Oreo Delight

It's that time of the year again

2011-06-12T00:32:00.002+08:00

I have never ever imagined what it would feel like when I arrive at this day. However, I do feel that I have grown at least a bit since the last year. The funny thing with growing up and getting older is you appreciate what you have today and at the same time you wanted to go back to your high school years in some ways too. It takes a lot of years to morph into the person you are today and you wondered what it would be like if you are this version of yourself 10 years ago.

Humans keep changing, and at the same time, human nature is the same. There are parts where we are essentially still the same person 10-20 years ago, but there are parts of ourselves we keep tweaking and keep 'current'. Information learnt from daily interactions; from people; from movies; from media; from social circles; societal customs and etiquette; all of this contributed to the changing line of thoughts which directly influence how we behave, how we respond.

As for me, I am the same person 10 years ago, yet I am a different person from a year ago. I wanted to be same naive and idealistic person yet at the time I was more awkward and scared about the world then. I am more confident and as ease with my current self yet I lost some of the youthful ignorance I had years ago. Family relations have grown stronger though, friends are more or less the same bunch, with changing level of friendships now. Good thing about being older is you are more comfortable in your own skin but more selective in your view of the world, that's maybe the bad thing about being older as well. No wonder people always say we need 'fresh' perspective of things. Fresh no more, are we?

Rants aside, I am grateful for living this long and having the family and friends that I have. I hope everyone keeps a healthy mind, body, and spirit. Om mani padme hum.

Customer service nightmare

2011-05-15T00:32:00.011+08:00

I recently used a concierge service from Belgium-based Borderlinx to purchase some products from a US merchant that I could not buy with non-US credit card otherwise. The customer is provided with US and UK suite addresses and will only pay shipping fee after the packages arrive at their suite addresses. The company then ships the package to the customer's local address in his home country. I have been a loyal user of VPOST for this kind of service in the past and decided to give Borderlinx a try on recommendation from a friend who was a satisfied user.

It turned out to be a nightmare. The edge that Borderlinx has over VPOST is that the concierge service is free, and shipping is reportedly cheaper than what VPOST offers. But boy, what I thought would be a breeze turned out to be a torturous experience!

Here are why:
1. Concierge only allows you to place 4 items per order. Then you have to divide your items into separate orders. Some US merchants provide free shipping for orders over a certain amount, and you have to re-calculate which items in your order add up to that amount to take advantage of this option.
2. After I painstakingly input all the item description, price, size, URL link one by one, the website returned that the transaction had been rejected. No reason was given. I called my credit card company to check if there was anything wrong with the card, they said my card was perfectly fine. Did the data input more than 15 times before the website lets it go through. Hell #1.
3. After 3 orders had been submitted (12 items in total), I waited.
4. Two weeks passed, the package for my last order arrived at my US suite address. At this point, I was wondering why the last order arrived but not the first two. What makes it even more frustrating was, only 3 items arrived instead of 4 as what I ordered. Hell #2.
5. Borderlinx provides live customer service chat to their customers around the clock, not unlike many other corporations. I chatted with the first customer service rep, explained the situation, and was told to wait. Fine.
6. Every other day I chatted with different customer service reps, and had to explain the situation every single time. Sometimes they understood my predicament, majority of the times they didn't even understand what I wanted and transferred me to the original rep who handled my 'ticket' (log). The answer given was they would contact the concierge department and promised someone would reply within 1-2 days. No one even came close to replying, let alone giving me the answer. Hell #3. This is the source of my biggest frustration.
7. My latest dealing with the customer service department came to their agreeing to refund the items that did not arrive. After more than ONE month and I had to be the one to follow up. I sent email too, there wasn't any reply. And the refund has not come through. Hell #4.

My biggest complaint is with the concierge department, as customer is unable to directly place order with merchant, customer has to place his trust in the concierge; how and when the concierge actually places orders with the merchant is not within customer's control. This is a big risk to consider before customer places any orders. It is not that all the customer service reps are incompetent, but the working of the company as a whole; not responding to customer's repeated cry for help is just plain unacceptable, especially the concierge department.

