Chrysanthemums

Beautiful morning, lovely sunshine.

Uncertainty

"In economics, Knightian uncertainty is risk that is immeasurable, not possible to calculate." (taken from Wikipedia)

There are always uncertainty in life, for good or for the worst. No one can really predict or make a perfect assumption about what will happen tomorrow let alone few hours later. Uncertainties make me tremble. I am facing some uncertainties in life right now and the thought of putting my foot forward on an uncertain path is really terrible. Problems and situations that I wish I know how to solve and overcome. At times like this, I always imagine myself standing not at a fork road, but multiple fork roads, each holding different possibilities.

Memory Lane

I dream a lot, almost every day and I remember all my dreams in details although after awhile, it will seems a little vague. Today I had a dream which takes me down to memory lane. In the dream, I was around 12 years old(??), probably, as one of my cousin sis is still a child.Well, I was going shopping with them and my aunt in some shopping mall. We were shopping for something which in reality is what I wanted as well ^^, shoes! We were looking for shoes that we like and I don't know why, for some reason, the shopkeeper is giving us free shoes! Such good luck!!

I was happy to stumble upon such bargain and so began to search for something I would like! But, I could never find anything that I like or even if I like that specific design, there is no longer my size in stock!! So sad. Woke up feeling a bit disappointed. Anyway, it does seems like a good dream as I somehow get to relived that moment when all of us were children and hanging out together. Can't wait to go back home to see everyone!!

The Graveyard Book

Oooh, can't wait to get my hands on this book!! I have ordered it through Amazon, can't wait for it to get through my mailbox! I love Neil Gaiman's books. He is really terrific, with all his ideas and so far, I have always enjoyed all of his books. He wrote brilliant stories. For the world book day, he wrote a story called "Odd and The Frost Giants". Although it is quite short, with only 96 pages, it was a good story and kept me reading until I've finished it all and still couldn't get enough of it. Really interesting, with an unlikely hero and using an unlikely way to save the day. So now, I'm really really looking forward to "The Graveyard Book". One of my friend have already finished reading it and said that it was Neil's greatest work ever. I will blog about the story once I have finish the book. Right now, all I can do is just wait on the sofa for the postman to deliver the book to me. Please, come quick!

Save The Planet

I was browsing through the internet and saw an article about Aardman Studio creating a series of short films for Animal Planet featuring their own characters saving the planet. It was quite interesting series, each short featuring different characters and ways to save energy or to help the planet. I also like the way they execute the ideas and making it hilarious. I especially loves Norman the Hippo.... so cute and chubby, feel like pinching that big chunk of clay! ^^

Well, after watching this series, I asked myself.... did I help to save the planet??

For a start, I did use my own shopping bags when I went shopping for groceries. I got those reusable bags from Tesco, really good ones but not those cotton type though. Stores like M&S charge 5 pence for a plastic bag and some of the stalls in the open market stopped handing out plastic bags now. You will need to carry your own bags if you need to shop for groceries.

Secondly, I use electricity and gas reasonably. No waste of electricity and gas! Have to save if not you will cry when you receive your utility bills! I feel electricity and gas here is still way too expensive. Winter is coming, sigh, my pocket will be thinner than usual.

Thirdly, I do not simply waste water. I have never like to waste water since young, and I couldn't stand it when people waste water by not turning the tap off when they are washing their hands with soap.

Fourthly, recycling, yeah, I do recycle, especially papers, cardboards, cans and bottles. The usual...

Finally, I don't drive nowadays. Been walking all the time.

Well, it seems I did try, willingly or not, to help to save the planet a bit! ^^
Oh ya, here is the link to the series of short animation. I hope you will like it, enjoying the meticulous artwork from Aardman and to think whether you have played a part in helping to save the planet or not.

Locked Out

Today is a gloomy and moody day for me. The sun was always hiding behind the clouds, the weather is cold and, yeah, I also got locked out of my flat. Terrific day. I was rushing, running late and I promised to meet Jin at his office at one in the afternoon. I made mental notes on what to take, my phone, receipt(I am going to exchange an item at the city center), garbage bag, handbag, and oh ya, my house keys.

