What is love?

Found this card and thought it was meaningful.....
Quote []

A student asks his teacher, "What is love?"

The teacher said, "In order to answer your question,
go to the corn field and choose the biggest corn
that you see and come back to me.
But there is a catch: You can go through them only once
and cannot turn back to pick."

The student went to the field and goes to the first row, where he saw one big corn,
but he wonders to himself...maybe there is a bigger one ahead.
Walking forward and true to his thoughts he saw a bigger one.
However, he did not pick it, but thought to himself again:
"maybe there will be an even bigger one waiting for him."

Later, when he had walked through more than half of the corn field,
he started to realize that the corn was not as big as the previous ones he saw,
and he knows that he has missed the biggest one, and he regretted it!
So, he ended up going back to the teacher with empty hands.

The teacher then told him, "...This is Love...
You keep looking for a better one, but when you later realized it,
you have already missed this person...."

In love one must always cherish those that one already possesses.

Unquote []

2 and 3/4 things I have accomplished today

1. Heroes (Season 1) Completed
As like any other shows, Good guys win and they will return in the next season.
Bad guy "Sylar" is like the virtually indestructible "cockroach". The adaptation and resistance to pesticides is an example of a mutation that results in a survival advantage. No further elaboration required cos I believed we all have at least once "up close and personal killing experience" in our lifetime.

Well, so the villain will be back, how many more abilities will he acquired? Will there be a competitor? I just hope that the plots not going to be draggy otherwise it is just going to be too boring for me to continue.

2. Painting Completed
Nothing fanciful. The only accomplishment is that I have attempted to paint with my left hand today. Well, I am a righty. I taught myself to use the left since young. I can basically switch hand with the exception for writing, I still write like a school kid learning curtsy writing. So I am ambidextrous, kind of mixed handed but am I creative or gifted?

When I was young, yes, I fantasied myself to be a heroine. I will paint a scene full of adventure expeditions fighting monsters, rescuing the prince..Hahahaha.. Who does not? All kids fantasized. Just that as we grow, our adulthood rob us of these childlike imaginations. Because we have to answer for own course of actions as an adult. We are not only socially responsible for ourself, we are to our family, friends, community, country, the world, our planet and our environment. We cannot afford to let our imaginations run wild. Our adult instincts will somehow gather all these thoughts and hide them somewhere in the brain, never to let them out unless you become senile. I know I have seem one.

I guess because I am still hopeful, I still need that innate ability to fantasize, that's why I am blogging now.

3. Reading 3/4 Completed
You asked me what I am reading. Here's some extracts. Probably shred you to tears of boredom but well...

"So you needn't think I am afraid of you-you rose-petal prince or whatever they call you. I shall never stoop to do anything that a princess of Spain should not do. I shall never be petty or spiteful. But if you challenge me, I shall defeat you."

"My mother is not just a queen, she is a solider, and she raised me to know my duty and to do it. It is my duty to be happy here and to live here without complaining.
I may never wear armour as she did, I may never fight for my country; as she did, but there are many ways to serve a kingdom, and to be a merry, honest, constant queen is one of them. If God does not call me to arms, He may call me to serve as a lawgiver, as a bringer of justice. Whether I defend my people by fighting for them against an enemy or by fighting for their freedom in the law, I shall be their queen, heart and soul, Queen of England."

Materia Medica

Check this out.

I got this when I googled.

Source from Wiki: "Persistent fever which cannot be explained after repeated routine clinical inquiries, is called fever of unknown origin."

Anyway, from my self diagnosis from the world-wide-web, I reckon I have "gastritis" again. When I googled "persistent vomiting" I have bunch of crappy results. But when I changed the frequency to "intermittent vomiting", I got a better and more reasonable answer.

I hate the medications for gastritis. Makes me puke immediately after I take it. So I am actually paying doctor $ for making me puke.

I wish I have studied harder and be a DOC....

I did my sum, ok.
$25 per 10min consultation for a GP = $150/hr
$150 X 8 hours = $1.2K per day
$1.2K X 20 days = $24K per month minus away the expenses blah blah blah
I reckon a GP earns at least 6.5K per month

My dad has a family's "本草綱目" collections for his reference.
Basically what these "journals" contain are
"Records of date of symptoms + medicines that were prescribed +
HOW much HE paid per visit"

Seriously. No kidding. Such records do exist.

(Well, I find them kind of neat to have...)

