The Holstee Manifesto

March 19, 2012

There just isn’t enough hours to use in a day! With all the things I have to juggle with, I find myself not having enough me-time to think and reflect. Like right now, even as I’m writing, there’s the nagging feeling asking me to abort this now and return to what I really should be doing.

And so before I return to all the IgE-mediated hypersensitivity and food allergy, I just wanted to share this thing I stumbled upon last week. It’s called ‘The Holstee Manifesto’, and I think you can buy it as a wall poster. Alright, stopping here. Will write more when my conscience allows me to slack a little! 🙂

Resolutions and Such

January 6, 2012

In the past I have the habit of writing down all my resolutions and aim to get them done. My naive self never changed in all those years, each time thinking that “perhaps this year I’ll actually get all my resolutions resolved”. But obviously, there was never once where I got all of them done. At best I’ll get half of them checked, but most of the time it’s just one or two checked out of the ten or so items.

So! This year I won’t bother. Yup. That’s it. End of story.

…..

Or maybe I’ll just scribble my resolutions down somewhere and hide it. *shifty eyes*

Shit. This is a living proof of old habits die hard.

Boo

December 10, 2011

it’s 3 a.m. and i can’t sleep. the mind is so alert that the more i try to fall back into sleep the more agitated i get. and so here i am, doodling around, when i’m not even sure what i really wanna say, or where this post is headed. 🙂

today, (well- technically it’s yesterday) for the first time in a very, VERY long time, ( CNY not counted), the whole family is in the house. as in, my parents and the 3 of us. little brother is finally done with his secondary education in Singapore, and is back home for a while until he leaves again for his college. it’s unnoticeable on a daily basis when one of us is not around, but when everyone’s home, i actually felt the difference. last night they were watching liverpool against some other team. in my sleep i thought i heard them cheer. wonder who won.

anyway- this post is stopping short of any substantial rants or thoughts because i suddenly have an urge to edit some photos i took, hopefully will be able to share them here when i’m done. whenever that is. 😛

this day last year i was at mammoth. ahhh miss…!

Since It’s Rabbit Year-

November 26, 2011

Just seems apt to put up this picture. 😛 Happy (belated) thanksgiving to all who celebrate!

Personally, I have so much to be thankful for. Sure, it’s not always fine and dandy, and there are regrets every now and then, but I learn from them and move on. I miss my friends far, far away, and wished I was there with them doing what we’d always do – eat!, talk about nothing and everything, dress up for Halloween etc, or just hang out. Then again, we’re all exactly where we wanted to be. So I’m not complaining.

Hopefully I’ll get to visit them in the near future. In the meantime, have some turkey (or bunnies) and enjoy every moment with friends and family!

New Template

October 18, 2011

So, I’m testing out this new template. Kinda like it, but hate that I can’t organize them according to the tags/labels and in chronological order (by month) at the sidebar. All my stuff previously on the sidebar are gone. And why is there a search bar at the top right corner! I can’t get rid of it!! Can someone help me with that. 🙁 If this is not working out, I’ll switch back to the old one until they allow us to edit the layout. blergh.

I should be studying now anyway. Going offline. Later!

Addendum: Switched it back to the old template. Blogger peeps please fix the new template!

Connectedness

September 18, 2011

[photo from istock.com]

Sometimes, no matter how you avoid it, it will still happen. ‘It’ can be anything. Human connections, for example. You don’t get to choose who you meet, who your parents are, who your siblings are. Those are already pre-arranged for you, whether you like it or not. You can choose who to be friends with, but you can’t help being acquainted with people who come along your way. Some acquaintances can be brief and temporary, but once you know someone, you can’t undo that (unless you forget them in time, that is). Which brings me to this point: whatever you do or say to others, there will be consequences, regardless of it being significant or otherwise. It may be a few encouraging words, but it may be life-transforming to the person on the receiving end. Or it may be some hurtful words that came out unintentionally, yet was taken seriously and forever scarred the person listening to it. Every day we say and/or do thousands of things to countless people around us, but we don’t know what impact it has on them. Dispose the banana skin on the floor after you ate it, and some construction worker may step on it and break his back, causing him to be paralyzed and be forever bed-bound, and consequently causes him to lose his job. And who knows what may happen after that? Without insurance, his family may starve. Wife may leave him; daughter left school to take care of him, etc. etc. All this because of a reckless behavior of a person who didn’t put much thought in his/her action. Not that this will inevitably happen everytime someone tosses a banana skin on the ground, but point is, there is always a cascade effect to everything we do. It’s just not always obvious or visible.

