Sending the Gods & Deities back…

Just done helping hippo with the prayers. Apparently today’s the day to send all the Gods & Deities off to Heaven. This is an annual thing where all the Taoism people will “send” the Gods back to Heaven where they will report to the Jade Emperor on the individual households’ doings, be it good or bad. =) I’ve got a shoot tmr, so I ought to be in bed now… I’ll talk about this more tmr… And more of my Romance of the Three Kingdom story…

孔明三气周公瑾…

诸葛亮 had previously agitated 周瑜 twice. The first was when 诸葛亮 managed to outwit 周瑜 in capturing 南郡 and 荆襄, while the latter was busy fighting against 曹洪’s army. The second time 孔明 agitated 周瑜 was when 刘备 managed to wed 孙权’s sister and lost some troops while trying to fight 刘备. And now, with 曹操’s army staging another offensive against 东吴, to take revenge on his lost at 赤壁, 周瑜 was again tasked to resolve the issue by 孙权. 曹操 was a scheming strategist during the Three Kingdom period. He made use of the emperor and designated 周瑜 to take charge of 南郡, thus sowing discord between 刘备 and 东吴, becos 刘备 now sits on that territory. 周瑜 ordered 鲁肃 to “take back” 荆州 from 刘备, but 诸葛亮 again managed to persuade 鲁肃 to return home empty handed. 诸葛亮 gave the excuse that 刘备 will conquer 西川 soon and only then will they return 荆州 to 东吴. 周瑜 was very pissed on hearing this, but forged a plan to take 荆州 from 刘备. He tasked 鲁肃 to go to 刘备 again and told him that since both 刘备 and 东吴 are relatives, 周瑜 will lead an army to conquer 西川 for 刘备. 诸葛亮 was grinning when he heard the news as he knows the days were numbered for 周瑜. 诸葛亮 knew exactly what was on 周瑜’s mind. Using the expedition as an excuse, 周瑜 was actually plotting to attack 荆州. And on their way to 荆州, 周瑜’s  troops suffered losses as 诸葛亮 surrounded them thoroughly. Upon realising his failure, 周瑜 vomitted blood and collasped to the ground. Jus before dying, 周瑜 asked the Heavens “既生瑜,何生亮!”, meaning “since Heaven produced 周瑜, why did Heavens still produced 诸葛亮. Such was the agony of  周瑜. But he has always been jealoused of 诸葛亮’s wisdom and knowledge, thus causing his own death. 周瑜 died at the age of 36.

We each have our own good and bad traits. As long as we are aware of them, we could make full use of the good ones, and contain the bad habits that we all have. Nobody is perfect. We can never be. If only 周瑜 wasn’t so narrow-minded and jealous of 诸葛亮, he might have lived alittle longer. So think twice (or even thrice) before being jealous of what your “better-off” friends are, or have. Remember, Envy is also one of the 7 deadly sins. Be glad of what you have and cherished them.

中文之星…. Chinese Star!!

I get so facinated with the mandarin language and culture. I was talking to my close friends over dinner about Romance of the Three Kingdom – 三国演艺. How 刘备, 关羽 and 张飞 became brothers and how 诸葛亮 became the Shu Kingdom’s Prime Minister. Its intriguing to know that people in 189 AD are about to know so much about geography, astrology and military strategy. I will never get bored talking about Romance of the Three Kingdom. Haha! I’ve got the TV series on VCD. There was once I tried to record it on video tape when I was in Secondary School, the first time it was shown on TV8. Oh! And I love my new chinese software! Its cool to have a variety of language in one’s blog. There are many notable phrases in the Romance of the Three Kingdom. But one phrase i like alot was what 诸葛亮 told 刘备 when 曹操 attacked them in the beginning. 孔明 said “主公有多大的胆识,亮就有多大的嫫略”. This goes to show how much abilities 诸葛亮 has and how much trust 刘备 put in his Master Strategist. We must all have big goals in order to succeed. If our goals are gonna be mediocre, then our returns will be just the same. But then again, dun aim for the moon and stars when you can only reach the skies la. Haha… Know our limits. Know our traits, both positive and negative. Only when we know ourselves well, then we can overcome all the obstacles ahead of us. =)

The Year of the Fire Boar (Feb 4th 2007 onwards)

I was reading some Feng Shui books lately and realised this - The Year of the Fire Boar actually commenced from 4th Feb 07. The Lunar New Year is on the 18th Feb 07. Weird? I dun really know how these were calculated, but apparently its a one-year cycle. So the Fire Boar period is from 4th Feb 07 – 4th Feb 08.

