The white Christmas in Scotland

The Scotland trip that I had with my friends from Manchester and Belgium turned out to be a special type of trip that I ever had in my life. It is an adventurous one and most importantly it has given us so many lessons to ponder though the trip has ended. If I were to write about every details, I might have published a mini novel and the title should be "A series of unfortunate events during the Scotland trip"...haha! But it is quite pointless for me to tell it all - people will just get bored listening to old grandma's bedtime stories if they didn't experience them. Thus, using the experience from this trip, I might as well make it into tips and advices travelling during the winter.

1 st - always make sure you bring enough warm and thick clothes if u know u're going to somewhere snowy. This is no joke! U might consider wearing boots rather than sport shoes because they can keep your feet warm BUT they can cause sore legs after some long distance walking. i wore a pair of sport shoes, though, and they easily get wet and my feet has to soaked in melted ice. I have to wear double layers of socks too!

2 nd -always allow plenty of time to travel from one places to another and better to prepare a plan B if plan A doesn't work. This is especially true during the winter. Trains and planes can get delayed, not by minutes but by hours or days due to the poor weather. It can be due to the poor visibility, snow blocking the road or engine default caused by the melted snow. And find the alternative transport just in case the first one doesn't work. During winter, it is so normal that a train station closed without any early notice. That's what happened on the last day when we want to travel back to london. Luckily we start leaving by 3 pm while the plane is actually at 830pm. Seems exaggerating but then the train that we're supposed to take to the airport is closed! Thus we have to find the buses to the airport. A long tiring journey.

During the scotland trip, when we're travelling from glasgow to Edinburgh at night, the train that we were waiting has suddenly been delayed for around one hour! Then, we're like a bunch of orphans being abandoned in an isolated train station! We can see no lights from anywhere outside the fence of the train station and we can only wait outside the closed station with our feet freezing in duno how many negative degree celcius of temperature. In this kind of miserable circumstances, meditation might helps: we can meditate until we forgot that our feet is still present.then you'll feel no pain and cold. haha..my friends laugh at my words but it is not a joke la..~ I was freezed to a point that I also practised some dance to avoid my feet from frostbite. After a long waiting that 1 hour seems to be extended to ages, the Hogwarts train finally has come!!! After going through this kind of temperature, i can say that our life may be prolonged, just like the frozen chicken in the fridge, the expiry date is always longer than the fresh ones. haha. ( I know you guys miss the lame jokes that i have told! XD)

3rd - make sure you read through at every detail of the information that you have. Did i mention that we left by 3pm in the afternoon and find out that the train station in Edinburgh is closed? The story hasnt ended yet, though!!! We managed to get to the airport at around 4 something and then we felt so relaxed because we have plenty of time before the plane departs.Thus, we lied on a row of seats and took a long nap in the airport ( forgetting about whatever images we have) until it was around 7pm. Then...we wanted to check in. WE COULDN'T FIND THE TIME OF THE PLANE WE WANT TO CHECK IN. We wondered and we asked the kind air-stewardess around. OH my GOD. We're on the wrong airport!!! It is stated there in the boarding pass that it is " Glasgow (prestwick)" but we went to the Glasgow airport without the word prestwick. There's only one airport in Glasgow, but there is another one in Prestwick!!! Nyiao...The time is running out and the distance between these 2 airports is around 1 hour. The check in gate closed at 740pm. Hopeless. Miserable. Don't know what to do at all. Where can we see the way back to our sweet and warm home? The air ticket for the next day's plane is too expensive, around 100 pounds something. The train tickets are not cheap either, 116 pounds something. Have you ever try this before? When you're in state you don't know what will happen next, at all. We all thought travelling is just about fun but we forgot all the possible consequences that can happen once you stepped out of your house. But~~ There's always a silver lining behind the dark clouds! Thanks to a friend in Edinburgh, we managed to book a latest bus going from Glasgow to London for just 40 something per person. Minimise the loss but it takes 8 hours to reach. Nevermind, just treat it as the Redang trip journey then, as well as we can get back home!

