Duck or Eagle

Today I received an email with the most phenomenal story. I just had to share it.

I don't normally blog about forwarded email, but something in the story struck me as me and I thought it could change a little in me today, maybe it could change a little to those who I can share it too.

So enjoy.


It was titled:
Make your choice today - Duck or Eagle.......

No one can make you serve customers well.
That's because great service is a choice.

Harvey Mackay, tells a wonderful story about a cab driver that proved this point.

He was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the first thing Harvey noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for Harvey .

He handed my friend a laminated card and said: 'I'm Wally, your driver. While I'm loading your bags in the trunk I'd like you to read my mission statement.'

Taken aback, Harvey read the card.

It said: Wally's Mission Statement:
To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment.

This blew Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean!

As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, 'Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.'

My friend said jokingly, 'No, I'd prefer a soft drink.'

Wally smiled and said, 'No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice.'

Almost stuttering, Harvey said, 'I'll take a Diet Coke.'

Handing him his drink, Wally said, 'If you'd like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today.'

As they were pulling away, Wally handed my friend another laminated card, 'These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you'd like to listen to the radio.'

And as if that weren't enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him.

Then he advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of day. He also let him know that he'd be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts.

'Tell me, Wally,' my amazed friend asked the driver, 'have you always served customers like this?'

Wally smiled into the rear view mirror. 'No, not always. In fact, it's only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard the personal growth guru, Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day.

He had just written a book called You'll See It When You Believe It .
Dyer said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you'll rarely disappoint yourself. He said, 'Stop complaining! Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don't be a duck.




Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.''




'That hit me right between the eyes,' said Wally.

'Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more.'

'I take it that has paid off for you,' Harvey said.

'It sure has,' Wally replied. 'My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I'll probably quadruple it.

You were lucky to get me today. I don't sit at cabstands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can't pick them up myself, I get a reliable cabbie friend to do it and I take a piece of the action.'

Wally was phenomenal. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab. I've probably told that story to more than fifty cab drivers over the years, and only two took the idea and ran with it. Whenever I go to their cities, I give them a call. The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and told me all the reasons they couldn't do any of what I
was suggesting.

Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice. He decided to stop quacking like ducks and start soaring like eagles.

I've been feeling like a duck for the longest time, a year? no, maybe more.
The story really changed my view, today and hopefully longer than just 'a while'. I hope it has changed yours too and made your day as it did mine. :)

Let's all be eagles. :)

New Zodiac Sign "Ophiuchus"

So apparently it's big news now that we've RE-discovered that our typical 12 horoscopes has a new zodiac sign left out some 2500 years ago.

According to here.

The new zodiac that's missing is the 10th sign called Ophiuchus - a snake bearer, or "serpent-bearer" to be exact.




I posted this on my FB and received different opinion-ed comments like: it's not real, there's not going to be a new zodiac sign, or astronomy and astrology is different; whereas the adapted ones would find it amusing they're no longer a virgo, or pisces, or libra, etc.


However, I was chatting on MSN with a friend from US who got his PHD in Astrophysics in England (of course, who better to discuss this) and it was just funny how the conversation went.

Especially you see from a point of view one is an expert, the other one's a blogger.

Let's call him GH.

GH: that zodiac thing is bizarre
GH: was on the rachel maddow show last night
GH: hipparchus discovered the precession of the equinoxes in about 150BC
GH: why is it suddenly on tv?

Me: must be some journalists that decided to bring it up so on and so forth
Me: we need some exciting news once in a while

GH: maybe
GH: well, wait another 23500 years and it'll be back to where it started

Me: i supposed. if earth can survive that long

GH: the earth will still be here, whether we are or not

Me: haha.. oh yea... maybe it will literally become just earth.
Me: no water. just dry land. all the way
Me: we'll call it.. the fire age (after ice age)

GH: in a billion years or so, yes, as the sun's temperature increases
GH: not in 20000 years
GH: that's the blink of an eye

Me: or when the next supernova comes.
Me: no wait. then we'll become dust. LOL
Me: or split into two earths. we'll become moons!
Me: or a tiny earth.

GH: don't think there are any stars ready to go supernova near enough to cause a problem
GH: maybe if we're staring down the barrel of a supernova jet
GH: unlikely though

Me: tiny earth is cute.

