EARTH WIND AND FIRE!

EARTH WIND AND FIRE!!!

We've got on a date on 1st Dec!!! I'm putting on my dancing shoes, and you old farts better put up a good show!!!

La Vida es Sueño

La Vida es Sueño - Pedro Caldéron de la Barca

Sueña el rey que es rey, y vive
con este engaño mandando,
disponiendo y gobernando;
y este aplauso, que recibe
prestado, en el viento escribe,
y en cenizas le convierte
la muerte, ¡desdicha fuerte!
¿Que hay quien intente reinar,
viendo que ha de despertar
en el sueño de la muerte?

Sueña el rico en su riqueza,
que más cuidados le ofrece;
sueña el pobre que padece
su miseria y su pobreza;
sueña el que a medrar empieza,
sueña el que afana y pretende,
sueña el que agravia y ofende,
y en el mundo, en conclusión,
todos sueñan lo que son,
aunque ninguno lo entiende.

Yo sueño que estoy aquí
destas prisiones cargado,
y soñé que en otro estado
más lisonjero me vi.
¿Qué es la vida? Un frenesí.
¿Qué es la vida? Una ilusión,
una sombra, una ficción,
y el mayor bien es pequeño:
que toda la vida es sueño,
y los sueños, sueños son.

The Nasi Lemak Story

I have always loved a good satisfying dish of Nasi Lemak (rice cooked in coconut milk). From the hearty portions from dedicated restaurants, to the little coconut leaves packed with goodness at the street stall... Such a simple dish of rice, peanuts, deep fried ikan bilis (small anchovies), cucumber slices and the all-important sambal.

Nasi Lemaks were a staple diet for me growing up. Even now. I remember vividly an incident in junior school when i was 10 or 11. I spent my allowance of the day on a steaming plate of Nasi Lemak at a food stall. The plastic plate was orange (and they usually have burnt marks on them, strange), and the utensils were soft silver metal.

I held my precious plate of Nasi Lemak with two hands, and walked cautiously towards the benches. Just as I took another step forward, a little boy (shorter and younger) ran into me and knocked the plate out of my hands.

The next few moments unfolded in front of my eyes in slow motion.

The orange plate slipped out of my hands...

... it flipped over like a failed frisbee...

... my steaming nasi lemak flew through the sky...

... the rice grains took flight...

... the ikan bilis followed in earnest...

... there goes the peanuts...

... the blob of sambal...

then Silence.

I didn't hear the items land, but then it was just there. My allowance Nasi Lemak, all over the floor. The boy looked up with me, with fear and desperation in his eyes.

I was upset. I was angry. I had no more allowance, and my Nasi Lemak was on the floor.

I stared at him with anger welling in my big wide eyes. He dropped his gaze and then ran away. There i stood, in the awkward divide between the stalls and the benches, with the remains of a Nasi Lemak on the floor at my feet and a hundred pairs of eyes on me. I felt lost, embarassed, angry, sad, helpless.. all in one big mixture of emotions. I frankly just didn't know what to do.

The vendor lady called out to me, and told me it was okay before swiftly dishing me another plate of Nasi Lemak. Her generosity was touching, but at that time, it all happened in a daze. I took the new steaming plate, walked past the forsaken predecessor and tried to pretend like nothing happened at all.

Sowing Seeds

Paranoia is a thought process heavily influenced by excessive anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs concerning a perceived threat towards oneself. In the original Greek, παράνοια (paranoia) simply meansmadness (para = outside; nous = mind). Historically, this characterization was used to describe any delusional state.

Downsizing

As I walked home in my 4-inch (thankfully comfortable) purple heels, I decided that it is time to downsize.

Downsize?

Why downsize?

What am I going to downsize?

On the contrary, it is now increasingly easy to upsize. 50 cents more for a bigger pack of fries and a larger cup of coke (on that note, I hate fastfood with a passion), 2 dollars more for an extra 100ml of fabric softener, 1.50 more for that little extra of something, anything, everything. The environment of the blessed encourages us to consume more and more and more and more.

Buy more to save more, doesn't matter if you don't need more.

You never know when you're going to need some.

So where shall i begin to downsize? I have a few ideas.

