The Best (and Funniest) Relationship Advice Dad Ever Gave Me | Readers Digest Asia

As I was browsing through RDAsia today, I thought this piece is a heartwarming one as Dads - the first men in your life - knows you the best. It's undeniable I find them rather true than funny. So always heed in his advice. No fathers would want the worst for their children, unless they are the rotten ones.

The Best (and Funniest) Relationship Advice Dad Ever Gave Me | Readers Digest Asia

Enjoy!

An Introvert's Guide to Networking by Lisa Petrilli

An interesting post I read today over how an introvert could network well and be successful despite being an introvert.

Adapted from http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/01/the_introverts_guide_to_networ.html

The Last Parcel - One

There was this girl, who was deeply in love with a guy she shouldn't love. They loved each other deeply and were inseparable. Life goes on like this for many years until one day, the girl had to move away for both their good. She moved to a new place, to start a new life, so the one she dearly loved to could have a better future without her in picture.

Eventful Weekend

Hellooooo!

How was your weekend? I hope it's as full on as mine! I guess this was the most eventful weekend I had since year 2012 kicked off! Thanks to the festive season - Chinese New Year - I had an awesome time catching up with colleagues and friends! There's no deny of the wonderful feeling within me since some downfall I was in few months back. =)

What I've Learnt

Something inspirational and something that reflects my year so far... Came across this piece from a friend's post on Facebook. We can never stop learning because it's through learning that we know who we want to be, who we can be and who we will be. Enjoy reading.

I've Learned...

I've learned that you cannot make someone love you. 
All you can do is be someone that can be loved. The rest is up to them.
I've learned that no matter how much I care, some people just don't care back.
I've learned that it takes years to build up trust and only seconds to destroy it.
I've learned that it's not what you have in your life, but who you have in your life that counts.
I've learned that you shouldn't compare yourself to the best others can do.
I've learned that you can do some thing in an instant that will give you heartache for life.
I've learned that it's taking me a long time to become the person I want to be.
I've learned that you should always leave loved ones with loving words. It may be the last time you see them.
I've learned that you can keep going long after you can't.
I've learned that we are responsible for what we do, no matter how we feel. 

I've learned that either you control your attitude or it controls you.
I've learned that heroes are the people who do what has to be done regardless of the consequences.
I've learned that money is a lousy way to keep score.
I've learned that my best friend and I can do anything or nothing and have the best time.
I've learned that just because someone doesn't love you the way you want them to doesn't mean they don't love you with all they have.
I've learned that maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you've had and what you've learned from them and less to do with how many birthday's you've celebrated.
I've learned that you should never tell a child their dreams are unlikely or outlandish. Few things are more humiliating, and what a tragedy it would be if they believed it.
I've learned that no matter good a friend is, they're going to hurt you every once in a while and you must forgive them for that.
I've learned that no matter how bad your heart is broken the world doesn't stop for your grief.
I've learned that our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are, but we are responsible for who we become.
I've learned that even when you think you have no more to give, when a friend cries out to you, you will find the strength to help. 
✿ܓAuthor Unknown

It's December!

It's December, a month to look forward to many happening things!

Here's some bits and pieces of event I'm looking forward to:

5 days to lil cousin, Reyna's birthday,

8 days to family holidays,

9 days to Bro, David's birthday,

21 days to Mel visiting,

22 days to company Christmas party,

23 days to Christmas countdown party,

24 days to Christmas day, the day Christ was born, and family Christmas party,

27 days to lil niece, Audrey's birthday,

28 days to long weekend leave,

29 days to New Year's countdown party,

30 days to a brand new year!

That is what I meant by December is going to be awesome! =)

Have a blessed day!

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Crazy idea #01

Lately I've been following an inspirational blog called The Simply Luxurious Life. The writer, Shannon, has inspired me to walk out of shadows I shouldn't be hiding behind and come back to my love for writing. So I'm going to write about a crazy idea I had when I was in the shower.

I spent quite a lot of time in the toilet lately, both for cleanliness inside and outside me. I guess I haven't wasted my time in there. Like most people, there is where I cultivate my witty ideas.

Tonight at shower, I actually thought of jotting down the names I'd like my kids to have - that is limited to me getting married, or worse come to worst, adopt kids. Like to know what they are?

Faith for girl;

Joseph for boy.

Faith represents my Faith in God and how we shall have Faith in everything at all circumstances. I decided to pick this name after reading Jodi Picoult's novel, Keeping Faith. A highly recommended book about a child's ability to communicate and walk with God. After I finished the book, I have an urge to have a little Faith myself.

I don't really want to elaborate more on the other name. All in all, it is a name to commemorate someone who has done a lot of impacts in my teenage to adulthood years.

Alrighty, it's bedtime for me now. That's all for today. More crazy ideas to come! Sweetdreams, beautiful world! =)

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A child's perception of Psalm 23

This is not a joke but an enlightenment.

God treats you the way one mother treated her young son, Timmy. She didn't like the thought of Timmy walking to his first-grade class unaccompanied. But he was too grown-up to be seen with his mother. "Besides," he explained, "I can walk with a friend." So she did her best to stay calm, quoting the Twenty-third Psalm to him every morning:
"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.."

