Thoughts for the day

I bargained with Life for a penny,
And Life would pay no more,
However I begged at evening
When I counted my scanty store;

For Life is a just employer,
He gives you what you ask,
But once you have set the wages,
Why, you must bear the task.

I worked for a menial's hire,
Only to learn, dismayed,
That any wage I had asked of Life,
Life would have paid!

-Jessie Rittenhouse

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It Can Be Done

The ones who miss all the fun
Are those who say, "It can't be done."
In solemn pride they stand aloof
And greet each venture with reproof.
Had they the power they'd efface
The history of the human race.
We'd have no radio or motor cars,
No street lit by electric stars;
No telegraph nor telephone,
We'd linger in the age of stone.
The world would sleep if things were run
By those who say, "It can't be done."

-Author Unknown

What I'm Up To Right Now...

Currently doing this...



...but wants to do this...



and this...



and this...



but in a month's time will be doing this!



Kind of liking my internship now but wish had more time to do other things like read and do nothing! Now I understand what it's like to work from 9 to 5 for five days a week. Going to work also makes me appreciate home more.

I can't really go off at 5pm sharp. My boss gives me extra work at 4pm and it usually takes me 2 hours to finish them up. I have five more weeks to go before finally going back to sweet, sweet uni!

My Hundred Books by Robert Service

My Hundred Books by Robert Service

A thousand books my library
Contains;
And all are primed, it seems to me
With brains.
Mine are so few I scratch in thought
My head;
For just a hundred of the lot
I've read.

A hundred books, but of the best,
I can
With wisdom savour and digest
And scan.
Yet when afar from kin and kith
In nooks
Of quietness I'm happy with
Sweet books.

So as nine hundred at me stare
In vain,
My lack I'm wistfully aware
Of brain;
Yet as my leave of living ends,
With looks
Of love I view a hundred friends,
My books.

Earth Hour 2009

If you listen to the radio or watch tv, you might have come across these two words: Earth Hour. No? Then perhaps in the newspapers or magazines (not sure which ones) but the word is being spread.

So what do you do to make Earth Hour 2009 a success? Simple. Just switch off the lights and all other electrical appliances this coming Saturday, 28 March 2009 at 8.30pm, if you're staying in Malaysia. But I'm not sure if we're all supposed to sit in the dark or something. If you have a case of achluophobia or fear of darkness, do get some candles ready. All lights should be switched off for an hour.

And don't forget to visit Malaysia's Earth Hour website and sign up. Their target is 5 million sign ups for Malaysia. But Earth Hour hopes to get more than one billion sign ups all around the world?

You can also cast your vote on the buildings and structures that you think should turn their lights off. Hmm...should the lights on the Penang Bridge be switched off? But what about the cars traveling on the road? I'm pretty there'll be some cars out there at 8.30pm on a Saturday night. It wouldn't be a great idea to drive in utter darkness.

Alright, I'd better get back to my studies. Have a great hour of being environmental-friendly on Saturday!

Don't Mess With Kids!

I like it when people send me jokes, riddles and stuff like that to my email. So here are a few jokes about kids that I think you might enjoy. I received some kiddy jokes recently but I guess I deleted them accidentally! Yikes! I'm going to rummage through my inbox to try and find them. Anyway, enjoy the ones below!

Joke 1

A little girl was talking to her teacher about whales. The teacher said it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human because even though it was a very large mammal, its throat was very small.

The little girl stated that Jonah was swallowed by a whale.

Irritated, the teacher reiterated that a whale could not swallow a human; it was physically impossible.

The little girl said, "When I get to heaven, I will ask Jonah."

The teacher asked, "What if Jonah went to hell?"

The little girl replied, "Then you ask him."

Joke 2

A kindergarten teacher was observing her classroom of children while they were drawing. She would occasionally walk around to see each child's work. As she got to one little girl who was working diligently, she asked what the drawing was.

The girl replied, "I'm drawing God."

The teacher paused and said, "But no one knows what God looks like."

Without missing a beat or looking up from her drawing, the girl replied, "They will in a minute."

Joke 3

A Sunday school teacher was discussing the Ten Commandments with her five and six year olds. After explaining the commandment to honor thy Father and thy Mother, she asked, "Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?"

Without missing a beat one little boy (the oldest of a family) answered, "Thou shall not kill."

Joke 4

One day, a little girl was sitting and watching her mother do the dishes at the kitchen sink. She suddenly noticed that her mother had several strands of white hair sticking out in contrast on her brunette head. She looked at her mother and inquisitively asked, "Why are some of your hairs white, Mom?"

Her mother replied, "Well, every time that you do something wrong and make me cry or unhappy, one of my hairs turns white."

The little girl thought about this revelation for a while and then said, "Momma, how come ALL of grandma's hairs are white?

Joke 5

The children had all been photographed, and the teacher was trying to persuade them each to buy a copy of the group picture. "Just think how nice it will be to look at it when you are all grown up and say, 'There's Jennifer, she's a lawyer,' or 'That's Michael, He's a doctor.'"

A small voice at the back of the room rang out, "And there's the teacher, she's dead."

Joke 6

The children were lined up in the cafeteria of a Catholic elementary school for lunch. At the head of the table was a large pile of apples. The nun made a note and posted it on the apple tray: "Take only ONE. God is watching."

Moving further along the lunch line, at the other end of the table was a large pile of chocolate chip cookies.

A child had written a note, "Take all you want. God is watching the apples.

New Year and New Year Resolutions

Two more days till the New Year. What are you going to do about it? Have you made a new set of New Year Resolutions? How have you spent this year? The year 2008 isn't over yet so you still have a little time left to try to do what you resolved to do at the beginning of this year. Better late than never.

