Time Flies

I said this same sentence as everyone else, ‘time flies’. The last quarter of 2014, I was busy with preparation for my daughter’s wedding.

The start of new 2015 was another busy month for me. I spent the whole of January, busy tidying up all that happened during that last quarter. Indulged in a bit of rest and relaxation of spa and massages.

And wow….it’s now February 9th! One month plus has passed in 2015! (That was until I accidentally deleted this post and I am reposting this at the end of 1st quarter now!) So again, isn’t it right to say ‘time flies!’

I had neglected this blog and as I sat down to write, I truly salute friends that can write regularly on their blog as well as managing their career, family, and not to mention the endless chores.

As I now recollect all that I have done in 2014, I would sum it up as a year that I indulged and binged on my favorites – travel, TV shows, and food.

I traveled to Bangalore in March and stayed in a Tibetian Monastery, which I didn’t know it existed until my trip. It was spiritual and enlightening. Thank you for my spiritual friend from Mahabodhi, Leh, Ladakh.

I went to Paris in June with a good friend. Two of us were just nice. From Paris we enroute to Nice, Monaco, Monte Carlo, and Cannes. I definitely vouched for BnB anytime versus staying in hotel in this kind of exotic trip. And I finally made a trip to Versailles; the French history is so rich and fascinating. A visit to Monet’s garden was simply inspiring. Now I know where he got his motivation.

Turkey was a historical trip in October with another group of great buddies. I immersed myself in the rich history of Pamukkale, Canakkale, Cappadocia, Konya, Kusadasi, Safranbolu and Istanbul of course.

I even did a ‘round the North part of Malaysia’ drive. It was a great experience, driving to Penang and crossing from the West to the East to Terengganu via the Grik Highway and staying overnight at this lovely Belum Rainforest Resort with wonderful buddies.

And that’s not to mention my annual destination to Phuket twice and to YTL Pangkor Laut.

I finally got to binge on all those popular TV series - The Sopranos, Scandal, Mad Men, Game of Thrones, The Reign, Walking Dead, Sons of Anarchy and the new Season 4 of the American Horror Story. I even watched again the whole series of 24 and reminisced in the old Dallas TV series. In fact, I finished all the episodes in every season that are released.

I suppose it’s time that I read which I had neglected.

On my children, both my daughters changed to new job whilst am still jobless. And the eldest daughter finally married.

My son’s graduated from High School and is now applying to his preferred Universities. Everyday I pray for good luck in him being accepted into his choice of University.

It’s a blessing that I had also being spending a lot of time with my aging mom & aunties and also my siblings. I enjoyed every moment that I had with them. From just chatting to outings with each other.

Oh, of course, I continue to do my part in charity as and when I can. From participating in raising funs in charity fairs to cooking and distributing food to the homeless.

I also continued writing in my blog and started a new novel via a new app ‘wattpad’. I suppose next now is to continue with my novel.

In parting till the next blog, I would say a big THANK YOU for a wonderful 2014. I had a wonderful and a blessed 2014 and I hope 2015 will continue the same and even better. And to all my fans, friends, families and all, I wish you all the same - a great 2015 for us all.

Make your New Year Resolution Yet?

It’s the time of the year again, to reflect on what we have achieved for the year, on what we have yet to do, what we could have done better. Another New Year Resolution.

How many times have you written these New Year Resolutions very seriously, thinking it through thoroughly and yet by end year, we realized that we actually had not done what we set to achieve. And then we repeat the same resolutions again for the coming New Year, telling ourselves we’ll do it this year.

Well, I sure am one of them. So for this year, I am thinking in the line of ‘To live a much more positive, healthier living lifestyle.’ Which means:

“TO LIVE SIMPLE.
TO BE IN THE PRESENT.
TO ALWAYS COUNT MY BLESSINGS.”

It won’t be easy cos we have been conditioned since young to aspire for better things, and everyone’s chasing after the same dream, where we are measured by ‘how big’, ‘how branded’, ‘how many’, and not by ‘how happy and carefree’ we are.

So the vicious cycle starts again, all wanting to achieve the best of all materialistic things, to want more and more, to continue to be stressed! When what we have already is so much more valuable – great kids/family, supportive relatives, and wonderful friends.

