Lesson Learnt Part II

Never attempt to paint the patio ceiling with a paint brush and ladder! That's an accident waiting to happen... Use a paint roller instead. *sigh* wish I knew earlier...

Balance

The good life is the middle way
Between ambition and compassion
Between action and reflection
Between company and solitude
Between hedonism and abstinence
Between passion and judgment
Between the cup of coffee
And the glass of wine.

-- Jay McInerney

Hmm I think…
The good life is the middle way
Between failures and accomplishments
Between illusion and reality
Between constraints and freedom
Between inelegance and grace
Between fate and choice
Between a wild storm and serene sounds of the ocean on a fine day.

[no title]

















Can't believe Tony almost made me cry in public... Happy tears though.
Thanks so much, you guys the best =) Just knowing that despite everyone being all so busy... but still took the time to make this small book of msgs and cds... it melts my heart! haha

Anna - 3 words: miss you heaps!

T-Man, keep up the rhymes, you've got talent n u knw it *respect* don't let those haters get u down =P

Su, got an idea 2 get paul to do some work around the apartment - BOYCOTT! hehe

Paul - don't work let DTT wrk u too hard ;) hope you're keeping up with running, cos i'm picturing a rematch when i get back hehe

Judy, thanks gal I'm gona stay away from the dumplings, hehe n thanx for the diet tip ;)

Thanks Tony – even though the msg book was wrinkled haha…

Miss you all!

Lesson Learnt

Always follow proper cooking instructions for pre-made frozen food packs... umm... especially frozen pork dumplings!

黑或白

Recently I’ve noticed that I want things to be either "Black" or "White". "Grey" seem to be often eliminated from the equation. It’s either "right" or "wrong"; you either "agree" or "disagree" and "need" or "don't need".

But with more things that I see, and as I learn and grow, the more difficult it is to draw the line between black & white... appropriate or inappropriate... ying & yang? Sure, I know what society deems to be right or wrong, black v.s. white... but the boundary for which I draw for myself has gradually become hazy, and far fetched. Reminds me of when we used to jog around mission bay and you see a point that seem so close, but as you run along the winding roads… it is much further than we had anticipated.

So close, yet so far away – just like the line between black and white, as much as we’d prefer it to be, it is never quite as clear as grey.

温柔是一种立场

温柔是个美丽的词汇。温柔适用于女性。温柔是女性成长中的一个慢慢变得清晰的概念。它通常是当女人面对男人时才会做出的一种性情选择。
　　字典上说，温柔多用来形容女性。那可能是因为女性肌理细腻而柔软，便产生了温柔这个词汇并赋予它一种物质的感觉。于是便派生出了诸如柔情似水、小鸟依人一类的词汇，使温柔变得更加地形象化和世俗化。想想那是种怎样的情形。女人真的喜欢那样吗？
　　世间没有绝对的温柔。也没有绝对温柔的女性。其实在某种意义上，温柔不过是男人对女人的一种理想，所以他们总是用温柔要求和期待着女性。他们大概认为只有温柔的女人才是真正的女人、合格的女人。但是他们不会去想，温柔对女人来说，就意味着丧失个性。还是字典上说，温柔即温和而柔顺，当然温和不失为女性的一种好性格，但女人为什么要柔顺呢？柔顺亦即服从。即是说女性很少有她的立场、她的观点，甚至她的行为。因为她只有对男人俯首贴耳，才能符合男人的标准，成为他们理想的女人。而到了今天的时代，没有个性的人已经是落伍的了。所以温柔在今天也许并不是一个好词。当然我这样说并不是鼓励女人都去和男人对立，我只是希望女人在爱着她们的男人的时候，千万不要失去自我。
　 事实上温柔是相对的。像世间所有的事物那样，在任何具体的女性身上，哪怕是最最温柔的女性，温柔也不会是她们的全部。她会有温柔的时刻，多一点或少一点，但是她决不会永远温柔永远顺从，因为她也是一个现实的人，她也会愤怒，也会狂躁，也会发火，也会喊叫。
　　永远的温柔会让女人窒息。而且，不仅她会窒息自己，还会窒息那些以温柔压迫她的男人们。想想吧，一个男人如果总是生活在女人的柔情似水中，是不是等于被一把钝刀一点一点地切割着生命？那又是怎样的一种残酷。
　　比起温柔，我更喜欢体贴这个词汇。因为体贴更实际、更具体。体贴是一种真正的关切，那是在用自己的心去设身处地地忖度他人的心情和处境，并给予关怀和爱护。而温柔有时候却更形而上，更像一种难以名状的幻觉。
　　温柔是一种选择。选择对于女人来说很重要。这不仅仅是一种非常个人化的生存意愿，而且几乎已经成为了一种时尚。这便是女权。女权的意义已经不单是拥有社会的存在权，还要拥有一种生活的选择权。选择的权利才是真正的自我意志的体现。你在你的性情上，可以选择温柔，也可以选择其他的情绪状态，只要那是你自己的选择。
　　当然无论如何，温和与柔顺是美妙的。像水一样，流动着，并浸润滋养着你的性情、意识和感觉。只是，女人在奉献温柔的时候，最好不要忘记自我，不要忘记一个女人所应当拥有的那种女性的立场。
　　温柔也是一种立场，但决不是女人的全部。

