Hooked On Games ...

After a period of time where I had nothing much to do since I am not as busy with work as before and my semester has ended, I was wondering what to do with my time, and discovered some interesting games on my smartphone.

 

I am not one who likes to play games, especially violent games. I prefer educational games, as in games that help improve my knowledge and vocabulary at the same time. My favourite games are still word games like Scrabble, Boggle and Hangman, as well as strategy games like Risk and Cluedo.

 

Recently I found out that there are many games that can be downloaded on smartphones. Some of the games are exclusively only for iPhones, but there are many that can be used on any smartphone. I went to search around and found my favourite type of games - the adventure / strategy kinds. I like these because they help exercise my mind, train my observation skills and enable me to have a sharper eye.

 

However, these games are not free. The trial is free, where I was allowed to play a few stages. And if I shared my "achievements" on facebook, I can play another stage for free. But that was it. If I want the full game, I would then need to pay, and I am not for the idea of paying for something like this even though it is a very low price for a lifetime game. What if I need to change phone in the near future? Do I then need to pay again if I find the same game?

 

Hence I will just have to finish playing, delete, re-download, and start playing the same thing again and again. Until the time comes when I absolutely cannot live without the games, otherwise this will just have to be repeated again and again.

Spinning A Yarn

I had been figuring out what to do for the remaining of this year. After all. I have no classes on, and no dates. My baking and cooking classes have also come to a halt. The only thing left is music, but that too is going along pretty smoothly. So I thought of taking up something to kill time, instead of lounging around with nothing else to do.

So I hit upon an idea - knitting. This came about when I was trying to figure out what to pack for the upcoming trip in a couple of months. Somehow I came across a knitted (or is it crocheted) top which fits the occasion pretty well. It is an old top, made for me by my mum a long time ago, but I have not worn it much as it is madness to wear something like that in tropical weather.

While examining the top, I realised it would be good if I can make some of my own clothes instead. After all, anytime I feel creative, I can always make my own clothes according to how I like it to be, then I do not need to keep buying. All it needs is yarn and needles, and some skill.

Thus I have been looking around and researching on where I can get the best yarn, as well as a guide to knit. I am probably going to start off with a scarf, as I believe that will be the easiest. Perhaps it can be a Christmas gift if I can make it on time. Hopefully I will be able to find somewhere to go for lessons too, then it will be much easier to make something!

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Asian Geographic, Anyone?

I came across a magazine at the convenience mart in the petrol kiosk next to my office some time back. How can I miss that? It is called "Asian Geographic". Apparently, it is already out for some time, yet I never know! After all the National Geographic I have read, I was wondering how Asian Geographic will be like. Turns out that I am not disappointed!

The photos are just as good as those in the NatGeo! Big, glossy, detailed, and you can just feel the animals coming to life in front of you! The only difference is that for Asian Geo, the issues are focused on Asia, like the geography, culture, demography and disasters predominantly in the Asian region.

The issue I bought happened to touch on the normadic people in the Himalayan region. Plus an article on the long-necked tribe in northern Thailand, refugees from Myanmar. Not to mention the numerous appeals for relief in aid of the refugees and child prostitutes in the various parts of Asia.

The reason I love Nat Geo and now Asian Geo is because the magazines expose me to things which I will otherwise never foresee in the part of the world I am in. Rather than reading about who are the top financiers in the world (although the Economist and TIME have helped improve my English somewhat), I rather see the other part of the world where I can never see.

Face it, the world is not made up of top businessmen or entrepreneurs, but of dying creatures on the brink of extinction, of stone-aged hamo sapiens of long ago, sufferings and reality of some parts of the world, and the different colourful cultures and practices that still exist to this day. And that is why I will still continue reading NatGeo and start subscribing to Asian Geographic!

"Talent" Management

I feel rather flattered by a few people who said I am one of the most talented persons they have ever met. All I can say is a big thank you, but I truly do not think so. I am definitely not talented as compared to a lot of others I know, especially in light of my family members.

Talent itself is subjective. It can mean a lot of things. People can be talented in many ways. Some can be in studies, some in sports, some in music, some in science, some in languages. Some can be good in just about everything. Now that is the truly gifted.

