Merry Christmas~

I will be spending my Christmas and New Year days in Taiwan, enjoying a 14D trip~


before I fly, a Merry Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year to everyone!!


Have a great year ahead! =)





















See you peeps in 2009~

Not Just Another Model

Who says models can only be those super skinny girls?!



Finally a girl with a beautiful body wins the America's Next Top Model Cycle 10! (currently showing on Channel 5)



She's Whitney!!




















She is the only so called "plus size" girl who won the fight against the many so called "normal size" girls.

Though she is different from the rest, she is comfortable and confident with who she is and how she looks like.


I suppose this could be a good message to a lot of girls who is trying their best to slim down and be very skinny. It's alright to be different, beauty can have many definitions. =)































#Be yourself. Be beautiful inside out.

152 vs 160

Do you know the difference between 152 and 160?

???
??
?

I "grew" taller by approximately 8cm recently with my new shoe! Lol


Different view and experience being tall up~
I guess only people my height can understand. haha. =p

I still prefer the original ME!
Be happy with who you are!!
Because there will only be one YOU!!!


(^.^)

time to enjoy my well deserved holiday~

The Little Things in Life

Be grateful to all the little things in life! =)


the little dinner with family,

the little chat with brothers,

the little practice on my piano, making a step closer towards my goal..


the little moment with yoga to relax my mind and body..

the little food that make my tummy grow..lol


the little care and concern to show we still care,

the little praise that make someone's day,


and the list goes on~~


the little reward to recognise my hard work..^.^

the little note to remind myself of the things to accomplish for today,


the little surprises in life,

the little music that inspires,

the little TV shows that entertains..


the little studying everyday to prepare for exam,

the little cream that improves my eyelid condition,

the little leaf that beautifies the world..


and the list goes on and on~~~~~~~~~~


All the little things make up the big thing in your life.























#When you look back one day, the big things may actually be all the little things you have done.

Beauty of the Eye

Eye by ~zummi on deviantART

Minority Rule

Since young, we were always faced with the [majority rules] games.

Be it a simple decision such as "where should we eat?" to more complex decision such as "who should rule the country?", the majority decision will always win.



Now, what about a game of [minority rules]?


Imagine you are part of a group of 22 people,

all of you will be faced with the same Yes or No question.


Those people whose choices fall under the minority sides shall win and continue the next round.


For example, 10 choose [Yes], 12 choose [No]. The 10 that choose [Yes] will remain in the game.
(your choice will be not be known to others until the result time.)

Another Yes or No question will be given again, and the minority sides will continue to stay in the game.

It will be repeated until there is only 1 person left.


Now, here is the question,


What can you do to ensure that you are always on the minority side and be the last person standing?



Is there any strategy that can assure you to be the winner???





If you are interested in the answer, you can watch the Liar Game (Japanese Drama) or simply ask me. =)

***Very interesting show!!

















Just realised that there is a manga version of this show! ^.^



#Think out of the box! =p

Virtual Technology

Just wanted to share a website made by me and my project groupmates. =)


Know a little more about the technology that we have been using everyday and what it has for us in the future.

Virtual Technology

#Can we survive without technology, just for one day?

1st October 2008

To all my students,


all the children in the world,


all the big children


and all adults who still has a child-like heart!


Happy Children's Day!! ^.^


p.s: to my Malay friends, Selemat Hari Raya~


enjoy the day to the fullest~





























#Live like there's no tomorrow. =p

Boys Over Flower Movie~

How could I not watch this show? haha

After reading the Hana Yori Dango comic, watching the anime, watching Meteor Garden (taiwan drama) and Boys Over Flower (japanese drama), this movie marks a beautiful ending to this fantasy.






















After all the obstacles that Domyouji and Makino faced, they are still together and closer~

And, the friendship of F4 will always be there~


From Las Vegas to Hong Kong to an isolated island,
Comical and romantic show, a beautiful twist to end the series. =p
















#If bad things are being shared, you'll feel that it's half bad. If good things are being shared, you'll feel that the happiness is doubled. =)

Be Happy! =)

Had a bad day?


