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Bon Odori

2005-07-12T13:35:00.000+08:00

The O-Bon, a festival that has its roots in Japanese Buddhist tradition, dates back more than 500 years. Bon means "welcoming ancestors' souls, and holding a memorial service for their departed souls." It is a time for family reunion and gathering, when family members return to their ancestral homes to visit and to clean their ancestors' graves, much like the Qing Bing festival of the Chinese or the Mexican observance of El Dia de los Muertos. It is a holiday season that is characterised by dances (Bon Odori 盆踊り) and rituals to remember and honour their ancestors.

Bon is observed throughout Japan, but it is characterised by regional variations. For example, a Bon Odori in the Ogawa prefecture will be completely different from the one held in the Kanagawa prefecture.The festival is celebrated in July in the eastern part of Japan (Kanto) and August in the western part of Japan (Kansai). In Kanto, the festival begins on 13th July with the Welcoming of Obon and ends on the 16th July with the Farewell Obon.

The origin of the Bon is obscure, but it is often linked to Buddhist folklore. Legend tells of the story of Mokuren, a disciple of Buddha, who had a disturbing vision of his deceased mother wandering in the nether world of the hungry ghosts. Agitated by this vision, filial Moruken asked Buddha for help. Buddha advised him to offer meritorious deeds, for these would lead to the release of his mother's soul from the bonds of suffering. Moruken followed the Buddha's advice, and his mother's spirit was freed; her suffering was brought to an end. With his mother's release, Moruken danced with joy.

The Bon Odori or Bon Dance is like Moruken's dance of joy, a dance of gratitude and remembrance of the love and sacrifice of ancestors. The dance is usually held at night because the Japanese believe that this is when the spirit of their ancestors return. Traditional Japanese music, which should be happy and welcoming, is usually played. Dancers are usually clothed in traditional garb like the yukata or colourful kimono, and wear geta (traditional Japanese sandals) on their feet, in order to maintain the atmosphere and culture of this ancient tradition.

Ref:
Wikipedia
Japan-101 Information Resource
Bonodori.net

Courtesy of : http://japaneseclubsfi.blogspot.com/2005/07/bon-festival.html

Superfriendster

2005-05-13T12:12:00.000+08:00

hey guys check out what friendster is providing.. i'm just trying out their HTML links.. it works in my multiply.. but how about blogspot? well.. i'm going to test it. now..

Join me on Friendster!

Say NO to Annual Dinner

2005-04-20T21:14:00.000+08:00

Almost everyone in my university is very excited about this coming Friday. Busy preparing themselves to look their best that very night....Busy planning how to set their hair to look their best....Busy experimenting on makeups or searching for salon to do their makeup....Busy getting their nails cleaned and polished.....Busy wondering what others will be wearing....Busy trying on their final outfits and staring in front of the mirror. Can you guess what is the special occassion that has been keeping everyone so busy for the whole week? Yess.....it is time for another annual dinner and guess what...i am not going (though this is my final year)!! This is crazy, this Friday is the dateline to all my reports and assignments and where on earth can i find time to prepare myself for the annual dinner?? And why do they want to have it in the middle of the semester when we are suppose to be preparing for our exams?? When i was discussing about this with my friends this afternoon, they came out with this idea that, we should all go together in T-shirt and jeans and make ourself as visible and as noisy as possible. Haha....what a great idea. Sad to say that all my classmates wont be going either (by the way, there is only 7 of us in my course). However, whenever my friends (those who are going) asked for my opinion about their dressing, their hairstyle, and their shoes etc...i will somehow feel their excitement inside me. But again, i have to remind myself that i still need to work on my assginment tomorrow which need to be submitted on Friday.....and STOP wondering and dreaming. If only the annual dinner is after exam, you are sure to see me there :(.

Doubts

2005-04-19T18:23:00.000+08:00

Just had my presentation this afternoon. I did not have the time to prepare myself last night but luckily everything went smoothly. I am still struggling with my assginment which is suppose to be submitted this Friday. After this week, i will have two weeks break before my exam starts...which means i am only left with two weeks to prepare myself for four subjects. Sad to say out of the four subjects, only one of them is my favourite. Ask me if i regret taking Engineering course? Nah...too late to regret. Now i will just pray hard that i will be able to do well in my exams and graduate with Honours :). First class Honours?? Nah...dont think i am qualified. Maybe a second upper or lower :(. By the way, i am also not sure if i wanted a job in the Engineering field. Who knows i might be doing something which is totally out of my profession....and seriously, i dont mind. This is the first time i am so lost. I am the kind of person that always have a plan of what to do in the future....but not this time. I think moving from a student life to the working life is pretty scary and i cannot even imagine myself at work. What will my job be and how will i cope with it...i seriously dont know and cannot imagine. Maybe i am just thinking too much and maybe i was just frightened by the feedbacks i got from my friends who are currently working. See, told you not to complain about your work. See how serious i take your words. Anyway, i am an optimistic person and i know eventually i will make it through :). Yeah.....just think POSITIVE.

