Chances Are

I love this song and wish to share this song with all ;) Do enjoy dear.



Chances Are, by Johnny Mathis.

Chances are 'cause I wear a silly grin
The moment you come into view,
Chances are you think that I'm in love with you.
Just because my composure sort of slips
The moment that your lips meet mine,
Chances are you think my heart's your Valentine.

Bridge:
In the magic of moonlight,
When I sigh, "Hold me close, dear,"
Chances are you believe the stars
That fill the skies are in my eyes.

Guess you feel you'll always be
The one and only one for me
And, if you think you could,
Well, chances are your chances are awfully good.

(Instrumental interlude and pick up at the bridge.)

In the magic of moonlight,
When I sigh, "Hold me close, dear,"
Chances are you believe the stars
That fill the skies are in my eyes.

Guess you feel you'll always be
The one and only one for me
And, if you think you could,
Well, chances are your chances are awfully good.

Ginger Wine Chicken

Just learnt to cook ginger wine chicken.

Here we go.

Ingredients:
Chicken Drum stick ( I like to cook drum stick because the texture taste better then breast meat).
Wood fungus
Ginger
Ginger wine
Sesame oil

Seasoning:
salt to taste
Soy source

1. Chop the drum stick to bite size, season with salt and soy source.
2. Soak the wood fungus and then slice it.
3. Slice the ginger (young ginger preferred because it is not so "heaty")
4. heat up a deep source pan, add about 2 spoons of sesame oil, stir fry the sliced ginger, until you can smell the fragrance, add in the sliced wood fungus, stir fry.
4. add in the chicken, stir fry, until the chicken about to cook (how to know it is about to cook? Dunno leh, just feel) hahaha....
5. add in a cup of ginger wine, cover the pan with lid, until it boiled.

Serve it hot with rice. Simple right? Who said cooking is difficult? hahaha...

Hm... my mouth is watering now... Going to enjoy my Ginger wine chicken. Ciao.

P/S.: Personal view, add few drop of sesame oil before served, will smell and taste better.

Foxtrot

Started a new dance, Foxtrot last night. Will the counting “Slow Quick Quick” and the foot work “down up up”, my goodness, I feel myself dancing like a “crab”…:P can you imagine how a crab dance? Lol…

Foxtrot need “smoothness” and “ease of movement”, I think I will need to take some time to learn and to feel this dance. Anyway, this is just a beginning/introductory stage for me; people take years to learn and “pro” in once dance, how can I dreaming to be “pro” in one day?

When I learn something, I always want to search the info about things I learn, may be this is just little habit. Let see what I found for Foxtrot:

“Foxtrot created in 1912 by Harry Fox, the Fox Trot was the first dance that permitted people to hold each other closer than arm's length. If you think the term "dirty dancing" was a product of the 80s, think again. The Fox Trot was at first to be tagged "indecent behavior". Today it's still the most popular of all social dances. Some people refer to the Fox Trot as the "Slow Dance" or the "Two-Step", or a "Conversational Dance" because of it's closeness and conversation ability at the same time. “

“Dirty dancing”???

Hahaha… No comments on this and you are most welcome to join me, “you come, you see and you know”.

Bad job?

If you think that you are having the worst job in the world, try to look at the comic below, you will be thankful for what you are doing now. ;)

Hahaha... Have a nice day.

Bakasana (Crane Pose)

( Photo source : Yoga Journal)

I had a breakthrough in my yoga class. Guess what, I managed to perform Bakasana.

Baka in Sanskrit means crane. It tones and strengthens the abdominals organs/muscles and arms. An arm balancing doesn’t required enormous strength, just patient and concentration.

Too bad I was unable to take the photo of myself doing Bakasana. My both hands are busy balancing myself. :-)

Hahaha… I did it. Yes, I did it

Yin Yoga

Yesterday attended a yin class, conducted by Dennis.

He is really good conducting the Yin class. Through out the class, I felt relax. (In fact all yin class should be relaxed).

