When a picture paints a thousand words...

Nature's canvas

2012-02-12T20:36:00.002+08:00

The sky is nature's canvas. Nature's beautiful paintings - one taken at 8am as I was doing my laundry at the yard, the other taken at 7.15pm as I was watering the plants at the balcony. Simply awesome, right?

Gong Xi Gong Xi!

2012-01-22T23:32:00.002+08:00

Christmas Joy

2011-12-24T22:38:00.000+08:00

The Joy of Christmas would not be
if there's no J(esus) C(hrist) - the true meaning of Christmas

向日葵

2011-11-07T22:55:00.000+08:00

很久沒有收到花了。。。應該有至少5年了。這次送花者是第一次送花給女孩。。。讓我驚喜。真的沒想到。。。

向日葵（又名望日蓮）的花語是勇敢的追求自己想要的幸福。

我想幸福（誰不想？）。。。但是我沒那勇氣去追求。

樂在其中

2011-06-06T22:35:00.001+08:00

不需要山珍海味，不需要魚翅鮑魚，不需要頂尖高級牛排。。。當然如果有也不錯。

Lunch @ TonChan Ramen. 6 June 2011.

Looking through the blinds

2011-05-05T21:12:00.002+08:00

I have been with the Company for almost 1 1/2 years now. Honestly, there are more things I loathe than love. However, I am always thankful that I have a nicely located work station - especially on days when I am battle-worn (like today), I could just turn around and look through the blinds -

So Sole Soul 2

2011-01-22T09:46:00.002+08:00

So Sole Soul 1

2010-10-13T21:17:00.003+08:00

My first pair of Nike, that I still own till now - can't bear to throw them away despite the holes and all. For the record, this pair is almost 10 years old.

The Moon on 23 Sept 2010

2010-09-28T22:55:00.001+08:00

The bubbly brook

2010-07-27T21:42:00.001+08:00

Being vs Doing

2010-07-13T21:01:00.001+08:00

If you can't take time to do nothing, you're a slave to doing. Doing nothing is a radical, revolutionary act. It frees you from the universal slavery of our age; slavery to the clock. The clock measures doing, but not being. (Peter Kreeft)

The grass withers, the flower fades

2010-02-09T20:34:00.002+08:00

Christmas greetings

2009-12-24T23:00:00.001+08:00

Officially 33

2009-10-17T09:15:00.003+08:00

Yes, I have officially turned ...

and I like this quote by George Burns - You can't help getting older, but you don't have to get old.

I had been on the peaks of life, yet I had also fumbled to life's very own valleys. All the experiences not only added dimensions, but also depths to my life. Can't help but stop and reflect upon what is my direction and where I am heading to - what is it that I really want to do. For this birthday, I am really happy that I did something different & meaningful.

I do not see myself as someone noble or truly generous (yes, I have my selfish moments) - but it drives home the fact of how blessed I am when I am able to give. Being able to stand in the capacity to give rather than at the receiving end is a blessing in itself. It doesn't matter how much we are giving, as long as we are giving the best that we could.

Cheers for great years behind me and for greater years ahead of me!

A garden to walk in forever

2009-09-22T21:49:00.002+08:00

If I have a flower for everytime you make me smile, I would have a garden to walk in forever.

Self

2009-09-05T23:20:00.004+08:00

The greatest hazard of all, losing one's self, can occur very quietly in the world, as if it were nothing at all. No other loss can occur so quietly; any other loss - an arm, a leg, five dollars, a wife, etc. - is sure to be noticed.

Took up the Take a Self Portrait [Weekend Photography Challenge]

Serenity

2009-07-18T09:23:00.004+08:00

Serenity is precious and essential to keep our sanity.

The Serenity Prayer - Reinhold Niebuhr

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;

courage to change the things I can;

and wisdom to know the difference.

Life and Leaf

2009-06-20T23:03:00.001+08:00

A leaf that is destined to grow large is full of grooves and wrinkles at the start. Now if one has no patience and wants it smooth offhand like a willow leaf, there is trouble ahead.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

We have got each other

2009-06-02T04:22:00.003+08:00

Friend, you have got my back; and I have got yours.

