It fills me with gratitude when I forget to be thankful for things I take for granted. It grounds me. It calms me when my days just got so busy that I hardly have time to breathe/rest. It calms my heart beat. I close my eyes, and just focus on Him…a sense of peace brings a smile…even when things are going mad with my business & life.

I hope you will enjoy it. If you find tears sorta coming out, bless you. You know you’ve been touched.

Yes, it’s gonna b a great year, coz i said so, I’m taking massive action and doing things differently.

I need…comic books. beach holiday-chilled beer, good book, music. some dance. massage. good conversations with frens. dress up. manicure. extra pairs of hands & feet. a clone of myself. Tq

about a minute ago ·  · Like · Comment

I have a confession.

Mr Steve Job (bless him) must have cast a spell somehow. I’m addicted to my iphone4, I’m addicted to my iphone4!. Yes I am! I’m addicted to my iphone4! (If you are familiar with Jerry Maguire, you will know this scene)

I’ve never been so organized, everything is sync-ed, almost everything is in the apps store! I can literally work quickly from anywhere without my netbook. I am Facebooking, Skyping, PingChatting, photo taking, photo uploading, ring tone creating, apps (free) downloading, surfing, oh ya, checking & replying emails, working in the loo, in the car, syncing calendars, taking notes, downloading more free apps, and yes, of course the customary games playing. And yes, I have TomCat too!

Thank you God for bringing Steve Jobs, Apple, Iphone to my working, personal & entertainment life! Amen.

Re-reading the book, flipping thru the pages. Never fails to amaze me, this guy & his entrepreneur craziness/brilliantness. It makes me feel less alone in this journey, and reminds me of the joy of building & growing a business that you believe in. Ah, the freedom of being able to paint on a blank canvas giving it life, pumps me up with energy & makes my eyes twinkle! (Erm erm, I supposed this is how some women with urge to have a very heavy tiny human growing in her womb feels? I can only guess).

Beer + a very good inspiring book, best combi in the absence of good friends around.

One day, I will visit Zappos.com in Las Vegas and meet Tony.

Today, today. As I was sitting on the living room floor, lights dimmed, beer chilling (er, is it human, can beer be chilling?!) in the fridge, listening to Leslie Cheung (yes, cannot meh); I stretched my old woman’s aching back. From a cross legged sitting position, stretch upper back down with arms in front reaching the floor. (No, I’m not teaching yoga). As my hands touched the floor, I gave my lower back a deeper stretch, and instinctively closed my eyes to enjoy the stretch, ugh. But, lo & behold,  Melinda surprised Melinda when her eyes starts to shut tightly, a gush of tears were fighting to escape!

Taken aback, I sprang up blinking, what the hell was that?? I took a few deep breath to calm down. And again, the darn floodgates tried to prise open and let the weird tears gush out. I’m like going m*ther f***er!- as how I always am when I’m threaten, yes, that’s how grown up I am. What the @#^% was that Mel??

It’s a combi of business worries, work backlog, my yet to be successful planning & gift hunt for darling hubby’s birthday this Thursday (I’m so dead), and to top it off- found out daughter is telling her persistent lies about her school work again & again & again, angelic face & all but telling you lies without blinking her eyes. All rolled into a day, compounded from days, weeks, months.

Sometimes I think, damn it! I have to learn to step up, and not let things get out of perspective that much. If not, what am I, a rag doll easily flung with the slightest movement??

You think you are ok, then you are not. Then you are, then you are not again. I guess that’s (business) life & life. Only pig headed me forgot about nature’s logic, and kept fighting against it.

Well, it’s still some journey till I live up to my self-given warrior name – The Wind. (from one of the best seminar I’ve attended that opened my eyes to life & soul).  That name came to me as I want to be that, as gentle as I want to be and flow with it or as powerful as I want to be and make things happen.

Till then, there’s always my perfectly chilled Anchor in the fridge waiting for me. Perfect companion to loneliness. Ahhh…

You must sometimes learn how to ‘clock out’ like an employee after work. Else, you’ll go crazy. One day when you snapped, it’s not going to be good.

As much as I eat, live, breathe Coconect, I am beginning to think this is a logical way to stay sane. Or at least, well rested enough to go for the long haul. Coz business IS the long haul. And it needs energy (DUH!). If I wound myself up too tightly to the point I am having much difficulty to sleep at night, sooner or later, something’s gotta give.

