Archive for March, 2007

Bed - a Luxury

Yes, we have finally bought a bed for my little girl, Xue Rou. It’s  a single bed with pull-out. I was so excited about it just as much as my daughter. I asked her to put some of her stuff toys next to her bed, on the window sill to make it more cosy. Even she invited her Barbie to share the bed with her…so cute!!

Now she can have no excuse to sleep on our bed as she always said she loves our bed and would want to sleep with us, kicking one of us into her mattress at the bottom of our bed. Yahoo!!!

 

Well, I am not having high hopes that she will stay put in her own bed in her own room but it’s a start. Training her at this age is necessary. She’s turning 4 by May which is very soon now. I still wonder how the westerners manage to get their kids to sleep in their own beds, in their own rooms….beats me man!!

Having a bed at age 4 is truly miraculous because when I was young, my whole family slept on the floor with our thin mattresses. This make me reminisced  the time when I bought my very own bed for the first time, which is the bed me and hubby shared now..yes, at the age of 27….hahhaha…Me and my sis used to share a double deck when we were renting rooms and still in college. That double deck bed was bought with mum’s money, so it does not count.

Guess, having a new bed now will be an event my own little family calls for celebration. There will be opening ceremony with sparkling juices (a.k.a champagne ) for everyone, all with happy faces and lots of memories to cherish in years to come.

May we have sweet dreams and sleep tight every night in these wonderful beds, a luxury we tend to take for granted…

Career, part of life, ain’t it?

“The sad news is, nobody owes you a career. Your career is literally your business. You own it as a sole proprietor. You have one employee: yourself. You are in competition with millions of similar businesses: millions of other employees all over the world. You need to accept ownership of your career and your skills. It is your responsibility to protect this personal business of yours. Nobody else can do that for you. You are where you are because of what you are”

- Andy Grove, Chairman and CEO, Intel Corporation, in his book, “Only the Paranoid Survive”. 

How true!! Just like your life, nobody can control it other than YOU.

Similarly, YOU are the driver of this own vehicle of yours, the sole person who can determine what is it that you want, how you want it to be done and where is your ultimate destination in the end. If you choose to go this way and the road was kinda bumpy, well, you can change this route and go a different way.  It’s all in your hands.

Having shared this thought, it is good to realize one’s worth and value.

When you look at yourself and you feel good about whatever it is inside you, then you have achieved more than you realized.

Careers are material but your life is not. But because this material is a part of what you want to have in your life, it is significant that you do something to hike up your worth and value. I could name a few (1) Grooming….the way you carry yourself, the way you dressed, the way you lay your words (2) Never stop learning. If you don’t have the talent, learn a new skill, brushed up on your skill-set, go for language classes (3) Understand your own strength. Know what you are good at doing. Expand from there.

All these can improve one’s confidence level and when you feel confident, even a high mountain cannot stop you. 

There are many instances when candidates I have met or spoken to just wouldn’t go the distance. Maybe they fear what they cannot do and therefore, they paused and it’s gonna be a pit stop for them. Or maybe they just want an easier way in life, just stay in the comfort zone and lay back. Actually I do feel sorry for such people…. L Without challenges, without obstacles, without risks, without being brave and upfront, without high self-esteem…..what would life be!! Roller coasters ride are not that fun to many people but if you ride on it even for once, you will have a different perspective and feeling…In fact, you may find it to be quite fun too. Who knows!!

My latest motto is “Live each day as if it is your last”. Be kind, be compassionate, be generous, be loving, cared a lot, stick by your loved ones, stick by what you believe, help others who are needy, hug, make love grow in your homes, in your workplace, be truthful, have integrity………if you got a career advancement opportunity, go for it…..if you are given a blank new page, start writing your ideas on it….when you can do this bit by bit each day…. One day when you look back, you are able to smile and hug the world because you have lived a meaningful life.