Corrinne May - Beautiful Seed

Source:
Corrinne May

I heard her new album while in Cream Bistro last Friday. And I silently told myself I must check Beautiful Seed out.

Unlike her Christmas album, I like the feel this CD gave me. Like it to the extent I think I will buy this album too.. but in that case, I might end up buying her Christmas just to make it complete? Haha I remember 2 years ago, when I bought her "Safe in a Crazy World", I bought her "Fly away" too partly for completeness and partly because I do love "Fly Away".

"Fly Away" is such a beautiful song on Mother's love that I fell in love with the singer from that moment...

That was the reason I gave for liking her. Weirdly till now I cannot remember who introduced her to me.. not a slightest memory.

Anyway I read through her views on her blog and felt curious towards the following songs:

2) Shelter
Her short description of this song did not appeal me at all. But when I heard the short intro of it, I like it immediately. It has her usual style, the style which I like.. especially when she sings "Call my name..." The vibe is there.

5) Beautiful Seed

I think people often forget how the smallest, most seemingly insignificant things can have such beautiful possibilities.

It reminds me of another quote I read in Jimmy's books. (Lately I'm deeply entranced in his books and his world of colourful characters...) In that story, it has been said that your dreams may seem small and insignificant but any dreams when fulfilled sincerely, makes an impact. I agree!

Oh and you should read why Corrinne May name her album and this song "Beautiful Seed". I agree totally too that we are all like a seed that will germinate into different things. Coincidentally my colleague was telling me about seed germination yesterday... about this pungent spring water will make the sprouts seed germinate faster than normal rate. Haha!

6) Leaving

Bad habits are hard to break. But sometimes, the best thing to do is to find a new way of doing things, to leave the things that are not good for us. This song is about making the decision to start anew, to do things right, to leave the bad situations behind.

If you know me, you will know I have an affinity to this word. Because I'm still searching for a way to break free myself.

7) Scars (Stronger For Life)
I remember the story of the "Perfect heart" fondly. This lady thought she is proud to have a perfect heart which was never broken before. Till she met this old lady with bits and pieces of different types of hearts merged to form a beating heart.

I admit over the years I too have my fair share of scars and broken pieces of heart. Times I feel so weary, so jaded. But maybe happiness will come after pain. It sounds like a wistful thinking though? Scars hurt even when healed, but scars strengthened me.. or does it? I wonder sometimes, am I a paradox. I have not written my Cosmopolitan post yet but I think is because I’m still waiting for an answer from a friend… I guess everything happens for a reason, including my lateness in posting the 2 entries (sounds like a pretty good reason heehee).

10) Slow Down
The starting is beautiful… And the topic reminds me of my attempted conversation with my mum this morning regarding work. I was telling my mum that we keep feeling that we do not earn enough and that we keep working. But how much do we want to earn. Unfortunately she did not get what I want to convey and emphasis on the debts we have. Debts.. I hate that word. It makes people keep working blindly. It makes the rich richer and the poor poorer. It is just a tool to make use of people who are ignorant of the repercussions. I guess I wish to live in an ideal world, a world with no debts, where work is pleasure, where people do not worry about making ends meet. Where is that world now?

And the fast pace society, this dog-eat-dog society makes us miss all the precious moments to sing a lullaby … or give gifts or watch the children grow. We just keep working…

11) Green-Eyed Monster

The term ‘Green-Eyed Monster’ is used to describe someone who is jealous about somebody else’s success.

Life is never fair? Are you happy? When you compare too much, will you be happy? I admit I may be quite competitive but I always believed it is to push me to greater heights. And at the end of the day, the real competitor is actually me. I might comment life is never fair. I might whine about why I don’t have someone to protect me from added work. But deep down I know it is a test assigned by GA. These are things I need to go through.

12) On My Way

I feel like giving up, and letting go… But I’m on my way… Don’t give up on me, I’m on my way.

‘On My Way’ is a song of hope and encouragement, that no matter how far the journey is, every little step that we take, brings us closer to our final destination, and as long as we keep on walking that journey, we will get where we need to be eventually.

Yeah I’m on my way too! I don’t know the path. I don’t know where I’m heading. But I know I will reach where I want to reach one day. They say if the more you walk and the happier you are, you must be on the right path. So I must feel happy!

14) Shelter (Cherry Blossom Edition)
I like this version too. Haha maybe it is because I like Chinese oldies too.

I will review it again when I have the CD (and the time). For now I shall just immersed myself in her website's melodies.

