xiaen's Space

For your reading pleasure...some might be true. Hope you will all enjoy reading it. This might bring you back the old memory especially during those school days..... Signs that you are a 80s' baby:
You grew up watching G-Force, He-man, Transformers, Thundercats, Silver Hawk, Woody Woodpecker, Chipmunks and Mickey Mouse. Not to forget Ninja Turtles, Mask Smurfs and Voltron too. Girls watched Japanese cartoon like My Little Pony, "Xiao Tian Tian", "Hua Xian Zi" etc. You grew up brushing your teeth with a mug in primary school after recess time. You squatted by a drain with all your classmates beside you, and brushed your teeth with a colorful mug. Remember the days when the school nurse, comes with a list for the dentist appointment, the sound of the drilling when your friend has a fill in his tooth. You remember the packets of milk we get in primary school to encourage us to drink more milk. (It is only cost 30 cent per pack) In secondary school, girls go to the library to borrow their favorite romance storybook. In secondary school, girls altered their school skirt to shorten it and guys will go to the school appointed school uniform tailor shop to tailor make their school trousers to the then fashionable "baggy pants"! During primary school days, the teacher will punish you using a ruler to hit your palm. A bowl of noodles soup cost only 30cent in primary school days. When you were in primary school, girls like to go to the bookshop to buy cute stuff such as animal erasers, various shape sharpeners, colorful notebook etc. Hankyu Jaya, Yaohan departmental stores used to be a favorite hangout for families during weekends. In secondary school days, you buy the Bata BM Turbo or Pallas Jazz school shoes. Some guys like to wear those china made ankle high shoes. Some even like to wear those very thick socks with their school shoes. Internet? E-mail? What the hell is that? So you thought a decade or more ago, your friends don't have pagers or hand phones in school. CDs? What's that? Cassette tapes were the norm. Movie tickets used to cost less than $5 last time. The goodies from Mama shop used to be Chickerdis, Mamee , Kum Kum, UFO, O-Ya, Ding Dang chocolate balls with toys in the box, colourful hard "egg", "cigarette" bubble gum, KIKI Bubble Gum, pink bottle of bubbles c/w a small tubes with yellow sticks to blow "more lasting" bubbles that you can pop more air in or slam it on. You never forget 'Ti Kam'. When exams are over, the board games (e.g. Monopoly, Donkey, and Transportation Comparison Card) & held! Video games will be all over the class room. Your favorite sound is the bell! For it's the homemade ice cream man. The cream that tops Hagen Dazs! And the other peddler you love is the old lady who sells juicy Muah Chee and thick olden syrup rolled in a balloon the tip of a chopstick stick. Another bell is the recess bell, a time to get away from school work and to eat. Another time when there is no bell but all guys will anxiously wait for it...The PJ (Pendidikan Jasmani), PE time (time for football) Your favourite childhood games were playing "gu li"(marbles), five stones, five bottle cover, zero-point, catching, "Pepsi-Cola one two three" and/or "Police & Sentry"! The best thirst quencher of all times is the yummy colorful ice tubes you can buy from provision shops for only 10 cent. To eat them, break the tab and suck while holding the freezing tube! All gals have girl doll/strawberry shortcake/my little pony/pound puppy, while all boys have a soldier’s figurine (combat) or a rubber band catapult that shoots folded paper! Once was the era whereby ice-cream sticks were valuable items, then came the paper aircrafts, chalk fights. Some boys made their own guns from wood, and used 'Bacilli' as the bullets. Some even used matches to shoot and burn kids’ lanterns during Moon Cake Festival. And your favorite holiday was Lunar New Year! New clothes, Ang Pows, shopping, junk food and family outings! Let's see, the majority of students in universities today were born in 1987 / 88.... They are called "youth". For them, they have never heard of the song "We are the World, we are the Children..." And the "Uptown Girl" they know is by 'West Life' but not 'Billy Joel'. For them, there have always been only one Germany and only one Vietnam. AIDS exists since they were born. CD exists since they were born. Michael Jackson is already whitened. John Travolta is always round in shape and they can't imagine how this fat guy could be a god of dance. They believe that Spiderman and Incredible Hulk are just new films. They can never imagine a black and white screen for a computer. They never know what is Atari or 'Game & Watch'. They can't believe a black and white television ever existed and they don't even know how to switch on a TV without a remote control. And they never understand how we can go out without a mobile phone when we were in university ... Let's checking if we're getting old:
1. you understand what was written above and you smile.
2. Most of your secondary school friends are getting married.
3. You are always surprised to see small children playing comfortably with computer.
4. When you see teenagers with mobile phones, you shake your head.
5. You spend less and less time talking on phone with your friends daily.
6. When you meet your old friends from time to time, talking about the good old days, repeating again and again all funny stories you experienced together.
7. Lastly, having read this mail, you are thinking of forwarding it to some other old friends. You think they will like it too, Hahaha! Yes! We are getting old too...........
Brings back old memories huh?
Cheers to the 80s babies!!!

