PickMyBrain

New post every Saturday!

Origins

This page tells about the origins of Ocean's 1/2. In conventional terms, it would have been the About page. Take a look.

Project 365 Grateful

This a project inspired by a friend to help myself have a brighter outlook on life and appreciate what I already have. Read all about it here!

Contact

Now if you ever have any private/personal questions or are just to shy to leave your name, contact me personally! I'll reply ASAP :)

Disclaimer

No one likes to sue or be sued. Though that is highly unlikely in this tiny blog of mine, I still like to say a few words here.


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Congratulations on finding this small, little blog of mine! :)

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Tuesday 31 January 2012

Wrap Up: January '12

I don't usually like to do wrap ups, but this year, I shall try to do a monthly review. They serve 2 purposes: to remind me of how far I've come, what I've done and also hopefully inspires me to do better every month onwards.

January of 2012 seemed like a blur of events rushing through one after the other albeit the fact that I'm still on my summer break! Right after ushering in the New Year, we ushered in the Chinese New Year. In between was all the non-finishing spring cleaning, shopping and CNY planning.

I had this post entitled CNY doesn't make you a Superman for some time, but I guess all I wanted to say was,  CNY is far from a relaxing holiday, what with all the midnight and early morning temple visits, catering food, sending gifts over, reunion dinner, cleaning, decorating, packing red packets, painting (I painted a section f the wall all by myself! so proud :D ), rituals, meeting up with relatives you only get to meet once a year, etc. trying so hard to just make everything perfect.

And when CNY first day arrives, everyone is just too tired to be in a celebratory mood somehow. I've noticed a lack of activity on the morning of the first day year after year. I somehow wish we had more energy to enjoy and reap what we sowed the past week of hard labour cleaning the house. This is turning out to be a CNY post..LOL

Anyways, beside the New Years, I've been busy organising the house. I like to create systems that is practical, especially if it is used like every other day. Feels really rewarding. Right now, I'm sorting all our family photos, backing them up, and trying to come up with an easy to input-organise-find system for everyone in the house to use.

I've also been working on my past travel journals. Way overdue writings, but thankfully there's pictures to guide me! There's 3 photobook vouchers I've yet to utilise and they expire SOON! And oh! We went on a super spontaneous family trip when one of my uncles came over to bai nian. We were talking and suddenly, the topic of holidays came into spotlight. 3 hours later, we were on a road trip to Fraser's Hill! I think this just breaks the record for shortest holiday planning ever! That reminds me, Fraser's Hill's a totally different story, maybe I'll post up some pictures (hint: very English setting! me likey)

Overall, this month has seen a good catching up with family, relatives, high school friends, high school teachers and very interesting conversations and struck a chord deep down within me, and as always, with the most unlikely people in the most unlikely settings. I'm happy nonetheless. Although it has been quite a journey, I look forward to and dread February at the same time. Best friend's coming back from Deutschland, but it's also time to get back to uni! I shall enjoy the holidays while it lasts! Adios~

Sunday 22 January 2012

CNY Laughs!


Chinese Wisdom

In the Chinese language, the word "LAO" means old. It also has the connotation of "experienced" or "seasoned".
An experienced or seasoned person can be an expert in manipulation, as shown in the following illustrations:
Two things in life that are difficult to achieve:

1. To plant your idea in someone's head
2. To plant someone's money in your own pocket.

Achieving any one of the above is difficult. But there are people, with the title of LAO, can achieve one or both:

1. He who succeeds in planting his idea in someone's head - we call Lao Shi (teacher)
2. He who succeeds in planting someone's money in his own pocket - we call Lao Ban (boss)
3. The one who succeeds in both - we call Lao Po (wife) or Lao Qian (trickster)
4. The one who fails in both - we call Lao Gong (husband)
 

Saturday 21 January 2012

Hit The Beach!


It's summer. The sun is shining. It's time to Hit The Beach!

Thursday 19 January 2012

The Hitchhiker's Dilemma

Back when I was in high school, I used to stay back for many extra-curricular activities. This resulted in me missing my regular transport and I either had to take a bus+walk, or simply walk all the way.