Moving

A few days ago, I read an article in Wo Bao about the author's moving house. He realised he had quite a lot of books in his old house which he kept but might not have read. He mentioned that most of the stuff we keep for rainy day when we thought they would be useful. Interestingly, for the entire span that we stored the stuff, the rain most probably never comes.

Reminded me of a piece of story written by Rene Liu. She had also talk about moving house, from a big old spacious house to some city area. When redevelopment occurs, moving is compulsory.

I cannot remember the day I move from kampung to a HDB flat. Or rather I cannot remember helping out in the moving process haha. I was afterall a very young child then. But I do remember the day I moved out of that HDB flat into another HDB flat just a few streets away. (Weirdly, now that I moved office, it is also just a few metres away.) And I remember how much stuff I had to packed, and pondered if I really should throw or bring over. I thought it was an interesting experience then, like a very serious spring cleaning to eliminate all your rubbish. Although I believed moving from a kampung to HDB would be a much more major project as you have accumulated more rubbish due to the large space you have.

However the experience of moving office is entirely different. I actually seen different type of people packing, throwing, pondering. And the longer you are in that office, the more stuff you have actually accumulated. Also the bigger the office space you have, you will also accumulate more stuff. Thus you can imagine how long it takes for my ____ (fill in the blank yourself) takes to pack the stuff.

Anyway I seen people who pack early and seen people who last minute started packing. The difference is for the last minute packer, you most probably will just dump everything into the box and bring over to the new office with the assumption that you will then look through them there and throw out what you don't want. The probability is you most probably will just leave those stuff in the box until the next time you need to move again. Then maybe the cycle will repeat itself again. In the end, you will never get to throw out what you no longer needs.

However if the cycle did not repeat itself, it is most probably because you have left the company. Then the person who either inherit your seat or your position will be tasked to clear these stuff at the next moving. Then there are 3 endings for these stuffs.
1. The person will say these are not my stuff and I do not wish to bother to look through them at all... of which all the useful and useless stuff will just be left behind.
2. The person made an effort to look through and throw away the irrelevant stuff.
3. The person just bring the whole box to the new site again. (In a sense the cycle repeated but is under a new person's reponsibility haha. Anyway that seldom happens because who wants to add extra stuff to their load.)

Then there are scenarios where people started giving stuff to other people. Suddenly the files you never see before came under your charge because you are supposed to be i/c of this system. I inherited quite a number of files due to a system I'm supporting. Haha I guess it is the time where everything lost might be found. And times where the files you inherited, you do not really wish to bring them over (then you will just silently eliminate their existence...)

Anyway it had been an interesting experience to move office. Seeing my colleagues pondering hard if the stuff should go into the rubbish or the box reminds me of all the stuff we always wanted to keep for the rainy days. And then there are the extremes which just throw everything away which may be considered wasteful behaviour. Different people displaying different attitudes towards packing...

Oh and the unpacking is another interesting sight. Some have tables full just after one day of unpacking. Others still have an empty table. And going around to see other people's desks is pretty fun haha.

Right now I am temporarily sitting in a cosy area with a pillar beside me. They say our office position is 背靠山，面朝海 though I can't see the ocean at all. I'm also not sure if I'm sitting here for long because my workstation is still not up when I left office yesterday. But one thing for sure, I think there are dust mites in my office because I'm suffering from mild rash!!! I even had a tiny patch of blue black on my palm.. weird...

Soul Asylum - Runaway Train

Call you up in the middle of the night
Like a firefly without a light
You were there like a slow torch burning
I was a key that could use a little turning

So tired that I couldn't even sleep
So many secrets I couldn't keep
Promised myself I wouldn't weep
One more promise I couldn't keep

It seems no one can help me now
I'm in too deep
There's no way out
This time I have really led myself astray

CHORUS
Runaway train never going back
Wrong way on a one way track
Seems like I should be getting somewhere
Somehow I'm neither here no there

Can you help me remember how to smile
Make it somehow all seem worthwhile
How on earth did I get so jaded
Life's mystery seems so faded

I can go where no one else can go
I know what no one else knows
Here I am just drownin' in the rain
With a ticket for a runaway train

Everything is cut and dry
Day and night, earth and sky
Somehow I just don't believe it

CHORUS

Bought a ticket for a runaway train
Like a madman laughin' at the rain
Little out of touch, little insane
Just easier than dealing with the pain

Runaway train never comin' back
Runaway train tearin' up the track
Runaway train burnin' in my veins
Runaway but it always seems the same

Bflygal's comments :

How on earth did I get so jaded
Life's mystery seems so faded

These 2 lines caught my attention.
I had wanted to post 2 blog yesterday and one was about the cosmopolitian life that is wearing me down... Times I feel so tired, I wonder what is life exactly...

