Ave Q-ed!

Picture taken from the Ave Q website [link]

Watched Ave Q with my wife, brothers, cousins and jx. Totally hilarious. Fantastic. And I totally enjoyed myself.

I have to draw a parallel to Jack Neo's movies. This musical struck a chord in my heart with songs like 'Purpose', 'For now' and 'The Money Song.' And of controversial issues and it gives a voice to issues that most people are uncomfortable in discussing. And in a very nice, humourous and *gasp* non-offensive manner. Peppered with punchlines and catchy songs, a sneak on (puppet) sex and puppet chatter, it was a fun-filled, entertaining performance.

If you feel bad about yourself or your life, go watch this show. It will make you feel better. And inspired. Which I did! :)

Somehow things are just falling in place. For the past couple of weeks I had been discussing about what I want to do, about choices and a little bit about the challenges that lies ahead. This musical just sort of sum it all up!

I quote part of the lyrics for the songs.

Purpose: "What's your purpose in life?"
The Money Song: "When you help others, you can't help but help yourself."
For now: "Life may be scary but it's only temporary. Everything in life is only for now."

"Fantasies Come True."

Choices

Sometimes, we can't prevent things from happening. However, we can choose how we react to them.

Imagine this. You just stepped out of the house and there comes a sudden downpour. You need a change of clothes but you are running late for your appointment. How? Well, obviously we cannot choose when it is going to rain or if you would be near a shelter when it does. BUT, we can choose how to react to it!

A. Curse everyone you can think of and lament how bad your luck is. Arrive at the appointment late, and feeling sore about the whole thing and thus probably spoiling your mood for the date.

B. Take it on the chin, run back home and change. And half thinking it might just be as well as you are wearing that horrible purple colour shirt. Arrive at the appointment and your date comments on your nice pink pullover that you changed into.

(OK, abit of exaggeration, but you get the point.)

We all make choices all the time. But not all of us are aware/ conscienciously deciding that we can choose how we react to events, to people, to everything that goes on around us.

"我没有钱。" - a very common statement. (more often now in the current financial climate)

But the next question that is, "What are you going to do about it?"

A. Suck thumb and decide that you are not born to be rich and get on with life.

B. Think of money-making ways. Set financial goals, and get a shot at being richer.

It's all about choices! Choose your destiny today!

Of Desires and Wants

I had since believe in the limitless powers our brain holds as long as we are able to condition it. What I mean by conditioning the brain is to instil in ourselves this strong desire of wanting to achieve a goal.

I was sharing with my little brother when I am sending him back to hall. Actually there are alot of things that we can achieve, if not excel in it. It really boils down to 1) how much we want it, 2) how much we enjoy doing it and of course 3) how can it sustain your (desired) quality of life.

Take for example, assembling a computer is actually not that difficult, to perfect it you will need to invest time and effort to do a proper job. It's just like learning how to trade in the stock market. It is a simple but not an easy thing to do. (if I may quote from one of Adam Khoo's seminar, in different context though).

Why simple? A trading account and a few clicks of the mouse and voila! you are trading!
The difficult part is to make the right decisions and have the right discipline to make the correct moves.

BUT if you put time and energy into reading, research and formulating, hey, it can be done! I agree not all of us can be full time investors, but having a couple of hundred of dollars in the pocket as a part-timer can be quite shiok. :)

I digressed.

Our brain is an amazing thing. Learn to harvest the potentials of it.

On a side note, gold looks like it is on a uptrend. Go Gold!

Festival of Lights

It's a ho ho holiday! OK, not quite christmas yet. Looking forward to finally getting some real rest. Might plan a party at the new place. Depends how it works out.

Went around looking for furniture. One thing I hate shopping for things for the new house is the discount periods are always soooooooo limited. Forces you to make decisions on the spot. Cheap vs Expensive, Real leather vs Man-made Leather, Real Wood vs Compressed Wood, 5yrs vs 3yrs, Easy Maintenance vs Polishing Needed, Designer vs Designer-Inspired. Wah kow. A man gotta do what a man gotta do. Decide. (and leave it to mum to bargain down the price)

Finally got the sofa set today. Really like it but took a looooong time to finally come to a decision. When you see it, you will know why.

