I look at my career like a race. The finish line is retirement (although I doubt I ever will retire). I want the race to be exciting and challenging. I want to experience beautiful scenery along my path. I also want to walk some of the race to allow my body a chance to recuperate from the fast pace I must move to be competitive.
Sometimes a hurdle comes my way and I must find a way to jump it. Other times I look for a way to minimize it first before jumping it. I can't walk around it because I'd lose momentum and speed. I'd also lose the satisfaction of tackling the hurdle head-on.
And then, the competition...they want to win the race as much as I do. They will do things to get in my way and thwart my victory. They come in various disguises, so I must be careful not to underestimate intentions.
I need to constantly look at my positives and convince myself that they are worthy of success. I coach myself to be resilient and win though mental and physical conditioning.
When I cross the finish line, I fully expect to look back on the race and not want to change a thing.
"I thought that was a really inspiring piece of writing - I wish I wrote it!" says weiwei.
Was it a week ago already? Time flies when you're having fun I guess...
This pic makes me happy... because we're all happy... except for stoner. =)
Mega Praise makes me happier. Twas the awesome-est even though it was hot and smelly of BO everywhere - twas still AWESOME! Too bad not all my cellies could come!!! =(
today...
@8:07 pm
Friday, 25 April 2008
Covet Daisy
You know how in life, sometimes there are just darned decisions to make.
I haven't bought anything for myself in quite some time and I think it's high time for a treat!
After being a member of emailcash for quite some time and gaining points, I finally got a $100 voucher from David Jones, I decided I should finally get the perfume which I wanted for ages (which I never got around to buying in Malaysia) - but I can't decide which one I like *more*.
I actually like both of them a lot.
First is Daisy by Marc Jacobs.
Daisy by MARC JACOBS, a new young and full of spirit fragrance for young at heart women. It's flirtatious with a sweet innocence, original and playful, clever but full of color. Daisy is a sparkling floral fragrance.
Top notes: bright and fresh violet leaves, wild strawberries. Mid notes: comfortable violet petals, jasmine bouquet. Base notes: feminine musk, vanilla infusion.
Second is Covet by Sarah Jessica Parker.
It must be mine. I have to have it. Introducing Covet, the new fragrance from Sarah Jessica Parker. Impulsive, indulgent and irresistible. Covet is an ultrafeminine fragrance created with a seductive blend of precious fragrance notes.
Top notes: wet greens, geranium leaves, Sicilian lemon, chocolate. Middle notes: honeysuckle, magnolia, muger, michella yunnanensis. Base notes: musk, vetiver, bois de cashmere, teakwood, amber.
WHICH ONE SHOULD I GET?
today...
@12:08 pm
Wednesday, 23 April 2008
Table for sale on Ebay
How can you tell this table is being sold by a man?
And don't cheat either because it's not hard to tell!
This table was for sale on eBay.
How can you tell it's being sold by a man?
Take a close look.
Figured it out?
Stare long and hard and you'll figure it out eventually (don't worry it's not one of those pictures where something pops out to scare you - I hate them!)
You will find the answer below, but don't cheat! Know the answer? If not, scroll down now.....
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OK, scroll back up and look in the mirror.
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WTF! Who takes photos naked!
Anyone need a new table?
today...
@8:57 pm
Sunday, 20 April 2008
The triangle with the number in the middle on the plastic bottle
During cell we have some very interesting conversations. It’s almost like a learning seminar sometimes with 3 engineers who bring much knowledge to the table. Anyway, we came onto the topic of talking about drinking water (because J.Leo just happens to drink A LOT of water) which is good because most guys don’t drink as much water as they should.
I think it also started because Vera was drinking water from the tap and she could taste the “off-ness” of the water. Living in Perth for so long, I’ve never drunk tap water. Maybe a total of like 2 times in my whole entire life. We’ve always boiled our water or when we moved into our new house, we had a water filter built into the sink. I can’t stand the taste of tap water. There’s a funny smell to it and plus I think people have this misconception that Perth's tap water is actually clean. Actually it's not that clean, I think the standards are a little below what they should be.
So then, somehow the conversation got heated because J.Leo and Kenny drink water from the tap and from their water bottles that have been lying around, as in THEY DRINK ONE WEEK OLD WATER!!! *faints* They also put hot water into their plastic bottles and drink water that’s been in the car for too long on a hot day. Mind you, this is just the normal plastic water bottle you get when you buy a bottle of water from the shops.
So the education seminar begins with Vera, Pauline and me telling them that they cannot drink such water because the water molecules would have changed from staying in the plastic bottle too long, or the hot water would have changed the water content – and it becomes something different to pure water mixing with the plastic.
