The Voca People

If you like Acapella, this is group should appeal to you. A friend sent this over and I have been playing it everyday. Simply love how human voices can blend so well and this is truly beautiful.
The Voca People is a new international vocal theater performance combining vocal sounds and an acapella singing with the art of modern beat-box. http://lidorproductions.com/vocapeople/ Have a listen...

The Voca People - from YouTube

Stingray Migration -- Gulf of Mexico

This is actually old news but I just only received the email with the beautiful photos today. Haha.. it took almost 5 months for the news to reach my circle of friends. When I checked the internet, I reckon the first time this news appeared would be in June 2008. This is one of the earliest article I came across.

These stingrays looked like giant leaves floating in the sea. Apparently these stingrays migrate biannually to more agreeable waters. As they glide silently beneath the waves, they turn the blue water to gold off the northern tip of Yucatan Peninsula.

Sandra Critelli, an amateur photographer, stumbled across the phenomenon while looking for whale sharks.
She said: 'It was an unreal image, very difficult to describe. The surface of the water was covered by warmand different shades of gold and looked like a bed of autumn leaves gently moved by the wind.






Oh the video below has nothing to do with the Stingrays. I saw it and thought that it was a good reminder to us about global warming.

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Straight No Chaser

Have I ever mentioned that I love A cappella?

A cappella (Italian^[1] or Latin "From the chapel/choir") music is vocal music or singing without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato style. In the 19th century a renewed interest in Renaissance polyphony coupled with an ignorance of the fact that vocal parts were often doubled by instrumentalists led to the term coming to mean unaccompanied vocal music.^[2] In modern usage, a cappella often refers to an all-vocal performance of any style, including barbershop, doo wop, and modern pop/rock.(Sourced from Wikipedia)

I found a few YouTube videos whilst surfing around for this kind of music and I am sure many of you will enjoy the sheer talent of this group called "Straight No Chaser". They are a 10 man A cappella group from Indiana, US. There is another group also calling themselves "Straight No Chaser" but this is the "younger" version. This group is made up of 10 young men from the Indiana University College Group.


Pic from http://www.sncproductions.com/




Carol of the Bells



12 Days of Christmas



Silent Night

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These Boys Are After My Heart... and Money :)

It is a Friday evening and I had planned to do a little Christmas shopping. But before doing that, I had to fuel up and choosing one of my favorite Nasi Lemak outlet at Subang Parade, I selected a table which was just next to the walkway. As I was enjoying my Nasi Lemak, there was this group of boys, some with placards and others in vests with a million buttons on them. As I ate and watch them, they must have just started up their little stall. But then I could be wrong. They may have put up their stall since the day but it was just that they were looking a little reserved and restrained.

As the shoppers walked by, some of these boys would go "Buy for Charity"..."Do your bit for the Orphans!". So, that was what they were doing. They were actually doing their bit for the orphans. How wonderfully kind.


As I continued eating, I was watching the shoppers passed by. There were some who consciously made a little detour to avoid these boys. There were a few curious ones but somehow their curiosity never got them within 5 feet of the stall to see what the boys were selling. During my entire meal, which lasted about 15 minutes, there were only 4 to 5 young girls who stopped by and got a little gift item from the stall. I could tell as these boys will clap in appreciation for the girls' kind deed.



I felt rather sad though that these shoppers probably had an intention to buy something, since it is Christmas time and all. But they did not even stop, not even for a minute to consider if there was anything in the stack of things that the boys were selling that might be worthy of a gift to a loved one, but more importantly, doing a little bit for the orphans.

After I have swallowed the last spoonful of my Nasi Lemak, I went over to the boys' stall to check out what they had to offer. They have quite an interesting collection of stuff and I asked them if they were recycled products. Surprisingly these are new items, possibly purchased from kind suppliers at a very low price. I asked the boys if I could take a photo or two of them so that I can put them in my blog. Ha Ha.. I have never ever gotten a happier response before. All of them gathered behind the table and these were what the boys looked like.


