.: Leisure :.

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

~Henry Davies~

.: The Truth, The Whole Truth, And Nothing But The Truth :.

Neo is presented by Morpheaus two pills.

The red pill will answer the Neo's quest to know what is the "Matrix".

The blue pill simply is for life to carry on as it is.

So, would you take the blue pill and live in ignorance (afterall, ignorance is bliss isn't it) ?

Or would you take the red pill and live an "examined life" (as how Aristotle would call it) ?

As Mix.fm advertised for their "Lie Detector Test"

The truth shall set you free

(from the Bible - John 8:32)

The trust is out there

(from X-Files)

But how many of us wants to know the whole brutal truth?

It's really often the case where we think we need to know the truth, but when that is being presented to us, we would rather not know what we we told.

As a lil girl, I grew up watching Disney's fairytales....

They all often starts with "once upon a time" and ends with "and they lived happily ever after"...

At one naive point in my life, I thought so too. Ask me then if I believed that if it's possible for a pumpkin to turn into a carriage - I would say yes. Ask me if I believed that someday, my prince will come - I would say yes.

But as I grew up, the environment I grew up in quickly strip away all this naiveness, replacing them with cynicalism. And for those who knew my mum well, she would be the catalyse to this process. Well, it's good to be idealistic and optimistic, and I really admire those who still believes that life is a fairytale and that they are going to live happily ever after, but we do need to be truthful to ourself isn't it so?

But having said that, I'm not totally cold or cynical. I still continue to watch sappy ol' love movies and read a good romance novel and more often than not, shed a tear or two (sometimes even more when I know nobody's looking) at touching moments. And I guess I've been holding on to this lil streak of hope (lil, but nonetheless still hopeful) that I never realise, up until now. This explains blue skies, jigsaw puzzles, scrap books, etc (a lil bit personal, but some would know what I mean)

But am I still being naive to believe so? Or is this just a lie I'm trying to tell myself?

I went along the line of taking the red pill, and to be honest, sometimes I wished I never knew the truth. It hurts. So much. I guess it's much easier to live a lie, at least your somewhat happier. But this is the price you pay for wanting to know the truth - and sometimes it causes you more than you anticipated, but nobody says that the truth is kind. It's brutal.

So to JC who will or will not be reading this - thanks for your honesty.

.: Happy Birthday, Shyang :.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHYANG!

Enjoy your cake! (just the cake only ok? *wink*)

.: To Kill A Mockingbird :.

A 1961 Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Harper Lee, To Kill A Mockingbird has been ranked as one of the book that every adult should read before they die.

To Kill A Mockingbird took place in a small Southern Town in Maycomb, Alabama, during the Depression (somewhere in the 1930s') from the eyes of an six to eight year old girl (the timeline for this novel is about 2 years, if I'm not mistaken), Scout Finch (also known as Jean Louise).

The primary themes of this novel evolves around racial injustice (a black man was trial for raping a white girl) and discrimination (between classes, gender,etc).

In my personal opinion, the start of the novel was somewhat mundane, but towards the middle, I was more and more engrossed into finishing this novel.

I particularly like the ending, where Scout said to that people are essentially kind "when you really see them".

Isn't that really true?

Do read this novel! :)

.: Daisy :.

"What does ONE daisy means dear?"

"It means I'm cheap!"

.: Republic @ Sunway and My Weekend :.

Friday night @ Republic Sunway with Seat Jian (fondly known as Nana to everyone else there).

So I danced the whole night thru & drank till I puked....


.
.
.


So NOT true!

.
.
.

I was drinking responsibly - unlike SJian who drank pass his limits (and fertilised a nearby plant with his puke) and no, I didn't even went to the dancefloor (except to go to the washroom, which I had to walk pass the dancefloor).

After turning SJian's invitation to go clubbing twice, I thought I gave this one a chance. And tho I did enjoy making new friends, I realise that I'm just too old for this clubbing scene.

I went back home @ 4am - much to my parents' displeasure, but even more of JC's....

I woke up at 7.30am, to follow my dad to pick up Yin @ Cyber (she bought me Nando's for that *smiles*)

Went to my regular hair saloon and my mum & the hairstylist was bargaining on what to do with my hair, and before I knew it, she took out this mixture of chemical and started applying on my hair..... Yes, my mom still has control over my hair (even when I'm already 22 going on 23 for crying out loud!).... I had no say, so now my hair is cardboard straight again!

Went to Umai - Ya (I highly recommend this restaurant!) @ Damansara Mutiara for dinner - the six of us (Dad, Mum, Ah Ee, Yin, JC and myself). Dad had Ramen, Mum had Teppan Chicken Bento Set (it's good!), Ah Ee had Unajyu (an grilled unagi rice set - it's also good!), Yin had their Beef Sukiyaki (I absolutely love their sukiyaki, but I don't think Yin does), JC has a Grill Fish Bento Set (can't recall what type of fish that was, but it was good!) and I had Seafood Ramen (nice!). We also had two California rolls, baby octopus salad & salmon salad. Bill turned up to be RM 121 for the six of us (after a RM 80 discount)... So worth it!

