Best of 2007

I can feel it! On my way home, I see less crowded trains, people anxious to reach their destinations, cars on the streets rushing by, shoppers doing their last minute shopping, numerous phone calls being made on people's plans for tonight. 2008 is coming and we will be saying our goodbyes to 2007 in a few hours.

I thought it would be fun to do a "Best of" list of my own for 2007. The list may not include things that came out this year, but things I really like that I discovered in 2007.

Best Travel Destination
Bali. It's called the island of the gods for good reason. No matter how many times I've been there (only three) I would always be captivated by its beauty each time and I long to go there again and again and again. I know some people who share the same sentiments, going back once a year even! If you haven't been to Bali, what are you waiting for? Call your travel agent now.

Best Fiction
Kite Runner. It's the first book that made me cry. It's just such a wonderful tale of two friends separated early in their years and how one seeks redemption for his own deeds later in life. Read it if you haven't. I am waiting for Khaled Hosseini's follow-up A Thousand Splendid Suns to come out in the paperback version.

Best Web Application
Picnik. I love Picnik for its simplicity of use and colorful graphic. You don't have to be an expert in navigating the web to use it. Now you can tweak your pictures all you want, anywhere you want, as long as you have internet access. It even lets you link to your Flickr or Facebook account for easy uploads and editing!

Best Soundtrack
Sing-A-Longs and Lullabies for the film Curious George by Jack Johnson and friends. Jack Johnson always has that soothing quality to his music and voice, and I think kids and adults alike will enjoy this perfect little CD. I found myself listening over and over again to his beautiful lyrics, full of optimism and child-like wonders. I even bought another one for a friend of mine who turned out to love it too! Though I haven't seen the movie itself, I can bet that the songs complement the movie nicely.

Best movie
Ratatouille. This is hard, I don't really have a best of the best this year, as I couldn't recall a title that left a huge impression on me like Before Sunset or The Incredibles did. Among my other choices are The Lives of Others, Freedom Writers, Thank You For Smoking, and Bourne Ultimatum. Ratatouille stands out for its strong story line (however unbelievable, but hey! it's a fantasy), excellent directing, and powerful graphics - I still can't believe the richness of details in this movie, I am a big Brad Bird fan now. So, there you have it.

Best Webmail
Gmail. Nothing beats my good ol' favorite. Hotmail and Yahoo are making a lot of upgrades recently, offering up to 5 GB of storage and sleeker graphics, but Google is still like a dear old friend to me. In my opinion its best features are the conversation-like email grouping, nice simple colors, and the embedded Google Talk application. If you look around the web, most applications are clamoring to include Gmail as extensions for their products due to its popularity. That tells you something right?

Best Mobile Device
Blackberry. Now I'm a little biased because I haven't tried a lot of other phones that could do millions other stuff (I own a chunky Nokia with a round dialpad - beat that). Its wide design may just be its advantage as it allows us to type more comfortably with our fingers, though it may not be so when you're doing calls. Its best feature is of course its push-mail technology; I haven't seen any other devices that push mails as efficiently as the Berry. Another great feature is the Messenger, it saved me a lot of troubles when I'm overseas.

Best Internet Browser
Firefox. Can't live without it. It's the browser that introduced "Tabs" to me, and I've been using it ever since. Plus, a lot of applications on the web such as DivX player, del.icio.us extensions, work perfectly with Firefox.

Best OS Design
Leopard. Sleek, stylish, superior. I'm still getting used to it, though in the beginning I encounter a few hiccups with some of the applications. But design-wise, this is the best in the market. It applies to Apple's hardwares too.

Best Place to Have Your Afternoon Tea in Singapore
Royal Copenhagen Tea Lounge. I discovered this little gem tucked in the corner of a major department store some time ago. It serves delightful desserts, great pastas, and high-quality teas in beautifully made Chinas. The ambiance lends a Danish feel to it (at least a friend who stayed there said so) and the setting is lovely. Just be careful not to drop those fragile things.

