Most Memorable Corporate Gift

Long gone the time when you want to a personalize gifts, you have to crack your head, look through yellow pages and meet up with the sales person to choose what you want. With internet now, everything has become so easy and efficient. It's amazing.

You are so spoilt for choices that you can choose what kind of categories you are interested in. To name a few:
- Apparels
- Bags and Totes
- Calendars
- Drinkware
- Pen and Writing
- Tradeshows and Events
- Keychains
- Sports
- Etc

Now, there are even companies who dare to claim that they are the lowest price with satisfaction guaranteed. They do all kind of custom notepads, I don't even know there's such term as top note pads. Geez. Then again, you can always use a very "green" type of notepad on your mobile phone or iPad.

Speaking of corporate gift. What was one of your best or most creative experience you have ever received from an event or a company? I am scratching my head now to think. And looking around me, I realize, not many of the corporate gifts are being utilized by me. Not even a mug!

But recently I went to an event called - Hubalicious Food Adventures with Dan Segall. It's a live cooking and eating event with celebrity chef Dan Segall, organized by Starhub Cable TV / Food Network Asia and Beringer Wine. You can view some of the photos from this event here. At the end of the night, each of us has a goodie bag. That was a nice surprised. We get a set of black and white kitchen wares such as salt and pepper, oil and vinegar set in black and transparent colour. That was awesome. By far it's one of the nicely presented gift ever. Though I have no use of them now, but I will sure remember them :)

Wonder what kind of corporate gift do leave an impact with all of you? Hmm ...

(Sorry for the bad quality photo. It's taken with my Blackberry. One of the lousiest phone camera ever.)

I Think I Can Die Now

HA!

You think it's going to be a morbid post? It's not. Don't worry. I'm not depressive or anything.

Just that at this moment of my life, I feel like a ball of happiness. So happy. So contented. So fulfilled that I can just die now.

Sometimes I really wonder why am I not dead yet? Why can't I just go happy like this? What's there for me to do ah ....? I wonder and I wonder ...

Let's see how long the wondering will go.

Guess there's something really not finished for me yet here ... Hmm ... I hope I will find it and finish it and still leave this world as one chunky ball of pure happiness.

On verra. (We'll see)

I hope you will have a chunky ball of happiness inside you too.

I greet each day with optimism and joy. I am a bundle of joy, and people love to see me. It is such an exciting time to be alive! - Louise L. Hay

Have You Seen Blue Rice Before?

Look at it.
It's so beautiful, isn't it?
Well to some, it may be a scary sight.
Blue/purplish rice?
Hell yeah!
It smells of lemon grass too.
Heavenly!

Don't ask me what it's made of but I know for sure it's all natural :)


It was supposed to be a business meeting but it turned out to be one of the best, authentic and non-MSG-ish peranakan food I have ever tasted. Plus a few life lessons shared. The whole experience was simply awesome.

The owner, Mr. Philip Khoo, is one of the rare passionate man I've ever seen. Passionate about his food, his culture, his heritage, his history, his recipes, his customers and his life. He lives with total and utmost passion. I have never really seen someone who is like him, except on TV or movies. He really breathes, lives and speaks Peranakan.

I love his sharing of each and every dish where each and every ingredients seem to play a very important part. I love his story on the very rich Peranakan culture, being and living as one, his mission in life is really to make sure the Peranakan food will not be forgotten and will be accessible to everyone. He said, Peranakan is not as subtle as French food, may be because their taste buds are numb (jokingly). Hence, Peranakan food is so rich and full of flavour that when you eat it, you simply can't miss the richness in its culture.

One of the most memorable story he shared is about 2 types of wealthy customers:
1. The one who are comfortable being who they are
2. The one who are not and whose egos demand for every attention they can get

Type 1, surprisingly he said, can be one of the best customer ever. Even if they have constructive criticism, they will try to let you know in a sensitive manner that will not hurt your feeling. Then when they reveal who they are, you will be shocked to death that they either hold a very high position in a company. Or the owner of some super famous establishments.

Type 2, however, to prove that they have all the power, to shout for attention, validation and acknowledgment; will make the biggest noise when something is not right. They are trying to match how they act with what they drive sometimes. "See, I am the boss. I drive a BMW. Treat me like a boss."

