New Year post on all things new year

I received the 'Lifebook 2010' in both my work and personal mail.

Health:
1. Drink plenty of water
Ok

2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar
Oh uh, no wonder I’m so fat. I eat the other way round cos I see dinner as a reward for a good day’s work done :S

3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants, and eat less food that is manufactured in plants
Nothing is mentioned on the food that FEEDS on trees and plants?

4. Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy
Ok

5. Make time for prayer
Yes, I think I should. But not everyone ok, please

6. Play more games
Don't have PS3, cannot play :D

7. Read more books than you did in 2008
I think I can since I bought quite a number from the book fair. Eh wait, this says 2008, not 2009..

8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day
Whatever for, meditation and silence is not for me. I have a short attention span.

9. Sleep for 7 hours
I do, it’s just that it’s 6 hours in bed and 1 hour on the way to and fro work. So my motto would be 7 hours straight

10. Take a 10-30 minutes walk every day ---- and while you walk, smile
Can you imagine what an utter cracko would that be to be smiling while walking? I think I do walk for 5 minutes a day through MV from one end to the other, KTM station at north court to the office at south court. So far and tiring especially when rushing for the train

Personality:
11. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
True especially if you compare yourself to those (seemingly) better off. Compare yourself to those perceived to be worse and you’ll feel very much thankful of what you have.

12. Don't have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment
I can control, so I am entitled to have them

13. Don't over do ; keep your limits
I haven’t done my best, so I’m gonna do more

14. Don't take yourself so seriously ; no one else does
I think I’d be afraid if no one takes me seriously!

15. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip
But gossip is fun =)

16. Dream more while you are awake
Huh? Dreams aren’t going to help you, working towards dream when you’re awake is.

17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
How do you know I already have all I need? Being envious of what others have makes us work hard to achieve things. But if I were to think on the ‘easy’ end, yeah I already have all I need like family, love, a job, lots more other jobs.. don't know which way to think as people don't usually call it ‘envy’ when it comes to referring to necessities

18. Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner with his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness
True. Sometimes there are things that we can forgive but can’t forget but as long as the issue is resolved, then the case is closed.

19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.
I’ve made amends with some people from school that I’ve had a fall out with (actually they approached me first, but I would have even if they hadn’t). Except for one. She never ceases to be irritating since our schooling days. In fact, she has become even more irritating when I met her a few days back! Gosh! It was irritating to the point that menjengkelkan would be most apt to describe her.

20. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present
Oh, so now I’ve gotta make peace pulak with this person? Bwahaha! Nope, it’s not going to spoil the present and I don't have anything else from the past that I can think of affecting my present.

21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you
Agreed. Every single route we take is our decision to make. Problems are also brought upon ourselves, most of the time. Or we can choose to drop those problems. It's all our choice, it's whether we want to do it or not.

22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
Yup

23. Smile and laugh more
I realise that I’ve had some of the best laughters when hanging out with the girls. Some of the things we laugh at are pretty silly but wth, it was surely good fun and feel rejuvenated after that!

24. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
I’m born to win hahaha! Nah, but sometimes always being on the losing/yelled at end makes me stand up and yell back for I do have arguments/justifications and I do not everything thrown at me.

Community:
25. Call your family often
I see them everyday =)

26. Each day give something good to others
It’s hard to do this everyday but I sure want to try. One thing I could do is to give up my seat in the train but I must be nuts for doing so unless the person needs it of course. 

27. Forgive everyone for everything
I can’t think of anything that I hold a grunge against anyone for. The one mentioned above needs not be forgiven for she did not wrong me, it’s just that she is menjengkelkan

28. Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6
My grandma? Err.. I try to layan her when I see her but err.. I don't make an effort to see her. Bu yao la.

29. Try to make at least three people smile each day
I’ll try to. Sometimes I'm funny, so not only I make them smile but I made them laugh too :D 

30. What other people think of you is none of your business
Yeah, and it’s none of their business too. Why go around thinking things about me? Good things are fine, of course.

31. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your family and friends will. Stay in touch
Agree. One thing that I would like to add: Your job might take care of you financially (from the insurance coverage) when you are sick

Life:
32. Do the right things
If I know the thing isn't right, then I don't do la

33. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful
Brand new pants but not worn (yet) – not useful. Throw? Scratched car – not beautiful, throw? Busy at work – not joyful, quit?

34. GOD heals everything
Amen

35. However good or bad a situation is, it will change
Of course it will, for the better or worse, because the rule of inertia doesn't apply to things in life. Change always occur.

36. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up
It depends. You can feel rotten sick in bed, mucus coming out of your nose, your head throbs behind the eyes and your throat is sore and there’s no voice when you speak. Show up at work? You must be kidding me.

37. The best is yet to come
I hope

38. When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it
Yes, I think sometimes we need to thank God for the simple things. Like being just able to wake up, to get out of bed, to have food on the table. Many struggle for just a meal and we have all this good food that we don't even finish sometimes. Gosh, how sinful we are sometimes.

39. Your inner most is always happy. So, be happy.
If I am not happy then, does it mean that it was my outer most feeling so? What's my outer most anyway, my skin?

Last but not the least:
40. Do forward this to everyone you care about.
Let us all reduce spam in this world. Let’s not give them for free but get those who need them, buy them.

I had a picture of this taken from the supermarket but must have deleted it, so I had to search for another.


Am I being jumpy? These kinda emails usually kick some sense or hits a spot in me but I just think that some of these things are well, not so right, do you? Maybe if I read this on another day, I might feel enlightened instead. Thanks though to May Ling and Jenny for forwarding this to me =)


Here is a nice one though via sms, thanks to Els. I love it a lot, probably cos I'm a sucker for rhymes.

This New Year's eve receive seeds from the garden of daily living and follow these instructions.
Plant three rows of peas:
peace of mind,
peace of heart ,
& peace of soul.

Plant 4 rows of squash:
squash gossip,
squash indifference,
squash grumbling,
squash selfishness.

Plant 6 rows of lettuce:
lettuce be faithful,
lettuce be kind,
lettuce be patient,
lettuce be generous
lettuce be humble
& lettuce really love one another.

To enhance your garden here is our seed of thyme:
thyme for God,
thyme for each other,
thyme for family,
& thyme for friends.

Water regularly with patience & cultivate with love.

There will be much fruits in your garden. Remember: You Reap what you Sow.

Beautiful, ain't it? Now this is one that touches. Is the difference in new year greetings due to the different main language that the senders speak? ;)

The Wok
Ok, I can’t help writing about food places that interest me. I wanted to blog about The Wok in Kota Damansara but I couldn’t find the pics, I think I must have deleted them together with the accident pics for I came from there before the accident and now associated the restaurant now with it.

All I have to say about The Wok is the otak-otak sucked and the cincalok pork sucked even more. The otak-otak was a super soft and spicy mash. I took 1 piece of the pork and just can’t bear to have another. The assam fish and jiu hoo char were just mediocre. I wonder what were the raves about this place. Grr.. now how could I have deleted those pics? The interior was nice though, very nyonya-ish.

Pepper Lunch
Now, on Pepper Lunch, it’s unique!


I think it stands on what used to be Senjyu Sushi in Pyramid. We passed by and decided to try.
 

I ordered the pepper chicken lunch. Everything comes on a hot place and it cooks there and then. You have to mix everything up and then add the honey brown sauce if you wish. It was nice and interesting, the only thing that I wasn’t fond of was the pepper. Yeah, it is called Pepper Lunch but having lots of pepper on hot plate makes me .. so hot! Timmy’s Japanese curry was quite tasty, I think I liked it better than my order. They had seaweed soup too, I prefer this to miso as miso just feels salty salty salty.