Had a hard day?


Don't make it worst by feeling sad,


Smile! ^.^



No matter what happened, be HAPPY!


Enjoy this cute baby video ~








#Happiness is often the result of being too busy to be miserable.

Push your limits!

I have completed 6 of my yoga lessons (out of 12).

It was refreshing and relaxing~~~~


However, as the lessons continues, we have to do more challenging poses. There is this pose which i seriously cannot do at all. My classmates seem to be able to do it easily. Lol


The pose looks something like this:























We are supposed to have our legs over our head. But, my legs can only stretch or move till around 130 degrees. My teacher is understanding and asked me to do a simpler version first.


"You may not be able to get the full pose correct for the first time. But, with more practices, you'll be able to do a closer version of the pose." - Teacher J


In yoga, it is not about forcing yourself to do things you can't do. It is more of stretching and pushing your limits bit by bit till you can get it correct. =)


Overdoing or over-pushing yourself will only cause you injuries.


It applies to anything you may be learning~



#You don't have to get it right the first time, you just need to keep it going and do it right subsequently.

Who can solve?

Focus on the picture below


Now, you see 12 men...









Now, you see 13 men!






What happened?


What is the trick??

Make A Difference

Watch this beautiful short story -

Make A Difference Movie (Full version)

Make A Difference Movie (Short version)
























#Make a difference in someone else's life today.

Start of busy schedule

School has started for me once again~

I have reached my third and last year in NUS. Before school starts, it is the nerve cracking allocation, bidding (similar to stock market, Lol) and balloting of modules! I did manage to secure the lectures for all the modules that I want. But, unfortunately for this round, I didn't manage to get my desired tutorial even though I had ranked it first in my balloting. Worst is, I did not manage to even get a tutorial timeslot for that module. Guess I didn't expect such popularity for the two timeslots I wanted.


The first week of lecture was more of a sampling of modules for students as we still have the chance to drop any modules we do not want. I was pretty surprised at the outcome of my lecturers, especially for my Singapore Studies - Government and Politics of Singapore. I thought it would be a super boring module with a boring lecturer given the name of the module. However, the lecturer was very energetic and passionate about this module. The way of his teaching is also very interesting and there were alot of laughters in the lecture hall. Another fact that surprised me was that he was actually the one of the authors of the Social Studies Book that we have been reading in Secondary Schools.


Then, of course, there is the busy selling and buying of books. Only managed to sell off 1 of my textbook. I don't like to keep textbooks as I don't have the habit of reading them again. Not that I do read when I buy them. Haha.


With 4 major projects to come, tutorials to prepare, and at the same time teaching my group of P4 - P6 students, learning yoga and keyboard, catching the upcoming Prison Break and many more, I would expect a packed schedule for the coming months.


But, I love busy life! It just make yourself feel useful and the break in between would seem more precious and well deserved. =)





















p.s. today is 20/08/2008! Have a great day! ^.^


#The time to relax is when you don't have time for it.

What do you see?

Do you see an opening door or a closing door?




What you see is often what you think.


Are you letting people into your life or shutting them out?

"Yaya Papaya"

From someone who cannot do well in a certain task to someone who can do it great. This change is sometimes too much for people to take in a short time. And, this is when the “yaya papaya” behavior steps in.

This is what happened to one of my student.

He used to be doing not well for Mathematics. Until, he came to us and learned the right strategies and attitude for learning. He has been improving since. His results soar from 50 to 80+. It was wonderful!

Then, he started to have the “yaya papaya” syndrome. It all started with a small step of not doing his corrections. And, it spreads to not concentrating when doing exam papers, not paying attention in class as he thinks he can already do well. Before the syndrome starts to increase, we stopped him by illustrating to him the consequences of such behaviors that past students had. All efforts that they have put in since day 1 would have been wasted and the desired results that they have been working so hard towards would be further away from them once again.

Lucky for him, he was cured quickly and back with his right attitude. =)

From him, I realized that consistency is very important in learning. You may be doing well now, but if you did not keep up with that you need to do, you will be back to square 1, having to start all over again.

