Bad Day and Sudoku

I have a bad day today. To keep my mind occupied and not to sink into the complicated thoughts, I buried myself in the Sudoku puzzles, one after another ... and the number 1 to 9 occupied my mind the whole day! Thanks to the Sudoku creator! And my thought process on certain things are back since evening, ... to be or not to be _____ ... I pray for the answer.

Encouragement

After yesterday post on Courage, it got me thinking on the Western and Eastern way of encouraging people.

We Asian are more reserved and we always think about people around us to make sure we do not embarrass them or ourself by doing things that go against the social norm. When things go wrong, we start blaming people by telling them: "See, I told you so!, "Why are you so careless?", "You everytime like that one!" Yeah! Speaking of adding salt to the wound and rubbing it hard!!! And what happen after this? People step back and shy away from doing things because they are afraid if it fails again and that they have to put up with the wound-rubbing salt! And they become smaller and smaller, mentally!

The wester society, on the other hand is taking a different approach, they support their friends and family members in things they do (of course not criminal activities!) This is how people build confident, step forward and see the sunshine in their face. Be it they fail, the family and friends continue to be supportive, by giving word of encouragement like "It is ok! You are going to be fine next time." These word of loves, help them to stand up and continue to venture into the life journey.

Ok, so what is this have to do with the yesterday post? I remember one guy in the show said that his Mama encouraged him to go for the contest. You see, if this is in Asia, the Mama will be like, "You crazy-ah? Want to show your already embarrasing asset to embarrass youself more? No! No! You cannot go! Later you Uncle, Auntie and our neighbour know about it, I don't have face to go pasar (market) again!"

And then I remembered watching the interview on cable TV when I was in the States. The Playboy playmate was answering the interviewer question, saying that she wanted to give thanks to her Mom for giving her the support when she was doubting over whether or not to post nude for Playboy. And yes, that decision to be the playmate made her famous. Shall the Mom reacted like a asian Mom, she will not have been who she is today.

Courage

I watch a video clip from the Internet, Smallest Penis Contest. I really have to admire these people for having the courage to go on TV, show and talk about their male organ. Have they run through the thought that if their friends, family, neightbours see them on TV and give them a different look and feel?

April 19, We Remember

On April 19, 1995, I woke up early in the cold Spring morning and headed to class. As I reached the campus, instead of seeing students waiting for class to start, I saw crowd on the hallway talking. Out of nowhere, someone pushed a TV cart to the hall and everyone shifted the attention toward the TV.

On the TV screen, we saw scenes of building with smokes. The broadcast reported that a bomb had exploded in the federal building in downtown Oklahoma City, 15 miles from Edmond, the city that I lived. From the video image, I saw that almost one third of the building was gone. Everyone was at shock after realizing the extend of damage through the TV screen (It was reported in the radio earlier). Many life were losts. Mostly children (from the daycare center). I weeped and prayed for them.

A week before April 19, 1995, Steve was in that building to pick up his Social Security Card (like the Malaysian IC). It sent a shiver down our spine when we thought of how blessed we were.

On the anniversary for the next two years after 1995, the city would distribute car bumper sticker printed with "April 19, We Remember". I remember April 19. Every April 19th of the year, I remember Oklahoma City, Oklahoma - the place that was part of what I called home for my few years in the States.

By the roadside

Yesterday evening, as I was waiting for a friend in front of the house, I noticed a small white patch of paper stuck on the grass.



And then this philosophical thought ran through my mind:

Taking the beating of the rain and the heating from the sun, this little piece of paper was washed off and "melted" itself to the grass growing by the roadside.

Are we human then, after settling in a place, by chance or by choice, take up the challanges and melt ourselves in the crowd and the environment surrounding us?


To be or not to be .... the paper by the roadside? *Muahahahaha*

From Blog to Dinner

Six days after reading a blog entry about food, I finally get a cure to the temptation. Muahahahaha!! I had Claypot Chicken Rice for dinner tonight. Well, it all started when Carcar blogs about cooking chicken rice and posts picture of the final product. And after seeing that, I have been wanting to eat claypot chicken rice. And finally, today is the day. ;)

Note to self: Next time if you read a blog on food, make sure you have good self control ;p

Dinner@LaBodega

I went for dinner with few colleagues at La Bodega, a Spanish restaurant which is nicely decorated and cozy. This is more of a hangout place than dinner place. Anyway, we have a great time. The menu items are all in Spanish and luckily the description helped us to decide what to order.



The wall is tastfully decorated with black and white posters of exoctic pictures.



And there are these wine bottles deco on the ceiling.



And of course, the wide selection of alcoholic drinks at the bar.



We order something like Paella Valenciana Mixta, Champinonnes al ajillo, Gambas 'Paco Alcalde'. (Can't even prounce the name correctly ;p)



I was too busy eating and only managed to take the photos for these two items. ;)

Movie: Tuesday with Morrie

I watched a very good movie tonight, Tuesday with Morrie, the story is based on the book with the same title written by Mitch Albom.

Though I have read his other book - The Five People You Meet in Heaven - a good book that open your eyes to see life differently, I haven't read Tuesday with Morrie. Gotta go get the book and read.

"When you learn how to die, you learn how to live."

Bloggers Meet@Starbucks

I had my first ever bloggers meeting last night. We have Chen, Agus, Sbanboy, and FellowTraveller. My boyfriend, Steven came along with me. We arrived late and was looking for the group at Starbucks and Agus approached me. (I forgot to ask... how come you know that was me?) ;-)

Well, we enjoyed the coffee and the cookies (Agus home baked!) and having a good time chatting. The chocolate chips soft cookies were delicious! Sbanboy has put up some pictures at his blog.

It was a fun night and I truly enjoyed it! Thanks guys!

Maniac Friday

Friday is supposed to be the day that we all relax a bit, stay cool and think about what to do on weekend. ;-) However, things always seen to be on the opposite side for me. And today is just another one of those days - maniac Friday! *Argghhh*

Dr. Chen is in town. I actually plan to meet up with her but by the time I left office, I didn't have the energy already ;(

Waste Management

Effective April, I am officially transferred from the department that I have attached with for the past 5 years. When I look back to see how far I have gone, I realize that in the last 5 years, I have changed my job title 4 times and each change has added on more responsibilities on both my shoulders.

I once told a colleague that it is the challenges that keep me here! And yes, my jobs have been a troublesome one. I deal with problem after problem. So much so that my team members nickname ourselves - ALAM FLORA - the Solid Waste (layman term = rubbish) Management Company that run around towns in their blue green truck.

A big part of my jobs is to find problem. Yes, you heard that right! My team welcome all problem reported to us. *Muaaaaahhh* We love problem!. We are all trained to "sniff" hard to find hints of smell and despatch our truck to start collecting the trash. *LOL* Yup, it is a real stinky job.

Along the process to manage the solid waste, there is always some sense of fullfillment to see the smiles on the face of people that we took the waste/weight off their shoulders and not forgetting the company bottomline as a result of our "clean up".