One day she came up with an idea. She asked a neighbour to follow Timmy to school in the mornings, staying at a distance, lest he notice her. The neighbour was happy to oblige. She took her toddler on morning walks anyway.

After several days Timmy's little friend noticed the lady and the child.

"Do you know who that woman is who follows us to school?"

"Sure," Timmy answered. "That's Shirley Goodnest and her daughter Marcy."

"Who?"

"My mom reads about them every day in the Twenty-third Psalm. She says, 'Shirley Goodnest and Marcy shall follow me all the days of my life.' Guess I'll have to get used to them."

-an excerpt from Fearless by Max Lucado.

21 Easy Ways to Pray More

Hi, here's something to help all of us who have been slacking in prayers.

21 Easy Ways to Pray More - Beliefnet.com

God bless you!

The Many Faces of Mooncakes

Hello! An article regarding the traditional mooncake has captured my attention as I browsed Reader's Digest Asia's website this morning. Here's something to share this festive season. A piece written by Tan Su-Lyn for Reader's Digest Asia.

The Many Faces of Mooncakes

Celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival

By TAN SU-LYN

When tradition matters, nothing beats the White Lotus Seed Mooncake with Double Yolk. Photo: Marriott Hotel

As a child, one of my favourite Chinese celebrations was the Mid-Autumn or Mooncake Festival. Traditionally observed by the Chinese on the fifteenth day of the eighth Lunar month, it is a harvest celebration that also marks the night when the moon is at its fullest and roundest.
Families gather, usually outdoors, to admire the moon, savour mooncakes and each child would carry his or her own candlelit (although these days battery-operated flashing lights seem more common) lantern in a fun-filled lantern procession. At school, we fashioned our own lanterns out of wire, colourful cellophane, glitter and tassels. Occasionally, school-wide moon-viewing parties were even organised. Each student would contribute a selection of mooncakes, the school grounds would be dotted with lanterns and we would learn about the traditions of this age-old celebration.
The historic origins of this festival are unclear. The myth most strongly associated with it revolves around an archer named Hou Yi and his wife Chang Er who after taking (or, in some versions of the story, stealing) the pill of immortality is transported to the moon, permanently parted from her husband, and eventually becomes known as the moon goddess or lady in the moon.
Another character closely linked to the tale is the rabbit in the moon that is usually preoccupied with using its mortar and pestle to prepare herbs or medicine. Sometimes, it is described as working to re-create the pill of immortality in the hopes of helping Chang Er reunite with her husband Hou Yi. Traditional lanterns and mooncake packaging often depict this myth. Another explanation for the significance of this festival – especially the tradition of gifting friends and family with mooncakes – is the oft-repeated (albeit unsubstantiated) tale of how the Chinese were instructed to rebel against the Mongols during the Yuan dynasty through messages hidden in mooncakes.

Whatever its origins, the Mid-Autumn Festival has become a highly commercial celebration that revolves around the business of retailing, gifting and eating of mooncakes. Enjoying these seasonal delights is my favourite part of this festival.
There is a broad range of traditional mooncakes across China and Taiwan, but the ones most commonly enjoyed in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and the Philippines (where it is commonly referred to as hopia ) have origins in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong. The baked, intricately moulded crust is sweet and slightly chewy rather than crumbly and the mooncake is usually stuffed with lotus, red bean or red date paste dotted with melon seeds. The most luxurious ones contain whole salted duck egg yolks perfectly positioned so that every wedge of mooncake will contain a sliver of this delightful delicacy.
More contemporary versions feature unusual fillings as well as novel crusts such as the unbaked sweet snowskin which is made of a combination of glutinous rice flour and Hong Kong flour (a highly bleached flour commonly used to make bao, Chinese steamed buns).
But what I’ve found most interesting is that the tradition of moon-gazing is not limited to the Chinese. And each culture not only similarly marks the occasion with special food, but does so with its own version of mooncakes.

The Japanese also practise the tradition of tsukimi (moon viewing) on Jugoya (the fifteenth night of the eighth month on the lunar calendar) and enjoy moon viewing rice dumplings. The dumplings are sometimes shaped like rabbits to depict the legend of Tsukiyo no Usagi, The Rabbit on the Moon. On the same day, Koreans celebrate Chuseok or Hangawi, a harvest celebration where they make offerings to their ancestors and enjoy a crescent-shaped sweet glutinous rice cake called songpyeon. In Vietnam, the same day is celebrated as Tet Trung Thu or Children’s Festival, a time when parents busy with harvesting set time aside to focus on their children and mark the festivities by eating banh trung thu (mid-Autumn cakes).
This September, as the moon rises and lanterns are lit, take time out to learn a little more about the many overlapping histories, traditions and myths we share in Asia but rarely celebrate collectively across borders.

Who would have thought that the mooncake, something that’s considered uniquely Chinese, is actually present in so many other countries and cultures?

Yes, I do wonder how unique my heritage is and how this tradition of watching the moon is spanned across many countries in Asia. I am proud to be a Chinese (that is for the first time, too!). Enjoy your mooncake in a different conception this coming Mid-Autumn's Festival! =)