# "Yaya Papaya" syndrome may happen to anyone, please help to stop them from spreading. =)

Money No Enough II

First time going to cinema with my mummy and didi =)

We watch the afternoon show thinking that there will be lesser crowds, but to our surprise, it was nearly full house. Mostly are families.

It was a very Singaporean show talking about the popular happenings in Singapore such as:

$ Increase in ERP

$ Increase in prices of anything but our salary. Lol

$ More and more star search shows, (do we really have so many talents or simply another means of earning $$$ from the public?)

$ Upcoming F1 race (good boost to our tourism industry, $$$)

$ Multi-level Marketing of health supplements


Basically everything is about $$$~

Everyone is focusing too much on $$$ that sometimes we forgot about the things $$$ can't buy.

"Have you felt poorer than poor?" - question by one Ah Huang when he lose his business and $. On top of that, his wife went to jail because of him, leaving him all alone.

Only when at your worst situation will people start to appreciate the family and friends around them.


Was really touched by one scene where the grandma choose to give up her life to save her granddaughter. It was not an easy choice - the beauty of family ties.


Catch the trailer below if you are still undecided about watching it. =p



Do support the movie! Funny and heartwarming~



#Cherish the people important to you, you never know when they will be gone.

My very first yoga lesson

I was (or I should say still am) having very stiff bones. I can't do bending exercises as easily as someone of my age. So, I finally plucked up my courage to take up Yoga lessons.

My goals for learning Yoga:

1) Make my body more flexible

2) Strengthen my bones

3) Flatten my (growing) tummy


Today is my first lesson at Sengkang CC. Hence, my petite teacher shared alot on what she knows about Yoga, how will it benefit us, more talks than actions for the first lesson. But, it really widen my impression of Yoga.

The first thing we learnt is breathing.

Take a deep breath now.

Do you feel your breath from your chest?

Do you feel your breath from your stomach?

Or you don't feel anything? Lol, are you sure you are alive?


Many may have short breaths, which means breathing from our chest area. In actual fact, we should be breathing all the way from our abdomen. The longer you can breath, the longer you can live. I am not sure if that is scientifically proven, but, longer breath makes you relax and allows you to control yourself better at difficulty situation. The next time when you are feeling very angry or nervous, take in a few deep breaths.


Inhale and exhale slowly~























#Take one minute off what you are doing now, close your eye and relax your whole body.

Falling snow globes

A cute little house~





























The result after "Photoshop-ing"

My falling snow globes~





















Participated in a Photoshop Contest against excellent "Photoshopper" here.

My final score is 51% as voted by 300+ "Photoshopper". This is my fourth and best entry so far. Received positive comments from the rest too! =)

It isn't easy to score well for the contest as there are so many experts out there. What may be great to yourself may not be that great to them. The top score is 68.2% and the lowest is 42.4%.


My target for now is get a score above 60% as that is what they consider really good entries. hehe. ^.^



# Every man in the world is better than someone else and not as good as someone else.

What will you do?

On a stormy night, you drove past a bus stop where there are three people waiting for bus.

The first person is a sickly old lady;

The second person is a doctor who has once saved your life;

The third person is your dream girl/boy.

Your car is a two seater, who will you first pick up?


******************************************************************************





























Suggested solutions:

Give the car to the doctor and let him drive the old lady to a hospital. You can stay back and enjoy the night with your dream girl/boy.

- From the [Happy Little Stories] =)
================================================================



#If you limit your choices only to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all that is left is a compromise.

The Starfish Story

[As the old man walked the beach at dawn, he noticed a boy ahead of him picking up starfish and flinging them into the sea. Finally catching up with the boy, he asked why he was doing this.

The answer was that the stranded starfish would die if left until the morning sun. "But the beach goes on for miles and there are millions of starfish," said the old man. "how can your effort make any difference?" The boy looked at the starfish in his hand and then threw it safely into the waves. "It makes a difference to this one," he said. ]

- A story from the MOE : Touching hearts, Engaging minds.


As a Cognitive Math trainer, sometimes I do wonder how much I can help my students, how many can I help?

Some of them refuses help whereas some accepts it little by little.


