manage to pick up a liking for it.

All of this then breaks the belief of the two ‘wise’ sayings above. Still unconvinced? Well think towards the manufacturing giant that is called China. Most people will try and relate that all the cheap stuff that comes out of the country is ‘not good’, but then again if we take a step back and think about it, if it was really of no good, then why are they still in operations?

With the world becoming more globalised, it is only natural that some things that certain cultures look upon as cheap and not up to standard may actually come of everyday use in another culture. That is how the world of supply and demand works. If there is no demand for something, why would people bother making a market for it? The only drawback to this argument is that due to the world demands being so diversified, almost anything sells.

As they say, “one person’s meat may be another person’s poison”.

Take a break

for one second before we continue inhaling.

for ten seconds to catch our breaths.

for one minute to have a look at the scenery.

for four minutes for the water to boil.

for twelve minutes to get focused.

for half an hour to call and make sure everything is alright.

for forty five minutes for a good breakfast.

for 3 hours to read about the latest in football.

for a day to catch some trains.

for a weekend to get out of the city.

for three weeks to rediscover life.

for 3 months to take a new short course.

for half a year to become a bum again.

for a year to travel the world.

forever to find out the meaning of life.

or just for 7 minutes to just laze around doing nothing...

just doing nothing, just hang around - saturday night

Thoughts

"Certain people appear in our lives in the most unexpected situations..."

"It brings to question that if we are waiting to see sunlight that promises dawn, would it not be more important to find shelter from the rain?"

"Will our world smile again?"

*excerpts from a sunshine factory

The day we caught the train

Knowing that the first train to Waterloo East was at 5.13am from Lewisham Station, I got out of bed at 4am to get ready and waited for the bus around 4.30am... One hour later, I was still waiting for the delayed train, and with 13 minutes to arrive Waterloo East, 5 minutes to walk over to the Eurostar check in counter and given 30 minutes check in time, there really was not much time. It sums up the inefficiencies of the British Rails and when I finally checked in (just) and got on the Eurostar, it was five minutes to take off, I mean chug off.

So then it was such a relief to reach Brussels Zuid and get in the Belgian train thinking whether it’s the spirit of nationalism that actually serves the european countires better compared to the British National Rail companies... However, I was pretty confused to be honest upon arrival in Brussels, as I was told on my train ticket that I would be arriving at Bruxxelles Midi and checking the Dutch rail itinerary, I was supposed to get on the Brussels Zuid train station to get to Maastricht. Little did I know that Brussels Zuid = Bruxxulles Midi. The reason behind this was seeing Midi I was thinking Middle, right? And god knows what Zuid meant! According to my sister, Zuid actually means South since 'ui' in Dutch is pronounced 'ou' thus, Zuid = Z'ou'd.



Complaining about the inefficiencies of the trains in the UK, throughout the trip I was given an insight to the relative comparisons as the Dutch national rail service does not really fare as well too! There was this one trip as I was going back to Maastricht from Eindhoven when I reached the last stop (Sittard) before Maastricht. An announcement was made in Dutch and the next thing you know, I was off course and going to an entirely different destination. Then of course there were the rail strikes in France and Germany that almost crippled the entire economy. There is nothing like coming out of your country of residence to appreciate what we have eh?

Just a food for thought about transportation prices, the Eurostar to Brussels and back cost me £60 (e 84) which is a 2 hour train ride. For the train to Eindhoven and back to Maastricht, which is about 1 hour and 15 minutes, it cost me e 30 (£21). Then the train ride to Roermond from Maastricht which is about 40 minutes cost about e 15 return (£10.5). Now this may not be the most enticing way of travel, but in Europe it really is essential as it brings us around through different borders. Comparatively a 25 minute train ride from Lewisham to Dartford used to cost me £4.10 which when you think about it, really isn’t that expensive. And my sister was telling me that rail travel in Holland was cheap.

However in Milan, a 30 minute train ride from Bergamo to Milan central for a day would cost around e 3 (£2.10). Now that is what I call a bargain!

Octane

Love is the warmest place to be when it's cold outside...

Translated from the Sun

Apakah perbezaan Lewis Hamilton dengan pasukan bola sepak antarabangsa England?

Jawapan: Pagi ini, Lewis Hamilton masih ada Mc Laren

Is

Is anal sex legal?

Is legal sex anal?