Mr. Narayana Murthy is undoubtedly one of the most famous persons from Karnataka. He is known not just for building the biggest IT Empire in India but also for his simplicity. Almost every important dignitary visits Infosys campus. He delivered an interesting speech during an employee session with another IT company in India. He is incidentally, one of the top 50 Influential people of Asia according to an Asia week publication and also the new IT Advisor to the Thailand Prime Minister. Extract of Mr. Mahayana Murthy's Speech during Mentor Session: I know people who work 12 hours a day, six days a week, or more. Some people do so because of a work emergency where the long hours are only temporary. Other people I know have put in these hours for years. I don't know if they are working all these hours, but I do know they are in the office this long. Others put in long office hours because they are addicted to the workplace. Whatever the reason for putting in overtime, working long hours over the long term is harmful to the person and to the organization. There are things managers can do to change this for everyone's benefit. Being in the office long hours, over long periods of time, makes way for potential errors. My colleagues who are in the office long hours frequently make mistakes caused by fatigue. Correcting these mistakes requires their time as well as the time and energy of others.  I have seen people work Tuesday through Friday to correct mistakes made after 5 PM on Monday.  Another problem is that

People who are in the office long hours are not pleasant company. They often complain about other people (who aren't working as hard); they are irritable, or cranky, or even angry. Other people avoid them; such behavior poses problems, where work goes much better when people work together instead of avoiding one another. As Managers, there are things we can do to help people leave the office. First and foremost is to set the example and go home ourselves. I work with a manager who chides people for working long hours.  His words quickly lose their meaning when he sends these chiding group e-mails with a time-stamp of 2AM, Sunday. Second is to encourage people to put some balance in their lives. For instance, here is a guideline I find helpful:

·          Wake up, eat a good breakfast, and go to work.

·          Work hard and smart for eight or nine hours.

·          Go home.

·          Read the books/comics, watch a funny movie, dig in the dirt, play with your kids, etc.

·          Eat well and sleep well.

This is called recreating. Doing steps 1, 3, 4, and 5 enable step 2. Working regular hours and recreating daily are simple concepts. They are hard for some of us because that requires 'personal change'. They are possible since we all have the power to choose to do them. In considering the issue of overtime, I am reminded of my oldest son. When he was a toddler, if people were visiting the apartment, he would not fall asleep no matter how long the visit, and no matter what time of day it was. He would fight off sleep until the visitors left.  It was as if he was afraid that he would miss something.  Once our visitors’ left, he would go to sleep. By this time, however, he was over tired and would scream through half the night with nightmares. He, my wife, and I, all paid the price for his fear of missing out. Perhaps some people put in such long hours because they don't want to miss anything when they leave the office. The trouble with this is that events will never stop happening. That is life!! Things happen 24 hours a day.  Allowing for little rest is not ultimately practical. So, take a nap. Things will happen while you are asleep, but you will have the energy to catch up when you wake.  Hence, "LOVE YOUR JOB, BUT NEVER FALL IN LOVE WITH YOUR COMPANY BECAUSE YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN THE COMPANY STOPS LOVING YOU" -- Narayana  Murthy

相信这也是我们当前社会所缺乏且需要的关怀，

A  day where all my previous KL housemates at 42 had  been moved out, and start living separately ...

