How to be Happy?

• Build self-esteem
• Deal with emotions & those who cause them
• Handle life's challenges positively & realistically
• Set & achieve life goals
• Connect with something beyond e.g. music, nature, meditation.

~~ you are who you are and you are wonderful ~~

~~ receive compliments & allow yourself to believe you're worth it ~~

~~ treat yourself at least one thing a day that you enjoy that's just for you ~~

~~ make your point clearly with whom you have negative feelings for ~~

~~ spot where you are misinterpreting the evidence & actively explore whether your negative thinking is based on true information ~~

~~ keep trying ~~

~~ Find your mission: succeed in your career, to have a superb marriage, to raise healthy and happy children ~~

For the full four-week workshop, visit the title link.

What is Love?

Love is about commitment on both sides to making things work when things are no longer new and easy
Love is about sharing similar goals and dreams
And it's about wanting the person you adore to be happy, even if what makes him happy isn't necessarily something that will make you happy
But love is something you can't truly feel for another person until you feel it for yourself - for in the romantic equation, it's not two halves that make a whole, but two wholes that gloriously come together
Wow, enlightening statement!!! Read the original text from the title link...

sulla vacanza :-D

For me, it is better to be on vacation during the European heatwave than working... no air-conditioning in the office!
Torino as the Italian has it, is honest, very straight (with its Roman influenced streets) and a weeny bit dusty in the summer.
I am having a great time here... even when I am melting :-)
Photos are on my Yahoo blog, follow the title link to have a look...

Play time...

The cast (in alphabetical order): Blythe, Momoko, Pullip
Dolls are small 3D figure of human beings, they were cult objects for primitive people. Microsoft Encarta explains the history of dolls chronologically from prehistoric times. The Connecticut Doll Artists tells the story with more sentiment and less words.
My cousins owned Barbie dolls and a doll house to go with them. Playing with them was the highlight of visiting the girls when I was young.
Someone, I still don't know whom, gave me a doll as present when I was a little girl. My mother adopted her usual approach of not letting me play with it so that it would last longer. I have always thought of it as defeating the purpose of toy since I began to understand things. The final fate of the doll laid in my brother's hands. He gave her biro blue eye shadows (with a pen obviously) and her eyes stopped rolling one day. It didn't bother me too much then, I suppose I really didn't have a relationship with her since I hardly ever played with it. It was a sad thing though, for the doll.
It seems from the devotion Yokokonda shows for her dolls pictured, female (or even male?) of all ages continue to involve in love affairs with dolls. Life might not be just about beautiful things, I can't see any harm filling our eyes with candy when the opportunity came by though...

the Beautiful by michelle tea

a coke and a smoke
as we roam the grey prairie.
what sentiment do i want
to express at the end
of our world,
a terrific excitement
as we prepare
to exit
america.
many eyes
america the
hydra
the milky stuffed
beast the roast beef
sandwich
of america.
i have no doubt we
created it.
the absent truckers
stitching the states
together, the moving
monuments
of this country.
we destroy
a little bit
of everything
we pass.
the bomb tucked
dearly
into farm land.
rest stops,
missing but
a simple bolt
of certain rage.
the wake of america
at our tail oh
we could kill it,
couldn't we.
america
what shitty parents you were.
we have to
run away
again and again
we keep
coming back
to see if you missed us
but you didn't
even know
we were gone.
we write tell-all books
about out rotten childhoods
the bad food
you fed us
-the coat-hanger
beatings
can i process
my bad relationship
with america,
can we go to couple's counseling
can we sit down and talk about
all this
bad energy?
oh america i love you
i just want to
go on a date with you
and you won't even give me
the time of day
stuck up bitch
think you're too good for me america
i could have anyone
canada london
amsterdam
is in love with me
but it's you i wnat
america.
what could i do
to impress you?
i could write you
an anthem
but you have
so many
fuck you
america
you're just so
emotionally
unavailable
you act like
it's everyone else's
fault, you're a
really bad
communicator
and you have
serious
boundary issues.
i think you're
really fucked u
america
i think you've got
a lot of
problems.
i keep getting all these
hang-up calls
i know
it's you america
you better cut the shit
i'm getting a restraining
order. if america comes
within 25 feet of me
i'm throwing her ass
in jail how do you like
that america you can
dish it out
but you really can't
take it america
you're such a baby
we've been together
all these years
and you still won't let me call you
girlfriend
you act like it doesn't mean
anything.
i'm over it america
i think you're really
self-loathing
you know
i made you
what you are today
i think you forget about that
well you can just forget
about everything
america
you can just forget
the whole thing
i'm going home

wonderful poem by the lesbian poet based in San Francisco... Read my Chinese translation by clicking the title on top...