$PON$OR$HIP

Was so eager to blog about "SPONSORSHIP" after I got out from shower until I spoke to buddy PT on the phone. "Are we having the same frequency or what?" I said. I got a missed call from him and so happen that I was about to text him about lunch on Friday. Well, he called to postpone our "long awaited" lunch (We are suppose to meet up after I am back.) Can't make out what he said but I am pretty sure he is going to a church camp of some sort. When I called him on his birthday this year. (We are one day apart. We both have the same last name so We "might" jolly well belong to the the same clan long long time ago..)and that's found I found out he has converted. He is surely the last on my most "UnLikelyHood" list to be...Anyway..long story short... I tried not to get carry away..

Yes, lazy bum I am. Lucien, if you are reading this. Monday's lunch out with PT. Coming Fri will be doc in a.m., m/p to follow...and I probably try to meet up GG and get the restore CD...

I figured I should skip the subject on "Sponsorship" as I may end up revealing too much about our lifestyle but I simply can't. I will not be able to sleep if I have to abort it so I will use acronyms instead.

Lucien, you have to figure out what they stand for..Give me a shout if you are unsure 746586-4357. 24 by 7..
But hello I m just beside so.....Anyway, we probably need BB's owner to chip in on item 1.

Top 10 LIST (with 1 being the most priority)
1. HAFD = 7K
2. TON = 5K
3. LK = 5K?
4. GAS = 6K?
5. FBCK = 5K?
6. QZ+R = 800K?
7. CAP = 100K
8. Local/Overseas MBA = 30K/100K?
9 and 10 still thinking...
Total Damages = $$$$$$

Think about it... No choice. We are still in the material world revolving around the Dollar Sign... And Market went up again....

Off to ZZZZZ... Past bedtime... Kodomo Plaster left only 1? hint hint need new supplies...

Ja ne..

Major Beng

I received an email from "Erge aka Beng" last week asking me out for lunch today. Without any hesitation, I agreed. Apparently, he is going to be in town for some courses and so coincidentally at the building I am in.
From the subject, one can guess who he is working for so for him to be in town on a weekday, that is rare.

It have been a good "Whole Nine Yards" ops, I beg ur pardon, a good 9 years since we have had meals together "alone-just the 2 of us" He was my confidant and I always remember him fondly being the only one who came and sent me to the airport on my "maiden voyage alone" to UK. Well, we used to hang out together back then in school and at gatherings and those who don't know us will think that we were "an item".. That was so hilarious...Hahaha.. And yes, we are part of the "Original" 7Wonders.. We still meet up for gatherings but often as a group so chance of us are meeting alone and have a heart to heart talk is so "rare" especially when both of us are attached. His wife-to-be is such a sweetheart and I and everybody else in the group are truly happy for him. Good career, Good family and of-course us Good Friends!

I have to quit now otherwise I will get too cheesy. Anyway,I can't seem to concentrate now.

Sick cat with "Kodomo" plaster signing off.

My Dad

Today is my Dad's lunar birthday.. We had our tradition mian xian, red egg and creamy cake for lunch...As usual, Dad being the birthday boy did the cooking. He always cook when I go back home for meals..and he always cook for me first. Even our little cousin who came over to stay were placed third in the list after me and lucien. The ranking do matter in a way cos I feel that Dad has placed me as one of the "important person list" after so many years of misgivings that he favored my bro and we always quarrel about it. We reconciled only after I moved out of the house. Absence makes the heart grows fonder and that really applies to us.

We have in fact celebrated his birthday on Friday over at "zhi char". And it was over dinner when we were placing order of "our(Bro and I)" favorite foods and Dad mentioned that he can't eat broccoli and I was surprised. He then mentioned that he had pasted "it" on the wall..My Dad has thus habit of communicating things to us by cutting articles that he feel that we need to know and paste on the wall. I used to frown at his "eccentric" ideas when I was younger and anything that he pasted, I will voice out my opinions and rebuke.

After the sumptuous lunch, I walked to the "notice board" and took a look at the "announcement".
The subject reads "Diet for Gout Patients".
Eat as much as you can:
Milk, Egg, Most vegetables, Most fruits, Bread, Butter or Margarine, Cheese, White Meat

Restrict your intake:
Asparagus, Cauliflower, Lettuce, Mushroom, Oat Meal, Whole Wheat Cereal, Red Meat

Abstain Completely...
and a whole list of food.... And Dad loves the food here on the restriction and abstain list.. I was so upset and started to have migraine as I wrote down the list...He can't even have Carrot, Spinach, Beancurd, Tomato and even Tomato Sauce. Can you imagine how bad it is?
At first I have no idea what "Gout" mean but as far as I know, it is not something that I should treat it lightly.