In a nutshell, I am a shy person, and that makes it hard for me to make friends. But I am blessed with friends - whom I know can share both my joy and sorrow, my laughter and tears. Friends whom I may even rarely see, or talk to, but who will go out of their way if need be - for the sake of someone like me. Likewise, I hope and strive to be the exact kind of friend they were to me, if not beyond.

To these precious friends who had cared and accepted me the way I am - I wanna say - I truly cherish you.

What made give your last cookie away

Or help me clean my room all day

Why would let me use your stereo

Or save me the middle of your Oreo

What makes you wanna give your heart away

What makes you open up and say

All of the feelings that you hold inside

All of the secrets that you try to hide

Why would you always try to be

There when I really, really need you there

To care

You're always willing to share

What makes a friend be a friend like you

What takes a friendship and turns it into

Something to last your whole life through

Love makes a friend be a friend like YOU

(Sandi Patti - Love Makes a Friend be a Friend Like You)

The hand that rocks the cradles

2009-05-07T21:56:00.005+08:00

This picture is of my mom, taken last year moments before she was pushed into the operating theatre.

When I was young, she took great care of me, teaching me how to walk and talk, teaching me how to use the chopsticks, teaching me simple maths and Chinese classical literature, teaching me life's philosophy... I don't really know how many times I have made her proud - maybe those few times when I got excellent results in school ... or how many times I have brought tears to her eyes.

As I slowly grow up, she has slowly grown old. I used to look up at her... but now her physique seems to have shrunk over the years...now, even my nieces are taller than her. It's heart breaking to see how she sometimes struggle to walk steadily, so much more when I see her climbing the stairs to get home.

I hope I can always be there to hold her hands tightly...just like...the days when she had held my hands when I can even barely crawl.

In my daughter's eyes I am a hero
I am strong and wise and I know no fear
But the truth is plain to see
She was sent to rescue me

I see who I wanna be

In my daughter's eyes

In my daughter's eyes everyone is equal

Darkness turns to light and the world is at peace

This miracle God gave to me gives me strength when I am weak

I find reason to believe

In my daughter's eyes

And when she wraps her hand around my finger

Oh it puts a smile in my heart

Everything becomes a little clearer

I realize what life is all about

It's hangin' on when your heart has had enough

It's giving more when you feel like giving up

I've seen the light

It's in my daughter's eyes

In my daughter's eyes I can see the future

A reflection of who I am and what will be

Though she'll grow and someday leave

Maybe raise a family

When I'm gone I hope you see how happyshe made me

For I'll be there

In my daughter's eyes
Song sung by Martina Mcbride

A child lives and learns

2009-04-26T18:48:00.001+08:00

If a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn.

If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight.

If a child lives with pity, he learns to feel sorry for himself.

If a child lives with ridicule, he learns to be shy.

If a child lives with jealousy, he learns to hate.

If a child lives with shame, he learns to feel guilty.

If a child lives with encouragement, he learns to be confident.

If a child lives with tolerance, he learns to be patient.

If a child lives with praise, he learns to be appreciative.

If a child lives with acceptance, he learns to love.

If a child lives with approval, he learns to like himself.

If a child lives with recognition, he learns to have a goal.

If a child lives with sharing, he learns about generosity.

If a child lives with fairness, he learns justice.

If a child lives with honesty, he learns what truth is.

If a child lives with security, he learns to have faith in himself.

If a child lives with friendliness, he learns that the world is a nice place to live in.

Dorothy Nolte

A miracle called 'LIFE'

2009-04-22T22:39:00.003+08:00

Visited my best buddy and her newborn today... truly a miracle.

How does a tiny seed become a mighty tree?
It's a miracle.

How does a sparrow fly in the boundless sky?
It's a miracle.

How can the love of two separate beings give birth to a new life?
It's a miracle.

Birth is the sudden opening of a window, through which you look out upon a stupendous prospect. For what has happened? A miracle. You have exchanged nothing for the possibility of everything.
- Willie Dixon

盈 - 您真的很偉大！

I dreamed a dream

2009-04-19T22:51:00.002+08:00

Middle-aged, dowdy, with thick eyebrows and an unfortunate gait, she couldn’t have looked less like a star. She may be the surprise winner of Britain’s Got Talent after she stunned Simon Cowell with her remarkable voice.

