What A Brilliant Life

I thought my life is brilliant because...

I tend to wake up when the Sun wakes up and I have no complaints about that.

I have just left a job that was envy to many and soon entering the kind of business, which again is - envy to many.

Lately what goes in my calendar appointments are generally meals instead of meetings.

I thought my life is brilliant because...

What I have in my to-do-list right now, consists of things from watering my sis' plants next door every other day, to registering online for an iPhone 5 daily until they decide to grant me a purchase ticket!
  

My life is brilliant still, with a 2-year old iPhone 4 (iOS 6) by the way.

And someone asked this lady of leisure nicely to be a lecturer.  

Did I hear myself correctly?  I think I did.  

I admire what teachers do, I do.  They all seem to have this fascinating will to make students behave and incent them to learn which, to me, are just beyond plain respectful.  I don't think I can do that, ever.  

Nonetheless, I can probably just about handle being a guest speaker in the form of a stand-up comedian, delivering course materials every now and then.  No problem.  

My life is brilliant not because I have the ability to buy a meal or purchase a commodity but because I have the ability AND opportunity to share my life-long learning with people I care and hopefully make a positive impact.   

I am sure your life is brilliant too, if in doubt, read this to yourself:  The world is your classroom, each day is a lesson and every one you meet is your teacher. 

Brit's Witty Sense of Humour

It's always good to have a bit of a giggle and I feel the Brit's witty sense of humour is the best. 

Here's a little tweet on Twitter earlier: 

"Woman gives birth on London Underground, considers naming the child accordingly. Thankfully the station was Kingsbury and not Elephant and Castle."



Tweets which followed 
(obviously raised by non-Brits): 


How could a woman give birth "on" London if she is underground?

Is the funny part that London is underground? It isn't, right? I mean London isn't, right?

Why would anyone name a kid "Accordingly"?  I don't get it.

I don't get the elephant in the castle part. It just doesn't make sense.

---------

If you are laughing your arse off, welcome on board.

When Love Met Hate in Causeway Bay

When Love met Hate in Causeway Bay,
It was on a normal Sunday.
As each had always gone their own way,
Never crossed at each other till this day.

Love says she wants the day to be a shopping day .
Hate says he is tired and would rather lay.
Love suggests starting off with a nice stroll on the bay.
Hate hesitates but drags his lazy bum out anyway.

Taxi can't enter the area as there are protesters in the way .
Love can't wait, gets off straight away.
Hate chases out, forgets to pay.
Taxi driver goes so mad shouts "Hey".

Queues are everywhere on this very hot day .
You queue for lifts, queue to pay.
Baby little steps from IKEA to SOGO in Causeway Bay,
You wonder how you can wind up in dismay.

How about something to munch Hate says?
Love wants to go crazy shopping foremost she says.
Where's the leisurely stroll, by the way?
Oh yes but you know Victoria Park is hell on a Sunday.

Hate hates it when Love betrays .
Nevermind he takes it easy on this rest day.
At least I get to buy myself a drink if I may?
Sure, grab one for me on the way.

Gucc says no drinks allowed as hate enters the wrong way .
Hate thinks he just saw a main-lander smoking hay?!
Chane staff scans you like an X-ray,
While Louis just have no space for us to land and stay.

It was madness Hate says.
Let's get out of The Lee Gardens if we may.
How about Times Square or Hysan Place, just a short stay?
Hate replies, he's calling it a day.

Fast Food Pairing?

I do try to lead a healthy life, I do.  Occasionally I would climb up the stairs when taking an escalator - it's a form of exercise too, right?

Anyway, there's always temptations around. 

I stumbled upon this ad online and it was from Burger King in the States and I couldn't believe it was for real. 

 
Take a look at what's written underneath the Coke:

"Real full bodied taste with a refreshing bubbly finish, pairs well with a Whopper."

Pairing food with soda and that's so going to class the place up?  You're kidding me.  
 

And look at what Dr. Pepper has to say:

"23 fruity flavors, give it a pop, pairs well with BK Double Stacker."

I say if you are going to have a Double Stacker, you should really be pairing with a doctor!

Hilarious! 

Having said that, in a world where consumers have been conditioned to ignore thousands of marketing messages a day, I have to say, this was a good one.
 

The Party Line

My friends told me I am a great event organiser.  Great is it because it's a job that everyone loathes and I happen to love it? Or because I really am good at it, I wonder. 

I think anything you performed over a hundred times - you are bound to be good at it. Practice makes perfect they say.  

So I have this friend whom I have been organising her birthday parties for the last three years. From guest invitation, taking care of RSVPs, to the logistics and the nitty gritty stuff like how many candles should be placed on the cake!

