Flowers フラワーズ

A very touching movie, showcasing the lives of women in Japan over the last century.

From the era when marriage was dictated by parents, to the era when women faced prejudice at work, to the modern day when single mothers are accepted as part of society. Six women leading six lives.

Some of the touching scenes:
- When Wabisuke told Rin at their wedding ceremony that he will take care of her. (This was an arranged marriage, and Rin was very apprehensive about her future husband.)
- When Sato told her husband that she wants to show the unborn child in her the world. (Her doctor has advised against her giving birth to the unborn child since it will likely endanger her own life.)

Official site
Wikipedia entry

It is incredible to find six famous actresses to act in a single movie, in which there is no single leading actress, but all six of them are leading actresses in their own right.

Halloween 2010!

It's Halloween again!

Trick or treat!

The haze is back

The haze is back,
Car stains are black,
Cut me some slack,
Good air we lack.

It is here again... the haze... basically, thick smoke from the fires in Sumatra blown here causing poor air quality.

Mother

This is a very touching Japanese drama... it is not the kind that causes you to cry... it takes small pokes at your feelings, wearing it down with small touching scenes until you find yourself weeping away...

What's so special about the drama? It is actually about the love between a mother and child. A mother's love for her child, and the child's love for the mother. Unconditional love... that can be betrayed by an abusive mother. Yet the child continues to bear the abuse because she has no one to turn to... until her teacher takes it upon herself to be her substitute mother (by faking her death and "kidnapping" her).

The touching scenes are all about a child's love for her mother and about a mother's love for her child. About what a mother would do to protect her child, to care for her child. The conflict between caring and disciplining. And a young mother's conflict within herself after the death of her husband... bringing up a child alone has its price... is the young mother willing to pay that price?

The official site
Wikipedia site (in Japanese)

LASIK

Wonder what LASIK is all about? Read about it here at Wikipedia.

Thanks to Shinagawa LASIK Centre, I can now see without glasses.

On trust

We speak our minds when we trust the person we are speaking to. We trust that he or she would take us seriously, we trust that he/she is interested in what we have to say, or what we have to ask.

But we cannot demand trust. We can only earn it. Just as others have to earn our trust, we have to earn the trust of others. It takes time and is never an easy task. But the reward is earning someone whom we can share our thoughts with.

Road hazard!

I nearly got into a car accident today... I almost ran into this:

Just as I was turning into the expressway, this huge water monitor lizard was on the ramp...

Goodbye Mrs Lee

Farewell Mrs Lee. You will always be remembered as the woman who made the man who he is.

Visit to Marina Bay Sands

We visited Marina Bay Sands, mainly to go up to the Skypark... and were not that impressed.

First, the place is big, and very confusing. Carparks were at one part of the building (where the casino is) but the Skypark is located with the hotel in another building. The signs pointing to the hotel were confusing to say the least. Following the signs took up one big round without bringing us anywhere near the hotel. In the end, after asking around a few of the staff, we finally managed to get to the hotel...

Only to have to go down to the ticket counter, and being told that prams/strollers were not allowed, and that I had to make my way up again to deposit mine at the bell desk. The bell desk wasn't that apparent as well... I had to ask around to find it. All that walking, just to get to the Skypark...

The view up there was great, though. The pool is for hotel guest only, so don't count on being able to use the pool just because you paid S$20 to get up there. In the end, unless you love seeing things from high buildings, it probably isn't worth your money to go up there.

Another year again

 

Yet another year, yet another candle.

This year, I got a present.

This is what it says:
黄岳春景千里晖
德义为怀如鹏飞
顺风翱翔天地阔
名扬气勇五车随

Mid Autumn Festival 中秋节

It is the Mid Autumn Festival again, the 15th day of the 8th month in the lunar calendar. A time when the moon is supposedly the fullest. A time of being together with loved ones. And not forgetting, a time to enjoy delicacies like mooncakes...

Wanted to spend today with the kid walking around with a lantern, but work calls... guess I will have to do that another day, when the moon is not as round...

Finding time

We are all busy. And we all have only 24 hours a day. And within that 24 hours, there is so much to accomplish.

We have work to do. We need to eat meals. There are the sanitary needs that takes time too. And everyone needs rest, in fact, quite a lot of it. After all, each of us spends 6 to 8 hours (maybe less, maybe more) sleeping each day. And then you want to spend time with your loved ones, with your friends. Couple that with time for yourself, either pursuing your own hobbies, or just sitting there not thinking of anything, and we see that 24 hours a day seems too little.

But if it is important to you, you need to find time for it. If you believe in doing something, don't leave it hanging, find the time to do it. With only 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, the key is to prioritise. What is important to you? Allocate time for that.

We are sometimes amazed at how a person can do well in his career, have a happy family and yet find time to pursue his hobbies. The answer? These are the things important to him, and thus he makes the effort to find time for them.

So work out your priorities, make the effort to find time, and you will find that 24 hours can be spent in meaningful ways.

Finding excuses

I think it is natural of us to want to avoid admitting to our failures. And that is why it takes courage to admit defeat. People have a tendency to find excuses for themselves when things go wrong and results that they wanted to achieve are not attained. My new boss hates such people, calling them "sea lawyers".

We all need to guard ourselves from falling into this trap. Once you start finding an excuse for yourself, you will continue to find excuses for yourself. If you cannot admit to who you are, how can you move on and learn? How can you improve? Only when you know your own shortcomings will you be able to improve.

A journey of self-discovery

Sometimes, it is good to take a journey on your own, to discover yourself again. After all, when things happen so fast in life, it is easy to get caught up in things, to end up going with the flow and in the process, losing oneself. Who am I? What do I want? What do I like/dislike? What do I value?

I know I like something because I tried it. I know I dislike something because I tried it. I know that sometimes, even when I dislike something, I will still do it because I see the need for it. In the process of doing things on the journey of self-discovery, you learn a lot more about yourself than you would otherwise.

The journey need not be a physical one. It can be just a conscious effort for one to actively ask himself, what is it that I want? What is it that I like/dislike? Even in our everyday life, if we actively ask ourselves these questions in our daily actions, it serves as a journey of self-discovery too.

Strength and weakness

Could our strength actually be a manifestation of our weakness? The stronger we appear to be, the weaker we actually are? That the strength we demonstrate is actually a cover to shield the weakness beneath, to prevent being exposed for who we really are?