Dead Blog

2005-04-08T21:10:00.000+08:00

My blog has been dead ever since:

1. I spend about 12 hours a day working non-stop on my thesis, reports and assignments.
2. I realized i have a serious hair loss problem.
3. I go to my university like a zombie everyday.
4. I am in deep depression.
5. My life has been so miserable.
6. My dark circles are getting worse.

Even now, I do not have the mood to blog yet. So many unfinished tasks pending and i cannot decide when to start, which to start or even how to start doing them. This is the first time in my life i ever complain about being sick of studying. I am really dying for a long vacation. I can feel that my brain is slowly dying off cause i am too tired and sleepy.....anyway......back to work!!

P/s: Just drop by to inform that i am still alive :).

Men vs Women

2005-03-19T10:20:00.000+08:00

Wife : I want equal rights!!

Husband : You want to be a man?

Wife : Why cant we be like man? What you are able to do, i am also
able to do!!

Husband : Oh, so you mean you can change the light bulb yourself and fix the heater yourself?

Wife : Even if i cant, i can anytime call a technician for help. Else, what are they for?

Husband : But that does not make you a man. You are still seeking for a man's help.

Wife : So you think being a woman is easy? You think you can be one? Do you even know how to cook? (*She knows her husband cant*)

Husband : No problem...i will just hire a maid to cook for me or else i
can eat outside or at my mum's place.

Wife : See, you also need to seek for a woman's help. Your mum is a woman too!!

Husband : ....goes on and on and on...

Wife : .....goes on and on and on...

******************************************************
The fact is, the men are proud of who they are and so are the
women. Some men can cook better than any women. Some women
can fix a computer better than any men. As mentioned in my
previous post, if there is a strength, there must be a weakness. So,
some men may be good in cooking but have a hard time taking care
of his own kids. Similarly to the women. If we continue to argue about equal rights or who are better in this or that, then the debate will never end.

It is important if you can cook. It is important if you can be the
technician in your house. It is important if you can understand and
take care of your kids. It is also important if you can lead your family
members. And therefore, each and every skill plays an important role
at different occasions. Maybe that is why, man and woman goes in
pair....unless there is one man or woman who can do everything
himself or herself (which is something i doubt). So, what say you?

F3ar No mor3

2005-03-16T14:42:00.000+08:00

That day was on monday when i was talking to my lecturer who leaving the college to join RHB Securities Bhd. He have chats about interview, so happen that i ask some tips about how to go for interview, and i told him that what i can i do for the tension and nervous feeling. So he gave me this advice, " Go apply for 20 30 firms for interview, from there u will learn 2 overcome tension and nervous" , "by then after so many interview, u will know what the usually ask in an interview". When he said that suddenly the thought of failling strike through my head, What is that we have to fear of failling? Is right to be a failure... Failling will eventually bring success to one person, just like applying many job interview, u may fail initially but later ur experience on interview will grow and will bring fruit to u. Besides, he also said that " it's the same thing like looking for relationship, first few time u might fail." , "u try go after 20 30 girls.. the outcome would be 5%.. out of the 95% u fail but u will learn" When he said that, i began to smile widely.. what he said is quite true.. There is no need to fear to fail, (Please dun simply fail ur exam bcos that will cost u money) i mean certain things we need to risk it.. but of course not for exams.. failling is not shame.. is just that we r not capable initially.. but later it will due us good.

So there is no need to fear of failing. To tell u, i'm afraid to fail.. but now to think of it.. there is no need to fear after all.. just do ur best.. that's all.. the rest is up to the world to decide.

Happy Birthday to Mr.Kiasu

2005-03-15T20:59:00.000+08:00

Happy Birthday to you...
Happy Birtday to you...
Happy Birtday to Mr.Kiasu...
Happy Birthday to you...

Here is a card dedicated especially for you....May all your FISHES come true!!!

Trust or Not Trust?

