Be Your Best Judge

When we were little, our parents used to punish us if we did something wrong. It is the feeling of guilt that was instilled in us. However, we were too young then to comprehend the mistake that we committed, or to understand the consequences that we brought unto ourselves or the others. As a child, we depend on our parents or teachers to tell us what is right from wrong. It is always a black and white world.

In the grown up world, there are also black and white where crimes like stealing, violence, rape, killing is totally unacceptable. Likewise there are virtues like punctuality, keeping promises, filial piety, faithfulness, which are endorsed by the general public. However, there are also gray areas in our daily lives. The fundamental and golden rule will be "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you." In simple words, we should treat people as we would like to be treated, at least with respect, consideration and appreciation.

Feedback that we received should neither be seen as negative or positive, they can be perceived as neutral information to reflect upon ourselves. No one will be judging you over your behaviour and the conduct with our fellow humans. You are the best judge for your own actions and the bearer of the consequences. It should be driven by our conscientious.

After all that were said and done, let's strive towards closing a situation for the better and not the worse. And be hopeful there will always be a way in achieving that!

Slow Down and be Present in Your Life

"We fast-forward, speed-dial, FedEx, speed-date, and dashboard dine. We race deadlines, channel-surf, and instant-message with a vengeance. Multitasking is a way of life. We run all day, and at night we relax with a fast-paced novel. We live in the throes of speed. Whatever we want, we want it now."

Have you ever wonder as you rushed through life, did you miss anything? As you travel from home to work, or from work to home, did you have a moment to enjoy the scenery? While you were talking to a friend or colleague, did your mind wonder about thinking of what to say or you need to rush off some piece of work?

As my friend put it at the end of every session, "Thank you for being in the present. Thank you for being with us." There is no further truth than this! I am guilty as hell, and I do have problem living in the moment. No that it cannot be done, just that I have to put in effort to stay in the moment.

Since little, I remember worrying about school on Monday when it was only Saturday. I was troubled with dusk when it was still morning. I was harried that we will be parting our way when the party has just begun. You see, I am a "worry-er". I kept missing the most important moment in life while looking too far ahead in time. For children, it is a natural thing to stay in the present, see how they play, see how they run. They don't conserve their energy worrying there are homework to be done. As we grew up, we lost this natural gift.

To be present in your life is like paying attention. When we are alert to the world, we improve substantially the quality of our responses and therefore the quality of our lives and the lives of those who touch ours. When we speed through lives, everything is in the blur.

"The presence of our future in our present is an essential feature of the human condition. We act with purpose, which provides us with a window on tomorrow. Even so, we must learn to position ourselves effortlessly within each moment, rather than stumbling through time. We can either escape from the moment or stay with it as it unfolds and do something good with it. It is by doing justice to time that we begin doing justice to people."

Life's Two Questions

I wanted to put this on my cell phone, but my telco won't allow me. Here it goes...

"You've reached the number of Imeku. You may think that this is an answering machine. It is not. This is a questioning machine. And there are two questions: Who are you? and What do you want? And lest you think those are trivial questions, consider that most people go through their entire lives without ever answering either one." Beeeep!

Cool, right? Food for thoughts for today.

Boyzone

This evening at 2010 hours, on CCTV Music channel in Shanghai, there is a programme on the best music concert compilation. The artist featured include Kylie Minogue, Sarah Brightman, Elton John, Tina Turner, and many others.

What caught my attention is the rendition of "No Matter What" by Boyzone. On 3rd August 1998 this song hit the #1 UK, #2 AUS, #12 US Adult Contemporary Chart. The lead singer is Stephen Gately. I think anyone with a good gaydar would be able to single him out. His mannerism was kinda soft and effeminate, so adorable.

Stephen came out and gave his story to The Sun which published the headline "Boyzone Stephen: I'm gay and I'm in love" on 16 June 1999. In 1998, Stephen revealed that he had started a relationship with Eloy de Jong, a member of the boy band Caught in the Act. Later, Stephen dated Andrew Cowles and they were married in a civil ceremony in London on 19 March 2006. And get this, Cowles was introduced by no other then Elton John, and his civil partner, David Furnish.

I also like the other lead vocalist, Ronan Keating. I find his most memorable track is "When You Say Nothing At All".

Transformer

I picked up this Snille swivel chair from IKEA today. My mom and I were there at 1015 and we thought we're early and surprised to see Ikano Power already so crowded.

So this is the before and after picture of the chair. Thanks to the brilliant design and it only needs basic skill to read picture and intuition to assemble the chair.

We also went to Aussino and bought the bed skirt for the coming Slumberland mattress. Yesterday at Jusco MidValley, I have bought two sets of comforter bed sheet as there is a sales up to 70% now. I can't wait to dress up my new bed.

The Ante is Up

I finally placed the deposit for a Slumberland bed mattress. The tag line of Slumberland is "The Most Comfortable Place in The World".

I have been a Slumberland follower since 1995, I bought super single and later a 3-seat sofa. Now I have finally decided to get a queen size bed.

Get this! It is the Bio-ceramic Sanctuary with a posture spring divan and Oxford headboard. Tada! And the price is RMx,800. The next in range would be Royal Haven which is more than double the price!

The sales girl said she will be kind enough and promised to swap the two anti dust mite pillow which is FOC with the more expensive ortho-posture pillow which has a list price of RM368. You can check out the pillow at Harvey Norman.

