Pixelated Thoughts

A rare update

2009-06-07T00:22:00.003+08:00

My blog has been rather quiet cos my life's now flying like a fighter jet plane. Everything's zooming real fast and furious that sometimes I just can't seem to catch up with a whole load of things. 24 hours is seriously not enough for me to do everything that I want to.

I apologise for my previous emo-filled post. Just trying to deal with the whole long distance relationship thing. Glad that my hubby's back for a couple of months. I guess spending time with him is of utmost importance... but here we are trying to settle the whole wedding thing, trying to buy a house... etc... so I guess we've hit this zone in the relationship where everything's down to more practical things rather than the whole knight in shining armour sweeping you off your feet/romantic clouds in the air.

Speaking of weddings, it's hard to plan something that you aren't familiar with. It's like stepping into the unknown. What to do, where to go, what to buy, who to invite is all like a blur to me. Most girls have a detailed picture of their dream wedding and the things they want or don't want. But when it comes to me, i've no idea where to start from or when to start the planning. I don't even know what I want exactly for my wedding... I'm such an abnormal bride.

All I know is that I'm not the kind of bride that enjoys a whole load of attention like inviting hordes of people whom I don't really know well nor do I enjoy the tacky cheesy wedding photos that you see lining the streets of bridal lanes of Singapore... other than that, I've no freaking idea of what a wedding should be like. So if anyone likes to help me in this department, it'll be deeply appreciated. :)

Just a side-rant... Singapore's weather is really irritating the crap out of me. The whole 33 degrees Celsius and 100% humidity thing is not working well. Even when I sleep, I am perspiring. Need to pray for loads of wind and rain (without the water... lol).

Alright... that's all for a quick update!

*Shanea Out (quick update) 12:58am*

Soliloquy

2009-03-24T19:42:00.003+08:00

I may appear strong, stubborn and that everything's alright.

But in actual fact, all that is within me is uncertainty, fear and much loneliness.

Sure, I can paint colors on my world to tell others of that light at the end of my tunnel.

But I know in my heart of the pain to walk each step on my own.

For the sake of the happiness and life of others, I stand like a solid tree.

When all I feel inside is but like a drifting weed.

I say nothing about myself and hide behind closed doors

Just wishing time will just pass away from me.

I share nothing because no one will ever understand

Because the things you want to hear will never be what I want to say.

The things I need are not the things you can give to me now

And this truly hurts when mixed in with loneliness

I don't know how much longer I can hold onto this pain

The hurt is eroding me from the inside

But for the world and for your needs I will just be.

And pretend that this is but just another day.

*Shanea Out (....) @ 8:16pm*

"I-live-in-the-best-zone-in-Singapore" Sydnrome

2009-03-02T12:34:00.004+08:00

Less than an hour ago, I met some old lady at a traffic junction and she was asking where the nearest supermarket was. Thinking that she might be someone who doesn't get out much, I quickly told her where it was (ok, I was a tad mean to think that way).

But then while waiting for the light to turn green, she volunteered a very interesting piece of information in Chinese - "I've just moved here 2 months ago from Hougang (the northeast part of Singapore) and compared to Hougang, this area seems to have nothing to eat and do!"

I was like... "ARE YOU CRAZY??!! The East is the most happening place and you just DEFILED MY HOLY LAND!"

But I didn't say that to her... I was just screaming at her in my mind.

That got me thinking... Singapore is a tiny island city. Everyone knows that. According to this site,

"Singapore consists of the island of Singapore and some 63 islets within its territorial waters. The main island is about 26 mi/42 km from west to east and 14 mi/23 km from north to south. It's a mostly undulating country with low hills (the highest, 540-ft/166-m Bukit Timah Hill, is to the northwest of the city)."

Our tallest hill isn't even a hill! It's like a super large road hump. Seriously. But to me, this is home and most people who live in massively huge countries with multiple states, regions, towns and cities, Singapore is just... one small puny city and think that most Singaporeans are just well, Singaporeans. But what I realised today is that Singaporeans actually function as though we live in a super huge country! Well, I'm guilty of this syndrome too.

Although I was born in the the western region of Singapore, most of my coming-to-24-years of my life has always been residing, developing and growing in the east. All my life, the east part of Singapore is the most happening place to be... we have a great park/beach (although most of the sand comes from Indonesia), loads of great food (Katong laksa, prawn noodles, Geylang frog porridge etc etc) and we have the airport like super close to us. Heck, only the most happening people stay in the East!

But one of my colleagues who grew up in the northern part of Singapore says the same thing about her area too! All along during my childhood, I always thought there wasn't much life in the other parts of Singapore! I always thought that only factory workers lived in the West (because Tuas was there)... Northerners just wanna be closer to Malaysia and well, Northeasterners just need cheap housing in the midst of jungle. It's only the Easterners who are the most happening with all the sports, travelling and food you can get.

Before you think any ill of me, I'm being honest and I'm learning to change my mindset over the years but I still can help having this weird feeling that I've stepped into a different world when I visit the western part of Singapore or the northern part. I start to look at the Singaporeans living there in a weird fashion and somehow feel like a fish out of water when technically, we are all Singaporeans! I think most Singaporeans share the same sentiments... called the "I-LIVE-IN-THE-BEST-ZONE" syndrome.

So if you are from somewhere with many states and regions and stuff and wondering how Singaporeans live, think and breathe, take it from a Singaporean here... we have many "states" too -- just that where you are from, states can be as far as from the tip of your tallest finger on your left hand to your tallest finger on your right hand. BUT IN SINGAPORE, states are only as far as your thumb to your pinkie.

And once I get married, this Easterner here will miss all things great about the East and migrate westward. Thank God I have two years to prepare myself and enjoy the last of what I love about living in the East of Singapore.

Singaporeans are sure funny, huh?

*Shanea Out (being Singaporean) @1:10pm*

"It's hard to meet boys..."

2009-02-21T11:34:00.004+08:00

After watching 'He's Just Not That Into You' and speaking to some of my female friends, it kinda got me thinking about the whole concept of dating, especially in an Asian society like Singapore. What we see on the big screens and even on telly about dating is simply just.... not working here.

Sure, over in the freedom nation... a single girl feeling lonely and looking for a potential man to sleep with have the option of gong bar hopping, clubbing or just sit at a coffee joint in anticipation of a guy to simply drop right beside them and start a conversation which may or may not lead to a one night stand and/or relationship. Ask some American women where they met their men and you can be confident of hitting a 'oh i met him at that club...' or 'you know, we were at the supermarket and he started asking me about butter...' kind of reaction.

BUT here in Singapore... as an average single woman, you hardly get men coming up to you at a coffee joint or even at the clubs (unless they are totally high or have been dared by their mates). Usually relationships spring out from meeting friends of friends or the single woman and man were in the same social circle or setting which led to friendship which then led to a relationship. Hardly do you meet women who met their man while riding the bus or just happen to be working out at the same gym. Somehow asian men find it harder to approach random women and vice versa for fear of looking desperate and psycho.

So, indeed many women have complained that it is hard to date in Singapore unless you set yourself up in a social circle filled with single men. Then again, you still need the right time and conversation to start things going... if not, you would just be a single woman stuck in a horde of single men and nothing would come out of that. Even for me, I met my hubby through one of my good guy friends during the social setting of a cell group in church (and might I say, I am really grateful to have met him and have him in my life).

So my point is... the idea of just randomly meeting men at a club/pub/coffee join/supermarket/gym just like in the movies and falling madly in love, you can just forget about it here in Asia, or at least Singapore. The idea of protecting your image/reputation (if any) just stops single people from approaching one another just to strike up a conversation. No wonder the age of marriage has gone up and less kids are being born... cos it's just too hard to meet boys.

Some people might lay claim to the fact that Singapore has several dating agencies... but hey, what's your impression of dating agencies? (ans: desperate, older people, some might even fall into the category of left on the shelf). So that's out of the window. Singapore would definitely be a more dating friendly society if people (both men and women) could just be bolder and go up to someone they think is cute/hot/charming at ANY social setting and just say hi. Stop taking them as just eye candy and watch them from afar! Start doing something to make things work!

And to those who are being approached: please don't think that person is being psycho. He/She is just into you.

*Shanea Out (dating woes) @ 11:52am*

This girl is engaged.

2009-01-15T21:06:00.004+08:00

Yup. simple statement and photo for evidence would suffice for my blog. I kinda put a photo of the ring and changed my relationship status on facebook... and the next thing I know, tons of well wishes from my friends, aquaintances and even former colleagues and professors. Gosh. The power of social media has come to haunt me yet again.

I'm happy to have everyone around me share this special event in life with me. Even tho it wasn't like a romantic and fireworks kinda propsal (trust me... he just gave me the ring while on a bus ride to lunch on a saturday afternoon).

But I'm glad that I am going to spend my life with my hubby. He kinda burst his budget for the diamond that I really wanted and I just feel the love from him... so no need for like one bended knee stuff... as long as love is felt, I guess a back-of-the-bus proposal is great too.

The wedding would not be so soon... maybe in a couple years' time due to the whole hubby-going-to-Europe thing. So everything will be put on hold until further notice. So maybe you can look at this engagement as a book-the-girl-before-she-change-her-mind-when-i-am-overseas kinda tactic. hahaa... but I must say it works.

Yup... so this is just a blog notice to tell everyone... the bling says it all. :)

*Shanea Out (bling bling) @ 9;29pm*

Last Day Of 2008

2008-12-31T10:50:00.003+08:00

I guess I have been missing from the blogging scene for like forever... lol. so I guess as this is the last day of 2008, I shall make a rare appearance on my blog for what may seem like once in forever.

This year has its full of ups and downs... hard to reflect on all the things that has happened but I guess it's alright to think back on some of the great moments that happened for me in 2008...

1. the blogging boom - I took a course in university early this year on social media which got me up and crazy about social media... I was trying just about everything you could think of... lol. I made really great friends through all the social media sites and also got to interview some of the whos who in this SM scene. I'm truly grateful for all the friends that I have made through entrecard, facebook, aussie blogger forum and just random links here and there... lol. You guys know who you are.... and I haven't forgotten about all of you... :)

2. graduation - finally got out of the whole education cycle and out into the working world. the later half year showed me what it is like to truly earn your keep and make every cent count. Work is still fun but I guess the longer you are in the working population, the more you see the ugly sides of the world like office politics, biasness etc but there is always that glimmer of fun, friends and fulfillment which just keeps me going... oh, and don't forget the spending power. lol.

3. hubby and the europe bit - that is one of the darker moments of this year for me when my hubby has to leave for the big EU. but 2 and a half months have come and gone, now he's home for a couple of weeks which I am very thankful for (now you all know where I kinda disappeared to... lol) and I'm spending loads of time with him just to enjoy this physical presence a little more. the good news is that he would be coming back more often, just don't know how often but i'm really having faith that all will be great

4. the gym thing - yes, i am still going at it 5 days a week but pulling back to about 1.5 to 2 hours in the gym. so far, I feel more energetic and lively and really love that adrenaline rush. i'm glad that i decided to do something about fitness this year and will certainly continue in the year ahead.

5. the secret thing on the way - ok, i couldn't of a better term for it but I rather let this one be a secret for now until i can disclose it. just really excited to be embarking on this secret thing and actually being part of the process of it (hubby will know what I am talking about). i'm just grateful that this secret thing will truly be a blessed one and everything will run smoothly. until the time when I can fully disclose what it is, all i can say now it is that i am sooo totally excited. :)

have a great new year everyone and believe that 2009 will be an awesome year with much blessings amidst the storms. :) always believe in the sliver lining bit. haha...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

*Shanea Out (last day of 2008) @ 11:05am*

Quick Update

2008-11-29T22:03:00.003+08:00

I am officially still very much alive and well.

Just a little too tired out from work. Have been clocking like 12 hour shifts for the past week to get things done before a well deserve 14 days break from work.

It's going to be a speed car ride for the next 19 days. I'm totally like involved in those extra office committees... you know those groups where the company usually sends the freshmen to plan year end parties and stuff. Yup, every one gets their turn in line. Haha.

Oh well, it's really been fun though. Looking forward to the party.

Hope all of you have been well! Update me with what's happening with the world since now my world is just surrounded by gym, work, home and the cycle continues.

How boring can my life get?

*Shanea Out (bored) @ 10:08pm*

The love language

2008-11-09T20:36:00.003+08:00

Today's sermon by Pastor Prince was really impactful. I'm not going to create a spoiler here cos it deserves us to actually sit down and listen to the whole sermon. But what impacted me the most was the bit about the love language. He spoke about how we express our gratitude and reciprocate the love that God has for us is through the tithe. We can always verbally say that all we have belong to Christ but not actually showing it through our actions. Just like how some people would say to their spouse "All my time is yours, baby." But not actually spending time with their spouse.

That got me thinking... are all women's love languages the same? Well, as different as all women look, so are their love languages. To some women, a bunch of flowers or a surprise box of chocolates. Or some women love their men to provide them with a credit card to swipe their shopping. Some women love more practical love gifts like washing machines, computers and other techy stuff.

So what is my love language? Like a majority of women, I think the most important love language for me would be spending quality time with the man I love. By having him close to me and we can just be doing nothing... that's when I feel most loved. It's not about getting him to get me loads of expensive gifts or money. Just the physical presence of him being around me is the best way for him to say 'i love you'. As the backstreet boys would sing it - just to be close to you. That's My love language.

To most men, they think making loads of money and working really hard outside is the best way to prove their love for their family but really when you come to think about it, men and women speak really different love languages. Sometimes this miscommunication of language makes the man and woman talk different and create strife.

Oh well, it takes time for the man and woman to actually tell each other what they really want in a relationship to make things work better in a marriage. Maybe its time for every one of us to find out what our spouse's love language is.

So... what is your love language?

*Shanea Out (love language) @ 9:22pm*

Why do a Meme when you can do a Youyou!

2008-10-30T20:36:00.002+08:00

Okay, a little warning before you guys go into the details of this entry. THIS IS GOING TO BE A TAD MUSHY! I know, it's not my usual style but there was a sudden urge to write this entry when I thought of how God has placed so much love for my hubby in me (even tho he is miles away trying to survive in a foreign country).

I was thinking, many people are in love with doing Memes. But this time I'm going to do a Youyou (sounds like a name for a Chinese panda) for my hubby... so here goes:

10 Great Things About My Hubby

He always gives in to me, even to all my whims and fancies (eg: he bought me a hamster even though he knew I was just saying it for fun)
He pays attention to the littlest details of my life
He puts me amongst his top priorities (eg: he called soon after I texted him to say I had a bad day which really made everything better)
He trust me and allows me to spend time with my close guy friends
He knows how to say 'I love you' and 'I miss you' AND MEAN IT (I know of some men who don't. haha.)
He tries to appreciate the things I love (like playing MMO games)
He thinks of what's best for me in most situations
He allows me to take things/food first and give him whatever I don't like
He is low maintenance (unless you catch him in his shopping mood)
He loves me. :)

Okay, I think I have officially mush-ed some of you out. Maybe it's your turn to tell your spouse/partner how great they are through a Youyou or even just a quick peck on the cheek and say 'I love you!'

Happy Halloween in advance everyone! :) I'm spending it at home... sleeping. :p

*Shanea Out (youyou) @ 8:52pm*

I will survive!!! I will survive!!!

2008-10-25T22:13:00.003+08:00

hahaha... somehow this song rang in my head when I was reading all the wonderful and encouraging comments on my previous post. So far, everything's going alright. Skype's a charm but I wake up like 4 or 5am (Singapore time) just to get a hold of my hubby at his night time. Sigh. I really hope he gets his cell phone and landline going on, so we can stay contactable during more humane hours of the day. Now my body clock's a little haywire but oh well... all for love ya?

meanwhile, I keep myself busy with gym, work, church, playing mahjong with my grandmother on saturdays and just spending some quality 'me' time. my hamster is also a whole other load of responsibility (thank God i didn't persuade my hubby to get a dog). Just taking care of a hamster is already a whole load of work... just imagine a dog!

Basically, I have been more of a hermit than my dear friend Cheryl. I have yet to have a social life since... well, almost forever. Hahaha... my life now basically revolves around my family, my work place and colleagues and contacting my hubby. how boring right?

That's why I have not been updating this blog as often cos I really have nothing interesting to write. I have officially become the most boring person to be around. lolz. that's why i'm singing the 'i will survive' song. its not about enjoyment but survival.

hope you all are having more fun than me! take care!

*Shanea Out (boring) @ 10:20pm*

The Long Distance

2008-10-16T19:55:00.002+08:00

Many of you might not know this cos it's been a real hush hush thing for me ever since I got the news cos I had a hard time accepting it... so I guess it's time to just say it as it is lah. No more keeping it inside cos when it's out, it just feels a whole load better.

My hubby has been posted overseas. Yeah... sad but true. He's like gone to be a tad closer to Sher and CK in the European states. It's not like a few months which I can deal but it's like 2 years.... (yes, gasp please).

I'm doing ok. I didn't cry at the airport. I just dealt with it. So now it feels as though I have a European hubby just without the blonde hair blue eyes (hahaha.. a sad consolation, i know.) So I'm doing the long distance thing which I absolutely hate. I don't know how people can do it... the weird time differences and the whole staying apart thing. Once I had a friend whose boyfriend went to study in London and she did the whole long distance thing for like 4 years (!!!).

At least my hubby is coming home for Christmas before he heads back to Europe for the next six months (SIGH). I really have to get used to the whole time difference and occupy my load of time, so I won't go crazy thinking about this whole thing. See, I'm not even making sense in this blog entry. I think I better stop rattling nonsense. Hahaa.

Right now, I guess it's just the adapting phase and it just feels a little uncomfortable but I believe a whole load of God's grace as the way to resolve this.

Hubby, if you are reading this... COME BACK SOON. lolz.

*Shanea Out (pouring out) @ 8:03pm*

Update?

2008-10-11T22:28:00.003+08:00

Sorry to leave my blog ending on such a low note the previous time. Cos I just received a piece of news that day which left me in that state for a couple of days. Since then, I've came to grasp with the issue and just let God somehow take care of it all while I just live from day to day.

Ever since then, the world has gone through some big changes. The 'in' word now is "DOWN". Stock markets crash, earthquakes, wars, nuclear testings etc... it seems like the world is just allowing the four horsemen of the apocalypse just ride through. In such a time as this of the world's condition, one wonders if any man should be without faith in God. Now the human race can see that nothing in this world is permanent and we need help from a higher one.

I guess what we can do now is to believe that something good is going to come out of this and we'll just live day to day in the knowledge of the goodness of God and be appreciative of each day that we are able to wake up and breathe in fresh air (or the seemingly likes of it). My hubby got me a hamster to play with so I'm kinda busy making sure my hamster gets accustomed to my house which has dogs roaming around. So I kinda have to make sure my hamster survives these 'wild beasts'.

I'm spending loads of time at the gym still (even though crappy things happen which would be left for a later rant) and to date I have lost 3+ kgs. I'm pretty happy with the results cos it's been barely 2 months and I'm not the sort that would just eat veggies and fruits. I still eat like a normal human being with my regular visits to macs and Kentucky fried chicken. So yeah, I guess working out is really loads of fun.

So up to now, my life's been really very simple and nothing interesting to update. It's been the usual go to gym, go to work, come home, play with hamster and sleep. So hahahaha... sorry for reading this boring post. :)

Hope you all are enjoying yourselves and update me with the latest happenings in your lives! Maybe the interesting things that are going on in your life could somehow spice up mine.

*Shanea Out (boring update) @ 10:37pm*

Personal Rant

2008-09-12T10:11:00.001+08:00

As the title says, just be warned before reading:

You know, when life throws you curveballs, everyone just tells you to just either whack really hard at it or just let it pass you by. However, this curveball I experienced two days ago just hit me straight in the face. Sorry if I start speaking in analogies but there is simply now no easy way for me to express how I feel (or whether I really feel anything at all anymore).