2005-03-10T18:27:00.000+08:00

I got this inspiration while reading KennySia's site today. I used to read the book, "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus", cause at that time, everyone in my school seems to be reading it. Sometimes, it was pretty silly that we need to refer to a book to learn more about how 'people' think when we are actually dealing with them everyday. Though I do not entirely agree with the content of that book, but some part are really true.

To me, as usual, books always tell us the theories, the basics, and the fundamental of how things works. However, the result to a problem normally turned out to be much more complex and different in reality as compared to the theories. And those 'SOS in relationship' books normally reflects the experiences and the mindsets of the authors in which we may sometimes disagree with them because we also have our own experiences and mindsets. Past experiences are always easier to be explained and analyzed compared to current affairs.

When we are in doubts, we will always start to question, "What can i do to get his attention?" or "Do you think she loves me?"....and etc. If you look into any of those books for an answer, (e.g "10 signs to know is she loves you" or "5 steps to melt his heart in 7 days"), and if you are lucky, congrates...it works, else, it is either you need to twist and turn the formulas around before applying it or he/she is someone unique who havent been studied yet (meaning no such formula yet)!!

The point is, it is always easy for us to tell a person what to do because the person who bears the consequences is not us. I wonder how many of you actually reach out for books to guide your decisions when it comes to love? Would you rather trust a book over your own judgments?

Life

2005-03-07T17:46:00.000+08:00

I saw some kids playing hide-n-seek few days back and that reminds me of my childhood. I remembered when i was younger, i used to have so much 'fun' time. I went to school and then play during the recess time. Then i came home, finish my homework and continue playing with my sister. After that, i took a nap, then wake up and continue playing with my neighbors. I was always looking forward for 6 o'clock, cause that was the time i was allowed to the playground to continue playing with other neighbors. After an hour, my mum would call me back for dinner. After dinner, i will continue reading my favorite bedtime stories. Life was so beautiful :).

When we were young, we have so much time to waste. When we are older now, we wanted more time. We barely have time to do what we like to do anymore, dont even talk about going to the toilet. Everyday, it is about school, work, assignments, reports, projects, thesis. I believe after we graduate, the priority will be our manager, our boss, the money, the customers, the problems, the solutions and finally the headache!!

Most people would say, "What to do, this is life". I would say, "If this is life, then what is the purpose of life?" First we study, then we work, then we marry and continue to work, then we feed our children, then we send them to school, to college, and to university, then we retire and they take care of us (or maybe not) and finally we say goodbye. Okay, now you tell me what is the purpose of life from what we did everyday?

I believe i am not the only one feeling this way. And I also believe with what we have today, we are always not satisfied. Humans are greedy. When we are poor, we want more money. When we are rich, we want even more money. When we are happy, we hope everyday would be the same. When we gamble and loose money, we continue to gamble to loose more money...haha...*okay this last one is out*.

A friend of mine told me, the God is not bias. If you look around you, everything seems to be in balance. Take for example, if you are short and ugly, then you are smart. If you are tall and handsome, then you are not as smart. If you are poor, then you are a happier person. If you are rich, you might be lonely. Are these true? You tell me...

Disney at Home???

2005-03-05T20:21:00.000+08:00

Not really happy today. I always tend to be in my worst mood whenever i start to write my thesis. So beware!!! While i am typing and typing none stop for twenty four seven here, my brother and his girlfriend has gone to watch the "Disney on Ice" in Bukit Jalil. Not really sure what is it about...guess there will be shows on Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella and other disney characters. I didn't even know that the 'Disney' was here cause i have not been watching the TV for ages. *:(* I was just wondering how can there be ice in Bukit Jalil with such a hot weather like this nowadays :P? Well....i used to love Disney when i was young, and remember watching the same cartoon for about 20 times, over and over again..and still i didn't get bored.

I am not sure if the kids today still watch those disney cartoons we used to watch when we were young? Few months ago, i remembered watching some terrible cartoons shown on TV on Saturday morning and i just dislike it so much. Maybe the kids are different today and maybe they even watch the "Happy Three Friends" online. And maybe that is why the world has become so violent today.

