Your True Colors

I've forgotten when and how I stumbled upon Anthony Fernando's blog, Dare To Dream, and subscribed to it. Since then, I've been reading his articles.

He's one who writes inspiring articles. I'm not sure if I'm pessimistic but I do like this kind of pieces, just like how I've been following Andrew Matthews for years.

Anthony's blog is not updated very often, but when it is, the new publication is able to inject positive force into readers (at least me). Recently, I read his latest article, Reveal Your True Colors, and love that very much.

This is because, I'm one of the normal people who would answer the question "what do you do?" in the typical way. Perhaps it's unavoidable for most people to behave this way, as our occupation takes up at least 1/3 of our daily life, and that's when we are the most evergetic. However, my occupation is not an area which is the most meaningful part of my life (sad to say this, but I've to admit).

Imagine for a moment that you are at a party and you are chatting to someone who you’ve only just met. After discussing the decorations and the food, they pause and ask, “So, what do you do?”

Your answer to this simple question reveals an incredible amount about your personal sense of identity.

When faced with the question, “What do you do?” most people automatically respond by stating their 9 to 5 occupation.

The problem with this response is that it immediately defines you in terms of your job and places you in a pigeon hole that is often filled with stereo types associated with your profession.

For example, Claire is a receptionist who is working at a doctor’s surgery, however, her real passion in life is painting. When she is not working, she spends every spare moment surrounded by her canvases and paints.

For a long time, whenever someone asked “So Claire, what do you do?”, Claire’s response was, “Oh, I’m a medical receptionist.”

Almost inevitably, the person she was speaking to then asked about what it was like to work in a doctor’s surgery.

Then one day Claire made a decision.

She decided that she was no longer going to define herself as a ‘medical receptionist’ who enjoyed painting in her spare time. Instead, she was going to define herself as a ‘painter’ who was currently working at a doctor’s surgery in order to pay her bills.

This simple decision had a big impact on Claire’s sense of personal identity. She realized that it was important to tell people who she really was rather than automatically reciting her job title.

A few weeks later, Claire was at a friend’s housewarming party. As she stood by the fire with a glass in hand, she met a guy named Matt who asked her, “So Claire, what do you do?”

Claire responded by saying, “At the moment I’m working at a doctors’ surgery but what I’m really passionate about is painting.”

As soon as she said these words, Claire realized that this was exactly what she was looking for. It was a completely honest statement but did not place her into the ‘medical receptionist’ pigeon hole.

Instead, it conveyed a sense of who she really was and opened up multiple options for conversation.

To Claire’s delight, Matt asked her about her painting and they had a really interesting conversation. Matt was a web designer and he told Claire that a lot of artists were now selling their work directly to customers over the Internet rather than dealing with galleries.

This was a revelation to Claire who had never really heard of Internet business before.

As she was driving home from the party, Claire realized that her new sense of identity was already having an impact on her life. Instead of talking about being a medical receptionist, she was now discussing her painting with others and discovering new opportunities to explore.

Today I’d like to encourage you to think about the question, “What do you do?” and make the decision to no longer be automatically defined by your occupation title.

Instead, develop a response that is honest, reveals who you really are and opens up multiple avenues for conversation.

You’ll be amazed by how many doors this simple technique will open for you.

Not sure if you agree with Anthony. If you do, I wonder how would you answer the question "what do you do?"

I'm gonna think a suitable answer for myself too!

Value

The fishes say:

"It's easier to get a true sense of your value as a human being.

Don't fall into the oh so modern trap of equating your bank balance with your worth as a person."

Humans nod but they do not seem to comprehend that well. Such understanding takes time.

Another Memorable 722

22 July - this has been quite a special date in my life. On this date of different years, something memorable always happens. The first one was in 1999, when we moved into the new house we are currently staying.