I took 2 shots of them and 1 of their banner. They seemed happy that this created a little excitement and drew a little attention from the crowd. I got some bears, which are very nice as presents. A big one costs only RM40 and a smaller one costs RM12 (apparently the boys gave me a fantastic discount on this one haha) and two baby bears (RM15 each) stuck on a stick. They are still in the trunk on my car. Should have taken it out for a photo shot. I ran out of cash at this stage and told the boys that I will be back later.. and with a friend. There was much cheering from the boys. Such cheer, such joy.



Went upstairs and took some more money from the ATM. JW arrived not long after that. Asked her to withdraw some money and took her downstairs to stall. JW, being the kindest person in the world, without hestitation, brought out RM20 and bought somethings which she really did not need and probably didn't know who to give it too also. Bless her.


Well, it was a great end to a wonderful Friday... to have had the pleasure of meeting these group of young men... haha.. had to call them boys as they were greeting me as "Aunty.. Aunty!" Most young people of their age, normally will either just pay lip service when it comes to doing their bit for charity or probably, the thought might have never even crossed their minds to do anything which will take them away from their hacking and slaying in those RPG Role Playing Games of theirs. These boys' parents must be so very proud of them. If I have sons, I would love for them to grow up like this lot.

Merry Christmas boys and a wonderful New Year to you all. God Bless You All.

The boys and their stall will be at Subang Parade all through the weekend. They are set up just next to Uncle Lim. Please go and support them.

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Daiso at The Curve is finally opened!

Well they say that good things comes to those who wait.... well, I have been waiting since October for Daiso The Curve to open it's doors and finally, they are opened. The first thing that caught me off guard was their Green facade. Why Green? I thought Daiso's corporate color was Red? I must have been mistaken then.



I didn't managed to make it on their Opening Day on the 13th December as I was attending a seminar. I wonder if there were any freebies given out on that day :p. As I walked in, I really felt like a cat in a fish market.... wah.. goodies every which way I looked. I fished out my phone camera and started shooting. Since no one stopped me, I really had a great time looking and shooting. I will let the photos tell their own story...










I was there for almost 45minutes, truly enjoying myself. As I intend to keep coming back, I decided to limit myself to only 12 items (RM60) this time around. These are what I got.


I also told the supervisor there that I would like to see them have new items added every week as I intend to visit them weekly :).

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Conversations with God

This is not a post on anything religious per se. "Conversations with God" is the title of the book which was recommended by Jerome, one my mentors last night. He said that after reading this book, his view on life took on a new perspective. I don't think he meant that he converted overnight haha. Apparently, this book gave him a lot of answers to the questions he has been asking all his life. Me, I am a practising Buddhist, but that has not stopped me from reading the bible 2 times over (even thought the 1st time was read almost like a story type of reading) and I think a friend has a Quran which is written in English, which I will borrow to read one of these days.

Anyway, getting back to this "Conversations with God" book, I managed to get my hands on the eBook. If anyone of you want a copy, just leave me your email at the comments or just mail me. You many be able to get this book from one of the local bookstores or at Amazon. The ISBN Code is 0340825901. I have not managed to get too far into the ebook yet but from what I have managed to read last night I find most interesting and relevant. The first question asked of God was this....

How does God talk and to who? God answers " I talk to everyone. All the time. The question is not to whom I do talk, but who listens". God communicates through feelings as feeling is the language of the soul. If you want to know what's true for you about something, look at how you're feeling about it. Feelings are sometimes difficult to discover - often even more difficult to acknowledge. Yet hidden in your deepest feelings is your highest truth. The trick is to get to those feelings. God also communicates with thought. In communicating with thought, God often uses images and pictures, which are more effective than mere words as tools of communication. God also uses the vehicle of experience as a grand communicator. Only when feelings, thoughts and experience all fail will God use words, which is the least effective communicator. Words are open to misinterpretation, most often misunderstood.

The questions get more and more interesting. It addresses questions we have asked and is still asking about life and love, purpose and function, people and relationships, good and evil, guilt and sin, forgiveness and redemption, the path to God and the road to Hell.. everything. It directly discusses sex, power, money, children, marriage, divorce, life work, health, the hereafter, the beforenow..everything.

Apparently there is also a movie on DVD too. It is available here for purchase at US$20.


There was something else I learned from Jerome last night. Before we parted ways, he said "Remember this. Spirituality Unites.....Religion Divides!".