On our way back home I couldn't help crying.

I couldn't help crying again when I took the shower. How I regret all those nasty things I have said to him...And to think I have never write an essay about him before back in school. I have wrote about my Mum my Grandfather but never him.
I used to scream at him, telling him how "I hate him"..
I was so rebellious so willful but then. Everyday were like living in battlefield and back then, but I always feel that I have won the battles one way or in another by saying any thing that I can provoke or make him upset.

I blamed him for my childhood, for mum, for grandfather and the "stupid chili punishment" when I rebuked him..

But again if not for his persistence, I may have not have lived. When I was 5-6 years old, I did something stupid to myself and forg0t about it. Obviously I was too scare to remember and it sometime bring chills to me, it was a classic story that I shared with friends. My Dad discovered that I was not breathing properly when he hugged me one day. I remembered that was when I was primary 1. So almost 2 years of "that thing " living in my body. If not for his persistence and seeking the doctor again and again, I will have "that thing" with me for rest of my life. He keeps the bottle that the doctor gave him and told me that he will show it to the grandchildren when I am older... I wonder where is the bottle now, probably some in that safe.

He can be very eccentric at times. Not that he is always right. As I age with him, I can now comprehend with him what his thought process is. And the problem he is, he thinks and reads too much but whatever he does, his intention is for this family...

God makes him my Dad for a reason. He is the only father that I have for this lifetime and how many X of 30 years can we spend together? I can't undo all those things I have said in the past, the only thing I can is NOT to repeat now and in future. And pray that God will make him well again...

I feel so sad to see how he had aged so much with all the white hairs and how much weight he had lost...

Even so he is still my handsome Dad(everyone used to praise him how good he looks.)

Sunny is my Dad.

Andromeda

I have always loved looking at the sky especially when darkness falls..

Sky full of stars...and I really get excited when I see one.

However, from the city I come from and especially when I am staying in a low floor...I hardly have the chance to see one....

I asked L if he know which constellation I love most last night when I was working on the star projector. A gift from our cousin. He got it right and spot on. "Andromeda" a constellation named for the princess Andromeda in the Greek mythology (I used to read a lot of these stuff when I was younger)

Here's the story I extracted (I am no good with story telling so I "google")
Quote [ ]
Its heroine is beautiful Andromeda, the daughter of the weak King Cepheus of Ethiopia and the vain Queen Cassiopeia, whose boastfulness knew no bounds.

Andromeda’s misfortunes began one day when her mother claimed that she was more beautiful even than the Nereids, a particularly alluring group of sea nymphs. The affronted Nereids decided that Cassiopeia’s vanity had finally gone too far and they asked Poseidon, the sea god, to teach her a lesson. In retribution, Poseidon sent a terrible monster to ravage the cost of King Cepheus’s territory. Dismayed at the destruction, and with his subjects clamouring for action, the beleaguered Cepheus appealed to the Oracle of Ammon for a solution. He was told that he must sacrifice his virgin daughter to appease the monster.

Hence the blameless Andromeda came to be chained to a rock to atone for the sins of her mother, who watched from the shore with bitter remorse. As Andromeda stood on the wave-lashed cliffs, pale with terror and weeping pitifully at her impending fate, the hero Perseus happened by, fresh from his exploit of beheading Medusa the Gorgon. His heart was captivated by the sight of the frail beauty in distress.

At first he almost mistook her for a marble statue. Only the wind ruffling her hair and the warm tears on her cheeks showed that she was human. Perseus asked her name and why she was chained there. Shy Andromeda, totally different in character from her vainglorious mother, did not at first reply; even though awaiting a horrible death in the monster’s slavering jaws, she would have hidden her face modestly in her hands, had they not been bound to the rock.

Perseus persisted in his questioning. Eventually, afraid that her silence might be misinterpreted as guilt, she told Perseus her story, but broke off with a scream as she saw the monster breasting through the waves towards her. Pausing politely to ask the permission of her parents for Andromeda’s hand in marriage, Perseus swooped down, killed the monster with his sword, released the swooning girl to the enthusiastic applause of the onlookers and claimed her for his bride. Andromeda later bore Perseus six children including Perses, ancestor of the Persians, and Gorgophonte, father of Tyndareus, king of Sparta.

