Detatchment.

Mind over heart.

Fairytales are fiction for a reason.

Fiction: Something feigned, invented or imagined.


What does it feel like to be immune to emotions?

What is the world of a girl who is ugly and unappealing gonna be like? I think it is gonna be unbearable.. Eleven Minutes poinited out the ugly and cruel side of reality.

New Love:Paulo Coehlo

Reading was rarely my cup of tea unless I come about books that interest me. Books worth reading are those when my brain goes, " This book has intrigued some thoughts and I have learnt something." when i finish the book. The urge to read arose recently and I bought one of my rare books, Eleven Minutes by Paulo Coehlo. Thank to mei for finding a good deal for me. I found one for 8.50 euros but she did a better job and got one for 8.50 USD (6.24 euros)! Power eh... Dont pray pray eh...


I had a great impression of Paulo Coehlo after reading "Veronica decides to die" and it was very good.

Inspired by events in Coelho's own life, Veronika Decides to Die questions the meaning of madness and celebrates individuals who do not fit into patterns society considers to be normal. Bold and illuminating, it is a dazzling portrait of a young woman at the crossroads of despair and liberation, and a poetic, exuberant appreciation of each day as a renewed opportunity.







'The Warrior knows that he is free to choose his desires, and he makes these decisions with courage, detachment, and sometimes with just a touch of madness.'
Adapted from Warrior of the Light, Paulo Coehlo

Meaningful sign posts in life

By Baz Luhrmann:
Ladies and gentlemen of the class of ‘97:

Wear sunscreen.

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they’ve faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked.

You are not as fat as you imagine. (for someone else ;)

Don’t worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Sing.

Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts. Don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don’t waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind. The race is long and, in the end, it’s only with yourself.

Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch.

Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don’t.

Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You’ll miss them when they’re gone.

Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t. Maybe you’ll have children, maybe you won’t. Maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else’s.

Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don’t be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own.

Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.

Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them.

Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents. You never know when they’ll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings. They’re your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you’ll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you’ll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.

Don’t mess too much with your hair or by the time you’re 40 it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen.

*adapted from Nic's blog. Meaningful lyrics that summarises it all.

Fabulous Panoramas

Prague,Czech Republic Panorama


Ghent, Belgium Panorama


Dresden, Germany Panorama


Dresden, Germany Panorama


Amsterdam, The Netherlands Panorama

Weekend at Saarland

The last weekend’s trip to Saarland, south of Germany, was very nice and homely. Thanks to Simon and his Dad from picking me up and inviting me for their trip down for a family gathering.

There were 4 highlights on the trip for me.

1) Wurst (German Sausage) Factory visit
If you did not already know, Sausage is an INTEGRAL part of a German diet. You seen that in Christmas Market, Grill Fest (BBQ), different types of Hams for breakfast etc….It was an interesting visit. The factory is owned by Simon’s uncle and they make everything! From sausages, to packet meat to hams, to bread spread.. everything that is related to meat!

I was greeted with a strong meat stench, which I got accustomed to after a while, when I first entered. The huge machines to mix the meat and seasoning for sausages were GINOMOUS and I mean it. It had like knives that rotated furiously to cut up any chunks of meat present and the first thought that hit me was, : ‘My fingers will be gone if it lands there.’.

Simon’s uncle was kind enough to give me 12 packets of currywurst in ready-to-eat containers! Not very healthy but I greatly appreciate that.

2) Solar Panels
Germany has about 1/1000 of sunlight that we have in Singapore but so many people have solar panels. Are they crazy? Solar panels are so expensive and it is useless to have them given the tiny winny amount of sunshine. But guess what… They have a central ‘power station’ that collects sunshine energy generated by private households. Private households gets money in return for the efforts and this is like an investment in the long run. How cool is that eh… Singapore should do something like this man!

3) 70th Birthday Party
I later found out that the family gathering resulted due to a 70th Bdae party of simon’s dad’s older sister’s husband! Apparently it was boring for the teenagers who were around but I liked it a lot! Firstly, I like the idea of Family traveling from all over Germany, congregating to celebrate an event as ONE family and how everyone looks forward to see one another! Doesn’t that sound nice and cosy?