So what’s in store for the new year? There are 9 grids in the Flying Star Chart (numbers 1 – 9 in each grid). every number represents something. It could be good, it could be bad. According to divine calculations, Houses facing Southeast, South and Southwest will be extremely good in the coming year. Houses facing Northeast, North and Northwest will not be enjoying that much luck. The 9 grid Flying Star Chart also applies to each household, each room, each office, etc. Basically, u haf to divide the room into 9 grids. The number 2 star, which represents illness, will be in the middle of the 9 grids this coming year. This means that the if we do not guard ourselves against this, then the household may fall sick easily. It is also said that this coming year will see the spreading of diseases in the world. Sigh~~ Sometimes I wonder if its good to know so much about your future? Or would you rather take it as it comes? Anyway, where there’s trouble, there will be remedy. So in the case of the illness star residing in the middle, use a Brass Wu Luo to counter this. Enuff said la… If you wanna find out more, go to the news stands or book stores to get your latest copy of the Feng Shui Magazine – Feng Shui World.

I was at Geylang this evening, buying fruits for hippo’s prayers tmr. I saw this huge lorry taking 1 and a half parking lot, so I parked right behind it, thinking it would be alright. Next thing I know, the parking warden rode his scooter and was about to gimme a ticket, when the fruit stall uncle shouted out my car plate. I had to rush to get my car out of the way, but was unable to find a lot. All these while, the stall owner was trying to help me. In the end, he offered to show me some ulu back lane where I could park. Phew… So I think I am not that bad a person afterall. Hahaha… If I m bad, I dun think the uncle will bother to alert me about the parking warden, let alone helping me get a parking space. Thanks, uncle! =D

How to break into a smile when your heart feels sad? How do you pretend to be happy when you know deep within you haf so much sorrows? How do you take the next leap forward when you know you might not reach where you wanna leap to? How? How? How now, brown cow? Moo~~~~

Tons and tons and tons of work…

Hmm… I thought I ought to fully maximise my time during this hectic period. Chinese New Year is just round the corner (about 1 month more to go), lots of stuffs in the office to be cleared. Sigh~ Looks like its back to the same old routine for me now. Nope, not the other routine I longed for. But the one where I wake up at 6am each day, wash up, get into my attire and head to work. Get to my desk, work, work, work, work, oops… forgot my meals. Haha.. But tats how I work. I usually dun wear a watch. Tat way, I wun be keeping track of time. Sometimes time does passes by real slowly. Which I’m sure most of us hates! Tat’s why I dun wear a watch. Anyone wanna buy me one? Haha… So its back to the same old working routine of mine. So what’s in for me after this hectic period? I really dunno man?! I’m like stucked in the tunnel of darkness. At first, I thought I saw light at the end of it. But its diminishing since. Its like a flare. Wearing out of illumination as time goes by. No more light at the end of the tunnel. Which is sad. =( But wat to do? Time to look for a match or a lighter. Hmm… Wat if got match, but no match box for it to be lit? Or if you found a lighter be realised its got no fuel? Hahaha… Why have I been on the pessimistic side lately? Sigh~ Life is unfair. Since when did someone ever told you life would be fair? Oh well… Let’s not dwell on the stupidity of the past and time to look forward and see what can be done. My life is not just about all these minority stuffs. I’ve got bigger things to achieve! =D

