October 18, 2008
Failure can spur you on
Yup, I recently rediscovered the fact failure motivates me like nothing else can.
I’ve never really had much interest in growing plants. Until I killed a couple of money plants recently. Very stupid, really, I overwatered them. So stupid that that made me determined to redeem myself. Spurred me on look up how to make plants thrive, and why they die.
I’m slowly growing different plants – chilli, more money plants (epipremnum), a grass-like plant that I don’t know the name of… and I’m trying to grow mint.
And the best thing? I’m actually enjoying watching the different plants grow. And I found that it’s much more rewarding to grow a plant from seed and cutting. When you buy a fully grown plant, you’re just maintaining its growth, but when you grow a plant yourself, it’s exciting when you see the first new leaf, the first shoot coming out of the earth. Just think… I would probably not have actually got off my butt to start growing things if I hadn’t actually cause those money plants to die in the first place. No wonder many people believe that everything happens for a reason, even the bad stuff.
June 22, 2008
inSingapore: The library must be REALLY comfortable
Check out NO. 5 on this bookmark I picked up
at the community library near my home:
(I must admit, though, I haven’t actually ever seen anyone sleeping at the library. )
Related Link:
April 2, 2008
The price of pleasure…
… can be as little as 60 cents. The price of my favourite of the moment — soft ice-cream in a cone from McDonald’s. And to me, best bargain in Singapore! Swirly, creamy, lickable heaven. Isn’t it lucky that sometimes it takes that little to make someone happy?
I think another one of the reasons I like it so much me of my university days — enjoying similar ice-cream cones with my friends, sitting on the steps of the square in the middle of the university, just watching the world go by. We spent so many hours doing that. I wonder: do students at Lancaster University still do that today? Sit at Alexandra Square as the days turn to summer, and just ‘be’ in the time between classes?
Also, I have to admit, fom a practical point of view, soft ice-cream is not icy-cold, so it’s something I can actually enjoy. For some reason, I get a cough if I take anything too cold these days (Sure miss the days of starting the day with an ice-cold Coke!)
March 24, 2008
inSingapore: “Laptopping” at the library
There’s a fairly new phenomenon in Singapore — “laptopping” at the library. That’s what I’M calling it anyway.
Walk into a public library these days, and don’t be surprised if you see people sitting on the floor near plug points, with laptop in front of them
Why? Free BROADBAND WiFi access.
As someone who loves surfing the net, I can certainly understand why that’s a huge carrot. Certainly worth the inconvenience of having to sit on the library floor hunched over your laptop. And as a bonus, there’s free electricity as well.
Some of these users have managed to make themselves quite comfortable actually — propped against walls with benches pulled up in front of them to serve as tables.
Other have to contend with more awkward positions, especially those who could only find points next to the library bookshelves (there are often points on the pillars — I assume those were originally put there for vacuum cleaners and such?). These by-the-pillar “laptoppers” get to have people who are browsing the shelves walking round them every so often.
It’s quite fascinating to see the wide range of people who go ‘laptopping’ at the library… from students (which is probably not too surprising), to the middle-aged (a little weird to see them sitting scrunched up on the floor), to foreign workers.
Crooked Turret 