A room was rented at a church and there was good food, dance and music. Salad, Meat with special sauce, Soup with bone-marrow-balls- and noodles and buffet (who said only the Chinese ate weird stuff. People always think that others are weird and not themselves. Germans think that the Chinese are disgusting to eat dogs etc.. but they also eat weird stuff like sausages with a lot of fat, bone marrow stuff etc..I guess it is important to respect various cultures and habit and not discriminate against them just because it is abnormal. Something which is against the norm can alwaysa be reality elsewhere!). Fllowing that was a WIDE selection of 12-14cakes! Don’t ask why I am putting on weight in Germany! Trying a slice of everything was sinful!

There was a guitarist and a keyboard guy whom played latin americanish music. I loved that! Hip hop music is not my cup of tea man! What made it cooler was the fact that old couples were dance folk dance to the music with straight and upright postures! Romantic. Sweet. Envious. Heart-warming.

Compare that to a typical 70th Bdae party in Singapore- Lunch at a Chinese restaurant with the Shou Tao (pink pointy bun)! It was different!

4) Sibling Love
John (8years old) and Mary (5years old) are siblings, who played and quarreled with one another like any other silblings but one incident made me realize how I would like to bring up my kids next time. Simon and I brought the kids out for a walk. The first 5 min was tough-they ran, screamed and did not wait for us. Hell broke loose.

On the way back amidst a race uphill between the siblings, Mary fell and started crying. Simon and I wanted to run to her but John beat us at that. He ran towards her, scooped her into his arms, hugged her, spoke softly to her and pacified her. Mary refused to talk and hid her face. John was there for her and they walked home with arms around one another. Simon and I did not have to do anything. We stood there watching the heart-warming scene. I felt bad for not loving my sisters that much when I was young but I can surely say that I love you guys now. I guess the influence and values brought across to the kids from the parents play an important role in shaping many aspects of a child. Great responsibility. Can I live up to that and do a good job? I question myself.

Airspace Competition

Large bird species which weigh over 4 pounds are becoming a concern in the US:





The problem of planes hitting birds comes down to a key fact: "We're competing for airspace." Birds get ingested by the airplanes engine during their flight. Great success in Wildlife coonservation programms may also post a problem. It is so difficult to draw the fine line. I guess I should leave this problem to Narawan! haha...The pilot, with 40 years of experience in the aviation industry, became a 'hero' after accomplishing a safe, professional and calm landing in a river and all 155 passengers were safe and sound.

Why do accidents like this occur?

1)Populations of large birds have increased dramatically since the 1970s, when environmental regulations were instituted in the United States. Birds have become more accustomed to living in urban environments near airports and the number of airline flights has risen sharply.

2)Another important factor is modern turbofan aircraft like the Airbus 320. Their engines are much quieter than older aircraft. And almost all the noise comes out of the back of the engine. Birds are less able to hear or see modern aircraft. There are more airplanes in the sky, more birds in the sky and this is where the conflict comes in.



What can be done to prevent these strikes?

1)One is habitat management at the airport to make it as sterile as possible for birds -- by eliminating standing water, keeping grass where you don't have weeds producing seeds which attract birds, reducing perching areas for the birds, posts and things birds can perch on, covering up garbage, not allowing landfills close to an airport, making an airport as sanitary as possible.

That would also include rodent control -- eliminating small mammals that owls and hawks might be attracted to -- and insect controls. Habitat management is the No. 1 defense.

2)The second is dispersal of birds by a trained bird control crew that goes out and uses pyrotechnics and other means to scare the birds away when they do come onto the airport. Some airports use trained dogs. A few airports train falcons. The idea is to scare the birds, harass the birds.

3)The third area is removal of birds when the habitat management and dispersal do not work. Sometimes Canada geese become accustomed to the harassment and they're not scared by it anymore. Airports get permits to remove some Canada geese by using a shotgun to demonstrate to the other birds that this is not a place to be. These are very selective lethal controls.

Now, with regard to aircraft, there is research under way looking at can you enhance the visibility of aircraft to birds, using UV reflective paint since birds can see in the UV-range and using flashing lights. This is just in an experimental stage.

One final area of research is the use of bird-detecting radar to help air traffic control and pilots to detect the birds and help drive planes around concentrations of birds. This is not operational, it's in a developmental stage.

Seven Names. Seven Strangers. One Secret.

