Yesterday's weather was absolutely fabulous, bright and sunny. Nothing can be more suitable for a day to be spent in the great outdoors. :)
That's right, i had my weekend at east coast park as usual with my skate buddies. The number of regulars in the group has grown slightly bigger now. 5 (M,T,L,S & myself) compared to the initial 2 (W & myself - W left the group due to his newly arrived baby!) when we started out. Once in a while, we do have a slightly larger group with some not-so regulars joining us for the sunday skate.
S's really into slalom skating and really getting better and better at it. Should have seen for yourself all the tricks S's able to do right now! T's really into it as a recreational sport to do on weekends. Don't mind me saying so but T started out real slow, probably due to first pair of blades which T owned. Confirmed by everyone around T that it was the wrong size. Now, armed with a better pair, T's getting better.
M's more or less a recreational skater with a bit of freestyling in mind. You can know that from M's look everytime a FSK skates rolls by. If there's any way to describe it, M's drooling with his eyes. :P L's totally a different story, L's the sort to go for distance training and sets quite a mean pace. Trust me on this, i know it - when i was skating with M and T, it was cruise all way but with S (quite a sprinter) and in particular, L, i'm getting a decent sweat. :)
So, i got my workout proper over the weekend. Did you? Hope you did and stay healthy! :)
Sunday 31 July 2005
Thursday 28 July 2005
Moving On!
Just got an email from the insitution of my current studies - passed both the papers i took in May. (",)
Ya, will be "moving on" to the final stage for my certification in the new semester. It was more or less what i had in mind - after all, one of the papers i took was for the third time and esp when my first two attempts were only a couple marks shy of making the grade.
Now that i gotten my results, i'll be going through the timetables sent by the various schools and decide where to do my lessons for the new sem. Guess, it's back to school for me soon! :)
Ya, will be "moving on" to the final stage for my certification in the new semester. It was more or less what i had in mind - after all, one of the papers i took was for the third time and esp when my first two attempts were only a couple marks shy of making the grade.
Now that i gotten my results, i'll be going through the timetables sent by the various schools and decide where to do my lessons for the new sem. Guess, it's back to school for me soon! :)
Wednesday 27 July 2005
LapIT
Been looking around for a notebook a.k.a laptop (hence the title, LapInformationTechnology ;P) for the past few days.
Basically, i'm looking at a pentium centrino 1.6 or 1.7Ghz with a 60GB HDD, good screen display (will be using it for photo processing) with a separate graphics memory card.
With the specs in mind, i managed to limit my choice to either a Dell or an Acer and more than likely i'll end up with an Acer.
Now that it's more or less decided, i'll be snooping around funan or sim lim and see if i can get a better pricing for the models i have in mind. Hopefully, i'll get one! :)
Basically, i'm looking at a pentium centrino 1.6 or 1.7Ghz with a 60GB HDD, good screen display (will be using it for photo processing) with a separate graphics memory card.
With the specs in mind, i managed to limit my choice to either a Dell or an Acer and more than likely i'll end up with an Acer.
Now that it's more or less decided, i'll be snooping around funan or sim lim and see if i can get a better pricing for the models i have in mind. Hopefully, i'll get one! :)
Self-Love
"In taking good care of yourself, you take good care of your beloved one. Self-love is the foundation for your capacity to love the other person. If you don't take good care of yourself, if you are not happy, if you are not peaceful, you cannot make the other person happy. You cannot help the other person; you cannot love. Your capacity for loving another person depends entirely on your capacity for loving yourself, for taking care of yourself." ~ Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh
Do not ever think that loving ourselves is selfish. Sometimes it may very well be the greatest selfless act that a person can ever do. But rather think again - if you do not love yourself and you do something that hurts yourself, be it physically or mentally, who suffers? It is not only you but the people around you as well, isn't that so? However, there are people who interprets self-centredness as a form of self-love. That is not correct and it may be unhealthy for both the mind and the body. I leave you to contemplate over it.
So, have you asked yourself lately if you are still in love with yourself?
I trust you did and you are still in love. :)
Do not ever think that loving ourselves is selfish. Sometimes it may very well be the greatest selfless act that a person can ever do. But rather think again - if you do not love yourself and you do something that hurts yourself, be it physically or mentally, who suffers? It is not only you but the people around you as well, isn't that so? However, there are people who interprets self-centredness as a form of self-love. That is not correct and it may be unhealthy for both the mind and the body. I leave you to contemplate over it.
So, have you asked yourself lately if you are still in love with yourself?
I trust you did and you are still in love. :)
Tuesday 26 July 2005
An Appropriate Statement
A monk asked Zen Master Yunmen, "What are the teachings of a whole lifetime?"