Well..i am afraid i have to stop here and continue with my report now. By the way, i will be reviewing on the "Disney on Ice" at Bukit Jalil in a couple of days after i steal some pictures from my brother's camera. Haha..:D

Japan

2005-03-04T15:50:00.000+08:00

Aih....as usual, i am still rushing for this and that and the dateline for this and that are getting closer and closer. However, i have finally decided to give myself a break (at least for 2 hours) every Friday just to BLOG!! Haha...i really cannot resist blogging anymore especially when i see so many people updating their blogs daily and especially my long lost friend, Justin Devakumar, has finally re-appear to blog again. As i was reading Justin's blog, he gave me an inspiration on what to write today. So, today, i would like to talk about my dream place...Japan...Hurray!!!

So, why Japan? Why not Paris? Why not Hawaii?? Well...i do love those places too...but the very first place that i would like to go is Japan. I dont really know why i love to go there so much either. Maybe it is because of my love towards their food, their technologies, their culture and their people...well, actually i dont really know any of the Japanese, but i do love to watch Japanese movies and dramas. I like their respecful behaviors that we can hardly find it here in Malaysia. Not really sure if they practice those respecful behaviors in reality but i would really like to see and experience it myself....

By the way, i do have some lovely pictures taken in Japan to show here. I manage to steal some pictures from my sister's camera. Unfortunately, i couldn't find the pictures she took at the Disneyland in Japan and i guess she has deleted them. So, too bad..i couldn't post them here (by the way, that place is really beautiful). Hopefully, she doesn't find out that i actually post her pictures here. Let's see what i manage to steal from her camera...

First of all, i need to let you know that i dont really know what are the names of the places in the pictures because even my sister has forgotten those names herself. So...i am not able to provide you with any further information about those places. Sorry about that. Oh yeah, by the way, her trip was to Tokyo.

So, obviously, the two pictures shown above are taken in the city of Tokyo....nothing special....but i still like it :)

This is a night view of the city...looks like the night view in KL, isn't it??

This is one of my favourite....i just love greenery ::))

I call this the mosque in Japan....

*The girl in this picture is my sister's friend. Hopefully she didn't see this*

Beautiful walkway...Pay attention at the rooftop above..seems like a shelter to me...

So...now tell me what is this? Forgotten to ask my sister...

Finally, my sister appear...there she is in brown.

Pray pray pray...

*Praying*

~I wish to go there one day. The sooner, the better. I am dying to eat the fresh sashimi there...Not that i have not eaten it before..but i do believe that it taste different there. Will you make my wish come true??~

I wonder why does my sister choose to go to Japan. She never like Japanese food and she hates sushi!! She even hates seaweed. She did complain that she hate the food there, and she said next time she must bring more cup noodles over. What a watse...I should have been there instead of her :(. Nevermind....i will wait...and i believe i will be there one day ::)).

The end.

I am back!!!

2005-02-28T17:25:00.000+08:00

It has been a almost two weeks since i last posted something. If i tell you i am busy, you might think that it must be an excuse for not posting. Actually, i am still under stress now. Suddenly i dont know what is the meaning of life anymore. Everyday has been the same for me. Early in the morning (about 7am) i will leave for lecture until late evening. Then, come home and start my 'Matlab' and keep myself working on my project until almost 12am...then sleep. I have been doing this repeatedly for the whole semester now. If i dont get my program to work, i will be so depress that i couldn't sleep at night....then i will end up like a zombie in my lecture class the next day. I even feel that having my dinner is a waste of time...cause i dont have much time to waste.

So, what about my weekends? Since every week day has been the same for me, no doubt that i have repetitive weekends too. I normally wake up at 8.30am on weekends and the very first thing i will do is to check my mail. Then i will drop by Petaling Street to view if there is any interesting posts to read and will spend about one hour reading those post and scrolling through some other blog sites too. Everytime, i see so many updates everywhere, i feel like posting something too but i just couldn't let myself start (else i will be too excited that i will spend more than the time i allow myself for a break). Above is a picture of myself having a short break in Star Bucks. I will go there occasionally to relax but not for too long either. Sad life, huh?

So after giving myself an hour break early in the morning, i will work on my project as usual. I will only spend half a day doing my project, then shift to do some e-learning (was newly introduced in one my subject this semester...which means more work!!). Anyway, most of my lecture notes this semester are online notes, so i will basically spend twenty four seven in front of my PC everyday. Guess, schooling will be difficult today if you are without a PC and broadband is a must!!!

Today was a bit different cause i am totally out of schedule for what i have planned to do, due to some unforeseen circumstances =( . So i have decided to give myself a long break and finally...i realized it is time for me to post again =). So here i am posting again. Maybe this may seem to be the most boring post you ever read....but i am glad i finally get to let out my dissatisfaction here. However, i still need to bear with this kind of life for another 7 weeks then i will be as free as a bird!!! Dont think i will be looking for a job so soon as i really need a long break (just feel like going for a holiday somewhere).

