(*) There's a kind of hush
All over the world tonight
All over the world
You can hear the sound of lovers in love
You know what I mean
Just the two of us
And nobody else in sight
There's nobody else and I'm feelin good
Just holding you tight
(**) So listen very carefully
Get closer now and you will see what I mean
It isn't a dream
The only sound that you will hear
Is when I whisper in your ear I love you
For ever and ever
There's a kind of hush
All over the world tonight
All over the world
People just like us are fallin' love
Repeat (**)
Repeat (*)
Sunday, February 21, 2010
There's a Kind of Hush....
Originally by the Carpenters, but I love the version by Engelbert Humperdinck!
Thoughts again
Thoughts
There are two types of people. Those that hold you back, and those who push you to seek new heights.
Example of the former: My P6 teacher, back in ACJS. Anyone familiar with the PSLE streaming process, knows that just before the finals, one submits the list of Sec Schools to apply for. My parents made me apply for top SAP schools, believing I could make it. My teacher, upon seeing my choices, laughed out in front of the entire class, and said I was over-estimating my potential and that I should have for my affiliated Sec Sch instead. Left an indelible mark.
She's a prime example of those who care about "knowing your limitations". "Don't dream big, coz the bigger the expectation, the greater the disappointment." Perhaps they have gone thru some major upset in their lives, and want others to learn from their expectations.
Indeed, this type of persona exists in large concentrations here. Just work in any govt agency & you'll find a plethora of pessimistic opinions abound, poo-pooing any attempts for lofty aspirations. "They will never accept it. You don't understand the situation. You are still young and naive. YOU WILL LEARN SOON ENOUGH!"
They are also the types who would go out and ensure their predictions come true.
Living in such environment, one cannot help but get absorbed in the limitations, the pessimism masquerading as "realism". "Sorry, you just don't have enough experience. We prefer someone with 7 years of (irrelevant) experience." Capability has nothing to do with it.
Soon, you'll echo similar emotions: "She's too good for me", "You'll never make it, so why are you trying?","Don't venture, stay home and safe". I've become a masquerade myself.
Then there is another.
To meet someone in life, who "has done it all" and still believes that there are no barriers, is simply astounding. He is a leader in his field, a devoted family man, with strong religious roots, and serves his country above and beyond the call of duty. His favorite phrase "For a caterpillar to become a butterfly, it needs to go into a cocoon. In the chrysalis, the caterpillar literally breaks down to the molecular level, before it gets reformed and reborn into new possibilities as a butterfly! From crawling about, to soaring high in the heavens".
Little cynical me always chokes a little at this point, coz I simply can't buy into his belief on a sub-conscious level. I'm, as he tells me, am shackled by the barriers and limits that my environment has imposed upon me.
No, that's a lie, the barriers around me, I've imposed on myself. Those limits to the possibilities, I shut off, coz I can no longer face the possibility of failure, of disappointment.
There are boundless possibilities, I am limited only to my own imagination. I must return to the faith of my youth, and that so long as I believe it will happen, and I work hard enough at it, it will come true for me! I will move from the former to the latter, and unshackle myself and live to the fullest!
Friends, believe in me also, as I believe in you!
There are two types of people. Those that hold you back, and those who push you to seek new heights.
Example of the former: My P6 teacher, back in ACJS. Anyone familiar with the PSLE streaming process, knows that just before the finals, one submits the list of Sec Schools to apply for. My parents made me apply for top SAP schools, believing I could make it. My teacher, upon seeing my choices, laughed out in front of the entire class, and said I was over-estimating my potential and that I should have for my affiliated Sec Sch instead. Left an indelible mark.
She's a prime example of those who care about "knowing your limitations". "Don't dream big, coz the bigger the expectation, the greater the disappointment." Perhaps they have gone thru some major upset in their lives, and want others to learn from their expectations.
Indeed, this type of persona exists in large concentrations here. Just work in any govt agency & you'll find a plethora of pessimistic opinions abound, poo-pooing any attempts for lofty aspirations. "They will never accept it. You don't understand the situation. You are still young and naive. YOU WILL LEARN SOON ENOUGH!"
They are also the types who would go out and ensure their predictions come true.
Living in such environment, one cannot help but get absorbed in the limitations, the pessimism masquerading as "realism". "Sorry, you just don't have enough experience. We prefer someone with 7 years of (irrelevant) experience." Capability has nothing to do with it.
