Feed yourself or Feed each other?

A holy man was having a conversation with God one day and said, 'God , I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like.'

God led the holy man to two doors..
He opened one of the doors and the holy man looked in.

In the middle of the room was a large round table. In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew, which smelled delicious and made the holy man's mouth water.

The 20 people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They appeared to be famished.

They were holding spoons with very long handles, that were strapped to their arms and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful.

But because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths.

The holy man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering.

God said, 'You have seen Hell.'

They went to the next room and opened the door. It was exactly the same as the first one.

There was the large round table with the large pot of stew which made the holy man's mouth water..

The people were equipped with the same long-handled spoons, but here the people were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking.

The holy man said, 'I don't understand..'
It is simple,' said God . 'It requires but one skill.

You see they have learned to feed each other, while the greedy think only of themselves.'

Bflygal's comments:
原来不是环境的不同，而是人群的品质不一样使得环境也变得不一样。

Anyway, I have another question, is this a sunrise or a sunset?

Is a question posed in Healing Hands. I finally went back to it after watching so many other shows esp the Trimming Success (because I so loved Nnadia Chan).
[Sidetrack on Trimming Success: It was really a simple show. But I cried a lot when Auntie Shuying died in an accident. And while they said she died while collecting her health report so it is not the hubby's fault - about his insistence to change the colour of the sweater; I felt that if we see it from another perspective, he is still at fault because she could have collected her health report earlier and thus avoided the accident. Sometimes life allow delays to allow you to avoid some events.. and sometimes life causes delays to let you meet some events. That's life. And Auntie Shuying reminds me so much of how hardworked my mum is.. ya I know I'm unfilial. In addition, Chun Chun simple mind is something I wish I have. But even for such a simple mind, she still feel very upset when Jason actually contemplated going back to Choco. No matter how giving you are, I guess love really is hard to just give it away. Also how apologetic Chun Chun felt towards her ex is something very heart-wrenching. But at least she still got a happy ending.. how many really will get it?]

It is said that sunset means pessimist while sunrise is optimist thinking. Fortunately or unfortunately to me, both sunset or sunrise is a welcoming prospect to me. Maybe I aspire to be 知足常乐 haha!

But then compare to this article, I'm really 小巫见大巫. 15 years of blessing, 15 years of determination, 15 years of appreciating that each day lived is a day given by God which you should give thanks to. 15 years = 180 months = 5475 days = 131400 hours = 7884000 minutes. Every minute is spent smiling and being strong. Most importantly every minute is spent being appreciative of what is given to you. I am speechless.

Oh one more quote on bitter gourd.

苦瓜，又称半世瓜。如果你以前不吃，当你现在开始习惯吃的时候，证明你已经过了半世。很多人刚开始不喜欢吃苦瓜，因为觉得它很苦。然而当你长大，发现其实人生比苦瓜还要苦很多倍，你就会发现，其实，苦瓜一点都不苦。
~ 《妙手仁心2》

When I was young, I hated bitter gourd too. I'm not sure is it because mum changed her style of cooking to include wolfberries (枸杞) make it less bitter or is it because I started to live my 2nd half of my life already thus I can finally understand the bitterness in bitter gourd is nothing compared to the bitterness in my heart. Maybe..

Healing Hands sometimes makes one feel how fragile life is. The solemn atmosphere really isn't too good for extremist like me. But I guess it is good for me now. At least it provides an outlet for my heart...

Night Festival 2009

Image source: SAM

Actually it was because after reading itchyfinger's visit to SAM's Wu Guanzhong Exhibition that I decided to go check out the Night Festival 2009 as SAM had open house that day. Unfortunately, I ended up not being able to visit any museum other than National Museum due to the rain. Luckily SAM has Friday free admission though, hopefully I will find a Friday to visit it before the exhibition ends.


I never knew that from Fort Canning Hill, I can walk into the National Musuem. And that there is a big red cherry behind the musuem haha.


Love Tank (The Temple) by S. Teddy D.

