Duckies

This post is dedicated to someone who has been reading my blog (and vice versa) and bothers to leave comment once in a while. Nothing important or deep, it's just that, when I took these photos, people thought I was crazy. But come on ... with a first name like mine ... you think people can't give me a nickname that ends with the word "duck"? It comes so naturally, okay! Since I was 3 years old! -_-"

So ... Subconsciously, anything duckie-looking, attracts me. And I snapped these photos quite sometimes ago (to be exact 8 Aug 2009) and didn't think I will use them ever. Purely for personal collections. But since I just realized someone just changed her blog background to duckies ... I think it's appropriate I dedicate this post to my fellow stinger!

Thanks for reading my blog and bothers to pop by once in while too :) Hope you enjoy these photos as much as I do. Does any of them catch your attention? Hehe ...

How Do Good Things Keep Happening?

You may or may not believe in luck, but if there is only one thing you choose to believe, put your bet on "positive energy".

"Oh come on, don't sell what those motivational gurus are constantly preaching!", you might say. But I sincerely not. By nature and by my upbringing, I am not a very positive person. I may look like ball of sunshine but my inner world resembles Darth Vader's.

Being a Scorpio, I am born with extra DNA of envy and jealousy. Not to mention the extra built-in self destructive mechanisms, the potential damage is unimaginable.

Being an Asian in the traditional Asian upbringing, I was always being compared to others who are better than me. Thinking that being an only child, I should not have any siblings rivalry problems. But alas, there are always the cousins, the neighbors, the kids of my parents' friends, etc. The list go on.

Growing up with the voices that you are never good enough coupled with the idea that the grass is always greener wherever you are not on it, no matter how many blessings you are given, you will be blinded by your own self pity. Proven! By me!

Until recently, some shits happened at work and in my personal life. For few days I went into destructive mode, towards myself and others. Thankfully I bounced back fast. I need to, it's survival mode. I can choose to destruct further, that is a very easy choice indeed, something I have been practicing for quite sometimes. Or, I can really start growing up and take charge of my life again.

Because life doesn't care whether you are happy or miserable. It's really up to you. Life moves on. The quicker you bounce back and follow the rhythm of life, the faster you will see good things start to happen to you. It did, to me. Seriously! Once I made the decision to move on and fight for what I think I deserve, I get it and even more.

A few of the early X'mas surprises are: 2 of the stocks I invest, laid eggs into my bank account. Not much, but it was still a very nice surprise. My job is taking a really good turn after I requested for it and be a little "proactive" than usual. The old saying, ask and you shall receive, I received! Beating the inflation big time.

Currently I stopped taking French lesson (something that I really love though kinda lose the steam a bit) in order to save more money to invest into the market. Who would have known, by supporting my friend who participated in a singing contest, she won free French lesson at my school and gave the voucher to me as she has no need of it. I was shocked and impressed at how the universe works.

So, how do good things keep happening?
Never stop believing in them.
Never stop imagining them.
Never stop being grateful for what you already have.
Never stop fighting for what you should have.
Never settle for less than you deserve.
Never shortchange yourself for the sake of settling.

If it doesn't work where you are, may be you are better off somewhere else. Hope good things will keep happening to you. If not, they are probably just taking a break until you are ready to receive them once again.

Under Different Lights

Are you living in Singapore?
If you are, then you will understand what I am about to share soon.

I have been living in Singapore since 1998 and for someone who has stayed that long, you definitely feel things have changed rapidly within this short period of time.

One of it is the increasing number of foreign talents in the retail/service industry. Sometimes it can be quite frustrating as some of them can't even communicate properly in the 2 languages that are spoken by the majority of the population - English and Mandarin.

Once, I was on a bus, seated quite near to the bus driver (nowadays they are called bus captain). When the bus made its next stop, an older gentleman, probably in his 60s boarded and asked the bus captain in English,"Does this bus go to Queensway?" The reply he got was I thick-accented Mandarin that said,"Speak Mandarin?" The older man was trying so hard to translate Queensway but to no avail he turned to me and asked me the same question. I too didn't know what is Queensway in Mandarin. But I do know this bus does head towards that direction so I assured him that he would be fine. He than thanked me and disappointedly made a remark on the "foreigner" bus captain who couldn't even serve the public properly.

It is sad, but this trend is only going up. Things are changing and there is no way things will go back to the way it used to be. From this side, things do look frustrating but have you seen another side of it? I do.

