Goodbye great grandma

On Saturday we said goodbye to a great lady who has had a big influence in my life. My great-grandmother passed away at a ripe old age of 94, and she left behind many generations who all love her fondly.

Being the eldest great grandchild in the family, she pampered me like any great grandmother would. She stayed just a level below our unit and I would always go to her house to play when I was younger. I remembered the times when I used to drag her to accompany me back home when I did something wrong and was afraid to be punished by my parents. Being the loving great grandmother, she was always there to shield me when I got myself into trouble as a kid. I was a mischievous kid but she never raised her voice at me and always loved playing with me.

Great grandma had a weakness for coffee and anything sweet. I would always remember fondly the memory of her asking for coffee when we went to the hospital to visit her. She refused to take food and other beverages, but coffee was the only thing she would glady take.

Goodbye great grandma. I'm sure that you are in a better place and we will always miss you...

Heavy Thoughts

How fast time passes by, in the blink of an eye, it is now the end of February. 2011 has so far been good to me, though it could have been better. In 2010, mistakes were made and lessons were learnt, and no matter how painful or tiring the journey has been, here we are today living to fight another day. There is a lot going on in my life right now, but I'm staying strong because I have people that I need to support, people who look up to me. And I'm glad that there will always be people in my life whom I can count on, and that keeps me going. However, there are some battles that need to be fought alone, and it is going to be tough, but I know that at the end of it, I will turn out to be a much stronger person.

Here is to those strong souls out there who never believe in giving up..

Lazy Sunday

I've just picked up on Google Adsense and enabled advertisements on my blogs. I've actually wanted to do this a long time ago, but never had the time to sit down and go through the setup process. Well, lets see when it will start generating some income for me :)

Was with my colleagues at Bishan Park on Friday night for dinner and some chilling out and it was as usual fun hanging out them. We are the group of singles and were also there for each other on Valentine's day.

I'm glad to be back, though my roles for this company have changed slightly, at least for now temporarily. I'm loving this role because I've always been a hands on and get dirty person. The past few days have been filled with training and grooming the executives, and I really do think they know a lot more than 1 week ago. Monday will be show-time for them, and I wish them well.

Going to have some home-cooked dinner shortly and then I'll be heading out. Hope you had a great Sunday!

Worst Valentine's Day Gifts

Valentine's day is just around the corner and yes, that means more business for the shopping malls! They say love and respect is the most important thing in a relationship and not the present that you give, but here are some no-nos on what to buy. Even though I'm not attached, I know us females(or males) may not fully appreciate the following gifts:

1. Slimming cream/pills: Your partner may be chubby but she certainly does not need you to remind her that she needs to lose weight.

2. Acne/pimple or wrinkle-reducing products: Sure, not everyone has flawless skin but we dont need you telling us we need help.

3. Hair loss products: Need I say more?

4. Plastic flowers: Come on, we would rather have no flowers than plastic flowers.

5. Hair removal products: Anyone with a brain will know how insulting it can be to be asked indirectly to remove excess hair. What's so bad with being hairy?

6. Kitchen appliances: Think she would love that new state-of-the-art toaster? The only thing that is going to be toast is you.

7. Fake jewellery: Either go for the good stuff or avoid buying jewellery at all. Your partner will not be too pleased when that fake piece starts rusting.

8. Nothing: If you are in debt or a struggling student or trying to make ends meet, you are excused. Other than that, girls appreciate even a simple gift that is meaningful. There are lots of fabulous gifts that can be purchased for under 50 bucks if you are on a budget. If you intend not to give anything, dont expect any good old loving for the next few weeks, or forever.

Hope it gives you some insight on gift ideas. Good luck to all the couples out there! For singles like me, lets keep the love flowing people!

What is the world coming to

Just read on yahoo news that a 13 year old boy from Taiwan has been infected with AIDS through sex. The virus was passed to him by a 50 year old man. What the hell is happening to the world? Just another day, I read that a plumber has been jailed for having sex with his daughter, and it is believed to be Singapore's first case of consensual incest. This is seriously messed up shit.

You cant help but be turned off by these kind of news. I know I am.

Hello 2011

Goodbye 2010 and hello 2011. How have you been my friends?

One of my resolutions for 2011is to update this blog more regularly. How ironic that is, considering the fact that this post is way overdue. I've been through quite a bit of drama in 2010 and I would say 2011 would remain this way :) Let's see, in 2010, I've found and lost love, made new friends, met some really interesting people, pick up some unhealthy habits (I've kicked away 1 thank god), reached the peak of my career and then plunged head first into the depths of hell towards the end of the year.

