Chronic Blogger

Slogan to promote English

2008-07-16T01:10:00.003+10:00

So I came up with something at the last minute for this:

English: learn it to think ahead
Speak it to stay ahead

Yes, a little funny and lame... would be good to hear if anyone can come up with something funny and cool.

Some other suggestions my brother made were:

IF YOU CAN'T READ THIS

you need to speak English!

and

For everything you do and say,
English is the only way!

Check out sloganizer for more fun slogans - put your name in for some hilarious and sometimes "what-the?!?" slogans you can use.

The wedding website is finally done!

2008-07-16T01:02:00.004+10:00

Check out our wedding website to get the 411 on what's happening on the day. I did spend all night on it last night (you would know if you saw my Facebook profile hehe).

Apparently Rex (who had nothing to do with the site other than reviewing the content I wrote - let's just make that clear lol) got a lot of feedback from people who liked the site :)

This is probably one of my fave lines from our site:

With ICQ, it was easy to get to know each other more and the relationship blossomed from friendship to love over 56 Kbps dialup, instant messaging and emoticons.

Bear in mind I slept at 5am so if anything I'm sure I found more things funny at that point than a sane person with enough sleep would.

Pimp my Spotted Frostsaber!

2008-07-03T01:15:00.003+10:00

I forgot to post it on here a few weeks ago but I finally got my mount - yay! Will post a screenshot soon of my mount. Thank god! No more running around and being left behind by all the druids I hang out with who transform into bloody cheetahs and run off, leaving me behind with all the mobs!! The only good thing about that was they aggro all mobs in front of me and so I have a bit of time to run further away before they turn their attention to me. Now I just need to check out how to pimp my frostsaber lol.

Actually I'm on level 46 now. But I can't stop now - apparently getting from 60 - 70 takes about as long as 1 - 60 :(

But I still have 2.5 months until I get married. So here's to getting to 70 before the wedding. Wish me luck peoples ahah

Catchy slogans to promote English...

2008-07-03T01:03:00.003+10:00

So my 14-yr old cousin chats me up on IM at 10:30pm to help with this English assignment... as you do when the assignment is due the next day ahah

They need to come up with a catchy, original slogan to promote the use of English at school. I haven't come up with anything remotely useful. I did find an interesting site on using figures of speech like rhyme, alliteration and analogy to come up with something catchy and sticky.

And so I'm sitting here at 1:12am in the morning racking my brains (after I've already had a glass of wine lol). If I get any brainwaves I'll have to post it here. Right now I'm too busy thinking about sleep eheh

China and democracy...

2008-04-18T23:56:00.002+10:00

This is a cool documentary series on democracy in a Chinese class election.
They may just be young kids but the tactics they use is not any different to candidates in the 2008 US presidential race.

Must watch all 5 videos. It's funny, eye-opening and heartbreaking at times. Who will _you_ vote for?

The Painted Veil

2008-04-18T23:42:00.003+10:00

Australia is sooo behind everywhere else for movies. The Painted Veil is just coming out - "advance screenings" at selected cinemas. Check out imdb.com - the movie was released in 2006! IMO if you can't even show a movie within a year of its release, don't expect people to come flocking to see it in the cinema. Chances are most everyone downloaded a copy and watched it already.

On the bright side, the movie is good - it has Edward Norton, one of my favorite actors of all time! The cinematography, the tone and the dialogue between Edward and Naomi draw the viewer in and leave them mesmerized in their tragic love story.

WOW is haunting me in my dreams...

2008-01-07T19:26:00.000+11:00

I think it's safe to say that when you start dreaming about "WOW", you've definitely gone past the point of sanity ;) It was teasing me to wake up and finish my quests, or go fishing or something.

Last night I had a dream that I was in WOW, fighting alongside a knight (ok maybe my teenage dreams are spilling over this time...) on a quest to find someone he lost. I'll spare you the details but there was a lot of slashing and killing involved. It was quite a long dream, and tiring too. I must've levelled up at least twice in my dream with all the ppl I killed hahaa

WOW is sooo addictive

2008-01-06T21:56:00.000+11:00

Everytime I get home I gotta logon to WOW and at the very least level up or complete a quest. Most of the time you spend is spent on walking around to actual quest location. I like the social side of it and how you get to do all these quests and meet new people at the same time.

I'm an ass-kickin nightelf warrior hottie in braids ahhahaha

I'm at level 13 now and much like a normal house-elf, I fish, I cook (herb baked strigid owl egg is my specialty!) and make linen bandages. Once in awhile I skin animals, it's more rewarding when I find someone else's discarded nightsaber carcasses. I'm only doing this now for the money, but I'm planning on answering the higher calling of blacksmithing once I find a trainer. For now, skinning pays the rent.

What's new in 2008...

2008-01-06T21:50:00.000+11:00

Another year is beginning and I really need to stick to my NY resolutions:
* become Mrs. Chung.. or Tay-Chung, or just Tay - I don't know, I haven't really decided yet...
* reach level 70 in WOW (world of warcraft... in case you're in Aman Thul, I'm the hot ass-kickin nightelf warrior Adrielin)
* not gain any more weight before the wedding
* sleep earlier
* post some more on this blog. I kinda wish I could write about day-to-day experiences here including work but it's a little hard to do that in case some of my workmates actually ever find this hahaha

And yes, reaching level 70 in WOW kinda contradicts with sleeping earlier but we'll see how we go hahaha

To java -jar or not to java -jar

2007-08-08T00:13:00.000+10:00

I'm "going to get technical" on yous since I spent some time on this at work trying to figure out what the f-ing hell I was doing wrong, and to remind myself in case I ever needed to work this out in the future.

You CAN jar up a bunch of classes, specifying your main class to execute, and the classpath with which to execute it with by calling:

java -jar .jar

BUT, you must.. and I cannot stress that enough, specify which class is your Main-Class in the jar's manifest.mf file (who would've thunk...):

Main-Class: com.package.my.main.class

AND, you must.. and I again cannot stress this enough, specify the classpath for your class. Easy you say? Yep it is, if you remember to use RELATIVE PATHS for any jars you need. Yes you read it right, relative, not absolute, only relative... separating them with spaces, not semi colons or colons, spaces.

Class-Path: ../../some-silly-jar.jar ../some-other-silly-jar.jar

And you can use ant to jar up your files and specify those attributes for you too. No examples for this one though, (I'm at home now, not at work ;)

Perils of Parallel Skiing

2007-08-08T00:05:00.000+10:00

I went to Falls Creek and Hotham to ski last weekend ..... it was sooooo cool!
The snow wasn't all powdery as you would expect from all the snowfall that we had while we were skiing. The wind didn't deter us from skiing all over Falls Creek and Hotham though we mostly had good - fair visibility all the way.
It wasn't until Sunday 5pm that the wind blew so hard that I could barely see 5 meters in front of me!

I did try to parallel ski, 3rd in my stages of skiing professionalism. 1st you slide down the hill and yell out profanities while praying that you don't hit anything (One time, at Falls Creek, I hit a snowmaking machine's net and tore a little hole thru it.. shhhhhh!). 2nd you start snow ploughing, which is good enough to slow you down on the green (read: beginners) slopes. But on the blues (read:intermediate or damn steep) slopes, it only serves to increase your speed while making you feel helpless in the face of impending doom. So this time I've slowly (picture a snail if you will..) tried to move up into parallel skiing.

My skis do look parallel.. but as Rex would say they need to be closer together to have any effect. I did go a bit faster and I no longer take 30 mins to get down the slopes as I did the first time ;) Pics to go up in Flickr once I upload em.

Goodbye Lina Feng...

2007-05-17T00:10:00.000+10:00

Our friend Lina recently passed away
She just turned 27
It was sudden, with no warning
I didn't even get to say goodbye

We were only starting to be close
She was so easygoing, had common sense
And good humour, at least she found me funny
Definitely a friend to keep

The future held so much promise and hope
Playing games and planning trips
It had only just begun
And now memories are all that are left

I'm sad I can't hear her laughter anymore
One less normal person in the world
I'm bitter about the inequity, the unfairness
Why.

I'm thankful for the recent memories, trips and email chats
You will always be remembered, cherished and missed
I wish I told you so

What I wouldn't touch with a 10-ft pole

2007-01-01T03:16:00.000+11:00

Was at an office Christmas party one Friday night where the champagne was flowing and the music was pumping. The night was beginning to slow down to an end and my feet started to get sore from dancing. Seeking relief from the pain and the growing numbness, I sat next to some people I worked with.

One of the first questions I got asked was "what religion are you?".... I'm thinking... "geez... not this on a Friday night after x glasses of champagne". Now I don't think there's anything wrong with discussing religion, be it yours or mine or someone else's. But it can lead to trouble in the wrong hands, as it's such a touchy subject and can deteriorate to a "you're wrong, I'm right" debate (read: argument). In my Friday night party situation, it was a case of whether someone was touched by the hand of God or not. If someone believed that he was, then good on them. If I didn't believe that he was, then good on me hahaa that's my own opinion. Now seriously, who can tell whether a person was touched by the hand of God? The person themselves. You can debate the issue til you're blue in the face but it won't ever be resolved.

