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Sunday, November 30, 2008

I'll Stand By You

This is a lovely song. Originally sung by The Pretenders, then Girls Aloud and Carrie Underwood.

Enjoy this beautiful beautiful song. It was used by both the Girls Aloud and Carrie Underwood as a charity single.

The one playing now is by The Pretenders.

Oh, why you look so sad?
Tears are in your eyes
Come on and come to me now
Don't be ashamed to cry
Let me see you through
'cause I've seen the dark side too
When the night falls on you
You don't know what to do
Nothing you confess
Could make me love you less


I'll stand by you
I'll stand by you
Won't let nobody hurt you
I'll stand by you


So if you're mad, get mad
Don't hold it all inside
Come on and talk to me now
Hey, what you got to hide?
I get angry too
Well I'm a lot like you
When you're standing at the crossroads
And don't know which path to choose
Let me come along
'cause even if you're wrong


I'll stand by you
I'll stand by you
Won't let nobody hurt you
I'll stand by you
Take me in, into your darkest hour
And I'll never desert you
I'll stand by you

And when...
When the night falls on you, baby
You're feeling all alone
You won't be on your own

I'll stand by you
I'll stand by you
Won't let nobody hurt you
I'll stand by you
Take me in, into your darkest hour
And I'll never desert you

I'll stand by you
I'll stand by you
Won't let nobody hurt you
I'll stand by you
Won't let nobody hurt you
I'll stand by you

Enjoy!

Give and You Shall Receive.

I'm on a writing spree here. HaHa..

I believe in "Give and You Shall Receive". But sometimes, it's really difficult. Life makes one cynical. There are beggers on the street and calls for donations everywhere. Do you give to every single one? Of course one can give by volunteering etc as well...

I don't know. Sometimes i'm conflicted.

I was reading an article from Buddhadharma.

From “Give and You Shall Receive” by Reginald A. Ray. Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Quarterly, Spring 2005.

"The practice of giving, then, is a deeply reciprocal practice with lay devotee and renunciant each giving what is within their means to give. Each offers not only what one has but, in the Asian understanding, as scholars such as Paul Mus and Louis Dumont have shown, what one is. The potential intimacy of this kind of reciprocity need not be doubted."

This following paragraph is so so true.

"The human ego is largely defined and maintained by our personal possessions, that which we consider “ours.” These are not only material possessions but also our abilities and even what we think. In the practice of giving, we offer up our wealth in the form of food, money or other material items, or non-material items such as expressions of devotion, praise or spiritual aspirations. When we do so, we are giving away parts of ourselves. In fact, in the moment of giving it may feel as if we are offering up our very “self.” This is why we resist giving to others, why the act of giving itself can be so painful, and also why it can be so liberating."

I cancelled out this part because the top paragraph can refer to anybody but i think the next one is more religion based - so if you wanna read, it's there, but if not - ignore it.

"This giving away of “self” is precisely how we establish an authentic connection with the object of our devotion. Once we have offered up ourselves and our very being, we are temporarily in a state of openness, free from grasping and fixation. Then we can truly hear and incorporate the message of selflessness and liberation." 

Some quotes to leave you with:

Wayne Dyer: "It's a universal law- we have to give before we get. We must plant the seeds before we reap the harvest. The more we sow, the more we reap. And in giving to others, we find ourselves blessed."

Ralph Waldo Emerson: "It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself."

Lao Tsu: "He who obtains has little. He who scatters has much."

Buddha: "Giving brings happiness at every stage of its expression. We experience joy in forming the intention to be generous. We experience joy in the actual act of giving something, experience joy in remembering the fact that we have given."  - Very Very True

"We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give."

Some of these issues i hold dear to my heart and believe in them much. We may not be perfect - but we try - because these are what i form my personal principles upon.

I think next i'll tell you guys a little about the law of attraction. Which Eddie Neo so totally did not understand.

All these issues are fun and interested and enlightening. Of course there are official websites etc that you can read it on, but i thought - this is just my way of passing it on to people who might not have known about them. =)

Live and Let Live.

Tony Robbins

OMG. I was just typing the previous post and was listening to a recording by Tony Robbins. This was what he was saying at the point in time - roughly.

"Our life is not controlled by the external environment, it certainly can affect us.... 3 decisions:

1. What are you going to focus on? Are you going to focus on what you can't control or what you can control?  If you keep focusing on what you can't control, i know you're going to be scared, angry or depressed...Instead, focus on what you can control - focus on the past of what you've lost, or the present that you need to take advantage of or the future that you can create. Focus is power! Whatever you focus on you are going to feel. Focus on what you want.

