Keep Will

Life is getting hard.

Yes it won't get easier - at least not until I retire. But retirement brings many intrepretations. I like doing what I do. And I'll do it as long my mind and body permit. 

I do a lot of things these days. Some because of I like doing it. Some are just simply responsibilities, love, denials, instincts, et cetera. 

My year 26 was a bit tricky.  Oh yea it was my birthday last week. I had BBQ and cake with my closest friends and that was outstandingly awesome. 

Half of the year was great. It kicked off with my best friend gotten married - with a girl that I think fits him perfectly and I'm very happy for both of them. I was the best man for both receptions and that was truly one of my best honours in my entire life. They were cool enough too to let me drive them (in my small car!) to the hall for one of the receptions. 

Then there was a girl. She was the sunshine when my days were drenched with thunder storms. And when the days were clear, she was this light that brighten paths I thought it never existed. I was happy. 

It was short lived.

And continue writing this is difficult - probably I'll keep it for some other time. 

Life moves on. And we try to get smarter, stronger physically and emotionally, and maintain heart that it will never lack will. We fall down all the time. It's hard to maintain heart. It's natural to be scared. We all know the right thing to do is to persevere. And maintain faith. 

And I promise this, I can take falling down all the time. The heart shall maintain its will. I promise that when the right person comes along, she will not bear a broken down heart. She deserves a full will. 

And that took me awhile to come up to here. 

Half of the year was filled with gloomy days. Meh.

Now I'm here. Life is getting hard. 

I love my work. But work doesn't love me back. It keeps getting tougher. But I'm holding on because I know this is what I want to do. And I owed it for losing attention in the past months.

There's family, friends and people that connects with me in the green community, basketball, music, schools, etc. There's a limit of how much a human being can take on but I'll try my best to take care of it - one at a time.  

Life is hard. There's no right formula for any person. 

We all try to fill it with things that keep us happy. Family, love, great friends, our own communities, shared interests, et cetera. 

Travel as far as down your neighbourhood. See if anyone might appreciate your quirky smile. Greet the cashier at the store and share his tiring long day. Compliment the lady at the reception for her outstanding skills of saying hello on the phone. 

How I want to be different coming this new era of the late 20s?

Probably nothing. Just the same. Life changes. I will not.

Keep heart. And faith.

An Apple a Day

Two things: looking back my past entries and my current literature joy.

I just wrote the above just to keep myself on track for what I wish to write about here today.

In my previous entry, when I wrote about what I wanted for 2008, I wished to improve my brain capacity by exercising my daily tasks. I just think it's worth doing it again because I haven't been practising it for so long.

The idea is quite simple really - just learn by heart a list of things to do, up to 10 or more stuffs, for a day that incorporate a route to something. It could be during your walk to your workplace, or going to do the laundry - try to mentally link each activity with one location; newspaper at 7-Eleven, coffee at Kopitiam, dropping clothes at laundry, etc. Then ask yourself these questions; What task follows the newspaper? What to do after laundry? Where to get coffee? And exercise yourself filling up your everyday life with more exciting things to do and try to add more activities as you become more happy going through these stages.

I cheated a bit there by copying what I wrote 4 years ago. But anyway, the point is, I think I wanna try this again. Probably I change the routine a bit because I don't buy newspapers since I can news online, I make my own coffee in my office and there are limited things I can do driving from my home to the office. However, it is a challenge and I'm happy to take it up again.

Now to figure out what I can do along Sungai Besi highway.

Oh, the second part.

I currently read Walking Wisdom by Gotham Chopra (Son of Deepak Chopra if anyone asked). Just passed 3 chapters and I probably could write something about it so far.

Wait.

No I actually didn't want to write about the book. Just the idea of reading a book is somewhat interesting to me.

Wait.

That's not true.