During the class, all what we do is just stretching. No sweat, no strength needed. Have you ever think of stretching your tendon? How you stretch your tendon? Especially the one that connects our hamstring and knees? Hahaha… we just did it. (Above photo show exactly what we did to stretch our tendon)

He was saying something make sense that I felt that I wanna to record down here.
He said: “be concentrate and relax, you will able to do what you intend to do.” I think this applies not only in Yoga, but also in every life event.

He also thought us to relax our muscles by using our breathing, soften our body with every breathing. Breath in and lengthen our body, breath out and go further down. Of course, the muscles must be relaxed.

Looking forward to attend his class again. And others instructors’ classes.

I think, I already addicted to Yoga class.

Turn the world upside down?

Want to know how to turn the world upside down? try this, Downward dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana).

Downward dog is done many times during most yoga classes. This pose helps to stretches and strengthens the whole body. It is a transitional pose, a resting pose and a great strengthener in its own right.

The role of downward facing dog is vast. Done properly and consistently, the most noticeable benefits include:

• Stronger hands, wrists, low-back, hamstrings, calves and Achilles tendon
• Decrease in back pain by strengthening the entire back and shoulder girdle
• Elongated shoulders and shoulder blade area
• Decrease in tension and headaches by elongating the cervical spine and neck and relaxing the head
• Deepened respiration
• Decreased anxiety
• Increased full-body circulation
  

Downward dog elongates and lengthens the back. As a matter of fact, most of us are in a constant forward bend all day. Most of us will benefit immensely by stretching and lengthening the back shoulders and front body. Additionally, downward facing dog is a mild inversion since the head is lower than the hips. This inversions are great for increasing blood flow to the brain. It also stimulates the nervous system, helps with memory and concentration.

Have fun exploring this pose... Namaste.

Pets

I used to keep pets years ago. I kept dogs, cats, birds, fishes, "musang", "memerang", goose, duck, turkey chicken, and many more.

I also used to keep 5000 cockroach and a lots of caterpillar. Disgusting huh? hahaha... it was for laboratory testing purposes.

Among all, I think I love dogs the most. I don't mind on the dog species. "vegetable" dogs (sorry, direct translation from mandarin) also fine for me, hahaha... The last dog I have was a mixed blood retriever. I left her in my hometown when I came down to study in KL. I named her "Fan Shu" because she likes to eat sweet potato. Later she died before I completed my study (almost 10 years ago). Kinda sad...

Dogs can be a very good friend to us. The responsibility for taking care of a dogs is not easy. We have to feed them, groom them, walk them, talk to them... what we get in return is invaluable.

After I completed my study, I had changed few jobs and shifting here and there like a nomad. The environmental factors not allowed me to keep dogs. And now, staying in apartment, lagi lah tak boleh keep dogs.

Post the photo of chow chow, from a friend. Hope he don't claim me for copy right. hahaha...

looking at the photo, thinking of my dogs...

Salsa Dance

We had started Salsa lesson three weeks ago, tonight will be the forth lesson for salsa.

The new instructor, Branda is very good. I like her style conducting the class, the method she carried out new technique. Additionally, she is cute, really cute. lol...

Yes, I like Salsa. The music is fast, the step is fast and the movement is fast. I feel young and energetic when doing Salsa (in fact, I am young and energetic, ha ha ha ....).

I have seen some people doing Cuban Salsa, and I have seen LA Salsa too. But I am not sure about New York Salsa. Personally I prefer Cuban Salsa. Dont ask me why. Just like it. lol...

Let's Salsa...

Standard 1

OMG! Someone found this photo from their album. Time really flies. Couldn't imagine, and I have to accept the fact that, this photo is "twenty over years old" hahaha... allowed me to say twenty over. hahaha...


I was in the picture. Try to guess, which one is me?

My Yoga Note - Hatha Yoga

Trying to make some note for myself, from reading books and browsing the net.
Here we go...

