Power of the Dream

I have always loved this song. I think it's really inspirational. Gives me goosebumps each time I listen to it.



Power of the Dream - by Celine Dion:

Deep within each heart
There lies a magic spark
That lights the fire of our imagination
And since the dawn of man
The strength of just "I can"
Has brought together people of all nations

There’s nothing ordinary
In the living of each day
There’s a special part
Every one of us will play

Feel the flame forever burn
Teaching lessons we must learn
To bring us closer to the power of the dream
As the world gives us its best
To stand apart from all the rest
It is the power of the dream that brings us here

Your mind will take you far
The rest is just pure heart
You’ll find your fate is all your own creation
Every boy and girl
As they come into this world
They bring the gift of hope and inspiration

** Feel the flame forever burn
Teaching lessons we must learn
To bring us closer to the power of the dream
The world unites in hope and peace
We pray that it will always be
It is the power of the dream that brings us here

There’s so much strength in all of us
Every woman, child and man
It’s the moment that you think you can’t
You’ll discover that you can

** (2x)

The power of the dream
The faith in things unseen
The courage to embrace your fear
No matter where you are
To reach for your own star
To realize the power of the dream
To realize the power of the dream

Friendships and cubicle

This week is my last working week with my current company. I have started to pack my stuff bits by bits since the beginning of the week. I have re-organised all my hardcopy documents, I have gone through my company emails to ensure I remove those personal or P&C ones, and I have cleared off my stuff from my cubicle.

While doing all these, the memories of my 2 years here flashed across my mind. Indeed it's been a great 2 years. I have rekindled past friendships, and have built new ones... and I know these people would stay as my friends for a very long time to come. I will truly miss seeing them on a daily basis.

I will also miss my cubicle very much. Come to think of it, this is probably my most favourite cubicle or working space throughout my working life so far. It's so generous in space and pretty private too as the dividers are quite high up. You can scratch whatever there and no one would notice, hehehehe. However I do suspect that the chair is the cause of my constant stiff neck.

Here are the last looks of my cubicle, before and after packing:

Before




After

PhotoHunt: Plastic

I love going to Bangkok, Thailand. Whenever we are there, we would always make it a point to catch a movie, and one of my favourite place to do that is at Paragon Cineplex, Siam Paragon.

One of the reasons why I love going there is because they sell this popcorn combo thing that comes with cute soft drinks' plastic covers.

I have only 3 now but I am looking forward to collecting more of them. Perhaps this will become another one of my hobbies... or am I just looking for more excuses to go Bangkok again?

Tweet Tweet

I have jumped onto the Twitter's bandwagon (in case you don't see my tweets on my sidebar)!!! I know I am a bit of late bloomer here, but I am sure some of you may be worse, hehehe.

I was overcame by my curiosity over the whole Twitter hype and created an account with them. Honestly at the beginning, I was rather skeptical about the whole thing. I couldn't understand what the fuss is all about.

With Twitter, you are supposed to disclose "What are you doing?" and your disclosure is available for the whole world to see. Sounded like some sort of exhibitionist's behavior, didn't it? Well... I have a blog, so that's not something new. ;-p

Anyway I proceeded to play along. After all if you really want to experience something, you need to follow through and see how it felt like, right? So at every chance of letting the whole world know what I was doing or thinking or feeling, I would update my Twitter account. These updates are called "tweets".

Besides sending out your tweets, you can also follow someone else's tweets. Whenever this person sends out an update, you will see those in your Twitter account.

After going with the flow for a while, I realised that I slowly became addicted to it. Yeah... it is fun and informative. Besides knowing what your friends are up to, you get to see the headlines of recent news on your topics of interests... in a very quick and simple way! I am a convert now although I know there are not many people out there who cared about "what I am doing". Call me "syok sendiri" all you want! :-p

So with my new mild addiction, I tend to try updating my tweets as much as possible. The thing is, I am not always in front of the PC or the laptop. Thank goodness for my Windows Mobile PDA Phone, LG KS20. Whenever there is an internet connection (Wifi, 3G, Edge, GPRS etc), I have no worries about not being able to access my Twitter account, as there are many Windows Mobile Twitter client applications out there. I tried a few and decided to stick with Twikini. Know why?

For one, it has this icon:

Get what I mean? A fish in a fishbowl...... fishdiary resurrection... get it? get it? No? Scroll down to the bottom of this page and perhaps you will get what I mean.

Haha, well of course that's not the only reason. I have used it since I started twittering when it was still in its beta version.

I found it to be really easy to use and straight forward. Basically whatever I can do on the Twitter website, I can do it using Twikini. Interesting!

Seems like I will be twittering for a while now especially when it has became so convenient. I do still have lots to learn though... like uploading my pictures into Twitter etc. I know blogging and twittering are two different things, but in my opinion they complement each other. What do you think?

Anyway, in case you have a twitter account or going to set up one, let me know so that I can "follow" you. It's fun, really!

Being Supportive

A few days ago, a friend of mine called me and told me about his intention to quit his current job. I knew he has been having a tough time in this job and has mentioned about quitting a few times before.

However this time around, he sounded very serious about it... and he planned to resign without any new jobs in hands.

This reminded me very much about the time when I was deciding of doing the same in one of my previous jobs a few years ago. You know what the funny thing is? The company my friend is in now is the same company I resigned from (without a new job in hand) a few years ago, although we're not from the same department. Goes to show how "wonderful" that company is, eh?

I understood his feelings. I understood how mentally stressing it was to be in an environment that you hated so much. I have been there, I have done that.

I knew he was in a dilemma on whether to take the risk of quitting without having anything to fall back on. I knew he just wanted me to say that I support him with his decision, and that everything is gonna be great.

