cashback

just finished watching the movie cashback with kara, and in line with my new motto of don't wait, just do it, i had to blog about it before i forget/delay/never get around doing it.

The synopsis from wikipedia:

"After a painful break up with his first girlfriend Suzy, Ben, an aspiring artist, develops insomnia. To take his mind off his problem he spends his nights working at a local supermarket, where he meets colorful characters. He falls in love with his colleague Sharon.

He lets his imagination run wild. In particular, he imagines that he can stop time for others, so that he can walk around in a world that is "frozen" like in pause mode of a film. He imagines Sharon and female clients standing naked in the supermarket, so that he can watch and draw them.

We see in flashback, with Ben's voice-over explaining how he always has been impressed by the beauty of the female body, how he, as a young boy, could see a Swedish boarder naked while she was going to and coming from the shower; being Swedish she did not believe this situation required modesty. Also we see little Ben's friend Sean Higgins showing Ben his parents' adult magazines. Furthermore we see Ben paying a girl for showing him her genitals.

Sharon is Ben's date when they go the birthday party of their boss. Ben meets Suzy who wants to continue their relationship. Ben refuses, but Sharon gets a negative impression seeing Ben with Suzy for a moment, and gets angry.

As a practical joke colleagues Barry and Matt phone him, one of them pretending to be an art gallery owner who is interested in his drawings, and an appointment is made. It turns out well: the gallery owner, seeing Ben's work, is interested, and an exhibition follows. Sharon also visits it and is impressed not only by Ben's success, but also by the many paintings portraying her; she is not angry anymore."

The original movie was actually a short film that won numerous awards. The full feature film includes the 18 minute Oscar-nominated short film of the same title.

Watching the film actually made me think of the subtle messages within the movie.

In one scene, we see Sharon desperately trying to avoid watching her watch/clock. It is said the more you watch time past, the longer it takes. I can certainly vouch for that. Any thoughts?

I also reflected on how Ben on his colleagues tried to distract themselves over their 8 hour shift, as though they were trapped within their job/work hour. It made me think, do I want to work in this line for the next 10, 20 years of my life? Can I keep on doing what I'm doing? The answer is a resounding no, and I have got to get out as soon as I can.

one of the memorable quotes i like from the movie :

"Once upon a time, I wanted to know what love was. You just have to see that it's wrapped in beauty and hidden away in between the seconds of your life. If you don't stop for a minute, you might miss it."

Think about the above phrase. Are we too busy with our work to neglect the people around you? Are we chasing love and yet be unaware that it is always around us? Are we moving too fast and chasing life when life quietly passes by?

Ben said in the movie that he could stop time, pause time and even fast forward time. But what he cannot do was to reverse time correct what he did wrong.

I've always thought of what I would do if I could reverse time, to go back in time and change the past, to undo the things I did wrong, to make better choices. I’m sure you have too. We all have our own regrets, big or small.

In truth, we cannot go back in time to change the past. What we have is hindsight. We can only learn from our mistakes and move forward. Everything we are today is a product of some mistake we did in the past. The choice to linger on the past or to move on is entirely up to you.

Reflect, learn and improve. That’s all we can do...

things you must know about hong kong

dear all, if you plan to come to hong kong for work/travel, there a few things you must know:

1. if you have a hsbc credit card, you must bring it to hk. there are just so many outlets giving discounts specifically for hsbc credit card. don't leave home without it, or is that ad for american express? as a matter of fact, bring a few card. if you like to shop, hong kong is the shopping heaven for you!

2. once you reach hong kong, definitely get the octopus card. there are fantastic deals at the airport express where you get a unlimited mtr rides for 3 days and 2 single journeys for HKD300. check it out here. Any unspent value is refunded along with the HKD50 deposit, minus HKD7 handling fees if you surrender the card in less than 3 months. but overall, all your fares are cheaper than paying cash each time. you can reload/pay in all Circle K, 7-11, MTR stations and most grocery shops like Wellcome and Park and Save. i say keep the card, you could be back in hk very soon!