The fact of life is that people of the world chase two big things in life – money and relationships. Many great people have flanked both sides of the argument, much like how the Democrats and Republicans go against one another. One side claims that having money does make the world go round and at time help you buy relationships. The other side claims that in your dying breath, money doesn’t matter to you anymore but what truly matters would be the people whom you hold dear to your heart and love. Similar argument to that would be the two ways people regard relationships – some are practical lovers who think that provision = love. Other more radical lovers think that emotions, feelings, physical presence and sometimes passion will tide people through the hardest of times.

Sure, when I was much younger and more stupid, I thought that what matters would be career and earning loads of money (or having a husband who will earn tons of money and buy me nice things) would make me happy. But as I took time to truly think of what I really wanted in life (which I have been thinking even before this curveball slammed in my face) – are relationships.

I thank God that I never had to be worried about finances because of His provision and I still stand by the fact that He will provide whatever I need and there is no need to worry about the lack of the greenback. But relationships need to be build, maintained, treasured and worked on, unlike money which could just fall right into your lap for sometimes the weirdest of reasons.

So now, I don’t really care about having a big house, a car or even a grand wedding. All I want now is just for the people I love to be there – for me to love and be loved. I would rather live a simple life with the people I love (have just a small house, have a family centered career, etc), than to have someone with loads of money or me having a high paying job, which does not allow me to see my family, and the people I love. If I wanted money, there were so many opportunities for me to get it but I am the radical lover who would rather not be rich but be happy.

I still have no idea what to feel about this whole curveball issue. I feel helpless, very much alone (since everyone is cheering for the other team) and I do not know what else. Right now, I am a blank – a very much heartbroken blank.

*Shanea Out (lost.) @ 9:52pm*

Unsung Heroes: The Bus Driver

2008-08-31T20:51:00.003+08:00

Don't worry. I'm still pretty much alive and well. Just that I am starting to sleep at like 9pm every night nowadays and turning on the computer is the last thing on my mind after work. But today, since my fitness instructor is nice enough to change my session to an afternoon one, I can at least come online to say hi to everyone! :)

Well, I just wanted to talk about giving thanks to people who least expect gratitude for their services. No, I'm not going to preach a sermon but I'm just gonna talk about my personal experience this evening with a very commendable bus driver.

As usual, after work I have to take a bus home because my salary does not allow me to purchase a car in Singapore. Seriously, the COE is really taking the fun out of owning a vehicle in Singapore. Sigh. That is another topic altogether... ANYWAY... I boarded a bus home thinking it would be like any bus ride in Singapore - slow, dreary and LONG. I must say Singapore's bus services are really quite good considering that we have a shortage of drivers who are willing to spend most of their time driving to and fro from one interchange to another.

However, this bus ride was really exceptional. He was really decisive in terms of which lanes on the road to take, he doesn't jam on the breaks and was very speedy! It usually takes me like 40 minutes from my workplace to home but today it seemed like it took half the time!

Maybe I'm just being a little too excited over something rather small like a bus ride home but you must remember I was at work for almost 12 hours and the last thing I need is to be stuck on a bus ride home for longer than what I need.

So I dropped the bus company an email to convey the message to the bus driver how grateful I was to his very brilliant driving skills cos in Singapore, we aren't really used to just walking up to the fella and saying 'Hey good job.'. Here we do it through formal means like going through the bus company and stuff. I do hope it'll help this bus driver get a commendation from the company or even a promotion.

Let's start being grateful to all the bus drivers and service industry people who have done so much for us in such little ways that we even forget to say 'Thank You' to them. Truly, these are unsung heroes and Pixelated Thoughts salute you! :)

*Shanea Out (unsung heroes) @ 9:18pm*

It's Been A Month?! Let's Talk About Fitness!

2008-08-18T21:05:00.003+08:00

Gosh... time really flies when you have loads on your list everyday. As I have been telling CK through twitter, I have been neglecting my mac, the internet and the information superhighway for a heck of a long time (to be exact, almost a month). Other than work purposes and chasing the latest Olympic news, the internet suddenly lost its charm on me.

Now, I have a new craze (an hopefully it isn't a stint)... working out.

I don't think many of you who visit my blog have actually seen how I look. lol... I keep a low profile not cos I'm really terribly ugly but I have to profess that I am not a head turner. So... I decided to do something (less drastic than botox and surgery). I decided to join a gym and hire a personal trainer to get me going on the road to fitness.

Don't laugh! I'm being terribly serious here! Sure there is a tad of vanity and the pursuit of people turning their heads a little but I do it mostly in the name of fitness and health! I used to be a sports person since I was young - running for the school's sports days and cross country runs... play sports like netball, basketball, tennis and all sorta crap. Nowadays, I can't even climb a flight of stairs to save my life! So its high time I did something about it before my body decides to stop working like it used to.

So it's been about 3 weeks since I joined a gym and forged a friendship with my trainer. I feel a tad fitter now (not having to pant or gulp down water after a 2.4km run). I can fit into clothes which I used to shove in one corner labelled the 'if-only-I-could-wear-them' section. Now, my mornings are tied up with a 3 hour gym regiment prior to work and I'll crash out on my bed by 10 at night...

so now you guys should understand why I stopped coming online or reply to any emails of sorts. it's the fitness craze I tell you... I'm falling in love with the smell of perspiration and the feeling of a soaked shirt after a good workout. Haha...

Hope you all are doing well and update me on what's been happening ok? I'll try to pop by as much as I can. :)

*Shanea Out (fitness craze) @ 9:17pm*

Chasing and Running Stops Here

2008-07-17T22:01:00.002+08:00

Some of you guys might be wondering why I have been "missing in action" from the blogosphere for quite some time since my birthday. Well, I guess this is the time to make things a tad bit clearer since I have a little more time today to key in a what seemingly seems as one of the last few entries in this blog with a more commercial feel.

There has been some queries why my PageRank or Technorati ratings have been rather low compared to other blogs which have been released about the same time as mine did. Well, I started blogging when I was 16 as an alternative avenue to writing a diary. Come to think of it, these 7 plus years have been such a journey of life for me. To see my writing grow and my style change from ranting to discussion. When I started this, I never ever thought that my blog would be visited by so many people from all over the world and for this I am eternally grateful.

This blog has had its remarkable moments with the link from Entrecard, Twitter and other great applications that allowed my blog to be made known to so many people. This blog has also allowed me to make wonderful friends from all over the world (You guys know who you are) who have joined me in my journey through the blogosphere. Don't worry I won't forget you all and will continue visiting all your blogs.

The social media world, especially the blogo-scene is always changing, evolving and moving. For people to stay commercially viable with blogs, one must invest loads of time, effort and maybe money (God forbid) in the maintenance of their blogs and all their linked applications. Some say the use of social media is an easier way to reach specific niches of clients and people but they didn't mention about the loads of work you have to do to achieve results. You have to keep up with the latest applications, latest site and latest community. You have to keep looking and chasing - chasing for popularity (which might come with fame and money).

For a while, blogging, entrecarding, twittering can be fun and probably useful but soon, you see how people move in and out of applications as they become popular or die out due to lack of a community; it just cause you to wonder if this is such a sustainable way of promotion.

Personally, after six months of finding, joining and chasing the blog bandwagon, I have decided that I am not virtually fit enough to keep up with such a race. Call me a loser, a quitter but I think that for my own personal sanity and health (since my work requires me to face the computer for 10 hours a day), I need to back out from the commercial blogosphere world for a while and just recuperate. This race has been a tough one and I'm nearly running out of breath. I'm still going to blog and put stuff up but not on such a regular basis anymore, since I hardly turn on my computer at home now and you guys know how we by right shouldn't be blogging at work and stuff (hey, I am a good and responsible worker okay... lol).

So yeah, this long post (Gosh, I haven't posted such a long post in quite a while) is basically telling you guys, I'm going to retreat from blogging for a while but feel free to come back once in a while to see if there are any new updates from Jasmine Shanea's life (or the seemingly lack of it).

Just wanna take this time to thank everyone who has faithfully supported this blog for all that it is and just showed me how welcoming and lovely the blogosphere is. Thank you to all the friends that I found through blogging and social media-ing ... I'll never forget you guys!

Take care everyone!

*Shanea Out (goodbye?) @ 10:25pm*

The Results Are In

2008-07-08T22:46:00.003+08:00

Let's dim the lights and play the anticipation/adrenaline pumping American Idol result show music... The winners of the 23,000 EC giveaway are...

The Mommy and Me Boutique

Sher

Jean9

KCee

Sherry

Basically, everyone who sent/make known in their entries to me deserves to win cos it's the thought that counts and everyone is a winner here at Pixelated Thoughts! :)

So here is how I am gonna split the ECs: DIVIDE and conquer! :)

Since my hubby has been complaining why I only gave away 23,000 (since I'm turning 23) and not 25,000 since he is turning 25. SOOO I've decided to up the prize credits to 25,000 to make everyone happier!

Thus, with 5 winners, each winner gets 5,000 EC! :) So please look out for the transfer and let me know if there are any glitches with it!

Thanks everyone for participating and hope you guys had as much fun as I had hosting this "party" :)

*Shanea Out (birthday giveaway) @ 10:55pm*

The day before I was born...

2008-07-07T23:14:00.002+08:00

One more day before the birthday giveaway ends!! I just wanna thank all of the people who have so kindly taken time to create such beautiful well wishes. This birthday has been really special because I have friends like you all from all over the world.

KCee just sent in her entry which is a really beautiful portrait of her idea of me. Haha but I must admit I'm not really THAT pretty. Hahaha... go to her blog to check out the picture!

So what am I going to do tomorrow on my birthday?

I'm going to WORK! Haha... I realised that I have become addicted to my job and it is not only a job but really something I enjoy.

My hubby and I just spent the whole Monday slacking around, playing Nintendo DS games and just basically be us. Sounds boring huh but I think spending time with one another is better than spending loads of money on an activity that is temporal. Besides, we're saving up for an apartment and stuff, so it's better to spend the day doing things that require not much money. Hahaha!

I love my hubby cos he is the sweetest person who really understands me and my habits. He is patient and kind too. (If you are reading this my dear, please don't start getting a big head now. Haha). Happy birthday my beloved and may the Lord bless you with your heart's desires. :)

about half an hour to my birthday... this is rather exciting! Stay tuned tomorrow to find out the winners for the giveaway! :)

*Shanea Out (birthday) @ 11:26pm*

More Birthday Cheers!

2008-07-02T21:03:00.005+08:00

I'm so happy to receive so many birthday well wishes all over the blogosphere! Here are some that recently posted their entries on their blog and have kindly allowed me to share them here!

Here's one from Jean9 who did a very beautiful collage piece for me. Really appreciate the effort! She also helped promote this birthday giveaway on her sidebar! Looks like a great party and with so many people joining in, I feel like this is one of the better birthdays I had in my entire life!

My thanks to The Mommy and Me Boutique for her well wishes. I love her recent post about her apron (which I mistook at first for a nice sundress). I love balloons but I never dare to blow it bigger hand the palm of my hand. Had a rather traumatizing experience with balloons when I was young.

And no, I don't like clowns either. Haha...

One more well wisher is a very very dear friend of mine (though I have yet to meet her in person), Sher! She dedicated a scrumptious pineapple cake to me and I've yet to get her permission to post it up here... till then, go to her blog to check it out. A beautiful and talented woman. Sigh... and she looks barely 21! Sigh.. i'm envious!

Keep your entries coming in! I'm really really looking forward to celebrating this day with more people! :) I wonder how we can actually start a virtual birthday party. Hmm... :)

*Shanea Out (birthday) @ 9:10pm*

Sharing The Love Award

2008-06-30T14:32:00.003+08:00

I wanna thank Ada for sharing the love with me through her blog. I feel like I'm trapped in a time machine cos I'm always noticing stuff online a tad bit later these few days cos I hardly touch anything other than emails and my editing program. Haha...(a symptom of work addiction?!)

The "Sharing The Love Award", was created by Blogger Crystal at Memoirs Of A Mommy blog, in honor of the donor who saved her one month old life a year ago. Crystal’s son Noah celebrated his first birthday this week thanks to someone whose final gift was the gift of life.

In Crystal’s own words, here are the rules of the Share the Love Award:

"Share this award with all those blogs out there that you love. All the people who make you smile. All those that make you laugh. All those that make your day. All those that leave uplifting comments on your blog.

**All I ask, is that you include a link to this post with the award and ask your recipient to do the same**

As you may have recently seen on my side bar, I have finally created a custom blog award!! I have wanted to do this for a long time but never came up with something that “fit”. I didn’t want just anything. It had to be something that meant something to me. And what could mean more than Sharing the Love by giving you pieces of my heart??

So I created this award in Honor Of The Donor That Saved Noah’s Life. I share this award with those of you whose love and friendship have enriched my life and made my world a better place.I hope by passing this award around the blogging world we can all help raise awareness of the need for Organ Donation."

I wanna share this award with everyone out there who needs to feel a little love and encouragement that life is worth the living! So just continue to pass love around and make the world a better place. (Yes, Jasmine is feeling a little hippie today).

*Shanea Out (loved) @ 2:38pm*

Update on 23000EC Giveaway

2008-06-27T23:54:00.004+08:00

Just a quick update... Sherry has kindly sent us our first birthday cake! And it looks delicious! I wish I can bake and decorate a cake like hers. Seriously I need help in the baking department.

I'm looking forward to more birthday related posts! hurry cos its 12 more days to my birthday! Gosh... time flies really fast.

*Shanea Out (birthday giveaway) @ 11:59pm*

Tips For The New & Small Fry

2008-06-25T20:46:00.004+08:00

Sorry for the lack of posting and entrecarding. I realised that work life takes up much of my time and once I return home from work, I'm just lying on my bed recuperating for the next day.

It's been 4 weeks since I started my job and I'm pretty happy at work just that I realised that office politics is everywhere - regardless whether you are in the private sector, public sector or even the non-profit sector, office politics reigns. Me, being one of the smaller fries in my company, in my division and even in my department, understanding my place and threading carefully around people seems rather important.

So today, I have decided to provide some tips to help small fries survive the big blue ocean of the office:

Be aware of hierarchy - I'm not sure if this applies to other countries around the world but in Singapore, or some Asian countries where power distance is relatively high, hierarchy is rather crucial. Small fries have to understand that you don't just dive right into the senior manager's office without going through your colleagues who are considered "more senior" than you. Always check with them first before flying into the bosses' office.
Know before you change things - Many fresh graduates think that they have very important and powerful ideas that could revolutionise the company or even the world (for those really air headed ones). But we have to understand that to change something, we have to know how it works first. So get to know the system, get to know your colleagues and gain trust. Don't think highly and mightily of yourself. You are nothing in the eyes of others if you are the lowest of the low in a company, so please be humble.
Be of service to others - being the smallest fry, we have to understand that we are in the company to be of support to your senior colleagues. Even if they require you to help them photocopy some documents or be of a support to their event in small ways, just do it. Be of good help and proactive to serve others. It really improves your relationship with your colleagues. You are never better off doing something else.
Never skive - if you want to evolve from a small fry to become an actual fish in the company, try not to skive. If you just have a cold, come to work with loads of napkins. If you are coughing, just come to work with lozenges and loads of water. Taking medical leave is the last thing you want to do because you will miss a whole load of events at work and being the small fry, you want to be where things are happening. NOT at home.
Be early and ask more questions - always be early for work (1/2 hour more of sleep doesn't make a world of difference) and be early for meetings. Better for small fries to wait for big fishes than the other way around. Ask if you are unsure rather than just doing it your way. Getting things down in black and white also helps a whole load. Also, good impressions lasts long.

Basically, small fries like me, we have to be aware of our surroundings, the people around us and how things change and work together. We always have to thread carefully, work smart and be on alert all the time. The world doesn't belong to us yet but if we do things at the right time, we might just evolve slowly from a fry to a fish.

*Shanea Out (fry talk) @ 9:04pm*

Failure to Backup!!

2008-06-21T12:28:00.002+08:00

This is an official rant post. You may chose to ignore this or read this to feel my plight.

Yesterday, I just lost 8 hours worth of video editing cos the Final Cut Pro in my colleague's mac crashed on me.

AND I FORGOT TO BACKUP.

Now I feel like I have wasted so much time and I have to start all over.

I hate this feeling where I should have done something and I didn't. Especially when it comes to technology (when I know that failure to backup is the path to suicide).

Now I've learnt my lesson and I am going to backup every single crap that I am working on either at work or at home. I shall leave no chances to the machine.

I feel backstabbed and cheated by something that operates by 1s and 0s.

*Shanea Out (ranting) @ 12:33pm*

Birthday Registry

2008-06-18T19:52:00.018+08:00

You know how people start to have wedding registries where they specify certain items in stores which they prefer friends and family buy for them as well as ensure that no 2 persons buy the same item twice? Well, I am going to be a little thick skin and start my birthday registry here! Haha... What I want for my birthday and many birthdays and festive occasions to come.

	iPod headphones retailing @ S$69. My iPod headphones are broken!! :( Oh well... they have served me well for 5 years now. So I am pretty dire need to change them.
Mighty Mouse retailing @ S$108 This is more of a want than a need. I just like the touch and feel of a mighty mouse. haha... Makes my macbk pro feel a tad bit more pro. :)
	Apple 3G iPhone retailing at an unknown price. Apparently it is coming to Singapore soon. I am refraining from purchasing a Sony Ericsson prior to its launch in Singapore cos I would rather pay for an iPhone than a Sony Ericsson anytime.
Final Cut Studio 2 retailing at S$1413 (for education rate) and $2413 (for normal rates) this will definitely make my job easier and also let me play around with my own personal recordings and pictures. Really orgasmic software in this box.
	A Sony HD camcorder HD-SR103E retailing @ S$1999 Okay, without footage, I cannot play around with the Final Cut Pro so I am thinking of purchasing a camcorder to do some recording and stuff. Haha... my personal production studio right at home
Mac Pro retailing at S$4388 (and above with customizations) And of course without a powerful computer, no work can be done! So if any good Samaritan who has loads of cash sitting in a drawer and don't know what to do with it... please please spend it on a Mac pro for me. If you have S$30,000 for me to purchase the most expensive combination on this Mac Pro, I will be eternally grateful!!

Yes, if you guys have not known by now, I am a Mac freak and a workaholic. I live and breathe video editing. It's funny how as we grow up in years, our birthday wishes become more expensive. Haha.. mine has gone up 10 folds in just a couple of years.

I'm really praying that someone might heed my prayers and fulfill this whole list! Unlike other wedding/birthday registries, I don't really expect the whole list to be answered. Fulfilling the bottom 3 requests will make me a very very very happy camper. Hey, let this girl dream a little... can?

*Shanea Out (birthday registry) @ 8:19pm*

Jasmine Shanea's Entrecard Appreciation Day (June)!...

2008-06-14T22:44:00.006+08:00

Ooh time passes so quickly and it's time to commemorate the best of the best from Pixelated Thoughts! EC has definitely brought such great traffic to this site and I am glad to have made such great blogger friends. This month is also an important month because I am running a month long contest/birthday celebration thing. Please please participate and have a great birthday bash right here in the blogosphere!

Without further delay, let's start the appreciation day! :)

My top 10 EC Droppers for this month are:

	60 Were Enough
Unpredictable Life	Aerten Art	Squeaky's - Madmouse Blog
The Success	On The Bricks	CK Marketing
Chica & Pumuckl- Funny Cats in Egypt	sourkandy	mommieshome.net

Next, the top 10 EC ad space that generated the highest clickthrough rate for this month are:

	Barefooted Me
Soul Meets World	thebuzznutter	Mother's Got A Dot Com
Photography by KML	Diet Pulpit	Aerten Art
Margie and Edna's Basement	Clickdtalk	Paperkraft.net

Last but not least this month's Special Commentary Award goes to...
CK from A Singaporean in London! Thanks for faithfully commenting on this blog. You and Sher. never fail to make my day and I am very happy to have met you through EC. I love CK's blog cos it always reminds me of how I miss Singapore when I was away in Canada for like six months last year. I am also trying hard to be one of his top commentors! Hahaa.... but I can never beat Sher at it. *sigh*

Yay! I'm done for this month! Thank you once again for all the faithful droppers and advertisers who allow me to advertise on your blogs. Really means a lot. Meanwhile DO ENTER MY CONTEST OK? I really hope to get a whole collection of birthday greetings from around the world. I'm thinking of putting it together on my blog once the contest ends and just showcase all the great works from all around the blogosphere.