Tanks, synonymous with the landscape of war, are instrumental war machines in the propagation of western supremacy.
Pagoda, adorned with lotuses and often part of a temple compound, believed to be the padmasana, the seats of gods and goddesses who rule this world, is the shape of temples and a symbol for the levels of pure love in Eastern cultures.
This work expresses the interaction between the East and West cultures – an interaction which often ends in clashes. The adaptation of these cultures is symbolised through the visual language of seven tanks stacked on top of one another forming a tall structure resembling a Pagoda. The tanks are decorated or camouflaged with red lotuses and the juxtaposition transforms the killing machine into one that conveys love and peace to humankind.
Source: National Museum

Hmm a paradoxical artpiece.  Sadly, I don't really appreciate it as I felt another way of interpreting it is that it is trying to mask the war theme with love.  Well art is always subjective.


As I wanted to catch the fireworks, I cut short my tour around National Museum and rushed to Esplanade.  Actually I wanted to go to the bridge to catch the fireworks, but seeing the crowded bridge, I think it was a wiser choice to wait at the Esplanade.


Haha caught sight of the origami boats floating past the Marina Bay Sands that itchyfinger was talking about.  Her photos were clearer (but of course!) 


The first spurt of fireworks came exactly when the rain turned heavily.  It was as if the fireworks ignited the tap of rainwater to flow its maximum intensity. 


And I had to hide under this tree while trying to catch the fireworks.  Luckily my friend offered to shelter me.  Haha it was at this point that I noticed the crowd at the bridge had dispersed too leaving a few brave souls only.  I still have not figured out if the heavy rain is a friend or foe for me haha.  Whatever it is, I have indeed watched my first fireworks in the rain.


The Tree
By FARM (Singapore)

The Banyan Tree right next to the National Museum of Singapore is a grand old dame in its own right. It sits majestically on the Museum’s front lawn, seemingly holding fort to a place full of histories, stories and magic.
A contemporary reinterpretation of the Banyan Tree, The Tree is a reconstruction of a series of interlocking frames with lights that pulsate gently in the night. Hanging microphones simulating that of aerial roots will also detect environmental sounds and alter the lighting nature of The Tree – glowing intensely and dimming down with the rising and falling sound levels
Source: National Museum

It was fun to see children and adults stamping to make the tree light up.  I find it an interesting art-on-site.


The Beginning
By Sun Yu-li (Singapore)

The Beginning is a stainless steel sculpture with LED lights; the spiral form of which resembles a massive DNA model glowing in the night. Sun Yu-li adopts the approach ‘sculpture as a place’, in which the work incites the viewer to move or explore within its space.
Source: National Museum

Hmm while this looks nice with the musuem behind, I was unable to take a good shot of it with my friend posing.  Sigh felt so bad towards her.

And due to the heavy rain, I did not wait for the Loop of Fortune.  But I guess one can't have too much good things thus I shall just be satisfied with my fireworks in the rain.  Shall wait for my friends to share with me their Loop of Fortune photos...

Enroute to main office

How time flies, I am almost at the end phase of my project. No more bus rides! (ok kidding, I think still need to go back.) And can go gym again. QR says man are habitual creatures, guess so if the routine never change. And today with the routine back to main office, I had to visit the gym haha.

Anyway while on the way, I read this email on
男人要永远感谢在他20多岁的时候曾经陪在他身边的女人

Basically is just saying how great woman is as 20+ woman is at her glorious age but she stick to the 20+ man who is just starting out. Not that I agree with it totally. Though I thought of my jc best friend while reading it. It is such a pity that the guy only starts to panic and treasure when he lost it.

有人说男人其实是最专一的.
因为从20岁到80岁的男人都喜欢20岁左右年轻漂亮的女人.

A lame joke. And even lamer if it is true. But why I'm blogging this mail is because of the last phrase in the mail.
男人有时好比洋葱,要想看到洋葱的心就需要一层一层去剥。
但是女人在剥的过程会不断流泪剥到最后才知道，
原来洋葱是没有心的.