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Christmas Present For Your Poochie??

Christmas is about 3 over weeks away and what have you got on your shopping list for your darling poochies? Jakey, Axel, Chester, Snoopy and Rusty... who else... Eddie, Sam, Nick ... I hope your human pets let you have a look at what I am about to show you.. haha.. sorry, Nellie and Yuri, Dino and Muffin ... mummy is on a very very tight budget this year.. so, we'll just roast a chicken and share that for Christmas .. k??

I saw this at Gizmodo The Gadget Blog and I asked myself.. wow, if I could afford to buy this, I will probably want to live in it myself. Check it out.


Apparently this is a purchase made by a Great Dane's owner in UK which costs $380,000. This doggie house has a spa, a 52inch plasma TV, temperature controlled beds, amongst other luxury items. Click here for the original post.

Some dogs have it better than humans.... sigh....

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News Break on Daiso at The Curve

Hi peeps. I know that some of you are like me.. have been making visits to The Curve every other week to see if the Daiso there has finally opened its doors. The last time when I caught wind that there is a Daiso opening in Petaling Jaya, that was in October last month. Since then, I have been back a few times to The Curve checking up on it... and also my friend Mumsey has also been keeping me updated.

Last Sunday, I called up my friend JW and together we made it to The Curve, took the few escalators up and from a far, I did not noticed anything different on the outside of the boarded up area except for this little notice.

WAAAAAAHHHHH.. it is going to be soon. Have a good look at this picture and if you cannot read it clearly, just click on it to enlarge it.


The best part is there is a 2nd Daiso Branch too at IOI Shopping Mall... I am so excited.

Daiso at The Curve is opening this 13th December, which is a Saturday.. awwww.. I will be at the EAP Business Opportunity Fair (more about this very exciting event later) but first thing on Sunday morning, I am there before they open the shutters.

Daiso at IOI Shopping Mall in Puchong will be opened on the 15th January next year.

And oh.. they are interviewing Housewives and Students tomorrow at 3pm to 6pm at The Curve. If only I am financially free, I would love to work at Daiso.. haha.. and end up being their number staff and number one customer :D

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A Furniture Hunting I Will Go

I guess it is that time of the year again, Christmas time.... which means holidays and shopping. Shopping for gifts for loved ones is most enjoyable but let us not forget who loves us best…. us of course :D So, what do we normally buy for ourselves? In my case, it is not clothes or shoes but always something for the house. Why? Because it is the place I love best and I want it make it as pretty and cozy as I can.

Sure, there are some stores which I have frequented in the past but sometimes it is great to go online and surf around to get new ideas and that was exactly what I did. I found several great sites where they have the most beautiful items you can imagine. I was thinking to myself, if only I could afford to buy every item I saw and liked, wouldn’t that be great. Ha Ha.. Then I would have to get myself a bigger house to put all those new stuff.

I spent my entire lunch hour checking through the internet and I came across some very nice looking bookcases. I am sorely lacking these in the house. Currently my books and magazines in the house are stacked up on tables, on chairs and on the floor. A few times, in my haste, I have nearly managed to killed myself when I tripped over them…sigh.. I think it is high time I got a bookcase, for my sake. It is not that easy to look for bookcases as a lot of them will not able to stand the load of the books and in my experience, teak is the sturdiest. And I do love all wood that the pesky little termites hate. However, I saw the bookcase that I am looking on the internet.

I have seen how an old chair can be given a new life with just a cushion and a couple of soft throws. I think that is exactly what I will do. I don’t think it is worthwhile for me to lug the old chair to the furniture repair shop to get it upholstered and lug it back again? Nah.. I think getting a few throws is a much better alternative. A piece like this is quite lovely. Ah, can you imagine it… with the rain falling outside and you are tucked in your old-new chair with a good book….mmm.. Now that is what I call life.

That reminds me, my reading room is also my Tara Room. Tara is my special idham but more about this another time. I will need some new candle holders for the altar. They have to be special as they will be my offerings to Tara and I found a pair of Lotus candle holders which I really like. There are many very lovely candle holders here but as I like all things unique, these are very appealing to me.

