12.22.2009

Christmas & Shopping

I would have declared year end as my favorite season if not for the freezing cold winter. Tell me someone, when is it going to be over!!

Well, went to disneysea last weekend with ML who is visiting. The last time I went to disneysea was like 3 years ago and I almost forgot how beautiful it was. ( actually, I don't even have much impression of it!)

But it was really absolutely breath-taking. Even the skies are like extra blue and clear. The only complain I have is, weekend queues are really life-threatening. The next day after standing and queueing for like 10 hrs, I ended up with a backache.


Minnie for the day. Actually, I wanted to be goofy... but couldn't find the one I liked!


So anyway... Year ends are always illuminated by the pretty christmas lights, moods are lighter and fluffier, human engines slowing down to wrap up the year.

Actually I have been consistently saving towards some big plans I have next year. Somehow having a concrete goal actually helps me in a very real sense to distinguish between needs, real wants, wants that can wait, wants on the spur...

But...I am also letting down my guard to the lure of sales and gradually lossening my grip on those pennies!

My new dusty pink (A4 size) chain bag^^ Perfect against those monotone coats and Spring!


Here's the book I will be reading in the few days of end year holidays! Holley Gerth is one of the christian writers I really like.
It is not just about the content of her creations. It is the warmth in her frankness, her courage to face up to the gritty nitty fears she has, most importantly, her willingness to share that really drew me to her works.

Here's an excerpt from the introduction...

Your first drop may have been a diagnosis given by a doctor with a grim face. Perhaps it was a note left on the kitchen table that said, “I’m sorry but I don’t love you anymore.” It could have been a phone call late at night and someone on the other end telling you the unthinkable.

Or your first drop may have come so softly you didn’t even recognize it. You tried to start a family and after another negative pregnancy test realized something might be wrong. You took a promising job and one day discovered that your computer screen might as well be a “dead end” sign. You began a relationship only to discover that your dream come true has started feeling a bit like a nightmare.

No matter how your first drop fell, it was probably followed by another…and another…and another. Now your heart is soaking wet and you’re wondering if you’ll ever feel warm and dry again.

The good news is God knows even more about rain than those scientists. He knows the destruction it can bring. He also knows how to redeem it and use it to bring beauty and hope to our lives.

Take a quick look out your window. Every flower or tree you see owes its life to rain. Every bird singing, every frog hopping, every living thing draws its strength from storms...

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So merry christmas everyone!!

12.14.2009

I feel so amused....

My colleagues nicknamed me the Captain Eco at work.

That is because I insists on using both sides of the paper whenever I can, WILL NOT print unnecessarily, use my own utensils and mug instead of the disposables.

Actually they are just the very simple amd mundane stuff we can do with little effort just to give our poor overworked mother earth and depleting recources a break.

Recently, something at work really amused me.

When I just entered the company, I couldn't understand why the ladies were flushing the toilets so much. They flush it once right after they enter the cubicles, sometimes even in between business and of course the final time after they are done.
That makes it 3 times per trip? On average every flush is 2L of water. So that makes it 6L per person per trip. 4 times a day, makes it 24 L multiple by the number of ladies....

It's scary maths out there...

So anyway back to the main story. I was feeling bored one day so I googled to find out why they were flushing so much. It was then I realised Japanese ladies find it a big embarassment and uncomfortable to be heard by others when they do their business and vice versa.

So for my company which didn't have the flushing sound system to cover up for that, everyone was flushing like mad.

Seriously, I should have did it immediately like 2 yrs ago. But somehow something got onto me mid of last week and I went to the Admin/HR to suggest they install this system called the otohime (see explanation below).

Oto = Sound
Hime = Princess.

See.. what a gloried name they give for the flusing sound sytem.

And to my greatest shock ( why didn't any smarter soul tell them that earlier??) they actually welcomed it with the greatest enthusiasm and it was installed today!

I asked my colleague how come no one ever told them that and she concluded it might because no one has the courage to bring up the topic of toilets.

Yeah.. so they have to thank me the foreigner.
Another case where straight-forwardness saves the day.

Today after the oto hime was installed, the colleague who gave me the nick Captain Eco exclaimed, " Our Captain Eco indeed" and she applauded. Well well...


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What is an Otohime?

Toilet noises can be embarrassing, but what's a shy girl to do besides repeatedly flushing in situation? Japan's answer is the Otohime (pronounced "oto-hee-may"), also known as the "Sound Princess" - an electronic "flush" that saves face as well as water.

Japanese women can be exceedingly modest when it comes to the characteristic sounds of nature's call, regardless of the fact that they are either alone in their home's bathroom or among their own kind in a more public washroom setting.

With the advent of western-style flush toilets in the post-war era, modest misses found that merrily flushing away effectively masked any embarrassing noises. Unfortunately, by the 1980s legions of ladies managing their modesty led to a virtual Niagara of wasted water - a fact not lost on Japan's governing authorities.

by Steve Levenstein
Taken from : http://inventorspot.com/articles/otohime_saves_face_sounding_like_a_flush_14224

12.01.2009

On some days~~

I just feel really tired facing the Japanese people at work.

I appreciate the fact that Japanese are in general people who think twice before they speak, beat around the bush so as not to be too harsh in their speech or actions.
But sometimes, their over-patronising and praising-one-to-the-skies really gets my head spinning. I can literally see stars ( like what you see in a cartoon rotating around me)

During these times, I just feel so fed up. Why do we have to be so extremely careful in our speech that we patronise or even lie?
Why can't we just be truthful yet constructive?
Encouraging and yet not withholding the truth?

Am I just being too idealistic?
maybe...

So I choose not to throw in unnecessary comments at such times. Which leads people to think I am bored or just plain quiet.

Sometimes I am really bored actually just sitting around gossiping.
I'v got far better things to do..
Like pack my bag and go home and sleep~~

haa.... randoms thoughts..