The service here is also good. The person who took our order figured that it was our first time and started recommending dishes. That helped a lot. Then the server checked if we know how to cook it and demonstrated too. I thought the prices are kinda pricey though, RM17+ for rice + Japanese curry and RM14 for rice + chicken.

The menu wasn't as extensive as the one in SG though, I don't remember their menu here having as many things.

Verdict: Nice to play masak-masak and watch my meat and rice sizzle sizzle sizzle.

New Year dental treatment
Today is the 2nd time to Tiew Dental clinic. Never mind the surname, I was impressed by Dr Tan that day and Dr Forgotten-Who today. Both lady dentists, they were gentle and reassuring. It really helped a lot since I have a fear of dentists. They explained what they were going to do, showed me what was done and informed me it if was going to hurt a little. Dr Forgotten-Who even did the drilling bit by bit so that I wouldn’t have a long stretch of pain. I’m impressed. I’m not sure if these are part of the clinic practices (one of it is that they would explain every cost for the treatment before they proceed, so that you wouldn’t get a shock at the end) but I think the compassion comes from within, not from the company =)

A bit tulan though as after I left the room, I realised the filling was a bit weird. By then, the next patient have just been called in, so I was asked to wait a while. When that patient was done, they called in the next! Now, dental treatments take eternity and I had to wait for 2 people just to have a little check. Spent precious 30mins waiting, might sent in a complaint since Tiew Dental seems to be very customer-oriented =)

You call yourself a writer?
Last but not least, here is a sample of an article that someone sent to me as part of the application for freelance writer. Yup, I am hiring someone to help me out. Just in case I’m not able to handle things when a new project starts. I don't know which is worse, someone caught copy-pasting something from the Net or this:

The thing to do in Italy by CPL
Italy is famous for its many landmark and story. It once housed a museum of sort and that is called the ‘Aquilera house’ of horror and stuff. It comes equipped with the standard fare of the mausoleum also. The thing is it is also the time of the decadent sore meaning the buildings were old and encrepit. The time system is also not up to par and thus is also named the time museum.  I call it that because it used to be a house of acrylic also. The time museum can also be said to standardize things and to become what is commonly known a s goods sold elsewhere. T he money changer can give you a story to tell oversea. The time museum is also known as the house of Nautingham and stuff. The thing is it is named after the once famous Abraham Lincoln in the 1970’s. It is also what is commonly known as the time factor itself. The time travel is a thing of substance also. The thing is known for its many splendour stuff and is called the time machine thus afar. It is also used to house the time travel series of the dinosaur. It is also the time factor of the time series itself and is commonly known as the time travel machine place.

Italy is also famous for its many landmark of land and flora. It is commonly known as the Italian place restaurant in the street of Monaco and is commonly cooked by the locals. The thing is the museum itself is the time equivalent of the nineties. The thing about Monaco is that Princess Caroline used to travel there to give her speech in the 1960’s and is commonly named the ilk town. The thing about Monaco is that it is a place of time travel also. The thing about the islander is that you must know what to do for yourself in the travel time you have. The money is euro 60 rupee for usd 1 pound. End

What.the.fcuk.was.that? Highlights in red are grammatical errors, highlights in green are 'Apa tahi awak cakap?' Count the number of times 'The thing' appears. There are double spacings here and there and there are spacings where there shouldn't be.

"Time travel series of the dinosaur"?? Laughing my ass off!! Everything here is about time travel, this 44-year-old woman must have been such a fan of Marty McFly especially when he and his dinosaur goes inside the time machine and travels back into the future. Bwahaha!! Omg, what's wrong with this woman. I know enough to know how she 'produced' such an article, so my halo is being replaced with horns now and I'm shooting off an email to her after this.

Funny thing is her name is very familiar, I think I might know her but I just can't recall where. I just saw this not-so-common name a few days ago.

And I must say that it was a great sense of satisfaction catching someone copy-pasting from the Net. I had had even more satisfation when I told her she's busted.