Escape

Everything seems to fade with each passing day
What seemed important than
What I thought that mattered most
Looking back
It seems so trivial now
Just so tried of it all
Petty squabbles
Screaming shouts
Misunderstood
Disillusioned by it all
Didn't seem to understand
Didn't want to bother anymore
Wanted to get awa... more>>

A Clothes Label Guide

I never really thought how difficult it would be to read the labels on clothes on how to wash them. It never occurred to me that discussions could be started on, and even debated about "How do you hand wash?" and "What does a cold hand wash mean?". Have we become too dependent on the use of the washing machine and technology?

Anyways, here's a pretty useful link about the labels on clothes and what they mean. http://www.textileaffairs.com/c-common.htm

Crazy Weather

The weather lately has become a little unpredictable... for the first couple of weeks it was all wet and rainy too. Than it was all hot and humid... before getting wet and cold... and now its sunny... lol

Funny things that happen in Helpdesk

Some of my friends who work in IT Helpdesk have told me some really interesting stories:

I've a friend who works in Helpdesk (handling all Hotline calls) and one day someone calls him to tell him that there's a burning smell coming out of the computer, insisting that he send an engineer down fast. In response he asked whether the engineer should also come equipped with a fire extinguisher...

Another one told me that her colleague who worked in the same place, was so stressed that when she was helping the user pinpoint the problem on the phone, she actually pointed to the monitor and went, "click on this, you see its right here! On your top left, see it's there! can you see it? ". All the while pointing to the screen and talking to the user over the phone as if the user was really there.

Amidst the Doughnut Craze

There seems to be a whole lot of doughnut shops springing up all over Singapore, it is unbelievable that now you can find at least one doughnut shop almost everywhere! First it was the bubble tea boom, then the coffee bread craze and now its doughnuts galore…. Maybe after a while the number of doughnut shops would recede; when the craze has died down.

Anyways, I happened to discover yet another fattening and equally delicious treat – chewy junior (a well… chewy sort of cream puff). It’s bigger than your average cream puff, has a nice chewy spring to it and it even has toppings – 13 of them. I haven’t really tried everything just the cheese ones and there are pretty good. Initially it took a while getting adjusted to such a cream puff, and considering that I have never liked cream puffs, its amazing that I like this one so I just thought I’d share. (^-^)

Interesting Email

Recently I received an email saying about some feedback given to a local driving school, it went like this:

Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for your email.

Please provide us with more information on your feedback so that we can better improve our services.

Thank you once again.

Warm regards,
Ms. Debbie XXXXX

I was puzzled, so I scrolled down further and was surprised that someone had left a rather badly written feedback:

Comments :The driving instructors sucks and most of them don't have the
heart and patience to teach. the costomer service officers are impolite
and inefficient. The school ask us to pay so much money for learning, we
are not make of GOLD!From Web Server: 1

Ok first things first, my grammar and spelling are not that bad and its been ages since I went to the website, let alone take up driving again. It's just one of those things that make life more interesting , I guess.

CJ7 the movie

CJ7 - The latest comedy from Stephen Chow, CJ7 is a fantasy tale featuring state of the art visual effects. A poor laborer father (Chow) and his young son’s lives are turned upside down when a fascinating and strange new pet enters their world. Amid the resulting comic mayhem, they ultimately learn a poignant lesson about the true nature of family and the things money can't buy.

At least that’s what the synopsis says. Today was the first time I watched a late night movie on the eve of Chinese New Year, and to say the least the movie was sorely disappointing; even “Underdog” was better than this. There was very little plot throughout the movie, and the transaction of character growth and change was simply non-existent.

There was no indicator of the bonding between the new pet and the humans, so it was hard to understand why the pet would go through so much trouble to please and save this father and son pair. The son was portrayed as this really good little boy, who was hardworking, considerate and understanding. And when he got the pet, he suddenly became more greedy and selfish overnight. Speaking about the pet, there was no clear explanation or indicator of its origin, how it got found after the boy practically threw it away in a moment of anger, and in the end what was up with a look-a-like pet running towards the boy together with a bunch of similar creatures in an array of colors? What poignant lesson did they learn and what were the things they realized couldn’t be bought with money? It also seems that they couldn't decide whether to make the pet organic or mechanical, or a combination of both.

