My vision boards ....

I have been toying with the idea of them Vision Boards and being a visual person myself, I think these boards could help me visualise what things that I want in my life, what I want to achieve for myself. Simply put, these boards are typically poster boards where you paste pictures or a collage of images that you can obtain from magazines.

What's the rationale behind these vision boards? Well when you surround yourself with these images which could be images of who you want to become, where you want to live, what you want to have, where's your next holiday, changes that you want to make in your life - basically it's up to you to create any kind of vision boards that serve what you need at that point in your life. Well that's how I see these boards as and there might be other thoughts on this as well.

But recently I have stopped buying magazines cuz I have not figured out what to do with the magazines after I am done reading them and they usually collect dust in my room. I used to give them to my Mom's girls at work but they are not around anymore. I mean, it will be alot more fun to cut out pictures or images from magazines but am going to be wiser about how I go about this.

Am going to use images from the internet which is free and put them in a collage or 'poster board' style using powerpoint. Then will get it printed and mounted as my own vision boards. That way, I won't have to spend that much money to get the images I want. And with Google Image Search, it's easy peasy. Somebody was telling me that I have to use the exact pictures of what I want to attract for my vision boards. I guess for certain things it would make sense but since these boards are mine, I am not going to be so anal about it (I can just imagine my friend rolling her eyes and freaking out at how carelessly I am going about this *laughs* but it's my vision boards lah!).

So I have started and have two done and will need to print them out soon.

So how will these boards help me? For me personally, by thinking through what I want on the board helps me clarify my dreams, wishes, wants and also my feelings towards these things. Do I really want it? What do I need to do to get it? I am sensible enough to know that just dreaming about these things will not help totally (though I know some of you might disagree) but I think it also helps me think through what I need to do to get them and also prioritise as to what's truly important at different points of time.

If you want to find out more about Vision Boards, just google it or you can start here or here. So wish me luck as I start on this vision board journey ....

Just one more day ....

If you had a chance to spend just one more day with one person, who would that person be? I was thinking about it and for me, that one person that I would like to spend with my Auntie Sue who passed away in 29 July 2003. My parents were with her til the end in New Zealand and because of work, I wasn't able to make the trip there to say my farewell to her.

How would I spend the 24 hours with her? I would use the morning to fill her in as to what has happened since the last time we spoke and probably spend the rest of the time showing her some of the changes that has taken place in Singapore. Although she was living in NZ, she called often and we even wrote to each other to keep each other updated on happenings with the family. She made it a point to visit as often as she could and I remember as a kid, we used to alternate between the two countries during the holidays. And when my brother and I went to NZ, she always took good care of us and made sure we had a good time there.

And she was one person that I could talk to about anything and she was always encouraging and supporting me, telling me that I could do anything that I wanted to. And she would also share her own experiences and that helped alot. It has always been my regret that I could not thank her in person for being such a great aunt and a wonderful friend that I could turn to anytime. I would also tell her I miss her dearly and she is always in my thoughts ....

OST Wulan by Letto

My Mom loves her drama series as much as I do mine but she seems to prefer to sad sappy kind that irks me. It used to be Hikmah and now she's into Wulan (Indonesian drama) and another one, Istri Untuk Suamiku *grins*

Anyways, am still not a fan of those shows, I will stick to my Korean dramas (comedy ones only). But have to say that I do like the original sound track from the Indonesian drama Wulan by an Indonesian band called Letto. Infact, enough for me to look for the song and along the way, heard their other songs and it's pretty good. So next time I am at the stores, will look for their album and will be a nice surprise if I can find them here. If anyone knows where I can get Letto's Truly, Cry and Lie, please do let me know.

But if you would like a sample of the song that I am referring to, take a listen below. Enjoy!

I wish I had ...

I had one of those moments yesterday that was a wake up call and got me thinking ... about how lucky I am and about how others are not as fortunate. It happens to me every now and then, as if somebody out there is reminding me that there is more to life and I need to do more ...

I was walking pass a makan place (eatery) somewhere in the Simei, and I saw one of the staff from the stalls clearing the tables and throwing the leftover food from his customers into two huge bins. Then I saw an elder man walking towards him and stretched out his hand to take a plate that the staff was about to clear. He walked to one of the nearby tables and started finishing the food that was left on the plate. It looked like he was finishing up a couple of french fries and within minutes, he was done and returned to where the bins were and cleared the plate and placing it together with the other plates.