The word Hatha comes from two Sanskrit words. "ha" means sun and "tha" means moon. The word "ha" refers to the solar nadi (pingala) in the subtle body and "tha" the lunar channel (ida). When the two components of the word are placed together, "hatha" means "forceful", implying that powerful work must be done to purify the body. Yoga means to yoke, or to join 2 things together, hence hatha yoga is meant to join together our sun (masculine, active) energy with our moon (feminine, receptive) energy, thus producing balance and greater power in an individual. Traditional Hatha Yoga is a holistic yogic path, including moral disciplines, physical postures asanas, purification procedures shatkriyas, poses mudras, yogic breathing pranayamas and meditation.

Hatha is concentrating on the practice of postures (asanas) and breath control (pranayama) to energize the body. Asana is greatly emphasized in Hatha Yoga because posture is believed to be a key towards achieving true meditation. If one has already mastered his postures, then can be able to achieve higher levels of meditation and concentration. (In simpler word, can sit comfortably in a long time)

Breathing exercises through Pranayama is also essential towards achievement of balance. "Prana" means life force and "Ayama" means to prolong- to prolong one's life force. Hatha Yoga is based on the belief that mastery of one's breathing techniques is a key towards the higher stages of meditation. It opens up channels to the brain and regulates the elements that enter and exit throughout one's body.

Hm... Only now I know, Hatha is preparing one for meditation.

Namaste.

My Primary School

Feel like wanna to keep this photo in my blog. Copied it from a friend's blog... hahaha... my primary school friend lah. This is the photo of my primary school. Some time feel so pround of ourself. We still keep in touch with primary school "mate", hahaha... not only one of them, many of them.

Another short notice to paste here:
同学会
(Reunion)Sin Min Graduation 1987.... Hahaha... you know how old I am... ;) we all same same lah.

时间：明年年初二
When: 2th Day of Chinese New Year (Ada Balik Kampung ke?)

地点：不详
Where : Have not decided yet (definately sea food lah! what else?)

负责人：
Person In Charge:

主席 ： 张喜传同学 - 012-2841616 (very leng cai)
王晓灵同学 - 019-3533363 、019-3533383 khyrisheng3893@yahoo/hotmail.com (very leng lui)
财务部长： 贺桂芬同学 - 014-6692329 (got to keep a lots of money :)

Any one feel like joining, wanted to join, definately joining, not sure joining, please send your name and money to above person incharge ASAP. RSVP.

My Yoga Note - Yin Yoga

Most of people familiar with yoga but I think not many people know what exactly yin yoga means. I have been practising yoga for some time, but only recently discover Yin Yoga.

What is Yin Yoga?

Yin yoga is less popular compared to yang yoga. It performed to stretch the connective tissues of the body. Primary connective tissues include the hips, thighs and lower spinal area. It provides a deeper stretch. Some also believe that the practice of yin yoga is performed to regulate the flow of energy in the body. This energy is called “chi” and when its flow in the body is strong, a person is healthy. (Too bad, I am still unable to feel the Chi.).

Initially yin yoga seem quite boring, passive, or soft, but yin practice can be very challenging because we need to hold a pose for certain duration, normally 3 - 5 munites but sometime can up to twenty minutes!

Not many asanas are used for yin yoga. I am trying to copy down some asanas here:

Anahatasana (aka Melting Heart)
Ankle Stretch
Butterfly
Half butterfly
Camel
Cat pulling its Tail
Caterpillar
Child's Pose
Dangling
Deer
Dragons
Dragonfly (aka Straddle)
Frog
Happy Baby
Lying Twists
Saddle
Shavasana
Shoelace
Snail
Sphinx and Seal
Square
Squat
Swan
Sleeping Swan
Toe Squat

Any idea of what do the above mentioned asanas means? ;)


Enjoy the stretch, enjoy the pain. Namaste.

Lotus Pose (Padmasana)

I have been practicing Yoga for almost two years. Ever since there, I like to sit in a cross leg position. Whenever sitting on a chair, even in the office or in the car (if I am not driving), my leg will automatically cross into a lotus pose. I know sitting cross leg especially in the office is really unpleasant looking, but then… I cannot help it! It is so comfortable. Ha ha ha…

What is lotus pose?

The Lotus Pose (Padmasana in Sanskrit) is one of the basic yoga postures; it requires us sitting crossing the legs while maintaining a straight back, it is also ideal for Meditation and concentration. Not everyone can do Padmasana; it requires open hips and consistent practice.