So tired that I couldn't even sleep.

I was asked why I don't sleep. Actually I do.. Just that I keep waking up. Times when I'm so tired, I fall into dreamless states.. and when the state ends, I wake up. So I do sleep. I just don't dream ... often.

Guess I do want to board this runaway train... since I'm the typical runaway girl....

Where is your handphone manufactured in?

Source : Email
Authenticity : Unsure if it is true or not

Would like to know your mobile is original or not?!!

Type * # 06 #

After you enter the code you will see a new code contain 15 digits:

43 4 5 6 6 1 0 6 7 8 9 4 3 5

IF the digit number Seven & Eight is 02 or 20 that mean it was Assembly on Emirates which is very Bad quality :~ (

IF the digit number Seven & Eight is 08 or 80 that mean its manufactured in Germany which is not bad

IF the digit number Seven & Eight is 01 or 10 that mean its manufactured in Finland which is Good

IF the digit number Seven & Eight is 00 that mean its manufactured in France which is the best Mobile Quality .... :~)

A Scene at the Sea

A Scene at the Sea.
あの夏、いちばん静かな海.
Ano natsu, ichiban shizukana umi.
"That summer, the calmest ocean"

A 1991 Japanese film... A Takeshi Kitano's movie... not that I know who he is although his name is quite familiar. But all Japanese names seems familiar to me (the same goes for Korean too haha)

Actually the movie is very slow. Very quiet. Is another those type of Japanese movies which concentrate on the movie scenes, the scenery shots. There is not much dialogue because the male n female protagonists are both deaf.

The only thing to learn is the Never Say Die attitude portrayed in the male protagonist. (I recently watched Meet The Robinsons, and his motto is Keep Moving Forward... In fact he said that one must learn to let go of his past - which means to forget finding his mother, and to move forward and accomplish something which is fame to him.)

Simple movie. So simple, I couldn't figure out if my interpretation of the ending is correct or not. Because the ending was pretty abrupt and ... "shocking" in some sense considering the whole movie was very slow... so slow I actually almost fall asleep haha. Especially the way the camera zoom... the characters could have left a few seconds ago but the camera will still stay at the same scene... and maybe zoom.

Maybe this movie is made in 1991 thus it emits a very different feel. Very different from how movie is made now.

Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix

Source : IMDB

Initially I thought I will not be able to catch this movie. Because the movie screenings dated till 18th July before I left for Tokyo and I wondered when I’m back, will I be able to catch it. Then when I’m back, my friend could not make up her mind if she wants to watch with me or her sister haha. And friends told me that this movie is bad. In the end, we did catch the movie.

I have to say that this movie is darker than Goblet of Fire. Harry Potter ended up more depressed, more irritable, weirder than normal. In fact I think he will continue this attitude until The Deathly Hallows. The whole story has turned dark to the extent that sometimes you will cry aloud if the “Sky” has “Eyes” (I am watching 倚天屠龙记/Heaven Sword & Dragon Sabre so lately 感触良多)

Anyway I don’t think I will review the movie. Just want to record some quotes that I found amusing or meaningful. Warning, it may contain spoilers for both the movie (though most would have watched it in cinema and those who are waiting for the DVD will not mind already haha) and the 7th book – The Deathly Hallows (which I had speed read and will need to read it more properly when I have time, hopefully before school reopens).

Ron Weasley: [walks up to Hermione] Don't worry, I'll go easy on you.
Hermione Granger: [to Ron sarcastically] Oh, thank you Ronald!
>> They were supposed to practise stunning spells on each other and Ron tried to act clever when everybody knows Hermione is an expert in spells. However it surprises me that till TDH, she still did not master the patronus spell. Maybe that spell is conjured with happy thoughts thus it deals with the emotional aspect more than a spell aspect. Anyway as expected, Hermione is much faster than Ron and Ron ended up saying he was just giving way to her.