Unemployed and single, the 47-year-old has thick, unkempt hair and bushy eyebrows, and downy fuzz is noticeable across parts of her face.

Who is this we are talking about? If you don't already know by now - she's SUSAN BOYLE.

Miss Boyle told presenters Ant and Dec that she lived alone with just her cat Pebbles for company. She said: ‘I’ve never been married. I’ve never even been kissed.’She then stomped across the stage and began clumsily gyrating her hips towards the judges, prompting laughter from the audience.

A smirking Cowell asked her who she would like to emulate, to which she replied, ‘Elaine Paige.’‘I would love to be in musical theatre. I have just never had the opportunity,’ she added.

Moments later, the music mogul and fellow judges Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan were left speechless by her powerful rendition of ‘I Dreamed A Dream’ from Les Miserables. The audience gave her a deserving standing ovation and cheered as she finished the song.

Such a corresponding song chosen and sung:
"I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I'm living
So different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed the dream I dreamed"

Susan mentioned about her dream, and people just smirked and sneered. Her dream had not been realised prior to her Britain's Got Talent victory - because she wasn't given the opportunity.

People loved her because she's like so many of us (& probably because some of us laughed at her in the first place and feel guilty thereafter!).

So many of us dreamed a dream ... but life had killed our dreams. Trying to survive in this world, trying not to lag behind in the rat race, trying to match up to our neighbours... had all killed the flame of our dream.

I remember having this conversation with my sister few months ago. I asked her, "If you could do anything you like, without any hindrance, you know, like having to take care of your kids, no money, etc - what would your dream be?"

Too often we live to please others, we do and do and do and do, trying so hard to achieve what is success in other people's eyes to gain acceptance. We have forgotten to be ourselves.

Fundamentally, like I have mentioned before - we are called human beings, and not human doings.

As for Susan, I do sincerely hope she will realise her dream.

Let the children be children

2009-04-07T20:57:00.002+08:00

The prime purpose of being four is to enjoy being four - of secondary importance is to prepare for being five. ~Jim Trelease, The Read-Aloud Handbook, 1985

Let the children be children - what's to gain by making them grow up fast???

Just let them be - and not take out the 'be' in being humans.

To each, there’s a season

2009-04-02T19:52:00.003+08:00

Break open a cherry tree and there are no flowers, but the spring breeze brings forth myriad blossoms. - Ikkyu Sojun

A lot of times I wonder why certain things are not going the way I wanted them to... or I expected them to. Sometimes I grew frustrated and became impatient because my dreams have yet to come true. So much of rants and grumbles, that I may even forget to stop and smell the flowers.

Where did this terrible desire to rush through my day and cram everything I can into every minute of the day come from? I thought I was a patient, calm and steady person... I thought.

In this fast-paced world, while we are busy rushing through life - we may often take for granted the things that really matter. Do not our family, friends and loved ones matter? What about our health? We can be so messed up with our so-called priorities and sense of urgency.

Just remember - Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul (Henry Ward Beecher)

To take a picture...

2009-03-31T21:06:00.004+08:00

As I have practiced it, photography produces pleasure by simplicity. I see something special and show it to the camera. A picture is produced. The moment is held until someone sees it. Then it is theirs. - Sam Abell

How I had started to dabble with the camera and decided that this-is-it! - I can't tell for sure. I guess, it started probably 7-8 years ago when I realised how beauty can be fleeting, how special moments do not last forever, how loved ones may pass us by some day... and all these can be captured and frozen through a click.

You say there are memories. Don't forget that the human minds may fail. Like me, people who know me can testify that I can be as forgetful as an elephant. So photos will definitely be of great help to refresh my memory.

Plus, these frozen memories can be shared with others,... even with people whom we have never met before or whom we will never meet.

I am definitely not a techie person. If you ask me to tell the difference between different lenses, use of high or low aperture, shutter speed, so on so forth - sorry, you have got the wrong person. I just try my best to observe and feel when I take photos. Of course, I am learning (& I need to learn) the technical side to things in order to improve this preservation of my memory.

We photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing, and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth can make them come back again. We cannot develop and print a memory." - Henri Cartier-Bresson

Critcism

2009-03-30T20:43:00.004+08:00

Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a man's growth without destroying his roots. - Frank A Clark

A lot of times we hide our criticism under a blanket of sarcasms. There are times, this works ... and works perfectly fine. Everyone laughs at the so-called joke and the irony of it. Other times, it had caused unnecessary harm, intended or otherwise.

As I grow older and mature in life, I learn to keep my mouth shut in most situations, though it is my secret desire that I wanna come across as someone witty. I have learned that not everyone had the same sense of humour - therefore, it's best to shut up if I have got nothing good to say.

That said, I do not deny that criticism also help us as we trudge along this journey we call life. It is extremely useful, given in the right dosage, at the right time, with the right words.

It is like what Frank said, like rain.

So, back to my sarcastic and witty self I go.

關于一杯酒，一滴淚，一顆心，一個人

2009-03-28T10:24:00.003+08:00

一杯酒,不太多,不太少,刚刚喝醉

一滴淚,不太咸,不太苦,刚刚回味

一颗心,不太冷,不太热,刚刚跳動

一個人,走過來,走過去,有點疲累

偶爾，一個人在家，會倒杯紅酒來慢慢的喝。沒什么，只想在夜深人靜的一刻，回想一下自己的人生，自己的夢想，自己的過去，自己的未來。。。也因為不想想太多。乾了杯就去一覺大睡。

一杯酒不足以讓我灌醉，但是卻可以讓我甜甜地入睡。

Life is a theatre 人生如戲

2009-03-28T01:36:00.000+08:00

Life is a theatre, admit your audience carefully. 人生如戲。

Not everyone is healthy enough to have a front row seat in our lives.

There are some people in your life that need to be loved from a DISTANCE.

It's amazing what you can accomplish when you let go of, or at least minimize your time with, draining, negative, incompatible, not-going-anywhere relationships/friendships.Observe the relationships around you.

Pay attention.

Which ones lift and which ones lean?Which ones encourage and which ones discourage?Which ones are on a path of growth uphill and which ones are going downhill?When you leave certain people do you feel better or feel worse?Which ones always have drama or don't really understand, know or appreciate you?

The more you seek quality, respect, growth, peace of mind, love and truth around you...the easier it will become for you to decide who gets to sit in the front row and who should be moved to the balcony of Your Life.

"If you cannot change the people around you, CHANGE the people you are around."

Remember that the people we hang with will have an impact on both our lives and our income. And so we must be careful to choose the people we hang out with, as well as the information with which we feed our minds.

We should not share our dreams with negative people. Nor feed our dreams with negative thoughts.

It's your choice and your life..... It's up to you who and what you let in it...

When a picture paints a thousand words...

2009-03-28T01:21:00.003+08:00

This blog is something that I had wanted to do for a long while, but have been too occupied with stuffs (excuses, but not exactly) that I m only starting to do it now. These two* inspired my life greatly and i believe they will continue to do an even greater work in my life.

This blog is very much a merger between my passion for writing* and photography*. It's hard to say which gives inspiration to the other, as it's pretty much a two-way street. I could only say that they go hand in hand...they are essentially equally important to me.

When a picture paints a thousand words...

Nature's canvas

Gong Xi Gong Xi!

Christmas Joy

向日葵

樂在其中

Looking through the blinds

So Sole Soul 2

So Sole Soul 1

The Moon on 23 Sept 2010

The bubbly brook

Being vs Doing

The grass withers, the flower fades

Christmas greetings

Officially 33

A garden to walk in forever

Self

Serenity

Life and Leaf

We have got each other

The hand that rocks the cradles

A child lives and learns

A miracle called 'LIFE'

I dreamed a dream

Let the children be children

To each, there’s a season

To take a picture...

Critcism

關于一杯酒， 一滴淚， 一顆心， 一個人

Life is a theatre 人生如戲

When a picture paints a thousand words...

關于一杯酒，一滴淚，一顆心，一個人