Archive for August, 2007

The Theft

August 31, 2007 at 8:08 pm · Filed under Daily Living

最近这段时间，正是堪培拉樱花绽放的大好季节。我每天下班回家走过无数安静小街，看到路边花枝满树，脑子里就会情不自禁勾勒出一幅古朴花瓶中斜插着两只樱花的景象。

走了一个星期，樱花开得越来越多，我的手也越来越痒痒，很想掐几只回家去。于是每晚吃完饭就缠着老公，要求他在太阳下山后，在风高月黑的夜晚去陪我偷花。其 实他什么都不需要帮我做，我都踩好点儿了，包括准备在哪条街的哪棵树的哪个位置下手。有他在旁边帮我望风，我只需轻轻用力一压枝干，就可以得手，然后往大购物袋里一塞，就可以了了我的心愿，快快乐乐地回家搞插花了。

可是我老公就是不答应，说我公共道德败坏，说什么花是人家的，还说我怎么老 毛病就是改不了啊。其实，那花哪里是人家的呀？人家自己的都种在院子里面，我要摘的全长在马路边上。再说又不是中国，人那么多，一人掐一朵，没两分钟就掐没了。这里谁都不采野花的。一棵树上有几万朵，少了十朵，也看不出来有什么区别。而且那么好看的花，太多都长在一起，看着一点儿都不出众；如果只有十来朵，比如说我要摘得那十来朵，那肯定是当宝贝似的伺候着，那才体现出这个花的价值和魅力。

可是他还是不听我的，晚上不陪我出去；我下班回家因为还是大白天，也没法下手。眼看着花开得越来越多，大有鼎盛之后准备凋谢的趋势，我都快急死了！！！

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Yoga again

August 30, 2007 at 6:12 pm · Filed under Health & Fitness

I guess my suggestion did get to run passed to the Yoga teacher as apparently today’s yoga class was quite different from what we’ve been practising. There were more twisting and forward bending poses and we even had some higher level versions of old poses. After the class, I felt my mind wide open, so were my eyes. I even felt myself getting taller and having more connection with the earth.

Although Dru is not my favourite Yoga style, as to me it seems too “relaxing” and not particularly demanding technique, sequence and timing, but I admit that I do like the way how our teacher Sheila presents her class and the way how she gives the instruction for each pose. Her narrative is warm, soothing and has a strong link to the nature. She uses language like sky, water, sun, earth and lights which really enlightened me and drew me into a bigger picture that I have never been able to see:-)

“Namaste. Om Shanti.”

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Voice Control

August 29, 2007 at 10:11 pm · Filed under Work & Social Issues

In the past I never have been proud of my voice in my life. My voice is quite low, soft and most of time not loud enough to get people to hear from a distance. Not that I am a shy person, it’s just that my lung’s capacity to hold air is quite limited. I have known it since I was 9 years old after I’ve done my very first vital capacity test in a physical education class :-) But you know what? Everything has two sides. It all depends on how you use your advantages and disadvantages.

Lately I had some clients ringing in and speaking really fast and emotionally as if they were going to collapse anytime over the phone. At the beginning of the conversation, they were mad, anxious. Then no matter how agitated they sounded like, I tried to slow my speech down and ask them questions in a calm way. Amazingly I found that they slowed down and became calm as well. You know what, at the end of the talking, they seemed peaceful, settled, and lots of them even called me “Sweetheart”. It doesn’t seem like I always fixed their problems. There must be something in the conversation sooths them and I asked myself what really changed their attitude? and why did this happen?

Now it has occurred to me that people’s voice can be a very powerful tool to affect other people and take a positive role on influencing the communication and directing the conversation to the right path. You might have some other opinions in regard to this, but my key is just simple as this: slow down, be calm and ask right questions as much as you can, instead of making any statement. I found it very effective.

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What am I knitting now?

August 28, 2007 at 10:36 pm · Filed under Craft & Art

Even my husband started to realise that I have been pretty slack on knitting for a while. I don’t know why. Probably it’s because with the day gets warmer and warmer, playing with yarn doesn’t seem very appealing anymore, unless it’s cotton? He asked me yesterday “why haven’t you been doing a lot knitting lately?”

Well, I guess that another reason is that I have lots of new stuff going on in my life which needs my attention, energy as well as occupies my spare time. I never failed to admit that I am not a superwoman and I actually find myself quite incapable to handle too many things at one time. And most of time, I know that I have to give up something that I want and face the fact that I can only have some of them in the reality instead of all of them.

Now my hobbies have been narrowed down to 3 major things, namely B.K.Y. I won’t mention cooking and writing as they are kind of on-going and always with me in my life. I guess I just can’t get rid of them :-)

However, having said that, I AM actually knitting something at the moment, slowly:-( It’s a bag to hold my purple yoga mat….it will get exciting when I finished the main lacy part. My husband says “you are wasting another one month and it will come up nothing”. I just don’t believe it. In order to prove he is wrong, I need to make something happen :-)

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Fire Warden Training

August 27, 2007 at 8:05 pm · Filed under Work & Social Issues

It’s the second time I had a go on playing with fire extinguisher. The most fun part is not about gaining skills to put off the fire, it’s about having some time out from an office with very poor air circulation, breathing fresh air, bathing in warm spring sunshine, standing on that piece of fresh green lawn at the backyard of HR and having laughs with others and stretching my body. I could stay there for the whole morning :-)

Well, I was the first one to practise using 12kg Carbon Dioxide extinguisher. Not that I am brave, it was just the trainer from Chubbs who is very kind and at his late 50s referred to me as “the young lady in blue top” (Well, don’t know about that) :-)

It’s so noisy and I felt a bit heavy while holding it with only one hand. The practise went well, but I hope I would never need to use it in the future :-)

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