So please please consider joining and continue dropping your ECs here on Pixelated Thoughts!

*Shanea Out (appreciation day!) @ 10:41pm*

Jasmine. Ur Cannot-Make-It Baker.

2008-06-14T20:13:00.006+08:00

Today was my off day, so rather than face the computer again for another 10 hours, my hubby and I (he complained that he never get the credit) decided to bake cookies for Fathers' Day for both my father and my hubby's father. As you all might know by now, I am one of those bakers where you really have to say grace before you eat my baked goods. Haha... So I decided to follow a recipe online that I took from All Recipies for a chocolate chip cookie recipe. Looks simple, so the experiment went on and here's what happened:

1. my hubby put 1 cup of white sugar instead of the recommended 1/2 cup. (sigh. and they say men follow directions).
2. the recipe needed 1 egg and an additional yolk. After telling him twice, he still cracked 1 egg and 1 white and threw the yolk away. *smacks head*
3. I tried to put small dough pieces on a rectangular tray, but in the end everything mushed together on the tray and the result looks a little like this:

Don't laugh Sher. Just don't laugh.... lolz. Looks like a pita doesn't it? Oh well. but it tastes good. Hahahhaa...

SOOO... we improvised and decided to use the muffin trays to make the cookies. Round bottom right, so it should get round cookies if we just put the right amount... WRONG!

It turned out like this:

COOKIE MUFFIN ATTACKS!

Looks nice when the bottom is facing up right? Haha... I didn't dare to show you guys the top cos it kinda looks like a crater. But I guess when you put a scoop of ice cream on it, it'll look good. hahaha... What am I saying? Just trying to make myself feel better after failed cookie baking.

Oh well.. I tried, so Sher. can't complain that I didn't. Haha...

Anyhows, happy fathers' day to all daddies out there. :) If you want a cookie/cookie muffin thingy, just holler. but do say grace before eating. Hahaha...

*Shanea Out (bakin day) @ 8:23pm*

Folding Clothes in 2 seconds

2008-06-12T22:01:00.002+08:00

Now for a lazy girl like me who hates doing housework and can't fold clothes for nuts, here's something that I've learnt which really really helps make household chores so much easier. haha... I've yet to master the skill so I'm constantly trying it out with all my t-shirts. I wonder if it works with other clothes too...

Hope this helps you guys when your mom/wife/husband/father starts to yell at you for not cleaning your closet up nicely!

*Shanea Out (fold clothes) @ 10:04pm*

23,000 Birthday Giveaway!

2008-06-09T23:24:00.008+08:00

The best MTV I have ever seen

2008-06-07T22:06:00.004+08:00

I thought I just wanted to share this MTV with you guys. This MTV has never failed to leave my eyes filled with tears after watching it. Shows the power of love. No wonder Korean dramas are really popular nowadays - their story telling, even without dialogue just makes you feel the emotions of the characters.

Powerful..

Prepare some napkins or tissue before you watch this... can be a real tearjerker. This is not for the faint hearted.

*Shanea Out (great MTV) @ 10:08pm*

Who Says Fat People/Animals Can't Fight??!

2008-06-06T22:16:00.003+08:00

I'm so gonna watch this movie on Monday (my day off from work), so I have been catching up on my trailers after work with my hubby. Saw this one on Youtube and I thought it was really funny and worth sharing.

This movie proves that you don't have to be slim to be a hero.

YOU ARE FREE TO EAT! (Boy, I'd give $10 for every time I hear this!! lol).

*Shanea Out (kungfu panda) @ 10:20pm*

Cravings and Sayings

2008-06-05T22:33:00.004+08:00

I guess I am a new believer of the saying "have a bad start but a good ending". I had a bad first day at work but now work seems to be looking very rosy. Started on my first official project and I am just really happy working. Or could it be the honeymoon period effect on the job where everything is seen through rose colored glasses? Cos I can actually day that I LOVE MY JOB right now.

Usually, I start to sleep early now, so I can have a good day at work and not feel tired like the first day. But I will still continuing EC-ing and blogging when I have the time.

Okay, I shall shush about work life now.... Recently, I have been craving for a good chocolate cakes recently. Wonder where to get them other than baking it myself. Haha.. I wish I can just kidnap Sher. to make her my dessert chef. Hahaa. I hardly give in to cravings because they just make me eat more when I should be attempting to lose weight.

What should I do when I get cravings for such indulgent food? My grandmother used to tell me about war times where they could only eat sweet potatoes every day so they drew pictures of meat and fish and just stared at them when they ate the potatoes. She says visualisation of fish and meat made them full and feel more contented.

Many of my friends claim that girls will never ever get sick of anything chocolate... is that true? Personally, I just like to have variety instead of quantity. But chocolate is just the age old love for me. :) Love them more than candy.

Maybe I should try such a tactic. Not sure if it'll work for the modern day. :) How should we cope with cravings?

*Shanea Out (craving) @ 10:41pm*

First Official Work Day...

2008-06-03T19:59:00.004+08:00

I started working full time officially today. And I came home looking like the girl in the picture (which is not me) - totally drained, shagged and with a migraine that lasted since 2pm. Why? Cos of a whole series of unfortunate events that happened since yesterday. From the point of having serious stomachache/diarrhea at 3am in the morning to not sleeping well the whole night to full day orientation around the workplace until now. Had too much information to retain about the SOP of my work place that I just got the migraine in the late afternoon.

I never knew working was really very tiring. I know EC is finally up after a long long downtime (what's with the sudden fire at the datacenter anyway?) but now I have to cut back on my involvement in Web 2.0 because my job requires me to be staring at the screens for 12 hours, so I will try to drop as many as I can before I concuss into slumber.

I really respect those people who can really manage their time and energy between work and social media and family and hanging out and all that stuff. How do you guys do it??!!

I'm still trying to sort out the best balance between my working life which is practically half my day gone as well as blogging/EC-ing and taking time to rest and spend it with my hubby.

Any advice to this struggling new GDP contributor?

I'm dropping a few more EC before I go sleep off my migraine. Hope work gets more fun as the days go by and less struggling.

*Shanea Out (working life) @ 8:14pm*

Babysitting for the day

2008-05-31T14:22:00.005+08:00

Before yesterday I thought taking care of a kid would be easy. You know, just make sure it gets loads of good food and playtime would be a charm. So hubby and I decided to make a day visit to my beloved tiny tot cousin, Isabella, my uncle and aunt yesterday to help out with babysitting as well as catch up on family updates.

Taking care of a kid sure is a chore (even though I only had Isabella for 8 hours).

Hubby and I took turns playing with her. Putting her on her stroller and allowing her to RUN (yes, RUN) all over the house. She dashes for the basket of toys and just pulls everything out of it. The four adults (my uncle, aunt, hubby and I) had out toes wheeled over several times. I never knew a baby so tiny had so much energy in her. She just kept playing for hours and hours and wasn't even bothered about how sticky and how much perspiration she had on her whole body. Not a care in the world other than the toy or item in front of her.

Finally, being the adult I am decided she needed a shower. She was perspiring as though she ran a marathon or something. So I watched as my aunt and uncle showered Belle and took an hour to dress her again cos she was wincing and screaming (maybe it was a little chilly for her). Then I get to do the feeding. First was mushy brown rice with vege. Had to put on Barney to let her settle down and eat a few mouthfuls. Then Belle started to whine, cry and wince. No more mushy rice. We had to bring out the milk for her and she finally settle down to drink after an hour of coaxing.

Then after drinking warm milk, my hubby claimed that babies usually feel drowsy and takes a nap but not this 13 month old tiny tot. She decides to ranksack my Coach bag for things to play with (my aunt says tiny tot Bella has a neck for all things branded). So before my bag and all things important gets thrown out like her toys from her toy basket, I had to settle her down with a makeshift rattle from my bag - my boxof mints. See that smile on her face when she shakes it. Sigh. The things we do to keep our tiny tot happy. Finally at 4pm (which was 5 hours after we arrived at the house), Belle took a nap for like 30 mins and she was up again.

After another 2 hours of playing with her, it was time to leave cos my aunt and uncle had a dinner date (without us). So we dressed our tiny tot up and waited while my uncle and aunt dressed up. So in the midst of keeping her entertained with toys, noise and loads of laughter, I made my big baby take a picture with the little baby. Look how cute they look with each other. Haha.. of course by now we were very tired and she was already perspiring (again). But it was really fun and a great experience just taking care of a tiny tot like her really takes guts, loads of energy and patience.

Being parents are never easy and really, running around after a kid is so much more work than just running on the treadmill. Maybe a great way to lose weight is to babysit. Gosh. The phsyical and mental (trying to decipher what each whine, wince and scream meant) part of raising a kid sure is challenging but the emotional side just made up for all of it. :)

A great experience but I don't know if I can take this much action every day. haha.

*Shanea Out (babysit) @ 2:46pm*

Theatre Thursday: Sexed up in NYC.

2008-05-29T23:38:00.004+08:00

It's been a while since I've caught a movie on opening day and I'm glad I've chosen Sex and the City to be THE movie this summer. My hubby watched it with me and it just felt good to have him around for the movie - makes the whole fuzzy love feeling really more fuzzy again. It just felt like homecoming and a sense of the familiar after such a long break from the end of the series.

Forgive me for being bias towards this movie but to me, the movie was splendid. Even though it was a 175 minute chick flick (145 mins for the actual movie and another additional 30 minutes of behind the scenes stuff), I felt that my entire being was involved in the movie.

I've never been the girly girl but Sex and the City brought whatever little girly crap that is in me out on the surface - the fact I believe in the presence of love. It's not like other chick flicks where love involves a prince charming, a white horse and a lady with a 22 inch waist but Sex and the City shows that even though we as ladies go through crap loads of stupid/silly relationships we entangle ourselves in, the whole fuss about fashion, shoes and accessories and even crazy parties - there is still the possibility and the hope of love. This is totally relatable since I had my fair share of crazy relationships, flings and what nots.

For me, this movie is like catching the final episode of the series where it just ties all the stories up neatly in a blue Tiffany box with a sliver ribbon. I did grow up since my late teens on Sex and the City the series (watched it twice over) and it has brought a more realistic take for me on the perspective on love. It's finally complete - Carrie marries Big. Nothing more to tell of the famous four NYC girls.

It's a great movie for a girls' night out or just for you and your beloved to remember what love can be like in a sexy city like New York. I'm surprised my hubby commented after the movie that there wasn't any part of the movie that was boring - even for a first timer of Sex and the City. Very interesting coming from a man who enjoys movies like Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk (which he has already made me promise to watch with him. haha. It's a i-watch-with-you-and-you-watch-with-me kinda thing.)

Are you gonna catch the movie? Or do you think that this is just another chick flick worth the miss?

*Shanea Out (Sex and the city) @ 11:54pm*

Change of Status...

2008-05-27T14:52:00.003+08:00

According to my mother, in 5 days time, I am going to officially transit from dependent to independent. No longer would I be the kid around the house surviving on meager allowance and bumming around during the summer break but a full fledge working adult who will from then on survive on the skills acquired from school (or the lack thereof) and street smartness.

For a person like me who hates new environments, this is something that has been at the back of my head for a long time since I submitted my final project last Thursday. I'm no longer a student but a working adult. It's really intimidating for someone who hardly has much working experience other than part timing at random occassions. Internships were fun cos there wasn't much responsibility given to us due to the fact that we weren't suppose to stay long in the company.

Now, I have to get into the mode where summer holidays and other school holidays are no longer applicable to me. (I remember the time when children's day wasn't a holiday anymore and I was really upset). Now I can only look forward to public holidays which is like 10 days out of the 365 days. crappy.

The idea of skipping school when I feel like it or having short days in school are no longer for me too. I have to work from 9am to 7pm (or even longer) for 5 days and rest for 2. No more watching cartoons or lazing around in bed anymore.

It's so sad!! Freedom lost through time but freedom gained through finance. A good trade off? We shall see..

So do you guys prefer being students or working adults? I'm still deciding between the two.

*Shanea Out (transition) @ 3pm*

A job for BORED people

2008-05-25T23:49:00.004+08:00

While on a job search, my hubby stumbled upon this job ad in the newspapers:

Are you bored? Only bored engineers may apply for this job. So if you aren't easily bored, sorry you are not applicable. Haha. This ad says much about the life of an engineer huh? Are engineers that boring? My hubby would beg to differ. :)

PS: don't worry. I know its not a typing error. Just that from a layman's perspective, people might mistaken it to really be for engineers who are really... bored.

*Shanea Out (bored engineers) @ 11:55pm*

Tiny Tot Thursday

2008-05-22T18:00:00.005+08:00

My baby cousin, Isabella just had her first birthday a month ago. I didn't have the time to upload her very cute pictures due to the crazy month I had. So I finally got down to downloading her pics and I can't wait to show her off. The various faces of a child wondering "why the hell am I in a room filled with so many people?!"

*Shanea Out (tiny tot) @ 6:06pm*

Chris Botti: The one who makes the trumpet sexy again

2008-05-20T23:11:00.006+08:00

Just when we thought trumpets were crazy noise making machines that were used in marching bands and funfairs or even just as a backup instrument in a whole line of wind instruments.

Now someone has stepped up to the limelight with his shiny gold trumpet in a very sexy fitting black suit and red tie at the Esplanade Theatres' Concert Hall today. He is none other than Chris Botti. Chris Botti definitely brought back the sexiness and glory to the simple trumpet. As I am typing this, I can feel loads of goosebumps just remembering how he played that instrument.

Sad to say, I couldn't take any pics at the concert cos the concert hall was really strict about the no forms of digital photography allowed. *sigh* But all I can say is that Chris Botti came not only as a gifted trumpeter but he also brought such grace and glory to the simple concert hall setting. Hardly hogging the limelight, he allowed his band which includes big names like Grammy award winning pianist Billy Childs and his oh-so-freaking-amazing drummer who hit the drum like none other - Billy Kilson (seriously, you should see him hitting those drums. really crazy but ingenius) to play long solos and just have fun out there.

It's rare to see an artiste perform raw and be himself on the stage (and allowing his band members to do that too). Chris Botti just brings back to memories how beautiful jazz is as a genre by blending in both pop, opera and jazz into beautiful songs and covers of great music pieces.

All I can say right now is just - wow. Loved the way he played the trumpet when I heard him on CD but now, I just love him even more. A great great musician and a great great person. I'm sure he's made it big but believe me, Chris Botti is a musician that could possibly be a jazz legend years and years after.

Swooning now. Forgive me. :) Get his new Italia album now... or any of his albums actually. His music (even tho most of them are covers) is just ooze pure sexiness.

Can I just get a sentence to just scream how great Chris Botti was? IT WAS SO AWESOME! (okay, back to normal now. lol)

*Shanea Out (chris botti) @ 11:24pm*

Want Some Urea Lotion?!

2008-05-19T20:51:00.004+08:00

My mommie went to the Singapore Skin Center for some check up and decided to purchase a lotion for my hubby's dry skin. He uses this brand of lotions and moisturizers but this was a product he has never seen before. I too had a shock when I saw the name:

Urea Lotion. My hubby uses UREA LOTION on his body.

Sice this brand is a German brand, he went to verify with his sister who has a German boss to make sure he is not dowsing his body with urea. According to the German, it's still moisturizer. Urea or no urea, my hubby's still happily using it.

One lesson to learn from this: if you wanna sell something overseas, always translate.

So... Urea Lotion anyone?

*Shanea Out (urea lotion) @ 9pm*

Jasmine Shanea's Entrecard Appreciation Day (May)!

2008-05-15T00:15:00.039+08:00

It's that time of the month again (no it's not my period) but it's Jasmine Shanea's Entrecard Appreciation Day. For those people who are new to my blog. This marks the third month anniversary of the day I started Entrecarding. Sigh. Time does pass fast. I just wanna take this day to appreciate all the great Entrecarders who have faithfully dropped on my blog as well as given Pixelated Thoughts great advertising space on theirs. So here they are!

My top 10 EC Droppers for this month are:

	Barefooted Me
Paperkraft.net	60 Were Enough	Unpredictable Life
Search Engine Panel	Aerten Art	Squeaky's - Madmouse Blog
Is a mans world	Worldwide Travel Blog	First Door on the Left

My top 10 EC ads with highest clickthrough rate are:

	My Absent Mind
Avon Romance Blog	Clickdtalk	Scramories
BitterSweet Collide	Biyahilo	Make Every Day Your Lucky Day
Things I'm Grateful For	Read My Mind	Photography by KML

This month's Special Commentary Award goes to...

Sher. from Ur Resident Chef! How I just wish she could allow me to put her pretty picture up (with her white knight. tee hee), rather than just her Entrecard. The very very beautiful chef (i gasped when I saw her real age. I thought she was 21!) is not only great at cooking and baking delicious food but also great at writing food related posts. Her blog is such a pleasure to read and she is also faithful in commenting. Personally she's one of the blogger whom I deem as my closer inner circle of friends in EC and the blogosphere! If she opens a restaurant in Singapore, I wanna go there every week! :)

Aside from Sher. I'm also very thankful to all the great comments that have been coming in to this blog. Without you guys and gals, I'd really be lonely out here. :)

If your blog is not mentioned in this round of Appreciation Day, don't fret. I'm doing this on a regular basis (monthly), so continue to drop, allow me to advertise as well as comment on my blog! Who knows? Your name would be up here next month!

Have a great week ahead and I'll see you all soon!

*Shanea Out (Entrecard Appreciation) @ 1:06am*

Life Imprisonment in Cell Phones

2008-05-13T15:18:00.004+08:00

I've finally decided to admit it. I cannot live without my cell phone. It has become something that my life depends on - a life support. I'll die going one day without it. Now I know why they call it cell phones. THEY IMPRISON ME! *sigh

Everything's in my little machine I call the PDA (personal digital assistant) also known as the Dopod 3800 - my phone directory (I can't even remember my brother's cell phone number), text messages, email, documents (yup anything windows office is in there), my notes (like to-do lists and other lists) and of course my schedule. It's practically my life! So whenever someone tries to ask me out for dinner or arrange meetings, I feel like I cannot make any decisions on time and date without my cell phone. It's a handicap I tell you.

A cell phone is also literally a life saver as personal protection against people you don't wanna talk to. Imagine you walking down the office hallway and you see your boss walking from afar. You don't wanna have any eye contact with him lest he drags you in for another boring meeting, so you just whip out your cell phone and pretend to be texting or sending an email. Then you can fake the "Oops, sorry boss. I didn't see you." excuse.

My hubby and I were once talking about furnishings in our future new home and were even contemplating not having a land line because we are already so connected through our cell phones. Heck, in my house, the land line only rings when my grandmother calls. So have cell phones really taken over the purpose of land lines?

According to the Economist in 2005 (sorry about the outdatedness), "There is almost one mobile phone for every person in much of the developed world, according to new figures from the OECD." Imagine what it is like now. Maybe 2 phones for every person in the developed world? I know of several friends who have 2 cell phone numbers (and I'm technically one of them, using my other number for internet).

Well, maybe cell phones might not be your thing but maybe your computer? The thing you are using to read this post? I have a friend who keeps all his passwords in his computer (those browser prompts to save your passwords? Yup. Those) because he just can't remember any of them.

So identity theft has become more of a problem now in this highly technological world. So my point is that, I personally feel that my life has been encapsulated in my cell phone. Everything's there. If you wanna steal my life, steal my cell phone. It's like a crutch and I feel like I can't walk without it. Have we become technology junkies and can never get out of it?

Does any of you feel the same way?

*Shanea Out (cell phone and computers) @ 3:39pm*

Moms are you paid $23,000 a month?!

2008-05-11T23:50:00.005+08:00

Happy Mothers' Day to all lovely and beautiful mommies out there! You deserve a warm hug and kisses from your children on this day for all the great things you have done for us.

