What Does Happiness Mean?

I've been reading this book "Letters To Sam" by Daniel Gottlieb. Its a book about a quadriplegic grandfather writing letters to his autistic grandson explaining life and experiences from his unique point of view. I posted this as a note on Facebook a few days ago but I thought it would be nice to share it here as well. It really got me thinking because this wise grandfather pointed out many important things in life that we know of but have sadly forgotten.

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What Does Happiness Mean?
Letters to Sam by Daniel Gottlieb

Dear Sam,

A number of years from now, you may be sitting among classmates and friends as you listen to a commencement speaker tell you about your place in the world and the opportunities that lie ahead. I wonder what the world will be like then. I wonder about the person you will be. And I wonder what you will hear from the speaker.

But I might as well tell you what I would say.

Not long ago, I was asked to give a speech to graduating honor students at Lincoln University. The administrators who invited me wanted me to talk about adult responsibilities and the pathways to success.

I began my speech by saying that success and adult responsibilities can be harmful to your health. As I spoke, I was thinking of a conversation I’d had some weeks earlier with a hundred high-achieving, college-bound seniors in a very upscale suburban high school. I had asked those students why they work so hard. Almost unanimously, they agreed that their hard work was to help them get into the best possible colleges.

I asked, “Why?”

They replied,” So we can be happy.”

“Let’s talk about that,” I said. “What does it mean to be happy?”

Christmas Giveaway 2010: Cards Are Back In Season! (Reply & I'll send you a card)

Update: A big thank you to Youth Asia for their support and featuring this little Christmas initiative on their website. Check out the link here.

That very special time of the year is coming again. Christmas is my favourite holiday of the year and I always get this little sense of excitement bubbling in my intestines tummy. And I've always believed that Christmas is all about giving because it was the very thing that initiated this wonderful occasion.

This year I'm giving out cards to as many people as I can; family, friends, people on the internet you name it. These cards are made from some of the photographs I've taken over the past year. It doesn't matter who you are, I want to send you a card! Its a pity that people don't send out card more often nowadays. The only ones I get at home now are the ones that the bank send out thanking you for spending money. There's just something about cards that's really nice and sentimental. I've kept every card given to me, locked away safely in the cupboard.

Just leave a comment under this post with your email and the card you like. Or if you're one of those spontaneous people you can just leave your email and I'll send you one of the five cards below and it'll be a surprise! I will then contact you for personal details so that I can snail mail it to you. We're going to do it old school baby. And if you're scrolling up and down this page reading furiously don't worry because there is no catch. I won't own your soul or anything.

I just hope that you guys will be reminded of the spirit of giving this Christmas and start spreading the love in your own way. Consciously seek out opportunities to add value to other people's life. You don't have to 'do an Oprah' and give away fifty cars (although I do admit that it was pretty impressive). All it takes is something simple, like giving someone a card. Merry Christmas everyone!

Best Cake Ever: Nadeje @ Dataran Pahlawan, Melaka

Last weekend was such a blast I can't really remember the last time I had so much fun. Freedom never tasted so sweet considering that I've been holed up in schools for the past two months for the exams. The papers went well I think, hopefully I'll do much better this time.

So to celebrate the end of the torturous month a bunch of us twenty odd people headed down to Melaka for the weekend. I was looking forward to that trip because I remember having so much good food the last time I went there with the youth group from church. Our Melakan friends (Daniel, Yi Ting and Zhiyin) gave us places to bunk at and drove us around.

One of the new things that I tried during this trip was the Mille Crepe at the Nadeje Cafe located at the top of the Dataran Pahlawan mall. The weather by the way was not very forgiving. Its amazing how people can still stand under the hot sun and not believe that global warming exists. We literally ran into the mall because everyone knows that shopping malls have this wonderful contraption called air conditioning.

Grenade Cover (Bruno Mars) by Sophia Liew

My sister made did a cover recently of this song called Grenade by Bruno Mars. By the way, this guy is good! So far it looks like he doesn't know how to make a bad song. This is one of my favourites of the bunch so I'm glad Sophia did the cover. And I think she did an amazing job.