Although there was comic mayhem throughout the movie, the part about the true nature of family and the things money cannot buy was almost close to nil. Even “Underdog” had a more satisfying plot and ending.

Monsoon Season

Monsoon season - that time of the year when the weather gets cold and wet. According to NEA it is now:

• North-East Monsoon Season - December to early March
• Northeast winds prevail, sometimes reaching 20 km/h. Cloudy conditions in December and January with frequent afternoon showers. Spells of widespread moderate to heavy rain might occur lasting from 1 to 3 days at a stretch. Relatively drier in February till early March. Also generally windy with wind speeds sometimes reaching 30 to 40 km/h in the months of January and February.
  

It can get as low (as it can get for an island near the equator) as 23°C to as high as 34°C; all within one day. I used to think that the rainy season was around October to December, but apparently I seem to have forgotten that it hasn't ended yet. >_<

My First Digital Camera: Canon Powershot A430

What are Megapixels?
A pixel is basically a dot on the screen (though that's what my lecturer in school told us not to write should there be a similar question, its not accurate but the easiest way to understand what a pixel is). Thus, an image comprises of many of these dots (pixels).

A megapixel comprises of 1 million pixels. It is a term used not only for the number of pixels in an image, but also used to express the number of image sensor elements in digital cameras or the number of display elements in digital displays. The more megapixels there are in an image, it will be more clearer and detailed.

Getting that First Camera
The Canon Powershot A430 is one of the basic cameras' out there I would recommend for beginners or novices alike. It's affordable and easy to maintain, using AA batteries to power up instead of having to charge before use. This can come in pretty handy, especially when you decide to take photos and realize that either you forgot to charge the battery, or the battery needed to be recharged after a period of non-usage. I've had mine for 2 years now, and... more >>

Christmas Tree 2007

Weird Food Combinations

You know how certain food combinations taste great together but sound totally weird? I haven’t tried anything drastic, but here’s a lists of foods which I’ve tried and tastes pretty good(to me at least):

• · Ice-cream(preferably vanilla) with piping hot fries (that’s a common one I think)

• · Mashed potatoes and coleslaw

• · Macdonald’s harsh browns and maple syrup

• · Sometimes adding ketchup to mashed potatoes

• · Or ketchup with fried rice

• · Eating cold vegetarian pizza out from the fridge

That's about it I guess, nothing that exciting. =)

Life's Equation

Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to them.

How true that is. After all if we had 80% or more events happening to us throughout our lifetimes' we would be pretty high-strung people. And we definitely would not be able to take the time to enjoy life. Whatever happens to us, good or bad, how we react to them determines the outcome of the situations. One bad choice can make even a good situation go awry, and a good choice might be able to turn a bad situation around.

What it all boils down to is our attitude towards life. How we see ourselves and the way in which we respond to the challenges thrown at us in life determines our growth as a person and; affecting our emotional, social and physical health. According to dictionary.com attitude is "a complex mental state involving beliefs and feelings and values and dispositions to act in certain ways". How can such a simple thing affect our lives? Well, in more ways then one. If we are happy doing something, at least it would get by faster and we don't feel miserable; we would be happy and face it being happy is better than feeling miserable. Isn't it?

On the other hand, if we do something we don't like that much, and simply have a bad attitude while doing it, it not only affects our mood but the people around us as well. If life was to be lived to the fullest, why not live life to the fullest happily no matter the situation instead of being pessimistic with a bad attitude and being miserable?

It's easy to feel miserable, but it’s more challenging to stay happy and remember all the good things that have happened to us. It doesn't have to be anything on a large scale in order to make us happy - perfect weather, good times spent with family and friends, having a job or even having shelter over our heads can allow us a reason to simply be happy. I'm sure if we think really; all the happy precious moments would emerge from our memories. Our brain has the funny innate ability to remember all the unfortunate things that have happened to us, it takes effort to remember the happy times in our moments of despair.

Sometimes it’s having a good attitude that can prevent us from spiraling into the abyss of depression. The more we obsess about our state of desperation, the more desperate we become. When we fall the faster we pick our selves up the quicker we can get to our destination: mopping around all does is not going to get us anywhere. It's not impossible to be or stay happy; it’s just difficult to maintain it.