It is unlikely I will place orders with Borderlinx again. I learned my lesson.

Sports and endorphin

2011-05-12T00:44:00.000+08:00

You take a deep breath and dunk your head in the water, you emerge after two seconds, take another breath and repeat the cycle. You do this for half a lap, one lap, and finally, 15 laps. You keep counting. All this while, how many thoughts have gone through your head? In my case, many.

There are many ideas, or some could argue, almost all ideas, which were born outside of a formal setting where the idea is seemingly more appropriate to be generated. Offices, no. That is perhaps not the most conducive of places to breed ideas. Unless, if your office is Google's complex. Bathroom, yes, kitchen, yes, outdoor playing golf, definitely. You see, in our modern daily life, we are conditioned to do multiple things at the same time. We watch TV while we eat, and at the same time, read magazines. We typed our emails and remembered something that our boss wanted us to do. The kind of life that an average office worker lead is loaded with many tasks, which required a multi-tasker to do, as is often pointed out to be a strong point during job interviews. We don't have the time to sit and think when faced with multitude of tasks around us. That decreases our ability to focus or to just sit. When the body is still, the mind is active. When you do an activity that requires your body to have a constant motion, or be still, that is when the mind wanders. The mind not only wanders, the mind imagines, the mind travels to places, the mind is communicating with another being, the mind visualizes, the mind shapes and shakes things.

Whenever I am exercising, especially sports that require repetitive actions such as pounding the legs on the street or treadmill, with noticeably fewer visual stimuli, or swimming, repeatedly swinging our arms and legs; I always never failed to have thoughts and ideas passing through my mind. It's a lot like laying on the bed before sleeping. The mind is active, the mind doesn't want to calm down. I had to take control, and started to read about meditation. I even tried meditating, but I have yet to arrive at the place where I know for real what meditation is. Give up too soon?

Does sports make your life better? I would say yes, do more sports, be active. It engages not only your body, but your mind. In cases where you require other people to play certain sports, it benefits you in the form of social contacts. These things are beneficial to our health. Endorphins are released, we get companionship and support. It enhances your stamina and ability to focus and some studies even reported, to think. You know how they say people experience runner's high where they feel a sense of euphoria engulfing their bodies, feeling the air and the body is one and the same? That will probably be my goal. If I have the mental power to torture my body for that long, that is.

On movies

2011-05-12T00:35:00.003+08:00

I recently watched a movie on a whim due to a recommendation from two friends a long time ago. In the middle of watching the movie, I was doing a lot of other stuff. My mind just would not sit and go through the entire length in one sitting. When I finished, I was baffled. It wasn't good at all, in fact, it was so, so bad. Why did my friends even recommend the movie (it's When In Rome, by the way)?

That got me thinking. Several years ago (I say several years because I cannot quantify the time when I started to think differently), I probably would've thought the movie is okay. You know how the movie review websites always have ratings that reviewers and audiences give and how sometimes both of them doesn't match at all? I thought that it would be a case like that but I find myself siding with the reviewers most of the time. Have my taste in movies change or have my ability to observe and judge a movie change? The latter is probably an indication that the rate of enjoyment I take from watching movies is less now as I don't lose myself simply just having a good time being entertained.

Of course the second reason could be because I did not watch the movie in a cinema, very rarely would my focus waver if everything around me is dark. When watching movies in the confines of your room or house there are things that distract you, or things that cross your mind that you are afraid that you will forget if you don't do it right then and there.

Regardless, as they say, movies appreciation is a personal thing, but hey, without a consensus, things won't get done anyway right? Rotten tomatoes exists to inform, educate, and maybe occasionally berate most movies it carries.