It is already 1.00pm, I was late, I quickly wear my shoes, took the garbage bag and my handbag, grabbed the keys, open the door, stepped out of the house with everything with me and, "WHAM", the door closes. I looked back, and noticed the key was not in my hands and only realized that the key was still in the lock inside the flat! After a few seconds when reality starts to kick into my head, I was really angry at with myself. I could not get the door open and even tried to reach the keys through the mailbox but to no avail.

Well, no choice but to call Jin for help. He always fixed things and will definitely make this right. Called him, and the poor guy ran back all the way from office. Well, even with another key with us, the door could not be unlock as the other key was stuck opposite the other side.... Anyone could imagine that the situation was tense, we were locked out, tried knocking on neighbours' doors, but no one answer, tried calling our landlord and again, no replies. Really great!!

Again, I tried to reach the keys through the mailbox and even used my name tag to loop around the key to pull it out. Gave up after few tries then we try using the keys to push the other key out of the lock. Finally running out of ideas, I gave up and thought at the hallway of any ways which we can get a locksmith's number when Jin called me back in. The door stood open, and he was grinning happily at me saying "Look, I just opened the door!". Well, I was so so so happy that our problem is solved and I don't know how the door opened and how we managed to open it, I don't care, just as long everything turns out fine.

Like before, problem fixed when Jin is there. Really glad that things turn out fine without even resorting to calling a locksmith to open the door. Whew.... Well, terrific day as I said and the sun shined brightly after an embarrassing and tense moment.

Lesson learnt:

1. Do not rush yourself when it comes to opening the door. Always check that the keys are with you before closing the door shut.

2. Keep a local locksmith number in your phonebook at all times.

3. Call neighbours for help. (ours were not at home, lucky for us.)

Early presents!

It was bright and sunny as we stepped out of our flat and I was feeling a little excited as well as nervousness in my system. Well, it all began when Jin said that he will get me a new camera for my birthday and so I began to research on all types of camera that is in the market right now. It was a wrong move as the search makes me more agitated to have the camera even before my birthday arrive. After a few persuasions from me, Jin finally promised to get me an early birthday present! Yippee!!

Lucky for me, Curry's Digital store had just renovated and sporting a new look to its store featuring a lot of hands on on their goods, for example, cameras, mobile phones, laptops and so on. The first thing I tried on was the Canon G9, a digital compact camera, which after intensely researching through the web, was a camera which fits into all my criteria. But being the indecisive person that I am, I was also looking at Sony's Alpha-200, a digital SLR, which was the same price as Canon G9. Stuck between the two cameras, I went to and fro from one camera to another until I gave up, and drag Jin along(he is looking at XBox 360 at the moment) to help me with my decision.

With Jin beside me, the decision went fairly quick. After a few question from him, I decided to purchase Canon G9. Period. So, we had the salesperson to help us with the purchase and during lunchtime, we were back in the flat with my new camera! While I was playing with my new toy, Jin was researching on Xbox 360. I knew he is keen on getting the Xbox for some time now as there are plenty of games around for the console which Jin loves to play but because he just got me my present early, he decided not to get the Xbox yet.

So, after lunch, I told him I am getting him an early birthday present as well, a Xbox 360. He did not agree at first as his reason was that he would like to wait till christmas and it is not his birthday yet. Well, I was not easily convince by the reasons and so at around 2.30pm, I decided to go to get the Xbox myself. Before I even open the door, Jin stopped me and asked me to wait for him as he wants to come along as well! LOL

We went back to Curry's but they ran out of stock, so we looked at Games and HMV, and decided to purchase it at HMV. During the evening, we were both happily playing with our new birthday presents and our pockets running low on cash! Spending away!! Hahaha.... but somehow worth it! Each got their birthday presents early!

Spider on the Window

Spider on the window, originally uploaded by xin28.

As I was walking back after finishing some errands, I saw this spider on the window beside the staircase. What caught my attention was the size of it and decided to take a photo of it. Took a few snapshots and while I was busy snapping away, it was just staying still not moving an inch! After completely satisfy with the photos, I noticed around the spider that there is plenty of web other than the one it is on. I thought to myself that this spider is really a hardworking spider, spinning one web after another, even if not much prey is being caught in its webs. Maybe I should learn, to be like a spider, staying tough even while time is hard to get by.