Below picture copied from internet, I do believe that a picture sometimes is better then thousand words.



This Yoga pose has a lot of benefits, it provide a relaxing effect, increase our awareness and attentiveness, it also stimulate our body parts and processes, keep our joints flexible, develop a good body posture.

Farewell

What did you see in the picture? Foods, yes, is foods.
We had a potluck party in my apartment for a friend, who is going to work in Dubai.
Just wanted to say here, wish you best of luck. Do take good care of yourself. We are going to miss you.

Sometime, I do think of going far away, experience a new life in a new place. But there is something that I can’t let go. Yes, my mum. I love my mum and I don’t want to leave her alone. That’s y I still stay in Malaysia.

May be one day, one fine day…

A Story

A friend sent my this story, it is worth reading. Paste here to share. Hope you like it and also think about it.

A boy was born to a couple after eleven years of marriage. They were a loving couple and the boy was the gem of their eyes. When the boy was around two years old, one morning the husband saw a medicine bottle open. He was late for office so he asked his wife to cap the bottle and keep it in the cupboard. His wife, preoccupied in the kitchen totally forgot the matter.

The boy saw the bottle and playfully went to the bottle fascinated by its color and drank it all. It happened to be a poisonous medicine meant for adults in small dosages. When the child collapsed the mother hurried him to the hospital. He died. The mother was stunned. She was terrified how she was going to face her husband. When the distraught father came to the hospital and saw the dead child, he looked at his wife and uttered just five words.


QUESTIONS :

1. What were the five words ?

2. What is the implication of this story?





Scroll down to read....





















ANSWER :

The husband just said "I am with you Darling". The husband's totally unexpected reaction is a proactive behavior. The child is dead. He can never be brought back to life. There is no point in finding fault with the mother. Besides, if only he had taken time to keep the bottle away, this would not have happened. No one is to be blamed. She had also lost her only child. What she needed at that moment was consolation and sympathy from the husband. That is what he gave her. If everyone can look at life with this kind of perspective, there would be much fewer problems in the world. "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." Take off all your envies, jealousies, unforgiveness, selfishness, and fears. And you will find things are actually not as difficult as you think.

MORAL OF THE STORY

This story is really worth reading. Sometimes we spend time in asking who is responsible or whom to blame, whether in a relationship, in a job or with the people we know. By this way we miss out some warmth in human relationship.

Satisfaction

Came to the month end closing, we had achieved another sales target. We were performed well for the past 6 months. Hahaha... so happy. Just a short note to record my happiness, also to share my happiness with freinds.

Hm... Tomorrow is another month, got to set another target to hit. Achievement lead to satisfaction. Satisfaction lead to self confident, self confidents lead to another achievement. lol... The achievement was not done only by me, but by our team, from every one in the company. Yes, as a team, we can do it.

Have five days Holidays started tomorrow. Selamat Hari Raya to all Malaysians.

A simple world? Achievable?

I like to look at kids, I admire kids, simple world, less worries, less conflic (who knows, may be they have their problem that we "adult" always overlook or do not take it seriously). Anyhow, I am trying to live in a simple way.

But how do we define the word "simple"? Simple may means differently to diffrent person.

Can I achieve a simple life, but if I still want :
1. good career
2. cozy home
3. nice car
4. delicious food
5. Beautiful cloths
6. Good movie
7. soothing music
8. the aroma of coffee
9. passionate love
10 warm companions
11 challenging outing
12. green plants
13. healthy life
14. Calming yoga session
15. chatting with freinds
16. dancing class
17...

OMG, I thought I live quite simple but when I list down all what I enjoy, it is getting more and more hahaha...

I think what ever we do, the important thing is be contented and enjoy every single moment. Priority is peace in mind.

Tell you what, I do ever enjoy the moment cleaning my toilet... hahaha..

Have a good Sunday.