3. bring a pair of good shoes and be prepared to walk! everybody walks in HK, especially tourists! better still, wear a pair of old shoes, drop by "sneaker street" in mong kok and pickup a pair of sneakers and give your old pair to the nice lady picking up garbage by the street. be sneaker neutral!

4. if you are here long term / working in hk, be prepared to prepay everything! your rent is 2 months deposit + 1 month current, mobile phone charges are prepaid 24 months in advance (if you signup with a plan), your gym membership is prepaid, so is your broadband/cable tv services. i don't quite like the way this is done, but when in rome, do what the romans do!

5. be prepared for the space shock. most shops, apartments and hotels are pretty small. especially your local diners. you would most likely share small table with 3-4 strangers, and somemore breathing down your neck waiting for your seat during lunch. haahahah

6. food is rather expensive at first glance. a simple mcdonalds value meal could set you back HKD25, about the same price of a char siew rice and a drink at a small diner. you could still find bargains of HKD10 buck wan tan noodles, so be wise. but please remember, don't convert to your local currency, if not you wont eat anything all day!

so much for this post, i welcome any more insights. please leave it in the comments and i will put it in my next post.

my crib

at long last, my crib pictures are up! the apartment was nicely and tastefully renovated by the owner, i'd like to think i put in the finishing touches. most of the stuff came from ikea, the rest were various additions by the inhouse interior designer (aka myself), muahahaahh

its a modest 1 room apartment, but there is a sofa bet for visitors, plus a enthusiastic host, you are all welcome to visit me!

my ikea bed



my laptop on my computer table, ikea as well


the inbuilt cabinets and wardrobe

sofa bed




my side table, and drinking utensils


my dining table, excuse the mess


my tv and stereo (currently showing prison break)



my wall clock, look familiar?


my prized photowall, can you see yourself?


now moving on to my kitchen/bathroom, yes its so small is connected :)














thats all folks, for bigger better resolution, please visit the photostream:

http://s208.photobucket.com/albums/bb7/muzzdang/mycrib/

today's post was brought to you by "ikea - affordable solutions for better living"

nothing is permanent

i was saddened recently with some sports news...

thiery henry, the arsenal superstar forward would be leaving to join barcelona. although this is the worse kept secret for over a year, it was still the worse news for any arsenal supporter

though i'm a die hard newcastle united fan, i have always loved to watch arsene wenger's arsenal. they play beautiful, fast paced attacking football and any neutral fan would agree they are a joy to watch. with henry leading the line, you would always get goals, and most of the times, spectacular goals..

henry has always said he will be a gunner for life, and despite his departure, i believe him. he is an honest, decent bloke and he explained clearly why he left. first viera was sold, then arsenal moved to the new stadium which limited their transfer budget. though henry was made captain, he was too moody to lead the line from the front. then david dein left and arsene will not renew his contract with arsenal after next season. being 29 years old, it was now or never...

i think his departure will be a great loss for arsenal, and from the looks of it, the club is in danger of a free fall. i certainly hope they don't self destruct, i'd watch them play anyday over the other big 3 clubs. it's also a loss to the english premier league, losing one its brightest star, and dare i say their best ever player...

with the spanish league starting in an ungodly hour of 3 am HK/Malaysian time, i won't be able to watch much of henry's live action

the good thing is, barcelona is coming to HK to play a friendly game and they promise all their stars will come! i better get the tickets, this would probably the best chance of seeing him play live...

like i said, nothing is permanent anymore, the only thing that is permanent is... change

take a good look at yourself and your life and reflect

are you being the best that you can be? are you neglecting the people around you? have you said "i love you" to your family and loved ones? don't wait, just do it...



au revoir monsieur henry...