Soon, you'll echo similar emotions: "She's too good for me", "You'll never make it, so why are you trying?","Don't venture, stay home and safe". I've become a masquerade myself.
Then there is another.
To meet someone in life, who "has done it all" and still believes that there are no barriers, is simply astounding. He is a leader in his field, a devoted family man, with strong religious roots, and serves his country above and beyond the call of duty. His favorite phrase "For a caterpillar to become a butterfly, it needs to go into a cocoon. In the chrysalis, the caterpillar literally breaks down to the molecular level, before it gets reformed and reborn into new possibilities as a butterfly! From crawling about, to soaring high in the heavens".
Little cynical me always chokes a little at this point, coz I simply can't buy into his belief on a sub-conscious level. I'm, as he tells me, am shackled by the barriers and limits that my environment has imposed upon me.
No, that's a lie, the barriers around me, I've imposed on myself. Those limits to the possibilities, I shut off, coz I can no longer face the possibility of failure, of disappointment.
There are boundless possibilities, I am limited only to my own imagination. I must return to the faith of my youth, and that so long as I believe it will happen, and I work hard enough at it, it will come true for me! I will move from the former to the latter, and unshackle myself and live to the fullest!
Friends, believe in me also, as I believe in you!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Annual Ritual
My family usually bakes our Chinese New Year cakes, and this year is no different. My mom's chocolate walnut cake is very well-liked, and we make it for our friends, relatives and neighbors every year. In fact, even gave the recipe out to TPS' mom who wanted it after tasting the one I massacred about 2 weeks back.
Unlike that one though, today's cakes (There were four of them) came out fabulous! Each one was not burnt, and the mixture was well-distributed throughout the entire cake. Only one cake kind of cracked at the top, but still looked damn yummy.
It's fun baking this cake. A lot of work, beating the egg white (separately) until it becomes a white foamy, fluffy mixture (texture is like the soap at those foam parties!). Then the tasting of the raw ingredients (chocolate rice and walnuts taste damn good in cake batter mix! The use of the satay stick to check if the cake is ready or not... et... and the smell...
Nothing, NOTHING beats the smell of freshly baked cakes. And the chance to eat it immediately once it comes out of the oven: SHEER HEAVEN. When the cake is still hot, and taking a bite into the moist, warm chocolate and walnuts, all the while inhaling the thick, intoxicating, chocolate-y scent. All my diet plans just get blown away...
There are walnut cakes, and there are walnut cakes. Heck, even Bengawan Solo distributes the walnut cakes as a standard gift for the baby's full month. But it simply can't compare with home fare. Coz each cake is really baked with loving care. TLC IS one of the ingredients; machines just can't produce the same attention to detail, nor generate the same giddy anticipation as one waiting for the cake to come out of the oven!
That's why CNY is great! Traditions, rituals, and the excuse to eat and eat and eat!
Happy Chinese New Year!
It's fun baking this cake. A lot of work, beating the egg white (separately) until it becomes a white foamy, fluffy mixture (texture is like the soap at those foam parties!). Then the tasting of the raw ingredients (chocolate rice and walnuts taste damn good in cake batter mix! The use of the satay stick to check if the cake is ready or not... et... and the smell...
Nothing, NOTHING beats the smell of freshly baked cakes. And the chance to eat it immediately once it comes out of the oven: SHEER HEAVEN. When the cake is still hot, and taking a bite into the moist, warm chocolate and walnuts, all the while inhaling the thick, intoxicating, chocolate-y scent. All my diet plans just get blown away...
There are walnut cakes, and there are walnut cakes. Heck, even Bengawan Solo distributes the walnut cakes as a standard gift for the baby's full month. But it simply can't compare with home fare. Coz each cake is really baked with loving care. TLC IS one of the ingredients; machines just can't produce the same attention to detail, nor generate the same giddy anticipation as one waiting for the cake to come out of the oven!
That's why CNY is great! Traditions, rituals, and the excuse to eat and eat and eat!
Happy Chinese New Year!
Monday, February 08, 2010
Thoughts about Stuff
One of the reasons why I joined this subsidiary back in Sep 08 was that I wanted to contribute to the creation of the perfect company, a chance to right the things that went wrong, a fresh new beginning, to make a difference.
Someone just provoked me to think of the stuff that needs to be done, to make sure the subsidiary (Child) does not suffer the same fate as the mother company (Mother).
