YURU

inspiring (:

2008-10-26T19:26:34Z

The Turtles

A turtle family decided to go on a picnic. The turtles, being naturally slow about things, took seven years to prepare for their outing. Finally the turtle family left home looking for a suitable place. During the second year of their journey they found a place ideal for them at last! For about six months they cleaned the area, unpacked the picnic basket, and completed the arrangements. Then they discovered they had forgotten the salt. A picnic without salt would be a disaster, they all agreed. After a lengthy discussion, the youngest turtle was chosen to retrieve the salt from home. Although he was the fastest of the slow moving turtles, the little turtle whined, cried, and wobbled in his shell. He agreed to go on one condition: that no one would eat until he returned. The family consented and the little turtle left.
Three years passed and the little turtle had not returned. Five years...six years... then on the seventh year of his absence, the oldest turtle could no longer contain his hunger. He announced that he was going to eat and begun to unwrap a sandwich. At that point the little turtle suddenly popped out from behind a tree shouting, 'See! I knew you wouldn't wait. Now I am not going to go get the salt.'

Some of us waste our time waiting for people to live up to our expectations. We are so concerned about what others are doing that we don't do anything ourselves.

The Frogs
A farmer came into town and asked the owner of a restaurant if he could use a million frog legs. The restaurant owner was shocked and asked the man where he could get so many frog legs! The farmer replied, 'There is a pond near my house that is full of frogs - millions of them. They all croak all night long and they are about to make me crazy!' So the restaurant owner and the farmer made an agreement that the farmer would deliver frogs to the restaurant, five hundred at a time for the next several weeks.
The first week, the farmer returned to the restaurant looking rather sheepish, with two scrawny little frogs. The restaurant owner said, 'Well... where are all the frogs?' The farmer said, 'I was mistaken. There were only these two frogs in the pond. But they sure were making a lot of noise!'

Next time you hear somebody criticizing or making fun of you, remember, it's probably just a couple of noisy frogs. Also remember that problems always seem bigger in the dark. Have you ever laid in your bed at night worrying about things which seem almost overwhelming like a million frogs croaking? Chances are pretty good that when the morning comes, and you take a closer look, you'll wonder what all the fuss was about.

The Pretty Lady
Once upon a time a big monk and a little monk were traveling together. They came to the bank of a river and found the bridge was damaged. They had to wade across the river. There was a pretty lady who was stuck at the damaged bridge and couldn't cross the river. The big monk offered to carry her across the river on his back. The lady accepted. The little monk was shocked by the move of the big monk. 'How can big brother carry a lady when we are supposed to avoid all intimacy with females?' thought the little monk. But he kept quiet. The big monk carried the lady across the river and the small monk followed unhappily. When they crossed the river, the big monk let the lady down and they parted ways with her.

All along the way for several miles, the little monk was very unhappy with the act of the big monk. He was making up all kinds of accusations about big monk in his head. This got him madder and madder. But he still kept quiet. And the big monk had no inclination to explain his situation. Finally, at a rest point many hours later, the little monk could not stand it any further, he burst out angrily at the big monk. 'How can you claim yourself a devout monk, when you seize the first opportunity to touch a female, especially when she is very pretty? All your teachings to me make you a big hypocrite The big monk looked surprised and said, 'I had put down the pretty lady at the river bank many hours ago, how come you are still carrying her along?'

This very old Chinese Zen story reflects the thinking of many people today. We encounter many unpleasant things in our life, they irritate us and they make us angry. Sometimes, they cause us a lot of hurt, sometimes they cause us to be bitter or jealous .. But like the little monk, we are not willing to let them go away.We keep on carrying the baggage of the 'pretty lady' with us. We let them keep on coming back to hurt us, make us angry, make us bitter and cause us a lot of agony. Why? Simply because we are not willing to put down or let go of the baggage of the 'pretty lady'. We should let go of the pretty lady immediately after crossing the river, that is after the unpleasant event is over. This will immediately remove all our agonies. There is no need to be further hurt by the unpleasant event after it is over.
Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.

return of the halloween horrors

2008-10-18T06:33:37Z

the month of october saw the return of the halloween horrors at the night safari, something which excited me to no end. i've always thought that the pricing of the ticket to the night safari was a bit steep (as compared to the zoo) but the concept of a night safari can be very expensive to maintain, with the lightings and all. but to go during the halloween season is even more worth it because you get dual action - from the animals as well as the supernatural. MUAHAHA. the management really put a lot of efforts into halloween (way more than christmas or any other season), so its a truly must-go! unfortunately, most of the actions occur only on fridays and saturdays.

even before you enter, you encounter talents dressed elaborately in costumes, commendably always in character. i was most impressed with the witch, the scream guy in the glow-in-the-dark show and also the concept of the dimsum lady.

