Having "Me" Time

It's the end of August.  This time last year I was in Malaysia visiting a good old friend just before Malaysia's independence day.  This year, I am in Bangkok, and am instead keeping touch with good friends through other high tech means such as Skype, Google+ and Whatsapp.  It really is quite amazing all this technology.  It brings people together.   Yet, it can also bring people apart. You might have noticed that since the advent of BB messaging and chat programs on iPhones, smartphones, androids, many of us (me included) sometime zone out of conversations and instead grin at our phones.  We are living in two worlds at once. One moment, I'm in conversation with the person next to me, the next, I'm in a conversation with someone else on the other side of the phone.  Maybe that person is in another country.  I don't mind it at all, but sometimes I think we ought to put down our phones and enjoy the person next to us.  Enjoy ...

In just a few days, it will be the end of August and it will have been eight months since January.  If you haven't accomplished your goals, perhaps now is a time to reevaluate them and reprioritize.   If you have not yet gone for a health check up, then I recommend you do so.  Health should be a priority.  Surprisingly, not a lot of people regularly have annual checkups and we go through life thinking that we are healthy, all is fine and that we are still young.  Nothing is going to happen to us. The sad truth is, we get older every year.  Our bodies get older, and suddenly we find ourselves faced with health problems we previously never thought of. Backaches seem more common in the thirties.  If I get up too fast, or move too fast, I risk hurting my back which results in endless days of torture and wearing low unattractive heels.  I finally understand while the older ladies are always spotted wearing "comfortable" shoes versus the...

The other day I went to Central World (yes I go there so often you'd wonder if I had a stake in it) and found a little box of happiness sitting in the car park giving out parking tickets to all those who entered.  Her name is Kanthong (Golden bowl) and she is just happiness all around, despite having what I must consider to be one of the most boring jobs in this world:  she keys in license plates and hands out parking cards to all those who enter central world. Traffic was awful, it was more than awful and beyond description.  It was raining outside, end month, and some convention was being held.  Roads were jammed packed outside, and even just coming up the garage ramp to the 3,000 car car-park, there was a long line of cars.  I had been stuck on the ramp for a good half hour and moods were not so good.  Others in the car and myself included were getting slightly bored, annoyed, and tired.  You are stuck in a ...

The other day I read a New York Times article on "Decision Fatigue" and it has been intriguing me ever since.  It is fascinating for it helps us understand a little more the things that affect the mind and how it works.   We all know that when we are tired, the brain functions a little less, we make human errors, we make mistakes, we start becoming unintelligible, and if we are really tired, we start to resemble a zombie.  However, what we don't realize is that in the course of day to day life we may make a lot of decisions without realizing we are actually tired and that this "tiredness" is affecting how we decide. The article cites a research that was done on parole hearings.  Those heard early in the morning, or after coffee breaks and lunch were more likely to get parole than those who were heard later in the day.  This is even if they had the same profile.  I feel sorry for those being heard later in the day.  The reason bein...

I just got my health check results today.  It's always a bit nerve-racking when you receive the results in a sealed package and have to open it.  It makes you wonder what will be written inside.  How will my cholesterol be this year? Am I going to have high triglyceride levels?   It's a time when you cannot run away from reality and the numbers are either telling you good or not so good news.  Getting the health check result is like getting a reality check. A reality check that tells you how well, or not well, you have been treating your body. A few years ago when I was at my "peak" (in terms of being overweight and unhealthy, not peak fitness level!), I never liked the health check results.  It was always had the same phrases on them:  "Lose some weight, eat healthier, exercise, cholesterol levels are high, avoid fatty foods and dairy products." Yes, I remember them all. It was always there ...

As one of my readers (who is also a good friend) commented the other day, I seem to be in a good mood. Yes I am.  It's a good day, not because I was efficient and got many things done, but because I have received and heard interesting stories from my readers.  It is always a pleasure to hear comments or recieve emails.  It's one of a writer's little joys in life.  Tonight I write about an email I recieved from a reader ("S") earlier this week with regard to where one should look to purchase a condominum in Bangkok.    Although this is not directly my field, I will try my best to help her. :) Of course the condominum one ultimately ends up purchasing,  depends upon your lifestyle, your needs and your budget.  It also depends on what purpose you are buying the condominium for.  Are you buying it for yourself?  Are you buying it for rental? or are you buying it for speculation in the hopes that the real estate...

It's Friday evening and the weekend lies ahead.  When I get tired, when I need a holiday sometimes all it takes is a little day trip to revitalize the soul.  Just an hour outside of Bangkok and already it can make one feel relaxed. I see the big open sky high above me and somehow it dissolves away the hassles and tiredness of everyday life.  If you are wondering what to do this weekend, perhaps you can take a little trip to Bang pu (Bangpoo).  It's actually only around 45 minutes away and a good place to just go have a good lunch and come back refreshed. Bang pu is adjacent to Bangkok in Samut Prakarn province and lies southeast of Bangkok.  It borders on the Gulf of Thailand and that's where its charm lies.  You can go have a nice meal by the gulf and it's only an hour's drive away.  A good place to escape the hassle and bustle of modern Bangkok.  A restaurant Alex and I tried and have since gone back is called "Rabiengta- Le" which li...

Tonight I write not about travels, good eats, nor exercise.  I write about a little activity that is great for relaxing and in the end you get something that also comes in handy, a little notebook or sketchbook.  Every since I can remember, I've always loved books and stationery.   I could spend hours on end in bookstores, browsing through the titles, flipping through titles and feeling the paper between my hands.  This love for books included a love for stationery.  Fine writing paper, beautifully crafted notebooks and calligraphy pens were my thing.  As I grow older, it now involves a love for books that have been handcrafted.  I have a sketchbook that I handmade in highschool and it still holds up find.  Everytime I use it, I remember sitting there making the cover and cutting up the paper. Drawings inside date from the 1990's, but each one holds a memory.   Happy memories.  It's not surprising my first drawing is o...

