I don't usually like to copy and paste stuff onto my blog. but this article made a difference to me. Some shit happened and i let shit filled my life...
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TO MY GOLFBALLS By Anna Karenina
When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 Hours in a day is not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and 2 cups of coffee.
A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him.
When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.
He then asked the students, if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.
The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.
He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.
The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous 'yes.'
The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.
"Now," said the professor, as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life."
The golf balls are the important things - God, family, children, health, friends, and favorite passions – Things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.
The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, house, and car.
The sand is everything else - literally the small stuff.
"If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life."
If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you.
So...
Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Spend time with your family. Play With your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner.
"Take care of the golf balls first - the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."
One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled.
"I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend."
Share this with other "Golf Balls" in your life! :D
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And so I learn not to let shit fill up my life. Prioritize! I know what I want in life and these shit are not gonna stop it. whee~
10:27 AM
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* Wednesday, November 4, 2009 *
Did you see the sky today???
It was like a disney or pixar animation's opening visual. It was like someone drew it in the sky. I'm sure someone is God. It was beautiful! I was driving so it was very hard for me to take any pictures. My assistant very quickly whipped out my father's dslr but trees or buildings keep getting in the way. owell.. here are some pictures....
一層又一層 !!!
太陽被厚厚的雲層半遮住，呈現美麗的天空。
很久沒有這麼多雲朵了！而且那麼厚！
Anyway, Diya and I have been going out there... Trying to go to different parts of Singapore. Err.. ok actually we went to ONE ulu corner of Singapore and we really like it there. We sorta go around looking for inspiration(?)... sorta. Anyway, took a lot of photos and lots of videos!
OH!!! Speaking of videos!!!! Why do we have the luxury of taking videos??? Yah, I'm sure I've blogged about our endorser - AIPTEK, but you haven't heard.... that... They gave me ONE!!!! HEHEHEHE! OOOHHH!!! Mine is sooooo 輕巧 !! It's my palm size!
Introducing.... AIPTEK AHD T7 Pro!!!
So I've been carrying it everywhere I go to 搜集靈感! well.. and to 搜集美麗的畫面.
The thing about holding a videocam is that, I found myself looking out for beautiful things. I also started the habit of looking at things at different angles. Sometimes, you just have to tilt your head up or down and you see a whole new world. But most of the time we go along with life in a routine. We don't realise the small little beauty around us. Maybe without this video cam, I would have missed out on today's beautiful sky.
With a video camera and a seeking heart, I hope to capture some 你陌生的畫面 and bring it to you nicely.... which means nicely edited. haha! which takes a lot of time and effort. So please be patient!!! 真的不容易因為我是龜毛的！更何況, I've been focusing on writing lyrics. Once I hand up my "homework", I will start making nice videos for ya!
So.. look out for it! and THANKS A ZILLION TO AIPTEK!
OH! I miss my blog!!!! Sorry blog for neglecting you. I've really been so busy that I haven't got the chance to 記載 all the events. Gosh.
Well.. 1stly, I went to HK.
Oh.. if I have to summarise my trip in a word, it would be... different. For one, it was my 1st time standing on a foreign stage. So I was really excited to check out the culture of TVB and how the operate and stuff, and experience a different audience.
So I realise the TVB's culture although similar to Mediacorp, their production crew is bubbly and pretty friendly. The whole cantonese atmosphere rocks for me! WOO! And I was embarrassing myself constantly with my lousy canto. haha! During fitting, I was trying to tell them that my 2 songs are 小女人 type of songs so I would like a more feminine look. But I think I said 笑女人. In canto they are similar!!!! Just a slight 音調 difference. They laughed so hard. -_-" I'm glad I could make them laugh. That did not stop me from trying out my canto! hahaha. I tried even harder and made them laugh even harder. ahaha... That was really fun.