So, that's all i have to say here..until i post again.....not sure when....but hopefully i will find some time to do so. Else, if i dont post, just pray for me and hope that i dont collapse and end up in the hospital again!!!

Himalaya Singh

2005-02-08T14:14:00.000+08:00

Yesterday, i went for a movie with my friends in Mid Valley and we ended up watching another horrible movie....Himalaya Singh. I am not gonna do a movie review here cause i have very little to say about that movie. In short, I didn't like the movie at all and i think it is a waste of time and money to watch such a movie. Even worse, we actually ended up paying RM11 per person for the movie because it was claimed to be a Chinese New Year movie, which i think is ridiculous cause in my opinion, the movie is not worth that amount of money we paid.

So this is what happen to most of the Hong Kong movies today. I guess they are running out of ideas and ended up with an extreme low quality movies and we can hardly find any good movies anymore. Probably it is the trend today that people prefer crazy movies that could make them laugh and that is why most directors are coming up with movies like that. Okay, ...i would definitely enjoy a movie which could really make me laugh out of my stomach but not movies that makes me feel so 'stupid' after watching it. Unfortunately, i have to say that most of the Hong Kong movies are 'crazy+stupid' today.

I realized that good movies normally takes a longer period of time to be filmed compared to 'stupid' movies. Most 'stupid' movies are low cost and does not have a proper scripts, which explained why the resulting movies are so low quality. If you ask me, i can hardly name any new movies that i like and would like to recommend to any of you...not even to mention the Kung Fu Hustle. Though Kung Fu Hustle was filmed for 3 years, i still dont find the movie any appealing or interesting to me. I did not enjoy at all while watching the movie and i barely laugh throughout the movie.

Many years back, I was always satisfied with most of the movies i watched and i would always look forward to go to the cinema. However, those days are gone and now i would think twice before i step into the cinema. I swear i will never go to the cinema before doing a survey on the movie i wanted to watch there in order not to disappoint myself ever again. Too bad and so sad that there isn't any good chinese movies to watch anymore =( ......

Family Bond

2005-02-06T01:25:00.000+08:00

Chinese New Year is approaching and everyone is busy cleaning up their houses, shopping for new clothings, baking cookies and cakes at home, withdrawing new notes from the bank to give as angpau, and planning for trips around the world. Every year has been the same for me and so is this year where I will spend my whole week just visiting around. For the first few days of New Year, I will be visiting my relatives in Seremban, which always turn out to be the most boring journey. I don't mean that my relatives are boring people but probably it is due our age gap. They are either too old or too young and somehow we just have a communication breakdown somewhere. We barely speak 5 sentences to one another and those 5 sentences are normally the Q&A for example:

What do you want to drink?
Do you want to eat "this"?
Don't be shy and take what you want to eat.
Do you want to watch the TV?
Hold on, the dinner will be ready soon.

Basically, all I ever do in my relative's place is to eat and watch the TV (...tell me if you are also one of them). However, one thing I like about going there is that they can cook very well and I enjoy myself very much during the lunch and dinner. So, it is obvious that I can hardly stay close to them and I wonder what will happen to us in the future or to our next generation. I could somehow foresee that we will be a total stranger to one another and I will totally lose contact with them one day. I guess this is the problem of meeting one another only once a year. Some friends told me that they don't have such problems because they do go back to their hometown every week. However, this is the problem with most of us today where we are so attached to our busy life and just couldn't find time to spend with other family members except during the New Year break. So, who do we blame for that? Do we blame our self for being too busy and blame our boss for giving us too much work? Do we blame our relatives for living so faraway from our home?

P/s: Click here to view a New Year card dedicated to all of you. Despite what I wrote above, may all of you have a wonderful Chinese New Year.

Memorable Moment

2005-02-05T01:42:00.000+08:00

I just came back after hanging out with my old friends at 'Asia Cafe', a place near my home. Some of them I haven't met for a month and some I haven't met for a year. Overall I could say that our friendship bond is still as strong as before as we still keep in touch with one another and the longest period we didn't meet is only for a year (this is also because they are studying abroad). I wanted to write down this memorable moment we had together tonight and hopefully we will always stay the same we are today, tomorrow and forever.

