On the final day of 2010

It's the time of the year again for all of us to reflect on the stuff we did the whole year. However, I won't dwell much on that cos that's what everyone will say and it gets kinda boring after some time :-P

So, I'll start this reflection of mine with review of an old movie which I haven't watched before. The movie is entitled "Marley & Me"..
Yup, I know it's an old movie but I hardly have time to watch movie these days :-S

Anyway, the most poignant part (and I daresay the saddest part) is when John held on to Marley's leg while whispering that he's the best dog and everything. Tears just rolled down my cheeks though I suspect it's due to leaky airplane ceiling :-P

What does movie review got to do with near year stuff?
Well, do read on then...

To me, the movie does not only reflect on the relationship between a dog and a man but it can also signify the losses and the immeasurable pain in our heart when we're apart from our loved ones. I won't dwell too much on this also. But on this year end celebration, please spare a thought for your loved ones no matter how far they are. Most importantly, keep them in your thoughts.

Just try your best to keep in touch and bridge the distance no matter how impossible it may sound.

Well ladies and gentlemen, with that, i would like to say Bye Bye 2010 and Hello 2011 :-)

Christmas Eve & Christmas Day!

It's Christmas Eve and I am feeling excited all over.
I’m not sure why and I don’t care... I feel more excited over Christmas than Chinese New Year :-P
Perhaps it’s the environment or all the fantastical ideas (in my head at least) when listening to Christmas tunes... I wouldn’t have thought that someone in their right sane mind (in tropical country like mine) would be that excited at all...

What will I do on Christmas... hmm... that is something which I have never given a second thought of so far... I think normal stuff like going out and etc... Getting stuck in jam and fighting to get a place at eateries out there... all the usual drill...

All those stuff when the most meaningful Christmas is to spend it at home, with your loved ones within reach (physically or telepathically :-P)...
Perhaps, just perhaps if I’m crazy enough, I’ll wear my winter clothes and turning on the aircon full blast... Sipping hot chocolate and snuggles into my comfy reading chair... reading or just admiring my books... Xmas music playing at the background...

Well, I've just posted a book entitled "Home by Marilynne Robinson"... I loved the song "Home by Daughtry" and now... I just can't stop listening to another song entitled "Home by Michael Bublé"..
See the similarities? All of the above have their core hinged around the word "HOME". So, instead of counting down Christmas, which some people are wont to do, it's better to spend it with your loved ones... perhaps a simple lunch and/or dinner would suffice ;-)

So with that, I would like to wish each and every one of you... A Very Merry Christmas!
A Happy, Wealthy & Prosperous New Year 2011 (I’ve combined both New Year and Chinese New Year wishes into one) :-P


Home by Michael Bublé

HOME by Michael Buble @
Yahoo! Video

Lyrics from http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/michaelbuble/home.html

Another summer day
Has come and gone away
In Paris and Rome
But I wanna go home
Mmmmmmmm

May be surrounded by
A million people I
Still feel all alone
I just wanna go home
Oh, I miss you, you know

And I’ve been keeping all the letters that I wrote to you
Each one a line or two
“I’m fine baby, how are you?”
Well I would send them but I know that it’s just not enough
My words were cold and flat
And you deserve more than that

Another aeroplane
Another sunny place
I’m lucky, I know
But I wanna go home
Mmmm, I’ve got to go home

Let me go home
I’m just too far from where you are
I wanna come home

And I feel just like I’m living someone else’s life
It’s like I just stepped outside
When everything was going right
And I know just why you could not
Come along with me
'Cause this was not your dream
But you always believed in me

Another winter day has come
And gone away
In even Paris and Rome
And I wanna go home
Let me go home

And I’m surrounded by
A million people I
Still feel all alone
Oh, let me go home
Oh, I miss you, you know

Let me go home
I’ve had my run
Baby, I’m done
I gotta go home
Let me go home
It will all be all right
I’ll be home tonight
I’m coming back home

Have a merry little Christmas :-)

This is the season to be jolly. Well, jolly good it is because it's the end of the year and you can see Christmas tree (fake or real) everywhere.