GH: the pale blue dot

Me: we can walk around in circles.
Me: literally.
Me: bahaha....

Hey, what do you expect? I studied Software Engineering. "p


On a more serious note, if you fancy astronomy... Here's what my friend GH has to say.

GH: hipparchus is the name of an ancient greek astronomer
lived roughly 190-120BC
he discovered the precession of the equinoxes
which is what causes this thing of the signs changing dates
the dates are meant to be when the sun crosses through certain constellations
but the traditional dates used change over a period of about 26000 years because of precession

GH: ophiuchus has always been on the ecliptic
just not considered a sign of the zodiac
basically, the equator is just split into 12 sections
and each was named after a nearby constellation
the ones they chose were arbitrary, and ophiuchus wasn't one of them
why they'd suddenly decide it should be one now i've no idea


Me: I see.......

Final Verdict of Marie France

Weeks ago, the day before I left for Taiwan trip, I went for my final session at Marie France.

12 sessions.

3 months.

Done.


It was such a relief.

It was such a relief because I have never felt BETTER in my life.




I've actually lost quite an amount of weight, even though that was not my initial target when I entered the salon, the sights of cellulite on my thighs have diminise tremendously.

YAY!

It's not obvious on the before and after photo so I shall tell you in my words that I have received lots of remarks everywhere that I have been looking better, and better.


Photos here are not edited, only sharpened because my hands were shaky when I took the photos.





Over the span of three months, not only I have learnt how to:

take care of myself better,
understand how my body works,
become more aware of how my body, and fats, functions;

I've actually have a better diet, and a happier looking skin.

Surprise surprise.




To entertain you with my results, I have lost:

1. 7cm each on my right and left upper thigh
2. 12cm each on my right and left lower thigh
3. 4cm each on my right and left calve.


I had wanted to lose more on my calves because I have really thick calves, thanks to my older backpacking days, and it's really hard to get rid of.

But as the sessions went on week after week, the treatments I received have seemed to shift towards my thighs and hips.

I could have asked them to spread the treatments evenly across my calves and thighs and hips but I was worried spreading the treatment time and cream/serum/solution might also reduce the effectiveness these treatments have on each section of my body.

So I decided to let them focus on my back thighs and hips in the end.

And I'm loving the results.




I'm not saying I'm perfectly pleased with how my body looked yet, but I have never seen a fitter me in a long time and I am definitely feeling supremely confident how the way I look these days.




I've been religiously rubbing lotion after my shower every day now on my thighs and calves, I'm determine to get my calves to shrink now that I am no longer attending treatments at Marie France.

But Marie France has helped me achieve my ultimate goal.

To know that I can still lose, get fit and eliminate those wrinkly skin I thought was forever.

To know that I can get rid of all these, if I work on myself more.




A girl's got to do what a girl's got to do eh?

One day, soon enough, I'm going to achieve my perfect figure.

Maybe one day, I can always return to Marie France for more advanced tech aid.

;)


~*~*~*~*~*~*~


SMS For a free 60min slimming session (worth
RM380)

type MFB NICOLEKISS Name send to
32996

17 Random Things To Do in Cape Town

1. Go Shopping!




Try waterfront. Also known as Victoria Wharf mall.




It's like KLCC to them.


2. Eat!




Really, try anything but Indian food.




No matter how good it looks.





Or how good it taste.




You're in South Africa for god's sake.


lobster.. ermm...


3. Drink!




Ever heard of South African wines?

Welcome to a country that produces its own alcohol.

Two words:

Cheap

and Plentiful.


4. Take photo with a white South African!




just for shits.

or to prove to your friends that South Africans are not (all) black? LOL.


5. Buy Some Useless Things




Preferably something local. (You know, to show that you've been to South Africa)

Like a hand crafted embroidery ostrich egg.

Nothing can be more "South African" than that!

Or you can buy an ostrich lamp with shapes of natives dancers crafted on it.




This particular one looks like he's stroking his....




6. Listen to African Songs




They're actually pretty cool when you're feeling funky.

It's like songs for the funky moods.


7. Buy Some Expensive Useless Things




Decorate your house with it to show that you're sophisticated.

Think a piece of zebra skin on your floor in your wooden looking living room.


8. Go Shark Cage Diving




And get a piece of cheap ink printed cert to prove that you've been brave.




