Riding Through it All ...

People say life is a miracle, and yes, this little young man is a living miracle. His name is KONG Youta. "Youta" is a Japanese word meaning "great sunlight/sun", and I can proudly say I am the uncle who came up with this name for him. Uncle, yes. I am officially an uncle. Anyway, he was born on the 13th of September, 2015 at Bumrungrad Hospital when the clock struck 10:28AM. He has brought so much joy to both families though we might handle his birth differently. Never a day has passed without my parents constantly demanding to see their grandchild. Even though they don't sometimes get to see him in person, they still constantly ask for his pictures from my brother, the father of the child, through LINE since we have a LINE family group. For the time-being, every decision made in the family concerns Youta since we all want to make sure he gets the best upbringing. Watching how my parents have been handling the whole we-are-the-grandparents-now situation ...

Yup, I am going down with flu again for the hundredth time--or more, all thanks to biking in the rain for two days in a row. I don't regret one bit, though. I enjoyed every minute of the ride! Anyways, because I am sick, a close friend of mine called me up to steam it all off and probably get some massage, but I turned him down. Okay, this is the thing about me: I am an ambivert! I have come across quite a number of articles about ambiverts and have even taken some online personality quizzes to see if I really fit into that category. And yes, I do! You see, there aren't just two ends of a continuum: black and white, good and bad, happy and sad, introvert and extrovert. Life would be so much easier with just two categories. So I fall into the third category: the ambivert. I am an introvert and an extrovert on different occasions. I am super sociable when I know I need to build up networks with people in the same career field, but I also enjoy the luxury that doing things sol...

Well, in case you haven't noticed, I am actually a government official. Yes, a government official who dreams of owning a pub! Forget about the pub for the time being, though, since this post revolves around my life as a civil servant! I guess this is probably the first time I open up about that part of my life here. As much as I love the creative side of me that running a pub will feed on, I am deeply rooted in the government background, having the bloodlines working as important people in the government. At one point in my life, I thought being a university lecturer with easy money and less pressure would be able to compensate for the career path down the government-ish lane. It took me about five years of dragging myself to classes every morning and sleeping past midnight because of the papers i had to grade before i was struck with the realisation that I couldn't take the easy way out. I just wasn't meant for that. I was born to be more. I guess people just at one po...

I cannot fall asleep again! Well, in fact, there is no need for me to complain here since i pretty much sleep only after 3AM! Anyways, I am not here to go on and on about my sleep patterns. I am here to talk about my pub! I remember mentioning my interest in running a pub here, and well so far, though nothing has materialised yet, we pretty much are on the right track. We have managed to sort of decide on the favourable location. It's true that no leasing contract has been signed yet, but I've already talked to the potential owner of the small villa we wanted to rent and she seemed pretty understanding. Also, we finally reached the consensus about the concept of the pub. However, it is not wise to disclose the information about the concept of the pub here. The meetings we have had so far undoubtedly bear fruitful results. We are getting more confident each day now. The only big concern we are having now is the operation management of the pub since it's daunting. We have...

Life has been good to me. At least, that's how I choose to see it! Every challenge that presents itself to me is seen as another milestone towards my goals. They say we all should step out of our comfort zone because nothing ever grows there. How about we keep on EXPANDING our comfort zone instead? Well, I think that's what I have been doing lately. As far as I'm concerned, nobody is thrown into this world with his comfort zone being the size of the combined continents. In fact, we probably trust very few people at first--our parents, but as we grow up, we trust more people: siblings, lovers, friends and the like. My point is the comfort zone isn't unchanging! It changes over time! The only difference is probably the rate of the change itself, which apparently varies among individuals. So, I think it is not so much about stepping IN and OUT of the comfort zone because this implies that the comfort zone stays the same, but about EXPANDING the zone instead. We eat things...

It is almost 4 AM in the morning, yet I am wide awake and … naked. Well, i guess the "naked" part is not so relevant (or is it?). My sleep pattern has been screwed! I sleep at 5 AM almost every day now, and that sucks because when I wake up, I always feel like a zombie. And to keep myself awake, i drink loads and loads of coffee, and as a result, when the hustle and bustle of life dies down after 12 AM every night, my brain is just as hyperactive as it is during the daytime.  Every time I shut my eyes, forcing myself to sleep, random images pop into my head. The damaged ruins of the TransAsia plane. The mummified monk in an awkward, supposedly "meditating" siting position. The Japanese man in the yellow prisoner outfit kneeling next to the terrorist dressed as the black ninja assassin.   Nope, it has nothing to do with some sort of worries weighing heavily on me. I have been happy and hopeful with my life recently. I am filled with positivity to the brims,...