4th - Prepare some dried food in your bag, no matter where you go. You'll never know when you need them~~The food in the airport and train station is incredibly expensive, and sometimes they're not open 24 hours. You might get stuck in a station at night ( like us) and suffer from cold and hunger! After the second event of being frozen at the train station, the fact that we have missed the plane doesn't seem to be that miserable - At least we are not hungry and not cold.That's already a thing to be grateful of!!! When we finally know that we have a hope to go back that night without having to stay overnight in the airport, tears well up my eyes..not because of how miserable we were to be in this situation but I was too touched to have so many kind hearted people and friends helping us in times of need! 在家靠父母，出外靠朋友，所以我们平日要广结善缘，以善待人，因为我们不知道什么时候我们也会需要朋友的帮助。

5th - If you're thinking of getting an iphone, go ahead! it is a perfect gadget during travel. It helps us when we're so desperate to call someone or to online to check on the weather, the train station closed, the air ticket and so.

Despite all the unfortunate events, our trip turn out to be a heart-warming one! The snow can be a great thing but also a disaster, but we get both of its sides. Not forgetting the funny and memorable events in Scotland:

~Thanks to Hana's warm hospitality, we had some very delicious korean food i.e. kimpap for lunch and steak noodle for dinner. Miss the ginger beer, it tastes so~ gingery.

~ Having some snowball fights in Glasgow. Building snowman in the garden,which take ages!

~ Came to a beautiful city of Edinburgh, where the fairy tale settings take place! Seeing the roofs of houses covered by snow, stepping on the crispy snow that never melt that fast, visiting the historical building with so much of a European style, visiting Edinburgh University which gives me a wonderful feel of being at one of the greatest universities in the world..I seriously fell in love in this classical city!

~ having a great oriental christmas eve dinner. Thanks to the great chef jinghui corrine meichi yunyi piyasilo and yew lee!

~ Fighting with turkey for the christmas dinner: It's my first time marinading a huge turkey! Just simply pour the salt and pepper and everything in. It takes 3 hours to be fully cooked and it's hard to be cooked thoroughly. Anyway, It was really a great dinner!

~ Confession of couples during christmas night!

~ playing the addictive mafia for the whole night! That's the most popular game i have ever had since i came to uk.

~ Boxing shopping in Edinburgh and london.

6th - As a conclusion, if possible, avoid travelling during winter. Many unexpected things can happen in such an unpredictable winter. You might get bored hibernating in your room, but actually it is a bliss! After a long travel between Scotland, London and Bath, I felt so so SO great to be back to my home a.k.a. hostel in Bath! Trust me, there's no place like home in the world and travelling can only be made fun when a tired soul can rest in a place before the next journey. A big bed with fluffy pillow to sleep on, laptop on the table to surf for 24 hours, huge food storage in my room which makes sure i wont be hungry, heater than keep me warm..all those details that we were least aware of were suddenly become so essential. Anyway, travelling makes us grow, and we will become more conscious of what we have after experiencing the absence of them.