Quality. Chocolate. Squared

2011-01-03T23:32:00.000+08:00

Naive

2011-01-02T12:05:00.000+08:00

Happy New Year 2011! Happy Rabbit Year too :D

First post

2011-01-01T20:52:00.003+08:00

Doing things slowly and deliberately

2010-07-29T18:08:00.005+08:00

It's probably a better way, as I am slowly discovering. It is related to being in the moment and enjoying it. We all know and probably have read about how we are more productive when we do one thing at a time, and the results of our work are better than when we were doing multiple tasks. I used to want to do things very quickly so I can move on to other stuff, sometimes doing 3-4 things at once. Turns out, I was making more mistakes that way. Doing multiple things at one time makes us lose focus at the present task we're attending to. As a result, our work is of less quality and costs us more time to fix it. On the other hand, it takes us some time to adjust back to the 'mode' of the task, so it takes longer time to finish all of them.

When I was writing an email and suddenly remembered that I need to call someone, after the call, it's harder to get back to the emailing mode than if I were to finish the mail first then pick up the phone. However, I suppose you already know all this. Recently I've just only begun to be aware of these little actions that I'm taking that was very routine stuff for me previously. Some of these routines are like riding bicycle, stuff you do automatically once you're in the environment, like taking out trash, folding the plastic bags after putting out all your groceries, or even washing your face. I find that when we are more aware of what we are doing right _now_, we do better, thorough jobs. Like, washing our face!

Besides the obvious benefit of doing a better job, doing things slowly teaches you patience! I can only relate my own experiences in walking home with sore feet and carrying heavy groceries. Acknowledge the discomfort, and take one step at a time, eventually you'll get there. Deal with the blisters later!

The only time I can think it'll be more efficient to multi-task is when we are cooking food (boiling, mostly). Forgive me for the lack of examples.

Love the summer sky!

All the things I've done wrong and neglected to do

2010-07-28T22:30:00.004+08:00

- Eating fruits after meals
- Drinking ice water after meals
- Drinking canned fruit juices
- Drinking soda
- Not exercising
- Eating buffet til my stomach feels like bursting!

Please, hope you don't repeat my mistakes.

Well, happy new year to this place

2010-07-27T22:00:00.002+08:00

The author of this post was bitten with a bug probably most people have had, the lazy bug to update. In the past 1/2 year, things probably have taken a turn in some areas of your life. People moved, new things got added, some things were put away, your surroundings changed, your angle of life shifts, your hair got shorter / longer, and maybe some subtle lines here and there on the face, infant grows into toddler and then to this being who drives you crazy most of the time when they're not smiling. How things, people, air moved! And finally, time slips by unnoticed.

I had a chance to stay in China for a little while this year and am back in the Lion City for now. After coming back in style (rode in a ridiculously expensive taxi ride - in a Chrysler), I realized one thing: It's like I never left the place. At the same time, when I'm in China, it's like it's been home all along. I slowly have come to understand the meaning of 'being in the present moment'. I had a bad habit of thinking about the time I am about to leave the place whenever I'm going away to a new location temporarily. The thought emerges as a worry, then the next moment you find yourself in the plane thinking about the moment the thought occurs, and how it has finally happened!

Oh, the life as I know it. How would it feel to experience someone else's life? I often ponder that question. How is it that we are born and choose to lead this life of ours? People constantly strive to make things better for their life, but are their choices the right ones? I don't know. I'm completely clueless, still.

Probably the one lesson learned was how to live in the moment, and just breathe. Forget your cellphones, Blackberry, emails, for one day, and just sit, cook, play with children, talk, and walk your city. Discover living the moment!

On my draft: a little more than a year ago

2009-12-20T22:46:00.000+08:00

"I feel calm today. Some things irk me yet I learned to let go. My defense mechanism is trained over the years." - 11/24/08 7:01 pm

What happened that day?

In 2010, I wish for a better year than 2009. A better life, a better world, a fulfilling place, when I can be at peace.

May your families and mine be well and healthy, happy and prosperous, filled with joy and laughter, growing with wisdom and youth, may all beings be.

Enjoy!

From The Daily Enlightenment

2009-11-07T12:49:00.002+08:00

November 7

Sound
I asked a friend
"When a tree falls in the forest,
and no one is there to hear it,
does it make a sound?"

He replied,
"There was a sound
when I was thinking of the question."

I replied,
"I just said there is no one there to hear it,
why did you put yourself there?"

