The joy of spring cleaning

Blink your eyes and Christmas will be upon us.

I decided to start with some spring cleaning. The first targets were my drawers. They were clustered and untidy. I threw away tons of trash. It included receipts and bills, expired guarantee cards, newspaper cuttings, instruction booklets for things like cameras and phones, old photos, old spectacle frames, old VCDs .....

You know, spring cleaning has a psychological effect. When you see your things getting organized and orderly, it lifts up your spirit and you feel happy.

After the clean-up my drawers are now neat and tidy and still have some space left.

There are still more to be done but, no hurry, I intend to complete spring cleaning before Chinese New Year. Still a lot of time, right?

Meanwhile I am taking a break. There will be no new posts for about 3 weeks.
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God helps those who help themselves

How to make millions from sales! Get the job you want!

These were two of the topics in positive thinking books I read long ago. I didn't make millions and I didn't get the job I wanted.

Not everyone can do what the writers say. Even if you follow the advice, it doesn't necessarily mean you will be successful. People have different personalities, temperaments and abilities.

Not long ago a successful person tell students that getting 'As' is not important but creative thinking is. I guess the speaker is one of those who became successful this way.

Getting 'As' may not be important but getting 'As' is better than not getting. And thinking won't help you much if you are lazy.

There is a practical handbook which I find quite helpful. I have written a post about it last year.

For example, it would say something like this ...

If you have a problem, don't just ask God for help and then just sit down and hope for a miracle to happen. Miracles very rarely happen this way. God helps those who help themselves. God has put on Earth people and resources to help you. He works miracles through them.

So, if it is a medical problem, go and see a doctor. Take the first step and He will guide you along.

Meanwhile, have faith in your prayers.

got queue means good food

Are you one of those who think that if there are a lot of people queuing or waiting for their food at a stall, then the food there is good to eat.

If you are and if you happen to be in Macpherson Estate and you feel hungry and you like to eat porridge, then you can try this porridge stall the Pipit Road market which is opposite the Macpherson Community Club. Every time I passed this market in the morning, there was a queue. The stall is closed on Mondays and it opens only in the morning.


One evening I was at the food centre at the Chinatown Complex. Some Western tourists were having a discussion and then two of them went to join a long queue at a popular noodle stall. I think generally Western tourists know little about local hawker food and they are not particularly enthusiastic about the taste of the food. So, probably these tourists also believe that Got Q means good food.

This Ah Lo Cooked Food at the Centre always has a long queue during the few hours that it is open and the food is sold off very fast. The day I took this photo it was closed.

琵琶行(全曲) - 鄧志駒, 曾慧

This is a full version of the song. It is 21 minutes long. Both singers are pupils of Sun Ma Si Zhen.

Still Can Use

Still Can Use - That is the name of a shop at the Chinatown Complex in Smith Street. It sells old things. I think it was opened only recently. There are old Chinese movie magazines, black and white photos of old movie stars, posters, CDs and even old records - those black round flat discs that can only be played with old record players with a needle. Maybe the shop sells these old players too. (I forgot what you call these discs or the old players.)






This is the view of the centre from Keong Siak Road. The shop, No. 133, is on the ground floor.

old and older

In an earlier post I said that the San Wang Wu Ti master of rituals is getting older.

Look at these 2 sentences:
(1) He is getting older.
(2) He is getting old.

Do they have the same meaning? Does older mean very old?

It depends. However, in many instances older is not old at all.

For example, you may tell your teenager son: "You are getting older. You must be more responsible."

In fact older is only a comparative.

Everyone grows older everyday. But we cannot say Everyone grows old everyday.

In some cases saying to your friend 'You are getting older' is better than 'You are getting old'.

一葉輕舟去，人隔萬重山 ...

大家來唱 - 鳳閣恩仇未了情

生：（白）異國情鴛驚夢散，空餘一點情淚濕青衫。

生：【胡地蠻歌】一葉輕舟去，人隔萬重山，

合：鳥南飛，鳥南返，鳥兒比翼何日再歸還，

生：哀我何孤單。

旦：休涕淚，莫愁煩，人生如朝霧，何處無離散，今宵人惜別，相會夢魂間，我低語慰壇郎，輕拭流淚眼。君莫嗟，君莫歎，終有日，春風吹渡玉門關。

生：情如海，義如山，孰惜春意早欄柵。虛榮誤我怨青衫。

旦：憐無限，愛無限，願為郎君老朱顏，勸君莫被功名誤，白少年頭莫等閒。

生：柔腸寸斷無由訴，笙歌醉夢閒，流水落花春去也，天上人間。

旦：獨自莫憑欄，無限江山，地北與天南，愛郎情未冷，情未冷。

生：一葉輕舟去，人隔萬重山。

合：鳥南飛，鳥南返，鳥兒比翼何日再歸還，

生：哀我何孤單，何孤單 .....