Okay, there you go. Not only because I am running out of time but if I continue, there is still a long list to go. Most of my "bests" are technology or entertainment-related, that pretty much sums up where I spent a lot of my time on...(alright, I need to pick up a new hobby soon). Hope you enjoy it and Happy New Year 2008!

father & son, morning Danba

I do a post of blog of note from time to time. Today it's Raul Gutierrez's Heading East. A brilliant photographer (check out his portfolio here and here), his pictures are rich in nuances of the subject's environment, taking captures of their lives, their homes, their streets, their emotions. He likes photographing people because they are more exciting...to do it well and to take great pictures of people, now that takes some skills. I love his pictures!

In addition, he's a talented writer, his blog at www.mexicanpictures.com/headingeast tells of his family, especially his two cute sons, other photographers' works, his own experiments with time-shift pictures among many others. It's his family accounts that got me hooked, I just like how he writes stories about his sons (numero uno and numero dos), even putting rich detailed account of each son's birth. I can't help but being touched by those stories. So, enjoy. Have a great Sunday.

Thoughts about charity at the end of the year

I remembered I read a blog post a few months ago about how Bill and Melinda Gates foundation becomes the most successful philanthropy foundation in the world. He has helped more people than most of us claimed to do. Why? They ran it like a business. Exactly how Bill Gates ran his Microsoft to be the biggest software giant in the world. Funds are withdrawn if projects do not achieve the objectives they set out to do. Simple rule of business. This kind of bigger-picture management is what we need to save the world. Help sponsoring a child in Africa is a noble thing to do, yet it is not as effective as thinking how to eradicate AIDS in Africa, or stopping genocide in Darfur. Have a read of Clive Thompson's Wired article I was referring to earlier or click on my shared items. I found myself nodding my head to what it said.

I remembered this because I was present at a charity event very recently (to say involved is a discredit to the hard-working, passionate organizers - big thank you if you are reading this). It was a successful event; great food, games, and presents for all the kids. As first-timers, the organizers did a great job preparing for the event, putting in many hours and ideas into making sure the kids would enjoy it. The amount of money raised was mostly used for the event and the presents, the remainder 20% for the organization the kids are from. Whilst the presents are useful items that would definitely make any kid happy, I wonder if we overspent the money for the rest, or was it simply that we did not raise enough to donate more. What if bigger portion of money is donated to the management, for they are the people who run the place, who would know what the kids need and provide for them. I had no benchmark to measure this against, so my thoughts are probably unjustified. I would love to hear from you if you have experience in this area. However, the event was definitely a good start for future charities, I for one learned a lot as an observer. Congratulations you! I am very proud of you.

Have a wonderful weekend.

2007's acts of kindness and courage

From One Laptop Per Child project which was featured in TED to a would-be mom who trained up until her 9th month of pregnancy, these stories are inspiring and heartwarming. They tell us that with determination, we can achieve anything we set our mind to; with courage, we can overcome everything that comes in our path. From education, child soldier, global warming, to the decrease of infant death rate; they show us the world is still capable of doing a lot of good. The message is clear: the world always needs saving, as long as we're alive. My only wish is, if only this wasn't too Western-centric...It would be great to show stories from heroes around the world as well.

Check out the stories here.

December 25

It's the holiday season, and I wish you and your family all the best in life. I wish you good health and great life with each and every new day. It's so great to wake up in the morning knowing that your life is not so bad after all, you have a wonderful family, some great friends, a roof over your head, and meals three times a day. What more can an ordinary person ask for?

I look forward to 2008. I look forward to exciting new things that I'm going to do, wonderful new lives that are going to be born, great people I am going to meet, and amazing new locations I am going to be.

Whatever your wish may be, if you're reading this, I wish your wish would come true. So, enjoy, have fun, and be happy!

Let me share a little something delightful I found today. Click on My shared items to the right and watch the sweet little video on music and math.

Doing too much

Alright, that's it.

We got to stop. In a culture fueled by the drive for excellence and doing things the efficient way, all occuring the same time, we often times forget exactly why we are doing those things. In a frenzy of tasks, meetings, generating ideas, we get caught up with the busy-ness and forget to question anymore. In the excitement of living in the concrete and steel world, we forget how good it feels to be out in the nature and connect with ourselves (Lost is my inspiration!). Oh! What have I done?