Traurig aussehend.

Macht nichts. Got other interesting emails e.g.

Sounds similar to this phrase: "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." - Matthew 7:12


Anyway it was a day of treats and I had fun esp during dinner. Was at Geylang NoSignboard eating all the expensive stuff haha. First time trying the geoduck. Then had a few dishes similar to what I had in Changi - Ubin First Stop a few days ago e.g. the bamboo clam and crayfish...

So full!

Stimator

$5,959,965


Check yours?

Was scanning through Rockfu for hacks when I saw this post on how much your website is worth. As quoted from the blogger:
www.geocities.jp ( 240,060,058 )
rapidshare.com ( 232,005,675 )
geocities.com ( 231,406,791 )
google.com ( 229,262,975 )
www.google.com ( 227,857,480 )
www.livejournal.com ( 226,694,124 )
www.yahoo.com ( 220,623,655 )
yahoo.com ( 219,082,998 )
Source: Rockfu

So out of curiosity I had to value mine even though it is not a true estimation because I'm afterall under a big umbrella - Google-Blogger. And indeed, as I went through its calculation of:
Calculating Domain influence value...
Calculating TLD success value...
Checking structural value..
Retrieving web rankings values...
Retrieving traffic volume value...
Retrieving social bookmarking value...
(I gave up trying to record all the steps because it was too fast i.e. I scored 0 value for those haha)

At first the value was dripping slowly then suddenly at "Retrieving traffic volume value", it zoomed up by a few millions and rack up my site with a value of US$5,959,965. Told you being under a big umbrella has some worth. One thing for sure, Google crawler will visit all its subsidiaries haha.

Let's see how my Grasstales value. US$5,959,736. Ok that is good news not because it rack up high but because I can safely assume all bloggersites will be around that value. Truth is, I rather this site be unknown haha.. and for my eyes only. (okok and for a few friends I value because sometimes I'm just too lazy to msn/email/write to them.. a post can tell them that my eyes/fingers/brain is still functioning.)

看破權勢離開明教,過著神仙般的生活

I just did 2 facebook quiz.
While one says I'm Optimus Prime,

The other says I'm 張無忌.  And this quiz makes me laugh...  especially "看破權勢離開明教,過著神仙般的生活"...

出生於冰火島，父親張翠山，母親殷素素，義父謝遜，十歲之前跟父母及義父在冰火島生活，後來隨父母回到中原，不幸中了玄冥神掌，連張三豐也束手無策，後來 張無忌巧遇一隻白猿從其肚中得到九陽真經，化解了玄冥神掌之陰毒也練成了九陽神功。在一次巧遇當中遇到小昭，在小昭的幫助之下練成乾坤大挪移破壁而出，並 幫明教解決六大門派圍攻光明頂之危，情急權變之下，眾人擁護他當上明教教主。張無忌身邊總是不乏美女相伴，如趙敏、周芷若等，張無忌對她們是又愛又恨。最 後因朱元璋等人謀反，張無忌看破權勢離開明教，跟趙敏過著神仙般的生活。

CL's guter Freund hat ein neues Leben. Ein neuer Anfang. In London.
Was ist mit mir? Was ist mit meiner Träume?

Thinking back, it has been several years since I first know that girl. I still remember the scene vividly. Several years later, though we never really meet, I still get to hear her news. In a way, as a long lost acquaintance, I'm so glad for her. Just as I'm glad for the other who has left for Japan. Seems that I know quite a few people uprooting themselves. I know I will never do that, but sometimes, just sometimes, I wish I could be reckless. Afterall Xun Lan also left Japan for a year to forget Da Di Ge.

Source: Dad's daily sunset scene in Africa. Blissful isn't it, to watch the sunset daily.

I don't wish to see the sunset of my life without fulfilling my dream. There should be something I need to ignite. Hmm.. maybe is sleep.. yawnz..

A short muse enroute to airport

While on the train, I decided to pen some thoughts.