Sound is defined by the hearer,
It is the vibration of air in your ear, in your mind,
that gives rise to hearing.

Reality is "defined" by its experiencer.
Delusion is "shaped" by its experiencer.

Terrorism reporting

2008-11-30T13:20:00.002+08:00

Counterterrorism blog posted a short entry on twitter comes of age reporting on Mumbai attacks. There's also a link to a google spreadsheet of the victim's names. In the last 3 minutes, there have been about 10 more posts coming in on twitter. Article on local paper mentioned a survivor's Blackberry practically may have saved his life by connecting him to what's happening in the world outside his hotel room.

May they rest in peace.

Fleeting moments

2008-09-28T23:44:00.002+08:00

We live for those fleeting moments. The moments when we realize our lives are perfect, less than perfect, or far from perfect. The moments when there is what it is. The fleeting moments of enlightenment. There are no labels. Nobody to dictate who we are. Things exist as they are. Breathe. See. Hear. Feel. Live.

Page turner

2008-09-27T03:33:00.000+08:00

A lot of times I have ideas popping out of nowhere. Almost all are silly. The rest I completely forget. So one day, I was going to work and the idea of an ultimate lazy person's page turner started popping up in my mind.

For a person like me, who dreams to have physical book propped up directly above my eyes within a reasonable distance while lying on the bed, it would be awesome if we have an automatic page turner remote. Prop your book up on a stand, it would have to be a flexible stand to be fixed on your bed or table, or any location you like. Now we have a remote, with buttons to control it, I'm visualizing something like my iMac remote. It would have << for page back, >> for page forward, pause button to bookmark page, << + hold for 3 secs to go back to previous chapter, >> 3 secs for the next chapter, number pad to key in approximate page number if you happen to take out your book on a train ride, pause again to store your new bookmark.

Ultimately, the remote would be smart enough to remember multiple bookmarks, like an e-book reader program. But keeping it simple is also key. I truly believe this is not novel idea. Hm, where can I get a piece?

I'm an idiot

2008-09-21T03:27:00.000+08:00

It's 3 am. (WARNING: non-Mac or even Mac users, below is gibberish)

About two hours ago, I did something REALLY stupid. Dumb. It involved tweaking my 10-month-old Mac, that required me to change the System property file to the previous version (before Leopard came along). So I did. At the end of the process, I tried to change it back to its original version, luck wasn't on my side, the TextEdit failed me. So I figure, what the heck, I'll just restart anyway. Restarted. Basically it rendered my computer useless. Heartburn. The following is very computer geek oriented, be warned...

Reboots. TextEdit fails. Can't change the version back to the original. Computer is useless. Almost no application can run. Everything requires Leopard. Heart starts to burn.

Firefox fails. Can't get online help.
Safari fails. Can't get online help.
Adium fails. Can't get online help.
Mail fails. Can't get any help.
Text Editor fails. Counting on Microsoft Word.

I'm out of ideas.

Panic panic panic.

Friend with the same version of Apple is out. Can't copy file.
While still hoping copying the same file from the friend's computer will work tomorrow, tried plugging in my flash drive. Failed. Machine won't read.

Panic panic panic.

Get other app's property file. Changed the content in Word. Saved as file name. Copied to folder. FAILED. Word changed the file type to word document, which the file isn't.

Panic panic panic.

Tried 20 times to re-write the original file. Version1, Version2, Version3. Failed. File type just won't change. All applications are useless. Mac OS version is still different.

Extremely frustrated.

Thinking of reformatting the whole thing.

After a 2 hour ordeal, flicks eye to "Time Machine Backup" backup drive.

Time machine saved my Mac's infant life, and me from a zombie. A simple clicks and I found the backup file. Copy to folder. Restart. Works immediately. Everything back to normal. I can breathe. And realization hits. Idiot. Why didn't I think of that two hours before???

Time machine rules.

Microsoft Word came out a hero this time. Nothing works except for Office & Finder. I could open the content of file and write the whole thing. Although in the end, Mac's restriction on file type is the real issue, Word still emerges as a reliable help.