Diamond

A friend asked me, why I named my blog as "Diamond"??

lol...... May be only my "old" freinds know why... My "Kindergartenmate" & my "school mate" will know why... hahaha... sorry it is not that you are not my good friend neither I am materialistic, no, not at all, but is a task for you, for me to know and for you to find out? okay? hahaha....

Writing a blog

I had just learnt that writing is fun. Learning to express my thought, It have some remedy effect, soothing myself down.To express my feeling is kind of "review" of myself. One of my friend said, writing also can improve my English.
Hm... Let see...

A-Z Quick Tips For Living An Inspired Life

Ask For What You Want.

Be Who You Say You Are.

Care About Others.

Dare To Live Your Dreams.

Ease Through The Day.

Find The Best Fit.

Give To Another.

Hug A Friend.

Inspire Someone To Greatness.

Jump Over A Boundary.

Kick A Bad Habit.

Leap Across A Fear.

Mention Something Uplifting.

Never Say Never.

Open Your Mind And Heart.

Pursue Your Innermost Passions.

Quit Complaining.

Restore Your Smile.

Set Your Sights High.

Trust Yourself.

Use All The Day.

Value Everything.

Wait Until It Feels Right.

Xpress Yourself.

Yank Weeds From Your Mental Garden.

Zoom Into The Now.

Blue Sky

Walking out from my apartment, looking up to the sky, it is surprisingly blue. Suddenly my mood turned good. I am feeling good with the blue blue sky.

How long we have not look up to the sky?

How long we have not slow down and look at the surrounding?

yes, I had decided, today is a good day.

Just because of the blue sky. :)

Feel Good

A friend sent me a list on how to make yourself feel good, lets read and find out how true it is? Out of the list, how many we have done? Did we put in effort to make ourself feel good?

Here we go.....

1. Falling in love.
2. Laughing so hard your face hurts.
3. A hot shower.
4. No lines at the supermarket.
5. A special glance.
6. Getting mail.
7. Taking a drive on a pretty road.
8. Hearing your favorite song on the radio.
9. Lying in bed listening to the rain outside.
10. Hot towels fresh out of the dryer.
11. Chocolate milkshake (vanilla or strawberry).
12. A bubble bath.
13. Giggling.
14. A good conversation.
15 The beach
16. Finding a 20 dollar bill in your coat from last winter.
17. Laughing at yourself.
18. Looking into their eyes and knowing they Love you
19 Midnight phone calls that last for hours.
20. Running through sprinklers.
21. Laughing for absolutely no reason at all.
22. Having someone tell you that you're beautiful.
23. Laughing at an inside joke with FRIENDS
25. Accidentally overhearing someone say something nice about you.
26. Waking up and realizing you still have a few hours left to sleep.
27. Your first kiss (either the very first or with a new partner).
28. Making new friends or spending time with old ones.
29. Playing with a new puppy or kitten.
30. Having someone play with your hair.
31. Sweet dreams.
32. Hot chocolate.
33. Road trips with friends.
34. Swinging on swings.
35. Making eye contact with a cute stranger.
36. Making chocolate chip cookies.
37. Having your friends send you homemade cookies.
38 Holding hands with someone you care about.
39 Running into an old friend and realizing that some things (good or bad) never change.
40. Watching the _expression on someone's face as they open a much desired present from you.
41. Watching the sunrise.
42. Getting out of bed every morning and being grateful for another beautiful day.
43. Knowing that somebody misses you.
44. Getting a hug from someone you care about deeply.
45. Knowing you've done the right thing, no matter what other people think.
46. Have a good partner to dance together.


Some may true in Malaysian condition, do you have anything to add on?

wish you feel good all the time. :)

The sea snail: - Balitong

This is a sea snail that I can find from the "Hutan Paya Bakau" not far from my house. some name it balitong, some name it siput sedut. For me, it is "Hang lo lo". Dont ask me why, I don't know, my late father thought me this way. :)

It is always tempting to me and I love it so much. Another food that you can hardly see now a day.

Before cooking balitong, we need to clean it because it will full of mud (of course, it live in the muddy paya bakau). Also need to chip of the tail so that you can suck the flesh out from the spiral shell.