Religion is a subject so close to people's heart, saying the wrong thing will be remembered the morning after... and beyond. Luckily I hadn't had enough champagne that night to say the wrong thing yet ;)

There are some people who wouldn't let their own beliefs and prejudices cloud their minds. These are the people who can discuss religion without emotions and being sufficiently detached, can then listen to other people's beliefs with an open mind. Then there are those who will hear something different and say "you can't do that!" instead of "how do you do that? Tell me more".

What is the use of preaching your own beliefs without taking the time to understand the beliefs of others?

1st blog post for 2007

2007-01-01T02:04:00.000+11:00

It's been 2.5 months since my last post.

A lot of things have happened since then, both good and bad:
Christmas, NYE and the Sydney NYE fireworks (wasn't that different this year but who am I to judge when my view was obstructed by the train tracks at Circ Quay)
Work Christmas parties and the Friday night drink sessions with colleagues
Stressful, packed days at work and late nights that never seemed to end
Intrigues and office politics
Pseudo-housewife-ing at home as I cook, clean and do the laundry (where are those so-called benefits of living with the parents, I ask you..)
Learning alot about people, the things you can and can't change, when to chill out and shut up, when to stand up for your rights
Losing the boyfriend in mid-Nov as he went to work in HK
Getting him back 2 days after Christmas

So as you can see it's been a busy 2.5 months. And I probably would've posted more often if I didn't have my "don't blog about work-related issues" rule ;)

Revert back to me ASAP

2006-10-18T01:28:00.000+10:00

Don't you hate it when people blatantly use the wrong words when they really mean something else.

... revert to you with comments
I will revert to you ASAP

I'm sure they meant to say "reply". Revert means to go back to the previous state. I'm sure this colleague didn't mean to say they'll become me ASAP ;)

Do you know who's using your wireless network now?

2006-10-10T00:40:00.000+10:00

You are not alone... when it comes to your wireless network usage that is.

I have a friend (well.. really an acquaintance as I don't want to be associated with this crim) who shall remain nameless. He uses his neighbour's Internet account. He uses it for downloading and surfing, for his studies, and even to login to his work computer. How did he do this you might add?

Simple. He detected his neighbour's wireless networks. He then surfed the net for router manuals and tried the default URL and login/password combinations, to login to the admin pages of his neighbour's wireless routers. Now he brags about how he's not paying for Internet anymore. And he has the audacity to say that he could change the router settings so that the owners themselves can't access the net, but he's not THAT mean.

It's a little cheap don't you think...

So the lesson is boys and girls, secure your wireless network. There are heaps of resources for doing that online and, surprise surprise, in your router manual. How can you detect these cheapass leechers? Just check the trend of your monthly data usage. You should be able to tell how much data you've downloaded over the past month, versus the amount of data your ISP says you downloaded. I would say if you are consistently getting close to your limit and all you ever do is email and occasionally surf, then my friend, you are being used!

So beware, you never know when some cheapass moves in next door to you.

More Melbourne

2006-10-10T00:18:00.000+10:00

If you're visiting Melbourne, don't forget to visit the Italian precinct on Lygon Street. It's just a tram ride away and you can catch the #1 or #8 tram.

Brunetti's is a great cafe and patisserie off Lygon St. It has heaps of nice cakes, gelato and yummy coffee. The place gets packed even at night, so don't be surprised if you need to wait for a table. Trust me though, it's worth the wait. The branch near Federation Square is just not the same.

There are heaps of Italian restaurants on Lygon Street. The further down the street you go, the more you'll see old men yelling at you and laying down the guilt trip if you don't go into their restaurants. Most will try to bribe you with a jug of orange juice or a free plate of bruschettas and free corkage.

This one guy from Il Gusto tried very hard to get us to go into his restaurant. It was the first restaurant we saw so we wanted to look around some more. The owner would not let us go past at all, and stupidly enough, tried the tactic of insulting us in case we would change our minds. That dumbass said we were "stupid for not going into his restaurant, what a disgrace we were to other Asians" ahhaha. That put me off his restaurant for life.

We ended up at Villa Romano after walking up and down the street. It's the one right next to Il Gusto but at least the owner's a little more amiable. The food was great and I'd definitely go back there again. The trick is probably to try and not act like tourists so you don't get hassled over having dinner with them :)

To Melbourne and back

2006-09-27T00:34:00.000+10:00

Spent 4 days in Melbourne last week. Gotta say that it was a much needed holiday from work. People tell me I look happier and more relaxed :)

Melbourne's got to be the style capital for Sydney... even their nerds look much cooler and fashionable than me... yep that's really sad.

The coffee was the best! $3.00 will get you the equivalent of a large-size coffee in Sydney. And unlike Sydney, they don't fill it up with froth, or water it down so a large cup still tastes great. And when you ask for a "strong flat white", they actually do just that. When you want to go for coffee, make sure you don't miss the Block Arcade or Niagara lane. Don't buy coffee from the Great Ocean Road Deli in Apollo Bay though. They charge 3.75 for a large cup, and they water it down. The Italian hot chocolate I had at this food shop there tasted sour too.. ew.

We went around the city and Crown Casino. When you want to dine at Crown, I would suggest going past Number 8. The food didn't really rock my world, and neither did the prices ;)

If you're a fan of poached eggs and yummy breakfasts, visit Amici on Chapel Street in South Yarra. They have a huge selection of poached egg dishes and do breakfast all day. They also bake their own bread and their ciabatta was very fresh and tasty.

Want to visit the 11.5 Apostles on the Great Ocean Road? Why not take a coach tour to save yourself the trouble of driving. I booked my family in for a day on the Go West Great Ocean Road Tour, and for $95 the tour lasted from 7:30 am til 9:30 pm. It's a small coach with about 24 people. You get taken to an Aboriginal cultural centre, a visit to see wild koalas, a rainforest walk, then on to Apollo Bay for lunch. After lunch we visited 7.5 of the apostles. Then we were also able to visit the Island Arch, Razorback and Loch Ard Gorge - the things I missed the last time I went. Here you can view the remaining 4 apostles. The final stop was at London Bridge with a saucy anecdote on the bridge collapse.

Apparently there were 2 people walking to the end of the bridge from the coast when it collapsed. Luckily they were already on the other side and away from harm's way. But they were stranded until they were saved via helicopter. Well the whole incident was big news. But the bigger piece of news was that the 2 people saved were married... but not to each other. And both had told their colleagues and family that they were on a business trip. Talk about being in the wrong place and the wrong time.

Ever been to a TV pilot screening?

2006-08-30T00:15:00.000+10:00

I have. Unfortunately the show left much to be desired. It was called "This Week Last Year" and it's a current affairs program which talks about the news that happened.... you guessed it, this week last year, and how the issue progressed after a year.

Each segment of the show starts off by talking about the top 3 news items this week last year. It then proceeds to ignore these news items, and talk about a totally different issue. They don't even talk about how the issue progressed. They just interview a couple of people for their opinions. This went on and on, covering local news, entertainment, health and more.

The presenters, the topics and the manner in which the show is presented all point to something a high school student produced. Plus I object to it being labelled as a "current affairs" program - it can't be "current affairs" because it talks about old news!

One question stood out from the rest in the survey: did you think that what you did here tonight was worthwhile. Yes I do! If it prevents that show from ever seeing the light of day, then I've done my duty to save the world from an excruciatingly annoying and time-wasting show.

Maybe "this week next year", the show's creators will come up with something tolerable.

Sunrise, sunset

2006-08-29T10:34:00.000+10:00

Conversation at a friend's housewarming party on Sunday afternoon:

(clueless girl): So which direction is the dining room facing?

(me): Well just look at the shadow of the table. Sun's setting from there, so it's actually west.

(clueless girl): Huh? Which direction is that??

(rex): It's west.

(clueless girl's equally clueless fiance now referred to as clueless f): Actually my friend said that we're in the southern hemisphere so our angle to the sun makes it look like it actually comes from the north.

So that *points to direction of the sun* could be north. Your dining room is north-facing.

(clueless girl): yeh he likes finding the direction of things, he even bought a compass.

(clueless f): yeh I'll bring it with me next time ha ha

Someone needs a lesson in Science 101. The sun always sets in the west, it's not exactly west depending on the season, but it sure as hell ain't north!

It's even more amazing as clueless bf works in a prestigious software engineering company, and clueless girl used to work at the same company but now works somewhere else.

Wouldn't wanna be shipwrecked/marooned on a desert island with them.

15 minutes of fame

2006-08-16T00:23:00.000+10:00

Check out the asian dude in the photo hehe

Ski bunny wannabe!

2006-08-15T23:56:00.000+10:00

I looove skiing!

I love the snow, the atmosphere, the fresh air. The only part I don't like is how much it costs! The passes are crazy-expensive - $182 for 2 days at Perisher and $92 for 1 day at Thredbo. Even just getting into Kosciusko National Park costs $22 per vehicle!

I'm a snow plower. I'm trying to learn parallel skiing but I've only been skiing twice. I still can't parallel ski on a slope ahahaa I can sort of manage it on an almost flat slope. I did conquer the chair lifts - not once did I stack it after getting off a chair lift - heh I'm so proud of myself. It did take me 3 days to learn how to do it 2 years ago.