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"Home is the most important place in the world" quoted from nowhere. Can't help agree with it!

~~~Home Sweet Home~~~

Lumix, snow, and tripss ^_^

After much discussion v Kenny, We have decided to buy a panasonic camera so that We wont be regretful in going to a one-in-a-lifetime Italy trip!

Finally it has arrived....we're so afraid that we cant get it before the trip because our school mailroom will be closed during holidays.

Baby lumix~~

But then the memory cards haven't arrived yet until now!!! so now we have the cameras without memory cards...英雄无用武之地..nyiao~~

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And ya...Bath has finally snowed!! We have been waiting until our necks also long already! The temperature in Bath always goes lower than Cardiff London but these places are having snow since a few days ago and Bath still maintain its " autumn appearance"! Luckily we are able to see some snow this morning for the first time in Bath before we set off to london tomorrow! ^_^

The road in front of my flat!

The kitchen view~ nice~

Despite the very thin layer of snow on the grass, we were too excited and someone engaged a snowball war among us!!! Huu...luckily the snow is not that much, or else we'll get wet in the war!

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Tomorrow will be the reunion of Manchester and Bath friends! And I'll be going to Scotland with them from 22nd to 26th of December! Hooray~~ We'll be freezed in Scotland and celebrate a white christmas there! What would I expect more than spending a lovely warm christmas with my dear friends? Hope everyone has an unforgettable christmas this year!!! ^_^

4 things

They said, there are 4 things that you can't recycle.....

and also my sleeping hours.

So, give it your best shot in whatever you do in the present moment!

Going to reduce my lifeless way of living, thanks to my friend's reminder.

Baking cookies

A happy life is like baking cookies.

It is happy to do it together, from the mixing of the ingredients to stirring to baking.

When the cookies turn out to be a good one, it is happier if we can share them with the others~

By sharing we make people smile. Making people smile encourages us to bake more~

By receiving, people are inspired to bake something by themselves too.

And when they bake, they think of us and the sharing continues~

Hence the circle goes round and round~

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Sharing the happiness, the happiness doubles. ^_^

Secret Santa

As the Christmas is around the corner, we're all involved in a game named Secret Santa. We have randomly chosen our "Santees" from a box of names and now we're going to buy a Christmas present for him/her. Today I and Yean went to the town to shop and look for the present and luckily after much headache, we finally bought something for our lucky Santees! hehe~

Btw, today I saw a cute ear-muff hat similar to these two:

Oh my, they are so adorable. I never knew how nice and comfortable it is until I put it on my head. My ears and face are so warm despite freezing air outside.

These kinds of hat are not cheap though~ but I wish I can have one....

Btw, when we're on the way back to our campus, we saw a guy in a Scottish skirt passing by. Then Kenny said he would like to try on it and he asked us to buy for him during the Scotland trip. haha. Can't wait to see him in the skirt!

Wah, now only I know that guy wearing the skirt can be so man 1. It changes my perspective though!

We're going to bake some cookies and muffins later at 8.00pm. It's my first time baking things!!! I won't ruin my birthday present right?? God bless! ^_^

Updatess =)

=A great book for a good cause=

Last Thursday was the Water Aid Day where stalls for Charity Sales being set up along the parade of UoB. Water aid day's mission is to raise the fund for the regions of poverty in world where the water supply is under the standard so that the people can access to more hygienic water for daily activities e.g. cooking and drinking. While browsing through the items, I was lucky to spot it, silently sitting on top of the books -the 6th Harry Potter hardcover book which costs only 1.5o pounds! FYI, this is equivalent to RM9.00. Wow~~~ Without any hesitation I took out my purse and pay the price! Btw, my excitement grabbed the attention of a lady, and she said that there's a Harry potter exhibition in America. Good news for HP fans...in america but not for UK for now perhaps. Oh yeah, according to UoB website, a total of 300.71 was raised for Water aid - 1.50 pounds from a great book. hehe.

ooh my dear hubby...!!

=UCAS helpers=

On the same day, Yean and I worked as the UCAS helpers for our department. Our job is to bring the students who come for the Pharmacy interview and their parents to look around the environment of our school. It is said this is also a good way to increase our confidence and communication skills. However, honestly, I still failed to speak with proper English and my tongue easily get rolled up when I switched from Chinese to English and when I am scared. Anyhow, I believe " Practice makes Perfect". I believe I can fly~~

