Top 10 Lists in 2006

2006 is will soon finish its race in another day. I thought it will be siginificant to come up with some my favourite and not-so-favourite things and memories of 2006 as a form of remembrance to this year. Well writing some of these down, I was brought back to memory land, remembering some my laughters and tears, some of the essential ingredient of life.


Here goes:

Top 10 Movies in 2006 (not in order of preference)

1. Da Vinci Code
2. The Lake House
3. Devil Wears Prada
4. Step Up
5. Click
6. Take the Lead
7. The Guardian
8. Happy Feet
9. Eight Below
10. Poseidon

Top 10 Books read in 2006 (not in order of preference)

1. Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
2. Under the Duvet - Marian Keyes
3. Chasing Daylight - Eugene O'Kelly
4. Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon
5. At First Sight - Nicholas Spark
6. My Sister's Keeper - Jodi Picoult
7. Veronika Decides to Die - Paulo Coelho
8. Eleven Minutes - Paulo Coelho
9. The Devil and Miss Prym - Paulo Coelho
10. Memoirs of Geisha - Arthur Golden

Top 10 Dining Experience

1. The Line - Shangri-la Hotel Singapore
2. Melt - The World Cafe - Oriental Hotel Singapore
3. Ellenborough Cafe - Swissotel Merchant Court Hotel
4. Sakura Restaurant - Orchard Shopping Centre
5. Crystal Jade Korean BBQ - Takashimaya Shopping Centre
6. Tapas Tree - Clark Quay
7. The Soup Restaurant - Changi Airport T2
8. New York New York - Citylink
9. Khansama Tandoori Restaurant - Serangoon Road
10. Long Beach Seafood Restaurant - East Coast Seafood Centre

Top 10 Happiest Memories

1. Going Bangkok with Jorine, Jinwen and Yiling
2. Getting the progress package
3. Being the top student in CRS and getting $300 for that
4. Internship at Cathay Pacific Airways
5. Winning Ipod Nano during Company's DnD
6. Playing tour guide to Max from UK
7. Ben passing his final year exams, one which he did not put in effort till last minute
8. Making new friends like Costa and Shane from down under, and Maisie from China (haha) I think I mean Singapore
9. Dad coming back Singapore to celebrate his birthday with us
10. The discovery of the mystery of 11:11 (secret)

Top 10 Significant Moments

1. Last Examination in Poly
2. Xueli's ROM
3. Chiew Ling's ROM
4. Dad leaving for Guangzhou to work
5. Voting for the first time
6. 1 year in serving my church's celebration ministry
7. 1 year after baptism
8. Carlene's 21st Birthday Celebration
9. Trying photoshop for the first time and really really loving it (I really use to hate all thing dealing with computer)
10. Getting a call from Wendy informing me that she is officially a Singapore Girl

Top 10 Things to Try in 2007

1. Perm my Hair
2. Learn something new (option: Spanish, Photography, Dancing, Pilates or Photoshop)
3. Read the entire collection from Paulo Coelho
4. Try Online Shopping (haha.. I really didn't try it before)
5. Redecorate my room, especially the noticeboard
6. Go on a mission trip
7. Go to Disneyland to fulfill my dream of being a disney princess (big grinz)
8. Start a saving plan
9. Get to know Singapre better, visit SAM, Red Dot Museum, MINT, etc...
10. Go to somewhere out of Asia

10 Things I'll not do/try in 2007

1. Cut my hair real short
2. Wear Bell-bottom pants
3. Get into a relationship (yet)
4. Work in a travel agency
5. Dye my hair Black
6. Eat anything that is still alive
7. Be selfish with my praises to others
8. Get drunk (again)
9. Accept anything that it not within my expectation
10. Stop Dreaming

I hope that you enjoy looking through the lists and hopefully tour mind invoke up some memories of yourself in 2006. I hope it rekindle of something in you, reminding you that the best thing in life is yet to come. Continue to dream. But always remember that God can dream a far bigger dream for you than you can ever imagine. That I believe.