Some moments pissed me off though like when I fell, and couldn't get up.. on flat ground ahahaha, and then some smartass punk on the chair lift decided to test his aim by throwing a snowball at me... well joke's on him cos he missed ahahhaah

Had quite a few funny moments... like when me and Rex were trying to get on the T-bar and the guy that sets the bar at your bum set the bar too high so it actually started pulling me by my jacket up the slope. Most exciting thing that happened to him that day he said hahaa.
Then there was the time I went on a blue slope (greens are the easiest, blues are a level up) and couldn't stop myself cos the snow was waaay too icy and thin in some places... so instead of a slow descent down, I pretty much sped down screaming and apologising to people I accidentally cut off. Then there was the time when I went on the blue slope again and took a wrong turn. Luckily the 2 paths met up again and I sped down past my friends who were wondering where the heck I came from hahaa.

I stacked really well too... had a couple of falls where the slope was steep so I just kept sliding down the mountain skiing on my bum.. and once on my stomach ahahhaha so I had a lot of practice getting up on the slope when I fell.

Wanna go back again for longer ... maybe this season if it snows again!

When someone gets what they deserve...

2006-08-15T23:19:00.000+10:00

I don't usually laugh at other people's misfortunes ... really I don't ;)
But sometimes, you can't help but feel like they deserve it.

Tonight while waiting for my bus ride home, a 205 bus stopped in front of me to pick up passengers. The 205 is one of the uncool, unpopular buses... everyone who's anyone catches my bus hahaa. Anyway there was a guy crossing the street to go to the bus stop. He was about 30-35 years old, hair slicked back showing the beginnings of a receding hairline. He wore a dark suit, flashy looking shirt and tie, and a smirk that more or less said "How you doin" to everyone in front of him.

Including the bus and the bus driver.

So he jaywalked right in front of the bus, which, at this time was trying to pull out of the kerb.
He didn't just jaywalk in front of it ... he also put a hand out to the bus driver, which looked like the "Talk to the hand" hand. Anyway "the hand" actually meant "please stop and let me on the bus". But I think the driver didn't like his attitude much, or maybe he just didn't see him because the bus just drove off ... leaving hotshot suit guy standing on the kerb, bus ticket in hand, looking dumbfounded! Hahahaa classic ... I would've started laughing a little myself had he not shouted "You freak!" to the bus driver. At this point, I decided it would be better to go back to reading my Time magazine.

Who are the real terrorists

2006-07-31T22:30:00.000+10:00

Does anyone actually believe that Israel is bombing innocent people and civilian infrastructure in Beirut to protect itself?

It's a little hard to justify shelling civilians towns and infrastructure especially when there seems to be no burden of proof on Israel's shoulders. The destruction of Beirut airport was allegedly aimed at stopping arms trafficking. Though to be honest, if they wanted to do that, they really should have aimed for Damascus.

I'm not arguing that Israel does not have the right to defend itself. But given that most of the people being killed everyday are everyday folk, helpless women and children much like you and me, that excuse becomes merely that, an excuse for flagrant and outright assertion of might. It's not hard to see that these tactics are not working in Israel's favor. International outrage at the latest civilian deaths, mainly children, at Qana has seen Israel condemned for brutish, disproportional, and indiscriminate destructive actions.

Clearly losses were also sustained on Israel's side, but compare this to ever growing number of civilian deaths in Southern Lebanon and Beirut, and you will find a scene not unlike David and Goliath. I'm not a Hezbollah sympathizer. Rather I sympathize with those who cannot defend themselves against Patriot missiles and bunker blasters, those who are caught in the middle of a deadly war, and the country whose slow march to reconstruction and rehabilitation after years of civil war, finds itself kicked down to the ground yet again by cruel fate, politics and blind hatred.

Fifa World Cup 2006 Fever

2006-06-20T01:13:00.000+10:00

I'm Australian and I support the Socceroos.

I don't support Harry Kewell though. And apparently neither does the rest of the Australian football team. In Australia vs Brazil which was televised yesterday morning from 2:30 am, Brazil scored a resounding 2 goals against Australia. How many did Australia get you say? Nil, 0, zilch, nada.

Now other people place the blame squarely on Kewell's shoulders. There were certain chances and open goals which he could have rightly taken. Like when the goalie went out of the goal to catch the ball, only to let it drop, giving Kewell a wide open goal... but like all the other attempts to score that night, it failed miserably. As they say though, there is no I in team and so Kewell cannot be relied upon to do the job of the rest of his team, at least the rest of the strikers.

He needs support from other team members to score that elusive goal. He's great at passing but he's not a leader, the goal visionary that the team needs him to be. He passes really well, but really, who is he passing to?

Public transport blues

2006-06-20T00:49:00.000+10:00

I'm a nice person... really. Some of the blog entries may persuade you to think otherwise, but you can ask everyone I know and they'll tell you the same thing... most times ;)

I'm also one of those people who can be a little bit righteous.

The Sydney public buses have rows of 2-person seats going down the length of the bus, 1 window seat and 1 aisle seat. Lately I've noticed that a lot of people are doing one of the following:

sitting on the aisle seat and placing bags on the window seat
sitting on the aisle seat and leaving the window seat empty
sitting on the window seat and placing bags on the aisle seat

Now there are usually logical explanations for points 1 and 2 - the person may be getting off at the next stop and want easy access to the exit. Plus when they do leave the bus, it causes less inconvenience to their bus companion if said companion were to sit in the window seat.

Point 3 is a little different. These are usually the seat-hogs, people who for some reason think that their little knapsack deserves a seat more than someone who actually pays money for the ride. Naturally I fight against this injustice in the most subtle of ways: I intentionally sit next to these people, making them carry their small bags on their lap (haha sucked in).

I invite others who see similar offences to put these people in their place. Claim that which is rightfully yours! No longer will these selfish passengers inconvenience and force others to stand in a moving bus!

This also extends to those who don't give up their seats in favour of less mobile passengers.

To refactor or not to refactor..

2006-06-20T00:39:00.000+10:00

That is the question.

Finding the right balance between refactoring existing code and delivering business requirements is never easy. This is especially true when you keep finding code that should be refactored. I'm not one to complain (aw who am I kidding ahha) but I don't like having to live with code that's not readable and hence hard to maintain. But how can one spend enough time refactoring code when there are so many other business requirements to deliver at the same time. It becomes a question of 'how much pain will this cost us' and 'how much benefit can we get out of refactoring this' *sigh*.

I don't like taking the easy way out all the time at the expense of sacrificing code quality. Sure, the app might work now, but when (and it's really just a matter of time) bugs are found, oh woe is me if I ever have to investigate and fix them. If I need to spend hours looking at code just to understand what's going on, I get stressed and annoyed.

It hurts.

It really does.

Plausible deniability

2006-05-10T23:26:00.000+10:00

I love this term.

This idea does get a bit overused, even in work situations where ownership and accountability is avoided due to ignorance. Gone are the days when people voluntarily involved themselves in everything that went on at work. There is a logical explanation for this:
(to use logic notation)
the more involved you are --> the more you learn
the more you learn --> the more you know
the more you know --> the more work you get

So more involved --> more work.

More importantly, does more involved --> more work --> more $$ ?
And does more $$ --> more work ? It's a non-sequitur in my opinion... but I'll leave that up to you to decide ;)

Work Coffee Etiquette

2006-05-10T22:59:00.000+10:00

Your manager just invited you and your team to have coffee. Should you get the more expensive, large, organic, skim double capuccino you've always wanted to try, or stick to the reasonably priced flat white? Here are some do's and don't's to make sure your first coffee invitation won't be your last!

Do bring a wallet in case you're not actually getting a freebie. There's nothing worse than everyone thinking you're a cheapass moocher and freeloader. Besides it's always good to play it on the safe side if the payment terms are unclear.
Don't order the most expensive thing on the menu if it's not normally your style. There's something fishy going on if a person orders a $7 drink and they won't even spend more than $5 on lunch.
Do sit closer to the person who organised the meeting. Unless the cafe is small, enclosed, deserted, and there are less than 5 people having coffee, chances are you won't be able to hear a thing for most of the meeting.
Don't go for seconds if you're not paying for yourself
Do participate in the meeting and keep your focus. A wandering eye and mind can land you in hot water and could put a drastic end to the awaited coffee shop meetings.
Don't forget to thank the organiser!

A small gesture such as an afternoon coffee can go a long way to making everyone in your team feel more relaxed and building up morale and relationships within the team.

Haven't been posting lately

2006-04-12T23:58:00.000+10:00

because I find that most of the things I feel strongly about these days are work-related. And I've told myself that I will not blog on any topics related to work or the things that happen at work, lest I get terminated hahaa.

Seriously though you never know when someone stumbles upon your blog, one thing leads to another and then boom! you're out on the street with your foot in your mouth.

Here's to hoping something more fun or non-work-related-and-yet-thought-provoking happens so that I break this silence.

You know you're an IT geek when...

2006-04-02T22:17:00.000+10:00

Someone asks "what is head?" and you start talking about version control ahhaa.

Fortunately I wasn't the one asked that question, but version control was the first thing that came to my mind. That is, until the person answering the question asked back, "In what context?". And yes, obviously, that person is male.

Satisfy your inner geek

2006-03-22T22:01:00.000+11:00

and get yourself a brand-spanking new Xbox 360 :)
Apparently the launch party for Xbox in Australia will feature the three main things that get geeks and nerds alike to leave their PC tonight:
1. free food and drink (anything free will get me moving)
2. giant outdoor screens (imagine playing games on these gargantuan screens!)
3. dancing girls (ok this won't do much for me..)

