Sad Yet Strong!

Today, I repeatedly listened to songs by Adele and got hooked by her voice with such an amazing magnetizing power! Her last album (21) was released in February 2011. I know it's already 6-months old but good songs last forever!

For those who have not heard of her previously or might not be aware that the song played over the radio was actually sang by her, do check out the video clips below.

I especially like the following 2 songs (one each from her 2 albums):
1. Someone Like You (from Album "21"):


2. Make You Feel My Love (from Album "19"):


Both songs are kind of SAD YET STRONG at the same time!

If you are interested to find out more of her other songs in her albums, click on the image below:


Hope you enjoy it!

Cheers!

P/S: Today is Malaysia's National Day, happy holiday to all my friends from Malaysia!

My Favourites Blogs

In conjunction with the launch of Blog Day 2011 organized by Nuffnang Singapore, I would like to share 6 most interesting blogs that I've stumbled upon since I started my blogging journey (from Mar 2011). As my blog has wide-spread of readers from across the region (including friends from the west), thus, to be fair, I am going to share 3 Chinese Blogs and 3 English Blogs:

My favourite Chinese Blogs (not in particular order):
1. Rawangboy (万挠男孩) - Rawang is a city in Malaysia and Rawang Boy is a famous children books author and publisher. He is also a regular speaker in schools for many subjects like comic drawing, writing etc... Like the way he write his post, very down to earth and funny at times.  

2. 朱學恒的阿宅萬事通事務所 - A very out-spoken radio presenter from Taiwan. In his blog, he will share the snippets of video clip while presenting at his own online radio station. Like the way to talk which bears no boundaries.


3. Omy Blog - Omy is one of the Singapore most popular online portal that provide up-to-date news on many spectrum. Their blog is very well received especially with Generation Ys. I like their blog design which is very content-rich and colorful.   

My favourite English Blogs (not in particular order):
1. Mashable - Mashable is one of the top-notch professional blog that provide breaking news in a wide categories, from Social Media to Tech and Gadget to Business and Marketing. If you want any latest tech news, Mashable is the blog to go.

2. eHow - eHow is the online resources that you can rely on if you want to find out "How To Do..." anything under the sun. A great place to find an answer (on top of wikipedia or Google for that matter).

3. Triggerpit - A blog that sharing stunning photos that WOW alone is not enough to reflect your true feeling! Check it out with your own eyes, seeing is believing!

That's all I have to share today.

Cheers!

P/S: As a follow-up to my earlier post on Meditation (Methods Of Meditation), I've briefly follow the steps indicated in the blog and try to meditate for 20 minutes. I find that it is an effective way to let your brain "rest" and focus on one thing (calmness) while you are awake! I felt RELAXED during the meditation! Will try it more often...
 

Incoming And Outgoing

No, no, no. I am not talking about your incoming or outgoing mails/emails. What I am going to talk about today are the two heavyweight personnel in their own arena which made to the news this week. One is more for local scene (Singapore) and the other is an international figure.

The one who is incoming (Singapore):
The result is out this morning that Singaporean have elected Dr Tony Tan as our new President (at least for the next 6 years). Even-though it is only a marginal win but I am confident that Dr Tony Tan is more than capable in assuming the president role.

For the benefit of my foreign visitors/friends, this is our new President, Dr Tony Tan:

Dr Tony Tan

I am sure you will see him more often in the news when he is assuming his presidential roles overseas in the near future!

The one who is outgoing (International):
I am quite sure you've heard of this news somewhere, somehow. But as a iPhone supporter, I would like to re-share this news here. Yes, it is official that Steve Jobs has stepped down as Apple CEO, mainly due to his ailment. The man who brought Apple back from the brink of definite failure has decided to call it a day. His successor is Tim Cook, Chief Operating Officer.

Steve Jobs

With his resignation, only time will tell on the impact to the success of the company but tribute to this great man that almost single-handedly turnaround an ailing company into one of the most successful company in the world now. All the best to him!

I guess same thing happen in our personal life, many people coming in and out of our life and many left with us beautiful or hard to swallow memories. The key is to enjoy the companionship while we are still IN it (as nothing is forever), it's a matter of time that they will be OUT of our life (or we will be OUT of their life) someday, somehow.