On the day of competition, actually I felt like I was losing my voice. I was doing a playful imitation of 我是一隻小小鳥, and hurt my throat. Yah, I'm an idiot. Anyway, yah, so I was not in the best condition but I thought good la, then i'll sound sexy. I was losing my voice and I thought this is a good opportunity for me to just focus on my emotions rather than my technique. So this is a different performance from all my previous performances. I used to be careful with my techniques, but this time, I threw everything out of my window and just SING! Wah, twice I sing until I wanna cry lo. I think I choke back tears during the 2nd song (可以不愛了). I don't remember very clearly cos I was not even listening to myself but just trying to express myself. This is definitely a first. And this kind of performance either you get it or you don't. Some people would love it and would be touched. But some would think I sound horrible. Owell, but I absolutely threw my heart out and enjoyed the performance.
Oh, TVB won't let us take pictures in their compound. So I have NO PICTURES to share! Here's a scan of the article by Wanbao.
I really thought Melissa and Min are SUPER GOOD! Especially Melissa!! She was my predicted winner. Well, she got to top 2. Min was top 4. JieYu was the eventual winner.
I really felt a connection with these 3 girls.
Wendy (left most) is only 16-yr-old but she has got A LOT of potential! She's sooooo pretty and she can sing, but she has to train more la. hahaha.. But she has what it takes la. She's bubbly, sociable, yet talking to her, I feel she's mature and rooted. Oh! btw, she's taiwanese but representing Brisbane, Australia.
Melissa (2nd left), as i said, she's a super good singer, and she can improvise really creatively and she sings with a soul. Woo! And she's a really sweet girl. She's very chatty so we talked a lot. haha! Oh! She's a Malaysian studying in Melbourne so she's representing Australia.
Check out this video of her singing in Melbourne.
Janice (right most) is a super sweet girl. She is also a Malaysian studying in Adelaide, representing Australia. heh! Malaysians are talented la! hahaha.. She's got a really really nice 中低音 and can sing those Joanna Wang kinda song! Or she would sound super good singing bossa style "over the rainbow" that kind you know? Anyway, when she walked down the stage right stairs duing the show, singing 知道, WAH! GOOOOSE BUMPS!!!!
This is another WOW singer. He is Kah Fai, representing Malaysia (Ipoh). He has a vulnerability in his performance. There's a 莫名的抖音 which is crazily touching for me. I teared, listening to him during full dress and actual show.
It's really 天外有天！ I'm so inspired by all these people!
Oh! Something else that was different was that I really didn't shop much! hahah. After the competition, I just met up with a lot of friends who are in HK.
Yup! :D
After the HK trip, I have been meeting up with company and producers discussing about album. It's full time on album now. You won't see me performing in the next few weeks too cos we are gonna focus on our album. and I'm trying to write lyrics for our songs. So 閉關-ing now. All I can tell you is that... it's ALL SO EXCITING!!! Oh man... dream come true... aaaahhh~
Alright... gotta go back to writing... wish me luck!
我的天啊！I'm leaving for Hong Kong in 2 days! Yes, I'll be leaving for HK on 7th Oct morning. I can't believe it! Time flew past and suddenly I'm going to HK ALREADY?!?!?!
There are still so much I need to prepare!
At 1st I was told to prepare 2 songs, which I have selected 相信 and 可以不愛了. Then last week, I was informed that I have to prepare 3 more songs! AARRGHHH!! There will be more than 2 rounds.
1st round - 16 contestants each singing 2 mins of their own-selected songs. Eliminate 8 contestants.
2nd round - 8 contestants each sing 2 mins of their own-selected songs. It will be a PK format. So out of 2 person, 1 will be eliminated.
Revival round - one out of the 4 eliminated in 2nd round, will be revived.
3rd round - 5 contestants will sing 2 segments.
<2> for female contestants, we can choose between 中國話+眼淚 or 畫心+ 煩. I will choose the latter one.
for the female contestants, we can choose between 王菲's 執迷不悔 or容祖兒's 揮著翅膀的女孩. I'm singing the Faye Wong song.
From the 3rd round they will choose 2 finalists.
Then 4th round, 2 finalists will sing one of their own-selected songs one more time. And from there the winner will be chosen.
