Reinventing Oneself

Little do men perceive what solitude is, and how far it extendeth. For a crowd is not company, and faces are but a gallery of pictures, and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love. - Francis Bacon

I firmly believe that if you want something bad enough, you would devise ways to achieve it despite all odds. I also believe that people can reinvent their own lives.

What I don't believe in are limitation beliefs. People who believe that they are victims of circumstances. People who stick to their comfort zones and old habits because of fear and insecurity. People who are stingy with love and appreciation. People who criticize.

What's worse, is to instill these limitation beliefs on little children, when they are still so curious about the wonders that life could bring.

To me, the sky is the limit, whatever your age.

She Walks In Beauty

SHE WALKS IN BEAUTY

by: George Gordon (Lord) Byron (1788-1824)

SHE walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellow'd to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impair'd the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!

Christmas Collection II

This is the second design in Pastel b.'s Christmas Collection Cards. Since I am insistent in keeping true to the spirit of using pastel colors for the cards, I had a long debate of how to design Christmas cards without resorting to using solid reds and greens.

This is a design I came up with. The silhouette of the Christmas tree is outlined in Satin Ribbon, and the tree is decorated with Pastel b.'s signature hand sewn petals, topped with a silver sequin. I think it turns out better than I thought. I have even come up with the perfect response to using the pale colors. It's a snowy Christmas. :)

Love

When you are still single and still searching... for the elusive one true love, welcome to the the realm of "Insecurity". You start to question yourself, question the person you are attracted to and ultimately, question your sanity.

A friend is mighty confused these days and the sense of insecurity has overwhelmed and obliterated all the joy one should cherish in the beginning of a relationship.

I think it's because we live in a result oriented world and often enough the process is a means to the end. We are so focused on the end result, we forget to enjoy the process. We live in the future rather than in the moment, in the flow of things.

When this friend started to ask me a lot of hypothetical "what if" questions, which I have no answer to, I said STOP. What's the worst case scenario here? The worst case is you two don't work out. The thing is, should you work yourself into a frenzy, worrying about what might or might not happen and miss out all the happiness now?

I am a firm believer in living in the moment and the process is as important, if not more important, than the result. So what if the lunch date won't turn into a permanent relationship? The least and most you can do, is enjoy the lunch with the person you like.

Order a dessert and share it. Savor the moment when you both dip your fork into it. When you miss that person, go and eat the dessert alone and feel his/her presence. When things don't work out, go and eat that dessert again in tears. Love is a bitter sweet experience, and because of that special someone, this dessert will forever be transformed and committed to your memory box with him/her.

Nobody could predict how things will pand out in the future. The most you can do is to live in the present, coz the present is a gift.

This is a bouquet of pale green sweet peas and white chrysanthemums I bought from the flower stall in our neighborhood.

Autumn Excursion

Mommy made me pose...


Again...



Maman et moi

Vanilla Milkshake

Kobe passed on a year ago and November 7th was the 1st anniversary. Time really just flew by, coz I couldn't believe he was gone that long. One of our favorite outings is going to the Peak. B chan and Kobe loved running on the grass, with ears flapping and tongues out.

We went to the Peak on the 7th. Seeing B chan run round and round the park made me miss Kobe all the more. He would have enjoyed the mild weather and the sun. Most of all, he would be rolling in the grass and then nap in the sunlight.

We even managed to catch the sunset when we went for refreshments at the Peak Lookout. I ordered a Vanilla Milkshake and a warm chocolate cake. The food was yummy and I just wished Kobe were here, coz he would have loved the vanilla ice cream.

Translation Project

This is a copy of the translation project I did in September. It was surreal to see my own words in print. I went back to check my drafts and realized that over 98% of the contents were from them.

I was whining a lot about the deadline and the amount of material while I was doing it. Well, now that it's in front of me, I am so happy I persisted with it. It's immensely rewarding.

Christmas Collection

This is the first design from Pastel b. 's Christmas Card Collection. The Christmas Wreath features Pastel b.'s signature hand sewn petals and leaves, swathed in pale pink and mauve, with a beige satin ribbon and a silver sequin, to bring some festive glitter to the jolly season!!

If Obama Loses

Ok, I am an Obama supporter, have been since the primaries when he faced Hillary. Now that it's election eve, I have received some worst case scenarios should "my man" loses the election.

Friend A - move to Mars
Friend B - we'll all die
Friend C - all owners should check quarantine requirements on Mars/Venus for respective pets

It's not funny when Obama is not President.

Waves of bad news

The news these days is depressing, with all kinds of investments tanking, savings shrinking and worst of all, lost confidence. It takes courage to see the stock prices in my portfolio. My reaction is, take a deep breath, glance at the prices, go yikes, and move on to something else. My biggest worry is if the prices have bottomed out yet and should I cut loss.

I guess I have less worries than other people. I had a drink with a girl friend last week. She is married, with a teenage daughter and a 10 year old son. Well, she is the bread winner in the family. We are old friends and have both seen each other's struggles through thick and thin. We were talking about something, and she started to cry.

She said that she has made the most money with her company the last 2 years, in all the 8 years she has been working there. Since she has a lot of expenses, her bring home salary every month is reduced to nil. She knows that she has growing kids and that's to be expected. However, when she checked her retirement account with the company, her portfolio is 50% gone.

She then said, after slaving away all these years, she can't even get a decent retirement. My mind went blank and I could not think of anything remotely comforting to say to her, like the economy will be rosy when we reach 65 or something...

As if this is not depressing enough, we got a visit from the police yesterday morning. A newborn baby was found wrapped in newspaper and plastic bags, with no clothes on, and left at a supermarket a few blocks away. The police are conducting a search to see if there are any clues and they left us with a circular describing the case and their contact number, should we have any information.

I could not comprehend how any mother could abandon a child, making it a stark contrast to my friend, who has given up hope on her own retirement, trying to provide for her kids.

What kind of world is this and what are we reduced to?