Farewell to HP

I have tendered my resignation today. Unlike the pretty drama situation i faced in Comfortdelgro when i resigned, my HP boss was actually quite cool about it. He could still talk cok and joked with me during the smoking break.

I have never regretted my move to HP made almost 2 yrs ago. If I havent moved, I would have stayed stagnant and rot in the previous company. Contrary to many beliefs that Hp is a very relaxing company, my days in HP are often very hectic and stressful. Some snrs told me its due to the department i am in, while others told me that i have been given a very tedious project. Whatever the reason, I am glad i have brought along with me valuable skillsets, exposures and experiences which are well recognised by my upcoming employer.

The only sad thing is that the pay is miserable in HP. My next employer is paying me so much more, wooohooooo.......

Farewell HP.. i will never forget that i have such wonderful colleagues ( i can even regard them as friends!) and a very chinchye-lao-ah-beng manager tt gives me absolute freedom at work.

The Ten Brothers

I do not watch TV a lot, and probably visit the cinema at most thrice per year. The very few TV serials (I only watch HK serial drama) include War & Beauty and Virtues of Harmony.

Usually, I watch the movies and tv without much feelings attached. To me, they are just acting, and I am just watching a show. Everything is unreal. However unlike most typical HK serials, the ending of Ten Brothers is a sad one (although the director did try to make the ending as happy as possible). After finish watching this drama serial, I did have this sadness lingering in me which i brought along in my sleeps.

In this story, a couple took painstaking efforts to bring up their 10 kids, and each of them has a special power. Overcoming multiple obstacles in their life, they finally get to settle down and reunite as a complete happy family. The strong bonds amongst the brothers and their parents are evidently protrayed in every espisode of this serial.

The ending of this serial is sucky in the sense that eventually these 10 brothers have to leave their parents. The farewell scenes showing how they express their gratitude for their parents are both sad and touching (i think my mum teared).

If you are looking for an entertaining yet no-nonsense (in fact full of moral teachings) drama serial, go for it. But if you cannot take sad endings, i suggest you give this drama a miss, if not you will find yourself wasting time for the first 19 episodes in exchange for a sad ending in the finale.

Cancer

When i was younger, I used to read 8-days a lot. In every issue, there will be a page on horoscope with the weekly predictions for each and every of the 12 signs. However, I never really believe in them and passed them off as superstitions.

As i grow older, I gradually realise people who are born around the same time tend to exhibit very similar behaviour and characters. I always know cancerians are associated with being "sensitive, caring and emotional", but its not until lately that i began to have an increasing interest on the horoscopes.

Weekly predictions aside (i still do not believe in them), i feel that the general descriptions for each of the horoscopes and its traits are very accurate. For instance, Aries and Aquarius are said to love freedom a lot, while Cancer and Taurus are home-lovers. To me, this is not superstitions but in fact, quite in sync with my very limited knowledge on buddhism - why we are born in certain families or particular months of the year.

To my pleasant surprise, there also exists this compaitibility matrix, stating which and which star signs make the best friends/lovers/business partners, and while which other star sign combinations give you disastrous unions. That precisely explains why sometimes, some of your good friends need not necc mix well with your other close friends.

As a crab myself, i couldnt agree more on whats said about a cancer - a crab is an animal with a very strong and tough external shell +very sharp claws that can bite, but yet very soft in the middle. He is a soft-hearted creature, and love to hide inside his shell and enjoy the darkness when hurt or attack.

While i understand the fact that we shouldnt be too absorbed by whats 'predicted' or described here, i feel its actually a great channel for me to find out more about myself, my strengths and weaknesses, and where am i positioned amongst others (other star signs). A sentence which struck me most is "You should bear in mind that others are often not as sensitive as you". Having comprehen this, I ought to feel less disappointed and upset with others when they fail to meet up to my expectations.

Happy Birthdays!

Happy Birthday to Zeatherel and Alice. And happy belated bday to Gillian!

January is always full of birthday babies. Celebration with Sohan, Weiyang and Darren for Siling's bday yday at Bugis, followed by a mini celebration for Alice at Weixian's house. I am glad I am still in close contact with my BS friends after so many yrs.

Watched Curse of the Golden Petal today. The show is er... so yucky.......

Taipei

I have completed my Taipei tour, having visted several historical and scenic places.

The weather is very cold there, but soaking myself naked in the mountain hotsprings was really a very different and marvellous experience of great relaxation. Moreover, the views from the mountains were magnficient.

The National Palace Museum is amazing which houses historical chinese artifacts spanning from the 'Huang Shang" era, to the various Dynasties (Shang, Zhou, Qin, Spring-Summer, Tang, Song, Yan, Ming, Qing etc). The oldest ones are around 8000 yr old. (It was said that one only gets to see an empty Forbidden City in Beijing, as all its original 'contents' are actually now found in the Taiwan NPM).

Taiwan food looks delicious but am never a big fan of food. I just recall eating lots of beef noodles and pearl milk tea with frog eggs.

The countdown fireworks at Taipei101 was beautiful, with the taiwan nationals screaming and crying in joy and excitement, but it all ended up with an anti-climax after the display of "Sony Bravia" was flashed. Everyone led out this loud sigh. Nevertheless, it was a great experience having to squeeze among the 500,000 crowd watching the live mega concert with super stars like Jolin, May Day, Fish Leong, Rain Yang, A-Mei etc... not to mention i took 1.5hrs to squeeze my way out from the crowds. The automobiles couldnt move at all as everyone was blatantly walking on the roads.

A nice and refreshing experience for me :D

"Tee" Dharma

I am not sure if anyone of you can recall this ex TCS actor/model by the name of Henry Tee. He was one of the 5 Tigers which TCS was then furiously promoting, alongside with Thomas Ong, Andrew Seow etc.

Anyway, my intention this evening is not to discuss about the showbiz, but rather, on the Dharma.

I met Henry few mths ago at one of the Kathina Ceremony, and got to befriend him. I am really very impressed by his enthusiasm in the Buddhism, considering the fact that he only gets to know the Dharma less than 6 mths ago. Since then, he has already attended several meditation retreats, a Myammar mission trip, and have met up with many venerables/bhantes etc. His knowledge on the Dharma is also very impressive as a 'beginner'.

Today, he asked me along to the Om Mani Pad Me Hum retreat (as part-timer) at PKS. After which, we went to a private hospital to chant for a very sick young man, who is dying of cancer. Henry shared that he has been wasting too much time in the past, and wished he could have started his cultivation at a younger age. He jokingly told me last evening at his place that just 6mths ago, he was still busy catching those korean dramas. Now, he has given away almost all his korean VCDs. He also said that if not because of the Dharma, he should be now wasting precious time training up his body swimming or jogging.

This aftn at awareness place, he was excitedly introducing the different Dharma books and chanting CDs to me. He was basically smiling and saying hi to everyone in the temple. The Dharma joy in him is simply over-flowing.

I guess thats how much Buddhism can change the life of a person for the better - and i believe each and everyone of us has our own unique yet similar experience in getting in touch with the Dharma.

Henry has appealed to me to inform him of any upcoming buddhist activities (without fail). Well, seriously i think he is much more informed than me, considering the fact that i have 'lost touch' with buddhism for quite a while, lol.

We are back!