Lastly, sharing of my original quote:

"Every life has it's own challenges, the key is NOT to focus on finding a smooth sealing life (as you will not find one), but to learn how to live on amidst all these challenges"

Cheers!

SPECIAL : Mental Health!

Today, I will continue to share about my findings on healthy living. I personally viewed that our health is effectively broken down into two categories i.e. physical health and mental health. I am going to share a recent find of informative blogs on the latter.

When talk about mental health, the first thing that comes to my mind is MEDITATION. Recently chanced upon 2 blogs from The Silva Method which provide many informative articles and videos on meditation and inner healing. It is especially useful for the beginners. Do check out their blog in the following links:

Methods Of Meditation

Psychic Divine Healing

One extract from the blog which I thought is good to share it here as I believed this is a potential key misconception of meditation:

"Meditation has often been given a bad rap. People sometimes think of meditation as some type of extreme behavior. Actually meditation is now becoming mainstream. Many doctors, scientists and therapists understand how meditation helps people overcome anxiety and stress and creates a more balanced life. 

Meditation is not hard to learn. To begin meditation start with controlled breathing. This technique will also be used to help you calm down and reduce stress during situations of high anxiety. There are various meditation techniques for beginners that you can learn..."

Hope you enjoy my sharing.

Cheers!

SPECIAL: Healthy Berries ; Very Healthy!

Today, I am going to share about healthy food. When talk about healthy food, first thing that come to my mind are fruits, when talk about fruits, the first thing that come to my mind are those berries e.g. strawberries, cranberries, blueberries etc...

Berries are vitamins-rich and report has shown that cranberry juice can lower high cholesterol and thus lowering the risks of heart disease while also containing valuable antioxidants.

Of course, when talk about cranberry juice, I believed the first brand that comes to your mind is Ocean Spray cranberry juice (especially if you are in America)! They produce affordable and high quality cranberry juices in the market. Recently, I stumbled upon a site that share up-to-date update on how to obtain the printable discount coupon for Ocean Spray products, right at your home! Check out the site below for details:

Ocean Spray Coupons

This should come in handy if you are a cranberries juice lover!

Before we part, sharing of my original quote:

"Health is one of the many important thing in life that we will truly appreciate it only when we LOST it!"

Cheers!

Your Best Is Not My Best!

Sometime back, my then lady colleague approached me with a gloomy face and told me that she is very disappointed with her boss. I asked her why, she said she had put in 101% of her commitment and effort to work but what her boss' response to her that day disappointed her to the max.
 
I probed further and she opened up to me that her boss told her in this exact words during their conversation that day "Your best is not my best!". She was very affected by that comment as she viewed that her effort and contribution was not being appreciated. Trying to cheer her up, I asked her to ask herself whose best is more important i.e. her best or her boss' best? Besides, her boss' best would not be her boss's boss' best! So, does it really matter after all?

In life, we can't satisfy everybody, be it your boss, your partner, your children, your parent or just friend. There bounds to be rooms for improvement. In fact, I find that this is a good thing as it remind ourselves that there is always a better way to do something or there is always a better person (other than you) out there!

Ultimately, what is more important is to be a better self  day by day and continuously to better yourself along the way. Once you have the mindset that you are the best, you can hardly better the best! 

My sharing of original quote today:

"Success is to ACT first and affirmation follows; Mediocre is to follow affirmation before ACT; Failure is NO ACTION after affirmation!"

Cheers!

P/S: The Singapore President Election is on this Saturday (27th Aug 2011), may the BEST candidate WIN! ;-P

Soon To Be: History!

Today, decided to take an educational excursion to the local museums for a refresher lesson of those "old" and historical stuff. It's a worthwhile outing, besides rekindling with those items that so historical yet still so fresh in my memory, I learned a few "new" thing along the way. For example, there is a fragment of stone slab called "Stone Of Singapore" which bore an undeciphered inscription, discovered by Sir Stamford Raffles in June 1819.

This visit set me thinking of one thing: with the current speed of technology advancement, how long does it take (in terms of number of years) for a technological item to be rendered "history" or lost it's irrelevancy? For example, typewriter still in-use 15 or 20 years ago but I am pretty sure it is considered an antic nowadays i.e. can be seen only in the museum. Same thing goes to pager (the predecessor of MSN). Of course, every useful and creative invention do have it's years when it reached it's height but nothing will last forever!    

