冷 靜 一 下 別 發 火
lěng jìng yí xià bié fā huǒ
不 要 生 氣 我 說 一 百 次 對 不 起
bú yào shēng qì wǒ shuō yì bǎi cì duì bù qǐ
不 要 嘆 氣 吵 架 甚 麼 了 不 起
bú yào tàn qì chǎo jià shèn me liǎo bù qǐ

( 徐 ) # 我 說 男 生 的 無 所 謂 都 是 自 以 為
( xú ) # wǒ shuō nán shēng de wú suǒ wèi dōu shì zì yǐ wéi
我 們 女 生 一 回 一 回 都 在 再 給 你 機 會
wǒ men nǚ shēng yì huí yi huí dōu zài zài gěi nǐ jī huì

請 你 別 理 由 一 堆 別 再 傻 傻 自 以 為
qǐng nǐ bié lǐ yóu yì duī bié zài shǎ shǎ zì yǐ wéi
怎 麼 學 也 不 會 是 誤 會 是 贖 罪 是 你 不 對
zěn me xué yě bú huì shì wù huì shì shú zuì shì nǐ bú duì

( 方 ) 是 我 闖 禍 還 是 每 個 月 的 親 戚 害 了 我
( fāng ) shì wǒ chuǎng huò hái shì měi gè yuè de qīn qī hài le wǒ
幹 嘛 這 樣 我 受 不 了 沉 默
gàn ma zhè yàng wǒ shòu bù liǎo chén mò
好 吧 寶 貝 就 當 作 是 我 不 對 怪 我 拜 託
hǎo ba bǎo bèi jiù dang zuò shì wǒ bú duì guài wǒ bài tuō

來 抱 一 下 別 閃 躲
lái bào yí xià bié shǎn duǒ
不 要 生 氣 我 說 一 百 次 對 不 起
bú yào shēng qì wǒ shuō yì bǎi cì duì bù qǐ
不 要 嘆 氣 吵 架 甚 麼 了 不 起
bú yào tàn qì chǎo jià shèn me liǎo bù qǐ

Repeat #

( 合 ) 是 不 是 不 夠 愛 我 是 不 是 不 了 解 我
( Together ) shì bu shì bú gòu ài wǒ shì bu shì bù liáo jiě wǒ
是 不 是 我 說 的 沒 進 你 耳 朵
shì bu shì wǒ shuō de méi jìn nǐ ěr duo

我 說 男 生 的 無 所 謂 都 是 自 以 為
wǒ shuō nán shēng de wú suǒ wèi dōu shì zì yǐ wéi
我 們 女 生 一 回 一 回 都 在 再 給 你 機 會
wǒ men nǚ shēng yì huí yi huí dōu zài zài gěi nǐ jī huì

請 你 別 理 由 一 堆 別 再 傻 傻 自 以 為
qǐng nǐ bié lǐ yóu yì duī bié zài shǎ shǎ zì yǐ wéi
怎 麼 學 也 不 會 快 承 認 自 己 不 對
zěn me xué yě bú huì kuài chéng rèn zì jǐ bú duì

Repeat #

Got extremely interested in the above song by one of my favourite singer. It just sound incredible.

It has been a while and there are some new entries and some has been taken out from the list.

1. Get It Right – Lea Michele (Glee)
2. Sweet Serendipity – Lee DeWyze
3. Loser Like Me – Glee
4. Kissin U – Miranda Cosgrove
5. One in A Million – NeYo
6. Marry Me – Train
7. The Time (Dirty Bits) – Black Eyed Peas
8. Down – Jay Sean
9. Firework – Katy Perry
10. Let’s Just Fall In Love Again – Jason Castro
11. 我喜欢（不，我爱）- 严爵
12. Life! – 宇珩
13. 她说 – 林俊杰
14. Everything – 梁心颐
15. 永遠愛不完 – 郭富城
16. Sorry That I Loved You – Anthony Neely
17. 伟大航道 – FAMA
18. 你会不会 – 梁静茹
19. 你太猖狂 – 田馥甄
20. 世說心語 – 孙燕姿

The thing about this is that he has been gone for a few years and this is the second time he come looking for me. The first time, it was not long after his departure from this world.

This time around, he looks better and he even speak a few words with me (he came to look at me only during his first visit). Best thing of all, he gave me an RM1000 note. I was so happy that I woke up from the dream.

And from what my mum told me, I am the only one that my grandpa visited….