Even if you don't want to get an Xbox, you really should get a gaming console if you haven't got one already! (At least an emulator even if you don't want to spend $$$ ....)

You're not a geek if you can't say that you've completed classics such as Resident Evil, Tomb Raider (1, 2, and 3) and played Warcraft 3 or WOW at least once! For the stressed and burnt out geek in you, try sniper-shooting civilians and gang members in GTA3. Going postal in the safety of your own home and console is therapeutic ... at least that's what I keep telling my parents ;)

Get rich quick!

2006-03-22T21:28:00.000+11:00

Read an article on how the ASX recovered from its low of less than 3000 points in March 2003 to its high several days ago of 5000 points. It's take about 2 years for its bull run. Now it seems like we might start to have a bear market.

Was talking to some people and the general feeling I've heard is that the market is slowing down. It's not helped by some shares which had stellar performances over the past year, only to see a good percentage of that growth reverse in a couple of months. A prime example is Macquarie Bank. Only in December, it was trading at around AUD $68, 69, even 70 on a good day. Now it's hanging around the high 50s, low 60s mark. A difference of about $10... if only I'd sold mine in December hehe. What has changed in Macquarie's business model? Not much. Sentiment towards the company has changed. No longer is it the darling, daring Aussie company making millions in fees. Somehow its business model has become unsustainable and investors have started dumping the stock since December for this very reason. Only time will tell whether this is true.

Telstra's another example. Around August, September 2005, the buzz was about Telstra 3, the total privatisation of this telecom company. Many colleagues of mine bought a bucket of Telstra shares, anticipating a rise in the market price when T3 is approved by the government. This, however, has not come to pass as yet. The share price was previously hovering around the 3.80, 3.90 mark, and it did break the 4.00 mark for a while. It has now plummeted back down to 3.68, possibly nearing the 3.50, 3.40 price it went down to last time.

I didn't get into the sharemarket the last time it dipped. Laziness and study kinda prevented me from really looking into it seriously. But now, the need to get rich quick is pushing me to consider other money-making (or losing) channels.

How would you react

2006-03-14T23:34:00.000+11:00

if someone at work asked whether you and a certain other person were *shudder* an item?

Most people can easily answer when they are not asked at work, or when said person is someone that they do not work with. It's easier to brush someone off when you know that you won't have to deal with them in any capacity later.

But if it happened at work, or it involved a work colleague, how differently do people react? It's harder to gauge this reaction. Most would say it depends on who the certain other colleague is and the context of the inquirer. It would direct your reaction to one of three possibilities:

the I'm-shocked-yet-oh-so-flattered-you-thought-we-were reaction. This has been known to appear when the target colleague is the desirable type.
the huh?? response. This is the middle of the road, stitting on the fence reaction where you just need to sound out a confused grunt and it saves you from further embarrassment.
finally my personal favorite: the what-have-you-been-smoking?!-I-have-great-taste response. It's worked well on some people and deflects any embarrassment thru humour.

Any one of the above are useful in deflecting this question. I personally tend to go for #3, using #2 only for those times where I'm a little too shocked (read: horrified).

Information overload

2006-03-14T23:14:00.000+11:00

How people keep up with the news and all the blogs they subscribe to is beyond me.

Bloglines is screaming at me to read all 800 of my unread items... and that's only from 30 feeds that I neglected reading for 3 days. It forces me to click on an entire feed and skimread bits up to a certain point.

People are able to cope with it though. So maybe it's just I need to be more efficient with the things that I do on a daily basis. No more late nights and long hours at work, especially after reading up on the myth that staying late = commitment (and no, I'm not having an affair of any sort at work, thank you very much).

You know you're an IT geek when...

2006-03-13T22:55:00.000+11:00

You read the words 'cruise control', and the first thing that came to your mind is 'continuous integration' ahhaa.

A friend sent thru an email, subject: Cruise Control. Nothing to do with IT, it was actually talking about how you should never have cruise control on when you're driving in the rain. It can cause your car to suddenly accelerate when the tires lose contact with the pavement.

Freedom! Part 2

2006-03-07T02:22:00.000+11:00

I've been told that in my previous "Freedom!" post, I managed to conveniently forget to mention another aspect of my freedom - freedom from the oppression, the subjugation, the tyranny known as "the boyfriend" ;)

Well, truth be told he's not such a tyrant. I think I'm experiencing Stockholm-Syndrome-withdrawal symptoms now that he's gone. I've lost my one and only chauffeur, financial backer, joke-tester, therapist (read: listens to my whinging all day long), and movie buddy. I can probably go without four of those five things, one I absolutely cannot live without. You can guess which one hahahaa.

The good thing is I now have heaps of time.... to do absolutely nothing hahaa. I am reading books again, watching TV (the Foxtel is getting a lot of mileage), going out with family, catching up or organising catchups with friends that I haven't seen for yonks, and starting to call other people on the phone. It's amazing how narrowly focused you can be when you have to work, study, and maintain a relationship all at once. Mind you, it's not that I didn't have fun back when I was studying. It was just that I had to sacrifice sleep in order to have that same amount of fun.

Now that I've managed to kill or suspend two of those three responsibilities, life suddenly is so much more carefree, so much more enjoyable and so much more fun! It's a delicate balance between devoting time to the relationship and time for yourself. But, that's a topic for another post!

Fitness comes first

2006-03-07T02:13:00.000+11:00

It's been a week since my last post. In that time I went to the gym twice (yay me!) and also went swimming at Fitness First St Leonards. I did some laps around their pool, I think I managed 30. But it was so small, it looked like it was 25m or so. Definitely not the Olympic-size 50m pools.

I did feel a little like Thorpe, swimming laps back and forth, beating the competition (read: little old ladies) in the "slow" lane right next to my "leisure" lane ahahha. I'll going to make this a regular weekend thing. I've forgotten how much I loved swimming. I did look a little rusty but I'm sure my Thorpedo skills will come back to me one day. In the meantime I've set myself a goal: graduate from the leisure lane into the slow lane. And then from the slow to the medium. I don't think I could ever go to the fast lane. Those guys are animals! They do that tumbling turn when they get to the end. I never learned how to do that but I guess there's a first time for everything.

Tax accountants miscalculating tax?!

2006-03-02T01:13:00.000+11:00

What do you do when your tax accountant company makes a mistake when they lodge their own taxes?

The worst nightmare ever has just come true for H&R Block Tax Accountants in the US. They made a big boo-boo in filing their income taxes when they understated their tax liabilities by a cool $32 million. Not only is it a huge public relations disaster, but also it may well floor the sales and promotion of their TaxCut tax calculation software ("accuracy guarantee"). Their competitors should experience increased sales after this fiasco.

It should be interesting to see how they deal with this issue, and how will they regain people's trust again....

Freedom! It tastes so sweet!!

2006-02-26T22:49:00.000+11:00

So I finally, finally, finally did my last university exam on Feb 22, 2006. At least what I hope will be the last exam ever. If I pass that will be the end of that master's degree, and the beginning of something beautiful. What exactly, I'm not too sure. The world is my oyster, and I like my oysters fresh, natural and squeezed with a bit of tangy lemon.

I spent so much time during my degree thinking about how I would spend my time once it's all over. Now that I'm actually at this point, I'm at a loss. It's probably just uni-withdrawal syndrome. It is a little scary to think that it will be the last time I ever see UNSW as a student. It didn't really dawn on me back when I graduated from my undergraduate degree. Probably because I was certain I would study the master's course straight after anyway. But now that I know I will never be back at UNSW, I'm seeing it in this mix of St Elmo's Fire-Reality Bites-Dawson's Creek-esque light. Which is a little strange seeing as how I've been working full-time in the 3 years that I've been studying master's.

All the same, a part of me is growing up and growing out of that uni student phase. hmm... dragged out kicking and screaming is probably more correct. No more half-price tickets for events or movies, and even public transport. I'll definitely miss that one the most.

What's the Score

2006-02-02T03:18:00.000+11:00

As at 1 Feb 06,
Number of couples just married: 5
Number of couples engaged: 4

Apparently this year, the Year of the Dog in the Chinese horoscope, is a good year to get married ... or so every mother and grandmother keeps telling their sons and daughters.

Wedding Bells are Ringing!

2006-02-02T01:31:00.000+11:00

D-day came and went on Sunday. Without a hitch too I'm proud to say :)
well.... except for the fact that the bride and the bridesmaids arrived at the wedding fashionably late... try 1 hour late hehe ;) Happy to say that it wasn't because of me for once. It was another bridesmaid who had logistics issues with hair and makeup. I should note that that our hair and makeup, gorgeous as they were, cost us $150 each, $51 dollars more than what our dresses cost :(

The wedding ceremony went into full swing once we all got out of our white rental Tarago (my cost-saving idea given there were 7 bridesmaids). It got off on a shaky start when we realised that most of the groomsmen that we were supposed to walk down with were all hanging out with the groom near the altar. Things went well, I had a reading to read and I pronounced all the words correctly. A friend of mine managed to make it through the word "Ecclesiasticus" in her reading too! Success all around!