My personal list of high-risk items (for the next 10 to 15 years) are:
1. Telephone set (to be replaced by instant messaging, social media and VOIP [Voice Over The Internet Protocol]).
2. TV set (to be replaced by computer, laptop, smartphone, tablets etc)
3. Handphone that it non-smart phone (lost it's usefulness)

What is your list?

Last but not least, here come the inspirational quote:

"Will power alone might not change the outcome but positive outcome cannot be reached without it! Got WILL can REACH!"

Cheers!

Titans Of The Digital Age

It is official! The four titans of digital age are Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon. In fact, they are termed as "Gang Of Four" of technology. You might view that these 4 giants are focusing on different races in the eWorld but they are closer than what you thought.

Do you know that Google has their own brand of Google smartphone (i.e. direct competition with Apple's smartphone)? Do you know that Google has launched their social networking site, Google+ with a bang (again, direct competition with Facebook)? Do you know that Apple is also a direct competitor with Amazon in the online eBooks and MP3d download business? And the list goes on....

With the recent acquisition of Motorola Mobility by Google, it means that Google meant business! They are conquering the eWorld bit by bit, from the current internet world to the soon to be mobile world! Be very scared, Apple and the rest of the titans!

If you study deeper, all of these titans are involved in the "information" business, one way or the other, e.g.:
1. Apple is selling apps through their iTunes store.
2. Google is the top search engine with the built-in online advertising business model.
3. Amazon is selling eBooks or MP3s.
4. Facebook is heavily involved in their online advertising business model.

So, what does it means to you? It means that the money lies in the INFORMATION or ONLINE RESOURCES! The best part is that everyone has the equal chance to make it BIG in the digital age! In short, everyone can be the fifth titan! So, start to squeeze your brain juice now and hope that the next "killer site" is from you!

Last but not least, my sharing of inspirational quote:


"The demon (self-doubt) that lies within yourself is more dangerous than what is seems to be! It destroys your confident, defeats your will power! So, if you do not wish to have a doubtful future, you need to slay that demon! "

Cheers!

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Bad News?!

As the saying goes "no news is good news!", it is rightly so as majority of the news in the newspaper, TV or internet nowadays are negative or bad news, ranging from natural disasters to criminal cases to financial breakdown etc. Thus, everyday we are unconsciously being bombarded with huge amount of negative forces, we need a strong enough will power to stay afloat in this world which full of underneath current.

Just thinking out loud, would it make any different if we were to set a side one day a week to report only positive news or at least make the negative/bad news as positive as possible!? For example:
1. In reporting a car accident, instead of focusing on the seriousness of the injured person, why not focusing on the miracle of the passengers who were spared from the injury.
2. In reporting the financial crises, instead of focusing on the investors who have lost tons and tons of money, focus on those who have ride through the storm and stay afloat as well as on the definite potential of recovery etc...

I know it's kind of like self-deception but I am of the view that it does make a difference on how the readers perceived the news just by adding in a fair bit of positivity into the news (good or bad). Let's hope to see the bad news that wouldn't looks so bad and good news that looks better!

Last but not least, my sharing of original quotes:

“You may not be good looking, but your beautiful mind is enough to overshadow it! However, the reverse will not be true!”

Cheers!

P/S: Talking about the world news, recently stumbled upon a news site called ONGO which provides a consolidation of news from a wide-range of popular newspapers like USAToday, Reuters, The New York Times, Financial Times and many more. The best part is the website is advertisement-free!

Currently there is a campaign of FREE trial for one month, click on the logo below for find out more or register yourself for an immediate FREE trial account (no credit card details is required!):

SPECIAL: The Care For Man's Best Friends!

Warning: Today's focus is not on human being!!

I am sure you folks know what I am talking about! Yes, I am talking about doggie, also known as man's best friend! Many of my friends (especially those single lady friends) do keep dog as their companion. Some of them even have more than one. As most dogs are very loyal to their owners, that's why they are called the man's best friend!

However, when talk about dogs (or even cats, for that matter), one of the common "complaint" from my friends are the challenges in taking care of them especially the fleas and ticks problem, I guess most dogs are exposed to the risk of contacting the fleas and ticks. More often then not, most of my friends resort to bringing their dogs to visit the vet.