2. What does this mean? The end or beginning? Punishment or Reward? You decide. Meaning produces emotion. Crisis is a crisis of emotion. Art of fulfillment. What we do is shaped by what we feel and what we feel comes from the meaning we make up.

3. What are you going to do?"

He talked for a long time - but this part attracted me to listen closer. Have a read and see if this passage helped you to learn anything or helped you in any way. =)

Give and you shall receive.

University

I woke up this morning at 0630. Didn't know what to do. So i used my laptop and decided to check on Eleen's blog. She wrote a short post on how she felt about not being at NUS. That made me think and realised that i was feeling the same way too.

No one should ask me whether the overseas experience is worth it or not. Because I Don't Know.

I have had great friends over the years but we never seem to stay together and i guess sometimes my boyfriend took precedence.

Sometimes i look through my friends' friendster and facebook accounts and i feel a little sad after that. Left-out and even lonely.

If it was just for friend's company - i regret not going to a local uni. I regret being away from my friends and sometimes i'm afraid that when i return, i might not have any friends left. I don't have a best friend, i don't have a friend that i call whenever i need help. All i have is Fish now, he is my best friend, my lover and my baby. He knows everything there is to know about me and i go to him whenever i need someone. As Eleen says, the dorm life with friends and the experiences we thought we would have when we're in uni.

But sometimes, it's not enough.

I love the overseas experience, it has taught me a lot about life and living without parents (other than the financial part). But sometimes i regret not staying at a local uni whether NUS or SIM. I see everyone being in company of friends and the happy faces. Then i see myself - I don't have that. Sometimes i get sad, sometimes i don't care, sometimes i don't know what to think.

In this year, maybe the time i left most left out was on the my birthday. All my peers have birthday parties for their 21st birthday, they go out with friends and family and have fun. My birthday celebration was kinda sad. Fish gave me a great present though, we had dinner. The day before my birthday, Fish was in Singapore for his grandma's funeral and he arrived on my birthday morning. Yu Ting, Shan Shan, Shi Wei and Hui Fen sent me a present - i was happy.

So i've decided to put in a little more effort - hopefully my schedule when i return allows. I want to meet up with more friends - friends that i haven seen in a while and didn't contact much - like eddie neo etc.. definitely eleen..haha

So Eleen, maybe it's time for us to really put it behind us and accept that this is never going to change - it will always be a part of our life that we missed out on and something that when pops up in conversations, we would be unable to partake and share in. Still, you would have great times and experiences and friends from SIM and i would have experienced what i have always wanted since young and what this country and its people have taught me.

Let's SMILE!

"You're never fully dressed without a SMILE!" - Annie

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Shoe Alert!

Dream Shoes

This is the pair of shoe i am so dying to get. BUT! It is so expensive! It's Marc by Marc Jacobs. I saw one that was metallic yellow at David Jones but of course i didn't buy. I first ever saw his shoes also at David Jones though it wasn't this pair. It was these 2 pairs:

Pink flats Marc Jacobs

They felt nice and soft and i know it must be delightful to wear! I like both the flats and the heels. Something just attracts me to them. =)

They are simple yet elegant and beautiful!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Earring Converters & Table Finds!

I have been wanting to order these earring converters for the longest time ever and finally, i ordered them and they arrived this morning.

There are 2 types. First type is a converter to convert pierced dangle earrings to clip-ons.

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What you have to do is take a pierced earring and unhook the ring and re-attach it to the ring shown in the picture. This requires a little work but to me it's going to be worth the effort! I bought 2 colours, sterling silver and black nickel.

Ok. The second one is simpler.

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This one is a converter that contains a cylindrical thing. However, this is only to be used for post earrings - studs. This is difficult to explain, so the picture next to it is the instructions. I bought 2 colours for this as seen is sterling silver and rose gold.

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This one basically works the same as the barrel ones above. However, instead of a clip, this works using a screw instead.

So, i really can't wait to try all these out sooner or later. Also, i ordered a batch of 20 clip-ons from an ebayer from UK who makes them herself.

We went to Eastgardens today. Bought a huge cake! A cookies and cream cake from Wendy's which i really like. Because it's a cake, i decided that we should all make a wish. After the wishes were made, we tucked in. Yummm..