Obviously not everything can be done in a single night. Will try to think as I go along.
1) Fire incompetent people
That's the first and foremost policy. The Mother is a government statutory board. This means CIVIL SERVICE, means *almost* lifelong employment, means seniority takes precedence over goodness of ideas, means jackasses hire other jackasses to safeguard their jobs, means playing politics so that they don't have to do work, means ceaselessly avoiding blame by delegating upwards/downwards. No matter how advanced or well-governed a country is by its bureaucracy, this will exist. Worst is when jackasses perpetuate themselves, and entrench themselves further and further.
Bosses feel disinclined to fire staff unless they commit a large enough boo-boo; means small, multiple, repeated boo-boos are tolerated. The incompetents just plod along, and their job scope get smaller as bosses and staff go around them to get work done. They sit there and wait for end of workday, and scoot off. All the cares of the company ignored.
They are leeches! Apart from the undeserving pay, they suck the life out of the other motivated staff who work hard but have no chance to rise coz their paths are block by the leeches. What happens is that the good ones leave when their growth is stunted, leaving the bad ones proliferating and thriving in this environment. It promotes a culture of sloth, of covering your asses, of not daring to make decisions and always looking upwards. They care more about procedures, coz that's a safe haven, something that will never go wrong, that's "By the Book".
I can see the leeches festering in the Child, just as it had with the Mother. Once the leeches attain critical mass, the body is beyond salvation. The solution is to identify these leeches (very simple exercise), and remove them as an example to the rest of the staff that unlike the Mother, incompetence is NOT tolerated. Only high performing members need apply, no free loaders allowed to taint their purity.
I know it sounds extreme, but it is necessary. It must be done immediately, for the Child is already suffering from the repeated blood loss.
Someone just provoked me to think of the stuff that needs to be done, to make sure the subsidiary (Child) does not suffer the same fate as the mother company (Mother).
Obviously not everything can be done in a single night. Will try to think as I go along.
1) Fire incompetent people
That's the first and foremost policy. The Mother is a government statutory board. This means CIVIL SERVICE, means *almost* lifelong employment, means seniority takes precedence over goodness of ideas, means jackasses hire other jackasses to safeguard their jobs, means playing politics so that they don't have to do work, means ceaselessly avoiding blame by delegating upwards/downwards. No matter how advanced or well-governed a country is by its bureaucracy, this will exist. Worst is when jackasses perpetuate themselves, and entrench themselves further and further.
Bosses feel disinclined to fire staff unless they commit a large enough boo-boo; means small, multiple, repeated boo-boos are tolerated. The incompetents just plod along, and their job scope get smaller as bosses and staff go around them to get work done. They sit there and wait for end of workday, and scoot off. All the cares of the company ignored.
They are leeches! Apart from the undeserving pay, they suck the life out of the other motivated staff who work hard but have no chance to rise coz their paths are block by the leeches. What happens is that the good ones leave when their growth is stunted, leaving the bad ones proliferating and thriving in this environment. It promotes a culture of sloth, of covering your asses, of not daring to make decisions and always looking upwards. They care more about procedures, coz that's a safe haven, something that will never go wrong, that's "By the Book".
I can see the leeches festering in the Child, just as it had with the Mother. Once the leeches attain critical mass, the body is beyond salvation. The solution is to identify these leeches (very simple exercise), and remove them as an example to the rest of the staff that unlike the Mother, incompetence is NOT tolerated. Only high performing members need apply, no free loaders allowed to taint their purity.
I know it sounds extreme, but it is necessary. It must be done immediately, for the Child is already suffering from the repeated blood loss.
Ode to Carrot Cake
carrot cake,
carrot cake,
every evening i eat thee...
lotsa eggs,
black or white,
it looks happy to be ate by meeeeeee...
blosssoms of cai po make you bloom and grow,
bloom and grow,
even faaaattter
carrot cake,
carrot cake,
bless your yummy sweet taste foreverrrrrrrrrr!
carrot cake,
every evening i eat thee...
lotsa eggs,
black or white,
it looks happy to be ate by meeeeeee...
blosssoms of cai po make you bloom and grow,
bloom and grow,
even faaaattter
carrot cake,
carrot cake,
bless your yummy sweet taste foreverrrrrrrrrr!
Am I Lost, or Do I Know Exactly Where I Am Heading?