It is said that the Greek goddess Athene placed Andromeda’s image among the stars, where she lies between Perseus and her mother Cassiopeia. Only the constellation Pisces, the Fishes, separates her from the Sea Monster, Cetus. Star maps picture Andromeda with her hands in chains. Her head is marked by the second-magnitude star Alpha Andromedae, originally shared with neighbouring Pegasus where it marked the horse’s navel. This star is known by the two alternative names of Alpheratz or Sirrah which come respectively from the Arabic al-faras, meaning ‘the horse’, and surrat, meaning ‘navel’. The star is now assigned exclusively to Andromeda.
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When I re-read again, I am amazed by the story. How fate brought us together. It was mentioned that the constellation Pisces separate her from the Sea Monster. L is a Pisces and born in the Year of Horse. How coincidentally can it get.. I just realized today...

Pity that we can't project the stars on the ceiling cos the image is blur... L has to do something about it...

A week in London

Saturday 25th’s London was a very beautiful and clear day. Never have that kind of weather when I was there the last 4 times. London to me has always been grey and gloomy…
Good weather we had only for the first couple of days and the erratic weather emerged across London until I left a week later…

Amid the incident I had with the car transfer, I managed to get around to our cousin’s place safe and sound but it cost me a cool freaky 66 pounds….. Welcome back to one of the highest standard living cities in the world…

HJ’s place is within walking distance to Tower Bridge… Fond memories came flashing by as I start exploring the area again…

And every time, I walked past Tower Bridge, it will just remind me of the famous London Bridge and how irony the structure turn out to be…

London Bridge is falling down,
Falling down, falling down.
London Bridge is falling down, my fair lady.

London Bridge has never been featured as one of the tourist attractions. You will think that it is so famous that the government don’t need to. After all, how often do you have a folk song that named after a bridge? And I have always suspected this conspiracy theory. Getting around London is so damn expensive. One source of generating extra revenue is to capitalize on visitors in spending $$$ on transport to locate this famous bridge emplacement in the world. And often, people mistake Tower Bridge as London Bridge and when they realized the blunder, they will mark around and try to locate London Bridge. I did. If Tower Bridge is so magnificent, can you imagine how London Bridge will turn out to be? Hahaha, when I finally locate it, how disappointed you can imagine I was…

Anyway, here are some shots of the Tower Bridge I took on my first evening there. Look at the skyline, look how beautiful it is at dusk. I managed to capture few shots too with the bridge fully open to allow a ship pass through. Mind you, you don’t get to see it daily, ok?



HJ took me to this pub overlooking the river. I kept staring at the moon for some reason. Very cool and breezy place to chill out if only they are no spiders keeping us as companions...



The next few days were just exploring and shopping. My best friend HL dropped by too on Sunday and I bunked over at her hotel for a night and we have lots of fun catching up. This is the first time that we have met each other in a foreign country so the feeling was very fabulous and fun and of course, we were very well-behaved. And I totally forget about the Total Lunar Eclipse but the sky was too cloudy to see anything... Well, just consoling myself. I learn I can't possibly have the best of 2 worlds somewhat..

Back to reality on Wed through Fri and yes, I feel so exhausted when I have to keep my mind fresh and operating throughout the Asia/GMT and sometimes Mountain-time zone but I guess it was worth-whiling since I got things accomplished along with some fun. I was introduced to 2 fun-loving ladies. Pity that we didn't take photos together on the Friday's night over at dinner.

Here some photos I took from the Sheraton that I was staying in. I am going to start painting ref one of the photos here. You got to guess which one though. I cannot believe that they do not have a kettle in the room. I was so craving for instant coffees at night to tide me through the long nights… And so much so for paying few hundred pounds a night. Not that I am being calculative, even if you stay in a budget hotel, they will provide you a kettle…



Well enough of this… I didn't complain about the number of Starbucks every where (I am a Starbucks person but I just couldn't stand seeing them everywhere, hello the English suppose to drink teas right? And yet I hardly see one around...) I just thought of the big picture in the living room. Hehehe somehow, I enjoy staring at the picture. Not sure if I can clone that though. Maybe not, I will draw something else. At least another inspiration for the start...

I guess I will be visiting London again in near futures, until then....this time more and nice Fish n chips and Beers!

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