我喜欢你的眼
看着我的眼
我喜欢你的脸
贴著我的脸
我喜欢你的手
牵著我的手
我喜欢你的口
吻著我的口
*时间在改变
你不要改变

Chorus
因为我很爱你
不想要你放弃爱情
尤其这段得来不易
我爱你 真的是很爱你
所以想
就这样继续爱下去

Repeat * and chorus
Repeat chorus twice

你心中的話我全都想聽　能不能相信
所有的夢裡全都是你　會不會停息
和你一起是否不會再放棄　你的心裡有沒有秘密
我分不清不要在意　只想微笑為你
寫一首歌　寫一首歌　都是你　喔~

月亮在你的眼睛　太陽在我心　現在我唱這首歌　喔~　只為你
想把所有煩惱都忘掉　做不做得到　你明白我心在燃燒
因為你　因為你　為你　為你　喔~

Oh love’s in the air, it’s everywhere
Everyone can see, everyone can feel
That love’s in the air, it doesn’t matter where
Everyone agrees, love is all we need
When the moon falls in your eyes, I know the sun has set
The fire still burns within me, since the day we met
I know my heaven would be so complete, you could make it real
I won’t let this chance go by, I can see, I can feel
When the moon falls in your eyes, I know the sun has set
The fire still burns within me, within me

月亮在你的眼睛　太陽在我的心
現在我唱這首歌　只為你

I have “ignore” this blog yet again…

Partially because I have been too busy with the many things that took place since the last time I posted here… and not to mention the time I spent on the blog and gallery on my own domain (www.alex-lim.com).

December has been a busy month for me one way or another and why not? My most anticipated events all fall on December. My birthday, Youth Camp, Christmas and New Year Countdown are all in December.

Lucky for me this year is that I was being treated 3 meals from different group of people just because it is my birthday (WL, LJ, KL, SS, LY, BChew and BChuen). Thanks for the meals and company. And not forgetting all the lovely people who wishes me on my birthday, both thru FB and hp… thanks…

Youth Camp is another one of my most anticipated event of the year 2010.  It is the first time that I actually take backseat and let the younger generation to lead while I just tag along a one of the photographer. Totally enjoyable and exhausting experience. And of course, as an activity conductor during the camp where I stage my own activity without telling other much about what it is all about. I met alot of new friends (all alot younger than I am) and managed to have fun just being with them.

Last but not least, I must wish all of you a Happy New Year 2011. Hoping that all your wishes for the year would materialize.I hope mine would too… What is my wishes? Err… cannot tell… maybe next time…

Still, I am back.

It is Friday evening and I have no other place to go but to stay at home doing nothing but to sit in front of my laptop and write my blogs.

One thing good about today is that today is the last working day for me this week (hopefully no one from office or customer call me tomorrow). And I actually got a bonus in a sense that I finally found some mandarin songs that I have always wanted to listen to. But due to the fact that I dont really recognize mandarin words, it was almost impossible for me to search it in the internet. I tried the english translation of the song titles but it came out way too weird. Also, maybe the singer is not that popular with the rest of the world, that I could hardly find a link to his songs.

The singer I am referring to is Panda Xiong (熊天平). I first heard of his song was a long time ago. He shoot to stardom with a few very nice songs and these are the songs that I have been searching all this while. Unexpectedly, I saw a friend playing it on her PC and without wasting my time, I query about it and ask her to transfer as many songs that she has from this singer to me… My favourite songs are 火柴天堂 (Paradise of Matches), 你的眼睛 (Your eyes), 雪候鸟(Xuě hòuniǎo) and 爱情多瑙河 (Danube’s Love)

So, now, I am enjoying my time listening to Panda Xiong… \(^.^)/

“What is a flashpacker?” you are asking in your head now…

In short, flashpacker is a backpacker who has the ability to spend abit more so that more comfort could be attained during the trip.

Flashpacker would:

• opt for a private room instead of sharing the dorm
• travel on a plane instead of overland transportation like trains or buses
• eat at mid-range restaurant or cafe instead of stall by the roadside

* these are some things that flashpacker may do but it still depend on the person himself

Another way of identifying a flashpacker would be the amount of electronic gadgets he would bring on a trip. While a backpacker might not bring much, a flashpacker would most likely to have the following with him:

1. Camera – dSLR or EVIL are the choice of flashpackers. While some may opt for a compact point and shoot, it would have to be on the higher end camera. Flashpacker would not settle for average. They want the photos to be better.
2. Cellphone / Mobile phone – Another essential for flashpacker as the prefer to be able to stay connected to the world all the time. It helps to be able to contact the hostel or even arrange meetings with friends. Some smart phones are capable to act as a music player, video player or even access to the internet.
3. Laptop – While it is possible to get connected to the internet via your smart phone, its function is still very limited. A laptop would be a better option to connect to the internet. With many hotels, hostels or even public places offering free internet connection via wifi, why not use it to the fullest. Still, some older laptop may be heavy to carry around. Another alternative would the netbook, which is getting more popular nowadays.
4. External hard drive – photos in memory cards is okay but why take the risk? External hard drive offer a great option to back-up the photos, making sure it would be there when you come back. Sure you can use the harddisk drive on the laptop but even that would have its limit.
5. Power adapter – a travel essential since all the electronic gadgets need electric to operate. While you can rely on the long life battery provided with the gadget, sooner or later, it would drain dry. That is where the power adapter comes in. It make sure your electronic gadget would be alive when you need it.

—–
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.