This actually relates to the first item above - filling up my daily activities. Just recently I have filled at least half an hour to read non-work-related non-fiction (because I don't read fiction) books. This is my third book of the past two months - the first two were Green Deen: What Islam Teaches about Protecting the Planet by Ibrahim Abdul-Matin and The Art of Loving by Erich Fromm.

Not an amazing statistic but to me, half an hour a day of literature bliss is like an apple a day for me. Oh, that would be my next plan too.

Now to find consistent supply of fresh fruits near my office.

So message of the day is: feed your brain and it shall make you happy.

It's Not Too Late!

Resolution.

It's a bit late but I thought I could just give it a go anyway. It's been awhile I last wrote a proper New Year entry. I guess have grown up much since and realized that resolutions are pointless.

Let me recap a little bit:

1. In 2007, I wanted to live my life to the fullest and enjoy things that are matter to me as much as I can. How cliche was that?
2. Later in 2008, I wanted to be more organized - fill up my daily activities with stuffs and be happy as I improved my daily routines. This worked out quite well - it was awesome that year.
3. In 2009, I wanted a complete life. Not sure where that meant - I totally forgot but this year was more awesome than the previous one.
4. In 2010, I just wrote 'Happy New Year'. How lazy was that?
5. In 2011, I have become more mature and didn't bother to acknowledge new years.

I hope this year could be more interesting. Last year was great. I'm too lazy to recall each stories but I can be fairly certain that by the end of the year, I have grown a lot faster than any of my younger years - well except in 2009.

I'm done developing maturity. I've laid enough of my ground work for my life. Let's do something great. I do think this deserves more writings but I think I can delay that for a bit - probably when I'm more in the mood.

And bee-tee-double-you, I tweet now, a bit. Lets say, that is my new year resolution - to start tweeting, and I've done it - finally, a successfully completed resolution! Lets achieve success by lowering expectation!

Basketball and High School

I played basketball in high school. It started off since I was in Form 1. The basketball court was located right in front of our dormitory block. Almost every evening the seniors came down and play and I just stood by my window and admire them.

I was inspired - I wanted to play like them - and perhaps, much better.

High school basketball was so much fun. We got to travel a lot (being in a boarding school it was a big deal). We played at different schools in different states. We proudly wore the red and white jersey with the school's name printed at the front with our own name at the back. Team huddle. Warm up circle. Rouse up song. Team cheers.

I love my high school basketball life.

Last week, I went back to Ipoh to visit my school. The school's former students, or old boys as I would like to call us, organized a basketball development programme for the current school players. I went and carried out the training for the kids with a couple of other old boys.

High school basketball was great for me. I love to give back what the school had provided for me through my teenage years. I'm happy to come back to my school to help the current teachers and students.

Last week wasn't my first time coming back to school to play with the current boys. I think it was my fifth time since I left school 9 years ago. I'd prefer for the frequency to be better though but I was far away in New Zealand for 5 years.

I would like to do more now.

Sekolah Tuanku Abdul Rahman, Ipoh shall host next year's Piala Perdana Menteri. Basketball is one of the main events. STAROBA, the old boys organization, has drafted some plans to ensure that STAR will be a great host for next year's big event - this includes preparing a strong basketball team.

Last week shall be the start of many visits and programmes organized by the old boys. I think this will be great for the current boys and the school too. I hope the kids will continue to develop and in time, they'll love the sport and the school the way we do - and perhaps, much better.



NJB
STAR Batch of 42
1998-2002

Save Money Save Planet

My car runs on average of 7.3 litres per 100km or 13.7km per litre of petrol.

I travel on average of 80km of distance a day - which can be translated to 5.84 litres of petrol daily.

My cost for petrol a day is approximately RM11 - excluding wear and tear factor.

Should I drive a 2.0l car that runs at approximately 10 litres per 100km, my daily petrol cost would be RM15.

That's RM4 difference daily, or RM1,460 a year.

My car's carbon emission rate is approximately 162g per km travelled.