This lady is pretty in the show! She has nice sharp features which I wont mind having=)

Another movie which I watched during my recuperating period at home. Seven Pounds. Thanks for Elvin for introing and giving me an overview of the show coz it would have been difficult to comprehend due to the nature of the show. Managed to appreciate the show better definitely=)

Tim Thomas (Will Smith) was a gifted aerospace engineer with a beautiful wife and a lovely beach house. Then, while using his cell phone while driving, his car wandered across lanes and he became responsible for the deaths of 7 others, including his beloved wife. Unable to forgive himself or raise the dead, Tim sets out to give "pounds of flesh" that will give new life to seven deserving individuals to make up for the seven lives he destroyed. Just as Antonio would have to die to pay Shylock the "pound of flesh" he demands, Tim intends to kill himself to atone for his sins. His brother Ben (Michael Ealy), who works for the IRS, is deeply concerned about his state of mind. Tim steals his brother's IRS ID to access the IRS database and to find and meet people who he believes worthy of his gifts which includes body organs and material possessions. Tim assumes his brother's identity of "Ben Thomas" to personally investigate these people and verify that they are indeed the right people he should help. He has a plan for when he identifies his 7 beneficiaries that requires his best friend Dan (Barry Pepper) to see that his wishes are carried out after he is dead. Tim's plan threatens to unravel when he begins to fall in love with one of the people he is trying to help.

The show was abit extreme. Will Smith killed himself after donating all that he could. I support organ donation but not in this manner. I am sure every single one's life is worth treasuring, especially your own!

Organs are one of things that we are blessed with by nature. Organ donation works wonders. It is amazing how an organ transplant can transform someone else' life tremendously! I will donate my organs when I die. It can save lives. It doesnt make sense to hang on tight to "external possessions" after we die. Does it? Painless and beneficial acts like these dont scare me. This movie brought up the topic of organ donation between Elvin and I. Singaporeans are obliged to donate their organ unless one chooses to opt out of the "programme". Apparently, the number of organ donors has increased due to a new law implemented recently to include muslims as well. Previously they were not allowed to due to religious constrains.

Blood donation is something that I will HIDE from at all cost. Ouch! Needles! Scream! I believe that I can do good to others in MANY other ways=). Daddy has been donating blood ever since dunno when on a regular basis. Proud of you daddy! I remember him coming back with iron pills that he never took :) Missing you dad.

Impossible is nothing

"Impossible is nothing."

Thanks to Nülfe for sharing, a colleague at work.

The December Travels

Here I am back in the room in Frankfurt. Our 19 days adventure was over. And myparents are on a plane back to Singapore.

We were away from 19th Dez 08 till 5th Jan:

Frankfurt, Germany

Köln, Germany

Bruxells, Belgium
Ghent, Belgium
Leuven, Belgium
Bruges, Belgium
Antwerp, Belgium

Rotterdam, Holland
Den Haage, Holland
Delft, Holland
Amsterdam, Holland

München, Germany

Budapest, Hungary

Prague, Czech Republic

Dresden, Germany

Frankfurt, Germany

Credit to ME for planning! Distance travelled on train :3500km (about 80 times the distance from East to West in Singapore)

My account will be incomplete, and will fall short compared to the whole experience of the trip. So this will be a poor guide to the travel, but will be a closer representation of what have stayed on with me at the end.

It all began on 5th december when I left home and flew to Frankfurt. That very weekend Nic and I visited Poland. Then we stayed in Frankfurt for a few days before my parents came over to visit me too. Thankfully they got a different room. That following weekend we went to Barcelona. Then it was back to Frankfurt for the week and we left again on the 19 of december.

We took a train to Köln and spent the day there. During the Christmas season there are Christmas Markets everywhere in Europe. Köln was no exception. There was one in front of the huge Dom. Christmas markets were similar in the sense that they would be selling food like sausages, nuts, glühwine, beer and lots of Christmas goodies. But they were also different in terms of the decorations and atmosphere. So it was nice to see the variation in all the countries we visited. Germany still has the best Xmas markets! *a non-biased opinion*

Köln Dom with Christmas Markets

Colourful Houses at Köln

We left Köln in the evening and headed for Brussels. Thats in Belgium. There we met Zhen Yi, a friend from Junior College. We got to know a lot about each other during the trip. Thanks for ya Xmas card and postcards! I will have it laminated for sure! Hugz! In some ways, I enjoyed her company here. It opened up a different "dimension?" We would have conversations that I would not have if I were with Nic alone. Its not that something was lacking, its just that it was not in our nature to have those kind of conversations. Zhen Yi studied a lot of European history, and having her around was enriching. As I realised from her, I am more of a passive learner when travelling. I hated museums and would only read very briskly on places. Yet I found the stories and histories of the places we visited much more interesting and impactful for me through Zhen Yi's words. The information transmitted from her stayed with me for a longer period and history was for once interesting to me!