The bride also organised some background music on CD to be played at each interval. Mark (the maid of honour's bf and our chauffeur for the day) was the resident DJ, playing each track at just the right time and fading the music away on cue ... except for this one time where he played a track too early. The bride kept looking and making funny faces to Mark to tell him to stop playing the music... hope that didn't get caught on the wedding video.

Oh and all our different coloured pink dresses somehow matched up nicely on the day. I guess you can't ever go wrong with 7 gorgeous, sexy girls in pink anyhow hahaah. After the ceremony we all took a break from sucking our stomachs in whilst being driven down from Chatswood to Milson's Point for some wedding shots.

They were all pretty standard - group standing still, group walking slowly, group sitting down, individual bridesmaids and groomsmen with the bride and groom, harbour bridge and opera house backdrop shots. What got my attention was when we started walking down to Luna Park and took some photos there too haha. I even got some photos taken of Rex (boyfriend/wedding photographer-wannabe) and me (girlfriend/wedding model-wannabe)... the hired photographer was keen to get shots of bridemaids and their respective boyfriends.

After this we went via the white 'Karaoke' Tarago (alot of singing went on during the journey) to Main Event at Blacktown for the reception. This was to be our last hurrah and bridesmaid-al duties for the day. Everyone involved in the wedding (parents, bridal party, sponsors) were made to walk into the reception with a theme song chosen by the bride. The parents got 'Eye of the Tiger' , we went in with 'Love Generation'. The good part of the reception came when we got served our dinners, everyone else had to make their way to the buffet table (again my cost-saving idea haha). After some eats, some cake-cutting (which I missed because I had to go bathroom!), the dancing started and lasted til 11:30pm. Finally we said our goodbyes to the honeymooners and made our way home.

All in all, a fun and equally tiring day, and definitely a day to remember.

D-day on Sunday

2006-01-14T13:25:00.000+11:00

My friend is finally getting hitched tomorrow morning ... hope the weather holds out.
I did successfully detox... except for last night when a few after work drinks til 11pm took
their toll.

And... ta da! The t-shirt tan line is no more!
Will be sleeping over at the bride's place tonight with all the other bridesmaids, should be heaps of fun :)

2 more weeks left

2006-01-03T03:39:00.000+11:00

til my friend's wedding! It's the culmination of almost 2 years' worth of planning for her.

I didnt want to say my best friend's wedding because it just reminds me of how Julia Roberts (bridesmaid) tried to steal the Dermot Mulroney (groom) from Cameron Diaz (bride). I don't think that'll be happening at my friend's wedding but all the same I don't want to think about it.

It seems like a bad thing to hold a wedding after Christmas and New Year, when everyone's bound to overeat, oversleep and overdrink.

Note to self: detox until the wedding... and even out the t-shirt tan line :(

Bopping my head to ...

2006-01-03T03:25:00.000+11:00

Songs by Green Day from their live concert in the UK:
American Idiot
Holiday
Jesus of Suburbia
Give me Novocaine
Time of Your Life
Basketcase
... and more!

Gotta love the tunes, the lyrics and the strong conviction behind their music. American Idiot has to be their best album yet.

I got this --||-- close to buying concert tickets for their Sydney show. I decided not to due to logistics issues - I couldn't leave work early enough to get good spots and couldn't find anyone interested and enthusiastic enough to come with me.

Listening to Green Day also reawakened the previously forsaken, starstruck, (dare I say it) schoolgirl crush on Billie Joe Armstrong... if only for the 9 minutes and 8 seconds duration of Jesus of Suburbia.

Luckily it doesn't happen when I listen to Backstreet Boys songs ;)

The unthinkable happened

2006-01-03T03:18:00.000+11:00

I enrolled for summer school.

Not just for any subject either, Corporate Finance!

I thought I'd be smart and read the textbook in advance so I wouldn't be catching up all the time during session. Turns out everyone else had the same great idea.

There are 2 exams, a mid-term and a final. The mid-term is in a month's time and the final is at the end of Feb. So I guess, at least until the mid-term is over the blog will again go into hibernate mode... which is why I'm starting to post like there's no tomorrow tonight.

May the force be with me

Happy New Year....

2006-01-03T02:39:00.000+11:00

and a belated Merry Christmas :)

I've been spending the past few days with family and friends.
Haven't been thinking about anything work-related, well until I got a phone call from work, but that only broke my shopping-concentration for about 5 minutes.

I spent Christmas at Kiama (coastal town south of Sydney) bumming around on the beach and perfecting my t-shirt tan-line.

New Year's Eve was spent at a friend's place which overlooked the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Had a great view of all the fireworks that night. Then went on to Mona Vale beach to watch the first sunrise of 2006. I tried to do that same thing at Bronte beach last year. But the beach wasn't exactly directly facing east so alas I spent the whole night in the car for naught. Got some great photos of the sunrise which I'll be posting on flickr shortly.

Oh and did I mention all the yummy food I had all throughout this time :)
There were abalones, scallops, mud crabs, salmon sashimi, steamed and grilled fish, and turkey ;) ... yep I've really made it just that much more harder to look good in my bridesmaid dress.

Never a bride

2005-12-14T01:13:00.000+11:00

So now that I've been to three weddings, there are several stand-out features that made some better than others:

Funny and heartfelt speeches from both the best man and maid of honour. I've heard a few bad ones, and some really good ones. It makes a huge difference in how people remember the wedding. Even if it's not your best man or maid of honour making the speeches, it definitely helps to have someone extroverted and with a good sense of humour to keep the guests entertained.
Down-to-earth priests also keep everyone in the church happy. Of course this only applies to Christian/Catholic weddings as those have been the only ones I've been to. This mainly applies to the homily where the priest reflects on the couple, giving advice for the future. It's not exactly good when a priest is telling women in the crowd that they should submit to their husbands and that their opinion can be considered, but the man makes the final decision. I saw a couple of raised eyebrows when that came up at a wedding I attended.
Let your guests join in the dances so that they don't feel they're just watching you trip the light fantastic. People do get bored without any activities
Singing in church when the bride is entering is also a cool change from the norm... provided you can sing :)

Those are the stand-out points I've thought of so far. I'll probably keep blogging about it if I think of some more.

Bad thing with all these weddings is that it gets people talking and more importantly, thinking about them. If you're really, really lucky, they'll remember to harass you on that issue of why you're not married yet ;)

Always a bridesmaid

2005-12-08T01:05:00.000+11:00

What's with all these weddings lately? In 2005, I've been to 3 separate weddings. I have another one in January where I'm supposed to bridesmaid for. I guess it's just that time in life when everyone around me starts getting married.

Seeing all these weddings is both good and bad. It's good as it gives me a clear idea of what and what not to do when I eventually have one. Mainly what works and what doesn't work, where to cut corners and pinch more pennies ahahaha.

Here's my shortlist of how to plan a great wedding on a budget:

Have a clear list of people to invite beforehand. This allows you to estimate the type of reception you should have.
Invite more people to the wedding, less to the reception. This cuts down on the total cost of the reception dinner. It can amount to a lot of money depending on what you're serving.
Provide some finger food and refreshments after the wedding. This will cost less than having everyone in the wedding over for your reception and people will appreciate it.
DIY wedding invitations for those invited to the wedding only. This seems to be a trend and can be pulled off quite well. There are books available on how to do this.
Bridal clearance sales are your friends. Be on the lookout as there are some great and at least 50% off-the-rack dresses available. Bridesmaids can also find a couple of nice dresses here for a third of the price of a dress from the retail shops. I bought my dress for $99, down from $300.
Have 2 bridesmaids and 2 groomsmen so you can fit in the 1 limo. Transport can hurt the pocket when there are too many people to cater for. Cut it down to the basics, or even hire a Tarago to fit everyone else in.

That's what I've picked up on so far. Coming up next will be tips for a great wedding that everyone attending will enjoy :)

A life more ordinary

2005-12-05T01:43:00.000+11:00

Just a little over 2 months ago I posted about how much sleep I was getting.

It didn't last very long.

Subsequent to that I had group assignment to complete and a take-home essay for that subject as well. Then I procrastinated a little whilst studying for my one and only exam in Risk Management. Suffice to say I would have passed the subject but probably did not do as well in it as I would have liked. My motivation for study exponentially decreased since the start of the year... and I don't see that changing anytime soon ;)

So that's the quick and dirty one minute update on what's been happening - minus all the dramas. That's for a future post.

I should stop making any more resolutions on this blog... especially since a couple of work colleagues started reading it. I've been told I should change the name from ChronicBlogger to a more procrastinator-friendly name :)

Sleeeeeep

2005-10-11T00:09:00.000+10:00

It's funny what a bit more sleep does to your outlook in life, not to mention your skin condition.

I've recently been sleeping earlier, tonight is no exception.

I normally sleep around the 1am, 2am mark, sometimes getting up to 2:30 am and 3 in my quest to both watch tv, read newspapers, study for my 2 uni subjects, complete any assignments, and still try to have a social life by keeping up with the latest goss around town. Add to that eternal, daily housework and the occasional and obligatory nights out with family, friends, and the boyfriend.