My carbon footprint from travelling is about 13kg of CO2-e a day, or 4.7 metric tonnes a year.

If I drive my hypothetical 2.0l car, my carbon footprint would have been 6.3 metric tonnes a year.

In summary, I, hypothetically, save RM1,460 and 1.6 metric tonnes of CO2-e a year.

Save money. Save planet.

This entry is written via iPhone. I might save some CO2 too for not using my laptop.

Eternity

I'm not used to express emotions well. I believe that's how I am wired. Then again, how I believe myself to be is most likely not how I actually am. That's when impulse takes over and intention was made irrelevant. Possibly, that is when a person is most honest.

Alternatively, how a person is when he has the least energy can potentially be the most real person you can find. Least energy to drive our body fuels causes our brain to be inefficient - emotions take over and decide things for us. He, then, becomes real.

Honesty and reality are the same and different at the same and different times. As much honest and real we all wish other people to be, we also want the them to be separated - whether at the same time or separated in months or years. We live according to time and time is a factor that moves both consistently and inconsistently, i.e. it can be fast and slow moving as if you're waiting in a long queue without any electronics nor literature to pass the seemingly consistent moving time.

Eternity is honest. Real is what the clock tells you. Eternity is what emotions tell you when you're waiting for something of a significant value. It also vanishes when patience is rewarded and time starts running faster until your emotion decides to invite eternity back. Emotions we can never control is when we become real.

Then, eternity becomes real.

Eternity tells us that emotions have overtook our rationals. Real, as forwarded by emotions, becomes our new rationals. Rationals change - and often are the same things and different at the same and different times.

As real becomes honest again, eternity is immaterial.

Just Because

Sleep deprived.

Let's see how I write when I've been awake for 20 hours. Not really a big number. An average human being stay awake for 16 hours. I just exceed the normal range by 25%.

Nevertheless, it's late and let me try this.

I'm not sure whether sleep deprivation is the right term for it. I'm just staying late - intentionally - for work.

Anyway.

What can I write about at this late hour?

Work?

Love life?

World crisis?

Heck, why the bloody hell I'm here anyway to write about anything?

I'm just tired drafting some mundane report and I just thought my brain should relax for little bit by writing some other less mundane stuffs - such as this.

You know, I've always been more of a 'why' guy rather than 'how'. At least that's what I like to be, if the person that I am is not exactly what I thought I'd be.

Nevertheless.

I don't care much on how I would do anything. That can be googled, experimented, trialed and errored, etc. How we do things is not necessarily important due to that high possibility of multiple ways we can do anything.

I do care about why I would do certain stuffs. That too can be googled, experimented, trialed and errored, etc. However, the real answer to this question really lies within your own judgement rather than depending on others to write you a walkthrough.

Maybe that's not true.

I care about why I would do certain stuffs because it feeds my conscience.

I'm not sure what that exactly means.

Why: I write this because I like to do it.

How: I write this by drafting some ideas in notepad and googled certain trivial stuffs for general knowledge such as an average person waking hours, what conscience means, etc.

I'm not developing this well - but I still enjoyed this.

Ok, now, if I'm still awake after another 10 hours - I shall add some more to this entry.

Be Great

I have written a particular paragraph back in 2009. But not as the core focus of the entry but merely a supporting entity of another entirely different subject.

And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others,

I shall avoid sourcing the above paragraph for several no-need-to-mention reasons. At this day and age, you can google it yourself to find the source - if you can't, just ask a 16-year old IT whiz kid to do it for you.

Anyway.

Today, this entry is entirely about the above paragraph - well, actually I first heard about the above from a basketball-themed movie, Coach Carter. Good movie, for a basketballer at least. Oh recently I watched Horrible Bosses - it was good, please go watch/download/purchase original/pirated dvd/blueray disc.

I don't think I'm the type that is comfortable to be in a spotlight. I usually will shy away. I'm always all for group stuffs, i.e. team sports - maybe mostly because I'm not good in any individual sports - except chess (nerd!).