Take me for example, the effect of my own doing is terrible. Things get so piled up I just want to forget they exist and start doing something else, something that would take my mind off it. It's not the first time, but each time it happens I am on the verge of losing sight of what's important. Very dangerous, I might say.

In theory, we all know the solution to our issues. In reality, you know how well it turns out sometimes...

Limiting my choices

I recently turned vegetarian. I also recently bought my first Apple product. I don't have any mp3 player to date whereas my friends have bought their 5th generation iPods. I'm only using my second cell phone after 6 years, and that's because my brother insisted to pass it down to me and took my first cell phone, which was working perfectly alright. I didn't plan this actually. I wanted to try out how being a full-time vegetarian is like, I instantly made that decision one afternoon and that's it. Plus hopefully I'm executing the most effective way to stop global warming and stop killing animals. I feel good about it. Buying Apple is easy, I don't have to compare prices from the various PC vendors and choose from the oh-so-many models out there. I prefer not to spend that much time on the research and decision-making process.

Then I thought, hey, by being a vegetarian or buying a Mac I am limiting my choices! Don't get me wrong, it's a good thing. When I go out, I don't have to fuss about what to eat because there's only so many vegetarian options in one place. I don't upgrade my phone if it's still working. Now I'm starting to think if I can apply this to aspects of my life I would be a happier person than I am now. By limiting our own choices, we are sort of forced to take the very few alternatives that are available to us. Therefore, we stop worrying and start living. Going on with our lives. Once a decision is made and there is no turning back, it's like a burden is lifted off your shoulder. When you know you don't have other choices, you would resign and accept whatever path that lies in front of you. Of course people will say we always have choices, but what if we proactively limit our choices?

We can apply this in almost anything: careers, spending, food, schools, anything you can think of. Start building a habit of limiting our choices and we might just be on our way to be happier individuals.

Racism

Someone wise said: "If we could all laugh off racism jokes in the world, wars wouldn't be started and fights between people wouldn't happen."

Are we taking ourselves too seriously?

Oh human. We are sensitive creatures. Smart as we are, we are so easily manipulated. Mind controls are weak. Words can start a war. Words can also stop wars.

Exercise mind control and non-violence. Let us all be happy and peaceful.

Happy Sunday.

Nice

That's probably the most generic description of a thing out there. Not to mention the most overused of all descriptive words. I have to confess I use it all the time. What can I say?

On someone doing something cool: "That's nice"
On someone going on holiday: "So nice!"
On someone getting something cool: "NICE!"
On someone asking how the food was: "It's nice"

Kinda boring, isn't it? That's as safe an answer as we can get. For all it's worth, it allows us to not say anything else afterwards and the other party will be more or less satisfied with the comment. Genius!

Now I know

What a blue screen of death is like.

Annoying.

I think out of more than a decade of using Windows, I have never seen a real Blue Screen of Death. This isn't exactly sudden too, I kinda expected it, since I innocently put the login executable file in a virus vault due to virus alert! I mean, how stupid could one be?

Anyway, I'm left with no back up, no nothing. This is just perfect.

:D

Hypersensitive

With every heartbeat, I think it's earthquake. Recent years have been the most productive period for mother nature. Aih.

Memory Lapse

I wrote about my rapidly declining memory some time ago. I also wrote about buying the memory exercise book by Tony Buzan around the same time. With sadness I have to report that I have failed to read the book in its entirety. It was already lost in the midst of other abandoned books in my shelf. Why do I thought of this again? Earlier this evening, I was at shower and at one point, I reached out to grab shampoo. Suddenly I was lost on whether I had or hadn't shampooed my hair. I totally couldn't remember! If I had, it must have happened 2 minutes back. If I hadn't, I couldn't be sure. So unaware of my immediate past actions I took that I'm shocked. So unaware of my surroundings that I'm horrified.

I'm not very old. I shouldn't be having memory lapses like this! Why do we forget things? Why do we remember things? Consciously, we tried to remember certain things but can't commit them to memory. Subconsciously, we remember things that come naturally to us. Our subconscious play such an important role in deciding which facts to remember that I believe 99.99% of our memory are controlled subconsciously. I wish I can perfect the ability to control our minds fully. It'll make life so much easier.

Understated numbers

4.5 billion years.

