Taipei Exchanges

The movie, 第36個故事, is a story about exchange. What is interesting about this movie is the attempt to bring in a sense of realism by making it down-to-earth. The main characters could resemble any one with aspirations in life and there were snippnets of short interviews by random people. This movie stirs up the hidden dreams in everyone's hearts by asking us 'What are we willing to give up for exchange to fulfill your dreams?'
 
Many people fail to realise that fulfilling our dreams isn't about the efforts we are putting in to achieve it, but is about the sacrifices we do and the things we give up in order to get to our dreams. 
 
I am heading to Taiwan tomorrow. It comes as a coincidence that I decide to blog on this film. But it isn't chance that makes me head to Taiwan. Sy and I have planned for it, though we are unlikely to go to '朵兒咖啡館' (台北市富錦街393號). The Taiwan trip is one of our smaller dreams; for me - I have sacrificed a sigificant portion of my leave and my year-end savings and taken out my drive at work in order to begin this new-found journey of happiness as a couple with Sy.

Steve Carell in Date Night

Date Night is a 2010 action comedy film starring Steve Carell and Tina Fey as a married couple from New Jersey who planned to avoid the routine that had become their weekly "date night". Phil Foster (Steve Carell) decides that he will take Claire to a trendy Manhatten restaurant, but they cannot get a table. Phil then takes a reservation from a no-show couple, the Tripplehorns. That was when their unexpected adventure began. I liked to share 2 definite yet random thoughts picked up from this movie.

1. Steve is a flexible actor who can get into different roles easily. I have just watched 'Dinner with Schmucks'. Both movies had him as the lead actor, but the characters in both movies look and behave so differently. I could have thought that they are really different people.

2. Relationships should not be taken for granted. I am glad that 2 years into this relationship with Sy and our sparks are still going strong. It feels as if we are constantly in the honeymoon stage of dating. We went for a romantic and private dinner date at Hogs Breath Cafe after a ROM lunch with everyone in the afternoon. [Incidentally, we were bummed off two restaurants because we cannot get a table.] That's what I called our 'Date Night'.

962: From Bankstown to Miranda

I used to stay over at my aunt's house at Sydney. In fact, it wasn't actually Sydney, but a small estate called Menai that is one of many towns within Sutherland Shire. It's a 30 minutes drive from the city, but if I was to take the public transport, it would have taken me 90 minutes - first a 10 minute walk out to the main road, next a 25 minutes wait for the only bus goes past Menai Marketplace and Bradman Road, followed by another 25 minutes to get me to Padstow train station. Finally, a 30 minute train ride to get me to the heart of Sydney.

Although the breezy nature of New South Wales' weather makes travelling a walk in the park, I still prefer Singapore's efficient public transport system. Travelling to Harbourfront and Chinatown is faster via the train, as compared to via the car. My overseas experience has made me reflect upon the fortunes that I have been blessed with in Singapore.

The journey from Menai to Sydney was long yet nostalgic. How I wished I could experience Bus Service No. 962 once again.

My life and its mess

My life is in a big mess. I feel that there is so much rubbish that I need to clear. I need to:
(i) clear up my room,
(ii) polish and service my car (and the boot),
(iii) tidy up my e-mails,
(iv) clean my workstation,
(v) sort up my finances,
(vi) arrange the files & icons in my hard disk drive, etc.
When there is so much burden that I have to clear, I feel that I am in a complete mess. What can I do? What should I do? How do I go about doing it?

I just read an article in which an American author, Dan Buettner, interviewed Minister Mentor LKY in 2008. Dan's sixth book, Thrive, researches on the world's happiest places which includes a profile of Singapore. His excerpts read, 'By now, we had finished our tea. I looked around at Lee's airy office again and was struck by its complete absence of clutter. How suitably his own approach to work captured the very notion he was describing - living out the values he found important.'. Maybe it's time I get the book written by Dan Buettner to add on to my clutter. What more harm can one book do to the mountain of mess?

It's always brighter than you think

Not every day is Sunday. There are times when you lose focus of the things you have or feel grumpy about the job you possess. Today is one such day. Afterall, this week at work consisted of an performance appraisal session and repeated failures to reach standards of perfectionism.

I looked back at my previous job and saw the negatives - working 12-hour shifts, coming back on weekend, guarding against office backstabbers, listening to uninspiring management, dealing with unrepentant staff, and the list just goes on. Even today when I listened to my ex-colleagues rattle, I realised that the situation hasn't improved.

Just when things look gloomy, all I need to do is to look back at my past and the present became brighter once again.