Interestingly, the market value of all the things you have done for us kids like cooking, cleaning, childcare, drive, personal assistant, tutor is calculated by HR professionals in Singapore to be worth S$23,000 (USD$16,857.23)!

In a year, a Singaporean mommie's job is expected to be valued (with 13 months bonus) at $293,384 (USD$215,027.85) a year!

Even I wanna be a paid mother now. My pay is like peanuts compared to these amounts! :(

Singapore's local newspapers The Straits Times, claimed that this local study was done in light of another"study done in the United States estimated that a full-time mother could earn up to US$117,000 (S$160,000) a year... based on a mother doing 10 jobs, from housekeeper to psychologist and chief executive".

So mommies out there! Know what you are worth. I know the things you ladies do for us children (and children at hearts) are because of the primary fact that YOU LOVE US and not because of the money. But just looking at the figures and the cold hard facts, you ladies work the hardest and have the most important job in all the world - to take care of God's little ones. So know that your rewards are intangible and will last a lifetime.

No one can replace you all and the strength that you all have is just unexplainable. Moms are the best!

Happy Mothers' Day again from Pixelated Thoughts!

*Shanea Out (mothers' day) @ 12am*

Love your blog, Entrecard and readers

2008-05-07T18:08:00.006+08:00

I'm close to my third month into Entrecarding and I have seen like thousands of Entrecards (dropped 17839 cards as of today to be very exact). I'm also glad that many people have been kind enough to reciprocate drops to me (11025 drops on me as of today). I would like to give a big shout of THANK YOU to you guys who have taken time to come here to my blog, drop your card and some who are even so lovely to drop wonderful comments on my posts. You guys have shown me how welcoming the blogosphere really can be and fun this idea of Web 2.0 really is.

I was once a skeptic of how well I'd do in this new day and age of Blogging and Social Media (see this post) but thanks to the encouragement of many and the increasing visitor rate and comments rate on this blog, I feel really loved. (Yes, it's that warm fuzzy feeling). Much of the credit where my bestest friends from the blogging community are made is through Entrecard. I'm still a happy member of this community even though many blogs have come and gone with Entrecard but I still believe in its cause and the people who are still in this community.

After all this nice things have been said, this post is essentially a reminder for all Entrecarders to think about how they treat the system. Sure, its a way for us bloggers to get the word out that our blog exist in this vast world of the information super highway but we must also be responsible Entrecarders by just taking care of our blogs and Entrecards to make visiting, dropping and even commenting a more pleasant journey for one and all.

So here are some pointers and observations that I've made through my three month journey with Entrecard and I hope it'll be useful on and all:

"Sorry, the blog you are trying to access cannot be found"

Do we really need the music?!

In search for the lost Entrecard - hidden cards/no widgets

Make your card uniquely YOU.

Say 'thank you' or at least drop back

In sum, I just wanna say readers and EC droppers and twitterers are very important to the survival of a blog. So, try to make the visit to your blog a more pleasant one and I'm sure more people would come over and say hi with either an EC or a comment on your post or tagboard. Make blogging a more pleasant place for everyone!

Alright, I'm off to my first VIP fashion party. Take care!

*Shanea Out (pointers) @ 6:27pm*

Happy Mother's Day!

2008-05-04T18:01:00.003+08:00

Today was a mother's day celebration at church today. Really glad that finally my mom and I are going to the same church and sitting under the grace message of Pastor Joseph Prince. Since we've been in church, God has been blessing our family with many great things. Never once were we of lack and there has been more joy and peace in the family.

So I'm glad its Mother's Day cos my mother is a very special woman in my life. She has been the woman who has stood beside me all through 23 years of my life, giving me support in every single way possible. She never once complained and always showed her love in ways that are very much appreciated. My mom is a very very strong woman who depends on God for her source of life and power. To me, she's a supermom who carried her family all throughout the years.

As a tribute to all mothers out there, here's a funny video on what mothers would say to her kids in 24 hours which is summed up in about 3 minutes. Hope you all enjoy it!

Happy Mothers' Day to all beautiful and joyful mothers and mothers-to-be. You ladies are the most powerful and strong creatures that God has ever placed in this green green earth. *hugs*

*Shanea Out (mothers' day tribute) @ 6:08pm*

Another Meme - Tag You're It

2008-05-01T01:12:00.006+08:00

Margie and Edna tagged me to do a meme on 7 useless facts about myself. I then wonder... how can facts be useless? Sure, I mean you can't make loads of money off these facts but it is useful in a sense cos you get to know me better! lol. I did a piece on 8 random things about me rather recently, so trying to find another 7 useless facts prove to be rather challenging. So here goes nothing!

I'm born and raised in Singapore and even though how much I say I hate being stuck on this little island, I can't imagine living anywhere else.
I'm addicted to Entrecard. 300 cards a day can be hectic when you first start on your rounds but when I'm done, I just wished there'd be more cards to drop.
I can sleep for more than 10 hours if I'd really nothing to do.
I want a porcupine for a pet but I can't seem to find one. *angry*
I always seem to procrastinate but somehow get work done before the deadline. Yes, I'm a walking irony.
I can pay MMO games for an entire day and not feel bored.
I have a hubby whom I love very much but have not gotten married to yet. Yup, my romantic side of my life is also as confusing as all the other sides of my life. :)

Hmm now tagging people can be quite tricky. I'm just gonna pray that these people might follow on the tag! :)

Sher, my dearest Resident Chef
Jillian, The Loquaciously Verbose Ramblings of 1 Slacker
Lil' Oregon Bug
Fox Two - Hope Dufus has forgiven you. :)

and last but definitely not least:

Daryl of Unique Frequency - doubt you'd put this in your blog cos might not be very social media linked but hey, worth the shot! :)

Okayz! Hope my facts were indeed useless and Margie and Edna would be happy that I'd followed on their tag all the way from Jericho, KS to Singapore! :)

*Shanea Out (meme) @ 1:38am*

"Oh it's a lady driver"

2008-04-26T20:41:00.006+08:00

When my hubby said that when we heard someone flare the horn on the road, I told myself this post was long overdue. Seriously, I cannot stand men who just presume that whenever someone sounds the car horn or an accident happening which involves a female driver, the first reason that pops out of any man's mouth is "(Sigh) another lady driver." I mean, what's wrong with lady drivers that makes men detest us so? Personally, I think it is the men who have the problem.

I don't mean to start a gender war here but really, are we, the lady drivers, always the one at fault? Couldn't it be the men who are sometimes too impatient on the road equally probable at fault should an accident happen? Singapore is by far to me the country filled with the most impatient drivers in the world. Seriously, most drivers attempt to overtake at any time possible, drive through an amber light at like 90km/h when they know it is going to turn red and are notorious for snatching parking lots. The car horn goes off like crazy on the road. It's like natural instinct - Singaporeans love sounding their car horns for the littlest reasons. This is the one time I can truly say that I can be ashamed of Singaporeans - when it comes to driving. Don't even think of road courtesy and giving way to rookie drivers. It's a car eat car world here.

So naturally, being a lady driver in Singapore can be tough. The more experienced men drivers don't give a fuck about us and will sound the horn at any time possible when we make mistakes. I decided to ask some of my male friends what's up with their resentment to lady drivers and here are some quotes from my friends that I spoke to with regards to this topic.

"Lady drivers drive like snails" - Okay according to Male Friend A, lady drivers always keep to or below the speed limit which irks Singaporean male drivers, who are practically always rushing for God knows what. "Why can't lady drivers drive normally?" Male Friend A questions which according to him normal speed is always at least 10km/h above the speed limit.

"Lady drivers can't make decisions quickly" - Male Friend B says that lady drivers are indecisive when it comes to overtaking or trying to switch lanes. Male friend B claims that when he sees a lady driver trying to cut into his lane, he will usually speed up and not let her cut in. He cites an example, "It was peak hour... After she signals, she takes too long to decide if they should cut in or not. By the time they make up their mind, the whole freaking lane is horning at her and she still takes her own bloody sweet time to cut lane!"

"Lady drivers don't know their right from their left (basically directionless)" - Male Friend A then remembers about incidents where a lady driver couldn't decide if she wanted left or right and was swerving on the highway. Male Friend C then interrupts and says, "Women are forever directionless on the roads!" (they just seem to forget that I AM A LADY DRIVER TOO). Male Friend C says that lady drivers are hopeless when it comes to new roads or unfamiliar places and will always be a nuisance on the roads when they don't know where they are. "They'll start shrieking in the care when they are lost or people give them wrong directions. They are not as adventurous as men on the roads," Male Friend A remarked.

"Lady drivers can't park their cars quickly or properly" - the men say lady drivers are "hopeless" when it comes to parallel parking and/or takes too much time getting their car straight. They claim by the time the lady is done parking, there would be a whole stream of cars waiting for her to clear the path for others to park.

So listening to the gripes of these men, I wonder how in the world can I defend us lady drivers? Are we being too safe on the roads that we in turn become hazards for the men? Why are male drivers so quick to blame us for being "clumsy" on the roads? Even when we are already driving on the roads for years, we still get the "oh it's another lady driver" comment thrown at us by men.

Maybe it's time for lady drivers to start ganging up on male drivers who drive like maniacs on the road. Some justice for female drivers PLEASE! *cries to heaven*

*Shanea Out (lady drivers) @ 9:09pm*

Black Knights and White Knights

2008-04-24T16:20:00.010+08:00

Been thinking about a very close girl friend of mine who is always physically very far away from me but I always keep her in my prayers and hope she's well. But when we meet we often talk about relationships, boys, our lives and sometimes how crazy it can be. One of our conversations somehow came back to me whilst I was playing my usual round of online games - the idea about how women love to date the bad boys but always end up marrying the husband materials.

Personally from the experience I had with men (which might not be a lot) as well as stories from my girlfriends from all over the world, there is always a tendency to categorise men in certain ways - be it through their looks, behaviour, status, wealth or whatever, we tend to have a grouping. The more common contrasting groupings of men I hear are -

men I will date vs. men I will sleep with
men I will marry vs men I will sleep with
men I will have kids with, men I will sleep with

And for the more innocent girls:

men I will date vs men I will marry
men I will let chase me vs men I will settle for

So my deduction is that women generally categorise men in two major groups - men they are willing to walk down the aisle with and say 'I do' (I call them The White Knights) and the charming men who are there to sweep them off their feet with great and wild adventures and secret rendezvous (I call this group The Black Knights). So today I will try to explain why and who are the black knights and white knights of the datable men community:

The White Knights

These men are known as "the safe option". The guy whom you can always depend on to be there when you fall and pass you Kleenex at a sad movie. The guy whom your parents adore because he not only takes care of you but also the family. The guy who seems as though he is on call 24/7. You can always get to him when you need him to be around. The guy who makes a great best friend.

He is someone who might not be overly romantic (with the whole 12 dozen roses and secret dates) but he remembers you everyday and makes sure that he would at least spend some time talking to you and making sure you are alright. He is the kind of guy who adores kids and is willing to change to make you happy. They are predictable but very reliable. Sometimes when White Knights are interested in a woman, they usually need to work at it more because women always mistaken their wooing techniques as "just being the nice guy he is" or "he's just being a great friend, that's all".

White Knights make great husbands and long term partners. A Hollywood White Knight would be like Aidan Shaw and Steve Brady from Sex and the City.

The Black Knights

The Black Knights are the men who knows and sometimes own the dating scene. They play the dating game strategically because they know they are hot property. With their sexiness, charm, wit and I quote some of my girlfriends "something fucking unexplainably attractive" about them.

When a Black Knight fancies a woman, he will put out all the stops just for her. Expensive surprise gifts, unique ways of asking her out and just sweeping her off her feet by making her feel like a princess (literally). He knows the right words to say at the right time and the best places for dates. Oh, Black Knights are the kind of men you might imagine meeting at a secret hotel or back alley and have great sex. :)

Black Knights are also known as the bad boys of the dating community who aren't the kind of men you might want to show your parents but will love to flaunt to your girlfriends. Black Knights make great sexual partners but it's like chocolates - have to eat in moderation. They will never respond when you need them but when they need you, they will ooze their Black Knight charm and make you quiver down there which is very irresistible. Black Knights are women's choice of boyfriends or fuck buddies. Women usually have the love hate relationship with Black Knights because they love what Black Knights do to them but they can never own the Knight himself.

I guess one famous Hollywood face that can undoubtedly be stereotyped as a Black Knight would be Johnny Depp. :)

So... for the ladies, which do you fancy more? The White Knight or the Black Knight? :)

For the men, do you think you are a White Knight or Black Knight? (I don't believe any man could be both at the same time! tee hee.)

*Shanea Out (knights) @ 4:57pm*

8 Random Things About Me

2008-04-22T11:13:00.003+08:00

Okay this has been long overdue but I guess it's better to be later than never right? Lil Oregon Bug has tagged me with my first meme like 4 days ago? Hahaha... so since I'm almost healing from the crapy flu, I shall now attempt to think of 8 random things that you guys in the blogosphere wouldn't know about me!

Here are the rules:

Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
People who are tagged, write a blog post about their own 8 random things, and post these rules.
At the end of your post you need to tag 8 people and include their names.
Don’t forget to leave them a comment on their blog and tell them they’ve been tagged, and to come back and read your blog for the whole story

Here goes... be afraid, be very afraid...

Ever since my hubby gave me our promise ring, I have never EVER not been in contact with it. Now it's officially left a permanent ring mark on my ring finger.
I'm a Grey's Anatomy and House MD addict. Somehow eccentric doctors just seem to attract me.
I've only watched 2 movies in the theatre on my own. I had to brace myself before I even had the courage to step up to the counter to say "Can I get a ticket for one". *shudders*
I shower like a soldier - I can do it in 5 minutes flat hair washed, conditioned, soaped and dried. :)
Since I was 18, I have never cut my hair anything above the shoulders. I love my long hair. :)
I can't sit on the great white throne (the loo) without reading, or gaming on my Nintendo DS/Playstation Portable - I need to multitask if not life isn't fun.
I hate cigarette smell. Whenever my brother smokes in front of me I will scorn at him and then move away to a smoke free area.
I love to watch chick flicks more than anything. I'm looking forward to Sex and the City, The Love Guru etc... Anyone wanna watch it with me?

Okay! So now's my turn to tag people... Alaska, Ada from Scramories, KCee from Barefooted Me and A Changing Life. :)

*Shanea Out (meme) @11:38am*

Well endowed girls in a thin world

2008-04-21T01:00:00.005+08:00

Sorry for not being able to update since Friday cos of the sudden "under the weather" situation. It isn't fun to start my post exam celebrations with flu like symptoms. Sigh. It doesn't help that being ill makes me sleep or rather nap at weird hours, so I have the whole of the night to think about issues and things that plague my mind.

One of my aunts whom I have not seen for quite some time (and btw not really like) mentioned that my mother and I seemed to have gained some pounds (now you see why I don't like her?). I was like, NO WAY. My mom looks great! She and I might be on the plump side but we are still doing alright - enjoying life, enjoying food (which Singapore is known for) and of course doing our 3 times a week exercises. So is it a crime to be a little well rounded in this thinning world?

But as I tossed and turned on my queen sized bed for 1 (yes, I love space), any woman would aspire to have that supermodel figure. I am one of those guilty of checking out other women and going "Geez. I wished I had her long legs" or "What a bitch. She has such a slim waist". I even know of some women who are like stick thin and praying to be fat(ter) and I'm like "Can we please trade places?" Women are indeed never happy with what they have - this is even more so when it comes to their bodies.

So can women be truly happy the way they are in this image driven society or must well endowed girls be always on the 'losing' end when it comes to the topic of beauty, sexiness and hotness? Even when it comes to dating, the first impressions based on the way we look counts because of all the perceived notions we have in our head when we look at someone's appearance. Thus, us well endowed women, will we be the ones that men just think "oh she's a nice girl but..." it just takes a whole lot more effort for us (in my personal opinion) to succeed in the dating game compared to thinner girls.

I'm just glad that there are some men out there (like my hubby) that will always love me for me. Haha... *stares at him until he agrees* I will still continue to stay healthy but becoming thin is a miracle. Sigh. Oh the woes of being a well endowed girl in a thin world.

What do ya'll think? Are well endowed girls naturally more handicapped in the dating scene than thin women? Will the world suddenly realise that curvey is the new sexy? *prays for that day to come.

*Shanea Out (weird thoughts) @ 1:17am*

Jasmine Shanea's Entrecard Appreciation Day (April)!

2008-04-18T22:36:00.031+08:00

It's that time once again to just give thanks to the beautiful people here at Entrecard for supporting my blog faithfully. As I mentioned in the last post, there has been much movement in terms of top droppers since the last Entrecare Appreciation Day - only Daisy and Scramories are still amongst the top droppers since last month (congrats!). In addition, this month I think I shan't put that weird looking ribbon on the entrecard of these top droppers cos I am afraid of ruining their pretty cards. So less talk and more celebrating, here are the top droppers of 16 March to 18 April 2008:

	60 Were Enough
Worldwide Travel Blog	Barefooted Me	Cromely
Photography by KML	CK Marketing	Daisy The Curly Cat
UrbanSwirl.com	Geek Mom Mashup	Scramories

As the months go by, I realised I have been advertising much more and kinda lost track of all the blogs who have so kindly allowed me to advertise on their blogs. To all the blogs out there who have approved my advertising, a great big thanks. So this month onwards, i'll be showcasing the 10 blogs that I advertised on who have the top clickthrough rate:

	Scramories
My Absent Mind	A Changing Life	Monkey Fables And Tales
Inspiring Quotations	Daisy The Curly Cat	BlueStem Winery
Crystal	Holy Cuteness	Artbeat Inspirations

And a special comments award goes to...

Jillian of The Loquaciously Verbose Ramblings of 1 Slacker! Even though she is busy with her migration from blogspot to wordpress, she has been commenting on most of my posts very faithfully and I am very very grateful that she takes time to read and add great insights to my blog. Really makes blogging worthwhile knowing people are reading. Aside from Jillian, there are so many great comments from others as well and I am thankful and grateful from the bottom of my heart. :) Do continue to comment and maybe your entrecard and blog will be next on this list!

Finally, just wanna announce that I am a contributor towards Marcus' Hochstadt.com Party Contest! I'm giving away 1000Ec just to support Marcus' great big celebration and also thank him for being a faithful dropper on this blog as well. I believe it's important to support other bloggers on their goals in Web 2.0 for I think that is my quest/goal for blogging here - to just share my life with everyone and be a source of support for other bloggers as well. :) So if you guys wanna win 1000Ec from me, just go to Marcus' site and read more instructions!

Alritey! That's all for today. Time for me to celebrate the last university exam that I have to take in my life! *throws confetti and dance* Thanks to one and all once again and may you guys have a good weekend ahead!

*Shanea Out (entrecard appreciation day april) @ 11:40pm*

How I Drop Entrecards...

2008-04-14T23:34:00.002+08:00

This is going to be a rather short post cos I'm taking like an hour off my study schedule to drop Entrecards. I have to apologise to all my Entrecard friends that this week I would be doing what is called power dropping. I know I know it is a taboo and I should be really reading posts like I used to but I have exams this week! To be exact it is 16th April at 1.30pm and 18th April at 2.30pm Singapore Time.

So I hope I will get immunity this week from all of you and I promise that I will resume my regular dropping and reading after 18th April. I will also post up my monthly Entrecard Appreciation Day for the 2nd month running (more to come I hope). It's interesting to see from the last Entrecard Appreciation Day, there has been some dramatic movements in terms of top droppers. So do catch that in less than a week's time.

Today I received a recommendation from Things I'm Grateful For for a great recommendation that I "definitely" reciprocate drops. As much as I would love to claim that I 100% do reciprocate, it is natural for humans to err and miss out some cards that was dropped with me. As you all know, 300 drops is the limit per day so it is important for me to drop cards with utmost care.

I personally believe in the concept of reciprocation where you get what you give and vice versa. So if bloggers fave me on technorati I will link back. If you drop your Entrecard with me, I will drop you back. If you write a comment on my posts, you will get a response either through my blog (which is usually the case) and/or a comment on your blog (if I am able to put a "worthy" enough comment that would add value).

