As The World Turns

Dear Diary,

The weekend has just been amazing. Thanks to a website meetup.com , I somehow managed to pack it with activities. I got a rare 3 day weekend off. Thanks to a weird schedule but I'll take it anyway after working so many weekends.

Saturday morning:

Bleary eyed, I trudged my way to a Reiki group meetup for newbies. It was held in a basement bookshop that specialises in spiritual, paranormal and non main stream books. I might go back for a Tarot workshop......

In the afternoon, I spent the afternoon at the local YMCA where I volunteer and followed up that up with a workout. Gyms here compared to Asia are quite different as far as members are concerned. The people who come here to workout are so much more committed and mindful of what they are doing.

In the evening, headed down to the King's Head pub. Ooooooh nice, its got a Blues band jammin' in the early part of the evening. They have an amazing Harmonica player. Now I can appreciate why a movie like The Blues Brothers was so popular. I also got to meet a whole new bunch of people.

Sunday:

It's a nice pleasure waking up sooooo late. So late in fact I nearly missed going for lunch (brunch?) to a restaurant I had heard about. After a quick wash up, off I went and made it there by 1pm (I had another group appointment at 2pm). It was supposed to serve Bak Chor mee. The Singapore style teochew mee with the Mee Pok (the flat egg noodle), liver, kidneys and a dash of vinegar. Ahhhhh I finally found it here and in a Vietnamese restaurant no less. They also had a version of the Singapore fried Carrot Cake!!! OMG.

Gastronomically satiated, I headed to my next 2pm meetup where I got to meet another bunch of nice people and also spent the afternoon traipsing around Prince's Island with them. It was a beautiful day. Clear blue sky, the temperature was a nice brisk -1, finally got to enjoy a nice sunday afternoon after working so many others.

Then the evening got interesting. I headed to a local meetup for budding golfers. Never mind the outside ground was covered in snow and cold-ish. Because this was an indoor driving range! There is this huge dome a bit like a circus tent except it's round and it's kept inflated by positive air pressure. I think I figured out my cure for the slice, keep the body rotation in check. Sunday evenings is cheap cheap night, I'll be back....

Immedidately after, I took off for downtown (nice to have a car at last) for another meetup and met another bunch of people at another pub where everyone was watching the Oscars presentation. Calgary recently outlawed smoking in Pubs...Yaaayyyy!!! But I don't drink much, the cops around here actually check all the time for drink driving.

Monday:

Chillin' .... but I'm thinking of that Bak Chor mee again.........*salivating already* maybe lunch today...heh.... but but but *looking out the window* it's snowing today! Big fluffy flaky white stuff coming down... *thinking* ahhh Second Cup after the mee....

In the 17th century, the French philosopher René Descartes

came up with the "explanation for it all":

"I think, therefore I am".

In other words, "I think I am angry, therefore I am angry." "I think I am tired, therefore I am tired." "I think I am busy, therefore I am busy."

Fast forward to the 20th century.

I attended a 5 day training program as a Life Insurance Agent wannabe in 1998 amongst the lush foothills of the Pahang mountain range, namely at Janda Baik.


The thing I came away from that program was this magnificent memory of the place and oh yes, the phrase:

"I am what I think about"

...which has been percolating somewhere among the far reaches of that dark recess known as my brain.

Go forth to 2003. Out of work, out of energy and out of money, out of the blue came another training program courtesy of some very well intentioned people, which I duly did and drilled into me that Intention is everything.

So with good intention, I ended up in Canada.

Sitting here in Canada wondering what Intention brought me here, along in 2005 came this movie, "What The Bleep?" which looked at Quantum Physics, which thrilled me to bits, with dancing Peptides, Receptors, Ameobas and also along the way explains why we act the way we act with a rather pretty Marlyn Matlin.



Now in 2006/7 comes this movie, "The Secret" and the Law of Attraction. This "Secret" apparently has taken North America by storm, even Oprah queen of talk shows has given this the airing of one whole episode. It seems everyone is going Ga Ga over the Laws of Attraction.






