Amber ♥

<body><script type="text/javascript"> function setAttributeOnload(object, attribute, val) { if(window.addEventListener) { window.addEventListener('load', function(){ object[attribute] = val; }, false); } else { window.attachEvent('onload', function(){ object[attribute] = val; }); } } </script> <div id="navbar-iframe-container"></div> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://apis.google.com/js/platform.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> gapi.load("gapi.iframes:gapi.iframes.style.bubble", function() { if (gapi.iframes && gapi.iframes.getContext) { gapi.iframes.getContext().openChild({ url: 'https://www.blogger.com/navbar.g?targetBlogID\x3d34267377\x26blogName\x3dAmber+%E2%99%A5\x26publishMode\x3dPUBLISH_MODE_BLOGSPOT\x26navbarType\x3dBLUE\x26layoutType\x3dCLASSIC\x26searchRoot\x3dhttps://memydreamxmylife.blogspot.com/search\x26blogLocale\x3den_US\x26v\x3d2\x26homepageUrl\x3dhttps://memydreamxmylife.blogspot.com/\x26vt\x3d7421283166860968751', where: document.getElementById("navbar-iframe-container"), id: "navbar-iframe" }); } }); </script>

CHANGE OF BLOG URL

Thursday, April 15, 2010 at 8:54 PM

Hey People!
Change of blog URL!! :)

Please go to www.ambelline.blogspot.com ^^

(Copy and paste URL if the link dont work, hate techy stuffs that i cant solve..zzz)

i see ya there! :D

xoxo, Amber ♥

0 Comments

(Post a Comment)

P.S. Just need a Click from you if there is any Nuffnang ad showing :D

Don’t work. Avoid telling the truth. Be hated. Love someone.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010 at 10:44 PM

Wordy BUT Meaningful :)
Hope you find inspiration in this speech like i did :D
.
.
.
.
.
.

Written by Adrian Tan, author of The Teenage Textbook (1988), was the guest-of-honour at a recent NTU convocation ceremony.

This was his speech to the graduating class of 2008.
-----

I must say thank you to the faculty and staff of the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information for inviting me to give your convocation address. It’s a wonderful honour and a privilege for me to speak here for ten minutes without fear of contradiction, defamation or retaliation. I say this as a Singaporean and more so as a husband.

My wife is a wonderful person and perfect in every way except one. She is the editor of a magazine. She corrects people for a living. She has honed her expert skills over a quarter of a century, mostly by practising at home during conversations between her and me.

On the other hand, I am a litigator. Essentially, I spend my day telling people how wrong they are. I make my living being disagreeable.

Nevertheless, there is perfect harmony in our matrimonial home. That is because when an editor and a litigator have an argument, the one who triumphs is always the wife.

And so I want to start by giving one piece of advice to the men: when you’ve already won her heart, you don’t need to win every argument.

Marriage is considered one milestone of life. Some of you may already be married. Some of you may never be married. Some of you will be married. Some of you will enjoy the experience so much, you will be married many, many times. Good for you.

The next big milestone in your life is today: your graduation. The end of education. You’re done learning.

You’ve probably been told the big lie that “Learning is a lifelong process” and that therefore you will continue studying and taking masters’ degrees and doctorates and professorships and so on. You know the sort of people who tell you that? Teachers. Don’t you think there is some measure of conflict of interest? They are in the business of learning, after all. Where would they be without you? They need you to be repeat customers.

The good news is that they’re wrong.

The bad news is that you don’t need further education because your entire life is over. It is gone. That may come as a shock to some of you. You’re in your teens or early twenties. People may tell you that you will live to be 70, 80, 90 years old. That is your life expectancy.

I love that term: life expectancy. We all understand the term to mean the average life span of a group of people. But I’m here to talk about a bigger idea, which is what you expect from your life.

You may be very happy to know that Singapore is currently ranked as the country with the third highest life expectancy. We are behind Andorra and Japan, and tied with San Marino. It seems quite clear why people in those countries, and ours, live so long. We share one thing in common: our football teams are all hopeless. There’s very little danger of any of our citizens having their pulses raised by watching us play in the World Cup. Spectators are more likely to be lulled into a gentle and restful nap.

Singaporeans have a life expectancy of 81.8 years. Singapore men live to an average of 79.21 years, while Singapore women live more than five years longer, probably to take into account the additional time they need to spend in the bathroom.