=Assignment done!=

Yeah yeah yeah, the group work reflective article was completed and uploaded on Friday. 1 thing less to worry about!

=Its F-R-I-D-A-Y night - the Birthday celebration!=

It was yesterday, we celebrated the birthdays of our friends Fausha, Adrian and Jecerlyn!!! Celebrating birthdays have become a monthly routine in here and most importantly, we're having fun making all those Malaysian foods and having a great chat with friends around! And this time, Yean and I were responsible for nasi lemak and fish cuisine! See our ingredients:

Don't be shocked, these were for 20 peoples!!!

However, the lemak rice is totally an overestimation. We cooked 2 kg of rice and only 30% of them were eaten!

I guess the overnight rice is enough for us to eat for like...erm...about a week??

cooking in progress~

the red curry fish

Luckily, limiting down the budget still does not affect the quality of food and the best thing is all the food was finished ( except the rice!!) The other food presented were: Sandwiches (by 194 kenny ang n jackie); pasta salad, ayam masak merah, cucur pisang, honey chicken, omelettes, jellies and drinks! Yum yum~

After the party, some of us gathered at Wanjoo's room to play Heart attack and mafia! Mafia is really an exciting but very licik game! We went back home at about 2.30 am and we can see people still clubbing in the bar of our school.

= Today, Saturday =

Woke up at 1030am. Updating the blog. Enjoy the feeling at home. Nothing to rush..nothing to worry about...haha..going to do my homework lo.. See ya! ^_^

2012 afterthoughts

Yeah! I watched 2012! No, not in Odeon, but in my room! hehehe...I have actually downloaded ppstream a few days ago and buffer this movie to watch. Seriously not sure whether this is a legal act under UK law! haha~

Alright, this is really a good movie!!! As a audience with some ethics of watching movie in mind, I know I shouldn't reveal too much of the content of the movie - it will become the spoiler and spoil the interest of people who are going to watch it! Oh, this reminds me of the code of conduct of being a pharmacist - not to disclose any of the patient's information to the others. I have to say I love ethics workshop - although people may get bored for the no-exact-answer and so called no-right-or-wrong study cases which deliberately put us in some dilemma, I find the excitement in debating and in weighing out which one is the best solution out of the many other choices. It was a brainstorming session I shall say, and new opinions that I probably never heard of do pop out. It helps me to think from the other point of view. What I have learned so far : There're always alternative for solving a problem, and sometimes we can get a win-win situation out of the mess; And, we're in a dilemma more often or not, because we're human! We're not those robots who know just to obey the guidelines given. Ooh, I have digressed far from what I intended to write about 2012. haha.

Surprised or not, the 2012 prediction might be true. The information about the end of the day can be googled easily, and we can see people argued over whether this prediction is indeed true. I believe the director knows how "animated" the scenes were, and hence instead he put more emphasis on the moral values that he wants to convey to us - Human beings have both sides - evil and good. It is totally up to you to create destruction or hope to our future.

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*spoilers warning* Please stop reading further if you don't want the suspense in the story be ruined. =P

It is so similar to ethics that we have learned.

During the times of disaster, who are they to have the right to decide the life and death of the other persons? if Charles Darwin's evolution is true, then are the factors which make people survive through that disaster the money, politics and luck? One sentence by the "US president"in the movie does tell the truth: A scientist is better than 10 politicans in the ship. haha.

And who are they to regard themselves as the next generation of the human beings? They have been saving the masterpiece of art, animals, books but they have forgotten to bring along their humane heart. We are made civilised not by the materials, but by our spirits and noble values of humanity. I guess that's the main theme of this movie.

There are indeed some parts of the story which almost moved me to point of tears. Almost o..I didn't cry ar. hehe. Parents who're willing to sacrifice themselves for the life of their children. People who are willing to care for the others disregard of their own safety. People who choose not to escape from their own responsibilities and just run away. A particular scene which strikes into my heart: The phone left unreceived. The father always thought that he has plenty of time left to make the call, and he never knows it is too late to do so. He should have heard his son if he had make the call a bit earlier. Every second counts.