Me? Nothing much. My parents tried to groom me into something, but I end up with nothing much to show. Studies wise I have never been a top student. Sports wise I lose more than actually winning, missing the balls and the hits. Music wise, I have never played that well or smoothly, never really won in any competition I entered, never scored that high in any examination.

I struggled with science and math, and even for languages, my writing is not as good as compared to a lot of others, otherwise I would have numerous articles and books published already. As it is, even though I have been formulating some short stories, I have yet to get the entire story together, as the ideas are just so haphazard.

But I am very proud of my family, because I grow up in a talented family. If some people think I am talented, they have not seen my cousins. They are the real talented ones. Studies wise, they score either straight 'A's or mostly 'A's. Music wise, they get distinctions for almost every examination.

Sports wise, they can bowl, play badminton, squash, tennis, table-tennis, netball, and a few of them made the school and national teams even. They are even able to jog the entire MacRitchie Reservoir without pausing, whereas I had to stop and walk after just a short way. And all can cycle, unlike me. :-(

They read and write a lot, good in sciences and math, knowledgeable in current and world affairs, politics, economy, finance. Some are government scholars and graduates and post-graduates from top universities around the world.

Honestly, I feel like a real airhead while talking to them, so I always maintain my silence whenever we have a gathering and just listen to their intelligent conversations. At least I got to learn a lot by listening. I do not trust myself to speak.

Sometimes I wish I can be as smart or talented as them. I love all my cousins, they are like real siblings to me, but at times, I wish I can be as smart or talented or knowledgeable as them. In a way, we have the same genes too, so why am I so different from them?

Maybe because of this that I get attracted to talented people. Afterall, I grow up with people who are talented in some ways, so I tend to get along better with those who are also talented in some ways.

My best friend for one. She is better than me in almost every aspect, in studies, singing, making and keeping friends, effectively bilingual, her looks and appearance, sports. My childhood friend, whom without him I would have failed math and science.

My godbrother, who writes poems and songs, set up an a capella group when he was studying in USA, a darn good singer, effectively bilingual and still graduate with a double degree with top honours from an Ivy League University.

Another good friend of mine, who attended top schools, graduated with a Masters, played the electone very well and was a competitive chess player as well as one of the top players of the local Magic scene.

Also another friend, who was a scholar, speaks four languages, dances the salsa and tango, plays tennis and squash, the piano, violin, guitar and harmonica. And someone else whom I am just trying to get over.

Even the guys I have dated, they are all talented in their own ways. My first guy was a top student, school debater, chorister, church musician in singing and playing the electric guitar and the President of the Student Council.

My second guy was another top student, hall master, writes darn good poetry, letters and stories. And my third guy, who had above average grades as an engineering student then became a top student in design school, who draws and plays the electric guitar really well.

Compared to people like these, I am really ashamed of myself. Come to think of it, how can I ask for someone who is talented and brilliant when I myself am not? Am I really so good that I cannot bring myself to accept someone who is just an average person when I myself am but average?

But one does not have to be talented to enjoy life. Whatever I am doing now, I am passionate about. I like to upgrade as much as I can. Just like even if I get my further degree, or a performance certificate in piano, or take up another instrument or two, even when others may deem these as "useless", I will still do it.

Why? Simply because these are my interests and passions. No matter how impractical people deem me to be, I will still choose to do things I really like, still portray as someone stoic and boring to many people, instead of doing things I do not like, but just for the sake of fitting in and pleasing others.

Maybe this is why I do not have that many close friends, only a handful really close ones, because even as friends, it is very hard to find someone who shares my interests and passions. Which is why in the end I end up doing many things on my own.

A Play With Words And Phrases

Currently, I am hooked on challenging and mind-stimulating quizzes. Here are a few which I absolutely love!

1. Intelligence Test Part 1

2. Intelligence Test Part 2

3. Intelligence Test Part 3

4. Intelligence Test Part 4

5. Intelligence Test Part 5

6. The Economist Style Quiz

Although the tests are so-called intelligence tests, they are more on word play and familiarisation of phrases and colloquialisms, as well as certain prior knowledge in sports, games, science, religion and politics.