Now, all I need to do is to send an nice little email to my dear friend in UK to bring them back to me when he comes home this Christmas and that will be my Christmas present to ME :D.

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Take a Coffin Nap to Fix Your Karma?

After putting up the previous post about The Coffin movie, I just could not get it out of my system that people would actually sleep in a coffin. Was almost wondering if the director/producer of the movie was really exaggerating about such a ritual. When I went into the wonderful web, wow..there were quite a fair bit of write-ups about this ritual. Indeed this ritual exists in mystical Thailand and people are reportedly queuing up to lie in a coffin especially during these dark economic times.

Newser reports " Thais Takes Coffin Naps to Fix Karma - (Newser) – As Thailand's economy slows and its government falters, growing numbers of deeply superstitious citizens are jostling into a pink coffin to "die," the Telegraph reports. At about $5 a head, monks in a monastery outside Bangkok officiate over the "dead bodies" in the coffins, before ushering in the next group of people hoping to rid themselves of bad karma.

Telegraph.co.uk reports "Thais queue to 'die' in pink coffins and be 're-born'" -

Every week thousands of customers flock to Wat Prammanee monastery in Nakhon Nayok to get a fresh start in life. They pay around £3 each for floral offerings and a cash donation to the monks.

Inside the monastery hall nine pink coffins with gaudy gold mouldings are lined up.

"It's five minutes sleep in the box," explained a teacher at the monastery school who gave her name as Mrs Laddaman. "People want to be happy."

Analysts say that in uncertain times, as the Thai economy slows and the government wobbles, there are growing numbers of people with problems they would rather leave behind. "Dying", they believe, allows them to get rid of their bad karma and move on.

A stroke victim passes a young girl preparing to perform a traditional dance and offerings of cherry aid to the gods at the entrance to the main shrine Photo: THOMAS BELL - photo source Telegraph.co.uk

Found a very interesting comment by Oceanos at the SgForums. Oceanos wrote...

'Die' for a better life

NAKHON NAYOK, Thailand, Oct 10, 2008 (AFP) - Namfon Mamuenwai says she died for the man she loves - if only for a moment.

The 39-year-old Bangkok resident climbed into a coffin in a Buddhist temple, experienced a "spiritual death" and was resurrected with purified karma - all in the hope of joining her foreign boyfriend in the Netherlands.

"I want to get to another country but cannot get a visa," said Namfon.

A week after seeing the ceremony at the Wat Prommanee temple on television, she drove 112 kilometres (70 miles) from Bangkok to become one of around 2,000 people who each week climb into a coffin to "die" and be "reborn".

"I think this can help me a little bit because now this temple is popular," Namfon told AFP.

The coffin ceremony is the latest religious trend to sweep Thailand, and the saffron-clad monks at Wat Prommanee promise money, love - or, in Namfon's case, a visa to the Netherlands.

"Everyone who came here, who prayed here, who came to make a wish, they got what they wished for," said Charuay Thanavaro, a monk at the temple.

Wat Prommanee has been running the coffin ceremony for four years, and officials say that over the last two years attendance has almost tripled from the 100 people who trickled through the door each day in 2007.

At first, participants got into non-specific boxes as the monks tried to get people used to the idea of willingly climbing into coffins, but now people happily jump in for a chance at improving their fortunes.

A spell in a coffin costs 100 baht (nearly three dollars) for about two minutes, while the whole ceremony will set you back 180 baht.

Charuay recommends participants pay for the full package if they want their wishes completely fulfilled.

"If they just want to attend the ceremony and pray that is fine, but then they will only get 80 or 90 percent results," he says. "If they lie in the coffin, they will get 100 percent results."

After 90 minutes of chanting, the hopefuls queue for the nine oversized coffins, each marked with a random three-digit number which can be used for betting in the lottery, organisers say.

Once in the coffins, visitors hold a bunch of flowers, whisper some more prayers, then lie down and "die".

Monks pass a white cloth over the nine coffins, triggering the symbolic death and sucking the bad karma. Attendees are advised not to stand on the side of the coffin where the bad karma is dispelled.

Amulets and rituals promising protection, wealth or to fulfill wishes play a big role in the culture of the 95-per cent Buddhist kingdom, despite not being mentioned in Buddhist doctrine.