Other insightful conversations I can recall off hand are of the nobel French university that she was attending and the extent of the presentation the students had. From wearing 3 piece tailored suits to debates and their elaborate presentation on Peru. She also shared her experience of vising Oxford and their college system there, and how Sarah had to wear a university gown when taking exams.

Zhen Yi travelled with us in Belgium. Before visiting Belgium I only knew of their Chocolates. I was amazed to see how beautiful the country was, Ghent and bruges being my favourite destinations. They do indeed have great chocolate, along with waffels, Tin-Tin and some amazing architecture. We headed on the Leuven, Ghent, Bruges and then Antwerp. Zhen Yi left us at Bruges to spend her Christmas in London.

Belgium Chocolates, Brussels

Belgium Waffles

Peeing Boy, Brussels

Brussels Xmas Market

Zhen Yi did ask me why I travelled. For me its for three main reasons. The first is to meet new people, the second is to learn and the third is to appreciate. I won't really explain the first reason, but for the latter, I find it really broadens my view of this world when I see different places. People in different places have different cultures, live differently, do things differently and follow a differnt set of rules in society. Such exposures reveals how similar things can be done in drastically varying ways. What is against the norm for Singapore is actually a reality somewhere else. The good things in other societies can be adopted. Negative things that doesnt appeal to me allows me to appreciate the many things that we have in Singapore. I am thankful that chewing gum is banned in Singapore especially having seen what a nuisance it can be. Foreigners think that fines for littering is weird. I am thankful for that. Look at how dirty theire streets are.

I feel that it is also important for couples to travel together because:

"Travelling brings out a side of people that is not shown in normal, daily life."

There is indeed alot of truth in that.

Bruges Family Portrait, Belgium

Bruges River by Night

Zhen and I

Ghostly Castle

Another Xmas Market with Ice-Skating ring in the open, Bruges

Pretty Houses, Bruges

Bruges Outline

Venice of the North, Bruges

Antwerp Performer, Belgium

From Antwerp the train took us to Rotterdam in the Netherlands. That was on Christmas Eve. Personally, I hated Rotterdam. It looked like a dirtier version of Singapore. There was about 10 chewing gum in an area of 1m x 1m along the pavement everywhere. Our accomodation that night was on a ship. It was small, cold and the host unfriendly. That was the worst night ever. We were glad to leave to Den Haage on Christmas and check into Ibis hotel. The accomodation was heaps better. Christmas day was quiet. It was like the first day of Chinese New Year in Singapore. Its only this day that I feel Singapore really shuts down, or run on minimum power at least. All shops were closed, the streets were deserted. Everyone was spending Christmas at home. We also made a day trip to Delft, another pretty town before going to Amsterdam. Amsterdam was pretty interesting too. There were many canels that flowed through the city. It competes with Bruges and Ghent for the title "Venice of the North". The red light district was red and pretty, umm, unique. It was window shopping literally.

Delft Reflection, The Netherlands

Travellers, Amsterdam

Flower Bicycle, Amsterdam

Amsterdam Sky

From Amsterdam we took a night train to München. München was bloody damn cold. It was my 3rd time there but my 1st during winter. It was just too cold to be appreciated. We spent a night there and left early the next day to Hungary.

The train ride brought us through Austria which looked really pictureqe when covered with snow. There were nice houses with pointy roofs and smoke emerging from their chimnies. It conjours the image of happy family gathering in a warm living room indoors. I'll have to visit Austria. Our stay in Wein was barely 10 minutes. Prof Hugl came originally from Wien and I heard alot from him about Wien and how pretty it is when I was previously invited to his place. I would really like to visit Wien somehow. Maybe when I am in München. We disembarked our train and boarded the opposite one. This took us to Budapest.