It is this funny scene that i have to mention! The monk was still ringing the bell despite the rolling waves overwhelmed him in seconds. It was so meaningful. Life and deaths inevitably happen no matter the calamity comes to us or not. But one thing we must assure ourselves is, as long as we are still alive, we are going to do our obligation and live our life properly. 当一日和尚敲一日钟。This proverb does match with the scene. haha. Everything in our life keeps reminding us to appreciate the things around us. Don't put the important things last. We don't know whether we will open our eyes tomorrow; not to say till 2012. Oh, then shall I say "I love you" to my parents through skype next time? Urgh~

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Alright, that's the end of it. Love the movie! Love ethics more! haha. Have to bury my head into the French assignment now. Au revoir! ^_^

Memorial for the last day in autumn

Today is the last day of the Autumn. Time passes so quickly!

2 more weeks left for the first semester.

And then it is the 3 weeks Christmas Holiday until next year 11th of Jan, the date my school resumes!

Plan can be perfect but accidents always happen in reality. You can't plan life, you have to live it~

Let's say bye bye to autumn and welcome the snowflakes in winter! ^_^

*~ Proof of living well ~*

Shopping for groceries in Sainsbury is a weekly routine for me and my friends. This is a great way to relieve ourselves from accumulated stress of the week! It is especially true when we got so excited to get favourite stuffs at a cheaper price or to try out some new stuffs from the store. Below are stuffs that can be bought at a relatively cheap price ( all below 2 pounds, mostly 1 pounds) for a promised quality:

Flora Buttery.

Bathans are so into using and cooking using butter these days. Thus I thought I can also buy one for spreading on bread and cooking pasta. What's written on the box:

" Made with seed oils - rich in heart healthy omega 3 & 6"

I can be very assured that my body will have enough oil and omega during these few months!

Sainsbury apricot jam.

= Horlicks and Milo =

Perfect hot beverages for waking up in a wonderful morning

2 pieces of wholemeal breads plus a drink

A Malaysian style of breakfast which I don't want to leave behind even though I am living in a Western culture.

Dorset nutty cereals muesli

Grasp a handful of the cereals into the hot drinks making it more fibrous and filling.

A significant proof of my enhanced quality of living~

Not forgetting to take vit C to defend myself in such a cold weather~

anti-oxidant pomegranate hair conditioner

It smells so fruity and I am afraid I might eat it when I am too hungry!

Can't wait to take a shower with this lovely conditioner.

Vege week report

Aha! My seemingly long vege week has finally ended! Here's some of the things that i have done during this week :D

Making carrot and celery juice

Borrowed a hand held blender from my friend, Ruth.

Making carrot juice in progress~~ try to cut the carrot and celery into very small pieces.

Put them into a pot, using the blender trying to blend them off! Meantime use the lid of the pot to protect myself from the flying carrot pieces.

Results:

Eating crunchy carrot pieces in a small amount of carrot juice. Less juice, but more fibre though. haha. This jumps to a conclusion that a fruit blender is a necessary to make fruit juice. Chiewyee, i miss you. Oh I mean I miss your blender in Manchester! hehe~~

This makes a simple vegan lunch. Love the honey mustard!

And everytime before dinner, I'll eat something like this:

Yoghurt! The type of yogurt that is craved by my friends in Bath. One of my friend ate 6 packs of this in a day! Hmmm..Not much of a temptation to me though!

=banana boat=

Since it is in Banana flavour, why don't I just add some real banana into it? it tastes greater~

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Another day:

腊肠杂锦蔬菜炒饭

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Friday, the last meal before my plan terminated:

Wantan meeee v hard boiled egg~~~~~

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On Friday night, I was forced to end my plan because we Bathans had cook a great Chinese dinner and ate together! Credits go to Sinyee who cooked the curry chicken ( The main course of the day!), Eepin who made the longan fruit drink, Yean who cooked the vege, Wan joo for her sweet and sour chicken, fishfingers, Jecerlyn's sweet potato dessert,and also Belgian chocolate from ms Nimi from Mabecs~~ After the dinner we went down to bus stop to welcome some important guests to Bath - The lovely couple!

Yesterday, as the host we Bathans brought them around for sightseeing Bath! It was really cold here but luckily there was no wind and less rain that day! N/B: Those who want to come to Bath, please make sure you wear multiple layers of clothes! It was not fun to catch a cold here! It was a great day and I shall post it in details next time. We were really having fun, and also having some great meals in Bath! This another excuse for ending my plan early. haha.

That's the end of my vege week! Though some of the rules are hard to follow, Iwill bear in mind that eating well is part of living well and healthy. It is good for our bodies, not the others!

