I am exhausted 너무 피곤하니까...

I have so many things to do my brain is not happy. I can't think straight. I can only think of one thing or nothing at all. 

I used to say I'm good at multitasking. Not anymore. It's definitely a myth or the fact that I'm getting old. 

We often think that combining tasks will save us time, but scientific evidence shows that it has the opposite effect. Even those who claim to be good at multitasking are not very productive. In fact, they are some of the least productive people. Our brains can take million bits of information but can only actually process of few dozen per second. When we say we're multitasking, what we're really doing is switching back and forth between tasks very quickly. Unfortunately, we're not computers adept at parallel processing. We end up spending all our energy alternative between tasks, instead of focusing on doing one of them well. Concentrating on one thing at a time may be the single most important factor in achieving flow.

~ Hector Garcia Puigcerver

pearlie

When a friend is most needed

Love is friendship that has caught fire. It is quiet understanding, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving. It is loyalty through good and bad times. It settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for human weaknesses. 

~ Ann Landers

Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity. 

~ Khalil Gibran

Things are never quite as scary when you've got a best friend. 

~ Bill Watterson

A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out. 

~ Walter Winchell

The strong bond of friendship is not always a balanced equation; friendship is not always about giving and taking in equal shares. Instead, friendship is grounded in a feeling that you know exactly who will be there for you when you need something, no matter what or when. 

~ Simon Sinek

There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship. 

~ Thomas Aquinas

Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light. 

~ Helen Keller

Friends show their love in times of trouble, not in happiness. 

~ Euripides

It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them. 

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

~ Colossians 3:12-14 ESV

pearlie

Let the beauty of what you love be what you do

I put my heart and my soul into my work, and have lost my mind in the process. 

~ Vincent Van Gogh

Success isn't always about greatness. It's about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come. 

~ Dwayne Johnson

Stay true to yourself, yet always be open to learn. Work hard, and never give up on your dreams, even when nobody else believes they can come true but you. These are not cliches but real tools you need no matter what you do in life to stay focused on your path. 

~ Phillip Sweet

It's all about quality of life and finding a happy balance between work and friends and family. 

~ Philip Green

Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. 

~ Steve Jobs

Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. [23] Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.

~ Colossians 3:22-25 (ESV)

Servants, do what you're told by your earthly masters. And don't just do the minimum that will get you by. Do your best. Work from the heart for your real Master, for God, confident that you'll get paid in full when you come into your inheritance. Keep in mind always that the ultimate Master you're serving is Christ. The sullen servant who does shoddy work will be held responsible. Being a follower of Jesus doesn't cover up bad work.

~ Colossians 3:22-25 (MSG)

Let the beauty of what you love be what you do. 

~ Rumi

pearlie

I have lazed it away...again

I find that I have this bad habit of extreme lazying, what my husband and I call it vegetating, at home during a long holiday.

As much as I tell myself I deserve a break after a full week of work, it’s hard to justify it when I ended up doing absolutely nothing in a longer break of more than the regular 2-day weekend. 

In this modern times, many do try to glorify laziness but however you put it, it’s not a good thing. 

Laziness may appear attractive, but work gives satisfaction. 

~ Anne Frank

All of the biggest technological inventions created by man - the airplane, the automobile, the computer - says little about his intelligence, but speaks volumes about his laziness. 

~ Mark Kennedy

One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.

~ Luke 16:10 (ESV)

A sluggard's appetite is never filled, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.

~ Proverbs 13:4 (NIV)

Sluggards do not plow in season; so at harvest time they look but find nothing.

~ Proverbs 20:4 (NIV)

The above two verses from Proverbs do speak to me particularly because I always feel that I have wasted my time away when it should have been put to better use—at least in reading or attending the online lectures I have already signed up to begin with.

But why is it I only realise it after and not before?

pearlie

When the unexpected happens

There is only one kind of shock worse than the totally unexpected: the expected for which one has refused to prepare. 

~ Mary Renault, The Charioteer

There is a feeling of disbelief that comes over you, that takes over, and you kind of go through the motions. You do what you're supposed to do, but in fact you're not there at all. 

~ Frederick Barthelme, Elroy Nights

I drew a deep breath, trying to think of something to say, then pulled a handkerchief from my pocket and gave it to him. "Are you breathing, Ian?" His mouth twitched a little. "Aye, I think so." "That's all you have to do, for now. 

~ Diana Gabaldon, An Echo in the Bone (Outlander, #7)

God has mercifully ordered that the human brain works slowly; first the blow, hours afterwards the bruise. 