The Bio-ceramic fabric is woven with a special fiber, made with many different kind of ceramics mixed with mineral oxides, like Silica Oxide, including nano sized far infrared materials and nano sized photo catalyst materials.

And the benefit of far infrared ray? Supposed to improve sleep quality, micro circulation that activates and adjusts blood vessel flow, body's general metabolism, it also reinforces the immunity system and eases pain... too good to be true? Maybe it is all marketing gimmick.

Now I can't wait for the mattress to arrive. But I would be out of KL for a month, so I have asked them to delay the delivery until I am back.

Object of Desire

She is an absolute beauty. Look at her curvature, her sleekness and smooth skin.

This is an object of desire for many men, I supposed.

This phone is offered free by signing up a 24-month 125RM airtime plan with Digi. There are not one but four phones to choose from. But Samsung SGH U600 and F300 are top of the crops. Together they belong to the Ultra edition II family.

I love the U600 for its reflective mirror-like coating around the TFT display and no forgetting the touch menu keys which respond to the slightest movement of the fingers over the touch sensitive keys.

I also like the F300 for its two-face design. BTW, it also comes with an extra battery in the form of the phone pouch or cover. For a mere 9.4mm thinness and 77g it felt so light in your palm.

Read about the review at CNET.

Nonetheless, I bought the Nokia 6300 for its simplicity design. Simplicity is more!

Torn

Yeah! I am torn for a decision.

Being an indecisive person, it is always hard for me to make a decision, what's more when it is related to money.

Should I get the Zitron or AP set? The price difference is not much but still it is a hard decision.

It is the Nokia 6300 now comes with a 1GB microSD card for RM899. It is the object of desire for me and I could not get it off my mind. Not that I need a handset badly, but the current one is more than 2 years old.

When you are ready to dump the old one, you would start to pick on it, finding excuse to replace him...urm, I mean it.

Should I pamper myself and get this cutie? There are two many to choose from. Oh! My head hurts so badly now. I think I need to lie down.

Answer to My Prayer?

What is the best way to beat the traffic jam blue in KL?

What offers you air con, comfy seat (ok, not so comfy after all), stress free ride through the thick jam during peak hours in the morning and evening?

While you could enjoy light music, reading pleasure and let the driver brings you to work and back to home, safe and sound? Too bad it does not come with ice blend mocha. Am I asking too much?

Today I took my maiden ride on the brand new revised RapidKL network (it is considered new starting from 21 April 2007 as stated on the official website) to work. I paid RM2 for the 'all-day ticket' on the the Utama (Trunk) bus network, I could have unlimited ride for the day on the same network. Rapid probably figured out that on average each person only takes 2 rides in a day.

This system benefit commuters in a few ways:
1. Spread the fare across and share the burden;
2. You only pay once and then show the same ticket stub to the bus driver for all subsequent rides on the network (provided you don't lost the ticket). No more fumbling with small change and coin.
3. Saving for me from having to drive and to park my car for RM5 per entry.

It is only 20 minutes ride from my neighborhood to Sentral Station. Due to the rain and heavy jam in the evening, I spent 30 minutes waiting for the bus and another hour in the bus. However, I could now sit back and relax, (pretend) to read and listen to my MP3 player.

The annoying things are:
1. The bus is never on time, and it does not keep to the frequency stated;
2. You have to brave the elements, like today's sudden downpour starting at 6pm;
3. Massive jam at stops like the one on Jalan Tun Sambanthan in front of the monorail station.

Joy is about discovering alternatives in life!

Ocean of Knowledge

I used to like browsing the bookstore.

There are so many to choose from. My favorites include the MPH at Mid Valley City and 1 Utama; Kinokuniya at KLCC; Borders at Berjaya Time Squares.

I would stoop high and low to thumb through books that caught my attention. Mostly it is the catchy titles, the glossy finish of the cover, the smell of it. Well, you are not supposed to judge a book by the cover anyway.

I used to enjoy window shopping at the bookstore.

As always, I would end up buying books which I read a few pages and lost interests quickly. I would always say to myself: one of these days, I will spend all my living days reading those books.

I used to love scouting for surprises at the bookstore.

I could find exotic coffee table books at Hong Kong's Page One at Harbour City, Tsimshatsui. There are photo books by Adu, M1, Tom Bianchi, glorious male body in its best form.

Today, I was at the MPH MVC briefly. Alas! Life's little pleasure shall not be denied.

The 'Lift' Man

Have you seen him before?

Who? You asked.

The 'Lift' man. Not spiderman or superman, just the Lift man.

He would be there in one of those lifts in the morning when I arrived, diligently wiping every bit and part of the lift cubicle, all six of them. Then the sliding door on each level of the building, from the basements to all the floors. He's there when I take the breaks or leak. He's there when I leave. All he needs is just a small pail with a wet cloth, a dispensing bottle with detergent.

Day in day out, he does the same routine over and again, scrubbing imaginary stain on the wall of the lift. He's probably from Bangladesh, the exporter of laborer of the world. I wonder how long he has been at it, and how much longer he will be doing it. Is he with his family? Has he ever felt homesick?

He probably has seen all the faces who work in this block, people who go up and down the floors using the lift day in day out.

Our life paths cross everyday yet we know nothing about the other person. A lonely city of lonely strangers.