Even Starbucks have their oh-so-cute tumblers that basically scream MERRY CHRISTMAS :-D
I’m so lucky to have a few of this year's cutest tumblers (more snowflakes) and proudly using it with glee in my heart and smile plastered on my face.

It is also the time of the year when the best thing you can do is to play Christmas songs and let your mind wander and wonder on the beauty of seeing sky filled with snowflakes and white powdery snow blanketing the whole scenery. OKOK, I know I’m staying in a yearlong hot and humid country but it’s the year end and my mind wanders everywhere; up north and down south in a blink of an eyelid. :-P

So should I look back and contemplate if I’ve completed my 2010 resolution? Hmmm... I don't think I will because I have everything I want and need right around me... family, friends and etc... plus I don’t have a resolution in the first place. In short, I am contented (as of now) and its the right moment to just sit back and savour every moment right till the stroke of midnight on 31st Dec 2010.

Have a Merry Little Christmas everyone :-)

P/s #1: just in case you're still not in the mood, try listening to the following evergreen Christmas songs:

Jingle Bells by Frank Sinatra
Santa Baby by Pink Martini (very cheeky song; this one :-P)
The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire) by Barbra Streisand
Silent Night by Nat King Cole

P/s #2: Cute Mister Snowman and Mister Santa guarding my precious bookmarks. :-P

P/s #3: Cute angels pinned on the curtain of the decorative cottage windows.

Bragging rights :-P

First of all, let me clarify that I’m not trying to glorify my blog entries nor promote any particular author :-)
BUT, let me soak myself in happy mood and allow me to brag because something exceptional happened on 9 March 2010 @ 10.50pm.

As usual, I will pen my book reviews based on my own personal perception.
However, on this particular day, after I’ve reviewed the book entitled “Hannibal Pride of Carthage by David Anthony Durham”, something happened to my blog entry in the middle of the night!

To be more precise, I received multiple sms-es from my dear friend on an earth shattering news (at least for me :-P) regarding my blog entry!

I jumped off my bed and when I checked the comment column, I was shocked to read comment from the writer himself!!!

I mean, what are the odds of a prolific and well known author going to a puny “syiok-sendiri” (translation: self-loving) blog like mine to note his appreciation?

I practically jumped and hopped around my study room upon reading those comments. No joke!
I’m still on cloud 9 and it is indeed an honour to be recognised by the author himself :-D

Thanks so much to David for his comments!
And not forgetting... thanks to GracieMei for waking me up in the middle of the night with the breaking news! :-)

P/s: now I have something to brag about… hehehehe

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!

By the time I penned this entry, Chinese New Year would have entered its fifth day.
I started writing this entry on the eve of first day; that is during the reunion dinner day & haven’t posted it up till now :-P

Reunion Dinner
Why I like reunion dinner?

To me, Chinese New Year doesn’t “feel” like Chinese New Year if there’s no reunion dinner.
It doesn’t necessarily mean that food have to be abundant nor families extended all the way until “cucu-cicit” but the real essence of reunion dinner is the effort to have a proper dinner together.
In fact, it might be the only time families come together and see each other to chat (or gossip; or compare) with each other.
Good or bad, this is the kind of practice which I hope will last for the years to come.

First day, second day, third day…..
No entries for all the days mentioned above as there were too many activities (sleeping is one of them :-P)..

Fourth day….
I think it’s not a good day to write anything due to superstitious sound of (according to different Chinese dialects):

· Si/See (Hokkien)
· Seí (Cantonese)
· Shì (Mandarin)

But since I’m not the real superstitious kind, I have decided to pen my thoughts on the 4th day of CNY.
*I didn’t finish my entry on this day as well :-D*

And now on the fifth day….
To all my family and friends, HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR TO YOU… :-)
I know it’s rather belated but we have 15days of Chinese New Year celebration so I can still wish each and every one of you from 14 Feb onwards :-)

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!
HAPPY HOLIDAY!!
May the year of the tiger brings roaring abundance of health, wealth, peace and prosperity to my family and friends :-D
*I’ve highlighted the standard portion of the Chinese New Year greetings*

Senses and Reflections

Once in a while, you listen to some songs and find that it magically transport you to another realm in which experiences, memories and everything will rush in as a flood of compressed information.