But funnily enough I strived in chess when I was in a good team rather than playing on my own. This is a little bit complicated to explain how chess can be a team but we can talk about this later. Plus it was during primary school. Hence, kids stories are irrelevant, or just plain stupid.

Anyway, I like to blend in the group rather than standing above others. Sure, in my high school resume, I seemed to be a leader of many sorts. In reality, I was just the dependable type rather than a leading type.

I shall skip to explain on what's the different between the two above types. Not gonna waste my time elaborating unnecessary stuffs (except this sentence).

To put simply, modesty is overrated.

Well, maybe lets keep the good value of modesty in ourselves.

Nevertheless, to a certain context, by letting ourselves go and shine as bright as we wanted to be, we automatically allow others to do the same. I know its nothing different from what was written up there but how about this - by modestly keep your lights on with fear that it might blind others, you're setting a modest standard to light shining.

Ah crap.

I really don't know how to tell this story better. Have my writing skill deteriorates over this few months?

All I want to say here is that I want and will be the greatest in what I do. I will not lose to anyone (should there's any competition) and I will let everyone knows that I'm the best in what I do (again, repeating without improving the original sentence sheesh).

By doing that, you shall do the same. Probably in whatever you do and hoping its not the same as mine. But if its the same, keep your nose clean because you gonna spend a lot of time trailing my a**.

Well, that's not nice. I'm doing this all wrong.

Just be great - voila!

Sophie's Choice

Last entry was in April?

So, here's a summary of what was on in my life since then:
- I've been to Johor Bahru almost every week. JB rocks my socks.
- I joined a gym.
- I haven't been to the gym since mid May.
- I gained 'some' weight - and size.
- My birthday on 9 June. I should have written an entry here - you know, the usual annual retrospection crap.
- Basketball league just started. Recently suffered 2 straight losses. That sucks.
- I went back to gym. Although just for a quick shower.
- I continued to lose weight - in my imagination.
- My best friend got married.

Well, I do want to tell you a story about my best friend got married. But that I'll keep for later. I need to spend a lot more time for that one.

Today's entry is about exercise.

Healthy lifestyle is difficult isn't? Or it is just me?

I started gym because my company pays for it. I went for the first 2 months consistently for 2-3 times a week. I did runs, weights, swimming, chicks staring, and everything a gym offers. It felt great. I felt good about myself. Exercise is good and doing good stuffs makes me feel good.

However later, the rate started to deteriorate to 1-0.5 time a week. My last gym visit was a month ago - and that was only for a quick shower.

Was it work?

Maybe.

I don't think that's a good excuse. Sure, work does consume a lot of my time. But surely I'm smart enough to manage my time better.

2-4 hours a week surely can't be that hard to slot in. There's work, JB weekly work/holiday trip, Majlis Tertinggi weekly meeting, basketball, music night, friends, family, etc. I even had a hard time filling time for dates - but that's a whole other issue.

I don't know.

I'm considering to freeze my gym membership account. Surely, that money can be put to better use.

Sigh.

My pants hardly fit now. Here's my Sophie's Choice: new pants or exercise?

Techperiment

I know I haven't been the most committed writer ever. Life is not getting easier and priorities evolutes (not sure this word exists). Maybe I just need to be more organized - like reeaaally 'organized'.

I'm writing this entry via iPhone. Let's see whether this helps.

Aim Less

So.

What was the story? I think I need to pick up from where I left off but I'm not exactly sure what was my core objective of the previous entry. Seriously, I need another journal to record my thoughts so that I can remember and write them into this journal. Maybe then I need another journal to record my bits of emotions so that I can remember and write them into that earlier journal for this journal.

Reminders, are basically what I need. Might as well hire myself a hot personal secretary. She must be good in 'reminding' me.