Went for a short (my Mum's definition of short is 2.5 hours) grocery shopping @ Mutiara's Tesco.

Sunday morning, went to 1 Utama with Yin to get her stuff. Had Nando's (Yin's treat) & for fun, we got ourselves shades :)

Pics of us camwhoring with our sunnies to be uploaded soon! (if we ever do lah!) :)

Drop by our National Library to return some books and to loan a few new ones - my first read from this new batch of books is "To Kill A Mockingbird"

Dinner @ Wang Chew, SS2 (JC's treat) of pork knuckle, fish, steamed chicken, some veggies & their famous Indo taufu (this is really good!)...

Come Monday morning, I'm down with a flu (no thanks to running under the rain a couple of times during the week).... What a way to start the week! :(

.: Train Ride :.

KUALA LUMPUR: Setting aside protocol, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi took rides on the commuter and LRT rail services from Serdang to the city centre yesterday to get a feel of the transport problems faced by the public and came away less than satisfied.

Throughout the one-hour journey, during which he switched trains, the Prime Minister noted the congestion, especially during the peak period, and spoke to his fellow passengers to get feedback.

Speaking to Bernama after disembarking at the Masjid Jamek LRT station, he said he was not satisfied and wanted immediate improvements to be made.

He said the existing services were not systematic, there were not enough coaches and coverage was not comprehensive, leaving many areas not serviced.

“I just saw the plight of people using the trains to get to work every morning. They were jostling to get on board every time a train arrived. There appeared to be no system.

“I’m not happy with this because the people are not getting satisfaction from riding the trains. This we must fix,” he said.

“I found the trains really packed. Some had waited for three trains and yet could not board.

“There’s no queue. People push their way in, women with children and old people are pushed aside,” he added.

Abdullah, who was unaccompanied by officials from the two rail services, arrived at the Serdang Komuter KTM station at 8.15am but could not get on board the first train that arrived because it was packed.

He got on the next train that came 15 minutes later and headed for KL Sentral, the transport hub for the various rail services.

There he also had to wait a while to switch to the Putra LRT service to get to the Masjid Jamek station because, again, the first train to arrive was full.

On both the trains that he took, the prime minister, dressed in a red batik shirt with gold print, stood although passengers offered him their seats.

Upon arrival at the Masjid Jamek station at 9.15am, he chatted with members of the public and bought local cakes from the sellers there before leaving.

Abdullah said he would give attention to efforts to improve the quality of both rail services.

The Star, 22nd August 2008

I usually take the monorail from Maharajalela to Raja Chulan station every morning. It's true that the rail services in Malaysia is not up to standards, comparing to countries like Australia and even our neighbour - Singapore.

But as I embark this crowded coach every morning, I'm able to observe the very nature of us human - the good side and also the ugly side.

I've seen people pushing through without consideration of other people, I've seen those who cut queue ignoring the fact that others have waited in line, seen those who's not willing to give up their seat

But then again, I've seen people who offered their seats to the elderly or an expecting mum or mum with many kids. I've seen people leading a blind man out of the train. I've seen people helping others with their luggages. I've seen people with good manners - saying "sorry" and "thank you".

It's good to know that there are these good people with good manners left. And sometimes, I leave my train ride, walking to work, feeling really positive with that knowledge :)

Have a great weekend!~

.: Tony Parsons :.

I borrowed (or was it lend? I can never get this right!) two books from our National Library (yes, I went there for the 2nd time in my whole entire life!).....

After reading so much of Nicholas Sparks novels, I tought I'd just "take a break" and give some other authors a chance to entertain me with their pensmanship *cough*cough*

I started with One For My Baby and continued with Man And Boy thereafter....

It's ok, not too bad, but not as entertaining as Nicholas Sparks' (now I'm benchmarking ALL novels to Nic's), and because I read two of his novels back to back, some of his writings in one book are actual replicated in the other book. So the jokes are the same, the style of writing is same, etc (I guess it is never wise to read the same author's books back to back - but then again, this never happened in Nic's novels).

I remember I read Amy Tan's novels (The Joy Luck Club, The Bonesetter's Daughter, The Kitchen God's Wife) back to back and after a while - it tends to be a lil bit boring.....

Anyways, back to Tony's novel - it's not exactly your typical girl meets boy, falls in love and lived happily ever after....

It's more realistic if I may simply put it - messy divorces, affairs, deaths....

Too much "reality" dosage for someone who wishes to be a lil more idealistic if you ask me :)

.: Amusing :.