So here you are, in your twenties, thinking that you’ll have another 40 years to go. Four decades in which to live long and prosper.

Bad news. Read the papers. There are people dropping dead when they’re 50, 40, 30 years old. Or quite possibly just after finishing their convocation. They would be very disappointed that they didn’t meet their life expectancy.

I’m here to tell you this. Forget about your life expectancy.

After all, it’s calculated based on an average. And you never, ever want to expect being average.

Revisit those expectations. You might be looking forward to working, falling in love, marrying, raising a family. You are told that, as graduates, you should expect to find a job paying so much, where your hours are so much, where your responsibilities are so much.

That is what is expected of you. And if you live up to it, it will be an awful waste.

If you expect that, you will be limiting yourself. You will be living your life according to boundaries set by average people. I have nothing against average people. But no one should aspire to be them. And you don’t need years of education by the best minds in Singapore to prepare you to be average.

What you should prepare for is mess. Life’s a mess. You are not entitled to expect anything from it. Life is not fair. Everything does not balance out in the end. Life happens, and you have no control over it. Good and bad things happen to you day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment. Your degree is a poor armour against fate.

Don’t expect anything. Erase all life expectancies. Just live. Your life is over as of today. At this point in time, you have grown as tall as you will ever be, you are physically the fittest you will ever be in your entire life and you are probably looking the best that you will ever look. This is as good as it gets. It is all downhill from here. Or up. No one knows.

What does this mean for you? It is good that your life is over.

Since your life is over, you are free. Let me tell you the many wonderful things that you can do when you are free.

The most important is this: do not work.

Work is anything that you are compelled to do. By its very nature, it is undesirable.

Work kills. The Japanese have a term “Karoshi”, which means death from overwork. That’s the most dramatic form of how work can kill. But it can also kill you in more subtle ways. If you work, then day by day, bit by bit, your soul is chipped away, disintegrating until there’s nothing left. A rock has been ground into sand and dust.

There’s a common misconception that work is necessary. You will meet people working at miserable jobs. They tell you they are “making a living”. No, they’re not. They’re dying, frittering away their fast-extinguishing lives doing things which are, at best, meaningless and, at worst, harmful.

People will tell you that work ennobles you, that work lends you a certain dignity. Work makes you free. The slogan “Arbeit macht frei” was placed at the entrances to a number of Nazi concentration camps. Utter nonsense.

Do not waste the vast majority of your life doing something you hate so that you can spend the small remainder sliver of your life in modest comfort. You may never reach that end anyway.

Resist the temptation to get a job. Instead, play. Find something you enjoy doing. Do it. Over and over again. You will become good at it for two reasons: you like it, and you do it often. Soon, that will have value in itself.

I like arguing, and I love language. So, I became a litigator. I enjoy it and I would do it for free. If I didn’t do that, I would’ve been in some other type of work that still involved writing fiction – probably a sports journalist.

So what should you do? You will find your own niche. I don’t imagine you will need to look very hard. By this time in your life, you will have a very good idea of what you will want to do. In fact, I’ll go further and say the ideal situation would be that you will not be able to stop yourself pursuing your passions. By this time you should know what your obsessions are. If you enjoy showing off your knowledge and feeling superior, you might become a teacher.

Find that pursuit that will energise you, consume you, become an obsession. Each day, you must rise with a restless enthusiasm. If you don’t, you are working.

Most of you will end up in activities which involve communication. To those of you I have a second message: be wary of the truth. I’m not asking you to speak it, or write it, for there are times when it is dangerous or impossible to do those things. The truth has a great capacity to offend and injure, and you will find that the closer you are to someone, the more care you must take to disguise or even conceal the truth. Often, there is great virtue in being evasive, or equivocating. There is also great skill. Any child can blurt out the truth, without thought to the consequences. It takes great maturity to appreciate the value of silence.

In order to be wary of the truth, you must first know it. That requires great frankness to yourself. Never fool the person in the mirror.

I have told you that your life is over, that you should not work, and that you should avoid telling the truth. I now say this to you: be hated.

It’s not as easy as it sounds. Do you know anyone who hates you? Yet every great figure who has contributed to the human race has been hated, not just by one person, but often by a great many. That hatred is so strong it has caused those great figures to be shunned, abused, murdered and in one famous instance, nailed to a cross.

