Category Archives: Uncategorized

Last night the subject of presentation came up among my friends, one common difficulty is losing anchor point during the presentation. For example, someone in the audience throws you a tough question or you perceive a lack of interest among the audience. It probably depends on individual presenters as we have different sensitivities towards “disturbance”. […]

Last night an unpleasant telephone conversation broke out between a bank customer service representative (Bank) and me (RY). This is an extract of the conversation. RY: “Please don’t raise your voice at me. After all, I am a customer!” Bank: “That is my normal voice. I am not raising my voice at you.” RY: “Well, […]

“I used to …” I found myself among other more mature people using such a phrase “I used to …”. There are at least a few interpretations to the usage of such phrase. 1) The person is missing the past, in particular, something he/she was able to do, but not anymore. 2) The person has […]

I was in Paris for approximately 24 hours (23 hours and 56 minutes to be exact). I managed to avoid the long queue (well, I can’t tell you all my secrets, can I?) and stayed at the Lourve for 2 hours. Then I went for a 3-course lunch and recharged myself for a “power shopping” […]

Across the “pond”, this is the Labor Day long weekend that signifies the end of the summer in the U.S. The children are going back to school and a different routine will set in for them and their families. Well, I think an extra day off to come to terms with it and/or adjust to […]

I spoke to a few people in the past few days and one common theme came up: “Do we see our world as binary?” Everyone is entitled to his/her own opinions, but let us ponder on the following questions as food for thought. 1) In your circle of people, are there only 2 types: Friends […]

Last night I went for a drink with a friend to catch up after work in South Kensington, a posh neighborhood. After discussing for 15 minutes where to go, I finally put my foot down and declared “Excuse me. Do you think I am common? I don’t want to go to a local pub at […]

The arrival of August Bank holiday marked the end of the summer in the U.K. We had an average summer this year with fewer than 3 weeks of hot weather. In a way, it is not bad as most of the U.K. residence has no air-conditioning. I was not complaining when the 2 weeks of […]

Sometimes I hear other people (and myself as well) say something like “I survived!” or “I am a survivor!”. It sounds alright on the outset. However, on second thoughts, there is an element of passivity in those statements. Perhaps a more positive way of describing the mind-set is “rising above the tide” or “making the […]

Another personal example arrived last Sunday at church. The speaker was in his late twenties and from a much younger generation than me. He used his own experience, mostly his university years, to illustrate his points in his sermon. Well, university years are actually quite a distant past in my long “memory lane”. However, instead […]