a good cup of coffee to start of the day

a good massage to continue the day

a good workout with great people that always make me happy just seeing them

a good short chat sharing common interest with ones I love

a good visit to the museum with great pieces of work exhibits with company I have always enjoyed

a good dinner with people I enjoy being out with and hopefully they think the same

a good glass of whisky to end the day with

and hopefully a good night sleep before starting another day…

My Christmas wish for the year… to have more of such days in my life in the coming year…

to be able to relax the way I did today

to be able to appreciate beautiful things from great masters of history

to be able to take it further with the ones I love

to be able to have spend time with friends I treasure

to be able to still enjoy the joys in my life

Merry Christmas everyone. I wish for the people I love to also being able to enjoy the pleasures and joy I had with me today.

Had a nice afternoon day out as a partial local tourist and a fabulous dinner with great company and great food. I guess any good company would make everything perfect.

For once I didn’t bitch about work with friends, for once I kind of let work slip out of my mind for that period of time. Though short, but good enough to satisfy me.

It was a relaxing time to let loose. Truly thankful to have met them, truly happy to have them in part of my journey in life. Hopefully this will continue, I guess that will be asking too much. Well let’s live that to fate and hope we click for more time to come.

Thank you for the day today.

been sometime… somehow the urge to vent something out in writing seems to come trickling back in me again…

recently through conversations with a friend, who was going through ups & downs about her love life, it also led me to sometimes admire her courage and perseverance to love someone whom most feel doesn’t deserve to be loved. Though most of us simply cannot understand why would someone let herself be put through such torment and anguish from such a naturally bitter man. Well I guess love is blind to some extent and obviously doesn’t follow any logic…

came across this quote which was from one of Anne Lister’s diaries. Her courage to love and to be open about her love in that era is admirable. I wonder how many of us in this century actually would go this far to fight for things that brings us happiness and fulfillment. It’s not just about relationships, but in general about our own life. Have you ever asked yourself…

How far would we go to fight for what we believe in.

How deep would we sink ourselves into challenges, even if the light at the end of the tunnel still seems too far to reach.

How strong would we stand by our principles towards handling matters that may not be welcomed by most.

How open would we be to ourselves to achieve what we deeply love.

“I love and only love the fairer sex

And thus beloved by them in turn

My heart revolts from any other love than theirs.”

- from the diary of Anne Lister, 1821

It hasn’t been the greatest 2 weeks, so having this dinner really made my day…

A splendid dinner at Absinthe.

It’s a not-so-typical french restaurant. Well at least when I stepped in, I didn’t feel any haughtiness in the air anywhere near me. And what more could I ask when Philippe, the co-owner of the restaurant, decided to house us in the wine cellar for the evening!

Surrounded by fine wines while enjoying fine food with good accompaniment and fabulously lively service.

I do have to commend that without Philippe and Candy (the other lady server who tended to us) the night wouldn’t have been this great.

Philippe is a French that doesn’t portray anyway like a French. Not only wasn’t he arrogant, he was one hell of a funny comical guy. And it comes naturally from him, with much sincerity to serve his guests and make them enjoy their night as much as possible.

Candy, what can I say… simply crappy in a wonderful way. She has her very unique way of serving her guests and it does appeal to the local crowd I must say, well at least for the group of us. She is one of the rare few I have met that I actually do enjoy not only her service but her company while dining and the ease in striking candid conversations with her.

A right place with the right food, with the right company and the right service.

A fabulously lively night we’ve had and definitely an unforgettable one…

Salut!

THERE ARE PEOPLE IN LIFE

YOU LEARN TO LIVE WITH,

THERE ARE PEOPLE

YOU KNOW YOU CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT,

AND THEN THERE ARE PEOPLE

YOU KNOW LIFE WOULDN’T BE THE SAME WITHOUT.

They are not poor; actually pretty well-to-do as compared to most.

They are educated with good qualifications.

They do not have huge family or financial burdens; most do not even have kids.

They are holding a good position in the organisation; mostly in middle management.

They have good staff working for them; they just need to know how to delegate work sensitively and properly.

With all the above, why are they still so insecure about their jobs? I seriously don’t get it. And especially when they are in an organisation that NEVER sacks or retrench anyone. And for certain definitely not in the next 2 decades. It’s is an iron bowl industry and organisation. And the pay is not the worst among others, especially in today’s economy. So I don’t get it….

They have idiots like us who slog for them and they too get the best credits of work accomplished, and in most times better acknowledgement than us who actually contributes the most. Even we don’t feel the need to over-excessively claim credit or make public our efforts, why do these insecure people have to overly try to snatch the credit?

I seriously don’t get it…

For us it is just working for the best of the organisation. The best part is most of the work that we do are not even our KPIs. They are just extras which we think is good for the organisation, so we just give our best to make things work and happen. But we have insecure people instead of helping out, becoming stumbling blocks. Frankly none of us really get very good credits for such contributions. We just get acknowledged for our efforts and in lucky time appreciation for our work. That’s it.

We don’t get a pay raise or promotion for all these work… we just get sincere thank yous. So what is there to be all insecure about. Not that these people don’t get recognised, they too, because they are our superiors. If good work is done, the whole team gets the credit.

These are the people that make work difficult and less enjoyable at work. It’s so tiring to work with such people. Absolutely kills all motivation.

They just don’t get it… Till then I will just hang on… and hopefully I have sufficient patience and endurance for such shit.

I guess it depends on how you look at things. For me, it’s never really possible to have a new beginning. There’s alwaz history to every beginning. So is this considered “new” anymore? I don’t know. Perhaps to most it means more to new “hopes” rather then “beginning”. When a new year begins, everyone hopes to have better days ahead, well I do.

If that ever happens. Not blaming anyone, just lamenting. Alone.

I guess I just need to find more motivation to move forward. To seek. To realise. To fulfill.

Will this new 2009 be better? I hope. I can’t say year 2008 was bad, it wasn’t, it just ain’t good enough. Could have been better. So now cheers for not a better year but better days ahead. Yes short-sighted… but one step forward is one step less to the future.

After doing this run, I am in awe of those who actually ran throughout for the half and full marathon. When I reached the finish line I was pretty sure I will never upgrade myself to a Half Marathon… no way.

The hardest section to pass was the 4th and 5th km section, which was along ECP and upslope for that 1.5km. At that particular section, my legs almost wanted to give up…

Advantage in running with the group is that you have loads of people with you, so you won’t feel like you are the last. But the bad thing is, there are a lot of people who stopped just after a few km and walked. Especially more and more were walking after the 5km mark, and the no. increased for the remaining few km. That I felt is quite demoralising. Because I wanted so much to walk too to rest, but I know I should still push on and I know I can still do it.

But well I am truly glad I went for the run and finally completing it. This is 1 item permanently striked off from my Lifetime list of things which I want to accomplish while I am still breathing. And I spotted a quote along the way… which is in the title (not the exact words, but something along the line). Motivating for me personally, at least.

Sleep dun seem to go easy somehow…

The mind dun seem to want to rest…

I wonder how much more I can take…

Just how much more I can endure…

Looking for something, someone; anything, anyone…