Having a good attitude towards life is more than just conditioning our mind to think a certain way; it’s a way of life.

Between Education & Experience

It is common knowledge that education will get you somewhere in life, but there are times when it not always the case. Getting a good education is essential in getting that perfect job, but that is as far as it will get you; unless you are planning to work in a more specialized field such as engineering, law or medical. What makes you able to stay in the job or get an even better one is your experience which you have gained overtime. That degree is a ticket in which you are able to access better jobs with better prospects, as compared to those who do not hold that coveted piece of paper.

There are the majority who firmly believe that education is what matters more than experience, and there are the minority who think that experience is all they need. Education acts as a base from which we are able to propel ourselves into the working world, while experience enhances the package: making people with both education and experience more valuable then those with only one of the two.

As time goes by, the emphasis of what is important in education and getting that job has changed over the years. It used to be common that all you needed was to have graduated from high school to be able to work (Phase 1), than the emphasis shifted to having to have a Diploma or Certificate (Phase 2), and finally you have to get that Degree (Phase 3). It is good that we aim, or rather society, "forces" us to upgrade ourselves. But there is also a disadvantage. The shift from Phase 1 to Phase 2 aided in the retrenchment and downsizing processes of companies - putting people with experience but no qualified paper to proof otherwise, at a disadvantage. Companies would rather hire fresh graduates to replace these experienced ones. One of the rationale being that fresh graduated cost less, and usually those experienced staff would be unwilling to take a cut in their pay.

And now in the midst of Phase 2 and Phase 3, more and more fresh graduates are being hired based on their qualifications alone. Without the required experience it makes it difficult to get the job done at times, and it can be frustrating. I have heard of stories where fresh graduates did not do their job well because they were not instructed to do so. It is not always the case, but it does happen.

Thus, this has resulted in many people going back to school out of necessity, or just simply taking part-time courses to complement their working experience. It is unavoidable, that piece of paper is an important "accessory" in our lives, without it we would not be heading that far. However, it is difficult to find a job after graduation that pays well and does not require experience. As it is difficult to attain these two attributes concurrently, especially for those who have yet to figure out which path in life to take, ultimately, the ones who determine what matters the most is ourselves. Although factors like time and money do play a part in our decisions, there is no right or wrong. What matters is the choices we make, what we want out of life, the opportunities given and how best we make use of them. The most important thing is to look ahead and never regret your choices in this aspect.

Time is a wonder

Life has a funny way of throwing things at you when you least expect, and that is what makes life interesting. At first I thought I'd just continue studying for a degree and what not, but that did not happen in a way... I ended up working and then after 2 years I finally got to study, only for the school to close down after opening for less than half a year.

Disappointed? Most definitely not. Time has an amazing power to seem to change a person's perspective - from wanting to studying overseas to wanting to study locally, and than from studying full-time or part time.

There's no right or wrong, just what you want. No definite answer till you've tried it out... But one thing I do know, and that is I am in good hands. =)

A New Chapter

People have been asking me what do I want to do now - to study or work, full-time or part-time. The answer is simple I still want to study, but I doubt I'll be taking that offer to go over to Australia to study. Not because I don't want to to, its just that I don't feel like it. If I had no other alternatives, I would have taken up the offer. And since I do have a choice now, I want to go over because I want to not because it's some handout provided by the school due to the circumstances.

I guess it depends on how an individual sees it. There have been some who tell me that I should take up the offer, since its better than nothing and at least they're offering some money. Just a little topping up the amount would be alright, depending on your lifestyle when you get there. To them its an opportunity. It true when you go out of the country to study you'll learn to be more independent and gain a new living experience. Nothing wrong with that, its just that I don't feel the same way. For now, I like it here and have no intention of moving anywhere. There will be other opportunities later on if I do want to study overseas. That's how I see it anyways.

After all, the grass always seems greener on the other side of the fence. But in life sometimes looks can be deceiving and we won't really know the outcome until later on with life. So for now, I'll just stick with my decision to study here and we'll see a couple of years down the road how it all turns out. It's nice to have someone up there who looks out for me. It's times like these that I feel loved. =) lol I know that everything will turn out perfectly fine.