May the year 2007 brings even more happier memories, unexpected surprises, closer family ties and friendships, greater desire to make your life story an inspiration to others.

New year resolution

So late into the night, yet sleep haven't found its way to me. My mind been running its own course, thinking of what I have done in 2006. I'm finding some ways to sum up and have a closure of 2006.

What have I done?

Frankly, I didn't set out to any resolutions in the beginning of 2006. I wanted it to be a year where there is no expectations to be fulfilled. I wanted it to be a year where I set no boundaries or limits to what I do. I thought that I can be free from any promises that I make myself fulfilled.

But instead, it become a year where nothing significant happen. Because I didn't have any dreams.

Quoting from Malcolm S. Forbes, "You cease to dream you cease to live".

How true is that.

Man without dream is living a life not worthy of himself. They are short changing themselves for something much more than they could possible be. It would be a tragedy for me to be less than what I could possibly be.

And so I decided to start off the new year with a list of resolutions I hope for in 2007. I want 2007 to be a year of Victory. With boldness to conquere what lies between the gap of reality and dreams.

I'm sure 2007 will make a difference to me. Because I dare to dream it. Nothing happen unless first dream.

Let's wait and see.

Christmas bane and boon

The most meaningful thing I have done this Christmas is to visit a family service centre and Tiong Bahru to sing Christmas Carol. Underprivilledge children and their parents were invited by the centre to join in the celebration. This is how we reached out to the community by telling them that they are not alone in the time of celebration. I can tell from their faces that they are touched by our presence.

My idea of how I wanted to spend Christmas?

Gone were the days of hard partying, hitting to town to join in the rowdy bunch of party-goers. Even the thought of that makes me tired.

An intimate dinner with the closest friends, a potluck party at someone's home, coffee at a beachfront cafe (pacific coffee at Vivo!) or even sipping red wine on the couch watching reruns with people I enjoy. These are enough to make happy.

Am I psyched about Christmas?

Not entirely.

I hate gifts shopping together with the whole population of Singapore. I hate being having to plan what to do on Christmas eve (or I may appear as boring/lonely??) I hate being disappointed by friends who disrupts plans. I hate seeing reds in my account balance after all the shopping and feasting. I detest traffic congestions.

I asked myself this for many years. When will I fall in love with Christmas again?

I guess I'll never. For someone as anti-social as me, I don't think so.

But that does not mean that I hate Christmas. I may dislike to routine celebration. But I remembered the reason for it. It is the time to remind myself to pass the love around. You may asked me why do I have to wait till Christmas to do that?

I don't know either.

May we never forget that among all the partying and feasting, Jesus is the reason for Christmas. It is more than the food, the hype, friends or even parties. It is all about Jesus. He is the reason why we celebrate Christmas.

Come to think about it, Christmas ain't so bad after all. If we celebrate it for the right reason.

picture perfect

The wind flirting with my hair, the sun dimming into a romantic hue of amber, palm tree swaying to the rhythm of the waves.

Picture perfect.

It took away the toll in my emotions that was building up throughout the week. See that picture put hope in me once again. I don't know why. Maybe because I'm a dreamer.

Thank God it is friday today. 5 more hours to weekend!

Once saturday comes, I'll put off my mask and put on myself once again and join the ladies at Yiling's to feast, drink and be merry. We are having an advance Christmas party to celebrate coz Yiling will be leaving for Finland on the 18th Dec. Lucky her. She'll get to sit on Santa's lap and whisper into his ear and tell him her Christmas wishes.

Anyway, this entry is just to share with all this lovely picture. It is taken from Colombo, Sri Lanka

The curious incident of the dog in the night-time

Recently, I just read another fantastic book that that gave me the "I mustn't read too fast or it will be over too soon" feeling. The title of the book is 'The curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time' by Mark Haddon. I thought that he is very clever with how the plot progressed and how he joined all the fragments of seemingly unrelated pages together. He is able to narrate a story that differs entirely from his own world.

