Life is Great

After reading Jikon's result, I tried this out...
I spent a good 1/2 hour (probably killing a remarkable portion of brain cells) at it.

Apparently my IQ is not high... ** shock! **

Your IQ score is 129.

This number is based on a scientific formula that compares how many questions you answered correctly on the Classic IQ Test relative to others.

Your Intellectual Type is Visual Mathematician.

This means you are gifted at spotting patterns - both in pictures and in numbers.

These talents combined with your overall high intelligence make you good at understanding the big picture, which is why people trust your instincts and turn to you for direction - especially in the workplace.

What can I say.. my IQ and intellectual type matches my job?
So I admit, I am a geek.
Always has been, always will be.
Thank heavens they invented computers for me to play with.

If you do try it out, share your results with me.

Continue reading Intellectual Type: Visual Mathematician

'Tis the festive season and most of us enjoyed a week of good company, great time and of course, lots of delicious food. I had my share of yee sang tossing at restaurants and sumptuous dinners home made and at friends'.

Celebrations and merriment aside, I also took a moment to reflect on a more somber subject. One of my mother's friend is ailing and another of my university lecturer have passed away - both of kidney failure.

I am seriously considering this: How seriously do I care for my body and my health?

I totally believe that our lives are already written out by Him, therefore we should accept our fates with keredhaan plus the knowledge that there is berkat behind all trials and tribulations. Our bodies are, after all, made from earth and just for life on Earth.

However, He does remind us that our bodies are also the temple of our souls. We have the responsibility to take good care of it in order to make the most out of our short time here.

We don't have to go to the extreme i.e. eat only organic vegetables, reduce salt and sugar in every single dish, suddenly switch to carb-free/protein-only/Atkins/microfibre/vegetarian diets... you get the picture. With so much going on in our hectic lives, I guess it is sufficient to make an effort to balance our meals, hit the gym twice or more a week and cut back on (if not ban altogether) anything that will do more harm than good on our health.

It is not that hard. If I (who hardly have enough time in a day to breath) can do it, anyone can.

Continue reading The Temple of Our Souls

Gong Xi Fah Chai!

Today is the 29th day of the final month of year 4700 following the Chinese Lunar calendar.

Chinese around the world will celebrate the Chinese New Year 4701 with mandarin oranges, reunion dinners and red packets this Thursday.

This year of the Monkey, I wish all much happiness, prosperity and good health. No monkey business please!!

Continue reading The Lunar New Year

I recently got a letter from a good friend through snail mail.

It came complete with hand-written address on a yellow envelope.
There is a (very pretty) bookmark enclosed.
Thank you, friend.

The last time personal correspondence made it to my weather-battered steel mailbox by the gate is about 6 years ago.

Ever since e-mail invaded our shores, everything is said, expressed, arranged and done via this electronic technology. It has come to this: one of my uni-days girl friend successfully arranged her wedding invitations and RSVPs through e-mail; a group of my other friends constantly arrange birthday surprise parties using e-mail; and at work we hardly need to talk to our superiors/boss/enemies much because.... why risk it when we can e-mail?

The truth is, people hardly snail mail anymore. It is argued that it takes too much time and effort, but let's face it - the feeling I experience when getting a tangible, real hardcopy written letter is hardly the same as what I feel when receiving an e-mail (even if the contents are similar). Actually, I won't be able to receive the bookmark through e-mail will I?

Imagine the feeling of soldiers going to war farway from home receiving mail or packages from their loved ones, parents receiving writtings from their children studying abroad and lovers separated continents apart writing to each other to reassure love and commitment. Sure, one can shoot a few lines across the Internet.. but it is not the same, is it?

So I urge you, get personal.

Write to someone today. I mean pick up a pen, a nice piece of letter paper and get your a** off to the post office to stamp and mail your letter.

It will make a difference in the life of that someone, and yours.

Continue reading Personal Touches

Last Friday's orchestral experience was quite sublime.

Although stuck at the front most pew, I got a good view of Justin Brown's tail-coat-covered butt.

His highlights for the night included Weber's Invitation to the Dance in D-flat, Liszt's Mephisto Waltz No. 1 "Der Tanz in der Dorfschenke", Josef Strauss's Dorfschwalben aus Osterreich and J Strauss I's Furioso-Galopp.

I remember being stuck for hours in front of the piano.
I was struggling over Franz Liszt.
He wrote some of the most impossible pieces for keyboard instruments.
I prefer Mozart, Beethoven, Vivaldi and Tchaikovsky.
They are easy on my ears and my hands.

After missing several seasons of MPO, I wish I am not the one watching cellos bowed, violins plucked, timpani striked and tuba bellowed. I wish I am among the musicians. The feeling of being released and pratically carried into another world is what every passionate musicians feel when they transform musical notes and composer directions into symphonies, arias, waltzs, opuses and gallops.

Maybe it's about time to polish my clarinet and find some small ensemble to join.

I need the high fix.

Continue reading The Gift of Music

"This is the true joy in life: the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.

I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community, and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake.

Life is no 'brief candle' to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations."

- George Bernard Shaw

Do we sometimes take things for granted? Do we sometimes moan and groan over small or mundane things (things we can't do anything about - pointless, things we can - do something about it)?

As the new year begins, I realize I have much to be thankful for. Although 2003 could be better, I decided that whatever betterment that could have happened didn't happen for some reasons.... including things I could have done.

I thank God for these things...

My understanding parents and good friends,
My health and unfailing commitment to good food and exercise,
My job and ability to be good at it,
My freedom as a young woman to achieve all that I can and make choices I want (let's just say I'm glad I wasn't born in the 1920's),
Our country's peace and harmony,
My cherished relationships with people close and not so close,
The love I give and the love I receive,
Lessons of life I have learn along the years, and last but not least..
My problems (as they say "You've got a problem if you ain't got a problem..").

I leave you with William Shakespeare's quote:

"Go to your bosom: Knock there, and ask your heart what it doth know."

Continue reading The Simple Pleasures of Life