Harry Potter: [teaching the DA] Stunning is one of the most important spells in your arsenal. It's sort of a wizard's bread and butter really.
>> I did not know stunning spell is so important until it was mentioned again in TDH. Harry Potter had used a disarming charm on one of his opponent and had ended up disclosing his true identity (It’s a long story before that…. Read the book if you must know). The elders then scolded him because even if he is soft hearted, he should have at least used the stunning charm if he doesn’t want to kill them. No wonder in the whole book, the most commonly used spell is the stunning spell.

Luna Lovegood: [petting a Thestral's beak] They're called Thestrals, they're really not bad but people avoid them because they're...
Harry Potter: different...
>> When you see Thestral, you will feel quite sad for them actually. I can’t really remember the actual description in the book though.

Severus Snape: [watches a touching memory between Harry and Sirius] I may vomit.

Dolores Umbridge: [during an inspection] You applied first for the Defense Against the Dark Arts post, is that correct?
Severus Snape: Yes.
Dolores Umbridge: But you were unsuccessful?
Severus Snape: [with annoyance in voice] Obviously.

>> Snape can be quite cynical… and when he is cynical, it can be quite funny haha.

Harry Potter: This connection between me and Voldemort, what if the reason for it is that I'm becoming more like him. I just feel so angry, all the time. And what if after everything I've been through, something's gone wrong inside me. What if I'm becoming bad.
Sirius Black: I want you to listen to me very carefully Harry. You're not a bad person. You're a very good person, who bad things have happened to. You understand?
[Harry nods his head]
Sirius Black: Besides, the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters. We have all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the power we choose to act on. That's who we really are.
>> Sirius really made sense. Is like what the 三字经 mentioned人之初，性本善。Like Yang Guo, his father may be bad but he has a sense of justice. Because of the power he chose. (Haha I think I’m getting very cheena lately.. watch/play too much Jin Yong stories) Anyway throughout the whole storyline, Harry Potter kept struggling to be good/bad, to be selfish/unselfish. Especially in TDH when even Albus couldn’t match his range of unselfishness. In fact when I read Albus' past, I was astonished. As usual J.R. Rowling has a way to amaze the readers. The only sad part is I really hated the style she used in the ending. Too … clichéd I felt.

Harry Potter: How come you're not at the feast?
Luna Lovegood: Lost all my possessions. Apparently people have been hiding them.
Harry Potter: That's awful!
Luna Lovegood: Oh it's all good fun, but as it's the last night, I really do need them back.
Harry Potter: Do you want any help finding them?
Luna Lovegood: I'm sorry about your godfather, Harry.
[clasps his hand comfortingly]
Harry Potter: Are you sure you don't want any help looking?
Luna Lovegood: That's alright. Anyway my Mum always said, things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end
[looks up at a pair of sneakers hanging from the ceiling]
Luna Lovegood: ...if not always in the way we expect. I think I'll just go have some pudding.
>> Things we lose have a way to come back to us in the end. So can I have my card back? Sighz… lately I keep losing stuff / money for no apparent reason other than it is SOLELY my fault.

Seed Cultivation

An emperor in the Far East was growing old and knew it was time to choose his successor. Instead of choosing one of his assistants or his children, he decided something different. He called young people in the kingdom together one day. He said, "It is time for me to step down and choose the next emperor. I have decided to choose one of you." The kids were shocked!

But the emperor continued. "I am going to give each one of you a seed today. One very special seed. I want you to plant the seed, water it and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from this one seed. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next emperor!"

One boy named Ling was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly told his mother the story. She helped him get a pot and planting soil, and he planted the seed and watered it carefully.

Every day he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the other youths began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow.

Ling kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. Three weeks, 4 weeks, 5 weeks went by. Still nothing. By now, others were talking about their plants but Ling didn't have a plant, and he felt like a failure.

Six months went by--still nothing in Ling's pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Ling didn't say anything to his friends, however. He just kept waiting for his seed to grow.

A year finally went by and all the youths of the kingdom brought their plants to the emperor for inspection. Ling told his mother that he wasn't going to take an empty pot. But his mother told him to be honest about what happened. Ling felt sick to his stomach, but he knew his mother was right. He took his empty pot to the palace.

When Ling arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other youths. They were beautiful--in all shapes and sizes. Ling put his empty pot on the floor and many of the other kinds laughed at him. A few felt sorry for him and just said, "Hey nice try."

When the emperor arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted the young people. Ling just tried to hide in the back. "My, what great plants, trees and flowers you have grown," said the emperor. "Today, one of you will be appointed the next emperor!"

All of a sudden, the emperor spotted Ling at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered his guards to bring him to the front. Ling was terrified. "The emperor knows I'm a failure! Maybe he will have me killed!"