Very complicated right? I just hope that I get to at least sing those 2 songs that I chose. I'm really not a competition kind of singer. Please pray for me k?
It all sound very exciting right? And I bet you won't want to miss out on the action? Well, you can watch the live telecast on SCV Channel 53 - TVB8 at 7pm.
Singapore changes at lightning speed. You would see buildings sprouting out in a split second. Like that day when I was walking along Keong Saik Road, I suddenly realise that there's a building rising up.
That's the Duxton HDB flat. Looking good.
It's great that Singapore is advancing. But I sometimes think... there's just no space for reminiscing, for nostalgia.... Not even my dear NYGH. It moved to a new campus shortly after I graduated. So even when I wanna 回母校, the new campus is just a stranger to me. :(
Sometimes, I'm very grateful that Malaysia, on the other hand, has the "luxury" of space for nostalgia. Every time I go back to Malacca, I'm just glad that all my favourite food places are exactly as they were since I was young.
Last weekend, I suddenly remembered a kopitiam that I used to visit a lot when I was a kid. So I brought Diya and Jiaqi there for breakfast. And I was so glad to find it as it was. The drink seller is still the same guy with a towel wrapped around his neck... (din get a picture)
The 粿條仔 uncle looks exactly the same with the same quiet frown! (he doesn't even seem to have aged.)
The 瓦煲飯 uncle looks a little older with a little less hair, but flipping the claypots with a thick table cloth in the exact same enthusiasm and precision.
Ooohh.. and our favourite 咖哩面 auntie sporting the same hairdo (since we started eating there about 19 years ago). She's still screaming at her staff with the same loudness and angst. I'm so scared of her. I never dared to order from her. But that day, I had to order cos I was the only who has eaten there before ma! aahhh... kowaii~ (scared)
The funny thing is... I noticed something new.. the yellow papers on the pillar (refer to last pic of curry noodle auntie)... it says...
"Price subject to changes according to customer's attitude."
and the piece below says..
"If you are arrogant, grouchy, irritable or just a pain in the ass, there will be a RM10 charge for putting up with your shit."
HAHAHAHAHHA!!! And I thought the auntie was grouchy. hmm.. That pool of money should be pretty full. Woo! I wonder who put the notice up and why. I'm sure there's at least 3 juicy stories behind those 2 yellow papers.
Ok, back to my point... about the non-change. When I went back to the kopitiam, I was just so impressed that everything is the same! And I wonder, what makes these 3 stall owners stay at the same spot, doing the same things, for about 20 years. Wow!
Everyone has a place in this world. And their place is here at a kopitiam in Tmn Sri Tebrau. If they are not happy or not doing well, I'm sure they will move somewhere else or do something else. But no, they are here. And I thought that this is probably their destiny. Destiny does not have to be HUGE! Destiny could be selling claypot rice. 行行出狀元，就是這個意思吧。All 3 stalls are famous one hor... dun prey prey.
But of course there were changes for the better too. Like the tables and chairs are newer and nicer. The place looks cleaner. The claypot guy has more staffs and they were all in neat polo T uniform. He had a new nice logo with new menu.
lardidar~
aaahh... I love to enjoy these little things in life. It makes me happy! and think "Isn't life beautiful?" Well, at least for that moment.... haha.
Hmm... Sorry about the tagboard! I don't know what's wrong leh! And I don't really know what to do about it. So... Let's be silent... for a while. haha!
As most of you would have read in the papers, yah, Diya and I are forming a duo! Well, the decision was a fun one, and we feel right about this. I think we are both 太好玩 to want to go down this path alone. heh. We haven't got a group name yet! At the moment, we are focusing on the mooosic! It has been really exciting and we are just listening to the demos. Let you in on a secret, by far we have collected about 6 songs le!!!! Ok, 4 more songs to go~ And by far the songs ROCK! Thanks to our dear producer - Mr Jim Lim. He has found us so many great demos and a magically nice music direction is forming.
This has been a magical journey. :)
Ok, I'm going to sleep~ Leave you with a cute pic!
This is Chimpie looking at sleeping Diya curiously~
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