Happy Birthday to myself...

so there it was, my 29th birthday has came and now i'm officially 29 years and 1 day old...

i guess nothing quite makes you feel your age, when you are at the end of your 20's...
though i don't feel old (i have ppl still saying that I look 24, haha), a few gray hair here and there does remind you time waits for no one....

listening to the robert kiyosaki podcast, it suddenly reminded me of my time in melbourne when i picked up his best seller, rich dad poor dad. the book had a profound effect on me, and changed the way i viewed life and money. though i did try to implement some of his teachings, it was more a half hearted attempt to truly go all the way. i have not achieved the financial freedom i strived to achieve, but things will change from today onwards... more on this later...

anyway i had a great housewarming cum birthday party. we had take out pizza, kfc and started juicing! all because i had a kick-ass juicer..

later, we played twister and all sorts of drinking game, which was great fun as well

the party ended around 3 am, and I hope i don't get any complaints as it was crazy loud, hahaha

my thanks to all my frens, old and new, who came to my party with well wishes and gifts. special thanks to grace, law and kara for the lovely PSP!

here are some of the pics:



















the afternoon before the party, met up with a guy to purchase his gym membership. nice kiwi by the name of Mark Wilson, and just knew him over the internet. he is a teacher and after 9 months into his job in hong kong, he is going to travel to africa and then to japan to do some charity work. tom, a colleague told me that his gf took out a huge loan and will spend a good half a year travelling the world. the bank approved her loan as she will be starting work with a very nice remuneration package.

this got me thinking. though its not new, it seems some westerners who were lucky enough will either travel the world right after graduating, or some of them will just take 1 year off their working life and do so.

such an idea will seem unbelievable in an asian society, though i hope the mentality will change. most of us stick to a life laid out by our parents / society, which follows the path of study>work>getmarried>family>retirement>TRAVEL

sound familiar? thats why most travel agencies cater for the retirees to go travel, because that is the only time they get to travel!

personally i feel blessed and thankful of having the chance to travel to many parts of south east asia, australia (where i studied) and parts of europe. now that i'm working in hong kong, i find it easier to relate to other people from different parts of the world and share their ideas. traveling opens your minds and widens your horizon.

so if possible, i would encourage everyone to strive to travel a little bit every year. go to new places, make new friends, learn their culture. don't just be a typical tourist that visits all the must-go's, buy souvenirs and leaves with memory cards full of pictures.

i know its ideal, and i do know that people have hectic schedules that they can't leave their jobs. my advice is this, you are not the whole company/business, don't give yourself so much credit. the company will still be around when you come back in a weeks time, if it's not, you probably should have left earlier, am i right?

2 weeks in Hong Kong

Its been 2 weeks and change since I arrive in Hong Kong.

Went to Sammi Cheng's concert and was very impressed. The stage was very extravagant, the costumes were funky and the dancers and songs were top class. There were also some lively interactions with some of the audience, which was refreshing. What I noticed is that the concerts all run on time and everyone is early, no waiting for big shots for half and hour or more. The concert tickets costs $240, but it was well worth it.

On Friday I watched Pirates 3 with Kara and some friends. The tickets costs $85 and a medium popcorn will set you back another $65, gulp! The movie plot was a bit messy and slightly long, but overall it was still better than Spiderman 3. I guess that's what happens when you make 2 sequels. It was a small cinema in Pacific Place and the seats were really comfy leather seats. What was really impressive came at the end of the show. Not that I noticed, but halfway through the show, the aircond went dead. At the end of the show, the cinema staff stopped us from leaving and annouced that due to the inconvenience caused, we can keep our ticket stubs and exchange for any other movie within a month! Now that's class!

We stepped out of the cinema around 1 am and a bus pulls up in no time. I have never waited for more than half and hour for any public transport. Now thats pretty impressive!

A new beginning

arrived in hong kong with mixed feelings
excited for a new environment
missing my family who have been awesome with me all my life

spent most of the first day in the hotel and travel time
met up with sea loon, grace, low and kara for dinner and karaoke till 4.30 am
and was totally smashed when i reached the hotel

woke up today and went to grace's place at Kennedy Town
viewed about 6-7 units, only 1 looked remotely acceptable, hahahaahah
nevermind, still had a few days to look at other units

went to Mong Kok for dinner, gosh there are so many people, unbelievable
bought some socks (yes, nike socks) and finally the very useful Octopus card

i miss my family already.....
my shoulders are killing me, and my feet ache
no plans for tomorrow yet, probably will hang out around grace's apartment and watch football at nite

hong kong is so full of energy, probably becoz there is so many people walking around all the time
its fairly clean despite the number of people around