Bangun pagi, gosok gigi

Got a "thumb incident" today by clipping my thumb on the side of the door (the side with the hinges!). somehow, it reminded me of the song by black eye peas. just substitute "the hump" with "the thumb"..

anyway, i had to use my left hand to brush my teeth for the moment. it's such a bizarre experience. the left hand just has no clue what to do. so it tries to mimic the right hand with the up-down and the side-to-side movement. it got so difficult that the head starts bobbing up-down/side-to-side to sync with the hand movement to compensate for the lack of strength. if all this sounds too technical... it all happened unconciously! i found it funny at first, but surprised as well at the body's response. we should really trust our body more...

Categories:

• think
• mind

Winter wonderland

Well, not exactly winter wonderland. It's my backyard, starring the lonely bike which i have not used since uni days, and the BBQ-set-wannabe, also known as "the stack of bricks". Maybe i should set my new year resolutions as:

1. ride my bike again
2. build the BBQ set - properly!

Categories:

• home
• rant

How not to cook

I was in the kitchen trying to make a meal, or rather the wife was in there first making a meal (i was only trying...). I find myself getting in the way all the time. I just told her that i should just leave the kitchen and let her get on. I can always help clean up later. Naturally, she wasn't convinced. So i told her about my shopping routine whenever we are in the women's section. It goes something like this...

Everytime i waited for her while she was in the changing room, i find myself standing at the wrong place. and the thing is, everywhere i stand is ALWAYS the wrong place to stand. There will be someone who wants to look at the shoe in front of me, so i move to the bag section, and there's someone trying to grab a bag which was obviously beyond her reach with me there, so i move to the dress section. and of course, someone will just try to squeeze in front of me to get that particular dress right at that time. the process becomes worse when i'm in the lingerie section. I sometimes stare at them not because i was looking at them, but i'm in deep thought about something else.. totally unrelated to lingerie of course! but u get that strange look that stares back at u to say "move away u pervie... i need to try on that bra"...

she laughed and totally bought the story. i'm off the hook for cooking!! for this meal anyway. now, i just need something fresh for tommorrow, and the day after, and the day after that....

Categories:

• kitchen
• shopping

MBA and life?

It's been a while since i've last posted. I've been troubled with THE question lately.. what to do with life.. and apparently u can do a course on it! offered after milking every cent of your worth, by none other than the revered Harvard Business School. An unlikely candidate for such a course? see an article by the Financial Times in Money and morals clash.

I doubt i'm going to spend more than $100k on the course, and seriously doubt that they'll even consider my application, but to find such a question posed by such a prestigious business school has its consolation. It does remind us that whatever we do in life, this basic question will always challenge us. We may stand up to its challenge, or let it pass us by without putting up a fight. but the question will remain. the question is as certain as death itself. in the face of death, everyone is the same. race, culture, language, religion, will be humbled by it. just look at the diversity of the people mourning after the tsunami victims on its first anniversary.

my.. such a gloomy outlook on the year ahead. and i thought going out shopping before christmas may get me into the festive mood.. until i picked up the book "Before you quit your job"... i haven't had the courage to read the book yet.. i've got a week of holidays ahead of me to read it. this will be such an "interesting" holiday season...

Of course, i will not impose such negativity on my readers, so i sincerely wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Categories:

• work
• life
• society

Porsche vs Rolex

What happens if you scratch your Rolex watch on your Porsche? Which one pains u more? the repair bill on your Porsche or the that on the Rolex?

Personally, i wouldn't own a Rolex because they're just hideously ugly and the minor fact that they're just too expensive.. as for Porsche, i know someone who owns a Boxter and he worries all the time about it. The usual worries are how people open doors and may scratch the sides of it, by not having a big enough garage for it and hence had to pad up the sides of the garage so that the door wouldn't hit the walls. always had to worry about where the car is parked... is owning something so valuable in monetary terms worth all the energy expended on keeping it valuable?

i value books, sometimes a bit too much on the physical condition. i justify it by the following rationale... books teach me something and so in return, i should look after the book out of respect for the knowledge it brought me. will this rationale work for cars? ipods? am i focusing too much on the physical side than on the functional side?

what do you value? and do u feel u do silly things just to preserve that value a little bit longer?

Categories:

• think

Living without chewing gums?

Have u ever imagine life without chewing gums? It's not exactly something you need. I don't think i'd ever dream of chewing a gum before chewing-gum-years. I don't think i'll say..."wouldn't it be nice if i can chew something in my mouth while i'm walking down the street. i'll be so cool!" i guess if i did have to chew something for a long time, i would worry that it might just decay in my mouth!! so why do chewing gums exist?

there are plenty of other such things... for example, would u ever dream of having a post-it note? do u ever have days that a thought just appeared in your head and said.. "wish i could have a post-it note"??!! but these things exist and actually change our lives! so much so that Singapore has a law against the existence of chewing gums!

now, if only i can surpress the urge to get an ipod... i've never thought of wanting a hard disk that u can lug around, with wires coming off it so that i can stick 2 ends of them into my ears for hours on end to keep me entertained, but it just looks amazing! i guess i'm just a sucker for these things. things that u don't really need but just have to get it... like chocolate... yumm.. i would actually argue that i NEED chocolate.. keeps me happy.. :D until my next hit that is!

Categories:

• life
• think