Music as stress reliever

I got so pissed off when my workout at the Taman Kiara Rimba park was disrupted because the place where I did aerobics was cordoned off for a private event and VEHICLES with their carbon emissions were allowed in to add to air pollution.Thank you for the breathe of fresh air in the park.Why even allow vehicles to be driven inside a jogging path.Beats me and sure as hell angry.
Luckily to vent my frustration,I could belt out my karaoke in the car.Thanks Taka for the song Suddenly and One by One.It's loud heavy metal and can scream in the car.
   One OK Rock band,You guys rock .Dirty polluting car in park _you suck big time.
  While I was screaming when mopping the house,it drove the sleeping dog MAD and he threw his  plastic lid at me.Better sing in car and let sleeping dogs lie.

A Brief History Of Time _The 800 lb Gorilla

A Brief History of the Future,

The strategic director of trends of Philips Design is a female historian.They use

 an interdisciplinary team comprising anthropologists and social scientists as

 innovation is driven by people who are passionate about how society and culture

 are changing while keeping an eye on the megatrends.One thing they designed

 was a non irritating alarm clock.It reminds me of the innovative alarm clock bought

 online,a China design that is fun and innovative as the clock has wheels.

While ringing,I cannot hit the stop alarm for the clock circular in shape will roll off

 the bedside table and keep on increasing the sound of the alarm until I get out of

 bed to shut the damn alarm. 

It works so we don't need to reinvent the wheel.

Design thinking and meeting needs of user does the trick.

A product that need reinventing would be the sanitary pad.It's a huge market but

 contributes to unsustainable waste and clogs toilet bowls.The person who can 

revolutionise the product will strike gold.Tampons are risky as a recent female model

 had to have her leg amputated when she had toxic shock from blood poisoning

.How to make it safe,convenient and environmentally friendly?

Megatrend Women showed that increasing levels of female education and working

 women mean more financial independence and purchasing power but more stress.

Megatrend health research revealed a demand for wellness products that have a 

health benefit and are free of additives. After surveying 15,000 women,they 

found women wanted it all.They wanted to be spoilt but to have a clear moral

 conscience(a % of the profit goes to Waris Dirie's foundation against FGM in 

Africa).The drink gave them self confidence,energy without the calories and a 

sense of well being.The design of the bottle is small and sexy,no pear shaped 

bottles reminding them of big bottoms or failed diets.

The result was "VERY" all with Dong Quai,a Chinese root with a positive effect on

 female hormonal balance.The response was hot when launched in 2004 in Austria

 until the man financing the project mysteriously disappeared and the whole project

 collapsed.Shows you can plan the future and follow trends but you cannot predict 

everything.

My energy is much less compared to the past-so exhausted that I've no energy to cook and clean the house.I skipped Tai Chi as my back

 and knees were throbbing with pain.Yesterday,I took out the Chinese herbs

 my mom gave me when I complained of tiredness.I boiled the Dong Sum root,

the dried Cordycep flower and goji berry with old chicken to give me a boost of

 energy and last night I had a good night's sleep again.Today I'm drinking tiger milk

 mushroom tea to boost immunity against flu.Prevention is better than cure.

.Design is the crucial link between people and technology.In ambient intelligence,technology is discreet and unobtrusive.The use of anthropologists and social scientists at Philips Design means innovation is driven by people who are passionate about how society and culture are changing while keeping an eye on megatrends and business.

Green believes that the best futures work is not about looking at what you can

 predict,but what you can imagine.Corporate futurism will be more multidisciplinary

 with electronic artists,historians,ethicists and philosophers in the team especially 

with the rise of AI and terminator soldiers.

Social entrepreneur

Laurence Brahm is a social entrepreneur and is proactive in bringing changes to communities through the Himalayan Consensus.Change starts from grassroot organizations and empowers the marginalized whilst giving them a livelihood in an environmentally sustainable way.
   The more I read,the more I realize my ignorance.His ideas tie up with Mohd Yunus's Grameen bank-changes from the bottom up and not the top down.

Searching for Shangri La

I came across the concept of fusion economics on Youtube. Laurence Brahm is an American economist with groundbreaking thinking -I am enthralled by fusing the West and East in fusion food,in blending the traditional and modern as in Yoshiki's avant garde blend of classical with rock and his fusion fashion of the kimono and now what the heck is fusion economics.It's gonna be an interesting time exploring how economics balances between meeting the demands of consumers with the needs of the environment,a balance between the individual need and the collective needs.Brahm is the modern day Marco Polo-he sees the consequence of rampant exploitation of the environment with finite resources to meet economic growth.as in certain parts of Europe there are no more virgin forests.He comes to developing countries to warn us to learn from the mistakes of relentless focus on rapid expansion on economic development at the expense of the environment and destruction of cultural heritage.
   I would love to study more on the ideas of this academics in line with Amartya Sen developmental economics.His ideas on preservation of environment and cultural heritage is what Chinese say that when we do something,we shouldn't only focus on ourselves but to keep the big picture in mind." Gu chun dai gok" a Cantonese idiom.This guy looks familar until when I was reorganizing my book shelf and I came across his travelogue in Western Tibet in search of a lost city predicted in the Shambhala Sutra. No wonder his face looked so familar-deja vu.The photos he took showed his abiding respect and love of the nomads.It's amazing he can speak Mandarin and Tibetan-a Marco Polo.
    May we live in interesting times!
Taka of J rock band is a promising band to watch out for! This young man is so energetic in his live concerts -jumping,spinning, prancing and hopping that his energy is so infectious but after my creaky joints have help from anagelsic cream,I'm not doing anything more hip than swaying my hips to the beat.Hips don't lie but screaming knees don't lie either.
 When learning,how does music and movement help to reduce stress in studying?
To try out my theory movement stimulates the release of endorphins and reduce stress of sitting for hours on the butt immobilised and music stimulates retention of information.i've put in place the double M target in class.No dozing off or my rendition of moving to Back Street Boys or jazzercise is back.The kids would think twice before any shut eye happens.It would energize body and brain to keep blood flow up and focus and attention boosted.Watch out sleepy heads.They gonna dance to my beat or face the music.
   Last night,my Tai Chi sifu is expert in martial arts and gave us a lecture on Wu Wei or the philosophy of Taoism- non action in action.Interestingly profound as in don't put too much effort and push body to extreme in practising and burnout the store of energy and neither put in no effort and  not to practise.I understand it as be effortless in practising Tai Chi.It strikes for the middle path and go with the flow.
It's a union of the mind and the body.Super cool.