When Ling got to the front, the Emperor asked his name. "My name is Ling," he replied. All the kids were laughing and making fun of him. The emperor asked everyone to quiet down. He looked at Ling, and then announced to the crowd, "Behold your new emperor! His name is Ling!"

Ling couldn't believe it. Ling couldn't even grow his seed. How could he be the new emperor? Then the emperor said, "One year ago today, I gave everyone here a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds which would not grow. All of you, except Ling, have brought me trees and plants and flowers.

When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Ling was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new emperor!"

If you plant honesty, you will reap trust
If you plant goodness, you will reap friends
If you plant humility, you will reap greatness
If you plant perseverance, you will reap victory
If you plant consideration, you will reap harmony
If you plant hard work, you will reap success
If you plant forgiveness, you will reap reconciliation
If you plant openness, you will reap intimacy
If you plant patience, you will reap improvements
If you plant faith, you will reap miracles

But.......
If you plant dishonesty, you will reap distrust.
If you plant selfishness, you will reap loneliness
If you plant pride, you will reap destruction
If you plant envy, you will reap trouble
If you plant laziness, you will reap stagnation.
If you plant bitterness, you will reap isolation
If you plant greed, you will reap loss
If you plant gossip, you will reap enemies
If you plant worries, you will reap wrinkles
If you plant sin, you will reap guilt

So be careful what you plant now, it will determine what you will reap tomorrow. The seeds you now scatter, Will make life worse or better your life or the ones who will come after. Yes, someday, you will enjoy the fruits, or you will pay for the choices you plant today.

Opera Mini 4

I was searching for something when I chanced upon this browser. Opera, the first revolutionary browser I used ... in my secondary school days. Because it was simple and has tabs feature (if my memory did not fail me la...) Anyway I wonder why I ended up being a Firefox user.. guess Opera never really make it big.

But I do know my browser in my phone is Opera. That's why I read up on Opera Mini 4. The stimulator was pretty fun to play. And it make me rethink that I should try to make my blog a mobile-friendly format too. But I'm lazy haha.

With all the talk about web 2.0, web 3.0 and the introduction of 3.5G phones, I do wonder how much more advanced are we than before. When I first had my WAP phone, I never really surf much net because it just did not pick up. And when I change to a 3G phone, most websites are still pretty tough to surf. In fact, I went to read up an article on 3.5G phone and the feedback was it has fall short of most people's expectations in terms of the speed and maybe the delivery content.

Opera Mini Stimulator had displayed my multiply site in a RSS feed format too. But that is because I login. Then I tried to load my blogspot and interesting, the way it loaded was pretty intuitive, especially the text. The picture though was not really scaled.

I have downloaded the installer.. to try in my handphone later.

Microsoft - Tabletop

Source :
MSNBC
Popularmechanics

Last week when I read about Microsoft going into furniture, I was totally baffled. Why furniture? Why tabletop? I really couldn't understand the whole article.

Until I saw a video my colleague sent to me yesterday.. and I was totally swept off my feet (literally). Imagine a tabletop that is your monitor, pretty big right. And it is touch screen with no keyboard at all. The amazing thing is when I see them zoom in the photos. It is even more awesome than what I had seen in the movie "The Bone Collector". (haha I was watching this old movie in the weekend. And the technology was pretty advanced in the movie because the male protagonist is a quadriplegic and can only use a finger and his voice to activate all his controls. So his way of zooming pictures is by voice-activation.)

I had wanted to upload the video but it seems very large. Those interested could try the source links although I did not try to load the videos in these articles.

The only problem I foresee now is I might have a neck strain haha.

Pulasan

Yesterday a colleague brought some fruits. And one of them is this hairless Rambutan haha… Thanks to him, I actually attended a mini lesson on Rambutan. I never knew that “Rambut” means hair in Malay. And because of the hair, Rambutan got his name.

Anyway this hairless relative is called Pulasan. (Chinese called it something like Pu Tao San, sounds very much like Grape-San or something… and we thought maybe it will start with Grape haha).

And this wiki entry has some mis-facts.

1. Pulasan’s flesh sticks to the seed unlike Rambutan which if you are lucky to have bought good quality ones, will not have flesh sticking to the seed at all.
2. Pulasan is definitely not as juicy as Rambutan.

But maybe it is just different people’s opinions? I’m just glad I attended this mini lesson though. It was fun haha.