1) Eat Less

I'm not 18 anymore, and I am no longer doing 40 laps at the swimming pool every alternate day and showing off a lithe and svelte body. Fact is, my metabolism has slowed, and I'm sitting on my ass all day only working my lungs and my fingers. I shouldn't be eating as much as I used to, and it is time for me to start watching what I feed my body. I shouldn't be skipping breakfast, gorging at lunch, and indulging at dinnertime. I don't really need the appetizer to tease my palate or the dessert at the end to clear my palate. And I definitely don't need to be paying an arm and a leg for meals that often.

Eat less and eat healthy.

2) Buy Less

Okay, there are many reasons a woman can come up with to justify a new pair of shoes, a new dress, a new belt and so on. Fact is, no matter how many new pieces we buy, there is NEVER enough clothes to wear, never the right coloured shoes and bags to match, never the right outfit for the mood of the day. If I had been more disciplined, and acquired classic pieces that never go out of style which can be mixed and matched, I would not have needed to buy more. I don't really need to have a new dress for every party, every event and every wedding (which recently, are as frequent as every break up, so why spend all that money?). I don't need to be constantly buying gifts for family and friends just because they could like it or that it could be a nice thing to do. I also don't need to be sponsoring or paying for stuff for others that often. I am sure people won't hold it against me.

Buy less and buy good.

3) Procrastinate Less

End of year is always a time to reflect, a time for melancholy, but is not an excuse to get lazy. I have been too comfortable and so, have been procrastinating more and more, and getting lazy, finding excuses. Oblivious to myself, I am wasting my life when I get lazy, and the laziness seeps into many aspects of my every day. And when I sleep less, I get up earlier, and I then will have time for breakfast and won't gorge at lunch or indulge at dinner.

This also cascades down to: Sleep Less and Laze Less.

4) Dream Less

I am a dreamer, and my dreams motivate me. But dreaming should not distract me from focusing on what's at hand. If I don't focus on what's at hand, I don't move forward, then the dreams remain as dreams. So with dream less, I don't mean stop dreaming... but focus more as I keep a check on the dreaming.

Focus more, and make the dreams happen, so the nett dreaming becomes less.

5) Talk Less

Last (for the moment) but not the least, it won't hurt to talk less and listen more. When I talk less, I will also be less visible, and maybe then, a little less expectations and responsibilities, and more time to focus on what's at hand (see above). Maybe I have been missing out people, things, and changing situations. Talking less will help me to be more aware of my surroundings, get off the radar a little, and turn my attention inwards (which is what we all love to do at the end of the year)

Talk less, listen more and be more aware.

People don't always need to know what you're thinking and you don't always need to get the answers right away.

There, by top 5 downsizing plans that shall start tomorrow. I'm excited about them!

Soy + Latte = ?

I tried a soy latte once, and thought it tasted weird. So when presented the opportunity today, i decided to give it another shot. Maybe the last one just happened to be a bad one. Maybe the soy milk was bad. Maybe.

The soy latte arrived in a latte glass, just like any other lattes I've had. I took a hesitant sip, and my face crunched up in agony.

It still tasted odd.

It just doesn't make sense. I love soy milk, I love lattes. I could drink glasses of them every day and not get sick of it. I use soy milk in my morning cereal, followed by a latte. I have a latte after lunch, sometimes even after dinner.

So why is it that when you combine soy and latte, the concoction is so odd???

Sounds a little like people, coming together, trying to make a relationship work. Girl is great, guy is great. But together, not so great. And you can force yourself to drink the whole glass (I did! I thought perhaps, it's a matter of acquiring the taste...), but you may then just be marked for life and never give it a shot again. But on the other hand, if you never added soy and latte, you would have never known how it'd taste. Then you could try to adjust the amount of soy, and the amount of coffee, till you reach the magical proportion.

Or maybe, you should just continue to drink your soy and latte separately. Keep the soy with the dough fritters and the cereal, and the latte with the choc chip cookies (and the trusty toffee nut syrup!)

Breathe in, Reconnect

Close your eyes, and take a deep breath. Imagine the stream of fresh air cascading down the back of your throat and filling you up with clear, untainted air.

Hold your breath, clear your mind, and focus at the point between your eyes.

Release your breath in a slow steady stream, empty your lungs, feel your stomach collapse.

Wasn't that cleansing?

At the end of the day, all of us should spend a few moments just focusing on our breathing and to reconnect with ourselves. With all that chaos attacking our senses everyday - on the streets, from the TV, from the radio, from our ipods, in the office, at restaurants - it's easy to lose touch with oneself.+

Then before you know it, the day is over.

It's the end of the year... an even more poignant time to reconnect and to refresh!