Yunmen said, "An appropriate statement."
Nothing is ever more appropriate than just the right thing at the right time.
Hope you enjoyed the humour behind it and see how appropriately this appropriate statement came about. (",)
Yunmen said, "An appropriate statement."
Nothing is ever more appropriate than just the right thing at the right time.
Hope you enjoyed the humour behind it and see how appropriately this appropriate statement came about. (",)
"Clean-up Ops" Version 2
Finally done with my cupboard in the living room! Talk about being slow and steady.. :)
Version 2 - dive into the cupboard that's in my bedroom. A much smaller project compared to the one in the living room. Hopefully, i'll be able to clear it in a day or two. Likely i'll take two days though. After all, i'm pretty sure some loose ends will appear as it nears completion. (- -")
Version 2 - dive into the cupboard that's in my bedroom. A much smaller project compared to the one in the living room. Hopefully, i'll be able to clear it in a day or two. Likely i'll take two days though. After all, i'm pretty sure some loose ends will appear as it nears completion. (- -")
Monday 25 July 2005
"Clean-up Ops" Over the Weekend
Over the weekend...decided to start a clean-up operation. Haahaa, don't be mistaken, i don't really mean a real life operation - what i've done was to start going through my cupboards and stuff (and i really do mean start, i'm not quite done with it yet).
Ever since i moved into the current flat i'm living in (about 3 to 4 years back), i've yet to do any major sorting or cleaning up of sort. Not to mention the fact, i've not done anything that you might term as spring cleaning even before i move into my new home. Guess it's about jolly good time to do so... (_ _")
So far, i've cleared about two layers of my cupboards and only when i did so, i realised that i've kept so much unnecessary stuff with me, things like lecture notes dated all the way back to my poly days, greeting cards from insurance agents, invitation cards for some weddings that i've attended way back in time and some gifts from people that have been lying around unused.
To my pleasant surprise, my mum passed me a recycling bag - at least some good will come out of all these stuff esp the papers. You can either send them for recycling or you can just dump them like any other rubbish and they end up being incinerated - complete waste if you ask me and not to mention the fact, the pollution caused from burning it.
It was quite an adventure going through all those stuff. Stuff that jolted memories of yesterday and made me smile at the reflection on how much people around me and i have changed. Of course, everything in this conditioned world is changing even as i speak of it, nothing ever stays the same but sometimes the change is so gradual and subtle that we don't realise it even in the event of going through it. (",)
Of course, i did more than cleaning up during the weekend. Did some photo editing on sat nite and went for my usual skate workout at east coast park on sunday afternoon (got to thank MM for starting me on this new sport! quite enjoyable actually and maybe you guys out there can give it a try too).
Ever since i moved into the current flat i'm living in (about 3 to 4 years back), i've yet to do any major sorting or cleaning up of sort. Not to mention the fact, i've not done anything that you might term as spring cleaning even before i move into my new home. Guess it's about jolly good time to do so... (_ _")
So far, i've cleared about two layers of my cupboards and only when i did so, i realised that i've kept so much unnecessary stuff with me, things like lecture notes dated all the way back to my poly days, greeting cards from insurance agents, invitation cards for some weddings that i've attended way back in time and some gifts from people that have been lying around unused.
To my pleasant surprise, my mum passed me a recycling bag - at least some good will come out of all these stuff esp the papers. You can either send them for recycling or you can just dump them like any other rubbish and they end up being incinerated - complete waste if you ask me and not to mention the fact, the pollution caused from burning it.
It was quite an adventure going through all those stuff. Stuff that jolted memories of yesterday and made me smile at the reflection on how much people around me and i have changed. Of course, everything in this conditioned world is changing even as i speak of it, nothing ever stays the same but sometimes the change is so gradual and subtle that we don't realise it even in the event of going through it. (",)
Of course, i did more than cleaning up during the weekend. Did some photo editing on sat nite and went for my usual skate workout at east coast park on sunday afternoon (got to thank MM for starting me on this new sport! quite enjoyable actually and maybe you guys out there can give it a try too).
Wednesday 20 July 2005
Mission Accomplished!
2.30 in the morning rite now and my eyes are definitely half-closed by now... but woah... finally finished the editing and processing work for my friend's wedding day photos. (",) and i do feel immensely good about it.
Ya know, that sense of completion when the whole project is over esp when i've been on it for like two weeks or so using about the two free hours every nite before i hit my bed. Thanks to KK (the bride) for being such a understanding friend cos she didn't hound after me for the photos! Thanks KK!