It really hurts when I have to give up helping those who choose not to help themselves and refuses help from others. I understand that there's a limit to what I can do, after all, it is their choice.


But, I know that I have made a difference in those who accepted me. =)


Happy learning together! =p




#You can teach a student a lesson for a day; but if you can teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process as long as he lives.

Lion + Tiger = Liger?

In the wild, a Liger would never have (or super rarely) appeared! It is not the natural way of life.

But, under the (cruel/ creative) act of human, a male lion and a female tiger mate and give birth to a Liger. Not one, it happened to many around the world. There are also Tigon which is the offspring of male tiger and female lion. Unfortunately, due to the special genetics it has, Ligers and Tigons do not seem to have a long life. Mostly was born with defects and died young.

"A liger looks like a giant lion with muted stripes but like their tiger ancestors, ligers like swimming. This goes against the nature of a lion but is what makes creature special. It gets the best of both parents."






















I was totally surprised when I saw this from the Channel U documentary show - Approaching Science.

An eye-opener indeed.


What is human doing?


Many said it's part of the ways to understand human genetics. Is that true?



Another selfish act of human or foolish act of human?




#There are two sides to every question.

Music Notes - Learning it differently

Never have I thought that I would be able to read music notes so easily! =)

In my secondary school days, I joined porta sound (digital keyboard) as my CCA. It was a torture for me to read the music notes. I had no idea on how to remember them. So, I used a "shortcut" way to understand the notes, which is to simply write the notes in the letters representing them. It may seem simple, but it took me quite a long time to even do so. And, another issue is that I am not able to remember which key on the keyboard represents which letter. So, again, I used a "shortcut" which is to paste the letters of the key it represents on the keyboard. This may be useful in the short run, but it is definitely not going to help me in the long run.

However, I didn't get the chance to play much as my CCA was closed down. It was sad as I did enjoyed the times although it wasn't easy.

Until recently, I finally got my hands on a digital keyboard. Yes, I own one right now! haha

I started to explore new ways of reading the music notes.

And, to my amazement, I manage to read it easily without having to write it down. I also learned how to identify the keys on the keyboard. Yeah! =p

This what I do originally:

Refer to the standard notes, and fill in each letters to the song I am learning. This is what I call matching. Lol..







This is what I do now:












For each alternate dots in between the lines, it would read F-A-C-E.
For each alternate dots on the line, it represents Every Good Boy Does Fine.
(Got this great info from Youtube videos!)

Now, whenever I cannot remember the letter, I would start to think of the sentence and it works! =p


As for the keys on the keyboard, this is what you can use to remember.
These are the 7 keys that repeats throughout.

C - Chopsticks
F - Fork



to represent the black keys.













So, if you see "chopsticks", the white key will start with C. Same trick goes for "fork".
(thanks to a friend who shared this with me~)


Learning music notes can be made easier when you know the right way or the suitable way for yourself. The same goes for learning other new things!



#Learn as much as you can while you are young, since life becomes too busy later.

Hate something, Change something

An interesting commercial from Honda : The Power of Dreams~

When you hate something, change it! Presented in a very colourful and vibrant manner.

Honda's disel engines were supposedly slow, dirty and noisy initially. The engineers didn't like it and they improved and changed it to the new disel engines that is cleaner and quieter.



Hate something, change something~ Hate something, change something~


#Change your thoughts and you change your world. =)

Smile - the Perfect Makeup

What makeup could beat the sincere smile one has?

Little girl with Big smile




















Little boy with Big smile
































#A smile is a curve that makes everything straight. Have you smiled today?

Why Not?

Saw this interesting commercials along Dhoby Ghaut MRT linkage.

ACE (Action Community for Entrepreneurs) movement to raise tomorrow's entrepreneurs.

The movement that asks WHY NOT?

Two simple yet powerful words that is filled with endless possibilities.

I like this two:






















































Visit ACE if you have innovative business ideas! =p

You can also submit your "Why not?" ideas to them here and win some cash prices.

Why not?