One does not have to be evil to be hated. In fact, it’s often the case that one is hated precisely because one is trying to do right by one’s own convictions. It is far too easy to be liked, one merely has to be accommodating and hold no strong convictions. Then one will gravitate towards the centre and settle into the average. That cannot be your role. There are a great many bad people in the world, and if you are not offending them, you must be bad yourself. Popularity is a sure sign that you are doing something wrong.

The other side of the coin is this: fall in love.

I didn’t say “be loved”. That requires too much compromise. If one changes one’s looks, personality and values, one can be loved by anyone.

Rather, I exhort you to love another human being. It may seem odd for me to tell you this. You may expect it to happen naturally, without deliberation. That is false. Modern society is anti-love. We’ve taken a microscope to everyone to bring out their flaws and shortcomings. It far easier to find a reason not to love someone, than otherwise. Rejection requires only one reason. Love requires complete acceptance. It is hard work – the only kind of work that I find palatable.

Loving someone has great benefits. There is admiration, learning, attraction and something which, for the want of a better word, we call happiness. In loving someone, we become inspired to better ourselves in every way. We learn the truth worthlessness of material things. We celebrate being human. Loving is good for the soul.

Loving someone is therefore very important, and it is also important to choose the right person. Despite popular culture, love doesn’t happen by chance, at first sight, across a crowded dance floor. It grows slowly, sinking roots first before branching and blossoming. It is not a silly weed, but a mighty tree that weathers every storm.
You will find, that when you have someone to love, that the face is less important than the brain, and the body is less important than the heart.

You will also find that it is no great tragedy if your love is not reciprocated. You are not doing it to be loved back. Its value is to inspire you.

Finally, you will find that there is no half-measure when it comes to loving someone. You either don’t, or you do with every cell in your body, completely and utterly, without reservation or apology. It consumes you, and you are reborn, all the better for it.

Don’t work. Avoid telling the truth. Be hated. Love someone.

xoxo, Amber ♥

0 Comments

(Post a Comment)

P.S. Just need a Click from you if there is any Nuffnang ad showing :D

More Photos from Nuffnang :)

Monday, April 12, 2010 at 9:54 PM

Coverage by Nuffnang regarding The Nuffnang (First) Blogger's Symposium
*read back on my post*

before entering the main auditorium

while queuing for food :p

group photo at the end of it all (those who obliged that is)
i think more than half of those who attended left the hall when we were taking this photo :X
i already circled both me and Sk in red cause i doubt you can ever find us :p
circle is a bit small cause when i did it, the photo was enlarged :x my bad...

anyways, i received a good news from Nuffnang via email today
maybe i can redeem a free X-mini speaker :D
*keep fingers cross*

xoxo, Amber ♥

0 Comments

(Post a Comment)

P.S. Just need a Click from you if there is any Nuffnang ad showing :D

"Farewell"

Saturday, April 10, 2010 at 11:19 PM

Not exactly a farewell
but our dear Xinming is going into voluntary MIA
so we all planned a meet up today :)

baby copied me!!
cause i planned what i wanted to wear before he does :p
end up we couple couple red red checkered checkered
LOLS

while waiting for bus
baby was teaching me the colour function thing
he took this impromptu
i kinda like the slow mo effect :) naise~~

met up with Xinming at JE mrt station
he wore red too!! wahahahahhas
as though we had it planned all along:p

trained down to Bugis
we planned to visit a small forgotten corner of Singapore today :p
and on our way there, the guys wanted to visit the washroom =.=
so i got to wait
but there were loads of mirror outside to entertain me :D
hahahahahs
camwhore time! ^^

baby came out first, like after 15-20minutes?
i was nearly bored to death :(

randomly~~ hahahahs

hair is very long already i know
but i like lehx! my prized assets :D
& somehow i still want it to grow a bit longer :p

finally Xinming came out
& so we continued our hike
wasnt really sure about the way but we found it somehow :D

The Oldest Flea Market in Singapore - Sungei Road Thieves Market

"Many years ago, this flea market in Singapore was allegedly the place to buy stolen goods. Hence the name 'Thieves' Market'. And there is one saying that just refused to go away: if you had something stolen from your house, just go down to Sungei Road and buy it back. I heard this from my grandfather. I heard this from my uncles. And I still read about it in the travel guides. Amazing!"
- quoted from http://www.etour-singapore.com/flea-market-in-singapore.html

used the nostalgic mode in my camera for the following photos :)
i feel that the mode is very apt

everything and anything can really be found at the flea market
but what they sell just may not be usable anymore
i saw AX, Aldo, other branded goods etc
and also old items like the type writers (a lot of these), portable CD players,
mobile phones etc
so many and too many for my inquiry eyes to feast on
i really dont know to look right or left at time
hahahahas

see the old ah pek looking at those old version of digital cameras

it was very hot though
and we finished browsing the whole market within 45minutes?
really nothing much unless you are patient enough to look store by store
most of the stores sell about the same things
but i believe if there would be good bargains around there if something really catch you eyes :)