Have you ever tasted this? Do you know how to eat this ? haha...
When I was a kid, my late father always prepared it with sweet potato, curry powder, chili powder if you want it hot, a lot of spices, onion, garlic and coconut milk. Hm... really missed it. My late father was a good cook.

I also can find this balitung in some hawker stall in KL, but most of them stir fried with "Kam Heong" style.

I also had discovered a Malay cooking style :- Masak Lemak. All tasted good but I still missed my late father's cooking...

You need to have the technique to suck out the flesh from the spiral shell. Just like you are kissing your lover. Some may suffer for hours but just cannot eat it... haha....

Shy Visitor

Can you recognised "him"? It is one kind of reptilia living in the water. We name it "four legs snake" in layman terms or "Biawak Air" in Bahasa. Even though it lives in the water but sometime it comes and visits me without prior notice. Just relaxing and sunbathing in front of my door step; Make donno when you look through the window. But once you open the door, it will run very fast, run away from you, run away from human being, run for life.... haha... who knows what human being can do with them? catch and eat? take the skin to make some leather product?

Other then catch and kill, make full use of "him"; under the big name of "development", "Human being" cut the trees, polluted the air, the water, destroyed their habitat...... For the name of development, do we really need to sacrify the nature???

Hardly can see "him" in the city nor even in the kampung now a day.

Missing all those day staying in "Kampung" having "him" come and visit me regularly...

Rafflesia

It was a sunny day on 21st July. The weather was just good for trekking. I had been to a forest that I do not know the name. Even I keep on asking our guide; he can only tell me that it’s a “Low Hill Dipterocarp Forest”. For me, this is not the forest name, for me this is just the forest type. Lol… is he a qualified guide? But he can tell us a lot about the wild life, insects, plans, etc…and I can sense that he loves the forest, he loves the nature very much. I guess he is a good guide.

That so call “low hill dipterocarp forest” located just about 30 minutes drive from Brinchang. Unfortunately the forest had been harvested, Even though the guide told us it is a dipterocarp forest, unfortunately that we cannot see many dipterocarp species. Only noticed a little Keriung, can't see any Meranti. Mostly are Macaranga (secondary special with a fast growing rate; the dipterocarp cannot compete with them).
Below photo taken before we started our trekking. Everyone is handsome, pretty, clean as usual (Anyone perasan he is handsome or she is pretty?)



Here we go......

The night before we went in to the jungle was raining, left us the muddy trek for us to walk…… Hey gangs, but it was a really good experience right?



Big water pond, can keep some fishes there….





I do appreciate the beauty of nature; let’s see the wild orchid we found along the way.




Ginger Flower…. It looks so juicy…



Fungus (or mushroom, but this one cannot eat lah), Fungus plays an important role in the forest, helps to decay the wood, return the nutrients to the soil…



We also passed by a waterfall, the water is very cooling.


We can picnic there if we like. Too bad I did not bring my “sarung”; otherwise we can mandi there.

The main purpose of this jungle trekking is to witness the Rafflesia. I was surprised that we found Rafflesia in West Malaysia. It is worthy to trek for 2 hours to witness the world largest flower:- Rafflesia. Below is the photo we had taken. Lol…. The Rafflesia flower is life in front of my eye.



What do you think what is this ?




Some other nice photo to share:


How you feel when you look at this picture? It is really soothing right?



What about this photo? Amazing, this is a God created scenery that human being will never able to create this.

Haha... I love nature, like to get close to the nature…. But I do like the city life too… how ah ? I hope you enjoy reading a little about our journey to find the Rafflesia?  Have a wonderful day.

Starting a blog

Inspired by a friend, now starting a blod. Still exploring what is a blog all about. What we can do in a blog? What is the purpose having a blog?
some said to share some thoughts, some expereices. Some said to keep in touch with a gruop of people, may be freinds, may be family. some said can broadcast some excited event? to.... haha... gangs, what do you think?

What should I do with a blog? Anyway, not going to answer my own question.

May be it is just a record of some happy moments, to share some good matter, encouragement, critic, or what ever...... just feel free, no limitation on my blog.