Being comfortable with who we are and not attached to any titles, material possessions, status, are not something that is easy to do especially in this ego-driven world. His sharing really reminded me of a phrase in Bahasa Indonesia:

"Seperti buah padi, makin berisi, makin berunduk."
Just like grains of rice, the more full they are, the lower they will bow.
Be humble.

Being a 1/4 Peranakan myself (I think! My grandma told me. So, I will take it that I have a little bittttttt of the Peranakan blood), I feel honoured to be in the presence of Mr. Khoo. Really hope his mission in life can be realized.

If you have the chance, and you love the robust and vibrant flavours in each and every ingredient, try the Peranakan food at address below. I swear I will be there again. :)

Baba King Nonya Deli
@ Changi Business Park
1 Changi Business Park Crescent
#01-22 Plaza 8
Singapore 486025

Tel. (65) 6587 3128
Website. www.BabaKing.com.sg

What Are You Allowing?

“Whatever you focus on expands.” – Christopher M. Knight

I believe somehow, somewhere, you must have heard about the quote before. It's one of the most common passing remarks. If you haven't heard it yet, that means you are not into self-help books or you haven't been surrounded by personal development junkies (like I used to be. Yes, I'm and "secretly" quite geeky that way).

In the self-help world, that quote is like a mantra. It's so common that people know it but they tend to take it for granted. Just like me. I know the phrase. I understand it. But so what? I don't really "apply" it. The realization comes so much later.

You see, the quote is simple it simply means whatever you focus on, will be bigger and more. For example, if you think you are ugly, you most probably will be and the more you look at yourself in the mirror in the future, the more you will feel ugly no matter what the whole world say. Because that's your focus. Your choice. It will expand.

The same thing applies on a more positive thought, such as,"I think I will meet nice people because I am nice." As naive as this sound, it works for me. I met nice uncles, aunties, contractors, students, strangers, etc. And it expanded by showing me even in other countries such as France, Belgium and Swiss, I found very nice people. I found them through the internet and voila ... I spent X'mas and New Year with them. Is it magic?

Hope you get the gist of this quote. If you don't believe, it's okay. It's your choice. It's not a theory that has to be proven right. I'm not here to do so too. But why I bring this up is because recently I notice something more interesting from this "theory" that allows me to modify the quote a little bit. My realization taught me the following:

"Whatever you allow to be focused on, expands."

Not much different, I know. And I am not trying to be funny to create a quote of my own. (Though a kind friend of mine on FB, Miss. I.S. did manifest that for me, but sorry, not yet :p). What I realize is from a conversation I had with my friend - or more like - a non-conversation. Let me know if I stray but this was my experience.

I was chatting with a friend and at one point I was ranting about a negative event that happened on that day. Normally, if someone did that to me, won't it be natural to ask,"what happened?" But this friend of mine, didn't. If there were cicadas, you should be able to hear them in the background. Mine was an imaginary cicadas serenading this gap in my non-conversational conversation.

"That was odd", I thought.
"Will I get a new question to deflect the awkwardness?"
"Should I ask the next question?"
"Should I demand for attention?"
"What should I do?"
"This feels weird."

Then my mind went silent.
Really silent for a few minutes.
A few minutes in my noisy mind felt like an eternity.

That's when I realize. Whether my friend did it on purpose or not, she taught me one of the most powerful lesson to be learned - whatever you allow to be focused on, will expand.

The words "whatever you focus on" never specify on the "who". It can be the speaker/the doer or the listener/the observer. Both sides have the power to choose on what to focus on next. By not allowing the negative conversation to progress further, the negative sentences will not breed into a full blown fairy tale. That realization, woke me up. I carry it with me all the time and pledge to be more aware of what I allow to be focused on.

So, what are you allowing now?

For now, I shall allow this cute cow - a photo I took when I was in Reims, France (28 December 2008) to penetrate my mind with a little bit of yummy silliness. *Slurping my cereal drink and smiling away*

Donna, What About Your Purpose in Life?

Recently, I posted something stupid on my facebook? Eh hold on -_-" I posted my previous blog post on my facebook. That's not too silly, isn't it? Anyway, I posted it and a friend of mine who had a great memory of my "silly questions" asked me,"What about your purpose in life?"