Another thing for sure is that the peddlers there would not bow down to customers
to them, its either you buy or you dont
they would not provide you with any good service nor would they try to sell their products
everything is very down-to-earth and real
they do not give a damn whether they are in your good books
sometimes, isnt it nice to be real for once?
All the so-call-good service around us, how many are from the heart?

walked back to Bugis Junction after we left the flea market
went into Sim Lim Tower for a while
enjoy the aircon and explore a bit :)

it was almost dinner time when we reach Bugis Street
bought drinks and some snacks (for baby and myself)
both baby and i only had a ferrero rocher each since morning :X
we were meeting Christine at UE Square at 7pm
and its nearly time so we trained down to Clarke Quay

walked from Clarke Quay mrt station to UE Square
but bad luck! the restaurant we wanted to go to had closed down :(
luckily baby got Plan B -

The SQUARE @ Novotel Clarke Quay

Novotel's International buffet
so we walked back to Novotel

the restaurant was rather full when we reached
so we only managed to get patio seats
but luckily the weather wasnt too hot to dine alfresco :)

Christine said that the lighting was very nice so she took pics for us :D

took this while testing the modes :) i like!!

the chairs looks uncomfy but they are pretty comfy in fact ^^

and finally, the much waited...FOOOOOOOD!!!

the star of this buffet must had to be the crab dishes
Black Pepper, Garlic Butter and Chilli crabs
they are included in the buffet menu too :D

my Garlic Butter crab came very late though
i was impatient and went to take the desserts first
and my crab only came after i finish my dessert :X
was rather full by then so i couldnt finish *poutx*

Overall the food was good & the variety was sufficient enough for me :D
good food and company is loves~~~

group photo :) but a bit blur :(

Individual shoots :)

walked back to mrt station after
coincidentally saw Angie at Liang Court and plans were set to meet straight after! i like!
hahahahas
been some time since we all meet up thus i cant wait to meet all of them soonest! :)

xoxo, Amber ♥

0 Comments

(Post a Comment)

P.S. Just need a Click from you if there is any Nuffnang ad showing :D

13th ♥

Friday, April 09, 2010 at 11:34 PM

Falling in love with you many times ^^

Its was a long long Friday though
no special celebration with baby
due working hours was lengthen from 8 to more than 12 hours? =.="
because of an Alumni+Student event which i promised to help out
was the video host for the event :)

the whole set up was like a wedding banquet but speed dating style
its a mingle and dine event, first of its kind done in NUS :)

had to do a short introduction on video before the event commenced
NG-ed a few times but soon i got the script right and it felt more natural :)
Confidence slowly eroded the initial nervous-nous

the whole event started slightly behind time
but everything went quite well
on my side, i dont see any hiccups :)
the food were good but the portion of the main was a bit too big (half a chicken per pax)
so i didnt have much space for dessert :x

after all the food
me and Matt went around to get and give a few students a heads-up
so that we can interview them after the whole event ends
i felt like a mini-reporter :D

Formal attire today for the formal event
BC Satin top, Jacket from Thailand & Satin Pants from TF
been a while since i wear pants to work
i have a love & hate relationship with my satin pants as though they fit me fine
there were still some areas where its too baggy and i dont like :x

rushed around doing the interviews when the event end
good thing that everyone was very cooperative
quick, short, sweet, zai & no NGs! :D
I only hope that i will look good on the video :p

it was 10-ish when we left NUS, the event ended later then planned
cabbed home with Venetia & Matt
feeling super tired but when i thought about the work that i had brought home
i doubt i can sleep in peace tonight :(

"Try to relax and enjoy the crisis" - Ashleigh Brilliant; a Brilliant quote indeed.

xoxo, Amber ♥

0 Comments

(Post a Comment)

P.S. Just need a Click from you if there is any Nuffnang ad showing :D

Pages

The SQUARE @ Novotel Clarke Quay