I was stunned and wasn't sure if I saw what I saw. I read about something similar in the papers some years back but to see it with my own eyes, it broke my heart. I wanted to buy him a plate of fried rice or something cuz how much would that have cost but I didn't have my wallet with me (left it in the car). It would have been too late if I went cuz by the time I realised what was happening, he was already walking away, probably looking for more food.

It's one of those moments where I wished I had done things differently. I wish I had been quick enough to realise what was happening and offered to buy him dinner (somehow convince the food stall people that I had to go to the car to get my wallet and come back instead of disappearing), do something ... anything.

That moment keeps playing over and over again in my head. It reminded me of how lucky I am, never to have to worry about when my next meal will be or where my next meal will be from. I am glad this year that M suggested for our usual Xmas exchange for MBA, we will use the money for the gifts for a charity organisation of our choice instead. But is there more that I can do, am sure there is. Just have to figure it out ....

Cough cough go away ....

Yes am feeling rather miserable like the fella on the tissue box in the picture above, thanks to this cold that I have that makes breathing, thus sleeping at night, very difficult and totally unpleasant. The cold has also resulted in me having a nasty dry cough. And thanks to all that, I couldn't sleep properly last night and was pretty tired out right now. Will take some meds and head to bed real soon. Have these really cool meds from Australia, they are meant for cold/flu but they are the Day & Night ones where the meds for the day won't make you drowsy cuz you need to function but the night ones put you to sleep so that you can get a good night's rest and recover. So yes, will take some of those right after this.

Year is ending and this has to be the busiest time for us at work as we prepare for the next year. So I really cannot afford to fall sick right now when I need to think straight! So hopefully the cold will go away, far far away real soon. I sure don't want to start the year with this cold and cough because I remember that was how I started this year and had a cough that lasted for several months. Nope, next year will be different. Will be all energise and ready for 2009! *grins*

Next girls night out ...

You're probably thinking what else she's up to after the pink bimbo camera post the last time huh? *laughs* Well it's all S's fault and I am not complaining! To think that he found this at one of those stalls (sellers set up tables) at Peace Centre. I am impressed that they even had this.

I am not sure if I have mentioned it before but I have a collection of Monopoly sets from countries that I have travelled to (that is if I can find them sets). For example, my most recent buy was from my trip to Italy. Yeah, I have no clue what the words mean but hey, Monopoly is Monopoly, how different can the rules be right? And sometimes I forget what sets I have, like I have two from Malaysia! I still have quite a bit more to go cuz I don't have from all countries (plus not all countries have their own edition of Monopoly) but I will get there slowly but surely.

So this new set is rather interesting cuz it's a Boutique Edition where you can buy boutiques and malls, go on a shopping spree, pay your cell phone bill, and get text and instant messages. Best of all, the game is stored in a beautiful keepsake box which doubles as a jewelry box. Cool game features include: 8 collectible tokens just for girls, keepsake storage box with removable tray and mirrored insert, pink gameboard with fun properties, pink and purple translucent boutiques and malls instead of houses and hotels, Instant Message and Text Message cards instead of Chance and Community Chest, pink Title Deed cards, redesigned Monopoly money, flocked banker's tray, 2 pink dice, and instructions *laughs* Cool or what! And yeah, it's also a fabulous Xmas gift for that special lil girl so grab one for her.

So anyone game to meet up and play? *grins*

I am a bag lady and loving it ...

I was catching up on my friends' blogs and came across a link to the Fengshui Blog (thanks Mty dear for putting it up). Interesting read and what caught my attention was the 'Fengshui Your Handbag' post. Now, I'm a bag lady and I love my bags so naturally I started reading this post.

Key things from the post (for more details, go check out the blog):

• go for the classic "Money Bag" shape (where it's wider at the bottom and narrowere at the top) to keep your money safe and symbolically accruing
• the fabulous color Red attracts Fame/Recognition, Helpful People and Good Luck, the color Black (with it's career associations), or a Gold and Red purse for Prosperity, and Green for new beginnings
• carry cash and enhance your money chi by having a Lucky Red Envelope with a Lucky Dollar and/or Three Feng Shui Coins on Red Ribbon placed next to your money
• keep your bag absolutely loved, totally organized, free of clutter, light and easy to carry, and off the floor showing respect for your money

I have just found the excuse I need to buy me a new handbag! Yippie!