A few years ago, the nation scrambled for amulets featuring King Rama V.

Last year, a 51-year-old woman died as a crowd swarmed for a different talisman, which was believed to bring wealth and protection from harm.

These booms and busts for rituals, temples and amulets are not just fads, says Milos Hubina, a lecturer at the College of Religious Studies at Thailand's Mahidol University.

Rather, they reflect a widely-held belief that magic and luck can be used up over time and once they have been drained from one place, must be sought in another spiritually-charged object or ritual.

"This view of temporal efficiency or a temporal magic charge within the object is quite common in Thai culture," Hubina said.

"I think this is one of the reasons they have no problem with going crazy for an amulet one year and forget about it completely the next year."

As with many of the worshippers, money woes brought 50-year-old Thanyathon Iamnaimuang to the temple, and her initial success prompted the widowed mother of two to bring her friend Laongdao Chaiyasat.

"At first I was excited, shaking and I was afraid," the 42-year-old pharmacist said. "But the monk told me that if our mind is strong, we will progress steadily, so I wasn't afraid any more."

Patacharawarai Sri-on, 23, came to the temple out of curiosity and snapped pictures of the ceremony before stepping into the wooden box.

"I think it helps," she said after her "death" and "rebirth" were complete.

A fellow blogger Meeklamb wrote a great post with pictures which I wanted to borrow :D but need Meeklamb's permission first. Whilst waiting, do pop over to Meeklamb's post here and have a read.

Phew.. finally got that out of my system.. haha.. must be the Halloween feeling..

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Why That Lying Cheating Scum Bag!

Have you ever been cheated by your boyfriend or your girlfriend before? And did you actually find out by accident, or a friend told you that he or she has seen your other half with some one else? When you question him or her about it, he or she will either turn all innocent and sweet and profess undying love to you or turn angry or defensive, so much so that you become afraid to push on?

No need for that hard core Gestapo like questioning any more... since I found this little nugget on YouTube. It is called "Is He Cheating? Use CSI to find out!"



The next question is " Should I Dump Him?" or "Should I Dump Her?" Hey Grissom.. give me a hand here!

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A Fart A Day, Keeps Your High Blood Pressure At Bay

Do you agree that everyone learns something new everyday? That is what exactly happened to do me. I never knew that farting (excuse me) could possibly save my life :D.

I read an article today at the Live Science blog which reported that the smelly rotten-egg gas in farts controls blood pressure in mice. This unpleasant aroma of the gas, called hydrogen sulfide is actually expelled by the bacteria living in the human colon.


The article further goes on to read “Now that we know hydrogen sulfide’s role in regulating blood pressure, it may be possible to design drug therapies that enhance its formation as an alternative to the current methods of treatment for hypertension,” said Johns Hopkins neuroscientist Solomon H. Snyder, M.D., a co-author of the study detailed in the Oct. 24th issue of the journal Science.

To read more, click here.

So, how to make us fart more? Haha .. if you find this post rather disgusting, please force yourself to read on. It might save your life. And more importantly, it will make you more tolerant to those who needs to fart for their good health..haha.

Apparently all humans, as long as they eat and drink, are likely to fart. Some more discretely, some are proud to do it aloud and admits to it. Sometimes, there is no ordour but we now know that these are not very healthy farts. Healthy farts must be those fragrant ones, as they can only be produced by the colonies of bacteria in our intestinal tracts. To be most effective in creating large amounts of these "fragrant" gas emissions, one should take more sugary products.

This is extracted also from the Live Science blog. Read on my friends :)

Although the gaseous response of bacteria to food differs from person to person (as every one has a unique collection of their own), the biggest gas-generating ingredients are sugars, especially the following four:

• Fructose – A natural ingredient in plants like onions, corn, wheat and even pears. It's often concentrated into a sugary syrup for soft drinks and fruit drinks.

• Lactose – Milk's sweet natural ingredient, also added to foods like bread and cereal. Some people are born with low levels of lactase, the enzyme that breaks down lactose, a fact that inflates their gassy susceptibility.