This morning, a text message woke me up. Kai forwarded me a news:

Got this msg from web: 即日起，9海洋公園和3島嶼被關閉，拯救珊瑚，氣溫越來約熱，珊瑚都要死完咯。受影響的淺水區包括：吉大（巴雅島），鄧嘉樓（熱浪島），彭亨（刁曼島）。我國共有83個潛水區，目前受影響的僅12地區，要潛水的你問清楚了才去哦。關閉至31/10/2010。

Basically, it's related to the closure of some dive sites due to coral bleaching. Right after reading his SMS, I heard the similar news from the radio.

Honestly, I'm someone who is not quite responsive to news. Usually, when the government announces something, I do not take that seriously as they always change their mind. News regarding the increase of petrol price might have a little effect on me, but this dive sites closure news is very much of my concern.

People have been discussing it in forum. Meanwhile, a friend's friend who dived at Tioman last week also used to mention about the bleaching of coral that he/she witnessed him/herself.

Regarding the exact sites, I would not list them here, as a few lists of different version have been flying around. I had better not add anything to the mess. As I know, bleached corals are not necessarily dead (they are just fragile), and the main cause is the increase of the sea temperature.

Unfortunately the newspapers didn’t do enough research and have published some untrue information. Fact is that currently 3 dive sites amongst Tioman’s total of 18 dive sites will be partially closed off until the end of this season. The affected dive sites are Batu Malang, Soyak Island and Renggis Island. The local Marine Park has confirmed to us in writing today that it is not true that Chebeh Island or Tumuk Island will be closed as well. (from Cari Forum)

I've planned for a LOB diving trip to/around Tioman Island in late August. Hope that in the next 1 month, things will get better, or at least not getting worse. There are 18 dive sites at Tioman Island, and now 3 have been closed. Nearby Tioman, there are few other islands, such as Aur Island, Dayang Island, Lang Island etc.

The organizer has confirmed that our trip will not be affected, as we just need to avoid the closed sites. Due to LOB, we are free to move around the mentioned islands, not limited to just Tioman.

Apart from the uncontrollable increase of temperature, in fact I found that, sometimes the people who live on the island themselves harm the sea more than visitors. For example, when we visited some beautiful islands, it's easily seen that the boat men throw what they don't want into the sea. While us, the visitor, looked at them in surprise, they felt nothing is wrong.

This is not only my own encounter. I'm not sure if such people should be blamed for not knowing much about environmental issues, or they should be pitied?

Organic Vegetarian Fresh Mart and Restaurant

Short Talk: Some of my friends have mentioned that, my productivity at this blog has reduced tremendously. Yea, that's true. I feel I'm in the midst of another transition, which I'm not sure how to describe the change that happens on me. What are these changes? Are they good or bad? Sorry to say, I'm yet to find them out. While the answers are still unknown, I just live my life in the way I feel comfortable with.

Today, I wish to share with you a restaurant I visited almost 2 weeks ago (on 1 July 2010).

My Pakistani ex-colleagues came to Malaysia and I met them for dinner. Due to the fact that they should eat only Halal food, and I'm much fussier than anyone in terms of food selection, we finally opted for this Organic Vegetarian Fresh Mart and Restaurant, which is located at Subang SS18.

I browsed through these blogs before making up my mind:

• Food Review: Organic Vegetarian Fresh Mart and Restaurant, Subang Jaya by Covert_Operations'78
• Subang Jaya Organic Vegetarian Restaurant by Yvonne Foong

Photo courtesy from Julian

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There were 4 of us. We order 1 dish each, and another shared dish.

Basil fried rice (with brown rice), RM 8.90.


Hokkien Fried Noodle, RM 8.90.


Black Pepper Fried Noodle, RM 8.90.


Assam Fish (large), RM 13.


Laksa/curry noodle, RM 8.90.

In short, I quite love the food there. Apart from feeling healthy after eating, the dishes are served in a very nice way. There are colourful veges and seaweed, there is a lime which adds taste to the dish, there are mint leaves for the curry noodle, and I do not feel guilty or uncomfortable after savouring them.

However, for those who have been used to taking meat in every meal, this might not be something they pursue.