Anyway, here's one of the photos. (",)
Ya know, that sense of completion when the whole project is over esp when i've been on it for like two weeks or so using about the two free hours every nite before i hit my bed. Thanks to KK (the bride) for being such a understanding friend cos she didn't hound after me for the photos! Thanks KK!
Anyway, here's one of the photos. (",)
Tuesday 19 July 2005
One to One
Had a quick lunch today and with some spare time on my watch, i went to a nearby music store and laid my hands on Fan Wei Qi's new cd album, One to One.Yup, listening to it rite now. (",) Fan's one of the singers that i listen to fairly frequently. Like her for the jovial, cheerful style of singing in catchy pop tunes and also the classical way she sounds in love ballads.
Current Reading
Currently reading up a book titled "faith - trusting your own deepest experience" and i'm almost done with it. Most likely i'll finish it before end of the day.
It's kinda of easy reading type of book where the author shares her own personal opinions and experiences. Really love the way the book is being titled - very down to earth, practical yet mesmerizing in its own way. Guess it struck a chord in me since i believe that true faith must always be from within, not without.
So, what is faith then? Let me qoute something from the book and maybe you too, can see what true faith is all about and why i'm in agreement with the author. (",)
"Faith does not require a belief system, and it is not necessarily connected to a deity or God, though it doesn't deny one. This faith is not a commodity we either have or don't have - it is an inner quality that unfolds as we learn to trust our own deepest experience.
Faith is the beginning of all good things. No matter what we encounter in life, it is faith that enables us to try again, to trust again, to love again. Even in times of immense suffering , it is faith that enables us to relate to the present moment in such a way that we can go on, we can move forward, instead of becoming lost in resignation or despair. Faith links our present day experience, whether wonderful or terrible, to the underlying pulse of life itself.
A capacity for this type of faith is inherent in every human being. We might not recognise it or know how to nuture it, but we can learn to do both."
It's kinda of easy reading type of book where the author shares her own personal opinions and experiences. Really love the way the book is being titled - very down to earth, practical yet mesmerizing in its own way. Guess it struck a chord in me since i believe that true faith must always be from within, not without.
So, what is faith then? Let me qoute something from the book and maybe you too, can see what true faith is all about and why i'm in agreement with the author. (",)
"Faith does not require a belief system, and it is not necessarily connected to a deity or God, though it doesn't deny one. This faith is not a commodity we either have or don't have - it is an inner quality that unfolds as we learn to trust our own deepest experience.
Faith is the beginning of all good things. No matter what we encounter in life, it is faith that enables us to try again, to trust again, to love again. Even in times of immense suffering , it is faith that enables us to relate to the present moment in such a way that we can go on, we can move forward, instead of becoming lost in resignation or despair. Faith links our present day experience, whether wonderful or terrible, to the underlying pulse of life itself.
A capacity for this type of faith is inherent in every human being. We might not recognise it or know how to nuture it, but we can learn to do both."
Sunday 17 July 2005
Coffee Talk
Met up with C yesterday for a cup of coffee at Holland V Starbucks in the afternoon. Been a long time since our last meeting, think probably at least over a month or so.
Got to the counter and noticed C looking at the cakes and pastries on display. Heehee, C's looking out for the all time fav - tiramisu. It was a pity that the cafe didn't have any yesterday, so C gotten something else. Btw, starbucks serves pretty good tiramisu. (",)
Stayed there for nearly two hours and we had a very nice chat. Updated each other with our recent happenings including some news on our common friends. I've always enjoyed talking to C, there's not a single conversation with C that doesn't come with a surprise.
One interesting topic came up during our coffee talk, "nature vs nurture" - "genetic vs social molding". It's related to the book C's reading at the moment. So, we went on to talk quite a bit on it and we both found many common agreeable points (btw, C's one of those rare people who likes to read up on philosophy). It's nothing really that profound but actually something that we see on a daily basis. :)
Got to the counter and noticed C looking at the cakes and pastries on display. Heehee, C's looking out for the all time fav - tiramisu. It was a pity that the cafe didn't have any yesterday, so C gotten something else. Btw, starbucks serves pretty good tiramisu. (",)
Stayed there for nearly two hours and we had a very nice chat. Updated each other with our recent happenings including some news on our common friends. I've always enjoyed talking to C, there's not a single conversation with C that doesn't come with a surprise.
One interesting topic came up during our coffee talk, "nature vs nurture" - "genetic vs social molding". It's related to the book C's reading at the moment. So, we went on to talk quite a bit on it and we both found many common agreeable points (btw, C's one of those rare people who likes to read up on philosophy). It's nothing really that profound but actually something that we see on a daily basis. :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)