DRACULA and his dinner!

the BUTCHER

the WITCH and her very impressive acting

poor DIMSUM girl had to squat inside the whole night!

this guy is very impressive as well. he has a display saying "for display only. do not touch" and he is very still, frightening you with sudden jerking motions. he refused to move in front of this indian guy whose son kept exclaiming "he's a real person!" x10 and the indian guy went away thinking his son was lying.

off we trooped to the creatures of the night show, which will be carrying out halloween stuff as well, starting today (i think!).

then down to the train of terror, which has a super long queue! but the frequency of the trams was pretty high, and we reached the front pretty fast! the normal tram station only saw a handful of people, with like people with kids or probably tourists who dont know whats happening. the tram commentators had to memorize a separate halloween script specially for the halloween season, accompanied by haunting music in the background. im quite sure its VERY tiring to go on and on in that spooky tone! i was really impressed with the cocktail express halloween tram and the joker! he really has the seh. considering going on it on the last week of halloween :D but it costs 50 bucks. the tram started off with the normal route but soon deviate off the normal tram route to the west loop right before the anteater - the eternal torture chambers. a dire consequence for animal torturers. (see! theres a learning point to this! im so pissed off at people who slam the halloween concept and that the night safari just want to exploit people's money.) im VERY VERY impressed by the horror exhibits! the ghosts were very active as well, running and climbing all over the tram.

while waiting for the tram

at the start of the trail

poor merc was stuck in the middle between her two groups of friends for the tram ride, one of which was admittedly childish :x (sorry!). in another instance, atee and nicole thought the ghost climbing onto their seat was mark playing a prank on them HAHAHA.

for the faint-hearted, the fishing cat and leopard trail remained void of the supernatural and the horror creeps in on you at the forest giants trail. the corpse draped in red was brilliant and the ghosts along the way would have been scarier should we have been travelling by ourselves. the group in front got all the fun. :(

this is a damn good idea

he was very cooperative when i insisted i need to be on his left :D

all in all, im impressed! im so excited to bring the medicine people on the day after CAs! :D

sorry for the long entry, but i have no idea how to do the link for people who are interested in reading the rest of the post. :/

disclaimer!

2008-09-12T17:40:58Z

so annoying to keep seeing the previous entry when i direct myself to my blog.
SOOO. time for something new!
log in to see my private posts!
not like my posts are damn happening
but... still must read! (:

LOVE AND HEARTS AND KISSES AND WHATEVER,
BOON

ARGH!

2008-04-19T18:13:14Z

oookay i got my nus letter of notification that im shortlisted for medicine!
so i should be very very happy!
which i am was... until i saw the horrible dates!

i got the letter on friday afternoon - 18th april.
deadline to submit portfolio - 24th april
BUT leaving for holiday - 21st april

ooookay THREE days to put portfolio tgt

returning from holiday - 26th april
essay test - 27th april
interviews (you read that right INTERVIEWSSSSS - plural) - 28th april

wahpiang.
i cannot prepare.
i am very stressed.

and i still have to work ~~tomorrow~~ today
(technically its sunday morning)
and i havent pack.

i am very very stressed.

im just blogging to destress.
may we get good meat for food prep.
i will be very grateful.

watch this!

2008-01-18T17:59:44Z

ohmygod this is like a seriously SERIOUSLY G-R-O-S-S video.
on animal cruelty.
http://www.petatv.com/tvpopup/Prefs.asp?video=fur_farm

i stopped after the racoons were skinned cuz i just couldnt bear to continue. :(
i was thinking of poor cookies and cream.
tiny, folded, pretty and fatty.
i love you guys forever and i will protect you guys!
DAMN THOSE CHINA MEN.

markers im waiting for THE photos!
dont combine all into a collage ah!