9. Take Silly Photos




We all have to do it at some point.


10. Visit Malay Quarter




Cause it's colorful there.


11. Go Up Table Mountain




Where else you find a flat-top mountain for you to cam-whore.


12. Go On A Road Trip




To anywhere.

Preferably along a coast.

Why not?

Cape Town has really nice mountain view and sea view.




And really narrow cliff roads to add the tinge of excitement.


Try Chapman's Peak. It's said to have killed many (reckless?) drivers.



13. See a Seal




A whole colony of them.


14. See a Penguin




Or two.




Or three.




15. Bring One Home




Kee......yyyuuuuuuuttttttt!!!!!


16. Visit Cape of Good Hope




Because it's iconic.

Just because.





Lastly, and most importantly.

17. Visit Lighthouse near Cape of Good Hope




Several reasons:

The view up there is amazing.

It overlooks Cape of Good Hope.

It's historical as well as iconic.

Last but not least,


you have noooooooooo idea how great it would do to your hair.








Good hair day if you ask me.

My Beauty Secret - Collagen

*update* this is not an advertorial

A few people have asked and emailed me after reading my previous post on me drinking collagen.

Questions like:

"Does this work?"

"Let me know if this works, I'm tempted to buy."

"Which brand is better? I saw brand xx and xx selling in xxx places".


So I decided to share my so called... beauty secret. *cough*
To answer all questions at once.

I'm drinking this brand called Fabula - CollagenMax.




I've been drinking it since November 2009. But like most people in the beginning, I don't drink it very often like it suggested (once every 3 days) because these beauty drinks are really expensive! RM158 per box which can last me for a month.

But then as vanity striked (birthday approaching then *more coughing*), I started drinking more frequently mid-January onwards. About the time I came back from Europe.

It's very soon when I finished my second box.




I know these sort of things don't just show overnight or in a short period of time. So I kept at it, for a while more. Thinking to myself see how this goes.

By the third month of drinking, people started commenting on my skin.

According to them (and I shit you not), my skin (face) started to glow.

Not in a crazy alien sort of way of course. But in a healthy glow. I was really looking.... good.

No more puffy eyes, dark circles were mostly gone, I don't always look like I'm dragged out of bed all the time (believe me, sleeping the way I do at odd hours, I do look like I'm half-dead most of the time) and not sure if this is the effect of the collagen or just pure stress...

But I was losing weight. Gradually.

I credit the effect to half stress and half collagen. (Stress that were coming from certain people who don't think I can afford a trip to South Africa, which btw, it was sponsored. *stick tongue out*)

So I got hold of more of the products.




By that, I meant I ordered one year supply of it.

:D







If this goes well, I will be drinking this every month throughout the year religiously for the rest of my life. Yes it might stretch a bit on my wallet but hey, it's worth it! See it as an investment on my skin. And I have never found a better investment than these!






And by the way, I actually have another secret too.

Hehe..

Will share it next time.

Weekend Dive in Perhentian

note: this post I will show you how I maintain my skin during my dive trips.


It's not always easy to maintain a long distance relationship with your friends, especially your best friends. ;)

Many people have their own ways to "catch up" and keep the flame going between friends. While some people let it die with time and distance.

At this age, heart-to-heart friends are hard to come by. And thus I have always made sure that every year, my best friends and I will catch up at least once, if not more, and we will go on a dive trip together.




We dived last year. And two years before.

This year, we planned for an island trip in Western Malaysia - Perhentian.




So last week, both my friends flew down to KL and stayed for a few days before we were to depart to our island.

On the day of departure, I dropped by Body Shop to check up on their body shampoo, the ones back home have only less than a quarter left and I don’t think that’s enough for a dive trip up to Perhentian.




One has to shower very frequently when one goes on a diving trip, which reminded me, I should bring more hair shampoo too, and perhaps some hair mask. PS, the honey hair conditioner from Body Shop is a dream to use!


TCM - Tropicana City Mall



walk in casually


It was cool until I spotted a range of products my friend suggested to me a while back. The Moisture White Shiso skin care series.




I’ve always loved Body Shop and I probably have 1928 of Body Shop things back home, but that never stop me from buying more products, kekeke

And….. I am going to the beach where some whitening would help,

AND the description on the product did say that it would help me with dark spots and freckles…

Then I did the craziest thing on the spot.




