From the title alone, there would be almost no need to clarify further, but no, I will go on to express my opinion.

I grew up listening to all sorts of music. I listened to these; The Beatles, Boney M, Bob Marley, Take That, U2, Michael Jackson, The Scorpions, Nirvana, Metallica, Whitney Houston, Leslie Cheung, Faye Wong, Sheila Majid, M Nasir, etc. I used to love listening to the OST from the Hindi movie Taal. I love OST loads. Now, I expanded to listening to OST from Korean drama series. Oh, I even started listening to Anuar Zain and that did kind of surprised my sister a little bit. I attended Indonesian bands shows and the International Jazz Fest. I listen to Mariah Carey, David Guetta, CN BLUE, Ning Baizura, John Newman, Shakira, Florence and the Machine,  Pink, Dido, Coldplay, Muse, Kelly Clarkson,  Regina Spektor, Lana Del Rey, Padi, etc. Well, the point I am trying to get to here is that I listen to all sorts of music of all sorts of genres. I cannot seem to put a limit to what I listen to. I do not believe it is because I do not have a “music or genre identity”. It all depends on my mood. I was introduced to The Neighbourhood by my brother and I am currently liking them loads.

However, I still do not quite understand what it is meant, this genre falling under K Pop. I know some of the songs because they are that famous, like Girls Generation and of course, Wonder Girls, from that global hit song Nobody. I have never really bothered to find out and understand what the wave is all about. To be honest, I was afraid to be called a K Pop fan. I thought it was uncool. Nonetheless, I continue listening to and loving OST from K drama series. Bit by bit, I discover how talented some of them are. Some if not most of them are highly educated. I have to say, I am not afraid now to say I like Baek Ji Young, although her genre is not really that of K Pop. Did you know that Psy studied music at Berklee or have you been to busy trying to avoid being labeled as K Pop fan. The very fact that he got in, that to me is good enough. I suppose because I think highly of Berklee. Well, what do I know. I cannot sing like a brilliant singer nor can I play musical instruments like Alicia Keys.

My second point there is the answers to these questions; is it so shameful and uncool to like K Pop?; why is it okay to love English/American songs/artists but not Korean songs/artists?; why was it okay for the Indo Pop or J Pop wave to happen but not K Pop?

I have learnt to not be too quick to judge. I will learn more about what K Pop is all about before I decide whether or not to avoid being labeled a K Pop fan. My thoughts on why there is such strong sentiments here against K Pop are either because the K Pop wave happened like the tsunami only that the waves continue on strongly or because it is not very cool to like people who look pretty all the time especially boys looking pretty. I personally have no problem with either. The wave can be like the tsunami and if it brings good things with it, the waves might as well continue on. Boys looking pretty, why should it be a problem?

Anyway, I hope like me, people will learn to appreciate the art in music, regardless of where it is from, what language it is in or what genre it is. Music is art and it is global. It has the ability to unite nations by uniting people of different nations, through the love they share for the music and artists they love.

More love and peace are what we need as the world becomes a harder place to live in.

This is of course, my personal point of view.

I usually take time off in the month of November. Usually for two entire weeks. for the past 3 years, the trips had been to the European side of the globe; United Kingdom, Italy and Spain. This year, after preparing for almost a year by taking language classes, I travelled to the Republic of Korea. I started my journey from Busan, moved up to Itaewon, down to Nami island, further down to Jeju island and back to Busan. I spent roughly a total of eight nights in Busan. The first week on my own and the second week I had my sister joining me in Itaewon. I fell in love with Busan and I loved the nice weather of Jeju island. The interesting part about my trip is that I intentionally had it during the Busan International Film Festival. To top it of, it was in the autumn. The weather was almost perfect. Actually, just perfect. I was even so lucky that I arrived at Jeju island a day or two after the typhoon passed by it. I did not experience any bad weather. Thank God for that ;D.

I decided from the beginning not to carry with me any of my brilliant cameras; just go with my brand new Samsung Galaxy Note 3; with 13 mega pixels. To be honest, I was just too lazy and wanted to just walk around. Anyway, here are some of the photos taken with my Samsung Galaxy Note 3.

I was really engrossed in walking everywhere that I did not actually actively snapping photographs. I really loved walking around and about the places I went. If I have to use one word to describe the holiday, the word will be “PLEASED”.

On the note, it was perhaps not too inconvenient for me as l could read Hangul and able to speak and understand basic Korean language.