The taste of memory

The taste of memory

Mom I'm munching on unhealthy snacks

Echoing in my ear "don't eat heaty food"

Bad for health -it's junk

Mom, good food taste blah but junk food is addictive

These prawn crackers you've fried you hid out of sight

Just so I don't snack non stop

That which is bad gives me a kick

That which is good is hard to swallow

For I live to eat and not eat to live

I live to love and love to live

Those barley and herbal tea you boiled

To make our bodies strong and healthy

Is your way of saying you care for us

Those long hours of boiling herbal tonic soups

Is your way of saying you love us so much

Food is your gift of love to us

Food prepared with care 

Is the taste of the memory of love

A bittersweet  memory that lingers  

makes a lump in my throat

Choking over the junk fries I'm munching

Guilty as hell for forbidden food

Mama's"eat healthy food"rings in my ears

As the taste of memory returns with a vengence

I lick away the salty tears streaming down my face

As I recall your love that is never spoken but only shown

By the mooncakes you baked and the rice dumplings wrapped

There's a knot in my stomach

A lump in my throat

When i recall the memory of love that lingers

Bittersweet it tastes ,never boring or bland

Drink the herbal tonic,then the eat the apricotplum sweet

Eat the bitter in life,later the sweet will follow

Xian ku hou tian

I miss this taste of memory

The memory of your love forever

You were my pillar of strength in my moment of weakness

My shelter from the storms of life

My shadow that never left my side in good or bad times

How uneasy you looked when I told you "I love you"

But I must tell you before you never get the chance to hear it

You mean the world to me.

You bring back the taste of memory

The memory of a lifetime of love. 

Donation of collection of books

If we don't let go of the old,we have no place to bring in and usher in the new.
My collection of books are getting to overtake every crook and cranny of my apartment.So I'm gonna look to donate them to some libraries.While I was exchanging novels with my German colleague,an avid reader,she too was spring cleaning and decided to donate her stash.
          When I come to think of it,they are just words printed on pages of paper.They are worthless as investment and if I bought shares or gold jewellery with the money spent on books,I would get more returns on my investment.However,I'm an incorrigible optimist and idealist and a lover of books.Ideas turn me on.So rather than adding to my monetary gain,I'd prefer to invest in expanding my pool of knowledge as I believe the pen is mightier than the sword.Winston Churchhill mobilized and inspired the British to win over a formidable enemy by "weaponising words" and this is the great orator who said "jaw jaw is better than war war".
        Back to knowing what a person reads as a key to understanding them,on the top of the stash of books  my German colleague gave me for donation,the title of the first novel on the top caught my eye.My God! That's the same novel I have in my collection that I planned to donate .The cover was different as it was an older edition but that was unmistakeable "The Women's Room" by Marilyn French. Her groundbreaking fiction or some may say semi autobiography.Now  when I release my novels into the open shelf,should I put in my contact details  so that it's like releasing a caged animal into the wild.Who will be the next reader who picks up the book and what do they think and how will they respond to it? I'm sorely tempted to do that to see the feedback to my pick of books.To be or not to be.To do or not to do? That's the question.

New Year of Dog

Rise to the light

Be still and listen to the heartbeat of the world

It's singing a tune of peace on earth

Look at me 

embrace the circle of life and death.

The darkness lit by pinpricks of stars

is over

A new day has arisen

Watch my pale palette be adorned by the blush of rose pink,brilliant hues of orange

 and streaks of gold

See the joy of warbling birds awakening to 

The light of my rays

The flock of birds set about to look for the honey

Hidden in the petals unfurling

Are you blinded by your endless greed

That you fail to see the diamonds sparkling

On the tiny dew drops glistening on tips of leaves

Wake up and open your eyes

That you can only love yourself 

That you forget that you are a part of me

Son of the Earth,look around you

I am always here for you

Have you forgotten the warmth I send you on cold bitter days

Do you miss the cooling of  breath of my wind

Or the clean,refreshing air my trees give away for free

Your food springs out and sprouts from my bosom

Son of the Earth

Wake up and rise to the light

Wake up before it's too late.

The frustration of buying novel rejects is they have failed some QC quirk so that it's 

so funny to be caught in reading A Case of Exploding mangoes by Mohammed Hanif

 and find that the next sentence that follows the end of the page is not grammatically

 correct and doesn't make sense only to check that page 1  is followed subsequently by

 page 3.So I have to check the page nos before flipping to the next page.So

 exasperating that I took up Isabel Allende's The sum of our days,found the folded 

corner where I last stopped and guffawed with laughter at her description of her best

 friend Tabra who despite being a victim of domestic abuse by her Somoan hubby

 whom she later divorced remained an eternal optimist trawling web sites on internet

 dating.Isabel Allende weaves her magical spell and so I abandoned the case of the 

pilot tale for her account with her sorority of Sisters of Perpetual Disorders-such a neat turn of phrase.