So far, after numerous trial and errors, I managed to get all the answers right for Parts 1 to 4, but for Part 5, I could only get about eight right. The rest just totally eludes me. As for the Economist quiz, I only managed a score of eight. :-( Any of you managed to get all the answers, please let me know! :-p

Time Management

Some time last week, a friend accused me of having way too much free time, when he heard I not only blog, but keep a personal journal as well. I will not consider that as having too much time since these are things I really like doing. In fact, I view those who have nothing else to do but to scrutinise people's blogs and posting all kinds of nasty and insulting remarks are the ones who really have way too much free time.

Who is he to comment anyway? He does nothing except watching discs, movies, playing computer games and the occasional dining out and badminton games. I am not saying these are a waste of time because everyone is entitled to their own ways of living, but I do not think it is justified to say I am too free when my time is tied up with all kinds of other activities. In fact, too much free time is just what I do not have!

Contrary to those who think I really am too free, my time is pretty tied up, especially for this half of the year. Besides work which takes up a huge portion of my waking moments, I have school, which I have to attend three hours per week. I revise my lessons at least one to two hours per day. I have to do research, self-study and my own reading up, and that takes up at least another two hours per day.

I go for movies every weekend. Most of the time, I will watch two movies. If time allows, three, if not one. I do my own fair share of dating, dining out, entertaining and socialising. I chat with people online or through messages. I listen to music on my ZEN, or my Phillips three-in-one clock-radio-cd player, read whatever books I can get my hands on, surf the net, check mails, write / blog and spend time with my loved ones.

I sing three hours a week due to the church choir (used to be more when I was still under the Lyric Opera), go for mass an hour a week, and come March, will dance ballet and pilates three hours a week. Lately, I have been told I need to play for mass as well, so I need to take an hour a day practising the pieces.

Plus, I am involved in ad-hoc activities like more masses during the week during the Lenten season, meetings and activities for the church choir, and daily routines like sleeping (which I average about six to seven hours per night), eating, cleaning, shopping and travelling. So how can anyone ever say I have too much free time?

Why am I doing so many things? Because I enjoy everything I am doing. Some people asked why am I studying again, especially since I am no longer a teacher, since the course I am doing is one of the few part-time courses recognised by the Ministry? Can I not study just because I am no longer a teacher? Why can I not study just simply because I like it? Besides, this course is not exclusvely a course for teachers, unlike the one I took in NIE! So the next question will then be why I must do this course, why not more "practical" ones like Business? Because I do not have a business mind, and I love English Literature! Is there even a reason why I need to further my studies?

What about reading? I live to devour books and words. I cannot imagine my life without books. And even when I go out with my friends, or watch a book-to-screen movie, I would inadvertently compare the stories, and people around would always wonder what on earth I was talking about. Sad to say, I hardly meet people who really read. I do not mean just academic reading or comics, but real books like classics, like inspirational stories, even innocent children's books.

I cannot imagine my life without writing too. It is an outpouring of all my thoughts and feelings, especially for someone who lives more on her heart than her head. Which triggered off dislike by a lot of people, because, well, do I really have to say so much? Why not? Why can I not say so much just because some people do not like it, as long as I like it? Why must I conform to writing or blogging about mundane things just because people like it, just because then I would then put on a more positive facade instead of the uncontrollable weirdo, die-hard romantic and failure in life?

With all these, came music and movies, the former the food for the soul, and the latter, an observation of human nature and life's lessons in moving pictures. One simply cannot express the feelings after listening to a touching piece of music, or watching a great movie. I have people telling me, if I like listening to music, why not heavy metal pieces? If I like watching movies, why not slapstick comedies?

Why not? Simply because I find heavy metal music too loud and gives me a throbbing headache. Slapsticks are funny but meaningless. They do not tug at my heartstrings, unlike love songs, ballads, slow rocks, even classical and new age, or romantic comedies, historical epics, or intense dramas.

And is it absolutely necessary for me to attend church? If you have no religion, do not speak to me about not attending church. Who is to say your ways are right and my ways are wrong? I went through so much to get baptised, so never again will I take my religion for granted, which I had for a big part of my church-going life.

Then what about dance? Is it really necessary? What use would that be in my life? Must I do something just because it would be useful in my life? Can I not do something simply because I love it? Dancing is fun, it helps me keep fit and slim. I do it for the sheer purpose of enriching my life. To be really mean, I would say I prefer my life to be enriched by activities, rather than do nothing but stay home and watch television and movies, and let my brain rot and disintegrate, causing premature senility.