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers in this world!  Yes, in Thailand today is Mother's day and everyone is out in droves taking mothers out to lunch.  Mother's Day is always a happy day for me even if I'm not a mother, but I like it because it is a good occasion to tell our mothers how much we love them.  It's a day that makes mothers all over the country smile.  It's a day that allows children to remember their mothers, families to reunite, and reignite bonds. Ideally we would treat every day as if it were Mother's Day, tell our mothers how much we love them and show appreciation for their being there for us daily, but I realize sometimes with busy lives we forget.   For those whose mothers' have passed I suppose it can be a special day of remembrance of good times past.   The great thing is that it is not only for the children.  Husbands too wish their wives a good day and make peace for a day.  Today is HER day. A d...

Oftentimes we spend our lives taking care of others and forget the most important person:  ourself.  You find your days and hours devoted to taking care of family members, taking care of clients and customers and work non-stop to meet deadlines.  Work consumes us alive as well as the zillion other tasks we have to get done in our daily lives. Now how much time you spend taking care of family members of course depends on how large your family is.  It can include parents, siblings, your spouse, children, aunts, uncles, grandparents, inlaws, etc.  If you have a large family, this of course will consume quite a bit of your time.  If you have children, you will most often be preoccupied taking care of them.  I don't have any but from what I see, having children is a full time job.  From the moment you wake up, until the time you fall asleep there are things that need to get done.  Many times, parents forget to take care of themsel...

I finally finished watchng Season 4 of Gossip Girls and can't help but wonder at its strange appeal.  It's crazy, it's a high school story, but somehow it's fun to watch even if I'm way beyond my highschol years.  Perhaps it's because it is somewhat reflective of life and it makes you think about the good and bad parts of life.  In a year of these characters's life,  more events and scandals happen than would ever happen in my entire lifetime.  Yet, there are a thing or two one could contemplate about when thinking about these characters's choice of boyfriends/girlfriends.  What sort of person are they looking for? What is it they want in life?  These are questions I think are relevant at any age. Blair wants a fairy tale life with a fairy tale prince.  She finds one and they are soon engaged to be married, yet somehow she still feels for the adventurous and raw Chuck Bass.  She was almost going to give up the fairy tale for him, but t...

Today is my free Sunday and it is an especially special one for I have not an appointment in the world today.  There is no place I have to be, nothing I have to go out and get, no one I have to go meet, it's a totally free free Sunday.  I have no plans, and I don't want any. Not today anyways.  I think free days like this everyone should have every now and then.  It works wonders for the soul and mind. Most days I wake up and already have a list of things I have to get done.  In fact, I know what I have to do tomorrow before I go to bed the night before so I can plan my wake up time and sleep time.  I think about things I have to get done for work, deadlines, things to follow up on and etc...  Then there are personal things you have to get done, like running, bills to be paid before a certain date or reservations to be made.  If I have to go somewhere, I have to work backwards and plan the departure time and get ready time so I can get to t...

It's the weekend and though I am still feeling under the weather, something about sleeping at the early hours of 9pm and waking up in the wee hours of the morning is refreshing.  The sky is blue, the birds are chirping and the wind is in the air.  It is refreshing and a great way to re-energize.  Of course, another great way to re-energize is to go out and have some good food with good company.  If you fancy some dimsum I recently discovered a new place upon recommendation of a dear friend.  It's called "Yuan" (which makes me think of the Chinese Yuan which is the local chinese currency). What I love about this dimsum place is that you get freshly made dimsum. None of that frozen and re-steamed kind of dimsum.  Each portion is large and you can taste the quality of the ingredients inside.  I had some dimsum made out of snow fish, the usual shumai, fried taro with red pork, fried cream buns and a few other dishes. My favorite was the fried cre...

It's August already and the end of the year is fast approaching. Just like that.  In a few months 2011 will be over and done with.  However, there are still a zillion things I want to do and so today I give you instead a list of places I still want to go to and things I want to do before the year is up.  I'll probably be adding to this list as the months go by so ideas are more than welcomed! Walk up to the Golden Mount Temple; Go inside Hualumphong Train Station; Take a one day train trip on Thailand's ancient railroad (steam engine if possible); Take the Chaophraya Express Cruise 9 Temple Tour; Take a one day trip to Pattaya; Take pictures of old shop house signs in Old Bangkok; Walk along Saphan Kwai, an old business district; Explore the weekend jatuchak market; Organize my photos and burn DVDs; Finish making my handmade books; Reorganize Having "Me" Time Website; Initiate an event; Run the 5K Bangkok Marathon; If you have any sugge...

I dedicate tonight's post to my dear colleagues with whom I spend more time than I am at home.  Today I have to admit I was truly surprised and would like to say a big "Thank You" everyone for having planned, ordered, putting candles on the frozen ice cream, being there,  and singing happy birthday so loud I have to admit I was literally lost for words.  I really appreciate it.  Thank you everyone.  You make my day. I really was not expecting this for it was a Monday and everyone was busy, very busy, there are always a zillion things to do.  I imagined the whole cake thing would occur at a later more relaxed date.  Today's event was indeed a surprise that made my heart skip a beat.    I had presumed I was going up to the office to wish farewell to another colleague.  I am that gullible.  I believed it. You can imagine how surprised I was to  find myself walking into a room full of peopl...