Born to be Pretty

When I was a teenager, I had pimples all over my face while I was supposed to be building my self-image and confidence. I had some issues in confidence until I got into university and had some makeover. I started to wear contact lens, had some facial treatment to get rid of those pimples and had a better style through picking the right clothes. However, my skin was ruined by the intensive pimple outbreak. Even after the crisis, I don't have the nice skin most young ladies have. Therefore, it is one of my dreams that I would have really fair sin one day in my life as I can see how big a difference it can make to the overall appearance. It would be such a mircle if I can get the shiny, tender and flawless skin that you always see on magazines.

You might criticize me by saying that I am too concerned about my appearance, or comfort me by saying it doesn't really matter how good I look as long as I look reasonably nice. I have to sy this is who I am and I do care about how I look.

Recently, I read a Facebook note listing out things that young ladies should think about, so that they fully utilized their youth. One of the hints is that girls should have more skin care products than cosmetics. This is a fantastic reminder. I have to admit that I am a bit lazy when it comes to skin care. It always takes up so much time in order to see the effect and it costs way more than cosmetics. I usually use cosmetics as more like a once and for all kind of solution for personal grooming.

However, it has recently come to my attention that this is just not the rigt way. The important point is that skin quality is the foundation of every single bit of cosmetics you put on your face before you step out of your apartment door. It is like the long-term investment that you will be benefited from once time goes by. If you work on skincare, a lot of the makeup steps cn be skipped or that the effect will always be twice as good. I guess it's time for me to work a little harder in building a stronger foundation for my skin by living healthy and investing more on skincare products.

Wouldn't it be lovely if I was born to be pretty and neverhave worries about maintaining my appearance? I am seriously looking forward to the era of robot body! Anyways, before the invention of robot body, I will invest more time and care on my skin care for now.

Should People Iron Their Shirts?

Yesterday, I got into an argument or a heated debate on the phone with a male friend who is a salesman for ads on buses. We were talking about his work life and somehow touch on his clothes. As he has to meet clients all the time, of course the dress code would be a suit. So I asked, "You need a lot of time to iron your shirt then?" and he said no, and that's how the argument started.

His argument is that there is no necessity to iron a shirt. He usually washes his shirts, hangs them up under the sun and let it dry. He also mentioned that the shirt has creases very soon anyways after he leaves home. He insists that it looks reasonably nice. He said he has met so many people who won't iron their shirt when they go to work and that no clients have ever complain about his clothes. He stressed on the fact that he thinks all that matters between a salesman and a client is communication. If he has managed presentation and catching up with clients well enough, the client would place their orders no matter what. However, he ironed his shirts when he goes to interviews and he thinks that is a totally different occasion compared to a client meeting.

My argument is that it is a matter of respect. It is a respect to yourself, your profession and your client. Since this is the dress code expected by the industry and the profession, when you are a member of it, you have to respect it. If you decide that you are going to wear a suit, you have to iron it. If you wear a suit the way you wear your casual wear, then why do you wear your suit? Go back to jeans and t-shirt. Ironing your shirt is kind of a way to tell people that you take good care of yourself. If you are not even willing to take care of yourself, how can people trust you that you will take care of their business? Customers of course won't tell you that they have problems with your shirts, they may not even notice the exact reason why they find you not as trust-worthy as they would love to. It is matter of implication and non-verbal implication that you send to the world.

I understand it is my friend's choice on whether he should iron his shirt or not. However, I would wish that he can change his habit, because I think it would have good impact on not just his job, but also his view on his job and his life at the end. Most of the times, little things change a person's attitude to life and have a long term impact.

What would be your verdict on this?

The End of the World

I always wonder how it would be like when the world finally ends. Most of the times, my conclusion is that I probably would have died when this occurs. However, after conversatons with friends and some thinking on my own, I think I do have a plan of what to do if I know the world is ending.

The only thing I would want to do is to stay with my loved ones, find a nice place, enjoy ourselves then die. If the world is not too chaotic, I wish I can use all the money I have to take my family to a place which looks like heaven on earth and spend the rest of our time there. If the world is too chaotic for that, I might just check into a local resort with my family, have nice meals, play around the resort and hold my loved ones when I die.

People I love are very important to me. I have once participated in a test on how I actually prioritize things. I was given 50 cards with different things I can have in my life, such as wealth, intelligence, friends and many others. The facilitators started to collect our cards one at a time. Throughout the process, they said different things to lead us to the minset of "once I have given up one thing, I can never get it back". I still remember at the last round I have two things left - health and family. At the very last round, I cried and gave up the health card.

People always talk about core value. I am glad I have found mine. I love my family, they may not be the best people on earth, but I know no matter what they do, they love me.

Try to find your core value, then you will know the purpose and centre of your life.

Pay Off My Debt

What is the debt with undefined and very high interest rate? -- SLEEP DEBT!

I have seen friends starting their full time job and seem to have disappeared from the world all of a sudden. I don't know where they are until they just reappear somehow. I was not able to understand what was going on in their lives. I thought it might be that their company is being too demanding, or they are just not very good at their work so that they have to work overtime.



However, after I started my first full time job on a week or so ago, I recognize how different work life is compare to school life. Since the first day of work, I wake up at 06:00 every morning so that I can get to work a bit earlier before everyone else does and arrange my day without any distraction. Some of the times, I woke up early because I want to have a skype date with my boyfriend (BF) as that is the only time when our time zone matches. It is usually 18:30 when I get off work and get home one hour later. Whenever I get home, put down my briefcase and sit on the couch, I can feel that the energy source in need of recharging!



The interesting thing is that since it was the orientation period, though I have been kept busy all day, I haven't been given a lot of work. I guess it is the fact that I am not used to a work environment which you have to be alert at all times that make me feel my days as so tiring. It is never like school life in which you can sleep through classes and get distracted at times if you so incline. People around me are very friendly and nice, it is the kind of working environment that you can ask for nothing more. However, I need time to get comfortable around the place, so ti won't be as much self-created stress as it used to be.



Anyway, I have been sleeping most of the time on Saturday just to get the stress out of m. I wish I can get a back rub now! (Honey, I miss your very good oil message!)



Have you finished paying off your debt?

All Things Bright and Beautiful

From String of Precious Jewels,

I'll tell you briefly the fine qualities

Of those on the path of compassion:

Giving, and ethics, patience, and effort,

Concentration, wisdom, compassion and sch.

Giving is giving away what you have,

And ethics is doing good to others.

Patience is giving up feelings of anger,

And effort is joy that increases all good.

Concentration's one-pointed, free of bad thoughts,

And wisdom decides what truth really is.

Compassion's a kind of high intelligence

Mixed deep with a love for all living kind.

Giving brings wealth, a good world comes from ethics;

Patience brings beauty, eminence comes from effort.

Concentration brings peace, and from wisdome comes freedom;

Compassion achieves everything we all wish for.

A person who takes all seven of these

and perfect them together will reach

That place of inconceivable knowledge,

No less than the world's protector.

I always think that I shouldn't quote somebody's work extensively in my own blog, as my blog should purely be my own thoughts and productions. However, when I read this quote from the book The Diamond Cutter, it struck me as something that I should remember my whole life and that I should share with everyone.

This quote reminds me how much is yet to be done by me in order to be someone good. If I am a Catholic, I can imagine myself confessin about my little sins all day long. There were times when I get annoyed and show my dissatisfaction to those who intended to give me good advice. There were times I am jealous though my lover has been showing me how much he loves me and has been loyal. There are times I was being selfish and see my things as more important than others, or simply just rank them accordingly without serious thoughts. There are just countless of these that I am not happy with after the moment of recognition. I know a person can never be perfect, but I still want to be better to people around me because they deserve my love.

I wish by sharing this, it would leave a better imprint in my mind and leads me to be a better person. I would love to build my own perfect world by being one of the sources of goodness.

I Dreamed a Dream

I dreamed a dream that I have perfect vision.

Since I was 3, I have been wearing glasses and contact lenses. My eyesight is so bad that one of my all-time worries is becoming blind one day. When I was little, I even blindfolded myself a coupl times in order to have a tasye of being blind, a psychological preparation of how life might become when I turn blind one day and a physical understanding of my daily life environment through touching.

As I grow older, I start to take more constructive actions to prevent this from happening. One of the major steps is getting my eyes checked every year. However, it is always a stressful experience because I worry that the optician would give me some bad news after the check up. My optician and I both know that I get paranoid whenever there is any sign of eyesight deterioration, so he always know how to notify me of how minor it is.

One of the magical moments in my life is the first time I put on my contact lens. I was so amazed by the ability of a pair of little lens in fixing the eyesight problem I had for more than 18 years. I felt like a fairy has come upon me and made my dream come true. As a girl, a life without glasses is simply great. It's a turning point for what kind of styles you can look nice in now and it's a door for all the crazy eye makeup!! My optician and I actually became friends as he is more like an eyesight angel to me.

Today is another checkup day for my eyes, I was praying when I ws on my way to the optician. Luckily, there's nothing really wrong with my eyes. I even had the inside of my eyeball checked. I had quite a lot of fun seeing the photographs and learning all these different parts. I was very nervous when I saw little bits of blurry stuff in the photograph, but then my optician said it's a sign of youth as the tissue was so perfect that it reflects the light from the camera! I kept the photos at the end as a souvenir of my youth!

Anyways, I wish my eyes all the good health in the future!

Can there be more Revolution other than Food Revolution?

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution is a program I just finished watching and it gives me such a strong feeling that I want to express my thoughts here.

Jamie Oliver has been a celebrity chef for some time. I remember when he first started, he was a chef on TV shows who seems to love his family, looks quite cute and always has interest in very fresh ingredients. I haven't been a big fan of his show not because I don't like them, just because I don't actively search for them. However, Food Revolution is not just a cooking show, it is more about the change that Jamie Oliver tried to bring to the unhealthiest town in America -- Huntington. It's more about the eating environment of America which causes a large number of deaths due to weight problem.

What caused me to watch this is through the recommendations of friends when I was visiting my boyfriend (BF). One of the examples a girl told me about the show is that Jamie actually poured out the fat in solid form in front of the kids and parents of an elementary school, trying to tell them how much fat a class consumes for breakfast and lunch each week. At that time, I was thinking, "I would be very interested in seeing that!" That's how I started to search for it.

However, the lesson I have learned from the show is way more than I expected. Honestly, there were a couple touching moments as to how unaware people are towards weight problems and health issues, but what caught my attention throughout the show are the passion, persistence and creativity of Jamie Oliver's. There was this cooking dance flash mob in a university, the bet with a local DJ, a kitchen with free cooking lessons and the demonstration of a XL coffin. There are problems all the time, but he never gives up. He knows what his goal is and he simply finds ways to get there.

This just leads me to think how beautiful the world would be if there are more people like him who gets touched by something he knows and insisted on doing something good for the world. Can there be any other kind of revolution so that everyone can live a better life? I have seen people who are trying to make a change, they are inspiring and wonderful. I wish more can be inspired by these people, so that more positive changes can appear. If love, creativity and passion come together, I know the world would be a better place.

We need more revolution.

From "Fly me to the Moon" To "Telephone"

When I was visiting my boyfriend (BF), I used his cell phone as my personal cell while he used his blackberry. Hie cell phone has Fly me to the Moon as the ringtone. When I came back to my hometown, I turned my cell on again after 3 months and my ringtone switched back to Telephone.

This change has symbolizes a couple other changes in my life which are significant and interesting to think about.

The first change comes from the frequency of the ringing of the phone. There were not a lot of calls when I was using BF's cell, but it goes to zero calls when I first came back. That was actually what I wanted. I deliberately avoid telling people I am back as I don't want people to all come to me saying welcome back and have get together all planned out. I also don't want to listen to the caring words from people around me asking me whether BF or I were sad about the separation. I appreciate the fact that people care and may even worry about me, but for me it's more like stabbing at an existing wound. The fact is that I am sad about the separation and it will always be the case, the only difference is how easily the emotion can be triggred by external factors. Therefore, it is actually nicer not to have anyone asking about it, let the event fades in other people's eyes and life would go on.

The second change is not seeing my own picture as the wallpaper anymore. This is actually a very sweet thing to think about. My BF uses my photo as the wallpaper of his cell all the time while I tend to use our photos togehter. I like opening his cell and see myself in there. It s like opening his heartasking the question who your lover is and the picture just shows up. I enjoy how much he genuinely wants my picture to be there. Ok, I have to admit that the first time it was me who put my picture on his cell, but when he has his blackberry for the first day, he came to me, took a pictureand set it as the wallpaper. I feel so loved by such a sweet act.

The third change is no caller would ask for anyone else but me. Since I was a 3-month temporary visitor, most of the times people called BF's cell to find BF, but ended up hearing a girly voice saying "Ibie's speaking". Though it actually causes inconvenience for th caller, I actually enjoyed that a lot. Whenever the caled responded with a sign of knowing who I am, I know BF has been teling them about me and that he has been talking about me as a part of his life. By telling BF who called, I also feel a bit more involved in his life and I know more about who surrounds his daily life most of the times (the fact that I haven't received a call from a sexy girl's voice is definitely something I am happy about).

I am not sure I want to have Fly Me to the Moon as my ring tone again, but I am pretty sure I want to listen to that ring tone in proximity again.

Fly me to the moon

Let me sing among those stars

Let me see what spring is like

On Jupiter and Mars

In other words, hold my hand

In other words, baby kiss me

Fill my hear with song

Let me sing for ever more

You are all long for

All I worship and adore

In other words, please be true

In other words, I love you