However I couldn't just tell him what he wanted to hear. When I was jobless during that time, I had such a tough time living off my puny savings and not knowing when I would find a new job. It was not a good feeling at all. I wouldn't want to be in that situation ever again if I have a choice.

So I shared with him my experience and asked him to think carefully of his next step of action. If he has the "bullets" i.e. the savings that can last him a few months, then he has less things to worry about.

Finally after I have made my point, I told him that I support his decision if he has thought about it carefully and rationally, and that no matter what... things will work out fine.
I wanted to be supportive but at the same time, I wanted to make sure that he wasn't making a rash decision.

2 days ago, he informed me that he has tendered his resignation and that he felt like a big load lifted off his shoulder. I congratulated him and wished him all the best. I really do hope he will get a new job soon while serving his resignation notice.

PhotoHunt: Painted

Painted ceilings at The Louvre Museum, Paris. I was (and still am) awed by their magnificence.


(Pictures taken at the Louvre, Paris in Feb 09)

Through The Years

A beautiful song ...



Lyrics:
I can't remember when you weren't there
When I didn't care for anyone but you
I swear we've been through everything there is
Can't imagine anything we've missed
Can't imagine anything the two of us can't do

Through the years, you've never let me down
You turned my life around, the sweetest days I've found
I've found with you ... Through the years
I've never been afraid, I've loved the life we've made
And I'm so glad I've stayed, right here with you
Through the years

I can't remember what I used to do
Who I trusted, who I listened to before
I swear you taught me everything I know
Can't imagine needing someone so
But through the years it seems to me
I need you more and more

Through the years, through all the good and bad
I know how much we had, I've always been so glad
To be with you ... Through the years
It's better every day, you've kissed my tears away
As long as it's okay, I'll stay with you
Through the years

Through the years, when everything went wrong
Together we were strong, I know that I belong
Right here with you ... Through the years
I never had a doubt, we'd always work things out
I've learned what life's about, by loving you
Through the years

Through the years, you've never let me down
You've turned my life around, the sweetest days I've found
I've found with you ... Through the years
It's better every day, you've kissed my tears away
As long as it's okay, I'll stay with you
Through the years...

Grounded

Axel is a naughty boy today. He pee-pee'ed in his carrier bag for no apparent reason.

Grounded in his kennel until further notice.

Bengang nye aku!!

I had a very frustrating conversation with a friend over MSN today. Now that I think back on how the conversation went, I couldn't help but to laugh aloud. Frustrating, yes.... Funny, yes too!!

The conversation went something like this (not the actual conversation but rather what I recalled and summarised):
---------------------------

Friend: Hello, how are you?

Me: Hey, I am fine. A bit pissed off though.

Friend: Oh what happened?

Me: Never mind la. I don't feel like talking about it.

Friend: Come on, what happened? Work, is it?

Me: Nothing la.

Friend: Come on, tell me...

Me: Sigh... okay it's like this...
(I went on to tell her about my frustration)
...........
...........
...........
(After I am done)

Friend: Aiyo! Grow up and stop complaining!!!

Me: Huh???
Bengang nye aku!!

Boarding at Pets4U

I collected Axel back from the boarding place yesterday. I boarded him at Pets4U located in Bandar Puteri, Puchong.

I first got to know about this place from the Petster magazine, Malaysian No.1 FREE Pet Lifestyle Magazine. This magazine is available in most of the pet stores and I think it's a good avenue for pet business owners to advertise their services and products.

Before I flew off to Bangkok, I actually went over to Pets4U to check the place out. It's a 1 unit shop lot and is kept really clean. I asked to see the boarding area and it's basically the back room with cages stacked on each other. Oh well... I have checked a few of such boarding services and they looked the same, except for the one at St Angel Animal Medical Center where cages are built-in and made of stainless steel.

I wanted to try Pets4U as they looked friendlier from their advertisement. The boarding rate for an adult pug is RM20 per night and food is provided. They will provide the same food that you feed your dog if they have that brand of food. Axel takes Avoderm and Pets4U do carry that brand. I have also asked whether the dogs are brought out from their cages now and then. The shop owner told me they do let the dogs loose within the shop.

Dropping Axel off the day before I flew off felt really awful. It felt like a parent abandoning a child under the care of strangers. The shop owners have their own dogs in the shop. When we walked in, these dogs started to bark at us (or rather at Axel). I have to admit that it didn't feel very welcoming. I was asked to fill up a form and Axel was taken out from his carrier bag and put straight into a cage. He must have felt very confused, my poor boy.

I then left the shop with a heavy heart and could only hope for the best while I was enjoying myself in the Land of Smiles.

I came back on Sunday. I really love Bangkok and I am sure I will be going there again.

Anyway back to Axel. Before I went over to Pets4U to collect him, I have asked for them to do a basic grooming on him. When I reached the shop, the shop owner's white schnauzer was there. This guy must be the alpha male type cause when I got in and put Axel's carrier bag down, he was like inspecting the carrier bag in and out.

Then the lady went to take Axel out from his cage. As I was walking over to Axel, this white terror charged at Axel and practically pounced on him!! I shrieked thinking that he had bitten Axel but after careful inspection, thank goodness Axel was alright.

They had to confine the schnauzer so that I can put Axel into his carrier bag. This got me wondering, do they really let boarding dogs out of the cages to roam within the shop when their resident dog is so aggressive?

I paid up RM130 (for 5 nights boarding and RM30 for the basic grooming) and left the place feeling not "song". I mean would you feel nice after seeing your "baby" being pounced at?

After leaving the place, I brought him to St Angel for his yearly health check and vaccination. Then I brought him home. Axel seems to be very tired after that, perhaps from the vaccination.

Anyhow I couldn't shake off the thought of Axel being bullied at the boarding place. Perhaps I should research on others in case I need to board him again. You have any recommendation?