Being the Pseudo Cat I am, curiosity got the better of me and I actually paid good money to get my hands on the DVD, which co-incidently had been out of stock for some time and with splendid luck was coming the same day I decided to go look for it and whilst while I was waiting in line to pay for the DVD, I got the book as well, which was literally thrust into my hands by a friendly store assistant because someone had returned it and I was next in line at the till. The book is apparently sold out too. Hmmmm Law of Attraction....

So....... it isn't really a movie at all but a full blown docu-commentary like a one of those Achiever's Congress with a lot of people explaining things.

I found it to be a really good reminder of the programs I had done in 98' and 03'. So I wasn't really blown away by it. But I guess for some who don't have the benefit of the hindsight I had might think differently.


But a timely reminder it is, so it will be:




I Think Therefore I am.

But right now I'm thinking of getting another pet Rabbit.....cute furry little lovable critters...


Just Added:

For those who want to watch Oprah talking about this and I think it might be enlightening for some click this:
Oprah The Secret Show

Spent the last 2 days gorging....burP.....
now where is my diet plan....

In Arthurian Legend, the Holy Grail, the chalice from which Jesus Christ drank from at the Last Supper supposedly represent miracle powers, hence the life long search for it. In modern day context the "holy grail" is seen as the distant, all-but-unobtainable ultimate goal for a person, organization, or field to achieve. The What's My Life's Purpose. Admittedly I'd been on this quest for a while, unobtainable it was described but I can be a hard head at times. Blame it on a mid life crisis, moving here, everything and anything.

Meanwhile, As The World Was Turning, recently chance occured and I stumbled on a clue, a possibility. Curiosity led me to reading it up and then more curiosity developed. I delved into a sub-branch. I paid money (as usual) and bought a few books to find out more (I don't know how to go to the library and borrow...). The more I read, the more pieces began to fall into place. Inexplicable happenings now had a meaning. Past Faux Pas', Gaffs, Weird Behaviour were now clearly explained. The why of the things and what I did to begin the whys in the first place began to click.

Then it dawned on me, I'd been searching for the Grail conventionally.
It wasn't really Where Is It?
It should have been the What Is It? that I should have been looking for.
Now that I think I've identified the culprit. I've got a long road ahead to build things that suits me better.

It's both good and bad news. Well not really bad news but at least it explains A LOT. Like why I can't be like everyone else. The not knowing the Why had been driving me up the wall. Now I can come down, rather precarious hanging up there.

Back to my reading.

Ahhhhhh snow again here, this place looks more like winter now and what better place than to curl up and hang out at a Starbucks sipping a cup of this



Then later I visited a rarely visited place these days, an Asian supermarket.

Lo and behold, to my great surprise I found these!!!!

Mangosteens


Starfruit


and my shaking hands doesn't do this justice, but they are Rambutans


All fresh off the plane (I hope) nothing like a taste of home. What a weekend.


All pics taken with the handy dandy Motorola 0.3MP phone cam hence the variety of quality and sizes...I'm travelling light nowadays.

Wahhh so honoured, kena tagged by Ah Boy. I can't remember the last time I was tagged. There was one by Kat about foods I miss from Mom but that one I kena stuck...too many to list.

So 5 things you dunno about me wor..damn this is hard, how to say 5 things without giving away secrets....ssshh

1) I love singing Karaoke but only in a private room and Engrish songs...think Peabo Bryson *unashamed*

2) I like watching Day Time Soap Operas... so the drama ... not to mention a lot of Leng Luis.

3) I'm a Museum nut. Every where I go, I would visit them. In fact, I'd rather spend a the whole afternoon at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City instead of visiting Greenwich village. Which was exactly what I did when I was in NYC so I havent a clue what Greenwich village is like but I can tell you all about the exhibits at MMA....