I am in retail industry and since the day I started until now, I find it so hard to find local talents to work in this industry. They are either too picky or they have better offer somewhere or they simply don't last as they don't think too highly of the job.

Then there are agencies who see opportunities in this situation and starts to introduce foreign talents to fill the void. Unfortunately, these agencies earn their living from those poor workers who sometimes are not properly matched to the job. They paid 6-9x their salary amount in advanced, putting all their trust and hope in the agents and future employer, then in most cases, they found themselves stuck in a 2 year contract that they have to serve in order to earn back the "capital". But to the unlucky few, they are sent back immediately not because they are not good in terms of attitude but due to the language barriers. They lost the $ that their family has saved so hard in order for them to have a better future. Hence, some may resort to other ways of living instead due to fear if facing their family in shame.

There are so many frustrated parties here:
- Customers who don't get the expected level of service
- Employers who don't get the suitable employees
- Employees who don't think they are in the promised land

Under different lights, they share the same life with frustrations and they share the same needs to be understood and treated fairly. But life as usual is ever changing and ever camouflaging. The next time you think how different someone is from you, we are still the same living organisms who try to make sense of life and its quirks.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

The Recovery

"The first 24 hours after surgery are critical. Every breath you take, every fluid you make is meticulously reported and analysed. Celebrated or mourned. But what about the next 24 hours. What happened when that first day turned into two, and weeks turned into months. ... Surgery is when you get saved but post-op, after surgery is when you heal. But, what if you don't?" - (Prologue, Grey's Anatomy)

Let's be honest, at the surface, the quality of the show Grey's Anatomy seems deteriorating. I personally cant be bothered with the lives of the characters anymore. I watch it for the sake of watching it since I have been following it since the day it hasn't gained all the fame and awards. But, there's one thing that is getting better as the show and the characters grow, they are the prologue and the epilogue of every episode. They may not be a short and sweet type of quotes, but they are the ones which make you stop to ponder.

The recent episode titled "Adrift and at Peace" is one of the example why this show is taking a more philosophical approach towards the story line. After the shooting incident, some of the characters are moving on quite well. Life goes on and there are more lives to be saved. They go on with their works as usual. One of them, Dr. Christina Yang, took it really hard and instead of trying to move forward, she chose to move backward.

And that is reality. Not every one moves on at the speed of light. However, the presence of great supports is definitely the most crucial when it comes to healing, accompanied by a strong belief that healing is possible. Then again, like life, nothing is really predictable and fully controllable. Ultimately, life flows according to its own tempo. Sometimes, you may fall and never get up. But what if you do? No matter what, it is still worth it to take the road to recovery.

"The goal of any surgery is total recovery. To come out better than you were before. Some patients heal quickly and feel immediate relief, for others the healing happens gradually. And it's not until months or even years later that you realize you don't hurt any more. So the challenge after any surgery is to be patient. But if you can make it through the first weeks and months, if you believe that healing is possible, then you can get your life back. But that's a big if." - (Epilogue, Grey's Anatomy)

PS. Seriously I thought of changing the end of the quote, instead of the "big if", it should be "the big gift". Claiming your life as your own is the ultimate present in life.

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Loving Yourself

"Be as good to yourself as you are to those you love." - Suze Orman

The urge to please others, has always been the trait for the majority of us. We have been conditioned, especially in the Asian culture, to put others first before ourselves. To think that being an only child, one would have escaped it, wrong. I'm not spared.

Sure, I think I can be more selfish than most people who are well trained under "the siblings rivalry scheme", but with further observations, my selfishness has been masked with a thin layer of "people pleasing" virus that it disguised itself so well that guilts resurface once in a while in silence.

Observe! How many times have your screamed in silence just because your voices are not heard? How many times you do things out of the good of the group instead of the good of yourself? Was it worth it? Do the voices still silently crave for your attention?

Mine do. It's getting louder nowadays that it refuses to accept no as the only answer. And this time, I listen. Life starts to turn around in an amazing way.

No matter what others try to sell to you when it comes to your life, you are the CEO and COO of it. You make your own decisions and you operate the entire aspects of it. Enough are the days of politeness and giving in, because if it takes sacrificing yourself in order to make others happy, you should start to question is the idea of such happiness will really be worth it. Ultimately, you are your own enterprise. Sometimes you need to cut costs in order to start seeing profits.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad