“You must be the change you want to see in the world.” – Mahatma (Mohandas Karamchand) Gandhi 1869-1948

No longer need to mask up to certain individuals who ain’t friendly to us in the very first place. You know what, this is the greatest relief I’ve recovered as no longer need to give a damn about these people and to put up with nonsensical last minute disruptions to my schedule.

CLEARED!

My bright future path is clear of dark shadows, and rainbow is there for me.

A pity that our Mickey Mouse can’t join us (last minute decision) as she claims that she has some other activities going on, well well..

Whether or not, Azlina and I went all out like tourists. First stop – Chinatown..

We were competing if who will be able to attract the most curious public stare, and guess who is the winner? Yours truly! Hehe.

Although the Chinese in Chinatown has just started setting up goodies stalls for Chinese New Year, we can witness quite a wide varieties and crowd (mainly foreigners) on this lovely afternoon.

Apparently, we were on a mission – “Hey! Stall owner is not looking. Quick snap!”

I barged into the Chinatown Heritage Centre 牛車水原貌館 and offered my ‘eye-power’ to one of the Samsui Women 紅頭巾, while Azlina fell into a ‘flower city’ and found her sunflowers.

It was not just about cam-whoring, there were moments when I did some goodies shopping..

Since it is a year of Tiger, I bought some adorable ‘Tiger’ red packets 紅包封套. What is a Chinese New Year without Barbeque Meat Slices 肉乾 from the traditional, ever-famous and forever-long-queue brand – Lim Chee Guan 林志源?

We ended our Chinatown trip with Preserved Meat 臘味..

“Oops! Sorry my dear Queen.. tak halal..”

We took a slow walk to The Central (at Clarke Quay) and that’s where the mission continues..

It has been a relaxing and fun-filled day with trips to Suntec City Mall, a shoulder and foot reflexology at Kenko Wellness Spa (at Marina Square) and Raffles City Shopping Centre as well.

The day has ended, and another exciting outing is coming up soon..

Our next destination (with Mickey Mouse) should be Sentosa’s latest attraction – Disneyland. Oops! I mean Universal Studios Singapore – Movie Theme Park. Haha!

.. a childhood dream;
.. a recipient position of a lowest monthly income I have ever been in;
.. a regular face-to-face contact with amazing personalities, especially those from #28;
.. a time-wasting cycle that hinders my future path;
.. and close to two-thousand bucks.

Tender of resignation will be submitted on Friday (January 22 2010), and ending my Flight Steward journey with final service to Hong Kong on Wednesday (January 27 2010).

With this wake up call, I am embarking into a life changing experience towards a promising future.

I will be having my Capital Markets & Financial Advisory Services – Module 5 examination on February 01 2010, and here’s how my morning desk looks like, all set to study with a tub of Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Macadamia ice cream instead of the usual Milo:

“CHOCOLATE MACADAMIA – a flavor with a mission. We purposely packed this flavor with more than enough chocolatey-rich macadamia-nuttiness & more than a fair share of meaningful ingredients too, including sustainably-sourced macadamias & Fair Trade certified cocoa & vanilla. It’s a contribution to ice cream lovers everywhere & to a better world that creates fair & equitable opportunities for farmers & their communities & promotes sustainable farming practices that support a healthy planet & respect for people too.”

I am all hyped up on this path leading towards a bright future which clearly images what I really want to achieve and striving forward! Ganbatte がんばって!

Also, I will be having an interview session on Wednesday (January 27 2010) at APS Swim School for a position of Part-Time Swim Teacher. How enriching this is.. Smiles!

It can be hard to get started. Or, it can be hard to keep up when change is not immediate. Do we give up on our goals and dreams because it is hard? Why not find a way to make our goals a reality?

Turn our wants into realistic goals with the following steps:

LIST VALUES ~

Make a list of the things we value. Some ideas are: health, spiritual connection, career development, relationships, economic stability, emotional well-being, and leisure time. In other words, what makes our lives fulfilling?

BRAINSTORM GOALS ~

Evaluate each of our own values. Is there something we would like to change about any of the areas that we value? Make a second list of the goals (that is, things we would like to change).

MAKE GOALS MEASURABLE ~

How will we know we have reached our goal? Reword our goals to make them as specific as possible.

SET A REALISTIC TIME FRAME ~

Some goals will be ongoing and others will be time-specific with start and stop times. Next to each measurable goal, write out how much time or energy we would like to devote to each goal. Which of our goals are realistic for us to accomplish this year? Cross out any that need to wait until another year.

IDENTIFY RESOURCES ~

Next to our realistic and measurable goals, identify what resources and or research we will need to accomplish each goal. We will typically have several objectives under each goal.

EVALUATE AND CELEBRATE ~

Find a place to keep our goals, so that we can evaluate them throughout. Refine our list and objectives as needed. Remember not to beat ourselves up. This is meant to help us learn what works and doesn’t works for us. Self-correction does not have to be self-criticism. Lastly, celebrate as we cross-off objectives and or reach our goal.

Our goals can be too broad or vague. Or, maybe we are trying to accomplish too much. Following the above steps should help us make our goals more specific by identifying how much time and resources we need to devote to them. If we break it down, it will remind us that change takes time. Change is less like a sprint and more like a marathon. Here’s to reaching our finish line!

I miss the McDonald’s Cone Ice-Cream (which I loved) that made me a happy kid years back.

Changes happen over time.. it used to be 25¢ back then, now it’s 70¢.

It reminds me of a lot.. a lot of first.

I want to be a happy kid again.. I really want.. Can I?

Have I made the wrong decisions? Or have my decisions made wrong?

Very often we’re given with limited choices – yes or no, left or right, etc. None can determine which is right or which is wrong until it is made, then only we realise but sometimes it comes all too late.

We’ll start hearing things like – “If I have known..”, “I should have..” and “Why didn’t I..”

Most importantly is how we pick ourselves up from the fall and the lesson learnt.

I will be the Humpty Dumpty 不倒翁 to search for my new ray of light and strive through it.

This is it! 2010 is gonna mark a brand new lease of life for me!