Go vege week!

Haiya friends, do you know that I had been eating around the clock last week?? It reached such a serious degree that whenever my mind thought of food, I started to feel hungry,thus I'll grab some snacks or biscuits or chocolates and ate...this "hungry states" never ceases and no matter how full I am in the last meal, I'll ensure myself eating something half an hour later. It is so uncontrollable! Not a good experience at all to be at a hungry ghost state! >.<

Then, it astonished me, during the bio-pharmaceutics lesson, that our intestine has 3 types of movements:

- phase 1: a short period of no contractions

- phase 2: a long period of unsynchronized contrations that appear similar to the feeding state ( feeding state is the period where yr food in still in digestion and it take around 5 hrs for the last portion of food reaching intestine)

-phase 3: A burst of strong regular contractions that move down in a peristaltic pattern

Phase 3 was particularly important: These "housekeeper waves" start in the stomache and will help to sweep all the undigested food particles from small intestine into large intestine. This is the detoxification process I presume! Which means- if I am going to eat at a minimum interval of 4 hours between meals, my intestine is not going into phase 3, unless I am sleeping. Oh my! I can't accept this. So my body has not been detoxifying for 1 or 2 weeks? I don't wanna die due to bioaccummulation or food poisoning. Definitely not.

Hence, with strong determination, I have decided that this week will be my " go-vege-week"!

The food that I bought for this week, which is totally vege and environmental friendly: Broccoli, Celery ( best for detoxification), carrot, cabbage ( from last 2 weeks).

Fruits: Banana, apples, plum, strawberries

Muller yogurts X 3 and sainsbury yogurts X 4

Hey, so how?Does it sound interesting to you? Feel like want to support my campaign as well? Let's go vege this week! The rules are easy to follow ( should be):

First - When you wake up, before brushing your teeth, try to drink a glass of 250 ml of warm water. To avoid adding too much of a pressure to your kidney, you must drink the water slowly, as if u're tasting the coffee with all your passion. ( recommended by Dr Low )

Second - 3 Meals. Only 3 meals per day. No supper pls! The body will consider any input as supper after 8 pm.

Third - Eat your fruits or yoghurt half an hour before your main meal, not after~ ( that's the typical Chinese tradition to eat fruits after the meal to help digestion which is wrong~~) It is because after the meal, the food will stay in your stomach and intestine or up to 4 to 5 hours. If the fruits are taken after the meal, its nutrients will not be immediately absorbed by our intestine, not until the food have passed through the intestine. Meanwhile, the fruit components may react with the components in your food and the whole thing is going to spoil...

Fourth - Do not drink cold water or eat cold food after the meal. or else, the oil in your food will be solidified. This is worse, because once this solid globule reacts with acid, it will be absorbed by the intestine faster than anything else. Thus it is better to drink warm water or soup after meals.

Fifth - Sleep early! Sleeping early enables all parts of your body to undergo detoxification naturally, starting from the detoxification of liver at 11pm. I'm not a role model on this I know, I'm still improving on this. The earliest I can get to my bed is....after twelve?? hehe....

That's the basics five rules of thumb in my go-vege-week! If you want to be healthier, you can try on short meditation for 10 mins in the morning. That helps u to concentrate! Anymore suggestion in improving the wellness of life?? hehe..tell me then!

珍贵的母难日

朋友们，感谢你们的用心，感谢你们的祝福，感恩一切的惊喜，成就了我在英国第一个美好的生日。我们的回忆怎能忘。还记得在前天的我们站在巴士站，我深深地呼吸，感受最后那十九岁的时刻。世上有多少人能渡过十九年的岁月。

在此至此刻，请让我用生日剩下的十分钟，滴答滴答的钟声，听着这首歌，静静地写下我的思念。

那似乎是偶然的一天 你从温暖的室内终于接触到室外的冷

你呱呱的啼声表示内心深处 存在着对恩的感激
这不该是偶然的一天 你年年都会记住 终于又度过一个生日

你欢喜的庆祝 是否内心深处 已忘了对恩的感激
可曾知道当两个生命 挣扎着生存 是痛苦与欢乐的交响 是含泪的满足

或许会有那样的一天 你终于体会到 世间最珍贵的母难日 是无可取代的

这是内心深处 充满着对恩的感激

可曾记得当母亲痛苦 挣扎的时候 是生存与死亡的一线

是施恩与受惠的一刻 是含泪的感恩

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佛陀说，生日，就是母亲受难的日子。在珍贵的母难日，听这首歌，内心的感触更深。用手机，把我们的心联系了起来。爸爸，妈妈，小舅，婆婆，听着您们的声音，接受您们给我生日的祝福，是我今日最大的满足。

FAMILY means Father and Mother I Love U.

Gong Gong Po Po I Love You.

夜深的您睡了，还没听得到您的祝福，唯有看着这张照片，想象公公您用您的招牌笑容，祝我生日快乐，然后说：“去喝茶，我请你！”

我的母难日过去了，今天又会是谁的母难日。今后的我会有“天鹅型 "的岁数，展开人生新的一页。但愿亲爱的您们安好，快乐。我会过得好好的。想您。

Meteor Shower

17.11.2009 - The exciting day had come. Spreading from one country to anoother, from Edinburgh to Bath, it was said that there is going to be a meteor shower on that night. Wow, meteor shower - these 2 simple words can just make people link the whole thing up: Meteor => making wish = > wish come true => Taiwan drama Meteor Garden Eh???