I don't actually write out my New Year resolutions. In fact, I don't always have them listed out. I just keep making resolutions throughout the year but most of the time, my resolutions are made before a new school term begins. They are always the same, study more, study harder, spend less time wasting time, spend less money, save more money, don't procrastinate (number one resolution every time!), and so on.

What kind of resolutions do you usually make and when do you make them? Do you stick with them? Sticking to your resolutions is probably the most important thing. Yeah, you go through all the trouble writing them out in some fancy piece of paper and sticking it onto the refrigerator or your bathroom door or wherever convenient but how's the progress?

I say that I want to read more books but the number of books read is just the same as the previous year. :D I say I don't want to procrastinate but this habit is still going strong in me. So, do you find it hard keeping up to your resolutions?

There's this website where they listed out the Top Ten New Year Resolutions people make every year. Here they are:

1. Enjoy life. (No worries)


2. Reach office on time.


3. Spend time with family and friends.


4. Go for trips and outings.


5. Keep house clean.


6. Quit drinking and smoking


7. Say "No" to junk food.


8. Buy and read books.


9. Work out and exercise.


10. Write a diary.

Those are pretty common resolutions. My favourite one is No. 8 although No. 1 doesn't sound too bad. However, it's not easy trying to do No. 1. If I were to really enjoy life, I wouldn't care less about No. 7 and will eat whatever I wanted. Of course, one should know that junk food isn't kind to the face and body. :/ So, less junk food no matter what!

Nevertheless, good luck with your New Year resolutions and sticking to them! Sit back, relax and wait for the new year and if possible, the new you, to come.

At Least Start With A 'Hi'

I have a friend who thinks that starting your SMS message with a 'Hey!' is rude. For example,

Hey *somebody*! When is our next English class?

To him, that's not polite and courteous. It seems that the correct way is like this:

Hi *somebody*, how are you doing? May I know when will our next English class be?

It's much longer than the first one but it's acceptable to him. I got a scolding from him when I sent him the Hey message. So, from then onwards, I was always careful to be extremely polite in my SMS messages to him.

Well, a few days ago, I got an SMS from a girl who I've not spoken to for quite a while. She didn't even bother to say hi. Just went straight to the point. "Do you still have your old English notes?"

I was, like, huh? You expect me to give you my old notes just like that??? No hi, no please, no thank you. In short, I was flabbergasted. Even if I still had my notes, I don't think I'll give them to her. Yeah, call me selfish but that's not the way to ask favours from others.

So, please, remember to throw in some 'Hi's, Pleases and Thank yous in your SMSes, e-mails, letters, etc, especially when you need help or something from other people. Chances are they'll be more willing to lend you a hand. :D

What's Happenin'

Yeah! I received two books yesterday. They are 'Friday's Child' and 'Black Sheep' and both were written by Georgette Heyer. Before this, I had no idea who Georgette Heyer was. When I was asked if I'd like to review the books, I did a search on her first before saying yes. Heyer wrote historical novels and romance books, so I'm sure many of you may be interested. Look at how popular books by Danielle Steel and Julia Quinn and other romance authors are. Anyway, I wonder if there are any Malaysians who have read Heyer's books before. Please comment if you do. I'd like to hear your opinions.

Now, I'm reading An Amazing Story by Carlo Gabbi. I've been meaning to read this book a long time ago but it's a pity that I had to read for my exams instead! It sounds like a really mesmerizing book and I just couldn't wait to get started on reading. I started reading this afternoon and have only finished 4 chapters. Well, I took multiple naps and played with my nephew too. That's why I was slow in reading today!

Two days ago, I finished reading 'Down to a Sunless Sea' by Mathias B. Freese. Sadly, I couldn't understand some of the stories in the book. It is a collection of 15 stories and they are interesting stories, mind you. I was confused and blur while reading some, so I had to read them again. Reading some stories twice and three times did help me understand them better. If you want to read my review of this book, go here!

I thought I'd change my BooksLoveMe.com theme. Not that I'm getting bored with the current one but I can't manage the widgets anymore. They refuse to work normally and that's why I can't add new HTML codes in my sidebar. I've spent a few hours this afternoon looking through the Wordpress themes available but did not find any nice ones that I like. Hmmm...maybe I'll still stick with the current theme but I'll disable the widgets function. We'll see how it goes.

More Time To Read

I finished my last paper today. Spanish exam was the last. When I finished the last question, I checked the paper once to see if I had answered all the questions and ran through my answers too. The exam was supposed to finish at 5 pm but I've finished at around 4.35 pm. I handed in my paper and left. Then, went to pump petrol for my car and left for home. Boy, was the traffic jam terrible!

All the same, now that my exams are over and there are no classes to attend, I can go back to reading and reviewing books! I'm currently reading Down To A Sunless Sea by Mathias B. Freese. It's quite a difficult book to read. The stories are hard to understand and I have to read slowly to grasp the meaning of the stories in the book.

I hope to do lots of reading these holidays. Make myself smarter and more knowledgeable so that I can do well in future exams. And also to make my father proud of me!

I'm A Literature Nerd!

This quiz is pretty interesting. Lots of questions so it could be quite accurate. Try it and see what kind of Nerd are you!

What Be Your Nerd Type? Your Result: Literature Nerd   Does sitting by a nice cozy fire, with a cup of hot tea/chocolate, and a book you can read for hours even when your eyes grow red and dry and you look sort of scary sitting there with your insomniac appearance? Then you fit this category perfectly! You love the power of the written word and it's eloquence; and you may like to read/write poetry or novels. You contribute to the smart people of today's society, however you can probably be overly-critical of works. It's okay. I understand.
Drama Nerd
Science/Math Nerd
Social Nerd
Artistic Nerd
Gamer/Computer Nerd
Musician
Anime Nerd
What Be Your Nerd Type? Quizzes for MySpace

Good luck!