And Then There Are Others

And then there are others
Who are richer than me
With houses and cars
Where all simply sparks

And then there are others
Who are smarter than me
With brains and wits
Where all simply clicks

And then there are others
Who are more successful than me
With status and careers
Where all simply glitters

And then there are others
Who are hungry and beaten
With fear and trials
Where all simply dies

And then there is me
Who are not others
With freedom and choices
Where all uniquely lives

2 SIM Cards 1 Number

As most of you might have known that I'm currently blogging from my Blackberry. It has been a wonderful experience indeed. I did mention briefly about how I'm able to also use my Nokia N97 by using 2 SIM cards with only 1 phone number. I dedicate this post to this amazing technology since one of my friend was asking.

Thanks to the M1 customer service personnel who was listening to my sad plea about how I still want to keep my Nokia and not going to abandon it, he then introduced me to the 2 SIM card option.

Basically you will only have 1 number and you are able to enjoy the goodness of 2 phones; especially iPhone and Blackberry which tend to be the most popular combination. You will then be given Primary SIM Card and Secondary SIM Card. And these are what each card can do.

Primary SIM Card
- Incoming calls: When calls come in, they will first reach the Primary card
- Receiving SMS: When SMS comes in, it will only reach the Primary card
- Outgoing Call: Able to call out
- Sending SMS: Able to text out
- Surf the internet using 3G service
- If your primary phone is a Blackberry, you will be able to use its function too

Secondary SIM Card
- Incoming calls: When calls are not being picked up on the Primary card, it will then be diverted to your Secondary card. Yes, your second phone will ring.
- Receiving SMS: You can't receive any SMS through this card
- Outgoing Call: Able to call out
- Sending SMS: Able to text out
- Surf the internet using 3G service
- If your secondary phone is a Blackberry, you will still be able to use its function too

Changing and Checking
- You may check which phone is the Primary by dialing *137#
- You may change the Primary by dialing *136# on the designated Primary phone (Yes! It's that easy!)

Charges and Fees
Depends on the service provider there are some charges involved with this service:
- 1 time fee for the SIM card (around $19)
- Monthly fee ranging from $2.50-5

Advantages
- You are able to enjoy the goodness of 2 phones while still having only 1 number
- When you run out of battery on one phone, you still have the other phone as back-up
- You don't need to tell the whole world you have new number just because you have a new phone

Disadvantages
- You need to pay for this
- When both phones have no batteries (Trust me, it happened!)

Overall, I'm just grateful this service exists. I was delusional enough to believe I'm able to use 2 phones at the same time while everyone around me thinks I was being ridiculous. Then the universe sent that helpful customer service personnel to let me know that I'm apparently not the only insane greedy phone user around. When you believe it hard enough, the answer may just be presented to you. Who knows. :)

Redefine Oneself

Huh!

As if I know anything about the subject.

Exactly, thanks to me not knowing, I'm compelled to write about it. For years I've been trying to define me, define my blog as the expert says, you need to find a niche. You need to specialize in something.

Alas, after so many years of figuring things out, I still can't find my niche. I still specialize in nothing. This frustrates me to the core.

When I look at people around me, I'm able to pinpoint:
- she is a supply chain specialist
- he dwells in hardware
- she is so good in her French
- it is so good in loving people (yes, I'm referring to the wonderful four-legged creature that I adore)

Then I take a look back at myself, what am I good at? I am not expert in skin care just because I'm working in the industry. I'm not a specialist in short term rental just because I dwelled in it for a while and worse, my beloved language of French, I'm so far from mastering it. My passion was procrastinated as I lost my steam then I stopped the course as I couldn't commit. Well, simple case look at my blogging habit, kinda say it all about me and specializing in something. This just sadden me to the core. How am I going to define myself? What am I good at?

That's when I realize defining myself in such a rigid manner doesn't work for me at all. I am who I am and I am who I'm evolving into (thanking someone for this insight). I am accepting to be the specialist in nothing and everything. I may not know a particular subject in depth but I am sure I at least heard of it or willing to learn about it. I am not ignorant.

I may not be the top student in French anymore (thanks to my lazy other half :p) but throw me back to Paris and I should be able to converse to the children now instead of playing alphabet games with them like I did in December 2008 (as shown below).

I am evolving and I love who I am becoming so far. I still not sure what is my niche, who I want to be and it may get fuzzier as I think harder. But as I let things simply flow together with life, so far it had never failed to surprise me.

I define myself as a human being with a curious mind and ever evolving soul that when I come to the end point, one thing I am sure is that I have grown to be better than I was before.

My First Blog from My BB

Hi All.

This will be the first time I'm blogging from my Blackberry Bold 9700. I love this phone so far though the connection can get a bit cranky at times and the calendar + tasks display is not as nice as my previous Nokia N97 but and the battery life is really pathetic. But despite all its flaw, I love this phone.