Pretty in pink ...

Yes yes yes, before you start freaking out and saying, 'What the ....' *laughs* let me explain. As part of replacement shopping, I wanted to get myself a camera and S suggested this one. He calls it the camera for a 12 year old and knew I would go crazy about it because it's ... yeah PINK *laughs* ice cream pink by the way! As a teenage many many moons ago, I loved the colour pink. And I grew out of that phase and only to go crazy about it again while I am in my mid-30s. Yeah, some mid life crisis I guess. But this camera is really adorable and just made me smile when I saw it. So yes, we got it thanks to S!! *hugs*

If you're shaking your head right now, just hang on. Don't judge this camera by how it looks. It's actually a pretty good camera. Let me share the specs with you for this Canon Powershot E1:

• 10.0 Megapixels (my previous one was only 7 Megapixel I think)
• Color variations - White, Pink or Blue (yeah, your 12 year old girl will love this!)
• 4x optical zoom lens with Image Stabilizer (useful to have the IS)
• DIGIC III with iSAPs for clear, sharp images and fast response times (nice right?)
• 17 shooting modes including Easy Mode, Sunset mode and IS0 3200 mode
• Great people shots with Face Detection AF/AE/FE/WB plus Face Select & Track
• Combats blur with High ISO Auto, optical Image Stabilizer, Motion Detection Technology
• Auto Red-Eye Correction in shooting and playback
• 2.5” LCD screen with wide viewing angle, plus real-image optical viewfinder
• Smooth, 30fps VGA movies with Long Play mode
• All models powered by AA batteries for versatility (I actually prefer this cuz I can get replacements anywhere!)

Alrighty, now you tell me how many bimbos you know can do all that! *grins* And for $319 (we got it at Challenger and they threw in rechargeable batteries with its charger and a 8MB memory card with a card reader) if you're a member. Not too bad I think. For that price, I think we got a pretty good deal.

I am going to take my bimbo camera (term 'bimbo' used as a term of endearment ya *grins*) for a test drive tomorrow and hopefully she won't disappoint me. Will upload some of the photos and let's see if she's any good. Yeah I might get some weird stares from people for using this camera but who cares ya. She will just have to do until I get a proper DSLR!

Thanks S for this camera. I really really really love it!

A sad day indeed ...

If things had gone as planned, I would be enjoying my lil break right now in Kuala Lumpur (KL) but instead, am feeling very miserable in Singapore. It started some weeks ago when we decided to take a short trip to KL and we managed to get our coach tickets and had good rates for a lovely hotel in KL - Hotel Nikko. I even had plans to check out some places in KL that I have not been to for awhile such as the market at Jln Petaling etc, catching up with my usual shopping joints and feasting away.

But it was decided by two strangers that we would not have this trip that we have been looking forward to. While waiting at Transtar Travel waiting lounge (meant exclusively for first class/premium passengers only) at Golden Mile Complex, I went to the ladies and left my rucksack with my friend. I didn't want to bring my rucksack cuz the toilets there were filthy and had nowhere to hang anything. So told my friend that I was going to the loo and to keep an eye on my rucksack. My friend was watching over my rucksack closely until a lady (she looked like a foreigner) approached my friend to ask for the time. We only realised later after the Transtar staff played the CCTV that it was a pair of thieves working together. The lady's role was to distract my friend while her friend (a guy who had behaved rather suspiciously by walking around, changing seats, looking uneasy) switched bags while my friend was distracted. The lady had tried to take my friend's handphone on the pretext of taking a closely look at the time and while my friend was preventing her from taking the phone away.

All it needed was that few seconds, not even minutes, to look away from your things and the guy managed to switch my knapsack with an empty black knapsack. The Transtar staff did their best to help us by calling for the police. And they did remind us that our personal belongings were our own responsibility.

I agree with them totally that yes, my rugsack was my responsibility. I guess I assumed too much to assume that they would be more careful in who they allow to sit in their waiting room, especially if it's not something that has happened for the first time. The police are investigating the case and I am not going to get my hopes to high up on this because in the hierarchy of things, theft would not probably rank very high among the many cases that our law enforcers are busy handling. And I am still fuming mad that it happened in Singapore, a place that I considered to be safe but I guess with changing times, there's no such thing as a safe place anymore. And I have a feeling that such things would continue to be on the rise. So after much thought, I decided to blog about this, in hope that you will not have to go through the same experience and the inconvenienced of such an incident. I have used Transtar many times and it has never happened to me before. And we always think that it will never happen to us but it just may. So better to be safe than sorry ya.