Recently, I stumbled upon an informative site called Frontline whereby it share some really cool information about the tips on how to take care of your dogs/cats especially on the remedy for fleas and ticks. For example, do you know how to differentiate the fleas and ticks? How pets pick-up fleas? How to prevent fleas from your pet etc...? Many of such questions were answered in the site.

Thus, for those who are interested to find out more (on behalf of your "best friends"), do check out their sites at:

Frontline Offical Site
Frontline For Dog
Frontline for Cat

Hope you like my sharing.

Cheers!

P/S: For those who like to enjoy the free cloud computing services with 10 GB online storage, do register FREE at Cloud Experience!

Stay Calm!

For the past 1 week or so, if you walk around the business district over the world, you will see many gloomy and tense faces. Reason? The sudden collapsed of world stock markets at lightning speed. It took many investors (big or small) by big surprise. Overnight, tons and tons of money being wiped out just like that!

US economy continue to looks bleak and talks about recession is unavoidable. From the "prediction" of market experts over the world, the bearish situation will continue for a while (conservatively). So, for those who got their fingers burnt during this calamity, I hope you folks stay calm and maintain a positive self. Remember, you can't control the situation but you can control your reaction to the situation!

At this difficult time, if you are looking for some motivational source, besides my inspirational blog (hehe), I am recommending the book by Andrew Matthews entitled "Happiness in Hard Times" (click on the image below to see more details of this book).

 

Another book by the same author with similar theme (Being Happy) for the sharing:


Lastly, my sharing of the quote. This time round, it's an upgraded version of an existing famous quote, kind of like 2.0 version:


"There is always light at the end of the tunnel, as long as you can keep going till the end!"
(Especially to those who have suffered from the recent financial meltdown!)

Cheers!

Fighting Spirit, the Red Devil Style!

For those soccer (football) enthusiasts would know what I am talking about! For those who are not, fret not, I will explain. Last night, Manchester United (or commonly known as Red Devil) completed another classic comeback in the Community Shield Cup match against Manchester City. The final scoreline is 3-2. Yes! We are the comeback king, no less!

We went 2 goals down at half-time but the never say never spirit of the red devils fight till the end and snatched a last minute goal (to be specific, it was at 94th minute). Nani is the 2-goals hero in this match and this is the curtain opener for the new season of British Premier League. Another action-pack season is expected and this is only the appetizer! ;-)

So, what does this game teaches me? In life, we need to maintain the same kind of never-say-never spirit and fight to the end. At times, we might see that our future is going downhill, but life is full of ups and downs, as long as we don't give up and continue to do our very best, we will surely bounced back!

Tomorrow (9th August 2011) is Singapore's 46th birthday!
 
Happy Birthday SINGAPORE!
  

“No one is born with great mind-set, but with hard work and tenacity, a great mind-set will be born!”

Cheers!

The Fake That Looks So Real!

I know everyone (including myself) like genuine stuff and I need to make myself clear upfront that I am NOT promoting owning any fake goods here! Just like to share my view on "how real can a fake be"?

If you have not already know, there are fake Apple Stores in China (Kunming City) that looks so real that even the staff hired were not aware that their employer is not the real Apple Inc. Yes, I am talking about the WHOLE Apple stores (and not only the iPhone or iPad products) and it's not only one but five stores!

Based on the latest news, selected fake Apple Stores have been closed down by China Officials. If you are interested to read more, follow the links below (Source: BBC):

Fake Apple Stores found in Kunming City
China Officials close fake Apple stores in Kunming City

Kind of reminded me of the movie, The Truman Show (see image below, click on the image to view details) whereby the whole life of "Jim Carrey" (main actor) was staged and viewed as a reality show aka a FAKE life! Of course, the incident is China is not as dramatic as this show but it just means that "seeing is believing" is no longer true for all cases now!



The point is, with the advancement of technology and super-fast thinking of all the "businessman" around the world (maybe mainly from China?! ;-P), I am sure more and more fake shockers will emerge one by one...In any case, fake stuff is here to stay and it will get more and more real! Just keep your mind and eyes wide open.

On the same notes, slightly towards the technology advancement part, like to share a youtube clip about "3D photocopier", the end product is photocopied but yet looks so real, the best part is it can retain the functionality as per the real one. I was totally shocked when first saw it and I am sure you folks will be too!