- 凤凰网

Life

When you're young, your whole life is about the pursuit of fun, then you grow up and learn to be cautious; you could break a bone, or a heart. You look before you leap and sometimes you don't leap at all because there's not always someone there to catch you. And in life, there is no safety net. When did it stop being fun and start being scary?

Tug O' War

Ahhh the car tried to steal my bag!

Here's some more photos...

Kareoke @Kbox - this place gave me a twinge of nostalgia for Auckland...

...we're such tourist wannabes

Poker Queen of the night

We are missing you CJ!

Tis the season for skiing (Soon!)

Guess what guys I'll be back in NZ during end of aug ~ early sept!

Some friends and I are planning to go to Christchurch around end of August for a week and will be at the Queenstown ski area (Coronet, Remarkables and Treble). Let me know if you guys can meet me there! :)














This will be my dream kodak moment!

Are you swimming upstream in oceans of blue?
Do you feel like your sinking?
Are you sick of the rain after all you've been through?
Well I know what you're thinking
When you can't take it
You can make it
Sometime soon I know you'll see

'cause when your in you're darkest hour
And all of the light just fades away
When you're like a single flower whose colours have turned to shades of gray
Well hang on and be strong

Where taking each step one day at a time
You can't loose your spirit
Let live and let live forget and forgive
It's all how you see it
And just remember keep it together
Don't you know you're never alone

'cause when you're in your darkest hour
And all of the light just fades away
When you're like a single flower whose colours have turned to shades of gray
Well hang on, and be strong

No you're not defeated
And soon you'll be smiling once again
Then you won't have to feel it
Let it go with the wind
Time passes us by
And know that you're aloud to cry

'cause when you're in your darkest hour
And all of the light just fades away
When you're like a single flower whose colours have turned to shades of gray
Well hang on and be strong

Jump

Jump, she told him. And he did, one leap at a time, staggering, imbalanced, almost falling as he moved closer to her.
Through the hoop, yes, that’s it. She demanded and watched unmercifully as he obediently followed.
Why does he listen? She wondered, and why is it a natural instinct for her to continuously pin him to the corner, push him to the extreme…

One of my friends asked me yesterday what's the point of blogging. He saw it as a way to tell stories about your everyday life to the world, and asked me why you would want people to know.. I told him that it's the best way for my friends to know what's going on while I'm across the Tasman, missing them :) hehe cheesy eh, well just wanted to let you guys know I'm missing ya, and thinking of you all...

Check this out, you can become a human a lie detector
How to tell a lie from someone's eyes

Secrets about the trusty ole' keyboard
Reason behind why QWERTY was Invented

It's a bit early for xmas carols, but this is cute!
12 Days of xmas

oh, and try this fun flash game - I know you will B :)
king kong jump

It's crazy who you bump into just walking down the road... Not that it's significant (haha sorry Dan, you know I'm kidding) but the world is so small. Bumped into a friend I haven't seen in a while yesterday as I was rushing to a meeting. It's one of those moments that you look at someone, and then you rewind and do a second take. Haha lucky his white teeth blinded me!

I'll post the photos soon!

Oh and the photos from the loooooong weekend will be up soon as well :) so *watch this space*

In the meantime, check this out for some instant stress relief --> Click Me.

Change is one of those things that you initially resist but eventually learn to love it in hindsight. When I moved to New Zealand, I resisted with every fiber in body and it wasn't for a while until I felt at home in my own skin. But with every one I met, everyone I called my friend and my crew (my boys and the aba), I took a little bit of their personality with me. When you're with your friends, it is not as apparent, unless you completely mirror their actions, the nuiances you pick up from them will come off as merely being close. But once I moved back to Cali, I would do something and think to myself, wow, that's what __(insert name here)___ used to do. If I ever want proof that my life in New Zealand and the friends that I made there mean the world to me all I need to do is look up...