Yesterday, I went down to the nearby coffeeshop to buy dinner for my family. While waiting for my food to cook, I walked over to the nearby 7-11 to browse a little. Along the way, I saw this couple...
You might say, that they were any other couple around, perfectly ordinary couple in fact. They were just sitting, no, squatting in front of the local hair salon. Rather plump and mature couple, I would say, and a couple that was completely lost in the miracle that is ... their PSPs.
Can you just visualize the scene:
They looked about 30+ years old. In their normal, drab even, tees and shorts, squatting outside the local hair salon, and playing their PSPs. They each had one, and were not in fact talking to each other. Maybe they were playing against each other, maybe not. That's how they had spent at least 20 minutes of their Sunday evening.
They didn't actually look happy; they just felt like that to me. A couple, content with their entertainment, huddled close to each other, with no longing for greatness, no incessant hunger for something more than what they had right now, no disappointment for their current body state...
Reminds me of my chats with this old friend of mine. Every half a year, we would meet up, and instantly the topic will revert to our laments how we are never satisfied with our lives, how we always aim for something more, how we are never truly happy. There is always something lacking, we would say, that keeps us from being content. It's the knowledge that there's something better out there, that's achievable, attainable, just a little out of our grasp.
So we live on, leading unhappy, unsatisfied, unmeaningful lives. And we meet up, and we lament, again and again. Perhaps, one day, we will be as blessed as the PSP couple, living happy, carefree, fulfilling lives without wont.
Not today...
You might say, that they were any other couple around, perfectly ordinary couple in fact. They were just sitting, no, squatting in front of the local hair salon. Rather plump and mature couple, I would say, and a couple that was completely lost in the miracle that is ... their PSPs.
Can you just visualize the scene:
They looked about 30+ years old. In their normal, drab even, tees and shorts, squatting outside the local hair salon, and playing their PSPs. They each had one, and were not in fact talking to each other. Maybe they were playing against each other, maybe not. That's how they had spent at least 20 minutes of their Sunday evening.
They didn't actually look happy; they just felt like that to me. A couple, content with their entertainment, huddled close to each other, with no longing for greatness, no incessant hunger for something more than what they had right now, no disappointment for their current body state...
Reminds me of my chats with this old friend of mine. Every half a year, we would meet up, and instantly the topic will revert to our laments how we are never satisfied with our lives, how we always aim for something more, how we are never truly happy. There is always something lacking, we would say, that keeps us from being content. It's the knowledge that there's something better out there, that's achievable, attainable, just a little out of our grasp.
So we live on, leading unhappy, unsatisfied, unmeaningful lives. And we meet up, and we lament, again and again. Perhaps, one day, we will be as blessed as the PSP couple, living happy, carefree, fulfilling lives without wont.
Not today...
Thursday, February 04, 2010
Place I wanna go...
Poison Ivy - Kranji Countryside
Halia - Botanical Gardens
Bark Cafe - Upper Changi Road North
Garden Slug - Joo Chiat
Halia - Botanical Gardens
Bark Cafe - Upper Changi Road North
Garden Slug - Joo Chiat
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Hurt my back...
Playing tennis with bj & jh on saturday evening. Didn't realize how bad it was until I tried, agonizingly to climb into bed... 10 mins spent bent over, with the muscular spasms coming in unrelenting waves. Couldn't stand back up, couldn't climb back in.
Haven't had this problem in such a long time! The last time I hurt so bad, it was at a skating rink. I fell completely backwards, but instead of falling on my big fat bum, like every other average guy attempting to ice-skate, I felt directly on my back bone area. Complete impact... Afterwards I couldn't walk properly.
This time around, I could walk, even walk quite fast, but I have trouble during transition; standing to sitting, standing to lying. Sigh, can't exercise, can't move about much, all I can do is eat... and eat and eat and eat...
It's ok, it's just a minor setback! I will do it, now that I have a reason to do it! :) More about that another time...
Haven't had this problem in such a long time! The last time I hurt so bad, it was at a skating rink. I fell completely backwards, but instead of falling on my big fat bum, like every other average guy attempting to ice-skate, I felt directly on my back bone area. Complete impact... Afterwards I couldn't walk properly.
This time around, I could walk, even walk quite fast, but I have trouble during transition; standing to sitting, standing to lying. Sigh, can't exercise, can't move about much, all I can do is eat... and eat and eat and eat...
It's ok, it's just a minor setback! I will do it, now that I have a reason to do it! :) More about that another time...
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