I was actually the latest to arrive because I was following up a drama at home that ended at 9.30pm and I was supposed to meet my friends at that time too. After I arrived and got seated, I started a conversation with this friend of mine that I haven't met for a year. During our conversation, I realize that I have missed out so much about his life but he has managed to get me update with everything that I ever needed to know. After that, I took turn to talk to some other friends and the more update I got from them. Then I began to realize that if I were to say, "No, I am sorry. I can't make it tonight cause I have to study" again and didn't turn up tonight, I will slowly drift away from my friends and in the end, I will not know anything about them anymore.

As mentioned in my previous post, I have been very busy ever since these few years and I guess I have kind of neglected them ever since. So I am glad I make it up to them this time and surprisingly I can still fit in very well with all of them. If you ask me, I would say that they are my closest and 'bestest' friends I ever had and I doubt I can meet anyone like them anywhere. Not many of us can find a group of really TRUE friends, and again, I mean a GROUP. It is already so difficult to keep a few people together and how about such a big group, which consists of about fifteen of us. To me, my friends are the purest gift from God, for it is a love that has no exchange of payment. Even if you think you found one of those true friends that I have mentioned, you should be thankful and glad cause not many people can find a true friend (at least i have known a person who does not have one). Therefore I am proud to say that I am more than glad =D.

Happy & Scared

2005-02-04T01:52:00.000+08:00

I have been really busy lately and I guess I have always been so busy ever since I started my university life. I couldn't remember the last time I went for a holiday and haven't been for one for the past three years. I couldn't believe that I have been working straight, non-stop in these three years. I work twenty four seven and still think that the time is insufficient. Call me workaholic, call me geek, call me nerd, call me kiasu, the fact is I just can't help it due to the workload I had. I can barely breathe anymore if I don't graduate soon. In addition, I think I will loose all my friends too very soon cause I hardly spend any time with them. This will be my last semester before I graduate and I am really looking forward to it. Well, actually I don't mind studying (since there is nothing better to do) if only I have a longer semester and don't have to rush through my studies every semester. Just imagine you have tons of projects and assignments to do just in 10 weeks time (not including time spent to study for exams). I am so glad that all these will come to an end this coming June.

Though I am really happy and looking forward to leave my student life behind, at the same time, I am afraid and I feel scared when people started to question me about what I want to do after I graduate. Hhmmmm....I haven't really thought about it and have no plan at all about my future. However, one thing that I will not do for sure is to go back to the manufacturing world (unless I have no choice). I have had a terrible experience when I was doing an industrial training in one of the electronic company in Penang (not gonna mention the company's name here). As an engineer in Malaysia, if we exclude the manufacturing field from our job list, it actually means 50% of our job opportunity are gone.

How I wish I have not taken engineering and I didn't know why I did it in the first place. I guess most of the students are feeling the same way too. Sometimes we are just so pressured by "don't know what" and simply pick a course for not knowing if we like it or not (I guess we can hardly tell at such early stage). We tend to choose what to do base on our "so-called" interest, job opportunity in the market, our parent's decision, our financial support, by following our siblings or friends' footstep or just flip a coin and simply choose one. Even if we make our decision very carefully based on our interest, somehow along the way, some of us might realize that we don't quite like what we have chosen to do (how can we tell if we like that something if we don't know much about it?). Therefore those of us will most likely end up studying something we don't like and end up doing something we don't like too (because that is what we are qualified to do). I am probably one of those people and feel really hopeless about my future job. Really hope I could do something I like. Does anyone hire a surf-web engineer?

What girls want?

2005-01-28T06:11:00.000+08:00

Once upon a time, a beautiful girl named Cinderella, who lives in such
perfect world, met a prince charming and got married and they live
happily ever after. Every girl would dream of such a romantic
relationship we all know never exists in reality. The most common
questions we would ask our friends regarding relationships are, "So,
what kind of guy do you like?", "What do you see in a guy?", "What
kind of guy will ever melt your heart?"....and the most common answer
will be, "Errmmm...I like guys who are handsome, polite, faithful,
smart, loyal, generous, kind, understanding, with sense of humour,
and blah blah blah". Well...if you ask me, I would personally say that
actually those are the criteria that only apply at the beginning stage of
a relationship. Sad but true, we wanted more...

1. He must be potentially successful.
2. He must be in the same status or higher.
3. He must have plan for the future.
4. He must be a determine person.
5. He must have a strong mindset.
6. He must earn more than us.

