Some people asked me how big my collection is. Well, I did not really count them, but I think it is in the vicinity of 100 items.

Due to the limitation of living space in London, I took close to 20 stuff-animal frogs to Canada for my 2 lovely nieces last year. I am very glad that I found a sweet home for my frogs. It would not be fair to the stuff-animal frogs if I left them in boxes without displaying them in my flat. Last time I checked when I was in Toronto this July, the frogs and their owners were happy. It is good to share and create win-win situations.

I used to have 4 pet frogs!

It was quite a long while back when I lived in New York. My colleague (back then) Tina gave me 4 tree frogs that she found in her swimming pool as my obsession of frog was evident in the office. I bought a small tank and kept them for the summer. I remembered buying them crickets as food and ended up having crickets all over my apartment :>

At the end of that summer, I made a tough decision of setting them free in the nature (an undisclosed location). My good friends Alan and Florence came with me as they knew that it would be very emotional (or dramatic) for me.

Actually I was ok. To love is to set someone free – in this case my frogs, they would be happier in the nature than my little tank.

Why is frog my favorite animal? First, frog is an amphibian which can live in water and on land. I am like a frog in the sense that I have 2 sides (I don’t mean right and left). I enjoy quiet hobbies such as music and reading. On the other hand, I like sports (more in my younger years) such as swimming and fencing. In other words, I am a quiet and yet active person (not bipolar though).

 Another characteristic of frog is its strong survival power. You can find frogs almost everywhere in the world. They can use their bodies to adapt to different environments for survival such as changing skin colors and ejecting skin toxins. Like a frog, I too have a very strong determination to succeed. I will overcome hurdles to reach my goal through hard work and strong will power. I will leave out the toxic part – we don’t need to get there.

A friend of mine told me that he failed an exam that he was preparing for the past 6 months. Main Reason of failure? During the oral part of the exam, he answered one of the questions incorrectly due to carelessness. But the thought of “kicking himself” haunted him and lingered on throughout the entire exam. And unfortunately that affected his concentration and confidence adversely. Consequently, he failed the exam by a thin margin.

Like many incidents in life, when we did not have a good start, we should NOT let that experience of failure linger on.  We should snap back and move on. We still have the rest of our lives to make it up!

Today concludes my ‘book tour’ in Hong Kong and I will be on a red-eye flight back to Europe tonight.

Hong Kong is an even busier city than London. The hustle and bustle of life can be quite challenging even for someone who was born and raised here. My book, short of 70 pages in a concise manner, is of perfect length for city-dwellers that don’t have much patience nor ‘luxury’ for time-wasters.

A friend of mine told me that his daughter is having difficulties adjusting to the first year of university. I recalled similar experience during my time and it did take me a bit of time before I started enjoying my university life.
In retrospect, I think the awareness and psychological preparation are crucial. Like most transitions in life, if we anticipate and prepare for it both psychologically and practically, it will go more smoothly. Monitoring and reviewing the progress can also be extremely helpful. ‘Oddly’ enough but not so surprisingly, it goes back to the basic framework of my book (psychological and practical aspects).

Wish I knew and applied it earlier in life. Better late than never!

Happy Thanksgiving to All!

Special thanks to those who have given me support, help, advice and feedback in various ways for the publication, sales and marketing of my book in 2014.

I feel very blessed and have learned a great deal 🙂

I had lunch with a high school classmate who is taking some time off from work at the moment.  He told me that he was quite inspired by my book publication (he has not read it yet, hopefully soon) and he is contemplating on writing one himself.

I asked him what the type and subject of his future book are. He replied that the type is something similar to those who have won the Nobel Prize in literature (There are two Chinese that have accomplished that so far).  He added Hong Kong is going through a special period in the Asian history and it may be a good topic.

Well – it would be really something if I inspired a Nobel Literature Laureate!

Today I had coffee with a friend of mine who had started his own business a year ago. He said the negative feedback was the most valuable advice he received. As tough as it is, it may be the honest truth that one needs to hear.

A word of caution as mentioned  in my book:  We, as recipients of those negative feedback, should remain objective, learn from it and turn it into positive energy.