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Almost three quarters of 2009 have passed and it is already the mid of September. Time is really passing very very fast, at least to me. It is so fast until I don’t really have the time to sit down quietly and think of what I have and have not done.

I remember I did set a target of reading 12 books within this year. So, on average, I have to read one book per month. I think this target is reasonable as I don’t want to be too harsh on myself by forcing myself to read 36 books within 12 months.

I know some people who do speed-reading can read up to 65 books a year or 5-6 books per month. This is only possible after mastering the speed-reading skill. So, I doubt most people can do that especially when you are having a full-time job.

Even if you are a housewife, student or unemployed person, you might have the time but you might not want to commit to yourself by reading 5 books within a month and consecutively every month, right?

Maybe there are people who read a lot of books but I seldom come across people who set themselve a target to finish reading how many books within a year even though they might love to read. I think I don’t have any bookworm friends either 🙂

As for myself, I have finished reading 3 books so far and 3 books are half-way through 😛 One of the unfinished books is on stock investing, one on eBay selling and the third one on public speaking. And I have started a new book on NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) just 3 days ago 😉

You see, my interests are very broad and I’m hunger for knowledge of different fields. If I’m diligent enough, I think I shall be able to meet my target of reading 12 books by the end of this year. Hmm…..we shall see.

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I didn’t know that there were so much that we could do on a bicycle until I watched a video clip featuring an amazing and breath-taking bicycle stunt.

A 23 year-old young man named Danny MacAskill has produced a set of stunts on his bicycle. Most of the moves are very breath-taking and they include riding across spiked railings, leaping across three-storey buildings, backflipping off a tree and so on.

Danny MacAskill is a street trial biker who rides for fun hoping that other riders would like his video filmed by his flatmate called Dave Sowerby. The filming was taken place in Edinburgh over a few months to capture every tricks done by Danny MacAskill.

Apparently, he has mastered an incredibly dangerous form of Bike Parkour (the art of movement) that people use every available urban or rural platform to choreograph a set of stunts.

The bicycle that Danny MacAskill uses to do his biking stunts is specially designed for street trial riding. I wonder how many bikes he has had replaced so far whenever a mistake is made 🙂

Enjoy the amazing video clip entitled “Inspired Bicycles” :

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Many a time, we hear people around us giving endless excuses for not doing the things that they were supposed to do or were planning to do.

The excuses that they usually give are “no time”, “too busy”, “too difficult to do”, “I love to but…”, “do it some other time”, “don’t have the mood”, “not having enough sleep”, ” have better things to do”, “do it tomorrow” and the list goes on……………………………

I find that the most common excuse among all is to say you are busy. Oh boy, who is not? I feel that if you have the heart to complete a task, you will definitely find time for it. You are determined to make it happen no matter what is stopping you.

If you have loads of excuses and are not successful in realising your dreams, it is obvious that you are the only one who is holding yourself back from success.In fact, you are doing damage to yourself. You have got yourself to blame because you set a goal and then you throw a huge mountain in front of it.

You are responsible for your actions and the situation that you may be in. If you got yourself there, you can definitely get out of it as well.

You have to know that there is always someone out there who is much more worst off than you. They face greater challenges than you do but the fortunate thing is that they didn’t allow their limitation to limit them from realising their dreams.

These extraordinary people are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve their goals and become the best person that they could be. They are highly motivated people who do not allow useless excuses to get in their way. You see, they give no excuses.

So, it is time to kick away your excuses and start living in a positive direction.

Get motivated and inspired by watching the video clip that features Warhawk Matt Scott in Nike ‘No Excuses‘ Commercial.



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I have had a taste of Yunnan-Style Seafood Hot Pot when I was having my dinner at a Chinese steamboat restaurant this evening.

I’m used to Cantonese-style Hot Pot or steamboat but I seldom have the chance to try out regional variations such as Taiwan, China (Chongqing, Chengdu, Sichuan, Yunnan, etc.), Thailand, Vietnam and so on.

So, I had decided to try out the China style and ordered a personal set of Yunnan-style seafood Hot Pot today. The waitress told me that there was an option of adding milk to the soup. Since I wanted to try something different, I chose to have milk mixing with the soup for my order.

Yunnan-Style Seafood Hot Pot with Milk :

The ingredients include tomatoes, mushrooms, broccoli, prawns, fish slices, mussel, squids, glass noodles and crab meats. Some of these ingredients of the Yunnan-style seafood Hot Pot are not commonly seen in the Cantonese-style.

Iced Jasmine Green Tea :

The iced Jasmine green tea definitely helps to cool down the heatiness after taking the whole pot of steamy seafood Hot Pot during dinner time. I like the glass bottle which looks like a cup as well as a jar.

I feel that the taste of the Yunnan-style is more plain than that of the Cantonese-style Hot Pot. In conclusion, I still prefer the Cantonese-style to the Yunnan-style Hot Pot.

My Favourites :

I often see motivational posters either displaying on the shelf inside the bookstores or hanging on the walls inside the office. I believe the posters will act as a reminder if not stimulus to get you motivated in your everyday working life.

Ever wonder how nice it would be like if you could create your own motivational posters. You can select the picture that you like, type in the motivational texts and choose the colour that you want.

I just came across a website that allows the users to custom make the motivational posters for free. What you need to do is to upload your picture, choose your design, type in some texts and hit the “Create” button. As simple as that!

Here is my custom-made motivational poster entitled “Persistence“.

Click on this link to access ==> Create Your Own Motivational Poster

Hope you have fun!

My Favourites :

As mentioned in my previous Blog post, we must always be ready to learn new skills especially when we are experiencing a major shift into technology-driven economies. Otherwise, those things that we know might soon be out-dated or irrelevant.

We have got no choice but to follow the trend if we wanted to stay up to par with the latest techonologies in order not to lose out to others.

There are thousands and one reasons as to why we have to learn new skills. I’m going to list down 3 reasons only over here. If not, the list can go on and on.

Firstly, it is good to learn new skills because this will make you a more versatile person who is often if not always ready to work on any kind of projects that might be assigned to you.

Secondly, the more skill sets that you have mastered will help you to pick up new ones easier and faster. It is like learning cooking, once you know how to cook 3 or 4 recipes, it becomes very easy to learn a new one.

Thirdly, if you are working online such as doing Internet marketing stuff, it is essential for you to learn how to design websites, design graphics, write simple programming codes and so on because the web is the fastest changing environment that we have.

So, it is time to have a good thought and stop your procrastination right now. Do your own brain-storming and start picking up a few new skills right away.

My Favourites :

Here is an enlightening video clip on the progression of information technology being researched by Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod and Jeff Brenman. It tells us about what is happening right now.

I believe this is revolving the economies around the world right now as we are experiencing a major shift into technology-driven economies. Information technology has changed our everyday lives tremendously. Computers and internet have made our lives easier and better. They have given us access to the world.

From this, you can see that the internet has a very huge potential if you wanted to do business online or make more friends through social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Friendster, etc.

In my opinion, the younger generations and those who keep up to the latest technologies will be much more internet-proficient than those who are PC-illiterate. Perhaps it is time to start picking up internet skills so as not to lag too far behind.

There are many reasons to always be learning new skills as the web is the fastest changing environment that we have. We must keep on learning new things whenever there is an opportunity. So, pick up a skill and start learning…….Right HERE…..Right NOW!

My Favourites :

I stumbled upon a music video featuring a dance-and-praise worship song by Mary Mary. The title of the song is called “Shackles (Praise You)”.

I find that this is against the norm kind of worship song because it is very lively and refreshing. You might want to start your day off by singing and dancing along with this “Praise You” music video. Enjoy!

My Favourites :

Most people usually keep dogs, cats, rabbits, hamsters and so on as family pets. Some people do keep wild animals such as monkeys, snakes, bears, etc. illegally as house pets.

However, I have never heard of people keeping huge wild animals in the family and treating them as their children. Sometimes, the size of the animal can be so huge that it might double the size of human being.

I just found a funny and interesting story about a South African family who owns a female hippopotamus called Jessica as family pet. A kind-hearted gentleman found her being washed up by flood water when she was just a day old. He took Jessica home 7 years ago and he’s still keeping her up till these days.

Jessica the hippo spends her days lazing in the sun and cooling down in the water. She eats snacks with the dogs and she knows where to get food when she is hungry. What Jessica needs to do is to enter the kitchen to look for food.

Jessica plays with other wild hippopotamus at the other side of the river as she likes to do so. But what makes Jessica so remarkable is that she will still find her way back and look for her adopted parents even though she is free to leave any time.

At the end of the video clip, you will see that Jessica likes a massage before she goes to bed after a long hard day of eating. I think this lovely hippo is very dog-like.

I’m inspired by the fantastic bond between human and animal. Jessica the hippo is a wonderful addition to the family of the South African couples who have a kind soul. Jessica is loved and she loves back too.

My Favourites :

I believe most people do dream a dream and hope this dream will come true someday. But the question is when the dream will become a reality.

What is really stopping you from reaching any dream you have? Do you ever find out the reasons for not pursuing your dream?

If you have the heart to do something, you will make it happen no matter what is stopping you. If you truly commit yourself to reaching your dream, there is no excuse in this world that could stop you from reaching whatever you want.

If you have a long list of reasons for not being able to make things happen, you are just finding excuses for yourself and you are in fact a typical procrastinator. Perhaps, it is time for you to change your mindset.

I came across a motivational article lately and I’m inspired by the teachings that it advocates. Here is an excerpt of the motivational article :

Start focusing on the realisation of your dreams.
See the loopholes instead of the walls.
See the possibilities instead of the obstacles.
See the challenges instead of the problems.
See your DREAM, and GO FOR IT!

To achieve your goals, reach your dreams, you will have to DECIDE to TAKE ACTION towards it. I hope you are inspired by the motivational article too by learning how to stay focus and realise your dream.

My Favourites :