Gemini Gossip

Five Bucks

cindy5 — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 18:41:53 +0000

Have you encountered any interesting subway story lately? I found this one interesting, and would like to share. About a month ago, I was as usual taking the TTC Subway in Downtown Toronto after work on a cold winter day. The train was packed with people rushing back home, and there’s a gentleman looked so serious in reading his newspaper while sitting near the exit. There was a middle-aged lady (close to 50) ready to get off and walked pass the gentleman, and she handed him a 5 dollars note, and said “go buy a cup of coffee, you looked so sad”. The gentleman was a bit shocked, then smiled with embarrassment. He said “I’m fine, thank you”, and returned the money back to that nice lady. The gentleman just happened to have a sad face while not smiling, but I found that lady’s warm gesture is quite touching. Nowadays, we seldom have time to care about people around us, not to say the one we don’t know. That nice lady does not look like she is rich, and has lots of money to give away. Five dollars not a lot of money, but it means a lot when you show your care and thoughtfulness. After being the witness of this event, I feel especially warm during this windy weather.

S for Survive

cindy5 — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 14:19:41 +0000

Survive: It is important that we still survive, and we can continue to explore interesting things in this world. I do not yet have any near-death experience, but if you do, you should treasure every day thereafter. ‘Life No Take 2’, not everyone can get a second chance. There are people suddenly realize what is important in their lives. Some people choose to leave their high paying job and start a new life that is more meaningful to them. My husband always asks me “what is worse than death?” You still have hope if you survive.

R for Release

cindy5 — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:00:46 +0000

Release: Writing is a good way to release your stress. A good example is “to do list”. I feel relaxed after wrote down things that I have to do on a daily basis, and start to prioritize. I need only about 5 minutes in the morning to finish my “to do list”. Writing is also a good exercise for your mind. When you write, you begin to rethink, and reorganize your way of doing things. These days, I also learned to release my grief by crying out loud. When you are getting older and older, you have to accept the fact that attending funerals more often than weddings.

Plastic Bags

cindy5 — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:43:08 +0000

Toronto passed a new by-law for plastic bags, and that will enforce consumers to pay for plastic shopping bags starting June 1, 2009. What message this new by-law tells us. You can still use plastic bags if you do not care about spending 5 cents. Money is not an issue for some peopel especially the rich one. Similar result that we charge on using Highway 407. I just doubt the concept on using ‘money’ as the condition – that is not a fair deal. If we are determined that using plastic bags is not good for our environment, then we should not provide any option for using plastic bags but the recycle one.

Q for Quality

cindy5 — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 19:45:46 +0000

Quality: How do you define quality? Some people (i.e. home stereo listeners) will spend thousands of dollars for hi-fi equipment in order to get the perfect sound system, and that is how they define “quality”. However, I do not know if the music itself is of good quality though. I am concerned about the quality time that I can have – time that I can really enjoy and be myself.

P for Perception

cindy5 — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 19:58:46 +0000

Perception: I watched this movie ‘Shallow Hal’ in 2001, and it triggers my perception about physical appearance versus inner beauty. In this movie, Hal is a shallow man that falls in love with a 300 pound woman (Rosemary) because of her “inner beauty”. “A woman who appears to him to look slender and beautiful due to her kind, generous nature, but is, in actuality, morbidly obese.” He used to date women who are physically beautiful until one day he was being hypnotized to recognize only the inner beauty of women. In the end, he doesn’t need hypnosis to see people’s true inner beauty. One interesting thing, Actress Gwyneth Paltrow is Rosemary in the film, and she really gives you the perception of a fat person. I have once heard about a woman who was deceived lots of money by a beautiful lady because of her perception of pretty faces will not do ugly things.

Gossip Girl Season 2 – Just on Air

cindy5 — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 21:00:16 +0000

The first episode of the second season just aired on CW on September 1, 2008, Serena and Dan are finally back together again. Rumour has it: Gossip Girl star Leighton Meester was born in jail, according to scandalous new reports. XOXO

O for Ownership

cindy5 — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 19:22:07 +0000

Ownership: Have you ever heard that “To own a thing is a burden”? If you have nothing to lose, you have nothing to worry. Nowadays, more and more people choose to buy a house rather than to rent. This is not just about ownership, but also in consideration of the rising home value. People seldom expect that their own houses will become negative assets one day. Lots of people have suffered from the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis. I remember my husband has once said that (before the crisis), the house value has increased to a rate that similar of buying a rice cooker at $3,000 back in 1997 in Hong Kong, which a normal person will not do it. Many owners going bankrupt after July 1997; they bought their houses at the tip of the dropping zone.

N for Nature

cindy5 — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:36:39 +0000

Nature: How to define Human Nature? There is an old Chinese saying “Every child born has innate goodness”. All of those vicious people were once innocent kids. There are lots of factors that contributed to the changes. There is another Chinese saying “Grow a tree for ten years; grow men for a hundred.” The meaning is “nurturing and educating human talent is the key to prosperity”. I have once heard that there is a limited chance of a ‘happy’ child to turn to a vicious person. We, as adult, are responsible to provide an environment to nurture joyful kids.

Office Politics

cindy5 — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:02:44 +0000

I hate politics, and do not want to be involved. However, there is a term ‘office politics’ that we may not be able to stay away. Have you ever watched the popular reality television game show “Survivor”? If you want to be the sole survivor, you have to use some personal strategies, team up with some people, and to get rid of the weaker one first. Finally, you have to dump your partner too. In real life, you are sometimes forced to choose side during the office politics. You also need to say or do something that may not follow your heart because you have to protect yourself and to secure your job. I have the similar feeling of being a participant of the “Survivor” game show during the office politics. If you do not want to be the loser (the one to be discarded), you have to play it wisely. The bright side is you have to keep yourself competitive, always upgrade your skills and knowledge, and you can choose to quit if you are no longer interested in the ‘office politics’ game. I choose to be a good person, and do things that follow my heart.