Some important lessons from this rather painful (and expensive because I lost my phone, laptop, two brand new Ranger external drives that I just bought, camera) experience:

1. Be vigilant. These are desperate people and they will do anything to get your belongings. They have no qualms taking what is not theirs. If anyone seems to be behaving suspiciously, don't brush it aside. Trust your instints. I am usually a trusting person (of others) and believe that people are naturally good and I would not think the worse of anyone. But maybe that's silly and makes me more vulnerable. Guess got to learn to be more on the cautious side from now on! :o)

I think we also need to look out for one another and if see something going on to another person, it's our moral obligation to let the person know. In a room full of people, I am surprised that no one else saw what was happening or is this just our attitude these days - to each his own? I surely hope not!

2. Stay Calm. You need to stay calm so that you can think straight. Take a few minutes, sit down with a pen and paper and recall what are the things you need to do. Have two columns, one for the things that you and the other is what action needs to be done. You cannot do this if you are panicky or getting all hysterical. If you're with friends, get them to help but I feel for a few minutes, you need to just sit down on your own and THINK. After that your friends can help with the recalling too in case you miss out anything. Cuz what you need to do is as soon as possible, if not immediately, report your cards especially credit cards, atm card and phone stolen (not lost or missing, get use to using the world STOLEN). You also need to make a formal police report (eventhough the police came down to Transtar Travels, I still needed to go down to a police station/police post to make a formal report).

Your friends can help by getting the numbers of the banks but you need to personally talk to the bank representatives because they need to verify details. But what I found interesting was, when I keyed in the option to report loss/stolen card, I was put on the queue and it took a while before I got through to the reps. I would think that I would be able to jump queue so that I can report my loss cards before the thief have the chance to use the card? Guess not. Also, they asked me what was my card number and my reply was, 'Er, I have no idea cuz my card has been stolen?' *laughs*

3. Travel Insurance. Always get travel insurance. To KL, it cost me $24 and I am in the midst of getting my documents together to put in my claims. However, I am not sure if I will get any reimbursement and I sure hope I will. In June, when I was in UK, I had to get medical help and forked out GBP400 as the doctor had to come to my hotel room. And I put in the claims and received it within 14 days. Though I am using a different company, I am hoping that I will be able to get reimbursement for some of the items that were stolen. Will update you on this! :o)

I am not in the habit of keeping receipts but have learnt that I need to start doing that especially for expensive items. Also, make sure you have copies of your police report which you will need. I wasn't sure if I needed to submit originals to the various places so the policeman who was helping me was kind enough to indulge me when I asked him to 'certify true copy' on all five copies that he made for me.

4. Review our SOPs. This is more of how we run our organisations and how often do we review our systems or do we assume that if it works, why change? When I went back to Transtar Travels later in the day to get receipts, I noticed they had placed a rostum such that passengers will be 'checked in' at the rostrum before entering the waiting lounge. This prevents people from walking in and out unless they have documents to show that they were legit passengers. I am glad that they put that in place after the incident but I had a few questions. They had the rostrum, why didn't they do this in the morning which could have prevented the incident from taking place and also especially if such an incident had taken place before many many moons before. I don't think it's a Transtar thing because like I said before, I have travelled with them before and have had no problems with the services rendered and yes, I would still travel with them if I want to go to KL in the future.

Standard Operating Procedures exist to ensure that we do things in a safe, effective and efficient way and it's important that we constantly review our SOPs. Sometimes, we tend to get complacent, especially during 'peacetime' when nothing happens and we assume that it's okay short cut certain procedures. Only when something happens, then we're all up and about, going back to our SOPs. I think we have enough experiences to learn from. I am constantly reminding myself that if it can happen to another organisation, it can also happen to the organisation I am in. So I am hoping that Transtar Travel continues with that 'check-in' process, even many many moons from now as part of their good service to their customers. And as customers, it may be inconvenient to us to have to wait for our turn, but let's remember that it's for our own safety when the company does such a thing.