Hence, there I was, wearing layers of clothes plus my hoodie, prepared to step into the darkness of 9.45pm and fight against the freezing cold wind. It's my first time attempting to watch meteor shower, hence it was kind of an exciting experience I guess. Not much of the hope of making a wish, I was just curious how it happens. From the rugby field, you can see different people doing funny stunts just for the sake for making a granted wish. Some wearing monolayer of clothes, were still unwillingly to leave because they didn't see one; Some drank alcohol to keep their body warm ; some complaining how they have missed the meteor; a lot busying taking photos with friends to remember this historical moment; while Some (including me) even lay on the ground, with their heads 90' degree facing the sky, and do not dare to blink just in case they miss the shooting star in a split second. People may somehow forgot to appreciate the magnificent view of the sky with thousands of blinking stars, just to search for one which is going to ''drop'' and disappear. Human beings are weird, aren't we? While waiting for the shooting stars to come, I have enjoyed myself so much in watching the sky. And that reminds me of the story of The Lion King~

And the cruel fact is, in this scientific era, meteor isn't that fantastic anymore when you found out that what you see is just the visible path of a meteoid as it enters the atmosphere to become a meteor. ( heartbroken~)

However, the fact that making a wish when the meteor comes and the wish is granted might be true. According to Buddhism, when we desire a thing so much and we are so concentrated in making a wish, we actually make a strong will in our mind and the will will finally leads us to the realisation of the goal.

Thus,why bother to look for outer shooting star which is unpredictable and impermenant? Concentrate and make a sincere wish to the meteor in our heart - that's the open secret in the bestselling book "Secret"!

Watch out it's firework!!!

Life has never been so "busy". Hah, you might wonder why do I want to add inverted comma to this word? It seems that my lectures aren't that packed - I somehow have only 2 lectures today, 1 hour per lecture. This is far more less than the hours the kids and teens spend in their schools. I suppose have plenty of time to do my revision and homework right? However, these times were spent in doing my household chores, cooking, washing, checking email, etc. etc. Now it is 11.10pm in UK and I'm here with 80% of my to-do-list undone. Why why why~~~ poor time management I had!

A few days ago my campus had organised a firework event to celebrate the Guy Fawkes' day. It is the first time for me this kampung moi to watch the live firework display, somemore in UK! Seriously! I had never been to many countdown events back in Malaysia because my parents never brought me and didn't allow me to those crowded places. They thought I might get hurt by the dropping firework residue ( said by my mom, long time ago! ) or by the squeezing crowd. The firework shown by the tv is so nice and clear, but somehow I realise the feeling is totally different when you watch it with your eyes - even it is not the best firework you have seen!!!

Watching firework has been a tradition when it comes to a new year. It is so wonderful and it gives me the feeling that, it is the start of a something new after the display~~

I believe most of us must be at least once stunned by how beautiful the firework is~~ But don't forget, the beauty of the firework is partly contributed by the dark night that falls. Reflecting on our lives, life may be tough but it is also one of the way to show how strong we can be and how well we can make out of the unforgiving minute with 60 seconds of worth of distance run! quote from Rudyard Kipling~

Firework never comes by 1 alone. Everyone is unique, just as the firework with different colours~ If everyone can always be considerate and helpful to others instead of putting themselves in the highest priority, all of us can actually makes our best at the same time and this produces a wonderful world of joy and happiness! ^_^

After the firework display, we went to the funfair stalls at the other side of the school compound. UK funfair is not that different from Malaysia's, except that there are some new games and it takes usually 2POUNDS per game. RM2..becomes 2 pounds huh?? Due to tight budget, the machine below has become our final resort:

It is just 20 pence per game and hence we thought we might give it a try! and who knows......

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Tada!!!! I won a cute teddy bear by trying on 4 attempts! Oh my it is soooooooo *adorable* that I can't help but hugging it to get into my sweet dreams every night.

Life has been "busy" but I am so glad that I have my time spent on some memorable events like this. Oh my it is twelve the morning now. That's all for today. Bonne nuit~~~~

Bonne nuit is french means good night! hehe~

Yes Man

I wish you would step back from that ledge my friend,

You could cut ties with all the lies, that you've been living in,

And if you do not want to see me again, I would understand.

I would understand.

The angry boy, a bit too insane,

Icing over a secret pain.

You know you don't belong.

You're the first to fight, You're way too loud,

You're The flash of light, on a burial shroud.

I know something's wrong.

Well everyone I know has got a reason, to say,