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I also found new tablemats and table cloth. I found the cute tablemats for $1.50 each at a new shop called 'hot dollar', there were 3 different patterns, so i bought 3. I also found a PVC table cloth at Target, because it's the Christmas season, there are so many christmassy things. This tablecloth was one of them. It wasn't too expensive - originally priced at $8.99 there was a 20% discount. It wasn't too obviously Christmas looking and it looked sweet, plain and fits perfectly.

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Aren't they cute and look so well together? HaHa..rather than the tacky old tablemats we used to use. We still use them - whenever necessary.

Then we went to K-Mart and bought me a chair cushion, shampoo and conditioner to bring home and Fish got himself a toy.

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Then, Fish was the chef of the day and cooked dinner! He used left-over french fries and wedges and cooked a mushroom cream concoction which he then baked in the oven with mozzarella and ham steaks. He made the mushroom sauce a wee too salty though. We had pumpkin soup to go with dinner.

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Had a great day today. Wore a very green outfit today. A green polo shirt with a white skirt with my new green shoes and my so boring green bag. HaHa! Going to sleep early and go Bondi tomorrow!

OH! Another thing! The shoe bit me! But Fish bought me these plasters which were really good. The surrounding plasters are transparent and feel like second skin. They don't peel off easily when the shoe rubs against it like the normal kind. So these come highly recommended for blisters and blister prevention.

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Ciao! Keep Smiling! =)

Monday, November 17, 2008

Unbelievably Forgetful ME!

This entry is just to consolidate all the pictures i have taken in the past weeks but did not blog about. Here goes:

We always eat here: Pempek (If that is how it spelled) It's along Anzac Parade, very near our place. They have kinda weird opening days and hours, they open till 8pm and are closed every Mon and Thurs. But i love their fish cake skin and Nasi Rendang!

10-11-2008

I attempted Chocolate Mousse one day. It wasn't too much of a failure but the consistency was a little wrong though it tasted really good. I used Gordon Ramsay's recipe but a mousse requires a lot of whipping which works very much better and easier if you have a electrical beater - which i don't - maybe that's why i couldn't get the consistency. The soft meringue looks so pretty! Like melted marshmallows!

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What else? We (edit: not We, just Fish, he was very very dilligent and made the whole thing other than the guacamole from scratch! What a darling!) made burgers the other day. Relatively successful. BUT! No one could finish their burgers except Fish i think. We had three patties each. With a slice of bacon. And guacamole and sour cream. And caramelised onions! Very Very Filling!

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Ooo... We ordered Peruvian Food around 3 times and the most recent was the best. I ordered a fish dish and it was very very very delicious. Even their steamed rice is really really nice. The price is higher than average but so is their food. I named all the foods in the picture below. Their pickled onions are really refreshing. Papa Rellena is an entree which is basically mashed potato encasing a minced beef filling. Tacu Tacu is just grilled steak with a fried egg.

The egg that you see at the bottom right is the egg yolk from the chocolate mousse - fish poured hot water into the shell and burned himself while doing it. Then he added soya sauce and pepper. Let it sit for a while and drink up. He says its delicious!

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This is the fish that was oh so delicious! This is its description: Peruvian style grilled fillet of fish, topped with sauteed onions, tomatoes, capsicum, served with rice or beans. The fish is so delicate and flaky and the sauce is wonderful. Although it is a little on the salty side. It's taste is incredible. The portion is not small too - i couldn't finish the whole thing - had 2 fillets - i had to call hui to finish the rest for me.

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This is a simple dinner which Fish prepared while i was sleeping in. What's in it? Hmm... There is corn chips, mozzarella cheese, oven baked chicken cut into strips, left-over guacamole, taco sauce (the green cap bottle), a can of chili con carne heated up in the pot and Greek yiros wraps (i don't know what they really really are, but they worked, we used them like soft tacos).

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Last but not least is a small little bowl of congee i prepared when Fish wasn't feeling well. This is the Cantonese kind - thick. You basically need a big big pot and loads of water. 1 cup of rice is usually more than enough for 2. 1 cup of rice with 10 cups of water. My pot isn't big enough for 10 cups of water at one go, so i just add like 8 first and then slowly add the rest in, sometimes i don't even use all 10 cups. By the way, my cup is the same cup in which i used to measure the rice - so it isn't the conventional 250ml, its only around 175ml? But it doesn't matter.