4) I can't read chinese, they used to call me Banana ... no surprise why I'm here but the funny thing is I've spoken more chinese here that I ever have back in SG...thank god I can do mandarin, hokkien and cantonese.

5) I can be a PC game nut....so I try to stay away... try.... grrrrrr.... I'm currently hooked on Texas Hold Em' and I just blew a $3000 lead...

I invite anyone who wants to do this to do this tag.... cos I'm hopeless at trying to tag someone...

This morning had a really good workout. Woke up to the car covered in ice.... last night it drizzled, it drizzled freezing rain, its still drizzling tonite. Driving thru the damned stuff is a nightmare, it hits your windscreen and freezes, in the dark its an interesting experience. I must have used up my entire tank of windshild washer fluids to de ice the widnscreen. Now I know what's freezing rain is like. Yucks, scraping the damn ice off the car this morning was a really good exercise....*bulging arm muscles*

So in the freezing drizzle/fog I drove (finally) to the Best Buy shop. Picked a slightly costlier DVD player for 50bucks. Some made in china house brand. But it plays pretty good, much better than the old one, price does make a difference..lol

Then drove to the supermarket to pick my snacking groceries to munch on whilst watching my brand new DVD playing.


Pork Puffs! Looked yummy so I grabbed a bag.


Zero Calories sounds even better.

So I settled down watching this DVD, of Ali G, starring Sasha Baron Cohen aka Borat. Its rather brainless but hilarious at the same time. Amazing how he got dignatories to be interviewed....he so siao they so serious.



What yummy crunchies. Then I looked harder at the pack and spied this,



Wahhhhh ..... deep fried pork skin aka rinds.... hmmmm *crunch crunch* nice!

AArrrrggghhhhhh...I'm going to pull my hair out, good think I cut botak earlier...

Came home today, wanted to watch a movie I just bought but but the damned DVD player wont start!!

WTF %^&%#$^$ Gggrrrrr and I still have a disc inside it and it won't even eject it, more Grrrrrrr.

With frustration comes evil. Snigger.

Out comes my handy dandy Victorinox Swiss Army Knife (do I get paid for product placement here?)Had this little baby for over 10 years. Top of the line model.

Whipping out the philips screwdriver, I start slowly stripping the DVD player's casing of its screws, slowly torturing it, stripping off its innards. Breaking little pieces here there. Finally I get my disc back, Snigger. Toss the leftover bits into the trash can.... it goes clunk

Muarhahahaaaa.....

Damn now I got to buy a new one tomorrow....who ask me to get cheapo players...lets see.....what should I get......

Snigger

The car I've really been lusting after is this Subaru Impreza WRX STI. Quite a mouthful, but oooohh 300hp, 4 wheel drive and a full on World Rally Championship birth right. The closest thing to flying on the road. Ferrari performance for a fraction of the price. But sadly, I not so rich yet.





So I got me this baby instead (thunk, back to planet earth), the EF model. Not the actual car, too snowy here to take pics, car is covered in muck now, actually come to think of it, might be better looking in muck given the rust, at least it matches in colour, but this pic is what it's like to look like soon...

Mine is the bare bones DX model. No power steering, no power windows, no central lock, no tachometer, no vanity mirror, no cupholders, no alloys, not even a clock. But its kinda fun going back to basics. It's like being 20 yrs old all over again with my first car. I'm going to get my hands dirty. I can add anything I want now, will be scouring the local junk yards and performance shops for parts. I used to be quite handy around cars...

Cost me all of 900 bucks. I think I got a great deal. There is quite a bit of rust on the outside, but mechanically it's in excellent shape. All the bits are within prescribed tolerances (wow). I'm still amazed that everything works, and I mean everything. The engine bay looks like it came out of a new car. The previous owner really kept up the maintenance. Now all I need is a Sander, Anti Rust tratment, some fiberglass patches and lots of Bondo... might be posting updates on my restoration. If the weather co-operates.



P/S I think the EG9 ESI is a great car, I love the 3 door hatch/coupe.....