Well....okay...forgive me for those of you (the GIRLS) who strictly
disagree with me but I must admit that I also once used to have
such conservative thoughts. But the fact is that, I just couldn't deny
it that I am actually expecting for more. Call us greedy. Call us
selfish. Call us inconsiderate. The fact is, girls are different today.
On the other hand, I would say that most of the guys will also not
prefer a partner who is more successful or has a higher status due
than them to their "ego". Before you guys deny the fact, first, ask
yourself, "How would you feel if your partner is earning more than
you do?" or "How would you feel if you are jobless and hopeless
compare to your partner who is a very successful person?" All these
has nothing to do with the mindset of a person and no matter how
open-minded you guys are, I am sure the ego inside you will disagree
with your mindset. Therefore, we, the girls, are the same too. It was
as if our mind has been preprogrammed to search for someone who
is successful so that he will be able to lead us, guide us and take care
of us. Time to show off your talents and potentials guys!!!

How We Learn

2005-01-27T07:52:00.000+08:00

During my supervision yesterday, my supervisor asked, "How do
human learn?" Hhhmmm...I thought about it for sometime but I
never knew the exact answer. So let me forward this question to
all of you? What do you think? Before I let you know the answer,
let me first give you some hints. Ask yourself a few questions as
stated below:

How do you know if a girl is pretty?
How do you know you are eating an apple not an orange?
How do you know if this friend of yours is an extremely sensitive person?
How do you know this mobile phone is better than the others?

I am sure most of you have some clue about the answer now.
After some time, my supervisor added, "Human learns by
making comparisons". Okay, so let's see how it applies to the
previous four questions. Let us first imagine that beautiful girls
do not exist. So the question now is, how do we define beautiful?
In this case, we will tend to compare among the non-beautiful
girls and choose the best out of them. Without realizing, we
actually started comparing things ever since we were born.
Do you remember that we always tend to put things into our
mouth when we were young? By doing so, we are actually
comparing the taste, the texture, and the size of those things
around us so that we are able to differentiate those things the
next time. Similarly, we will not know how sensitive a person
is until we compare a person's reaction with the rest of the
people. Just like asking your friend how tall is his sister. To
him, he might think that his sister is in an average height
because his family members are all very tall, and on the other
hand, you might have a different definition for the word 'tall'
based on your very own observations. Therefore, we make
comparisons all the time about everything. You might be the
most hardworking person in your family, but your teacher
might not think so when being compared with your other
classmates. However, this is only one of the ways we learn. Could you think of other ways?

Faith in God

2005-01-26T06:30:00.000+08:00

A religious man is on top of a roof during a great flood. A man comes by in a boat and says "get in, get in!"

The religious man replies, "No, I have faith in God, he will grant me a miracle."

Later the water is up to his waist and another boat comes by and the guy tells him to get in again.

He responds that he has faith in god and god will give him a miracle.

With the water at about chest high, another boat comes to rescue him, but he
turns down the offer again cause "God will grant him a miracle."

With the water at chin high, a helicopter throws down a ladder and they tell him to get in, mumbling with the water in his mouth, he again turns down the request for help for the faith of God.

He arrives at the gates of heaven with broken faith and says to

Peter, I thought God would grand me a miracle and I have been let down." St. Peter chuckles and responds, "I don't know what you're complaining about, we sent you three boats and a helicopter."

Sorry...I cant help you!!!

2005-01-25T06:43:00.000+08:00

My teachers once encouraged me to share whatever I have with
everyone. My parents would say, "Share whenever is necessary".
My uncle told me, "Don't share anything with anyone unless it is
essential." So what say you? Share or not to share? I am not talking
about sharing simple things like your pen, eraser, drinks and etc.
In fact, I am talking about sharing your ideas, information, thoughts,
and anything that you think will be beneficial to the people around
you. As an Asian myself, I can understand that why most Asians
don't share their thoughts around. First, like I have mentioned in
my previous article, human are selfish. They want to keep their
ideas to themselves thinking that, "If I am the only person who
knows it, I will be the smartest and the greatest." Just like any
Kung Fu show we watched, the master of the kung fu will teach his
students every steps he knows except the last step (which is usually
the most important and powerful step). The Chinese tend to keep
the most important thoughts or ideas to themselves to make
themselves the most powerful and knowledgeable people. Another
example would be in schools, colleges, or universities. If you are an
Asian or happened to be in Asia, I am sure you will come across the
most common behavior before the examination or sometimes it might
even happened during normal day of classes. Person A asked, "Can
you do the past year paper? It is so difficult, especially number two.
Do you have the solution for number two? I have been trying whole
night but I just couldn't get the answer." The most common answer,
"Oh, that question. I am sorry, I also couldn't solve it. I will let you
know if I got the answer." There are four possibilities for a person
to answer that way are:

1. He really doesn't know the solution.
2. He is lazy to explain the solution to you.
3. He got the answer from someone and has decided not to let you know because he didn't understand the solution (so he couldn't explain it to you).
4. He is just being selfish by not telling you.