In 2010 - the year she had her first daughter borned, she requested the birthday party to be a get-away from the baby talks and nappies, strictly "adults only".  Absolutely fine with me and I remembered we had a fun time apart from some who went panicking because they parted with their kids for 2 hours!

In 2011 - a year that was symbolic of mini baby boom among my circle of friends and so we decided to add a line in the invitation that said "We love your kids, bring them with you."  The party went pretty well, apart from the fact that I didn't know kids all love blowing candles and I didn't plan for that many to be blown! 

In 2012 - I made sure I took things into perspective and I think what we are going for this year would be this:

How Much Does A Soul Weigh?

Some believes the body becomes 21 grams lighter at the moment of death, seems to believe that is the weight of the human soul.  Rationally speaking, I don't buy that, but as a marketer, I do buy Din Tai Fung's great use of this idea in their marketing campaign (or the lack of it really).  

Din Tai Fung, for those who don't know, is a famous Taiwanese dumpling chain which has international presence.  The phenomenon of the chain continues to be startling since it was ranked one of the world's top 10 restaurants by The New York Times and more recently awarded one Michelin star in a branch in Hong Kong.

Their food is tasty, no question about that.  What fascinates me, is the art in making those dumplings to precise standards. The dough is rolled to a 6.5cm disc, 16 grams of meat to go in, so that each is to weigh 21 grams and to be wrapped exactly with 18 folds!  No more, no less.  Precisely - that's the soul of the dumpling, the soul of Din Tai Fung, that is there to capture your soul.  

How good is that?

We all have our own ways of eating these delicate dumplings with some ending in disastrous outcomes I am sure - spilled soup or worse, scalded tongues.  

Much to the embarrassment of your dining partner, next time when you are there, take your mini scale out (just kidding)...you might want to pick one up with your chopsticks and examine the broth sloshing inside and go count the number of folds on them before you gobble the parcel (I mean the soul). 

 
 

Cracking The 5 Love Languages

Have you heard of the 5 love languages?  I haven’t in my entire life and until I heard it twice in the last 24 hours and I thought it must have been a hot topic lately, so I went and do some digging.

Apparently, World Peace must have missed out a great deal from not paying attention to the number one New York Times bestselling author Dr. Gary Chapman's book, who encourages the human race to identify, understand and speak their loved one’s primary love language.

It is basically 5 ways of expressing love and everyone has their own love language.  It is deemed vital for us to know what our love language is so that it is easier for others to make us feel loved by them. 

You know what I am thinking?  I think this 5 love languages theory is going to unite the world - which currently has over 6,800 spoken languages spinning around!  Chapman can cut it with 5, isn't that a great saving?

So...I decided to go find out my native tongue and as I am a lazy bum, instead of reading his book, you might like to go where I went for a quick online assessment to see if you and your loved ones belong to the same tribe - http://www.5lovelanguages.com/assessments/love/

And precisely because I am a lazy bum, I shall let the pictures do the talking of what my native tongue is.  

And this has no means of saying I don't like to receive gifts or compliments any more, so keep those coming in please!

Signs, Signs, Everywhere

I am here to say this past month or so, the universe seems to have staged a parade full of bright neon signs, demanding my admiration. I always carry the world of inspirations with me, but rarely does the world speak so loudly.

Lately I see signs, everywhere I go.  And the most amazing thing is - they are always thrown right at your face, made sure you won't miss them (as if you desperately needed reminding).  And who likes to be told what to do anyway?  Especially the bold yet touchy feely ones like these, which I happen to just run across today. 

Funny what they do after you spotted them, is that they will silently creep into your subconscious, work their way into the heart, poke you every now and then with a pulse and a beat, "the best thing one can do in life is to be able to follow your own heart", stating the oblivion of ignoring the obvious.  

Then came the interesting battle between your heart and your conscience:


Heart: What if my life is NOT good and I like it that way?

Conscience: But the time to be happy is now.

Heart: If life is what we make it, then why does sh*t happen?

Conscience: Because life is a sacred journey.

Heart: Only if you follow your bliss.

Conscience: And never get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.

The Lungs decided to join in the conversation to form a tangent: Good things are going to happen - only if you breathe.

The three of them could have gone on for hours, you get the gist.

I believe when we are true to ourselves and our destiny, the world spins its arms to us.   The universe will also whisper and send us signs we are capable of accepting, embroidered with possible opportunities and directions.  All we have to do is open our heart and listen.


Signs - literally and figuratively, are all around us whether you like it or not.