Reading my previous story, I think the story can be concluded with just that. Who's gonna criticize me anyway for not finishing a story properly. I want to move on with something else. If you wanna hear more about that story, call me up and we can have chat over coffee - you're buying.

But I don't have a story to tell today.

Just ranting aimlessly so I can feel that I have updated this blog a little bit more frequent that usual.

Probably I should put a picture or something.

Maybe later.

Earth Hour Speech

Last time I wrote an entry was February 13th? And instead of looking for a date, I wrote geeky stuffs online where only the most amazing people on Earth, yes that's you, read?

Anyway, let's pick up where we left off - and the timing is perfect because I had a meeting that is particularly related to what I wish to discuss (or I just simply tell you stuffs without expecting any comebacks) here today.

"Why"

Well, people often tell you stuffs about being green, sustainable, save the planet, etc whether through the media, government campaign, random conversation with strangers, etc. Hence, you may often come to a point asking yourself the followings:

1. Is it true that the Earth is dying if we continue throwing away plastics?
2. Do we really have to recycle stuffs, switch off lights, save water, etc at home?
3. Will it work?
4. Do I care?

Anyway, I'm not sure how important the questions above in terms of achieving green - our whatever objective you have personally. For me, it's common sense, if you wish to know, Google is just one-click-and-a-series-of-typing-then-pick-one-link-and-hope-it-is-the-right-link away.

What I wish to share with you today is far more interesting, at which all the above questions are to be made obsolete and being green is irrelevant to discuss no more - and Earth is happy to have us for a much longer time.

I had a meeting with a potential client last week. Most of the time, I only get to meet managerial level staffs for briefing. Last week was kind of special - I get to meet the MD of the company. I shall keep the identity anonymous for this entry. To me, getting the opportunity to speak to the ultimate decision maker is quite a great one. However, the thing I wish to highlight here is not about the person I met with but about the spur of interesting thoughts that was inspired by his vision and intellectual provisions.

We talked about developing a new lifestyle.

No red, blue and green recycling bins. No "no plastic day". Certainly no shutting the light off or an hour in a year.

How do we create a new 'green' lifestyle that is so acceptable into your life that is not intrusive and doesn't require effort and ultimately - sustainable?

It's interesting when you attempt to this perspective because you start thinking (or probably just me alone) that what are actually doing now that are, in fact, already sustainable?

How about instead of changing our lifestyles, we change our surroundings?

For example, water efficiency. We need to shower, do the dishes, washing machine, etc. Today, you can find anywhere in the market cool things like efficient shower heads, water efficient dishwasher or washing machine. Sure, if you have money you would have bought that stuffs and probably along the way you'd save 50% of your monthly water bill, which equates for SYABAS current rate to about RM18 savings per month for an average household (Our water is that cheap?!).

So why bother?

Let's put it this way, if you don't save your water, you're putting more stress of increasing demand to the water supplier (well, you know because of increasing population and increase usage of activities done here and there). Hence, by 2014, if our water supply industry does not improve their production or efficiency, there'll be significant price hike on the water tariff rate and water policy overhaul. Hence, see Australia (unless you are not informed of this news, please google "water restrictions in Australia").

This is the very core essence of sustainability.

Anyway, getting back to the story...

Well, to be continued. This has been pretty lengthy for my personal capacity for one entry. Until next time.

Happy Earth Hour people!

Not Sure if it's Cool or Nerdy

First, I build the building forms. I get the window and wall sizes right - which both are pretty critical for solar fenestration. I'm not very strict on space height and width. Although it is good to have them all as close to being perfect. Nonetheless, it should be fine as long I think the built model is sufficiently representative of the building design.

Preliminary Development

Next thing in line is to set up the building parameters - internal and external. I like to separate the internal factors into two categories: architectural and mechanical. These two categories cover factors such as building materials, surface finishes, materials specifications, air conditioning systems requirements, internal load which covers space operations, human factor, etc.