CR said something last week that I felt is a constant reminder.
Boyfriends are not meant to be searched.
Maybe her friend's theory is indeed true. Our generation female ratio must have topple the male population which explain why we seem to see so many single females. Or is it birds of the same feather flock together. Whatever it is, what is important is the fact that your SO is not searched. Maybe he/she will stand out among the crowd but one should not be matching a list of quantities as search parameters right? Else I would definitely recommend google search engine and see if one can really find his/her SO.

My second thought is to say congrats for finding the happy start of your new life. With it, I guess I can let go of this last link. I still don't know if it rings true that no man is an island but I subconciously been losing that genre. Actually since young, I have always better with that genre but I believed I will adjust.

My last thought is on airport. I still firmly believe when I checked last night, it state T2. So I don't understand why I had to rush to T3 in the morning. Or that after hurrying the whole morning, I still have time to type this post. Seriously does the airport likes to make last minute switch? I don't think it is a good for people trying to welcome those arrive. Luckily the distance between T2 and T3 is just a mrt station length.

Hmm actually if hospital is a place where births and deaths meet, then airport is a place where hellos and goodbyes meet. And if illness is fair to rich and poor, so is waiting. Funny it took me 3 dramas to come up with such sentiments. Triump of skies, Healing hands and Green forest, my home. (Oops and all old dramas, seriously I'm Adagio.. And if CR sees this, she probably faint because I rattle all the tvb and tw dramas in english title. She almost fainted when I call the 7pm show as Glittering days haha.)

Ok saw my parents, with it the end of my simple life routine, simple food fare till I decide to ignite it again. Cleo once wrote an article on a 21 wishing to move out and stay on her own. I tried it while in uni but gave up after half a year. After that, this is my 3rd time home alone for the week. Think I probably improve each time haha. Till next time, adieu!

Simple Beauty

心很小的時候，世界就變得很小，
小的看不起一片美麗的樹葉。
心很亂的時候，路就變得很多，
我們都是這樣走失的.....
I once read this paragraph from an email before and pondered over its meaning. Sometimes human perception and reaction is entirely up to what one's mind decide upon.

A few weeks ago, my friend reminded of the plastic bag scene in American Beauty. Actually I never appreciated that movie even though I did watched it.

You want to see the most beautiful thing I've ever filmed?

It was one of those days
Where it's a minute away from snowing
There was this electricity in the air
You can almost hear it

And this bag was just ...
Dancing with me
Like a little kid begging me to play with it
... for fifteen minutes

That's the day I realized
There's this entire life behind things
And this incredibly benevolent Force
That wanted me to know
There's no reason to be afraid, ever

Video is a poor excuse, I know
But it helps me to remember

I need to remember

Sometimes there's so much ... beauty in the world
I feel like I can't take it ... and my heart
Is just going to ... cave in

American Beauty (1999)
Directed: Sam Mendes
Written: Alan Ball
Acted: Wes Bentley (his listener: Thora Birch)

Video source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDXjnW3nIWg

Seriously, can there be so much beauty in the world? I believe so. Because simplicity is the beauty. And the past one week, life has been simple for me. Work, read Angel and Demon, watch Healing Hand I and II, wash and iron clothes, and figuring out what to cook for myself to eat. It is interesting how all these activities when lump together, can make me think so much still. I still cannot figure out why even though I know Jackie will die in Season II, I kept watching. Just as I cannot understand that ever since she woke up, every scene I see with her, I fear it will be on her death. Healing Hand make me reflect how fragile life is, and how fair illness can be as it strike you whether you are rich or poor. I still can't understand about the short-lived conscious that Jackie managed to get after 2 years of coma. Maybe life is unpredictable. Angel & Demon on the other hand makes one question about man's faith and how strong your conviction is towards God and Science. Actually the angle it gives is confounding.