So today I am going to tell you guys how I usually (except for this week) drop cards so you might understand where my 300 drops per day go to.

The first 200 cards goes to the cards that was dropped on my blog. I check that through the 'inbox' function and go from page 1 to page 5
The next 50 to 75 cards goes to my regular commenters and linkers of my blog (if I have not yet included them in the first 200). So if you regularly drop a comment on my tagboard or through my posts or link me in some way (much preferred) you will get a drop :)
The remaining cards goes to "oh that is an interesting card" category of cards either through advertising on blogs that I regularly drop at or just random from the 'category'

After all is said and done, I might still miss people out sometimes. So please forgive me if I do miss you out for that day but just drop me a message to scream at me and say "HEY YOU FORGOT ME TODAY!" and I will take note of it.

So how do you guys drop Entrecards. I'm quite eager to learn if there is a more efficient and good way to drop cards compared to what I am doing now. :)

*Shanea Out (reciprocation) @ 11:59pm*

Meaning of Success

2008-04-11T20:59:00.007+08:00

This poem was shared by my Strategy Professor Adel Dimian during the last strategy class I had last week. His rationale for showing us this was to put success into perspective. After all that has been said and done in university that aims to be a part of our strategy of success in life, we have to find out what success truly means to us. Maybe it isn't all about the grades, nor is it all about the money... maybe it's about a higher value we hold true in our hearts. Bessie Stanley really used this poem to help me see the bigger picture in life.

What is success to you? If you are unsure, hope this poem will help shed some light or provide some perspective into the concept of success. :)

Have a good weekend!

*Shanea Out (success) @ 9:05pm*

Pronounce Names Properly!

2008-04-10T12:01:00.009+08:00

This morning I received a call from an acquaintance that I have not heard from for years. She was someone I met through those mIRC days when I was a preteen and was still crazy about boybands (seriously, the unglamorous point of my life). As I have not contacted her for a very long time, her cell phone number wasn't registered in my phone. So the conversation went like this. Pronunciation is in brackets:

Me: Hello?
Her: Hey (SHA-NEYA)!
Me: (annoyed she got my name wrong) erm I'm (SHANE-AH). You are?
Her: (SHA-NEEYA)... you don't remember me?
Me: (Now terribly annoyed she got my name wrong TWICE) No. That's why I asked.

So eventually I got her name but I was really frustrated that she got my name wrong again and again throughout the conversation. I don't mean to point her out specifically but too many people out there got my name wrong and it irks me why is this so. My middle name isn't so hard to pronounce is it?

I had a friend, Chloe, who had a similar encounter. Many professors that taught us always seem to mispronounce her name. Her variations are worse than mine. Things like (CH-OH-EE), (CLONG), (CHO-EE) etc etc. She started to think people just can't handle it and changed her name.

I understand if you are meeting me for the first time and you get it wrong its fine but not repeatedly getting my name wrong. I feel like having a 'Pronunciation 101' for people who really don't know how to pronounce "unique" names correctly. Other times, I just wished people just asked how my name is pronounced instead of winging it and getting it WRONG time and time again. It can be a little unprofessional and very annoying.

Oh well. I guess that is what you get when you have a unique name BUT should we be punished for it just because we have it and people have the right to get it wrong?

Do you all have the same problem with unique names?

*SHANE-AH Out (pronounce) @ 12:55pm*

Boy or Girl?

2008-04-07T18:37:00.003+08:00

Recently many Entrecard bloggers having been touching on the topic of babies - either wanting one, not wanting one, mistaken to be having one and hoping for one.

So that led me thinking (what's new) about my preferences for kids. If you guys have been attentive, in my "To-Get" list includes my baby boys. Some of you might wonder why am I being so specific even at the point of not being married yet (some of you gasp) and not having the income to sustain a kid yet.

Well, I came to the conclusion in my late teens that I CANNOT have baby girls. No it's not a genetic disorder nor is it some weird disease but I think I just can't handle having a baby girl. Sure in their infant years and early growing up years many might argue that no matter if it is a boy or girl, they are relatively similar. But the problem arises when they get just a teeny bit older than toddler plus the whole culture issue really rocks the boat towards having boys.

Personally, girls are harder to handle than boys simply because they need more because beauty is an important factor. Really. Just look in terms of clothes, girls can wear almost anything - skirt, pants, shorts, t-shirt, lacy dresses but boys just need shorts, t-shirts, jeans, pants. Furthermore, girls need more stuff like scrunchies, hair bands, things to tie their hair. Boys, you can just put on a cap and all the frizzy hair is unseen. Girls need all sorts of shoes - strappies, booties, heels but boys just need sneakers and a pair of nice dress shoes.

I am a very sporty and un-girly girl there will ever be. Since young I've always prefered Transformers, Lego, Power Rangers to Barbie dolls (please don't let me tell you what I did with Barbie or I will be sent to Barbie jail). So I don't really like the whole girly tea set stuff, play cooking and what nots. I would really prefer going out to the beach to run, play volleyball, kick soccer and cycle. Sure you might say girly girls can do that too but many people (like my grandmother) will worry that I will eventually turn other girls into tomboys just because they have the sporty physique like me rather than the supermodel look. *sigh

Aside from these, girls basically need more care and maintenance when they go into puberty and all the talk about menstruation. Seriously, I can't explain sensitive issues for nuts. How to use a tampon or pad.. hmm.. now that's a topic to talk to your kids about. Then the whole fear issue of girls and sex. To put it really bluntly, the girls are always at a disadvantage in this whole sex issue. Sure, the boys need to be responsible but the girls have to suffer most of the consequences like pregnancy and what nots.

So many people tell me that if I am so adamant about having boys, I need to research of increasing my possibilities of having boys. Some say that women who wear the pants in the relationship have a higher chance to have boys and others say IVF allows for people to choose the gender of their baby. Oh the wonders of myth and science.

In the end, my point is that many of my girl friends in university wish to have baby girls and I totally feel like I'm the odd one out wanting boys. Some of you might also think that I am too biased but I guess it is down to personal preference and personality right? In the end when I really do get pregnant and stuff, maybe then gender wouldn't matter because afterall, he/she is my kid right?

What do you guys think? Boy or Girl? I still have like 4 years to decide. :)

*Shanea Out (boy or girl) @ 6:57pm*

Ken Lee by Mariah Carey?

2008-04-05T15:47:00.002+08:00

I got this video from BanicManic whilst entrecarding and I totally agree that when you start watching this video you just can't stop playing it over and over again cos it is really too funny. But this video is a very good example of how social media can really make someone rise to fame in just a few short weeks. Look at William Hung and now this lady Valentina Hasan. This video has 4 MILLION views and rising, seriously, viral is the way to go for fame. Valentina was even called up by big music companies to enquire about her after watching this youtube video... imagine that.

Maybe in this flattening world where geography has is no obstacle and maybe talent is also not a requirement for fame. Just make loads of people be in awe, or laughing till they roll on the floor and you will get somewhere. *sigh. How the world is changing.

Hope you enjoy the video and made you laugh. :)

*Shanea Out (ken lee) @ 3:55pm*

Cheating? All You Need is Burger King.

2008-04-04T10:53:00.003+08:00

I really don't know how I landed on this video but it is a great short film. It's about a wife cheating on her husband with a young kid and then the husband comes back early. Very predictable plot right? Well find out by watching this clip... lol.

Sometimes, advertising might become too predictable and then the 'surprise' element disappears but hey, sometimes the wacky might survive for certain brands. Especially if the product tastes very similar across the board and people can't tell which products belong to which brand, then it is all about the 'feeling' factor. So yeah, I guess this video brings across the affect part of our minds to associate the brand with humor.

Soo... Burger King anyone? Sorry if I can't join you. Trying to cut down fast food. lol.

*Shanea Out (funny friday) @ 10:57pm*

Wordless Wednesday!

2008-04-02T23:50:00.002+08:00

Sorry I 've been super busy with my final semester schoolwork that I kinda neglected posting recently. Today I'm going to feature one of the more creative Youtube vids I have seen. I'm still wondering how they even created the video because it is so well done. Recently, notsonoisy, the creator of this video won the most creative video award for his tetris video from youtube but I still think this pole position video is much better than tetris. Maybe the latter relates to more people and therefore resulting it to be deemed more creative.

Wait a minute... this is suppose to be wordless wednesday and I typed a whole freaking paragraph. okay time to zip up and start doing my projects. Hope you enjoy this vid and if you have any clue how they created this vid, please let me know. I wanna learn how to do it too!

*Shanea Out (wordless and stressed) @ 11:50pm

The Ideal Guy List...

2008-03-30T11:30:00.007+08:00

Okay a little disclaimer to this post. It's rather women centric but I believe men could possible read it and provide their insight to my thoughts on the topic. Really would be interesting to see both sides of the coin.

I think I must have been watching too many dramas lately with the cinderella story plot which resulted in a weird dreams that I had last night. That set me thinking about the idea of prince charming on the white stallion. Is there a reincarnation of such men around in the 21st century or have men just become well... just men?

If thinking about it wasn't enough, a very good guy friend of mine was confiding in me today about the situation he has with a girl he likes. It's as though she can't decide whether she want to go into a relationship with him or not. She claims that he is not have much of the qualities that fit into her list of things her ideal guy should have.

Now that took me aback. Do girls really have this list of 'What my ideal guy should have'? Seriously, does it even work? I mean, I do have certain criterias when I WAS dating like, the guy must have the same faith as I have and must be older than me. But other than that, I didn't really think much about anything else. I didn't really have the 10 things my hubby should have before I would go into a relationship with him! I believe that when we have a list of characteristics, women are practically eliminating most of the men that are available to them. Really, the more criterias, the less of a pool you have. So why bother making a list when most of the list ain't gonna come true?

As you can pretty much tell by now, I don't really understand nor believe in the 'make a list of an ideal guy' concept. It just pisses men off (like my friend was). What he said was really true, the way men and women treat relationships is really like how they shop:

Men - when they know what they want to get, they will go to the first shop and if they like it, they will buy it.

Women - when they know what they want to get, they go into the first shop, try the thing on, look around, leave the first shop go onto another ten shops before realising that the first shop was the best then go back to the first shop and try again, look around, discuss with their girlfriends, ask for opinions then buy the damn thing.

Really, if we women go through choosing guys like how we choose clothes, sometimes the ones with the "best" offer usually can't wait for us that long and then we mope and gripe about how he didn't wait for us and how unfair it is or how there are no more good men around. That's because we take too damn long a time to decide.

Of course I'm not advocating women to just dive into any relationship but make decisions fast. If you have a physical attraction to the guy, you understand his personality and can live with it - then go for it. Why hesitate and ponder if he has a score of 20/20 on the 20 things that you listed as characteristics of your ideal guy?

Are women just expecting too much or again, do men (and some girls like jasmine) don't get it? What do you all think?

p.s.: sorry if I rubbed anyone the wrong way but I'm really trying my best to figure this whole 'characteristics list of the ideal guy' concept out. Hope you all understand :)

*Shanea Out (thoughts) @ 11:30pm*

"Sorry, username and password do not match."

2008-03-28T20:29:00.005+08:00

Argh. Getting rather sick of getting this prompt every time I sign onto some registered website/application/network that I have not been to in a while. It's rather confusing for me because I have to many things I signed up for and many variations for passwords that I sometimes forget which password is for which accounts that I have!

In some secured sites like my bank transactions or school accounts, if I try the wrong password three times, I would then have to go through hell - going down tot the bank/school personally to tell them that I am a doofus for forgetting my password - before I can reset my password.

What sometimes is MORE frustrating is that some sites and my school network (yes, I'm griping about my sch network again) that my password has to be more than 12 characters long, a mix of alpha and numeric characters, with at least one capital letter or punctuation mark. *deep sigh. Worse thing is, my school makes us change passwords every 3 months!! My gawd. In my three years of my university life, I have practically exhausted all possible combinations.

My hubby takes the easy way out. As Lord of the Rings would put it - one password to rule them all. So yeah, if you manage to get one password out of him, there is a high chance you are able to access many of his accounts. (I think he'll be so pissed I let the cat out of the bag! lol).

Another of my group mates in my social media class - *waves at Isaac, who is a techie guy recommended that I first numerically list all my passwords on a post-it note. Then have an excel sheet that lists all the accounts I have and then create two columns to show my username and a numeric digit to represent one password from that post it note. Although it is a techie way to resolve the issue but once I lose that post-it note, I'm basically back at square one. Lol.

Oh well... passwords are definitely important to ensure that your accounts stay with you and others are not able to access your information easily. But then, passwords can sometimes even lock its owners out should they be like me to forget the passwords. In the words of one of my good guy friends - "Passwords are like women. If you don't get the answers to their questions right the first time. You will NOT get access to them tonight."

Any tips to help me remember my passwords better? :)

*Shanea Out (password crazy) @ 8:44pm*

"Hello. What is this blog about?"

2008-03-27T10:55:00.003+08:00

Many times when I am signing up for social bookmarking, social networking, social advertising the registration forms will often ask this question: "Hello. Please describe your blog." or "What is this blog about?" Often I just come up with a simple sentence that upon reflection, I am not very happy about. So I decided to sit down and think about this blog is really all about.

As most of you might know by looking at the length of my archive, I have been blogging for a long long time since May 2002 but it has always been all over the place - complaining about life, relationships and what nots but only recently when I started to understand the power of social media and the impact that one's blog can make in the social network, I decided to clean my act up and present my blog in a more "professional" sort of way.

Don't misunderstand me, I have not shed my old skin and evolved into a social media expert which is also a title that I cannot take up. Nor am have I become a social media enthusiast because I am still learning about it. This blog incorporates my learning from my Social Media classes in university as well as from the bloggers from all over the world - *waves to you guys reading this entry. This blog is also about my life and some of the questions that I am always attempting to answer like - what is the meaning of life, where am I going with all this knowledge, self-awareness sort of stuff. I believe many of us are also trying to answer life's big question - "Who am I and what am I doing here?" sorta thing. My blog is also about my friends from all over the world. Without input and comments from my friends both made from school/work/entrecarding/happen to pop by your blog kind of friends, this blog wouldn't be as fun and engaging as it is.

So essentially, this blog is very raw. It really has no specific theme nor am I really a source of inspiration for many but it just presents me as who I am in real life - trying to figure life and meaning both on and offline. Making mistakes by having weird posts now and then but having memorable moments too.

Even though I might not really add much credibility nor insight to the social media scene, I sincerely hope that this blog will bring a bit of questions, entertainment, smiles and love to you my readers who have become a very essential part of the existence of this blog.

So... what is this blog all about? I still not sure if I can or have answered this question.

*Shanea Out (blog questions) @ 12:14pm*

Link Loving

2008-03-27T00:04:00.004+08:00

I was browsing Technorati when I realised Lloyd Lopez tagged me and so I decided to join (even though I am a bit confused by the system.

Here are the instructions:

I have randomly selected 5 of you below to be tagged and I hope that you will similarly publish this post in your blog. You have to tag 5 other bloggers and just keep adding on to the list. (Do not replace, just keep on adding! Yes let’s hope a long list!) It’s real easy! Tag others and see your Technorati Authority increase exponentially!

The benefits of Viral Linking:

One of the fastest ways to see your Technorati Authority explode!
Increase your Google PageRank fast
Attract large volume of new traffic to your site
Build your community
Make new friends!

And these are the people who already took part on this tag:
Blognation, Pinoytek, Reyna, Bluep, Kotsengkuba, Buraot, Iris, Banco De Reyna, Manilenya, Mitch, Melai, Malen, Beng, Sasha, Foolsville, Lloyd Lopez, Vance, Hulag, Pao, Jamaipanese and Pixelated Thoughts [next please]

Hmm... I'm gonna add 5 more great bloggers below and see if this Viral Linking thingy really works... so here goes: VKeong, Chocolate Covered Imperfections, The Loquaciously Verbose Ramblings of 1 Slacker, Designers Depot and Daisy the Curly Cat

Wow... link loving has gone into a whole new phase. Hope this really works. :)

*Shanea Out (link lovin') @ 12:22am*

Weird Wednesday!

2008-03-26T23:31:00.002+08:00

Today this blog celebrates Wacky Wednesday with this youtube video that was shown as part of a presentation on Technology and World Change class. This wacky video not only makes people laugh, puke, cry but it does bring across a strong message that the internet is not just about the technology and software but the PEOPLE!

We make the internet what it is today. Using it for good or bad, for fun or work... what seems to be just wires, 1s and 0s becomes a blank canvas for us to be whatever you want it to be.

For me, the internet is a way to meet/connect with friends, share my thoughts and get more knowledge. What is the internet for you?

Hope the video didn't make you cringe.. well at least not much. :)

*Shanea Out (we're the internet) @ 11:37pm*

Hello World!

2008-03-25T18:41:00.013+08:00

To be honest, I'm a tad jealous of my blog. Seriously, this blog has been on the computer screens across 46 different countries while the blog owner has only been to about 5 countries? So you can imagine me looking at my blog stats and sometimes wondering where in the world are some of these interesting countries. So I decided to start to read up to try to understand a bit of what each country is about. Thus, I went to WordNet from Princeton that describes each country in very short definitions.

I am also reading Wikipedia's take on the countries but since it is a tad long, I shall just refer solely to WordNet in this post but link you guys to wikipedia should you all wanna learn a bit about these countries too... So here are the top 10 of the 46 beautiful countries that my dear blogosphere friends are from.

United States - "North American republic containing 50 states - 48 conterminous states in North America plus Alaska in northwest North America and the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean; achieved independence in 1776"

I've been to the United States a couple of times - Chicago, LA, San Fran, Seattle. Love the shopping at factory outlets! lol. I think US is one of the places where great innovation takes place. With my macbook pro designed in Cali, who can resist the hunkiness of my macbook pro.

Philippines - "a republic on the Philippine Islands; achieved independence from the United States in 1946... an archipelago in the southwestern Pacific including some 7000 island"

Although I have never been to the Philippines, from reading all the great Philippines blogs out there, I know where one of my next vacation destinations will be. Hope to meet a few of the great bloggers if I do go there. :)

Singapore - "the capital of Singapore; one of the world's biggest ports... a country in southeastern Asia on the island of Singapore; achieved independence from Malaysia in 1965... an island to the south of the Malay Peninsula"

I love my little island Singapore. :) Come visit and I can take you guys around as a free tour guide. :) That is if you trust me not to get lost. haha.

Australia - " nation occupying the whole of the Australian continent; Aboriginal tribes are thought to have migrated from southeastern Asia 20,000 years ago; first Europeans were British convicts sent there as a penal colony... the smallest continent; between the South Pacific and the Indian Ocean"

Don't look down on the smallness of Australia. It packs a big punch when you talk about blogging and the strength of their social media community. Australia is known for their friendly people and beautiful oceanic scenery. I have made so many friends in Australia and it feels like home :)

Canada - "a nation in northern North America; the French were the first Europeans to settle in mainland Canada... the border between the United States and Canada is the longest unguarded border in the world"

I have been to Canada twice for university exchanges and they were memorable moments. Canadians are as friendly as Australians and I miss my Canadian girlfriends - Christine and Giana badly. :( Babes, if you are reading this, I miss you girls tons!

United Kingdom - "a monarchy in northwestern Europe occupying most of the British Isles; divided into England and Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland; `Great Britain' is often used loosely to refer to the United Kingdom"

This is another country that I have yet to visit but is on my 'want to visit' list. Home of beautiful people like Prince William, who can resist. lol.

Malaysia - "a constitutional monarchy in southeastern Asia on Borneo and the Malay Peninsula; achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1957"

Although its one of the more frequent places I have visited because of the proximity of Malaysia and Singapore, it is through Entrecard that I have seen great food bloggers come out of Malaysia like Vkeong. I'm in love with that food blog, such tantalising food, such beautiful pictures.

South Africa - "a republic at the southernmost part of Africa; achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1910; first European settlers were Dutch (known as Boers)"

A very exotic land of beautiful animals. I wanna go!