~ Walter de la Mare, The Return

pearlie

Having confidence makes a difference in what we set out to do

I attended a meeting where a vendor was presenting a proposal but I felt it was not very well done. She seemed lacking in experience in making a presentation but it may be because of a lack of confidence as well. 

How can we be more confident in what we do? 

I find that experience count a lot and we have to believe in what we do, but I feel that the best of all, we have a faithful God who undergirds us with his presence when we do what we do with his strength and not our own. 

He is our confidence. 

And I found these sayings encouraging;

Confidence comes from discipline and training. 

~ Robert Kiyosaki

Confidence comes with maturity, being more accepting of yourself. 

~ Nicole Scherzinger

Experience tells you what to do; confidence allows you to do it. 

~ Stan Smith

Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained. 

~ Marie Curie

Confidence... thrives on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection and on unselfish performance. Without them it cannot live. 

~ Franklin D. Roosevelt

Faith is a living, daring confidence in God's grace, so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times. 

~ Martin Luther

I tremble for my country when I hear of confidence expressed in me. I know too well my weakness, that our only hope is in God. 

~ Robert E. Lee

pearlie

Do you know how a sentence can end in five prepositions?

Five prepositions? Really?

I got this from Steven Pinker's The Language Instinct, a book I'm finding difficult to read, but this is just brilliant:

Daddy trudges upstairs to Junior's bedroom to read him a bedtime story. Junior spots the book, scowls, and asks, "Daddy, what did you bring that book that I don't want to be read to out of up for?"

pearlie

When is it time to give up?

Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time. 

~ Thomas A. Edison

Failure at some point in your life is inevitable, but giving up is unforgivable. 

~ Joe Biden

Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent. 

~ Marilyn vos Savant

I have a theory that burnout is about resentment. And you beat it by knowing what it is you're giving up that makes you resentful. 

~ Marissa Mayer

pearlie

The one quote that baffles me

I began reading the book I bought yesterday, Daughters of the Dragon by William Andrews and at the beginning, right in Chapter 3, I read something I can't figure out, however hard I tried to wrap my head round it, which I did try the whole day today. 

"...dreams are who you are when you’re too tired to be yourself."

What is the meaning of that? What am I when I'm too tired to be myself?

I still can't make out what's it's suppose to mean. Can you?

pearlie

Life's becoming routine but I like it

The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine. 

~ Mike Murdock

Most of life is routine - dull and grubby, but routine is the momentum that keeps a man going. If you wait for inspiration you'll be standing on the corner after the parade is a mile down the street. 

~ Ben Nicholas

For pragmatic reasons, I love the routine. I love the structure of it. I love knowing that my days are free. I know where I'm going at night. I know my life is kind of orderly. I just like that better. 

~ Andrea Martin

I began to realize how simple life could be if one had a regular routine to follow with fixed hours, a fixed salary, and very little original thinking to do. 

~ Roald Dahl

pearlie

Walk and not faint

 

The floor scooped me up where I stood, and I blinked as it hit me.

~ M. Beth Bloom, Drain You  

I always thought fainting showed an inherent weakness of character, but I understood it now. It was an act of self-preservation. Confronted by emotion too extreme to handle, the body shuts down to keep from running around like a chicken with its head cut off, potentially injuring itself.  

~ Karen Marie Moning 

The life of faith is not a life of mounting up with wings, but a life of walking and not fainting.  

~ Oswald Chambers 

pearlie

New Friends becoming Old Friends

 

Remember that the most valuable antiques are dear old friends.
~ H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them. 
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

To be with old friends is very warming and comforting. 
~ Ian Ziering

Lay this unto your breast: Old friends, like old swords, still are trusted best. 
~ John Webster

Old wood best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read.
~ Athenaeus

Make new friends, but keep the old; Those are silver, these are gold. 
~ Joseph Parry

pearlie 

Love the questions...not seek the answers

You are so young, so before all beginning, and I want to beg you, as much as I can, to be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves—like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. The point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.

~Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

pearlie 

My biological clock failed me

I am bad at time management but I always make sure I am punctual. However, I turned up late for something this morning. I have always been waking up very early lately and I thought I could trust my so-called biological clock but it failed me today. I had a 9 o'clock thing to attend to but I woke up at 8:55! Thankfully, it wasn't that far away from home and I wasn't that late as a result. But still I was late nonetheless, no excuse. I need to be more careful.

If I have made an appointment with you, I owe you punctuality, I have no right to throw away your time, if I do my own. 

~ Richard Cecil

Punctuality is the politeness of kings. 

~ Louis XVIII of France

Punctuality is the soul of business. 

~ Thomas Chandler Haliburton

Punctuality is the virtue of the bored. 