P.S I am not working for them. I just find the ad interesting. =)

Day 6 - Last Minute Shopping

We were awake at 5+am, wanted to shop at the morning market that is outside our hotel. It will only be opened from 3am to 9am. But, it was raining! So, we headed back to hotel for breakfast at 6am while waiting for the rain to stop. There wasn't alot of people shopping around, mainly due to the rain i guess.

Checked out of our hotel at 11am and placed our luggages at the lobby before we headed out to our last shopping area - Chatuchak. The shops are opened mostly on weekend. It is the largest market in Thailand and in the world. My rough estimation would be around 5 bugis streets? We separated into 2 taxi and ended up at different locations. Due to the largeness of the place, we didn't manage to find each other and hence shopped separately. We didn't managed to cover much as there was just endless shops.

























However, we ran into this magic stall, selling magic cards and stuff. The owner will perform the tricks and if you were to buy, he will reveal the secrets to you. Me and a friend bought the cards and get him to perform other tricks for us too. We were like 2 kids watching magic performance. Lol.

As we were hungry, we headed back to the shopping mall that is beside our hotel. Intended to eat Swensen meal, but they only have Swensen's ice cream. So, settled for that and enjoyed the Chocolate Earthquake. Yummy~

Headed to the airport and it only cost us 200B this time. Haha. Less than half of what we pay for when we first reach.

This marks the end of our Poly trip. Enjoyed it lots! Thanks for the companion. ^.^

Day 5 - Shopping in Bangkok

Enjoyed the breakfast buffet at the highest level of Baiyoke Suite hotel. It has a very nice view as well. The surroundings of the eating area are all windows. So, you can have a bird eye view of Bangkok.





































Started our first stop at the market opposite us. It is a wholesale market where items are normally sold cheaply if you buy 3 and above. So, it is good that I have 3 girl friends with me. haha. =p

As there was not much stuff for the guys, they headed over to Pratinum shopping mall first. But, end up there wasn't much for them to shop as well. As claimed by them, 90% of the items sold are meant to be shop by girls.




















Moved on to MBK Avenue Shopping Mall. A gigantic shopping mall i would say. You really have to plan your shopping route as you wouldn't be able to remember where you have shoppped. Endless stream of shops selling broad ranges of items. But, the prices here will be slightly higher given the comfort of the aircon. Lol.




















While we were doing our shopping, we saw this very interesting sight! All the jewelery shops were closing their gates with the shoppers in as well! Everyone seemed to be in a rush to keep all the expensive stuff in the stores. And, it was only 5+pm. At the same time, we received a call from our friend who is shopping outside, for us to stay in the shopping mall as it is very crowded outside. We thought there was a strike going on. Lol. But, no. My friends actually witnessed 2 gang of students starting a fight in the middle of the shopping mall! There were some weapons like knife being used. The police were frantically stopping and chasing after them as well. And, this explains why the jewelery shops are closing to protect their expensive items. Haha. What an experience.

Dinner at A&W~
Curry chicken with a beary rice. Haha, so cute! But, the portion is rather small, not fulling.




















For don't know what reason, there was a huge jam on the road. So, we decided to walk back to our hotel and shop at the same time. This gives us the chance to view the art exhibits on global warming as well. Nearby, there was also few stretch of stores selling hand-made items. To our amazement, they started to close at 9pm when there are still many shoppers looking at the items. Maybe there is a rule that do not allow them to continue after 9 or they need to rush for last buses?

Anyway, seems like we have not shop enough. So, we decided to head back to Suan Night market as the first day we didn't had much time to cover finish the shops. Shop till midnight again, what a tiring yet fruitful day, haha.

Oh ya, there isn't any midnight charges like what we have in Sg. If you are lucky to grab hold of a meter cab, the fare should still be reasonable. But, if you didn't, be prepared to pay up to as high as 4 times the original prices.

Day 4 - To Bangkok!