One thing remains the same: I'm still loving my english tv series/sitcoms. I've watched so many shows worth chasing and dying for: Mad men, desperate housewives, stargate atlantis, californication, two and a half men, gossip girl, house, grey's anatomy and many many many more.

Just gotten myself a new netbook some time ago and it feels so good to be carrying such a sleek nifty gadget around knowing that it can do so much more things than my mobile phone. This is my trusty companion when I'm in between appointments or passing time before I go for my yoga class. Tried running photoshop on it and the performance wasnt too pleasant for me, even though it got the job done eventually. So yes, netbook is great for surfing, watching your favorite videos and preparing your documents, anything more you want out of it can be overkill.

Chris it's 530am in the morning. One more resolution I need to stick to this year is to adjust my body clock back to one of a normal human being. Tata people, and happy chinese new year to all :)

Holistic Healing

I am currently into holistic healing and have been actively doing some research and experiments with my lifestyle. Holistic healing in short means taking a holistic approach to life when seeking treatment for imbalances and choosing to live a more balanced lifestyle. Some holistic therapies I am incorporating into my lifestyle include aromatherapy, yoga and herbal remedies. I am hoping to add in meditation as a daily routine but I have been too busy and distracted to get started on this.

Holistic healing is not itself a method of treatment, but rather an approach to how treatment should be applied. It aims to address all parts of the individual, not just the physical aspect of a person where there is a lack of disease and pain. It is not intended as a one time fix but on ongoing journey of discovery in search of finding the answers to living better and healthier, and striving for wholeness. Indeed I find this approach to lifestyle an inspiring one; we are often so caught up with our career and other things in life that we seldom devote enough time for ourselves mentally and spiritually.

I am particular interested in herbal infusions. An herbal infusion is the result of steeping large amounts of plant material in boiling water. The steeping process can take from thirty minutes to many hours, depending on the type of plant material being used. Roots, barks, leaves, seeds, berries, and flowers can all be made into herbal infusions.

There are so many different theories on tea drinking, some say it contains more caffeine than coffee or it dehydrates you. But more and more studies are now showing that tea drinkers may live a healthier and longer life as they reap the benefits of flavonoids and polyphenol antioxidants which are found in abundance in tea. One of the teas scientists and nutritionists recommend drinking on a regular basis is green tea, which I am trying to do so on a regular basis. I myself believe that that there are more benefits associated with drinking tea which far outweighs the saying that caffeine is bad for you. The best thing about an herbal infusion is that it contains no part of the camellia sinensis plant, but is made entirely from herbs, flowers, berries or other leaves. Because there is no "tea" in it, it has no caffeine. And most of all, I am a huge tea fan so I really enjoy drinking tea.

I will blog more about my journey on holistic healing when I have researched more. I might even consider starting a separate blog on this if I have a lot more to share. Do drop me a note if you have anything to share with me on holistic healing.

New start for a new year

Hello! Yes, it has been ages since I last updated my blog but here I am!

So much has happened in these few months. Well, I've managed to do something I wanted to do all along. Pick up a healthy sport! Yeh, I've joined one of those big commercial yoga centres, purely for the convenience of the location and the variety of classes offered. The membership doesnt come cheap, and whats more I'm holding a prestige card, but I guess different people choose different things in life to reward themselves for. I'm now one happy yogi who tries to devote at least four days a week practising. There was a period when I had some free time and I practise one hour to a few hours everyday for about a month, and I swear, you really improve your flexibility and energy level by leaps. It gets easier to put your forehead past your knee in the head-to-knee forward bend and headstands get a little easier to get into. I'm also really honored to have trained under the yoga world champion of 2009, Master Dev, and it's really sad that he has left the centre. I wish him all the best though.

And I'm off to a terrific start at my new job! I'm now working as an account manager at an IT company, and so far I'm really pleased with my role and the work environment. This job doesnt tie me down to specific roles but on the contrary, allows me to define some of the roles I want which is great. I get to meet so many different people everyday, and I'm learning so much from my boss. He is a brillant businessman, and I'm thrilled that he has taken me under his wing to teach me all about the business world. I've left my previous company on good terms with everyone, and given a chance, I would chosen this same company as my first job in a heartbeat. It was a small company and yes we were understaffed at times, but we were given some of the most interesting and challenging jobs in the IT industry. I've learned and experienced so much from my previous company that I'm most certainly sure a bigger and more well-known company would never have given me the chance to do so.

I'll end here for now. I'll be back real soon!