That is exactly what happened to me all the time when I listen to songs. There’re no songs in particular but each song is special in its own sense.

To me, emotions evoked when we listen to songs are just an extension of one of our human senses. I am thankful that I am endowed with healthy senses; all five of them (the sixth sense is still unproven so I will leave it as it is :-P).

Certain smell, taste, sound, touch or sight will evoke a totally different experience.
Thus, we should always try to take our time to inhale deeply, taste slowly, hear carefully, touch tenderly and look closely in most if not all of the things we do.

It is simpler to write and rant than done. I have that kind of dilemma all the time as well :-P. Though, living a fuller life would be up to the individual’s terms and pre-conditions.

Life is too short to live on the fast lane for way too long. Even rats need to rest for awhile during the supposedly hectic “rat-race”.

To all, whoever and wherever you’re from:

Bonne année! Bonne chance pour tout!
Bienvenue dans une nouvelle année 2010!

p/s: Nice, meaningful songs are meant to be repeated and savoured word by word :-)

Countdown to 2010 :-)

It is nearing the end of Dec yet again and as usual, the gaiety of the moment brought along with it a sense of closure of the year we’ve had for this splendid year of 2009. I’m sure many have made and broke their New Year resolution but that is not the reason not to rejoice.

After all, New Year resolutions are not something carved in stone; even if it is; then too bad, we can’t achieve it, so no point pondering and waste the valuable brain juices to conduct post-mortem over what went wrong and etc. We’re “designed” to walk forward and we can’t even turn our head all the way back, which means that somehow or rather, our focus should always be aimed forward.

As of now, I’m listening to some Christmas songs over lunch and it never fails to give me goose bumps so much so that I had slight tear my eyes :-) not a bad thing though cos it is not an everyday event that simple songs can really touched our heart or I daresay, our soul.

I’m not sure about the rest of the population but every time I heard Christmas songs, I tend to imagine myself sitting on a comfortable couch by the window with my loved ones, firewood crackling at the background providing warmth throughout the house; me holding a mug of hot coffee (I prefer coffee more than chocolate :-P) while watching snowflakes falling from the sky. But then, this is Malaysia and we only have dry and rainy seasons. :-P It is not bad to stretch our imagination on things like this once in a while though.

So, the clock is ticking and the end of the year is around the corner. There’s no need to rush things off and work like mad to clear whatever tasks you have in your inbox.
In any case, set simpler resolution for next year (2010) and if we hit it, then its good.. if not, just move on :-)
Life will be less complicated in that way :-)

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all..
Hope you’ll have a pleasant and splendid HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010

p/s: I’ve “targeted” so many books I wanna buy for year 2010 :-) can’t wait…

Star gazing

Do you still remember the time when you were young; gazing up the night skies only to see it blanketed by thousands of glittering stars and an equally bright moon?
I used to remember when I was really young, I had this dream of building a house with glass roof ala greenhouse by the body of water so that I can lie down and absorb the overall atmosphere.

But then, I grew up and the older I get, the more I realized that as we dwell into the hectic day-day rat-chase, the less we look up the night sky to admire the beauty of it all.
Viewing it from the eyes of an adult differs from the time when we saw it thru our naïve minds/eyes.
As an adult, all things material will supersede the simplistic approach towards admiring the handiwork of the super-stellar explosion of galaxies millions of light years away.

In fact, when was the last time we lie on our back and stare up with the surrounding environment enclosed in perfect harmony?
As a matter of fact, how many of us really took our time off to take a breather?

Watching the twinkle of stars made me feel small and with it, the feeling that we’re but a mere dust in the midst of galaxies.
It might just be me but in my opinion, nature has its own way to put an awe even on the greatest manmade superstructures.