A.T

2008-01-16T18:08:10Z

this is in remembrance of A.T, our banded mongoose
who died on saturday, 12th January
he is now buried beside the amphitheatre.
may he rest in peace.

he was a nice but smelly little mongoose.
who loved doing shuttle runs on one side of his cage.

i miss seeing him in his crate outside the office.

This is not A.T but im just giving you a better picture of what A.T looked like.

icyhumour @ 2008-01-09T01:44:00

2008-01-07T18:13:29Z

try to sign in before you read my blog cuz there are private entries. xie xie.
JUST IN CASE.
must be careful when i blog about work.
to the non-lj users, get a lj account then i can add you please!
ma fan ni le.

where's my money!?

2008-01-05T17:51:05Z

in view of the hongkong trip in april, i decided to resist all urges to splurge.
AND I SUCCEEDED!
UNTIL TODAY. bloody hell.
now im 70 bucks poorer.

probably cuz i was too happy that my pay came in today.
HAHAHA!
i have not updated my bankbook though so i dont know exactly how much.
SUSPENSE SUSPENSE.
20 days worth of pay!

ANYWAY let me share a piece of good news.
this good news is a the only reason why im posting this meaningless entry.
I GOT MY NIGHT SAFARI NAME TAG!
HOORAY! like finally okay. you dont know what its like hanging around with the "TRAINEE" tag.
then the visitors will look down on me.
"excuse me i need to ask that lady a question", referring to my colleague on stage.
apparently, a trainee is not good enough to answer his question. sigh.
or they will look at my name tag for 5 seconds and think about to address me.
the life of a trainee. IS GONE. YAY!

i was really happy and i kept carressing the name tag HAHAHA.
and the visitors actually look at my name tag and call me by my name.
that was weird though.

okay off to bed i go since im doing double shifts tmr!
and i need to reach there at 10am cuz i chop the kangaroo/horse meat too slowly.
must cut fingerNAIL size you know! cuz the otters and mongooses have small mouths.
and must cut TWO KILOGRAMS. sounds easy.
but wait til you see the humongous blisters i get.
and HOPEFULLY i get to do snake husbandry.
eh MARK i never bluff you! the snakes are SERIOUSLY DAMN DAMN DAMN CUTE. :):):)

big6

2008-01-03T18:53:05Z

okay i am going to blog about last year's stuff because i want to post up the pictures! haha.
so far big6 is doing pretty good!

20th December 2007
steamboat cum stayover @ hwee's house
i had to work on wed night and didnt know how to travel from mandai to pasir ris so...
i stayed on thurs night!

steamboat was really cool! until we added the skinny noodle.
once we added the skinny noodle (dong fen) THATS IT.
it winded itself around every item in the pot. irritating.
but after the meal i really wanted to explode.

but still i found room for our ~~secret recipe~~ cheesecake!
it was really really nice.
our not very surprising surprise for sindhu!
that babe is too observant for her own good.

and so the day after the steamboat, hwee and cai scooted off to work...
leaving me all alone in hwee's house!
i was actually quite shocked.
thanks for trusting me not to steal anything hwee.
but basically i slept til i had to go for work (after kop-ping maggi mee)

27th December 2007
dinner @ dudu's house

i purposely walked damn slowly from my house to sindhu's house cuz i figured everyone would be late.
BUT when i reached her door step, she msged "COME LATE!" sia la.
but the dinner was damn good. :)

this is the upside down pineapple cake that i totally lovelovelove!
especially the ~~chaota~~ parts. :) :) :)
and jeanczm, from the dinner, i think we would be perfect food buddies in hk!

actually i really like this photo.
EXCEPT THAT I GOT A TINY COMPLAINT.
eh hwee can grow fatter anot!
in contrast i look obese la thanks.
I HATE PEOPLE WHO EAT MORE THAN ME BUT ARE SKIN AND BONES.
haha.

alright! for people who are still waiting to hear about animal shit (actually hwee only) and cutting up of rats
do tune in on sun where i will be doing double shifts 11am - 12am
(for those who think that is one hour, please go back to kindergarden)
and i should get to do food prep and snake husbandry
then you can hear about the diff fecal matter released by snakes. :)

feels good working

2008-01-02T18:42:46Z

finally a post on work!

just wanted to blog about the day before, tuesday
where i screwed up FIVE times. damn.

first im going to introduce part of what i actually do at work!
im a show presenter which sounds uber cool
but the job is not that glam lols.
for night shifts, i will either be at the photo mount OR the creatures of the night show.
but im just going to talk about photo for now.

basically there will be 3 animals up on stage
serval (it looks like a mini cheetah), snake, owl
i ~~psycho~~ persuade people to fork out 5 dollars per person (which goes to the animals ok! not our pockets!) to go up to take pictures with the animals.
sounds easy but you will never believe the kind of people we meet.
and the kind of questions they ask.
but there are always REALLY NICE visitors who brighten up my day!