I visited the same restaurant sometime later and tried their black sauce veggie fish rice (no photo was taken as the camera of my mobile phone is dysfunctional). For me, that was a little too spicy. However, that could be my problem as my "spicy threshold" is pretty low compared to the normal people, because I do not always eat hot stuff nowadays. However, I didn't expect it to contain chilli as only BLACK SAUCE is mentioned in its name.

The dishes come in big portion.

The restaurant is always pretty crowded. You can see its business is quite good. Apart from dining in, there are also a lot of organic food available. For myself, I like to grab a loaf of bread before I pay at the counter.

So far, I've tried its carrot loaf and nut loaf - wholemeal, no milk, no egg, no loaf preservative - very suitable for me!!. I shall visit this shop often in the future to try out other dishes too! So far Bak Kut Teh and Assam Laksa (only available on Friday and Saturday) are on my TO-EAT list :)

Address: Organic Vegetarian Fresh Mart and Restaurant, 17 & 19 Jalan SS18/1B, Subang Jaya
Tel: +603 5636 2468
Opening Hours: 9.00am to 9.00pm (Mon to Sat); 9.00am to 3.00pm (Sun)

Golden Bay - Day 2 (Afternoon)

Golden Bay - Day 1 | Golden Bay - Day 2 (Morning) | Golden Bay - Day 2 (Afternoon)

After having a simple lunch on the way returning to the carpark from the Whaririki beach, we drove a long way, heading back to the city center.

Though the drive was supposed to be smooth (no crowd, no traffic jam, no bad mood), I could not control myself from stopping along the way. Reason being, I was so indulged in the excellent weather and beautiful sceneries. I felt big sorry to myself if I did not get down to shoot photos.

The first inhabitants of Golden Bay were Maori - it was known to them as Mohua. It's difficult to date their arrival accurately, but some of the place names and legends of Golden Bay are ancient, and derive from the Maori's Polynesian roots.

For example, the names Takaka and Motueka have probably persisted for centuries as place names in the district; Ta'a'a and Motue'a are a few miles apart on the island of Raiatea in the Tahitian group. which is belived to be the ancestral Hawaiki from where Maori migrated in their waka (ocean-going canoues).

European history in NZ began when Abel Janszoon Tasman, a Captain in the Dutch East India Company, anchored his two small ships off Whariwharangi Bany in 1642. Sadly, the visit ended in tragedy for the mariners.

The next European to explore NZ was Captain James Cook in 1770. After charging the coastline he departed from the west coast of Golden Bay, giving Farewell Spit and Cape Farewell their English names.

After a pretty long drive (Mr Park had fallen asleep at the back), we arrived at a salmon farm.

Situated on the banks of the Anatoki River with a tranquil backdrop of native bush, there is the Anatoki Salmon Farm. Patrons can experience the thrill of catching their own fish for cooking at their pleasure later. Smoked and fresh salmon are also available for sale.

Entry is free, use of fishing rods and tackle is free, you only pay for what you catch. The staff will clean your catch (the fish) for free.

We didn't try to catch any salmon, as the price (per kg) of salmon was quite dear. Therefore, we just had a simple look around. At the salmon farm, we met again with the Korean guy and Taiwanese girl who stayed with us at the same backpackers the night before!

After coming out from the salmon farm, we passed by a nice shady area and spotted some animals that I saw for the first time with my own eyes (not via book or TV).

I call them llama, but someone questioned me if they are llama of alpaca, after seeing my photos I uploaded in Facebook. I did a quick search on Google, and here are the differences between llama and alpaca: reference 1, reference 2.

After reading the articles, I'm pretty sure that they are llamas!

Later on, we went to the library to get online for a short while :)

The last destination of the day was The Grove Scenic Reserve. In fact Mr Park said he was very tired already.. but Yi and I felt it was still okay for us to conquer The Grove.

The Grove is characterised by massive rate trees growing out of curiously-shaped limestone outcrops. In early summer the rate is a blaze of red but at any time of the year the short walk (10 minutes) from the carpark fo the viewpoint is well worth the effort. Just before the lookout the track is confined to a narrow slot between two massive, vertical limestone cliffs.