The email and messenger functions are just superb. It's a no nonsense phone for business and communications. Definitely not as fun as Iphone but based on my needs, BB is definitely the one for me.

Having said that, I still can't part with my Nokia N97. So thanks to today's powerful technology, I'm able to use 2 phones with my 1 number. How fantastic is that! The advancement of technology amazes me as it offers so much flexibility to fulfill one's need at a very reasonable price.

Now I just hope my eyes won't get smaller from all these typing.

Wish me luck and I promise, more posts to come soon. I am also now on twitter at www.twitter.com/daringdd. As recommended by my friend, it may be more suitable for me since I tend to be lazy in updating long post. Whatever it is, I will be present in both. Yay!

Why Should I Blog?

As usual, being the queen of procrastinators, I have abandoned my blog again and again and now I am back and not sure when I will be hiding behind my comfort zone again. But for now I decide to make an appearance. And I change things up a bit ... only my header ... :p I realize my deep love towards the black and white (inspired by previous post) I created a simple header that simply consists of those 2 colours. If can put in silver, I would ... because black and silver are simply cool!

Alright, back to the theme ... why should I blog?

Even though I have stopped blogging for some times, but the urge of writing is always there. Somehow, through writing out my thoughts, a part of me is being kept sane this way. And hence, I will try to look for an insight to keep my insanity down low ... Though I think sometimes, my insanity makes life so much more interesting. We'll see.

I would like to thank you for readers who have been so faithful and supportive of my blogs. Without you I wouldn't have so many visitors from many countries. Though there's only 1 post that attracted the most traffic, it still means a lot to me that people do find my post interesting.

So voila ... I am back and I will be more present ...

The Beauty in Black and White

I seriously can't wait to share these beautiful black and white photographs by various photographers. Some are just so captivating to the soul. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Which one is your favourite?

Mine is ... this mysterious looking one by Toni Frissell

And Finally I Know How To ......

TIE A TIE!

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally I don't need to rely to someone to do that!
Yes, I know I don't wear it every time but still ... to finally be in control of a tie feels liberating.

All thanks to my new found love - DEXTER! A fictional serial killer + blood splatter analyst from a TV Series haha! How no life can I be, eh? Heck, finally, anyone can learn how to tie a tie by using this simple steps and storyline. It works wonder :D

Thank you, Dexter!

Voila ... the story line for tying a tie is as follow and of course, the video. Enjoy!

- Rabbit hops over the log
- Rabbit crosses under the log
- Rabbit runs around the log
- One more time because it's trying to outsmart the fox
- The rabbit dives through its rabbit hole
- Safe and sound!

Even Taxi Driver Could Blog Regularly ...

And I have been procrastinating for so long ... shame on me!

Yes, you heard me right. A taxi driver in Singapore has been blogging regularly since the start of his career. Though he has only been a taxi driver for 6 months due to an unfortunate event, during those period, he blogged simply to record stories he experienced during his contract. Little that he knew his misfortune made me move my arse and type something here.

This special taxi driver's name is Dr. Cai Mingjie. Yes, he has a "Dr" title as he has a Stanford PhD. He was terminated from his job May 2008 and since then he had so much trouble to find job as either he was overqualified or there were simply no responses to his applications. (He has started to look for job since May 2007!!!!) Putting his PhD aside, he decided to be a taxi driver in November 2008 and the rest is history.

I have heard of him on the newspaper before. At that point of time, I thought the media wanted to show how bad the market was during the crisis that job was so scarce. I pitied him, and many of the Facebookers did too. But few days ago, I was shocked, I saw his book at the book store and without shadow of a doubt, I bought it. Even though it's at quite a hefty price (for local book it is a little bit high, I should have bought it online and I could get his autograph! HAHA) I just thought to myself,"Hey! This is interesting! I want!".

The title is Diary of a Taxi Driver.

Image courtesy of Aktive Learning

The book - it's an easy read. Simply love how simple the way he wrote it and most importantly the daily life stories stories were intertwined with philosophies and reflections. As most people now, there are good and bad people that taxi drivers may encounter and this book covers both sides. But he focused more on the good sides and even the bad, he reflected on it and they become life lessons. He's my idol.

What I love the most is when despite his unfortunate circumstance of losing his job and being pushed from one of the more prestigious career of scientist to one of the lower one of a taxi driver, yet, he managed to put his pride aside and did what a scientist will do to the whole experience - learn, observe, reflect and share. I know I connect with this most because I used to be a passionate observer and sharer like him through my blog. Then ... I slacked and slacked and .... you know what happened after that long time of drought in actions = NOTHING!

Lots of the stories he shared inside, especially about the sides of Singapore that not many of us will chance upon - lives of the prostitutes, the senior citizens who are struggling, the old men with some "needs", the executives who are stingy and rude, etc. They opened my eyes and heart to learn more about what we have easily missed about our surroundings. I am grateful to chance upon his book and slowly awakening that curious gene inside me. One lesson at a time.