Makahiya

The Makahiya is a wild plant found all over Philippines and throughout south-east Asia. The plant is unique because it folds its leaves when touched. The direct english translation of Makahiya is shy or bashful.

Reminds me of a me a few while back. Shy and afraid.

Thats wrong actually.

I'm still shy. I still worry about what others opinion of me and I don't think I'm any more confident than before. It still takes me enormous 'Will' power to do something.

But when I recount the many opportunities I've lost because I was 'shy' or 'afraid' to do something, I get a big cold fish slap from my conscience.
Regret is an awesome motivator.

Step by Step Design Guide - The Perfect Home

We all want the perfect lifestyle, partner, car and most importantly the perfect home.

If only it was that easy…HA! I wish…

Well, I’m only a draftsman but having a creative and being visual minded, I hope to help you design the perfect house, one that suits your budget and lifestyle and all of life’s little expectancies :)

I thrive on the feeling of designing your own house, “bedrooms here, kitchen there, and toilet definitely not here” etc….. it’s a place where you spend most of your time, therefore I think it should be a personal place and well thought out.

A house should be unique and personal, it should let your guest, know who you are and a good sense of interior arrangements and design should achieve this. But before you can pick out tiles, paint colours, carpet, shelves and stuff, you have to have the rooms laid out and visually see what goes where. (but not everyone can do it, hence there are interior designers and architects)

Entry-

The Entry is pretty important; a cramp, small, plain, bad colouring is a recipe for a bad Entry. You should always make your entrances spacious, inviting, well lit, not too ‘in your face” but interesting and a “feature” basically.

A feature light, will win eyes, a good choice and quality tiles will also do the trick. A nice painting or mirror on the wall will also catch your guest’s attention. However DON’T be afraid to spend and always go for quality…”first impressions count”
There is nothing worst then having dull lighting, chipped tiles caused from “average Joe’s tiling service” or a cheap looking painting on the wall. Please do not over crowd your Entry though, doing this will firstly make your room smaller, and importantly detract your guest from the focusing on one/two feature items that you spent a lot of dosh on.

Last tip, some of you may think that it should look like the rest of the house. Personally I don’t think it has too. It can have a different flooring material ie: tiles vs floor boards/carpet to the rest of the house. Even a different paint colour, but like I mention before it’s personally thing and I only can give advice…to have a successful entry you should keep it “simple but interesting”

Happy designing!!!

Karaoke

I think nothing says you're 'asian' more than Karaoke :P Its a pastime we've grown to love (or hate)!

A few years back, I had the pleasure of staying with my grandma who lived opposite a karaoke bar. I ate, slept, drank, and literally LIVED karaoke for a whole month. Oooh the pain! the pain! Make it go away!

Now sometimes the singers were really good. But most of the times I'm wrestling with my brother to get to the rat poison - we'd rather kill ourselves than listen to another round of 'Gold' by Spandau Ballet *shudder*

Hong Kong is serious about Karaoke. They have hotel-like buildings specifically for Karaoke

So from this, I've constructed a Do's & Dont's list to guide karaoke goers. No one should have to suffer the ill consequences of bad karaoke :P

1. DON'T hog the microphone! We didn't come to karaoke just to watch and hear you sing.
2. DO encourage group singing by picking songs that everyone can enjoy.
   
3. DON'T play the same song over and over and over and over and over again. We don't think it gets better with each try.
   
4. DO sing the songs in time. Holding a high note can be impressive, but sending us to a time warp by singing a few words behind the tune can be maddening.
5. DON'T pick songs just because you recognise a song (or its chorus). No one thinks you're any more special because you know lots of songs in the songbook.
6. DO invite heaps of people. The more the merrier!
   
7. DON'T make fun of guys singing karaoke. It takes REAL balls to grab a mic and sing in public. Those who just sit around making fun of people have no balls at all (or have very very small ones).
   
8. DO showcase your talent. If you sound good in the shower - then sing!
   
9. DO join in the singing - even if you don't have the mic. I'm sure everyone could do with backup singers.
10. DON'T laugh when someone sings out of tune. If everyone had a choice, I'm sure we'd all be Celine Dion's and Barry White's. You can laugh about them later when they've gone home.
11. DON'T pick depressing after depressing after depressing songs.
12. DO applaud fellow singers, even if they sounded like cats being skinned. Just think of it as applauding their courage to sing in public.
13. DON'T kiss / lick / suck the microphone.
14. DON'T pick your nose in a KTV bar. Actually, this is a general thing you shouldn't do in public.
15. DON'T pick songs that you can't sing. Just because you can do Mariah Carey's hand motions doesn't mean you can sing 8 octaves.
    
16. DON'T stab someone just because they beat your karaoke score.
17. DO try 'power-oke'. Sing songs up to the end of the first chorus then move on to the next song. This lets you go through lotsa songs and keeps things happening (rather than being bored with the whole song).
18. Do have some alcohol. This calms the nerves when performing in public AND it makes everyone's singing sound SOOO much better :)
    
19. DO leave a karaoke place when you're tired and have no songs left in you. Singing unfamiliar songs will not revive your karaoke powers (did you have any to begin with?) :P
    
20. DON'T take it seriously. Its not idol.