The law is there to protect AND to punish. If it does not, than it is because it is lacking. It is lacking because it is human made and human in nature. Sometimes it fails not because it is lacking. It fails because the enforcement is lacking. The law can be so perfect that it addresses every point there is, that there exist no lacuna, but the enforcement is a failure; and this failure is human nature. Human nature is to protect his/her own first before anyone else’s. Human nature is to save himself/herself first before anyone else. Human nature is to protect and defend one’s own self first.

Nevertheless, it is also human nature to use and abuse. It is human nature to use all means to gain for own self. This should not be acceptable human nature. In fact, this should not be a human nature. Just because we are human and we are created differently does not mean this is acceptable. What makes us different at the end of the day is our conduct. What makes us are mainly our surrounding; how we were brought up and what we go through in life. Granted that what we go through would affect how we think and behave but God gives us all brain to think. To differentiate between right and wrong. Between good and bad. Going through bad things in life should not make us bad. Going through bad things should teach us to care and understand better because we know how bad things can be. Going through good things in life should teach us to be humble because we know we are blessed. If only we all can think this way, the world would be a better place. Believe that God will give you what you deserve. Just because what God gives is hardship, does not mean that hardship is what you deserve but it is the indescribable joy of what you gain after going through hardship is what ultimately the gift from God.

I believe that our deeds will all be punished and rewarded. If we believe in punishment, we will not consider doing evil things (to others). Just because there will be benefits, does not always mean that every good deed is done only with the thought of the gain.

To the person who recently made many people sad and heartbroken, I know we cannot wish you bad things as bad things will happen to those who wishes bad things, but I cannot wish you good things either. Out of anger and heartbreak, I wish to not forgive. Out of the faith I have in God, I will have to forgive. What goes around does come back around. Life is a cycle. One day you are up next day you are down. If God is kind to you he may delay the punishment and make you feel and see the punishment being paid forward. This kind of kindness that God allows, will perhaps make you hated by your closest.

So, if we believe in God, if we believe in justice, believe that all our deeds are accounted for. Does it matter whether we are paying for it or our parents or partners or children or grandchildren will pay for it? Someone will have to pay. This is just God’s way and his grace.

Have a blessed life. Joy is felt in our hearts and not worn only in our smiles.

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I was told that someone somewhere was made for me. The question is who? Where is this someone? Is he looking for me or should I be looking for him? Have we crossed paths but did not realise that we were made for each other? Could it be that he was made for me but I was not made for him? Could it be that I was made for him but he was not made for me? How do we know… whether we were made for each other? These questions make me feel sleepy. I feel sleepy when I feel like there is nothing I can do to get the answers or get things done…

My thoughts, on how do you more or less gauge whether your are right for each other is when you do not just make each other smile, but you make each other happy deep inside. Something that you can only feel. You may be able to smile even when you are not happy. As the saying goes, fake it long enough, it will come naturally. Do it long enough, you will be able to convince yourself that you are smiling because you are happy.

You are the right person for the other person if you bring out the best in him/her. But does he/her bring out the best in you?

Also, if you are lucky enough to have met your soul mate and the love of your life, but they are two different persons, who would you choose? The soul mate who understands you sometimes even better than you understand yourself and more than able to make you smile and forget your worries or the one who is the love of your life who is capable of bringing you happiness beyond imagination but is also capable of hurting you the most? Would you choose to be content or to be happy?

Lately, I have been going through circumstances that made me realize some things. Yes, something serious but enlightening, at least to me…

I realized that in life, we will go through hurts that cut us so deep that the brain simply choose to forget them. The emotions are completely shut on the matter. As if it never happened. As if we have never felt that hurt before. We go on living like that. Until an event or series of events occur and open that box so tightly closed and sealed. When this happens, when the box is opened, each person chooses to react differently. Some may choose to reflect on the matter. Some may still choose to ignore and put them back in the box and seal it even tighter. Some may choose to keep the box in storage and some may choose to throw it out into the open sea fearing that the box will accidentally be re-opened!

By choosing to reflect on the matter, a person may be able to resolve some if not all, those unresolved feelings and problems that he/she had been unable to figure out. Some may turn into a (much) bitter person. This I believe, will depend so much so on the character of a person.