Ok, enough of the fake stuff, let's go back to the original stuff, my original inspirational quote (originality guaranteed!):

"The truth may hurt, but the lie will hurt you much much more in the end!"

Cheers!

P/S: Thanks for those who have signed-up my mailing list, for those who have not done so, simply fill-in your name and email address (on the right panel), you will receive my original quotes in your in-box on regular basis!

Majulah Singapore!

In exactly 4 days time, Singapore will celebrate it's 46th Birthday (@9th Aug 2011). Majulah (Malay) Singapore means "Go Forward Singapore", it is this year National Day motto. Eventhough I am not a pure Singaporean (i.e. I was borned in Malaysia) but I am proud to be a Singaporean now!

To celebrate the National Day, many organisations and businesses take this opportunity and come out National Day promotion mainly for Singaporean and Permanent Resident of Singapore. To list just a few:
1. For the whole of August 2011, FREE entry to all National Heritage Board Museums for Singaporean and Permanent Resident.
2. From 5 to 21 Aug 2011, Cable car to Sentosa for 3 will be at SGD 46(U.P. SGD 78) [ price inclusive of entry fee to Sentosa].
3 Many other retailers introduce promotion that giving discount at 46% or discounted price at SGD46.

On top of this, the Instana grounds will be open for public on this Sunday (7th Aug 2011) from 8am to 6pm. Singaporean and Permanent Resident will be free of charge and foreigner need to pay SGD1 (will be given to the charity) for the entry.

Cheers!

Type of friendships

With the booming of social networking sites in the internet space, from facebook to twitter to Google+, I believed many of us would have more than 100 "friends" in our social networking circles (on average, each Facebook user has 130 "friends"). For me, I have 316 friends in Facebook alone.

The question is how many of your social networks friends are really your personal and true friends and how many are just, facebook friends? Or you don't even care as long as they are your "friends"? Many decades ago, the Greek philosopher Aristotle defined friendships with the following levels:

1. Friendship of utility (FOU) - formed between people who are useful to one another.
2. Friendship of pleasure (FOP) - formed between people who share common interests or hobbies.
3. Perfect friendship (PF) - true and lasting friendships based on mutual affection and regard.

Of course, each category of friendships do serve their own purpose and it's necessary to have mixture of friendships, in some extend. Having said that, it might be interesting to find out your friendships ratio (between FOU, FOP and PF). Why don't you do a quick check now? My guess is in the range of 50:30:20. Do you agree with me?

In any case, the important point is not how many friends you have in your social networks, but how many souls you can declare as Perfect Friends in real and physical life! Think about it...

Finally, today's original quote is a short and simple one:

"The defining moment for true friendship is hardship!"

Cheers!

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I don't Have Time!

How often have you heard people saying this to you in order to avoid doing what you are asking them to do? Or you yourself using this as an "excuse" not doing whatever thing that you've been asked to do or procrastinate the thing that you ought to do now? Do you think this is a valid reason or just an excuse?

I am sure many of us have busy schedule and since we are living in an information overloaded age, there are lots of stuff that we need to learn and re-learn. Thus, time is always not enough for many of us and it is always an easy target to be "blame" on.

However, you all would agree with me that time is the only factor in LIFE that is FAIR to everyone i.e. regardless whether you are rich or poor, young or old, male or female, everyone only entitled to 24 hours a day, no more no less! Thus, no one has more time than you and you are not having any lesser time than everybody else. So, why would you say "I don't have time!"?

I deduced that time is NOT the main culprit for any non-action, priority setting is! Simply put, when you are not taking action that you ought to take, it just means that the particular item/issue is not in your priority at the moment, rightly or wrongly!

So, in future you may want to consider saying "This thing is not in my priority list at the moment" instead of just  take the easy way out and blame it on time.

Last but not least, my sharing of the original quote:

"Business is deemed successful when it creates value; Life is deemed successful when it finds  meaning!"

Cheers!

P/S: I am sure you are familiar with Paypal, have you heard of Paypal's competitors AlertPay or Moneybookers? Do you know how they fair in their fees in comparison? Check out the one-page comparison of these providers in the blogpost: Online Payment Processing Providers : Paypal vs AlertPay vs Moneybookers