I've definitely tried both, and during the walking occasions, I would often time think to myself: Wouldn't it be nice if every car had a sign saying where they were going so I could hitch a ride?

Car-pooling is very possible as many people go the same way, but hitchhiking is a different story - especially in Malaysia. Just today, I saw a Caucasian teen waving down cars for a ride. Mine was one of them. Sad to say, I did not stop, and neither did the few cars at the back.

Then, I was immediately brought back to my initial thought in high school and I wondered why I didn't stop? Why indeed?


One reason could be that hitchhiking is not a well-accepted concept here in Malaysia. You don't see a lot of hitchhikers and you rarely ever see them get a lift. Ever. Well, I cannot really blame them. Most people are worried for their own safety, you see. You have no idea who's the person who just entered your car and is now 2 feet away from you. Is he a convict? Or a robber? Or even a serial rapist? You can never know.

Safety is one of the reasons why hitchhiking is getting less popularity in today's Criminal Minds world. Better be safe than sorry. Same case go for the advice of never taking care of another person's luggage at the airport!

To all hitchhikers out there, better luck with the bus!








Photos from here and here.

Wednesday 18 January 2012

Lomo is Fun!


I was playing with Camera360 under random effect. Unless I'm very much mistaken, this should be a lomo shot. Very beautiful indeed!

Man in the Mirror

I've always loved this song so so much! It speaks so much truth that it could easily be a religious song. The song encourages us to make a change. And it starts within us, not without. Glee Season 3 Episode 8 brought Glee back into my list of shows to follow and this song just killed it! Not to mention also, the way the episode maneuvers the many obstacles, how Finn chose to be the better man and brought everyone together, how Quinn realises she's having the best time in her life, how Mike's Father decides to support his son. Everything speaks of courage to make a change, to take a stand and it starts from us, from now.





Friday 13 January 2012

Through The Leaves


Tuesday 10 January 2012

This is not a new year's resolution!

2012 has just begun. I'm never really a fan of new year's resolutions but for some reason, being pressured among others, I've always made resolutions that were never revisited nor kept. God knows what happened to them!

Anyhow, it hasn't been a very good start at all this year. There are a couple of things that I'm just not happy about, and the good/bad part is, it's about myself. The good part is, I can change that. The bad part is, it's not going to be easy.

Anyhow, instead of making new year resolutions, I'm going to make solutions for these issues:

1. Be more careful!
Barely a week has passed and I've lost two of my possessions which I have to say, could have been avoided completely if not for my lack of mindfulness. First is my dear TGIF Bros Bottle in Jusco. The second is my swimming trunks!

2. Be more efficient!
More than once, I've caught myself procrastinating even though I know very well that I'm going to regret it later. A lot. Temptations of HIMYM and Big Bang Theory should be minimised! Glee has somewhat faded off from uninteresting to almost a bore recently.

3. Be more daring!
I'm not usually a cowardice person, but when it comes to certain things, especially the emotional side of me...let's just say I'm not one who usually connects with that part of me and put it out in the open for everyone to see. All I wanna say is I want to be more emotionally connected to people instead of always talking about facts, ideas or worse arguing. As Anthony Robbins said:


"The quality of your life is the quality of your relationships"

This is one gargantuan task IMHO. I know some people who are natural conversationalist. But, honestly, I don't know where to even start. Oh, and daring also means keeping other people's views out of the equation at times when they don't count. Yeap, that does take some courage, but that's what I'm going to try this time around.

Well, there's three resolutions/virtue/principle right there to start off the year. And oh, I'm starting a 365 Grateful project, inspired by Devi :) For the time being, the link to the page will be by clicking the middle picture with no title at the very top of this page, or here.







Saturday 7 January 2012

May It Be


The only reason I named this picture so is because Enya's song is playing right now, and it has been for the past  few days. And this pictures sorts of bring out that feeling of mystery. Of not not knowing what's beyond the horizon. It's a bit misty/cloudy/sandy, but definitely blurry and yet we harbour hopes of a better future by taking one step at a time.

Friday 6 January 2012

Review: The Darkest Hour


Not recommended t watch. First of all, it's only an hour and a half and the ending is not satisfactory. Some parts of the plot is just absurd and I don't find it stimulating enough.
Rating : 2/10