Norway - "a constitutional monarchy in northern Europe on the western side of the Scandinavian Peninsula; achieved independence from Sweden in 1905"

I have never been there but I think Norway looks beautiful and exotic. Wonder if it is cold up there.

India -"a republic in the Asian subcontinent in southern Asia; second most populous country in the world; achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1947"

An up and coming force in Asia. A land of culture and the beautiful Taj Mahal.

I'm still taking time to digest the load of information on these countries. Oh how wonderful is the world of the blogosphere that enables me to connect and meet friends from all over the world.

So where are you from, my friend? *sending a hug and smile from Singapore to you!

*Shanea Out (world of friends) @ 7:40pm*

Sweet Sunday!

2008-03-23T16:55:00.008+08:00

Happy Easter everyone! Since today is a day of celebration, a time for family, chocolates and candy, today my blog will celebrate Sweet Sunday. Today we'll feature one of Australia's greatest cupcake designers (and probably one of the world's best too!)... Naomi from Newcastle, Australia. How she describes herself in her Flickr page is that she is "a post graduate university student who programs robots to play soccer by day and a 'cupcake ninja' by night". When I saw her cucpakes on GeekMom Mashup (all thanks to Entrecard yet again), I was flabbergasted and drooling all the way from Singapore.

I have seen pretty cupcakes but never THIS pretty. I really want to buy cupcakes from Naomi but am so afraid that freight and customs will probably get their hands on the cupcakes even before I do. So better not take the risk. Nevertheless, here's three cupcake series from Naomi which I think really rawks:

Lego Series:

This is for all my lego fans out there. Remember how it was so freaking fun to build those big monstrosities out of tiny lego bits. Now these cupcakes just added more 'coolness' to the lego concept. I can even match the heads to the specific body and leg parts. Yummylicious.

Pacman series:

I love the game pacman. Remember how it revived gaming on facebook? Well, these cupcakes will just make you THE pacman too look out for. Let's try eating the gold coins first before the cherry and then we'll plan our strike on those big eyed enemies. How about that?

Mario Series:

I love to play Mario ever since I was young and had the handheld nintendo sets and now it revived with the birth of my Wii through Paper Mario and Mario Galaxy. Now Mario storms my gastronomical world with these delicious cupcakes. You can relive your gaming world in the kitchen. Just buy a whole heap of these cupcakes, line them up into your Mario World and start gobbling with a friend. See who can reach the golden star cupcake first. Hee hee.. a great food game.

Thanks Naomi for allowing me to share your great cupcakes with my blogging network and hope you all had a sweet sunday reading this post. Happy Easter again!

*Shanea Out (sweet sunday) @ 5:16pm*

Grape Chasin'.

2008-03-22T23:05:00.003+08:00

Remember the parable that we used to hear from school or from our parents about the fox and the grapes? The story about this hungry fox who saw a bunch of grapes that are hanging real low and another bunch hanging real high. Thinking that the lower the grapes, the more sour they are and the higher the grapes the sweeter they are. So he tried all means and ways to get the higher bunch but in the end he died of hunger.

The lesson we learnt through this 'parable' is that we must be grateful for what we have. But really, does this parable really work for us?

In this world of capitalism and greed, it is hard for us to just be contented with what we have. We are always chasing that carrot on a stick stuck onto our heads. This even happens in our social media circle:

I remember when I was first on Technorati, I was authority 0 and told myself I would be happy to even get 1. But somehow when it grew to 5, I started having aspirations to grow to 20 - totally forgetting that teeny bit of happiness and contentment of getting a little authority.

Some of us might credit this as having drive to push on forward and not just be satisfied with little when you can have much more. Some argue that this is faith and important to have goal and dreams if not we will just stop innovating. But others might say that dreaming can be too much and that the dream clouds will just fog up our vision of what we have, causing us to stop cherishing the little we have and start becoming ungrateful.

So, can we ever be happy and contented? Are we still chasing for those well hung grapes (forgive the innuendo) and starve to death or will settle for the low ones?

You decide. I'm still deciding if I'm hungry enough to think about grapes. :p

*Shanea Out (grape chasin) @ 11:16pm

Entrecard: Advertising or Social Networking?

2008-03-20T10:16:00.007+08:00

Even though I have survived a month entrecarding without support from my school network, I am still very frustrated that my university network does not support Entrecard - I cannot drop or even view any entrecards when I am using my school network. It just sucks when you know you have adverts waiting or friends that dropped cards with you can you can't even reciprocate during godly hours and have to resort to rushing home straight after school to drop cards.

So I decided to ask some of the IT experts here in school and realised that Entrecards is interpreted as ADVERTISING. Since last year our school network has been facing some issues with spam and weird viruses, so the tech department has gotten down to help resolve the issue the tech department (CIT) did this:

"Dear Students, to provide a better and more effective anti-spam solution to reduce the spam, CIT has recently evaluated a few anti-spam solutions and selected the Symantec Mail Security from Symantec as the anti-spam engine for school community."

So I'm assuming Entrecard comes under advertising (aka SPAM), so it's blocked. *pissed.

But this makes me wonder: is Entrecard just another tool for blatant advertising for other blogs or can it be considered as an effective social networking tool to network with all of the great bloggers out there?

We have seen how Entrecard is useful for people to get their traffic up, word out as promotion and connect with people, so these are the social networking aspect of the tool but there are people who still claim that Entrecard is nothing but plain free advertising.

As you all might know by now, I am an advocate for this tool, so please forgive if I will always stand on the other side of the fence. I do not doubt that Entrecard is essentially built on the advertising concept by the creators but I believe the users of the tool will change the whole dynamics of how the tool really works out. Instead of just being another advertising tool, I strongly believe us users have made it a social networking tool more than advertising. As seen through all the great comments made by people on how Entrecard have changed their blogging experience - I don't believe a 'just advertising' tool can be so revolutionary.

So if you are like my school's tech dept and still believe that Entrecard is still advertising, I don't wish for you to convert overnight but just give Entrecard a chance and TRY it out. You can't experience it as a social networking tool without joining in the social circle. So just:

Register
Design Entrecard
Place widget on Entrecard (cut and copy html into your blog template)
Start dropping on other blogs

*Shanea Out (entrecard again?) @ 11:23am*

Entrecard: An Important Social Media Tool

2008-03-16T22:32:00.007+08:00

On Saturday, I kinda wowed my social media professor, Michael Netzley, with my visitor rate on my blog. I told him that I really didn't do much other than Entrecard and most of the however little success of this blog has to be attributed to Entrecard.

Thanks to Entrecard, I am able to promote my blog all over the world (35 countries as of today) and make so many new friends in the blogosphere (like those mentioned in my appreciation list yesterday). I really think Entrecard works for me as a blogger and I have been an active advocate of this social media tool. I'm even considering asking my professor to join the entrecard conversation! (Prof Netzley if you are reading this, I really really think you should try this out! Really.)

What is Entrecard? Well, I can't explain it better than linking to an interview that one of my favourite Aussie bloggers, Darren Rowse did with the Entrecard's Graham Langdon. But I definitely can give you some idea on how entrecard really helped me personally:

Entrecard helps you promote your blog through reciprocation
Entrecard is the 125 by 125 business card for your blog and you just visit other blogs with entrecards and drop them. It's just like going to a networking function and say "Hey I like you, here's my card!" Its also human instincts to reciprocate, so naturally people will also drop their entrecards with your blog and how do they do that? They come to your blog and they know about what you are writing about and if your site is cool enough for them, they'll come back again and again.

Entrecard helps you make friends
This is the one that I am most truly grateful for - I have made great friends from all over the world! I would never be able to come across such an extended network of blogging buddies without Entrecard. We visit each other's sites almost everyday and it is such a joy to see what others are writing about. Entrecard is not just about making your blog known but you knowing about other blogs as well. Helps you keep up to date with THE conversations to date and network with people from all over the globe with a single drop.

Entrecard enables cross promotion
As you can see, the widget I have displays cards of other blogs. So you can actually purchase promotion space on other blogs of similar nature (or just those who are really popular and have high traffic - depending on your style and strategy), and advertise your blog for a whole 24 hours. So you promote on other blog, others promote on your blog. It's an effective - I help you, you help me strategy. AND IT WORKS!

Important Tip To Successful Entrecarding:
The important thing for Entrecard to work for any blog is that you are willing to devote at least 15 minutes everyday just checking your drop inbox and go around dropping cards on other blogs (don't just drop but do read the content available on the blogs as well). You will never know what you can learn from other bloggers - I just met like 5 Singaporean Entrecarders and I think their blogs are amazing! So it's all about the reciprocation!

By the way, if there are some of you Entrecarders that I have not dropped cards with for a long time is because my drop inbox displays only 100 of the most recent cards and I kinda missed you guys out. I am SOOOO SOORRRY. I really really really want to drop cards on every single Entrecarders' blog but sometimes in the flurry of things that I have to do online, I kinda forget, so just drop a comment on any of my posts (look below) or on my chatbox (look left) and say - HEY HOW COME YOU FORGOT TO DROP YOUR CARD WITH ME!! And I'll take note of my boo boo! :)
I take dropping VERY VERY seriously, so let's all help each other grow our social media network! Have a happy blogging (and Entrecarding) week ahead!

*Shanea Out (i heart entrecard) @ 10:58pm*

Jasmine Shanea's Entrecard Appreciation Day!

2008-03-14T11:16:00.001+08:00

Today marks a special blog entry to celebrate my 1 month on Entrecard. So today I'm going to just take some time to appreciate the people who have faithfully supported my Entrecarding all through the month by dropping cards regularly on my blog and giving me the opportunity to advertise on their blogs. So here they are!

Top 10 Droppers:

Ben Barden tops my dropper list with 24 drops. Thanks Ben for faithfully coming to my site (even though it might not add value to what you are writing) and dropping your card. Really appreciate it. :)

The next goes to my fellow Singaporean blogger, A Investor. Thank you for supporting my blog. :)

Next goes to Technically Easy. A simple Entrecard but a faithful dropper. Many thanks for all the support!

In 4th place is Cheaper by the Half Dozen. I'm amazed at your ability to raise six beautiful children and still be able to take time to drop entrecards and blog. This award might not be much but really thank you for the support! :)

The middle spot goes to Designers Depot - a blog that features the most amazing works of art that I totally enjoy visiting every day. I might not know much about art and design but I sure did learn a lot from you. Thanks for the tremendous support! :)

Next is Pandora's Casket - the "drop master". You really live up to your name. Thank you!

Next is Daisy the Curly Cat - a photo blog written in Daisy's point of view. Very interesting read. Thanks for the support Daisy!

In 8th place is Gary with Everything Everywhere - a man that is admired for his drive and passion. Really love the photos from around the world. All the best in your pursuit of your dream. Thank you for supporting my blog! :)

Next is Scramories - a site for great scrapbooking tips. Thank you for the support of my blog and Entrecard quest! :)

Last but not least is Lloyd Lopez - a place for gaming, gadgets and all things techy. Thanks for all the support!!

Advertisers for February:

Thank you fellow bloggers in this list for giving me the opportunity to advertise on your blogs (this list is not in any particular order):

Many thanks again to all my top droppers and advertisers for the month of February. I intend to make this a monthly thing (depending on my schedule and time constraints). Looking at this list just reminded me how important people are to the support of social media like blogging and Entrecard. It's always good to take time and appreciate the people who have brought you through from just a diary keeper to a blogger. :)

*Shanea Out (appreciation day!) @ 11:16pm

Blogging Tip: Lurk & Learn

2008-03-12T23:18:00.006+08:00

Taken from Garfield

I guess this blog entry arose because of the various events/incidents that happened all in one week that somehow helped me derive my topic of conversation today. In response to Mimi's post when she apologised for not being a regular poster, I hope this entry will help being a more positive outlook to the concept of Lurk & Learn and help people not feel sorry for having irregularities in their blog postings.

This concept isn't my original idea but was taken during my Social Media class with Professor Michael Netzley. (Yes, I'm learning about social media). We were doing a Harvard case study on Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein's Wiki concept written by Andrew McAfee. Prof showed us a video that showed Dresdner's CIO, Mr. J.P. Rangaswami talk about the use of social media in their company. One thing Mr. Rangaswami said really hit me -

Those people who lurk and learnt from the various social media forms present in the company for more than 300 days somehow contribute more value in their post on the 301st day compared to his/her colleagues who posted almost every day for the past 300 days.

It is definitely not easy for people to come up with new and interesting posts for their blogs (esp not me when I seem to have too much of a homebody life). I do feel guilty at times when I leave my blog for a couple of days or even weeks because I'm either busy or just plain stumped for ideas. Sometimes I even have really crappy posts!

However, I still continue to Entrecard, read other people's blogs, head down to Aussie Bloggers Forum and learn new and interesting things from all the bloggers out there. I admit my posts are of a more personal nature where I try to decipher logic and rationality in my life but I try to be informative and engaging most of the time but in this populace driven blogosphere, sometimes, it can be a blogger eat blogger world. Scary.

The world is built on the concept of learning. Without learning, there would never be progress and Singapore would be a prime example of learning from the developed countries back in 1960s when we were still a baby. We learnt, adapted and created - to what we are today - a country that is proud to host the first Youth Olympics 2010, the first Formula 1 night race and many other great opportunities installed for us.

So I guess I'm always opening my eyes wide to look out for great posts and understand what makes some bloggers really tick with their readers. Take my advice, don't be apologetic about why we aren't blogging enough but consider that we are gathering inspiration and learning from others out there. Never be like Jon from Garfield and go on a self-pity ride.

Lurk and learn people... Lurk and learn.

*Shanea Out (lurking) @ 11:41pm*

Ways to get friends onto social networks

2008-03-10T16:40:00.006+08:00

Logical Persuasion (unsuccessfully):

From xkcd.com

Disgust:

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

Peer Pressure:
From PHD Comics

So tell me how do you get your friends on facebook? :)

*Shanea Out (sleepy) @ 4:51pm*

People are never happy with what they have...

2008-03-08T22:38:00.002+08:00

1. When people think they are thin, they want to be fat
2. When people think they are fat, they want to be thin
3. When people are poor, they want to be rich and (maybe) famous
4. When people are rich (and famous), they don't want to be rich because it comes with so much more than just money
5. When people have a small car, they want to have the bigger car that belongs to others
6. When you have $1, you hope to have $10.

So what drives us to happiness? How will we ever reach the point where we can say we are satisfied with our lives? Can we ever say that in the first place?

These are questions that one hopes to answer to chart the path to a fulfilled life...

*Shanea Out (thoughts) @ 10:48pm*

My Entrecard Gripe (Karaoke Version)

2008-03-05T22:33:00.004+08:00

I must say I still love Entrecard and how it is such a great networking tool (and I am still very much addicted) BUT i just can't stand that fact that my inbox can't hold every unique card that has been dropped on my blog AND the fact that my school's firewall just can't allow me to log into Entrecard nor see any cards AT ALL!

So I changed the lyrics of my former favourite song to share my woes with you all and karaoke-d it through Sims On Stage. So here it is (pardon for the bad singing):

Rate this performance at the Sims On Stage

Here are the lyrics for those who can't understand my 'accent':

I Wish Entrecard Would Change

You are my widget

The one I fidget

My source for exchange

But I wish Entrecard would change

Inbox: only displays 100 cards

My friend base you discard

Make me go derange

So I wish Entrecard would change

Tell me why

Can't you display all the cards

Tell me why

So I can hold my friends in regard

Tell me why

Can't you just let me exchange

So I wish Entrecard would change

In school I can't log in

Cause firewall's just isn't thin

and other network's not in range

So I wish my network could change

Tell me why

can't you just let me log in

Tell me why

Why you firewall's not thin

Tell me why

Can't you just let me exchange

So I wish my network would change

Now you can see that I'm falling apart

When thing's arent what it should be, yeah

No matter the distance

I want you to know

That I'll always be Entrecarding

Entrecard is still my passion

Dropping cards is my mission

You are

You are, you are, you are

But I still wished you'd change

Oh it's such a heartache

But you're not a mistake

I never wanna hear you say

that Entrecard can't change!

Tell me why

Can't you just display all cards

Tell me why

cant you go with me whole nine yards

Tell me why

I never want to hear you say

Entrecard can't change

Tell me why

Can't you just display all cards

Tell me why

cant you go with me whole nine yards

Tell me why

I want to hear you say

Entrecard can change

Yes Entrecard can change

*Shanea Out (entrecard song) @ 10:37pm*

Wanna Sing Karaoke and Share It?

2008-03-02T21:00:00.005+08:00

My friend introduced this site to me with his DOTA rendition of teenage dirtbag. It's really interesting that you can just register for free and just grab a mic and record your favourite song and share it with your friends. It's like the search for the next Social Media Idol... just who will be the most popular? lol...

If you wanna sing your heart out, just try this site... Just like I did...

Caution: My singing might suck. Bear with it. lol

Rate this performance at the Sims On Stage

*Shanea Out (karaoke?) @ 9:12pm*

Singapore: Land of Acronyms

2008-02-29T22:43:00.010+08:00

Singapore is the one place I know that uses the most acronyms in one of the more complexed ways. Really, we can even tell a whole story filled with abbreviations and another Singaporean can easily decipher it. Maybe to some of my overseas friends, you will find this really incomprehensible and queer. Personally I find it really funny. Today was one such example when my colleague was explaining his car situation to me. I'll do it in his way, the Singaporean acronym way first then attempt to explain it before doing it in proper English:

"...You know I stay at AMK then I had to help my brother pay for his COE at LTA because he had no time. Then I had to drive down that crazy CTE with so much traffic then go down Orchard Road and go SMU to pick my friend up to go for the party at East Coast. Lucky I never speed when I go into ECP because I saw the TP book another car. Maybe it also could be that guy never pay the ERP because of peak hour. Then when we reach East Coast we had to buy KFC because my friend SMS me and said that the BBQ had not enough food..."

In that few short Singlish sentences, you can see that my friend used almost 11 acronyms. Really something right? Let me try to explain those acronyms:

AMK: stands for Ang Mo Kio, the name of one of the towns in Singapore. Translated in English would be "Caucasian Bridge" because when Singapore was colonised by England in the past, there was a man who built seven bridges in that area.

COE: stands for Certificate of Entitlement. Due to the small-ness of Singapore, the government only allows a certain number of cars on the road to prevent congestion. Thus, each new car is issued a certificate of entitlement to show that this particular car belongs to a particular person.

LTA: stands for Land Transport Authority, the government body that governs and regulates the transportation system of Singapore

CTE & ECP: stands for Central Expressway and East Coast Parkway respectively. These are two of the ten expressways of Singapore.

SMU: stands for Singapore Management University. The third university in Singapore located in the heart of the city area of Singapore. The university that I study at. :)

TP: stands for Traffic Police in this scenario. The people who issue fines and maintains road order in Singapore. This acronym can also stand for Temasek Polytechnic, one of the higher education schools in Singapore.

ERP: stands for Electronic Road Pricing. In Singapore, drivers have to pay a minimal fee to use certain roads during peak hours. Using RFID, credit is deducted through smart cards.

KFC: stands for Kentucy Fried Chicken. Need I say more?

SMS: stands for short text messages sent through cell phones.

BBQ: stands for Barbeque. also known as grill?

Okay... so now you know what it means... let me try to write what my colleague said in proper English:

"As you know, I stay in Ang Mo Kio, one of the towns in Singapore and I had to go down to the Land Transport Authority to pay for my brother's certificate of entitlement. Then I had to drive down the Central Expressway which was swamped with traffic before I could reach Orchard Road and pick my friend up from the Singapore Management University to go for a party at East Coast. Thank God I didn't speed on the East Coast Parkway because I saw the traffic police issuing a fine to another vehicle. I think it is also because the driver did not pay the electronic road pricing fees. When we reached East Coast, we had to buy Kentucky Fried Chicken bcause my friend sent me a short text message to tell me that there wasn't enough food at the barbeque."

Phew. Isn't doing it in acronym so much easier? It took me so much more time just to say the proper English compared to the acronym Singlish version. We do save more time talking. Haha... just love the way Singaporeans talk.