The scenery through Hungary was starkly different from that of Western Europe. Ravaged and desolated fits the bill. We arrived in Budapest at a lost. We were on our toes trying not to be conned by misleading money changers, fake money changers, taxi drivers and other suspicious characters. The spoken language was incomprehensible, but we found an english speaking man who, after trying to guide us to the right tram for half an hour, pointed the road to the hostel for us. German was more effective than English in Budapest. I felt "powerful and useful" once again :)

Budapest, however, was defintely better than Poland. All the buildings appeared old and uninspiring; something out of the communist era. There are exceptions like the Basilica and the Palace grounds. These were more elaborate and appealing. There was a street that reminded me of Orchard Road with the high-er fashion shops along it. Apparently the baths were a must visit but I did not get a chance to drop by this time. Zhen Yi joined us again after on the first night. After a series of misfortunate events on her side -having 2 trains delayed and missing her flight by 2 minutes, she made it to Budapest exhausted.

We celebrated new year in Budapest. Thou it was not much of a celebration for us. We were lying low in our hostel as the 5 of us were staying in a 3 bed room. Accomodation during this period was hard to come by. We left early on the 1st of January 2009 for Prague. The year before I celebrated new year in Sydney with Nic, Sarah, Ben and Nara with awesome fireworks and company. Miss you guys! Probably make a trip to Australia after graduation in 2010. This year it was in Hungary. Thinking back, I really would like to spend my new year back home in Singapore again. Walking along Orchard road and enjoying the expensive and elaborated lightings. Would be nice if there were fireworks by Esplanade? =) But this time in Hungary, it felt as thou I missed the transition and landed in 2009. Christmas and New Year were just another day for us travellers.

I talked to a Hugarian girl working at the hostel. She used to be a tour guide for the English tourists and she studied English at uni. We learnt that the stigma of Hungarians being "suicidal" was very true. According to her, it was even ingrained in their national anthem. There were people who jumped off the bridges in Budapest due to depression, thou I will hold back on adding the word "occasionally". It was nice just exchanging opinions of places that we have visited. We talked for hours. About 2 hours. We exchanged Emails and I invited her to Singapore.

Windmill Plains

Budapest from above

Budapest Castle

The train ride through Slovakia and Czech was disappointing. Dull, dead scenery. We would roll pass small villages with houses. And only one window was illuminated. Where were all the people? It seemed like we were passing through wasteland. When the train first pulled into Prague, only the silhouette of the city was visible. The city was covered in a blanket of dark stillness. It was only after interpreting the user friendly metro that we saw the crowd in the trains. There they were, under that blanket, a city was pulsing with life. We emerged a few stops later to the desolated streets, found our hostel and stayed the night. We filled our stomach with chinese food from a nearby restaurant. It was the cheapest thing around, and delicious too. It was only during the day that Prague reveals itself as a gem. The bridges and the river that flowed under it, together with the castle gave the city a similar charm to Chiang Mai. Rustic, magical, charming, lovely, Prague. It is my favourite city on this trip, followed by Ghent, Bruges and Amsterdam. It was also in Prague that we saw snow. And it was snow falling, snowflakes with that characteristic six sided symmetrical shape. It covered the streets and the cars parked along side. It fascinated us all. Prague is a place that I will return to again.

It was also in Prague that we saw nic's antique suitcase. It was going for 18 dollars. But he hesitated to consider the practicallity of bringing it back. When We returned later, the shop was closed. And it would not be open until after we were scheduled to leave. Quoting nic: I lamented to Jackie and she told me I should be a Hungarian.

One of the 4 bridges in Prague

Charles Bridge, Prague. Bought a painting here.

Lovely Snow

Prague Castle Cathedral

Zhen Yi left us on the 4th of January to head back to France. We left Prague on the 5th morning and took a train to Dresden. It was covered with snow, and it was also snowing heavily. Nic and I got disapproving sighs from passersby as we plotted each other with snow balls and tried juggling them. An old man also started talking to us when we were waiting for the traffic light after noticing our excitment with snow. But snow was not a common sight for us Singaporeans now isn't it?

Snowball Fight, Dresden, Germany

Streets of Dresden

Snail Soup: Amazingly it was quite nice!

Tapas that we ate along the way! Yummy!!

Fried muscles! Mouth-watering...

And after an hour delay and a downgrade to a slower train, we took intercity back to Frankfurt and arrived late at night. It was good to be "home".

The wonderful the memories of this trip are etched in my mind, like the painting of Prague.