It's done me in lately. I used to be (and I feel really old saying this) one of these night-owls who really got to their peak at night, never needed more than 4-5 hours of sleep, had good skin despite it all, and looked fresh and alive. These days I look more run down and tired than a 90 year old. And I can't hack it anymore when I get less sleep - the brain just doesn't want to cooperate (I suspect I actually damaged a few million braincells in uni, what with all the all-nighters). And my face!!! Anyone who's seen me recently will attest to the spontaneous eruption of acne on my once baby smooth (well, at least clearer) face. I blame having to study for all of this, though I know, deep down, that it's the marriage of procrastination and a lack of time management skills that brought me to where I am today.

So I've made another little resolution - sleep before 12, the latest 12:30 am each night and get at least 7 - 8 hours of sleep :)

Living close to work kinda helps too ;)

Anyone an Emailca$h member?

2005-10-10T23:48:00.000+10:00

I'm a recovered and reformed Emailcash addict. I was a member since.. as long as I can remember which was probably way back in 2000 or so. I was sooo excited about it before - kept logging on everyday to get the daily free 5 points. I was so cheap and broke I couldn't buy anything myself to earn more points hahhaa.

Back then the exchange rate for cash was $2.20 per 100 points. These days you'd find it hard to get $1 for 100 points! Plus you could buy heaps more things as well - now you can only get things at the auctions but you'd definitely get ripped off if you did. There are heaps of cheap stuff up for auction and everyone bids it up to waay over the recommended price. I've seen a $10 phone card go for about $15 ecash! The sheer lunacy of it is enough to make a person cash out their entire ecash into real money ... which is exactly what I've done ;)

I guess you can say that my patience paid off - a little. I'm now waiting for about $210 separated into several cheques to arrive in the mail. After that, who knows, I think I can make better use of the money than buying overpriced phone cards and MP3 players. I might get myself a wireless keyboard/mouse ;)

Happiness and God - the epilogue

2005-10-08T13:25:00.000+10:00

What happened after the whole happiness and God posts? Well nothing much in terms of a resolution - I made my point and that was (in case it got lost in all of the comments) that we should all be respectful of other people's religions whatever that may be.

Some comments were, as my friend said, taken personally when they shouldn't have been.
Some confused idiots remained confused .. and anonymous to the world at least hahaa ;)
On the whole I learned alot about the views and perspectives of the people around me and although we don't all agree with each other all the time, it is good to be able to have healthy discussions...... what are your friends for, if not to hit you on the head and slap you silly when you need it ;) (oh and I don't think I need it either, not now, not ever hahaaha)

Happiness and God? - whereto from here??

2005-09-27T02:05:00.000+10:00

*Final post from my friend's blog

After all this criss-cross between our group of friends, where to from here? Well, it's up to you now to find out for yourselves. And by the way... I didn't mean to start a debate. I was looking for comments, yes, and I'm glad people have poured out their views :) But it was never meant to be a debate...

This sort of debate has been going on for centuries... Personally I didn't want to start a debate at all, because I knew it'd be never ending. Now that you know what I think, I'll leave it right here

Happiness & God? (part 3)

2005-09-27T02:03:00.000+10:00

*Again taken from my friend's blog with the comments

I know I've treaded on dangerous waters, but I just couldn't leave the entry open-ended without finishing it off... So please bear with me as I write my concluding thoughts on this matter... And I'd like to continue where 'Unconvinced' left off (iltalics 'Unconvinced')

"Since you agreed that no one needs a doctor when they're well and healthy, and since you have been referring to God as the one true divine doctor, doesnt this mean that you yourself don't need God when things are going ok?"

No, it doesn't. Firstly, I said no one needs to see a doctor when they're well and healthy, but it doesn't mean they don't need a doctor. If our bodies were perfect and we will never get sick, then yeah maybe we don't need doctors anyway. But fact is our bodies deteriorate, and we do get sick, thus we do need doctors. Secondly, I need God even when things are going ok, because the fact is, I sin. Sin is the spiritual 'sickness' that I intended to make analogous to our physical illnesses - and we all have it. It's a spiritual abnormality, and because of it we cannot be perfect, and we cannot have a relationship with God, who is holy. Yet God loves us so much that He sent His son to pay the penalty for me, and all of humanity, such that through Him we can receive forgiveness, and enjoy eternal relationship with God once again. It doesn't mean I have suddenly become perfect and won't sin anymore, I still sin. But by God's power, I know I can overcome, and sin less! I am no longer in the bondage of sin! I am free...

"Since you believe in only the one God and believe that you only need the one God, does it then follow that you believe you only need the one doctor."

Again, no... the analogy was not meant to go the other way round, so I don't believe I only need one doctor! Definitely not. By the time I'm 70 (if i live that long), I'm sure I would've seen various different specialists already :P You can say I chose a bad analogy, or that 'Unconvinced' interpreted the analogy further than what I intended...

"It would be funny to read how you came to the conclusion that there is only one true divine doctor or God. I'm sure the religious fanatics in the world who kill for their religion have arguments that are the same as yours."

I don't think I have the wisdom to draw out another analogy to show how I have come to believe there is only one true God. And no I wouldn't be surprised at all if the 'religious fanatics' have the same arguments as me... Islam, Hindu, and Christianity (and some other religions as well) all believe in only one God - would the arguments be the same? I'm not sure but it's possible! But I'm sure they won't be all the same. But if you ask me why I believe what I believe in, I can only say it's because of what Christ has done for me on the cross...

"If you want your own religion to be respected and accepted, you should learn to do the same for the other religions. Your comment is the kind of behaviour that fosters narrow-minded thinking rather than the understanding and compromise Jesus himself tries to instill in his followers. I think this message gets lost in all the hype. But it is clear that Jesus was looking for people to more considerate and tolerant. Question is: are you? Unfortunately, calling their religions' head as 'god' and calling your own God as 'God' is the first step in the wrong direction. It breeds intolerance rather than understanding, narrow-minds rather than open minds."

As I said in my letter to 'Unconvinced', the difference in using 'god' and 'God' was not out of intolerance or disrespect. Guess using Chinese would have rid 'Unconvinced' of this argument :P But true, I do only believe in one God, and I do not call any other gods God. Also, tolerance != compromise (for non-computing people, that means not equals to). I am not intolerant (if I were I wouldn't associate with anyone but Christians), and I respect people's choices, but that does not mean compromising my own belief. I do not try to convince people by force, but I do not stop telling others about God either because I believe He is true. When you know something is good and true, you would want to share with others too wouldn't you?

After all that, you may ask, what is my conclusion?

My conclusion is that, when we are sailing well in life, we often don't realise our greatest need. Neither do we realise our limitations as human beings. We do not realise we are sinful, and that we have no hope beyond this life. Not all of you will agree with me on this one I know, but I do believe our greatest need is only fulfilled by God. So, even when life is going well, and we are happy with life, it doesn't nullify our need, and we still need God... And we know He can be found, because He found us first :

To Unconvinced

2005-09-27T02:01:00.000+10:00

*This is also taken from my friend's blog, including the comments.

To Unconvinced:

Thank you for your comment! Would you care as to leave your name, so I can at least know who has left me this comment? :) I've long awaited someone to leave their thoughts on this, and you have, so I thank you. (i'm guessing you are someone i've known for the past six years, and someone who's going to be a pretty good doctor in the near future ^^ tell me if i'm wrong)

You're right - I think I stepped on a ground which I shouldn't have stepped on, and chosen an analogy which is of course, no good analogy at all. I admit my flaws, and I am not afraid to do so. Who am I to expect I can convince anyone anyway? I'm just a mere human being, and in all my foolishness, by my words there can be no way to convince anyone - I'm too stupid for that. So please don't think I'm trying to 'convince' you, or anyone else. You know me, I've never been good at computing, never good at logic, so if i try to use something like this to convince people, haha, I've bumped a wall.

I am not here to start an argument, nor am I here to publish narrow-minded intolerant comments as you have said. You are right, Jesus teaches us to love our neighbours as ourselves. Jesus Himself loves all mankind. That's why He died on the cross - for Christians and non-Christians alike! Please don't take me as being narrow-minded or intolerant because i called other religions' heads 'god' and the Christian one 'God' - this just represents what I believe. Another person from another religion can equally call their god 'God', and call mine 'god'. But yes, that is what I believe - that God sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross for all of us, and that He rose again, and that through Him we may be able to once again have a relationship with God - and yes that He is the one true God.

Having said all that, I do agree that I've put my foot in dangerous waters and my choice of analogy is far from appropriate (edit: considering that you took it the other way). Thank you for pointing out my mistakes (edit: the possible flaws of an analogy), and my apologies to those who have been lost and confused in all this 'hype'.

Maybe one day you would be convinced - not by my words or any other person's words, but by God Himself.

Happiness and God? (part 2)

2005-09-27T01:54:00.000+10:00

*Copied from my friend's blog. The post Happiness and God is the one that I wrote in response to this post:

"You don't know what you've got till it's gone..." - sounds familiar, doesn't it?

It seems that this is how it's like with us humans - we tend not to know how important and precious something is until we've lost it... We don't know how delicious home cooking is until we move out and realise mum's cooking was the best... We don't know how precious parents' advice is to us until the day comes when we wish they were still here to tell us what we should do... We don't realise how important health is until we get sick...

Ah... that last sentence reminds me of another one - "who needs a doctor when they're well and healthy?"