There’s a Chinese saying that goes, “Think thrice before you do anything”. It’s definitely good advice that everyone should heed.

Singapore Flyer

September 2, 2011

Some pictures taken at the Singapore Flyer. My careless self brought a camera that ran out of battery, so could only take a few shots with my phone.

Oneiroi’s Orb, made up of circular artefacts from the past and present.

Journey of dreams.

View from inside the capsule.

View from above. Breathtaking!

View #2.

View #3.

Bite-size X’s

August 20, 2011

X #1. As I steer my way in and out of the human crowd during peak hours after work, I imagine myself watching my movements from a high vantage point. I must have looked like a tiny blip zig-zagging through the sea of other blips. There are times that I feel it’s harder to maneuver my way amidst the human traffic than it is driving on the 5-lane 405 freeway. Thank goodness PMS only happens once a month, else I’d be bald by now from all the pulling of own hair.

X #2: This island republic is over-saturated with consumption. I don’t mean it in a bad way. But it’s stands out like a sore eye, more so than her neighbors, probably because of its limited land and high human population density. Everywhere I turn, I see something calling out my name, seducing me to buy them. I feel trapped, claustrophobic even, surrounded by lures of Consumption. The irony is, being someone who loves living in big cities, this shouldn’t bother me, yet it does. My being so eerily conscious about this is having an effect on me, something which I can’t quite explain or fully understand. To be pondered upon further.

X #3: Dreams. It’s a big part of my life. I love having all sorts of dreams when I sleep. They say I’m not getting proper rest when I dream, but I couldn’t care less. Life would be less interesting without them, at least for me anyway. These days I have recurring dreams about snowboarding, except its not on snow, but water. (Is there a name for that sport? Don’t know what it’s called.) That, and water theme parks. Roller coasters in water theme parks. There is this particular ride that I keep dreaming about. And I’m constantly looking for someone, people whom I got separated from. It’s either i’m running away from someone, or chasing after someone. Wonder what it means, if it really means something.

X #4: Recently saw ‘Pi’ the movie. Very interesting movie, though can’t say I get the ending. Ivan, if you’re reading this, you should watch it (if you haven’t already)! Promise you’ll find it very interesting. And tell me what you think after watching it.

X #5: Patience is a difficult thing to acquire. Find myself getting antsy about things I have no control over, despite knowing very well I can’t do anything but wait. So for now, wait it is.

TED Talk on Education

August 20, 2011

Many of you may agree that our education system today isn’t doing a great job educating our young ones, and something must be done. This TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson pointed out the problems of our education system today, and urged those who have the ability to make a change do something. I personally think that even if you’re not in the position to make a major difference, this 18-minute video may still benefit you, because who knows, it may change the way you educate your kids in the future. Enjoy!

Weak

August 14, 2011

if ‘saying no’ was an art, then i had to be the worst of the worst artists. still can’t believe i had zero will power in saying no, only to regret it now, which is pointless. too late. this is not the first time it’s happened to me. time and again, i failed to push back whatever force it was (be it people, or circumstances) coming towards me, nudging me to do things i don’t really (or really don’t) want to do. and for whatever reason, i gave in. urghhhhh i so hate myself right now!! why can’t i just say NO???!! i’m good at giving sound advice to friends about this, yet i can’t seem to do it when i most need to act on it. feel like giving myself a kick in the ass!

sure, self-loathing won’t do me any good. i know that. but knowing that doesn’t make me feel any less shittier. maybe i should ban myself from coffee for a week, as a punishment. or ban myself from any human contact (when not at work). maybe i should come up with a more pragmatic idea to help me say ‘no’ the next time i don’t want to do something. in the meantime though, this rant would suffice. i actually feel a tiny bit better than before i started writing. tomorrow’s a brand new week. can’t say i’m really looking forward to it. but one’s gotta do what one’s gotta do. just got to make the best outta it.