So right now, am in the midst of trying to put together my documents for the claims, getting my phone sorted out and I see myself spending the whole of next week retyping documents that I didn't manage to back up before the trip. I thought I was being hardworking by bring work along but I should have just left my work stuff at home and just have a good break instead of a working break. Yeah, lesson learnt! By the way, my dearest friends, could you please drop me an sms (identify yourself please) so that I can start my contact list all over again. Appreciate your help!!

Let's hope I have some better news to update about this soon *group hug*

China in black and white .....

Back from China and I guess it was more exciting the first time there for me when I visited China in 2007. But going back again reminded me how nice China can be, especially away from the city. For this trip, there were two new experiences for me, first was that I had chance to visit Hangzhou and the second is to experience the Chinese wintery cold as in 2007, I was there in Summer.

I am doing something a lil different for this post. I will be posting some black and white pictures. For the colour versions (plus other photos that I didn't iphoto-ed black and white), you can head to my flickr page.

This trip was mainly a work trip in preparation for other trips that will be done by others next year. But I was fortunate that part of the trip included recce-ing sights that may be suitable. One of the places that was new for me during this visit was to West Lake, a famous sight in Hangzhou. You can choose to go on a bigger boat that is air-conditioned and faster or if you have 1.5 hours, I suggest going on one of the gondola like boats like the one shown below in the picture and the guy will take you around the lake in a leisurely manner. Very nice and totally romantic I think. Just that the guy doesn't speak English so unless you speak Mandarin, you may need to read up about the lake on your own first before embarking on this boat ride!

After our boat ride around the lake, we continued with a nice walk around the park. It was such a lovely weather with the sun out but with slight winds blowing. Definitely a nice day for walking outdoors. There were pretty sights like the one below which proved to be popular for everyone to take lots of shots to show the folks at home....

In another part of the lake, there is this cute sculpture of a lil Chinese boy fishing totally naked and he's managed to catch a huge fish too. Like this shot and if you want to see the colour version, head to my flickr page.

In Hangzhou, another treat was the Song Dynasty Performance where they had the reenactment of the history behind the Song Dynasty as well as dance performances by the Chinese dancers of different ethnics such as Middle Eastern Dance, Korean, Indian and even Thai dance. However, I selected the ones below because I thought it came out rather nicely. The one below is part of a Chinese dance ...

The dancers were really versatile and they did a simple Korean drum dance as seen below. Nice.

One of the earlier dance performances from around the world was the middle eastern one and I was surprised when they came out with their costumes to the beat of the middle eastern drums. What I like about this picture is how the movements were captured and it looks nice in colour too!

After Hangzhou, the next stop was Suzhou and although I was there a year and a half ago, it looked different. In summer, the sun was shining and flowers galore. In winter, things were a little more grey and damp. For more pictures from my previous trip, check out my post.

After Suzhou, it's back to Shanghai where we spent a day there and flew out after midnight back to Singapore. After dinner, we went to do a lil shopping at Yuyuan Shopping Area. A lil touristy but it's pretty and you can get lots of nice things from there. But the key word here is BARGAIN, even in the department stores!

I will be putting up more of my photographs at my flickr page so do head there if you want to see more of what I saw in China this time round. What's next? Well given a chance, I would like to head to Beijing-Xi'an-Lijiang for about a week to see the Great Wall of China and the Tiananmen Square in Beijing, the Terracotta Warriors in Xi'an and explore the old historical town of Lijiang to see what it's like living in China in the past. So looks like I am not closing my chapter on China just yet! :o)

I am a Mechanic Blogger, what about you?

Slawek sent me the url to Typealyzer which is an automatic personality analysis of blogs and online texts. I am googling some to find out exactly how it works but it sounds fun. My guess is that the programme will probably assess the kind of words (or headings, tags etc) ,which probably have been grouped into the different 'types', that you use in your blog and 'analyse' you based on that. Please enlighten me if you have your own take on this.

So here's mine and what my blog says about me. How accurate it is, well ..... *grins*

ISTP - The Mechanics

The independent and problem-solving type. They are especially attuned to the demands of the moment are masters of responding to challenges that arise spontaneously. They generally prefer to think things out for themselves and often avoid inter-personal conflicts.

The Mechanics enjoy working together with other independent and highly skilled people and often like seek fun and action both in their work and personal life. They enjoy adventure and risk such as in driving race cars or working as policemen and firefighters.