In a way, it's true... You don't need to see a doctor when there's nothing wrong with you. But does that mean you don't need a doctor? Of course not! There needs to be a doctor somewhere, some time, some place, such that when you need to see one, you can find one...

Getting back to the question - "If I'm happy with my life, does that mean I don't need a 'god'?"

Yes, it's funny that most people go back to a 'higher deity' when they come across troubles in their lives, and suddenly realise humans are not so all-powerful anymore, that they can't take control, that they need 'divine intervention' in their lives... For the time being, let's just say it seems that the 'god' that people believe in is sort of like a doctor... When life is going well, and people think they have it all, they wouldn't realise their hidden weaknesses and powerlessness, and thus don't realise they really need the one who is truly all-pwerful and has total control over all...

Problem is... just like there may be a lot of 'yellow-green' doctors around, how do people know who that one true divine doctor is? In other words, with so many 'gods' around, how do we know who that one true God is? (yes, i have jumped a huge step to come to the argument that there is only one God of all...)

(to be continued...)

Happiness and God? part 1

2005-09-27T01:51:00.000+10:00

*The post that started it all :) I've copied it from from my friend's blog sohbear:

Some people say as long as you are happy with life, nothing else really matters...

A lot of people think that people only really find 'god' when they're down, when they're experiencing some really bad things in their lives, or when they just don't know who else to turn to for answers - that's when people believe there is a 'god', and hence the notion of 'believing in god' is nothing more than trying to find something, or someone, to depend on when there is no one / nothing else... Thus a 'god' is really born of imagination, and people who believe - well, let's just say they're imagining things too... This argument stands for those who do not believe a 'god' exists

Others may believe that there exists a higher being, but it really doesn't matter who that higher being is - whether it's the Christian God, the Hindu one, or whichever religion's one - it's all the same... People only go to religion when life ain't going so well

So, the argument is, as long as I am happy, I don't need to believe in a 'god'... Do you agree?

(To be continued...)

Happiness and God? Read the original posts!

2005-09-27T01:48:00.000+10:00

Hi all, I'm printing the posts of my friend here along with the subsequent comments and posts made by other friends who have access to her blog. Since it's not public I just thought I would post it on my blog here. I just think that some of the comments I posted up were actually thoughts that I want to share with others on my blog.

If you don't want your post/comment up on here, let me know I will take it off.

Happiness and God?

2005-09-22T01:54:00.000+10:00

I had a friend who recently blogged about the seemingly inherent nature of man to take for granted what he has, only looking towards God in his hour of need. She compared God to a doctor who she believed is someone that we all need regardless of whether we are well and healthy, or sick and dying. In a funny twist, she somehow also came to the conclusion that her God (she's Christian) is the one true divine doctor, unlike other 'gods' (this is a quote of what she had on her blog).

I posted up a comment on her blog regarding this as it inflamed me to think that there is another narrow-minded person that I know who has both blind faith, and intolerance for other religions. I am now posting my comment up on my blog. Perhaps it will open up someone else's eyes to the dangers of spouting religious fanaticism and possibly starting future religious wars. It is my belief that we should learn to be tolerant of each other, to compromise and understand, not to dictate and impose so that we may all learn from each other.

You're right - and you did agree with yourself there - who does need a doctor when they're well and healthy? Are you concluding then that we shouldn't take our health and doctors for granted in the good times? Should we see the doctor when there's nothing wrong? I think not - realistically, you would only be taking precious time away from someone who really needs to see the doctor because there is something wrong.

Since you agreed that no one needs a doctor when they're well and healthy, and since you have been referring to God as the one true divine doctor, doesnt this mean that you yourself don't need God when things are going ok? That you only go back to him when you feel like you need divine intervention in your life?

Since you believe in only the one God and believe that you only need the one God, does it then follow that you believe you only need the one doctor. If so, would you choose your GP, an eye specialist, or a neurosurgeon? In reality, these different kinds of doctors work together to make a person healthy again. There are some times when you need an eye specialist more, and there are times when you need something totally different, like an ob-gyno. All the different doctors perform a function, each essential in its own way and important. So for you to only name one true divine doctor is unbelievable.

It would be funny to read how you came to the conclusion that there is only one true divine doctor or God. I'm sure the religious fanatics in the world who kill for their religion have arguments that are the same as yours. Will you be thinking the same way if you were reincarnated as an ant in your next life? You will never know until you actually go through the experience, and funnily enough, no one's ever really come back to tell the tale. And so it remains unknown territory.

Jesus once said in the Bible that thou should love and treat thy neighbour the way you yourself wish to be treated. If you want your own religion to be respected and accepted, you should learn to do the same for the other religions. Your comment is the kind of behaviour that fosters narrow-minded thinking rather than the understanding and compromise Jesus himself tries to instill in his followers. I think this message gets lost in all the hype. But it is clear that Jesus was looking for people to be more considerate and tolerant. Question is: are you?

Unfortunately, calling their religions' head as 'god' and calling your own God as 'God' is the first step in the wrong direction. It breeds intolerance rather than understanding, narrow-minds rather than open minds.

We didn't come last!

2005-09-18T21:50:00.000+10:00

Well, it took a bit of effort and a large amount of luck, but we didn't come last in any of our races. Needless to say there was at least 1 team that was worse than us haha.

We came 3rd out of 5 boats in our first heat. Then we came 5th out of 6 boats in our second heat. Apparently there could have been another final that we could have gone into but there would not have been any point in it given that we didnt have a strong team.

It was a great day overall. Most of us came in colourful socks and our black, dark, solemn looking uniforms. A lot of fun was had and the weather actually cooperated with us that day too.

Will be glad to do it again though I think this time I would rather limit the team number to 9 instead of getting as many people as possible.

Now it's on to outdoor soccer ;)

Big 'W'

2005-09-11T01:21:00.000+10:00

No, not the supermarket...

I'm talking about having a big whinge.

I noticed that I have an easier time blogging when I have negative things to talk about, like how:

* I have an assignment due next Tuesday

* I have another 7 weeks of uni to go before this semester ends

* My lecturer is a bit crap in explaining things during lecture

* I have 1 more subject to do after this semester ends

It seems easier to whinge about these things that it is to write something nice on the blog. Possibly attributable to the passion and anger said whinger experiences whilst in the process of whinging. Anger (even the misdirected type) is always interesting, and coincidentally the easiest emotion to have first. Said whinger is also likely to seek co-whingers to empathise with their situtation.

Maybe it's the hormones talking, or maybe this is just plain ol' cynicism bubbling to the surface of this normally happy-go-lucky girl. But I needed a bit of a whinge, so there!

Row, row, row your boat

2005-09-10T09:46:00.000+10:00

I've organised a team for this corporate rowing competition and maan... I'm never doing it again ;)

Rowing itself is not tooo bad, I actually find it quite fun. I look forward to all the training sessions and it's something I may never have done myself if I weren't given the opportunity at work.

But what makes it hard is the whole admin side of things. Rostering people on and off, emailing people twice a week to tell them if they're coming or not, even deciding who's coming/not coming is waay hard - how do you tell enthusiastic people that they're not coming this week.

I've had my share of complaints about the rostering haha. So we've come up with a diplomatic solution whereby, everyone has to come to training. Extra people will either work on a rowing machine or watch others on a 'tinny' (slang for tin boat). We have to come up with a plan on how to swap people in and out of the boat. As I understand it, the process is that everyone else bends down over their knees, the person leaving/coming on has to walk on the sides of the boat or over them ahhaha Guess that means we'll only swap light girls on and off ;)

1 more week til the competition day though - I hope we at least make it into the top ... and that we don't come in last.

What resolution? looking innocent

2005-09-05T23:38:00.000+10:00

It's been more than a month since my last entry.
And God how things have changed...

I now get less sleep than those days, averaging about 4 - 5 hours compared to 6 - 7.
It doesn't help that I now have uni classes again and have assignments to do *blech*
Have also been putting in crazy hours at work but it's not too bad now.
Pimples have gone worse due to lack of sleep... aargh ... I need to be picture perfect for my friend's wedding next Jan.
Weight: probably the same.
Though I pigged out on junk today, to try to keep myself awake.
I've half given up on the whole oatmeal in the morning, exercise idea, and unfortunately I've had chips on more than one occasion since the last blog entry... I really should get over this addiction to junk

~~bobbing my head to: More than This by Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music... gotta love the 80s!

Resolution Update

2005-07-20T04:09:00.000+10:00

1. Resolution 1 worked out ok but I'm still not going regularly enough.
Trying to balance exercise with social lunches doesn't quite work out.
Didn't help that I had a few work lunches to attend last week either.

2. Have not had chips (or at least alot of chips, I've allowed myself 1 or 2) since .... 7 days ago! Go me! 1 week and counting before I break this habit.

3. I think this is going alright - yes it needs improvement. My breakfast will from now on consist of as much oatmeal and lunch will consist of non-oily salads.

Weight's still 63 though.

Back of arms still flabby but have gained some bicep muscle.
Aren't these supposed to burn off more fat after exercise?!

New Resolution!

2005-07-13T00:30:00.000+10:00

Start going to the gym regularly to get some exercise
Eat less chips and other snacks
Eat less in general but have more fruit

I'm targeting a weight loss of 10kgs. My original, original weight was around the high 60s a few years ago. I've lost weight since then but have hovered over the 61-63 marks. I'm targetting 55 and less by December/January (I'm supposed to bridesmaid at a friend's wedding then ;).