To put simply, I give a sort of an educated guess that the building shall be occupied by a cetain amount of people on daily basis through typical office hours at which they will enjoy nice cool space in a building that is built of standard brickwall and tinted windows.

I hope that is simple enough.

Detailed Design

Now the boring part is over, we can continue to the more depressing part of this exercise - running simulation. Basically, it's pretty easy - because all I have to do is, assuming all settings are defaulted, click a button.

Let's have an example - simulating daylight.

To make my life a little bit more difficult, I set my own sky model - what kind of sky I would like to have for my model. I mean, sure I'll have the local sky condition but I need to set whether it's during the brightest day of the year or the dark gloomy sky we have right after a heavy rain. Then I set the time and date of which I would like to have my data.

Simple stuffs. Even a monkey could do it.

Simulation Output

Now, I have all the data that I supposedly need and like any profession that deals with ridiculous amount of numbers, how we intepret and present them is arguably the most important matter of all. Hence, I make them look nicer and easier for general understanding.

For example, image below shows in a typical bedroom floor plan of a residential unit, the level of Daylight Factor (DF) available around the interior space. In other words, how good a room can get good daylighting. Good DF should be around 1 to 5, I think.

Data Representation

I think that is simple enough to follow.

What's the point of all of this? I mean, the 'how' is not as important as 'why' I have to do all this stuffs. We'll get into that on the next entry.

Yes, hooray! More cool stuffs are coming up!

Green Drinks KL

I wouldn't say that I'm the most sociable person out there nor I am the greatest conversationist. This notion may be applicable for both of my personal and professional lives. Some recent events have confirmed that notion. I'm not the worse either (I think) so I am grateful for that.

Nevertheless, for today, or possibly only ever, I am refering to my professional life and how the previously mentioned notion is effecting it.

Although.

I'm not exactly refering to my primary work operation. This is more about the stuffs I'm trying to do for extracurricular points - things that I do outside my working hours relating to this 'green' stuffs.

...

Okay I'm spending too much time building up a story that I don't think worth a 'refined' introduction. In fact, reading back, it was pointless and irrelevant.

Basically, I recently went to a social drink for 'green' enthusiasts in KL. It is held on every last Tuesday of the month at The Apartment, KL, I think. Well, I'm not very sure - the event held last month was my first and I'm looking forward to my second visit later this month.

So, let me paint you a picture: a group of 'green' enthusiasts get together every month discussing about 'green' stuffs.

My previous first visit was interesting. My last social drink event before that (and coincidentally on green stuffs too) was about two years ago in Wellington. I think today I am intellectually better and have sharper focus as previously at times I tend to zone-out in the middle of a heavy conversation. I do that less now.

Anyway, I think it's pretty cool they have this in KL every month. There's a Facebook group about this. You can search 'Green Drinks KL' there. I'm not entirely sure if I fit in well in the group. Seriously, these are hardcore 'green' enthusiasts - in DOTA terms, I am possibly at Level 7 (I just earn my first ultimate ftw!) and most of them are somewhere around Level 22.

Truthfully, I quite enjoy being around this 'green' fanatics from various background - philosophy, anthropology, science, etc. I am also happy for myself that I still have this hunger to learn more about this 'green' stuffs. I hope I can keep this up.

I would really love to share with you a video presented during that event:



Fruit for thoughts.

Morning Vertigo

Let's call him Sentul. Well, as in Brooklyn, Paris, Jordan and Sydney, this guy is named after a rather popular city. Born and raised in Ampang, Sentul grew up with enough love and education a modern KL life could offer to the city's own son. As fate was kind to him, as per my own writing permits so, he then became, rightfully so, an adult with a great heart and intellect so charismatic you'd wish he mention your name in his conversations with his other brainy friends. Not because you wish to be heard among the great minds in the country. No. It's just because he has also a very beautiful voice.

Talented bastard.

But hey, this is fictional writing. And by the way, he has ocean blue eyes.