So then we get the engineers point of view. Good thing the engineer – Ah Fook, did an assignment on plastic packaging for this thesis. He explained to us that on everything that is packaged in plastic it will have a triangle with a number in it. *Yup... go take a look* I looked on the coke bottle, the water bottle and even the barbeque sauce bottle. They all have the recycle logo (the plastic triangle with arrows) imprinted on the plastic with a number in the middle.
So I did a little research about this and this is what I found.
PETE, aka PET (polyethylene terephthalate) Used for most transparent bottles, such as water, soda, cooking oil, and medicine bottles. Generally safe to use (not reuse); generally recycled.
HDPE (high density polythylene) Sturdy, rigid plastic found in reusable food storage containers, milk and detergent bottles. Generally safe; generally recycled.
PVC (polyvinyl chloride) Used for plastic wrap, and detergent and cooking oil bottles. Additives in PVC can increase the risk of birth defects and hormone-related cancers. Its production can be hazardous to workers and the environment. Generally not safe; not recycled.
LDPE (low density polyethylene) Flexible plastic used for bags or wraps, such as produce bags and baby-bottle liners. Most number 4 plastics are not designed for reuse. Generally safe; generally not recycled.
PPE, aka PP (polypropylene) Pliable plastic found in squeeze bottles, reusable food containers, and yogurt and margarine tubs. Generally safe; generally recycled.
PS (polystyrene) Used in rigid take-out containers and foam meat trays. Can leach styrene when heated, a possible endocrine disruptor and human carcinogen. Not safe when heated; generally not recycled.
Other; most often refers to PC (polycarbonate) This plastic is most commonly used for baby bottles, five-gallon water jugs, and reusable sports water bottles. It can leach out the hormone-disruptor bisphenol A, especially when heated. Because this group can include various other plastics, it has limited recycling potential.
Recommendations: The Do's and Dont's
For Microwaving: Do use microwave-safe glass or ceramic. Don't use any plastic, including plastic wrap, Tupperware, and Styrofoam. Cover foods paper, not plastic, but don't use recycled paper towels-they may contain metalic flecks (from ink or ground-up staples) that can combust.
For Refrigerator Storage: Do use glass, ceramic, stainless steel, or PVC-free plastic wrap. Don't use plastic containers for anything that will leave behind a residue that will require scouring, which can create scratches. Don't store or cover hot food in or with plastic-let it cool first.
For Packing Lunches: Do use foil or waxed or butcher paper to wrap sandwiches and snacks. If you prefer the convenience of bags, look for ones made from number 4 plastic. Don't use any plastic for high-fat foods such as meat or cheese; plastics contain chemicals that are attracted to fat.
For Water: Do use glass or stainless steel or pitchers made from number 2 or 5 plastic. Don't use pitchers made from number 7 plastic. (OMG my drink bottle is number 7)
For Freezing: Do use foil, freezer paper, or number 4 plastic freezer bags. Don't use any glass or plastic not labeled FREEZER SAFE-extreme cold can cause both to crack. Don't put hot food in plastic bags or containers-let it cool first.
For Pantry Storage: Do use glass, aluminum, stainless steel, or number 5 plastic. Don't store food in any plastic container made from number 3,6, or 7 plastic.
Now... let's see if I still remember how to reference. =)
But that's only a quick 10 minute research. Don't take my word from those articles... conduct more extensive research if you want to be sure. But yeah, just make sure you're using the right plastics for the right purposes!
today...
@4:11 pm
Saturday, 19 April 2008
(We Need a Cell Name)
In conjunction with the last post, of course I was missing one very important group of people in the photo set - my beloved cell group for this semester!!! They are so special to me that they get a special post dedicated to them! =)
... and we are headed by non other than MINGSTER!!!! *Hurrahhhh* Mingster is an awesome cell leader, full of knowledge in everything, God-loving and truly caring for his cell members! He drives a Yaris... and has had some lemony snickets - a series of unfortunate events with his car.
And this is our very beautiful cell helper Usha...! =) Even though the day that she had a big HUMUNGOUS migraine... when her left eye went crazy and half of it became blurry and half of it started seeing everything in neon colours... she still came for cell! And plus, shes awesome because - she's my first cell leader!!! =)
Our musicians Pauline and Kimberly who do worship most of the time because they can play the guitar and sing well!
Then we have our resident magicians... Isaac and Yukiko (BF and GF)... that do really annoying magic tricks without telling us how they do it! *hpmh*
Yukiko likes to shop =) You'll know something is wrong if she doesn't shop at least once during the week. So if she's shopped, you know she's had a good week =)
We have our resident Engineers and housemates who are always full of knowledge with their Engineering brains - John Chin (with GF Iris who's not in our cell but makes a special appearance in this post because I couldn't find a picture of JC just by himself!)
...and Ah Fook is super super cool... why? Because... well actually his mother is cooler la... his mother born him on the same day as me! *high 5 to Ah Fook's mother*!