I will give an example of my recent enlightenment of a part of who I am. People seem to have trust issue. I do not. Simply because, trust, to me, is not something that I have or give to begin with. I do however, believe. What I believe is that one way or another, everyone around me lie, cheat and do things with the thoughts of having advantage of doing it, not just for sake of doing or wanting to do things. If they have not, one day they will. The good thing about this is that if they do not act as expected, they are considered to be out of the norm and they get bonus points. I would consider that good things happened. If they behave as what I believe, they act as expected, I will not be caught by surprise or be hurt by it. I sincerely apologise if anyone reading this post is offended by what I just wrote, but that is my truth to you. Those close to me know this truth and they have been getting the bonus points hahaha

Anyway, what I have been trying to say is that I realized that I too had experienced cut so deep that I forgot all about it. How my truth in trust came about… No, I will not tell all here on the experience. Enough to say that the experience and the hurt, change people. For better or for worse. It is a form of self defense, the mechanics understood only by the brain and the heart. Oh, in any event, my references to hurt is not just the kind of hurt that one would cry his/her eyes out. Hurt, as I have experienced, does not always entail tears.

Goodness! With this post I just realized this Monday has suddenly turn into a “heavy” Monday. Nevertheless, it is still a good day, with Kimora Lee being in town and such hahaha Yes, I would really love to see the fabulous lady…

With this, I end this post here.

XOXO and have a blessed Monday.

네. 한국어. This blog has unintentionally been on a hiatus due to my work load. There are friends I last met many moons ago! I sincerely apologize. Although there is a saying that you will make time for those who matter. In my case, what time left were spent either on myself or my family. I do believe in putting one’s self first and then the rest follow.

Anyway, what am trying to say here is that I will try to spend more time here and meeting up friends, old or new. I will tell you guys about all the good (or bad) food I have been having hahaha.

그럼, until next time, take care 😉

I feel like the title does not sound interesting and does not fully capture my intention or the content. What should the title of this post be? Read through and suggest it then.

Well, what I am trying to tell here is something that happens quite often. It also reminded me of a television commercial by KFC. You see, people (usually of rank) have the tendency to behave a certain manner towards others who they feel are less significant or lower rank. It is sad to say but that is something that is common. It is not right but often tolerated. This, am not sure why so.

The thing about people and fate is that one cannot tell the fate of another. Today you may be of higher position but tomorrow the other person could be of even higher position than you are. I have seen bosses treating their subordinates with no respect. What will theses bosses do when some years later, these subordinates are decision makers of their employments? Say for example a partner of a legal firm and a lawyer practising at the firm. Years later, this lawyer becomes the head of department of a company. As a lawyer, be it a partner or a legal assistant at a firm, our job encompas servicing our clients. The day an ex-employee becomes a client will be the day everyone remembers how they treated each other. I have been lucky to have gotten ex-bosses who treated me well. It would be difficult and awkward if I was not considering my position today.

Coming back to the point I was trying to make, I see no reason to treat subordinates badly or with no respect simply because they are of lower rank. You will never know if one day you will be “bowing down” to them instead. Notwithstanding that, superiors or bosses must never let their subordinates disrespect them or take them for granted. Being nice need not necessarily mean throwing away your position. That will also make you a bad boss! There will be people and instances where there is a need to “put them at their place”. Until that day come, rank pulling is not necessary.

There are people (colleagues), even advisors, who do not care much for what the other person say when he or she is not of higher rank. It is common that these people only care about what the bosses say, until they see, who the bosses listen to! I find it most enjoyable to see this happen. Sometimes I feel delighted to see their faces that say, “Shit!” I often feel like saying, “You see, this is why you should not be disrespectful” but most times I choose to just enjoy that moment. It is a nice feeling to be able to slap someone when they deserve it but I personally think that it is even better if the person slaps his or her own face, with his or her own hands!

So you see, before you treat someone with disrespect, remember that that person may turn out to be your “boss”! Ultimately, you gain nothing by treating others with disrespect. So, I see no reason why anybody would do that, on purpose.

Am experiencing extreme laziness! Yes, I spelt it differently in the post title. Fun sake.

Anyways, half the day of what should be an extremely busy week, has been filled with extreme feel of lazy. This kind of thing happens when I know how full the days ahead of me are going to be.

Have you ever felt like you have done so much? Well, I am actually exhausted too. I started full steam and when things slow down due to external factors, I lose steam and along with it, my interest! This is on top of the fact that I have short span of attention and interest in things, if there is not enough interesting things for me to look forward to. Things are interesting as long as they stay interesting to me (duhh!) and that “as long as” part, can be quite short. One thing I know for now, I have lost interest and getting really bored. As a result, I am not focused and rather slow in completing certain task. In short, am short of saying “Naah, not interested” and yawn. This is definitely not good for work, and reputation. I had been lucky to have (ex)bosses who understood. One of my (ex)bosses told me to take 2 months off to just take a break and clear my head. One would constantly tell me to go for holidays, short ones, especially after and/or before major transactions.