I'm hoping I can at least get down to a 50+ but 55 is definitely the top target.

Go me!

Lost in the Translation

2005-07-13T00:15:00.000+10:00

I'm in a relationship where the primary language of both parties is not English. It's Chinese, cept we speak different dialects of Chinese, Hokkien for me, Cantonese for him.

But I can't learn it. It's not that I don't want to but dammit, it's really hard! I can't get the tones of the words right (my tone-deaf ears are part of the problem but..). In Chinese that's a big no-no. You can say something in like, 4- 8 different tones and they all mean different things.

It's like a big fat boulder sitting in the middle of the road leading to eternal bliss, happiness and yes, love. I can't get around it. I can't get over it. I can't ignore it. It must be dealt with. My current weapon of choice is a dusty CD and cassette tape called 'Learn Cantonese'. I'd really like it to be a working stint in HK for a year or 2 so that I'm more motivated to learn it. Overseas living motivates you to do that sort of thing, kinda like you-will-starve-and-be-conned-by-others motivation - it's not always a bad thing :)

Initial D - the movie

2005-07-12T23:50:00.000+10:00

I just saw the movie Initial D with my current-fave-love-to-see-onscreen singer/actor Jay Chou (TW hottie) and I loooooved it. It had everything - great soundtrack, action, suspense, thrills, romance, surprise, disappointment, comedy and drama. Funnily enough, it also had most of the cast of Infernal Affairs (classic HK movie - if you haven't already see it, you must see at least part 1 and the sequel) in it such as Edison Chan (HKie heartthrob!).

Yes, I do sound like a lovesick school girl - but it is one of the few times ever that Jay actually smiles and laughs and looks goofy. Usually he's got this tough-guy-i'm-so-pissed face on which looks equally good on him, but the goofy-smiling face is easier on the eyes.

The movie is about street racing - Jay plays a tofu delivery boy who races against pros and other street kids. He drives an old AE86 and goes against guys that own GTRs and EVOs. :) I'm amazed I can remember the acronyms; just don't ask me what they mean.

It is a must-see if you're a Jay Chou / street racing fan, otherwise wait for the DVD and see it on your home entertainment system.

Victory! Take that, home network!

2005-07-09T00:16:00.000+10:00

I wish to digress a little whilst I declare man's (at least mine) victory over machine (my computers). I finally managed to set up a network and a windoze workgroup that contains both my home computers in it! What that means is I can double click on 'My Network Places' and see both computers in there (instead of having just one which I did for about a week or two).

Yes, the sweet, satisfying taste of victory after the long, arduous battle against the home network wizard that I have begun "to hate with the fire of a thousand suns(*)". The network hath met its match and more in this humble warrior programmer. Today, file and printer sharing, tomorrow, the world!

* phrase borrowed from a friend of mine :)

Love, the bilateral search - 2

2005-07-09T00:02:00.000+10:00

There are many factors that come into play when deciding to end your bilateral search. I feel that the most important factor should be the person's characteristics.

Everyone has a list of traits they want their partners to have. This could be long, short, detailed, high-level, etc. I think it's important to have a list - you should always know what you want so that you can focus on your goal. Most of the things on my list (coming soon) would be similar to other people's. The key thing though, is to prioritise your list so that you know which traits are the 'must-haves', and which are merely 'desirables' (obvious IT correlation here :).

Must-haves I would describe as 'simply-cannot-live-without-traits-my-other-half-must-have'. As in, we cannot function together if he/she is not x, y, z. I'd say this list would include a sense of humour and practical common sense.

Desirables I would describe as 'it'd-be-good-if-he/she-had-this-but-I-can-live-without-it'. In my current list this would include dashing good looks :) It's a must-have that the person has decent looks, but movie-star-gorgeous I can live without.

Love, the bilateral search

2005-07-02T02:42:00.000+10:00

While studing finance, I came across the concept of a bilateral search. This is a search conducted by two people (e.g. a buyer and a seller) who try to seek each other out. A buyer is always looking for a seller and vice versa as the other satisfies their needs. The point is to find the best possible match.

The search ends when either party decides they are satisfied their current candidate is the best; and that the expected additional benefit from the next candidate is less than the cost incurred to search for them. The searcher must also keep in mind that their best candidate may no longer be available later on if they keep searching.

This is synonymous with most people's quest for 'the one'. When do you decide that the person you're with is the best possible outcome of your personal bilateral search? Does the other person feel that you are the best possible outcome of their bilateral search? Or do we settle for what we have and believe we've found the best person for ourselves.

Is it worth risking what you have now to search for another possible Mr/Mrs Right?

Exam stress

2005-07-01T01:58:00.000+10:00

End of semester exams have come and gone.
I needed to study my a** off and ended up getting about 5 hours sleep each night. And about 4 hours sleep the night before my two exams.

Funnily enough (and most people have called me weird over this) I didn't need to study that hard to pass. I pretty much got enough marks to pass 1 subject, and I only needed 6 marks to pass the other one. But being me, I always want to give it my all - otherwise I end up regretting it in the long run.

The whole idea of putting in enough effort to just make it, whether it be for an exam or something bigger doesn't appeal to me. Why bother doing something if you're not going to put in 100% for it?

It kinda bothers me that some people do live by this mantra. When did we turn into a society where doing just enough to get by is acceptable? Is the 'no worries' philosophy (aka hakuna matata in Disneyspeak) prevalent in society slowly destroying mankind's ability to strive for the stars, and study their a**es off?

Newsflash: Blog DEAD, Blogger Neglect Suspected

2005-07-01T00:37:00.000+10:00

I've been neglecting the blog for about a week now. My friend on the other hand can blog on and on though. Everyday he's got a couple of new posts. Course it doesn't help that his posts are about a line long ...

Resolution: A post a day, starting today, keeps the blog mortician away

Can You Name that Blog

2005-06-21T01:01:00.000+10:00

in 30 minutes or less? It took me close to two hours to come up with something other than "My Life", "Life as X Knows It", or that all-time classic "X's Blog" :) I did try to come up with some meaningful names to describe how it would be my daily emotional outlet (Emotional Catharsis). But sadly, it was already taken. Then I tried to be witty... well, let's just say that didn't work out well either.

So I decided to find a name that captured both the addiction and the mass interest taken in blogging (I felt anyway ;). That's how I came up with ChronicBlogger. It has the word blog but in an uncommon way. Also I couldn't find any other blogs with that title (Yes! Originality at last!).

It's interesting to find out how people named their blog. Here is an interesting post which talks about the Top 10 Words used in blog titles: http://elliottback.com/wp/archives/2004/12/21/what-do-you-call-your-blog/.

Funnily enough, out of the blogs surveyed at the time, only 9.986% contain the word 'blog'. The author also suggested that

'any blog named, “My blog/journal/weblog with daily
world news and thoughts from life!” will be a smash hit.'

The Chronic Blogger - 1st Edition

2005-06-20T01:07:00.000+10:00

Finally, I've stopped procrastinating and gotten my blog off the ground. It'll be my own personal space on the web for my daily digital catharsis and random ramblings on life, the world at large and other general topics of interest.

Chronic Blogger

Slogan to promote English

The wedding website is finally done!

Pimp my Spotted Frostsaber!

Catchy slogans to promote English...

China and democracy...

The Painted Veil

WOW is haunting me in my dreams...

WOW is sooo addictive

What's new in 2008...

To java -jar or not to java -jar

Perils of Parallel Skiing

Goodbye Lina Feng...

What I wouldn't touch with a 10-ft pole

1st blog post for 2007

Revert back to me ASAP

Do you know who's using your wireless network now?

More Melbourne

To Melbourne and back

Ever been to a TV pilot screening?

Sunrise, sunset

15 minutes of fame

Ski bunny wannabe!

When someone gets what they deserve...

Who are the real terrorists

Fifa World Cup 2006 Fever

Public transport blues

To refactor or not to refactor..

Plausible deniability

Work Coffee Etiquette

Haven't been posting lately

You know you're an IT geek when...

Satisfy your inner geek

Get rich quick!

How would you react

Information overload

You know you're an IT geek when...

Freedom! Part 2

Fitness comes first

Tax accountants miscalculating tax?!

Freedom! It tastes so sweet!!

What's the Score

Wedding Bells are Ringing!

D-day on Sunday

2 more weeks left

Bopping my head to ...

The unthinkable happened

Happy New Year....

Never a bride

Always a bridesmaid

A life more ordinary

Sleeeeeep

Anyone an Emailca$h member?

Happiness and God - the epilogue

Happiness and God? - whereto from here??

Happiness & God? (part 3)

To Unconvinced

Happiness and God? (part 2)

Happiness and God? part 1

Happiness and God? Read the original posts!

Happiness and God?

We didn't come last!

Big 'W'

Row, row, row your boat

What resolution? *looking innocent*

Resolution Update

New Resolution!

Lost in the Translation

Initial D - the movie

Victory! Take that, home network!

Love, the bilateral search - 2

Love, the bilateral search

Exam stress

Newsflash: Blog DEAD, Blogger Neglect Suspected

Can You Name that Blog

The Chronic Blogger - 1st Edition

What resolution? looking innocent