• Raffinose – The secret gassy ingredient in beans, which is also found in broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, asparagus and other vegetables. Products like Beano, designed to reduce gas production, break down the sugar before it can reach eager intestinal bacteria.

• Sorbitol – Found in almost all fruits, this indigestible sugar is also used as an artificial sweetener in "diet" and sugar-free foods. Yes, sugar-free gum, candy, soda and anything else deceptively sweet can cause gas.

Other fart-forming ingredients include fiber and starches found in foods like corn, potatoes and wheat. While fats and protein don't cause gas, they can make a meal take longer to digest—and give bacteria more time to generate gas from other ingredients.

Just about the only food that doesn't give us gas? Rice.

Fighting flatulence takes trial and error to figure out which foods excite your intestinal friends and cutting back on them. As a general rule, taking anti-gas products like alpha-galactosidase (Beano) or lactase enzyme (Lactaid) with problematic foods can curb some flatulence—simethicone (Gas-X) only helps relieve bloating by passing gas faster.

FART for HEALTH! my friends hahaha

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Send in the Clowns

Did I mention that I love all things cute and unusual?

I was walking around the Weld during lunch and decided to check the non-food outlets in the complex, which I hardly do these days, as lunch times are either spent watching seminars off the internet or gossiping and bitching with colleagues haha. But today, everyone seemed to be busy and had their own personal errands to run, which left me to spend lunch time on my own. Decided to pack some food from the hawkers who operate their stalls only on Fridays along Jalan Tengah and run back into the air conditioned complex to cool off.

I was walking on level 2 when I saw a sign which read "SALE".. haha.. that is like a magnet to me. The shop's name is "Southern Pottery" and it sells crockery and ornamental items. Most of the items are very interesting, with price ranging from very reasonable to the slightly upmarket and pricey stuff. As I was checking out the wares, I saw something very cute and I just had to get them. When I first saw them, I thought of cake toppers. They are simply something I must get... so I got.


Not one....
.
.
.
.

Not three....


But 5...even though 3 were of the same design. Well, they were only RM2 each.. and I will use them as cake toppers for a child's birthday cake. But definitely a big cake as the clowns are not exactly tiny.

Took this one next to the puncher to show the size of the clown. But look at the price tags.... RM2... what a steal


They still got plenty (for the moment) but some of the other designs which I didn't get was because the clown either looked too fierce or a little creepy..*brrr

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Win a Free Handbag! Completely Free

Would you like to win a free Handbag - no strings attached? I would. Anyway, I saw this first at my Bento friend Pat's blog. The minute I finished reading her post, I rush to the website Handbag Planet to see if what my chances are of winning a free handbag. All I had to do was to key in my name and email address and after doing that, this was the handbag I selected.

Bag No. 14, Big, Red and Beautiful. I hope I win this one :D.


Go have a look. The last time I checked, the counter reads 1 day 18 hours 28mins 48 seconds

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How To Kill Creativity

It is still very much a time of joyous festive merrymaking at the moment for we have just only started our Hari Raya celebrations with our Muslim brothers and sisters. I have been invited over the last three days to several "Open Houses" ( a term which is used loosely to mean a party that everyone is invited.. literally.. and you can be a friend to a friend who has been invited to the party and you'd be very welcomed by the host and hostess of the house).

Open houses means a lot of fun and a lot of food, but nothing beat the 2 "parties" I had over the last few days. The first one was at my friend and teammate, Jeffrey's condo. It was on the 1st day of the Hari Raya celebration. I was invited to give a presentation on the business that we are both in and all the guests present were from the Philippines. In just 3 hours, I got to meet and made friends with more foreigners than I could have done in a year. My current circle of friends largely consists of only local Malaysians and the only foreigners that I have met of late were from across the causeway in Singapore. So, this was really a great time for me.

And then, last night, I went for a "party" which I was invited to attend by a friend also in the business via SMS on the eve of Hari Raya. She just wrote in her SMS that I have been invited to meet up with Richard Tan at Citidel, Mid Valley on Friday at 7:30pm. I had no idea whether this was going to be a dinner or a coffee-session or a full-blown presentation. Anyway, subsequent to receiving the sms, I went to google on Richard Tan and found his personal blog. Quite an interesting blog, I must say. And from his blog, I picked up this little lesson.