This thought just flew in my head this morning. Traffic to my blog is sparse after I stopped my entries for quite a long period of time. But I know a couple of friends who drop by once in a while. Ha. It's just like trading gold. It went on a super bear run and now it's stabilising (RECOVER pls!!!). Shoke all the pretenders off and will reward those that stuck to it. Just like my blog readers. Real readers stay. hurhur. Ok, enough nonsense.

Short post today. Exciting times ahead. (domestically, that is.)

(Hoping for a) Gold Rush!

Fearless

[Image]

Ever wondered what it is to be fearless? Had a coincidental discussion with a couple of friends the other day and it just drew on me to note this down. The idea of 'fearless' had been flirting in and out of my mind for a few years now.

My first encounter with it was when I read a book about Michael Jordan. In the book, someone asked him, "What goes through your mind when you are taking the last shot of the game? Potentially a game-tying shot or a game-winning one?"

"I take it just like any other shot. Why think about missing the shot before you even took it?" came the answer(or something to that extent)

Back to the discussion. We were discussing on how 'fear' or rather thinking of 'fear' or 'the fear of failure' can really affect how we do things. Yes, having the fear of failure helps put realism in us and helps to steer us towards excellence as we strive to avoid failure. Well, sometimes only. The fear of failure sometimes grips us so tightly that we just crumple or worse, don't even give it a shot.

To give up without even trying, to some, is total failure. It's worse than "I tried, but failed."

Actually there's nothing wrong with trying.

Maybe this 'fear' thing became more apparent to me as I am making some important decisions of my life. My parents could see the worry in me. And I am grateful for their words of encouragement.

船到桥头自然直。

金玉良言 indeed. Taking each step at a time. I am going to be fearless in things that I do. As long as I prepared to the 'So what', if I fail.

"For as long as I am prepared."

Cocoa & Caffeine

Had chocolate buffet at fullerton hotel today. Boss was gian for it so we organised a get-together and (tried) to get the alumni along.

It went well... but Boss paid for the buffet. We were supposed to treat him. Heh.

The buffet was cool, but unless you are a chocolate addict, it might not be worth the 32++ that we paid for. Super rich contents, but the melted chocolate was good. One particular dessert I like was the white chocolate cream. Will try to emulate it when I have the time and creativity to do so. :)

Gonna miss this bunch of people. One aspect of the organisation that I will surely and truly miss. Oh well.... 天下无不散之筵席. We had fun while it lasted.

My friends are the bomb.

Now to think of a nice farewell gift for Boss.

Of Friends and Fantasy

Back from my hiatus. Had decided to get off my ass and do some writing. Reflections good for everyone (be it good, bad or ugly).

Attended Weiliang & Jac's wedding (coincidentally another my other good friend is also called Weiliang, but yah, not that one.)

Great settings, was glad that i was invited.

His friends were just A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. Shared table with Bas, Yves and Richard. Had the priviledge to know Bas prior to WL's big day. They flew in from all over (ok, nederlands and indon, but still...) and helped ran the show. I am not envy, but hey, I got my fair share of great friends too! :)

Over the past few weeks, I had been re-discovering myself. There is this part of me that really want to reach out and get to know people. But this shy-trait (yes, it exist) always held me back. Like I always wanted to shout out "Good Morning" to the cleaning auntie/uncle at the office, but only ever did it twice (ok... maybe 3 times) in my 2 years there. The newspaper auntie at Blk 420 also... and yes, friends of other friends who join us for dinner and stuff, friends of friends that i meet on the street... always regretting that i could have known that bugger better only AFTER leaving the scene. Crappy right. Haha. Not too much a socialite.

And yes, finally decided to make my nights more productive. Had been reading (and re-reading)books and doing stuff that i want to do. That is perhaps another story for another time. Enough of ramblings for today. Shall (try to) come back with more verbal diarrhoea.. .once i get in the mood to again.

And yes... I am watching Ave Q with my wife, my brothers (and gf) and my dear cousins. :)

picture from [sistic]

Solemnisation Ceremony

Long time since i last posted! I am now married. Our wonderful photographer did up a video for us.

Here it is. Enjoy!


ROM of Huan & Cheryl from Kasphotography on Vimeo.

His other works can be seen here.

Rest of the photos will be up once we get them. Uploaded some in my Facebook already. :)