Ah Fook also *thinks* he can drive faster than me. The time and place was set...Mingster was already set to be the girl in the middle that waves the flags...we were going to have a race on Manning Road and I was there waiting for him, but he never showed up. I guess he chickened out =)
Vera (Ah Fook's GF) who I thought was 18 *wah lau* but she's not and I won't tell you how old she is! GUESS! We all think Vera is super pretty la. =) and she can cook super good!
Vanessa (Miss Bling) with my ex-cellie Tan Wei Yue (who is not in our cell this semester). I like this picture because green rocks my socks off!...
Jonathan Leong (not to be confused with John Chin).. so we call Jonathan Leong (J.Leo) and John Chin (JC). We have cell group every week at J.Leo's house and his house mate Kenny who also joins us (with his super straight hair.) I found this picture... @_@ Can't believe it has all the guys in it. Mingster, Kenny, J.Leo, Ah Fook and JC.
Abby who likes to play that little hand held game... I think they call it PS2 or what har? I don't know la... but it looks like she's playing that little game in this picture right? =) But I like this picture of her.
Abby's BF Raymond who also plays that little hand held game set-thing. But here, we see him playing with a mixer.
Gregory who is an awesome artist and has a really wierd sense of humour.
His super cute sister Manzy and the BF Chris.
Oh yeah... and then there's me. I'm also part of this geng cell! hehe... but I'm sure you all know who I am. hoho~ Double photographic evidence of myself just in case you forget. =)
And yup, that's my cell group whom I love very muchly! <3
Yesterday I also played the car racing game with Geng Heng. He gave me a 1 minute head start and I still lost to him by 1 second. >_> Lousy la but very exciting to play the game!
We also have many interesting conversations... (which I shall blog about another time) and we also play stupid UWA games to annoy those that don't know how to play HEHE...
Yah... introducing my GENG cell (which does not have a name) whom I love very muchly! <3
today...
@11:59 am
Tuesday, 15 April 2008
Deep Spirited Friendships
I’ll never forget one thing my good friend said to me. I think it’ll be a saying that’ll go into the history books. She said something like... “Friends are a privilege to each other and you should be privileged to have me as a friend.”
You see, she’s the type that chooses friends. She doesn’t simply make friends with whoever comes her way and I think somewhere in there is a very wise owl indeed. If you think about it, there are probably people in our lives who have screwed us around and done things to us to make us feel miserable and horrible about ourselves. Those relationships aren’t worth the time and effort. So why waste time on those relationships when you could be spending it harvesting another relationship that is worth keeping – an eternal friendship.
Wise people don’t try to microwave friendships and relationships. They don’t try to squeeze the lives of people that matter to them into the cracks. They’re constantly making an effort to meet up with the people that matter to them and putting them first above all else. Why? Because there is something in the relationship that’s worth investing the time into. Why would we spend our time on people that don’t make us happy, that don’t encourage us, that don’t support the things we do, that don’t cherish the things we do, that don’t believe in us. Lately, I’ve realised that people on the outside aren’t always what they are on the inside. It sickens me to the bone when I think about how some people can be so cruel and so unthoughtful.
You know, I think saying I miss you is like saying I love you. I don’t simply like to say I miss you to anyone because actually I don’t tend to miss people easily. Unless I really have missed you, then I’ll say it – but it’s something that I heard that gets thrown around a lot. It’s just like saying I love you... you should only say it when you mean it and not out of compulsion. So don’t feel bad if I’ve never said I missed you to you – because, well I don’t tend to miss people easily. =) And if I love you... well you’ll know it too because I would have said it to you if I had the chance already.
A Harvard research showed that when one person joins a group – it cuts their risk of dying in half! Imagine that! They also found that people who do exercise with weak relationships die earlier than people who don’t exercise but have good relationships. (Sorry I don’t have any referencing – but it was all from Ps Mark Pomery’s sermon) So anyway, it just goes to show the importance of relationships in our lives.
You know, we should set a higher standard for ourselves and not simply keep friends with the next Joe Bloggs that comes our way. Making friends and keeping friends is a whole different thing. We should evaluate and see whether the friendship is worth keeping in the first place, after all, not everyone has good intentions. Most of all, we should have the confidence to say to anyone “it’s a privilege for you to be my friend.” I think we should always carry that kind of mentality around – I don’t think it’s boastful or being better than anyone else, but if you have that kind of mentality then no one can break you. You’ll then have the confidence to meet many people and see which relationships are worth investing in for the long term and which relationships you can reach out to.
Friends come and go... but at the end of it all, the ones that are still standing beside you and supporting you all the way are the relationships that you in turn should feel privileged to have.