And by the way.

Pyromaniacs

Once there was a group of youths from Tabernacle of David. They made a trip down yonder to the little shire of Melaka. This group of people devoured their way through the city, filling up their bottomless stomachs. Well basically I was on this trip with a bunch of friends from church to Melaka, an eating trip to be specific.

I remember arriving there at around ten in the evening where we checked into our rented bungalow and headed out immediately to fill our tummies. We started with some hokkien mee and oh chien, washing it down with some tong sui that I found particularly interesting because it had bits of macaroni in it. The noodles were laden with pork fat and its always a nice to be surprised by the delicious crunch when digging into it. The oh chien or  oyster omelet is good as well being one of my hawker favourites.

We were not done as we headed a few block down for some sotong and shellfish. Then came the best part of the night, satay celup! It was my very first time having this thing at Capitol Satay Celup and it was so good! The satay sauce had a nice twist to it because they add beef floss to the concoction or at least that was what I thought it was. For all I know it could be some sorta secret ingredient.

All you do is dunk your sticks of stuff into the pots of gravy, wait for it to cook and then eat it. Best part is that you pay by the stick so you don't pay for the stuff you took but fail to eat. At one point the boss brought out some premium stuff like abalone and huge prawns for us, seeing that we had loads of people on our table. We ate so much that night the table was filled with sticks and splattered all over with satay sauce.

After that we headed to some isolated beach to chill. We went through this really dodgy road and arrived at this secluded area which was in pitch darkness. But soon someone started building a fire out of the amber on the ground. How it got there? No idea but it sure is useful to start a fire. Everyone loves a good bonfire. This brings back memories of OBS. Funny this was that some people were just throwing random stuff into the fire like old cardboard boxes to rough paper. Sigh, I miss you guys from church.

Tondo Dumpsite @Manila, Philippines

Today was a good day. Exams in the morning was brilliant, so I think. I've thought that was the case before only to be contradicted by the results but who cares. I thought it went well. The whole school is the canvas of peace and serenity because everyone else is back home for the Deepavali holidays.

Half of my day was spent in dream land. I had this dream where I was holding a camera. Get this. It was a film camera, with an SD card slot. How bizarre! At night Auntie Tuck-shop cooked us KTJ 6th Formers a Deepavali feast, something special for those who could not go home and celebrate with their families. In the spirit of 1Malaysia all of us joined in as well. Only difference is that non-Indians would help to contribute Rm 2 for the cost of food. An extremely good deal considering the spread.

Food was so worth it. Its been a while since I've had some good old home cooked food. She made a few curry dishes and briyani raisin rice which we munched down along with some traditional snacks. Those who know me well enough will know how much I appreciate good food. After dinner we all watched a few episodes of Family Guy. I've forgot how much I used to love this cartoon series. Its so random and retarded in a funny way. There will be times where you will be laughing out loud and there will be times where you will be staring at the screen waiting for subtitles to pop up because you don't understand what just happened. I liked how nice it was to have a huge bunch of people watching television together. Things always seem way more funny when you watch stuff with a big group of people. We should do this more often.

On another note, I sorta drifted back to Tondo and revisited this place in my thoughts. Its been a while since I've been to this dump site in the Philippines but somehow on occasions I would wonder how things are going on there right now and if things have changed. As usual I express things better visually so here are some snapshots.

Le Siam @Patong Beach, Phuket

Its been a while since I've posted something about food. This post brings us back to Phuket or Patong Beach to be specific. The last time I was in Thailand with my dad we had some reasonably good Thai food in a shopping mall, Siam Paragon. (Yes, I hear your gasps of horror. "What?? Good food in a shopping mall? What rubbish!")

So because of that good experience and a short span of time in Phuket, we decided to try out a restaurant at this mall our cab dropped us at, Jungceylon Shopping Mall. Its located not far from the beach, walking distance.

Food here was nice, service was brisk. I remember that it was raining so it was a deterrent from exploring the city for food. The name of the restaurant is Le Siam and it brands itself as a Thai fine dining restaurant.