I supposed that is all I need, a break. You know, I know, am not the lazy type, I just have the tendency to lose interest…

Do you know that there is such thing as “lie by omission”?

Apparently there is! I have always thought that as long as you do not tell things that are not true, you are not lying and that by keeping quiet about things that are true, does not make you a liar! I have always thought that omission will save me from having to lie. I mean, I do not lie by telling things that are not true… (often to avoid telling things am not supposed to tell and to avoid offending people’s feelings). Well, guess what, I had been wrong!

My hope is, from now onwards, when there are information I would have to omit (for reasons such as “it is not mine to tell”, etc, etc…), people will understand if I say I cannot say, instead of just the usual silence… Peace y’all. Love more. Hate less.

So, am in the mood to blog again… or am I in the mood to ramble useless information? Not that it matters as this is my blog (*evil grin*)

The majority. The minority. The silent majority. The undecided. Often, the views of the majority will be heard out loud. The views of the minority are ignored. Well, how do we know what views do the silent majority have? How about the undecided? Calculative-ly, if we have 100 individuals who are supposed to decide whether to say yes or no, 45 decided to say yes, 44 decided to say no, 6 silently decided yes and 5 cannot make up their minds, “yes” will “win” although “no” should win instead, but because the 6 people who decide to stay silent in relation to their decisions, their “votes” are not counted for. In fact, because they chose to stay silent, 11 are assumed to fall under the category of the “undecided”. (Oh my God, this is some serious rambling!)

I am simply trying to say, if we do not voice our opinion out, it will never be heard. It is as good as not having any opinion. Regardless of what people may think of our opinion, if we are certain about our opinion, stand by it. One reminder though, be smart when voicing out your opinion so as not to be seen arrogantly confident. People will not listen if we appear or are viewed as arrogant or brash. Also, do not force our opinion on others. There are ways to make people listen. One of it is by listening.

If only everyone learn to listen…

My oh My! How time flies. As I would normally say, “Time flies like the Concorde and life gets as short as hot pants”… Don’t get my drift? Never mind that. Just realized that I have been on hiatus for way too long. My blogging activities I mean.

Anyways, as the title goes, the content shall follow. Not that that’s law or something but at least people will get what they expect to get… or will they? (*wink*wink*)

So, the rambling is now done. Na ah, not really. I can never be done rambling.

Lately it came to my attention and I came to realize, not really my attention, rather I had done some thinking, reflecting on the people around me, that many people do not exactly know what they want, be it in relation to life, career or relationship. I kept thinking that I have been lucky enough to know exactly what I want, or at least where I am heading, in life. A starting point and the end point, the goal, the reason for all the things I do, had done and chose to do and decide to do next. The more people talk about their insecurity and uncertainties, the more I should feel the way I did, correct? Well, somewhat. The end goal is still the same. However, it made me realized that there are other things that I want (to do). There are things that I want to do that would change the outcome of the end point, although I can still target for the goal to be the same. Confused? Well, my goal is fixed (with minimum room for flexibility) but my end point may change, depending of the path I choose, to reach the goal. Still confused? I believe and I am making my goal a fixed item but the path way vary. Say for example if I want to go to London, I have various airlines to choose from and few airports to land at. Going off the point a little bit, I prefer airports other than the Heathrow International Airport, so for my first last trip there, I took the bus from Scotland and for my next trip, I should be flying in via the City Airport, thanks to KLM (because I fly Blue) (is this free advertising?!). What I am trying to say is set a goal, make the goal a fixed factor and let the paths be the variable. (AM STILL RAMBLING)

I am thankful to God for giving me the brain that works the way it does now as I know exactly what I need to do to achieve my goals, although, chance is a variable that is extremely uncertain. I am also thankful to God for everything, the hardship and the blessings. Nevertheless, having a fixed goal would mean plans and sub-plans, constant process of analysis and research and review. This is where there are those who would say, “Live today like there is no tomorrow”, or “Stop planning so much as our paths are written”, or all those things along that line of thought. Well, guess what, having a planned future does not mean we cannot or do not live the day like there is no tomorrow, or that we do not live somewhat carelessly. That just mean our carelessness has boundaries, like everything else, there should be boundaries and limits. (AM NOT DONE RAMBLING)

So, anyways, what I wish to say is that we live our lives differently but we should be able to ask ourselves and provide the answer to the following questions –

(1) what do I want in life?
(2) what do I want in a relationship?
(3) how do I want to live my life?
(4) how do I want my life to end?

No, you do not have to give the answer to people other than yourself unless you feel the need to share. With that, I end my rambling. (AM FINALLY DONE RAMBLING….FOR NOW AT LEAST)