Spoiler Warning....

The story is about a teenager, Christopher, age 15. Christopher is unlike any teenager his age. He is really different. He lives in a world of his own and detest any human contact. Christopher excels in Mathematic, has a photographic memory, love Sherlock Holmes but hate the author and live by his own sets of rules.

He is autistic.

Autistism is a paradoxical word itself. Could it be said that the person is cursed with a gift or gifted with a curse.

Either way.

The person could be the smartest person in his entire school but is not able to commute to school on his own. Or he could solve challenging mathematical equation but not able to understand metaphorphical statements like 'an apple of his eye' or 'I laugh my socks off' . He gets confuse because he cannot imagine how this is so.

He is able to understand and explain the Monty Hall Problem (very interesting, go find out!) which I find it rather difficult to understand mainly because I am someone guided by intuition and not math.

The plot of the story is actually how he tried to be a detective (like his favourite Sherlock Holmes) to investigate who killed his neighbour dog. (Decided not to spoil the story by revealing the ending and this is not a lie because previously I wrote 'Spoiler Warning' and this is just a clarification) Pg177

In the entire book, not once was the term 'autistic' mentioned. I believe that the author is trying to mimick reality where it is a taboo word which no one speak off audibly.

Everyone should really pick up this book off the shelves (if you are lucky enough to find it since it is the winner of the whitebread book of the year) and read it. You will surely gain great insights into their enclosed world as well as other pieces of information that the author includes.

3 cheers to Mark Haddon.




Credits to Mark Haddon who inspired this entry.

Future

What do I want, where do I want to go? What do I want to do, who should I follow? My dreams and vision of the future vesus the truth of reality. How can I reconnect the dots to complete the picture?

A true idealist at heart. How can I brave myself for the seismic wave of destruction that promise to come along with life?

I'm standing at the crossroad once again. Idealism vesus Realism. Who will win?

It somehow induce a feeling of excitment and fear simulateously. Not knowing what the future holds yet anticipating it to be a dream come true. Conflicting emotions yielding me to my knees.

Will I make the right choice this time?

Time will tell.

Daydreams

I wish for a cup of hot tea to warm my hands, curl up in my bed and cover myself with duvet.

Let me close my eyes gently and fall into a sweet slumber.

Maybe I'll dream about heaven with singing angels, lavender garden, clouds and cotton candy. Everything moving in slow rhythmic motion. And I know where I am happy. With warm hands and joyful heart, innocent laughters filled the air.

Let me close my eyes gently and fall into a sweet slumber.

So that I am not here.

CX DnD

The uber chic, alluring and ever-smiling Princess from the Land of a Thousand Smile!

The 4 interns from town office together with the regional manager of singapore Cathay Pacific Airways.

Clockwise: Ben, Runi, BoonKiat, Jenny, Chris, Judy, ST, Samantha, Sheril and Elaine. The whole lot from sales and marketing department

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Judging from the pictures, you could surely tell that I had a great time at my company's annual dinner and dance party held on friday. The theme of the night was International Costumes. We have to dress to best represent all the destination that CX flies to. I choose Bankgkok, Thailand. =) I was thinking maybe I want to dress as Cleopatra, Greek Goddess or Victorian Lady but choose otherwise. It must be my Asian roots' talking. =)

Me and ST were part of the organising committees among others. It was a good experience to see our efforts to fruitation. The performaces put up by the various department were something to remember. I especially love the piece put up by Avril and Shawn. Their salsa Ballroom dancing makes me think of JLo and Richard Gere in the movie "shall we dance". It seriously makes me wanna go and sign up for dance classes immediately. Haha.. They are such a compatible couple.

Oh by the way, I won a 4Gigabytes iPod nano during the luckydraw! Woohoo.. Thought of selling it so as to put away more money for my graduation trips, if any. All wells that ends well huh. Went home a happy lady.