"How to Kill Creativity"

1. Always pretend to know more than everybody around you.
   
2. Get employees to fill in time sheets.
   
3. Run daily checks on progress of everyone's work.
   
4. Ensure that highly qualified people do mundane work for long periods.
   
5. Put barriers up between departments.
   
6. Don't speak personally to employees, except when announcing increased targets, shortened deadlines and tightened cost restraints.
   
7. Ask for a 200-page document to justify every new idea.
   
8. Call lots of meetings..
   
9. Place the biggest emphasis on the budget.
   
10. Kill any idea that is not your own
    

We need to remember that creativity is what keeps things growing, keeps the mind sharp and keeps people enthusiastic in all their endeavors, from home to work to personal life. So next time you have the opportunity to stifle creativity – Don’t – whether it is in the workplace, the kitchen, or from a smiling 3 year old. Thinking out of the box is what brings society its leaders. Restricting creativity only hurts oneself.

Many would not know who Richard is, unless they are in the business or they have been attending seminars organized by Success Resources Pte Ltd. Well, I must say that meeting with a person such as Richard was really my privilege and good fortune. In fact, I have been toying with so many ideas as to how to introduce this man to all of you the entire night and morning after my meeting with him. So, I realize that to do this right, I will have to make the introduction of this man at my "business" blog (haha.. bet some of you didn't know that I have started a 4th blog). If you are interested on who the man is and how he is destined to change many people's life, do hop over to my blog http://successthrulearning. wordpress.com in a while.
One of the reasons why I was so inspired by him is that when he shared his life story with us last night, I see this multi millionaire, who's beginnings in life had been that of a son of migrants from China, a father who was a trishaw puller and mother, a laundry woman, after going through many turbulations in life, became the multi-millionaire that he is today, never once forgotten his humble beginnings and to want to share and teach those who desires to succeed in life. He willing shares his views, his words of wisdom and all of himself to help others succeed.

Now, let me ask you this question, many of your current employers and bosses could be millionaires themselves. How many of you can honestly say that your bosses and employers are willing to make you rich and successful? They are more concerned with how you are going to make them rich. Some could have given motivational talks to the staff, you included. But most of these talks are on how to make you more committed and hardworking and successful.... EMPLOYEES! Am I right or am I right?

This is Richard holding the Apple MacBook Air which he is planning to give out as an incentive

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Cosplay and Anime

Cosplay, which is shortform for Costume Play is rather interesting. I am told that it is really a performance art, where people dress up, complete with accessories and makeup and clothes, to portray a character from medias, which includes manga, anime, video games, etc etc.

In the begining, I was only familiar with Manga and Anime. That is why I love going to visit Kenny's blog. Codename: Dreams. Over the past month, I have learnt quite a lot manga and anime characters from his blog. It was Miow who introduced me to Cosplay. The first time was venturing into a shop called iSock or something like that at Berjaya Times Square. That is where I learned about the Lolitas and her friends. Some of the costumes were nice and sexy. Others were really wierd, dark and scary.


Anyway, I was at MidValley Mega Mall on Saturday and Sunday, helping out my friend at his booth in the 2008 Diet and Beauty Exhibition. By the end of the first day, as I was about to leave the exhibition center, I saw this one fella walking towards the other exhibition hall.

He looked suspiciously like one of those characters I saw on the Anime channel on Astro. So, I followed him in to the next hall and wow.. there was a whole bunch of them. They were really out of this world. I guess you either like them or you don't. I find them fascinating. To actually take the effort to dress up, complete with makeup and accessory, guys and girls alike.

As I was rushing to get back as my legs were killing me, I could only stay to snap shots of a few of them. As I left the hall, there were still several trouping in. They did not have their make-up on yet, so, I didn't bother to take their photos.

Mmm.. very interesting.

The crowd contrast was so obvious. This hall were filled with the young people. I think the average age must be around 20 years old to 22 years old.

In the other hall where the Diet and Beauty exhibition was being held, I think the average age would have to be around 35 years and definitely more.

When I went back to the exhibition halls this morning, I made sure I stood around Hall 1.... where the young people were... haha.. even though I am old in face, I am still young at heart.

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