No la, I didn’t buy all of them la. Siao meh…

But someone gave them to me. Hehe...


xoXoxO


Keke…

For people who likes discount, you can print this voucher out (as many times as you want) to get RM10 off the product range. ;)


I got it off http://www.facebook.com/thebodyshopmalaysia, yes I’m a fan ^^


Now I was ready to pack!

In the evening, we took an overnight bus to Kuala Besut jetty, reaching at about 5am in the morning.


playing on my iphone for 3 hours.


Our boat ride to Perhentian Pulau Besar (big island) wasn't arriving until 8:30am so we waited at the jetty after our not-so-soft-boiled soft boil eggs breakfast




It was the weekend so all the buses were fully booked and local students, working adults, Chinese, Malay, Indians and traveling Caucasian was swamping into the island like bees.


note to self: never travel on weekends.



cam-whoring while waiting


By the time the boat arrived and sent us off on a 40 min bumpy ride on the sea to our lodge, we were completely exhausted.




We arrived with dread appeared like it has wind surfed across our faces. It was an exhausting trip.
note to self: take plane next time

Our lodge:




Our beach:




Our room:


3 beds


The cobble road we walked on every day:




Our dive boats:




And our dive sites:




I wanted to wash up, staying up all night on the bus makes me felt like I haven’t shower for DAYS but we have to get off to diving immediately. So I unpack and decided to just wash my face.




I took out my newly bought cleanser to wash my face.




Now I have used several types of cleanser before, but this is my first time using a cleansing powder, which literally comes in a form of.. well.. powder.

What I found this product really GOOD was that it’s extremely easy to travel with. You have no idea how many times I have traveled and when I reached my hotel, just to find that, upon unpacking, my cleanser has leaked at least more than half the bottle away in my suitcase.

Which can be the most annoying thing in the world, because then not only I have wasted a good half of my expensive bottle of cleanser, I would need to wash all my clothes and hang them dry in the toilet due to the leak.

Not with the powder!




Wet the powder and you’ll have your very own instant home-made liquid cleanser! HAH!




Finally I slapped on a thick layer of 130 SPF sunblock (I hate being dark if you’ve noticed) and headed out for my first dive!
(Will do the complete regime at night)




This trip, Miss..er...Splat (she was Miss Chocolate two years ago, then she-who-must-not-be-named a year ago, so now she's Miss Splat) and I decided to get ourselves each a rash guard.


rash guard on sale!


She got a black one while I went for a white one.




Apparently Gerald also ordered his rash guard online weeks ago so now we're all protected against corals.





wear your wetsuit over your rash guard


Upper body at least.




I scratched myself on my legs multiple times that trip T_T

Anyone know where I can find nice trendy lower body rash guard?


As usual, I didn't bring my pink bandanna (always forgetful) so Gerald lent me his red one.


I opted for a pink mask.


Which I later found out was a horrible mask to use.




It couldn't stop fogging up no matter how many times I spitted on it.

So I changed to an uglier mask on our next trip out.




We had two dive masters on this trip, Swedish Karl brought us down on our first 4 dives. While the remaining two dives was led by a very funky lady named Mel.

Our typical dive would begin with briefing.


Karl


The DM would tell me about the dive sites we're going, how we're going to go about the reef, current, where he's going to lead us and stuff. I don't think I ever listen to these except when it comes to a complicated dive site, or a dive site I'm really interested in.

Like the wreck dive we were going to do! :D


Briefing on the boat.


I've done wreck dive before, which I am going to blog about next. But this wreck was 100m long (bigger than my first one), and with lady luck NOT on our side, Gerald's camera housing leaked so we were without camera underneath. T_T

And we saw SO MANY amazing marine lives down there that took our breath away and we didn't have photos to prove it. FML.

We saw the largest group of giant puffer fish, each more than half the size of me,


giant pufferfish we saw on another dive


among the group there was a pregnant giant mother pufferfish down there, she was HUGEEEE. The wreck was huge. Even the small school of Barracuda was HUGEEE...


photo taken from Sipadan post (highlight note: not in this Perhentian dive trip!)


I mean, I saw a large school Barracudas before in Sipadan, but each individual fish was nothing compared to the ones I saw in Perhentian, these were at least 1.2m each, and 6 inches wide!


again taken from Sipadan post for illustration here.