~ Evelyn Waugh

pearlie

I'm worried

I have not felt worry for quite awhile but for some reasons, I am feeling it right now. 

I found these sayings helpful. I may not however hold some of the people here in high regard. But for the sake of what they said about worry, I found it helpful nonetheless. 

When you begin to worry, go find something to do. Get busy being a blessing to someone; do something fruitful. Talking about your problem or sitting alone, thinking about it, does no good; it serves only to make you miserable. Above all else, remember that worrying is totally useless. Worrying will not solve your problem. 

~ Joyce Meyer

Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy. 

~ Leo Buscaglia

In a storm of struggles, I have tried to control the elements, clasp the fist tight so as to protect self and happiness. But stress can be an addiction, and worry can be our lunge for control, and we forget the answer to this moment is always yes because of Christ. 

~ Ann Voskamp

If you don't know how to die, don't worry; Nature will tell you what to do on the spot, fully and adequately. She will do this job perfectly for you; don't bother your head about it. 

~ Michel de Montaigne

I believe God is managing affairs and that He doesn't need any advice from me. With God in charge, I believe everything will work out for the best in the end. So what is there to worry about. 

~ Henry Ford

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

~ Philippians 4:6-7 ESV

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life...But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Matthew 6:25a, 33-34 ESV

pearlie 

Getting old

 

Let us never know what old age is. Let us know the happiness time brings, not count the years. 

~ Ausonius

Youth is the gift of nature, but age is a work of art.

~ Stanislaw Jerzy Lec

Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter. 

~ Mark Twain

Those who improve with age embrace the power of personal growth and personal achievement and begin to replace youth with wisdom, innocence with understanding, and lack of purpose with self-actualization. 

~ Bo Bennett

You can't help getting older, but you don't have to get old. 

~ George Burns

Age appears to be best in four things; old wood best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read. 

~ Francis Bacon

Just remember, once you're over the hill you begin to pick up speed. 

~ Arthur Schopenhauer

pearlie 

Too much television

Television is chewing gum for the eyes. 

~ Frank Lloyd Wright

Television is an invention that permits you to be entertained in your living room by people you wouldn't have in your home. 

~ David Frost

If it weren't for Philo T. Farnsworth, inventor of television, we'd still be eating frozen radio dinners. 

~ Johnny Carson

Television isn't inherently good or bad. You go to a bookstore, there are how many thousands of books, but how many of those do you want? Five? Television's the same way. If you're going to show people stuff, television is the way to go. Words and pictures show things. 

~ Bill Nye

I'm very shy really. I spend a lot of time in my room alone reading or writing or watching television.

~ Johnny Cash

I must say I find television very educational. The minute somebody turns it on, I go to the library and read a good book. 

~ Groucho Marx

I need a bigger television. 

~ Pearlie Ng

pearlie

Languages: speak to their hearts

 

I love this quote by Nelson Mandela: "If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart."

I think it's everyone's dream to speak multiple languages. 

I was introduced to www.italki.com, a language learning community social website, by my good friend Ee-Tan back in April 2014. Didn't realized it was so long ago. I was hoping I was able to sustain my learning of languages there but it remains a pipe dream. I wasn't able to put in the time and as Ee-Tan have told me, to learn languages I need to be more serious about it and it would work better if I got myself a teacher.

A teacher, maybe not yet. But I do need to get more serious and keep at it. But mostly to keep it fun.

pearlie 

Just feeling sad

It doesn't hurt to feel sad from time to time. 

~ Willie Nelson

Heavy hearts, like heavy clouds in the sky, are best relieved by the letting of a little water.

~ Christopher Morley

The word 'happiness' would love its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. 

~ Carl Jung

Tears are the summer showers to the soul. 

~ Alfred Austin

Sadness is also a kind of defense. 

~ Ivo Andric

Delicious tears! The heart's own dew. 

~ Letitia Elizabeth Landon

Tears are nature's lotion for the eyes. The eyes see better for being washed by them. 

~ Christian Nestell Bovee 

Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought. 

~ Percy Bysshe Shelley

pearlie 

Daydreaming

You get ideas daydreaming. You get ideas from being bored. You get ideas all the time. The only difference between writers and other people is we notice when we're doing it.

~ Neil Gaiman

Vizualization is daydreaming with a purpose. 

~ Bo Bennett

I'm often daydreaming, and it's because I've always like the idea of there being something more than the normal world. 

~ Samantha Shannon

I had no real idea I was going to become a writer. It was just a game for me. I just liked pretending, daydreaming and imagining. 

~ Rabindranath Maharaj 

pearlie