If you haven't attempted to picture him yet, let's say he has that boy-next-door kinda physical look, say Pierre Andre but with personality as 'bubbly' as Aznil's but with less make-up.

Today, he's 29 years old, single (or secretly involved with a partner) and at this moment of you reading this exact line, imagine him on an expensive, as in KLCC-expensive, penthouse balcony looking over the crowded KL rats racing, a very slow race in fact, back and forth through Jalan Ampang at 8am.

He's still in his pyjamas. Yes, he enjoys being the very few adults in this country, or probably this decade, who still wears pyjamas to bed. Sipping his hot tea with honey - clover, of course - his eyes caught a long stream of cars, motorcycles and cranky van drivers waiting behind the main entrance gate of the opposite office tower causing massive angry trails spreading over Jalan Ampang.

Should he be worried that he's supposed to be down there opening the gate?

Go Green

Have I actually told anyone that I'm actually a green building consultant? I think I did. Just thought I didn't conveyed it well enough. I mean, many may have lost in those bomoh's analogy, high performance building shits, modelling, etc.

To put simply, sure, I'm a green building consultant.

This 'green' label has been quite an 'in' trend going on these days. While money is still some sort of source for higher social status, being 'green' seems to be heading the same direction too. Although I'm speculating that within the origin of this trend, 'green' is just simply an excuse for poor people to have some value in society.

Stranger A: "Why are you walking instead of going by car?"
Green B: "I want to save fuel so that less CO2 is produced and pollute the air."
Traitor C: "Nah, B is broke."
Green B: "F**k you C"

Well, I don't really care really why are you 'green' anyway. The more reason you think you have to be green means better business for my 'green' industry.

But, personally, I don't like the word 'green'. It's misleading and its too trendy to be taken seriously. Not that I don't like the rather 'glamourous' environment I'm living in, but it's just starting to deviate from my core purpose of my work. Well, if you still think I'm actually a green building consultant, you should read the whole entry again, or go back to school and learn to read between the lines.

Nevertheless, I care very little. Ego is a small price to pay to earn my next pay. However, I still wish the small amount of readers here to understand the true meaning of 'green'.

But, there is no true meaning of green anyway except its just a colour used to paint trees or your vommit. And oh it's also a colour typically associted with envy and jealousy (ahh what wonder a simple research could bring).

Let's use Brundtland's idea in 1987, that sustainable development, or perhaps 'green' development, meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generation to meet their own needs.

So.

I'll break the above definition down for you:

1. "..meets the need of present.."
2. "..without compromising the ability of future generation.."
3. "..to meet their own needs.."

Mm, I think i gonna stop here. This is going well for me and my brain is starting to shut down. I'd prefer to continue this when I'm more refreshed.

Until then, go green.

The Science of Romantic Evening

I’ve always been a big believer in numbers. I also take step directions pretty seriously – well, not as in I’d be pissed off if anybody skipped step 2 but I respect the time and effort pulled off by the kind lady who spent countless hours figuring out the simplest way and the most understandable approach to put up a chair from IKEA.

Although this entry is not about step directions – it’s about numbers. Statistic may fall under it but I still don’t have the proper ‘umbrella’ term for the thing I wanted to tell you about. For now, let’s take it as it’s about numbers.

Lux level at your classroom : 400 lux
Lux ratio for highlighting a Mona Lisa on your wall : 10 to 1
Minimum background sound level at your office : 5 dBa

I’m not very sure if these figures even intrigued you in any way. Nevertheless, numbers matter. I hate to spoil your first spark with your girlfriend but romantic settings can be calculated and reinvented. She can experience the same spark with another guy – you just got lucky to run by her that time. Although timing too can be estimated too but I’d prefer not to go too far by saying I can customize fate.