I used to "irritate" most of my close friends with the question - What is your purpose in life? If money is not a problem, what would you do? They will give me a stare, pondered a little then answer. This friend of mine, however, was in a same boat as me. We are both still searching, I guess. The conversation went something like this:

DD: What is your purpose in life?
My funny friend: Don't know yet.
(Few days later)
My funny friend: I know how you can know your purpose in life already.
DD: Really? How?
My funny friend: Google it!
DD: -_____________________________​_____-"

Though I almost fell of my chair when I read that, I did google it! Haha. I found Steve Pavlina's article is insightful as usual. I didn't read it. But the tab has always been open on my browser ever since and I continued living my life.

Can't believe one month has passed since then and apparently, I have not been losing sleep thinking about my purpose in life. I was too busy living my life. Literally. (Though some of my close friends don't agree with this statement.)

Believe it or not, I have one of the best 1 month ever. I have many new friends, many new experiences, connected with many old friends and even went to Beer Fest with one though we haven't met since university time, signed up to a new course, loving French even more, etc. For the first time I remember how it feels to truly live and breathe again. 90% of my breathing and non-sleeping moment, I feel alive. I feel grateful and blessed in every way.

Did anything change? Hmm ... not really but if I have to pinpoint on two things:
- I am more grateful with what I have
- I keep asking questions even though answers may not come immediately

You see, I still don't know what my purpose in life. And shitty events still pop out of no where. At times I could just flaunt my "French" in Hokkien that I didn't even accompany it with
"pardon my _______" to end the sentence. But one of the question I used to ask, I know how to answer it now. That feels really good. That makes a difference.

Question:
If money is not a problem, what would you do?

Answer:
If money is in abundance, I will spend as much quality time as possible with my friends. As I am someone who loves 1-to-1 interaction with people, that's when the quality of the conversation heightened, I will meet 2-3 different people a day and have a super quality time with them. I will travel if I need to and do this 5x a week. The last 2 days of the way, I reserve it for myself and my family.

I will learn from my friends and listen attentively as each words they say may be the next wisdom yet to be discovered. But I do have friends that function well as a group, we will go to a country of our dream and simply have a great "bitching with quality" time.

If money is not a problem, I would really love to visit the following countries on a regular basis just because my friends who live there easily triumph all the monuments that has ever been built.
- USA
- France
- Germany
- Belgium
- Switzerland
- UK
- Australia
- Canada
- Indonesia
- Malaysia
- China
- Hong Kong

However, back to my friend's question - Donna, What about your purpose in life?
My answer to her was,"Still googling."

When I know it, my friend, my mouth that moves like that of goldfish, will definitely tell you about it. Meanwhile, I am going to choose to breathe as one wise man used to say:

"Choose to inhale; do not breathe simply to exist. That's not always easy but it is always worthy." - Final sentences of Mattie Stepanek on his dying bed.

Image courtesy of my own album taken in Toulouse, France 24th December 2008

What Would You Do When You Feel Helpless?

I have been very happy and upbeat these few weeks. Lots of ideas on what to write, just didn't manage to continue with it. Then suddenly, a sudden storm struck without warning to someone who's very dear to me. That's when I realize, damn, I am an emotional person. I am wrecked. I am not as cool as I think! -____-"

Suddenly a surge of helplessness takes over my body and mind, but my soul knows this too shall pass even though the battle seems really ugly. I am slowly back to a more neutral ground and hope the Universe will somehow work this one out.

Helplessness to such degree, I have never felt before. It feels awful. I wish I could do more. But I know, I can't do much.

Instead, I can BE more. I can choose:

• to be stronger
• to be calmer
• to be more objective
• to be wiser
• to be fearless
• to be positive, and finally
  
• to be free
  

I allow myself to sulk and sigh for one day and it is enough. It is draining and I wouldn't want it to has its own ripple effects. Life has to go on and lessons have to be learned and one needs to let go of one has no control of. I choose to be more than what the circumstances present and I hope, no matter how helpless your situation may seem, you will always have one thing to do - to choose who you want to be next.

Image courtesy of my own album taken in Paris, France 19th December 2008 @ Musée Rodin

This month, I celebrate my own independence. I choose to be free of all negativity, anger, fear, insecurities, jealousies--and any thought that makes me feel "less than." I no longer choose to live in the prison of my mind. I choose thoughts of love, joy, prosperity, and unlimited creativity and opportunities. - Louise L. Hay