But we did see, on the other dives, stingrays.




Stalked one.


(me on the left)


Couple of Murray Eels out in the open.




Lots of sea urchins that's threatening to sting Gerald. ;p




A wheel barrow.




Played with a sea snail.




Took plenty shots of Nemo.







and nemo family.










And his cousin.




Then we saw abundance of fish! Lots and lots of baby fish swimming in large schools.





miss splat on the left, nicolekiss on the right






chasing after a group of fish





And of course, very beautiful reef sites.


dive site name: Temple of the Sea





Oh, we also saw a super snorkeler who could held his breath for at least 5 mins! He dived down to our level (around 5-6m that time) and was swimming next to us?!


WTF??!!!


He's crazy man.


On the first night, being gung-ho (act cool), we went for a dive night together despite being incredibly tired already.




It was Miss Splat's first night dive since achieving her diving license last year, actually it was her first night dive, ever.




So with a torch each in our hands, and a camera, we boat dived in the night!




Not so bad considering we managed to capture ONE nice shot of a baby leopard shark.




There were plenty of baby leopard and nurse sharks that night. It was a fruitful dive. There were also lots of luminous worms, like crazy amount of it.

You know on land, at night, especially after rain, you will see lots of flying bugs gathering at those lights on ceiling, flying against the lights.

Well, these luminous worms are like those lights, they swim like they're flying under water, then they circle around our torch lights (whenever the lights were stationary), and they multiply in amounts every passing seconds. It's actually quite creepy, interesting, but grossed.

That night, stars were soooo beautiful when we emerged from our dive that I couldn't help but to just float on the sea with my BCD and tank on, and just stare.




It wasn't so romantic on the boat on the way back. It was SOOOO bloody cold!!

note to self: bring a towel to night dive


We were all famished by the time we got back, but we would still need to do one thing I hate most about diving.

Washing up.

Not just ourselves, the gears too.


Gerald dipping his feet in the water meant for washing gears because he got stung by red ants. *point and laugh*


Every night, we would serenade the night with grape juice and mango lassi over a nice BBQ dinner.


They served the BEST GRILLED PRAWNS!!




no photo here as were too tired to take photo already.


After dinner.

I returned to the room to perform my usual ritual.

Ok guys, it’s called a daily beauty regime.

Now I want to teach all the guys out there that procedures like these are very important. We’re not just simply applying 1001 chemicals on our face!

Let me teach what they do! I’ve been trying to teach my baby this for AGES but sometimes I feel like he hears me, but not sure if all those info really go into his head.

I still want to talk about it anyway.

FIRST there’s the cleanser, which I used earlier in the day, to wash off the dirt off your face.

Secondly, apply toner; or in this case, Moisture White Shiso Moisturising Essence I (which is for oily and combination skin). This is to hydrate your skin and tightens the pores that has been “opened” by the washing process.

Now for the whitening action with Moisture White Shiso Whitening Serum, my new best friend under the sun. :D it also helps hydrates up to 12 hours.


(I know I’m being long-winded by this hydration is VERY VERY important when you’re travelling. Because of various reasons, your skin tend to dry up really fast which can cause serious damage to your pretty skin.)


Finally the moisturizer, since I’m sleeping after this so I’d be applying the Whitening Night Treatment (else you can use the Whitening Moisture Milk). It’s like food to your skin – Vitamin C and all the healthy nutrients (e.g. shiso extract) that make your skin glow!


my friend found taking photos of me applying all these things on my face amusing *roll eyes*


PS// If you’re really hardworking, like I am,
Sometimes.
Rarely.

You can apply the Eye Serum (hydrating the eyes) and Concentrated Target Protector to help reduce pigmentations on your face.




I find these last two items really useful since I have started developing quite an amount of freckles on my cheeks and dark spots around my eyes at this age, something I’ve been dying to remove indefinitely. So let’s see how this will work over long time. ;)

Enough beauty talk for one post. It’s back to diving tomorrow. But at least now you know maintaining a face is easy as long as you keep to your commitment to your own skin. ;)

Okay. I needed to wake up at 8am next day. I was all ready for bed!


I call this photo: my diving silhouette


I might have dreamt of diving that night.