"Sir, i think your son will be very handsome when he grows up!"
"Yes! Just like his dad!"
oh my god, i just burst out laughing.
he was kinda balding and everything. humorous guy sia!

THEN at 7pm, 8pm and 9pm we will suspend photography for the tribal dance performance.
i will either control the sound/music or do the intro + ending for the show.
these guys are totally cool! i've watched their shows like 10 000 times and i still like it. :)
and i totally salute them for doing the same thing everyday but still can find the energy to hype everyone up.

this is the coolest part! they will pass the fireball from one person to another.
so far, the max i've seen the fireball go through FOUR freaking people. its crazy.

yup it kinda looks like a fire wreck.
we have a fire extinguisher situated nearby no worries!
i've only posted the fire segment but they actually do more than spray kerosene.

SO ANYWAY now that you know what i do at night at photo.
let me get back to the day before.

i was just doing the ending for the fire show and there is a pause in between so that they can do their thing.
BUT i was trying to be a smartass and i did not switch off the mike!
and so when one of the guys said smth out of the ordinary i burst out laughing
into the mike and over the speakers...
and i dont exactly laugh in a genteel way.
i was like OH CRAP. over the pacer (walkie talkie), "WHAT WAS THAT!?" (from my senior)
lols the girls (dancers) didnt let me forget it.
everytime they walked past me, "HAHAHA!"

then for the next show i did sound. cant screw up right.
for the fire segment, we actually repeat the same track such that it overlaps.
but some visitor strayed into the staff only area, thinking it was the toilet. !?
so i kindly pointed them the right way and
while i was doing that, the track ended and the MUSIC STOPPED!
i was like OH CRAP! i sprinted back to the sound box and hit play la but it was a little late.
the dancers were like blowing fire halfway and then ... silence. no music.
ahhas awkward pause.

okay. anyway i've learnt my lesson.

those tribal dancers pictures are actually not taken by me (i dont have such brilliant skills)
they are actually from Nadia Haniff, taken off her blog http://starryluvly.org/?cat=7 :)

the world of darkness

2008-01-02T07:18:08Z

*pats myself on the back*
in a blink of an eye, its been a month since i've been at the night safari!
not bad indeed. i've managed to resist the many temptations to quit and now the situation's a lot better!
may the optimist in me continue to focus on the bright side of work. :)

oh well 2008 is here but somehow it doesnt seem like a new year
because i dont need to go back to school!
feels good indeed.

reviewing 2007, it has been a fruitful year filled with new experiences.
a levels was a nightmare and mugging took a whole new meaning.
but no one can win our beloved hwee when it comes to mugging. :D

big 6 was a pleasant surprise especially after hearing from many many ppl how jc will come and go with not much friendships made. that turned out to be untrue.
hwee, cai, dudu, mark and pea. you guys rock!
hongkong here we come!

netball was never the same again.
i made a resolution to train hard and oh boy...
some ppl think that people in sports become haughty and only stick to their teammates.
i guess in a way it is true.
when a bunch of people come together and train together to work towards a common goal
what we share is much more than sweat and blood (from injuries), the bond is just inexplicable haha.
ugly sides, pretty sides, you see everything of that.
geri, dee, sam, ri, manda, bella, nurun, beets, andrea, june(the great)
suihui, joce, janelle, yining,
i lovelovelove you guys!
may geri succeed in getting us to meet up. :)

did a lot of catching up with amkss friends!
after a year of settling down in vj and neglecting them, i finally got around to meeting up.
and i am very happy with that.
jiexin, tiff, jess, mp
sharon, fangqi, kwee gek
4/1 peeps
you guys know i love you like crap.

and off to work i go now!