Woke up early to enjoy our last buffet breakfast at our hotel. =)

Let me introduce some of the food available~
There are always these few chefs who would help us cook our eggs and bacon. You can have it scrambled, omelette or sunshine way.
Bread - plain or wholemeal, waiting for you to bake them. Danish, croissant, hotdog buns, etc.
Porridge - plain, shredded chicken, brown rice, you tiao
Fried rice, noodles, steamed rice, cornflakes, salads, yogurt, halah food is available as well
Soup - Miso, tomato, veggie
Drinks - Coffee, tea, milk, soy bean milk, orange juice, fruit juices etc
Fruits - Watermelon, papayas and pineapples, almost after every meal we will have these fruits.

Quite a wide spread for breakfast yea~

Check out at 11+am. We were charged 20B for removing a mini bar from the room when we didn't!! Angry!




















Headed to the airport to wait for our flight to Bangkok at 2+pm. Basically, it don't like an airport. Haha. Maybe we are used to the grand airport we had in Singapore.

Left the airport at 4+ and headed to our hotel - Baiyoke Suite hotel. The taxi ride was 450B (S$). This is ridiculously high compared to the one we took when we go to the airport from our hotel. Shall reveal the price at the later post. Make a guess at the moment. =p

After staying at the luxury Royal Paradise Hotel, we were quite disappointed with the rooms here. But, nevertheless, it is still comfortable to stay in. The location is good too.




















Each room has 2 compartments, the bedroom and the living room. There was a mini kitchen as well, but you are not allowed to cook anything. Lol.

I think we started out with the night market that is just outside our hotel. But surprisingly, most of the stores start to close at 8+pm. So, we decided to head to Suan Market which only closed at 12am.

Got onto a Tuk Tuk for 4 people and zoomed our way to shopping! haha..




















The ride was super fast with some sudden turns. The four of us were holding on to whatever we can tightly. Another roller coaster ride. Lol. On top of this, we were also worried that the Tuk Tuk will bring us to other places as it is already quite dark at that time. But, lucky for us, we reached our destination shortly. It was overpriced at 120B (S$5) as compared to the metered taxi rides. But, for the excitement, I would say it is worth a try. =p

The Suan Lum market was big, around the size of 2 bugis street. We only managed to finish 1 part of it as we were tired from all the walking and bargaining. Do remember to bargain as the starting prices can be as high as 2 to 3 times the selling prices.




































We managed to get metered taxi back to hotel despite the lateness. Those without the meter offered high prices like 400B (S$17) when our meter rides only cost us 50B (S$2).

Do remember to always take meter rides!!

Day 3 - Island Tour

Tour around the island~

Our driver cum tour guide, Thomas actually took us to different areas of Phuket.

























We went pass this deserted beach. The aftereffects of Tsunami:




















There wasn't much tourist here as no water sports can be played. Sept to Dec is the best season to visit Phuket as the weather is good for all kinds of water sports.

I love the sun!!
























The "M" Island. (this is not the real name. Lol. It look like a "M", don't it?) =p





































We were brought to this super windy cliff~




















I wasn't acting ok. The wind was really too strong. If I were any lighter, I think I would fly away. Hahah

Had my first Traditional Thai Massage at Cannaceae Spa! It was an unforgetable experience for me and my massager. Lol. I was kind of screaming and tearing throughout the whole 1 hr session. I constantly tell my massager to go soft on me as I felt that she is using her full force to massage me. It was meant to be good, but i can't accept the pain and itchiness. My bone is simply too stiff. Haha. My massager said I was the first to behave like this and keep asking me to be quiet as there are other guests in the room as well. The sufferings cost me 450B (S$20) for 1hr. But, after the massage, my body did not felt any pain.

This is one of the "stunts" that is done to me initially. I thought my bones are gonna crack any moment. =X















2 friends tried the Natural Body Scrub for 1000B (S$44). Seems good, they look refreshed after the spa. =p The guys tried the Siam Massage - only back, neck and shoulders massage for 500B (S$22).

After the massage we start to feel hungry. Is this normal?

Had a seafood feast~
But, I guess we were too hungry to take any photo of it. Haha

This is what is left...


























Bought durians too! But, I was kinda disappointed in the quality. Too hard for me and no durian smell.

Went for Jacuzzi and night swim in the hotel pool.



























They even have a mini waterfall and water slide. =p