Whatever it is, you will normally stand a higher chance in receiving
a negative feedback from an Asian friend (probably not all but
majority). The truth is, though we know that it is always best to
share your ideas around and it is the best way to benefit not only
the people around you but also yourself, we just cant help it to be
selfish if everyone around us are selfish as well. For example, if you
are a non-selfish person (will not exist in reality) and you love to
share whatever you have with your friends and then one day, when
you ask your friends for a simple favour in return, they might just
reject you and give you lame excuses why they couldn't help you.
After such a hurtful incident, you might think twice before you help
others too. Sometimes the people around forced us to be selfish or
perhaps we are meant to be selfish. Whatever it is, like my friend
once told me, "Everyone has a little devil in his/her heart that makes us selfish".

Do you Gossip???

2005-01-24T08:21:00.000+08:00

"Pssst....did you hear about this girl? I heard that she will be getting
married soon because she is pregnant or something." or "I heard that
he didn't quite get a good job." or "Hey, guess what? I just bumped
into Sarah when she was with her boyfriend. I wonder what did she
see in him? I don't think that they are suitable for one another."......
Sounds familiar to any of you? Were you one of them before? Please
don't say NO cause I will not believe you! I believe everyone gossips
and it is a very common thing to do among your friends or family
members. It is also very common for all of us to deny the fact and give
lots of lame excuses from being called a gossiper. Let's face it; most of
us would not want to miss out on hearing the latest news about
something, even if it does not concern us. Whether it is good or bad,
we just can't help it. The moment someone begins to hint about some
new happening stuff, we would be so curious and would love to know
more. Girls would say, "Please tell me. I promise I won't tell anyone,
not even my dog. Trust me, okay?" Guys however might not be so
direct and are smart enough to ask for more in a more professional
way, for example, "So, how is she now?" or "What is her plan?". The
conclusion is still, we wants to know and the more the better. So, the
next question would be, can you be trusted? How many of us manage
to keep a secret? I guess the answer would be NONE. Human are
selfish (don't deny it) and we can only keep a secret if it concerns us.
Otherwise, no secrets are safe with us. In some situation, we might
think that it will do no harm if we reveal the secret about A to B since
B doesn't know A and vice versa. Yeah....if you are fortunate, A might
not know anything and he/she will consider you as a trustworthy
friend. But what if your friend's, friend's, friend's friend happened to
know A? "Ooppppssss...it's not me. I didn't tell anyone about it. It
must have been someone else. Did you tell any other people besides
me? Or someone must have overheard our conversation that day."
That's the most common response we normally give or receive.
However, whether your friend trusts your words or not depends on
how solid are your excuses. Or probably they are even smarter than
you think they are. Do remember that this is a small world.

Test Your Eyes

2005-01-22T17:51:00.000+08:00

Keep a distance away in order to read this chart.

Feeling Old???

2005-01-19T19:21:00.000+08:00

You know you're getting old when....

You dont go clubbing anymore.
You only talks to your dog.
Everything hurts, and what doesn't hurt, doesn't work.
You sink your teeth into a steak and they stay there.
You know all the answers but nobody ask you the questions.
You always think you are the smartest.
You are way behind the technologies.

About CNY...

2005-01-18T09:25:00.000+08:00

The first day of Chinese New Year is when the New Moon is born on
the first day of a year (according to the Chinese calendar). The
celebration lasts for 15 days and the last day is called the Lantern
Festival day.

All the houses must be cleaned before the New Year's Day. It
is a superstitious belief that, sweeping the floor on New Year's
Day means sweeping away the good fortune.

On the New Year's Eve, all the family members will come together
to have a family reunion dinner.

On the first day of New Year, most of the Chinese will eat jai
(vegetarian food) because it is believed that this will ensure long
and happy lives for them.

Tangerines with leaves intact assure that one's relationship with the
other remains secure and also as a symbol for abundant happiness.

Chicken represents prosperity and must be served as a whole (with
the head, tail and feet) that symbolize completeness.