So what is your resolution this year? Would you not want to make it simple?
In ending this post, I like to share this wonderful quote with all of you.

OUR ATTITUDE DEFINES LIFE

Life is Best for those who want to Live it,
Life is Difficult for those who want to Analyze it,
Life is worst for those who want to Criticize it,
Our Attitude Defines Life...

ENJOY YOUR LIFE

Laugh so Hard That even Sorrow Smiles at You,
Live Life so Well That even Death Loves to see you Alive,
Fight so Hard That even Fate accepts its Defeat...

HAPPY NEW YEAR.22 Great New Year's resolutions (and 6 pretty good ones). (GL Life).(Brief Article): An article from: Girls' Life

Christmas Story

It's Christmas Eve. Christmas always seems to evoke a sentimental feeling in me. I feel for things more, I get teary more easily. Christmas or sentimental type of songs gets me emotional. Why is it so? I still can't really find the answer; maybe it’s the tune of the Christmas song...so touching and so sentimental.

I grew up with the conditioning of a Chinese conservative family where Christmas is kind of unheard of. Maybe it's was then in the early 80s and we were living in a village. I only knew of Christmas after I married and have kids of my own.

I remember the surprise and astonishment it brings to my parents when they saw that I had Christmas tree at home and had presents for them. It was unheard off, coming from a Taoism tradition. And soon it becomes a tradition that I would put up Christmas tree and have Christmas presents for them and the kids. But the gesture is never reciprocal. Is it a Chinese thing or is it just my family thing that my sisters didn't get the idea to buy presents in return? And so it continues with me taking the lead each year. It's not the presents that matter but it's just the joy of giving and receiving. It's the thought that counts and not so much the value of the present.

And amongst friends, it's actually the surprise on what's in the box as Christmas is somehow a time when you actually would buy present that you know your love ones, your family, or your friends will like. I remembered last year, my friend from Perth asked me what is my favorite color. Honestly I told her it's black...thinking that it's probably negligee she's thinking off. And what a big surprise when she bought me a 'humungous black vibrator' in the shape of a penis of course :-). But don't get me wrong here; I still am not quite sure why my friend would think I need this humungous black vibrator though!

Now that the kids are big, I somehow have lost the interest to put up Christmas tree at home. And we moved on to celebrate it as a party with exchanging of presents of course!

Care to share any of your own Christmas story?

Merry Christmas. Wishing each and every one of you and your family a Blessed Christmas.

Do your mind wonders when you are having sex?

This article 'In praise of slow sex' brings to mind a story that my friend once told me. She was having sex with her man when she suddenly notices a cobweb at the corner of the ceiling as his man was humping away in ecstasy at her. And she forgot, and said, "there's a cobweb". You can guess what happens next. Although I had to add that my friend is a 'clean freak'. Does that make it excusable?

So do your mind wonders when you are having sex? Like absentmindedly think of what you have to do next, the amount of clothes you need to iron, the project paper you have to finish, the dishes you need to wash, or the interesting conversation you just had with your friend. Or would you have answer the phone when it rings while you are having sex? Well if your mind does wonders and you do pick up the phone when you are having sex, there are two conclusions drawn by the author:

(1) The man probably needs to brush up on his sexual technique.
(2) Or our behavior reveals something alarming about the way we live nowadays.

I would think it's the latter. These days, we are chasing time to do so many things. In addition to commitments to our work, our family, we also want to be in all the latest trends that are happening all around us. So we try to juggle as many activities as possible, we go to gym, to facial, to massage, to yoga, to do charity, we read the latest book, watch the latest movie, be seen in the latest socialite cafes and we signed up in all the social media sites. Not only that, we buy the latest blackberry or the iphone, we tweet daily so as to keep ourselves updated every second, every minute of the day. To the point that "we even have to put our mobile phone next to our bed when we are getting ready for sex," said one of my friends.

So do you have any incidents to share when you are having sex or stories to tell? Or do you already realized this and are now taking time to enjoy sex, to be more mindful of the present. Share your views.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carl-honore/in-praise-of-slow-sex_b_322026.html