*Shanea Out (acronyms) @ 11:13pm*

Simple Entrecard Tips to Increase Traffic

2008-02-28T22:25:00.007+08:00

I've been entrecarding for quite some time now and I realised that it has become an online habit. Once I switch on Alephi (my macbook pro), I immediately open safari to check my mail and firefox to check entrecard (it's my home page on firefox). Even my hubby was complaining that I'm hooked onto Entrecard (basically he thinks I'm hooked to the entire social media). That's another story... so back to Entrecard, I realised that it can be quite hard keeping up to the promise of dropping back all the cards that have been dropped on you.

It's not that I DON'T wanna do it but the inbox of entrecard can only display a certain number of cards that were most recently dropped but not every unique card that has been dropped on my blog. So I tend to miss a couple of blogs out if they hadn't recently dropped back.

After visiting close to 1000 sites through Entrecard, I realised that it is very important where you place your Entrecard. Sometimes I find it sooo hard to find someone's Entrecard, I tend to give up searching for it. Please please please display your entrecard somewhere prominent so I can actually find it. Don't hide it at some obscure place, it looks as though you don't want people to drop you cards.

I find that blogs that display their Entrecards close to the top of their sidebars are the most convenient. After reading their most recent post, I can just add my comment, drop my card and head onto the next site. For those 'drop and go' carders, you will definitely get their cards cos it doesn't take much effort to open up your site, drop and go to the next site they are looking for.

Other people want their Entrecards at the bottom of their blog so people actually 'skim' through their blog before dropping their card and leaving but then again for those 'drop and go' entrecarders, that would not be the ideal scenario and your blog might just not get their cards.

I guess another interesting phenomenon I realised I personally do is to be attracted to pretty entrecards. Those that have been done up very well like I'm Blogging That and a Singaporean blogger, themuxicbox. I guess pretty entrecards to get the attention of people, especially if they are 'drop and go' carders. So if you think you have a pretty entrecard, try to advertise on as many relevant blogs as possible. You wouldn't know who will come and peek at your site!

So I guess in simple terms, my advice to people who wish to increase their traffic through Entrecard should:

Make your card as prominent as possible on your blog
Make a pretty card
Advertise a lot on relevant (and preferably prominent) blogs
Make the 'You Drop, I Follow' to yourself and follow through with it
Don't just drop, read and comment posts as well

Yup... I know my blog isn't THAT fantastic, it doesn't have a centralised theme nor does it really have much of traffic coming in. BUT, no harm trying to improve how the system works right? It'll save everyone so much more time and enjoy Entrecarding even more!

*Shanea Out (Entrecarding) @ 10:50pm*

Recommended: Social Media 101 Videos

2008-02-27T23:02:00.006+08:00

Thanks to Lee Lefever and his great site Common Craft, I've been able to understand what is social media in like a few minutes. Really, his videos are good starters for people who want to understand what's this whole social media craze all about and why people are so hyped up about it. I'm not scraping! Just wanted to share Lee Lefever's videos with you because they are just so good!

I like the way that he doesn't use the computer or any high tech animation to explain his story- just a white board, markers, paper and probably something adhesive to stick the paper onto the board. Very sleek editing as well. But I wonder... how much paper does he use for each episode. Haha.... save the trees Lee... save the trees. :)

The episode I'm gonna post here is about wikis... trying to learn all about it as I have to set up a wiki page as an assignment. Hope you guys will learn from it as much as I did! If you want to check out more of his videos (like one of my other non-blogging faves: Zombies in Plain English), just head onto this link.

*Shanea Out (NOT scraping) @ 11:11pm*

MMO Recommendation: Viwawa

2008-02-26T14:52:00.007+08:00

Today I'm just gonna reveal my ultimate stress reliever that has sustained me for the past 8 weeks of my final semester in university... MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online) games. Sure I do play many other MMO's around which I might feature here next time but I believe this MMO will interest many because the games available appeal not only to the casual gamers but also the gamers who wished they could play certain "gambling" type games without feeling the pain of losing real money. And my avatar (Shayanne) and I are going to recommend to you one site that might help you as much as it helped me: Viwawa An MMO created by a Singaporean (based)company Pendulab.

This site basically has 6 games for you to choose from: Stwack (a stickman fighting game), Checkmate (Chess), Match it (a food match 3 game), Sushido (a match 3 time management game) and of course my favourite "gambling" type games: Big 2.5 (Also known as Big Two) and Wahjong (Mahjong). You can also create your own avatar and vote for other avatars - the scale is from 1 to 5 stars. If you reside in Singapore, you can also send your avatar to your cell phone!

How to start playing on Viwawa:

Create your avatar by selecting from hairstyle to lips to bottoms and even have a pet mouse and a funky background!

Click on the game you want

Let the game load (no downloads required)

Join a channel

Join a room

and PLAY!

All the games allow you to gain experience points to level your avatar in that particular game as well as win gold that will allow you to purchase funkier stuff for your avatar. Maybe something for you to think about when you are utterly bored or stressed from working, try Viwawa out. You don't have to be a Singaporean to join the Viwawa community. Just sign up and play along with us! Remember if you do join the community, just add me as your friend. My ign: Shayanne

Hope to see you all on Viwawa! (http://www.viwawa.com)

Disclaimer: This is NOT a paid advertisement for the game. I just feel that this site really has potential for growth and pure enjoyment that's why I'm sharing it with you guys.

*Shanea Out (Viwawa-ing) @ 3:15pm*

Wanna become a popular mainstream musician? QUIT DREAMING.

2008-02-24T21:06:00.005+08:00

I know this post heading is going to shock, scare, send out hate signals but I really do mean this post for good - to save you from a crushed spirit and probably tons of therapy money (so consider giving that $$ to me... lol). With American Idol in its SEVENTH FREAKING SEASON... and many of them joining for the hope of becoming RICH and FAMOUS, I think people just need to have a wake up call... and I'm going to do it right here, right now to save people from delusion.

Music Can't Make You Rich Anymore:
With the dawn of the internet age gave birth to many wonders of the virtual world - P2P file sharing, YouTube, iTunes etc, what used to be one of the more lucrative industries in the whole world is now finding it really hard to even breathe in a single cent. Even so, there are so many genres of music available out there - from your typical pop to world, new age. One day while at a music store, just to kill time, I even saw a section named 'Miscellaneous'... what the hell is that genre? Even if you want to make money, you really have to get your music out there and get a really wide enough fan base, so you can earn from live performances and merchandising. Seriously, selling your stuff on iTunes or any other sites... no one is really going to bother. So what makes YOU think that YOU can make money out of this dying industry?

Music Can't Make You Famous (they way you want it) Anymore:
Sure, you dream of having the power and influence of U2, Metallica and maybe even Take That? But seriously, the only things that make the news now is Britney Spear's crazy antics, Hillary Duff's indecent exposures and for my Asian counterparts - Edison Chen's saucy vids. Can you remember which was the singer which had the longest span of #1 hit song? (Answer - Elvis Presley. Thanks to this site) Most of the mainstream music you hear now are from one hit wonders... (you'd really think 'Beautiful Girls' was a nice song?!) Where are the Idol winners now? Ruben Studdard? Clay Aiken?!! No one really bothers about them... do they? And what happened to those boyband chasing girls? Those fan clubs? Where are they?

So, morale of the story - don't ever think that going into the music industry now (as a musician) will make you rich and famous... if you get most of the things right, you'd probably have a hit single or two, get some bad press about your relationships or bad habits before you hit the job recruitment section again. Why go through all that trouble? Save yourself some time, money, dignity and pride. Quit dreaming.

*Shanea Out (music industry?!) @ 9:33pm*

Bus Blogging

2008-02-23T11:55:00.002+08:00

Thanks to Nokia, Singapore Bus Service and the government of SIngapore, we have free access to the internet even when we are on public transport. At least this journey is going to be a fun one because it's an hour long of checking my mail, going into facebook, checking up my Google Reader and so much more. I even started my school assignment all in one hour of bus journey. Plus, it's all free. No registrations, no hassel, nada. Just log on with my Alephi (my macbook pro) and wahlah. I'm now connected to my favourite information superhighway while travelling on the tar filled highway.

Other than this free wireless service on the bus, Singapore also has Wireless@SG which allows people to go online at specific hotspots all over Singapore. All you need is your identification number and a simple registration to some of the service providers offering this service. I can even start blogging while waiting for my mother to finish her grocery shopping at my neighbourhood grocery shop.

Some corporate restaurants like Macdonalds, NYDC and Starbucks also offer such services. I've yet to try it out tho... might require some registration of some sort.

Oh the power of mobile internet service. One of the reasons why I love living in this little island. Sorry I didn't have time to trackback or link some of the keywords in this entry due to time contraints. Oh well, my stop's next. Thanks for dropping by my blog. :)

*Shanea Out (blogging) @ 12:03pm*

Singapore To Host First Youth Olympics

2008-02-21T19:45:00.002+08:00

The news is out! Singapore is the first country in the world to ever host a Youth Olympics (YOG) after beating Moscow. Our little 64km wide island had a large celebration down at the Padang.

Some come 2010, you will see the world focusing in on this little red dot on the map as the 3500 youths of the world aged between 14 and 18 come to compete. Now, don't you think it should be called Teen Olympics since the technical definition of youths are between 12 and 30? *shrugs*

I'm looking forward to the beach wrestling sport which is one of the 26 sports featured in the first YOG. Never seen an actual Olympic match with this sport so it'll be quite interesting to see it live here in Singapore. Wonder where they will hold it? Sentosa on our imported sand?

Given that Singapore is already a densely populated country, we decided to come up with our own Olympic Village... aside from it NOT looking like Holland Village with all the snazzy nightlife, it is situated in the National University of Singapore (my university's 'friendly' rival). So NUS students, feel free to gawk at the hunks and babes of the world between classes or breaks.

Well... I'm proud of our little country. We've managed to persuade the world that we are worth it to host such an important event. I'll be 25 then... so it'll be a good way to celebrate my mid youth. Lol....

*Shanea Out (olympics) @ 8:07pm*

Are we no better than children?

2008-02-20T21:48:00.004+08:00

I know I might be a little late finding out about this precious girl from Secluded Habitat but Connie Talbot has the most amazing angelic voice that I have ever heard. PLUS she has that sweet spirit that is solely for her love of music.

I'm sure before Britain's Got Talent and the temptation of money, fame and popularity, Connie just wanted to sing because she loved it. She just wanted to share her singing with the people. One of the main reasons why she joined this competition is to sing for Simon Cowell and let him enjoy her singing.

Watching her sing and give her heartfelt speech just reminded me how pure and innocent children can be and how as we grow older and be exposed to popular culture, fame and fortune, we then start to shed our simple dreams and pureness to get down and dirty in the corporate world.

As we grow older, is it that hard to hold onto what is true to us when we were younger? Why aren't we no longer satisfied with making our parents smile or just receiving "Santa's" gifts during Christmas?

Have we diluted our dreams and values for fame, fortune and popularity?

Something to think about I guess...

*Shanea Out (dreams) @ 10pm*

Entrecard Addict

2008-02-18T16:30:00.004+08:00

I have to admit I have become an Entrecard addict since I joined the community on Saturday. I thought I was in total control about the level of participation that I had on Entrecard but today's fiasco just showed how addicted I am to this network.

Firstly I would like to thank Meg, swollenpickles and other amazing forumers at Aussie Bloggers Forum for helping me with the problem I had with Entrecard this morning when I couldn't see everyone's Entrecards, drop any cards or do a single thing with Entrecard! I was suddenly out of contact.

Apparantly (according to some sources), I can't access Entrecard when I am at my university campus because they have this freaking firewall and poweerful ad blocker put up to stomp out spam. Our university has some crazy spamming going on and they wanted to "protect" the staff and students.

Which means, during the weekdays when I am at school, Entrecard is a no-go for me. *wails* So straight after my seminars, I flew home and guess what is the first thing I did??

Switch computer on. Open Firefox. Type: http://www.entrecard.com/

See how addicted I am?

So people who drop me cards during the weekdays, just be patient ok? Once I get unfirewalled connection that allows me to drop Entrecards, I WILL DROP 'EM. I'm a person of my word. If you drop a card on this blog, I will definitely drop back (unless I really can't seem to find your entrecard in your blog, like this for example).

I'm beginning to think... maybe there should be an Entrecard Anonymous for people like me...

*Shanea Out (entrecard addict) @ 4:43pm*

Pimped Macbook Pro

2008-02-17T00:02:00.005+08:00

Finally Alephi is ready for all the world to see! The Macstyles finally arrived in the mail after a long 14 day wait. So I kinda added rhinestones and some velvet words on it to personalise the macstyle. So here's Alephi's cover!

Okay, I don't know if I made a mess or made it better. So give me your comments... lol.

Oh and since I'm blogging quite a bit lately and dropping entrecards on the entire blogosphere, I decided to get a table to place on my bed, so I can work in comfort and probably fall asleep even when I am still in the blogosphere. It's from Ikea and cost just S$36. Oh the things I do for the love of engaging people. :)

I'm officially the laziest blogger ever.

*Shanea Out (blogging n entrecarding still..) @ 12:09am*

Essentials!! Aussie Bloggers Forum & Entrecard

2008-02-16T11:39:00.008+08:00

First, I just have to say that the Aussie Bloggers Forum has really enriched my perspective into blogging. I guess perseverance and time devoted to just surfing various blogs gives us the opportunity to start falling in love with the blogosphere. Really thank the Aussie crowd for being so welcoming to the forum and giving me advice on how to engage in the conversations.

Thanks to Meg and the Aussie Bloggers Forum, I've got to know a very good way to network the Web 2.0 way! ENTRECARD! I presume that this is the hottest thing in town (especially for Australians judging by their forum activity). As you can see, I've started my own entrecard and I sincerely hope to network with as many interesting blogs out there. Okay bloggers take note! This might be the up and coming way of networking in Web 2.0!

So what is entrecard? Well, I guess no one can explain it better than Meg so I provided a link

to her blog so you can read all about it. She also has some tips on how to make entrecard work for you. So do check her blog out ok?

Start your entrecard now and network with other bloggers out there! Oh yeah, remember to drop your card with me. It's on the left navigation bar of my blog... I'll be sure to reciprocate! :)

Now... where is the Harvard case study I was suppose to work on for social media class? lol..
*Shanea Out (entrecarding) @ 11:54am*

Support Singapore Animation (made by kids!)

2008-02-15T17:23:00.002+08:00

In just three short months, groups of Singaporean kids created short animation clips to commemorate Singapore's Total Defense Day. I'm just so amazed at how creative these kids can be and their ability to pick up technical skills to create such animations. Even a big kid like me still can't work on Photoshop as well as I would like to be. *sigh*

Do check out their clips and if you're Singaporean, please vote for your favourites! Show your support for Singaporean media.. lol

*Shanea Out (animations) @ 5:26pm*

Come See The New Macteeni!

2008-02-14T22:34:00.004+08:00

This has been a good v-day. Hubby gave me many things (a bouquet, dinner, jewellery) of which is a Macteeni! Here yea Here yea! The amazing macteeni! Comparing it with my macbook pro (named Alephi), this macteeni is just amazing! My hubby made it out of some papercraft site... check it out:
So cute right? It's the Big v. Small world! Alephi versus Alephi Jr. Will showcase more of Alephi when he is technically fully dressed. Basically he is a week old macbook pro. Still in the works of making him adapt to his new environment. So far, he's doing well... so let's wait for the grand reveal shall we? :)

Although it's made of paper, the details are all there...

At the sides you can see all the vents and the ports! So cool... that's why it is called the amazing macteeni! Go to the site and try making your own macteeni. You can choose from a range of computers. haha... :)

Have a good valentine's everyone!

*Shanea Out (macteeni) @ 10:45pm*

Social Media Experiment: Podcasting (Comments Pls!)

2008-02-14T14:00:00.004+08:00

As a part of Professor Michael Netzley's Social Media class yesterday, my group did a slapstick take on how to use Aussie slang with Singlish (Singaporean English). This was done in less than an hour, so I apologise for the bad sound quality.

Here is the link to the mp3 and feel free to spread 'the love' around. Do give your comments and help us improve! :)

*Shanea Out (podcasting) @ 2:07pm*

Seagate: Creative Use of Packaging

2008-02-12T23:30:00.001+08:00

Moving away from social media marketing to more traditional marketing, I have an interesting example of how companies/brands try to engage their consumers not through advertising but through the product/service experience.

I bought a Seagate 320gb hard drive from the infamous Sim Lim Square (the cheap electronics shopping mall in Singapore) for my new baby macbook pro (whose name and look I shall reveal once I have him all ready to show off to the world). Never did I imagine a hard drive producer like Seagate would have the ability, wit and time to do such interesting things to engage their consumers:

On the box which has a nifty handle:

It says: "If only this handle helped you moved data like FreeAgent Pro (the hard drive brand). Sure made me smile when it was the first thing I see - first impressions do count in a brand cluttered world.

The front of the user manual:
It says: This won't take long (in several different languages) Very comforting (especially for tech bimbos like me, I need a foolproof gadget).

The packaging of the different components:Each component is wrapped in a silver packet with a yellow 'hello' sticker on it. This personalizes computing so much better and gives a brand perception of friendliness and ingenuity. (Side note: complements my blog template well huh? lol)

The actual details of the user manual:Hardly any words on a manual! This is surreal especially for a technology fuelled device like a hard drive. Only a big picture and I like the aspect when they give you the timings to tell you how long it will take for you to achieve one step in the set up. For example in this picture, by 1 minute and 11 seconds, we should have the hard drive plugged into my mac. How cool is such a manual?

I think it is important that companies think of creative ways to engage their 'bored' consumers using such techniques. Hey, it worked for Apple... and now Seagate... why not other products? Redefine how products of a certain category is perceived in the marketplace and associate it with different uses. Creativity doesn't just come in the form of advertising but it is how you get your consumers to remember you (even after you managed to persuade them to buy your product).

*Shanea Out (Seagate) @ 11:53pm*

Am I a social media failure...

2008-02-11T14:00:00.001+08:00

Advocates of Social Media like Mitch Joel, Lee Hopkins, Steve Rubel and even my social media professor Michael Netzley have been saying that social media has provided an avenue for ALL to join in the conversation and how Web 2.0 is the up and coming thing to hit the world of corporate communication.

But as I learn more about social media through Professor Netzley, the more I doubt my ability to engage in the conversation. I'm not saying that I think social media doesn't work but I can't seem to assimilate myself into the community (and it doesn't help that one of my assignments is to engage in social media). Sure, I blog, I have facebook, I have a point of view on many various topics but it is a CHORE.

I noticed a survey on Darren Rowse's poll on why people blog through Trevor Cook's blog and realised 276 people said they blog for fun and 248 people say they blog for money (how opposing reasons). So do people really engage or do they just run into the group conversation, throw a point of view in and then disappear from the conversation? Personally, the blogosphere and social media network has become clustered and 'noisy'. It's almost like the ancient markets of Arabia where there is so much talk, bargain, quarrels and buzz.

I am jealous of my classmates when they are able to just jump in and be a part of the conversation like bread is to butter. It's not that I don't want to participate but I feel that there is this big inertia to participate, join or be a constructive part of the conversation. There is no passion or desire to just dive in. I think I am a shy or am nonchalant to the social media and I am also scared off my the noise of this social media marketplace. People do visit my blog and listen to what I have to say but it is not as amazing as my peers who have like double digit visitors, a robust amount of links and trackbacks... sigh.

Even when I want to learn about social media in Australia and even when I want to be engaged in the conversation... I don't know where to start, I am not getting positive responses and I feel like an outsider trapped outside the vortex when everyone else is inside and in the conversation...

I don't know why I am feeling this way but it leads me to wonder...

AM I A SOCIAL MEDIA FAILURE?

How can I change? Do share your thoughts with me... or at least give me your advice. I have a tagboard, comment links, de.li.cio.us and digg links... PLEASE USE THEM!

*Shanea Out (social media failure?) @ 2:28pm*

7 Things To Prepare Before You Get A Mac...

2008-02-07T23:38:00.000+08:00

A new Mac is like a new born baby... it needs a lot of care, attention and preperation to get it assimilated well into your life. Like a newborn baby, it is not easy to adjust to the Mac's temperaments (especially if you just converted from WinTel). You need to be ready to welcome this new addition to the family.