So, I will practice saying- See you later, alligator!

Decided that I want some sunshine to go with my chow. Made a weird but very right decision to go Old Town (gasp!) to have perfect soft-boiled egg that I don’t have to scald my fingers to crack open, and artery clogging bread with chunks of butter.

PERFECT CHOICE!  My work & play-ground for the morning. :)

As I sat here, the hours of burning midnight oil and goddamn insomnia left me, and I can’t help but grin like a silly idiot feeling very happy indeed to be doing this. This as in my business, not eating soft-boiled egg though that is a very happy thing too!

When you have the freedom & liberty (er, are they the same?) to work in environment (be it in an office or out) that frees rather than choke, with self discipline of course, I supposed you’ll be much happier. And when you are much happier, you tend to be more productive.

I trust my team though we work remotely. Heck, even if I see their Facebook games updates during working hours, I know that during crazy deadlines, they had voluntarily clocked in more hours than I requested for. And that’s what matters- commitment & drive to be in the same boat on this journey.

Happy Friday everyone!

:)

This is the 1st time I’m writing in. Although I am a fan of Weekender, I never took the effort to write in & comment on the contents & articles. But thumbs up for them! Thank you for being my nice quiet Saturday morning read.

This morning when I saw the headline of this movie review, Eat, Patronize, Leave; I told myself, I knew it, as I have not much faith on movies based on books. In most cases, the movies does injustice to the book. For how can one possiblyexpress everything from a 444 pages book into a movie.

As I continued to read the review, I felt my blood starting to boil.

Now, here’s a ‘film critic’ who had crossed the line from sticking to her job, to trying to be a critic of other people’s life. (or book)

In the review, she had made biased comments on Elizabeth Gilbert’s life. Painted a completely wrong picture of the whole thing.

Best-selling chick lit? Which with rare exceptions (Bridget Jones’ Diary) are always horrendous.

This is a non-fiction book based on Liz Gilbert’s story.

...she dumps everything (except money, because what is an adventure without loads of cash?)

She lost her possessions to her ex-husband.

Goes on a ROMP?! in 3 totally exotic (wince here)…

She was suffering from severe depression for years. On the verge of suicide. So sue her if she finally pick herself up, and have the courage to search for herself & heal. And sue her for being lucky to finally got some money back in the form of an advance from her publisher.

I’ve read the book from cover to cover, several times since 2008 way before all the hoo-ha of this book when overboard. Without watching the movie, I can have a safe bet that the storyline of this movie is probably off tangent. Sigh.

I have yet to watch the movie, and even before so I don’t have any high hopes for it. Especially when I saw the preview, and see how skinny (still) is Julia Roberts in India & Bali. That was after her carb- eating spree in Italy. In the book & actual life, she put on weight. In the movie, instead of sacrificing her looks and putting on weight to play the role correctly, she stays reed thin. Warning # 1.

In the preview, I saw many colorful scenes where Julia Roberts is seen gallivanting away, almost like any happy holiday maker. Warning # 2. I wonder if the director actually steered the storyline in the right direction. In parts of the book, there were many dark moments where Elizabeth Gilbert was suffering, her mental struggles, and her weird conversation with God.

But really, despite the movie, what the film critic painted of who Elizabeth Gilbert is- selfish; is totally off & uncalled for. I could sense a strong feel of cynicism, jealousy, envy & self-denial turning this review into a heady cocktail of toxic spewing criticism.

Question, did the ‘film critic’ actually read the book throughly?

Question, judging from how the review was written, it seemed to be more of biased critic on Julia Roberts’ work, and the direction of this movie. But why condemn the book? Is it part of a ‘movie’ review?

Last question to ponder, has the world gone so cynical & cold that heaven forbid any one to dare step up and admit their internal struggles? And gosh, try to heal the wounds and find peace & happiness? You can’t love yourself, that is so selfish! Oh no, you want to find peace in you & happiness? And WHAT? You can afford to ‘romp’ in 3 totally exotic countries to do that?? Why, you selfish b*itch. How could you just think of yourself, you egoist vocal warm-up: me me me ME me me!

In this world we are living, in doing that risks facing a furious backlash of being labelled ‘self-indulgent’, ‘silly’, ‘selfish’. Sorry Elizabeth Gilbert, for baring your soul & letting it be ripped apart.

(Oh, sorry for the movie (and the reviews) too).

Mel