When we were about to leave the place, we saw a campervan got stuck in the mud. People were helping to get it out!

Mission was successfully accomplished. Everyone was glad! In the future, I must try traveling by a campervan. That should be another great experiece, I guess.

After we went back to The Nook Backpackers, we had an early dinner. Mr Park lives his life on Korean instant noodles. He was lucky to meet us, as we would cook something healthier and eat together with him. He was shy for contributing nothing, hence offered himself to clean the dishes.

The Nook Backpackers is located at Clifton, which is set in a peaceful, picturesque surroundings with a backdrop of saltmarsh and estuary shallows. The area was the first European cemetery in Golden Bay, with burials being recorded as far back as 1856.

After dinner, I had a stroll outside the Backpackers. It was a truly nice feeling being in the great environment. Very quickly, our 3D2N short trip to Golden Bay was coming to the end. That was one of the very great trip around NZ, and it can always cheer me up when thinking back the moments.

Golden Bay - Day 2 (Morning)

Golden Bay - Day 1 | Golden Bay - Day 2 (Morning) | Golden Bay - Day 2 (Afternoon)

As expected, Mr Park woke up the earliest among three of us. The main reason was, when he worked at winery before, waking up early used to be a daily routine for him, and that has become a habit. Prior to that, I had warned him to not make noise if he wakes up too early and feels bored.

Otherwise, I will let him have a suffering day~~~

The main target of the 2nd day in Golden Bay (1 Oct 2009) was to visit the north part of Golden Bay. The first spot was the Farewell Spit, NZ's longest sandspit, which strestches from Fossil Point, for 35 kilometres across the entrance to Golden Bay. The spit is formed entirely from sand, derived from the erosion of granites, schists and other rocks on the West Coast.

Farewell Spit is managed by DOC (Department of Conservation) and is a nature reserve. Access to the Spit is restricted with public walking allowed at the base, 2.5km down the inner beach and 4km down the outer beach. The best way to experience it is on one of the supervised tours which receive a special permit from DOC and can take visits to the end of the spit.

We did not join the tour, coz we do not like to join tour. We stopped by somewhere unknown while leaving Farewell Spit for Wharariki Beach.

From the carpark, we walked past the Puponga Farm Park to the Wharariki Beach. Puponga Farm Park is one of only a few places in NZ where DOC has set up an active farm of conservation land. We may wander freely over this area, but have to use the sills and follow the instructions in lambing season.

I personally quite like the area due to its green ambience. However, the smell of dung was unavoidable.

At the beach, the actions of wind and wave have combined to produce one of the most superlative coastal landscapes anywhere, characterised by sheer cliff lines, high arches, caves, rock bridges, massive sand dune systems.

It was so windy when we reached, and we had to cover our head to prevent our hair from dancing crazily. We somewhat covered our eyes too to prevent the sands from going into the eyes. On the day, it was not a good place to stay long. We even saw a couple bringing their little baby there, and they definitely left faster than us.

In fact we brought along some food, thinking to have "picnic lunch" near the beach. Who knows it was not a suitable place. If we did, I guess we would have indigestion on the next day, coz we ate sands too!

Simply get a place to have simple lunch has been part of our trip throughout NZ. Normally we just ate things like muffin, cereals, biscuites, potato chips, sandwiches etc. Sometimes we prepared better food such as fried rice or noodles, but since we could not heat the food prior to eating, they would not taste delicious too.

We really could not afford to dine in nice restaurants every meal, or just even every lunch (coz we have not checked in to backpackers, and have no kitchen to use). However, sometimes we did pamper ourselves a little, for getting a pizza or a Subway set.

On the way walking back to the carpark, I still enjoyed the walk very much, and my fingers, could not stop pressing the shutter.

While traveling in NZ, I always feel I'm in love with it, coz I'm a country girl who loves nature a lot!