Choices by Touchy Tresses

If I were a cloud
I would give up staying high up
I choose to become a raindrop scattering down to world
You ask me why
Please look at those sad and moody lives
That is my reply

If I were a river
I would give up flowing into the sea
I choose to turn into a sweet stream flowing into the wheat field
You ask me why
Please listen to the laughter of happiness from the farmers
That is my answer

If I were an ancient wild mushroom
I would give up immortality
I choose to be melt into healing drops flowing down people’s throat
You ask me why
Please have a look at the recovering patient’s smiling face
That is my reply

If I were an ore
I would give up peace and comfort
I choose to be melt in the pot and become boiling hot steel
You ask me why
Please have a look at all the high rise
That is my answer

If I were a dove
I would give up playing freely
I choose to deliver the olive branch to war torn countries tirelessly
You ask me why
Please look at the once war tortured children playing happily
That is my reply

Life
An endless multiple choice question
Go forth
Step back
To the left
Turn right
If you have lost your direction
Look into your heart
The truth, the kindness, and beauty
That is your answer

Translated by me... Read the original by clicking the title on top...

Drink Up...

Mocha
Put in mug - in this order
i. Instant Coffee Powder - 1 teaspoon ii. Drinking Chocolate Powder - 1 teaspoon iii. Sugar - 2 teaspoon iv. Boiling Water - 1/2 mug v. Milk - 1/2 mug vi. Whipped Cream - optional vii. Sprinkle of Chocolate Powder - optional

!!Racism!!

racism • noun
1 the belief that there are characteristics, abilities, or qualities specific to each race.
2 discrimination against or antagonism towards other races.
says Oxford English Ductionary.

so many people are suffering every day as a result of racism... Amnesty International gives some examples.

what would you do if your family is racist? mine called it "traditional thinking"...

tradition • noun
1 the transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation.
2 a long-established custom or belief passed on in this way.
3 an artistic or literary method or style established by an artist, writer, or movement, and subsequently followed by others.
— ORIGIN Latin, from tradere ‘deliver, betray’.

funny it had something to do with betrayal originally!! I say it's time for the betrayal of the tradition and the rise of justice!!!

just • adjective
1 morally right and fair. 2 appropriate or deserved. 3 (of an opinion or appraisal) well founded.
— ORIGIN Latin justus, from jus ‘law, right’.

weren't we taught to have moral values by our education system? even though doubts overcast the education system, surely it is Right to be Just... and thus not being racist!

Glamour

Apparently the British No.1 female glossy magazine is 5 years old, time flies! For those who would like to keep up-to-date with the latest make-up trends, visit their Beauty Dos & Don'ts page.

the term Globalisation...

Theodore Levitt died on 28 June 2006... he came up with the word Globalisation... read the Times online orbituary on him.

Home Sweet Home

Gateway to my castle. Visit flickr.com to see more pictures of my flat...

Welcome!

I started this blog to share photos with my family back in Malaysia. Have a look at the Tourism Malaysia website, they have picture of mouth watering Malaysian food on their home page. My other pages can be accessed from the links to the right. And del.icio.us is a brilliant resource to share your bookmarks with friends. p.s. If you are in Malaysia and would like to have a "mini you" created for yourself, have a look at Cool Mini You.

Step on the Property Ladder!

Wanna buy your own place in the rocketing London property market? Permanent Resident of the United Kingdom? Try Shared Ownership i.e. part buy part rent. Visit Housing Options website to Register. It worked for me!!

Think you should get rid of your negative thoughts?

Think again!! Negative thinking is most probably unavoidable, but you can channel your energy to think about How to get yourself out of your negative situation! Read this article to find out more. There are other self-help topics on the website too!