Oh btw, I finally tried to make my favourite tamago which made me very happy. This time, I tried more ways of cooking, from trying to make my egg and spinach soup (failed because the egg was not salty enough - must ask mummy about it) to mixing ham and baked beans as side dishes to my favourite cold soba noodle haha. Of course I'm happiest with my tamago dish even though it looked burnt haha. Maybe the next time I try to succeed in my french toast... and the egg soup. Simple pleasure, simple beauty!

Adagio is waiting...

「等待」，是成長過程中的一種養份，一種動力。「等待」，讓我們的生命既難忘又精采，不論我們曾為了「等待」是喜是悲是憂是樂。 人生的每一刻不是都在「等待」中豐富、偉大了起來，也因而讓人充滿希望，或讓人失望落淚卻又產生更大的勇氣與力量嗎？
Source: 小紅人的等待

Right after BOF, I immersed myself into Get Karl! Oh Soo Jung (칼잡이 오수정). A right mix of comedy, to make me happy. Funnily, even in such a comedy, it still got me thinking lots.

One of the most significant is the meaning of Happy Ending. She said that happy ending means the end of the happiness. Thus one should not wish for happy ending but for happy start. No wonder why I always doubted the so called happily ever after ending.

Shattered cup may not be able to hold water, but it can be used for other stuff. Maybe.. but it is shattered.. But life isn't perfect.. so there are bound to be cuts and broken pieces...

Then I took a break until I heard Charmaine singing 往事只能回味.


I ended watching the whole series, because I simply love musical. And because only through music can I fully immersed myself into temperaments. In fact, I wish I can be a musician, to be addicted to music. At least, a musician can vent his moods through this outlet.

That was something I learnt while watching Green Forest, My Home. Owen's musician cranky behaviour, his addiction to music, and his knight protection once again invoked my tears. I was trying to watch TVB's Man In Charge, but after 3 episodes I switched to Green Forest, My Home after reading the first line of its first episode synopsis. "每個人心中都不應該有牆壁。" Walled-up. I guess it is never good to be walled up.

Seriously when Owen says "爱情被拒绝,不是世界末日,真正的世界末日是不再渴望爱情", I don't know to agree or disagree with him. Sometimes seeing him call Sofie Adagio, really felt like kettle calling the pot black. But sometimes, 只要相信就會看見幸福綠光。It takes people like Sor Lan and Ga Eul to patiently wait for the guy. Not sure how many can do it especially when most people carry false beliefs of love. (invoked by Slice of Life article).

The conversation on mistakes is also an interesting highlight.
做錯了一件事,為了彌補而又再做錯一件,這才叫良心不安,難道你想再錯過等你的人或者事嗎?
但是為了還沒有發生的事情,而忽略了已經發生的事,我一樣會良心不安.
Should one not do anything to refrain from making more mistakes? Or should one be courageous to try to make amends. Hmm

Sigh, I have lots to say. But maybe I'm also Adagio, thus the moment to write my thoughts is lost. I can only say, seeing Owen reminds me of Jihoon once again. I wonder though if liking a sentimental guy who is willing to be the soulmate, the knight even though the princess will never like him back is a good thing or bad thing. Because seeing how fixated the knight is what attracted you to the knight. But if the knight ever decided to change his love interest, then you will lose the reason of attraction. In other words, you may like a knight but you probably can never be with the knight I guess.



One of my long time best friends finally re-surfaced recently, but she brought me news of a failed relationship. But sometimes, when being fixated does not help, the only next best thing you can do is to let go right? Sometimes, when faraway concern starts to fade and guardian angel task starts to become tiresome, one should not insist right? Compared to last year, this time my attitude is lackluster.. yet I'm still unable to wipe out that last image.. so I can only make a wish from faraway and hope for happiness...


Source: Youtube

P/s: I know why TW & KR shows can make me go ga-ga easily unlike HK series.. maybe I should try to avoid such shows...
Lastly, CL you lied.. I can't like Ethan either haha..

Website marketing

Visitors are an essential must if you host a site. After all a writer must have readers, a business must have customers, an idol must have fans.