Okay just a good thing to have before you start your list... a disclaimer, this may not necessarily apply to all new macbook (pro or non pro) owners like me but here is my take on the 7 essentials you need to prepare to make your new mac feel at home.

Screen Protector

Keyboard Protector (or at least something to clean your keyboard with)

Mac Case aka laptop casing

Mouse (be it mighty or weak)

External Hard Drive (firewire preferred)

A Snapball.

Skins

I'm so excited that my 'baby' macbook pro is coming on monday after such a long wait since the overheating saga. I'm praying that he will like his new home.... :)

Oh yeah, I'm thinking of a name for my macbook pro too.... SUGGESTIONS?

*Shanea Out (macbook pro) @ 12:18am*

Blogging = primitive?

2008-02-04T10:40:00.000+08:00

This cartoon just shows how far we have come from those hunter gatherer days into the new Web 2.0. Many might say that we have developed leaps and bounds with technology but personally I feel that it is just a redefnition of the basic human need for communication.

People need to talk and get their word out. It is hard when the traditional media tries to make you say what they think when we are humans and we need to let things out. Many people might argue that blogging is a complete waste of time, effort and brain cells that could be used for better things. Sure, people with the ability to convey their message well through speech and physical touch will find blogging a freaking insensitive and 'blocked' mdoe of communication but blogging just provides an extra avenue for people like me who can't talk much in your face but am able to just rant and complain a lot through writing and pictures.

Maybe that's why I am in marketing. Hahahahaa.....

Blogging can do wonders for psychological wellbeing because it lets you say what you have to without a need for an audience (even if you have a whole bunch of people reading this) and it also just lets you talk for as long as you want. Humans need to communicate and blogging is the avenue for you to do that. It just repackages this primitive need in a technological form.

Blogging is not anything new... it has been in our blood for ages - from telling stories of your life to the age of writing biographies to diaries and now the blogging era, we just need to get our voices out... we need to just talk and tell our story.

Have you told your story yet? Maybe try blogging. :)

*Shanea Out (blogging) @ 10:30am*

Singapore SMEs: Where is the FUCKING SERVICE?

2008-02-01T23:05:00.000+08:00

Pardon my title but that is how I feel now. This is going to be the most angsty post ever... why?

Because of a macbook pro. Yup, just because of a computer but it really brings out how some SMEs really need to get their customer service ideologies on the right track.

Hubby and I bought the macbook pro from his school vendor because after much pro and cons weighing, we THOUGHT they had more value and of course, being a school vendor comes responsibility and trustworthiness... TOTALLY FUCKING WRONG (pardon the word again)

We waited 2 weeks to get the computer yesterday and was happily installing microsoft office for the OS and adobe premiere (which came with the package) when the computer started producing static, overheat and the freaking screen went black. FUCK. It's a less than 24 hour purchase and it just died. Apple, maybe you need to rethink the idea of quality checks.

Normally as consumers, we do get the right to have a 1 for 1 exchange on goods in the window span of 1 to 7 days RIGHT? So I spent $20 on the weekday driving coupon for my weekend car just to drive the FUCKING computer back. But as you might have guessed, we got bounced from the vendor to Apple, from Apple back to vendor, from vendor to distributor, from distributor back to vendor and to FUCKING NOTHING. And even though the problem was in their face, they still can't guarantee a 1 for 1 exchange.

I mean, this computer has been used for less than 3 hours and it produced static, overheats and screen dies and I was just installing the 2 basic programs you gave me! IS IT MY FAULT?! Can't you see it's OBVIOUSLY the fucking computer that is spoilt SO WHY CAN'T YOU JUST GIVE ME A NEW SET AND WE CAN END THIS SITUATION?

But nooooooo, the vendor insisted on the distributor coming down for ADVANCED diagnostics before determining if we could do a 1 for 1. SERIOUSLY, Apple service center said in a phone call with them at the vendor's shop said we could do a 1 for 1 and now you want to do an advanced diagnostics to see WHAT FUCK? I don't want you to fix the computer. I WANT A NEW ONE...

Now we have to wait to see what the technician has to say, everyone is trying to avoid the situation and no one is trying to solve it! Chinese New Year is coming and the computer is going to sit there and watch the whole ping pong of responsibility.

Singapore SMEs should seriously consider their customer service quality. I am not asking you to answer people's calls when they've used a product for an extended time beyond 7 days and it spoils for a 1 to 1. I am calling out for rationalisation... how can a consumer spoil a computer in less than 3 hours when all they did was to install office and adobe... SERIOUSLY, BE RATIONAL. IT's obivously the hardware issue, so just DEAL AND provide some sound customer service.

Now their reputation is going down. I'm not saying my blog is the ultimate source of communication to the world but at least my Google Analytics tells me people are reading AND THEY WILL KNOW AND THEY WILL TELL. I don't care if you think I am selfish or just being bitchy about it, but I think as consumers, we should not be just pushed around just because companies like these think we need them. THEY NEED US TO SURVIVE TOO. Don't take care of your customers and their welfare, why do you think they will look after your welfare. Just because we are students who are in desperate need for a bit more value in our expenditures doesn't mean you can give us inferior goods like these.

One of my friends also bought a macbook pro from this vendor and distributor... he has 2 dead pixels when they switched on the laptop in the shop when he collected it and my friend was upset but you know what, their rules state that YOU MUST HAVE 5 or more dead pixels, 2 dead pixels that are just a few mico mm away from each other before you can get a 1 for 1. SERIOUSLY.......

I know suppliers, distributors have their concerns on keeping costs down and sometimes QC just doesn't go their way but please think about your consumers. Just because you charge a lower price doesn't mean you give inferior and old goods. Heck, the macbook pro hubby and I bought came with a FUCKING TIGER and we had to install the leopard ourselves. LIKE WHAT THE FUCK.

Singapore's SMEs really need to buck up their service. With the presence of Web 2.0 and the increasing voice of the consumers, it is going to hurt reputation so much more than they think it will. Don't just think this blog entry is just going to fade away but it definitely gives people some food for thought: are we letting bad customer service just pass us by because we are blaming ourselves for choosing the wrong vendors/retailers/distributors to deal with? CONFRONT THEM AND MAKE THEM REALISE, the power doesn't just lie in people who have the goods, but it also lies in the people who demands them. NO US NO YOU.

Yes, I'm super angry and I apologise for making this post rather vulgar. I just need to air it somewhere. Hubby is just being too nice about it even when he talks to those FUCKING vendors and my mom is just SUPER SUPER angry to even consider writing her feelings down.

I hope you all reading this can understand my heartache when you are so excited about a new purchase only to be disappointed when it comes faulty and the retailers do not want to claim responsibility for it. Do share with me your thoughts or experiences through email or comments on facebook or any other means possible. Consensus does help cushion the pain. jaymine@gmail is the address if you would like to share with me any thoughts on this post.

Now I feel a tad bit better. Time to sleep.

*Shanea Out (pissed. angry and angsty) @ 11:32pm*

I'm still attached.

2008-01-31T10:39:00.001+08:00

Okay before anyone starts messaging me via SMS, MSN, Facebook, email etc to ask if I am still attached --- I AM. Still practically married, very much in love. I was trying to manage my profile so it will be more secure and accidentally removed the relationship thing (my bad!).

Why would I ever give up someone that I have waited all this while to get? Haha... I would like be crazy if I did that. My hubby is amazing (even though sometimes we might not see eye to eye). In my leadership course, we are taught to appreciate people's bests rather than trying to change people's negative sides as it is more effective. I think I should do one officially to appreciate my hubby's amazingness because I am a person that do not openly express my love for someone... well at least not verbally (so traditional Chinese right?) I prefer using written form because I can organise my thoughts and not just ramble like a runaway train (even though I might sound like one here also. haha)

1. One way my hubby adds value in my life: Being attentive.
He is very good at it, seriously. He knows what I love, what I hate and knows when I need some 'baby-ing' and when I need scolding. He remembers what movies I want to watch and automatically initiates to buy tickets on the opening day and with good seats some more! He also tries to pick me up from school and spend time with me even though I am a workaholic and might become a horse with blinds. He also gives into my

2. Another way my hubby adds value in my life: He loves detail.
Buying a Powerbook is not just a purchase but a committment. He just goes into great detail researching and analysing (which makes him such a great engineer to begin with) is just astounding. I'm the buy-and-go kinda person but he is the one that will analyse the value of the purchase. haha... sometimes might be irritating but well, it is a good thing for big purchases.

3. Another way my hubby adds value in my life: He loves people.
Seriously totally respect and helps people. He is a person that will never reject people when they ask for favours. He will go up mountains and rivers just to help people.

Okay this list can go on forever but I have assignments to do... so my point is, I love my hubby and divorce is not in my vocabulary.

*Shanea Out (attached) @ 12:05pm*

Capitalism of Blogs As Personal Space

2008-01-30T16:00:00.001+08:00

Forrestor Research, 2006 Devices and Access Online Survey about the behvaiours of people who go online:

52% inactives (none of these activities)
33% specatators(read blogs, watch peer generated videos, listen to podcast)
19% joiners (participate in social networking sites)
15% collectors (Use RSS, tag web pages)
19% critics (comment on blogs, post ratings and reviews)
13% creators (publish Web pages, publish or maintain a blog, upload video to sites like YouTube)

With these sad statistics, why do people want to blog then? Will people care if I have a blog? (but if you are

reading this then you do care)

From what was seemingly an avenue for people to rant and rave online for people to read and comment about, it has become another place for capitalist to reign and rule once more. People now can use blogs to make money. Well, its not so much the idea of making money off blogs but would the true essence of blogs be eroded should the notion of money making prevail in such an environment?

So what is a blog? Here are some definitions that have been used to define blogs:
"A frequently updated journal or diary usually, often hosted by a third party".

"An online journal"

"A BLOG is a publication of personal thoughts, experiences, and web links. It is updated frequently and is usually a mixture of what is happening in a person's life and what is happening on the web or in the media."

So in summary it's about a place where people can place their personal thoughts and experiences, comment about things that are happening on the web, in their lives and share their view. So when people decide to start using or misusing this tool to make money (based on personal opinion), spoils the original reason why people blog.

I blog cos I can't seem to relate my views in any other way. Remember those times when you can use a diary to write your thoughts, I guess that is what blogs are for now... an avenue for people to relate their thoughts. People blog because they cannot be heard in real life (or do not get much of an audience) or they just want somewhere to just talk without opening their mouths.

Somehow when money gets into the picture, true essence of things just somehow gets diluted. That is what happened to the domestication of animals and they start losing their powress God gave them to become docile. Human beings stop thinking about other humans as humans but more of being a cash cow. This is going to be so for blogs when companies start using them for commercial purposes. Blogs will no longer be a place for personal ranting and voicing of views but a place where people just come up with topics just to stir cash cows to start blabbering and make them more money.

How sad is this world. but well... cycle of life continues and capitalism still rules. And I will still blog because I want to and it's my space to just be myself. Bite me.

*Shanea Out (capitalism of blogs) @ 3.59pm*

Homebody

2008-01-22T23:43:00.000+08:00

I admit that I am officially developed homebody syndrome - a syndrome that makes me just want to stay at home as long as I can. I can't seem to push myself out of the house if it is not for some very important cause like going to church or going to school (even when the latter I grumble and whine every morning). I even drag myself out of the house to go shopping, catch a movie or even just to hang out with my hubby. Yes, he is a homebody but not as severe as me. Even when I have to go out for important stuff, I will always pray that my mobile home aka the weekend car would be available for me to drive. Yes, I also live in the delusion that my car is like my mobile home.

I remember those times when I was much younger and hated the fact I had to take a school bus to school every morning until I was 13. Everyone else had the freedom to decide where they wanted to go after school, take a bus with friends and just hang out. For me, I had to take the damn school bus to and fro from school and home which didn't warrant me much of a life. When I finally had the freedom to take the public bus when I turned 13, OMG I just loved loved bus rides! It was a great place to be.

But now, OMG. I start to dread bus rides. even the hour journey from home to school is like a pain in the ass. I try to get a few more winks of sleep in the morning on the crowded and uncomfortable bus and when i finish classes, i pray hard that the bus just flies by every other stop except the stop that I board and the bus stop I alight at. After that, I just laze at home - either playing games, or just doing my work or just sleep.

What about my assignments and my other work I need to do in between classes u may ask... well, I just do them during my long breaks on days which I have to wait forever for the next class. I did contemplate to go home, trust me. But I realised that this homebody cannot survive on public transport for long any more. What was once fun at the age of 13 is now a horror that I hope to relive when I can finally have my own car when I start working.

Well, do you want to join the homebody club? There is always available space in the club but make sure u have your own home to do it at. No space here.

*Shanea Out (homebody) @ 11:53pm*

The Wedding

2008-01-19T11:26:00.001+08:00

Hubby's sister got married yesterday. It was quite the experience being involved not only for the wedding dinner but for the whole day. Seeing how the bride gets her things done early in the morning until the end where you are able to stand in an empty function room with only the people cleaning up the place and seeing the aftermath of the celebration of joy.

Weddings in Singapore might be a celebration of love to a certain extent, but more often than not it is a declaration to friends, family and relatives that you have finally decided to change your status from being a swinging leeching-from-parents 'kid' to a person to someone who will become the person who will be leeched by kids.

Wedding takes a long time to plan and get it done.... hell, it is even worse and longer than a final year project or a semestral project that we undertake in school. It is so not easy. You have got to know what you want, when you want and how you want it. Nothing can be left to chance. Precision is key.

I guess weddings allow people (for at least once in their lives) to have at least 2000 people gather to focus their attention on you and celebrate an occasion about you. Surely this is not an easy feat for people who are scared of attention (ME!) but it is an experience that everyone should attempt to do because it is not just about you but the person whom you will want to place your life with and enjoy a lifetime with. A time for commitment and dedication of love and life.

Weddings are wonderful and a moment to remember for all your life. Just remember not to take it for granted because you are proclaiming someone loud and proud to more than 2000 people that you are human - to be able to love and be loved.

*Shanea Out (wedding) @ 11:50am*

SBS Encounters #2

2008-01-14T21:11:00.001+08:00

yup.. start of the new semester and the final leg of the SMU race is on its way. I have finally reached the last bit of it and somehow the ending line seem so near yet so far. Do I want it to end? Sure, cos school is very demanding and competition is getting tenser by the semester. On the other hand, the working world might be a scary place and I need to find that new position in life as a GDP contributor and a breadwinner.

First I would like to apologise for the 1 month of missing in action. Been busy with my relaxation away from school thing and my trip to Hong Kong, just to get away from the hustle and bustle of Singapore life. I needed to get out and be human again. Haha.

Today wasn't one of the better days. Had to finish an assignment in the morning because morning class shifted till evening and I had this stupid throat thing. I shouldn't have indulge on that pizza hut and macdonalds during work last saturday. Haiz... this is the sad consequence of that but I'm glad that I am on top of things and still able to paddle and keep myself afloat.

As I was trying to rush home and get to the doctors, I decided to take the express 14e bus. As SOME (and I emphasise on that word) of you might know, SBS has kindly given to all peak driver public transporters the opportunity to get home faster from their offices and schools in the city with the express service. Thankfully I have 2 services - one from city and one from CBD. As SOME (and I emphasise again) of you might know, this service has a non-stop section of the ride. That means the bus DOESN'T STOP. They call it the express for some reason and I am paying a premium for a reason!

The stupid thing was, people don't care! They simply take for granted it is like any other bus and board it. They just press the bus stopping bell and presume that the bus will stop them at any stop they wish... thinking that it is what the driver should do... even when it is the non-stop section of the bus! DAMMIT. It didn't happen just once... it happened FOUR FUCKING TIMES during the non-stop section of the bus. The bus driver is just too kind. If I were him, I would have just not open the door.

SO angry. Singaporeans just don't ask when they are in doubt and they don't care - thinking the world revolves around them. STUPID STUPID STUPID! So I appeal to SBS, just tell ur drivers to ignore these dumb people who don't clarify before they board the bus and presume that they have the right to bend the rules of the express service. This is so unfair to people who pay a higher fee in hopes of whizzing past and getting home faster.

My blog doesn't reach the masses but it is a sure hell of a good way to vent my anger.

Weird SBS Encounters

2007-11-21T23:18:00.000+08:00

for the common folk like us who don't have the luxury of a car to whiz us from place to place like a queen, we have to resort to public transportation. Thankfully in Singapore, public transportation is decent... with air conditioning, digital television and rather comfortable seats. I read an article that said Singaporeans are abusing the 'do not eat' sign in public transport, more so in the buses because it is hard to check. Today I witness a woman gorging on her Macdonald's fries on a single decker bus on my way to work... the 'fragrance' was everywhere. sigh. no one gave a hoot. seriously... i don't give a hoot because there are more weird sightings in public transport that I have seen which makes this eating on the bus thing seem so trivial...

Weird SBS Encounter #1: Clipping nails on the bus
yes. Seriously. This person was clipping nails on the bus and dropping the nail bits all over the floor. I felt like telling that person... HELLO. DO YOU REALLY HAVE TO DO IT HERE?? you know the sound of the nail clipper when it clicks? argh... it was so irritating!! and it was on a single decked, packed to the brim bus at peak hour. SERIOUSLY. i was wondering how the person sitting beside this person felt... must have been trying to dodge those clippings like in a Keanu Reeves movie. haha..

Weird SBS Encounter #2: A comb stuck in midst of long hair
YES I REALLY SAW THIS. I almost wanted to take a photo of this sighting cos it was really the strangest thing I saw but I had to respect the person's privacy and shit like that.

This lady was with her friends and she boarded the bus and HAD TO sit in front of me. There it was. That stupid comb stuck in the midst of her long tresses. It appeared like she was combing her hair just as the bus arrived and she didn't even have time to take the damn comb out... she happily sms-ed, chatted with her friends, laughed/joked WITH THE DAMN COMB STUCK THERE. SERIOUSLY. I contemplated telling her to remove it but seeing that her friends didn't even tell her... maybe it was her way of defining a new fashion statement - the stick-comb-in-hair style. It took her like 10 mins to remove it feigning that she had to continue combing her hair. That was really weird and haunts me till now.

See... the weird things people do on public transport and the things I have to do NOT to see such weird things. common folk ain't that common afterall. they all have their quirks to really perk up someone's blog. Hahahaa....When I have more Weird SBS Encounters... i'll let you know.

Okay, enough of procrastination. Time to get back to study... i pray. lol

*Shanea Out (seriously.) @ 11:31pm*

The Mayo and Meal Banter

2007-11-15T11:37:00.000+08:00

English is a very "profound" language. Sometimes when you don't pronounce your words correctly, it will give a whole new meaning to whatever you are trying to say and cause much confusion. I had this weird banter with my hubby like a couple of days ago when we decided to have dinner at Macdonalds:

Me: So what do you want to eat?
H: I want McSpicy no meal and you just upsize your one can already.
Me: (thinking he said mcspicy no mayo) Orh okay.

I came back with a mcspicy no mayo and two value meals and he was shocked.

H: I told you I didn't want any meal!
Me: Yeah you said no mayo so your burger has no mayo!
H: NO! I said no MEAL!
Me: no you said no mayo!

So this thing went on even until we were back at my house. Sigh... I was sure he pronounced it as NO MAYO! He sure didn't emphasise the 'e' sound in the MEEAL. If you think I am kidding... wait till u ask my hubby to pronounce 'No Meal' to you. Then you will know what I am talking about.

But I still love him. No meal or no mayo.

*Shanea Out (meal/mayo) @ 11:43am*

Freedom!!

2007-11-13T12:21:00.000+08:00

Okay I know this is a tad too early since I have MR presentation in 3 hours time... but I have this song ringing in my head. Maybe it is due to the lack of sleep.

Haiz... still rushing out the ppt. but yeah.. freedom is near (for like a day or two) before I start studying for exams. Bah.

*Shanea Out (freedom) @ 12:22pm*