Yes, I have time to do all these things, because once the enjoyment is there, one will not think it a waste of time or chore to do whatever that is needed to be done. And to get as many things done as possible within the day, I normally multi-task, ie read, listen to music and exchange messages while travelling to and from work, chat, blog, net / blog surfing and checking emails simultaneously, study and write. Not the best way, but at least a good enough way to get many things done.

Now, if only there can be forty-eight hours in a day, that will be perfect indeed!

Stamping Away ....

I am never a collector, as in I do not go around buying antiques or things which only the rich and famous collect, but I do have my own little collection of stuff. When I was younger, I used to collect more things but now only very few things are left.

I used to have a collection of saga seeds and seashells, but these were thrown away when we shifted house. What a pity, these had rather great sentimental values for me. I used to have lots of stickers too, but after exchanging with my friends when I was young and giving to my students as rewards, my stickers had depleted.

Hence, the only things left are my coin, notes and stamp collection. I have a booklet of coins from almost all over the world. I cannot remember how I got it. I think it was when my dad brought it home one day and I took it. That is rather precious indeed.

The next one is a note collection, not an official one though. I just keep some of the older local currencies which have been discontinued. I do not have that many though, my guy is the one that has a more vast note collection than me, and he gave me a few in every denomination.

The one that is still ongoing is my stamp collection. Strangely, not many people I know collect stamps. I always thought stamp collecting is more common than any other types of collection, but none of my own friends collect stamps. Just as well, then the stamps can be exclusively my own!

I have been collecting stamps since I was ten. I first started when my mum got a letter from China, and I saw the stamps were so beautiful that I tried to remove them from the envelope. Then my mum found out and taught me the right way to remove stamps - to soak the envelopes in water until the stamps dropped out, then leave the stamps out to dry.

I find that method too troublesome, so mostly I just peel off the stamps carefully. If the stamps are glued so tightly that I am not able to remove them, I will then use a scissors to cut them off, with the pieces of envelope still stuck to them.

After that, each time mail came in, I would collect the mails and peel off the stamps. My parents helped out by taking home the envelopes from their office correspondence and helped me remove the stamps and my mum bought me a stamp album to store them.

As a result, within a year, my stamp collection grew from local to Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand (courtesy of my maid at that time), Philippines (my new maid after that), China, Australia, and countries which my parents work places were dealing with.

My most prized possession then was a triangular-shaped stamp from Malaysia. This was the one and only stamp that was triangular in shape, but when my little Australian cousin (little then, he is an adult now) saw it, he asked me for it so I gave it to him.

I even ordered exclusive Disney stamps featuring Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters. I initially wanted that as my collection, but since the same cousin wanted it, I gave him the entire Disney collection.

Then I started making pen-pals, partly to write, partly to correspond and find out about other countries, and partly for the stamps of course. So I started having stamps from Britain, USA, Canada, Greece, France, Spain, Sweden, Japan, Hong Kong, Pakistan and some other places which I cannot remember for now.

Even after most of my pen-pals and I have stopped corresponding, I still remove the stamps from the envelopes I see at home. My friends and exs helped me out as well by giving me the stamps from their daily mail.

Now that I work in a company with subsidiaries overseas, I get to see more stamps. Recently, I get to see stamps from Guam and British Virgin Islands. Two countries which I never have correspondence from, thus I have never seen the stamps.

The stamps are nice actually. Guam is an American territory, so the stamps show the Statue of Liberty. However, I just realised that the British Virgin Islands are also an American territory since they also use American currency in their stamps.

Why is it called British Virgin Islands then? According to information I came across, the Americans just call them Virgin Islands. Are they the same place or different? British Virgin Islands are a group of islands somewhere off Puerto Rico. Lately a lot of local companies are being incorporated there to save on taxes and legal restrictions.

My guy collects stamps too, so now I am in the midst of sorting my stamp collection and giving him half of my stamps, especially stamps from those countries he does not have. Hopefully he will like the stamps I give!

Of Cross-Stitching And Embroidery

I came across a cross-stitch kit the other day while cleaning out my drawers. I thought I do not have anymore of those, as I gave most of them away, but apparently, I still have that. It is the picture of a Mickey and Minnie Mouse sitting on a crescent moon and being in love.