Lemon 1000

Yep! Its now my #1 favourite drink! Pokka’s Lemon 1000! I jus love the taste of the sour-ish feeling. The sweet, but sour, juice of lemon down my throat. Mmmmm… Taste so good! Perhaps I am jus using the lemon juice to “masked” the real “taste” in my heart. =( Given a choice, I’d drink beer. Root beer, that is. Haha… The diarrhoea have been getting to my nerves lately. Its been 3 days now. Oooo Man~~ I dun mind the frequent visit to the loo, but its the occasional tummy aches tats killing me! I read up the internet and realised its probably caused by some bacteria infections of the intestine. And you know wat? Diarrhoea can, sometimes, last 2-3 weeks!! That will be the chronic-type of diarrhoea. I’m feeling better today. Hope it gets even better tmr, and the day after, and the day after…

Casper Parker & Me

Superhero and me, originally uploaded by Lobinhoot.

Its a pretty cold Christmas this year. Nothing much happening in the year 2006. My mom has been hogging on my SCV for the past few weeks. Sigh~ Its good to keep her occupied la. Better than for her to nag at me for everything. Haha…

I was down at Mayian today. Ian, the graphic designer-turned-chef, whipped up a decent meal today. And Casper turned Peter Parker! Hehe… He looked very cool in his spidey suit! Check out his pictures in my flickr k? I’m getting this terrible headache now. Weird? Maybe too much Ba Kwa! Oops… =O Better go drink more water and sleep early. Its a peaceful nite tonite. And so it passed, Xmas that is. The day tmr will be brighter (I hope). 7 more days to the year 2007. So fast. Time flies.

Star-studded Wedding Dinner

Mediacorp Artistes, originally uploaded by Lobinhoot.

My third wedding dinner in a week. Hectic! Shack out! Tired! U can name watever “tiring” word in the dictionary, and that would best described my state now. I actually dashed thru a red light just now. (Oops… Is tat a confession?) I was lucky I guessed. Or was it, I guessed I was lucky? Hmm… Its like comparing “so and so is abit bad” with “so and so is not so good”. Which would u prefer to hear? I was discussing with a good friend and we concluded that the first one is more like positively negative and the latter is negatively positive. Plus minus, minus plus. Back to the wedding….

Was shooting for Patrick and Joyce. They were friends of Cansen. Another friend I came to know when I shot his wedding last year. And looks like I’m “contracted” to shoot the rest of the gang who hasn’t tied the knot. My video works seems to be a sure-win product. But I am not gonna jus rest on my laurels! (Is that how its spelled?) I wanna do something more amazing the next time round! Shoot 16:9? Perhaps… Do it in style! But its gotta be with the approval of the couple and of cos, time will be the MAIN factor! Lots of planning involved too. It won’t be easy I’m sure. But withe the iron-will mentality, I’m sure nothing cannot be achieved! Agree? (I hope so….)

Moo Mini Cards

I’ve just gotten my Moo Mini Cards! I’m impressed! Very impressed, in fact! Its not some conventional 80gsm paper or cards, but according to one designer friend, its at least 210gsm. That’s really good quality card. The print out was awesome too! Well, for US$19.90 (S$40), you get 100 photo calling cards. That’s roughly 40 cents a piece. I think I’m gonna switch to these as my name cards!! =) Came across this verse somewhere… Just thought I share… :p

“Say also don’t listen,

Listen also don’t understand,

Don’t understand also don’t ask,

Ask also don’t do,

Do also do wrong,

Wrong also don’t admit,

Admit also don’t correct,

Correct also not happy,

Not happy also don’t say.”

And the cycle goes on and on…

Its finally over

Subaru Challenge 2006, originally uploaded by Lobinhoot.

Yep. It has finally come to an end. I’m talking about the Subaru Challenge 2006. After 73 hours and 56 minutes, the curtains finally came down this afternoon. The winner, a 25 year-old Navy chap. Congrats to Mr Alex Koh for surviving the ordeal. And to the 1st runner-up, Mr Johnny Chua, great spirit! U may be 2nd place, but I’m sure haf won legions of fans out there. Still $7,000/= is good money. Should I do it next year? Hmm….