10 to the power of -24 seconds.

60 billion light years.

26 dimensions.

I have to say, these numbers are truly beyond me. Even that is a great understatement. And by that, it's a terribly enormous understatement. And so on...

Human brain is not capable to imagine these things. It took us about 6000 thousand years of civilization to reach here. Yet there are tremendous other things waiting for us to be discovered or understood. I guess learning is never enough. Imagination never has a limit. Who knew this glob of flesh and liquid had the power to think? Great people like Einstein, Newton, and Hawking had the power to think beyond what normal humans can do, and that sets them so far ahead. We need these people, the pioneers who would propel us to (yet to be achieved) golden age. A friend once said, we only use a tiny little fraction of our brains and if we train our minds we could achieve so much more. Our potentials are so great nobody knows what we're capable of yet. In this fast age of communications, few of us really sit down and think each day. All we do is breeze through the day in work and random things. It's no wonder I had such short attention span. There's just so much things to do. Was there ever so little time to think?

Imagine if all 6 billion people sat down and think. Just like the Great Serengeti Migration, over a million animals move at one direction each year and they seem to know where they go when in herds. Leave one alone and it will be lost not knowing its way. Individual can absolutely be great just like the names mentioned earlier. Potentials of collective thoughts must be overwhelmingly greater.

I still can't imagine how long 4.5 billion years were. B I L L I O N years. Nine zeros. Goodness. Enjoy Sunday!

The Beat

One beat, it reverberates through your being.
One beat, you jump up with newfound joy.
One beat, it pounds like your heart.
One beat, you are back in your mother's womb.

Feel it.

For the first time in my life

I cried upon hearing a song.

I was shocked to the core. It sent me sobbing.

Love

What is love, really? Specifically, what interests me is how does a child "understand" the concept of love?

It is often said that all parents in the world love their children. I have no doubt of the truth of that statement. It is then presumable that the parents either say it verbally or say it with actions that we considered 'loving'. Love is a concept. It is - for the lack of better description, as quoted from my favorite source of knowledge Wikipedia - a constellation of emotions and experiences related to a sense of strong affection or profound oneness. I am perplexed by how a child, a young child, if you may, grasp this whole concept of love.

Assume you say, "I love you", to your child every day. They start to develop language skills since 12 months old, but when do they start to understand concepts? I'm sure child expert can easily answer that question. I am not a parent, but let me try. I suppose, in child-rearing, when we say we will do something, it's very important that we do it. In fulfilling our promises, we gain the child's trust. They are observing and mimicking our every action. When we say we love them, they may associate the word 'love' with our every day actions, cuddling them, cooing them, playing with them, caring them (now 'care' is another vague concept), fulfilling our promises. In addition and perhaps most importantly, the intangible emotional connection with the child. I suppose love transmits that way, the accumulation of all our actions and our emotional relationship translate to love.

I may be completely wrong, this is indeed a curious subject to explore...

Happy Sunday.

Things I learn from traveling

- It's never too much.
- You discover things about yourself you didn't know.
- You discover things about other people you don't want to know.
- You also discover things about other people you would not know until you travel with them.
- You learn / are forced to learn the art of bargaining.
- You experience discomfort you don't expect at home, but you do that anyways.
- You learn to wake up early.
- You learn to be a bit more generous.
- You exercise.
- You finally learn how to pass your idle time meaningfully (or not?)
- You learn to appreciate your life.
- No matter how much you read up and travel in a country, you'll never know the real country. It's a myth.

I always knew, to know the real someone, travel or live with them. It's very very true.

I admire JK Rowling

I would like to mention other (I'm sure great) authors, like J.R.R. Tolkien, Roald Dahl, only I am not qualified since I haven't read their works. Harry Potter series, on the other hand, is the No.1 undisputed contemporary book in the world and have been read by millions of children and adults alike, yours truly included. When I read the books, the wealth of imagination confronts me like sudden ray of lights when you slide open your window in the early morning. Thestrals, Talking Hat, the moving pictures, animagus, Expecto Patronums, Polyjuice Potion, the list goes on (many many other books could be written on these alone)...it's like, "Wow!". Her imagination has no boundaries, she tapped into children's mind and adult's mind, somehow managed to pick things that appeal to both audiences and write a tremendously successful series of books.