Come to think of it, now I remember I was supposed to make that for a certain someone if we ever celebrate our first Christmas, but it looks like it has to remain unmade for now, until another person worthy of my affection comes along whom I am willing to stitch that for.

I started cross-stitching when I was in lower primary, when my aunt gave me my first cross-stitch kit. It was a small kit, and she gave it to all us girls and made it a competition among us cousins on who could complete it the fastest and nicest.

I could not remember how much she gave me though, and I threw that first cross-stitch I ever made away when we shifted house. What a pity. I should have kept it with me since that was the one that started me cross-stitching.

After that I went on to bigger kits. My mum bought me one with the design of a girl and a house, with the words “Welcome To Our Happy Home”, and asked me to stitch it so she could hang it on one of the walls of our house.

Then I bought a few more kits. One was a pair of love birds, which I initially wanted to give to my guy of the moment for our first Christmas, but once I completed it, my mum asked me to give it to my cousin who was getting married then. So she wrapped it up and I passed it to my cousin who loved it a lot. Which meant I had to make another one for my guy.

A week before that Christmas, I bought another one with the picture of two teddy bears – a male bear giving flowers to a female bear. I spent many sleepless nights completing it in time for Christmas, and stitched in a little love message as well. I gave it to him on the day itself, but all he said was cross-stitching was a waste of time; if I must sew, then sew something for him from scratch.

A few years after that, I bought the same kit with the picture of the love birds and made it for the guy of the moment one Valentine’s Day. At least he was so happy that he hung it outside his cupboard so that “everyone could see” in his words.

Some years later, I bought a few more kits. This time, I upgraded from the round basket-like thing to the cloth thing. Cross-stitching on the cloth is even harder than stitching on the basket, because the cloth is of much softer material. There was another round cross-stitch with the picture of two rabbits – a male rabbit hugging a female rabbit.

I finished that in record time and gave to my guy of the moment for our first Valentine’s Day. While I was doing the finishing touches, his mum came in and asked why must I do that, since he had no space to put it anyway? But he liked it a lot though and managed to find a space – behind his cupboard.

The cloth kits I bought consisted of a Tweety bird with Chinese costume, holding up a banner with the Chinese character “Fu” (meaning “luck”). The other two are Winnie the Poohs which can be made into clocks.

I completed all three one Christmas, had them framed up, gave the Tweety (with a copper frame) to my ex’s mum, gave one of the clocks (with a black frame) to him, and kept the other clock (with a pink frame) for myself.

My own personal favourite cross-stitch design is that of a boy and girl sitting under a tree, with a little bird in the tree, and the girl holding on to a dog. I had never started on that, which means it must still be somewhere in my room. I had that ever since I was in upper primary, but somehow never started on it.

I like that because I thought that would be what love would be like, and kept telling myself to make it and give it to a special someone on our first anniversary in the future. Hmmmm….. that plan never materialized. Perhaps that is a sign I have not met the absolute special one yet.

Cross-stitching has been a big part of my life, but through cross-stitching, I learnt to appreciate embroidery as well. This came about during Home Economics class in lower secondary, where our first assignment was to make a patchwork bag with embroidered designs.

Then during the school holidays of that year, the Home Economics teacher gave us an assignment to embroider a table cloth. I went home and worked on the table cloth throughout the holidays (with some help from my mum), and when I went back to school the following year, somehow I was the only one who actually did the assignment.

Nevertheless, I showed the table cloth to my teacher, who was so impressed that she took the cloth and showed it to the ‘O’ level Home Economics students, in order to “shame them”, in her words. Ever since then, my mum will use the table cloth every Chinese New Year.

The next Home Economics assignment was to embroider a baby’s sun dress. Once that was completed, my teacher selected mine and displayed it to the whole school as part of Home Craft Day. I took it back after the display, and since then, it had stayed in my cupboard until now.

It is very fun doing things like this. It gives one a sense of achievement too, as from a round basket or a white cloth that has absolutely nothing, suddenly a nice design materialized from your own hands. That feeling is just inexplicably warm, all the more so if you make it for a loved one. It is truly better to give than to receive.