What's important is that you keep stirring. This is so that the rice breaks down. Oh! I almost forgot, to help in this process, after i wash the rice, i take like a tablespoon of oil (sesame or veg or olive) and mix in with the washed rice and i leave it to 'soak' for like 10-20 mins. You can see the rice chance from a translucent to white color. Then cook with as much water as possible - salt the water if you wish. Remember to stir while you cook and if possible use a deep pot because when the porridge becomes thick, it needs to bubble, but it can't because there is no water so blots of porridge come flying out. So be careful, it hurts when it hits your hand.

I like to add home cooked fried shallots, but Fish refused to let me fry so he ate the pre-bought one and i just had it with sesame oil and an egg mixed into the hot porridge.

DSC00296This is Fish's porridge!

I know i'm being really long-winded here. But just a side note, if you wanna make Teochew style porridge - the watery kind with the shape of the rice still intact, use little rice and loads of water. For 1 person, 1/4 cup of rice is just enough. I usually just add like loads of water to that - just don't add too much, you can always add more but taking away seems too much trouble. =)

Anyhoo...this is an awfully long post..so to update everything at once. HaHa. Sorry if it took forever to load and read. I hope you had fun reading about all the foods because i had fun writing about all the foods we ate. =)

BY THE WAY! I will be going to Singapore on the 5th Dec. Guess what?! I can't wait to EAT all the local delights!

Chickpeas & Keds

Here is the picture of the cute pair of baby socks that we found and named 'Chickpeas'. Guaranteed to make Eleen jealous! HaHa..!

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Cutest Ever eh?!

I lament the lack of shoes everyday i am here. I have been scouring ebay constantly to look for shoes that are at a bargain and pretty. My diligence paid off. I bought a pair of Keds flats for AUD$13 plus a shipping fee of AUD$6. The bid started at 99 cents but i finally managed to win! At first i was afraid it might be a little big, its a US Size 9 Eur 40. However, when i tried it, it was just nice - perfect fit. Since i am currently into Green, this shoe has its green elements as well! It was delivered this morning in a parcel at 0730.

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Cute?! I am so happy with my purchase. It is not new though, the auction states that it has been worn once - which i didn't really mind cause the picture provided looks ok. The sole is a little dirty which is normal but the rest of the shoe is clean and very new-like, and for the price, it is fine with me!

Oh! I made butter and bread pudding again for Fish. I used 9 eggs, should have used 10, cause it's not firm enough.

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Looks ok. I have not actually tried it yet, Fish ate 1/2 already. HaHa..

By the way, i am so going to Eastgardens tomorrow to get my favourite cookies and cream ice cream CAKE. A justification: To celebrate all our birthdays again and the end of this semester! Hopefully they have it if i not i might have to order and go back to collect it another day.

From a funny commercial: "You bear or chicken?!"

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Poo..

Have not been blogging for a while. Official holidays for me have started but i haven really done much. Not feeling too good these days because of my period. Anyway, was watching tv just now and tonight was "Criminal Intent" and "SVU". Both very intriguing and both presented 2 different viewpoints although they were of different crimes etc..

Would you trust a sex offender who has been to jail and is now living in your neighbourhood? Would you want for him to get out of your neighbourhood and be cruel and not nice to him? In the show, people hated him and eventually he got murdered. I don't know. I think it very much depends on your first gut feeling and impression when you see one like him. Although appearances can be deceiving, maybe i would give that person a chance - a chance that he might really have repented and is trying to leave his past behind. But i understand that its difficult for many people to do so. It's a risk to give him another chance but maybe that's what we need in the world now. So many things are happening, so many crimes committed, so many evils. Maybe it's time we gave trust a chance. Maybe that's what some people need.

Just like if you made a mistake in your life and from then on, people brand you a liar or sth, how difficult would that be for you to shake it off no matter how hard you try? The trust might not work out - it might turn on you - you might regret giving trust a chance, but deep deep down, that is how we would like to be treated - that is how we might want to be treated when faced in a similar situation.

In every case, there needs to be communication, honesty and trust. Even between strangers (unless otherwise). It's so easy to see the negatives, but so important to see the positives - because we are all essentially humans and if we are unable to give our own species a chance, wouldn't that lead to the degradation of what being human and humanity is?

Ok. Enough of that. I have so many places i want to go!

1. Ikea
2. DFO
3. The Rocks Market
4. Eastgardens - to buy ice cream!

I bought something that i hope will make Eleen jealous. HaHa.. it's the cutest pair of socks ever. We name them "chickpeas". HaHa..they are of course..yellow. HaHa.. will post a picture of them the next time.

Till then...!