She is now one of the wealthiest women in the world.

Wow.

I wish I had that kind of imagination.

Plus business sense.

Book deals + autograph sessions + Harry Potter movies + merchandise + licensing + spun-off books about the magical animals et cetera.

It doesn't stop there! She is now writing TWO new books, one of which will be published later.

I'm gushing too much. Will stop here.

UPDATE: Oh, I haven't read the last book yet. Heard it's good.

Choices: Barrier to happiness?

We scream and sulk when we're not given a choice to anything. "I don't have a choice", you've probably heard this line a million times over. Just like being forced to do something. A lot of people probably realize this deep down: choices make people unhappy instead.

Suppose you have a free gift of a key chain. Now the key chain has many varieties of shapes, you have a choice of bicycle, palm tree, monkey, crocodile, and key. The catch is there are five crocodile-shaped ones, three bicycles, two palm trees, 1 monkey, and 1 key-shaped ones. Let's say you're most attracted to crocodile-shaped key chain because the design is the best of the lot. At this point, the mind obviously wanted the most 'unique' ones (read: the least quantity), namely key and monkey - it reflects the demands of the market (what else explains the quantity of 1?). It's inescapable that we have a herd mentality, we follow the crowd. Four in five experiences of given a choice, I think people would hesitate, ponder, repeat the same process, and eventually would choose either the key or the monkey.

Choosing an outfit, choosing a footwear, choosing a travel destination, choosing a phone model...you name it, we've all been through it! I believe we also went through a process of narrowing down, eliminating the obvious unwanted alternatives first, then compare benefits of the remaining ones side by side. It's a tedious task and is rewarding at the end (hopefully). Yet I can't help but think, given just one path to follow, one gift, one travel destination, one university to go to, however unfavorable the 'offering' may be, we may be happier, knowing that there's no other choice. Acceptance comes easily at that point, and we move on. With acceptance, we cease to be bothered, we cease to spend time in comparing, we cease to have worries or troubles, we cease to ponder, and we begin to be 'happy'. I'm probably using the word 'happy' too liberally here, but you know what I mean.

So, choice, or no choice?

Service that blows your mind

I once stayed in a hotel / resort in Ubud region of Bali. It was by far the most amazing service I've ever had in a long time. I'm waxing lyrical of this resort for a real good reason, I'll tell you why:

- The moment you arrived, the staff came out and greeted you with the trademark Balinese smile and the hands in front of chest gesture (namaste). First impression does count.
- It helped that the reception area is open-air. The lobby is adorned with nice soft sofa coach and a simple wooden desk for the receptionist. No grand entrance or impressive chandelier (nothing against these - it's just different)
- The staff sat you down, served you a nice cool glass of juice and walked you through every single thing you should know about your stay. Probably it's their protocol to tell the guests about their facilities and all. They're ready to answer every single question that you may have or address whatever needs that may arise.
The manager himself came out and talked to you.
- If you asked for it, they will give you the villa with the best view (it's really amazing) overlooking the Oos River. Directly across the river from the villa you can see the beautiful paddy fields which images you often find in guide books.
- Staff that is available any time of the day to cater to your needs. They're just a simple phone call away. Actually I found a roach in the bathroom but I guess with a place built among trees and plants, it's inevitable these smart creatures will find their way in sometimes. The service attendant came immediately armed with broom and dustpan and smiled apologetically as he left.

This is more on the resort facilities itself:
- Serene and tranquil villa - with CD player, magazines, private veranda, private pool, open concept bathroom the size of two bedrooms in my house, with huge stone marble bathtub. Magnificent.
- Wonderful selection of Indonesian and Balinese cakes for tea time. Aaah~ The manager and the owner came by to ask us how we're enjoying the stay so far. Quite attentive.
- A library of books and CDs that you can borrow during the course of your stay.

I suppose their planning is meticulous down to details of room arrangement, selection of breakfast and cakes, and most importantly, great staff training. Suppose all the hotels in the world can match this, it would be ideal.

I highly recommend staying in Komaneka Tanggayuda in Ubud the next time you go on vacation to Bali.