When I’m trying to say here is you can have a romantic dinner by taking care of the followings:

Ambient lux level : 50 lux
Humidity : 45%
Lux ratio of you and the background : 7 to 1
Background music level : 30 dBa

And of course a dozen of other stuffs just to compliment the above factors. Why the above figures matter? Because you probably can only get 50 lux at a secluded away-from-shopping-centres fine dining restaurants. Higher lux level will not keep her relax for too long – lower would just increase her anxiety. Anything above 60% humidity will cause your brain to think this is just another average day and it bores her. 45% will have better probability of making her excited. If the lux ratio is higher, she may have difficulties keeping her focus at you. Anything lower, you’ll be as bland as the tasteless wallpaper they have at the background.

A perfect date?

Maybe, but it helps. If only I have a girl to experiment this with.

P.S. The above specified 'magic' figures are not necessarily justified. I'm too lazy to run a quick research about anything at the moment. Although they may not be too far off though.

The Smurfs Had it Before

A couple of days has become about 2 weeks. I'm pretty bad in estimating my own time. Oh well, no one's hurt so that's cool.

I'm not changing anything at the moment. While I'm trying to keep away the thought that no one actually cares, the item on today's blog to-do list is that I have something to say (or write), apparently. Well, rather than babbling on and on about what I have in mind about selecting the colour of the curtains, I think this is more refreshing.

People often ask me, "Am I doing this green enough?". Given the nature of my 'professional' life, I get that pretty much now and then. You can also probably guess that they're just joking around anyway. I don't think they're expecting a blue (or green) ribbon by just not using plastic bags to carry out a 1.5l bottle of Coke out from Giant. A pat of on the back perhaps?

To be honest, what do you feel when they refused you plastic bags when you're checking out a gazillion items from the store? Although I don't think there's any store refusing to give their customers plastic bags since the alternative is that they charge you for it.

But the point I'm getting at is, do you feel that you have done something good? Or do you feel something as if you have done a little bit of sacrifice for something that you can't actually feel?

I mean, congratulations to many of you that feel proud or fulfilling when you throw old newspaper into the correct recycling bin. It's not that I'm saying it's not good enough although I bet some of you geniuses can sense some condescending tone over there. Truthfully, I sincerely think it's good to see many civillians starting to have some conscience and do something about this 'green' stuffs - true story.

Honestly, I do occasionally think about the environment, i.e. refuse plastic bags, throw correct stuffs into the correct recycling bins, etc. But I feel good about them, and for me, if you still can't catch my previous drifts and turns, feeling good is not the right way to feel.

What's the right feeling then?

Nothing.

Yes, we should feel nothing when we do all these 'green' stuffs. Because it should not matter. 'Green' is just a word, or a term, invented by humans to represent sustainability. The major objective is to sustain, and to sustain is what we've been wanting to do all this while. It's not something new. That's what humanity has been developing us for centuries - to sustain ourselves as whatever we wish to be as long as we can.

You know who's green? The Smurfs. Yes, I know they're, in fact, blue but truly, they are 'green'. Self-sustainable community. They have been living just among themselves, creating and providing food in the community for decades without any need of having any sort of fish to be shipped from thousands of kilometres away. They integrate trees and earth forms into their architectural designs. They produce minimal CO2 from wood burning but they compensate with planting back trees. They are net zero carbon community and you have never heard them bitchin' about being green.

Being 'green' is not something hip or new. It's what we've done for centuries as human beings - to be sustainable. The Egpytians built the pyramids to last for thousand of years. Our grandparents scolded us if we waste food. The economy is built to last for not 100 years but, if possible, until that super giant meteor strikes again.

Being sustainable is not something new. We have savings because we want to have some money to splurge when you're holidaying in Venice when you're 50. Now, we have to save some plastic bags, metal waste, fuel, etc because if you don't, Venice probably will not be there anymore.

Maybe I'm exagerrating, but at least it's not as exciting.

And This is Only Step 1

This looks better. Let's leave it for a couple of days and see whether it'll stay or not.

The Theme Stays Though

On second, or third, thought, this doesn't look right.

Sigh.