Don't worry if you didn't make it into the photos for this post - it just means that you're not special enough to me... and well if you made a double or triple appearance in this post - then feel EXTRA special!!!
JUST KIDDING!
today...
@7:32 pm
Sunday, 13 April 2008
No internet
For the past month, I didn’t have internet connection at home. What to do in this day and age when you have no internet connection at all! It’s such a weird thing when you don’t have internet at home because that’s the main source of entertainment for most people these days. We all go and hide in our rooms chatting away on the net, buying stuff off Ebay from the net, reading blogs on the net, researching information for assignments on the net... our lives are so consumed by the internet!
But as I didn’t have the internet for over a month, I had to find other means of entertaining myself. I ended up watching a lot of TV because that was the second best thing. I realised that Tuesday is the only day with good TV shows - and Sunday too. But without then net, I found that I had more time to myself to really read a lot. I spent a lot of time reading the bible when I would have otherwise been on the net, I spent time with friends when I would have otherwise been on the net, I spent time cleaning my room when I would have otherwise been on the net, I spent time exercising when I would have otherwise been on the net, I spent time cleaning my car and the house when I would have otherwise been on the net...Without the net, I found I had A LOT of time.
Over lives are so consumed by the internet that I think most people would find it difficult to survive without the internet. One day without the internet feels like a looooong time – and there is this compulsion to check emails, to check blogs, to check this and that. We would feel so unconnected to the world if we didn’t have the internet right? The world is basically at our finger tips with the internet. But we should realise that getting back to reality is also important.
So we should get out and smell the fresh air instead being stuck in our stale aired rooms sitting behind out laptops and computers and typing away on the net.
So after this one month hiatus without the internet, I’ve decided that I’m going to spend limited amounts of time on the internet at home. I literally spend my day at work in front of the computer, and to come back home and strain my back and neck with more computer usage is just plain silly. Recently, Ps Mark Pomery (House-look-alike) talked about switching off ALL gadgets from 6pm – 10pm? I think that’s a bit much... but maybe between 6-8pm would be ok to turn off all mobile phones, to turn off the internet, to turn off the TV and radio and just take some time out and talk with people in your house hold, read a book, go meet a friend, go to the gym – anything but being attached to the gadgets that have become so much a part of our lives. Once we have less reliance of these gadgets – we turn to people who we will learn to rely on more. If you think about it, what’s more important – these gadgets that help us to keep in touch with friends and family or the real bond and fellowship we can experience by being with friends and family and interacting with them.
And here's a youtube for laughs. Most of you have probably already seen this... I saw this on Rove last night and it just made me crack!
today...
@11:52 pm
Friday, 11 April 2008
Theres a monster under your bed...
I must admit... I'm a little retarded sometimes. Ok... forgive me, I'm very retarded sometimes. Ever since... ever, I occassionally get scared at night before going to sleep because I'm afraid of monsters hiding under my bed. It's so stupid right?! How can a monster be hiding under my bed... But late at night I don't like to get off my bed unless I need to go to the toilet... I usually do a quantum leap for the door... because I'm so scared that hands will come out from under the bed and grab my ankles! *argh* nightmare! Scary right!
And even when I'm sitting on the toilet doing my business as you do... I get these wierd images in my head of snakes and hands coming up from the toilet bowl to touch my bum! Eeeeeeeee!!!
So right... since there could potentially be monsters under my bed... there naturally has to be potential for monsters to be inside my cupboard right??? So I always close my cupboard doors just before I go to sleep because I don't want anything peeking at me while I'm sleeping.
AND THEN...
This morning.... I woke up and my cupboard door was OPEN!!! Only one of the doors was open ... !@#$%" How the heck did it open all itself? Actually it's happened a few times already and I'm pretty sure that I close the doors just before I go to sleep. In fact, when I'm using my laptop on my bed, I don't like having the cupboard door open either... it's just creepy. And plus, if my mother were to come into my room in the morning, I would know because I'm generally a pretty light sleeper... so it comes back to the question of HOW THE HECK DID THE CUPBOARD DOOR OPEN?
In fact, you know I don't even know what I think these monsters are supposed to look like... it's so stupid. I don't know why I'm so scared all the time...
There are monster forces inside my room I think... Anyway... stay tuned for part two of this story...
"What lurks inside weiwei's cupboard? (during the day time)"
today...
@5:21 pm
yours truly ♥
the author
♥ samuel tan
♥ she really likes green stuff.
photography is one of her on the side hobbies (when she has time) ♥
♥ lomography and toy cameras
she ♥'s teacups and homeware
she is a skinfood addict... and nars lover! ♥
she hates super dislikes the cold.
she ♥'s 45 degrees in perth.
she enjoys reading autobiographies.
she would ♥ to travel around the world... one day.
she is a child of God ♥
... and she gets called a lot of names!