Sometimes it's the lil strangest things in life that amuses you... just like the mechanism of a conveyer-belt at a sushi bar....

On a separate note, met up with Xiao, Fei & Suk at Fei's place last night. It's been quite a while since we last met.....

On another separate note, my mini achievement - my Q4 Bursa Announcement! :)

---- Why, oh why am I so easily pleased?

.: What's Your Age Again? :.

I turned down TWO offers to go clubbing this month...

It's a sure sign of ageing I tell you....

*sigh*sigh*sigh*

.: Trust :.

For some reason, I'm feeling really demotivated today. Can't believe that some people think that they can manipulate me in such a way, but they could!

I feel like just going home and curl up in bed under my blanket, and wish I could see the world through the eyes of an innocent 5 year old, where everything and everyone is pure and true....

Who else can I trust? Who else can I rely on?

When we place too much trust or heavily rely on mankind, we will always be in for great dissapointments!

.: The Way You Look Tonight :.

- The Way You Look Tonight -

Some day, when I'm awfully low,
When the world is cold,
I will feel a glow just thinking of you
And the way you look tonight.

You're lovely, with your smile so warm
And your cheeks so soft,
There is nothing for me but to love you,
And the way you look tonight.

With each word your tenderness grows,
Tearing my fears apart
And that laugh that wrinkles your nose,
Touches my foolish heart.

Yes you're lovely, never, ever change
Keep that breathless charm.
Won't you please arrange it?
'Cause I love you
Just the way you look tonight.

With each word your tenderness grows,
Tearing my fears apart
And that laugh that wrinkles your nose,
Touches my foolish heart.

Yes you're lovely, never, ever change
Keep that breathless charm.
Won't you please arrange it?
'Cause I love you
Just the way you look tonight.
Just the way you look tonight.
Darling
Just the way you look tonight.

(My wedding song *wink*)

.: Life, Oh Life :.

I've been working late for the last two months, picking up the bits and pieces of what was left from the previous accountant of my job.

It's been difficult, learning the hard way, with no guidances, using the "trial and error" method. But I'm proud of myself, coz I will never imagine myself being able to do what I'm doing now. I was put in charge (on a temporary secondment) of doing the year end consolidations of GLM (a public listed company). On top of actually doing the consolidations, I've also got to deal with the fact that my figures will be audited (my work is under the scrutiny of the EY auditors).

I find it quite funny to be sitting on the other side of the fence, me being the client instead of the auditors. I try to be nice to most of them, but there are days where my patience ran out. Sometimes, I can only take this much of silly questions from them.

On the other hand, I'm also reporting to Singapore (GLL). I've gotten to know the consol team there well (there's almost like 7 of them, scrutinising my work as well). They are really a bunch of nice people. They know that I'm new, and really try to be helpful and patience with me.

Then of course, there's my internal reporting. I've just met with my new Group FC (whom I'm reporting directly to). He seems ok.

Sometimes, I wonder if God really puts in all these challanges in life just to show me that I'm really better that I think I'm. Of course, compared to a few others that I know, who are super capable in their work, I know I'm just an average Jane. But sometimes, I look down on myself and understate my true potential.

It's really great to know that God has brought me this far in life. Indeed, the glory is all His.

I've also been through a tough time in my study arrangement, which I was very frustrated since Monday. Hopefully that all of the problems encountered can be quickly resolved.

My relationship wise, I'm still coping with that. It's really not easy to have two person of very similiar, yet very different (but complimentary) personality to be with one another. But it's a learning process, and nobody has said that all learning processes are easy.

Overall, my life is progressing well, just sometimes feel that it can be better.

But I guess that's human nature, nothing is ever enough.......

.: Trapped :.

I feel so trapped....

.: You :.

To the jerk who's always hurting my friend,

You have no idea how lucky you are to have her by your side. She's been there for you through all your ups and downs since the first day you knew her. She had sacrifised so much for you, having given up all the opportunities for her to develop her full potentials. She has done all this for your sake, for your relationship's sake.

You have no idea how much tears she has shed, for you and because of you. It's been a constant battle for her to hold on with someone like you. If only you knew how her heart breaks when break your promises, or when you shout at her, or when you just don't care. I was there when she cried, when it should have been you. I held her hand and cried with her, when it should have been you. I promised and comforted her that it will be better tomorrow, when it should have been you. I watched her curled up in bed, falling asleep from the exhaustion of sobbing, when it should have been you.

You have no idea how much she loves you, even though you don't return that same feeling. You have no idea how much it hurts her to know that she's last in your priorities, when all the while she has fought for you to be first in hers.

You have absolutely no idea.

.: TES :.

I'm very upset at Sunway TES for what was unfairly done to us, especially to me....
Just think that some people shouldn't be so irresposible!~
Erks & frusrates me....