At times like this, the restrictions of the system created for the benefit of the user can fire back. I was rendered powerless.

Doh.

Bekele almost makes me cry

2008-08-23T20:28:00.004+08:00

Throughout the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, and throughout the major competitions, it is often the sprinters, the 100m/200m runners, 100m/200m swimmers, that were talked about mostly. Commentators often shout out their names near the finish, papers often print their pictures more than others, highlighting their achievements. And my gosh, these are great athletes, amazing Olympians. Who could forget Phelps, or Bolt, the two reigning sprinters in their respective sports; swimming, and track & field.

But tonight, Bekele is the first athlete in T&F that makes me shake my head in disbelief and stare at the tube box in wonder. Most long distance athletes are little known. Marathon runners, 1500m swimmer, 20 km fast walk, 10 km run. I am guessing, perhaps we could attribute this to the short attention span of the viewers in modern days. I have to admit, I can't sit in front of TV through 3 hours for the marathon (I still can't understand how human being can do that). However, I am lucky enough to catch Kenenisa Bekele's 5000m final today. What a delight, what a great run from him! To think that Bekele just won 10000m a few nights ago, this almost makes me cry.

So it's 16 laps. He started off nicely, leading the others and gesturing his brother and fellow Ethiopian to follow him at the head of the pack. While brother Tariku and mate Cherkos eventually dropped off their pace, he remained consistent from start to finish without showing any great difficulty. During the last lap, Kenenisa quickened his pace (still!) and claimed Gold for Ethiopia, edging out number 2 by 5 seconds. What an excellent runner! Most runners who led in the beginning would've tired during their last laps from the lactic acid in their muscle. When that happens, usually it's ugly. Hopes are crushed, especially seeing the athletes behind you go past during that last crucial moments (plenty of those happening). Kenenisa Bekele emerged the champion and didn't even stop to take a breath after finishing. Beautiful!!!

Without playing down all the excellent athletes in the Olympics, all hail the long distance athletes! BRAVO. The mental strength they have is absolutely brilliant. Olympics never cease to inspire us of the human spirit, the ability to push our bodies to the extreme and never giving up.

I LOVE THE OLYMPICS. Simply beautiful.

Seven years of preparation will be over in two weeks, ending tomorrow. Let me go back and silently wait for the next four years. :(

Life in Technicolor

2008-07-16T21:15:00.004+08:00

A distant update

2008-07-04T23:39:00.004+08:00

Oh, I am probably the worst disciplinarian. I have abandoned 365 and this place too long. Something a friend said the other night makes me think about the evolution of our world view as we grow older. Sad to say mine grow worse. Even writing this line makes me depressed.

It's hard to get out of the 'me, me, and me' world like a good friend pointed out very clearly. We care about ourselves too much to sometimes get out of it. SNAP! Wake up! The world doesn't revolve around you.

Recently finished "The Shadow of the Wind" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. It's probably one of the most stylish prose I've read in recent years. It is dark, mysterious, dramatic, yet the mood is occasionally broken with great humor. The translated English version is that good. I can't imagine how the original Spanish prose would be like. This, is entertainment.

Don Federico lived with his deaf octogenarian mother, known in the neighborhood as "La Pepita," who was famous for letting off hurricane-force wind capable of stuning the sparrows on her balcony and sending them spiraling down to the ground.

On the topic of 365, dry spell has hit and lasted for more than a month now. Ergh.

China Earthquake: Camaraderie

2008-05-19T20:19:00.016+08:00

Today is the first of the three-day mourning for the China Earthquake victims...In a show of camaraderie, media websites and newspapers in China came together and all of them published their sites / papers in black and white. I know some Chinese nationals who are very patriotic and loyal to the country but this is something that has never been seen before. I am amazed and touched by their spirit of togetherness in this difficult time. China even allows Japanese rescue workers in. Placing the lives of others before one's needs, or in this case, the country's political interests, should be a lesson for Myanmar. If Myanmar junta continues being stubborn and does not allow rescue aids to enter the country, soon they will have no country to run. What's the purpose?