Eventhough It's the end of the line story for the house fellowship, it is also another new beginning chapters of our life stories living separately, nothing last forever, and i do foresee this day to be coming, as it already has ...

A weekend visit back to the old house to move out some of the things that i had left behind, and also to help up my previous housemate with his new home decorations, just want to wish you all who had been living in that house with me for the past few years with my warmest regards, and do rejoice for the new moves, keep in touch until the day we meet again ...

 

我的周末

 

星期五工作完毕了之后，回家的心情是有些轻松的，但一想到星期末的活动，就有些开始不安了起来，歌还没练唱好的，还有受洗班要去上？星期六早晨，我肩负着驾福音车的使命，在了另外的7位姐妹们，一起到了牧师那里去上受洗班，当中牧师和我们谈了不少的课题，也让我们了解到受洗了之后，如何要成为一个负责任的基督徒，同时也再一次的坚定着我们的信仰; 对我而言，这是一个很好机会让我再次地肯定自己的信仰，同时也让我晓得，如何来到上帝的跟前来认罪悔改，同时也要懂得原谅及宽恕他人，他才能真正的赦免我们.

 

那天上完了洗礼课程之的午饭之后，就心血来潮的到了一间理发店去修剪我三个月没剪的头发，特别吩咐了男理发师最好不要将头发剪的太短，否则就拿了他的命，结果不晓得是不是他剪得太兴起了，竟然就把我的头发剪得太短了，因此他也丧命在我的毒爪之下了...放心吧，他还没死，故事是假的，但头发剪得太短是真的，真不懂大家看了之后会有怎么样的反应呢？

 

之后的下午，我就忙着安排载送诗琴到教会来练习星期天崇拜的诗歌，看着她那里弹得不顺，且显得陌生吃力，就询问了她的状况，原来这还是她第一次的为礼拜天来练习，而且也好有一阵子没真正的练习了，所以才显得应付不来，了解了她的状况之后，没办法的我也只能在另找人代替了；晚上和小组的组员们聚会用了晚餐之后，就急忙的call人来帮帮忙，还好上帝总算是应许我找到了另一个比较有经验的姐妹来帮忙，结果将近凌晨12点才大概的吧3首歌练好，总算让我放下了一个心头大石...

 

但很快的一切就过去了，班上完了，歌练唱和带领好了，又是一个郁闷的星期天下午，独自个儿的左在电脑前，不时地浏览着网页，和一些朋友谈谈些闲话，懒惰时就躺在床上睡觉，发呆，就是不想做其他的东西，真难的有一天给我懒惰的时间，可能会去游个泳吧？想想自从美国回来了之后，也蛮久的没运动了，是时候让我舒筋一下; 之后的晚饭，就到表姐家里解决去了，夜晚妹妹打了电话，慰问一下近况，之后又断断续续的和另一个人通电，谈了满多的东西，就这样地完成了我一天的活动，总算日子没白费过的吧...

 

天为什么蓝？ 草为什么绿？

什么使月亮发光？

什么使太阳温暖？

花为什么香？鸟为什么唱？

什么使人 活着有希望？

爱使天蓝， 爱使草绿

神的爱使太阳温暖 月亮发光

他的爱使花香 鸟唱

因为爱 使人活着有希望

如果有一天宇宙都变样

我们只求 爱永在世上

Originally photos were taken while i was visiting London British Museum during October 2004, and post recently for general public viewing & download (foc if intrested); quite a number of photos were taken then for my own self viewing & studies, later found out that it's good if i can attempt to create some wallpapers using the photos that were taken, hence quite a number of "experiments" were done by using Adobe Photoshop, it was quite a good learning experience for me to brush up my own skills & creativity; "Clean" & "Simplicity" is the main theme for me to design the subject, objects displayed here were taken from the "world of believes" section in the Museum, which introduce the variety of "believes" across the different cultures around the world (e.g. black magic, spirits & voodoo).