So how do one get visitors? Through Search engines. Search engine has always been an interesting topic especially after how Google actually became famous for its search engine algorithm. However, till today, the way search engine works is still less optimized than how our brain searches for information. Thus it has always been an interest in the AI world to make search engine emulate how our human brain searches for information.

Of course the other angle is to adopt the search engine marketing strategy and tweak your sites to increase the visibility and hit list of the search engines.

This is called search engine optimisation (SEO). It is a process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a web site from search engines by editing the content and HTML coding to increase the relevance of specific keywords and removing any obstructions to the search engine indexes. There are also sites that do search engine optimizers (SEO). They are the experts who dispense professional advises on the best methods to adopt to get your site ranked in the search engine.

So what are some of the search engine marketing methods used?
- Choice of keywords: Use simple english words e.g. "heart" instead of "cardiac"
- Title, description of meta tags

But note, do not use keywords that are irrelevant to your webpage. This is called spamdexing or black hat SEO. If found out by the search engine, you may become black-listed.

Sundown Marathon

It is a 42.195km Marathon route which features four uniquely named sections:
1) String of Lights (22km) – This runs along Nicoll Drive, behind the Changi Airport runway and down towards East Coast Park
2) Heartland Twist (7km) – This features 3 overhead bridges linking East Coast Park with Bedok Town Park and Bedok
3) Waterfront Trail (6km) – This goes around the reservoir towards Pasir Ris
4) Home Run (7km) – This last stretch is where runners will face a 300m uphill battle before reaching the finishing line.

Interesting route? To tell you the truth, I did not read up about the route while I was practising. Thus on the day itself, I was quite surprised when I learnt of the route. Because my 2nd last practice run, I had tried Bedok Reservoir.. and my last practice, I tried Pasir Ris to Changi. The only problem was these 2 practice runs, my body had not went through 26km then. Thus the 2 practice runs were easily accomplished (actually not true, the Changi run I had to give up the last 1 km to the Changi market because I needed to rush back on time for guests that day).

So on the day itself, I continued to feel nervous. Cut my toenails to prevent inflicting any self-injury. Tried sleeping but couldn't really sleep. And the questions on whether I can finish, do I have the mindset, am I determined enough haunt me repeatedly. Probably why I blocked all the naysayer beforehand so that they will not add on to my anxiety. Personally I know a full marathon is tough, and to accomplish one without training isn't a good idea. But I felt that training is only required if you want a good time. I, on the other hand, may have wanted to complete by 5.5 hours but it wasn't a must.

Anyway the first half of the marathon was bearable. I guess it was only around the 26km that I truly start to feel deflated and started walking all the way from Kembangan MRT to Bedok Reservoir. But the walking did not stop, at the sandy track, even though it reminded me of the real run, I refused to jog because I felt it would take extra effort on my part.

I guess I was happier though when I caught my hometown in sight. And by the time I saw this sign

I was trying to trick my mind that I am doing my regular jogging in the morning (esp since I had reached it around 5am) and am trying to jog down to find my sunrise.

The only problem is I know this last leg well to know that I got a long D to cover... and by the time I hit the path to Changi, I'm back to the walking stage. The only times I tried to jog is when there is a slope down. Actually I told my friend I want to walk all the way back. But you know when someone tells you, you have 1 km left, somehow you really wish to end the agony faster. So I had to slow jog all the way back.. to obtained the following results:

Rank: 275/738
Bib No: 5954
Gun Time: 6:16:14.05
0-10km: 1:12:02.12
10km-20km: 1:35:50.95
20km-30km: 1:25:33.52
30km-42km: 2:02:47.46

Would I ever repeat this agony again? While at Bedok Reservoir, my friend had said if I ever want to do 84, please do not find him. Of which I replied if I ever suggested anything from 42 onwards, you should just kill me.

Yah, I think my limit is 26 only. One should know her limit at times too, because even if you force it, you will end up getting hurt right? I don't know... lately I got too much stuff that I am unable to figure out... Argh...