Water and sand

2008-05-19T16:58:00.002+08:00

That's what I smell and feel these two days. The heat in the afternoon made me reminisce being on the edge of island, the sun at its most powerful, with the ocean waves crashing to the shore, the shrieks of children in the distance and adults sunbathing and lazily enjoying their fictions. Now where is that glass of pina colada I ordered?

Heat and humidity notwithstanding, this is the best time for napping. Oh the glorious sun! The strays of lights...blinding when you are outside, but naturally lighting your room to its best shade. I can never live without it. Sweat from the after-nap is tolerable because of the refreshment to our soul. To me, a nap is not just a nap, to nap is to enjoy all the wonders of the world. Smell the freshness of your pillow, feel the softness of your bed, breathe the unpolluted air while it still lasts, curl up on your bed, read your magazines until the purring fan and the afternoon music lulls you to sleep...it's the best feeling in the world.

Enjoy!

May all beings be happy!

2008-05-19T16:31:00.002+08:00

It's Vesak Day again. Let me wish you happiness and may all beings be happy too! Perhaps we should all consider, it's time to up our game on supporting the cause for vegetarianism.

Albert Einstein said, "Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to be a vegetarian diet." Gandhi also once said, "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated." There is one important precept, as old as history itself, that hasn't changed since. Confucius, Lao Tzu, Buddha all preached it. Hinduism taught it. Jesus summed it in single most important rule in the world: 'Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.'

We all want to be loved, want to be treated fairly and just. The pronoun 'we' here are beings, and is not intended solely for humans. We don't want to be put into a machine and sliced with blades. Or crammed into spaces with no breathing air with our fellow humans. Or skinned alive..you get the idea.

Let us stop and think about the food on our plate next time.

Just like last year, I wish I could be at Borobudur today. I shall withstand the heat and humidity (Singapore is SO hot and humid this week!) to watch the procession. But alas, I have just visited the place a few months ago. Patience, is something I lack these days.

May all beings be happy and free of suffering!

"I have nothing to say and I am saying it"

2008-05-02T22:05:00.003+08:00

4'33" is perhaps the most radical music composition I have ever encountered. It's John Cage's most famous piece and the most controversial. It sounds to me like an art, which music pretty much is to begin with. Perhaps using your environment to create music makes the most perfect sense of all. It is a canvas and a mirror. The center piece is not the object we think it is, it is us.

One funny thing is in the interlude, all sorts of cough sounds from the audience suddenly came up, it's like they're suppressing it for the effect of the composition.

From Wiki:

4′33″ (Four minutes, thirty-three seconds) is a three-movement composition by American avant-garde composer John Cage (1912–1992). It was composed in 1952 for any instrument (or combination of instruments), and the score instructs the performer not to play the instrument during the entire duration of the piece. Although commonly perceived as "four minutes thirty-three seconds of silence", the piece actually consists of the sounds of the environment that the listeners hear while it is performed. Over the years, 4′33″ became Cage's most famous and most controversial composition.

Conceived in 1948, while Cage was working on Sonatas and Interludes, 4′33″ was for Cage the epitome of aleatoric music and of his idea that any sounds constitute, or may constitute, music. It was also a reflection of the influence of Zen Buddhism[citation needed], which Cage studied since the late 1940s. In a 1982 interview, and on numerous other occasions, Cage has stated that 4′33″ is, in his opinion, his most important work.

Can you live 24 hours without gadgets?

2008-05-02T20:12:00.004+08:00

Tomorrow is Shutdown Day. Although the premise is about a day without computer, I'd like to think of the day without any sort of electronic gadgets. I can't participate, although I'd love to join the excitement. Being excited about a day without computer, iPods, digital cameras, cellphones???? Yes! Remember my Nyepi post? Perhaps another day, I'd like to experience that.

Can you last? Let's go unplugged!

Week of April 12-19

2008-04-19T18:27:00.010+08:00

The foundation of things

The intricacies of our mind

Rustic Nirvana

A transition

Feelings

Illusions

Apartments on fire

Another world