put the past away.

I wish you would step back from that ledge my friend,

You could cut ties with all the lies, That you've been living in,

And if you do not want to see me again, I would understand,

I would understand~

Yes! I have just watched Yes Man and it is quite an inspiring movie about positive thinkings, with dozens of hilarious scenes and funny stunts by Jim Carrey! What a coincidence since recently I have been thinking this - how positive thinkings can bring about changes in life! Jim Carrey acts as man whose life were so miserable that he rejected almost every invitations from his friends and opportunities to brighten up his dull life. While his life has never been more depressed, some incidents happened, which makes him commited to say yes to everything that he came across! What should he do then?? Does he succeed in conforming the commitment he has made which will bring horrible consequenses once he break his promise??

Somehow the story plot sounds illogical and the main actor has been incredibly lucky in everything he does, but the story does give me some good lessons and questions to ponder. When we tend to think positively about a thing, there're more than half the possibility that the thing will turn out to be a good one, sometimes even better than what we have expected. Sometimes we are too comfortable living in our comfort zone, our own world, until we are lack of the courage to try on the things we're unfamiliar with. Then we promptly jump to the conclusion that this or that thing does not suit me. Life cannot be lived twice, why don't we just give it a try instead of keep worrying about the unknown consequences behind that thing?

However, saying yes does require some wisdom! First, to come out of our own world, we practice to to say YES! Then, we utilise our wisdom to nod our heads on the things that we choose to. And most of the times they should be good and beneficial things, not those bad ones! haha~ and most importantly, say "yes" because your heart truly want to but not "yes" because of anything else.

A good movie I would recommend~ ^_^

Quote

A random post.

" Real peace comes from within, seek not from outside."

from my teacher, the Buddha~~

Pic. of the day:

There're so many lessons we can learn from the environment.^_^

Turn passive into Active

Turning passive into Active

Well, I'm not going to talk about active and passive sentence structure as my English proficiency is that poor T.T Below is just a little thought that recently flashed through my mind and I found it imposing subtle changes to my life every day.

Have you guys heard of Cest la vie? It means "This is life" in French. To me, this phrase seems to indicate that life is not that perfect as you wanted it to be but you have to accept it, simply because, This is life! Everybody's going to face the same problem some days or some time and so as you.. But since I've learned Buddhism, I have a different opinion about this. It ain't going to be the same all the time. Life maybe imperfect, but the main point is how are we going to look at it. It is not about mere acceptance, it's about choices you're going to choose, in your heart.

That's what I usually think subconsciously when facing the situations below:

Morning: omg i miss my bed that much..why should they put our lecture in such an early time..

During lecture: lecture again..what..exam..oh my so many homework and things to do..aih..

Learning French: Gosh there're so many hard words! yer..hard lel..

and etc. etc.

I realised that, incredibly, I have always come to these kinds of thoughts spontaneously when I face the similar situations. It may not appear as sentence or words, maybe you can just feel it by your heart. The negative power that pulling your heart down. Addition of that, I may not be aware of them at all most of the time!

Thus, I make some changes to my thought these days:

Learning French: Wow, there're so many new words to learn! It's so exciting!

Learning Dance: It's really fun!!! Great to learn new stuffs!

During lecture: I'm going to learn something relevant to my ambition now! I want to learn that so that I can be a successful pharmacist and that's why I'm here in the lecture! ^_^ (not because I'm being forced to attend)

We should be active in our lives. We are the driver of our life, not the passenger! Let all the events coming into your life because you want them and willingly take up the responsibilities that come with it. We can tell ourselves, we can CHOOSE NOT TO ATTEND the lectures and the exams ( sounds pride), but we are there because WE WANT TO learn!

You know what, in some poor countries in Africa, the learning opportunities are so scarce that when the mobile library comes to the area, all the children are so excited that they can't wait to feel the taste and smell of a book, and then read them enthusiastically for the whole day! Appreciate the bliss that are around us every day! This can create a positive inner strength from our heart and so we can work positively and happily towards our goal! ^_^

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Picture of the day:

Strawberry dipped in yoghurt~~ nice~