DAmn it, it's not showing the whole photo, check it out here:

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a129/el_mofo/DSC_0691-1.jpg

Hey guys,

Ok, here are the results from Round the Bays, 2007:

Anna N 102:04
Judy 100:12
Terence 40:19
Paul 42:20
Sue 57:23
Anna M 69:20
Jenny M 73:15
Rachel MJ 67:12
Susan 102:06
Renee 100:09

I have a feeling I’ve missed out someone. If I have, do let me know and I’ll update the list.

Judy the devious bastard ran off without me in the last two minutes - that's the only reason she got a better time!! hahaha.

This year, being my first year to participate in Round the Bays, I would say I’m pretty happy with my achievement of just completing the race regardless of how long it took. Next year, my goal will be to beat my current time. Wish me luck :D.

Allee, I wished you were there to share my first experience… and also I think your presence would have brought more excitement and competition for those who ran the race.

Anyways, just want to say “good job everyone” and thank you to Judy and her company for the feast after the race – you accountants really do know how to put on a fantastic BBQ :D.

Anna

Hey everyone, how's RTB training going?
Hope you're all ready for the big race this weekend... Su, Anna and Judy you girls make me so proud! Hehe show those guys what you're made of.
What's up with the tight tees idea? Hmmm must've been Simon's idea - designed to make sure that you can't run too fast =P

Here are some photos that I've taken with my bad quality mobile phone camera. It's so limited, there's only space to store 10 pics at one time.

Australian Open 3rd round - Mario Ancic vs. Dominik Hrbaty

(Mario won... and he's so cute too!)

Moomba Festival - I loved the fireworks, they went on for like 12 mins!

Firecrackers at Chinatown on Chinese New yr eve

Night view from the balcony of my apartment

So it's official - I'm back at uni again!
It has happened all so suddenly... and I'm really glad I'm going forward with this decision especially knowing that everybody is being so supportive of me doing this :)

Ask me how I feel about it after a month and maybe I'll give you a different answer... but for now keeping busy with work, play, study, and sports is awesome!

Off to Brisbane for the long weekend, can't wait to finally spend some time with family again :) Until next time...

Hey guys,

They say that the first step is always the hardest. Well, guess what? They’re completed right! I have been sitting here for a while now wondering what to write. And yes, I am a virgin “blogger.” Hahaha. If you know me well enough you would know that I’m hardly the type to post personal comments or pictures across the world wide web but just for you Allee, I will do it!

I guess I’ll start with how this all came about. Personally I blame Allee, it was all her idea to begin with! And what's worst is that she made me part responsible for this blog by giving me full access, goddamnit!! Haha. Actually, from another perspective this blog serves a really good purpose as a channel for communication between friends in NZ and Allee who’s just across the ditch. (See Allee, even though you’re across the ocean you’ll always be connected to our lives in NZ :)).

Our intention is for everyone to use this blog to post messages and updates. Instead of circulating email forwards and bombarding each other’s in boxes, we can vandalise this blog instead! Let this be a place where you can share your success, a place to let out your anger or lame jokes, or you could simply say “hi” from time to time just to let us know you’re still alive (CUNG!!). Whatever it is that may tickles your fancy, it would be good to hear about all it. Feel free to take the centre stage and post whatever your heart desires – the sky is the limit!

That’s all from me for now. Let’s get “blogging” haha.

Anna

It's been more than half a year since my last post... and it's amazing how much things have changed within that short amount of time.

PREVIOUSLY, on Across The Ocean....

"I’ll be moving to Melbourne soon, not sure exactly when, but sometime before Jan 8th...”

And since then there was a whole month of farewell dinners, lunches and an awesome road trip (despite the fact we didn’t quite make it to Tonogoriro crossing – stupid fog!)and a forever memorable final farewell filled with tears and laughter… followed by an 24 hr delayed flight, I arrived in 'Magnificent' Melbourne.

So I guess I'm finally fulfilling my promise and facing up to my new yr’s resolution of keeping a blog! It did take some time to restart and I can see you rolling your eyes now at my reasons of “being to busy to settle in”, “busy working”, or “busy exploring the city” but it’s all true! I mean if I hadn’t done any of that, then what would there be write about…

“Hi guys, did nothing today, just dropping a line *peace out*” o_O Now that would be lame wouldn’t it.
Anyway, I’m going to keep this short and sweet… so Anna, it’s your turn next!

[ Questions ]

Why is it that it you don't know you want something until you know you can't attain it?
Why is it that you choose A but regret not choosing B afterwards?
Why is it that while you have A you think about B?
Why is everyone so selfish...